-Welcome back to the show. -Thank you.
-It's good to be here. -Good to have you here.
I feel like every time you come, your eyes get a little greener.
-All right, Trevor. All right. -(cheering, applause)
-Talk to me now. -Your face... your face gets
a little more... like, you...
-How's life treating you? -Fatter.
No, I wish it was. There's no fatter anything here.
-I'm doing great. -Yeah, you're enjoying life?
I am. I'm working hard, I'm playing hard, I'm having fun.
Congratulations on another season of Grey's Anatomy.
This show's been going-- how many seasons has it been now?
We just finished 15.
-15 seasons! -15.
-(cheering, applause) -Yeah. Yeah.
And they're, like, the long seasons--
like 25-hour-long-episode seasons.
-Right. -Not these little, like, eight-episode, half-ass seasons.
Like, are you throwing shade
at all the miniseries people out there.
-"We're doing real seasons." -Yeah.
Um, what's really impressive about the show for me is,
like, I loved watching the show when I was in South Africa.
It's huge out there. And then I came to the U.S.,
and it's big, and now there's, like, a resurgence of people,
'cause some people watch it on Netflix...
Yeah, people binge-watch, and we have... I'm told we have
more new, uh, fans than we do existing ones.
People are discovering it anew-- more of them
then there are folks who've been diehards forever.
And it's also generational, right?
It's 15 years-- that means a whole... whole new generation
has been born and turned into a high schooler by now
-watching it. -Yeah, so you get...
Some grandmas, parents,
and then their kids all watching it at once.
-So, uh, please keep watching. -Is that ever...
is that ever, like, weird for you
when you have, like, a generational fan gap?
Do you know what I mean? 'Cause, like, a lot of the time
people have, like, a fan rain.
-Yeah, yeah... -And then, now you're getting, like, a...
-12 to 18, 65. -"I'm-I'm your biggest fan,
-and my mom." -Yeah. "And my grandma."
-Yes. -And, um... -(laughter)
and they're aggressive-- grandmas in particular.
-Grandmothers are aggressive. -Don't... don't underestimate
-your elders. -Can I tell you, this...
he's not playing-- grandmothers do not play games.
-They're touchy. -Yes. They're very touchy.
A touchy bunch. They're bad, and they've got a firm grip.
-(laughter) -I had... I had one grandmother
who came up to me at a meet-and-greet,
and then she grabbed my ass and she said to me,
"I don't have much time. Let's do this."
-(laughter) -Amazing.
-I'm serious. -Ama... I believe it.
-Yeah. -It's a very... there's a lot...
and it's... I... I will tell you,
-a lot of times I'll be, like, in their grip, -Yes.
-and there's, like, it's, like, a whole stomach rub, -Uh-huh.
-unnecessary. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Not part of the photo but just, like, a stomach rub,
and, like, rubbing a little side-boob action,
-there's, uh, side-boob action. -Living their best life.
-Yeah. Yeah. -Yeah, living their best life.
-(laughter) -I like that.
Grey's Anatomy has been a show
that-that's had an impact on many people, because--
you know what really intrigued me about the show
when it kicked off was, you have this show
that Shonda Rhimes created where it spoke to so many issues
that were happening in the world, but it didn't, like,
specifically or explicitly call them out.
-Yeah. -So for instance, you had a black doctor
who had grown up in tough circumstances,
but it wasn't, like, "his story."
-Yeah. -It was part of his life.
Um, you know, you had an Asian doctor
who was dealing with her family and her world.
You had a lesbian doctor who was struggling
with how she told people about her sexuality,
but it was never like, "This is the show about wokeness."
In fact, I would even say it...
It's amazing how rarely we ever, if ever, we mentioned anything.
You just happened to have these people in positions of power
and worthy of respect, and they were, you know,
that's why it's such a pioneering show.
Everybody always said you couldn't do that.
-Right. -Nobody would watch it.
Do you think that's why people connected with it?
Because it was just-- it was about human beings,
and they happened to be as diverse as the world is.
Yeah, I think it started with the heart,
it started with the actual humanity,
-and it's not-- that's not an Asian surgeon, -Yes.
-that's Yang, that's somebody you love. -Right. Right.
