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Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning.

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Speaker 2: Everybody is the j n V. Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.

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Speaker 2: We are the Breakfast Club. We got some special legends

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Speaker 2: in the man. Come on, now, this is special one

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Speaker 2: right here, legends of the building. Come on, it's the

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Speaker 2: cast of Good Times. Fifty years of good Times.

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Speaker 3: We got Michael, Thelma and JJ well Carter and Bernadette

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Speaker 3: Stainers and Jimmy Walker.

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Speaker 4: That's right, all right, Good morning, guys. How y'all feeling

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Speaker 4: good morning?

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Speaker 5: Breakfast Club?

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Speaker 4: How y'all feeling man? Fifty years a good Times?

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Speaker 6: Wow?

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Speaker 7: I know wow, and we're still going strong.

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Speaker 4: Did y'all know Good Times was going to make the market?

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Speaker 4: It made well?

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Speaker 8: I didn't, No, I had no idea.

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Speaker 5: No, we didn't, but we're very grateful it did. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: thank you to the listeners were.

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Speaker 2: Hands well from the beginning. Let's start, how did it

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Speaker 2: come about? How did Good.

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Speaker 1: Times come about? And how did you guys audition?

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Speaker 2: And how did it make because during that time there

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Speaker 2: wasn't too many of us on television, So how did

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Speaker 2: it come about?

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Speaker 8: Well?

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Speaker 2: And he is black, you know, they joking me all

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Speaker 2: the time, and I'm black.

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Speaker 7: But well, it started with me being in a beauty pageant,

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Speaker 7: you know, and from there, Uh, there was a manager

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Speaker 7: watching me in the beauty pageant and gave my mother

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Speaker 7: a card to say, they're looking for a teenager to

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Speaker 7: be in the show and meet Norman Lear at CBS,

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Speaker 7: you know. So we went up there. But there were

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Speaker 7: thousands of girls when I opened the door. So, I mean,

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Speaker 7: but that's how it started with me.

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Speaker 4: You were a teenager, all good?

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Speaker 8: Huh yeah, oh you eighteen?

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Speaker 3: Oh okay, have mercy, okay, yeah, all right, okay, he's

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Speaker 3: still beautiful, absolutely so.

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Speaker 7: And then you know, after a couple of months, I

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Speaker 7: thought I didn't get it, you know, because I didn't

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Speaker 7: hear back from them. And then I did get the call.

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Speaker 7: My mom got the call that I was Thelma, and

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Speaker 7: so they flew me out to California. That's how it

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Speaker 7: happened for me.

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Speaker 4: Wow, what about you, Miss Carton.

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Speaker 5: By the time I began to work with Norman Lear,

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Speaker 5: I had been in my sixth Broadway play. By that time,

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Speaker 5: I met during my journey with Miss Jane Murray and

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Speaker 5: also Pat Kirkland. These were two wonderful women who I

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Speaker 5: auditioned for when I went there. However, I literally had

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Speaker 5: the job before I got the job. My contract was

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Speaker 5: brought from The Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury.

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Speaker 5: We did the version of the musical play. By that

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Speaker 5: time I had won the Tony Award nomination that year

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Speaker 5: in seventy four. However, as a result of that, Norman

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Speaker 5: would consistently he came more than twice to see my

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Speaker 5: work and flew my mother and I out to the

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Speaker 5: state of California. I you know, I was reluctant because

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Speaker 5: they always said it never rains in California, and I

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Speaker 5: was excited. It main for three months when I got

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Speaker 5: and there are any illusions about Hollywood were always neutralized

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Speaker 5: as far as our concern. So I'm very grateful to

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Speaker 5: have not only worked with and still love Jimmy Walker

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Speaker 5: and Bernadette. But we give respect to the spirit of

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Speaker 5: Miss Esther Rolene du Bois, and to Johnny Brown who

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Speaker 5: played Bookman, to Helen Martin who played Weeping Wonder. These

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Speaker 5: are wonderful people that helped us along the way. Of course,

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Speaker 5: to mister Ben Powers as well Albert Reed who played

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Speaker 5: the Alderman. These are the people who accentuated what we did.

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Speaker 5: Of course, we're working with the wonderful Debbie Allen and

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Speaker 5: the work that she contributed to our production, so we

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Speaker 5: thank you.

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Speaker 6: What about you, mister Walker, Well, I'm just a hard

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Speaker 6: core stand up. That's it. That's all I do. I'm

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Speaker 6: just a stand up to the core. So I was

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Speaker 6: working in prov me, David Brynner, Bett Mittler, Pat Benatar,

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Speaker 6: all of us together. We had a comedy team named

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Speaker 6: Edmund and Curly. They work all the time in those days,

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Speaker 6: and they couldn't do the job. They were doing like

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Speaker 6: three shows a day. They said, hey, man, we were

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Speaker 6: supposed to do these warm ups for this show called

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Speaker 6: Luci's Department. We can't make it. Do you want to

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Speaker 6: do take our place and do the warm up thing?

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Speaker 6: And I said, I don't even know what the warm

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Speaker 6: up is. Never heard of it, you know that kind

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Speaker 6: of stuff like that. And they said, they said, look,

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Speaker 6: they go over there. It's like on fifty seventh and

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Speaker 6: eleventh or twelfth. You go over there and you do

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Speaker 6: like a half hour you tell people's shows about. And

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Speaker 6: I said, I don't want to do it. They say, well,

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Speaker 6: it's eight hundred dollars. I said, well, who do I

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Speaker 6: have to kill. I'm in, I said, I'm in. So

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Speaker 6: I went over there. I did the warm up and

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Speaker 6: luckily there was a few laughs in there. So everybody

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Speaker 6: comes up after the show and they go, man, you

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Speaker 6: are funny. You need to be on this show, you

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Speaker 6: need to do this thing. I said, Well, in those days,

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Speaker 6: and I still believe this is this day. Everybody in

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Speaker 6: this business there's no truth at all. Everybody is something

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Speaker 6: until you ask for something. They go, well, I was

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Speaker 6: in charge of that, but now I'm not in charge

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Speaker 6: of that. My friend is in charge. Everybody's a liar.

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Speaker 6: So until my line, and I always say this, everybody

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Speaker 6: is full of Dodo until proven a complete a hole.

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Speaker 6: That's just everybody lies. That's just me. Freddie Prinz, David Brennan,

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Speaker 6: Robert Climbed, Richard Lewis, all the guys we said, liars.

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Speaker 6: So Pat Kirklin comes up and says, hey, we're doing

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Speaker 6: this show in Los Angeles. We want to be on

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Speaker 6: the show. I go, she's a liar, so you just go.

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Speaker 6: I said. So you always say when people ask you

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Speaker 6: to do something, oh yeah, I'm in. See you there anyway,

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Speaker 6: So you'll never hear from them again. And everybody women

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Speaker 6: are liars. Everybody's a liar, so that's it. So I said, yeah,

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Speaker 6: I'll be in it. So the next week, I'm not

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Speaker 6: even paying any attention. I go do the warm ups.

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Speaker 6: Luckily I killed. So Norman Lear is there at that time.

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Speaker 6: He says, hey, man, you are funny because I just

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Speaker 6: did the Rodan Martin show. They had called and do

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Speaker 6: the Ronald Martin thing. So he says, do you want

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Speaker 6: to be on this show? I said yeah. He says,

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Speaker 6: we're going to send you a contract. So I knew

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Speaker 6: he's a liar. So I said, look, don't even send

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Speaker 6: the contract in my house. Send it to the improv.

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Speaker 6: So I'm not paying any attention. I'm going out. I'm

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Speaker 6: doing my dates. I won this thing called a Napti thing,

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Speaker 6: and a Napti thing is where you go do college

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Speaker 6: tours and you compete against other people to do it.

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Speaker 6: So they bring in a whole bunch of acts. So

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Speaker 6: I was on the show. Edmund Curley again said you

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Speaker 6: need to do the Nafti thing. I did the nafty thing.

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Speaker 6: They said, you're going to do the region of the Midwest.

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Speaker 6: You're going to do South Dakota and North Dakota, Iowa

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Speaker 6: that kind of stuff like that, and if you win it,

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Speaker 6: you could get a whole thing. So I came in

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Speaker 6: second because you get a whole bunch of colleges. I

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Speaker 6: came in second. The winner was BB King. He won

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Speaker 6: one hundred and fifty dates. I won ninety dates.

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Speaker 5: B B.

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Speaker 6: King was the winner. So we're out doing dates and

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Speaker 6: you know, I'm just bouncing around. So I get a

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Speaker 6: call from J D. Jorman's Fargo, North Dakota doing dates

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Speaker 6: and evand Cody said, these people have never seen a

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Speaker 6: black person in their lives. You'll kill on this thing.

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Speaker 6: So luckily I was killing on the thing and j

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Speaker 6: Jo says, well where are you. I said, I'm in Fargo,

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Speaker 6: North Dakota. She says, you belong in Los Angeles. I said,

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Speaker 6: I know, I'd belong in Los Angeles, but I had

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Speaker 6: no reason to be there. So they said, no, we

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Speaker 6: sent you a ticket to the improv. So I wasn't

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Speaker 6: in New York at the time, so I never got

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Speaker 6: the ticket if I was on the road doing my thing.

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Speaker 6: So she says, look, get on the plane. We have

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Speaker 6: a ticket waiting for you in Fargo. I thought she's

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Speaker 6: a liar. So what I said, have optimistic, Yes, positive

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Speaker 6: people have live They lie, women lie, they lie. It's

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Speaker 6: just a constant thing. It's just.

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Speaker 4: So.

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Speaker 6: Then I go to Los Angeles. My man, Steve Lansburg

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Speaker 6: is on the show. You guys don't even remember this guy.

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Speaker 6: It's the Barbie Darren Show. He was a day player

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Speaker 6: on the Barbie Darren Show. So I said, hey, Lansburg, Chalkman.

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Speaker 6: Used to call him Chalkman because he had all this

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Speaker 6: white stuff that he used to do in the chalk Man.

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Speaker 6: We got to do some shows while we're out here.

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Speaker 6: So I went to the I went to the comedy store.

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Speaker 6: I'm doing shows. I go back to bed at like

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Speaker 6: three o'clock in the morning, get a call JD Joe.

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Speaker 6: She says, where are you? I said, we're my bed sleeping.

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Speaker 6: She says, well, you belong across the street. We're doing rehearsals.

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Speaker 6: I said, rehearsal for what. She says, there's a show

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Speaker 6: called good Times. You signed on to the show? I

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Speaker 6: had signed on to it at the improv. Yeah, because

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Speaker 6: I didn't believe him, because he's a liar. So horrible contract. No,

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Speaker 6: they had a contract. Kenny the Drunk who was a lawyer,

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Speaker 6: was at the bar. I said, Kenny, is this any good?

