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Hot Ones - Season 29 - Episode 08: Colman Domingo Escapes the Jaws of Darkness While Eating Spicy Wing
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00:00It's coming in. Yeah. Yeah, okay. It's starting to smack me in the face. Just a little bit.
00:13Hey, what's going on, everybody? For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans, and you're watching Hot Ones.
00:17It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings. And today we're joined by Coleman Domingo.
00:21He's an actor, playwright, and director coming off back-to-back Academy Award nominations for
00:25Best Actor into an incredibly busy year, from the final season of Euphoria, which premieres on HBO
00:30April 12th, to the return of the four seasons on Netflix later this spring, to the Spielberg-directed
00:34sci-fi film Disclosure Day in theaters June 12th. And finally, he plays the Jackson family patriarch
00:39in the long-awaited biopic Michael, which is set to hit theaters on April 24th. Coleman Domingo,
00:44welcome to the show. Wow, that was good, man. I sound really busy.
00:49Well, you are very busy. Thanks for taking the time. I know that you're booked. What's going
00:53through your head as you prepare to take on the Hot Ones gauntlet? I know that you do
00:57have a particular fondness for condiments. I love condiments, like, dearly. Like, I'd marry
01:01condiments if I wasn't married already. My whole side of fridge is filled with condiments. And
01:06I'm not, I think I'm feeling a little bit more confident, though, than I was maybe an hour
01:11ago. I was, I got really nervous. I don't know why.
01:38It's already on the, oh, on this one. Oh, good. Okay. Garlic Delight.
01:47Mmm, that's nice. That's good. It's the light in my mouth.
01:56So, the music in this film spans some of the most joyful recordings ever made, from ABC
02:00to Billie Jean to Thriller. Was there a performance sequence that was most mind-blowing to watch
02:06on set as a spectator? Oh, man. There was. I would say, uh, when he does the Motown 25 performance,
02:13um, the first time you see the moonwalk, Jafar is a revelation. I mean, you've never seen anything
02:17like it. I mean, he goes, um, frame by frame and beat by beat to really be really exacting on
02:25Michael's dance. And that's extraordinary. I feel good. Are you ready to move on here to wing
02:30number two? Sure. Why not? All right. So, up next is a pickled garlic sriracha here at the two spot.
02:34I like pickles, I like garlic, and I like sriracha. So, here we go.
02:43That's good.
02:49That's nice. It's light. You're trying to psych me out.
02:53Right? You're like, ah, we're going to do a little dance with it. It's pretty good.
02:58So, I've heard you refer to yourself as a child of the theater and then talk about these storied
03:02institutions, like the public theater, downtown Manhattan as church. Do you have a favorite
03:07moment in the day-to-day of a stage production? Like, is there more magic in the pre-show buzz
03:13or the curtain call for you?
03:15Hmm. I think the pre-show buzz is great because I feel like you're about to go take a leap
03:20of faith
03:21with a bunch of people who are here to be, to experience something honest and raw and exciting.
03:28Those, you get a lot of nerves. Sometimes you're like, you're singing with your castmates. You're
03:32like, getting in the mood of it so you can prepare yourself for the audience. It's just amazing.
03:37Reflecting back on early performances at places like the Brooklyn Rep or Campo Santo or the
03:43California Shakespeare Theater. Wow! You went way back.
03:46Is there a production that you look back on and think of as most impactful or paradigm shifting in
03:51your journey as an actor? Oh yeah, for sure. It's Passing Strange. It's a show that I did that was
03:56a
03:56co-production between Berkeley Rep and the public theater. And anything that I've ever done on
04:01Broadway actually started out in a regional theater and with some wily way of figuring out
04:05we're going to make some crazy art. And then it becomes commercialized in some way. So Passing
04:09Strange was that for me. It was a show that came to me literally right after I lost my mother.
04:15And it was the art to sort of like, I'd say it saved my life. It gave me somewhere to
04:20put that
04:21heartache. It gave me somewhere to put all the characters that were inside of me to build a
04:26company. And we just, we really just like, we stood on the edge creating a new musical.
04:32And then it moved to Broadway and then it became successful there. And then Spike Lee filmed it.
04:37And so it's one of those special things where I'm like, oh, this absolutely changed all of our lives.
04:46white hot mustard sauce.
04:50Oh, that smells so good.
04:52Taking a hit.
04:53You don't know if it's a connoisseur.
04:55I can tell this is a sauce man right here.
05:01Oh, that's really good.
05:04Hits.
05:06That's nice. That's really nice.
05:09And sounds like we're three for three here with the sauces, like in your wheelhouse.
