Hey everyone, I'm Wilmer about the Rama. This is Freddy Rodriguez. Welcome to those amigos.
Wimer, how are you man.
I'm good, I'm good. What are you sipping on?
I am sipping on the coffee that you made me upstairs. By the way, everybody, Wilmer has an incredibly fancy coffee machine upstairs, and he's quite the barista.
I take my coffee ritual moist setios, as we say in latinosos.
I don't know if you can see that right there. I mean he has a he has a like that's like a Starbucks quaes.
It's about the tone too, And you want to a disarming.
Brown, ah, disarming brown.
You want the coffee to be a disarming brown.
You should pitch that color to like bear paints and in the arming brown.
About the Rama cafe, dis army in brown is a medium roast.
We make it. We make it disarming brown.
This army and brown coffee. And what does that mean? It means like it invites you. And once you go to half a cup, it's too late. It's too late, full anxiety with the kefin You've.
Been disarmed from the beginning, so now too late.
Like we've been seduced by the by the disarming brown. Yes. So this is our new collection of ep U eplur of us unum, which means out of many one. It's actually really exciting. It's our it's our fitness apparel brand that has an impact program. The impact program is actually taking out. We have tons of missions throughout the year
has been really beautiful. So we have a partnership with a company that has this beautiful vintage frames and we are honoring those vintage frames with graphics that you know that really reflect on certain times of war. You know. So this seal here, I think this is the seal the ceo you know, is balancing a bomb, right, but these this ceo was technically in the nose of one of these planes that will go into missions and war zones.
So this was kind of like you know how the you know sometimes they have like the pin up girl that the side of plane. You know, these were also part of that kind of culture of putting certain graphics on aircraft's helicopters and things like that. So we're embracing that and making it part of the brand. It's really fun. It's just really cool, and you know, if you want to know more APU EPU HQ as in headquarters EPU HQ dot com.
Did you design it?
Yeah, we had a whole team that kind of brought the sentiment and we're all started going to spit balling things. But our team, a graphics team just aist it, you know, like we were like what if, what if? And then they just pitched this thing and and it's really great. And then also we have a handful of arrows to
you know the meaning of the handful of arrows. So if you have if you grab a bunch of arrows, you know, together and you try to break them as impossible, So a number of arrows coming together, you know, becoming an unbreakable you know task. So it's an unbreakable bond. And the idea is that out of many arrows, you know, one invincible approach type of things. So it's become kind of like a new tag and our new our new tag in the back of the sweatist was pretty cool.
It looks like a cool sweatshirt that you would buy like it, Fred Siegel.
Yeah, kind of right, And it feels like that it feels like that's not going to be as expensive. Guys, you know, it's definitely a lot more affordable. We wanted to make this approbable that the point is that this brand also fuels the impact program good like the ideas as a private company who is pledging, you know, it's it's profit to to also you know, to also fund the change in the mission, the missions and the agendas.
But anyways, enough about me. Yeah, so today's episode, we're very excited about Leo, our lead producer of those amigos, had a really good idea. But we're coming back to fundamentals. We had a streak of amazing guess you know, some really great friends of ours with a lot of reflection on our stuff. I hope all of you guys also have
taken some from those episodes as well. I know we definitely walked away with a great deal of appreciation for not only our friends, but like you know, the sentiment of starting from scratch and ya and you know their stories, so so you know, we find the relativity in theres and in hours, right, So so that was really cool. But he had this cool idea and this episode is
called what If? What If? What if? Everything that happened or those little moments at the beginning of our lives and or the moments where we decided we were going to be what we are now? What if those moments never happened? What is the road? What would have been?
And I don't want to call it a plant, plant B or a plant C, but like what what would your life would have been if I don't know, if you had an auditioned for that play, if you hadn't gone into that gotten into the the theater group, or you know, same thing, like if I had audition for this regional Yellow Pages commercial in California, Like, uh, you know what?
What? What?
You know? What would have happened if I never got to audition again? Like what what would that path be?
Yeah? Or what if? Like like what what? What was your earliest what if? Experience? Like did you ever have like a like a near death experience?
Like yeah, what if?
What if that would have happened? Right? I mean, what was your earliest what if experience?
It wasn't so much a death experience for me, but it could have been a really bad experience for my sister. We were at a at a finca, which is you know,
our Spanish word for for farm. We had a we had a little ranch, a little farm in the middle of Venezuela, four hours south of you know, Venezuela, and we had horses, and you know, I was to think about maybe eight years old or something like that, and I was my sister was on this horse, and I was pulling this horse, and while I was walking, I kind of slowed down, and all of a sudden, the horse's head came here and he opened his mouth and I saw his teeth at the corner my eye, and
he scared me because I thought he was trying to bite me or something. And I screamed and I just like started and then the horse got spooked with my sister on it and took off. Oh wow, and I froze, like I didn't know what to do in that moment.
