-We thought to ourselves, "Who can we book for a live show
that's on at 12:37 at night who's not going to be tired?"
-Exactly. -Terry Crews.
-That's right, man. First of all, I took my pre-workout.
I'm about to go straight to the gym right after this.
It's all good, man. I usually wake up about 3:00
to go to the gym, so it's perfect.
-You're hosting "America's Got Talent."
-Yes. -As a host, how do you think
you would do hosting something like the debates tonight?
-Oh, my God. You know what?
I would literally liven the sucker up, man.
I'd be like, "Come on, Elizabeth Warren!
Tell them what you got!
It's a cage match!"
-Yeah. Little more energy.
-You know what? I would make them arm-wrestle.
You know what I mean?
They would basically be wrestling each other.
It would be a lot of games, a lot of punching in the face.
"Boo. Take that."
-At the very least, I feel like if you start with 10,
it should end with 8. -Exactly.
Somebody should not survive. -Yes.
-And that would keep everybody right into it.
-You love competition.
Or at least you love watching competition.
But you're not a competitive person.
-I hate competition. You gotta understand.
I believe competition is the opposite of creativity.
Man. It's ridiculous to me. Listen. I was in the NFL.
I did the whole --
The entertainment thing is all about competing with each other.
But one thing I've discovered is that that whole thing
just leaves everybody broken and bloody and the whole thing.
I decided to just kind of walk off,
do my own thing, and stay creative,
and that is where I found my goal.
-That's fantastic. -Yes.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And yet you find yourself hosting a competition.
-Yes. Well, America wants blood, Seth.
-Yeah. -You know? Listen.
First of all, "America's Got Talent"
could easily be an exhibition, but they want people to go home.
They want people to die. -Yeah.
-This is why the whole thing with the debate,
I would literally say someone has to be killed.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't vote on this."
-Were talent shows something you did as a kid?
-Listen. First of all, you gotta understand.
Growing up in Flint, Michigan, my mom --
[ Cheers and applause ] Yes, my mom was very religious.
I was not allowed to go to the movies,
not allowed to listen to secular music,
not allowed to play sports.
Everything I do today, I was not allowed to do.
So what was crazy is that she wouldn't let me perform
in a talent show, so I begged and begged,
and she said, "No, no." I said, "Well, can I host it?!"
And she was like, "Oh, damn. Okay."
And let me tell you, I hosted my high-school talent show,
and not knowing that that would be my future,
that I would eventually grow up
to host the world's biggest talent show,
it's serendipity.
-There you go. I'm glad she gave her approval.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You did not go straight from the NFL to acting.
You had some time in between.
And I read that you were Ice Cube's security guard.
-You know, I was a security --
It wasn't even Ice Cube's security.
I was like Ice Cube's car security.
He would get out of the car. "Hey, man. Watch my car.
Nothing better happen to my car."
And I'm like, "All right. Cool, man. I got you."
It wasn't sexy. It wasn't nice.
I actually was security on "Next Friday"
and ended up in "Friday After Next."
Which was crazy. I did the third movie.
Cube has been responsible for so many careers.
And I just thank him to this day.
-When you showed up for "Friday After Next,"
did he remember you as the guy who used to watch his car?
-You know, totally.
He was just like, "Hey, man, you that dude
that used to watch the car."
But I'm going to tell you this right now, though.
He watched me in "Training Day" as an extra.
"I really liked 'Training Day,' man,
the way you were standing there, you know, muscles glistening.
It was good, man. I'll get you a part."
And so it all worked out.
It's so funny 'cause it's never changed.
Every time I see Cube, I'm like, "Hi, sir."
I'm like, "Oh, damn."
Even though I'm acting, I'm doing my thing,
he's still my boss psychologically.
It's weird. It never changes. -Certain things never do.
I will tell you the same thing. The few times he's been here --
and he's just a lovely person to talk to --
but I kind of can't believe I'm talking to Ice Cube.
-I know. I'm still in awe.
It's almost like I want to watch his car everywhere I --
I'm going to watch it right now.
-I want to ask about "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
Congratulations. I'm so happy...
[ Cheers and applause ]
Obviously, save for a few exteriors,
you mostly shoot in L.A., and now being out in New York,
do people recognize you more?
Do they appreciate that it's a show about Brooklyn?
-First of all, my daughter lives in Brooklyn,
and I make her take me places so that I can get recognized.
-Okay. -It's like, "Hi!"
They're like, "'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'!"
And I'm like, "Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah, I do that show."
-Does your daughter know what you're doing?
-Yeah, she does. -She does.
-She's like, "No, Dad. You need to stay inside."
I'm like, "No. Can we go somewhere, please?
Let's just walk down the street, please. Let's go."
-You deserve it! -I know! Thank you!
-You deserve it. -Thank you.
-Hey. Um, congratulations on
"America's Got Talent", "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
And thank you so much for being here on the live show.
It's just always such a pleasure. Terry Crews.