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Omar Dorsey Talks 'Queen Sugar' And New Series 'How To Be A Bookie' | Sway's Universe
Nov 28, 2022
HBO Max recently dropped an eight-episode straight-to-series 'How To Be a Bookie'. Television’s top showrunners, Chuck Lorre, co-creator/exec producer of HBO Max’s most watched off-network series, The Big Bang Theory. Actor-comedian Sebastian Maniscalco (The Irishman) and Omar J. Dorsey (Queen Sugar) are set to star in the series, which Lorre is co-wrote with Nick Bakay.
Omar J. Dorsey stopped by Sway In The Morning to talk about the new series, Queen Sugar and Halloween Kills.
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Omar Dorsey Talks 'Queen Sugar' And New Series 'How To Be A Bookie' | Sway's Universe
https://youtu.be/krPa0kJPpjw
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0:00
man
0:01
I said it before and I'll say it again
0:03
easily one of my favorite series on TV
0:07
in recent years has been on their own
0:09
network
0:11
and it's called Queen sugar and part of
0:14
the reason initially was because of the
0:15
subject matter that they talked about
0:17
and they really put the focus in the
0:18
spotlight on a black farmer my family
0:21
has Farms have owned Farms not in a
0:25
you know not in a big farm way but as a
0:27
you know as a family we had a family
0:29
farm still have one in Louisiana and I
0:31
realized how much Farmers struggle yeah
0:35
you know to keep their business alive
0:38
and so Queen sugar gave a lot of
0:39
exposure to the black farmer in ways
0:42
that I don't think the world has seen
0:44
But when you see some of the um the cast
0:47
members with Tina Wesley uh Don Lynn
0:50
Gardner when you see all of these folks
0:51
come together
0:53
um on Kofi
0:55
um when you see Ava Duvernay be it back
0:57
in it and Oprah Winfrey is overseeing it
1:00
you know it's something special Greg
1:02
Vaughn when you see Greg Vaughn acting
1:03
you know it's something special uh well
1:06
you see our good friend who's here with
1:08
us today who's really created who's
1:10
really evolved in his character in a way
1:12
where um you have a
1:16
I want to say you have a Hollywood in
1:18
every family right
1:20
that's a Hollywood in Every Family
1:22
definitely and what I love about this
1:24
character is he never bails out on
1:27
family our families need those solid
1:30
male figures in it right those solid
1:32
male figs we got a lot of solid women
1:34
figures but we need solid male figures
1:36
and we need that image and we need that
1:38
messaging and that's what queen sugar
1:39
does and I want to say my good friend I
1:42
could run down to Litany of things that
1:43
he's done Mike Muse but we might run out
1:45
of time oh yeah you know but I did
1:48
appreciate him and Selma give him a big
1:49
round of applause absolutely
1:53
and I got to mention power okay yeah
1:58
with Kane and raising Canaan yep yeah
2:00
you want to mention that one Mike you
2:01
want to mention anything I love the
2:04
queen sugar for everything you just
2:05
believe he does yeah
2:07
okay welcome back to the show The One
2:10
and Only Omar J Dorsey is here
2:14
[Applause]
2:17
I'm sorry we're not going to pay uh
2:19
respect to this man for surviving not
2:21
one two but three Halloween movies three
2:23
Halloween the only black man who don't
2:25
die
2:26
alert is that a record look at this
2:29
t-shirts
2:33
yeah
2:35
you got a Halloween tattoo damn right I
2:37
do so Sheriff Barker is here Barker is
2:40
in the band alive and alive I was so
2:43
surprised I didn't kill him in the last
2:44
one I was like what no but DB DB's a
2:47
like film Aficionado he has Michael
2:49
Myers on his finger man
2:52
it's a tattoo piece that's a tattoo of
2:55
Michael Myers man that is hard bro I
2:57
ain't never seen that before thank you
2:58
thank you shout out to my man Brian G
3:00
the tattoo Waters who did it but uh if
3:01
if it's okay if I start the first
3:03
question okay uh Halloween kills yes the
3:07
mob scene was very controversial a lot
3:09
of people were like are we gonna tie in
3:10
Halloween now to what's going on in our
3:12
society what was your feeling I mean now
3:14
that we can talk about what I was just
3:15
saying what happened so there was a mob