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Speaker 6: He said, yeah, I think so sign it. I'll send

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Speaker 6: it back for you. And I thought, I said, Kenny

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Speaker 6: is a drunk. He's not going to send He's a live,

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Speaker 6: he's not going to send it. So then he sent

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Speaker 6: it back. So I was on the show and I

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Speaker 6: had no idea the contract. Yeah, he's my man, here's

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Speaker 6: a live the whole time. So Kenny signed me up

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Speaker 6: for it. So I was in. So I go to

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Speaker 6: the rehearsal and there's a whole bunch of people there

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Speaker 6: at the rehearsal because I didn't even know we had

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Speaker 6: a script because they said this the script downstairs. I said,

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Speaker 6: I'm going back to bed because I'm not going downstairs

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Speaker 6: to get a script because they're lying. I don't have time.

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Speaker 6: So I went. I got the script and I looked

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Speaker 6: at it and I'm sitting next to Normally. I didn't

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Speaker 6: know who normally it was, because we're always working at

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Speaker 6: that time. You know, if you're if you're a night

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Speaker 6: Love comic, you know, I'm following Robert Klein and following

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Speaker 6: Steve Martin. I'm worried about holding my spot at the

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Speaker 6: endprov that's tough enough, you know, as a battle. You know,

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Speaker 6: Robert Klein's there, Bets singing songs. We got Pat Benatar singing,

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Speaker 6: and so I said, I better have my little act

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Speaker 6: together to hang in there because it's a fight for

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Speaker 6: the spots to get on. So I go and I'm

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Speaker 6: reading the script and I'm sitting next to Norman.

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Speaker 1: I said, huh okay.

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Speaker 6: And I'm reading the script and I said, a guy

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Speaker 6: next to me like you normally. I said, man, this sucks.

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Speaker 6: What is this? I said. He said, we're going to

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Speaker 6: do a TV show. I said, really, I said, you're

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Speaker 6: a liar. It's not going to happen. It's terrible. So

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Speaker 6: now we finished the rehearsal and Norman Leary and Ala

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Speaker 6: Man Bruce comes up and he says, hey, you know,

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Speaker 6: you know you have some problems with the script. You

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Speaker 6: can't be blasting out loud about how people stink. You

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Speaker 6: have to like bring it down a little bit. So

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Speaker 6: as a comic, people tell you how bad you stink

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Speaker 6: all the time. People always go, you suck, You're a

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Speaker 6: piece of garbage, you're no good at all, and you

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Speaker 6: finish and there's always that couple of people that go,

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Speaker 6: we love you here, but then when you go out,

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Speaker 6: you know, we had Andy Kauflan and Andy Kafflan was

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Speaker 6: one of those guys you stink, So that kind of

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Speaker 6: thing you just have to keep going. And so from

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Speaker 6: then on we did the show, and I was always

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Speaker 6: throwing stuff in and people got upset.

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Speaker 4: So when did you stop thinking people was liar?

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Speaker 6: Never? I think it now. People, I mean agents are liars.

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Speaker 6: They're all liars. No, very few people. People want to

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Speaker 6: be bigger than what they are. And the big people

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Speaker 6: you never meet them. They're in a big glass tower

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Speaker 6: upstairs on the ninetieth floor. So you know, even if

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Speaker 6: like berniand Ella to you, even if meet the girl

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Speaker 6: said give me your number, I know she's lying because

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Speaker 6: she's not going to give you the number. And then

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Speaker 6: with the horrible things with the cell phones, they don't answer.

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Speaker 6: You text them, you email them. They just they sit

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Speaker 6: in their room and they sit with their girlfriends and

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Speaker 6: they start laughing. They go this moron I met at Walmart.

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Speaker 6: He asked for my number. I was busy. I gave

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Speaker 6: him my number because I know I'm never going to

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Speaker 6: talk to my answers emails. Ever again, once in a

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Speaker 6: while somebody will come through, but.

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Speaker 9: Very very rarely, and the girl, the girl would be nice,

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Speaker 9: and some girls will go some girls will go uh.

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Speaker 6: And I learned this from a friend of mine who

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Speaker 6: happens to be a girl. And she said a very

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Speaker 6: interesting thing. She said, you know, if you want to

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Speaker 6: get rid of a guy and he asked you to

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Speaker 6: go out, say, you know, like if she's a girl,

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Speaker 6: I asked you to go out. I say, what is

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Speaker 6: your name feeling? Jess? I say, hey, Jess, you know,

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Speaker 6: why don't we, you know, go to uh, go to

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Speaker 6: their four seesons and have dinner, just start laughing ahead,

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Speaker 6: that's what they do. Are you serious? Really? No, it

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Speaker 6: wasn't lucky yet. But it was a girl that showed promise,

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Speaker 6: she answered, she answered, And I was like, really, sometimes

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Speaker 6: sometimes you're so stunnd one did call back. I was,

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Speaker 6: I was stunned.

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Speaker 1: How many times do you give your number out to

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Speaker 1: these women?

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Speaker 6: I'm available anybody, but see they they and I've said

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Speaker 6: the girls, hey, let's go in the cruise together, and

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Speaker 6: they just go, They just go.

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Speaker 3: Their adults they.

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Speaker 6: Just start laughing.

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Speaker 9: You know.

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Speaker 6: I hear my toasts popping up. I have to go,

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Speaker 6: so there's no there's no honest woman. And then the

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Speaker 6: phrase I always hate to hear. You know I'm a

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Speaker 6: single mom, and you just go, okay, okay, I got it.

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Speaker 6: You know I can't be worried about that or you

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Speaker 6: know what happened. I never connection, but anyway, go ahead,

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Speaker 6: talk about the ship.

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Speaker 2: That's that's how I got got good time.

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Speaker 6: That's what I just said.

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Speaker 1: Iver got it.

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Speaker 6: But I've never I've never I've never i never auditioned

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Speaker 6: for any show ever. I've never auditioned for a show him.

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Speaker 6: I've never auditioned, I never tried out. I never tolerate

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Speaker 6: him because.

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Speaker 7: This just like I'm doing, just like people just see

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Speaker 7: my afternoon.

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Speaker 6: Let's hire this guy.

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Speaker 8: And we know how to do that.

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Speaker 1: We'll let them go.

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Speaker 3: How much of y'all real lives did you implement in

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Speaker 3: these characters? You know, especially you know you missed the

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Speaker 3: Carter because Michael was like one of the most pro

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Speaker 3: black figures that early on we ever saw them.

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Speaker 5: Well originally from Brooklyn, Brenda Dead and I both from Brownsville,

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Speaker 5: giving our shout out to Brownsville Grafton Street.

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Speaker 6: You do Martain Blake.

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Speaker 5: That's where I used to live when I was growing

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Speaker 5: up in the heart of Brooklyn. However, my point is

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Speaker 5: that by virtue of the fact that I grew up

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Speaker 5: in an African American church, one of the most memorable

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Speaker 5: productions we ever did on good Times when we had

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Speaker 5: the Black Jesus. However, what happened in my case is

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Speaker 5: that I physically grew up with, like the wonderful images

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Speaker 5: in this fantastic sound room, that I grew up with

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Speaker 5: people who look like that on the walls of my church.

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Speaker 5: So it was almost a form of symbiosis when the

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Speaker 5: good times parallel came up with how I was able

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Speaker 5: to see that. But due to the fact that we

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Speaker 5: were able to locate in the verses of the Bible,

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Speaker 5: the example that is used hair of wool, skin of bronze,

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Speaker 5: and like me in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. You know,

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Speaker 5: I was a kid, but I got some unkind male

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Speaker 5: But I was abdull from all of that by just

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Speaker 5: taking myself to another level and not deal with the

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Speaker 5: riff rap.

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Speaker 3: I love the episode of when You Broke Down That

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Speaker 3: boy Boy Mama. Boy is a white racist word.

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Speaker 5: And it still is what I love about what we've

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Speaker 5: done together as a team is that I'd rather be

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Speaker 5: relevant than a relic. And because of the fact that

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Speaker 5: people who are genuinely very kind to us, I know

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Speaker 5: from my personal experience, we're bombarded with positive energy. So

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Speaker 5: I believe that the human beings very difficult to be

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Speaker 5: negative when you're always being given good energy from the

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Speaker 5: people that we meet. And I'm personally indebted to the

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Speaker 5: people who viewed our work, the people who continue to

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Speaker 5: like our work, And all I can say is, thank you.

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Speaker 5: We respect that.

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Speaker 4: How much of dumb would you miss, Bernadette Oh with me?

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Speaker 7: A lot of my character was, you know, the way

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Speaker 7: I was. I grew up in a family you know,

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Speaker 7: five well they're five children, you know, I'm the oldest,

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Speaker 7: and a mom and dad, and so you know, my

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Speaker 7: father would always say, even though it was in the projects,

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Speaker 7: he always say, what's around you does not have to

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Speaker 7: be in you. And that's kind of how we were.

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Speaker 7: So I knew my character and that young girls in

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Speaker 7: the projects do grow up to be become someone, you know,

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Speaker 7: I strive to be the good girl, you know, and

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Speaker 7: you know, the positive person so very much. So the

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Speaker 7: character is very much like who I was then.

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Speaker 5: But Bernadette consistently he has always had high standard and

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Speaker 5: she has never belivers herself in that context.

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Speaker 4: What about you, mister Walker, how much of you with JJ?

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Speaker 6: Well, goat. I remember, I'm a comic. So we just

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Speaker 6: we just sit around and all we do is jokes.

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Speaker 6: That's it. It's just jokes every day, every hour, every battle,

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Speaker 6: every whatever. That's all we do. And at that time,

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Speaker 6: Johnny Carson was it. So our main goal in life

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Speaker 6: was to get on the Johnny Carson Show. Because if

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Speaker 6: you get on the Johnny Carson Show the next day,

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Speaker 6: you can draw, and that's the key thing. You must

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Speaker 6: be able to draw, put tushies in the seats. I

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Speaker 6: don't care how great you think you are, you what

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Speaker 6: you are. It's like now with Netflix, your goal in life,

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Speaker 6: nothing else counts. Mom, dad, family, Get on Netflix and

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Speaker 6: take your shot. So in terms of my thing of

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Speaker 6: being on the show, I wanted to get on Johnny Carson,

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Speaker 6: I didn't want to do anything else. So you just

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Speaker 6: wrote jokes all day.

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Speaker 4: How did you feel when you know?

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Speaker 3: Eesterole and John Amos they said they used to criticize

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Speaker 3: your characters, saying it was a poor role model for

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Speaker 3: black teenagers back then.

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Speaker 6: Well at that time, I was not really aware of it.

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Speaker 6: You got to remember, we didn't have media like we

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Speaker 6: had now and with our cast. For me, I didn't

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Speaker 6: really it's going to sound strange. I never watched the show.

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Speaker 6: I never really John is a great actor. He I mean,

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Speaker 6: he's probably one of the best black actors in America.

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Speaker 6: I'm best actor in general. I didn't really talk to John,

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Speaker 6: so I didn't really know him. And Esther, I don't

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Speaker 6: think in my humble I don't think i've ever Bernadette

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Speaker 6: was very close with Esta, very very very close. I

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Speaker 6: don't think I ever said a word to Esther because

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Speaker 6: being in a comedy lineup of like thirty guys you

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Speaker 6: don't and girls too, you don't. Really there's people you

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Speaker 6: just you know, you never talk to. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 6: there's people you talk to all the time, and then

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Speaker 6: I maybe you may talk to ten guys all the time,

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Speaker 6: and there's another ten guys you never talk to at all.

