Hour 3: Suzy Shuster, Actors Blair Underwood & O’Shea Jackson Jr. In-Studio

8:35Rich Eisen:He asked you how you were doing, Rich. No, he called you professora.

8:38Suzy Shuster:I know. I like that.

8:39Rich Eisen:Okay.

8:40Suzy Shuster:Please refer to me in the future only as Professor Susie.

8:42O’Shea Jackson Jr.:You really rolled that R. Great, Rich. That's right.

8:47Rich Eisen:Gracias, Jimmy. What's on your mind, buddy?

8:50O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Okay. Well, first, I didn't know Susie was on today. Yeah, okay, Jimmy. Stop it. And I don't want you to be jealous of our rapport because I met you first. You're my guy.

9:03Rich Eisen:That's okay, Jimmy. It's okay. I understand that, you know, sometimes bald guys don't wind up at the top of the list. I understand.

9:11O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Well, that sucks for Sex and the City fans. That's right. Anyway, TJ. Yes, sir. Dude, sorry, my man. That was ugly last night.

9:21Rich Eisen:Oh, man. It ruined the whole throwback night.

9:23O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, the throwback night was so awesome and so great.

9:26Rich Eisen:Suze, I know you were running around. I don't know if you're aware, but last night, Costas and Doug Collins and Mike Fratello and Hannah Storm and Jim Gray. I'm leaving out one more, right? There's one more. They got them all back together again with the graphics like it was 1992 all over again.

9:41Suzy Shuster:Oh, my God. I was in New York when they were talking about it, and Peter Vesey was furious. Yeah, he did.

9:46Rich Eisen:Oh, he was the only one not. Yeah, him and Amad worked there. Yeah, it was amazing. And then the Spurs. Well, they didn't need a Jordan interview, so.

9:53O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah. Then the Spurs jumped out 9-0, and then it just went off. It was over. Okay, so what it reminded me of, throwback, the NBC, it reminded me of the 99 finals, Rich, where that aired on NBC, and that was a great year for my team.

10:08Rich Eisen:I'm sure it was. Oh, by the way, Isaiah Thomas was the other one I forgot to mention. Oh, yeah, he was there. Zeke was involved in it, too.

10:16O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Okay, so here's my Spurs take, which is the problem for the NBA and those of us that love the Spurs. It's a problem for the rest of the league. It's not the Spurs. We're a year ahead of schedule by far. Everyone knows that. It's the Atlanta Hawks picks because we have a swap rights with their pick this year, and then we have their 2027 first-round pick, unconditional, just take it. what if the Hawks get a top five pick this year and then all of a sudden they suck again and get a top 10 lottery pick next year that's the problem for the NBA the problem for the NBA

10:57Rich Eisen:is they can't figure out how to keep all of this straight and fans can't either you know what I mean this pick's protected it's not protected it's that you know this is in the lottery that's not in the lottery this is an apron that's not an apron Trey Young hey he's on the Washington Wizards except he's not going to play for a month and a half. And then right before he plays, he gets ejected from a game. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, Jimmy, we're now in the rubber meets the road portion of the regular season. Now there's just a month to go. Now we're going to find out who's in the playoffs.

11:30Rich Eisen:And then the NBA at some point is going to have to figure out how best to make their regular season feel relevant to fans. You know what I mean? And we just got to figure that part out. And I don't think the in-season tournament where we're changing the courts, colors, and whatever really does scratch that itch very well. But at the end of the day, the playoffs are going to be lit. It's going to be intense. There's going to be some really great players out there, including your team. It's going to be great to watch.

11:58O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, but your Knicks have our number. And we have Oklahoma City's number. And then the Cavaliers are now in the mix. So I don't know who's going to come out the winner this year, to be very honest. I know. It's great about it.

12:12Rich Eisen:I know who it is, Jimmy. I know who it is, Jimmy. Get ready for it. Oh, who is it? Get ready for it. It's the Celtics.

12:19O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Oh, damn it, Bronwyn!

12:23Rich Eisen:Jimmy, get ready for it, man. I'm going to clip that.

12:25O’Shea Jackson Jr.:I do not want B-Man to be happy unless it's about his son.

12:29Rich Eisen:That's it. Thanks for the call, Jimmy. Appreciate it. Bye, guys. See you tomorrow, Jimmy.

12:33O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Bye, Jimmy.

12:38Rich Eisen:tequila for everybody get ready for it right get ready for it you know it i know it american people know it i said it yesterday my worst fear get ready for it no i don't think steal yourself sir oh yeah i got hope which is what anybody else okay see thunder repeat it does seem like tatum's coming back oh yeah and and he'll get just enough you know they're gonna handle it perfectly you'll get just enough minutes just to get enough sea legs get enough air in his lungs to get ready they're they're only four and a half back now the pistons five in the loss but the knicks have 40 wins which is amazing you know the top four are are going to be who they are and we'll just see what the cell you think the celtics are concerned about taking on anybody from the magic heat hornets hawks probably not uh the hawks might be one of the i just went higher register might be one of those teams that suddenly catch fire and you know can do first round damage to somebody i guess but at the end of the day the celtics can are 21 over right now and they're going to get tatum back and just get ready that's all you okay over there nope i already brought you pepto vismo i know that you're like is this why is this why you're i haven't cracked it yet nope but i'm i'm getting ready for it.

14:00Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean but you understand what I'm saying? Like the regular season at this point in time, it's just been you know, we're getting to the now. And the now is when it's getting really important. And who's going to go into these playoffs hot? And who's going to go into these playoffs healthy? And the seedings kind of don't matter. You know how the Clippers every few years, they're just like, yeah, it doesn't matter if we're 3, 4, 5, or 6. We don't care. And then it really comes up to bite them anyway.

14:23O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, then it does matter.

14:24Rich Eisen:All that matters is O'Shea Jackson Jr. is making his way here and we'll talk about how Luka and J.J. Redick apparently don't like each other. Even though J.J.'s like, we kind of like each other and everybody points out that we don't like each other and that started a three-game win streak that moment that apparently we didn't like each other. It's kind of like us with Del Tufo.

14:44O’Shea Jackson Jr.:People don't like him. Is that right?

14:45Rich Eisen:But we do like him, but sometimes... But overall... Wait a minute, and Del Tufo load manages himself. That is a great point. You know what I mean? He's going to be load managing for a while. Oh, I'll be there on Tuesday. You know what I mean? I got to go to the dentist and then he shows up right after the show anyway. After the show's over, yes. By the way, that happens, Suze. Yeah.

15:03Suzy Shuster:I don't have everything ready.

15:04Rich Eisen:He calls up Jay. Monday night, 8 o 'clock. Yeah, 8 o 'clock. Got to go to the dentist. At night. Because, as you know, that's when you make dental appointments at 8 o 'clock at night. And you're able to get in that. While he's in a suite at the Kings game, I might add. Okay. Right. And he says, you got to work tomorrow. Jay thankfully does. And then at 12.01, who walks in the door? At 3 o 'clock Eastern. Literally 12.01. What was the reasoning?

15:27Suzy Shuster:what was the reason doctor's appointments why show up at 1201 great question i wasn't

15:33Rich Eisen:here to bring donuts yesterday i know i well is he is he in the next two days uh no okay what do you want for breakfast tomorrow we're all set okay uh let's bring out blair underwood this is gonna be fantastic we got a great celebrity true or false for him and the movie young blood is coming back. Don't go anywhere.

15:55Suzy Shuster:Bloods.

15:59Rich Eisen:The Rich Isis Show Podcast.

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18:42Rich Eisen:we're in la king's gear our radio audience just returned certainly here in los angeles we just saw a clip of young blood available in theaters this friday march 6th it's a reimagining of the hockey classic and blair underwood is here on the program so back in 86 when young blood hits the theaters you're just a young actor making it in the world right i wasn't even born yet rich

19:06Blair Underwood:my bad my bad my bad no no definitely i i had just moved to new york in 85 i just started my career okay actually right two years and moved from la law two years that's exactly right right

19:19Rich Eisen:and and this is an interesting photograph that we have just as a launching off point here because um our coordinating producer mike hoskins thought he remembered a mad magazine cartoon of the cast back in the day. Remember this? I remember this. Okay, we'll put it up on the screen, and there it is on the left. You've got to be kidding me. And then there is a reimagining of the Mad Magazine cover of all of the cast, including Stephen Bocchio, the creator, who is the Alfred E. Newman with the gavel on the top right there. Exactly.

19:53Blair Underwood:And I think that sign I have says, the new guy. I think that was my first week of filming. Is that right? I just joined the cast. And I say, yeah, just put a sign that says, new guy. There it is. New guy.

20:02Rich Eisen:So that was your idea to hold that up?

20:03Blair Underwood:It wasn't my idea. It was probably Stephen's idea, who is one of my favorite people, by the way. Stephen Botchko, of course. Right. I was talking beforehand.

20:11Rich Eisen:Susie and I got to know him and Dana, his wife, for years. What a legend. So that's your first TV job? No, I didn't.

20:21Blair Underwood:It's a major starring role, I imagine. Definitely. I'd done the Cosby Show before that, but that really changed my life. His decision to cast me affected my life and career to this day. I mean, it's 40 years later, and doors are open now because of the success of that show. And, of course, there was Hill Street Blues before that. Of course. And then L.A. Law on the heels of that. And like you said, at his home, he had like, what, 400 Emmy Awards?

20:43Rich Eisen:Yeah. Honestly, you go in there, and he told a story about the first night that he, I'll never forget this story he told me, that on the night that Hill Street Blues was nominated for a gajillion awards, and he won so many that night that his the show hit he won so many emmy awards that he was double fisted with them and he lowered one emmy and stabbed himself in the hole because those wings are pretty darn sharp yeah you know that he just forgot how many he had in his hands and he just wound up accidentally stabbing when you see that photograph of you with that with the cast what do

21:18Blair Underwood:you what do you think of when you see that man i think of a simpler time it was the 80s i think of a different industry. I think of this young kid who just had dreams of kind of coming to L.A. and having success, and that was the number one drama on television. Sure was. When I say changed my life, that's what I mean by that.

21:36Rich Eisen:Look at that cast, too. Look at Jimmy Smits up there in the front row.

21:39Blair Underwood:Jimmy Smits, Harry Hamlin, Richard Dysart, and Susan Day. Right. Yeah. And Steven with the gavel. The judge. The judge. Here comes the judge.

21:48Rich Eisen:Here it comes. So we have a game called Celebrity True or False. Yes, of course. We'd love to play with you here. I'd love to. We'd love to know what's true or false about your career. All right. All right, here we go. Make me nervous here. Don't be celebrity true or false with Blair Underwood. We've got some terrific production value that goes along with it. Hit it, please. All right.

22:06O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Celebrity true or false. You can't handle the truth.

22:10Rich Eisen:There you go. That's our production value. All right, first one. This is one of my favorite ones we've ever had here. True or false, Blair Underwood. You went to a lion tamers boot camp for two weeks in an attempt to land a role on Circus of the Stars.

22:26Blair Underwood:That is very true. It is absolutely true. Come on. But I would tell you what was funny about that is they didn't know they had never had a black lion tamer. So they said, these lions might eat you. So you have to come. I had to fly to Texas and get in the cages with like nine lions and just see how they responded. and reacted luckily they looked at me one licked me but they didn't bite me or eat me so this was

22:52Rich Eisen:part of your of your you had already booked it and you needed to train for it yeah that's right

22:59Blair Underwood:you remember Circus of the Stars of course I do I mean we looked at we saw some videos beforehand

23:03Rich Eisen:I mean it was kind of like um you know uh the all those celebrity shows you know back in the superstars instead of you running track battle of the stars battle of the network stars that's right But instead of doing like a relay race, you're doing trapeze acts. Yeah, yeah. That's exactly right. Do you remember who was on the show with you?

23:23Blair Underwood:So what happened was ultimately I couldn't do it after I went down there and spent time with the lines almost and risked my life, life and limb. And then my schedule didn't permit for me to do it. So it didn't work out. But that is true. So that is true.

23:35Rich Eisen:Okay, fantastic. Secondly, true or false, you left Carnegie Mellon early to join L.A. Law, right? Is that true or not?

23:43Blair Underwood:Well, I just left because I couldn't afford to stay at L.A. Law. happened. Got it. It worked out.

23:47Rich Eisen:But later you got a degree writing a thesis about Sidney Poitier after being seated next to him on a cross-country flight. That's very true. No kidding. Yeah. All right. So you're sitting there and like Sidney Poitier is sitting, is he right next to you?

24:02Blair Underwood:Are you right next to me? I was in LA, I was in New York doing press to promote my first episode, first week of LA Law. I ended up doing seven years on that show and I'm walking down the aisle. I think it was Eastern Airlines Nice I turned the corner and I see these long legs stretched out and this man is sleeping and you have to understand I wanted to become an actor because of Sidney Poitier Yes So there's like a whole history of wanting to meet this man and work with him one day and yeah Look at that picture And I turned the corner and I must have gasped because he woke up and I said Mr. Poitier I'm a huge fan of yours I said look I got five hours from New York to LA let me just breathe calm down and he was He could not have been more gracious.

24:42Blair Underwood:And we talked in that. And I had to because I had left college, Carnegie Mellon. I had to write a final thesis on what those three years had been since I left school. That was going to be my credit. It ended up being, the thesis ended up being that conversation I had with Cindy Poitier for the last three hours of that flight. But he became a mentor of mine and he became very supportive. Every live theater performance I did, he was there, always supportive and just could not have been more gracious. He was a prince.

25:08Rich Eisen:The greatest. I mean, sometimes you'll see online famous people in an airplane setting, and you get to choose who you'd want to sit next to. It's just as a game, right?

25:21Blair Underwood:Yeah, yeah.

25:22Rich Eisen:I mean, out of all the people, you could have been set next to.

25:25Blair Underwood:Well, in Cine Poitier. It's insane. Also, you remember Hal Holbrook? Of course. Great character actor. Yeah. He was an actor who my mom would always point to when I was a kid, and she said, I hope you're that kind of actor. She didn't remember his name, but she said, But what I know is whenever I see him, he'll be in a quality project. Yes. He's a quality actor. Yes, sir. So he was sitting right behind us. Just coincidentally. And they're talking. Wow. Sidney Poitier, man, what am I doing here?

25:47Rich Eisen:What a flight. That was amazing. Oh, my goodness. All right. Next up, true or false, your L.A. law role once led to an invitation to Harvard Law School where you met the president of the Harvard Law Review named Barack Obama. That's very true.

26:00Suzy Shuster:Oh, come on. That's amazing.

26:04Rich Eisen:you like that one yeah i like that one as soon as you like that so okay really yeah that's my

26:10Blair Underwood:follow-up because my character that steven botchko created was jonathan rollins who was president of the harvard law review because of the harvard tie-in like the la kings okay let's let's connect you so they invited us to harvard law yeah i went there and everybody kept saying you have to meet this guy who is the first black president of the harvard law review and i met him i remember we all went out to dinner and um and that was it when he runs for president the new york times is doing an article on him and he said because of la law and the popularity of the show he said everybody calls him you know jonathan rollins he said that in the interview come on so they call my manager's office my manager says is that true i said wait wait a minute that was that tall guy with the big ears

26:50Rich Eisen:that was barack obama so yeah so that's that's very true because i was going to ask when he starts You know, he gave the speech when he was a senator at the Democratic National Convention, where that's when he began to really rise. That's right. And then he runs for president.

27:05Blair Underwood:I was wondering when you put two and two together, that's how you put two and two together. During the campaign, yeah. And I ended up campaigning for him and was invited to the first state dinner and got a chance to see him as president, which was just an incredible journey and victory in that respect. Damn, L.A. law really opened some doors. You know what, I'm telling you, it opened a lot of doors, man.

27:23Rich Eisen:Next up, true or false, I love this one, too. This is a great one. You're directing a certain person's narration in the second coming. You try to give him some pointers but realize he didn't need it because it was James Earl Jones. That's right.

27:38Blair Underwood:That's right. I really didn't think about giving him pointers. I figured I probably should, but maybe not.

27:45Rich Eisen:Come on. He's doing narration. You really thought for a split second, do it this way, do it that way?

27:51Blair Underwood:That was my first time directing. I said I should probably give him some direction. And he said, give me any kind of direction you want. Okay. We ended up doing a project together. And I remember one of my favorite all time sports movies is Field of Dreams. Sure. Of course that he was in. Yes. And I said, Mr. Jones, I love Field of Dreams. And that one scene, and of course, stupid me, I'm imitating him to him. And I said, when you say people will come, Ray, people will most definitely come. And now I had never thought of this. And he laughed and he said, what was it you liked? You like the sexual connotation?

28:24Blair Underwood:No, dude, I didn't even think about that. I was just saying I like the way your voice worked. He was a funny man.

28:31Rich Eisen:Didn't he say, I'm trying to remember, TJ, when we had some of the folks from the Sandlot on the show, and he tried to scare the kids at one point, saying, I am your father. Right. He did some Darth Vader.

28:44Blair Underwood:Like Luke, some Darth Vader stuff. Yeah, man. He was a great man. He had passed, I think, last year. Yeah, just recently.

28:49Rich Eisen:Yeah. All right, this is the last one. You'll like this one, Susan. True or false? in Sex and the City, the giant I love you cookie that caused Miranda to break up with you was real because you kept eating it for days after the scene.

29:05Blair Underwood:All of these are true. Not only was it real, they had five on the set. You always have to have a backup, of course. So we used two. I took three home. And they were like, I'm telling you, it must have been like three feet in diameter. It was huge and very good. It was. Good to me. What was it? What type of cookie?

29:24Rich Eisen:It was a chocolate chip.

29:24Suzy Shuster:Chocolate chip cookie.

29:25Rich Eisen:I'm sorry. I should have asked you. It was in the kitchen.

29:28Suzy Shuster:She went into the kitchen. She started shoving it in her face, and that was the dumbest breakup Miranda ever had. I want you to know that. Thank you, Susan. Dr. Robert Leeds is a legend. And, I mean, to choose Steve over Dr. Robert Leeds? Really.

29:43Blair Underwood:I love it. Thank you, Susie.

29:44Suzy Shuster:I'm still smarting on that one. Me, too. Yeah, I know.

29:47Blair Underwood:Me, too.

29:48Suzy Shuster:But then when Steve goes upstairs, or was it her? She went upstairs, and then you had two ladies in there?

29:52Blair Underwood:That's right. That's exactly right. So I got payback on that, right?

29:56Suzy Shuster:Just saying, I think, I mean, we could really go down a rabbit hole now. Could that have what turned her in the future? I don't know. Same. A lot of things. A lot of connection issues here. Connected some serious dots there. That's right.

30:08Blair Underwood:I think she was traumatized after that.

30:10Suzy Shuster:Yep. Yep.

30:11Blair Underwood:I love that you remember that. Did you meet any Knicks through that process? We did, yeah. Since you played the doctor of the Knickerbockers? We shot one scene when we first meet, actually, at Madison Square Garden. And there's some Knicks that day. We got a chance to hang out a little bit. Okay. Yeah.

30:27Rich Eisen:Okay. Do you have any follow-ups, Suze? I mean, honestly.

30:30Suzy Shuster:She's there. She's watching. She doesn't know who's playing. He looks across the court. He gives her, like, a little wink. She goes, oh, my God. He's looking at me. But I don't watch the show very much.

30:40Rich Eisen:It's like your national anthem. I love it. Literally. I know. You lived in New York City at the time? I know. You must get that quite a bit. What do you get the most?

30:48Blair Underwood:Last night I'm talking to this young kid, the son of the director. He's like 18. He's telling me all about Sex and the City. But he says, you know, this generation now with streaming, they're rediscovering that. And it's a whole new generation that's now kind of dialed into the show, which is very cool. Well, you're dialed in.

31:03Suzy Shuster:Because it's just as relevant as ever. I mean, it's got characters who are lonely that are searching for a there there. Yes. And it's also about your real first crack at independence. If you watched it from the beginning, that's really what it's about.

31:19Rich Eisen:It's about cookies, too, in many ways. Metaphorically and literally. Big giant chocolate cookies. Big giant cookies.

31:24Suzy Shuster:She sat there over the trash can, shoving it in her mouth. I'm like, stop eating!

31:27Blair Underwood:I love that. That's exactly right.

31:29Suzy Shuster:What are you, insane? This gorgeous guy's asking you to marry when you're eating a cookie? Just marry the man. Where's Magda? Clean up the stuff. Come on.

31:37Rich Eisen:I just never thought I ever would have to get a restraining order against my wife for a guest.

31:43Suzy Shuster:Honey, you had Ali Larder here. That's true.

31:46Rich Eisen:Two weeks ago. Okay, that's true.

31:47Suzy Shuster:For two segments, by the way.

31:49Rich Eisen:TJ, you have a question about a movie also for Blair, right? Didn't you?

31:53O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, we were coming out with the true or false. And, you know, one of my favorite movies that you're in is Just Cause. Oh, man. Because it seemed that you got to play the bad guy after doing the good guy role in L.A. Law. And that cast was just amazing with Sean Connery and Lawrence Fishburne and, you know, Ed Harris and a very young Scarlett Johansson. 10-year-old Scarlett Johansson, that's right. Any memories of shooting Just Cause?

32:15Blair Underwood:Yeah, just to, you know, we, well, the fact, and Sean Connery, of course, because he was Scottish, we could not shoot the ending. They had to reshoot the whole ending of that movie. Why? Because the test audiences didn't care for it for whatever reason. I don't even remember why. But we had to shoot the whole ending back in London because we shot it in Miami in the Bahamas because Sean Connery could only spend so many days in the United States because of his Scottish citizenship. Right. So, no, it was just cool, man. And they rebuilt this entire swamp, the size of a football field, 100 yards, man-made swamp.

32:46Blair Underwood:We shot that entire scene there where he shot James Bond for years at Pinewood Studios in London.

32:52Rich Eisen:Really? Yeah. So you're shooting in this. Man, you've had some experience.

32:57Blair Underwood:I've been very, very fortunate.

32:58Rich Eisen:So you're shooting with Sean Connery on the same studio set that he would shoot Bond movies.

33:03Blair Underwood:James Bond, yeah. That's wild. That's what I think about. I don't play. Those days, yeah.

33:08Rich Eisen:You like playing the bad guy?

33:09Blair Underwood:I love playing the bad guy because, you know, again, that L.A. Law was seven years of my life. And it really established certain roles. Sidney Poitier was a template of the kind of characters I wanted to play. But to kind of flip that on its head, Just Cause allowed me to do that. And then the next 20 years of my career was a lot of bad guys or in between where you don't know what to expect. Sure. Which is great.

33:28Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, congrats on everything going on with Youngblood. Let's talk about your book before I let you go, sir.

33:34Blair Underwood:You know, what Susie was saying just about Sex and the City House is really about the independence and people finding their independence. That was my mom. You know, she was in the 1950s, moved to New York City to look, to pursue fashion designing. She loved the TV show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, partially because of that. It's a great show. Woman in the 50s, yeah, finding herself. So that's why the subtitle is, it's called A Soldier's Wife, The Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood.

33:58Suzy Shuster:Oh, that's wonderful.

33:59Blair Underwood:And I should tell you, Soldier's Wife, I was doing a soldier's play on Broadway. this was her last hurrah right before the pandemic 2020 she got dressed up her last time kind of going out before she passed in october 2020 and she meets tony shalhoub who's from the cast of marvels mrs maysle and that's all she wanted to say she comes backstage i'm her son i'm starring on broadway it's opening night all she wants to say is i just met tony shalhoub so it was just appropriate you know that we uh subtitle it the marvelous mrs underwood i love it yeah so please it's on Amazon now pre-order it it's uh available April 14th yes yes so it's a love letter to to her anybody who has a mom or loves their mom is for you well did did you learn anything I mean about her I mean man rich I tell you I learned so much about the woman I never knew before she became my mother you know because it's taken from so many interviews from friends and you know she was she was a businesswoman too so a lot of audio interviews but um I didn't really know this young lady this teenage woman um who who who existed and it was incredible before she gave birth to myself and my older brother and two younger sisters and again it's it's called a soldier's

35:04Rich Eisen:wife my mother the marvelous mrs maryland a underwood um a soldier's wife again everybody uh pre-order it uh april 14th um i guess in time for mother's day it's not a bad idea too see right yeah it's about a month before it um and young blood is available in theaters this Friday, March 6th, a reimagining of that hockey classic starring Blair Underwood, who does not skate in it, but that's okay. That's okay. There's a lot of great skating, just not by me.

35:32Blair Underwood:He just acts his ass off. That's all he does. Great to see you, sir. Man, so great. Thank you for having me. This is a blast.

35:37Rich Eisen:Come back, come back any, any, any time you wish. I would love to. Thanks for coming. I think we've just barely scratched the surface on the true or false and I'll let Suze know when you're back. All right. Right. We can go through the whole, the whole, the whole episodes of Sex and the City. Anything else before I let Blair go?

35:53Suzy Shuster:No, I feel pretty good about this right now.

35:56Rich Eisen:Great to see you, man. You too, Rich. Blair Underwood right here on The Rich Eisen Show. We're back with O'Shea Jackson Jr. in a moment. Don't go anywhere. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

36:11Rich Eisen:Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. Because right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech or go all electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details.

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37:14Rich Eisen:Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with the deal so right it almost feels wrong because right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. There's the Bold and Stylus Elantra loaded with the latest tech. You can go all electric if you wish. Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9 are perfect examples of that. Get down your local Hyundai dealer now and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. Look who's joining us right now.

37:48Rich Eisen:Blair Underwood gets up and O'Shea Jackson Jr. sits down. Look at us on the program. Look at you. I like the black on black, the whole business.

37:56O’Shea Jackson Jr.:That's right. Me, Blair Underwood, it's like the source awards in here, man. We're killing it right now. And it's crazy you say that because I also cry when I see baseball movies. Why is that? Because you don't like them? Except for Sandlot.

38:09Rich Eisen:Yeah, okay. Yeah, Benny the Jet Rodriguez. You don't hate them all then? No, no, no, not them all. Okay. All right. So, you know, O'Shea Jackson Jr. here getting set to do no contest wrestling with TJ Jefferson. You come here frequently and accuse me of setting up a hostile work environment.

38:27O’Shea Jackson Jr.:100%.

38:28Rich Eisen:So that makes me JJ Reddick and you Luca? Is that what it makes? Is that what it is? Are you the Luca in this and I'm the JJ Reddick?

38:35O’Shea Jackson Jr.:I know I'm light-skinned, but like, my goodness, bro.

38:37Rich Eisen:Luca? No, I'm just. I mean, it's an honor. I mean, he is the man. I mean, you make plays. 77. You make plays. Yes, I do. What a play did I make? No, I'm just saying, you know, I see the head coach and I see, you know, trying to dap him up. Yeah. And he leaves him hanging. He's very upset. They're in the middle of a three-game losing streak. They wind up winning that game and winning two more in a row. And then J.J. Redick was before that third straight win last night against the Pelicans had this to say about the exchange.

39:10O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, I didn't think much of it at the time, to be honest with you. I don't think Luca did either. I mean, he and I have a great relationship. I really value our relationship. And I think those things happen, you know, not every game, but they happen very frequently. And, you know, sometimes you have to rehash them with a player or, you know, as a teammate, sometimes it happens player to player. It just, it's a competition. And, you know, there's two guys here who, in this case, are trying to win a basketball game and be on the same page about stuff. And frankly, like, you know, I talk about like player led teams all the time.

39:54O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Like I encourage guys talking to me or talking to our coaches and bringing stuff up and telling us what they need. It just I don't know why it went viral. It felt very normal to me.

40:05Rich Eisen:Okay. Yeah.

40:08O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Nothing? Let me tell you something, Rich. This is the Los Angeles Lakers. Okay. Jerry West, we are the logo of the league. The gold ball that is the logo of the Lakers is on top of the trophy. We are the league. Everything that happens on the Lakers is magnified just to no end. It's going to happen. Now, do I like that J.J. Redick is turning the Lakers into Duke basketball for some reason? Maybe not all the time, but sometimes it works. Yeah, you need a little turmoil right now. Things ain't all good. And if you act like they are, nothing will change. And so, yeah, I mean, we're headed in the right direction right now.

40:48O’Shea Jackson Jr.:But, you know, I'm never going to sweat. You know me. I'm obnoxious. Okay.

40:54Suzy Shuster:This is ridiculous. I think this is so crazy. Sometimes a coach and a player will disagree. Can you imagine if there were cameras on people the entire time Phil, Kobe, and Shaq were barking in each other in 2000-2003. And this whole idea that they have to be friends. They are not friends. They are co-workers. And if Luca doesn't like something that JJ does, let him not high-five him. This is not the Sandlot, you'd love to say.

41:23O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Nice.

41:24Suzy Shuster:Right? You like that?

41:25O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah, Sandlot.

41:25Suzy Shuster:This is such a non-story to me. Because I covered chaos all the time. And because there was so much back and forth amongst those three guys. the difference is phil would have never acknowledged this phil would have raised his eyebrow right and he would have he would have quietly made some little remark but he used to always say remember when he used to refer to kobe as uncoachable yeah and i had a book or something rather he'd send little messages like that but with the raised eyebrow and the soul patch and

41:58Rich Eisen:everyone would go about on his on his high chair but he had rings though yeah that's the difference right I mean he had rings and he was winning rings so like at this point in time what do we have right now other than somebody who's now here in Los Angeles we're trying to figure out how they're going to win one this year together you see what I'm saying and until then we're going to wonder no no I'm only using that just to troll on this year is a little shaky

42:29Suzy Shuster:but by the way until they win They're not wrong until they win. Right. There's always going to be trolls, videos, social media, poking, what have you. But there's going to be wholesale changes. We all know that's coming.

42:41Rich Eisen:We've got to see Luka take this team on that run with LeBron that he took, say, the Mavericks on two years ago. You know what I mean? For sure. It's entirely possible that that happens.

42:53O’Shea Jackson Jr.:The right pieces around them right now. And we're in limbo. JJ came here thinking he was going to have a team of LeBron and AD to work with and then got gifted Luka Doncic. And so things have to change. And, you know, you have to be able to adapt. And we're seeing that right now. And it takes a little bit more time than it would on NBA 2K. I will also like to say I've been coming to this show for 10 years. And that is the first time I've ever agreed with that desk right there. That is crazy. That is, man, impressive. What a landmark. You are welcome. Thank you.

43:28Rich Eisen:Thank you so much. Vast improvement, huh? Man. You got two cents on this matter? That's what we're talking about.

