Alfonso Ribeiro, Hollywood actor and host of America's Funniest Videos, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss his partnership with T.G.I. Friday's.

Video Transcript

- Let's turn to Hollywood here, and Hollywood is getting back to business following the pandemic. We have TV shows and movies now fully filming, so here to talk about that and also his new partnership with TGI Friday's, we want to bring in Alfonso Ribeiro. You may know him from "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," he's also the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos." And Alfonso, it's great to have you on Yahoo Finance, we're very excited to have you here.

Let's first start with Hollywood because we have a lot to talk with you about today. We know the Hollywood industry, as virtually every single industry, was deeply impacted by the pandemic. How is the reopening process going?

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: Well, it's a slow process. I mean, obviously I think at this time in all of our lives, we need a little bit of love and joy and happiness, and sometimes the TV or movies can bring us that. For "America's Funniest Home Videos," we-- we had to switch gears pretty quickly. And because we were no longer capable of having an audience come to set, we had to do everything virtually.

So we-- we bought the-- the technology that allows us to Zoom an entire audience onto our-- our stage and we're still able to kind of have some fun and bounce off the audience and play a little bit, and certainly have their energy. So we were able to make some changes, but a lot of shows are having to do that. A lot of shows are having to figure out ways to make it and make it all work. We're all kind of going and-- to be honest with you, I think a lot of TV shows have learned a lot about how we can actually move into the next generation to move past this, and we are opening the doors to new ways of doing things and certain things we will keep at. Certain things, they will go away once we get back to normal.

- I hope we keep whiskey, because I know that one of your partnerships is TGI Friday's. You've got whiskey glazed skewers. Tell me more about--

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: Yes, yes. There's a lot of whiskey though, we got the whiskey glazed skewers, we've got the-- the whiskey glazed donut burger. We-- I am-- I am partnered up with-- with Friday's to-- to promote under the Big Top Campaign. You know, back in the day, we'd all come to our little town and the circus-- so the fair would come to town and you'd see the top go up and it would be amazement for all the kids, right?

So at participating TGI Friday's, they're going to have the Big Top. And under the Big Top, everything is way overblown, everything is as big as possible so the menu is out of this world. Like I said, whiskey glazed donut burgers and skewers and cotton candy cosmopolitans, and you know, margaritas with flames. And everything is big and I'm the ringmaster, and I'm trying to bring everybody in to have a little fun and have a great time. And you know, the amazement that we all had when the circus came to town, we're trying to do that but in a very safe way for people to come out to TGI Friday's and enjoy an over-the-top meal.

- I'm starving now just thinking about all that food. Alfonso, I got to ask you about "The Bel Air Project." Because "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," I'm sure so many of our viewers are recognizing you from that, from the role you played on Carlton. From this new project, what are your thoughts on that?

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: Well, look, I don't really have a lot of information on it. All the information I have is pretty much the same that everybody has in terms of reading it in the trades. But whenever Will puts his mind to something, I'm sure it will turn out to be fantastic.

I wouldn't call it a reboot. A lot of people want to say that it's a reboot, but it's not a reboot because ultimately no one from the show will be part of it. It's all a reimagining of the actual Prince-- "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song done in a drama. So I mean, I don't even know whether there's a Carlton character or-- I'm sure there'll be someone like that but it's done in a very different way.

So it's a completely different show but I think using the idea that-- that Will's song from the Fresh Prince, now working for their show Bel Air.

- Would they keep that dance?

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: Well I would hope not. I don't think anybody's going to be able to do it the way I did it. So it's my dance, they can't have it.

- And you still do it? I'm just curious, I mean you're still pretty young, but.

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: I mean, I'm about to turn 50 so I can still do it, I just don't do it with the same zest.

- When we're all in studio, we will all try to do it together. So we'll have to have you back for that. But Alfonso, talking about Hollywood and the progress that it has made, I'm curious as to get your thoughts on the diversity efforts, because yes, progress has been made but there's still a significant ways to go. Is it better than it was, how would you characterize where we are today?

ALFONSO RIBEIRO: Well, you know, it's like everything, right? It's better in some ways and worse in others. You know, you could go back to the '80s and '90s, there were actually more African-American TV shows on network television. So when you look at the grand-- you know, the big scope of it all, there's less full African-American cast working today. There really just isn't many shows out there and most of them are on cable networks, not on-- on network television. So we've gone backwards in that way.

But you also have people like the rock Kevin Hart, Will Smith that are at the top of the chain when it comes to making movies and to being big blockbuster stars, so. But you know, it's not just about the people who are in front of the camera that is important, right? We need more directors, we need more writers, we need showrunners, we need producers. We need people from all different diversity and-- and it's really not just about whether it's African-Americans. We're talking about Asian-Americans and Latino Americans, women in the business.

It's about across the board, making sure that everyone has an opportunity to share their-- their talents in many different ways. So we-- we've got a long way to go, I will say that. But as long as we keep moving forward, we're making progress.

- Alfonso Ribeiro, we really appreciate you taking the time to join us here on Yahoo Finance. We hope to have you back in the future.