Anthony Anderson (G20, Black-ish, The Departed) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and television host. Anthony joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being in the Guinness Book of World Records for furthest hit golf ball with the longest usable club, why he thinks Stevie Wonder can see, and calling Lionel Richie to cash in on his long-promised dinner. Anthony and Dax talk about how it felt to grow up in the hotbed of music, movies, and culture, both being called for availability by SNL only to be ghosted, and realizing that he still hasn’t really processed the death of his father. Anthony explains all the serendipity surrounding his return to Howard University, the epic story of defeating Michael Jordan in dominoes, and being handpicked to star alongside EGOT Viola Davis in his new action thriller.Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What world records does Anthony Anderson hold?
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He's an uptake star
No, motherfucker, you didn't do push-ups before the charity event.
Before the charity event, yeah. I try not to be swole at charity events. It's not a good look.
Hey, what's up, son? Loosen up your rotator cuff. Nathan and I are in the Guinness Book of World Records. I'm in there twice. Twice? And you're in there, what, just one time, son? Only one time. I need more. I don't have any more. Oh, you don't even have any more. That's right.
You've been removed.
I'm sorry. All right. I got to go. I'll holler at you later, man. Oh, wow. Wait, what are your records?
Well, that's as good a place as any to start. What world records do you hold?
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Chapter 2: How did Anthony Anderson break the golf ball distance record?
No, I was invited to do it. So if you go to Topgolf right now, They played a video on Topgolf. It's been playing there for years. Because I did it at a Topgolf in Vegas. Okay, great. I forget who invited me or how I got involved with it, but they asked me to come down and do it. And I was like, yeah. So I got a couple of surprises and whacked a motherfucker.
And then when I hit it and broke the record, they had a fucking marching band come out. Oh, you're kidding. That I had no idea was happening. It was like, he broke the record and his whole marching band, like 50 or 60 people with instruments. Wow.
Now, my question is. I have so many. Me too. Are people sitting around thinking like, okay, how about this? Here's a world record. 36-foot golf club. Who's imagining this?
Maybe they're going through the book and saying, I could do this.
After that, I felt compelled to make a show. Once the marching band came out? After the record. After I did it and they did all this shit. And then my son, as you heard on the call, Nathan was in the Guinness book of world records for putting on the most t-shirts in 30 seconds. They had a Guinness book come up to a school and I don't know what the record was, but my son beat it.
How many did he put on?
What if it was like 27, 30?
It was almost one a second.
And I got to imagine once you're wearing 30 t-shirts, it's got to be getting up around his face. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: What are Anthony Anderson's thoughts on Stevie Wonder's vision?
Okay. So you and I were recently together, which was really fun. I mean, don't say it like that. No, I'm going to leave it just like that. Just like the world record. We were recently together. Moving on. Great time. We, among some other people, went to Vegas because Kimmel was being honored. And we were on an airplane together. We were shooting the shit. Not just an airplane. We were on a PJ.
We were on a private jet.
They need to know, we just weren't flying Southwest. That's a good look for you.
It's not a good look for me. Why is it not a good look for you? I'll tell you, and I say this all the time on here. When black people are showing wealth, I'm like, fuck yeah. It was impossible for you to get it. Fucking let it rip. I don't mind at all.
When I see a white kid driving a Lamborghini, I'm like, come on. Yeah, I mean, but it's a flex that we could all use, man. It's not JetBlue. Yeah. Or the other one.
It was a private jet. But would you agree there's a difference? Mm-hmm. No one's going to be rooting for me to be on a private jet, nor should they. I root for you. Because we know each other. And you know I'm from the fucking bowels of hillbilly country, Michigan.
Come on, baby.
Yeah. Okay, so we're on this flight, and we're talking about gambling. And I already know that you gamble. Yeah. I'm fixing to gamble when we're there. We have a little two-hour break. And then you're like, let's play together. Yeah.
And I don't know if I was very forthcoming in the moment, but I was starting to get really fearful that we were going to sit down and you were going to be playing like 2000 a hand. And I was going to be playing like 25 and feeling emasculated. And you go, we should play. And I'm like, yes. You did jump at the opportunity to do it.
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Chapter 4: How did Anthony Anderson cope with his father's death?
And then he had this one particular corner in Watts in LA that he would go to and set up shop, you know, canopies and tents. It was like an open storefront.
Did he make you work with him ever? Yeah, and I didn't have a problem doing it. Good chance to work on your people skills.
Yeah, popping my shit, my dad popping his shit, making money, getting paid as a teenager. Then from there... my father started opening stores. And when he opened the stores, it was for plus size women because my mom was a plus size. So he was just catering to the women he loved. So it was plus size women in children's clothing. And that's what he did, man. And what did Doris do?
I know she wanted to be an actor. She wanted to be an actor. My mother was a telephone operator for the County of Los Angeles.
Yeah, I read that and I was like, this feels so 80s to be a telephone operator.
Yeah, yeah. And she worked at a hospital, Harbor General UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. And you had a little brother. Two little brothers and a sister. My sister's the baby. I'm the oldest. I lost my youngest brother about 20 years ago now in a car accident while he was at West Texas A&M College playing football. Oh, yeah, because they're probably huge like your dad. Yeah.
