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

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2024-09-30 13:00:05

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.