Actor/Voice Over Artist Rhomeyn Johnson: And his bodyguards at this point are standing back
there kind of laughing so you turn around y'all quit laughing so he said all right, all right,
all right, ease up. I'd do it well I mean how many commercials have you done let's see it's been
about 275 now oh you have the exact count no not exactly okay, okay yeah and and what span of time
since 1984. Oh good year, yeah I guess
My first commercial was well my first national was 1984. and I did a commercial with James Brown
The Godfather of Soul ow James Brown I did that commercial with him and it wouldn't we introduced
chicken McNuggets they had just come out and we did one of the first commercials
for chicken McNuggets and I was in Chicago and that's why I was living at the time
and that was a my big shot because I hadn't done anything like in Michigan where I was from I had
done a a local business school commercial that was really nothing so that I didn't count that
but I did to McDonald's in 1984 and I was like so excited and I was saying I can't be this lucky
and of course he showed up like four hours late so I'm sitting there and I'm like worried I'm
like oh man I knew this was gonna happen so he shows up and they have everything set up the
lights the cameras everything and they say to him the director whose name was Sid Myers who
was the top commercial director at that point he said well I'm glad you're here James could
you go stand on your mark he says I thought I told y'all to call me Mr Brown I'm like oh
so he immediately went and sat down on one of the little chairs at McDonald's the little chairs
and he wouldn't do anything so the art director from that agency came over
the director begged him and the copywriter everybody from the ad agency came over to
try to get into work so I'm like saying wait a minute this is a national commercial this
is my first big break and I had been living in Chicago for a few months
and I had no money and I was like doing survival work I like was a painter and plasterer because
as I as a teenager a man in my neighborhood was a contractor who owned a painting and plastering
company so during the summer he would bring all the kids in and teach us how to paint and do that
and we got paid a little money and so I knew that kind of trade so I got a job doing that
and so that was basically what I was doing but I mean I was there to try to become an actor and
whatnot so I said well I see this is not going to go well so I went over to Mr Brown and he has his
two big bodyguards standing behind him and they looked at me I'm like oh no no just I just want
to ask some questions I said excuse me Godfather he says what I said could you please help us this
is like my my first big commercial I just moved here a few months ago and all of us we trying to
make it like you we trying to get get ourselves going and everything he said well I ain't doing
nothing everybody always want me to do a damn shuffle I ain't shoveling yet and he started
talking like that so then I was like oh so then I turned the walk away and then I came back I said
aren't you the Godfather of Soul he said Oh Brother come on I said no no no wait a minute
I say you sow brother number one I said when I was a little kid and we had parties we couldn't
get the girls to dance with us until we put on one of your records which was really true
and the girls would dance with us because little girls don't like little boys and whatnot and the
boys are like okay I Gotta Dance So when you put his stuff on Everybody Get Up and Dance
he said really I said yeah I said come on Godfather so by this time the other actors
picked up on what I was doing they said Godfather Godfather Godfather and his bodyguards at this
point are standing back there kind of laughing so you turn around and y'all quit laughing so
he said all right all right all right he's up I do it typical James Brown like how they put the
cape on him anything once he started doing his little dance and all that shuffled and all that
stuff it couldn't stop him he said get this in the director said keep the camera rolling so they shot
all of this stuff but the interesting thing about the whole shoe was the fact that after every take
his wife who was like his stylist would come out and fluff and comb
his hair after every take so you can imagine we're doing like a hundred takes
she comes out and the thing is what was so funny is she had on this tight black
dress like Morticia Adams and she would come out like that and we'd be standing there like okay
and she would come out and do his hair because he had that hair and she'd do that and then she
do a little walk off each take so he got to the point where we were there all day and so at that
point I didn't really understand the money aspect about you want to stay on the shoot
as long as you can you want to get in there over eight nine hours because then you go
into overtime you get into time and a half double time triple time so we were there like 14 hours
so I was like man I'm tired and once I got the check I realized that I made more in overtime
that I made for the actual session fee so that was my first experience so after that I was like
