- 4/23/2025
Lavell Crawford gives us the rundown on his character from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
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00:00If he's still able to dance on crack, give him a dime.
00:04I couldn't agree more.
00:05You know what?
00:06You're giving it for the right reason.
00:08He's right, right.
00:08He's working.
00:09He learned how to dance.
00:12Oh, my God.
00:14Please welcome Lavelle Cromper.
00:17Better Call Saul is getting all sorts of accolades.
00:21Yeah.
00:22I mean, for you, it doesn't get better.
00:26Man, that doesn't get better that many.
00:27But I hope it does get better.
00:29I hope it does get better.
00:31But it's fun, though, man.
00:34It's fun being a part of it.
00:35And like I said, if you watch it, 2B continues.
00:41So you can see more and more of me and I guess the whole buildup of where we are in the present.
00:48I think that's an interesting aspect of Better Call Saul because you know, in theory, where it's going to end if you watched Breaking Bad.
00:55Because you knew where that character came into that series.
00:57So it's this slow burn to something that's going to happen.
01:01And it's the build to get to that that's so suspenseful.
01:04And it's really been masterful over the first three seasons.
01:06Right.
01:06It's not boring, though.
01:07It's not.
01:08It's not boring.
01:09Like, you know, waiting in the doctor's office.
01:12And then you build up to, you don't have herpes.
01:16You know?
01:16Yeah.
01:17You're totally clean.
01:20Thank God.
01:21Well, let me ask you.
01:22So you're in the show.
01:24And it's a great show.
01:25And the whole thing.
01:26Do you, since you're part of it, is there a part of you that's like that you're still almost taking the position of like a viewer?
01:32Like you get excited?
01:33Oh, yeah.
01:34Oh, my God.
01:35I mean, the thing about it is, is, you know, Saul, you know, all the time I thought his name was Saul.
01:40Yeah.
01:41Then you find a Jimmy McGill.
01:43Then you still see this whole level of he was trying to be a good guy.
01:47But he was that little brother trying to reach up to his brother's dream.
01:50But his brother hated him because he was loved by his parents.
01:52But he was just that guy where his brother was straight-laced and he was this butthole to him all the time.
01:59Yeah.
01:59And he always wanted kudos.
02:01And then he went crazy because he was trying to prove himself all the time.
02:04So you see the man amorphosize.
02:06He was trying to be a good guy, but the world was breaking him down, beating him into this.
02:11That's a nuance.
02:12Those are nuanced characters.
02:13And most of us fall in that realm where we have some stuff we're not proud of and we try to do good.
02:18Hey, I got a lot that I ain't proud of.
02:20If you ride around with me, you ain't looking at me on the side of your house.
02:24Okay, I can get out here.
02:26I was a bad boy.
02:29Really?
02:30How bad did it get?
02:32If you're comfortable talking.
02:33Yeah, I've done some holding sales before.
02:36Okay.
02:36I mean, I ain't been in no bed or nothing.
02:40But, you know, I did some stuff that didn't get caught on me.
02:44So jail, not prison.
02:45Yeah, jail.
02:46Not prison.
02:47Thank God.
02:48I wouldn't do good in prison.
02:49But I've been good, though.
02:51I've probably been on top shelf.
02:53I know how to cook.
02:54I know how to cook with three liners and make a grilled cheese.
02:57Oh, you know what we did one time here?
02:59It's the truth.
02:59We had from, what is the name of it?
03:03Chi-chi.
03:03Chi-chi.
03:04So in prison, they make this food called chi-chi.
03:07Okay.
03:07So whatever they can get from, I guess, whatever they can trade.
03:10From the commissary.
03:11From the commissary.
03:11Usually the ramen noodles is the base.
03:14Oh, yeah, ramen noodles, yeah.
03:15That's always your base.
03:16That's basically your vegetable.
03:18We had like five or six ex-cons in here.
03:22And they made it for us.
03:23Making it.
03:23It was a cook-up.
03:24We had like world-class chefs in here judging it.
03:27Let me tell you something.
03:28Even the best of it was still pretty horrible.
