Actor Josh Segarra on How Fatherhood Fueled His Career

0:02 Josh welcome to Dad Saves America thanks a lot man fun to be here one of the reasons why I was excited to have you on is like you are you're like on camera just nothing but positive energy and man do we need that right now right there's so much uh negativity out there in the world and I feel like anybody that can bring optimism positivity and dad at the same time is just somebody I want to be

0:28 talking to so um where does that come from have you always just been like Mr Smiles since you were a little kid what well first I'm thankful that they let me play these parts you know cuz uh they're all very well-written characters and they're they're definitely freeing to live inside of these characters for sure but uh yeah man I'm I'm always man the best way to be is to try to be laughing through certain things right and I I I I

0:58 definitely won't deny that I like having a good time I definitely you know grew up uh trying to enjoy myself but I think that starts with my family you know I come from really really loving and supportive parents I definitely think it started there what was your what was your house like with with your parents tell paint the picture of you know the cigara family yeah we uh I grew up in Longwood Florida uh it's a town

1:28 outside of Orlando you know uh my parents moved from Puerto Rico after they graduated pharmacy school they uh moved to Palm Beach Florida I'm really thankful for the life that my parents gave me and my brother and my sister and I can look back now and I remember my parents vividly working hard to be able just to get us on every field trip and and and and let me play whatever sport I wanted to play and and yeah just yeah

1:58 really thankful for this life that uh my parents have given me you mentioned Nickelodeon I worked for several years at Nick from I think you would have been like 15 when I was working at Nick okay so I want to hear what were your favorite Nickelodeon shows well you tell me first what did you work on so I was in the promos Department here in the city okay so uh you know I was doing for everything rocket power SpongeBob Jimmy

2:23 Neutron of course uh you know Invader Zim had just left the air when I joined Nick okay but uh know and some of the the the Nick Jr stuff wow okay so I remember I would watch rocket power the most out of the ones you mentioned really absolutely do you remember the rocket power movie of course of course I did this trailer that was um it was like you know I I started off at MTV and so I

2:51 really I wanted to be like in bigger more adult stuff yeah so I got to do the promo for rocket power and so I was like I got to make this like a big movie trailer so I got Don fontainea do the voice that's awesome in a world you know that's awesome one kid confronts his past that's awesome that's awesome that's very cool you worked on that that's awesome uh I remember stick stickly oh yeah remember that when he

3:16 was throwing you to Pete and Pete I started on Salute Your Shorts hey dude yes and then Classics come on then from there it was all about all that and Keenan and Kell uh those were my two favorites of course but I wanted to be on all that man I mean I was imagining what it would be like to be those kids that were doing it what seemed like my backyard you know cuz you were in Orlando right Orlando so

3:41 you know Disney World 30 minutes out exactly exactly every time we went to Universal I'd want to do the walkthrough tour see where double dare was shot you know uh every time we went to Disney you know if they ever needed a volunteer for anything it was me shooting my hand up I wanted to be on that stage with them you know my boss was one of Neil Sherman he did all kinds of stuff with Mark Summers

4:06 and getting slimes so double that's awesome I dreamt of being on Double Dare legend of the Hidden Temple all the game shows back then for sure and then of course the cartoons I actually just introduced my oldest and my three-year-old to Hey Arnold yesterday watched that I grew up on Doug grew up on Rugrats and Harold was you know big in our house Rocco's Modern Life dude you're talking about my childhood right there I went to school with my best

4:32 friend Josh his first job out of school was at WWE in Stanford Connecticut awesome you guys lived dream lives to me that's what you did you and Nickelodeon and him at WWE of course so tell me about that what what got you into WWE when you were a kid my first human memory is the great muda spitting green Mist into Sting's face okay so I was probably 2 years old I remember being in my uncle's house in Puerto Rico

4:57 remembering this in two years at two years old dude that's what's funny like when they talk about how you don't have like real memories until I think like six or seven they say the brain right but you have those like really Distant Memories that you don't really know what they were and then you ask certain questions and you fill in certain holes so yeah first memory I think I have in my brain is muda and sting so it just

5:17 started man it was at it was at that time in my life and it's just been with me ever since you know I I had certain vhs's that I had on on repeat in my house it was WrestleMania 6 the ultimate Challenge between Hulk Hogan and War and Warrior you know the icy title versus for the world title you know WrestleMania 4 the Macho Man tournament that he ends up winning it you know beating the million dollar man on the

5:38 way you know uh just Vivid Vivid wrestling memories and then as I got older you know I was obsessed with it man I I was doing wrestling matches in my backyard and you know uh acting like the NWO and then of course as a teenager that's when the Attitude Era was going on so I was just you know imitating Stone Cold and Rocky and just yeah yeah man going to every live event that my parents you know I'd beg them to take me

6:03 and they'd take me as many as they could I think that was also another aspect of my introduction to acting acting like these guys you're getting to kind of relive that childhood dream with heels aren't you yeah for sure tell me about heels for those that don't know about the show and you know how is that connected man heels is a show that a good buddy of mine Stephen Amel um has dreamt about his whole life and that

