WEBVTT - INTERVIEW: 'JJ' Walker, BernNadette Stanis & Ralph Carter Talk 'Good Times, Animated Reboot, Comedy + More 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:05.120 Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.920 Everybody is the j n V. Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.240 We are the Breakfast Club. We got some special legends 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.280 in the man. Come on, now, this is special one 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.400 right here, legends of the building. Come on, it's the 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.439 cast of Good Times. Fifty years of good Times. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.680 We got Michael, Thelma and JJ well Carter and Bernadette 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:23.680 Stainers and Jimmy Walker. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.200 That's right, all right, Good morning, guys. How y'all feeling 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:26.760 good morning? 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:27.680 Breakfast Club? 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:30.840 How y'all feeling man? Fifty years a good Times? 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.120 Wow? 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.839 I know wow, and we're still going strong. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.680 Did y'all know Good Times was going to make the market? 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:39.880 It made well? 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.200 I didn't, No, I had no idea. 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.879 No, we didn't, but we're very grateful it did. Yeah, 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.880 thank you to the listeners were. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.720 Hands well from the beginning. Let's start, how did it 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:54.040 come about? How did Good. 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.320 Times come about? And how did you guys audition? 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:58.200 And how did it make because during that time there 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.960 wasn't too many of us on television, So how did 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:01.520 it come about? 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:02.600 Well? 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:10.880 And he is black, you know, they joking me all 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:11.520 the time, and I'm black. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:19.600 But well, it started with me being in a beauty pageant, 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.680 you know, and from there, Uh, there was a manager 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.240 watching me in the beauty pageant and gave my mother 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.200 a card to say, they're looking for a teenager to 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.280 be in the show and meet Norman Lear at CBS, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.319 you know. So we went up there. But there were 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.679 thousands of girls when I opened the door. So, I mean, 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:40.840 but that's how it started with me. 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:42.160 You were a teenager, all good? 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.240 Huh yeah, oh you eighteen? 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:49.760 Oh okay, have mercy, okay, yeah, all right, okay, he's 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.720 still beautiful, absolutely so. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.560 And then you know, after a couple of months, I 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:57.240 thought I didn't get it, you know, because I didn't 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.559 hear back from them. And then I did get the call. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.320 My mom got the call that I was Thelma, and 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.480 so they flew me out to California. That's how it 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:06.120 happened for me. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.440 Wow, what about you, Miss Carton. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.519 By the time I began to work with Norman Lear, 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.120 I had been in my sixth Broadway play. By that time, 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.880 I met during my journey with Miss Jane Murray and 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.120 also Pat Kirkland. These were two wonderful women who I 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.480 auditioned for when I went there. However, I literally had 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.040 the job before I got the job. My contract was 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.480 brought from The Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.560 We did the version of the musical play. By that 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.040 time I had won the Tony Award nomination that year 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.400 in seventy four. However, as a result of that, Norman 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.080 would consistently he came more than twice to see my 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.520 work and flew my mother and I out to the 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.800 state of California. I you know, I was reluctant because 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.440 they always said it never rains in California, and I 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.040 was excited. It main for three months when I got 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:04.040 and there are any illusions about Hollywood were always neutralized 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.480 as far as our concern. So I'm very grateful to 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.480 have not only worked with and still love Jimmy Walker 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.080 and Bernadette. But we give respect to the spirit of 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.160 Miss Esther Rolene du Bois, and to Johnny Brown who 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:22.320 played Bookman, to Helen Martin who played Weeping Wonder. These 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.240 are wonderful people that helped us along the way. Of course, 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.120 to mister Ben Powers as well Albert Reed who played 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:33.440 the Alderman. These are the people who accentuated what we did. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.080 Of course, we're working with the wonderful Debbie Allen and 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.320 the work that she contributed to our production, so we 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:40.520 thank you. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.360 What about you, mister Walker, Well, I'm just a hard 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.880 core stand up. That's it. That's all I do. I'm 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.960 just a stand up to the core. So I was 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:55.840 working in prov me, David Brynner, Bett Mittler, Pat Benatar, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.680 all of us together. We had a comedy team named 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.840 Edmund and Curly. They work all the time in those days, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.120 and they couldn't do the job. They were doing like 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.720 three shows a day. They said, hey, man, we were 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.600 supposed to do these warm ups for this show called 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.800 Luci's Department. We can't make it. Do you want to 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.080 do take our place and do the warm up thing? 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:19.720 And I said, I don't even know what the warm 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:21.560 up is. Never heard of it, you know that kind 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.240 of stuff like that. And they said, they said, look, 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:26.960 they go over there. It's like on fifty seventh and 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.039 eleventh or twelfth. You go over there and you do 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.040 like a half hour you tell people's shows about. And 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:35.960 I said, I don't want to do it. They say, well, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.279 it's eight hundred dollars. I said, well, who do I 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.520 have to kill. I'm in, I said, I'm in. So 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.840 I went over there. I did the warm up and 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.920 luckily there was a few laughs in there. So everybody 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.800 comes up after the show and they go, man, you 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.960 are funny. You need to be on this show, you 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.599 need to do this thing. I said, Well, in those days, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.520 and I still believe this is this day. Everybody in 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.840 this business there's no truth at all. Everybody is something 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.680 until you ask for something. They go, well, I was 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.400 in charge of that, but now I'm not in charge 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.560 of that. My friend is in charge. Everybody's a liar. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.200 So until my line, and I always say this, everybody 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.880 is full of Dodo until proven a complete a hole. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.800 That's just everybody lies. That's just me. Freddie Prinz, David Brennan, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.919 Robert Climbed, Richard Lewis, all the guys we said, liars. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:35.039 So Pat Kirklin comes up and says, hey, we're doing 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:36.760 this show in Los Angeles. We want to be on 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.479 the show. I go, she's a liar, so you just go. 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.440 I said. So you always say when people ask you 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.839 to do something, oh yeah, I'm in. See you there anyway, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.320 So you'll never hear from them again. And everybody women 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:54.600 are liars. Everybody's a liar, so that's it. So I said, yeah, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.640 I'll be in it. So the next week, I'm not 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:58.679 even paying any attention. I go do the warm ups. 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.240 Luckily I killed. So Norman Lear is there at that time. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.080 He says, hey, man, you are funny because I just 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.000 did the Rodan Martin show. They had called and do 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.000 the Ronald Martin thing. So he says, do you want 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.040 to be on this show? I said yeah. He says, 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.039 we're going to send you a contract. So I knew 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.680 he's a liar. So I said, look, don't even send 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.720 the contract in my house. Send it to the improv. 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.280 So I'm not paying any attention. I'm going out. I'm 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.920 doing my dates. I won this thing called a Napti thing, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.000 and a Napti thing is where you go do college 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.240 tours and you compete against other people to do it. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.800 So they bring in a whole bunch of acts. So 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.440 I was on the show. Edmund Curley again said you 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.960 need to do the Nafti thing. I did the nafty thing. 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.920 They said, you're going to do the region of the Midwest. 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:50.880 You're going to do South Dakota and North Dakota, Iowa 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.360 that kind of stuff like that, and if you win it, 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.600 you could get a whole thing. So I came in 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.599 second because you get a whole bunch of colleges. I 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.320 came in second. The winner was BB King. He won 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.200 one hundred and fifty dates. I won ninety dates. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:05.520 B B. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.920 King was the winner. So we're out doing dates and 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.120 you know, I'm just bouncing around. So I get a 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:17.880 call from J D. Jorman's Fargo, North Dakota doing dates 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.360 and evand Cody said, these people have never seen a 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.640 black person in their lives. You'll kill on this thing. 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.960 So luckily I was killing on the thing and j 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.960 Jo says, well where are you. I said, I'm in Fargo, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.320 North Dakota. She says, you belong in Los Angeles. I said, 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.200 I know, I'd belong in Los Angeles, but I had 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.360 no reason to be there. So they said, no, we 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:41.400 sent you a ticket to the improv. So I wasn't 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.680 in New York at the time, so I never got 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.600 the ticket if I was on the road doing my thing. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.640 So she says, look, get on the plane. We have 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:55.360 a ticket waiting for you in Fargo. I thought she's 0:07:55.400 --> 0:08:00.000 a liar. So what I said, have optimistic, Yes, positive 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:06.680 people have live They lie, women lie, they lie. It's 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.640 just a constant thing. It's just. 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:12.920 So. 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.840 Then I go to Los Angeles. My man, Steve Lansburg 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:18.920 is on the show. You guys don't even remember this guy. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.160 It's the Barbie Darren Show. He was a day player 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.000 on the Barbie Darren Show. So I said, hey, Lansburg, Chalkman. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:26.640 Used to call him Chalkman because he had all this 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.280 white stuff that he used to do in the chalk Man. 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.440 We got to do some shows while we're out here. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.480 So I went to the I went to the comedy store. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.600 I'm doing shows. I go back to bed at like 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.120 three o'clock in the morning, get a call JD Joe. 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.360 She says, where are you? I said, we're my bed sleeping. 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.359 She says, well, you belong across the street. We're doing rehearsals. 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.680 I said, rehearsal for what. She says, there's a show 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.560 called good Times. You signed on to the show? I 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:57.000 had signed on to it at the improv. Yeah, because 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.319 I didn't believe him, because he's a liar. So horrible contract. No, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.920 they had a contract. Kenny the Drunk who was a lawyer, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.200 was at the bar. I said, Kenny, is this any good? 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.000 He said, yeah, I think so sign it. I'll send 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.480 it back for you. And I thought, I said, Kenny 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.040 is a drunk. He's not going to send He's a live, 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.800 he's not going to send it. So then he sent 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.600 it back. So I was on the show and I 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:27.839 had no idea the contract. Yeah, he's my man, here's 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:33.600 a live the whole time. So Kenny signed me up 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:35.680 for it. So I was in. So I go to 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.280 the rehearsal and there's a whole bunch of people there 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:40.560 at the rehearsal because I didn't even know we had 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.440 a script because they said this the script downstairs. I said, 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.880 I'm going back to bed because I'm not going downstairs 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:47.680 to get a script because they're lying. I don't have time. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.000 So I went. I got the script and I looked 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.280 at it and I'm sitting next to Normally. I didn't 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.439 know who normally it was, because we're always working at 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.840 that time. You know, if you're if you're a night 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.160 Love comic, you know, I'm following Robert Klein and following 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.880 Steve Martin. I'm worried about holding my spot at the 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.360 endprov that's tough enough, you know, as a battle. You know, 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:13.680 Robert Klein's there, Bets singing songs. We got Pat Benatar singing, 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:15.560 and so I said, I better have my little act 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.120 together to hang in there because it's a fight for 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.600 the spots to get on. So I go and I'm 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:24.920 reading the script and I'm sitting next to Norman. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.120 I said, huh okay. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.680 And I'm reading the script and I said, a guy 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.760 next to me like you normally. I said, man, this sucks. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.839 What is this? I said. He said, we're going to 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:39.040 do a TV show. I said, really, I said, you're 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.200 a liar. It's not going to happen. It's terrible. So 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.360 now we finished the rehearsal and Norman Leary and Ala 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.080 Man Bruce comes up and he says, hey, you know, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.360 you know you have some problems with the script. You 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.520 can't be blasting out loud about how people stink. You 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.360 have to like bring it down a little bit. So 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.120 as a comic, people tell you how bad you stink 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.560 all the time. People always go, you suck, You're a 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.320 piece of garbage, you're no good at all, and you 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.720 finish and there's always that couple of people that go, 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.520 we love you here, but then when you go out, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.000 you know, we had Andy Kauflan and Andy Kafflan was 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.199 one of those guys you stink, So that kind of 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:24.280 thing you just have to keep going. And so from 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.000 then on we did the show, and I was always 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:27.720 throwing stuff in and people got upset. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:29.360 So when did you stop thinking people was liar? 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.160 Never? I think it now. People, I mean agents are liars. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:38.040 They're all liars. No, very few people. People want to 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.560 be bigger than what they are. And the big people 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.560 you never meet them. They're in a big glass tower 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:49.400 upstairs on the ninetieth floor. So you know, even if 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.760 like berniand Ella to you, even if meet the girl 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.679 said give me your number, I know she's lying because 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:56.680 she's not going to give you the number. And then 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.559 with the horrible things with the cell phones, they don't answer. 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:05.120 You text them, you email them. They just they sit 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.319 in their room and they sit with their girlfriends and 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:12.520 they start laughing. They go this moron I met at Walmart. 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.160 He asked for my number. I was busy. I gave 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.079 him my number because I know I'm never going to 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:25.520 talk to my answers emails. Ever again, once in a 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.600 while somebody will come through, but. 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:34.400 Very very rarely, and the girl, the girl would be nice, 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:40.800 and some girls will go some girls will go uh. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.000 And I learned this from a friend of mine who 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:44.880 happens to be a girl. And she said a very 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.040 interesting thing. She said, you know, if you want to 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.120 get rid of a guy and he asked you to 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.400 go out, say, you know, like if she's a girl, 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.880 I asked you to go out. I say, what is 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.840 your name feeling? Jess? I say, hey, Jess, you know, 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.320 why don't we, you know, go to uh, go to 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.280 their four seesons and have dinner, just start laughing ahead, 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:16.280 that's what they do. Are you serious? Really? No, it 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.120 wasn't lucky yet. But it was a girl that showed promise, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:25.079 she answered, she answered, And I was like, really, sometimes 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.280 sometimes you're so stunnd one did call back. I was, 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:30.240 I was stunned. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:31.640 How many times do you give your number out to 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:32.080 these women? 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.080 I'm available anybody, but see they they and I've said 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.520 the girls, hey, let's go in the cruise together, and 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:51.160 they just go, They just go. 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:56.440 Their adults they. 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.360 Just start laughing. 0:13:58.679 --> 0:13:58.920 You know. 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.080 I hear my toasts popping up. I have to go, 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.880 so there's no there's no honest woman. And then the 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.120 phrase I always hate to hear. You know I'm a 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.000 single mom, and you just go, okay, okay, I got it. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.240 You know I can't be worried about that or you 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:26.320 know what happened. I never connection, but anyway, go ahead, 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:27.200 talk about the ship. 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.400 That's that's how I got got good time. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:32.000 That's what I just said. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:32.520 Iver got it. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.880 But I've never I've never I've never i never auditioned 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:42.360 for any show ever. I've never auditioned for a show him. 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.360 I've never auditioned, I never tried out. I never tolerate 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:48.000 him because. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:55.200 This just like I'm doing, just like people just see 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:55.840 my afternoon. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.800 Let's hire this guy. 0:14:58.680 --> 0:14:59.720 And we know how to do that. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:00.840 We'll let them go. 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.080 How much of y'all real lives did you implement in 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.560 these characters? You know, especially you know you missed the 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:09.760 Carter because Michael was like one of the most pro 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.720 black figures that early on we ever saw them. 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.080 Well originally from Brooklyn, Brenda Dead and I both from Brownsville, 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.440 giving our shout out to Brownsville Grafton Street. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:20.840 You do Martain Blake. 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.200 That's where I used to live when I was growing 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.080 up in the heart of Brooklyn. However, my point is 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.000 that by virtue of the fact that I grew up 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:32.480 in an African American church, one of the most memorable 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.480 productions we ever did on good Times when we had 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.600 the Black Jesus. However, what happened in my case is 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.920 that I physically grew up with, like the wonderful images 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.400 in this fantastic sound room, that I grew up with 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.160 people who look like that on the walls of my church. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.240 So it was almost a form of symbiosis when the 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.880 good times parallel came up with how I was able 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.120 to see that. But due to the fact that we 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.960 were able to locate in the verses of the Bible, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.560 the example that is used hair of wool, skin of bronze, 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.160 and like me in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. You know, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.760 I was a kid, but I got some unkind male 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.320 But I was abdull from all of that by just 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.360 taking myself to another level and not deal with the 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:19.000 riff rap. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.000 I love the episode of when You Broke Down That 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.400 boy Boy Mama. Boy is a white racist word. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.040 And it still is what I love about what we've 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.000 done together as a team is that I'd rather be 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.280 relevant than a relic. And because of the fact that 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.280 people who are genuinely very kind to us, I know 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.840 from my personal experience, we're bombarded with positive energy. So 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.960 I believe that the human beings very difficult to be 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:47.960 negative when you're always being given good energy from the 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.600 people that we meet. And I'm personally indebted to the 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.320 people who viewed our work, the people who continue to 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.400 like our work, And all I can say is, thank you. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:58.640 We respect that. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.520 How much of dumb would you miss, Bernadette Oh with me? 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.200 A lot of my character was, you know, the way 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.520 I was. I grew up in a family you know, 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.880 five well they're five children, you know, I'm the oldest, 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.439 and a mom and dad, and so you know, my 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.960 father would always say, even though it was in the projects, 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:16.960 he always say, what's around you does not have to 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.280 be in you. And that's kind of how we were. 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.480 So I knew my character and that young girls in 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.840 the projects do grow up to be become someone, you know, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.240 I strive to be the good girl, you know, and 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.199 you know, the positive person so very much. So the 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.960 character is very much like who I was then. 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.720 But Bernadette consistently he has always had high standard and 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.359 she has never belivers herself in that context. 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.560 What about you, mister Walker, how much of you with JJ? 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.399 Well, goat. I remember, I'm a comic. So we just 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.560 we just sit around and all we do is jokes. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.320 That's it. It's just jokes every day, every hour, every battle, 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.760 every whatever. That's all we do. And at that time, 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.920 Johnny Carson was it. So our main goal in life 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.639 was to get on the Johnny Carson Show. Because if 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:10.720 you get on the Johnny Carson Show the next day, 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.200 you can draw, and that's the key thing. You must 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.919 be able to draw, put tushies in the seats. I 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.720 don't care how great you think you are, you what 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:24.399 you are. It's like now with Netflix, your goal in life, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:31.199 nothing else counts. Mom, dad, family, Get on Netflix and 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.480 take your shot. So in terms of my thing of 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.119 being on the show, I wanted to get on Johnny Carson, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.119 I didn't want to do anything else. So you just 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:40.160 wrote jokes all day. 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:43.639 How did you feel when you know? 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.520 Eesterole and John Amos they said they used to criticize 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.679 your characters, saying it was a poor role model for 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.040 black teenagers back then. 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.240 Well at that time, I was not really aware of it. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.320 You got to remember, we didn't have media like we 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:01.240 had now and with our cast. For me, I didn't 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:06.040 really it's going to sound strange. I never watched the show. 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.679 I never really John is a great actor. He I mean, 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.440 he's probably one of the best black actors in America. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.520 I'm best actor in general. I didn't really talk to John, 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.440 so I didn't really know him. And Esther, I don't 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.880 think in my humble I don't think i've ever Bernadette 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.879 was very close with Esta, very very very close. I 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.040 don't think I ever said a word to Esther because 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:33.080 being in a comedy lineup of like thirty guys you 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:37.359 don't and girls too, you don't. Really there's people you 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.040 just you know, you never talk to. I mean, you know, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.840 there's people you talk to all the time, and then 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.640 I maybe you may talk to ten guys all the time, 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.080 and there's another ten guys you never talk to at all. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.520 You don't know them, you see them, and you just 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.840 so I'm used to not mingling with some guys. That's it, 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.200 that's the reality of it all. 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.000 I was gonna ask after Good Times, was it difficult 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.800 to get other parts in movies and sitcoms and things 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.000 like that, because people look at you as characters of 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.560 Good Times, Like when I see you, I still see Michael, 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:13.920 like I still see No, I still see JJ And 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.840 I was a kid like when I was coming up, 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:18.600 there was only I think at the time, it was. 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.200 Your show and what's his name? 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:24.160 Jefferson? 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.680 Nope, before the Sun and that was the only two. Yeah, 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.320 I would see blacks on television. So was it difficult 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:30.679 after that. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.159 No. As a matter of fact, my transition, once I 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.320 finished Good Times, I still had to complete high school. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.120 So after I did my works in high school. 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.200 I went back to high school. 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.120 I completed. I graduated on June sixth, nineteen seventy nine, 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.520 which was a Friday, along with my colleague Lawrence Fishburn. 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:49.840 We were in the ninth grade together and we went 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:53.600 all through that part of our education together as brothers. 