- 4/22/2025
Craig talks about his love of music as well as his love of Kate Flannery, his cast-mate from The Office. He also slipped in a Pizza Hut mention, earning him $50k, and free pizzas for us.
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00:00we're excited to have our next guest in the studio is here nice and early today
00:05he's got shows that are selling out left and right at helium comedy club tonight and tomorrow sold
00:10out but there are tickets available for sunday get him down 7 p.m and 9 30 please welcome the
00:15one and only mr craig robinson hello and good morning good morning sir good to see you again
00:21likewise how long has it been uh wow that's just saying the last time he was in studio we had danny
00:26boyle who was promoting slumdog millionaire preston that was the before time yeah
00:31in the before time i don't think he was promoting slumdog millionaire but craig was
00:37had seen it and you said it was one of the greatest movies you had ever seen had ever seen
00:41no he was he was he was slumdog okay and nick because he was like i should take you with me
00:48to promote because i had i had just but i don't even know why it just rocks your world but yeah
00:53i just happened to like oh this looks interesting like i saw a little little bitty little bitty
00:59article about it and then i went and saw and then blew me away and then here i was here and here was
01:06danny boyle coming in and i was able and then i saw him at like a golden globes or something yeah we
01:11kind of like you know we're friendly so oh good i looked so cool sometimes just meeting someone like
01:19that lead to working with them on occasion absolutely not okay no no no you know i take
01:26that back sometimes there have been uh uh times where you know you stick out on somebody's brain
01:32and they call you for this to another but it's uh sometimes it's because they'll see you on stage
01:36whatever or the work you've done but yeah it it has it has been beneficial at times well you you're
01:42working on so many things and obviously doing some uh research and and looking up stuff that you uh
01:47are involved with the show killing it uh came to uh and i didn't even know it was on i know there's
01:53just and we were talking about this issue we've had people come through now there's such a glut of
01:58good stuff across so many platforms it's easy to fall through the cracks so this is a comedy series
02:03casey from the brooklyn nine nine guys right are you all watching killing it y'all been watching it
02:08no i i'm i i just found out about yeah and doing that's about right so i started
02:15but i loved you on brooklyn nine nine i love that show and these writers so it's on peacock first
02:21season done as such a i mean it's still the wicked humor but uh like it takes a turn especially from
02:29going from brooklyn nine nine to that oh it's it seems crazy explain the dan gore and luke del
02:34tradici they're the uh uh writers uh head writers of brooklyn nine nine and so you know as i was doing
02:41brooklyn uh we i had these meetings with them and it was like let's let's do something because brooklyn's
02:46winding down yeah it's another and then uh they they came to me with these ideas these three ideas and
02:52one of them was uh for the killing it i'm in this show killing it i play uh craig foster stretch
03:00and uh and uh and i play a um how did somebody put it a uh i'm a man who will do anything to achieve
03:10the american dream including become a uh uh invasive species vigilante okay so you you actually go and
03:18kill snakes it's a python contest right and it's a real thing in florida where they have these python
03:24content yeah and i think this year you could win an atv or something but um but they but they you know
03:30they're overrun by snakes because i guess people you know want to be like scarface back in the day
03:34whatever and then they it's crazy uh uh then they end up you know let them go in the wild and nothing
03:39eats them but they eat everything so they're overrun and so anyway our uh uh luke del tradici was uh you
03:46know i guess he he was looking at it and then uh and then we they came up with this series and here i am
03:52i'm at the head of it now where did you shoot did you shoot in australia uh no i'll tell you this
03:56though i shot we shot in new orleans okay uh last year and then um but speaking of australia
04:03ozzy ozzy ozzy thank you okay speaking of australia when uh i got killing it they were like are you
04:11afraid of snakes and i was like i used to be but i had gone to australia maybe in 2015 16 somewhere around
04:18okay with my band the nasty delicious we're playing september 22nd at the brooklyn ball anyway
04:23but but at the brooklyn ball in wigginsburg but um we we went and we were at this animal sanctuary
04:30it was incredible we sang to a cockatoo he was moving his head and dancing if you ever see a
04:35cockatoo sing to it yeah uh and then we got to the snakes and and uh they put the snake around my neck and
04:42i was like i've in that moment i stopped being scared i was like this this snake makes me no harm
04:48it's very docile it feels so nice and and you know i've been misled by uh the bible and indiana jones