6:30 first season came out and I was just a I mean I was the biggest fan of that show I could sing you the the opening credit song right now I won't but I could you know I sang it for that whole cast and loved it because it's not just show about wrestling about a wrestling organization it's a show about brothers and it's a show about family and they they go down a bunch of great Avenues on

6:54 that show so you know in just of course it's like yo bro whenever you need me like I'm here whatever you need and Michael Mali is the showrunner of that and talk about Nickelodeon remember guts oh my God Mich M come on take it to Mo not not to mention so when I was at Spike uh Micha Mali was was the voice of a lot of Spike especially like early in the brand and my boss he was like oh we

7:20 got to get Micha Mal you at Spike too come on for seven years I was a creative I was like I was at Spike and then I was one of the two creative directors towards the end that's awes aome I I remember Spike all those years man of course you guys had wrestling for a while Spike had WWE for a while impact absolutely we had uh it was it was a big part I mean yeah our you know it is

7:42 funny because I you know just I just kind of forgot about that like you know our entertainment lives have been wrapped around each other yeah absolutely you're very influential in my life John oh my God so funny to hear so uh Mike spoke to uh an actor on the show named Marsha deonis uh who's an incredible casting director as well and she's a dear friend of mine and he says to her hey I need to cast this part and she's like hey

8:11 there's this kid Josh who's in town right now shooting She-Hulk yeah he should be this part so it wasn't even Steve so Mike gets my name from Marsha well that's the best because that means it's like you're not using your crony he goes up to Steve and he goes hey just Googled this kid Josh he said he work worked on Arrow and Ste was like are you kidding me man boop boop text me and Mike on the thread and he's like hey

8:35 just introducing you to I'll see you soon bro and that's what started it we figured out what part I was going to play and uh I get to play a great character named Brooks Rizzo on there and bring a little bit of fun to it were you a performer early because you know you've been a working actor now like basically right out of the gate it seems like so what how did that really start to be a thing where you're like this is

8:59 what I want to do I was a performer at first privately right like it was like to my buddies you know like acting like wrestlers you know like but how can you not be a performer you're carrying around a title and you're talking in the mirror you know uh so that's when it started and I was doing you know in church I would do like as many plays or sing songs as we could I would always love doing it you know

9:25 um but it wasn't until a buddy of mine Brad he he was doing a community theater uh he he was part of this Orlando Orlando kids youth theater and they were doing The Wizard of Oz that summer and I remember being like Oh man like I want to do that like a real production this was I think the summer before 8th grade um and I was like man a real production like a real Musical and I didn't know

9:47 really what musicals were I knew what we had done like in church up to that point but that's when I was like okay I want to do this you know did that and that was like my first you know real Venture into you know what it was to do a professional piece you know were you scared of course I mean like what was it what was what was going through your head when you before you right before

10:10 you got on stage do you maybe not scared no you know what it's like maybe not scared nervous you know like excited you know uh the adrenaline I'm sure was pumping I because I think I still feel the same way I still get nervous I still feel the adrenaline kick in I still want to do well you know I want to do my job correctly so you know it was like we're talking about with Nickelodeon you know sitcom acting was

10:37 what I knew was professional acting then I learn about the theater so when I get to high school really wanted to be in the drum program and really wanted just do they were doing the sound of music that summer or that that spring and that was I would probably say the the beginning of like my professional training we had some I had some really influential teachers in my life at that time my chorus teacher was really big in my life

11:02 and my Drama teacher was really big in my life I had a couple drama teachers that uh really just you know had come from a really great background so they were instilling in us you know my teacher would say she say we're not doing High School theater we're doing theater in a high school that's a great way to put it so that serious this is business did she was putting it she was putting it on us to know like Hey we're

11:24 doing serious business here you know it's yes it's for fun but you'll have more fun if you take it ser seriously you know you start learning you know we' go to these thespian competitions is what they were called and um that's when I started learning about college scholarships okay so you go to college for this okay and uh the Olsen twins had just applied to NYU when I was a junior I was like okay the Olen twins who are

11:47 actors they go to NYU and that's in New York and let's go to New York you know that's where actors are I'm going up there and the rest was history was California ever in the picture as a possibility when you're in high school no I don't even think so I don't think California was even in my mind it was it was my dad's was born in the Bronx so uh I think it was I came up to New York in

12:12 eighth grade for a field trip that another influential teacher in in my life she you know if you had good grades and you did a certain amount of things that year she would take a group of kids to New York City so in eth grade I remember it just being a big deal to get to go on this trip and came up to New York saw the Phantom of the Opera had my first New York slice stayed in house

12:34 kitchen went to the Jael and hide restaurant oh yeah walked through you know Chinatown and got to haggle for some Oakleys walked through bie Park and got to haggle for a fake Rolex you know like all these things that to me were Larger than Life um had my dad right here over my shoulder he was a shaer on that trip and so I guess it was probably that you know the the naive of it all you know not even even KNN to be

12:59 intimidated by this city it's like I was just here with my dad you know and and my dad's from here so I'm from here you know and that's when I knew I think that's where the beginning of like okay so this is where I belong you know like I I felt comfortable here well having roots in the in a city like this is is a pretty great way to take the edge off of it 100% you come over and you see the