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.720 My point being that once I completed the work in 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.440 Good Times, I was also invited to the wonderful nation 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.960 of Nigeria, and at that time I couldn't wait to 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.920 get to West Africa. The point being that I grew 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.080 up in an apple centric consciousness and due to men 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.520 like Jimmy Walker. He's one of the most well read 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.639 men I've ever met, so he became a blueprint for 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:18.960 me as far as wanting to know information, I figured, 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:22.000 if I love and respect the history of not just Africa, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:26.000 but the global experience, because you know, everybody here is 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.200 a human We belong here. You know, if you ain't 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:29.840 come on earth to do your thing, then what you 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:31.919 come here for, If you ain't come here to be 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.280 the best you can while you're here, and what you 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.919 come here for. So my point is that I wanted 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:39.760 to make it and I did make it my business 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.280 to read as many books that related to my particular 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.679 subject matter. I originally went to Los Angeles Community College 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.000 in my early years and majored in poetry there. Then 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.440 from there I moved to meet up with a man 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.680 named doctor John Henry Clark, who became my primary mentor. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.439 Through him, I met of the phenomenal historians like Joseph 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:06.480 Vijaik and doctor Ivan and Curdemer, the brilliance of Amos Wilson, 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:11.919 who wrote just consistential books that helped to heal our people, 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.880 because in this culture, we've all been wounded and we're 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:18.840 still in the process of repairing ourselves. But we must 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:22.200 understand this time around, ain't nobody coming to our rescue. 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:24.520 Therefore you must rescue yourself. 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:26.840 So you bought all the energy to Michael because the 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:28.280 ain't no white people can write that character. 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.760 I'm very grateful two men like Eric Monty and Michael 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:37.080 Evans due to the fact that Eric is from in 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.480 Chicago from Cabrini Green. One of the highlights of working 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.280 on the show was that consecutively for three years, due 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:45.919 to the genius of esther role, she asked us to 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:50.400 join and participate in the Bud Billiken Day Parade, which 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:53.720 very popular in Chicago. But also there were people who 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.200 lived in Cabrini Green who knew that Burneddett, myself, Jennet 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:01.119 de Wis Esther of course, were coming in advance. And 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.040 these are times when John blessed my father's heart because 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:06.800 he is one of the people on good times that 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.640 I worked long before. I haven't worked in that production. 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:12.080 But my point is that some of the residents in 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:15.960 those wonderful complexes, they physically invited us to have dinner 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:20.040 with us. I'm talking delicious food. But the Calmoradity was there, 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:23.320 so I think it helped us to be authentic because 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:25.680 during the time I worked on Good Times, I never 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.600 saw the show. I was forbidden to watch the show. 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:33.000 John Namis and Esther Rolle told my mother Lucille, who 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:36.920 fortunately lived to be ninety seven and she would be 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.119 one hundred and one this year. But my point is 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.520 that my mother kept me grounded and listened to what 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:44.840 esther Role and John Ames told her to do. Don't 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:46.919 let him watch the show due to the fact that 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:52.040 sometimes children tend to imitate their selves, so they wanted 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:55.440 me to stay as authentic and it was organic as possible. 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:59.439 So I didn't really understand the bombardment of people at 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:01.960 that time, you know, coming after me for years. I 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:06.679 stopped wearing jewelry because people thought they had the pivot 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:08.240 of the right to snatch it off of me. I 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:10.159 was like, yoh, man, you know, you know, this is 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:12.720 a ninety dollars shirt in nineteen seventies and you just 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:16.520 made my shirt my shirt. 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:16.679 You know. 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:20.840 So with that said, it also is a very humbling 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:24.199 experience because ultimately, anyway you look at it, you just 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:25.680 got to treat people the way you want to be 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.760 treated and that is my personal philosophy. 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:31.760 Well, what was stardom like back then, Miss Bernie Dead 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:32.840 like in that era? 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:37.119 Well, back then, it wasn't that many black stars there. 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:40.879 So was this like a handful of us and you 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:44.919 know Red Fox, Richard pryor those kind of people, you know, 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.119 and they would have parties or whatever, and you know, 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:51.040 they would invite just a handful who was there. But 0:24:51.160 --> 0:24:54.040 other than that, it wasn't a lot of us there. Yeah, 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:56.400 so it was kind of empty in a way. 0:24:57.520 --> 0:25:00.320 How was it when you did the covered Jet magazine? Oh? 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:02.800 I Sutton took a picture. He was a friend of 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:06.119 mine and he's invited me over to eat. He would 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:08.040 cook like eight course meals for me. 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:10.600 I mean, just me. I'm like, come on, you know. 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:12.440 So then we take the pictures. 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:18.600 And so you know, it was just Jane Kennedy then 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:22.120 and me and people like that. So he just said 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:24.040 he wanted to do a cover for me, and he 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:25.200 did it and I was. 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:25.640 On the cover. 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:28.960 Wow, that's different though. You're on the cover of Jet 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:29.880 magazine back then. 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:34.200 Yeah, and also one inside the Week the centerfold and 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:36.439 I did that one too. 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:38.879 And you knew you were popular when you're black and 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:41.280 you on the cover of Ebney and Jet. Yeah, I said, 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:44.040 oh lord, I know we on a lot of other magazines, 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:46.560 but when you were received by your own people, it 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:50.040 has a different type of connection. And I say that 0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:52.600 because of the fact that who would have thought that 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:54.880 he was going to be on the covers of those 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:57.520 and I regardless of maybe the topics that they were 0:25:57.560 --> 0:26:00.359 talking about, we still were well received by the people. 