I gotta admit, I skip over some epsidoes, but THIS, this is why I love this podcast. Its not the "celeb"ness... it's that Rob just happens to know some of the kindest, most interesting people who happen to be in this business, and he knows exactly how to get great stories out of them. Its been an unexpected delight.
I feel like if you sat down with LeVar Burton and discussed the hamburger he had for lunch yesterday, it would be the most evocative anecdote you have ever heard.
Mr. Burton…I grew up in rural Iowa, and didn’t even SEE a POanyC until I was 18. However, Roots had my family riveted with every episode, due to YOU and that brilliant cast. Thank you for so deftly dramatizing Alex Haley’s book, and enlightening ten-year-old hayseeds like me. Bless you! 🙏
Wow a living legend Levar Burton but to have Rob Lowe interview him is fantastic this is definitely old school moment for these two legends discussing actors, acting, jus the professionalism jus reminiscing abt their beginnings them early days Levar talking he knew the character Kunta cuz it was his life gave me chills jus astounding jus an excellent actor at an appointed time to portray something in history soo powerful a history tht definitely needs to be taught so we don’t forget great job guys 💪🏾🎯
I remember watching Roots in school but also Reading Rainbow but I'll never forget Lavar Burton as (sorry if I misspell) Kunta Kinte being in the ship and being whipped and the way the slaves were treated. I haven't watched that movie since and still very much remember those certain parts.✌️💙
What an amazing story. Like Rob said, for those of you not around when Roots came on TV it was the most important thing in the World not just the US. It was FIVE nights of watching LeVar and watching Alex Haley's family legacy. The majority of African Amercians don't know our family history all the way back to before Slavery and to see this story unfold was joyous but at the same time heartbreaking. Joyous, because Alex had his complete family tree. Heartbreaking because many of us do not and seeing the world of slavery, etc. I remember being sad and angry and I wasn't even in High School yet! Listening to LeVar talk about his experience brought back so many memories and emotions. Sure we have the stories being told still to this day BUT this was the late 70s and NOTHING like this had ever been on TV. There was no cable! We had THREE tv networks! So, yeah, by the time Roots was over, everyone knew who LeVar Burton was., so much so his face was on Time Mag, etc. We knew his name and we knew Alex Haley and what an amazing journey he had discovering his Roots. To this day when I see him, I still think, Kunte Kinta.
Interesting to hear how these two guys' lives are interconnected, and what Mr. Burton's one in a million gig as the main character in "Roots" meant to him.
Loved the interview Big STNG fan and your podcast Literally Which I've had a hard time finding on You Tube BTW I missed season 2 of 911 Picked up with Season 3 Very good 😊
Damn , Levar is aging so well! The grey beard is a great look on him. I still wish he had been given the Jeopardy host gig, it seemed like the obvious direction for the show to go, to have the worthy Burton take the reigns from Trebek (R.I.P) Every time I look at Levar, I see Geordi, Kunta Kinte (sorry for misspelling), and the host of Reading Rainbow😍 Such an amazing actor and great man, Levar Burton😎
@@cloudwatcher608 LaForge was of course Kunta Kinte. Janeway was a runaway slave hunter. Sisko was a free black trying to free other slaves like Harriet Tubman. Tuvok was the the house slave, or the HNIC.
I always thought Rob Lowe was kind of a d*ck, but I'm realizing it was just the roles I saw him play. As I've seen more and more of him outside of acting, I've come to find him an awesome person. I love hearing his stories.
I was that age, so missed it. I don't recall them re-running it on TV several years later when I could have appreciated it. And we didn't watch it in school in Northern Virginia. I finally saw it in the 2000s on Netflix, I believe. _Roots_ said that freed Negroes, like his character's descendant, had to leave Virginia or risk losing their freedom. I didn't know that. I'd read at the Petersburg Battlefield that there were some freed slaves in Petersburg, VA, and when I looked up online just now whether that was the law, they showed an example of a Freedom Document from VA allowing the freed man to stay in Petersburg. At the end of _Roots,_ the family were leaving Virginia and one member said it had never been their home. So they were going to Tennessee. I couldn't help laughing because that didn't seem to be a much better place. But I think the author, Alex Haley, and his family were from TN.
