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[0:01] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:09] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists are talking about art. Our next guest is an icon. You've seen him. You've all seen him in his work, his incredible, iconic part in Dazed and Confused, all of the work that he's done. And I think there's a brand new show about another incredible, iconic series or piece of pop culture. You may have heard called The Walking Dead, Dead City introduces Dead Squad. Reverend Anthony himself, Shawn Andrews, is here on The Roundtable. Welcome to the show.

[0:43] Shawn Andrews: Oh, thank you. That was quite the intro. Thank you for that.

[0:46] Robert Bannon: I try to give some I try to give good energy, Shawn, but you give us good. When did you want to be an actor?

[0:53] Shawn Andrews: Right into it. You know, it was it was more like music led me down that pathway. And I would say, like, it was kind of more by accident. It wasn't like I, you know, you hear sometimes actors like say, like, I knew when I was 10 years old, I wanted to be an actor. It was more like music, you know, led me to somebody who was in this world that kind of mentored me and thought that this would be really cool for me to do. And then I really got into it for sure.

[1:29] Robert Bannon: And you have had quite the career. And when people see you, you don't really age, Shawn.

[1:35] Shawn Andrews: Thank you so much. Shout out to mom and dad. God rest their souls.

[1:38] Robert Bannon: That's good genetics right there. For me to have that kind of skin, I need a lot of Botox and filler. You look good. So tell us about this new project. When did it come to you? How did it come to you and why did you say yes?

[1:53] Shawn Andrews: I mean, let's see. So it came to me late last year. And I said yes, because, you know, The Walking Dead, like you said in your intro, is it's part of pop culture. The characters are so iconic. It's so beloved. And I thought I would fit into this world and I felt like it was a fit for me. And I'm really grateful to have gotten the chance to, you know, step into this world because it's just they really put so much love into it. You know, the production is just like it's next level.

[2:31] Robert Bannon: So you're talking about this brand new dead squad coming up season three of The Walking Dead Dead City. You play Reverend Anthony. Who is Reverend? I don't think Shawn Andrews is a reverend in my personal experience.

[2:48] Shawn Andrews: I don't know you, Shawn, but what kind of reverend is he? How'd you find this character?

[2:53] Shawn Andrews: That's a that's a really cool question. I think that the wardrobe department, they were so incredible. The thought and the love they put into the costume really started to affect creatively how I sort of entered into who the reverend is. Reverend Anthony, you know, down to the staff and the belt and the rings. There's no spoilers here. We've already seen that. And it formed the way I moved and an inspired sort of further investigation in who I thought Reverend Anthony is. They really helped me. I got to say, like, so creative. Like, hats off to them for sure.

[3:46] Robert Bannon: I love that. I think when you put that outfit on, when you put that costume on, you see him in that costume. There's nothing you become a character.

[3:52] Shawn Andrews: You truly do become the character. What was it like on set, especially with some of the incredible cast? I mean, there's people that have been doing these characters for years and there's people who have jumped in. So what kind of a set was it welcoming? Was it was it something you feel a part now of the dynasty, the team that is over at The Walking Dead?

[4:10] Shawn Andrews: I do. They're very family over there, led by the captain, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohn. They couldn't have been sweeter to all of us, the squad. They were they were so cool. And the director, Yvonne White, was so cool. And everybody was just the vibe there's family for sure. And super like creativity. And it's just it's it's an environment where you can really create and super welcoming. And it was because I come from a lot of like sort of arthouse movies where you're plodding along in your own little garden. And I was concerned that like doing something this big, you know, would be, you know, I wouldn't be able to, you know, have sort of the freedom that you have sometimes more with our films. But actually, they're very the whole creative process was so welcoming and cool. And yeah, I was really like inspired.

[5:13] Robert Bannon: I love it. I think it's going to be so killer. I think it's no pun intended. I think that I think that is perfect. I think it's really interesting to put a character like your character without seeing it. Thinking about like an apocalypse and faith and what is a reverend doing as the world is literally ending is a really interesting and interesting take on what a unique character and perspective to kind of bring to the screen.

[5:38] Shawn Andrews: Yeah, no, they really killed it, like with the whole death squad and shout out to the rest of the squad. I mean, we might as well shout them out. Definitely.

[5:47] Shawn Andrews: Johnny Halloran played the bear. It was great. And also Tariq, who played Backdraft Benny and the chef Isabel Van Fleet and killer Kelsey is Georgia Lyman. I had to shout them out the rest of the crew. Give them love. But yeah, no, they they're interesting because they're, of course, all anti heroes. And we're not really quite sure how they got there. And it's good. It gets the viewers, I think, you know, wheels turning. And I think as you as you go further down the rabbit hole with them, you know, you get to understand them better.

[6:33] Robert Bannon: I love it. It's going to be it's a it's a must watch moment. Truly, you brought up music before you've really balanced your career with being an actor and then being a musician like Ride Like Thunder is, you know, Sean Andrews is you let's go. So how do you balance the two? Do you is it as it comes? Is there do you carve out time for both? What what how do you manage to kind of big giant artistic careers at the same time?