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:03.920 And there is no show without the people to participate 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:05.840 with us, so we thank them. 0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:08.320 What was the most difficult episode to shoot for me? 0:26:08.640 --> 0:26:13.399 It was actually the contradiction of a character came to 0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:15.960 the show in the script where there was a Caucasian 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:17.760 young woman who I was supposed to have an on 0:26:17.840 --> 0:26:21.600 screen kiss with right then, and then my antennae went 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:24.600 up because it would destroy everything I had built with 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:27.800 that particular character as far as as pro pan Africanism is. 0:26:28.960 --> 0:26:30.879 Love you for that, I remember that. 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:34.719 Yeah, So what I did do I took my grievances 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:37.639 to the adults. Keep in mind, Johnny Jackson and I 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:41.199 are still minors, so therefore any type of script issues 0:26:41.240 --> 0:26:43.920 that we had. Jimmy was always in has been my 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:48.199 advocate along with Bernadette, and I brought my issue to 0:26:48.240 --> 0:26:50.959 them and Esther said, this cannot happen. You can't do 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:54.399 this for this particular character, because it will. You know, 0:26:55.960 --> 0:27:00.320 mostly all the the young young African American women said, Wow, 0:27:00.440 --> 0:27:04.440 here we go again. So I decided to just pull 0:27:04.520 --> 0:27:07.160 back and it worked out in my favor and that 0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:08.000 didn't happen. 0:27:08.119 --> 0:27:10.760 Wow, is that the episode that ended up being when 0:27:10.800 --> 0:27:11.800 you were supposed to move in? 0:27:12.040 --> 0:27:12.240 Yes? 0:27:12.440 --> 0:27:13.399 Okay, that's right. 0:27:13.600 --> 0:27:16.120 But they they we had to change that script because 0:27:16.160 --> 0:27:19.880 they had an intimate moment which again would a contradicted 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:22.960 the policies and the integrity of the character that I played. 0:27:23.800 --> 0:27:26.800 Absolutely, I always wondered because I was when I found 0:27:26.840 --> 0:27:29.399 out that, you know, people they didn't like the JJ character. 0:27:29.680 --> 0:27:32.160 I was like, I never looked at y'all as ignorant, 0:27:32.160 --> 0:27:35.159 Like I didn't think that was reinforcing any stereotypes. How 0:27:35.200 --> 0:27:37.320 were y'all able to portray being from the hood but 0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:38.399 not come off as ignorant? 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:41.679 Well, a lot of people in the hood are not all. 0:27:42.400 --> 0:27:45.520 And I looked at Jimmy's character as you know, like 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:49.479 very very intelligent, you know, an artist and everything like that. 0:27:49.560 --> 0:27:52.720 And you know, sometimes in a family. There's always one 0:27:52.800 --> 0:27:55.760 kid that makes the family laugh. I mean I have 0:27:56.000 --> 0:27:58.160 I had a brother who's who's a pastor now Kyle, 0:27:58.240 --> 0:28:01.600 and he used to make my mom laugh. You know, 0:28:01.640 --> 0:28:03.919 you do silly things. But I mean that's just something 0:28:04.119 --> 0:28:07.600 that lifts a spirit. That's that's all it is. And 0:28:07.640 --> 0:28:09.800 that's how I saw Jimmy. I didn't see him as 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:12.959 a character that no one liked it. And I in 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:16.280 esther Roll's defense, I would say that she just didn't 0:28:16.320 --> 0:28:21.480 want them to make him a thief or a fool 0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:24.600 like and but she loved the character too, but she 0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:27.000 didn't want the writers or anybody to make him look 0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:29.880 like that, like with the little hat or whatever. And 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:33.800 you know, in the beginning, they always had Jimmy find 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:37.959 in something, you understand, so so finding is stealing and 0:28:38.080 --> 0:28:39.040 she cut that out. 0:28:39.360 --> 0:28:43.600 I don't want that finding. And I just found this pan, 0:28:43.760 --> 0:28:47.840 I just found this shirt, you know. So she said, no, 0:28:47.920 --> 0:28:48.640 she didn't want that. 0:28:48.720 --> 0:28:51.680 So those are the things that they harped on, you know, 0:28:52.560 --> 0:28:54.560 like she didn't like the character, but she she of 0:28:54.600 --> 0:28:55.200 course they did. 0:28:55.480 --> 0:28:57.640 I just wonder when did Hollywood take a turn? 0:28:57.680 --> 0:29:00.680 Because it feel like you know that then y'all always 0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:02.200 had a hand in the creative y'all always had a 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:05.440 hand in how y'all were portrayed. So when did Hollywood 0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:07.240 take the turn the way It's just like all of 0:29:07.280 --> 0:29:09.840 these negative stereotypes of black people just started, well. 0:29:09.760 --> 0:29:13.240 I think because a different breed of producers came through 0:29:13.480 --> 0:29:15.920 that were in contact and in touch with the people. 0:29:16.360 --> 0:29:18.640 And when you disconnect yourself from the people, then you 0:29:18.720 --> 0:29:22.800 become in a box. And one thing I work with 0:29:22.920 --> 0:29:26.240 myself is that the only opinion about me that matters 0:29:26.320 --> 0:29:30.240 is my own. And therefore, by not allowing myself to 0:29:30.280 --> 0:29:32.640 be in a box, I was able to take my 0:29:33.240 --> 0:29:37.000 work to another level. And being a historian, in the 0:29:37.040 --> 0:29:40.240 context of the work that I did, I not only 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:43.240 wanted to study the history of Africa, but I wanted 0:29:43.240 --> 0:29:48.240 to understand how valuable the contributions of people globally has been. 0:29:48.760 --> 0:29:52.080 You know, my ancestors have been here since seventeen ninety nine, 0:29:52.200 --> 0:29:54.960 and my great great great ancestor, she was kidnapped from 0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:59.600 Cameroon sold on the Charleston auction block on December seventeenth, 0:30:00.040 --> 0:30:03.720 seventeen ninety nine. And as a consequence of that, I 0:30:03.760 --> 0:30:05.680 wanted to study as much as I could because you 0:30:05.800 --> 0:30:07.640 used to be against the law for people of color 0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:10.040 to read in this country. So I made it my 0:30:10.200 --> 0:30:13.280 business to read as much as I can. Just for 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:17.920 the record, brother man, I've read both your books, and 0:30:17.960 --> 0:30:20.400 you are an excellent writer. I got a lot of 0:30:20.440 --> 0:30:23.760 information on your journey, you know, and to the way 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:27.080 you gave the salutations to your mother Julia and to 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:29.840 your father Larry. It was a wonderful experience. 0:30:30.000 --> 0:30:30.840 Thank you. 0:30:31.040 --> 0:30:32.880 I want to tell you that to your face. 0:30:32.920 --> 0:30:34.360 Thank you, brother. I got any one coming out, I'm 0:30:34.440 --> 0:30:35.160 give it to you for you week. 0:30:36.760 --> 0:30:40.400 Yeah, okay, my birthday coming up. Where my gift I 0:30:40.440 --> 0:30:43.840 got you? I brought you as in bonds and Nobles, 0:30:45.000 --> 0:30:45.680 I appreciate. 0:30:45.800 --> 0:30:47.840 Now you mentioned Janet, So I was working with Jannon 0:30:47.880 --> 0:30:49.400 on the set. How was that for me? 0:30:49.480 --> 0:30:55.240 It was refreshing because for stranger, Yeah, for many years, 0:30:55.280 --> 0:30:58.600 I was the only child on set. Therefore, that type 0:30:58.600 --> 0:31:02.480 of isolation, it didn't affect me because every time we 0:31:02.520 --> 0:31:04.640 went on hiatus, I always came back to New York 0:31:04.640 --> 0:31:06.920 and too Brooklyn, and I was with my peer group, 0:31:07.200 --> 0:31:11.360 so I fundamentally didn't have an offbeat energy as whatever 0:31:11.440 --> 0:31:15.000 a child star means. And also I was never financially 0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:18.719 exploited by my family. That was not my experience. In 0:31:18.800 --> 0:31:21.280 my experience, no one ever put an offending hand on me. 0:31:21.760 --> 0:31:24.600 You know, I'm from Brooklyn. I jack you up. What 0:31:24.760 --> 0:31:28.080 I did learn in that process of working with Janet, 0:31:28.400 --> 0:31:33.000 who was beyond a consummate professional, but she's a brilliant 0:31:33.040 --> 0:31:37.840 observer and she watched because we spent the most time together, y'all. 0:31:38.280 --> 0:31:40.720 And in California state law, we have to go to 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:43.760 school for three hours before we can appear on set, 0:31:44.200 --> 0:31:46.960 So our actual working day after the three hours of 0:31:47.000 --> 0:31:50.000 school would be a five hour working day. So we 0:31:50.080 --> 0:31:53.520 had tutorists who protected us. My mother and missus Lucille 0:31:53.520 --> 0:31:57.080 Carter and missus Captain Jackson. They got along like peas 0:31:57.120 --> 0:32:00.840 in the park. And because of the fact that our 0:32:00.920 --> 0:32:03.560 parents got along, and this would apply to Hey with 0:32:03.680 --> 0:32:08.120 Nelson and Lawrence Fishburn myself, our mothers got along. Therefore 0:32:08.400 --> 0:32:11.640 we got along too. So in that context my job 0:32:11.800 --> 0:32:16.360 was too. Because I'm Bernardet's bully. Anybody stepped to her incorrectly, 0:32:16.600 --> 0:32:19.200 there's going to be an issue. And I was able 0:32:19.240 --> 0:32:22.360 to because of that loneliness. Jannet was like a beacon 0:32:22.400 --> 0:32:25.160 of light when she came on the set, and I 0:32:25.360 --> 0:32:27.960 still so proud of what she has done in the 0:32:28.000 --> 0:32:29.760 work that she continues to do. 0:32:30.360 --> 0:32:32.520 I want to go back and ask Miss Berniett about 0:32:32.760 --> 0:32:34.840 the mister the direction of Hollywood and how I went 0:32:34.920 --> 0:32:35.600 another direction. 