So we lost him and then a year later lost my dad. So it's three children now, me, my brother Derek and my sister Doris.
When my dad died, I thought it was going well. Okay. But in reflection, it really fucked me up more than I really kind of realized at the time. And I have a few friends whose dads also died too young. I don't know. It can bring out some wild stuff.
I processed it as best as I could or as best as I knew how. And I don't think I've really processed it as an adult.
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Chapter 5: What inspired Anthony Anderson to return to Howard University?
So they were like, maybe we need to change the name of the team.
Let's rebrand Optics.
Washington Murderers. Yeah, right. So they changed the name from the Washington Bullets to the Washington Wizards. Just a little something for you.
Yeah, a little extra. So you run out of money and you come back to L.A. Yeah. How long before getting back to starting to get employed? Because I feel like you and I have a kind of a similar... I didn't start getting hired as an actor till like 28. 25 for me. Oh, right. You do five years on a Saturday morning teen show. I got that when I was 25 years old.
So I left Howard... At 20. Those five years is long, right? Yeah, I came home, especially with nothing. My parents ended up getting separated a few years after I came home. I moved in with my mom, went to a couple of community colleges just because I wanted to keep my mind active. I was like, I'm going back to Howard. I just want to sit here and fuck off. So let me go to some JC's.
I went to El Camino Community College and I went to Compton College for a semester each. And I was like, yeah, I just want to keep my mind active. And I want to pick up some classes that's going to transfer. when I go back for my senior year. That shit never happened. Well, until 2020. When did you go back? 2022 is when I went back.
And you graduated.
Yeah, my son got accepted to Howard University in 2018. When I went to college, I would have been the first person to graduate in my family from college. So that's why I was like, no, I got to go back and fucking finish. Then I started having kids. And then my younger cousins, 10, 15 years younger than me, they started going to college and graduating. I was like, fuck, I wanted to be the first.
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What is Anthony Anderson's experience working with Viola Davis in G20?
That is so funny.
And he was like, what? I was like, dog, when I watch you on the boys, you're seven feet tall to me, motherfucker. Yeah. You're a fucking superhero. I was like, the way you are on that motherfucking show, it's not you. Right. That's not who I work with. Yeah. And he was like, yeah, man.
Yeah, out of context. And it's a testament to who he is as an actor. What he does on The Boys, the fact that that dude hasn't won an Emmy. I mean, what he's doing on The Boys is the bad guy and you feel bad for him sometimes. Yes, you do.
It's like when I saw Fela. on Broadway and I went backstage to meet the cast and I was looking for the dude that played Fela and I forget his name, but I'm talking to him. And as I'm talking to him, I keep looking behind him and looking around, trying to find a dude before he leaves and shit. And then I realized it's him. And then when I left, I was like, oh my God. Yeah.
Because he was a small, demure dude. But as Fela on stage, this motherfucker was larger than the fucking theater that they were in on Broadway. But when I went to meet him, he's just a regular dude. And I was like, this motherfucker's phenomenal. Yeah. He's a magician. That's how I feel about Anthony Starks as motherfucking Homelander on The Boys.
So, yeah, it looks fucking awesome, by the way. It is, man. The trailer is outrageously good.
Viola and I are ex-military and it's a big action film. You know, terrorists take over the G20 global summit that we're at. We end up kicking ass and getting our ass kicked throughout the film. She's doing a ton of ass kicking. Wait till you see it. You're going to be like, God damn.
She's an action star. She is. It was amazing to be a part of and amazing to watch. Well, Anthony, I adore you. I have so much fun when I get to be around you. This was great.
We didn't get Lionel, but that's all right.
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Chapter 7: What funny stories does Anthony Anderson share about Michael Jordan?
She said... When she was looking at it, she was like, if I was going to cheat, she's like, which I never would. Because it's not like... Mine. Yeah.
And a lot of people... I can live with my... Yeah.
She'll be on the ground.
Yeah, yeah.
She's like, that might be... That would be the one, even though she's not going to do it. Anyway, she got some for Max. Max loved them.
Oh, he did. And he's a chef for people who don't know. Exactly.
He's a chef. So this all circles back, right?
Okay.
This is relevant because when we first got to the hotel, there was... two like freshly batched cocktails with my name and Callie's name.
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of G20 for Anthony Anderson?
He said, that sounded creepy. We have to get drunk on my cooking show.
Which is very, very funny.
Yeah, I like that he's aware of not being creepy. I think that's a great thing.
I do too.
Anywho, so I need to send Bert that cocktail. He'll love it. Yes. But anyway, so I was like, well, maybe it was a wink, but probably not. Probably just something sweet they do. And still, that could be the case. But then there was this cute little card they wrote. And I didn't really understand it at first.
Yeah.
Because there were two hats for Callie and I that they had given us. And then there was a little note that said something along the lines of, here's some hats so you can be in quotes, a new Monica. And then I forgot that we had just talked about hats on the fact check.
And that you're a new Monica.
I felt like a new Monica when I wore them. So, so we did have some arm cherry fans who worked at the auberge and it was really, really sweet. And I do believe one of them was Phoebe.
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