How old are you?
I was about eight, I think eight or nine years old. And then another lady that was like probably ten yards in front of me, you know, thought quickly and went and put her foot down on the reins and the realms the reins, and slowed down the horse, and all of a sudden it stopped him from like going into the savannah and just like running aimlessly with my sister on it. And in that moment, I felt such great deal of killed, you know, Like I was just like,
what if she would have fallen off? What if she would have broken a leg or her back or neck like what, you know, like all these things, you know, And I just became incredibly protective of my sister and like, get out of get down from there, get down there, don't do that, don't run that fast like you know. So like that really kind of marked me. But but it would have changed the trajectory of my life. I don't know if I would have had the confidence I
have now. I don't know, you know what I mean, Like I think about how what what if all of a sudden, you like, I couldn't even protect my sister, could I have my own kids? You know what I mean? Like maybe turns into that you never know, but I guess this was one of those moments where I told close to something really bad happening. The other one was, you know, and I wrote about it in my book
An American Story Everyone's Invited. It was we were in a private plane and you know, oxygen stopped going into the cabin and uh, and we had to do an emergency landing. In that moment was like what what if that would have been it? Right? You know, would I still get a movie, a VH one movie, you know? Yeah, you know, back to do those those really low budget into my movies, A biopigs about some.
Oh yeah, I do remember that. Wow, that's crazy. I've had a few of those too. Man. I remember one time, and he probably doesn't remember this. I was in high school. It was my senior year of high school. And I grew up in Chicago. Uh and unfortunately sometimes Chicago is the murder capital of the United States, right, And I grew up in that kind of environment, and I had
this really vivid dream that I got shot. I mean I'm talking about like vivid where I could like feel like the blast going through my chest and blood coming down and everything. And I woke up from the dream and I couldn't speak. And remember back then when you would have somebody on speed dial, and I had my wife out on speed dial. We were dating, and I speed dialed her but I couldn't speak, and she knew that something was wrong and she talked me down. But the next day I went to school and I had
this premonition that something was gonna happen. I just knew it. I just knew something. Y. Yeah, it was too real. It was like God was warning me, you know. And so this was back when I was a store sort of heavily involved in the hip hop scene, and we had heard that Common was having a show on the South Side of Chicago and I live on the Northwest Side, and I was like, oh, man, I said, I don't
feel good about going to the South Side. And they were like, come on, man, We're gonna go hang out with Common, and I was like, nah, I feel bad about it, you know. And so I got convinced to go to the South Side of Chicago. And we're waiting for Common and a bunch of people outside of this club, and because I was so hyper aware, I noticed that these two guys were getting into a fight on the sidewalk. And after they got into a fight, one guy jumped
into his truck started to take off. The other guy picked up a brick and threw it at the truck, and the guy got mad and went to the end of the block, turned around and came barreling down the sidewalk in his truck. And because I was so hyper aware of that dream, I saw the truck coming a mile away and my best friend Marco had his back turned to the truck, and I grabbed him and I threw him out of the way and we got out
of the way. So what if I didn't have that dream, we probably would have still went to the south side, and I wouldn't have been aware, and we probably both would have gotten run over.
Yeah, I mean in that's it. I mean, even if you had survived, Like, why would have your lafe been? Yeah?
You know, yeah, man, I also think what if, Like, you know, my wife Elsie was pregnant when I was nineteen years old, you.
Know, I was.
A young man, and what if she would have gotten an abortion? What if? Right she if she would have even gotten pregnant? You know, uh, you know, this December of the thirty years of marriage for me, and I've had such a wonderful relationship with her in a wonderful marriage, and and what.
Would have doneationship?
Yeah? Yeah, She's kept me so incredibly grounded in this business, I feel, and it saved me, I think inadvertently from like the traps that that this structure is very easily for us to fall into. And so like what if, what if?
You know, you know, and and also celebrating the different versions they never were about ourselves. You know, those examples were examples that definitely feel I mean feel like just rude awakenings.
You know.
Yeah, there was also times in our lives where we were delusional, but like I'll be okay dying now.
Right, like you know what I mean, James Dean, Yeah, leave a good looking corpse.
