Looking Back At Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Last TODAY Interview

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for his role as Theodore “Theo” Huxtable on NBC’s “The Cosby Show,” died Sunday at age 54 in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica.

Warner starred on the groundbreaking sitcom for the entirety of its eight-season run 1984 to 1992, becoming a defining television presence for millions of viewers.

The actor went on to build a multifaceted career in television, film, music, poetry and podcasting that spanned four decades.

Following the news of his death, TODAY.com is revisiting Warner’s most recent appearance on TODAY.

See Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s final TODAY appearance below.

Last June, Warner stopped by the 3rd Hour of TODAY to talk about his new newly launched podcast, “Not All Hood,” as well as his extensive career in entertainment and the cultural significance of the series that made him famous.

In the interview, Warner displayed the same thoughtful perspective that had guided his career decisions from adolescence.

Sharing a laugh with longtime TODAY anchor Al Roker, Warner joked that he felt like he’d “spent so much of life in this building” at 30 Rock, adding “we grew up together” in reference to Roker. The weatherman quipped back that he was “more like his dad.”

The conversation revealed Warner’s continued evolution as an artist and communicator. He spoke passionately about his podcast “Not All Hood,” or “NAH” for short, describing it as his most vulnerable creative endeavor yet.

Warner co-hosted the show with his friends Candace O. Kelley and Weusi Baraka. Its intent, he said in a clip from the podcast, was to “acknowledge and talk about the different facets” of the Black community.

“We have curated a safe space for the three of us to really talk and be honest about the things we feel,” Warner explained on TODAY.

“There are times where I know there are things that I say that won’t necessarily jive with a lot of people, but this is a place where we want to discuss all lanes of the Black community, and all of those lanes don’t necessarily agree all the time but this is a place where we can have civil discourse and respectful challenging,” he continued.

Warner shared that his perspective on representation was shaped by his early experience on “The Cosby Show.”

“My history, the way I came into this business, was a show that had such an impact on culture, everything. White America, Black America, America. And just as that show and that family can not represent all of Black people … there’s so many of those lanes that coexist and even within those different lanes of the Black community, we can acknowledge each other and even if we don’t agree we can still acknowledge, respectfully, that we are all part of the Black community,” he said.

In addition to his cultural work, Warner remained an actor. He starred in nearly the entirety of “The Resident” as surgeon AJ Austin and recently made appearances in “Grown-ish” and “9-1-1.”

Warner traced his career longevity back to early guidance from his mother, who provided crucial perspective when “The Cosby Show” became a cultural phenomenon.

“When ‘Cosby’ first hit I was 14 years old … and my mom says to me, ‘Listen, baby, it’s great this show is the phenomenon that it is, but you know how this business is. This show could be over next year. What are you going to do when the show’s over?’” he recalled.

“So it’s always had me thinking about longevity and knowing that being seen as a child star and being taken seriously as an adult actor may not be a smooth transition.”

That forward-thinking approach served him well, he said.

“I’ve got my head on straight, my soul and dignity is intact. I had a really wonderful journey. And a lot of that had to do with my mom and my dad as well,” Warner reflected.

As the interview wrapped, Warner was asked if he had any words of wisdom to share. He offered these words: “Vulnerability can be a scary thing, even when we’re on the mend. Black boys boast bravado not to seem broken, and often so do Black men.”