Anthony Anderson on Streaking at Dodger Stadium & His Best Friend's Mom Predicting His Future

0:00 Our first guest tonight is an actor, producer.

0:02 He has the voice of an angel.

0:04 And now he's got a new cookbook.

0:06 He put it together with Cedric the Entertainer.

0:08 It's called AC Barbecue: The Husky and Handsome Guide to Grilling.

0:12 It comes out May 5th.

0:13 Please welcome Anthony Anderson.

0:35 Well, it's very good to see you.

0:38 It's good to see a friendly face.

0:40 How are you?

0:41 I'm well, my friend.

0:42 How are you?

0:42 I think you may be too fit to be selling a barbecue COOKBOOK RIGHT NOW.

0:45 NO, NOT AT ALL.

0:46 NO, IT'S ABOUT BALANCE.

0:48 It's about balance.

0:48 It's about balance.

0:49 Yeah.

0:49 All right.

0:49 Since when?

0:54 Have you, Anthony, ever been to the White House correspondents dinner?

0:57 I have.

0:57 What years did you go?

0:59 Uh uh the year before Trump ran.

1:03 Uh uh and uh the year the year year before that.

1:06 So I can't remember what years though.

1:08 So maybe like 2014 and 15.

1:10 2014 15 2015 16 something.

1:12 Okay.

1:12 Right in that area.

1:13 And it was a fun evening.

1:14 I

1:15 It was a great evening.

1:16 Yeah.

1:16 It was a great evening.

1:17 You got Did you sit next to various political luminaries?

1:20 I did.

1:21 I did talked a lot of trash.

1:22 passed a lot of trash to Trump did

1:24 because because at that time Trump said,

1:27 "I can't believe they have a show called Blackish." You know, right?

1:32 That's right.

1:32 How would they feel if we had a show like that?

1:34 I was like, "Yeah, it's called Friends,

1:38 you know.

1:41 I didn't see what the upward was about." So he,

1:43 as he was walking by, I called him over

1:45 to the table and introduced him to my partner,

1:47 Kenya Baris, and was like, "Yo, Kenya, Trump, Trump.

1:50 This is my partner, Kenya." And you know,

1:52 we we quizzed him about, you know, what he said.

1:54 And uh and then I specifically asked him if

1:58 his if he was going to be running for president.

2:00 And at that time, he said, "No, I'm not Anthony." Oh, wow.

2:04 And he did.

2:05 Oh, wow.

2:05 See, and he did.

2:06 He did.

2:06 He lied to you.

2:07 I didn't like him.

2:08 As he always does.

2:10 You You know, O the mentalist was supposed to perform at the dinner

2:14 and he was supposed to be here tonight to read our minds.

2:16 I think we were both excited about that.

2:18 I was looking forward to having him sitting here,

2:20 man, and seeing what he had to do.

2:21 Have you ever been subject to a mentalist before?

2:24 I have.

2:24 I I was in Cabo at uh at at a fundraising event

2:28 and there was a mentalist there and he picked me out of the crowd

2:32 and you know, hundreds of people and we're outside and he said, "Anthony,

2:36 pull out your money in your pocket." And he said, "Just count the money.

2:39 Don't even count it aloud." And I had all $100 bills

2:41 and I counted it was it was like $3,200 of cash, right?

2:45 Wow.

2:45 and and and I had a 20 and like a one and I was

2:49 like he was like he was like $3221 and he knew exactly how much money

2:53 I had and he said it and then he told me he came over

2:56 and he said you know can I grab a bill and I was like sure.

2:58 So he grabbed a $100 bill and he said I want you

3:01 to fold this up into squares and I want you to sit on it.

3:05 And so I did that and I sat on it

3:06 and then he went to the crowd and just asked people.

3:09 He asked people their birthdays.

3:10 He asked people uh their marriage dates.

3:12 He asked people what date it was.

3:14 He asked for phone numbers and then he

3:16 calculated everything into a calculator and he said, "Anthony,

3:20 I want you to read off the number on that bill that you

3:22 had folded under your lap and there were nine numbers on the screen

3:27 on the whiteboard that he put up there and it was

3:29 the exact numbers that I had uh on my $100 bill in order." Wow.

3:34 And it was just amazing to see, you know, somebody do that.

3:38 So that's why I was excited to see my guy.

3:40 And yet here we are disappointed.

3:41 Yeah, that would have been fun.

3:44 I got $3,200 in my pocket right now.

3:46 You want to see what WE CAN DO WITH IT?

3:48 I heard it's 3221, man.

3:51 Hold on.

3:51 Let's see.

3:52 Does your family like are psychics and fortune

3:55 tellers a part of your like upbringing?

3:57 I am.

