Failure Matters with Jaleel White

Fail Better with David Duchovny

Grace Cohen-Chen

Society & Culture

4.6 • 534 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To me, there are few sitcom characters more memorable than Steve Urkel on Family Matters. So getting to talk to the actor Jaleel White — about his approach to acting, his take on Hollywood in the ‘90s and now, and what it’s meant to have a character follow him into adulthood — was as illuminating as I’d expected. As a pillar of show business and an astute observer of it, Jaleel is someone whose perspective I deeply appreciate. Plus, his new memoir ‘Growing Up Urkel’ is thoughtful and nuanced, and I’m grateful we could reflect on it together. Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's morning in New York.
0:02.8	Oh, God.
0:06.2	Hey, everybody.
0:07.3	I'm Mandy Patinkin.
0:08.7	And I'm Catherine Grady.
0:09.8	And we have a new podcast.
0:11.7	It's called Don't Listen to Us.
0:14.1	Many of you've asked for our advice.
0:16.1	Tell me, what is wrong with you people?
0:19.2	Don't listen to us.
0:20.3	Our Take It or Leave a Device show every Wednesday out now.
0:24.7	A Lemonada Media Original.
0:35.9	I'm David Dukovny, and this is Fail Better, a show where failure, not success, shapes who we are.
0:42.6	Jaliel White is an actor, writer, and producer.
0:45.0	He is most famous for his portrayal of Steve Urkel on the hit 90s sitcom Family Matters.
0:50.6	At just 12 years old, Jalil created an iconic character defined by his nasly voice, high water pants, thick glasses, and memorable catchphrases.
0:59.8	Erkel and his alter ego, Stefan Urkel, challenged assumptions about black characters on TV and came to be cultural touchpoints.
1:08.3	But in his recent memoir, Growing Up Erkel, Jalil opens up about why being
1:12.8	so defined by that role impacted his identity and career afterwards. Jaliel doesn't hold back
1:18.0	about the downsides of rising to fame at such a young age, and his honesty was super
1:22.4	refreshing and fun. Here's our conversation. By the way, we had a little bit of a traffic jam, almost
1:28.6	derail us when we recorded this before, and on the same day, I stumbled on the news that
	...

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