I want to stay on these things as long as I can I mean I'll wear myself out but you get paid so
after the commercial after we shot it I said thank you he came up and said yeah thank you I've been
a little upset with these people I said oh yeah okay I can imagine so I said is there any way I
can get a signed picture from my niece he gave me a signed picture and he's really nice after that
so that was my first commercial I did many years ago and have you ever tried to approach quote
unquote this like a level talent like that ever again or was was that something being green and
just being human with him it just happened in that one moment well no I had never and I haven't done
that since then because I haven't really had a reason to do that but that was a situation where
I'm new in town and I'm staying with an uncle of mine in his family and he got these little
kids that were just bad like little kids and I'm like oh I gotta get out of here so I needed to get
some money so I can get my own place but I was thankful of my my mother's youngest brother of
course I was thankful for them to let me stay with them while I was trying to get my feet wet but no
I had never done that I mean since then I've worked with a lot of a lot of big people and I
know after and I know protocol you don't you don't say anything to these people approaching anything
but I really like I really didn't know any better but I just came up to him because I was like
and the funny thing is the ad agency said to me after that the people from that ages said we're
not going to forget you for this thank you so much you hear that all the time I'm like yeah all right
whatever a month later it's like about 150 degrees because we shot that commercial in the summertime
and in Chicago like the Midwest when it's July and August is unbearable the humidity is crazy
so about a month later in August I'm in Chicago at my uncle's house and I'm just doing stuff around
the house helping clean up the mess other kids because they all in school I'm by myself there
and I get a call and my agent is like oh I'm glad I caught you I said oh what's going on
you got to get downtown right away I'm like what they say you got to get down that to Beth Rebado
to the casting agency you got to get there they need to see you I'm like oh so I get my stuff
together and I don't have a car so I get on the get on the bus get over to the train which is the
Dan Ryan which is the train and I catch the train down there I get into place I open the
door and the casting director runs up and I mean I'm sweating like a pig she she comes up she's I
said what's going on she says they need to see you in there right away so I walk in this room
and it's all of those people that were on the McDonald's shoot and the art director he says
we told you we weren't going to forget you and the commercial turned out to be Crest toothpaste
and it was an award-winning spot where we lost the Clio which is like the top it's like the
Oscars of commercials we lost that commercial award to where's the beef remember the clear
pillar at Wendy's that that won everything but we came in second to that and after that I started
doing all kind of stuff after that oh for that company for all the companies oh I mean I just
started because see the funny thing is about like commercials once the once did people see you like
other ad agencies or other products once they see you they they'll call you in or they tend to want
to use you because the thing is in our business nobody wants to really take a chance on anybody
so when somebody takes a chance on you then other people say oh well they took a chance on him so
yeah it's like dating most women don't want you if no other women don't want you
it's just how that is so I started doing a lot of commercial stuff and then I started doing plays in
Chicago as a theater town it's like it's like the second theater town then I studied in Second City
I studied and I got to meet Bill Murray Bill Murray's brother Joel was in my class when I
was studying that second City so Bill Murray would come into town from Saturday Night Live
and he would take us all to to dinner and everything because he's Rich so he would take
us all because his little brother was in our class and he would have us he would entertain us and
everything he was just as funny as he could be now he's gotten a little jaded over the years I mean
it's got a little different but but but he was really nice I mean he's still cool from what I'm
here but I met him I met at the time Belushi was alive John Belushi I met all of them because they
would all come back to town and they would go work out at Second City work on stuff and play around
and hang out and stuff so I got to meet a lot of people like that and I studied improv over there
for a couple of years and my big regret is that I didn't go on row on the road they wanted me to
go on the road with one of the touring companies but I was doing at that point so well commercially
on camera commercials and voice over that it was hard for me to leave that money and
I regret it to this day because one of the guy a couple of the guys that went
in my place ended up becoming stars off of that like but hey it's you you make choices you know.