3:58 My my my best friend, Jerry Singleton,

4:00 uh but I I affectionately called him Skinny Boy.

4:02 We went to high school together, so we've been best friends since 1987.

4:08 Uhhuh.

4:07 Uh uh I'm his kid's godfather.

4:09 He's my kid's godfather.

4:10 and his mom who just recently passed uh Mildred Singleton uh was a numerologist.

4:17 Oh, she was?

4:18 Yeah, she was a numerologist.

4:19 And uh she could tell you everything how your year

4:23 was going to be based on that number of the year,

4:25 based on when you were born and what year you were born.

4:28 And was it accurate?

4:29 It it was very accurate.

4:30 She knew the years that I was going to have

4:32 uh I was going to make lots of money.

4:34 She knew the years that I was going to travel.

4:35 She knew the year that I was getting divorced.

4:37 She knew the year uh or or she knew when

4:40 I was going to meet somebody new in my life.

4:42 And uncanny enough when I was younger, when we were just in high school,

4:47 she would always tell me, she said, "Anthony,

4:49 you're going to have a calling." Then I was,

4:50 "What calling is that?" And it was it goes go it went beyond acting.

4:54 And she said, "You know what?" She said,

4:56 "You're going to go on to have your own talk show one day and you're going

5:01 to minister to the people and you're going to be a minister." And lo and behold,

5:05 I not I don't have my own talk show, but I I host your talk show.

5:10 We share a talk show and I'm an ordained minister now.

5:14 Are you?

5:16 Yeah.

5:16 So, what?

5:18 So, the things that, you know,

5:20 she she saw happening for me at 17 and 18 years old actually came to life.

5:26 Hold on.

5:27 This you're an ordained minister.

5:28 Does that mean are you an ordained minister so that you

5:30 can marry your friends or are you really preaching in uh both

5:33 in you are?

5:36 Yes.

5:35 About Jesus?

5:41 I HAVE A CALLING.

5:42 I MEAN WHAT WHAT BETTER PERSON THAN ME, A HEATHEN TO TALK TO THE PEOPLE?

5:49 YES, SIR.

5:49 YEAH.

5:49 AND I'VE MARRIED TWO couples before, man.

5:51 And and everybody wants me to give uh the prayers at at dinners and everything.

5:57 Oh, really?

5:58 Wow.

5:58 Now you got to work now at your dinners.

6:00 It's ridiculous.

6:01 I do.

6:02 Okay, speaking of heathenism, you And now that I know you're a minister, wow,

6:07 this is really I'm not sure if I should even BRING IT UP.

6:10 LET'S GO.

6:11 But I'm a man of the world.

6:12 A promise you made on television.

6:14 Go ahead.

6:14 What kind of Dodger fan Anthony Anderson are we

6:17 going to have if they win back to back?

6:21 I'll streak at Dodger Stadium.

6:23 Okay, that's what I'm going to do.

6:24 That's what they're going to see.

6:25 Okay.

6:25 I'm going streak Dodger Stadium.

6:27 There you go.

6:28 I'm wearing nothing but my rings.

6:30 All right.

6:32 Now, after you did that interview, the Dodgers won the World Series,

6:37 which means now you have You said you were going to streak.

6:42 Are you going to streak?

6:44 Uh, I am.

6:44 And uh I You know what?

6:47 The the Dodgers are holding my new World Series

6:51 championship ring hostage until I streak in the stadium.

6:56 You are.

6:56 This is last year's ring that I gave them.

6:59 I gave them this year's ring and I was waiting for money.

7:01 I like No, no, no, no.

7:03 You made a promise.

7:04 Will they make like a night like an Anthony

7:05 Anderson naked bobblehead KNIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

7:10 And I Which head will be bobbling?

7:16 I guess.

7:16 Yeah, you could do multiple NIGHTS.

7:18 YOU'RE RIGHT.

7:20 I MUST BE there when this happens.

7:22 I I will let you know.

7:23 I Please do.

7:24 And I'm wondering now, you got to run the bases.

7:26 It can't just be You got to run.

7:28 You got

7:29 I I'm going to run.

7:30 I'm going to run the I'm going to run as if I hit a Grand Slam home run.

7:34 Well, no.

7:34 OH, SLOW.

7:37 YEAH.

7:36 OH, ALL RIGHT.

7:37 YEAH, I like that.

7:38 A

7:39 I I'm going to run the bases in nothing but a pair of cleats and ankle socks.

7:44 I I SAID and and I'm truth that and they are

7:47 holding my my World Series ring hostage until I do it.

7:51 Will you have the ring on?

7:53 I will have a couple of them on.

7:55 Is it legal to run naked at Dodger Stadium?

7:58 Uh it's not illegal.

7:59 Okay.

