Domonique Foxworth shares what he’s learned working with Stephen A. Smith

How does one find success on shows like First Take while sharing the stage with Stephen A. Smith? Domonique Foxworth discussed that matter recently in a conversation with The Ringer’s Joel D. Anderson.

Foxworth noted that while it’s a debate show, those appearing opposite Smith should not see him as a competitor.

“One of the things I learned from him was First Take, he didn’t say this, so I don’t wanna put words in his mouth, but this is what I deduce from conversations and working with him. First Take is not a competition,” Foxworth said. “At least this is the way that I see it. It’s not me being an arguer versus you, Stephen A. Who’s gonna win? Even though that’s what it looks like. It’s actually, and it’s again, this is not, I don’t wanna put this on Stephen A. This is what I got from Stephen A from watching and working with him. It’s me and Stephen A. against you. The audience, right?

“It’s like, you want to change the channel,” Foxworth added. “How can me and Stephen A create something that is so interesting that you don’t want to change the channel? And like, I got that because, one thing that he’s great at is he’s comfortable with being made fun of and he’s comfortable with being, with losing the argument. And we think, most people would think that he’s not. And so, of course, the instinct for someone competitive like me and anybody, you’ll notice this, like people who go on First Take for the first time, they’re trying to win, right here.”

Foxworth then recalled what it was like the first time he debated Smith on the air. And while there isn’t a problem if you make better arguments than Smith, there is a problem if you make those arguments at the wrong time.

“So you get up there to Stephen A., you’re like, ‘Alright, I’m ready. I got all my facts, I got all my numbers. I know what his argument is gonna be and I’m gonna go ahead and undercut that,'” Foxworth recalled. “And that was what he said to me during the commercial break. He was like, ‘I don’t care if you cut me off, but cut me off after I get my point out’ And it’s like, ‘I don’t care like, I don’t care if you like refute my argument, but don’t pre-refute my argument. We got a 20 minute A-Block, big dog. There’s gonna be time for you to talk.’ And like you’re coming in there like, ‘Man, you know what, if I say this, this and this, he ain’t gonna be able to say nothing.’

“You, you know who loses if Stephen ain’t got nothing to say? All of us,” he continued. “Because we got, we got 15 minutes before the commercial comes and people like, ‘Oh, he ain’t nothing really to talk about.’ But yeah, that, that is one of the things that I learned early on is like you, we, we on the same team.”