04:56see it's funny i'm not afraid it's true either but but i have snake nightmares which is bizarre
05:01like they don't like i'm not inherently afraid of them but i for some reason like and i think it's the
05:06perception of the texture and what you're going to feel and and it's basically like in most cases it feels
05:12like a sort of a cool wallet when you're no he's he's afraid of of of giant penises that's what
05:18that's about i don't know afraid or intrigued one of those intrigued by giant yeah yeah uh well so so
05:26cool so in the second season has been given the go ahead just given the go ahead we start filming uh
05:30late october so thank you those uh you know who are supporting and checking it out and for those who
05:36don't or not yet it's called killing it it's on peacock tv it's a streaming service yeah
05:42yes hey i wanted to ask about your band the nasty delicious yes you mentioned that now obviously
05:46we've seen you uh on stage form you're a great musician keyboard players sing have some fun
05:50is the band is it straight ahead is it comedy is a little bit of both it's it's my act plus
05:56incredible musicians yeah it's like seven eight people right yeah you're a really good musician
06:01i mean thank you yeah yeah i've seen you play multiple times and i'm i'm the least talented of the
06:06group and they're i mean they're all phenomenal between us we probably know every song you you
06:13started as a music teacher right yes yeah kindergarten through eighth grade music in chicago was it then
06:19that you wrote take your panties off no no no no that happened i was a comedian i was working in fort worth
06:26texas and uh and there was this this waitress and she like you know where to get something and her legs
06:33would not stop and it just it just words just came out take your panties off and uh it's been
06:39over 20 years and there you go you know i i hear you sing quite often on the uh the commercial where
06:45you're performing maniac in the in the laundromat it's hilarious and if you've never seen the
06:54commercial it ends with the old this old man sitting in a chair as you allow the water coming down
07:00you're pouring laundry from my flash dance yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that uh people always ask me did
07:06you write that are you no they just michaelson bello they didn't no no that's about the uh this
07:12commercial oh the skit yeah and they're like i'm like no they came to me they were like this is what
07:17we got in mind well you do it so it's it's kind of amazing and so uh that you got pizza hut commercials
07:25going too oh yeah hey what's up shout out pizza hut yo um pizza hut is kind of the unsung hero of
07:32pizza i i i'm these the stuffed breast pizza hut pizza is damn good no no no stuffed crust the the
07:40the cheesy stuffed crust pizza i'm telling you if you have a pizza near you or even if you don't do it
07:46go do it hey you know why no one out pizzas the hut i just made fifty thousand dollars
07:55do we get any pizzas honestly i can hook you up it always cracks me up because a lot of times you
08:01know people like they'll demure from you know i don't do commercials why wouldn't you if you if you
08:06if you can do something that's fun oh that's that's way right way every everybody everybody
08:12does everything yeah yeah you remember you used to see actors like movie stars on tv yeah all that's
08:18out the window like years ago you would you would see like celebrities would go do commercials in
08:22japan they're here get their couple million now um speaking of commercials you know i have a
08:27commercial that's like uh specific to this region no what is it deets oh oh yeah you're doing uh these
08:36deets and watson's not deets and watson yeah exactly yeah that's my brother in the commercial
08:40with me chris really you watch it i haven't seen oh no yeah because it's been a while i mean i don't
08:45know how when the last time they were on but uh yeah yeah yeah yeah you suckered him in the same
08:48deets nuts you get 50 grand for that too bam who was somebody whoever's on the uh the uh the video is
08:56killing yeah there you go that's my brother right there yeah so then you and i have something in common
09:01i was the uh i was a deets spokesperson for the uh yeah i swear yeah i was the i'm sure you're
09:07yeah you're negotiating the same contract i i would like to have 50 grand for saying that
09:13hey i wanted to bring up we saw the the the footage you uh and it was it was kind of scary
09:17because obviously we we adore you but you you were at a club and there was i think like an active
09:22shooter situation yeah i was at the comedy zone in north carolina tell us what happened charlotte north
09:27carolina and uh so check this out all right so um it was in between shows okay was it the full band
09:34or was it just it was just me yes me and a couple a few comics and so it was in between shows so the
09:40staff had just had to clean it up i think they seated one table all right so uh this uh a guy
09:49wanders in and he has two tickets to see damon wayans all right and they were in a bible okay he pulled
09:56two tickets out of a bible oh interesting already troubling already troubling yeah so then uh they're