7:59 I think it might be And I'm not going to be completely naked.

8:01 I'll have on ankle socks and cleat.

8:04 And And I know when I'm going to do it.

8:06 I'm I'm This is what I'm going to do.

8:09 I'm going to air it on your show.

8:13 Great.

8:12 Yeah.

8:12 and great.

8:16 No one will see it until after I air it on your show.

8:20 And this is when I'm going to do it.

8:21 The week of August 10th when I am hosting this show myself.

8:25 Great.

8:26 THAT IS HOW I PROMISE EVERYBODY THAT'S OUT THERE WATCHING RIGHT NOW,

8:31 I PROMISE YOU the first night I host this show on August 10th,

8:36 you will see me run butt naked around Dodger.

8:39 And I was going to add something to that.

8:43 Yes.

8:42 If the Dodgers foolishly elect not to make naked Anthony Anderson bobbleheads,

8:48 we will have them for EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCE.

8:50 ALL RIGHT.

8:51 ALL RIGHT.

8:53 YES.

8:55 ANTHONY,

8:55 this is his cookbook.

8:56 We'll be right back.

9:09 Get him.

9:28 Yeah, that's everything.

9:32 That's Ready for the World.

9:33 Let me love you down.

9:36 Hold on.

9:36 Hold on.

9:36 Give me What do you know about Ready for the World?

9:39 I know everything.

9:39 I know.

9:39 know Oilia.

9:41 You know O Sheila?

9:42 I know they're from Michigan and for whatever reason, for reasons unknown,

9:47 uh one of them has an English accent in the song.

9:50 Oil, it's good for the goose is always good for the house.

9:56 YES.

9:56 YES.

9:57 And no one explains why THAT ACCENT IS THERE.

10:00 OH MY GOD, I can't believe you know.

10:02 How did that happen with White Cleft?

10:03 What was going on there?

10:04 Uh you know what?

10:05 I was down in Atlanta uh uh hosting a fundraiser for uh H.B.CU awareness week.

10:11 Uh myself, Roxy Diaz,

10:13 and Magic Johnson and uh White Cliff John was our surprise musical guest.

10:18 So, at the end of his set, he was done and I had to end the show and I was like,

10:23 I can play the keys a little bit.

10:24 So, I just got up there and we did the whole song verse for verse.

10:27 And and was he was he surprised and impressed by your voice?

10:31 He was he was to the to the to the tune that he said,

10:34 "At I'm playing the Hollywood Bowl in in another month or so.

10:37 I want you to come on stage with me and my band and play with us."

10:41 Oh, that's awesome.

10:43 So, we'll see.

10:44 We'll see.

10:45 BUT I I PLAN ON doing it.

10:46 I plan I plan on joining the stage Hollywood Bowl.

10:49 Will you do that naked as well?

10:54 You've come up with a good plan for Anony's Dodgers appearance.

10:57 NOW, I MIGHT HOST THIS SHOW NAKED.

10:59 HOW LONG HAVE YOU THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING.

11:04 I like the show.

11:05 I like that idea.

11:06 All right.

11:07 How long have you been playing piano?

11:09 Uh I I really can't play, you know.

11:10 I fake it, man.

11:11 Do you?

11:11 I went to the I went to the high school

11:13 for the performing arts and all my buddies were in band.

11:15 So, uh when they were practicing at lunch, man,

11:17 I would just sit there and so I don't know any notes.

11:20 I just mimic.

11:21 I just mimic what I saw.

11:22 So, the songs that I play, I just remember where their hands were.

11:26 So, I don't know.

11:26 That's called playing, I think.

11:28 Isn't it?

11:29 I I don't know what it is.

11:30 I I I I know a couple of songs.

11:31 I know a few songs.

11:32 I I don't know them all straight through because it was only on lunch.

11:35 So, I never got to learn the whole song.

11:37 So, I I I I can I can

11:40 You never took lessons.

11:40 You didn't weren't forced to take lessons.

11:43 My I I wanted to play the piano so bad that my mother put me in piano classes.

11:48 Oh.

11:48 But she put me She heard about this piano class and so she put me in it.

11:51 But it was an advanced piano class.

11:54 So, they were playing by ear and they were doing all this stuff.

11:57 Man, we didn't even have a piano at the house.

11:59 So, I didn't know how I was going to do this.

12:02 And they gave me a cardboard cutout of the 88

12:07 keys for me to place my hands on chords.

12:11 I was like, "Okay, that's cool, but I can't hear,

12:14 you know." So, that didn't serve a purpose.

12:17 So, I um I got my mother's credit card one day

12:21 and I ordered a baby grand piano from from uh Colton.