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Speaker 6: You don't know them, you see them, and you just

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Speaker 6: so I'm used to not mingling with some guys. That's it,

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Speaker 6: that's the reality of it all.

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Speaker 2: I was gonna ask after Good Times, was it difficult

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Speaker 2: to get other parts in movies and sitcoms and things

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Speaker 2: like that, because people look at you as characters of

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Speaker 2: Good Times, Like when I see you, I still see Michael,

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Speaker 2: like I still see No, I still see JJ And

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Speaker 2: I was a kid like when I was coming up,

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Speaker 2: there was only I think at the time, it was.

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Speaker 1: Your show and what's his name?

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Speaker 4: Jefferson?

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Speaker 1: Nope, before the Sun and that was the only two. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I would see blacks on television. So was it difficult

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Speaker 1: after that.

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Speaker 5: No. As a matter of fact, my transition, once I

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Speaker 5: finished Good Times, I still had to complete high school.

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Speaker 5: So after I did my works in high school.

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Speaker 1: I went back to high school.

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Speaker 5: I completed. I graduated on June sixth, nineteen seventy nine,

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Speaker 5: which was a Friday, along with my colleague Lawrence Fishburn.

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Speaker 5: We were in the ninth grade together and we went

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Speaker 5: all through that part of our education together as brothers.

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Speaker 5: My point being that once I completed the work in

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Speaker 5: Good Times, I was also invited to the wonderful nation

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Speaker 5: of Nigeria, and at that time I couldn't wait to

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Speaker 5: get to West Africa. The point being that I grew

403
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Speaker 5: up in an apple centric consciousness and due to men

404
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Speaker 5: like Jimmy Walker. He's one of the most well read

405
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Speaker 5: men I've ever met, so he became a blueprint for

406
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Speaker 5: me as far as wanting to know information, I figured,

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Speaker 5: if I love and respect the history of not just Africa,

408
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Speaker 5: but the global experience, because you know, everybody here is

409
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Speaker 5: a human We belong here. You know, if you ain't

410
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Speaker 5: come on earth to do your thing, then what you

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Speaker 5: come here for, If you ain't come here to be

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Speaker 5: the best you can while you're here, and what you

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Speaker 5: come here for. So my point is that I wanted

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Speaker 5: to make it and I did make it my business

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Speaker 5: to read as many books that related to my particular

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Speaker 5: subject matter. I originally went to Los Angeles Community College

417
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Speaker 5: in my early years and majored in poetry there. Then

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Speaker 5: from there I moved to meet up with a man

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Speaker 5: named doctor John Henry Clark, who became my primary mentor.

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Speaker 5: Through him, I met of the phenomenal historians like Joseph

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Speaker 5: Vijaik and doctor Ivan and Curdemer, the brilliance of Amos Wilson,

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Speaker 5: who wrote just consistential books that helped to heal our people,

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Speaker 5: because in this culture, we've all been wounded and we're

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Speaker 5: still in the process of repairing ourselves. But we must

425
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Speaker 5: understand this time around, ain't nobody coming to our rescue.

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Speaker 5: Therefore you must rescue yourself.

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Speaker 3: So you bought all the energy to Michael because the

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Speaker 3: ain't no white people can write that character.

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Speaker 5: I'm very grateful two men like Eric Monty and Michael

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Speaker 5: Evans due to the fact that Eric is from in

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Speaker 5: Chicago from Cabrini Green. One of the highlights of working

432
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 5: on the show was that consecutively for three years, due

433
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,919
Speaker 5: to the genius of esther role, she asked us to

434
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,400
Speaker 5: join and participate in the Bud Billiken Day Parade, which

435
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 5: very popular in Chicago. But also there were people who

436
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,200
Speaker 5: lived in Cabrini Green who knew that Burneddett, myself, Jennet

437
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,119
Speaker 5: de Wis Esther of course, were coming in advance. And

438
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 5: these are times when John blessed my father's heart because

439
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 5: he is one of the people on good times that

440
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,640
Speaker 5: I worked long before. I haven't worked in that production.

441
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 5: But my point is that some of the residents in

442
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 5: those wonderful complexes, they physically invited us to have dinner

443
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 5: with us. I'm talking delicious food. But the Calmoradity was there,

444
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,320
Speaker 5: so I think it helped us to be authentic because

445
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 5: during the time I worked on Good Times, I never

446
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,600
Speaker 5: saw the show. I was forbidden to watch the show.

447
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 5: John Namis and Esther Rolle told my mother Lucille, who

448
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,920
Speaker 5: fortunately lived to be ninety seven and she would be

449
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 5: one hundred and one this year. But my point is

450
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 5: that my mother kept me grounded and listened to what

451
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 5: esther Role and John Ames told her to do. Don't

452
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,919
Speaker 5: let him watch the show due to the fact that

453
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 5: sometimes children tend to imitate their selves, so they wanted

454
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,440
Speaker 5: me to stay as authentic and it was organic as possible.

455
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 5: So I didn't really understand the bombardment of people at

456
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 5: that time, you know, coming after me for years. I

457
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,679
Speaker 5: stopped wearing jewelry because people thought they had the pivot

458
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 5: of the right to snatch it off of me. I

459
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,159
Speaker 5: was like, yoh, man, you know, you know, this is

460
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 5: a ninety dollars shirt in nineteen seventies and you just

461
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 5: made my shirt my shirt.

462
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:16,679
Speaker 9: You know.

463
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 5: So with that said, it also is a very humbling

464
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 5: experience because ultimately, anyway you look at it, you just

465
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 5: got to treat people the way you want to be

466
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 5: treated and that is my personal philosophy.

467
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 4: Well, what was stardom like back then, Miss Bernie Dead

468
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 4: like in that era?

469
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 7: Well, back then, it wasn't that many black stars there.

470
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 7: So was this like a handful of us and you

471
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,919
Speaker 7: know Red Fox, Richard pryor those kind of people, you know,

472
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 7: and they would have parties or whatever, and you know,

473
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 7: they would invite just a handful who was there. But

474
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 7: other than that, it wasn't a lot of us there. Yeah,

475
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 7: so it was kind of empty in a way.

476
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 4: How was it when you did the covered Jet magazine? Oh?

477
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 7: I Sutton took a picture. He was a friend of

478
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,119
Speaker 7: mine and he's invited me over to eat. He would

479
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 7: cook like eight course meals for me.

480
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 8: I mean, just me. I'm like, come on, you know.

481
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 8: So then we take the pictures.

482
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,600
Speaker 7: And so you know, it was just Jane Kennedy then

483
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 7: and me and people like that. So he just said

484
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 7: he wanted to do a cover for me, and he

485
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:25,200
Speaker 7: did it and I was.

486
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:25,640
Speaker 1: On the cover.

487
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 3: Wow, that's different though. You're on the cover of Jet

488
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:29,880
Speaker 3: magazine back then.

489
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:34,200
Speaker 7: Yeah, and also one inside the Week the centerfold and

490
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:36,439
Speaker 7: I did that one too.

491
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 5: And you knew you were popular when you're black and

492
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 5: you on the cover of Ebney and Jet. Yeah, I said,

493
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 5: oh lord, I know we on a lot of other magazines,

494
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 5: but when you were received by your own people, it

495
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 5: has a different type of connection. And I say that

496
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 5: because of the fact that who would have thought that

497
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:54,880
Speaker 5: he was going to be on the covers of those

498
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 5: and I regardless of maybe the topics that they were

499
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 5: talking about, we still were well received by the people.

500
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 5: And there is no show without the people to participate

501
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 5: with us, so we thank them.

502
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 1: What was the most difficult episode to shoot for me?

503
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 5: It was actually the contradiction of a character came to

504
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 5: the show in the script where there was a Caucasian

505
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 5: young woman who I was supposed to have an on

506
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 5: screen kiss with right then, and then my antennae went

507
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 5: up because it would destroy everything I had built with

508
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 5: that particular character as far as as pro pan Africanism is.

509
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 4: Love you for that, I remember that.

510
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,719
Speaker 5: Yeah, So what I did do I took my grievances

511
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,639
Speaker 5: to the adults. Keep in mind, Johnny Jackson and I

512
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 5: are still minors, so therefore any type of script issues

513
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 5: that we had. Jimmy was always in has been my

514
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,199
Speaker 5: advocate along with Bernadette, and I brought my issue to

515
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,959
Speaker 5: them and Esther said, this cannot happen. You can't do

516
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 5: this for this particular character, because it will. You know,

517
00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 5: mostly all the the young young African American women said, Wow,

518
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 5: here we go again. So I decided to just pull

519
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 5: back and it worked out in my favor and that

520
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 5: didn't happen.

521
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 3: Wow, is that the episode that ended up being when

522
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:11,800
Speaker 3: you were supposed to move in?

523
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 6: Yes?

524
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 4: Okay, that's right.

525
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,120
Speaker 5: But they they we had to change that script because

526
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,880
Speaker 5: they had an intimate moment which again would a contradicted

527
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 5: the policies and the integrity of the character that I played.

528
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I always wondered because I was when I found

529
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,399
Speaker 3: out that, you know, people they didn't like the JJ character.

530
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,160
Speaker 3: I was like, I never looked at y'all as ignorant,

531
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 3: Like I didn't think that was reinforcing any stereotypes. How

532
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 3: were y'all able to portray being from the hood but

533
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 3: not come off as ignorant?

534
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,679
Speaker 8: Well, a lot of people in the hood are not all.

535
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 7: And I looked at Jimmy's character as you know, like

536
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,479
Speaker 7: very very intelligent, you know, an artist and everything like that.

537
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 7: And you know, sometimes in a family. There's always one

538
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 7: kid that makes the family laugh. I mean I have

539
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,160
Speaker 7: I had a brother who's who's a pastor now Kyle,

540
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 7: and he used to make my mom laugh. You know,

541
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 7: you do silly things. But I mean that's just something

542
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 7: that lifts a spirit. That's that's all it is. And

543
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 7: that's how I saw Jimmy. I didn't see him as

544
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,959
Speaker 7: a character that no one liked it. And I in

545
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 7: esther Roll's defense, I would say that she just didn't

546
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 7: want them to make him a thief or a fool

547
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 7: like and but she loved the character too, but she

548
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 7: didn't want the writers or anybody to make him look

549
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 7: like that, like with the little hat or whatever. And

550
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 7: you know, in the beginning, they always had Jimmy find

551
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,959
Speaker 7: in something, you understand, so so finding is stealing and

552
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 7: she cut that out.

553
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 8: I don't want that finding. And I just found this pan,

554
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 8: I just found this shirt, you know. So she said, no,

555
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 8: she didn't want that.

556
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 7: So those are the things that they harped on, you know,

557
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 7: like she didn't like the character, but she she of

558
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 7: course they did.