Well do you know That's the thing that I reflect is I went on a US SOL tour and I was flying over a bag that I think it was back then. We was I forget what it was. When we were on our way to Iraq and we were funding in Offspry you know, in Ofspry for those who don't know, as a military aircraft that kind of takes off like a helicopter in midair that you know, the the wings start tilting forward and then the jets pick up and then it shoots from midair and he becomes
a plane. Uh and the back is you know open, and he has a you know, fifty cow on the side and all that. And we were going in from you know, with those we were going from base to base where we were in the Middle East, you know, entertaining the troops and as we were flying over, I looked throughout the back and the flares shut out right and what that when that does? It looks like fireworks right to the back of the plane. And I was like, oh, interested.
I didn't think much of it. Then we did a comeback landing into the base that we're supposed to come in and bring entertainment through the years, and one of the colonels uh, looks up to me. It looks up and he goes because that was crazy, huh. And I was like, we got locked down by a missile. And I was like, excuse me, we got what because we got locked down by a missile? And I was like, what you we don't worries. They never hit anything.
I'm sorry you got what.
We got locked on by a missile.
No. So the flares that you thought were just flares, it was it was it was it was too vade a missile that that was locked on to the thing and whoa.
And I was like, wait, what do you mean, like, you go locked don't worry they never hit anything. Yeah, And I'm like, they never hit anything. It made me think in that moment, I'm like, hm, let's see I would have died on this plane right now, the Middle East military aircraft twenty seven years old, twenty eight years old. Maybe, yeah, I'm like, I get my VH one movie. I get
me H one. Sure that's what I thought. But you know, like looking back at that, yeah, bro, like I would have been so sad if we didn't have our kids. Yeah right, I wouldn't be.
So sad if we But you would have had a VH one movie though, But yes, no kids to watch, damn kids to watch? The w You know, man, if you hadn't gotten into entertainment, what do you think?
What path?
Because I mean, it's so hard to imagine it because we've done it for so long and since we're so young at the moment we were supposed to make that decision. I know I heard some things that are probably would have explored. But what about for you?
Something creative?
For sure?
Something creative. I don't know if teaching. I don't know if because there's other creative avenues too, right, Like I know you and I have have a passion for like furniture, Like we love furniture. We love to meet furniture, like certain pieces like art pieces to me.
You know, they say something yes and something Yes.
Man, furniture. I love architect picture you know, I love I love houses. I you know, one of my uh you know your ladies are super gifted and tears. Yeah. Yeah, my wife Elsie's a super very very shout out to Elsie, very talented interior designer. Like I love when people go, what's your guilty pleasure? When you watch stuff on TV? Like I love seeing old houses being renovated in the like new Like, oh, I'm talking like one hundred years old. Maybe I'd be doing that.
I don't know, Like that's I mean, that's a pretty good trajectory too. That was yeah, really fulfilling, creative Yeah, profitable, yeah, living like that.
Yes, maybe something with music maybe you know, but but definitely something that that has a creative bet. You know. That's why I love even like producing so much. You know, I feel like sometimes producing could feel like like work or a job, But to me, I feel like, no, You're you're putting the pieces to a puzzle together. You're you're curating something. Although you're not the director per se
or the writer or the actor. You're you're curating this like gigantic piece man, And you're putting all the pieces together. To me, there's a there's a form of art to.
That, you know, and everyone has a contribution of the piece of the puzzle, right, So like that that there's honor in that as well.
Yeah, it's almost like you're like a conductor in a in a in an orchestra, right, and you have your your horn section and your you know.
But I mean the thing is that's so interesting is if the performing arts hadn't worked out for you, Yeah, do you think it would have still led you to directing and writing and producing?
I don't know, man, because I can't be available.
You would have had like tasted the performance, which would have which would have led to the curiosity of the other jobs on that set or on that stage, which eventually made you passionate over the exploration of directing or writing a screenplay or right. I mean like it's the performing is the gateway to you know, to every everything else that touches the product. Yeah, the entertainment piece.
You know, it almost feels like like those Like now, so my nephew, my oldest brother's kid is is in the fall, is starting as a freshman at the Art Institute of Chicago, you know, so He calls me a lot, and we have a lot of conversations about like what
that is. And it's really interesting seeing our industry through his perspective, right, this younger perspective, and and he only knows what he knows, right, And so I try to tell him, like, it's so different now in your generation, man, you have YouTube, you could you could film a movie on a phone. And so I think that if we had that, maybe when you and I were younger, it wouldn't have only been acting, right, it would have been like, well, I'm going to go make my own movie. I'm going
to go do these other things. But we didn't have those avenues. You know, what about you? What do you think you would have been doing.
I was always curious. I was very social, so I was always curious about the human mind.
Yeah.