13:21 city and it is big and intimidating exactly exactly like I remember my dad saying to me when we got up here he he said okay he said every train takes you everywhere it's just a matter of how much you want to walk when you get off and I was like all right good advice dad you know like that's that that now makes perfect sense so I tell that to anybody that comes to New York I'm like yo man

13:44 don't stress about the trains every train takes you everywhere it's just a matter how much you want to walk when you get off yeah my my son is here with us on this trip and uh there's a there's a a concert out in Flushing tonight and so this morning before I'm getting ready my my wife is like should we take the subway should we do an Uber I'm like Uber's going to be expensive like take the E train to uh Forest Hills and then

14:05 he can dock Uber fling from 71st Street yeah it's part of the experience how old is your son he's 18 nice so he's technically a legal adult like if I can't let him take the Subway at 18 there's really something I feel like I'm a failure as a parent that's awesome it's awesome what did your dad what did both your parents but especially your dad say to you when you said I want to go I want to be an actor because that's

14:28 like the that's the job that's one of these jobs where it's like is this going to work out for my kid this is a real like it's a tiny percentage of people that say that that end up getting to do it at the level you know where you get on TV and in movies yeah what did they say were they supportive were they scared the most supportive I've never seen either of my parents scared for me let me me say this

14:56 clearly they're worried for me all the time they're my parents but when it came to me choosing this as a career I remember when I said to them hey I want to go to NYU for acting okay let's do it I know now that they went and took a loan out to pay for me to go to school we don't have show business in our family my dad is the first person in his family to go

15:18 to college and graduate uh his dad dropped out my grandfather dropped out in 8th grade I believe or ninth grade and he worked at the New York health and Racket Club over there in Central Park South Cleaning towels I wish I could be a fly on the wall to hear that conversation when they went back to the bedroom but I know my parents and I'm sure that honestly they've just had my back forever man just had it forever forever

15:45 even when I got to college it was still something I was doing for fun it was still something I was still a kid really still a kid it was 18 going like oh I'm going to acting school now you know I'm going I'm going to New York City it wasn't until I got here where you you know had classmates dropping out and going to shoot movies classmates dropping out and going to originate Broadway roles you know that's when you

16:06 learn about managers and agents and all these things that's when the business became a reality where I was like oh okay this is this is how this goes now graduate from school worked on a show called The Electric Company oh yeah um and I'd wrapped that up and had some months where you know I thought my next job was going to come right away you know once I shot that I was like well it's on now you know I'm

16:32 just going to keep working forever I did it I'm doing it and man things slow down this thing goes like this right and I was in a I was in a sad place you know and I remember calling my mom and my dad and just crying to them I was in the middle of Time Square uh in front of the Marriott Marquee now which is funny because now I got to do on your feet there but I stand

16:55 in front of the marott Marquee and I'm just balling my eyes out just saying you know like what if I don't make it you know what if I don't what if I never get another job you know like I do the right thing and my dad just calmly very calming presence in my life he just said Papa you know like lawyers they go to school for years and doctors they go to school for years yeah he's like do you think that we thought

17:23 that you were going to make it after four years Papa you know like did you think that we know this takes time he's like relax keep doing what you're doing you're doing great you're doing great Papa they've always been in my ear telling me that I'm doing great that they're proud of me that that that to them I'm the star you know like and that is forever going to stay with me you know like just that they've had my back

17:54 forever without shaking once he could have had many opportunities to be like you know what B maybe we do try something else we do study something else maybe we no then school is always there man not once it's unbelievable to me that they are like that not once was Faith part of that part of your life and was it part of their their the way they sort of interacted with the world and with you because that's always I so many

18:23 people that we've had on the show and for me it's like that that is often where you're really staying connected to your dreams is when when it gets hard is yeah you know it's funny it's like you learn the skill of Faith however you learn it right and you know my parents found community in church when I was a kid right so that's where I had a sense of community too now I've definitely had a long journey with it since then and love

18:51 to all those that that have their own Journeys but I will say that you know a skill that I learned was Faith right and faith can take many forms and in this business you've got to have faith because you're getting told you know over and over again no so you've got to have faith that like things are going to work out you know you've got to believe that things are going to work out um and even when you

19:24 don't believe sometimes you're just like man it's going to be all right that's faake you know it's a skill you've got to have faith in relationships right that it's going to work out when you put your trust into somebody else that's Faith you know like you got to have faith that like that you're going to be a good dad right like that's believing yeah that the whole time you this whole time you got to have faith that you're

19:48 believing that you're going to be that you're trying your best and you know your six-year-old is looking at you crazy you know and you're just like this is all going to be okay you know so it's definitely a skill that I'm happy that I learned as a kid because it's carried on in my life in a lot of different Avenues to believe hard in something um and there are many things that I believe in now you know and family first and

20:13 foremost man you've talked about in several interviews um you know some values that have propelled you um in terms of you know how to how to how to show up for the job what's your advice for people who need to like make it I know I got that from my parents their work ethic was incredible they worked many hours while I was growing up but I know that every

20:44 time that they could make it to one of my soccer games or to a chorus concert they were there they were there with bells and whistles on you know yeah that's them showing went up they worked long hours and I never heard them complain about that like they just are grinders and it's you know obviously all we we we have context for these things as we become fathers ourselves right and we get older you're able to look back

