Yesterday at Sundance, during roundtable interviews for Cedar Rapids (another solid comedy from Miguel Arteta, review to come), I got the chance to talk to veteran character actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. He plays Ronald Wilks in the film, but is probably most famous for his role as Senator Clay Davis in The Wire. Me being the internet jackass that I am, my first question was about the strange type of fame that comes with being a phenomenon amongst internet jackasses. You can hear the exchange in the clip above (full transcript below), but here’s the short answer to the question “how often do people on the street come up and do your ‘sheeeeit’ line from The Wire?”

“It’s rare that I go a day without someone doing it.”

He seems to be a good sport about the whole thing, saying, “You put it out there, you gotta be prepared to deal with it.”

Which is good, because he seems like he could cut a man in half with his masculine baritone. (He does the line at 2:08 of the interview. Listen as the assembled reporters try to stifle our squeals of delight). The best part of the interview came later, when I asked him what question he’s most sick of hearing during press tours. His answer was polite and diplomatic, but the basic gist of it was, “People mostly ask me stupid sh*t about The Wire.”

Transcript: