00:00I'm Lance Gross, and I value creativity.
00:17Batch, thank you for coming to my studio and allowing me to turn my camera on you.
00:22Thank you for having me.
00:23Yeah, so basically with this project, I've come up with a wish list of celebrity friends
00:28that I wanted to invite into my studio.
00:31Also, I've been assigning a special value that's special to me.
00:35For you, I chose creativity just because I feel like you're one of the most creative beings that I've ever met.
00:42Super creative.
00:43Thank you, thank you. You heard that, Mom? I made it.
00:47So now with that, when I say creativity, what does that mean for you?
00:52Creativity means thinking outside the box.
00:55It means, for me, it's being unique. It's not doing what everybody else does.
00:59If you do something that somebody else does, it's taking what they do and taking it to the next level, amplifying it.
01:05So I know your mind moves at rapid speeds. Mine does too.
01:10But it's because of ADD.
01:12Yours is because of the creativity. What have you already created today?
01:17What have I created? I do daily vlogs. I try to skit. What else have I done? I went to the gym.
01:27I didn't work out, but I just went. Just to say, I went to the gym that day.
01:31And I came here and we did a photo shoot. We did a lot today.
01:34Yeah, it's a full day.
01:35I didn't even eat yet.
01:37Okay, so I'll give you a scenario. You're in the middle of filming a skit.
01:42Mm-hmm.
01:43And you realize it sucks.
01:46Right.
01:47Right in the middle of shooting it.
01:48Yeah. What do you do?
01:49Well, see, what I do now, because that used to happen, it's you always have an idea of how it should go.
01:55And you just got to be able to know that things may not go the way you want them to.
01:59So you have to know how to roll with the punches.
02:00Right, right.
02:01So now what I do is I'll just come up with a loose idea and I'll just improv it.
02:05And I'll just keep talking until it's funny.
02:07And that's what I do now.
02:08Okay.
02:09And I'll keep going. So now I'll rarely come into a situation where I'm like, oh, this is horrible.
02:13Because I've already set my mind up that before I go into this skit, I'm just going to do something that's free.
02:18Right, right, right.
02:19Just, you know, whatever happens, happens.
02:21So how do you know when something's dope that you're doing?
02:24Oh, man. I mean, isn't everything I do dope?
02:27No.
02:28No, I just, there's a feeling that you get where it's, when I make videos, I don't, I don't really make them for the audience.
02:36I make them for me.
02:37Right.
02:38And if it makes me happy, if it makes me smile, if it makes me laugh, then I'm going to upload it.
02:42If it doesn't make me laugh, then I'm not going to upload it.
02:45So, I mean, that's how I started it off.
02:46When I started off making videos, I didn't do it for the world.
02:49I just did it just to show my friends.
02:51It was like, yo, look at this.
02:52You think this is funny?
02:53And they're like, yeah, it's funny.
02:54And then that's all.
02:55So like when I first started off, I was getting like five or 10 likes.
02:58And I'm like, yo, that's cool.
02:59That's fine with me.
03:00And then like one time I got 71 likes.
03:02I'm like, yo, 71 likes.
03:05They like it.
03:06Yeah.
03:07And then now from, if I'm getting less than 3000 likes in a minute, I'm like, wait, something's wrong.
03:11Yeah.
03:12You know?
03:13So it's, it's different now.
03:14But yeah.
03:15So with that, do you ever feel the pressure of not being funny?
03:18Uh, the pressure of not being funny.
03:21Hmm.
03:22No, not really because someone, I've realized that someone always finds the humor in something,
03:29no matter what it is.
03:30If I'm just looking at the camera, just staring, not saying nothing, you're going, you're going
03:35guarantee that four comments down, there's going to be three laughing emojis.
03:39Yeah.
03:40Like it's just, someone always finds the comedy in something.
03:43What, what are some of your influences?
03:46My influences, people that I look up to.
03:49The first person that got me into entertainment was Jim Carrey.
03:53I was watching, uh, Ace Ventura, The Mask, all those movies.
03:56And I was like, dang, I want to do what he's doing.
03:58Yeah.
03:59Um, and then I started listening to back in the day.
04:02You remember LimeWire?
04:03The download.
04:04Yeah, the download, the illegal downloads.
04:05Yeah.
04:06I would download and I would listen to, uh, Eddie Murphy, uh, his delirious, delirious and raw.
04:11Yeah.
04:12And I didn't know it was standup.
04:13I just, I just thought it was some funny guy just talking and telling stories.
04:16Yeah.
04:17So I was like, dang.
04:18It wasn't until I hit college that I realized that that was his standup.
04:21And I was like, yo, I want to do standup.
04:23And then I started doing standup.
04:24And then after the standup, I started making YouTube videos.
04:27And so Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, um, uh, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, all the legends, Martin Lawrence.
04:35Yeah.
04:36Yeah.
04:37So if you had to pick one comedian to walk in their shoes for a day, who would it be?
04:42It wouldn't even be a comedian.