3:18
mentality scene where they wanted to
3:20
incite uh revenge against Michael Myers
3:23
because they were the townspeople were
3:24
tired of him you know terrorizing them
3:27
and killing all these people so they
3:28
were like let's get so it was very
3:29
January 6-ish okay and so they stormed
3:32
the hospital looking for Michael Myers
3:34
and a lot of people a lot of fans were
3:35
just like okay is this a direct
3:37
correlation between what happened on
3:39
January 6 or is this just sort of making
3:41
people think about what happened so what
3:43
was your take on it uh we actually shot
3:45
that movie a year before and it got held
3:48
up so I was talking to the director I
3:50
was like you know what's crazy that
3:52
whole mob scene is so much today like
3:55
when January 6 happened and I called
3:57
David Gordon green who's the director of
3:59
the um films I said yo that is so crazy
4:01
that we like sort of predicted that that
4:03
was going to happen you gotta remember
4:05
like during that time it was supposed to
4:07
come out in 2020 or whatever but if we
4:10
were going through a pandemic so we were
4:12
like we ain't gonna get no money so hold
4:13
us back for extra year so it didn't come
4:15
out of 2021 Halloween kills and
4:17
Halloween ends just came out this year
4:18
but that one yeah it was just
4:20
happenstance but the director and I did
4:22
talk about that a lot because you know
4:24
I'm the only black person there so you
4:26
got to talk to somebody right because
4:28
there were others they just didn't make
4:30
it it was only one left yeah but that's
4:32
really that that you know that's really
4:34
telling that you that you even
4:35
um you know could think about it like
4:37
that because it really did when I saw it
4:39
like it looks like it was storming the
4:40
capital but we shot it way before that
4:43
storm we got the capital happened we
4:44
shot that in 2019. so it was the
4:46
opposite it was the opposite yeah it was
4:48
like I
4:55
[Laughter]
5:08
uh Angry with everybody right um last
5:11
time Omar last time we saw each other we
5:13
actually talked on the phone to the
5:14
interview on the phone because of the
5:16
pandemic then we ended up in the same
5:18
household in Harlem baby come on hanging
5:20
out that's my neighborhood
5:22
yo it just happened it was happening
5:25
since real I was like I was chilling on
5:26
the Block and somebody's like yo you
5:28
know soya said so he just interviewed me
5:29
I talked this way all the time and then
5:31
we ended up chilling at my man's Creek
5:33
yeah
5:35
right he lives right around the corner
5:37
for me in Harlem so oh chance will be
5:39
cooking yeah
5:42
the chef you got that plate yeah he got
5:45
that plate for you at all times yeah him
5:47
and his lovely wife April sashay
6:15
it gave me um I thought it was cool
6:18
because who we are who you see on TV
6:20
well the impression you get of Omar
6:22
through his acting even though he's in
6:24
character uh you'll be pleasantly
6:27
surprised when you meet him in person
6:28
right right so he's uh a really you know
6:32
organ we just hung out it was it's like
6:34
we've known each other for years it made
6:36
me think about
6:38
um but we're able to hang out a little
6:39
looser than we might in front of the
6:41
camera that part yeah and then so on
6:43
Queen sugar there's this narrative about
6:45
uh uh routina Wesley's character Nova
6:47
whose book is being picked up for a
6:50
movie right and there's this whole
6:52
narrative about the family being
6:54
apprehensive about man you wrote about
6:56
our lives right right you know what I
6:58
mean like we don't want that [ __ ] in the
7:00
book and now a movie yeah because
7:01
because the book already caused um
7:03
consternation within the family yeah and
7:06
now you're gonna make it bigger and make
7:08
it into uh um you know in into a film
7:10
where the whole world can go see it now
7:12
yeah you know um but sometimes It's
7:14
Tricky right we want to do we want to
7:17
put ourselves out to be examples
7:19
sometimes
7:21
but you know it can be it can
7:24
cut I mean you can open up Old Wounds
7:26
yeah yeah that's exactly what this would
7:28
do and it might help out other people
7:31