Now talk about where Alex Haley really got that novel. And the resulting court settlement. Go ahead and delete this comment YT, that's kinda how you roll.
I saw a doc on him and he talks about abandoning his 1st child like it was a normal thing. Can't think of anything else when I see him. Amazing what we are willing to forget
Not true. Look up the full story for more specific details. He definitely wasn’t perfect but he and his first son have a relationship. Also not going to go back and forth so don’t expect a response after this just fyi.
Seriously, who was doing audio on this episode cuz you need to fire them. I can barely hear Lavar cuz hes so low and Lowe is so friggin loud that Im sitting here on the volume slider trying to catch it and I jam it up and down to adjust for each persons wildly different levels!
I was a little girl when Roots came out. I was riveted to the TV. My Great Grandmother was a slave and she was crazy from it. I can't even listen to the beautiful theme music without crying.
It may too be inaccurate in many unimportant respects. Specifically, the genealogy of African American families is inherently imprecise and many cases unknowable and unverifiable, because it's history of people whose lives were not seen and not recorded in the same ways as free people and citizens. What matters in the end is whether the experience of watching Roots in 1977 made viewers think and feel about their own present and future in ways as true as if they had first-hand accounts, which could be very different information but still hold the same meaning for the time.
That’s why it’s best to think of ‘Roots’ and other “based on true stories” as they really are, works of art (including commercial art) that are inspired by their original work rather than as a news story.
@@mickeymickey9914 Why the venom snake? Acknowledging the pain, death and destruction that colonialism and the particularly savage American slavery institution brought is key to understanding our present day. Something non Christians usually don't understand is that telling the whole truth is key: the good, the bad and the ugly. The journey from wretched, filthy, selfish, greedy, hate filled sinner into a loving, generous, but still imperfect person who is wholly dedicated to being led by the Spirit and willing to be shaped,and tempered into the self sacrificing, person God wants them to be is the greatest story written in front of our collective eyes daily. I don't know you "snake" but even you choice of screen names speaks volumes. This is a conversation between two men about their lives, and the impact that a show about reading has had on all of us. What makes you so threatened? One of the greatest gifts we have is introspection, perhaps it's time for you to unwrap it for yourself.
If someone like Lavar had the balls to step up and say "It's a good movie, but it's fiction, that isnt how slavery worked at all." It would go a long way in healing america, after the dust settled of course. It would open a dialog as to what ACTUALLY happened.
@@snidelywhiplash I mean roots portrays white slavers throwing nets on young black men to take them and use them as slaves. That never happened, blacks enslaves blacks, as well as muslims enslaved blacks, whites came over, and bought them. But it was then whites who realized slavery was wrong, and are still to this day, the only race to abolish it. We used our power and trading influence at the time to end slavery as best we could world wide, and for sure in our own countries. It still exists in all counties except white ones. Listen to Thomas Sowell talk about what they dont teach you in school about slavery, there are a bunch of videos here on youtube, 8 minutes, and you'll see what I mean. The creator of roots admitted it was fantasy, that he made up, to please black people, but none of it is an accurate depiction of slavery, yet its what most think happened.
@@snidelywhiplash There is a conspiracy among far right conservatives nowadays where they believe slaves were willingly enslaved and it was their own "fault" for becoming enslaved. It's pretty disgusting and ignores almost all historical information
I'd be perfectly comfortable living in a version of America run by people who believe that Roots tells essentially the truth of our history. Who wouldn't be? Let me guess.
Remember when Rob was taking every drug he could get his hands on and generally fing up his life, including this terrible scandal? Then remember when he suddenly sobered up and stayed sober? Thats why.