[6:58] Shawn Andrews: That's a great question. I mean, I think that it's all about flow. You know, right now there's a couple more tracks to complete my debut album. And we're getting ready to do a music video that Kelly Cooper is going to be directing for a track called Reckless. It's kind of like a fever dream. And, you know, I think it's just a natural it's like it naturally balances itself. Like, you know, when when it's it's time to do the music, it calls and you answer and when it's time to do the acting, you know. But I think it's important, at least for me, to to have different creative stuff going on other than just one thing. I think each thing nourishes. Do you know what I mean? The music nourishes acting, acting nourishes music.

And, you know, there's a lot of like wonderful actors and actresses that are filmmakers and and writers and, you know, or are also like great in the fashion. I just I like that we're living kind of in a time now where, you know, people are doing like a lot of different stuff and not just one thing. And it is really cool about right now, you know.

[8:13] Robert Bannon: I love that, too. We could all there. There's lots of talents, multi hyphenates all around. Everybody can have a little and you got to make a living and you got to keep that artistic brain going. You know, you got to keep you got to keep that muscle going. So I think it's it's incredible. Truly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love it. So you've been in one part of pop culture that has lived for I don't know if they're a long time known as Dazed and Confused. And people have seen you and known it and it's become a classic. It's a film classic. And I'm sure you've talked about it for decades. And then now you walk into another piece of pop culture, which is The Walking Dead. What is it about a project that makes you say yes?

[8:50] Shawn Andrews: It's a good question. I mean, you know, Walking Dead definitely and Dazed, they both are pop culture. And I think that, you know, when you when you read something, it just sounds like something just you connect and you know, like, okay, this is I'm supposed to do this, or you know what I mean? And it's that inner voice that sort of navigates you that you listen to when you when you can quiet yourself. And I try to let that navigate like where my creative choices go.

[9:25] Robert Bannon: I think that's perfect. And when you look at the work, everybody, he's been a reverend before, if you ever saw my Little Hollywood, if you maybe he is a reverend, who knows, maybe that's the next the next chapter for you. When I look at your your you've done a lot of big movies, you've done movies with Matt Dillon, you've done movies with Chris Maloney, that's an indie film, you've done big blockbuster movies. Is it? Is it? Is it the work that makes you want to do it? Is it the potential of what is going to do? Is it? Are you like a real character driven person, you see a character and you say, I need to play that character? Or is it more like, you're going to pay me and I'm going to show up and let's go to let's go. Money's good, too. I'm not against that either.

[10:08] Shawn Andrews: Oh, yeah, no, we, we always welcome abundance. Abundance with open arms. I think, you know, for me, I was, you know, doing a lot of character driven work, sort of plodding along on my own little artist garden. And I think that, you know, what was really cool about this experience is it was really time to sort of get out of the that garden and and see bigger fields. And not that I don't love the garden. But I just I just, I think it just naturally sort of evolved to this, this next thing for me. And, and I was so inspired on being on the set. Like I said, just the craftsmanship of the department's mind blowing. Yeah, for sure.

[10:58] Robert Bannon: I'm excited. I don't think you have to have watched the first Walking Dead to get into it. I think you could jump in and watch this series. I think if you haven't watched it, you should watch them all. If you're looking for something to do as we get into the fall and you're bored and you it's getting it's going to get the weather's going to change and you're home and you want to order a pizza and open a glass of have a glass of wine. This is what you could be doing this weekend. Binge watch the Walking Dead, all the seasons, all the series, and then watch some of the other, watch Sean, watch Sean's movies, watch what he's done. Look, you are the quintessential, like you are an actor. The characters you've played that you have brought to life are on t-shirts.

They're on bumper stickers. There are their Halloween costumes. They are something that you have put into the world and you continue to create great, incredible art. And I want people, this is your homework. We're going to watch Walking Dead. We're going to follow all things that Sean does. And we're going to listen to the music. You know, your music streams a lot of streams, Sean.

[11:51] Shawn Andrews: Yeah, we got a lot of love on Ride Like Thunder. That's for sure.

[11:55] Robert Bannon: People like it. We need so the album is coming out and then maybe we'll see you out on the road. Maybe we'll do some show.

[12:01] Shawn Andrews: Definitely want to tour. Yeah, we got a complete. We have a couple more tracks and then the album will be complete. And the next step right now is the music video with Callie Cooper, who's also a Grammy Award nominated musician, but she's also a director.

[12:15] Robert Bannon: So he's booked everybody. Sean's working. He's out in these. He's he's out here. He's singing. He's making videos and he's making television shows. And we're so grateful we got to spend time with you. I'm looking forward to check it out. Thank you for hanging out with us.

[12:28] Shawn Andrews: Thank you for having me.

[12:30] Robert Bannon: Thank you.