04:43Okay.
04:44It would be Will Smith.
04:45Oh, wow.
04:46Yeah.
04:47Wow.
04:48He's like my all time favorite.
04:49How do you keep up with social media?
04:53Because, I mean, your brand is growing.
04:55Mm-hmm.
04:56Like how do you keep up with the social media aspect and also the, the film and television
05:01side?
05:02Yeah.
05:03I just, I'm just always working.
05:04Yeah.
05:05You know, most people, a lot of people, they look at it and they say, ah, the social media
05:10stuff, the entertainment, it's easy.
05:13But they don't really realize how much work we put into it.
05:15Like the normal is nine to five.
05:17Right?
05:18Yeah.
05:19So I wish my day was from nine to five.
05:21Our days are, you gotta wake up, you said you woke up at six in the morning today.
05:24Yeah.
05:25Right?
05:26And then you gotta, you do this and then you gotta edit it and you gotta look at everything.
05:29But like, that's what we do.
05:30It's like I'm waking up early in the morning and then I do what I have to do, but people
05:34don't realize I have to go back and I have to edit it.
05:36And then after I finish editing, I have to upload it.
05:38And then I also gotta think of new ideas for the next day.
05:41You know, in my mind, you know, I come from a sports background, athletic background.
05:45So I'm very competitive.
05:46Yeah.
05:47And you know, I look at all the statistics I have.
05:50I look at how much, how many followers I'm getting a day.
05:52Right.
05:53You know, if I'm not getting like 30,000 followers a day, I'm doing something wrong.
05:57And I'm going back trying to figure out what I need to do to make another viral video.
06:00So I can get those, the gains that I need to get, you know, it's like, it's like a gym.
06:04You're doing a lot and I'm proud of you, man.
06:07Is there an off switch?
06:09Cause you seem like you're always ready.
06:11You're ready to go.
06:12You're ready to do it.
06:13Just tackle every, everything that comes your way.
06:15Is there an off switch?
06:16Uh, when I'm sleeping, I mean, that's the only off switch.
06:20You can't the, when the moment you take a break, someone else is working harder.
06:24Yeah.
06:25You know, and that's true because that's me.
06:26I'm waiting for, I'm looking on my Twitter.
06:28Ah, they not tweeting, they sleeping.
06:29I'm doing another idea, post another video because you can't sleep, especially for, for what I do.
06:35I have, I have international fans.
06:38So I got to post at five in the morning, three in the morning, because three in the morning over here is like 12 PM over in Amsterdam.
06:47You know?
06:48So let me ask you this.
06:49When do you get your best ideas?
06:51My best ideas?
06:53In the shower or just out with friends and something naturally happens.
07:00I read a book that said you get a lot of your, you're more creative when you first wake up in the morning and right before you go to sleep.
07:08So I know if I wake up out of a dream and I get an idea, I'm just going to write it.
07:12Sometimes it'll be like, it'll be like five in the morning.
07:14I'll wake up and I'll write an idea and then I'll wake up like later on.
07:18I'll look at it like, oh, what was I thinking?
07:21Do you ever feel like the pressure, like a lot of comedians and actors, they feel pressure to be politically correct when they're producing their own material.
07:30Do you feel that pressure or do you just live by your own means and just, if it offends, it offends?
07:36Well, the thing is with comedy, all types of comedy offend someone on some level.
07:42You know, whether it be a little bit offensive or majorly offensive.
07:45Now there's certain lines I don't cross.
07:47I've never made a video about rape.
07:51I've never done a video about domestic violence.
07:54Um, and I don't think I've done a video about homosexuality.
07:59It's just, those are like, you know, and those are just things I don't, I don't cross on, you know?
08:06Yeah, but, you know, there's some issues that I have to talk about.
08:09Like, you know, the things with our people that are happening in the media with, you know, the, the racism.
08:16So I, we, I had to speak out on that.
08:18So do you, do you have a favorite?
08:20Like out of Vine, Snapchat, Instagram, television or film?
08:25Definitely television film.
08:27Yeah.
08:28Yeah.
08:29Yeah. Filming, filming movies, it's, it's a lot harder because the process is so much longer.
08:35Yeah.
08:36Uh, TV would be the most enjoyable, but the most rewarding for me is filming movies.
08:43Well, I wish you all the success. I, I really appreciate you being a part of this.
08:48Yeah, you know, yeah, you're, you're a friend of mine.
08:51And I'm rooting for you.
08:52And thank you for joining me and letting me turn my camera on you.
08:55Yes, sir.
08:56Yeah.
08:57You too, brother, man.
08:58Yes, sir.
08:59So they gonna bring in the champagne and the ghost.
09:02What goes on now?
09:04Creativity is important to me because I'm an actor, I'm an entertainer, I'm a photographer,
09:12I always have to have new and fresh ideas.
09:17I always have to be willing to bring a character to life.
09:20This is what I love to do.
09:22You know, I love being creative, you know, so that's why creativity is important to me.
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