@@patreekotime4578 oh, then we should just do away the laws that punish offenders? Would you be okay with that if that were your daughter or family member? Not me. That’s why we have registries my friend and celebrities should be given a pass. Your nonchalant attitude to dismiss a crime committed by a celebrity is what emboldened Weinstein.
Around 7:00. No, it is NOT destiny. It is LUCK. Count yourselves as lucky. Most people work hard or have talent, but, good 'fortune' never happens to them. Guys, you are being arrogant.
@@A-small-amount-of-peas Life doesn't 'work out' for any of us. We are all going to die, but, before then, as elderly, we will be forgotten and thrown away. Just wait. Meanwhile, you might want to try and live a meaningful life - which doesn't include politics. Might be a shocker for you. Do you always dismiss people who say things you don't like? Being dismissive is part of living in denial. Might want to think about these things now and not wait until you are old. Just a thought.
Rob Lowe: "I TOLD CONAN A THOUSAND TIMES, I NEVER WANTED TO MEET LEVAR IN PERSON. I JUST WANTED A PICTURE. YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!"
"Reading rainbow...🎵 reading rainbooowww 😭😭"
Both of y'all have my dying rn
Abed: "Cool cool cool."
😂
"I hate you Pierce!"
This was brimming over with humility, mutual admiration, respect, and it felt 100% genuine.
Very good
I gotta admit, I skip over some epsidoes, but THIS, this is why I love this podcast. Its not the "celeb"ness... it's that Rob just happens to know some of the kindest, most interesting people who happen to be in this business, and he knows exactly how to get great stories out of them. Its been an unexpected delight.
Levar Burton made a major impact on the culture and the educational world! What a talent! 😊
The more I learn about Levar the more I love the guy. Inspirational is an understatement.
To this day everytime I see Levar; "butterfly in the sky..." my brain just automatically plays theme music for him.
and everyime I see Levar I see him chasing the lead singer of Cameo. The good old days of Mtv music videos
Just like candaayyy
Edit: Ow!
LeVar Burton is a wonderful artist and has been in the business for quite some time!!
I feel like if you sat down with LeVar Burton and discussed the hamburger he had for lunch yesterday, it would be the most evocative anecdote you have ever heard.
Mr. Burton…I grew up in rural Iowa, and didn’t even SEE a POanyC until I was 18. However, Roots had my family riveted with every episode, due to YOU and that brilliant cast. Thank you for so deftly dramatizing Alex Haley’s book, and enlightening ten-year-old hayseeds like me. Bless you! 🙏
Roots was a work of fiction. It's completely A-historical, and the author admitted it. A very sinister show.
Wow a living legend Levar Burton but to have Rob Lowe interview him is fantastic this is definitely old school moment for these two legends discussing actors, acting, jus the professionalism jus reminiscing abt their beginnings them early days Levar talking he knew the character Kunta cuz it was his life gave me chills jus astounding jus an excellent actor at an appointed time to portray something in history soo powerful a history tht definitely needs to be taught so we don’t forget great job guys 💪🏾🎯
As a kid I grew up watching Levar Burton on reading rainbow. Now, somehow he is younger than me. The man doesn't age and I'm ok with that.
So true about Dolores Robinson.
I remember watching Roots in school but also Reading Rainbow but I'll never forget Lavar Burton as (sorry if I misspell) Kunta Kinte being in the ship and being whipped and the way the slaves were treated. I haven't watched that movie since and still very much remember those certain parts.✌️💙
Levar Burton has always and continues to make his mother proud. #EducationRocks
What an amazing story. Like Rob said, for those of you not around when Roots came on TV it was the most important thing in the World not just the US. It was FIVE nights of watching LeVar and watching Alex Haley's family legacy. The majority of African Amercians don't know our family history all the way back to before Slavery and to see this story unfold was joyous but at the same time heartbreaking. Joyous, because Alex had his complete family tree. Heartbreaking because many of us do not and seeing the world of slavery, etc. I remember being sad and angry and I wasn't even in High School yet! Listening to LeVar talk about his experience brought back so many memories and emotions. Sure we have the stories being told still to this day BUT this was the late 70s and NOTHING like this had ever been on TV. There was no cable! We had THREE tv networks! So, yeah, by the time Roots was over, everyone knew who LeVar Burton was., so much so his face was on Time Mag, etc. We knew his name and we knew Alex Haley and what an amazing journey he had discovering his Roots. To this day when I see him, I still think, Kunte Kinta.