03:31I'm sure.
03:31Yeah, yeah.
03:32You know, you got to understand, dude.
03:33You in three hots in the car.
03:36You're in jail cell.
03:38You don't know if you're going to get shanked tomorrow.
03:39So, you know, extra, extra seasoning on some ramen noodles with some Skittles.
03:45By the way, LaBelle, the prize that we gave away was the golden shiv.
03:50The golden shiv.
03:53And did they give a speech afterwards?
03:54They did, actually.
03:56I don't know.
03:57Yeah, there it is.
03:58There it is.
03:59They made it in trash bags and stuff.
04:01So we don't know.
04:02One guy got shanked right in here.
04:04Yeah.
04:04Yeah, I'll remove you from cell block F.
04:07Let me ask you then.
04:08I like you, man, because you put your finger up.
04:11He is such a good student.
04:12Did you get a lot of gold stars?
04:14I did.
04:15My mom was a teacher.
04:18And speaking to not stepping on people's toes, we raise our hands so that we try not to interrupt as much.
04:22That's very good.
04:23But there's a funny video that Kevin Bacon did recently.
04:27We talked about the art of acting.
04:28And he was making fun of himself, essentially.
04:30And he said, you only need to learn your lines.
04:32You don't need to, you know, because that's the only thing that's important.
04:34But when you're doing an episode of Better Call Saul, are you learning everybody's lines?
04:38Are you reading what Jimmy's lines are?
04:41Well, I read the whole script.
04:43Okay.
04:43You know, so I know in detail what's happening.
04:46Right.
04:46And the nuance between the two characters is really important.
04:48Yeah.
04:48So are you thinking about that in terms of a scene?
04:53Or are you thinking about it in terms of, like, an actual conversation?
04:57Both.
04:58Both.
04:58Because, you know, when you're in a scene, you know, me and Jimmy's eye camaraderie is very strong.
05:05You know, just like his relationship with Rhea Sihon.
05:07Rhea Sihon is like, you know, they're in a relationship where me and him are becoming,
05:13even though we are friends, they wonder why I'm such his catalyst, his muscle, but also
05:19the main guy he go to.
05:21Like, and if you see the scene, I don't know if you got to see the scene that he's showing
05:24me the office and he's...
05:25Wait, trust.
05:26You think it's her.
05:27Yeah, there's a relationship.
05:28You're building trust.
05:29Yeah.
05:29And the main thing is he know he can, I'm that go-to guy.
05:32The other guys, besides, besides Mike, besides Mike, who would, you know, like when we was
05:39in the piñata scene, I would go, I would crack the guy in the head, just like I did
05:43the police.
05:43I cracked the police.
05:44I'm not going, I'm not, I'm going to go there, you know, for you, because you're paying me.
05:49I'm going there for you.
05:50So he said, man, this my man, you know, this my guy, this my go-to guy.
05:54So the thing about it is our relationship, but I still don't trust him.
05:58You know, I'm going to jail.
05:59Now, you said, now I didn't do all this for you.
06:02You could have told me to stop.
06:03Now, I'm going to jail, but he said he can get me out.
06:05I'm the magic man.
06:07Now, that's where we're building up.
06:08That's our art to saying, if you give me off, I got to be loved to you.
06:13It's a forming of this bond.
06:16I mean, you know, we were so fascinated by the process of doing it because we've heard
06:21other directors.
06:22We had a lot of directors from, you know, Danny Boyle and all sorts of people come through
06:25here and some will say, you know, it's got to be what's on the page, you know, punctuation
06:30and everything.
06:31And others say, you got to get the gist of it through in the conversation.
06:34And the thing about it is the page, you know, and I really, I'm always fighting that.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Because sometimes a script is written in their idea.
06:43Right.
06:44And if you can't see what they're writing, it don't ever work for you.
06:47So you got to find your idea because everybody has their own vision.
06:51We all read the same book and we're going to get something different.
06:53Right.
06:54You know what I'm saying?
06:55Oh, I've seen it.
06:56Did you see that part?