but it's still opening up that wound you
7:33
know do you have to because of your
7:35
because of your popularity do you ever
7:37
have to kind of like have orientation
7:39
with family members to make sure Hey
7:41
listen folks might try to get
7:43
information folks might try to interview
7:44
you they might be tricky with questions
7:47
you know do you do you give them
7:48
orientation or do you worry about that
7:50
sort of thing your real life being out
7:52
there I mean you know the only thing I
7:54
really hate is when like they get
7:55
somebody my phone number I'm like why
7:57
are you doing that man like I know the
7:58
person they really need to holler at you
8:00
because they got a little movie they're
8:01
trying to shoot ain't got nothing to do
8:03
with me let them shoot that movie I
8:04
don't know you know okay you know yeah
8:06
you know but stuff like that but my
8:07
parents my parents my family is pretty
8:09
they're pretty protective over me you
8:11
know even like my cousins or whatever
8:13
man
8:14
um but everybody's pretty protective so
8:16
they don't you know they they're not
8:18
gonna put their business out there
8:19
Atlanta folks right there man yeah
8:24
or something different bro yeah
8:26
that 10 racks I've seen a lot of family
8:29
headlines you're right yeah come on TMZ
8:32
off you that 5K I'm telling everything
8:33
about Mike Muse
8:40
but how'd you do that like I don't have
8:43
a whole lot I do got one or two things
8:45
yeah you know I just man I just live
8:47
like you know what I live I live my full
8:49
life and I and it's and it's out people
8:51
know I kick it in Atlanta yeah or in
8:53
Harlem or in LA or wherever I'm at man
8:56
so I'm not like behind no closed doors
8:58
with it you know what I'm saying I'm
9:00
like yeah man you're gonna see me
9:01
outside Omar Dorsey man um eight eight
9:03
seven four two three three four five
9:05
Mike Muse
9:06
yeah I'm just wondering like how did you
9:09
feel
9:10
like did you as guys as a cast yeah like
9:13
have conversations about the
9:16
conversation you guys were able to
9:17
create around like Agriculture and black
9:20
Farmers it was just so important just
9:23
like you know like sway was saying man
9:25
I'm from the south my mother Dr Naomi
9:28
Dorsey started out uh was a picking
9:31
cotton when she was a kid and my father
9:33
you know he's from the North Georgia
9:34
Mountains and he worked in the fields so
9:37
we have all of this land that they ended
9:39
up owning you know where they worked in
9:41
before now they own it uh so it was very
9:43
important for me specifically to be able
9:46
to tell the story I'm the only person in
9:48
the cast from the south so um you know
9:50
I'd bring all of that with me yes and so
9:53
and I am one of the leaders of In Me
9:55
Myself and Tina lifford who plays on VI
9:58
or you know the leaders on set because
10:00
we're the older people so yeah man um it
10:03
was important to me and I tried to
10:04
convey that to all the cast members and
10:06
everything it's very important to Ava
10:07
because it was uh you know she's from
10:09
Alabama she's from Compton but her
10:10
family's from Alabama so just the land
10:13
and that I often tell people the biggest
10:16
character on the show is the land yeah
10:20
outside of uh Ralph angel or Hollywood
10:22
or anything it's the land that is the
10:25
most important because that's what draws
10:26
everybody together which is why
10:27
Hollywood got so mad at Ralph Angel when
10:30
he lost the land so yeah man Omar Dorsey
10:33
is here we're gonna open up the phone
10:34
lines every day seven four two three
10:36
four three three four five let's come
10:37
back yeah talk about the ATL a little
10:40
bit
10:41
Omar J Dorsey is here yes he is you
10:44
talking Queen sugar
10:46
in an upcoming upcoming series you have
10:49
yes how to be a Wookie how to be a
10:52
bookie yes a good friend of mine is a
10:54
bookie all right I got a couple of good
10:56
friends I owe them money but they're
10:59
still my friends because I lost last
11:00
week how does that work how many they my
11:02
friends man good guys let's just stop
11:04
knocking on my door but no
11:07
no but I got some good bookie friends
11:10
man like you know I look I did the