hate to break it to you but its complete fiction to quote the author himself "I wanted to create a myth"
Geordi's beard is "on point!"
ROOTS was his first role?!!!! Wow.
I wanna hug both their faces ❤🫡
I WISH I WERE LEVAR BURTON
so paul mcartney john lennon einstein marconi frida kahlo and you would choose the stark trek guy?hahahahahahahahaha
@@fghjfghgj r/woooooooooooooosh
Interesting to hear how these two guys' lives are interconnected, and what Mr. Burton's one in a million gig as the main character in "Roots" meant to him.
I never want to meet LeVar in person, I just want a picture. You can’t disappoint a picture.
I love both of these amazing guys!!!
I was only allowed to watch PBS as a kid so you better believe i was very familiar with this man 😊
Reading Rainbow, Roots, Start Trek!!!
I think that’s the secret of an actor, knowing your character
Wow... what a treat! Thank you both!! ❤
Great show! ❤
What a beautiful interview. MR. Burton’s voice is so soothing and warm . Amazing 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💖
I think Rob lowe tripped and fell in Ponce DeLeon's fountain of youth. The man is aging backwards.
How many Lowes could Rob Lowe rob if Rob Lowe could rob Lowes.😂
First acting gig with Cecliy Tyson and Maya Angelo..wow..talk about being blessed
Loved the interview
Big STNG fan and your podcast Literally
Which I've had a hard time finding on You Tube
BTW I missed season 2 of 911
Picked up with Season 3
Very good 😊
I rember the impact Roots had in the UK and the amazing work Levar did. blew my mind it was his first audition too! Awesome.
That show was a work of fiction and tells a very dishonest version of history.
@@mickeymickey9914 How so?
This is great.
Just a couple of drama nerds geeking out.
Love it.
Levar Burton has truly aged like a fine wine. I remember Roots. He looks exceptional. That’s an aside to his talent. Just sayin’
love you LeVar 😊
Damn , Levar is aging so well! The grey beard is a great look on him. I still wish he had been given the Jeopardy host gig, it seemed like the obvious direction for the show to go, to have the worthy Burton take the reigns from Trebek (R.I.P) Every time I look at Levar, I see Geordi, Kunta Kinte (sorry for misspelling), and the host of Reading Rainbow😍 Such an amazing actor and great man, Levar Burton😎
Roots: The Gift was the greatest Star Trek crossover of all time. LaForge, Janeway, Sisko, Tuvok.
I’ve been a Star Trek fan for a long long time and I never knew they all acted together before Trek.
@@cloudwatcher608 LaForge was of course Kunta Kinte. Janeway was a runaway slave hunter. Sisko was a free black trying to free other slaves like Harriet Tubman. Tuvok was the the house slave, or the HNIC.
I certainly remember the TV series of Roots. There is also the book of the same name
Wow I never realised that LeVar played Kunta Kinte. Glad to know finally 46 years later.
Madolyn Smith, haven't heard that name in a long time!
Was a pity she stopped acting altogether, she had some interesting roles.
Makes me wonder who else was up for his role in Roots.
Lance Reddick
Beautiful
Lowe has a great podcast.
I always thought Rob Lowe was kind of a d*ck, but I'm realizing it was just the roles I saw him play. As I've seen more and more of him outside of acting, I've come to find him an awesome person. I love hearing his stories.