21:14 and be like wow you really did all that Mom and Dad you know like you really did it like that man good on you guys you know like you're going through your own stuff I'm really thankful and I'm I'm lucky that I'm I get to do this thing that I dreamt about doing for such a long time so you better believe that I'm going to do everything in my power to hold up my end of the

21:43 bargain I get to go out there and I get to play these fun characters that that I'm so happy that base of an emotion I'm just so happy that people like these characters that man I'm going to show up to work you you can trust that I'm always going to know my lines you can trust that I'm always going to be on time I'm going to give you 110% because I'm a lucky cat to be here

22:07 so I'm holding on as much as I can to it you know let's talk about some of those roles so there's a um there's a show coming that's on Apple yeah called the big door prize it's got a really neat premise tell me about it because I haven't had a chance to see it yet uh it's about a small town named Deerfield that everything seems to be going great and a machine shows up that when you sit inside the

22:36 machine it tells you your true life potential H and you start finding out pretty soon that it might be speaking truth so it's kind of like an entire town is having a midlife crisis at the same time you know wondering if they were on the path that they should have been on or maybe they should end this relationship and start a new one or become a Kung Fu instructor or become a photographer um and then a little comedy

23:09 ensues it's funny because it it sounds like a a a fresh take in a way on the movie Big absolutely it's funny you say big are you know when you get them when you get a project they don't they don't title the emails and the scripts like what the actual name of the show is so so that way things stay a little Incognito yeah our project was named Zar oh yeah so we were Zar for the first 6

23:35 months of production from Big so tell me about your your role like what what do you what's your character in this movie in this show I play a guy named Georgio who is the youngest Italian-American goalie in New York Rangers history I injur myself I injure my catching Hand by deadlifting 485 lbs that number increases every time he tells the the story he is deerfield's most eligible bachelor uh I come back to town and

24:05 after I take the insurance payout for my injury I open an Italian restaurant SL sports center so you can have a chicken Palm get up from your table and go play a little Papa shot or air hockey or Dance Dance Revolution I've got an automated Gondola in my restaurant giant pasta bowl of spaghetti at the entrance um he's just a dude that's full of life um and he loves hard sometimes inappropriately sounds like an Italian

24:35 guy this all tracks this all tracks so far uh he's a very fun character to play and uh I have a really cool cast that I enjoy playing with every day and yeah it's a real real fun one one of the things that I think is kind of amazing about you is you're you're in your mid-30s and you have three kids right mhm so you're married with three kids working in Hollywood working multiple shows at the same time I don't know I

25:06 don't know how you have the time to sit here with me right now with how many shows you got happening movies and scream and so one why why did you guys decide to have kids early because like by today's standards you you you're a young dad tell me about it tell me about you know you and your wife saying hey we're going to do this or maybe it didn't say and it just no no no for sure

25:29 we did we did um I've always dreamt about being a dad I've always wanted to be a dad I always pictured playing with my kids so when I met brace my wife I knew early that she was the one for me you know I I'm a I'm a passionate dude so I throw myself head head first into everything that I do you know I if I meet you and I like you we're best

25:59 friends that's it we're I love you you know we're in it from the jump um and the people that I have in my life that are my circle that are my tribe I hold near and dear because they've been with me on this whole journey so when I met brace you know she was sitting right here she'd tell you you know on our third date I was like she her brother was getting married in like 6 months I was like well I'm going

26:24 to that wedding with you you know and she's like are you kidding me I was like I'm going to that wedding with you you know that's where I'm meeting the family she's like okay we were together a couple years confident confident man like I just knew it there was something in it where I you know you never know what what you're going to be as a parent what you're going to be as a partner you never know what your partner's going to

26:44 be but man she just was she was everything to me she still is I had this with my wife with Lisa we met we met and it was um it was like it was instant it was instant it was one of those things how did you guys meet met at a buddy's birthday party uh a mutual friend of ours in in IRL that's it in real life that's it before all these swiping left and right stuff and all thatu before

27:09 correct uh met he introduced us right when I walked in there was a group of college friends for them so she was catching up with people that she hadn't seen in a while introduced us and you know she was like good to meet you back to her friends you know uh she pulled the reverse thing that the play is like oh no no no you got to she hit me hard with that exactly she's like yeah yeah

27:31 I'll see you later you know were you like did it hit you or absolutely like absolutely I remember I I remember vividly walking in and seeing her standing there surrounded by her friends and they were all just laughing and you know me being like whoa hold on I got to figure out how to talk to her and I remember seeing her pack up her bag to leave and as she's walking out I was like hey yo we haven't talked yet and

27:56 she's like do you mean what are you talking about we haven't talked yet I was like no what we were supposed what if we're supposed to get married one day and we didn't even talk tonight and she's like are you kidding me with that dude you know and and I she's like okay so talk you know what do you want to say and I was like oh well where you from you know and just tried to chat her up

28:13 for 10 15 minutes she had to get up early the next day and I was like I was like you're lying you're just trying to leave the party because you don't want to talk to me she's like no I really have to get up the next day and I was like all right take my number down and since you have to be up at 5:00 in the morning text me when you wake up and prove to me that you're getting up at 5:

28:30 she's like okay fine gave her my number next morning at 5:00 a.m. and the rest was history you know and then uh went from there impressive impressive maneuver so yeah we were chatting about being a dad right and I I just always knew I wanted to be a dad and I found an incredible partner and she's an incredible mom and you know one thing led to the next and I've always felt that with this business there's enough chaos going on you know

29:01 you don't know when the job's going to start you don't know when it's going to end you're going on these auditions um and that to me is my craft it's my career it's where I it's I'm I put my work into that but I was always seeking out love man just a partner like was always trying to find that person that was going to be on this journey with me that I could have a family with

29:24 that would give me that thing that I'd always dreamt of which is man doing exactly what I'm doing I was playing Super Mario this morning on a Super Nintendo with my six-year-old he's off school today that's what I was doing this morning you know and playing you know games with my boys like that's it you know like it's uh it brings me a lot of Joy man it brings me it it it's it's it's the best job I've ever had man

29:49 you know it's the thing I'm most proud of so do you have three boys from my three boys okay so your your first son is born yeah yeah how did that rewire your brain there's this concept called the Dad brain like we get our brains get a little get rewired what was that experience when that happened where he he he comes out he's healthy and now you're a dad so okay so I'll tell you the whole

30:13 story so I was working on Arrow at the time um that's in Vancouver we shot that yeah so brace was seven months pregnant when I got that job I was wrapping up a show called on your feet here we moved to Vancouver we put everything in storage and it was just me my girl and our baby man just it felt like we were hibernating had no friends out there other than the people I just met on this

30:36 show so there was we all we did was I'd go to work and I'd head on home and be with be with brace you know my mother-in-law comes out an incredible mother-in-law Mary Ellen love her to Pieces she comes out with us and I got a week off from work around our due date just waited it out till Gus arrived D had an awesome time Gus arrives and I went outside and I called my dad and I was just once again I cry a

31:10 lot man I'm an emotional dude yeah I I on the same page on that calling my Dad I'm just crying to him on the phone just telling him like I just want to be a good dad I want to be like you man you know and I just remember him saying like Papa you're going to be a great dad and I think it was this it was this this pressure that I had put on myself at

31:35 that moment to be as good a dad as my dad was to me because at the time you don't know what it takes you don't know what it is to be a dad right so it was this new feeling all of a sudden like now he's here now what do I do dad you know like what did you do all the time you know like how did this happen you know how did how did you how did you raise me you

32:01 know just all these giant macro questions and you know our the not to overgeneralize but you know like my wife read all the what to expect books and all this stuff and she doing all this prep and I wasn't doing any of that you're just there right you're just like I'm here I'm ready to rock uh my I read one book you did I read one book sent to me by my buddy Chris York uh it was

32:28 called oh man it was called congrats you're going to be a dad or like good luck you're going to be a dad and like funny writing and it basically broke it in in in humor broke it all down you know uh but I just remember calling my dad and once again another time in my life or my dad without saying too much just a calming presence I was like Papa you're going to be a great dad that's it

32:51 you know like don't worry about it and now of course it's in practice right where yeah I think back how has that played out now I think back like when I am sad that I'm missing something because I'm off shooting I remember that I don't think about the things that my parents missed because they were working I think about when they were there yeah I think about what they would say to me at night before bed

33:23 they never put me to bed without kissing me good night they never went more than a day without telling us how much they loved us how lucky they were to have us those are the things that stick in your mind not whatever soccer games they didn't get to now knowing that my parents had to work Saturdays you know had to work Sundays you don't think about that stuff you think about the way they made you feel it's not what someone says it's not

33:49 what someone does it's how they make you feel that's it with parenting right so with my boys I just want to be a presence in their life just read the other day that I guess it was like they had asked some kids when do you feel most loved by your parents and the answer was when they play with me so that's it I just want to play I just want to be there I read a while ago

34:16 a Robin Williams interview where he talked about he felt happiest as a dad when he like always wanted to meet them their level yeah so if they wanted to play monsters and tunnels let's play monsters and tunnels man and let's get down on the ground let's be eye Lev let's let's crawl and climb and build tunnels with pillows let's just do it all you know yeah I'm just trying to do it all with them just want to be their best bud

34:45 their friend so how are you goingon to how are you manage you got three kids now yeah and you got like three four five 10 TV shows movies on the air how are you navigating that how are you um making the time when you're this busy cuz whether whether you're a Hollywood celebrity or not like you know we're all busy this is you know how do you prioritize with your kid for your kids and your and your wife and your family

35:09 time I think first and foremost I'm really lucky to have a partner like I do like brace is an incredible partner to me and incredible mom to those boys and I got really lucky with her um you know if I'm on location when Gus is on spring break or winter break cuz now he's in first grade you know before he was in school we were a little traveling circus family they came with me everywhere you know once we

35:33 started school it's on breaks days off they'll come to me you know my my wife is rocking is holding it down traveling with three kids you know uh sometimes with our dog too um so you ever seen in the airport give her a little love for me you know um that's uh that's always a trip but man there's nothing there's no better feeling than getting that selfie of her and them on the plane and there three little seats on the plane and now