0:32:36.040 --> 0:32:38.680 Oh yes, thank you. I just want to say that 0:32:39.160 --> 0:32:41.760 Esther Roll was an advocate for all of us. And 0:32:42.120 --> 0:32:45.760 I remember there was a week that we had and 0:32:45.840 --> 0:32:49.000 I actually had really nothing much to say. It was like, 0:32:49.240 --> 0:32:51.480 you know, hi, Mom, Hi Dad, I was in the bathroom, 0:32:51.480 --> 0:32:52.920 shut up JJ, and that's about it. 0:32:53.000 --> 0:32:55.160 You know, the character had nothing. 0:32:55.680 --> 0:32:59.080 So I was very bored that week and I said, 0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:00.040 this cannot go. 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:02.880 I can't sit here every week and just be this bored. 0:33:03.800 --> 0:33:05.880 So I did. I asked Mom. I used to call mom, 0:33:05.960 --> 0:33:08.080 say Mom, you know I was so bored this week. 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:09.720 She said, what do you mean? I said, I just 0:33:09.760 --> 0:33:12.040 did nothing. I just sat there and I was bored. 0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:14.600 So she says, well, what do you want to do? 0:33:14.680 --> 0:33:17.240 I said, I need more to say. I need I 0:33:17.280 --> 0:33:21.400 need a I need something character. So she she said, 0:33:21.440 --> 0:33:23.480 let me handle it, and we had a reading at 0:33:23.480 --> 0:33:26.760 the round table, and that that week I had my 0:33:26.880 --> 0:33:30.720 two or three little lines. Okay, and so Estra said, 0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:33.360 at the end of the reading, she asked the producers 0:33:33.360 --> 0:33:35.120 and the writer. She says, I want to ask a question, 0:33:35.520 --> 0:33:37.560 and they said sure, asked what is it? You know, 0:33:37.840 --> 0:33:40.320 what is it? She said, I want to ask you 0:33:40.400 --> 0:33:46.040 ashamed of my daughter? And they said no, and she said. 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:48.479 Then she went on to say, you know, well, I 0:33:48.520 --> 0:33:51.240 think that we should do a little better with her. 0:33:51.720 --> 0:33:54.479 I think that we have my son JJ who has 0:33:54.520 --> 0:33:56.400 a lot to say, and my son Michael, who has 0:33:56.400 --> 0:33:58.520 a lot to say, and I want my daughter to 0:33:58.560 --> 0:34:02.600 have a voice. And she said to me, and they said, oh, certainly. 0:34:02.960 --> 0:34:05.320 And so that afternoon she said, you go up there 0:34:05.320 --> 0:34:08.080 and you tell them who Thelma is. Now, how can 0:34:08.120 --> 0:34:09.759 you develop a character? I mean, you know what I'm saying, 0:34:09.760 --> 0:34:12.200 you're telling the character to develop a character. So I 0:34:12.280 --> 0:34:14.759 knew who she was. So I ended up going up 0:34:14.760 --> 0:34:16.480 there and telling them what I'd like her to be, 0:34:16.719 --> 0:34:18.160 who I need. 0:34:17.880 --> 0:34:18.400 Her to be. 0:34:19.000 --> 0:34:23.600 And after that the scripts came, you know, the dialogue came, 0:34:23.760 --> 0:34:27.239 you know, a voice became. And I give her all 0:34:27.280 --> 0:34:29.520 the credit for doing that. People don't really fight for 0:34:29.560 --> 0:34:33.560 people anymore like that. So she she did, and that's 0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:35.680 how you know, she gave Thelma a voice. 0:34:35.840 --> 0:34:36.080 Wow. 0:34:37.600 --> 0:34:40.120 Absolutely, and where did white people like Norman Lear in 0:34:40.160 --> 0:34:41.279 Hollywood passed away? 0:34:41.280 --> 0:34:48.759 This are those type of people no more. When they 0:34:48.800 --> 0:34:51.680 did kick they were really good, you know, because for me, 0:34:51.760 --> 0:34:53.960 in the context of history, you would not really have 0:34:54.120 --> 0:34:56.160 had a good times if you didn't have an Amos 0:34:56.160 --> 0:34:59.680 and Andy. And Amos and Andy was also a product 0:35:00.080 --> 0:35:04.200 television station CBS. However, when I did my research and 0:35:04.800 --> 0:35:08.440 with the catalog of that particular show, it was hilarious 0:35:08.920 --> 0:35:11.240 the men and women who performed on Amos and Andy. 0:35:11.440 --> 0:35:14.319 We're speaking of veteran actors who had done vaudeville and 0:35:14.400 --> 0:35:17.240 the so called chitting circuit. As Jimmy Walker really knows 0:35:17.320 --> 0:35:20.319 all about that. You know, he's been on the chitten 0:35:20.400 --> 0:35:25.239 circuit so long he was cleaning the chitting. So my 0:35:25.360 --> 0:35:28.680 point is that we were able to embrace through the 0:35:28.840 --> 0:35:32.239 genius of Normally, because keep in mind, Normally was a 0:35:32.320 --> 0:35:34.920 magnet in the respect that he had all in the family, 0:35:35.440 --> 0:35:39.880 more Jeffersons, Good Times, the ac Junket. Along with Bud Yorken, 0:35:40.160 --> 0:35:43.160 they also had What's Happening, in which you had the 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:46.680 works of Hayvid Nelson, Fred Barry. Of course, mis Shirley 0:35:46.800 --> 0:35:50.719 Hempfield and their wonderful cast Danielle Spencer. Mabel King of 0:35:50.719 --> 0:35:54.080 course played the mother. But my point is that there 0:35:54.160 --> 0:35:56.520 was a connection in a bond that we even on 0:35:56.640 --> 0:36:00.920 set had we crossed reference with the wonderful people on 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:04.280 All in the Family with Jeans Staple, tend and Carola Khana, 0:36:04.320 --> 0:36:07.680 and we weekly saw Beatrice Author and Bill Macy while 0:36:07.680 --> 0:36:11.360 they were doing their works on more so because of 0:36:11.400 --> 0:36:15.560 the work that Esther did that allowed us as artists 0:36:15.600 --> 0:36:19.600 to get a gig. But Esther to me is the 0:36:19.640 --> 0:36:24.080 foundation of good times, along with John Names absolutely. 0:36:23.560 --> 0:36:25.839 Mister Jimmy, did you ever ever get tired of saying 0:36:25.880 --> 0:36:27.200 down at any point? 0:36:27.800 --> 0:36:30.800 I don't think we ever did it that much. No, 0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:35.080 because you know, again being a stand up people came 0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:37.920 to cheap stand up, you know, and and at the 0:36:37.960 --> 0:36:42.040 improv of the store or anything like that, and again 0:36:42.640 --> 0:36:45.320 not I guess we were in such competition. And plus 0:36:45.360 --> 0:36:51.279 we had Paul Mooney, and Paul Mooney straightened everybody out. 0:36:52.160 --> 0:36:55.440 Wont E would just say, man, your stuff is weak. 0:36:55.960 --> 0:37:00.560 What are you doing? You stink? And he I remember, 0:37:00.760 --> 0:37:03.320 like we'd have somebody like a Gary Shanling who worked 0:37:03.400 --> 0:37:06.000 so hard. I was like, that's what made me get 0:37:06.040 --> 0:37:08.520 writers to help me out, because he would have two 0:37:08.640 --> 0:37:12.440 notebooks full of jokes every day and you just go, hey, 0:37:12.680 --> 0:37:15.319 how's this guy doing this. So in terms of the 0:37:15.400 --> 0:37:18.719 dynamite thing, it didn't play in a club. You know, 0:37:18.880 --> 0:37:22.640 we had Freddie Prinz who always said, I am the funniest, 0:37:22.800 --> 0:37:27.000 I am the best. You guys stink I'm great, I'm 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:31.000 the youngest and I'm the baddest. I'm eighteen. You guys 0:37:31.000 --> 0:37:33.520 will never be as good as me. You'll never be 0:37:33.600 --> 0:37:36.680 as funny as me. Don't even try it. And then 0:37:36.719 --> 0:37:41.120 you had Gary Shanling who said quietly, I'm the best 0:37:41.120 --> 0:37:44.840 writer out of everybody, I will eventually have my own show. 0:37:45.200 --> 0:37:47.800 None of you will be as big as me. That's 0:37:47.840 --> 0:37:50.279 the way it is. Because he had a shot to 0:37:50.280 --> 0:37:52.879 do the Johnny Carson Show and he said, I don't 0:37:52.880 --> 0:37:55.560 want to be encumbered by network. I'm going to have 0:37:55.960 --> 0:37:59.319 my own show where I'm in charge, in which he 0:37:59.360 --> 0:38:01.880 did with The Ry Sanders Show, and it's the Gary 0:38:01.880 --> 0:38:04.760 Shandley Show. He was completely in charged, says, I will 0:38:04.800 --> 0:38:07.040 never do a network show that I have to listen 0:38:07.160 --> 0:38:11.680 to other people. So for me, the dynamite thing was 0:38:11.760 --> 0:38:13.960 like not relevant to the people that were come into 0:38:14.000 --> 0:38:16.799 the show. I mean, you know. And plus I was 0:38:16.840 --> 0:38:22.120 the MC for UH for our ethnic shows, so we 0:38:22.160 --> 0:38:26.839 would do the Chicago Show. Chicago Show would be the Emotions, 0:38:26.640 --> 0:38:31.440 the shylights, Jerry Butler, so they weren't even for that 0:38:31.480 --> 0:38:34.440 because they were kind of like, Hey, I'm Jerry Butler, 0:38:34.600 --> 0:38:38.280 I'm the iceman. I don't care about any dynamite stuff. 0:38:38.440 --> 0:38:41.120 And then you do the you do the Philadelphia show 0:38:41.280 --> 0:38:44.279 where you have Teddy Prenagrass, who would say, I am 0:38:44.320 --> 0:38:48.439 the prettiest, the baddest, the most good looking chicks will 0:38:48.440 --> 0:38:51.799 look at me and I'm great, so mean, And then 0:38:51.840 --> 0:38:54.279 you'd have the Motown Show, which I was MC of, 0:38:54.680 --> 0:38:57.959 and the Temptations would go, there's no group that can 0:38:58.080 --> 0:39:00.879 dance better than us, that can say, ain't better than us. 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:04.520 We are we don't care about any dynamite stuff. So 0:39:04.600 --> 0:39:07.200 it was never that kind of thing. I was always 0:39:07.680 --> 0:39:10.200 very secondary because I was the youngest guy. We had STEVIEE. 0:39:10.200 --> 0:39:13.040 Wonder's mom who used to drive him behind us in 0:39:13.080 --> 0:39:16.960 her little station wagon, so we never Jimmy Walker was 0:39:17.000 --> 0:39:18.680 never a big thing. He was just a little part 0:39:18.760 --> 0:39:23.399 of the MC work. That was it, That was that 0:39:23.520 --> 0:39:27.520 was That was John Rich. I did it one day 0:39:27.520 --> 0:39:30.719 in rehearsals and John Rich says, I like that dynamite thing. 