05:12That's good. And it has a little kick.
05:14It has a little, a little kick that comes in a little later.
05:17And let's not underestimate the cumulative effect here.
05:20You know what I mean? We're three down.
05:23Wall's starting to close in, but nothing we can't handle.
05:25No, we're doing good. We're doing good.
05:28What's the experience like for an actor when you're playing a hero and a villain almost
05:32simultaneously? Like in a year when you go from Mr. and the color purple,
05:36to then Bayard Rustin and Rustin, does that create like a kind of Stanislavski method vertigo
05:42in you as an actor? Does it really not work like that?
05:45You know what? I don't know, but I feel like I know how to tap into those things in very
05:50strange
05:50ways. So I constantly have that in my career, which is wild, but also that speaks to the work
05:55that I do. I keep challenging myself. And so for me, I know that heroes and villains live in
06:00every human being, and I want to see how I can make them the most complicated versions of
06:05themselves. So I'm game.
06:07And then as a talk show host, I'm just curious how you built out your character as a dystopian
06:12game show host in The Running Man. Like, was there anything that you were particularly drawing on to
06:17find like the cynicism in hosting?
06:19Yeah, I went through down the rabbit's hole of like show hosts. So I went to whether Steve Harvey
06:24or whether it was a talk show host, it could have been Oprah, could have been, you know,
06:28Wendy Williams, whatever. And then eventually I was like, what kind of show host or talk show host
06:32is this person. And then literally the day before I started rehearsals, they just released
06:37the Jerry Springer documentary. I started watching it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think I have
06:44something here. Here's someone who is absolutely stirring people up and their ugly selves. And
06:52then feels like I have nothing to do with it. I sit back, I'm chill. I didn't do anything.
06:56Someone who can rest easy, but then also stir it all up. And I thought, well, that's who he is.
07:02It says in the script that I'm the most famous show host in the world. And I thought, well,
07:07what does that look like? So I wanted to create that character who was just like rich and fabulous
07:12and a little showy, but also someone who, you know, he sleeps well at night.
07:18There's no blood on my hands.
07:19No blood on his hands at all. Exactly.
07:26Oh, that smells good. Oh my God. When I walked in here, it just smelled like hot sauce for like
07:31everywhere.
07:32Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's, that's an aggregate, you know, but once you start taking them out piece
07:35by piece, you know, a lot of beautiful colors in here.
07:37Hmm. That's good. A little smoky.
07:41Mm-hmm. Peachy. And then I think it has that kick at the end. You know, you're an experienced sauceman.
07:47And so, you know, sometimes they can be a little deceiving at first and then.
07:51Exactly. I think I'm doing all right.
07:53You're doing great.
07:54Yeah. I'm judging myself right now. Like how am I doing?
07:58It feels good.
07:59You're doing great. Take it from me.
08:02So whenever I hear you talk about food in an interview, it's clear that you're someone who
08:06knows exactly what you're talking about. If you could travel at hyperspeed for breakfast in London,
08:12lunch in Philadelphia, and dinner in LA, how would you break down like your three,
08:17perfect meals and a food day?
08:19Oh, that's good. Um, breakfast in London. I think I would just go for a simple English
08:24breakfast, you know, very simple, you know, with the beans and all that good stuff. Lunch
08:29in Philadelphia. Oh man, I would go for a messy, nasty cheese steak with like some...
08:34Ishkabibble?
08:35I would go to Ishkabibble. That's my jam.
08:37I know.
08:38Ishkabibble is everything. It's messy. It's greasy. You can either get with provolone or whiz.
08:43I always change it up. My order is with salt, pepper, ketchup, pickles, and sweet peppers.
08:48Sometimes you get fried onions. It all depends on what I like, but I love a good cheese steak.
08:52And then dinner. I would go to LA and I would go to... You know what? There's a really good
08:58place called Clark's Seafood and it's fantastic. It's just really good oysters. I love a good oyster.
09:04An oyster always tastes like a celebration to me.
09:07Yeah, I agree. I celebrate with oysters every birthday.
09:12This one, I feel like it's going to mess me up a little bit.
09:15Dangerous. Dangerous smelling.
09:17It does. You know, because I feel like your body knows chemically. You know what your body
09:22likes and what it doesn't like. And I'm like, I don't know about this. My brain's like,
09:26be careful. Let's see.
09:35There's a little chicken on there blowing fire out of its mouth.
09:39I know. All right. Solid disclaimer.
09:43Don't give it to your chickens.
09:46Is it true that you choose a unique scent for each character you play? And if so, can you talk
09:52me through how you would define maybe a scent for like Victor Strand in Fear of the Walking
09:57Dead? Like, can you talk us through the process?
