Mike Bone From Reservation Dogs

Lil Mike and Funny Bone will be guests on the show tonight. They appeared on America's Got Talent and now star in the hit show Reservation Dogs.

Find out more about Mike Bone

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Bio – From Mike Bone Media

Feature image from Mike Bone Media

Transcript

Welcome to Pow Wow Live podcast from www.powwows.com. Connecting you as native culture since 1996. Here's your host, Paul Gowder.

Paul Gowder:

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Pow Wow Life podcast. I'm your host, Paul Gowder. Thank you so much for listening. I want to tell you that today's episode, we've got a great set of guests. We've got Mike Bone. That is the rap group made up of Little Mike and Funny Bone from Oklahoma city. They have been touring and doing shows for years, going to Pow Wows on all kinds of different shows. And now they are stars on the new Hulu show Reservation Dogs. So we'll talk to them in a few minutes. I was excited to spend a few minutes with them. I've gotten to see them perform before, so now to see them on Reservation Dogs, it's super exciting for them, so happy to see their success.

Paul Gowder:

But first I have a few announcements. Make sure you stay tuned to the end of the show, I've got a special trivia contest with a prize and a bonus code for our 25th anniversary giveaway. If you weren't aware, www.powwows.com is celebrating 25 years this year. I started the site in 1996 and to celebrate these 25 years, I'm giving away 25 Pendleton blankets at the end of September. So stay tuned at the end, I'll give you a bonus code that'll get you extra entries into that contest, also for all of you joining that have been listening on Facebook or other places. We've gotten so many downloads from social media. And thank you. Thank you so much for being here and listening. But social media is weird and you may not see us next time we release an episode because of all these algorithms and weird disc that goes on, on social media.

Paul Gowder:

So to make sure you get every episode, please go over to Apple podcast, or Spotify, or Stitcher, or any of the podcast platforms and subscribe to us. Make sure you get our latest episodes whenever they pop out. I've got some really great guests coming up and some special episodes, you don't want to miss those.

Paul Gowder:

All right, without any further ado from me, here's our guest this week, Mike Bone. I am so excited to have my friends back, now TV stars.Since the last time I've seen them. For their second time, first on America's got talent now on Reservation Dogs, Little Mike and Funny Bone. Thanks so much for spending some time with me again.

Lil Mike:

Hey.

Funny Bone:

Hey, thank you for having us on.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. So it's been a while, haven't seen you guys in a while and the world's crazy. So first of all, how have you guys been? You survived quarantine okay?

Funny Bone:

Yeah. It's been brutal sometimes, but we survived. We came out alive.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. I know a lot of performers like you guys didn't have any events to go to and the whole virtual thing was crazy, but glad to see that you've made it through now. All right. For those people out there, and I don't know anybody watching this who doesn't know, but give us a little introduction about you guys and how you got into this whole hip hop scene.

Funny Bone:

All right. So growing up in the city, Oklahoma city, we were raised in the hood and just grew up with the whole, in the what, 80s, 90s era. And there was a lot of gang activity. Mike was involved in a little bit of that.

Lil Mike:

A little bit. It was a short spurt of gang activity. I was one of those kids where I was hardheaded till I got in trouble. And then I never did that thing again.

Funny Bone:

He learned pretty quick. And he would never do anything drastic, he wouldn't beat nobody or rob nobody. He was usually the one that would get beat up, and so the other gang members could come and jump whoever was knocking him.

Lil Mike:

Latin.

Funny Bone:

So yeah. But it was therapy, the poetry that he got into, because he had a little bit of anger issues and what was it, the psychologist or something like that?

Lil Mike:

Yeah. So in therapy they told me to write out my problems instead of acting them out. So I wrote very gory poetry. And from there it went from gory to trying to motivate change or whatever.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Lil Mike:

And somebody was like, “Yo, I like to rap.” So I was like, oh maybe I just try rapping, because it was just a poem I was saying, and they were like, “That's a cool rap.” Like I might have to try something.

Paul Gowder:

That's really cool. You never know where it's going to come out of. That's awesome. And you got the songs you guys do sing about are positive and they're about the culture there that you grew up with. And so I guess some of these songs are about those experiences you've had, whether it's the fry bread or the rain dance, it's really positive music. I think people really like that.