559
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 4: I just wonder when did Hollywood take a turn?

560
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 3: Because it feel like you know that then y'all always

561
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 3: had a hand in the creative y'all always had a

562
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 3: hand in how y'all were portrayed. So when did Hollywood

563
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 3: take the turn the way It's just like all of

564
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 3: these negative stereotypes of black people just started, well.

565
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 5: I think because a different breed of producers came through

566
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 5: that were in contact and in touch with the people.

567
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 5: And when you disconnect yourself from the people, then you

568
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 5: become in a box. And one thing I work with

569
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 5: myself is that the only opinion about me that matters

570
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 5: is my own. And therefore, by not allowing myself to

571
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 5: be in a box, I was able to take my

572
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 5: work to another level. And being a historian, in the

573
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 5: context of the work that I did, I not only

574
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 5: wanted to study the history of Africa, but I wanted

575
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:48,240
Speaker 5: to understand how valuable the contributions of people globally has been.

576
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 5: You know, my ancestors have been here since seventeen ninety nine,

577
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,960
Speaker 5: and my great great great ancestor, she was kidnapped from

578
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 5: Cameroon sold on the Charleston auction block on December seventeenth,

579
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 5: seventeen ninety nine. And as a consequence of that, I

580
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 5: wanted to study as much as I could because you

581
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 5: used to be against the law for people of color

582
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 5: to read in this country. So I made it my

583
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 5: business to read as much as I can. Just for

584
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 5: the record, brother man, I've read both your books, and

585
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 5: you are an excellent writer. I got a lot of

586
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 5: information on your journey, you know, and to the way

587
00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 5: you gave the salutations to your mother Julia and to

588
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 5: your father Larry. It was a wonderful experience.

589
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 4: Thank you.

590
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 5: I want to tell you that to your face.

591
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 4: Thank you, brother. I got any one coming out, I'm

592
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 4: give it to you for you week.

593
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, my birthday coming up. Where my gift I

594
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 5: got you? I brought you as in bonds and Nobles,

595
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 5: I appreciate.

596
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 2: Now you mentioned Janet, So I was working with Jannon

597
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 2: on the set. How was that for me?

598
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 5: It was refreshing because for stranger, Yeah, for many years,

599
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 5: I was the only child on set. Therefore, that type

600
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 5: of isolation, it didn't affect me because every time we

601
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 5: went on hiatus, I always came back to New York

602
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 5: and too Brooklyn, and I was with my peer group,

603
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 5: so I fundamentally didn't have an offbeat energy as whatever

604
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 5: a child star means. And also I was never financially

605
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,719
Speaker 5: exploited by my family. That was not my experience. In

606
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 5: my experience, no one ever put an offending hand on me.

607
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 5: You know, I'm from Brooklyn. I jack you up. What

608
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 5: I did learn in that process of working with Janet,

609
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 5: who was beyond a consummate professional, but she's a brilliant

610
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,840
Speaker 5: observer and she watched because we spent the most time together, y'all.

611
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 5: And in California state law, we have to go to

612
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 5: school for three hours before we can appear on set,

613
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 5: So our actual working day after the three hours of

614
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 5: school would be a five hour working day. So we

615
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 5: had tutorists who protected us. My mother and missus Lucille

616
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 5: Carter and missus Captain Jackson. They got along like peas

617
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 5: in the park. And because of the fact that our

618
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 5: parents got along, and this would apply to Hey with

619
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 5: Nelson and Lawrence Fishburn myself, our mothers got along. Therefore

620
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 5: we got along too. So in that context my job

621
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 5: was too. Because I'm Bernardet's bully. Anybody stepped to her incorrectly,

622
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 5: there's going to be an issue. And I was able

623
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 5: to because of that loneliness. Jannet was like a beacon

624
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 5: of light when she came on the set, and I

625
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 5: still so proud of what she has done in the

626
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 5: work that she continues to do.

627
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 3: I want to go back and ask Miss Berniett about

628
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 3: the mister the direction of Hollywood and how I went

629
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 3: another direction.

630
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 7: Oh yes, thank you. I just want to say that

631
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 7: Esther Roll was an advocate for all of us. And

632
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 7: I remember there was a week that we had and

633
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 7: I actually had really nothing much to say. It was like,

634
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 7: you know, hi, Mom, Hi Dad, I was in the bathroom,

635
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:52,920
Speaker 7: shut up JJ, and that's about it.

636
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 8: You know, the character had nothing.

637
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 7: So I was very bored that week and I said,

638
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:00,040
Speaker 7: this cannot go.

639
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 8: I can't sit here every week and just be this bored.

640
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 8: So I did. I asked Mom. I used to call mom,

641
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 8: say Mom, you know I was so bored this week.

642
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 7: She said, what do you mean? I said, I just

643
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 7: did nothing. I just sat there and I was bored.

644
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 7: So she says, well, what do you want to do?

645
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 7: I said, I need more to say. I need I

646
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 7: need a I need something character. So she she said,

647
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,480
Speaker 7: let me handle it, and we had a reading at

648
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 7: the round table, and that that week I had my

649
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 7: two or three little lines. Okay, and so Estra said,

650
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 7: at the end of the reading, she asked the producers

651
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 7: and the writer. She says, I want to ask a question,

652
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:37,560
Speaker 7: and they said sure, asked what is it? You know,

653
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 7: what is it? She said, I want to ask you

654
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 7: ashamed of my daughter? And they said no, and she said.

655
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:48,479
Speaker 7: Then she went on to say, you know, well, I

656
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 7: think that we should do a little better with her.

657
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,479
Speaker 7: I think that we have my son JJ who has

658
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 7: a lot to say, and my son Michael, who has

659
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 7: a lot to say, and I want my daughter to

660
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 7: have a voice. And she said to me, and they said, oh, certainly.

661
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 7: And so that afternoon she said, you go up there

662
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,080
Speaker 7: and you tell them who Thelma is. Now, how can

663
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 7: you develop a character? I mean, you know what I'm saying,

664
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,200
Speaker 7: you're telling the character to develop a character. So I

665
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,759
Speaker 7: knew who she was. So I ended up going up

666
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 7: there and telling them what I'd like her to be,

667
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 7: who I need.

668
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 8: Her to be.

669
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 7: And after that the scripts came, you know, the dialogue came,

670
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 7: you know, a voice became. And I give her all

671
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 7: the credit for doing that. People don't really fight for

672
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 7: people anymore like that. So she she did, and that's

673
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 7: how you know, she gave Thelma a voice.

674
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 4: Wow.

675
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and where did white people like Norman Lear in

676
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 3: Hollywood passed away?

677
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 5: This are those type of people no more. When they

678
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 5: did kick they were really good, you know, because for me,

679
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 5: in the context of history, you would not really have

680
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 5: had a good times if you didn't have an Amos

681
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 5: and Andy. And Amos and Andy was also a product

682
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 5: television station CBS. However, when I did my research and

683
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,440
Speaker 5: with the catalog of that particular show, it was hilarious

684
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,240
Speaker 5: the men and women who performed on Amos and Andy.

685
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,319
Speaker 5: We're speaking of veteran actors who had done vaudeville and

686
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 5: the so called chitting circuit. As Jimmy Walker really knows

687
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 5: all about that. You know, he's been on the chitten

688
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:25,239
Speaker 5: circuit so long he was cleaning the chitting. So my

689
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 5: point is that we were able to embrace through the

690
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,239
Speaker 5: genius of Normally, because keep in mind, Normally was a

691
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 5: magnet in the respect that he had all in the family,

692
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:39,880
Speaker 5: more Jeffersons, Good Times, the ac Junket. Along with Bud Yorken,

693
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 5: they also had What's Happening, in which you had the

694
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 5: works of Hayvid Nelson, Fred Barry. Of course, mis Shirley

695
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 5: Hempfield and their wonderful cast Danielle Spencer. Mabel King of

696
00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 5: course played the mother. But my point is that there

697
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 5: was a connection in a bond that we even on

698
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 5: set had we crossed reference with the wonderful people on

699
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,280
Speaker 5: All in the Family with Jeans Staple, tend and Carola Khana,

700
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 5: and we weekly saw Beatrice Author and Bill Macy while

701
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,360
Speaker 5: they were doing their works on more so because of

702
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,560
Speaker 5: the work that Esther did that allowed us as artists

703
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 5: to get a gig. But Esther to me is the

704
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 5: foundation of good times, along with John Names absolutely.

705
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:25,839
Speaker 10: Mister Jimmy, did you ever ever get tired of saying

706
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 10: down at any point?

707
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 6: I don't think we ever did it that much. No,

708
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 6: because you know, again being a stand up people came

709
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,920
Speaker 6: to cheap stand up, you know, and and at the

710
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 6: improv of the store or anything like that, and again

711
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,320
Speaker 6: not I guess we were in such competition. And plus

712
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:51,279
Speaker 6: we had Paul Mooney, and Paul Mooney straightened everybody out.

713
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 6: Wont E would just say, man, your stuff is weak.

714
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 6: What are you doing? You stink? And he I remember,

715
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,320
Speaker 6: like we'd have somebody like a Gary Shanling who worked

716
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 6: so hard. I was like, that's what made me get

717
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,520
Speaker 6: writers to help me out, because he would have two

718
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,440
Speaker 6: notebooks full of jokes every day and you just go, hey,

719
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,319
Speaker 6: how's this guy doing this. So in terms of the

720
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 6: dynamite thing, it didn't play in a club. You know,

721
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 6: we had Freddie Prinz who always said, I am the funniest,

722
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 6: I am the best. You guys stink I'm great, I'm

723
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 6: the youngest and I'm the baddest. I'm eighteen. You guys

724
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 6: will never be as good as me. You'll never be

725
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 6: as funny as me. Don't even try it. And then

726
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 6: you had Gary Shanling who said quietly, I'm the best

727
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,840
Speaker 6: writer out of everybody, I will eventually have my own show.

728
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,800
Speaker 6: None of you will be as big as me. That's

729
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 6: the way it is. Because he had a shot to

730
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:52,879
Speaker 6: do the Johnny Carson Show and he said, I don't

731
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 6: want to be encumbered by network. I'm going to have

732
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,319
Speaker 6: my own show where I'm in charge, in which he

733
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 6: did with The Ry Sanders Show, and it's the Gary

734
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,760
Speaker 6: Shandley Show. He was completely in charged, says, I will

735
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 6: never do a network show that I have to listen

736
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 6: to other people. So for me, the dynamite thing was

737
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 6: like not relevant to the people that were come into

738
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,799
Speaker 6: the show. I mean, you know. And plus I was

739
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 6: the MC for UH for our ethnic shows, so we

740
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:26,839
Speaker 6: would do the Chicago Show. Chicago Show would be the Emotions,

741
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:31,440
Speaker 6: the shylights, Jerry Butler, so they weren't even for that

742
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,440
Speaker 6: because they were kind of like, Hey, I'm Jerry Butler,

743
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:38,280
Speaker 6: I'm the iceman. I don't care about any dynamite stuff.

