'It was like a circus': What Terry Crews learned from his NFL career

A note from Wild Card host Rachel Martin: I cry easily. I always have. But I’m a specific kind of crier. The kind that is easily manipulated by TV producers. The fast track to a good cry for me is a reality talent show. They are so good at getting you sucked into a contestant’s back story. And I have to say that America’s Got Talent is top for me right now because they’ve got something none of the other shows have — Terry Crews.

Crews is the host of the show. And there is just something about the way he cheers for these contestants that gets me every time. When one of them is getting ready to go out there on stage and they’re nervous and he tells them that he loves them, I don’t think it’s fake. He’s already invested in them. He wants them to shine. I think in that moment he does love them.

It’s sort of a bizarre role for a guy who used to knock people to the ground as a linebacker in the NFL. And sure we all contain multitudes, but Crews is more multitudinous than most. You know the guy actually went to college on an art scholarship? Football wasn’t for him and, long story short, he became an actor. He’s been in tons of movies including cult favorites White Chicks and Idiocracy. He co-starred in the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Everybody Hates Chris, which is getting an animated reboot on Comedy Central. And yeah, he’s the guy cheering for you from just behind the curtain when you’re about to do a really hard thing. That’s how I like to think of him anyway.

This Wild Card interview has been edited for length and clarity. Host Rachel Martin asks guests randomly-selected questions from a deck of cards. Tap play above to listen to the full podcast, or read an excerpt below.

Question 1: What's something a parent figure taught you to appreciate?

Terry Crews: My mother always told me, before she passed, she said, “Terry, never forget you're an artist. Number one. Before everything, you're an artist.” And that has colored everything that I've ever done. It's probably one of the most beneficial pieces of advice I've ever received, because when you do things as an artist, it transcends. Like, you can mow the lawn, but when you mow the lawn like an artist, you become a landscaper, you know what I mean?

Rachel Martin: Totally! That’s your palette That's your easel. That's your blank canvas.

Crews: Yeah. One thing I’ve discovered is that focus and interest create energy. And that's what art does because you're always focusing on something very interesting. And other people will look at it and be very bored, like, “What are you doing?” You know, like some sculpture or some painting, or some drawing. But that focus energizes you. It's like making the mundane magnificent.

Martin: When did you start drawing? Like, how did that even come about to you?

Crews: Well, my mom was very religious. I was not allowed to do a lot of things. My friends could go to the movies, but I couldn’t when I was young. Movies were the devil’s things. Now she came out of that later, but the first 12 years of my life, it was like that. So what happened was kids would talk about the movies they saw and I would go home and draw what they described. I would draw what Jaws may look like.

I would spend hours and hours just drawing. I'll never forget, when I was a kid, especially on weekends, I could draw all night long. I would just be drawing and drawing, and all of a sudden, I'd look up, and the sun would be coming up. Like, that's how focused I was.

Question 2: What was a disappointing experience that now feels like a blessing?

Crews: I guess the NFL. My whole seven years in the NFL I would call a disappointment because I was all over the place. I was on six teams in seven years. All with my wife and two kids at the time. We didn't know what was going on. And everyone thinks that sports are so glamorous or whatever. It just wasn't. It was a grind. It was like a circus.

My wife and I did not know what was going to happen to us next year. Like, we had no idea. It was a disappointment because I wanted championships, I wanted to be a star. And it all ended unceremoniously when I got cut for the last time.

And that’s the hardest thing – there's a depression that came with it. But when I look back, what a blessing, because it got me ready for entertainment. It got me ready for the audition process.

Martin: Because every time you walk into an audition room, you don't know what's going to happen? They could be like, “You’re not for us,” and you’ve got to get over that.

Crews: Yeah. You know, like lobsters do a thing called molting. Where they outgrow the shell, and they’re vulnerable, but the shell regrows bigger.

And I’ve said, I am like this. I'm molting. Like, what happens is you're growing. You break the shell, but it's painful. And the NFL was a version of me molting into a new person.

Martin: I have the weirdest visual in my mind right now, of like this little naked lobster. And it's like, so scared of what's gonna happen.

Crews: That's us. We're all little naked lobsters right now, but we're growing our shell. And you have to do that to grow.

Question 3: Where have you experienced awe?

Crews: Oh, man. When I went to Iceland to do Bear Grylls’ show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls. They took us on a helicopter up to this mountain, on top of a volcano, and dropped us off there. And the helicopter flies away.

I'm hanging on the side of this mountain, I’m trying not to fall because it’s really dangerous. I’m going, “Oh, they weren't kidding!” And then I see his camera crew is doing it backwards! And I’m going, “How? What?” The sound man and the camera guy are hanging on the side of the mountain!

Martin: Wait, was that your moment of awe? When you saw the crew? [laughs]

Crews: That was it. I was going, “How the hell are you doing this man!” [laughs]

Martin: I thought you were going to talk about the sacred nature of the fjords that you saw…

Crews: Oh no. No. No. I want to mention Bear Grylls’ crew. They left me in awe! I was like “What! You guys are superheroes! What are you doing?”

Now, mind you, after filming, I did get to sleep at the base of this volcano. And that was my nature awe moment. I had never done anything like that in my life.

And you're in Iceland, there's no street lights or nothing, it’s just, pow! You see galaxies, you know? You're laying there looking up and you're gonna fall in. I felt so small, where you’re like “Oh my god, this world is gigantic.”

Martin: And does that make you feel unsettled or good to feel small in the universe?

Crews: It makes me feel good. I felt grounded. Here I am, laying in the dirt. I’m part of this, you know? I just felt awe about the power that's out there and all the things I don’t know. I was filled with awe.