10:03like oh well you know damon canceled a couple months ago but this is you know craig robinson we
10:07we could accommodate i don't know and then i'm not exactly what happened but i think he he walked
10:12away he comes back he pulls out the gun he's like uh and he wait he walked right past the green room
10:20now mind you i never the only time i felt uh that there might be some something missed some some
10:25trouble when they came in like everybody out because the guy can't he waved his gun in front
10:30of the staff and was like uh this is your one chance to get the f out right right so then all
10:35i heard was everybody out now you know and then and that you know at that point i knew he they meant
10:42everybody not just like some random people and i'm like yeah so we got up we ran out and um and there
10:48was this uh concert going on next door the uh big time rush you remember that yeah so so we went there
10:55and then and uh and and i don't know who was i was like uh uh uh so they took us there for safety
11:01it was right next door and um and they were like i was like who's this performing they said big time
11:05rush i said take me back to the active shooter
11:18but uh but kudos to the comedy zone the security they got us out of there uh like i never like
11:25once i saw the footage i saw how how it could have gone left because he's walking around with his gun
11:30he it turned out fine nobody got hurt and he uh and he was he the police came and got him they could
11:36have came in guns blazing like had every you know right it's a nightmare but but it was uh it was all
11:42good and you know they got us out of there and uh yeah do you so you you're you're a big guy uh you
11:48know but you you travel and you're doing you're doing shows do you do you ever have to hire security
11:54you some places i have security okay sometimes yeah yeah yeah i mean you won't know they're
12:01secure we'll be at a restaurant there'll be three tables away and you just think i'm sitting there
12:05alone you never know do you i wanted to tell you that uh virtually every other week i end up watching
12:13the outtake uh from eastbound and down oh my god the plums oh my god christ that's so effing funny
12:21and and you are you're you're what makes it you're you're you're trying to be as stoic as
12:26possible if you if people aren't aren't familiar you can look it up on youtube danny mcbride yeah top g bro
12:32the man the uh yeah trying to will ferrell is sitting there trying to destroy it he didn't
12:39care he just so he's trying to destroy you yeah and now a couple that we're having to look danny
12:45mcbride in the eyes yeah and not laugh like face to face so that you're supposed to there and
12:50and he's he's talking about you know the plums and he's just cracking up there's a line that
12:56ferrell has where he says uh i think he's trying to say if i recall correctly but he says if i
13:01were click click and now i don't i don't say recall anymore i say we're click click
13:07he describes having and making love to his wife and he said he needs to learn yeah you let the boy
13:12watch so he can learn like like i did for my father my father and his father before him
13:17well you you've been on so many great uh you know sets uh obviously the office you've been with
13:23it with a lot of improvisational people um you were on um and obviously you're great comedically
13:30what for you was the most fun on any set you ever had where you just you know just tore it up and
13:36laughed all the time because you're surrounded by some major talent um the the probably this this
13:42movie called peoples david allen greer well you know that i got three in mind people's this is the
13:49end and then uh dolomite dolomite dolomite was crazy now david allen greer i want what needs to happen
13:56david allen greer and keegan michael key when i tell you these they are they are incredible yeah and they
14:03just like david allen greer is is one of the i mean he he was the best like but um between that and and
14:11the peoples was with david allen greer and carrie washington and then uh you know this is the end
14:15you got sets and all these cats and i was being very entertained it was like once i was like an
14:21hour and a half just them lighting or something and uh jonah jonah and uh danie mcbride jonah and
14:29franco no they were it just entertaining me like they were just yeah i can't say what they were saying
14:36but they were doing these accents it was too funny and then uh and then what was the other
14:41one i just oh dolomite forget about it i couldn't i couldn't have you know dreamt that experience
14:45working with eddie murphy i really dug that movie i'd seen a documentary and we used to play dolomite
14:50clips all the time and rudy what was it rudy ray moore rudy ray moore legend and and um uh you know the
14:57the lines like yeah um you better what was it you better watch your i'm gonna put these hush puppies
15:03right up your ass yeah yeah just hilarious was that was that a cool i know that was a passion
15:10project for eddie murphy was it was that a wild you said you enjoyed being on it was it was it was
15:16it was not phenomenal yeah and eddie couldn't have been cooler um i had worked with him before on um