Funny Bone:

Yeah. We try to keep it family friendly. It opens a lot more doors on top of being just quality content. It opens doors for radio play and soundtracks for movies and stuff like that. So that's what we try to tell aspiring artists, if you keep it clean, you ain't got to make a edited version. And we always like to influence people for the good, not for the bad, because we want to make sure we impact people's life for the better. It's already too much music out there that's influencing the wrong way of living or encouraging people to get drunk or get high. And we just want to be that other side of that, where people where like, “Oh man, look how cool this song is. And they talk about not drinking and not smoking.” We learn from watching other people's mistakes so we don't have to make them. So when we see people get like drunk and do something stupid, we're like, “Oh, don't get drunk.”

Paul Gowder:

Well, and that leads right into the characters you're playing now. So how'd you guys get involved with the show?

Funny Bone:

Man, COVID, like you said it shut down a tour and we didn't have no income. So our manager called and he said, “There's a paying gig, it's an acting gig.” And he was like, “Send in your audition and hopefully y'all get the part.” And then when we saw the script, we were like, “Oh man, they got cussing in the script.” So we hit up, we emailed the lady and was like, “Yo, can we change this up a little?” They was like, “Make it your own. It's just an audition.” And we were like, “All right, cool.” So we changed up the words and gave it a little bit of our flavor in the comedy. And then they were like, “That's what we want.” They loved it.

Paul Gowder:

Now, no spoilers. I haven't made it all the way through. I think I've got one episode left to catch up with what's been released so far. But you guys, your characters are that, you are that positive light or that little bit of comic relief at times when it's a little tight or tension on the… Tell me about how much of it is your influence in these characters?

Funny Bone:

I would say it's a lot. It's a lot. It's almost like they wrote it for us.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Minus the cussing that we had to take out, but I'd say it's like the rose version of us.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Because like I said, we grew up in the city, so that's why we got the hood accent. And then we go doing this and got to try to sound a little more rosey and it's different.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. And one of the things that is amazing about the show, is the entire casting crew is indigenous. The writers, everybody involved. What's it been like to be on set with every that same mindset and same experiences.

Funny Bone:

It's dope. It's like being, I want to say home, it's like being home, but with your family is what I'm saying.

Paul Gowder:

Right.

Funny Bone:

Working with your family and really close friends. And just having that connection with those people. You know what I'm saying?

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

He's got to let out this cat.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah, no worries.

Funny Bone:

He thinks he's a dog.

Paul Gowder:

I've got one like that too. Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Yeah. But it was cool just to be on set with people that you connected with and you knew, they know, what's that called? You know what you could say, and you know why they're laughing.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

I think it's just called a connection, man.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. There's a lot of little inside jokes that are great. Same thing, I don't know if you've watched Rutherford Falls, but it's some of that Indian humor that comes out there, I don't know if every audience is catching it, but I know that there are a lot of people that are catch it and really appreciate it. And you're getting to work with an amazing director or executive producer in Taika Waititi, Amazing. What's it been like to work with him on the set? Tongue twister there. What's it been like to work with an academy award winner?

Funny Bone:

Well, we didn't really get to work with him in person. He was on a Zoom thing.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

So it was just interesting to see someone from how much we've grown as a generation, that we can have somebody all the way around the world helping direct something.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Or even just putting in his two cents from now and then.

Lil Mike:

It's an honor though, to be a part of something so huge and something so, what do you call it? Monumental, especially for our community, indigenous community. And it's just even more special to work with iconic actors like Zane and Gary Farmer and all them, it's just an honor and a privilege to be on this project.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. It's kind of a who's who of native celebs. Gary Farmer, Zane and the 1491s, I see them making appearances here and there. [Leah Synigin 00:11:20] is on there. Yeah. It's an incredible cast. And renewed for season two already.

Funny Bone:

Yes, sir. Season two. They couldn't hold back.

Paul Gowder:

That's great. And so your character's going to come back, I assume?

Lil Mike:

Hopefully, yeah. I would hope.

Funny Bone:

Yeah. I would hope so, because everybody online's been asking about more Mose and Mekko, so we'll see what happens.

Lil Mike:

I know for a fact that we going to have to buy some bikes so we can-

Funny Bone:

Oh my God.

Lil Mike:

Train our legs, because when we got there, in the script that says-

Funny Bone:

We roll up.

Lil Mike:

We roll up, and I'm thinking, yo, we going to be pulling up in the car saying our line, but no, they had two bikes for us. And it's been a wild… And those are some tall bikes too. The old school Schwinn, come on now.

Paul Gowder:

The big handlebars up. Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Yeah.

Lil Mike:

Yeah. It was like, wow. So yeah. But we're going to probably have the train so we can act like we know what we doing.