11:12
research for this role I just say that
11:13
you did the research it cost me a little
11:15
bit of money but I did the research but
11:17
so how to be a bookie yes a bookie like
11:20
my friend who's a bookie I wanted to bet
11:22
on some fights recently right and I I
11:25
got I didn't know how to do it right you
11:27
know just ask them yeah and then they
11:29
did does your bookies do it for you well
11:31
I know how to read a line and all that
11:33
stuff I know I'm I'm I gamble good
11:35
people okay
11:37
I lived in New Orleans for seven years I
11:39
live right across the street from the
11:40
casino okay if they do me by name I used
11:42
to park I just drive my car there and
11:44
they Omar you're here wow this part of
11:46
the car from they knew me that's real
11:48
they knew me they knew me they knew what
11:50
did you play what'd you play I play uh
11:52
craps I play uh blackjack
11:54
and if I get real freaky with up I go
11:57
into the poker room but I like the crap
11:59
Jacks I like the slack and I like the uh
12:00
I like the craps another roulette too
12:02
you like the roulette yeah has it ever
12:04
become excessive like an issue you think
12:06
I'll just say this thank God for the
12:07
pandemic because they closed it down for
12:09
a year and it like sort of helped me out
12:11
it kind of helped you wean yourself off
12:13
yeah help me help me wean myself off
12:15
yeah yeah so when it opened back up I
12:17
wasn't doing as much because I was going
12:18
there every day man you didn't want to
12:20
see the thing about gambling you're in
12:21
the room with people from everywhere
12:23
especially in New Orleans people a lot
12:25
of tourists yeah yeah and then during
12:26
the pandemic you don't want to be you
12:28
didn't want to be yeah I don't want to
12:29
be touching cars touching dice the first
12:32
one to get covered yep exactly so yeah I
12:34
just I stayed away from it I wonder if
12:36
the bookies tuned in
12:38
888-742-3345 if you're a bookie or you
12:40
deal with a bookie call us let me ask
12:43
you this oh this uh this this is a
12:45
series right yes a series it's uh Chuck
12:47
Laurie who created The Big Bang Theory
12:48
and created How I Met Your Mother uh
12:50
assistant series is uh the leads are
12:52
myself and Sebastian um
12:55
a great comedian amazing comedian crazy
12:58
following
12:59
um but we play The Bookies you play The
13:01
Bookies play The Bookies right around
13:02
L.A collecting money yeah do bookies
13:05
like in this day do you got to give a
13:07
credit card to them or something or how
13:09
does it works
13:12
so if I say I want to bet a hundred
13:14
dollars on the Warriors yeah yeah
13:17
well my bookie you know I have a running
13:19
tab or whatever so and you got to be
13:21
good for it I know you're good for it
13:23
yeah you know and you have to be
13:24
suggested by somebody who's going to
13:26
vouch for you because if you ain't gonna
13:27
be able to pay the money then they got
13:28
to pay it so you said I'm gonna say one
13:31
of the people who you said on the show
13:32
is was the person who introduced me to
13:34
my bookie so you know wow I think we
13:36
also have to Define what a book he is
13:38
I'm sure there's some citizens who don't
13:40
know what a bookie is a book is a person
13:41
who uh collects who who does gambling uh
13:44
so if you want to make a bet you'll go
13:46
through him and like a broker a broker a
13:48
broker so right right now you know
13:49
gambling is almost becoming illegal yeah
13:51
you know it's becoming an obsolete uh
13:54
profession but you know there's still
13:55
people out there the young people who
13:57
probably can't get in there and get in
13:58
or whatever Malik's on the line right
14:00
now yeah Malik Malik is from L.A yeah
14:03
Malik you a bookie
14:06
not not right now but I did do some
14:08
little bookie I do I should do the
14:09
football cards on the street
14:12
I'm blocked you know yeah he was running
14:15
numbers
14:27
did you did you not write down the
14:30
numbers
14:30
the wrong way you had that little wooden
14:33
pencil that you just carry around that
14:34
never needs sharpening West Indian
14:36
Archie he already knew all the numbers
14:37
for everybody
14:40