I think it's like coology. Yeah, it'd have been interesting for me, the exploration of the why people grow up with certain habits, character traits. You know, where they gain their their ripples of experience. You know how their inheritance informs how they handle certain things, like how they handle you know, tragedy, how they handle breakups, how they handle happiness. You know that that made me because I also think that you have to be a little bit of a
psychologist to do this acting thing. You have to the phrase you have to kind of understand where where these characters are coming from in order to predict how they will react based on the performances that you need to bring a character not only to life, but to tell their story in a way that embodies their shoes that are so far removed from the ones you wear. So to me, psychology felt like like I love talking to people. I love getting in people's minds and saying, you know,
how do I how can I understand you? You know? What is your love language? How could I communicate the most efficient way?
You know?
Like that that kind of stuff is something that fascinates me. But if you if you, if you asked my my nineteen year old self, yeah, I would have been a pilot for the Air Force. I would have worn a uniform, I would have been some type of I would have been part of the armed forces, for sure.
But then, but then do you feel that those professions would have suppressed your personality?
It's interesting if you would have joined the armed forces, there were it would have been I would have been programmed you know, to do something different, you know, being of service. Sure, yeah, but maybe I don't know, maybe like you know, being part of that community. Also, you know there is room for that type of lively livelihood of likelihood of like connecting with others.
Yeah, you think you would have you think you would have gone into politics. Let me tell you why. I asked him, because and I remember Gabriel Luna when he was here. He said it best, He goes, Man, I remember when you and I when to meet Obama, and and and he he he let out an interesting observation about you and how your ability to sort of work the room in the way that you did. Uh uh. And he said that he learned a lot from watching you do that. And I feel that those are aspects
of a leader. Those are aspects that that perhaps and when I say a politician, I mean it in the most positive way. I don't mean it in the most negative way. But those are attributes that like you either have it or you don't, right like Obama right like he has particular attributes that you either have it or you don't. Write and which is what I feel contributed to him being able to mascial and you a lot of those attributes, and which is why I think Gabriel
made those comments about you. And I've always know I've known you, you know, twenty five years, so I've always known that about you.
So I always wondered, like if you ever thought of.
Taking some sort of leadership or attaining to take a leadership role in that regard because of the natural attributes that you possess.
I receive all that. So I appreciate you seeing me with those eyes and that light. It's a great, great sentiment, you know. I've I love being of service. That's why I've been serving with the USO for twenty years. You know, I'm genuinely curious about the science of unity, and to think about politics as a career and the times we live right now feels almost deflating, you know. It feels like it's not a celebration of what we can do
when we come together. It feels more like a debate on how we you know, how we chip away at the creability of the system that we have built for so many, you know, a couple hundred years now in America. I've always been curious about, you know that the practice of common sense in the role of a leader does common sense? Is common sense a gift or is it a delusion? When you're a politic, you know.
It may start off that way, yes, and then.
While somewhere along the way, perhaps he dies, or it gets muted, or it gets put in a shelf, or it gets corrupted corrupted. So but you know, it's it's it's interesting. I you know, I've had so many friends, you know, like Rossari Dawson and my friend my data is a Kumar who you know is the leader oft Latino. And my friend Jane Horden, who knows a you know, goal star wife and you know, advisor to former advisors to Secretary of Defense. She's like, let me know when you're ready to run.
Ah. So I'm not hold on a second. So I'm not the first person that's saying.
This, no, no, but I but I but look, I receive it with the most almost humble like wow, like that what what an ultimate you know what an ultimate compliment? To get it is a very fragile responsibility, you know. And you also wonder where do you make the most noise? Do you make the most noise in the inside, or do you make the most noise in the outside. It feels to me like as a storyteller and as an amplifier stories feels to me like, you know, it's a form of of of unity cultivation. How do you get
everyone on the same theater? How do you get everyone to tune in together at eight o'clock to enjoy one thing and for that moment you put all our differences aside and we and we all admit that we all like this thing together. We don't have to like our beliefs, our religions, our politics or preferences. You know, we can agree that we like this movie, that we like this show. And there's a there's a power that comes with uniting voices into one room. Now that being said, like have
I ever thought about it? I mean, like I would say, it's crossed my mind, like maybe I could do that, you know, and or maybe I should, or perhaps I can contribute something to this country that I never thought, you know, that I had in me, right, But but it's a hard question to answer.
In this very moment, I was just wondering if you ever thought about it? Because you you naturally possess possess the attributes that you know, I am and Maria and Rosario all feel that you possess. Right, They're very specific attributes that that a good politician should possess. And you you possess it, and and and an the most positive way, like I said, because obviously being one now is is probably much different than what it was maybe twenty five years ago when.
