Back to Index

Introducing Curious Mike


Chapters

0:0 Intro
0:20 What is Curious Mike
2:2 Why Curious Mike
3:13 Curious Mikes Guests
5:55 One Conversation
6:25 One Person

Transcript

What's up everybody this is Michael Porter Jr. I'm super excited for you guys to hear about my new project called Curious Mike. I've been working on it for a while. It's coming out soon. So I had my sister sit down with me and ask me questions about what's going on so you guys get a better picture.

See you soon. So we have been working on this little project for like almost six months now. And just share with everyone what the project actually is. What is Curious Mike? What's the premise behind the show? So Curious Mike the idea, well the name started from you. I remember we were in L.A.

and you came up with the name. But way before that I had kind of been wanting to figure out some way to use my platform to influence people. And I didn't want it to really be Instagram and I didn't really want it to be Twitter because you know you post a picture and then you can write a caption and that's about it.

And I've always been someone who has had a lot of questions, always felt like I thought differently than a lot of people and always just thought about the deeper things in life. And that has gotten me into trouble at times because you know Twitter or Instagram like they'll take like short clips of what I would say and then the whole world would see it and then they get a picture of who you are as a person.

And so honestly that took me away from social media for a while like I didn't want anything to do with social media. And during that time away I wanted to figure out a way to still use my platform but not necessarily be on Instagram all day like everybody else.

And so I came up with the idea for like a podcast or like a YouTube just talking about the real things in life. Things that people don't necessarily talk about. I tend to be very curious, just the deeper things in life. So I decided a podcast or a YouTube channel would be the way to go.

And then you know I brought it to you and then you thought Curious Mike would be a good name because that just kind of describes me ever since I was really little. So that's kind of how it started. Yeah I feel like the name Curious Mike describes you because it's like a humble approach to just trying to figure out life.

I feel like the way your mind works you're always asking questions. You're just seeking knowledge. You're seeking to understand things on like a deeper level. And it's almost like society doesn't have grace for people asking questions anymore. I feel like you're creating a space where you can ask questions and try to figure things out without like judgment.

And yeah like you said that was the whole idea for me because in today's age if your thought patterns or what you say goes against the narrative they'll cancel you. Or you can't really have your own opinion or people are scared to speak their mind because of the backlash they might get.

And like I said like I've always been someone that is comfortable speaking my mind. But I mean even for me with the backlash I would get with some of the things I would say and people not understanding you know the intent behind it or why I said it. It just it kind of bothered me because we should be able to live in a world where people can you know speak their mind ask questions and be curious.

No one has it all figured out. And I just feel like the more we can openly talk about things and you know right or wrong then the better we'll be as a society. Just being able to listen. I feel like that's a big thing on your show. You have guests on that have maybe some different perspectives than you.

Some are the same. And you just want to listen and learn. And so what is something that you have learned through one of your guests that you're really excited for people to hear about? And who are your guests? You can go through who they are. Yeah so first four guests Lecrae.

You're gonna be a great leader man. Like be careful bro because I can see. I just could feel like with the type of insight and curiosity you have like that's just Satan don't want you to win bro. He don't want you to win. I've always been a big fan of his and his music and just his perspective on life.

You know being in the rap culture but trying to be different. And then you have my aunt Nancy who I think she's 86 or 87 now. I got tired. I'm not sure. She says it in the episode but I forget. But she's up there. But she's one of the most energetic joyful people that I know and so I wanted to get her on there and just you know talk about you know being living life so long.

Living through so many different periods of time. Just I feel like you can get a lot of wisdom from older people. And then you got Trey Young who's been one of my best friends ever since we started playing basketball together. So I know you kind of have a mindset of like you're not you're not worried about what other people say.

Yeah. Yeah. But it took me a while to get to this point. Like I think it's tough because our generation is like is the first generation that's really going through this. And you know we just talk about all kinds of things more basketball related and you know the pressures of being an NBA player and things like that.

And then lastly you got Judah Smith who's a celebrity passed out in L.A. We can't even love ourselves without the help of Jesus. Bro I've had so many sleepless nights where I've wondered am I ever going to fix this temptation these challenges these weaknesses. He's around a lot of different celebrities but he also is one of the most humble down to earth people I know and I'm just you know asking all these guys different questions like my goal is to just have people on the show that I respect and that I you know I want to learn from them like I see how they view life and I just want to ask questions and get to know more about them.

And you know I feel like the people watching will be able to just see a side of me and just see a side of these other people that you know a lot of celebrities or famous people don't necessarily show even though like I said all the time we're all just people like no one's supposed to be more famous or anything than another person we're all just people that happen to be talented at different things so that's the goal.

Is there one conversation that you've had in those interviews that has you feel like has really stuck with you and that you're really hoping people learn from? They all have their bits and pieces like each one I feel like those dudes are really really smart and give really good answers to some of the tough questions.

But I can't wait for people to see I don't want to spoil too much of what that what it what it is but all those dudes are great and then obviously and Nancy all of them are great interviews and it's going to be it's going to be amazing. For sure well is there just looking down the road if we continue doing this is there one person out there that like this is just a fun question that you really want to have on the show that is kind of a reach?

I really always have loved Jim Carrey and his acting you know he talks about that just how he wishes everyone would be famous so that they could be famous and realize that that's not where you find peace and happiness. I want to get him on the show because there's a movie called The Truman Show and in the movie you know he's he's like inside a TV show but he thinks it's real life and then he finally escapes and realizes what reality is and honestly like watching that show for the longest time like I thought that was me like I didn't know if there was anybody out there who really thought like me who process life like me and I kind of felt isolated because you can't talk to people about some some things you know some people just don't even think like that so it kind of it kind of just got me thinking and then you know Jim Carrey's just I watched some of his interviews you know he's he's made it in this world like he has everything anybody would want in this world but he just talks about the deeper things and what's really real so if there was one person I would say Jim Carrey.

That would be so sick well I think it's been so special for me to see you grow as this leader and like start to use your voice for something that really matters to you and just sharing more of yourself with the world because like you said snippets on Twitter Instagram don't paint the full picture of anybody and I just think that this is a really cool project where people are going to see into your mind they're going to see into the minds of some really really smart people too and yeah it's been really fun to be a part of it so I'm proud of you.

I can't wait to get it going you know first four episodes are coming out pretty soon and then you know after those release try to get four more people just keep it going this is something I'm really passionate about outside of basketball like I feel like my purpose is to be a leader you know help do what I can to use my influence in society and I feel like this is this is a big way to do it so outside of basketball like this is a passion of mine hopefully I get better as time goes on and asking good questions and everything but I'm excited because you know people have you know like I said before like certain things that I've said or whatever people get a certain picture of you and you know a lot of people there's been so many times I've gone viral for a different snippets you know some I'll tweet or something that I'll say on Snapchat and people don't really know the intent behind it but just to be able to dive into some of those topics why I thought this why I'm thinking this and then you know ask people what they think you know and just learn constantly learn I think it's going to be dope and that's that's the concept behind Curious Mike and I can't wait to get it going.

All right well that's a wrap.