36:00 Bo included cuz it's Gus who's six there's Hank who's three and there's Bo who's five months about to be six months um just seeing them all smiling getting to come to dead as work apartment is what they call it but you know how do we do it it's prioritizing it it's knowing that it it's it's I'm at my best when I am making time for my boys and for my wife like I'm just at my best I feel at my

36:27 best you know physically yeah I got to sweat a little bit I like hitting the gym artistically I love when I'm in in work mode because it gets me my juic is Flowing I love what I get to do I love crafting these characters and getting to play but man my heart my heart needs them I need to go to the playground with them I need to be that drop off and pick up from school when I can

36:55 be I need that FaceTime before bed it doesn't always happen but I'll make sure it happens as much as it can yeah you know like my three-year-old always makes me laugh so funny too seeing how different they are my oldest he's he's real cerebral already and he's the oldest he's cool man he's chill you know I love you dad from like the other side of the room on the FaceTime whereas my three-year-old when I leave he holds

37:20 onto my leg you know D I don't like it when you get on planes it makes me very sad and I'm like I know Pap but of course the emotion inside me is also like good job like talking about your emotions you know like good job Hank that's so good you know um but that same three-year-old Hank you know when I'm on the FaceTime he holds me and he walks around with me and he just kind of looks

37:43 at the phone you know you know we'll we'll chitchat as much as we can on there and yeah man that's just you make that time like you you you prioritize it if you get a chance you just make it happen you know know in prepping for this I was hitting the Google and when you Google your name you come up with some funny things you come up with uh a picture of you you know ironing you know

38:09 shirtless and you've got this rooll on the other two on HBO this is the first time I've heard this term hmbo yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I hadn't heard that term either I think it was just invented a few months ago cuz I said yeah I'll take it hey put me there next to it I'm with it uh on your on your Tombstone perhaps himbo that's it yeah that's it right there I'm down you know literally that's the only word

38:35 I wanted to say just quote unquote himbo um I I I think it is an affectionate term used for characters that their eyebrows are slightly raised all the time and they like to find the positive outlook on things constantly Earnest let's call them you know sincere let's call them loyal let's call them you know well it could be it could be uh you know like hmbo as in him

39:09 bimbo right I've also seen the formula is hot bimbo idiot male so hilarious so that's a funny uhar you been playing with that how do you play with masculinity in your in your work uh I mean I'm not thinking about the way I'm playing a character I'm just and I'm not thinking about the aesthetic of what the character is I'm just trying to play him honestly I try to picture myself if I was raised in

39:40 those circumstances that's the first thing I do I was like okay what if Josh grew up in Brooklyn was an aspiring shoe designer worked at the Foot Locker it's not very far off I worked at a place called Just For Feet in in Altimont spring this town next to where I grew up in and um um you know with Georgio he opens his Italian restaurant he used to work at the Olive Garden all these things are actually

40:03 pretty close to what I am um he's like I'm gonna I'm GNA do uh I'm gonna do real Italian this time Garden got a lot of salt and butter let's like uh dial that back a little what's funny is that we actually use Olive Garden bread sticks in our restaurant at on the show it smells so good at at work every day it really does just salt and butter with a little bit of wheat in there somewhere

40:23 absolutely man I still remember vivly opening that oven at ol Garden taking a few oh it's so good that that bread oven is great honestly I've been really lucky with really good writing and they've given me this characters that you know um in the bigger picture facilitate something on the show how do you think about um the father portrayals on television we talk about this a lot in our office because there's like there's there's there's plenty of positive ones

40:49 but there's also a lot of like even hmbo would HBO is an upgrade from the way dad sometimes gets portrayed yeah how do you think about that I think like you know it's a television film the theater it's a it's the best versions of it are reflections of our society right and there's a lot of different types of dads out there and to the Pops that are struggling I send them love you know and like to the Pops that are trying their

41:19 best I send them love and to the AL bundies hey man to the AL bundies of the world you know know send them love you know like I don't know man I just always want to have as much compassion as I can to everybody's Journey right and I love talking to other dads and I love hearing other dad's experiences and when I'm working with a child of somebody that was in the business growing up yeah I'll

41:48 act dude I pepper them with questions um I got to work on heels with Michael Mal's daughter and we spent a day together basically is she funny too she's awesome she's so sweet so kind so funny and you know I probably gave her maybe like 20 minutes of us just like getting to know to chop it up and I was like all right so I'm just going to tell you now I hope it's okay if I just ask

42:14 you a bunch of really vulnerable questions because I just want to know what life was like growing up with a dad that's in Show Business yeah tell me everything you know yeah because now you're the dad in Show Business and she was an open book and she loves Mike you know and we just talked about her as a kid what she remembers something I took from her and we actually got to say this to Mike you

42:35 know and it was so sweet seeing him because you know that's his baby at on set so he's a showrunner of this multi-million dollar thing and then between takes I'd see him D and then I'd see him like creep over and be like okay everything good she's like I'm good dad he's like okay love you I'll see a little bit you know off he goes yeah she said CU she has two younger brothers um and she would say that whenever her