744
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 6: And then you do the you do the Philadelphia show

745
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 6: where you have Teddy Prenagrass, who would say, I am

746
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:48,439
Speaker 6: the prettiest, the baddest, the most good looking chicks will

747
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 6: look at me and I'm great, so mean, And then

748
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,279
Speaker 6: you'd have the Motown Show, which I was MC of,

749
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,959
Speaker 6: and the Temptations would go, there's no group that can

750
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,879
Speaker 6: dance better than us, that can say, ain't better than us.

751
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 6: We are we don't care about any dynamite stuff. So

752
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 6: it was never that kind of thing. I was always

753
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 6: very secondary because I was the youngest guy. We had STEVIEE.

754
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 6: Wonder's mom who used to drive him behind us in

755
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 6: her little station wagon, so we never Jimmy Walker was

756
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,680
Speaker 6: never a big thing. He was just a little part

757
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:23,399
Speaker 6: of the MC work. That was it, That was that

758
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 6: was That was John Rich. I did it one day

759
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 6: in rehearsals and John Rich says, I like that dynamite thing.

760
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:32,440
Speaker 6: I said, what dynamite thing? So he just did it.

761
00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:34,880
Speaker 6: I said, oh, that was just fooling around. He says.

762
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 6: John Risch said to me, he says, this is going

763
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 6: to be the biggest thing on this show. This will

764
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 6: be the big I said, what he said, the dynamite thing,

765
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,280
Speaker 6: I said, he said, And he got up a little

766
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,560
Speaker 6: fat guy and showed me how to do it. And

767
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 6: I said, John, people are not that stupid. They'll never

768
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 6: go for this. He says, yes, they will, And he

769
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 6: put it out there and Norman hated it. Wow, just

770
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 6: hated it. And and everybody was threatening to walk. John says,

771
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,800
Speaker 6: if he doesn't do it, I'm walking. Normal Lea says,

772
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:12,640
Speaker 6: if he does it, I'm walking. So he was whatever.

773
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,719
Speaker 6: So he did it, and it became like Michael Buffer's

774
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:17,759
Speaker 6: thing when he says, looks get ready to rumble. If

775
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,279
Speaker 6: you ever watched, you guys are too young. But when so,

776
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:24,360
Speaker 6: whenever he would do a fight, it would be like

777
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,120
Speaker 6: a sugar Ray Leonard. He's won ninety seven knockouts, He's

778
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 6: killed his last ten opponents. He's the champion of the

779
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,360
Speaker 6: middle Way, He's the champion of the and you he'd

780
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,240
Speaker 6: get ready to say ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls

781
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,000
Speaker 6: across the world, and you could hear the people.

782
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 4: Go, let's generate.

783
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, yes, oh yes. It's only

784
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,800
Speaker 6: ten thousand dollars a pop. If he does it nothing serious.

785
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,919
Speaker 6: That's all he gets is he gets ten thousand dollars

786
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:54,839
Speaker 6: a pop. He does it all. So that's the way

787
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,800
Speaker 6: the dynamite thing rolled. But we nobody was that enthused.

788
00:40:57,840 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 6: I mean I had guys like Steve Martin who was

789
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 6: selling out fifteen thousand people, and you just go, just go, boy,

790
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 6: I would like to be like that.

791
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 4: Do you have any problem with women calling you back

792
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 4: back then?

793
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 6: Yes, definitely, without a doubt. Oh no. You got to

794
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 6: remember I was with Richard Pryor and Richard Pryor who

795
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 6: was a guy, and Freddie Prince. Those two guys had

796
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,360
Speaker 6: all the women. I can tell you stories about Richard

797
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 6: that you don't want to hear on the air that

798
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 6: you would go, are you hitting me? Because women would No.

799
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,759
Speaker 6: I will not tell you. I will not tell you

800
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 6: two gianic stories that about Richard and Freddie. Freddie's the

801
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 6: kind of guy had so much confidence. If he saw

802
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,360
Speaker 6: her and we walked outside, he says, I can get her.

803
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 6: I go, Freddy, She's like, you know, she's a woman,

804
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 6: she's going for the woman thing, to have her own thing,

805
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 6: and says, I will get her and you will go.

806
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 6: At the end of the night they're walking out together.

807
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 6: You go, damn, how did Freddie pull this off? He's

808
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 6: that kind of guy and he just believed I'm the prettiest,

809
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,799
Speaker 6: I'm the baddest, I'm the funniest, and I will get

810
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 6: any chick I want. Go ahead, y'all ling, Yeah, that's

811
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,160
Speaker 6: not your job. And it was just amazing. But yeah,

812
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 6: so that was that.

813
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,359
Speaker 4: Do y'all remember the first day on the set versus

814
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 4: the last day?

815
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,760
Speaker 8: Yes, I do. I remember the first day. It was interesting,

816
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,960
Speaker 8: you know. I was really watching Esther and John how

817
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 8: they handled a lot of stuff, you know, and I

818
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 8: learned a lot. I really really did.

819
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 7: But I remember when like the first year, well the

820
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:44,320
Speaker 7: first maybe a couple of months, talking about women and JJ.

821
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 8: Okay, I remember he said something to me like, what

822
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 8: do you do what do you get? What do you

823
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:50,959
Speaker 8: do with these women?

824
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:51,400
Speaker 1: Why do you?

825
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 8: I mean, what did I do? I said, you know,

826
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:55,680
Speaker 8: the first thing you should do is when you have

827
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:58,360
Speaker 8: a girl, you need to buy her a little jewelry.

828
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:01,480
Speaker 1: Telling I'm telling on you.

829
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 8: And he said what I said, yeah, buy some you know,

830
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 8: jewelry and stuff and break it in that way.

831
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 7: And so he said, okay. So that lunchtime he went

832
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 7: to Farmer's market and he bought some jewelry and he

833
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,399
Speaker 7: came back he said, how how does this look?

834
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,359
Speaker 8: What's this about? And it was it was a turquoise piece,

835
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:20,359
Speaker 8: you know, with the silver around.

836
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,479
Speaker 1: It was this big. I said, what are you doing?

837
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 8: I said, well, you're dating a giant.

838
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 4: What do you doing? Come on?

839
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 7: So I said, no, go back over there, take that

840
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 7: back and get some fine jewelry, you know, really go

841
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 7: a little gain something. Yeah, And so that's what he did.

842
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,640
Speaker 7: And so to this very day, if you date Jimmy Walker,

843
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 7: you're gonna get some jewelry.

844
00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:44,799
Speaker 8: I'm telling you.

845
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 4: Here. Man.

846
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,200
Speaker 7: The last day, Wow, for me, well, it it was

847
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,719
Speaker 7: like a little unreal, you know, because I came to

848
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,279
Speaker 7: Hollywood right into a show, so I didn't know what

849
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:10,879
Speaker 7: it was like living outside of that. I mean here

850
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 7: in California, you know, in California. So for me it

851
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 7: was very different.

852
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: It was like is this the end?

853
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:18,839
Speaker 4: Is this really the end?

854
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:19,560
Speaker 6: You know?

855
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:21,920
Speaker 7: What am I going to do when I get up tomorrow?

856
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 7: You know kind of thing. So that's how it felt

857
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 7: to me.

858
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,160
Speaker 8: The ending what a good.

859
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,720
Speaker 5: Times ended on March the eighth, which was a Thursday

860
00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:33,360
Speaker 5: in nineteen seventy nine. We had already braced ourselves for

861
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:37,840
Speaker 5: it because you could feel the momentum of the production

862
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 5: was starting to lose his pace. So I already knew

863
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 5: I had to graduate from high school, and I already

864
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,279
Speaker 5: knew I had my ideas to go to college and

865
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,200
Speaker 5: to travel. So thereby I used the rest of my

866
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 5: twenties traveling to East and West Africa, primarily to Sudan, Ethiopia,

867
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 5: and Egypt. And by doing that consecutively. As a historian,

868
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,280
Speaker 5: I read the information before I went on the journey.

869
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:06,200
Speaker 5: So my affinity with the wonderful monuments that I saw,

870
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,480
Speaker 5: the parallels in Egypt with the parallel, the parallel of

871
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:14,840
Speaker 5: the pyramids in Egypt and in Mexico are phenomenal because

872
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:19,080
Speaker 5: there was a wonderful connection between those two cultures where

873
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:22,719
Speaker 5: they did not destroy each other, but they complimented each other.

874
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,040
Speaker 5: And you could see that the earth winding fires has

875
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,560
Speaker 5: a wonderful song. It's in the stone. So in the

876
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:33,160
Speaker 5: stone the people left how they looked, and that we

877
00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 5: were here and this is what we did while we

878
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,040
Speaker 5: were on the planet. So it was a phenomenon for

879
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:43,200
Speaker 5: me to not only just theoretically do the work, but

880
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,360
Speaker 5: to physically go and see the monuments for myself.

881
00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 4: Wonder it felt like.

882
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 3: They could have showed y'all outside of the projects, because

883
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 3: the last episode, y'all, everybody did get out the project to.

884
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 4: Go move in the same building, a better buildings. They

885
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 4: could have showed that.

886
00:45:57,080 --> 00:45:59,600
Speaker 5: But you know, what's done is done. The past is

887
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 5: the past, Charla Man. So you don't want to regress,

888
00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:06,000
Speaker 5: you want to progress. And people have constantly asked us

889
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 5: to do a reboot of Good Times. However, you've lost

890
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,360
Speaker 5: some of their major primary characters, so you know it

891
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,759
Speaker 5: wouldn't work to do that anymore. So you come up

892
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,760
Speaker 5: with new ideas, like my new television series is entitled

893
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,520
Speaker 5: Grandma's Hands and I deal with five generations of African

894
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 5: women from the age of thirteen to the age of

895
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 5: ninety eight, along with my wonderful co writer mister Gregory A. Holtz,

896
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 5: beautiful SES's named Janine, and my young sister VICKI. So

897
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 5: as a team, a quorum of four, we've been able

898
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:41,359
Speaker 5: to write some wonderful scripts and all things. In time,

899
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,080
Speaker 5: I could show you better than I can tell you,

900
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 5: and I just hope that people will the opportunity comes

901
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 5: where I can present this particular production so that people

902
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:54,000
Speaker 5: can experience us from another perspective as I do as

903
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,520
Speaker 5: a writer. I've completed my autobiography in five volumes. Years ago,

904
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,600
Speaker 5: I had a dialogue with all his Wilson and he

905
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 5: was one of the very rare, rare writers who had

906
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:07,920
Speaker 5: a play written for every decade of the last century

907
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:11,080
Speaker 5: that we've gone through. But my point being, I asked

908
00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:13,360
Speaker 5: him his technique and what should I do when I

909
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:15,960
Speaker 5: want to write my autobiography? And I got a lot

910
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,160
Speaker 5: of advice from my good friend mister Irvin Panton. He said,

911
00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:22,960
Speaker 5: do it and I'll help you copy the books. So

912
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 5: I began on a wonderful journey of getting wonderful information,

913
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:29,720
Speaker 5: and I didn't know that there was so much information

914
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 5: on the work that I did in my early theater years.

915
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 5: My point is that I had a resource with Schomberg.

916
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 5: I had a resource with Lincoln Center and the people

917
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:42,680
Speaker 5: who were there in that area, the librarians, so to speak.

918
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,440
Speaker 5: They were very gracious to me. So it helped me

919
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 5: to complete five complete volumes of my autobiography. I taught

920
00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:52,359
Speaker 5: out a child development for five years. I'm the author

921
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,920
Speaker 5: of twenty children's books as well. So as a musician,

922
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,120
Speaker 5: I still sing, I do my voice. I hope that

923
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:01,680
Speaker 5: people will continue to like the work that not just

924
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 5: myself does, but Bernadette and Jimmy too. We we literally

925
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,160
Speaker 5: have never stopped being friends.

926
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:10,360
Speaker 1: That's why we're still here. That's amazing.

927
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,000
Speaker 4: How do how do y'all feel about the The Good

928
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 4: Times cartoon on Netflix?

929
00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:18,400
Speaker 6: Well, that's Bernadette's thing. She'll tell you.

930
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 4: How do you feel?

931
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:21,840
Speaker 6: It?

932
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:22,400
Speaker 4: A reboove?

933
00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: But that's not a no, that's not that's not it

934
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 1: at all.

935
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 8: No, that's not it at all. I think that.

936
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,960
Speaker 7: Our audience missed something, you know, they missed what happened

937
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 7: to us. It's always they want the completion of it

938
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 7: and it never really happened, you know.

939
00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:39,680
Speaker 1: So far.

940
00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 7: My thing about the the animation was this that you know,

941
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:50,279
Speaker 7: I know that Jimmy Walker came to them and he

942
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:55,640
Speaker 7: presented a cartoon about five years before this, before this one,

943
00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 7: and it was it was the really the the all

944
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:00,799
Speaker 7: of us, the way we are in a in animation

945
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:03,239
Speaker 7: and we have our same voices and everything like that.

946
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 8: And they they didn't bite that.

947
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:09,759
Speaker 7: But later on came up with they're gonna do an

948
00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:13,120
Speaker 7: animation and I remember my manager called them and said, well,

949
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,440
Speaker 7: what are they gonna you know, are we gonna be

950
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 7: in it or not. So the way they describe the

951
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 7: animation to us was this, it was going to be

952
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:27,560
Speaker 7: a modern day, you know, progression of what everything is

953
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,400
Speaker 7: going to be for the good Times family. So you know, fine,

954
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 7: But they asked Jimmy and I to do a tiny

955
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:37,960
Speaker 7: little part. But it sounded okay, you know, we didn't

956
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 7: see the scripts. So Jimmy did a part. I did

957
00:49:40,719 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 7: a little part. My character's name is Peaches. You know,

958
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,680
Speaker 7: she's like a project lady. That's whatever. But when the

959
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:51,200
Speaker 7: when the when it came out, when the trailer came out,

960
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 7: we saw it and everybody was like, no, you know,

961
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:57,080
Speaker 7: you don't have a crack baby in somebody in the

962
00:49:57,160 --> 00:49:57,719
Speaker 7: mother's arms.

963
00:49:57,760 --> 00:49:58,279
Speaker 8: You don't do that.

964
00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:02,279
Speaker 7: So and I I remember having an interview with the

965
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:09,759
Speaker 7: singer Gilstrap, Jim Gilstrap a year before, and he was saying,

966
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 7: you know, there are some lyrics that they took out.

967
00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:14,480
Speaker 7: So I said, were the lyrics and he said, well,

968
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 7: you know they say roaches roaming the hallway, roaches roaming

969
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:23,279
Speaker 7: the hallway and the landlord lives on the other side

970
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:25,640
Speaker 7: of town or something like that. He said that they

971
00:50:25,719 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 7: took it out because fifty years ago now they thought

972
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:33,719
Speaker 7: that that would be offensive to black people. Okay, but

973
00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:37,720
Speaker 7: fifty years later you have two roaches singing in a shower.

974
00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,360
Speaker 7: They sing in the song good Times. So I'm like,

975
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,920
Speaker 7: this is not it, you know, I'm sorry. You know,

976
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:47,440
Speaker 7: I know people have you know, want to write it

977
00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:49,239
Speaker 7: at they want to do this and that, but you

978
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:51,880
Speaker 7: have to do it right, you know, you have to

979
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:53,360
Speaker 7: represent it correctly.

980
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:58,200
Speaker 8: So to me, it was not represented correctly, and I

981
00:50:58,360 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 8: had to say that, you know.

982
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 4: I haven't watched it, mister card.

983
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,799
Speaker 5: I actually was quite disappointed with the actors who took

984
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 5: the time to sign on to that project. These are

985
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,000
Speaker 5: actors and the artists and comedian that I really had

986
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:12,759
Speaker 5: a high regard for I won't use the past tense

987
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,040
Speaker 5: with them right now, but I'm disappointed at the fact

988
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:18,239
Speaker 5: that they did that. When I did take a quick

989
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:23,360
Speaker 5: review of this particular rubbish that I saw, I was

990
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:26,319
Speaker 5: contacted by some media outlets from my point of view,

991
00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:29,880
Speaker 5: but I refused to dignify it with a response. And

992
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 5: I'm just pretty much disappointed with the artists who signed.

993
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:33,560
Speaker 1: On to it.

994
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,920
Speaker 6: I don't think anybody ever saw it. I mean, I

995
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:40,920
Speaker 6: know Seth mcfollowen to me, is very, very funny, but

996
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:44,439
Speaker 6: this is not his bag. It would be like saying, hey,

997
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 6: we're doing Romeo and Juliet. You know we hired JJ

998
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:50,240
Speaker 6: Walker and Lawanda Page.

999
00:51:55,920 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 8: Really wow, that's a good analysis.

1000
00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:05,600
Speaker 6: I mean, it's just Seth is. I mean, I love

1001
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,440
Speaker 6: all his stuff. It's racist, it's terrible, it's fantastic. It

1002
00:52:09,560 --> 00:52:12,360
Speaker 6: kills me. But he's yeah, it's funny, but he's not

1003
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:17,920
Speaker 6: right for this. And Steph Curry, I know he's went

1004
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:22,200
Speaker 6: watching Lebron James and he sees Lebron James has his projects. Look,

1005
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 6: let me tell you something. I'm from New York. I

1006
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:27,480
Speaker 6: played basketball against Nate Archibald. You guys are too young.

1007
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,600
Speaker 6: You remember Nate Archibald, but he's a big star. I mean,

1008
00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:35,320
Speaker 6: I played against Nate Archibal and he only scores sixty

1009
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:37,520
Speaker 6: three on us three times that we played them. He

1010
00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:40,920
Speaker 6: called sixty one, sixty three and sixty three. Look, let

1011
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:42,800
Speaker 6: me tell you something. It'd be like me going to

1012
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 6: Steph and say, look, I played against Nate Archibald. I

1013
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,800
Speaker 6: want to be on the Golden State Warriors. And you go,

1014
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:50,680
Speaker 6: why I play against Nate Archibal. I belong on the team.

1015
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:55,360
Speaker 6: Come on, but no, he's just the wrong guy to

1016
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:56,360
Speaker 6: be in this.

1017
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:03,680
Speaker 4: Y'all don't like the good times to say that fifty

1018
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 4: years a good times.

1019
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:06,879
Speaker 3: I'm talking like nobody did a documentary or some type

1020
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,640
Speaker 3: of you know, reunion show, Like y'all didn't get approached about.

1021
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:10,680
Speaker 4: None of that.

1022
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:13,800
Speaker 5: Now, the anthology that I did, right it wouldn't be

1023
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 5: a product commercially right now, again because of the losses

1024
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:18,799
Speaker 5: that we had.

1025
00:53:20,160 --> 00:53:22,640
Speaker 8: They we didn't have people that we worked that we're

1026
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:24,720
Speaker 8: going to put together, and we had all the characters.

1027
00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 5: It's just this is the now ancestors.

1028
00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:32,480
Speaker 6: So this is Brett Miller, who works with Norman and

1029
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 6: that's the guy who kind of kind of gabashed us,

1030
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:37,680
Speaker 6: and that that was it. I mean, that's the way

1031
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:41,919
Speaker 6: because when I took it around, everybody I talked to says,

1032
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:44,160
Speaker 6: well do you own the rights? And we go no,

1033
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:46,960
Speaker 6: and they said, well, nothing we could do for you.

1034
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:50,200
Speaker 6: And these are all friends of mine. So that's the

1035
00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:54,239
Speaker 6: way it was. I just think that, you know, they

1036
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:57,239
Speaker 6: they didn't want us involved, and they achieved their goal.

1037
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:03,520
Speaker 4: We love y'all, y'all.

1038
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:07,080
Speaker 7: Yes, our fans really kept writing us and telling us

1039
00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:08,960
Speaker 7: how much that they loved us, and we did. They

1040
00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:12,120
Speaker 7: did not like the animation, you know, they respect us

1041
00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 7: in so many different ways. So we still got our

1042
00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:15,439
Speaker 7: satisfaction out.

1043
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:16,920
Speaker 1: Of it, you know, absolutely.

1044
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:19,080
Speaker 5: And when the people don't like it, watch out.

1045
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:23,759
Speaker 10: Because they're writing and what they think people want to

1046
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 10: see you, Well, it's a disconnect.

1047
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,520
Speaker 8: It's a disconnect because that's not what the people really

1048
00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:29,000
Speaker 8: want to see.

1049
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:31,759
Speaker 10: But yeah, but you have like those pockets of people,

1050
00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:35,080
Speaker 10: like like people trying to appeal to what media is

1051
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:37,680
Speaker 10: like feeding, you know what I mean, and all that

1052
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:40,880
Speaker 10: ghetto rad shirt roach singing, and it's like how.

1053
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 8: They they see it.

1054
00:54:42,239 --> 00:54:44,919
Speaker 5: Yeah, but all of that, all of that rubbish tends

1055
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:48,440
Speaker 5: to dumb people down. You know, and that's what how

1056
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,560
Speaker 5: people will for it, you know, Like, you don't try

1057
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:55,719
Speaker 5: to make me spotted a long time to be just dumb. Yeah,

1058
00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:58,360
Speaker 5: so don't try to make me want to think. And

1059
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:02,160
Speaker 5: that's the the in my critical analysis. People must think

1060
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 5: for theirselves and solve their own problems. I guess when

1061
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:06,680
Speaker 5: you do that, you can help other people.

1062
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:09,319
Speaker 7: Yeah, I guess they felt that. You know, fifty years later,

1063
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:12,800
Speaker 7: no one would notice. We can make them look like

1064
00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:14,200
Speaker 7: the way we want them to look.

1065
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:15,840
Speaker 1: I don't know.