To meet levar would be my dream
How cool is levar. Please tell me Mr Burton does asmr or a podcast.
these two should get others that played in Oklahoma as kids before they got famous..... and all of them put on a performance
I remember watching Roots. OMG! Just wow.
It's as historically accurate as wakanda
I was 6 years old when Roots came out. I never got around to watching it.
You didn't miss anything
I was that age, so missed it. I don't recall them re-running it on TV several years later when I could have appreciated it. And we didn't watch it in school in Northern Virginia. I finally saw it in the 2000s on Netflix, I believe.
_Roots_ said that freed Negroes, like his character's descendant, had to leave Virginia or risk losing their freedom. I didn't know that. I'd read at the Petersburg Battlefield that there were some freed slaves in Petersburg, VA, and when I looked up online just now whether that was the law, they showed an example of a Freedom Document from VA allowing the freed man to stay in Petersburg.
At the end of _Roots,_ the family were leaving Virginia and one member said it had never been their home. So they were going to Tennessee. I couldn't help laughing because that didn't seem to be a much better place. But I think the author, Alex Haley, and his family were from TN.
amazing!!!!!!
Roots was huge
Please do another episode with ads only
Never fails to entertain
LaVar looks great for his age - Rob too
Learn Burton is an Institution!!!!
Now talk about where Alex Haley really got that novel. And the resulting court settlement.
Go ahead and delete this comment YT, that's kinda how you roll.
Roots was on where i live when we had like 1 tv channel total so u watched whatever was on and yes Roots was a huge deal at the time. Then Queenie....
I saw a doc on him and he talks about abandoning his 1st child like it was a normal thing. Can't think of anything else when I see him. Amazing what we are willing to forget
Not true. Look up the full story for more specific details. He definitely wasn’t perfect but he and his first son have a relationship. Also not going to go back and forth so don’t expect a response after this just fyi.
Rob Lowe is 60 years old...
I wish I was LeVar Burton
It's Soda Pop and Kunta Kinte!!
Seriously, who was doing audio on this episode cuz you need to fire them. I can barely hear Lavar cuz hes so low and Lowe is so friggin loud that Im sitting here on the volume slider trying to catch it and I jam it up and down to adjust for each persons wildly different levels!
I don't know if they were able to adjust the volume in this video after the face but they are the exact same volume now
Rob Lowe, white man, got the loudest audio, and Levar Burton, black man his audio is so Lowe. Somebody in that audio mixing room is racist AF.
🌈READING RAINB☀️W 📚📗
Literally
Roots was 50% pure fiction.
So what
@@jazzluva3437 because it’s held as gospel in the black community.
Reading the Wikipedia pages for _Roots_ it was really disheartening to hear he plagiarized some of his novel from another's novel, _The African_
Can anybody give Sirius xm a de-Esser? I am happy to sponsor it!
Famous last words...
"We don't need no stinking Regulation."
my favorite!
Yeah I remember watching roots in the 80s and it was a difficult show to watch, much like schindlers list, you watch them once only.
It's complete fiction. Not how things happened at all.
@@mickeymickey9914 what's fiction.
Religion is fiction, slavery and the holocaust of the Jews during the war are factual.
I was a little girl when Roots came out. I was riveted to the TV. My Great Grandmother was a slave and she was crazy from it. I can't even listen to the beautiful theme music without crying.
Roots was a made for tv movie. Not a documentary.
Roots! Bloody roots!
🤘
Roots was an amazing mini series but unfortunately it was incredibly factually inaccurate in many important respects..
It may too be inaccurate in many unimportant respects. Specifically, the genealogy of African American families is inherently imprecise and many cases unknowable and unverifiable, because it's history of people whose lives were not seen and not recorded in the same ways as free people and citizens. What matters in the end is whether the experience of watching Roots in 1977 made viewers think and feel about their own present and future in ways as true as if they had first-hand accounts, which could be very different information but still hold the same meaning for the time.
That’s why it’s best to think of ‘Roots’ and other “based on true stories” as they really are, works of art (including commercial art) that are inspired by their original work rather than as a news story.
@@MagicAl5F4781 no, roots was just a tool to sow antieuropeanism.
@@mickeymickey9914 Why the venom snake? Acknowledging the pain, death and destruction that colonialism and the particularly savage American slavery institution brought is key to understanding our present day. Something non Christians usually don't understand is that telling the whole truth is key: the good, the bad and the ugly. The journey from wretched, filthy, selfish, greedy, hate filled sinner into a loving, generous, but still imperfect person who is wholly dedicated to being led by the Spirit and willing to be shaped,and tempered into the self sacrificing, person God wants them to be is the greatest story written in front of our collective eyes daily. I don't know you "snake" but even you choice of screen names speaks volumes. This is a conversation between two men about their lives, and the impact that a show about reading has had on all of us. What makes you so threatened? One of the greatest gifts we have is introspection, perhaps it's time for you to unwrap it for yourself.
If someone like Lavar had the balls to step up and say "It's a good movie, but it's fiction, that isnt how slavery worked at all." It would go a long way in healing america, after the dust settled of course. It would open a dialog as to what ACTUALLY happened.
I may regret asking, but what do you mean?
@@snidelywhiplash I mean roots portrays white slavers throwing nets on young black men to take them and use them as slaves. That never happened, blacks enslaves blacks, as well as muslims enslaved blacks, whites came over, and bought them. But it was then whites who realized slavery was wrong, and are still to this day, the only race to abolish it. We used our power and trading influence at the time to end slavery as best we could world wide, and for sure in our own countries. It still exists in all counties except white ones. Listen to Thomas Sowell talk about what they dont teach you in school about slavery, there are a bunch of videos here on youtube, 8 minutes, and you'll see what I mean. The creator of roots admitted it was fantasy, that he made up, to please black people, but none of it is an accurate depiction of slavery, yet its what most think happened.
@@snidelywhiplash There is a conspiracy among far right conservatives nowadays where they believe slaves were willingly enslaved and it was their own "fault" for becoming enslaved. It's pretty disgusting and ignores almost all historical information
I'd be perfectly comfortable living in a version of America run by people who believe that Roots tells essentially the truth of our history. Who wouldn't be? Let me guess.
@@snidelywhiplash roots is complete fiction
Conebone69
How dare you kill Claire like this in white palace. Lol I’m mad at you forever and good thing you’re gone lol
Lol why are they whispering.
I wonder how LeVar felt when he learned that Roots was a load of lies invented by it's author.
Remember when Rob taped himself having relationships with an underage girl…and he taped it? I do.
Remember when Rob was taking every drug he could get his hands on and generally fing up his life, including this terrible scandal? Then remember when he suddenly sobered up and stayed sober? Thats why.
@@patreekotime4578 oh, then we should just do away the laws that punish offenders? Would you be okay with that if that were your daughter or family member? Not me. That’s why we have registries my friend and celebrities should be given a pass. Your nonchalant attitude to dismiss a crime committed by a celebrity is what emboldened Weinstein.
Around 7:00. No, it is NOT destiny. It is LUCK. Count yourselves as lucky. Most people work hard or have talent, but, good 'fortune' never happens to them. Guys, you are being arrogant.
I'm sorry life didn't work out for you but the reality is most people don't work hard and even fewer have talent.
Just look who's President
@@A-small-amount-of-peas Life doesn't 'work out' for any of us. We are all going to die, but, before then, as elderly, we will be forgotten and thrown away. Just wait. Meanwhile, you might want to try and live a meaningful life - which doesn't include politics. Might be a shocker for you. Do you always dismiss people who say things you don't like? Being dismissive is part of living in denial. Might want to think about these things now and not wait until you are old. Just a thought.
... i wish i were LeVar Burton...
Im glad this is on youtube... because i dont have SeriusXM... because im not in a rental car...