If I write a cop show, it's not up to me to decide how different it is from 'Law & Order.' I had screenwriters go on and on and on about how their cop show isn't like any other cop show on TV. They made very good points, and it absolutely doesn't matter. It's entirely up to the audience to decide.
I've actually taken meetings about hosting a late-night talk show. I don't know that what we know as a late-night talk show is what I want. But I've been talked into a talk show, but it would be different.
One of the things that I like about 'Narcos' is that not only Pablo but with all the characters - this is not a black and white show. This is not a regular American cop show where two cool cops go to save a country from a bad guy. All the characters are very complex.
In the stand-up comedy top, there's room for everyone - if you're good, there's room for everyone. You'll put on your own show - no one casts you. You cast your own show as a stand-up comedian. When you get good at stand-up comedy you book a theater and if people show up, people show up. If people don't show up, people don't show up. You don't have a director or a casting agent or anybody saying if you're good enough - the audience will decide.
The first two, three, four weeks are wasted. I just show up in front of the computer. Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn't show up invited, eventually she just shows up.
For years, people have been trying to talk to me about doing a show, and I wouldn't do one because I'm a serious business guy. I'm not going to do a stupid show. So, the opportunity came up with CNBC, and we started talking. It became a real business show. It's educational, people watch it, and it's great for small business.
Hosting a show, even a talk show or a game show, there's so much business you have to conduct. There's so much guiding you have to do.
There are a couple of specific things about the show [Into the Badlands]. We didn't want to do a contemporary show, which is always "Chinese cop comes to New York, teams up with racist cop, together they fight crime..."
I love doing [stand-up]. I love making people laugh no matter how. Whether it's a commercial, or a TV show, or a reality show, or a talk show, or a special, or a book. However I can make people laugh, that's what I want to do.
I want to be a morning-talk-show host. I love Kelly Ripa's job. She gets to live in New York and has this amazing job hosting a talk show.
My primary passion is film-making. That's the aspect of my life that defines me, completes me, and completely grounds me. Everything else - from judging a reality TV show to hosting a talk show - is just a result of me being a film-maker. I am the happiest, satisfied and at peace when I am behind the camera.
My first job in TV was hosting this young teen magazine show, and all these high school teenagers showed up from all over Sacramento, California, and they chose four of us to host the show, two boys and two girls. And of the two girls, I was kind of the perky smart one and the other girl was the pretty one.
It is very different hosting and judging a show like 'Love School'; it was unlike acting in a movie or series or being part of a reality show. But I keep telling myself that I have just one life, and I have to make the most of it.
My brain does like the idea of hosting a late-night show. My brain does like the idea of maybe having a show about me. So, I often pitch ideas and work on scripts and do that just because I may not be right about how I feel, so why not just do this, and if it happens and I got my own show, well maybe I would really end up falling in love with it.
There's a show on Comedy Central that I love called 'Nathan for You,' which is kind of a reality show, almost a prank show, where this guy Nathan Fielder goes around helping struggling businesses. He's so hilarious and so awkward.
It's a very different show because of the elements that we're putting in. There's so many different styles of comedy, but Mr. Show was unique to Bob and David - two of the most brilliant performers and writers there are. Their show was based on them. Our show is a bit more broad. We have a cast of 7, we have guests. We can be slightly more topical.