42:59 and her brothers would fight Mike would stop them be like hey don't fight with your brother don't fight with your sister hug each other right now hug each other and tell each other you love each other and it is awesome I took that from her and now I do it to my boys they could be picking picking picking and i' be hey don't fight with your brother don't pick on him give him a hug right now tell them you love him that smile

43:28 that they get is hilarious yeah because they're not in that place they're not in that place but they're just picking on each other right so that I tell how many times is the hug a little like this that's it that's they're just like love you brother you know but it's so funny and so sweet but she told me that she's like it kept us close forever you know so I'm always just trying to take from those that are

43:53 in somewhat of a similar position that I'm in you know you know now raising my boys we made a short film a couple years ago called off the rails about a woman named Lenor skenazy New Yorker she let her 9-year-old son take the Subway by himself which for you maybe it doesn't sound crazy didn't sound crazy to me but she ended up being labeled the world's worst mom H so when are you going to let your kids take the subway H what age

44:20 okay by themselves so I'll tell you a funny story uh one of my already done already already done it three years old um a dear friend of mine her son's name is Hudson and her husband's name is Peter they're incredible parents and uh don't unleash Child Protective Services on your friends but what you're about to no check this out check this out it's awesome Hudson thought that he had taken the subway the first few times by

44:51 himself and I believe I'm telling the story right he said it to them at like a dinner when he was like 16 and they told him at 16 cuz this was when he was about 8 or nine yeah and they're like you never took the Subway by yourself those first couple times he's like what are you talking about they would put him cuz they lived Uptown and he had to get on the A train to go

45:14 to a school downtown so they would say okay you're going to go by yourself on the train today okay and Peter would get on the car in front of him and Andrea would walk him down to the train so Peter was watching from afar but Hudson thought he was by himself it's it's longdistance helicopter it's long distance making sure just those first CIA parent tracking that's exactly it so I will definitely be doing that I will

45:38 be the CIA parent watching from afar but then gusa 6 gusa can already navigate our entire neighborhood I'll tell you that right now yeah by nine by nine he'll be taking the train he'll be navigating even our three-year-old I know could get to and from his school I know it when we're walking in the morning he's not behind me he's in front of me he's in front of me 10 15 feet on his scooter he's hanging his left

46:02 hanging his right he knows where he's going you know um it's just us right it's just me when I I will be able to right they run that neighborhood you know all right before we wrap up I got a couple of Rapid Fire questions for you can't wait all right here we go this is our uh let's do it kind of a ripoff of inside the actor Studio let's go I love it okay we've talked about this a little

46:22 bit but what's the number one lesson you learned from your dad compassion my dad is is he always gives people the benefit of the doubt always he's never quick to judge compassion it's a good lesson all right what's the most dangerous thing you ever did as a child I would disappear from my parents all the time it's like I was telling you sound like my wife they they I disappear all the time I was a kid

46:53 that would go to Walmart after school my mom was working so I was always by myself running through Walmart you know playing in the toy section going to the cafeteria like I told you um so I would disappear from them at theme parks I would my my favorite thing to do would be to disappear from them at a department store the second we got in because I knew that whenever I was done doing whatever I wanted to do I could

47:16 just go to the customer service and they would announce dearis seara Enrique sigara your son joshu was at the front customer service Waiting for You dearis sigara Enrique seara your son Joshua I just knew that was the way to get to my parents yeah I was Fearless as a little kid running around those stores what's the most dangerous thing you've let any of your kids do so far so they're only six but uh six is the

47:39 oldest but what do you got I'm I'm I want them to be Fearless like I don't want them to be at a theme park I got one we went to a water park and as we're pulling up to the water park my oldest Gus sees the torpedo slide thing straight down one yeah and he was like let's go on that first and there was a part of me he sounds like my son I was like no what

48:05 are you talking about that's terrifying you know did he even go above the thing was there like the height I just made 48 in like I think even was like an inch below so I was just telling him like stand real tall Papa you know stand real tall and he's like let's go on that first and my reaction was to be like and I just held it in I was like great love that idea let's do it went on that first

48:27 he came off it was like his eyes were this big and he was like that was so scary and I was like yeah it was that's awesome that's awesome he's Fearless they're Fearless my boys that's the best All Right Touch on this a little bit but um what does masculinity mean to you loving hard it's it's being vulnerable it's

48:58 you find the people in your life that mean that mean something to you and with them you can have open conversations you can have honest conversations you can let the ugly parts of you be seen because you trust that when they show you their ugly Parts you're still going to have their back you know because to them what might be ugly to you is beautiful don't be scared in any of that just be

49:28 vulnerable be open be honest and love hard you know if you cry cry Papito you know like just cry it's awesome to cry let it out you know if you're sad be sad it's all good you know and I find that for me that works best you know if I'm sad I'm sad for six hours and then all right man that felt good let's go you know off on to the next because I let myself feel it

49:57 if I'm sad for two days hey all good feel it how did you learn that because um you know I'll just speak for myself but I think you know growing up in the east coast I know that you your tradition's got a similar thing you know Italian men can be kind of like closed yeah you know and and you know Puerto Rican man I think that's the same thing we can kind of be a little tough edged a

