Robert Townsend: How you doing?
Tracy Clayton: I'm okay, how are you?
Robert: Very good.
Tracy: Oh, I'm sorry, I stepped on your foot.
Robert: Oh no, it's all good.
Tracy: This is going horribly already.
Robert: Oh, stop.
Tracy: Please have a seat, please.
It is so nice to meet you.
Robert: Well, thank you for having me.
Tracy: Thank you for joining us.
It's Robert Townsend, oh my gosh.
Okay, so you were born and raised--or you were raised
in Chicago.
Robert: Yes.
Tracy: What do you wish that people knew about Chicago?
Robert: When I think of Chicago, you know, I grew up
in the hood, but I always considered it glorious
and beautiful.
And you know, when people think of it as nasty or the gangs
and all of that, you know, yeah, but I think in all, you know,
communities, you have that other side.
I think the misconception about Chicago is that there's so much
poverty and everything is wrong, but there's a lot of beautiful
people in where I came from.
You know, the neighborhood, the village raised the village,
you know what I mean?
It takes a village to raise a child, you know, and it's
like there was a community, everybody cared.
And so, that's what I really remember.
And I think that's what I would really send a message and say,
you know, don't judge a book by its cover because you hear
about a few things.
But I--my childhood, I just have the best memories of growing up.
And you know, when you don't know what's in everybody else's
refrigerator, you don't know what you're missing.
So, as a kid, you know, I had no idea.
But we--you know, we had love and we had God, and that was
the most important thing.
Tracy: What was--what was baby Robert like?
Like, when you were like younger, what kind of kid
were you?
Robert: When I was a kid, I was--because I lived in a rough
neighborhood, I would rush home from school, and all I did
was watch television.
And so, back then when I was like eight years old, you know,
my nickname was TV Guide because I watched so much television,
I could tell you everything about TV.
So, I was this kid that saw the world through television.
Tracy: And you also did Second City in Chicago?
Robert: Yes, I studied with Jo Forsberg, improv'd with her,
and she was Bill Murray's improv teacher.
So, I was--you know, I was a kid, you know, like 17, 18.
And I was, you know, doing theatre with Xback as well as
studying at Second City.
Tracy: What was Second City like?
Robert: You know what?
I learned my manners as an actor at Second City because what they
taught you was that if you can improvise and create something
from nothing, when you have the props, you could change
the world.
And so they--you know, you had a chair, and that chair
could be a rocket ship.
You know, so you just had all these illusions
and things that you created.
But I learned so much by understanding the ability
to create with nothing.
Tracy: So, how has the industry changed since you
first started?
Robert: Well, you know, here's the thing.
I think it's a different time in Hollywood, it really is because
there are more images.
So, when you think in terms of the characters that
Shonda Rhimes has created, you know,
"How to Get Away With Murder,"
"Scandal," when you think in terms of the shows that are on
OWN like "Queen Sugar,"
when you think in terms of BET and,
you know, "The Quad" and different shows,
everybody--you know, on HBO, "Insecure."
There's a lot of new images out there, there's new voices.
And I think that the game is changing.
Is there room for more?
Yes, but the game is changing, I think in a good way, though
there is still baggage from the old days.
Tracy: Let's talk superheroes.
You seem to have an interest in them.
Robert: You know, I just love, as a director,
touching different things.
And I love fantasy.
And "Meteor Man" came about because when my nephew
was really little, I was living--I live in LA, and my
family, you know, he was living in Chicago.
And he was a little kid, he's like six years old, and I said,
"For Halloween, who are you going to be?
You going to be Spiderman, you going to be Batman?"
And he says, "I can't be them because they're white."
And I was like--as a little kid.
And I was like, "No, I love everybody.
You could be whatever you want."
And then when he said that, it kind of hurt my heart,
and I was like, "You know what?
I'm going to create a superhero of color to fill that void."
And then that's when I started to write "Meteor Man" and come
up with the legend of, you know, Meteor Man and, you know,
making a superhero from scratch.
Tracy: Were you to any degree offended when people were like,
"Yay, Black Panther, we finally got a black superhero,"
and you're like, "Hello, Meteor Man."
Robert: Well, you know, on social media, people were,
you know, defending me and different things.
"Robert Townsend been in Wakanda for 25 years.
What y'all talking about?"
But here's the thing, here's the thing.
When I see, you know, Black Panther or Luke Cage
or Black Lightning, those are all my cinematic sons
and daughters, they really are, because I know
I planted a seed.
And you know, when I think about, you know,
"Black Panther," you know, making a billion dollars,
you know, I was going for a billion dollars back then.
You know, it's just that the audience didn't
catch up to the vision.
And so, when I created Meteor Man,
I had every celebrity.
I had, you know, from Naughty by Nature
to Nancy Wilson to Luther Vandross
to Robert Guillaume, Marla Gibbs, Sinbad.
You know, it was an all-star cast.
So, you know, but I just feel that, you know, I've always been
a pioneer on certain levels, where I try stuff that other
people wouldn't.
And sometimes, you know, you get a little, you know--takes
a moment for the audience to catch up to you sometimes
when you have that kind of vision.
Tracy: How do you remain optimistic?
Robert: You know, the thing that I always say is that what
our jobs are really about as artists is to create change
through our art.
Anytime you can get a chance to say something, to create
something, we--you know, it's kind of like the fool
in King Lear.
You know, the fool says a lot of good stuff and strong stuff, but
he uses, you know, honey to say it and use it.
So, I think--you know, you can get depressed or you can get sad
by what's going on, but I tend to look and I go,
"Look what happened.
You know, people are getting--" People said,
"Oh, the Civil Rights movement is over with.
We don't have to do anything."
You know, and it's like I was getting an award
with John Lewis.
And I was sitting at this table with John Lewis, and I was
talking to him, and you know, he said that,
"The pendulum has swung back."
He said, "I thought all of this was gone."
And he says when he's seen everything, he says,
"I've got to dig my heels in now and fight even harder."
And I feel the same way as an artist, as a filmmaker.
Everything I've got to do, I've got to sprinkle in my messages
that will hopefully plant other seeds in people
that are listening.
'Cause it's not about just being funny or being stupid
or what have you.
It's as artists and especially artists of color,
I want to plant those kind of seeds.
You know, I want--you know, knowing that the parenthood
did help raise a generation of babies to do positive things
and, you know, want to do the right thing,
I feel really happy.
There's other stories that I want to tell, and it's about,
you know, looking at tough times and saying,
"How can I make it better?"