It's not, it's not the black chief
who's demonstrating that he's black by doing
-or saying something ridiculous, -Yes.
he's just, he's just, uh, Richard Webber.
The way you said it now, I just picture him
like, what is a black surgeon chief?
-Like this, like, this, like... -No, no, no.
-some neck jivin'... -I was just picturing-- Yeah.
-Yeah, that's what I mean. -Yeah. Yeah.
Just be like, "I need a (bleep) cot."
-Exactly. (laughs) -But-but-but-but...
But let's talk a little bit about, like,
-that world that you've created. -That's definitely been done.
-I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. -Somewhere. Somewhere.
It sounds like a sketch.
Um, you've been doing it for so long
that I feel like you should have, like, an honorary, like,
-degree in medicine. -I could be a--
I could be a fully credited surgeon by now.
Do you think you know, like, some--
You know enough fake medicine to do real medicine?
I could-- I could slow your death.
-Um... (laughs) -(laughs)
I could buy you a few extra minutes.
Um, but, you know what's funny is that, like--
and I think I've said this before, I've had,
I've definitely had, like, at least two instances on a plane,
where somebody has gone,
"Is there a doctor on the plane?"
And then a, uh, a flight attendant looks directly at me.
It's like, "Lady. The one thing you know about me.
"Unlike anybody else on this flight,
the one thing you know about me is I'm not a doctor."
-But it's like, "Y-You." No. No. Please don't. -But, no.
Fine. All right. We'll just go through the motions.
-I don't know what...? -I-I...
This is how bad of a doctor I am.
-Yeah. Is that how you do...? -I don't know.
I'm just stretching is what I'm doing.
-That's your CPR? -It's just like a little cabbage patch
-or something, yeah. -I like it. That was a very sexy CPR.
That was like...
That was like, "Yo. I don't know if you're coming back to life,
but you're going out happy."
-It's just like... -Yo, what is that? What is that? Side boob?
-Yeah. Nice little move there. -Oh, okay.
Um, you're also directing in Grey's Anatomy now as well.
Yeah. Yeah, the episode I, uh-- yeah.
We have a-another episode I directed is this Thursday.
-Congratulations, man. -Thank you. Thank you.
-Really. That's like a big step. -I really...
-I enjoy it. -(cheering and applause)
I actually-- I enjoy it maybe more than acting.
-You enjoy it maybe more than acting? -Yeah.
-Why? -It's just something I've always felt like
I was going to do, I could do.
You know, I went to film school, I shot shorts in-in college.
I, uh, I enjoy it.
So it's like a natural evolution.
Yeah, and I knew it was gonna happen, I just didn't want
-to start it until I was ready to keep doing it. -Got it.
And, uh, and, by the way, you know,
I've got a great place to do it, a place that I know and love,
and top-notch incredible crew and all that.
How-how does it work, though, when you're directing people
who you've worked with for so long?
You're gonna take out all your grudges.
Yeah. You get to give-give people hell
-that have been giving you-- -Yeah?
No, no. It's-- It really-- it really helps
to be able to speak the language of the actor, you know?
I mean, it's-- I have found with some directors
that they don't quite know how to speak to actors in a way,
-and sometimes it's a delicate thing. -That makes sense.
Keep in mind this show has been on for 15 years,
so we actually know our characters better
than almost anybody else on the set.
So somebody showing up-- if we do 25 episodes,
this may be 16 directors, 'cause some repeat,
so new people coming in, trying to feel out,
they don't quite know--
Everybody's got different personalities
in ways you receive information.
But being able to understand how actors work
and the way we communicate,
and you can say a lot with a little,
and it's more of an emotional conversation than technical,
telling them how you would like it,
without telling them how to do it.
Um, so it's-it's a ti-- a bit of a tightrope,
and we can be a fickle bunch.
It's a conversation that you can have,
which-which, um, which I, like, I enjoy.
I love it when actors get into directing
and when they get to control a bit of their craft.
It might be a little bit like that with comedians
when you talk to other stand-ups.
-You guys kind of speak a language... -True.
-Yeah, we do. We do. -...that if it was a comedian
-directing you in a movie or something. -Yes.
Like, we say "killing," "bombing."