1066
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:19,160
Speaker 5: I've never craved for attention like that. I like, I

1067
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:23,760
Speaker 5: live an isolated life to the degree that I live alone,

1068
00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:25,920
Speaker 5: but I'm not lonely, you know. I have a loving

1069
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:29,200
Speaker 5: family that I speak to practically every week, and by

1070
00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:32,480
Speaker 5: virtue of that, my sense of grounding is a lot

1071
00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:34,520
Speaker 5: different than some people.

1072
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:37,479
Speaker 8: You know, which was in the original Good Times.

1073
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:40,879
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I am to be taken seriously because life

1074
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:42,200
Speaker 5: is serious, or.

1075
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,120
Speaker 4: Don't want the legacy at Good Time to ultimately be.

1076
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:48,279
Speaker 5: I hope that we made people enjoy the process of

1077
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:50,799
Speaker 5: a family that was able to stay cohesive and live

1078
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:55,799
Speaker 5: together in spite of the financial conditions. That we had

1079
00:55:55,840 --> 00:55:58,200
Speaker 5: a tendency to be a part of but the fact

1080
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 5: that we tried to make as many people for happy

1081
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:04,239
Speaker 5: as possible without placating them with patronizing them. We just

1082
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:06,359
Speaker 5: did our job as artists.

1083
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 7: And Good Time solved a lot of problems for people,

1084
00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:12,399
Speaker 7: showed people how you know, if you didn't have a father.

1085
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:15,319
Speaker 7: John Namis was a father type to you, your mom,

1086
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:19,120
Speaker 7: you know. So we did a lot for our people,

1087
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 7: I think, you know, and I would like it to

1088
00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:22,560
Speaker 7: stay that way.

1089
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:26,240
Speaker 5: And it helped us grow and stay grounded more than anything,

1090
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:28,239
Speaker 5: you know. I like that part about it, you know,

1091
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:31,880
Speaker 5: because I thoroughly enjoyed going to work. I was devastated,

1092
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:35,520
Speaker 5: of course when John Amis's character left, but beyond that

1093
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:39,279
Speaker 5: because I'm glad because my biological father, Ralph and John

1094
00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:41,600
Speaker 5: Amis got along life brothers, so it was you know,

1095
00:56:42,160 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 5: I had co fathers, so to speak. But the truth

1096
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:49,000
Speaker 5: of the matter is is that I think that we

1097
00:56:49,239 --> 00:56:53,399
Speaker 5: left aunt a paramount impact on people because again we're

1098
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:57,359
Speaker 5: bombarded with positive energy. I know I am, and being

1099
00:56:57,480 --> 00:57:00,120
Speaker 5: that I'm able to walk the streets of Brooklyn on

1100
00:57:00,239 --> 00:57:03,279
Speaker 5: my own, I'm able to greet some about people. I

1101
00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:05,640
Speaker 5: don't walk around the streets son, Hey, look at me,

1102
00:57:05,719 --> 00:57:10,520
Speaker 5: I'm here. No, if anything, I know when to shut down.

1103
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:12,720
Speaker 5: That's what I love about Jimmy Walker as a comedian.

1104
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:16,000
Speaker 5: He's not always on. When Jimmy's locked into what he's

1105
00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:18,840
Speaker 5: gonna do, he's gonna do it. But other than that, no,

1106
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:21,280
Speaker 5: you won't get him to say dynamite because he's already

1107
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:24,600
Speaker 5: done that. You can see the reruns. When you want

1108
00:57:24,640 --> 00:57:26,720
Speaker 5: to play that, you can do it like that. But

1109
00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:31,120
Speaker 5: I just think that working with our people here has

1110
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,880
Speaker 5: been a reward for me because I've learned a tremendous

1111
00:57:33,880 --> 00:57:36,840
Speaker 5: a lot of information from Ben and Dead and from Jimmy.

1112
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:38,760
Speaker 4: What do you want the legacy to be? Mister Walker?

1113
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:42,680
Speaker 6: You know, I really hadn't thought about it until Norman

1114
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:45,720
Speaker 6: Lear died and then everybody started jumping up and down

1115
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 6: about Norman dying and stuff like that. It really, I

1116
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:54,080
Speaker 6: hate to say it, it never crossed my mind. I never,

1117
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:57,680
Speaker 6: I never ever thought about it, just never.

1118
00:57:57,880 --> 00:57:58,440
Speaker 4: In there.

1119
00:58:00,040 --> 00:58:03,200
Speaker 6: Thinking about them girl calling girls and getting my shots

1120
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:05,280
Speaker 6: on the When I was doing the David Letterman Show,

1121
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:10,880
Speaker 6: which is my opinion, my alleged best work, I loved it.

1122
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 6: It was fabulous, you know, because Letterman started out with

1123
00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 6: me as a writer, and uh, you know my writing staff.

1124
00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:19,480
Speaker 6: I'm so proud of all those guys. Is the old

1125
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:22,480
Speaker 6: man that's dying. But it's them, I mean had Jay Leno,

1126
00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:26,640
Speaker 6: and Louis Anderson and and Elaine Boosler, who to me

1127
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:32,200
Speaker 6: represents the good in women's comedy. She has the greatest

1128
00:58:32,240 --> 00:58:34,920
Speaker 6: stuff because women. Now it's a little rough out here

1129
00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:39,160
Speaker 6: what women are doing. But Elaine wrote, great, clean, solid,

1130
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:43,960
Speaker 6: monster jokes man, and this is perfect example. You won't

1131
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 6: see this kind of joke done anymore, but this is

1132
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:50,120
Speaker 6: kind of joke she wrote. She says, men are so hypocritical.

1133
00:58:50,600 --> 00:58:52,600
Speaker 6: They want you to scream. Now, this is the best

1134
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:55,480
Speaker 6: you've ever had while swaying. You've never done this before.

1135
00:58:57,680 --> 00:59:03,720
Speaker 6: Now see that, to me is a joke. That's a solid, killer, monster,

1136
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:05,400
Speaker 6: clean joke that is.

1137
00:59:07,720 --> 00:59:07,919
Speaker 9: Well.

1138
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:13,880
Speaker 6: Please, I'm sorry all those people on your writing staff. Yeah,

1139
00:59:14,920 --> 00:59:21,960
Speaker 6: Jay Leno, Louis Anderson, Elaine Boosler, Ralphie may Byron now

1140
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:25,480
Speaker 6: started me he was fourteen years old. No, he started

1141
00:59:25,480 --> 00:59:28,520
Speaker 6: writing for me? Is doing jokes for me? I always

1142
00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:32,440
Speaker 6: tell the same thing, but it's true. He was doing comedy,

1143
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:34,680
Speaker 6: claiming he was eighteen years old at the store. Okay,

1144
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 6: got on one of my writers saw him. He says,

1145
00:59:37,480 --> 00:59:39,520
Speaker 6: do you write? He says, yeah, I do write. He says,

1146
00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:42,120
Speaker 6: could you write for Jimmy Walker? He says, ja ja Yeah.

1147
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:44,720
Speaker 6: He says, oh yeah, I could do it. So he

1148
00:59:44,960 --> 00:59:47,760
Speaker 6: calls me up. And I got Leono at the house,

1149
00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:49,480
Speaker 6: and I got Louis at the house, and I got

1150
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:51,560
Speaker 6: David let him in at the house, and I got

1151
00:59:51,680 --> 00:59:55,600
Speaker 6: Ralphie May at the house. And I said, well, says Wayne,

1152
00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:58,080
Speaker 6: Wayne the joke train says, you're good. Once you come

1153
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:00,280
Speaker 6: over the house and we'll see what you got. He says,

1154
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:02,840
Speaker 6: I'll come over, but I have to wait for my mom.

1155
01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:05,480
Speaker 6: I said, why, what's happening? He said, my mom has

1156
01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:06,439
Speaker 6: to drive me over.

1157
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:07,120
Speaker 4: Wow.

1158
01:00:07,240 --> 01:00:10,480
Speaker 6: I said, drive you over? He says, yeah, I'm fourteen

1159
01:00:10,600 --> 01:00:14,400
Speaker 6: years old. I said, oh okay. Because his mom worked

1160
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:17,160
Speaker 6: for NBC. She was she was on staff over there

1161
01:00:17,240 --> 01:00:20,600
Speaker 6: as a pr gal. Right, so it comes over. First

1162
01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 6: joke Byron never wrote for me fourteen years old. First

1163
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:25,960
Speaker 6: joke he says white people black people are much different.

1164
01:00:26,160 --> 01:00:28,040
Speaker 6: Says white people go to a movie, they don't like it.

1165
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:30,160
Speaker 6: They say, I would like my money back. This is

1166
01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:31,880
Speaker 6: what black people go to the movie. He says, I

1167
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:37,200
Speaker 6: didn't like this movie. I want everybody's money back. Fourteen

1168
01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:43,560
Speaker 6: year old that joke. Wow, see that's the kind of

1169
01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:44,280
Speaker 6: stuff I look for.

1170
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:47,600
Speaker 1: Got you And now he just mentioned it. But do

1171
01:00:47,680 --> 01:00:48,960
Speaker 1: you get tired of saying not on my.

1172
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:49,920
Speaker 4: Do people go to it?

1173
01:00:50,040 --> 01:00:50,080
Speaker 5: No?

1174
01:00:50,160 --> 01:00:50,520
Speaker 4: Don't do it?

1175
01:00:50,600 --> 01:00:52,520
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I'm not asking to say no.

1176
01:00:52,960 --> 01:00:53,560
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask.

1177
01:00:53,680 --> 01:00:53,720
Speaker 5: No.

1178
01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:56,160
Speaker 1: I would never ask. I would say, do you get tired?

1179
01:00:56,160 --> 01:00:59,040
Speaker 6: Because I mean, people don't really people don't really ask

1180
01:00:59,120 --> 01:01:02,640
Speaker 6: because the comedy crowd is different than a TV crowd.

1181
01:01:03,080 --> 01:01:07,919
Speaker 6: You know, they come, if that's all I did, people go, well,

1182
01:01:08,200 --> 01:01:10,720
Speaker 6: it wasn't worth paying to see this guy because that's

1183
01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:13,800
Speaker 6: all he did. But when you see my act, people go,

1184
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:17,240
Speaker 6: you know, I think some of the best comments I've

1185
01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:19,560
Speaker 6: ever got. My guys who are valets because I travel

1186
01:01:19,600 --> 01:01:21,480
Speaker 6: every week to do the road, they go, hey, man,

1187
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:24,600
Speaker 6: we saw that specially did with Michael Winslow. You know,

1188
01:01:24,760 --> 01:01:28,040
Speaker 6: we always knew you were funny. This is much better

1189
01:01:28,120 --> 01:01:30,680
Speaker 6: than I ever thought that you had. I didn't know

1190
01:01:30,760 --> 01:01:32,960
Speaker 6: you had this kind of stuff. That to me is

1191
01:01:33,080 --> 01:01:34,640
Speaker 6: like a great compliment.

1192
01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:35,440
Speaker 8: I like that.

1193
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:38,400
Speaker 4: I just feel like a white man asking you to dance.

1194
01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:44,320
Speaker 1: No, I don't.