09:59So good, man. Not that I'm surprised, but like, you've done a deep dive. I love...
10:05Well, I'm going to have you eat these scorching hot chicken wings. They got to meet you halfway
10:08in some way.
10:08I love scents. For Victor Strand, because I was in the apocalypse, I don't think I used
10:14that much scents with him.
10:15Do you have any foundational advice for how one can find their own signature scent? Like,
10:20are there certain personality traits or style proclivities that make somebody more, say,
10:24like, woodsy than citrusy?
10:25I feel like you can do a character analysis and say, oh, you're more like this. I bet you're
10:30like this as a person. Like, I like fresh, grassy. I like a little oud. I like, um, so the
10:36scents
10:36that I love are like a little playful. And, um, but also I'm not afraid of floral either.
10:41Like, I love gardenia. I love like something heavy, but not rose. Rose is...
10:46What's wrong with rose?
10:47Rose, there's nothing wrong with rose, but rose you just got to be very careful with
10:50because it can be overpowering. It could dominate anything. You can't really layer rose. You
10:55know, I like to layer. I will wear like three or four scents at one time. I put a little
10:58right
10:58here. I have something different here and I may put something different on the back.
11:02Whoa!
11:02Oh, so, you know, you can smell me when I'm leaving.
11:08You got a full three-act structure here.
11:10Exactly, exactly, exactly.
11:18Homegrown hell. Okay. Sauce leopard.
11:22Hitting it with this.
11:23Oh, whoa, whoa. Now, calm down. This is... You're going to put that on you? Okay.
11:27There we go. Wow. Okay. This is...
11:38This is another one that I think a couple seconds down the line. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah.
11:43It sits. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. Wait.
11:50That's a sneaky little... You got to watch.
11:54Yeah. So maybe this is a naive question, but is there anything uniquely challenging about a trained
12:02actor playing an amateur one like you did in Sing Sing? Like, do you have to unlearn things? Are you
12:08actually acting better because you're capturing a raw version of the form? It's just from the outside
12:13looking in just seems like such a galaxy brain endeavor. You know what you have to do? You have
12:22to see a good actor or not. And I made a choice that he was fine. I was like, I
12:29was like, yeah,
12:30you can, you can make a choice. I'm playing an actor. I'm like, he's really good at what
12:32he does. I'm like, he's fine. He's, he's, he's good enough. Cause I also feel. Wow.
12:41Oh, something happened.
12:45It just, it just hit something in there. It was like, I'm not done. It was saying you
12:58could talk, but I'm not done. But I think that you really have to make a decision. And
13:01my co-stars who I loved, and they were all men who went through the rehabilitation of the
13:05arts program and they were, they were good actors, you know, but I think that they had
13:09a rawness to them, which was also their appeal. You know, they, they, they should not have
13:13been expected to be Meryl Streep, you know, but, but, but they had the, the integrity and
13:19the heart to achieve, you know, greatness in that way.
13:29Oh, yeah.
13:33Funky. Who's, who's funky?
13:35Yeah. Well, yeah, cause it's in the possessives. There is a funky out there somewhere, you know,
13:41this one's kind of the one that knocks me back a little bit.
13:45Ooh.
13:47Ooh.
13:49Ooh.
13:55Oh, yeah.
13:57Okay.
13:59This is, uh, yeah, this one is, um, to be desired.
14:04Yeah, this is, uh, this is, uh, this is hitting.
14:07Yeah.
14:08Yeah.
14:08It's hitting a little bit.
14:09We're up in the clouds at this point.
14:11Yeah.
14:12So you just try to get some breaths.
14:14It's tough in this altitude.
14:15Yeah.
14:16Yeah.
14:16Find it.
14:17It's okay.
14:17Find it right there.
14:18Right there.
14:20What's your approach to handling a director's note that feels off base to you?
14:23Like, are there any, uh, rules of engagement when it comes to onset diplomacy?
14:29I think you have to, I know that I've had a practice of, let's see if there's a note from
14:35a director that you're just not sure of.
14:38Sometimes I think the job is to just like look and say, hmm, okay, great.
14:41Got it.
14:42And then you go and do what you're supposed to do.
14:43But I think it's also important to try something.
14:46Why not try it?
14:48You don't know what's in your head.
14:50And same here.
14:50But I will always ask as well as an actor, say, can I try one?
14:54Or I'll always get one from me if I want to try something really wild and off-putting
14:58in some way, you know?
15:05You did a great job of just eloquently nailing that answer.
15:09And then we just kind of let it out.
15:12Uh-huh.
15:12You know?
