SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Terry Crews is best known for his roles in comedies like the TV show "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." He currently hosts "America's Got Talent" and stars in the new Comedy Central reboot "Everybody Still Hates Chris." His roles have brought joy to millions of people, but his own life has had its share of hardship and failure. He grew up in Flint, Mich., as the auto industry was shrinking and the crack cocaine epidemic was spreading. His dad was abusive and an alcoholic. But he was still able to get into college on an art scholarship, and then he joined the NFL. Crews talked to my colleague, Rachel Martin, the host of NPR's Wild Card podcast, where well-known guests draw cards from a deck and answer big questions about their lives. Here's Rachel.

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RACHEL MARTIN: All right, three cards - one, two or three?

TERRY CREWS: One.

MARTIN: One. What's something a parent figure taught you to appreciate?

CREWS: Hmm. My mother always told me, before she passed - she said, Terry, never forget you're an artist. You're an artist. No. 1, before anything, before everything, you're an artist. And that has really - it's kind of - it's colored everything that I've ever done because, when you do things like an artist, it transcends. Like, you know, you can mow the lawn, but when you mow the lawn like an artist, you become a landscaper. You know what I mean?

MARTIN: (LAUGHTER)

CREWS: You know, it's...

MARTIN: Totally. Totally.

CREWS: ...Two ways to look at it, you know what I mean?

MARTIN: That's your blank canvas.

CREWS: Yeah. One thing I discovered is focus and interest create energy, and that's what art does. And other people will look at it and be very bored. Like, what are you doing? - or whatever - you know, some sculpture or some painting or some drawing. But that focus and energy energizes you. And it's super special. It's like making the mundane magnificent, you know?

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

CREWS: Oh, well, this same mom was very religious. I was not allowed to do a lot of things when I was young. But I'll never forget my friends would - they could go to the movies, and I couldn't when I was young.

MARTIN: Because your mom saw that as...

CREWS: Movies were the Devil's things, you know?

MARTIN: Right.

CREWS: And what happened was kids would talk about the movies, and I couldn't see them. But what I would do is go home and draw what I thought they were.

MARTIN: Wow.

CREWS: And I would draw what "Jaws" may look like. I would spend hours and hours. I could draw all night long. I would just be drawing and drawing and, all of a sudden, I'd see, I'd look up and the sun would come up. And you're like, the sun's coming. Woah. Like...

MARTIN: Wow.

CREWS: That's how...

MARTIN: That's focus, yeah.

CREWS: ...Focused I was.

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MARTIN: Three new cards.

CREWS: All right.

MARTIN: One, two or three?

CREWS: Let's go with two.

MARTIN: Two. What was a disappointing experience that now feels like a blessing?

CREWS: I guess the NFL, you know?

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: My whole seven years in the NFL I would call a disappointment in that - 'cause I was all over the place. I was on six teams in seven years.

MARTIN: I read that. That's a lot of moving.

CREWS: It was Rams, Packers, Chargers, Eagles, all with my wife and kids. We were living out of suitcases. We didn't know what was going on. And everyone thinks this whole, you know, - sports is so glamorous or whatever. It just wasn't. It was a grind. It was like a circus, you know? My wife and I did not know what was going to happen to us next year.

MARTIN: That's a crazy way to live, yeah.

CREWS: But it was a disappointment because I wanted championships. I wanted to be a star. I wanted to - and it all ended unceremoniously when I got cut for the sixth, seventh time. But when I look back, what a blessing because, you know, it got me ready for entertainment. It got me ready for the audition process.

MARTIN: Yeah - 'cause every time you walk into an audition room, you don't know what's going to happen, and they can be like, you're not for us, and you got to get over that.

CREWS: People call it, like, you got to fail to succeed. But, you know, there's another kind of example of this that I heard - I really think fits even better. You know, like, lobsters - they do a thing called molting, where the shell breaks, and they outgrow the shell. And they're vulnerable. But what happens is they're growing, and the shell regrows bigger. And I've said, I am like this. I'm molting. Like...

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: ...What happens is you're growing.

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: You break this shell, but it's painful.

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: The NFL was a version of me molting into a new person. Now, you're also very vulnerable in these times.

MARTIN: Oh, totally. Totally.

CREWS: You know what I mean? Like, what, don't touch that, ah, you know (laughter)? And...

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MARTIN: I have the weirdest visual in my mind right now...

CREWS: Yes.

MARTIN: ...Of, like, this little, naked lobster.

CREWS: Yes. Yes.

MARTIN: And it's like he's so scared of what's going to happen...

CREWS: Yes.

MARTIN: ...But, you know?

CREWS: That's us. We're all little, naked lobsters right now.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

CREWS: But we're growing our shell.

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MARTIN: Last three cards.

CREWS: All right.

MARTIN: One, two or three?

CREWS: Three.

MARTIN: Three. Where have you experienced awe?

CREWS: Where? Oh, man - when I went to Iceland.

MARTIN: Oh.

CREWS: I actually went to Iceland to do the Bear Grylls show.

MARTIN: Oh, did you really?

CREWS: Yeah. I mean, they took us on a helicopter up to this mountain - the top of a volcano. You're in the middle of nowhere. Like, there's nothing. And the helicopter flies away, right? But let me tell you this - what blew my mind - I'm hanging on the side of this mountain trying not to fall because it's really dangerous, like...

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: ...And I'm going, oh, they weren't kidding. And his camera crew is doing it backwards.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

CREWS: And I'm going, hey, man, how? What? The sound man and the camera guy is hanging on the side of the mountain with me.

MARTIN: Wait, was that your moment of awe? When you, like, saw the crew?

CREWS: That was it. I was going, how the hell are you doing this, man? Because I can't...

MARTIN: I thought you were going to talk about...

CREWS: Oh, no.

MARTIN: ...The sacred nature of the...

CREWS: Oh, no.

MARTIN: ...Fjords that you saw.

CREWS: No. No. It was...

MARTIN: The beautiful hot pools.

CREWS: ...I want to mention Bear Grylls' crew (laughter). They left me in awe.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

CREWS: Now, now, mind you. Mind you, after filming, after we did our whole thing, I did get to sleep at the base of this volcano.

MARTIN: Wow.

CREWS: And that was my nature awe moment. I'd never done anything like that in my life. And you're in Iceland. Like, the sky is just - there's no street lights or nothing. It's - pow - like, you see galaxies...

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: ...You know, and you're like (gasps). Like, literally, you're laying there, looking up, and you're going to fall in - that kind of thing. I've never experienced that. That was awe - I felt, like, this small.

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: You know what I mean?

MARTIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

CREWS: Where you're just like, oh, my God, this world is so gigantic.

MARTIN: And does that make you feel unsettled or good - the feeling?

CREWS: It makes me feel good.

MARTIN: It makes you feel good to feel...

CREWS: It makes me feel excellent.

MARTIN: ...Small in the universe.

CREWS: And I was - I felt grounded. Like, here I am. I'm laying on the dirt. You know what I mean?

MARTIN: Yeah.

CREWS: Like, I'm - I'm like, I'm part of this, you know? It was really cool. Like, I just felt awe about the power that's out there, and I was filled with awe.

DETROW: That is Terry Crews with NPR's Rachel Martin. His new show, "Everybody Still Hates Chris," airs on Comedy Central. You can hear the entire conversation by following the Wild Card podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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