You were Yeah, for sure, for sure. I look, I will tell you this. I love this country. I love what is provided to millions and millions of people that have dreams. Right, It's one of the few places in the planet where you if you dream it, it can be materialized. Right. I love people from around the world, and guess where they're at. People from around the world
are in this country too, you know. So there's something really about to go about that I would say never say never, but at this point I think I can make a little more noise outside, you know. But yeah, you know, it's an interesting thing. I mean, it's you know, what would be a really cool thing to become the one of the governors of California and bring all of film and television back. That's one thing.
I mean, Arnold did it.
Yeah, you know, a little.
Light bulb.
Maybe maybe, but so yeah, so I think those are kind of the options that I would have taken. But if you so, if you weren't an actor, what other profession? Like I always for me it was like maybe psychologist.
Maybe you know, maybe something in real estate, you know, because I dabble in real estate now too, and I love it and I feel like there's there's there's a form of art in it. Also.
I love how you mean in real estate? What do you what are you doing the real estate?
I own a couple of pieces of property, you know, and and I just I just I just love architecture and real estate and to me that's art. Like like I can walk into a house and like I in order for me to buy a house or to live in, I have to feel the energy. You know, the house we live in now, we've we've been there twenty seven years, and I knew the first thirty seconds that I walked in, I was like, well, well this is it. You know,
there's just an energy in that house, you know. So maybe if I wasn't acting or doing anything in the arts, I would have been in real estate. Maybe I would have been developing, Maybe I would have been remodeling, Maybe I would have been tackling, like these old houses in Chicago, and in turn.
You would still be living in Chicago, right, I don't know. I you know where if I paint, I paint too for you would have been in Chicago. And you're like, I'm going to New York.
Maybe maybe it's that urban.
Concrete jungle that I think it's in your veins.
I like it. I like the cold. A lot of people don't like the cold.
Do you like weather? You like seasons?
I like seasons. I like I like wearing a coat. You know, some people are like, no, no, you know, I want to be in the sun. I'm not that guy.
Man.
I grew up in harsh winters and and I like it, Like when it gets gloomy here in California and then it's cold, like my wife has like two sweaters on, and I'm like, yes, I love it, Yes, the gloomy weather. I love it. You know where do you think you would have been if you were?
I love New York. Don't get me wrong. New York is like my my city. I love New York. That's my world that I love so much. I love the people, love the energy everything about New York. Yeah, I mean I'm an la guy. Yeah, you know, but there's something about Miami that wakes up a different version of my Latinius.
What do you mean why the food?
Oh yeah, the music, yeah, the people, right, the multi colored spectrum of all Latinos that gather around there, Argentinians, Brazilians, Colombia, Venezuelan's, Puerto Ricans, Cubans. You know, like there's there's this collective you know, sound, yeah, aesthetic, something different, you know.
Yeah.
But I mean here in La I'm an honorary Mexican, so I love you know, I feel like I'm a Chicano too, you know, but.
Same same. You know, Chicago is one of the one of the only cities I've ever been to where Puerto Ricans and Mexicans like live together. I always thought it was like that everywhere, and I even came to La and I was like, wow, there's no Puerto Ricans here. You know. I have two aunts who are Mexican, so I have I have a bunch of half Mexican, have Puerto Rican cousins. All of my best all my best friend Roger, when I was growing up half Mexican, have Acuadorian.
These two twins rich and have half Mexican, have Guatemalan and a bunch of my friends of Chewi, my friend Jose half Puerto Rican, half Mexican and so like, I just thought it was that way everywhere. So I very much grew up with Mexican culture, you know, uh and uh, and it surprised me to see uh that not exist in other cities. But I hear you about Miami. You know what I love about Miami is one of the only cities that I've been to where where where our
people are? And how can I word this correctly? Our people are in positions of power, man and positions of leadership, and I don't I don't feel I don't feel discriminated against. I don't feel like you know it. Yeah, I always feel incredibly welcomed when I'm there and not looked down to sup.
It's very virant, super do. It's really beautiful. Okay, So closing this episode.
Yes, Woomer, what if we never met damn it. I don't even want to think about it.
I imagine that.
I don't want to forget it.
It's a gentlemen. I'm Wilmer Valdorama, I'm Freddi Rodriguez. Thank you for watching this episode of those Amigos. This got very dark, very until the next episode. Thank you for watching error listening. We love you guys.
Those Amigos is a production from w V Sound and iHeartMedia's Michael through That podcast Network, Hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burleson and Sophie Spencer's Abbos.
Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson, and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
This episode was shot and ended it by Ryan Posts and maxed by Sean Tracy 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 thank you for being here third Amigo today. I appreciate you guys always listening to Those Amigos.
For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the ir heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
See you next week.