15:12Yeah, exactly.
15:13Just lose a notch on the belt.
15:15That's it.
15:16It's zen, man.
15:17That's right.
15:17As the actor in me, I just go to a zen place, a quiet place.
15:21Yeah.
15:21And reset.
15:22Well, you know, you're really going to need it for this next one because we have to bomb
15:28Beyond Insanity.
15:29Yeah, I've seen that before.
15:36This doesn't even smell right.
15:39Okay, just, all right, give me a little.
15:49Oh.
15:56You were saying?
15:57Yeah.
16:01Look at that actor in you.
16:02Look at that zen.
16:03Look at you finding the balance right now.
16:05Listen, I've worked with zombies.
16:08I've played Joe Jackson.
16:09No fear.
16:10No fear.
16:11You've got to go for it.
16:12You're like, this is tough.
16:13But I've been on 16-hour sets.
16:15I've been tougher than this.
16:17That's right.
16:18Woo!
16:18But you know what?
16:19As far as press goes, as far as interviews go.
16:21It's coming in.
16:22Yeah.
16:23Yeah, okay.
16:24It's starting to smack me in the face.
16:26Just a little bit.
16:27Is a photojournalist a major a lifelong performer yourself?
16:31Do you have any foundational tips for aspiring actors when it comes to taking proper headshots?
16:36I think I don't even know what you just said.
16:38I think, um, I think, listen.
16:45Listen, uh, first of all, you should always try to dress like the job you want to get.
16:50Plain and simple.
16:51You want to just show yourself.
16:53You don't want to do, like, back when I was coming up, you had to have a shot with some
16:56glasses hanging from your mouth, showing you that you're smart, looking at a watch.
17:02You're concerned about time.
17:04And it's something when you're a thug wearing a leather jacket.
17:06You know, like me, trying to look like a thug.
17:08Because I'm a tough guy.
17:10A tough guy.
17:10But you needed to have, like, four.
17:11That was the thing.
17:12And that was back in the day when you had to staple the headshots together.
17:15We don't do that.
17:16Thank God.
17:17But I think you just always have to present yourself as, like, really in the way that
17:20of the job that you want to get.
17:22What's the biggest mistake young actors make when picking an audition monologue?
17:26Like, are there any lessons that you had to learn the hard way?
17:29There is, actually.
17:30I would, I've gone into colleges and I would do sort of monologue slams.
17:35I'm going to ask a student to show me a monologue that presents you and what you want to do.
17:41I remember we had this one time.
17:42It was at SCAD in Savannah.
17:45And this young woman presented with a monologue from Neil LaBute's Fat Pig.
17:51And she was a big girl.
17:52And then I said, so why did you choose that monologue?
17:55And she said, well, I think that this is the way that industry will see me.
17:58And then I just said it.
18:01And I didn't know that it would lead to this sort of a reawakening.
18:07I said, well, how do you see yourself?
18:09I said, because when you walked in, when I talked to you, I saw a queen.
18:13I saw Juliet.
18:14I saw all these things.
18:16And I said, so don't limit yourself.
18:18And she burst into tears.
18:20Everyone burst into tears.
18:20I burst into tears.
18:22But I realized that that was part of, I knew that that was my journey.
18:25It was like, in order for me and any young person to say, how do I want the world to
18:28perceive me?
18:30You got to perceive yourself first.
18:35I feel above my lip, like Whitney Houston, how she used to sweat.
18:41Oh, man.
18:42I know.
18:43That smells like it hurts.
18:47Oh, why a big piece?
18:49No.
18:50You know how the last one was super hot and then had no redeeming culinary qualities to speak of?
18:56Yeah.
18:57It's almost like the worst is over.
18:59That's what I'm talking about.
19:00This is actually good.
19:01I'm good.
19:02What you got for me?
19:04This is good.
19:06Which pre-fame job do you remember most fondly?
19:08Working customer service at Macy's, slinging drinks at the 55 Bar, or your time as an aerial performer in the
19:14circus?
19:15Man, you do good.
19:19Slinging drinks at 55 Bar.
19:21I worked at this famous jazz bar in the West Village.
19:25It's no longer there.
19:25But, dude, I've got to listen to the best jazz musicians from around the world every single night.
19:30You know, I'm a people person.
19:31I think that was the best side hustle gig for me.
19:34I've bartended for 15 years.
19:36From Nash Bridges to True Crime, Law & Order, and its various spinoffs, is there a bit or guest role
19:42from early on in your career that you think of as, like, the most interesting character to play, even if
19:47the screen time and lines were limited?
19:49Oh, yeah, I know exactly what that is.
19:51It was this role.
