Actor, Activist, and Viral Sensation Tyler Merritt Talks Race, Humor, and His Inspiring New Book.

Tyler Merritt is an actor, musician, comedian, and activist behind The Tyler Merritt Project. Best known for his viral video “Before You Call the Cops” (seen now by more than 100 million people) and his bestselling debut I Take My Coffee Black, Jan 14th, 2025 just saw the publication of his second book, This Changes Everything: A Surprisingly Funny Story About Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don’t Talk About. No less a pop culture icon than Jimmy Kimmel wrote the foreword for Coffee, but his new book (which as of two days ago is available everywhere) features a who’s who of admirers, reviewers and blurbers, including Trisha Yearwood, Joy Reid, Kristin Chenoweth, Heather Locklear, and about twenty more famous folks…Tyler is also a seasoned actor whose credits include Netflix's Outer Banks, the Disney series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and A24’s upcoming feature film The Inspection. So, I don’t know how many threats that is, but it’s a lot.
/ korbylenker for an unreleased excerpt of the conversation with Tyler.
Awhile back, I read I Take My Coffee Black, pretty much in one sitting. I loved it. Full of humor - both self-deprecating and barbed - pathos, and hilarious anecdotes, like the time he busted out an improvised rap to avoid being forced into a gang - there are no shortage of surprising revelations, praise in equal parts for rap icons and musical theater, and warm-hearted descriptions of big personalities (his force-of-nature mom comes to mind). The man’s personal voice is so buoyant it basically floats on the page.
Accordingly, this conversation was as wild a ride as the writing. Things got off to a rocky start (!) when Tyler reminded me he was still mad I didn’t book him for a role in Morse Code. But we hugged it out and jumped into a fast, substantive discussion, based in part on a few shared perspectives. For one, we are both children of the West. He’s from Nevada and I’m from Idaho. Having living here in the south for almost twenty years, I still retain much of the present-leaning-forward spirit of the west, and in reading Coffee, I felt Tyler had a similar perspective. The western half of America doesn’t care where you’re from. In that way it can be shallow and fatuous, but the south’s preoccupation with its past can be a real head-scratcher to someone not from here.
There was so much in this conversation - about Counting Crows, the Nashville music scene, George Floyd, Tyler’s mom, the segregation that still exists in Nashville, how in some ways its more pronounced than in other southern cities.
If you’re still reading this it’s probably because you know what a lovable, and loveably complicated person is Tyler Merritt. I hope you love this conversation and I hope it makes you buy his new book.
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The Morse Code Podcast is a weekly pod produced by Korby Lenker and Jared Hammond featuring long form conversations with top shelf talents in music, film and writing.
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[@katrinastout653]

This is Awesome, Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰💯🫶🙌🎉

[@MorseCodePodcast]

Thanks! I had a lot of fun talking to Tyler!