43:35O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Yeah. I don't know, man. I haven't been paying much attention to them because I'm worried about my guys. Worried. Sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry. That was rude. It was very rude. Hostile. Well, I see a report today that said Daryl Morey was looking to actively try to add Kawhi Leonard to the Sixers, and it didn't happen. And then all we did was we managed to trade away Jared McCain. and so on. Kawhi still can't quit Paul George.

43:59Rich Eisen:Is that why?

44:00O’Shea Jackson Jr.:If that were the case, he'd be a fixer. Is that what's going on? If that were the case, the trade would have happened. You know me, anytime the Lakers do bad, it's great for me. But they're not doing that. Yeah, but there's a strike. You're not going to go far.

44:15Rich Eisen:They're 13 games over.500. I get it. They are not in the scrum of hoping to get into the playoffs right now. Although they're just two in front of the Suns. When you're head coach and your star are obviously having some beef, that doesn't bode well, right? But you're just two and a half. Nine! Sorry. You're just two and a half games. The Lakers aren't two and a half. They're a game and a half away from hosting a playoff series.

44:43Suzy Shuster:Yeah, but don't you feel like it's the same thing with the Yankees? Unless the Yankees are leading, unless they're at the top, then they're losing.

44:51O’Shea Jackson Jr.:That's how it feels.

44:53Suzy Shuster:That's what greatness does. If you are a Laker fan, that's exactly right. If you're a Laker fan, we're there right now. This is not a success story.

45:00Rich Eisen:Yeah, you're not happy with this. I think the better analogy would be Cowboys for TJ because he doesn't understand what the Yankees have to deal with as a Met fan. All he's just trying to do is, all they're trying to do is just single white female half their roster from Soto to Holmes. Mr. Had to go get a bunch of Mets to win in 96. Get out of here.

45:21O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Take them all. I missed you guys. Take them all. strawberry. Is this the hostility? Yeah, man. Don't do that combine no more. Y 'all miss my birthday. You're shooting in Brockman's direction when he's not here.

45:32Rich Eisen:I'm shooting at TJ. You know what I mean? But you appreciate this sort of thing. I love it. But we're winning. You know what I mean? We're winning. By the way, if anybody's looking for any

45:43Suzy Shuster:toenail clippers or used toothbrushes, they're right here.

45:46O’Shea Jackson Jr.:No, they're not. Oh, don't touch that baseball that's down there. Do not touch that baseball that's down there. I wonder.

45:53Suzy Shuster:If anybody's looking for toenail clippers. I just found a couple pairs. Two of them? Yeah.

45:58Rich Eisen:You sit next to him. Is he clipping his hands and his feet with two different clippers? Yeah, you gotta separate them. Is he taking his... Is that a hand one and a foot one? Yeah.

46:10O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Oh my goodness. Felly, workers comp. Workers comp, bro. Let one of them toenails clip you. Yeah. I'm throwing mold over there. Yeah, man.

46:18Rich Eisen:So you're not concerned. Literally, at the end of the day. I mean, at the end of the day, when are we going to start? I guess they got another month to start gelling here.

46:26O’Shea Jackson Jr.:I'm not happy. I'm not through the roof, but I will always tell people I've seen worse. I was one of those Laker fans that was rooting for Andrew Galtlock minutes back in the day. Kendall Marshall, baby. Jordan Hill, you telling me that I'm supposed to jump off the ship when I got Luka and LeBron? You missed me and step your accuracy up.

46:50Rich Eisen:Ladies and gentlemen, O'Shea Jackson. Thank you, America. Who's on No Contest Wrestling?

46:56O’Shea Jackson Jr.:Today we have Penta. Penta, who's the new Intercontinental Champion over at WWE. Yes. And same episode, right? Yeah, BBB. Yeah, Chris Van Vliet, who is the man. Great guy. I've been on his show a few times. Now we're turning the favor. He's got motion in these wrestling streets. This is the first time you've seen me since we brought John Cena.

47:19Suzy Shuster:Oh, I heard John Cena was the best.

47:21O’Shea Jackson Jr.:He was the best for us. It was the greatest John Cena interview of all time, obviously. And we're not just saying that. Yeah, yeah. The News Report said it. ESPN said it. Yeah, all his friends said it, apparently. John Cena said it. Triple H said it. All the streets. Yeah. Paul Heyman said it. Jacob Batu said it.

47:36Rich Eisen:NCW, baby. Okay. We got motion. Well, that's the latest episode of No Contest Wrestling. It will be on your RSS feed by nightfall. We're back to wrap this show on Disney Plus in a moment. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app.

47:58O’Shea Jackson Jr.:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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