19:53I wish I remembered his name, but it was on Nash Bridges, and I played this criminal who kidnapped Don
20:00Johnson's daughter.
20:01However, he busts in to get me after he finally finds out it's me, and I'm bench pressing in a
20:10Coogee sweater.
20:12It's the weirdest thing you've ever seen in your life.
20:14I am dressed in, like, one of those Bill Cosby Coogee sweaters, and I'm bench pressing.
20:19Then I'm like, he busts in, and I'm like, oh, he's throwing the weights off, and then I run towards
20:27a door, and he kicks me in the butt through the door.
20:33Then he turns me around in this heavy-ass Coogee sweater, and he's like, where is she?
20:37I'm like, I don't know.
20:38He's like, where is she?
20:38And he smacks me, whatever.
20:41And I just remember that was the weirdest thing in the world.
20:43They usually didn't cast people each season.
20:46Once you did that show, that was it for you.
20:48But I kept coming in, I was like, with a hump on my back or something.
20:51I don't know.
20:52But I just kept transforming, and they never found out it was me.
20:56Mark of a great actor.
20:58All right.
20:58All right, Coleman.
21:00What is this?
21:05Last dab.
21:09Why pinky up?
21:10I'm like, what am I doing?
21:12I'm like, what am I doing?
21:15You're a sophisticated.
21:17Yeah.
21:17You're sophisticated, that's why.
21:19You're sophisticated.
21:21Here we go.
21:22Last dab.
21:23Ready?
21:24Cheers.
21:32And with that, Coleman Domingo, the wings of death are behind us.
21:37Pinky out.
21:39Delicate napkin touch.
21:41Yeah.
21:42All right.
21:43And, you know.
21:45I paint shot to this side of my mouth for no reason.
21:48This has been a wonderfully spicy journey through your acting career.
21:52And I've heard you talk about how theater trained you to find the truth, even in the most extreme of
21:58circumstances.
21:58And you know what?
22:00There's nothing realer than what we just did.
22:02Eating ten scorching hot chicken wings.
22:05Uh-huh.
22:05Is there a monologue or a line from a play that comes to mind that best distills the kind of
22:12truth that you're feeling right now?
22:14Well, for all that I could ever read, I could ever hear by Taylor History.
22:20The course of true love never did run smooth.
22:23But either it was different in blood or else miscrafted in respect of years or else it stood upon the
22:26choice of friends.
22:27Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, war, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, making it momentary
22:32as a sound, swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
22:34brief as the lightning in the collied night that in the spleen unfolds both heaven and earth.
22:39And ere a man has power to say behold, the jaws of darkness do devour it up.
22:46So quick, bright things come to confusion.
22:50The jaws of darkness stood no chance and look at you, Coleman Domingo, taking on the wings of death,
22:56living to tell the tale and now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
23:00This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
23:04Uh, what?
23:08I have, um, ooh, okay, hi.
23:13My name is Coleman Domingo.
23:14I have a few things going on besides that pain shooting around my mouth.
23:20It's like dancing around, doing figure eights and stuff.
23:24I am, um, I have a, uh, second season of, uh, four seasons coming out on Netflix.
23:32And then I also have the third season of Euphoria coming out.
23:36And then I have, uh, a little biopic about Michael Jackson called Michael coming out.
23:42So I really hope to, uh, see you in the movie theaters on the small screen.
23:45Mmm.
23:47Oh.
23:48Sweet.
23:49Jesus.
23:51Oh.
23:53It keeps going.
23:56Oh, I did it.
23:57I did it without tape.
23:58That was my goal.
23:58Let's see if I can get through it.
24:00It was...
24:01No water, no milk.
24:03No.
24:04I was like...
24:05But see, I'm crazy like that.
24:07I feel like I'm...
24:07If Will Forte can do it, I can do it.
24:09You know, Will Forte.
24:09Yeah, because Will Forte did it and I went to set and I'm like, you're a maniac.
24:15Thank you so much.
24:16Dude, this is great.
24:18Did you have a good time?
24:19I had a great time, Sean.
24:20This is great, man.
24:21Thank you so much.
24:27Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
24:29This is Sean Evans and I want to introduce you to the new kids on the block.
24:33Say hello to the Season 29 Hot Ones Hot Sauce lineup.
24:37And if you want a chance to taste the show, it's easy.
24:41Just visit Hot Ones.com.
24:43Hot Ones.com.
24:44That's Hot Ones.com to get your hands on the Season 29 Hot Ones Hot Sauce lineup.
24:50Keep milk on the ready.
24:51Ice cream not included.
24:53But most importantly, I believe in you.
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