Paul Gowder:

That's great. All right. So the show, between seasons, now it's wrapped up. And I know you guys got a new single out, what else is going on for you all? Where's your next shows, what's going on?

Funny Bone:

We are now booking shows since a lot of places are opening up.

Paul Gowder:

Right.

Funny Bone:

And people are calling left and right. A lot of other people are hitting us up to do more acting gigs now, even as quick as this happened. What else? We got new music, we are writing and recording right now. So we got all kinds of artists that we still have yet to work with that we are looking to collaborate with. So definitely reaching out to different people and hoping that some of these artists will actually reach out to us. What else? Clothing line, our website has a lot of new shirts and stuff. We even got leggings for the ladies.

Paul Gowder:

Nice.

Funny Bone:

We got all kinds of stuff we're just working on. We're just branching out and growing up.

Lil Mike:

Yeah. Trying to stay on it.

Paul Gowder:

That's over at mikebonenation.com, right?

Funny Bone:

Mikebonemedia.com.

Paul Gowder:

Okay. All right. Sorry, I'm on the wrong website, but we'll put those links in the show notes and make sure we get that shared out on www.powwows.com too. And so you got some Pow Wows you heading into, what's the rest of the fall look like?

Funny Bone:

So the first American museum grand opening this weekend,

Lil Mike:

Next weekend.

Funny Bone:

Oh, next weekend.

Lil Mike:

September 19th. It's that weekend. It's a whole weekend event. We perform on Sunday the 19th and going to be amazing. It's a new exhibit, they even got artifacts from the Smithsonian. And it's a great thing to be a part of that.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. I talked to one of the ladies that's helping with that and I was hoping I could get out there for it, but I'm not going to be able to get out for the opening, but yeah, definitely. It's on the list of something I got to get out to back to Oklahoma to see.

Funny Bone:

It's pretty dope, man. We got a sneak peek of it the other day and it was pretty cool. They had these interactive exhibits instead of a cool room with a 360 view of a screen and it was dope.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Paul Gowder:

That's awesome. And I know you guys did a little bit of rapping on the show, but what season two, you think we're going to get any more of your songs into the show?

Funny Bone:

I don't know. I made a joke that that Mose and Mekko should actually see Bigfoot because we can make anybody look taller than what they are.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

I would hope they use more of our music. We definitely have a ton of music online. I think over 230 tracks online, and we are still recording and writing right now, and I would even hope that maybe even have us do something with Stenn Jodi and maybe we could do a concert episode or something. That'd be cool.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah. They canceled the show at the clinics, so maybe you guys pick it up. I ask people like yourselves, I want to ask, a lot of people watch the show or see you guys on social media and they're going to see you on the Reservation Dogs and are like, “Man, what an overnight success.” But it's not, you guys have been doing this for a long time and people don't see the work that goes into it. So for people out there aspiring, whether it's to be actors or in the music, what advice do you give people that are coming up now? What's your best advice for them?

Funny Bone:

Consistency.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Stay on it. Stay dedicated, stay focused.

Lil Mike:

And be your worst critique.

Funny Bone:

So for us, we will take a song that we just recorded and then sit on it for a day and then come back to it and be like, all right, listen to it like it's not our song, and just go from there and be like, either you like it or we need to go back in the studio and do something different.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Because you want to be a perfectionist, and you always want to see something from a different angle. So don't just hear-

Lil Mike:

Don't say it's hot just because you're on it.

Funny Bone:

Right.

Lil Mike:

You got to be your worst critic, is what he is trying to say.

Funny Bone:

Yeah.

Paul Gowder:

That's important. Yeah. You got to learn to be your own worst critic there before other people start judging you. That's cool. And so for your fans and everybody, the people that already knew you, what's been the reaction from some of your fans, being on the show now? Are you hearing from any of your long time fans?

Funny Bone:

Oh yeah man. They said this is long deserved. And they said the boys, Mike Bone have always been stars, because there's a couple articles out there and said the show made us stars, but they're like, yo, we've been doing this.

Paul Gowder:

Oh yeah.

Funny Bone:

It is different, because a lot of people were like, “Oh, I see y'all on that movie.” And we're like, “It's a TV show.” Yes. It's cool at the same time, but it can get overwhelming because if you just going to Walmart to get some milk and then it turns into a one hour photo session.

Lil Mike:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

So it is just like, yeah.

Lil Mike:

Employees and customers want pictures and all the [inaudible 00:18:24].