this is the football parlay car you know
14:42
when you picked like a three team or
14:44
four oh yeah the parlay Joiner yeah yeah
14:46
you know that Mike yeah yeah oh like
14:48
what is that called the corners okay the
14:50
corners we call them parlay cars the
14:53
parlay cars yeah the football Court yeah
14:55
yo so you ever have no somebody not pay
14:57
a debt
14:59
you know you know because I would take
15:01
the money up front uh I would and if
15:04
they hit it then they would get paid but
15:06
if they didn't hit then I would just
15:07
pocket the money you have a pocket okay
15:10
I didn't let them know that I was the
15:12
book I told them I was running for
15:13
somebody else
15:17
so I have a question Malik and maybe
15:19
Omar you can come in I I get the bookie
15:22
game right and I get the gambling game
15:24
the part that I never had access to ask
15:27
a question about is the pool of money
15:31
does it ever get to a point where you
15:33
get so many bets and some people win
15:34
that the bank I guess or the book runs
15:37
out of money so that's the part I've
15:39
always been curious about so uh Omar um
15:41
Malik Malik if you could maybe help
15:43
explain that process about when you
15:45
collect the money
15:46
I guess you're the house with the bank
15:48
that you distributed evenly to everyone
15:50
does everyone get an even cut or do you
15:52
ever get to a point where you run out of
15:54
the winnings to give now we get into the
15:57
weeds
15:58
you can have more people hit I got I got
16:02
out the gang because it was costing me I
16:05
was dipping a mama you know I was trying
16:07
to I had a bank to where when everybody
16:09
put in and put their bets in you know
16:11
then I would dish out if they hit but
16:14
more times than not man them parlay cars
16:16
a lot of people don't hit they try to
16:17
build five teams you know so they
16:20
basically your money wait but yeah you
16:21
have to have your cover
16:23
but like I say I had out if if I didn't
16:27
hit I'm gonna say man the book you ran
16:28
out on me too
16:30
oh I'm dying somebody is taking notes
16:35
too
16:40
I'm never using a bookie in my life so
16:44
the bookie then is the bank is betting
16:46
against people not winning yeah
16:50
you're the house pretty much Malik thank
16:52
you for your call your citizen member
16:54
make sure you watch this series how to
16:56
be a bookie is all about you and then
16:58
when is it going to be air it's going to
16:59
be on HBO Max it starts
17:07
Omar real quickly um the the template
17:11
that Hollywood was using during the
17:13
pandemic where they were releasing film
17:14
simultaneously in theaters and on
17:16
shooting servers or solely on streaming
17:18
services is that still something that
17:20
model did they still want to use that or
17:22
are they trying to focus now I'm seeing
17:24
everything is like it's either in
17:25
theaters or streaming service so what's
17:26
the the plan if you've heard you know
17:28
what even with the last Halloween
17:30
um I was talking to the directors and
17:31
producers and everything and I was
17:33
really like man I really just wanted to
17:35
be out in the movie theaters because I'm
17:37
so used to the box office 100 million
17:39
dollars for that weekend and when it
17:42
only does like 44 million and it does
17:44
all of these different big numbers on
17:46
streaming you're like man but you know
17:48
we leaving money on the table so I don't
17:51
know
17:52
um if they're gonna do it simultaneously
17:53
but I was really surprised that they did
17:55
it I knew the second Halloween the
17:56
Halloween kills the one you were talking
17:58
about I had a feeling they want to do it
18:00
like that but with this last one
18:01
Halloween ends I was surprised I thought
18:04
that they would have wanted to uh put it
18:06
in the movie theaters but the thing
18:08
about it is it helped peacocks so much
18:11
like I just saw the numbers on um
18:13
Halloween
18:14
um ends right and the peacock numbers
18:16
were just through the roof so I guess it
18:19
helps out their streaming services and
18:20
they really want to get that rolling and
18:22
streaming is where it is right now yeah
18:23
yeah Omar J Dorsey is here we got
18:27