50:19 little like machismo yeah you know it doesn't sound like your dad was like that but you did you have that in your community and stuff did you overcome that or were you always openhearted and your dad was openhearted and you just knew it I've always my dad has always been openhearted and I've also I always I had a lot of great men in my life growing up my uh my the Raul my uncle ra moved in with us when I was a kid when I

50:44 was eight or nine he left Puerto Rico and his older brother is my dad my dad's got uh 9 10 11 years on him so basically my mom and and my dad were another form of parents for him so when he left the island he came and moved in with us so I also think of him as my other dad an incredible guy he'd take me to his softball games with um just another really big influence in my life so I was

51:11 raised by Great Men very loving men you know like so that's you know I'm a Puerto Rican kid and I was raised by Puerto Ricans and all the men in my life were loving and funny and compassionate to each other like Vivid memories of the men in my life that I grew up with like hugging each other oh yeah you know so and kissing kissing kissing each other on the cheek you know like just kissing each other a lot of love in in the

51:43 community I grew up in you know and that to me is family you know so I'm really close with my cousins the people in my life that I love I tell them all the time that I love them you know I love you man I'll see you later I love you bro I'll see you later you know that's just the way that I communicate with those people you know um and I think and I know was because I was raised by by by

52:08 men and women like that just very loving passionate Puerto Ricans you know sometimes we get a little hotheaded you know hey man that's part of it that's part of it take the good with the bad that's it that's part of it man at least you always know what I'm thinking you know there's no there never any any confusion with how I feel about something what's the most valuable thing you've learned from your kids man sometimes things ain't all that

52:35 serious you know like I could be all worked up about whatever and then I'll walk into the room and like my one of my boys will be like d why you have that look on your face you know D are you mad and and I'll be like am I mad what am I mad about why am I so mad about this you're right I am mad Papa what do you want to do and I be like can we go play this game you know

53:07 can we go draw can we go ride our bikes like yeah let's go do that so I think it's sometimes things ain't all that serious and and to be in the moment you know just to be in the moment with them man that's a lesson all of us need right yeah especially these days all right what's your favorite dad joke or stick you know as you get older you'll find that you know no matter how cool

53:33 you are you will become cringe absolutely to your kids absolutely I now embrace the cringe of course of course you got to what's what what dad jokes have you got there was a a king Who Loved riddles so he puts out a riddle to his town he says you know um what's green pink in yellow one gentleman walks up and he says Ah it's a it's a car he said no not a car next gentleman walks up and he

54:05 says uh a house a house is green pink and yellow he's like no it's not a house and then a Puerto Rican man walks up and he says I know I know it's a telephone a telephone he said yeah yeah a telepone it goes green green I pink it up and I said yellow yeah that's a good one thanks that's classic thanks okay what did your dad teach you about God H the biggest thing that I take from

54:32 those years that I was in church growing up was Faith it's like what we were talking about you know for those that are in church man your faith is in God right for some people it's the faith is in the energy in the world for some people faith is in their Community um for actors and your faith is in that you're going to succeed so you know if anybody has the power and the skill to believe in anything believe

55:06 powerfully that's a skill and that's a great one to believe and to trust so I'm very thankful that I learned that skill set early to have faith you know to believe in something you know because now I believe in a lot of things I believe in in my boys I believe in my wife I believe in my friends I believe in being good to others I believe in treating everybody with kindness I believe in sticking up

55:35 for yourself I believe for loving hard I believe in being passionate about things and not hiding who you are man like all of us are perfect just the way we are and and and we all got to have a little compassion for each other and we all got to have each other backs everyone's trying their best you know everybody's trying their best so to each their own and when it comes to me man I'm

56:08 going to love you no matter what you know no matter what and there's a lot of people out there that get attacked for who they are and there's a lot of people out there that get a lot of hate thrown their way and to those I just want to say that like I feel for you and and I wish I could hug you give you a kiss on the cheek on the

56:41 mouth and just tell you man I got your back yo and I'll do everything in my power to have your back you know and to those that are throwing the hate and to those that are judging chill a little bit just chill a little bit have a little more compassion for others yo everyone's trying their best my last question I ask it of every guest oh yeah um you play a lot of roles

57:13 as an actor how do you think about your role in the American story you know we're called Dad Saves America and it's partly because I think that that role has a big impact family out to community and out to the country how do you think about what your role is I love being a dad I'm proud that I get to be on this podcast with you to get to be here with you

57:45 that I can show that being dad is fun that your life ain't over when you got kids that you're making these memories I'm really proud of the fact that I get to Chase my dreams and have a family thankful to my wife for that dude I'm just a really fortunate dude man and you can't plan all these things right but I will say that I can look back now

58:15 and realize that all these little dots along the way were all connected they started when I was a kid with my parents and with my brother and my sister and they've all connected to where we are now I'm really proud of my family and you know now I'm just getting to watch my boys grow up so man it's a big question like where do I fit into this world you know I'm proud to be one little dot on this flag on

58:43 this map um of just trying my best and doing my best every day you know and I'm really appreciative to those that watch my stuff they get a kick out of it thanks for the support thanks for the love um I'm just trying to keep it simple Josh thanks for being on Dad Saves America than man yeah thanks for the chat appreciate [Music]

59:18 it