So I know many of you are confused by my podcast, "Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period." I hear the feedback and notice the quizzical laughter at the title.
"Kamau, do you really believe that Denzel is the best actor ever?"
No.
I believe he is the greatest actor of all time period. "Best ever"??? COME ON! And over the last year of the podcast, myself and my co-host Kevin Avery have found that we are not the only ones. While our mission is to review all of Denzel's movies, we find the conversation often turns to diversity (of all kinds) in Hollywood. And often this conversation happens with the people who are trying to make Hollywood a more diverse place.
We have talked to other actors, like Omar Dorsey, Johnny Skourtis, and J. August Richards. We have talked to other comedians, like Doug Benson, Phoebe Robinson, Michelle Buteau, and soon Hari Kondabolu. And also David Alan Grier, half of the band Living Colour, political sportswriter Dave Zirin, SNL's Sasheer Zamata, The Daily Show's Hasan Minhaj, and James Monroe Iglehart, a Tony Award Winner who knew my wife in college. An they all agree with us that Denzel Washington is The Greatest Actor of All Time Period!*
We even have a name for our true people who get it, Denzealots! There's even a website run by a fan from Russia. RUSSIA! Denzel heals the wounds of the world.
Well now, we have the immediately legendary, director of Selma, Ava DuVernay. She had some thoughts about Denzel, diversity in Hollywood, Viola Davis's (also immediately legendary) Emmy speech, buying your own milk, and Denzel's sexiest movie, Mo' Better Blues.
Wanna check that out? If not, them we may not be good for each other anymore.
*Or they just came on the show because it sounded fun.
Vernon is back from his tour in Berlin and therefore the dynamical duo is BACK! For all of you who missed Vernon on the last episode this episode is back to regular. This episode features...
- Vernon's beef with America's radio sweetheart Jesse Thorn.
In the tradition of epic filmmaking & epic story telling, Kamau has one doozy of story to tell about his last three weeks. And in classic FNGTAC fashion, Vernon takes the conversation waaaaaaaaay off road in a beautiful way. This episode features several epic battles of Good vs. Evil: Kamau vs. Sacramento, Kevin Avery vs. Hollywood, Vernon vs. Hip Hop, Vernon vs. Quentin Tarantino, and even Vernon vs. Apollo Creed(?). And during this epic tale Vernon & Kamau finally have the N Word conversation, and we're not talking about Zen meditation. It took seven episodes for these two black guys to have that conversation. WOW! Maybe instead, they are actually "Far Afield Negroes". This one also features a surprise ending which portends good things to come, and also we finally get to find out exactly what percentage of Vernon that Kamau is. May the force be with them!
Yup! It's me and Living Colour's Vernon Reid --- who if you now me then you know how big a deal he is to me --- are starting a weekly podcast called The Field Negro Guide to Arts & Culture. It's a rambling, off-roading conversation by tow black dudes who have been outside the "black box" for so long that we've both built homes there.
This 1st episode, we talk Gary Coleman, Comic book adaptations and Vampires... Of course. Enjoy!
