-Our first guest tonight is a talented actor
and host you know from his work on shows such as
"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "America's Got Talent."
He hosts "America's Got Talent: All-Stars,"
which airs Monday night at 8:00 here on NBC.
Let's take a look.
♪ People talking without speaking ♪
-Oh, yeah!
♪ People hearing without listening ♪
♪ People writing songs ♪
♪ That voices never share ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Please welcome back to the show
our friend Terry Crews, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Oh, my gosh. -Oh!
-Now, I actually have to say,
Terry, I think you owed us that entrance.
-I did, I did. -Because it was --
it seemed very unfair that the clip we used
to introduce you was someone else being incredible,
and all we watched you do is go...
-Is go, "Yeah!" [ Laughter ]
No, that was -- this is -- I love that show.
I love "AGT," man. -Yeah, man.
-I love being the host.
First of all, I study success.
I study what it's about because, you know, I failed a lot.
-Mm-hmm. -I study, like, what works.
And when I watch these guys just come in here
and do these miracles every day. And I realize --
Because people think it's about competition.
But these guys never look at the competition.
All they do is worry about themselves.
When you're seeing somebody like Tom Ball,
we gave him, like, this giant --
like, all of us gave him a Golden Buzzer.
He wasn't worried about anything else but what he was doing.
And I realized that's what I need to do.
-Yeah. -Because every time
I've ever failed, you are looking at the side,
and you're looking at other people,
and you're seeing what everybody else is doing.
But when it works, you just work on yourself.
And that's what I love about this whole thing.
-And now, explain real quick the all-stars spinoff
of the show here.
These are people from previous seasons?
These are across the world? -Exactly.
The past winners and the most memorable acts.
And this is what's so wonderful. It's voted on by the superfans.
And the superfans are like, you know, people from
every different state, in all 50 states,
who vote on "AGT." So this is a good --
The great thing is that the judges don't matter.
Whatever Simon says, whatever Howie says,
whatever Heidi says, it's just their opinion,
but it does not go into -- -I mean, I want to live
in a world where nothing Simon says matters.
[ Laughter ] -I know!
Believe you me, that's why I'm glad I host.
I don't ever judge.
I'm just like -- I'm always there.
I'm there for the acts. -But you do get a Golden Buzzer.
-I do. -And this is your chance
to put someone through.
And you used it recently.
Explain who you used it for and that moment
where you decided, "I'm gonna hit this thing."
-I gave the Detroit Youth Choir their second Golden Buzzer
from me because these kids, we come from similar circumstances.
I mean, you know, I'm from Flint, Michigan.
These guys are from Detroit.
They've seen so many obstacles in their lives.
And the thing is -- it's just like I said before.
They never worried about their circumstances.
They just worked on themselves.
And these kids have made a miracle.
You know, what's so wonderful,
the first time they got the Golden Buzzer,
they did not win the show, but they got $1 million
from the city of Detroit. -Wow, there you go.
-And I mean, it was fantastic.
So, you know, this Golden Buzzer thing
has real power to change people's lives.
And so on "All-Stars," I gave them another Golden Buzzer.
-[ Laughs ] -You know what I mean?
I was like, "I'm gonna give y'all another one!"
[ Cheers and applause ] You know what I mean?
-You talked -- I want to talk about your upbringing
real quick in your new book. But you also --
I know you grew up in Flint, Michigan.
And you took your first sort of
winter vacation with your family.
-Yeah. -You had never really done
the winter vacation. -I've never done it.
You know, 'cause first of all, growing up broke,
you know, you're like, "Cold? Why do y'all go to the cold?
What is that?" -Yeah.
-You know what I mean? I used to sit in my basement
and wait for summer like for three months.
[ Laughter ]
I'd watch all the "Gilligan's Island,"
then I'd get out, and I was like,
"Oh, man, it's summer," you know?
But one thing I realized -- I was like, "Oh, man.
This is what they're talking about.
Like, s'mores and tubing and, like --"
You know what I mean?