Funny Bone:

we love it. We love doing it, but it can get overwhelming at times.

Paul Gowder:

That's great, man. Congrats, I'm really happy for you guys. I was lucky enough to see you guys perform at Gathering Nation's one year live.

Funny Bone:

Yes. Was that the time when the windstorm came through?

Paul Gowder:

Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Where it almost blew the stage away.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

Sorry about that. The rain-

Paul Gowder:

Rain came up. Yeah.

Funny Bone:

It was raining mud. It looked like [inaudible 00:18:58].

Paul Gowder:

One of the highlights definitely of that year's gathering was getting to see guys perform, you guys command a stage, get the crowd into it. That was super awesome to see. All right. Well, as we wrap up here, you got anything for us tonight?

Funny Bone:

Ooh.

Paul Gowder:

I'm going to put you on the spot.

Funny Bone:

You want me to bust something, huh?

Lil Mike:

[inaudible 00:19:21]

Funny Bone:

Could do for the missing and murdered.

Paul Gowder:

Yeah.

Funny Bone:

All right. And this is one of our newer singles that we just released. So it goes, (singing).

Paul Gowder:

Awesome guys. Thank you so much for spending some time with me again, and good luck on the show. I can't wait to finish out like these last couple episodes I got to watch and be waiting for season two, man. And hope I'll get you out of Pow Wow soon.

Funny Bone:

Yeah.

Lil Mike:

Yes sir. Let's do it.

Paul Gowder:

All right guys. Take it easy and we'll see you soon.

Lil Mike:

Thank you for having us on. God bless you.

Paul Gowder:

(singing).

Paul Gowder:

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your time. The big movies or TV stars were able to spend a few minutes with me so I really appreciate that. Hope you enjoyed that interview and don't forget to go watch Reservation Dogs, you will love the show. All right. As promised, here is your bonus code for the 25th anniversary Pendleton blanket contest. That's 25 Pendleton blankets. You could be one of those 25 to win one of these awesome blankets. All you have to do is head over to powwows.com/25, the numbers two, five, and enter to win. You can enter daily and it's going until the end of September. Get your entries in. Use the bonus code today of 5573 for an extra 25 entries into the contest. And that is only for you all listening to the podcast. It's just for you.

Paul Gowder:

And don't miss any of this stuff going on with www.powwows.com. We have so much happening this coming weekend, September 24th, I'll be out in Morongo, live streaming the Pow Wow, first time I'm back at a Pow Wow in two years. Morongo was the last one I visited before all the craziness in this world happened, and now I'm heading back to California. Can't wait to get back out there. If you're out there in Morongo, please stop by and say, hello. I'll be up on the MC table, but don't miss any of that. And the way you can do that is make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter, www.pows.com/newsletter. Subscribe to that and you'll get all of our updates, and calendar changes, and new Pow Wows listed sent right to your inbox.

Paul Gowder:

And for each new podcast episode, I want to do a little something just for you all listening, and that's a trivia question. I'm going to ask a question each week and if you get it right and go over to the site and enter, I'll enter all the right questions into a drawing and pick you for a prize pack over on from our Pow Wow shop. We've got stickers and t-shirts and all kinds of stuff. So you'll get a prize pack if you can get this question right and are drawn from our winners.

Paul Gowder:

So here's this week's question. What American Indian actor is the only one to win an academy award. It's a tough question, but if you've been following the news and things lately, it just happened recently so maybe you'll know this. And I think he even made an appearance on Reservation Dogs. Oh. And I just gave a hint, it's a male. All right. Good luck on the trivia question, to enter, if you think you have the right answer, head on over to powwowlife.com, that's the homepage for this podcast. And there's a form there, all you have to do is put your name, email address and your guess into that. And if you're right, I will put you in a pot to be drawn for winners.

Paul Gowder:

Thank you again for listening to another episode of the Pow Wow Life podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or any of the podcast platforms so you don't miss my next episode, but I really appreciate your support. Thank you for being part of the Pow Wow nation, our community out there. You are what have made www.powwows.com great for these 25 years and I cannot wait for the next 25 with you. I hope you and your family stay safe, I hope you're able to make it out to a Pow Wow soon, and I hope to see you there. I'll see you next week.

Thanks for listening to the Pow Wow life podcast from www.powwows.com. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get notified of our next episode. Find a Pow Wow near you by visiting powwows.com/calendar. Support www.powwows.com by visiting www.powwownation.com.

Last Updated on February 16, 2024 by Paul G