15:22uh shrek forever after yeah i was uh i played one of the ogres named cookie i was a cook but um
15:32you liked doing the anime because you were just in the bad guys yeah yeah that's that's the best man
15:37yeah just going there and wild out you know you're just uh wild out it's like going crazy in the booth
15:43or whatever but yeah dolomite was uh was pretty crazy because what made that really for me was uh
15:49keegan though like keegan now we we would come up with these bits and it was it was just made the time
15:54he's super he's super talented i i would love to get him in the studio i just saw him he they they had him
16:00at a like a penn state game and did you see the footage of him doing that looks like the head
16:03coach he looks like james franklin the head coach did you see the footage did not know oh my god
16:07so they're interviewing him like on the side of the field as if he's the coach yeah and then i i
16:13don't even remember what he says but he's like and he notices something like a hundred yards away
16:17he's like i gotta go and then the way he runs away is completely ridiculous i think he led the team
16:23on the field and and so there's a hundred and ten thousand people i'd love to see that yeah and he's
16:27running out and then the entire penn state football team is running behind him because he looks so
16:31much like that coach oh there he is yeah truly truly on that spike uh uh truly truly not a nicer
16:37guy in hollywood and uh he also at the uh the rams the football uh yeah he kicked the field goal
16:46i mean you know it was like in the game the game winning field goal
16:49you know they let you do that uh he is he was in a series that i loved and they renewed it uh
16:57called schmigadoon uh and and uh you know it's this big music parody of musicals but he he's he's
17:04multi uh multi-talented for sure who um so uh who would you like to you've worked a lot of people
17:11you've worked with everybody yeah who's who's on your i have to work with that person let's because
17:14you know the improvisational stuff and your comedic ability music ability you know you have a number
17:19of different doors to go through who who's who's the person you do kevin klein kevin klein is one of
17:24them yeah are you a big uh fish called wanda yes i am a huge fish god wonder fan but yeah yeah he
17:30he was one of them that's always uh been on my list do you love the movie soap dish because we're huge
17:34fans i i don't see it oh that's a fun one yeah he plays a uh he plays a uh a soap opera actor who's
17:43because something goes awry on his romance with sally field on this series he gets his career is
17:49destroyed and then when they go to him in the beginning of the movie he's doing um dinner theater
17:53in the retirement community he's doing death of a salesman and he's just he's great okay i'm gonna
18:00put that one down i remember when i i saw uh fish call wanda and and this is like you know when i
18:07always start studying starting acting classes and uh and the people recommended movies and i watched
18:14one was fish caught one the other one was uh the usual suspect sure another great one same night
18:20same night okay yeah and uh like i was you know definitely like creeped out and then also full of joy
18:27yeah no i mean it's wow when you realize that's the same guy in in kevin klein in sophie's choice
18:34yeah yeah and and uh there's a massive range on that of all the things that you do you know acting
18:41stand-up uh music uh improv what's what is your favorite what is your your love heroin heroin oh it's
18:48a hell of a drug it's just you know it almost it almost becomes a habit it's like people don't
18:55realize you can be a functioning hero um it's gotta be gotta be uh uh on stage just that uh
19:03the connection you know with the crowd immediate feedback immediate feedback immediate let's just uh
19:10does everybody on one accord that's uh that's the best for me yeah yeah it's it's it's cool you know
19:15and and the uh will to preston's earlier question about music and obviously you have the comedic aspect
19:21to the music uh have you ever considered have you ever released uh we're working we have like a
19:27straight-up serious send you my song yeah yeah yeah we we have uh we have a song cut uh uh and then we
19:34have uh we're working on some stuff yeah we i mean we can play it now if you want we will yeah it's not out
19:41yeah if i was ready you know for to because because then people where can i get it now it's not
19:50we can play just five seconds by the way if you're just tuning in it's craig robinson who's going to
19:54be at uh helium comedy club uh this weekend the friday saturday shows are sold up there's some for
19:59sunday but you know casey mentions uh you know uh acting comedy music i'm trying to think of who else
20:05has that uh that triple threat not many yeah not many jamie fox does all three of those uh and then
20:12some i could see like a a touring group of of people who have the three big like like like
20:19chop potential egot winners yeah like right and doing a big tour or something like that
20:25i got nothing of the egot so you don't even have the potential egot the potential egot like you said