1195
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:44,600
Speaker 10: You know.

1196
01:01:44,720 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 6: People ask, but I don't really do it, but I have.

1197
01:01:48,920 --> 01:01:51,720
Speaker 6: I never did it in my act until recently. I

1198
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:54,320
Speaker 6: found a spot for it and it works great. So

1199
01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:57,920
Speaker 6: it's a very good piece. I have to admit that

1200
01:01:57,960 --> 01:01:59,920
Speaker 6: I wrote it myself. Thank you. I can't really do

1201
01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:02,000
Speaker 6: it now, and it's not dirty. I don't do any

1202
01:02:02,080 --> 01:02:04,800
Speaker 6: dirt or anything like that. That's another thing. I grew

1203
01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:07,480
Speaker 6: up in the non dirt area. And there's only I'm

1204
01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:12,120
Speaker 6: not kidding, allegedly there's nine thousand comics making twenty five

1205
01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:14,840
Speaker 6: thousand or more up to the Dave Chappelle two hundred

1206
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:18,439
Speaker 6: thousand a night kind of level. I would say there's

1207
01:02:18,560 --> 01:02:21,840
Speaker 6: no more other than the religious guys, the Ricky Smiley

1208
01:02:21,920 --> 01:02:24,880
Speaker 6: type of cats. I would say there's no more than

1209
01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:31,400
Speaker 6: twenty five clean guys in America and girl girls. I'm stunned.

1210
01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:40,840
Speaker 6: I don't think there's any Well, no, she's not a joke.

1211
01:02:41,880 --> 01:02:49,240
Speaker 6: I don't think. I to me, I haven't I got

1212
01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:54,360
Speaker 6: she's got. I got Wendie Leeman, I got Ellen DeGeneres,

1213
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:57,680
Speaker 6: I got elayinne Boozler. And I'm going to add on

1214
01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:00,840
Speaker 6: three more just for the kicks. That maybe I left out.

1215
01:03:01,160 --> 01:03:04,480
Speaker 6: I don't think there's ten clean women comics in America.

1216
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:09,160
Speaker 6: I don't think there are. I mean, maybe there's somebody

1217
01:03:09,240 --> 01:03:12,640
Speaker 6: I'm missing. I have not met them. And see, when

1218
01:03:12,680 --> 01:03:16,640
Speaker 6: I started, women were the cleanest. They were talking about

1219
01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:20,360
Speaker 6: their husbands or their boyfriends. And I think the joke

1220
01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:23,080
Speaker 6: I just did by Elaine or if you look at

1221
01:03:23,520 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 6: Ellen that that to me is the hardest stuff to do.

1222
01:03:28,520 --> 01:03:32,959
Speaker 6: That And women now they're talking about their sexual act.

1223
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:36,240
Speaker 6: From the beginning, I met this guy and I went

1224
01:03:36,320 --> 01:03:38,560
Speaker 6: home and I did this and I did that, and

1225
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:43,439
Speaker 6: he couldn't do it. You go, hey, easy, I don't

1226
01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:45,840
Speaker 6: want to know about all that. You know, that kind

1227
01:03:45,840 --> 01:03:46,400
Speaker 6: of stuff like that.

1228
01:03:46,520 --> 01:03:47,880
Speaker 4: They call you back, you don't want to know about

1229
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:51,440
Speaker 4: all I'm not in a public setting.

1230
01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:54,680
Speaker 6: If they do it on stage, I mean they talk

1231
01:03:54,720 --> 01:03:57,360
Speaker 6: about it on stage where you just go.

1232
01:03:58,080 --> 01:04:02,480
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm on you to be funny.

1233
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:06,280
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's it, you know. And see, I tell comics

1234
01:04:06,360 --> 01:04:08,760
Speaker 6: all the time, whether they're women or men, if you

1235
01:04:08,920 --> 01:04:11,800
Speaker 6: do the F word or whatever, if you only do

1236
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:14,959
Speaker 6: it once, it will have more impact than just saying

1237
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:17,480
Speaker 6: it all the time, all the time, all the time.

1238
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:20,400
Speaker 6: If you say it once or twice, it will have

1239
01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:23,760
Speaker 6: tremendous impact. You know, I always bring up and I

1240
01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:26,240
Speaker 6: don't mean the curse about anything, but I always bring

1241
01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:31,440
Speaker 6: up Cosby, who I think is the most devastating thing

1242
01:04:31,480 --> 01:04:34,040
Speaker 6: I've gone through with the Cosby thing because I opened

1243
01:04:34,080 --> 01:04:38,760
Speaker 6: for Cosby for like two three years and I knew

1244
01:04:38,760 --> 01:04:40,800
Speaker 6: they had a lot of women. That was the thing

1245
01:04:40,920 --> 01:04:44,440
Speaker 6: that But see, to me, this is Camille's problem. It's

1246
01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:48,240
Speaker 6: not our problem. It's Camille's problem. And I think what

1247
01:04:48,520 --> 01:04:51,160
Speaker 6: killed Cosby, and I say this all the time, was

1248
01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,040
Speaker 6: that he got on and he stood on top of

1249
01:04:54,160 --> 01:05:00,680
Speaker 6: a mountain saying, I'm America's dad, follow me, pull your

1250
01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:04,320
Speaker 6: pants up. Don't use language. I think, and I've always

1251
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:07,400
Speaker 6: used this line. It's true. I think if he hadn't

1252
01:05:07,480 --> 01:05:10,920
Speaker 6: done that, if he hadn't been such the guy to

1253
01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:13,880
Speaker 6: just say you can't do this, I think it would

1254
01:05:13,880 --> 01:05:16,880
Speaker 6: have gone away. And I used this. If it had

1255
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:21,960
Speaker 6: been Mick Jagger, nobody would have said anything, because you know,

1256
01:05:22,160 --> 01:05:25,440
Speaker 6: Mick Jagger has had more women than Cosbrey's had. But

1257
01:05:25,560 --> 01:05:28,040
Speaker 6: you'll never know about it because you go, it's the

1258
01:05:28,200 --> 01:05:33,360
Speaker 6: Rolling Stones, man, what do you expect? But Cosmy gives us.

1259
01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:36,520
Speaker 6: I would never do that. I raised my kids, I've

1260
01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:39,680
Speaker 6: done my so you got to come down off the mountain. Sometimes,

1261
01:05:39,800 --> 01:05:41,880
Speaker 6: unless you're totally innocent.

1262
01:05:41,600 --> 01:05:44,240
Speaker 4: You agree with that take. You agree with that take?

1263
01:05:44,760 --> 01:05:50,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, way, you know, well, we appreciate you guys for

1264
01:05:50,320 --> 01:05:50,720
Speaker 1: joining us.

1265
01:05:50,760 --> 01:05:53,919
Speaker 8: Fifteen the lyrics to the theme song.

1266
01:05:55,040 --> 01:05:55,760
Speaker 4: You'll all know that.

1267
01:05:56,200 --> 01:05:58,160
Speaker 6: No, I don't know it. I think Rolf knows it.

1268
01:05:58,400 --> 01:06:02,000
Speaker 5: Just looking out of the window watching yesphalt girl, seeing

1269
01:06:02,040 --> 01:06:04,680
Speaker 5: how it all looks. Tear me down, but you're keeping

1270
01:06:04,720 --> 01:06:07,720
Speaker 5: your head above water, making a wave when you can.

1271
01:06:08,520 --> 01:06:14,120
Speaker 5: Temporary layoffs, good times, easy credit, ripall good time, scratching

1272
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:17,760
Speaker 5: and surviving, good good times. Hanging in a child line.

1273
01:06:19,440 --> 01:06:21,120
Speaker 1: That's how I have.

1274
01:06:23,120 --> 01:06:26,080
Speaker 8: Yes, it is hanging in versions, hanging in.

1275
01:06:26,560 --> 01:06:29,800
Speaker 5: Ting and and driving. But also I have on document

1276
01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:35,960
Speaker 5: and my archive hanging in the child, so they versions

1277
01:06:36,080 --> 01:06:39,880
Speaker 5: of it. However, it really caught on the way that

1278
01:06:40,000 --> 01:06:45,360
Speaker 5: the wonderful Ja wrote this the the soundtrack for moving

1279
01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:48,960
Speaker 5: on Up for the Jeffersons do Wise, there is the

1280
01:06:49,040 --> 01:06:52,200
Speaker 5: writer and the musician and the vocalist that sings that song,

1281
01:06:52,800 --> 01:06:56,880
Speaker 5: so that in itself, when you deal with themed songs,

1282
01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:59,280
Speaker 5: and when we were coming on y'all were grace is

1283
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:01,959
Speaker 5: enough to play for us. So it was a nice

1284
01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:05,280
Speaker 5: way to walk into your sound studio, and we thank you.

1285
01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:07,520
Speaker 4: So the mystery continued. We still don't know if it's

1286
01:07:07,560 --> 01:07:08,240
Speaker 4: hanging in the child.

1287
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:13,000
Speaker 8: Hanging, it's hanging in and giving.

1288
01:07:13,760 --> 01:07:15,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what it is, Anderne. They're not going to

1289
01:07:15,640 --> 01:07:17,040
Speaker 5: have this going on for a while.

1290
01:07:19,920 --> 01:07:22,200
Speaker 7: Jim Jim Gilsdraft, the one who sung it, told me.

1291
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:24,640
Speaker 7: He said it was hanging in and giving.

1292
01:07:25,640 --> 01:07:26,160
Speaker 8: That's what it was.

1293
01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:28,160
Speaker 7: But it came off I don't know if it was

1294
01:07:28,200 --> 01:07:30,680
Speaker 7: the annunciation of it or not, but it came off

1295
01:07:30,960 --> 01:07:33,480
Speaker 7: as hanging in a chow line. It sounds that way,

1296
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:35,720
Speaker 7: but it really was hanging in and giving.

1297
01:07:35,800 --> 01:07:38,160
Speaker 5: And there's a second verse that people have never heard

1298
01:07:38,200 --> 01:07:41,600
Speaker 5: that goes to the same song. So the information that

1299
01:07:41,800 --> 01:07:44,160
Speaker 5: I do have it has what I'm saying.

1300
01:07:44,360 --> 01:07:45,040
Speaker 1: That's a little.

1301
01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:47,880
Speaker 8: Singing in the shower.

1302
01:07:48,400 --> 01:07:51,760
Speaker 5: So you guys have been wonderful. I thank you for

1303
01:07:51,920 --> 01:07:55,080
Speaker 5: thinking enough of us. Again to your listening audience, we

1304
01:07:55,240 --> 01:07:58,920
Speaker 5: thank you again for wonderful fifty years. May you be

1305
01:07:59,040 --> 01:08:01,480
Speaker 5: blessed by every do you breathe in every beat of

1306
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:02,080
Speaker 5: your heart.

1307
01:08:03,040 --> 01:08:03,800
Speaker 4: Thank you very much.

1308
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:06,120
Speaker 1: That's right. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, thank you.

1309
01:08:06,480 --> 01:08:09,640
Speaker 6: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club