Thaddeus on the line from South Carolina
18:29
30. Thaddeus
18:39
okay man go ahead we got a question for
18:41
oh
18:42
yeah yeah definitely I I I'm a filmmaker
18:45
out of South Carolina and uh I'm
18:47
wondering if he has any advice for
18:49
someone trying to get into the industry
18:51
as an independent filmmaker you know
18:53
what man it makes it so it's so much
18:54
easier now than it was when I um started
18:57
in the 90s right because it's so much so
18:59
you got you can make a movie on your
19:01
cell phone uh myself and Dorian Mystic
19:03
we did a movie called uh nine rides uh
19:06
directed by Matthew Cherry who won the
19:08
Oscar for the uh for I think the cartoon
19:10
about good hair hair whatever it was but
19:13
um we did a movie about six years ago
19:16
and they shot it on an iPhone the entire
19:18
movie entire film which on the iPhone
19:20
because he plays The Uber they played an
19:22
Uber driver so you know Uber goes
19:24
through your phone anyway so the concept
19:26
was you know shoot everything but then
19:28
look if you see it it's on it's on
19:30
streaming or whatever it looks like
19:31
regular so there is no excuse anybody
19:34
any for anyone who wants to be a
19:36
filmmaker not to be able to make them
19:37
make a film you can shoot on like on a
19:41
phone you can get a camera uh you can
19:43
dump everything because it's all digital
19:45
you can dump everything on your computer
19:46
and just start editing that way
19:48
um so if you wanted to make a movie you
19:50
can go ahead and do it now you ain't
19:51
gonna be able to make Titanic no no you
19:54
can make a really good story
19:57
all right Daddy it's good luck to you
19:59
man if you and once you make your movie
20:02
um we're gonna speak it into existence
20:04
shoot it to us
20:06
I'm just I'm I'm looking for that next
20:09
level I'm trying to figure out how to
20:11
how to get that distribution at well
20:12
have you been putting them in film
20:14
festivals
20:15
absolutely won a couple film festivals
20:17
in India nice
20:19
so yeah I'm just I'm but not getting any
20:22
traction here in the states man overseas
20:23
they love me but well shoot man overseas
20:25
yeah the money though I mean because the
20:26
thing about it we got to realize that we
20:28
are Global people right and we try to be
20:30
so like well if I can't do it at the
20:32
crib man you can get your money in India
20:34
you get your money in in in in France or
20:36
South Africa or wherever it is you know
20:38
as long as your stuff is getting put out
20:40
there and eyes are seeing it then that's
20:42
all that really matters you don't have
20:45
to just worry about what's going on here
20:46
because if it pops off somewhere else
20:48
you know how you know how people are in
20:49
America they're gonna jump on it yeah
20:52
lean in where the love is at exactly
20:54
where the love is they love you that is
20:56
my biggest hosting check I ever made in
21:00
the decades that I've been in this
21:02
business was in Africa yeah yeah what
21:05
part south of course of course I love
21:08
them they love me too they love me too
21:11
yeah I went out there man I went to East
21:13
Africa
21:15
I know where I was like y'all watch
21:17
queen sugar over here Hollywood I was
21:19
like hey man but see that that really
21:22
opened my eyes yeah you know what I'm
21:23
saying I would go anywhere um especially
21:25
with it with a diasporated yeah they
21:28
they roll with us they roll with us bro
21:29
hard body the appreciation overseas yes
21:33
man it's how we should be a treat
21:35
appreciate it that's how it man that's
21:37
that's how we should be treated daddy is
21:39
you're a citizen brother all right
21:41
appreciate you man and we want to thank
21:44
um all the guests JJ green for coming by
21:46
today yes
21:47
um get his new project heartbroken
21:49
somewhere Friday he did an excellent job
21:51
he's in the game and man he killed that
21:53
freestyle I brought Omar in just to make
21:55
him nervous and he made Omar nervous
22:00
[Laughter]
22:11
baby let's go H yes all right okay oh
22:15
how can they reach you if they want to
22:16
talk to you brother man any uh all
22:18
social media uh Omar J Dorsey
22:22
[Music]
#Arts & Entertainment