06:57You know, this is how we think, you know, but I try to go past that, but I started to
07:02respect what he's trying to say because I don't want to jump on the character.
07:05No, I think he should wear a clown suit.
07:07You know, because if that's a vision, I got to stay in a vision.
07:11Like I've seen some directors.
07:13I miss one word.
07:15You supposed to say this.
07:16Yeah.
07:17You said, you said that.
07:18I'm like, okay, what the?
07:20You know, I mean, but did we get there?
07:25See, that's where I want it.
07:26I want to get to the point.
07:29You know, I want to drive the point home where I'm at.
07:31In your personal life, outside of your professional life, you've lost a bunch of weight.
07:36You're now, you're involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
07:39You've been training?
07:40Oh, yeah.
07:40I've been doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu about four years.
07:43For four years.
07:44How do you like it?
07:45I love it.
07:46I mean, you know, I wrestled in high school, so it was the closest thing.
07:50Wrestling got me in some of the best shape I ever got in.
07:53And the thing about doing something like that, you can box, but if you ain't faster than
07:57another guy, your eye's going to be swolled up.
07:59Because I boxed.
08:00I go to boxing gyms, and I mean, I was feeling good about myself until the guy really showed
08:05me that I wasn't learning nothing.
08:07Yeah, yeah.
08:07And he beat the hell out of me, and I was pissing blood.
08:10You know?
08:11That's a bad sign.
08:13Right, but I'm strong.
08:14I know how to grapple.
08:16Okay.
08:16You know, but then I was taking Brazilian sports Jiu-Jitsu at first, you know?
08:21And I said, man, I'll be 50 this year.
08:23I ain't trying to go and get no gold medal.
08:25I ain't got nothing to prove.
08:26Right, right.
08:27But now I'm taking the self-defense with the Gracie Academy.
08:31When you're going from city to city, will you train?
08:33Because Steve was saying our afternoon guy owns a BJJ 10.
08:38Oh, yeah?
08:39Around here, yeah.
08:39Okay, well, give me a number.
08:41I bring my geese sometimes, but sometimes I like to go fishing, you know, and I like
08:48to play golf.
08:49So I get so many little curriculums that I like to do.
08:51How's your golf game, Preston?
08:53He's a big golfer.
08:54I mean, no records.
08:58No records.
08:59You know, I don't get out as much as I used to, but I know my chipping is decent.
09:04My putt is good.
09:05But my drive broke my, the plane airport broke my driver, so I'm working on a new driver.
09:10Yeah, I'm hitting with a driver that I ain't never hit before, but I'm getting my edge back.
09:15But I do all right, because I used to be in like the 100s and 130 average, man.
09:21But I worked it all the way down to like a smooth 94.
09:24Okay.
09:25All right, so you're getting there.
09:26Yeah, by the way, yeah, if you got a golf bag, you got to make sure you get a good case
09:30to put it in.
09:30Yeah, you got to get a hard shell on top of them.
09:33If you travel with them, yeah, they can break.
09:34Are they liable for that?
09:36I don't know.
09:36I've never had it happen.
09:37Probably not.
09:38I tell you what, you can make them liable if you take the club out and walk in there
09:42and talk to them personally.
09:46One of the clubs.
09:47I heard that driver was worth like five grand.
09:49Isn't that true?
09:49Yeah.
09:50Yeah.
09:50It was autographed by Adam, what's his name?
09:56Make up a name.
09:57Adam Scott?
09:57Adam Scott.
09:58Yeah, right, yeah.
09:59I'm 50.
10:00I'll get a brain file.
10:01Adam Scott signed it personally, and some of his sweat was infused into the club.
10:09Well, you know, it's funny.
10:10It said it 10.5 great.
10:12Right.
10:13Diamond cross.
10:14It's funny, because we do have a megaphone, but the one thing you want to do is we're
10:19always like, unless it goes really crazy off the charts and you're dealing with somebody
10:23and it's just been ridiculous, because you also don't want to get anyone fired.
10:27You don't want to get...
10:27No, no, no, no.
10:28And I mean, the thing about it is, I mean, I respect customer service.