20:33like you said i didn't just steal that from you hey so real quick you're hosting the the globe
20:37trotters are coming back to television in a couple of weeks and you're hosting this i gotta tell you
20:41when i was a kid growing up when the globe trotters were on that was like a huge event for me and it
20:47always seemed like everything stopped well so we had to go to mass every weekend right and then at a
20:53certain point they invented saturday night mass and it always seemed like my mom and dad chose to go
20:57to saturday night mass whenever the harlem globe trotters were playing on saturday night and so but
21:02it was a huge huge thing so what's this thing that you guys are doing it just you know it happened
21:08kind of quickly they hit me up and then two weeks later it was uh i'm hosting this uh this globe try
21:14to show it's very interesting and and cool and obviously family friendly friendly and it's it's
21:20just fun it's so uh we're gonna do some episodes and you know they got a season on uh uh what's the
21:25what's the app nbc not peacock well peacock is the that's on action on nbc okay okay we've had
21:32so many big name uh musicians uh actors and and so on come through the studio but i was so delighted
21:40the time that that curly neal came in it was and i got to meet him face to face and i was so bummed
21:47out when he passed away he meant so much to me in my childhood he was the face of that he was just
21:52the him and uh what was the metal yeah yeah i want to ask you an office question craig um one of the
21:59best openings ever is the no no no nobody uh one with it you know it's a one cut and and they they do
22:04that song um and uh everybody's sort of jamming along but there was there was a lot of music
22:09interspersed with the office uh throughout and including you know you you would jam on on the keys and
22:15creed bratton would play and and ed helms would be on the banjo um did that require a lot of takes when
22:20that you would do musical scenes uh it didn't it didn't um you know it's like uh we would you know
22:28rehearse or whatever and then they get that what they needed and you know i mean some things took
22:32one another but it wasn't like you know oh gary take 97. it's like a kubrick film the part of it was
22:39the fact that we are you know these guys working at a warehouse you know getting together so it wasn't
22:44supposed to be like you know it's it's that show has um and it's weird because i was uh reading an
22:50interview with you from a while back when they had that big uh office confessed in uh thunder
22:56scranton yeah yeah oh whoa whoa the turn there was one there was one yeah but there was one before it
23:02where they were like okay and it it was thousands and thousands and thousands of people uh does it still
23:08blow you away that a show that had a really uh you know had a building run on nbc is now such a
23:15juggernaut and being discovered by younger people now a thousand percent yeah it's uh you know and
23:21that during the uh the lockdown and all that like you you would that's when i started noticing people
23:26would be like uh oh i've seen it you know seven times through through you know we just it's just
23:32some people's like it's always on and it's uh and then there's the people who like this is
23:36uh my my family member was sick and it's the only thing that made them laugh it's ah it's the only
23:43time my family comes together you know so it's it means different things to different people but it's
23:47it's being on the office is like uh you have friends everywhere uh it's so cool yeah we have
23:52kate flannery's a uh a good friend of kate flannery one time i was telling a story about her last night
23:57we were here we happened to be here at the same time and this was like i don't know early on
24:01and we and i went to her her uh her family's uh the bar yeah oh yeah yeah and uh and we and we
24:09walked around we like we're trying to see if we could get 20 people to recognize i'll tell you we
24:14have to scratch for that last the last five we like walk around hi hello that sort of overt thing
24:25yeah do we still have the uh the sign on the board over there oh yeah yeah we'll show i'll show it to
24:30craig over here it's called the flannery switch hey and uh the reason being is because kate curses so
24:36much when she comes on the air with us that we have to we have to keep dumping out on her yeah but i've
24:42got it uh on the board over here and and it will always remain as such a flannery switch craig's
24:49taking a picture of it right now yeah send that to him no yeah yeah all right well listen gang get
24:55your tickets for sunday because the friday and saturday shows are sold out at helium comedy club
25:01and you can go to helium comedy.com but there are two sunday shows seven and 9 30 your keyboard
25:06gonna be on stage with you better believe that's my partner love it and killing it on peacock
25:11killing it on peacock all right and watch the globetrotters coming up yeah definitely great
25:16to see you thanks for coming thank you so much thanks for always showing so much love
25:19anytime craig robinson
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