Like, we use language where people are like,
-"I'm sorry, what happened on stage?" -Yeah.
-Yeah, exactly. -You're like, "Yeah, he died.
-He died on stage." -Yeah.
And then, like, there was one comedian
who actually, like, physically died on stage,
and then all of us didn't know what that meant.
-'Cause, no, 'cause, like... -How do you follow that?
...citizens were like, "Oh, a comedian died on stage."
And we're like, "Oh, it happens all the time."
-Yeah, happens all the time, yeah. -Really.
-Yeah. -And then they were like, "No, d-died,
like, actually died."
-We're like, "Yeah, people die all the time." -Yeah, yeah.
-And then it was like, "No, dead dead." -Yeah.
-We're like, "Oh. Sorry. Sorry" -Right. Right. Right.
It was, like, a weird, you know...
Um, let's talk about some of the work that you're doing
-outside of Grey's Anatomy. -Yeah.
One thing that has connected, um,
so many people with you and your story
is that you have been involved in social justice.
You are somebody who said, "I have a platform,
"and I will use it to speak out
"for issues that I... that I agree with
-or disagree against," you know? -Sure.
And, so, one thing that's been really interesting
is now you've teamed up with MedMen.
-Mm-hmm. Yeah. -Right? Uh, is... What would it be called?
-A cannabis company? Was that, like, the official term? -Yeah.
-The biggest, uh, in the country. -Yeah.
-Spike Jonze and I... -Yes.
...made, uh, essentially a short film,
uh, that they put together.
And we got creative and figured out a way
to kind of tell the history of cannabis in this country.
It's a really fascinating ad,
'cause you play everyone in the ad,
-and you tell the story of weed in America. -Yeah.
And it's like, you would think a weed ad would just be like,
-"Smoke weed, man." -Exactly.
-But... Right. -It's not that at all. Yeah.
It's... Look, the cannabis boom is happening.
And, so, we know that,
so we try to come up with something together.
A mechanism, as well. Came up with this great concept,
uh, of laying some context down.
We know this boom is about to take off.
What is the story of cannabis in this country truly?
Because it certainly isn't a bunch of people in Colorado
and California discovering it and getting rich.
-Right. -It's not the gold rush
as in you just discovered gold and you're selling it.
It's been around forever.
We used to force Africans to grow it on plantations,
including the first president, George Washington.
And now there's thousands of people locked up in cages
-for having it in their pocket. -Right.
So, how did we get there?
And, so, we're telling this story
through this brilliant idea that... uh, mechanism,
and Spike came up with and we worked on together.
Kind of through this museum, this series of dioramas
that take you through American history.
Contextualize the war on drugs and stop and frisk
and, uh, and medicinal uses and for our veterans
and so many different ways it can be applied.
And it's, uh, it's an important...
it's an important issue.
I didn't come to it from cannabis as the center.
That wasn't my bag, but it was social justice,
and it's something that we need to decriminalize
because we're not adjudicating it fairly.
We're not enforcing these laws fairly at all.
I know in the suburbs, it's boys will be boys,
-kids will be kids. -Mm-hmm.
Every movie we watch about coming of age,
-partying, is what? -Yes. Superbad. Everything.
-Yes. -Yeah, it's kids smoke... finds weed and drinking,
both of which are totally illegal,
but we accept it and we laugh at it 'cause it's coming of age.
But when it's black kids doing it or poor kids doing it,
they're filling prisons.
-Um, and it's just not fair at all. -(applause)
So, if you're not gonna do it fairly,
let's decriminalize it, is my view,
and start from there and build up
in a sensible manner, in a way that makes sense.
Hey, man, it's a... it's a powerful ad, and I...
People have to watch it online 'cause weed is not...
Yeah, you can just watch it on YouTube. Yeah.
Yeah, 'cause weed is not legal federally,
so they can't put it on networks,
which is an interesting conversation to have
-for another day, but... -Yeah.
Congratulations again on Grey's.
Thank you, man. I appreciate it.
Congratulations on furthering conversations out there.
-Always fun having you on the show. -Always. Always.
-Thank you. -I appreciate it, man. Thank you so much.
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.
Jesse Williams, everybody.