10:34Like, United show a lot of respect in customer service.
10:37Have you ever worked in customer service?
10:39You know, I've always been in customer service, being an entertainer and being a person, you
10:44know, because the people will pay the bills if they don't come.
10:47Yeah.
10:48You know, and that thing about customer service, you are really important to the game.
10:53You can't be a jerk.
10:55Yes.
10:55You know, a customer service.
10:56People don't even understand that customer service goes all the way down, even if you're
10:59working at the Dollar Tree.
11:00Yeah.
11:01You know, I mean, I know somebody's going to come in there and complain, excuse me, one
11:03of my socks had a hole in it.
11:05I say, sir, you got it in the Dollar Tree.
11:08Thank God it's just one hole.
11:10Yeah.
11:12But I think sometimes customer service can be rude, especially airports.
11:16I just seen some people, boy, you know, people miss their plane, they're crying.
11:21They say, man, we were on vacation.
11:23And, you know, the sister up there, well, there's nothing I can do.
11:27There's nothing I can do.
11:28What did they tell you at the gate?
11:30They told you they couldn't do nothing?
11:31Well, I can't do nothing.
11:32And I'm like, man, you can't be like that.
11:34Right.
11:34You know, so I like them little old lady, little chunky chick.
11:37She's crying with you.
11:39She's got a clean neck.
11:40She gives you a peppermint.
11:42There's nothing she can do.
11:43But she really feels like she did something, even though she didn't do nothing.
11:48I got a peppermint out of it.
11:50She took my email and my phone number down.
11:53Never called.
11:54I still had to wait until the next day.
11:57But we cried together.
11:59You just want to be heard.
12:01Yeah, you just want to be heard.
12:02You just want to be heard.
12:03And that's what customers, it ain't like you can really do anything, you know.
12:08But like I said, giving United another props, you know.
12:11I mean, we all know United for dragging the poor guy off the plane.
12:15But, I mean, you know, I was at United.
12:17My wife, she works for my personal assistant.
12:20And she, you know, you're booking tickets sometimes.
12:22You're overlooking.
12:23She had booked it for Tuesday.
12:25But she knew she had did.
12:26I thought she had changed it.
12:27I get to the airport in Orlando.
12:29I couldn't get on the plane because my flight wouldn't leave until tomorrow.
12:32I'm freaking out.
12:33It's 6 o'clock in the morning.
12:34I ain't want to go back to the hotel.
12:36I want to leave.
12:37I want to get on the plane.
12:38And the lady up there, God bless her, I don't even know her name.
12:42But she went through the rigors.
12:44It was almost like she was my auntie.
12:46And she let me get my baby home.
12:48You know what I mean?
12:48She got my ticket done.
12:51Made everything.
12:52It was $200.
12:54She found a cheaper ticket.
12:55If I leave at 9, got it for $75, you know, extra with the change fee.
13:00She made everything good.
13:01I got my bag straight.
13:02I was sitting up there.
13:03And then she gave me a peppermint and a Kleenex.
13:05And I said, I know you.
13:07And I hugged her and went off to my gate, man.
13:09Yeah, it came back.
13:10It's like when you pulled the thorn out of the lion's paw.
13:13That's right.
13:13I mean, it'll come back to you because I think, you know,
13:16this world is getting to the point where that, oh, me too, me this, me that, me this,
13:20this whole thing where we don't realize, man, just, you know,
13:24you can't help everybody, you can't help every homeless person,
13:27but a dancing crackhead deserves a dollar.
13:30Exactly.
13:32Yeah.
13:33Take that thought with you.
13:36Dancing crackhead deserves a dollar.
13:38That should be the name of your autobiography.
13:41I couldn't agree more.
13:49You know what?
13:49You're giving it for the right reason.
13:51Right.
13:52He's working.
13:52He learned how to dance.
13:55Oh, my God.
13:56Lavelle, it's great to see you, man.
13:57Great to see you guys.
13:58Thank you so much.
13:59Let's hear it for Lavelle.
14:00Yeah.
14:00All right.
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