White-people money! -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -You know what I'm saying?
I was like, "That's what they're doing!
That's what they mean." -Was it so exciting to know
you were making s'mores money?
[ Laughter ] -Yes, it was.
-I know you've excelled at a lot of sports in your life,
but safe to say it's a little too late to take up skiing?
-It's very too late, yes. -Okay. Gotcha.
-No, I'm not about to break anything.
-Yeah, that's a very -- I don't blame you for that.
Now, I've always been impressed with the fact that you are also
an accomplished author, and this is a book for adolescents.
And the name, I feel like it's crazy to me
you hadn't already used the name about this group of kids.
It's "Terry's Crew." -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-I mean that one -- did you -- have you had that one
in your back pocket for a while? -A long time.
-Yeah, there you go. -A long time.
You know, you try to work out all these things that
have meaning in your life, but this is the thing for me.
The reason one thing that I survived and made it through
is because of the people who were in my life.
This book is based on real people who blessed me.
I actually dedicated this to my art teacher
who actually filled out all these applications for me
when I didn't even believe in myself.
And he got me two different scholarships.
And it's one of those things where --
[ Cheers and applause ] Yes.
You realize that -- No man is an island.
Like, the whole self-made man is a myth.
It's really about who believes in you, who's with you,
and who -- and the right circle that you're in
that'll allow you to do anything you want to do.
-And you came -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-You came from a tough neighborhood.
And it wasn't just teachers. It was sometimes maybe people
who, from the outside, can be seen as
the rougher element of the neighborhood.
-Listen, I had to avoid, you know, crack dealers,
gang members, the whole thing.
You know, I had to dumb myself down just to get into school.
I was like, "Yeah, man, I don't know nothing about that stuff."
[ Laughter ] And they're like, "Yeah, okay,
you cool." But then I'd go back in.
"Hey, did you see 'Star Wars'? It's so amazing!"
I'm like this big nerd, but I had to hide it
and the whole thing. And it's wild because
when you find people
you can be yourself around, no matter what --
You know, we were a group of Black nerds,
and we would sit around and just talk about
all these wonderful things.
And finally, you realize, man, this is what it's about.
It's really about just -- it's not about impressing everybody
but finding that crew that you can --
that really believe in you and will take you to the next level.
-It does seem like -- I mean, you're talking about
yourself as a nerd. And, again, I will just say
this is not -- in my high school, this is not --
you would not have been a nerd. [ Laughter ]
So, wait -- you were a man of many, uh,
sort of many different skills. -What you gotta notice is that
I hadn't really grown into my hands and ears
and feet at that time. -Okay. Gotcha.
-You know, I finally grew into all this stuff.
You know what I mean? But I was trying to look cool.
You know what I mean? I was like,
"I can palm the basketball." I wasn't very good.
-You had a -- you recently were out.
And you were recognized by a young fan...
-Yes. -...who took time to do
a drawing of you while you were at the restaurant, right?
-Yes. -And then this was
brought over for you. -It was amazing.
This 9-year-old girl -- I walked in the restaurant.
This is when we were in Utah. It was crazy.
I walked in the restaurant.
This girl grabbed her crayons and started immediately.
She came over nervously with my family,
and we're eating and the whole thing.
And she showed me this picture, and it blessed me so much.
She was like, "I'm so sorry.
The shoes were supposed to be shinier."
-Well, I think she did a great job.
-Look at this! It's so cute!
-And I mean -- [ Applause ]
-I'm framing this. It means so much to me.
-And let me just say -- -It looks just like me!
-Looks just like -- And she got the hands right.
[ Laughter ]
Those are those big hands that were grabbing
the basketballs earlier. So look at that.
-Her name is Belle. Hey, Belle, thank you...
-Well done. -...for this beautiful picture.
-Well done, Belle. And, Terry, it's always
such a pleasure to see you, man. -Always. Always.
-"America's Got Talent: All-Stars,"
Monday nights at 8:00 here on NBC.
We'll be right back with Andrew Dismukes.