12:27 It was it was a piano store here called Colton Piano Store

12:29 and I I called Colton up and and I thought it was going

12:32 to be a surprise and my mom wasn't going to be home

12:34 when they delivered the piano and she was just going to walk in.

12:36 I was going TO BE HA SURPRISE.

12:38 WELL, SHE HAPPENED TO be home when they

12:40 delivered the piano and it ruined my surprise.

12:44 And my mother cussed the piano guy out and was like,

12:47 "What the hell you doing in MY I DON'T KNOW GODDAMN PIANO." I WAS LIKE,

12:52 "UH, MAMA, I did." And and so she returned the piano,

12:54 had to return it, and she got her money back.

12:57 And then she um tied me butt naked to the avocado tree

13:03 and and whipped me with the fan belt off an 84 Ford.

13:07 Oh my god.

13:10 Yeah.

13:10 And it's when you were tied to the avocado tree.

13:12 Is that when you got interested in cooking?

13:16 Well, that's when I got that's when I got interested

13:19 and realized I didn't have a problem being naked in public.

13:24 Well, you and Cedric, you guys love barbecue.

13:27 You love to barbecue.

13:28 You love to eat barbecue.

13:30 We can see you pretending to um eat a corn and the cob.

13:33 Here we can see Cedric pretending to eat a a rib here.

13:36 Oh, we ate that.

13:37 Oh, you did eat that?

13:38 Oh, yeah.

13:38 We ate that.

13:39 That we had to we had to hold it still for the for the picture,

13:41 but no, we ate that stuff.

13:42 What um what inspired you to do this?

13:45 Why did you write this?

13:46 Uh well, you know, Cedric and I started

13:48 a barbecue lifestyle company a few years ago.

13:50 Uh we created You're living the barbecue lifestyle?

13:52 Yeah, I that that I am.

13:53 We, you know, we created a reality show called The Kings of Barbecue.

13:57 We developed seasonings and and and sauces that are

14:00 in Walmart and Kroger and Lowe's and Rouse and HBS.

14:04 Wow.

14:04 All those places.

14:05 Yeah.

14:05 And then we uh opened up a restaurant

14:07 in the Westville Century City Mall called uh AC Barbecue.

14:11 And the next thing was to, you know,

14:13 make this cookbook and it's it chronicles the story

14:16 of barbecue and community and what it's really about.

14:19 Yeah.

14:19 So, everybody's invited to the cookout if everybody's invited.

14:22 Now, this is something that I do want to discuss

14:24 with you because this feels like an attack on Italian Americans.

14:27 UM, BARBECUE.

14:30 YOU'VE NEVER HAD BARBECUE SPAGHETTI?

14:33 NO.

14:34 NO.

14:34 You should try it.

14:35 All right.

14:35 My when you go home, uh,

14:37 do that recipe and call me and let me know what you think about it.

14:40 Okay.

14:40 All right.

14:41 And this is something that is either I don't know.

14:44 Are you trying to kill people?

14:46 Because deep fried uncrustable seems like the way to DO IT.

14:51 YOU KNOW, THESE ARE recipes and family recipes

14:54 from around the country and they tell the story.

14:57 It's great.

14:58 Yeah.

14:58 No, it's great, man.

14:59 Is it Is it good?

15:00 You put ice cream on it or how does it go?

15:02 You can you can put whatever you want on there.

15:05 Okay.

15:05 All right.

15:05 Yeah.

15:05 Well, that's You know, some of those pictures are pornographic in there.

15:08 They are pornographic.

15:09 They are.

15:09 It's making me hungry just looking at them like this.

15:11 I love fried catfish.

15:13 That's real good.

15:13 Yeah.

15:13 There it is.

15:14 You make that?

15:15 Yeah.

15:16 Yeah.

15:16 That's not barbecue, boy.

15:17 That's You know, my dad was the youngest of 16.

15:20 He grew up on a farm in Little Rock, Arkansas.

15:22 So, my dad is the one that taught me about barbecue.

15:25 He was a welder by trade, so he would make his own barbecue.

15:28 Oh, that's awesome.

15:30 55gallon drums.

15:30 Yeah.

15:31 Do you have any of those barbecues that he made?

15:34 Uh, no.

15:34 I don't have any of the drums, unfortunately.

15:36 I I I don't.

15:37 But, uh, that that was our history together.

15:39 Well, that's beautiful.

15:40 Well, you know what?

15:40 If you got a hankering for any barbecue spaghetti or, uh,

15:44 maybe a deep FRIED UNCRUSTABLE OR ALL the regular stuff, too, it's right there.

15:49 AC Bbecue, the husky and handsome guide to grilling.

15:52 It comes out May 5th.

15:53 The great Anthony Anderson.

15:55 Everybody, we'll be back with John Love.