0:39:30.760 --> 0:39:32.440 I said, what dynamite thing? So he just did it. 0:39:32.680 --> 0:39:34.880 I said, oh, that was just fooling around. He says. 0:39:35.239 --> 0:39:37.200 John Risch said to me, he says, this is going 0:39:37.239 --> 0:39:40.480 to be the biggest thing on this show. This will 0:39:40.520 --> 0:39:42.680 be the big I said, what he said, the dynamite thing, 0:39:43.080 --> 0:39:45.280 I said, he said, And he got up a little 0:39:45.560 --> 0:39:48.560 fat guy and showed me how to do it. And 0:39:48.600 --> 0:39:53.000 I said, John, people are not that stupid. They'll never 0:39:53.080 --> 0:39:57.719 go for this. He says, yes, they will, And he 0:39:57.760 --> 0:40:00.279 put it out there and Norman hated it. Wow, just 0:40:00.320 --> 0:40:05.160 hated it. And and everybody was threatening to walk. John says, 0:40:05.600 --> 0:40:08.800 if he doesn't do it, I'm walking. Normal Lea says, 0:40:08.880 --> 0:40:12.640 if he does it, I'm walking. So he was whatever. 0:40:12.960 --> 0:40:15.719 So he did it, and it became like Michael Buffer's 0:40:15.760 --> 0:40:17.759 thing when he says, looks get ready to rumble. If 0:40:17.760 --> 0:40:22.279 you ever watched, you guys are too young. But when so, 0:40:22.480 --> 0:40:24.360 whenever he would do a fight, it would be like 0:40:24.360 --> 0:40:28.120 a sugar Ray Leonard. He's won ninety seven knockouts, He's 0:40:28.239 --> 0:40:31.640 killed his last ten opponents. He's the champion of the 0:40:31.680 --> 0:40:34.360 middle Way, He's the champion of the and you he'd 0:40:34.360 --> 0:40:37.240 get ready to say ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:39.000 across the world, and you could hear the people. 0:40:38.760 --> 0:40:40.880 Go, let's generate. 0:40:42.320 --> 0:40:46.719 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, yes, oh yes. It's only 0:40:46.760 --> 0:40:49.800 ten thousand dollars a pop. If he does it nothing serious. 0:40:50.320 --> 0:40:52.919 That's all he gets is he gets ten thousand dollars 0:40:52.920 --> 0:40:54.839 a pop. He does it all. So that's the way 0:40:54.880 --> 0:40:57.800 the dynamite thing rolled. But we nobody was that enthused. 0:40:57.840 --> 0:40:59.719 I mean I had guys like Steve Martin who was 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:03.960 selling out fifteen thousand people, and you just go, just go, boy, 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:05.920 I would like to be like that. 0:41:06.920 --> 0:41:08.759 Do you have any problem with women calling you back 0:41:08.760 --> 0:41:09.120 back then? 0:41:09.800 --> 0:41:15.759 Yes, definitely, without a doubt. Oh no. You got to 0:41:15.760 --> 0:41:19.719 remember I was with Richard Pryor and Richard Pryor who 0:41:19.800 --> 0:41:23.120 was a guy, and Freddie Prince. Those two guys had 0:41:23.520 --> 0:41:26.360 all the women. I can tell you stories about Richard 0:41:26.400 --> 0:41:28.560 that you don't want to hear on the air that 0:41:28.640 --> 0:41:35.000 you would go, are you hitting me? Because women would No. 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:37.759 I will not tell you. I will not tell you 0:41:37.920 --> 0:41:43.640 two gianic stories that about Richard and Freddie. Freddie's the 0:41:43.719 --> 0:41:46.600 kind of guy had so much confidence. If he saw 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:49.360 her and we walked outside, he says, I can get her. 0:41:49.960 --> 0:41:51.920 I go, Freddy, She's like, you know, she's a woman, 0:41:51.920 --> 0:41:54.200 she's going for the woman thing, to have her own thing, 0:41:54.239 --> 0:41:58.480 and says, I will get her and you will go. 0:41:58.800 --> 0:42:01.280 At the end of the night they're walking out together. 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:05.120 You go, damn, how did Freddie pull this off? He's 0:42:05.160 --> 0:42:08.520 that kind of guy and he just believed I'm the prettiest, 0:42:08.680 --> 0:42:11.799 I'm the baddest, I'm the funniest, and I will get 0:42:11.920 --> 0:42:16.120 any chick I want. Go ahead, y'all ling, Yeah, that's 0:42:16.200 --> 0:42:19.160 not your job. And it was just amazing. But yeah, 0:42:19.200 --> 0:42:19.719 so that was that. 0:42:20.239 --> 0:42:22.359 Do y'all remember the first day on the set versus 0:42:22.440 --> 0:42:23.000 the last day? 0:42:24.440 --> 0:42:27.760 Yes, I do. I remember the first day. It was interesting, 0:42:28.360 --> 0:42:31.960 you know. I was really watching Esther and John how 0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:34.160 they handled a lot of stuff, you know, and I 0:42:34.280 --> 0:42:35.960 learned a lot. I really really did. 0:42:36.760 --> 0:42:39.360 But I remember when like the first year, well the 0:42:39.440 --> 0:42:44.320 first maybe a couple of months, talking about women and JJ. 0:42:44.560 --> 0:42:47.960 Okay, I remember he said something to me like, what 0:42:48.480 --> 0:42:50.080 do you do what do you get? What do you 0:42:50.160 --> 0:42:50.959 do with these women? 0:42:51.120 --> 0:42:51.400 Why do you? 0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:53.400 I mean, what did I do? I said, you know, 0:42:53.520 --> 0:42:55.680 the first thing you should do is when you have 0:42:55.800 --> 0:42:58.360 a girl, you need to buy her a little jewelry. 0:43:00.080 --> 0:43:01.480 Telling I'm telling on you. 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:05.040 And he said what I said, yeah, buy some you know, 0:43:05.160 --> 0:43:06.960 jewelry and stuff and break it in that way. 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:10.960 And so he said, okay. So that lunchtime he went 0:43:11.040 --> 0:43:14.680 to Farmer's market and he bought some jewelry and he 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:16.399 came back he said, how how does this look? 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:19.359 What's this about? And it was it was a turquoise piece, 0:43:19.400 --> 0:43:20.359 you know, with the silver around. 0:43:20.400 --> 0:43:23.479 It was this big. I said, what are you doing? 0:43:23.560 --> 0:43:25.080 I said, well, you're dating a giant. 0:43:25.200 --> 0:43:26.440 What do you doing? Come on? 0:43:28.600 --> 0:43:31.239 So I said, no, go back over there, take that 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:35.239 back and get some fine jewelry, you know, really go 0:43:35.520 --> 0:43:38.799 a little gain something. Yeah, And so that's what he did. 0:43:39.200 --> 0:43:42.640 And so to this very day, if you date Jimmy Walker, 0:43:42.760 --> 0:43:44.040 you're gonna get some jewelry. 0:43:44.160 --> 0:43:44.799 I'm telling you. 0:43:46.680 --> 0:43:47.040 Here. Man. 0:43:57.040 --> 0:44:00.200 The last day, Wow, for me, well, it it was 0:44:00.360 --> 0:44:03.719 like a little unreal, you know, because I came to 0:44:04.120 --> 0:44:07.279 Hollywood right into a show, so I didn't know what 0:44:07.400 --> 0:44:10.879 it was like living outside of that. I mean here 0:44:10.960 --> 0:44:14.160 in California, you know, in California. So for me it 0:44:14.320 --> 0:44:15.160 was very different. 0:44:15.640 --> 0:44:17.400 It was like is this the end? 0:44:17.600 --> 0:44:18.839 Is this really the end? 0:44:19.440 --> 0:44:19.560 You know? 0:44:19.640 --> 0:44:21.920 What am I going to do when I get up tomorrow? 0:44:22.080 --> 0:44:24.680 You know kind of thing. So that's how it felt 0:44:24.719 --> 0:44:24.880 to me. 0:44:25.320 --> 0:44:27.160 The ending what a good. 0:44:27.040 --> 0:44:29.720 Times ended on March the eighth, which was a Thursday 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:33.360 in nineteen seventy nine. We had already braced ourselves for 0:44:33.520 --> 0:44:37.840 it because you could feel the momentum of the production 0:44:38.120 --> 0:44:41.719 was starting to lose his pace. So I already knew 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:43.840 I had to graduate from high school, and I already 0:44:43.880 --> 0:44:46.279 knew I had my ideas to go to college and 0:44:46.360 --> 0:44:49.200 to travel. So thereby I used the rest of my 0:44:49.400 --> 0:44:54.560 twenties traveling to East and West Africa, primarily to Sudan, Ethiopia, 0:44:54.640 --> 0:44:58.440 and Egypt. And by doing that consecutively. As a historian, 0:44:58.800 --> 0:45:01.280 I read the information before I went on the journey. 0:45:01.760 --> 0:45:06.200 So my affinity with the wonderful monuments that I saw, 0:45:07.040 --> 0:45:10.480 the parallels in Egypt with the parallel, the parallel of 0:45:10.560 --> 0:45:14.840 the pyramids in Egypt and in Mexico are phenomenal because 0:45:14.880 --> 0:45:19.080 there was a wonderful connection between those two cultures where 0:45:19.160 --> 0:45:22.719 they did not destroy each other, but they complimented each other. 0:45:23.080 --> 0:45:26.040 And you could see that the earth winding fires has 0:45:26.120 --> 0:45:30.560 a wonderful song. It's in the stone. So in the 0:45:30.640 --> 0:45:33.160 stone the people left how they looked, and that we 0:45:33.320 --> 0:45:35.680 were here and this is what we did while we 0:45:35.800 --> 0:45:39.040 were on the planet. So it was a phenomenon for 0:45:39.160 --> 0:45:43.200 me to not only just theoretically do the work, but 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:46.360 to physically go and see the monuments for myself. 0:45:46.719 --> 0:45:48.080 Wonder it felt like. 0:45:48.040 --> 0:45:50.279 They could have showed y'all outside of the projects, because 0:45:50.280 --> 0:45:53.520 the last episode, y'all, everybody did get out the project to. 0:45:53.560 --> 0:45:56.120 Go move in the same building, a better buildings. They 0:45:56.120 --> 0:45:56.759 could have showed that. 0:45:57.080 --> 0:45:59.600 But you know, what's done is done. The past is 0:45:59.600 --> 0:46:02.560 the past, Charla Man. So you don't want to regress, 0:46:02.640 --> 0:46:06.000 you want to progress. And people have constantly asked us 0:46:06.040 --> 0:46:09.120 to do a reboot of Good Times. However, you've lost 0:46:09.160 --> 0:46:12.360 some of their major primary characters, so you know it 0:46:12.400 --> 0:46:15.759 wouldn't work to do that anymore. So you come up 0:46:15.800 --> 0:46:18.760 with new ideas, like my new television series is entitled 0:46:18.800 --> 0:46:22.520 Grandma's Hands and I deal with five generations of African 0:46:22.640 --> 0:46:25.560 women from the age of thirteen to the age of 0:46:25.719 --> 0:46:30.200 ninety eight, along with my wonderful co writer mister Gregory A. Holtz, 0:46:30.760 --> 0:46:34.000 beautiful SES's named Janine, and my young sister VICKI. So 0:46:34.200 --> 0:46:38.239 as a team, a quorum of four, we've been able 0:46:38.320 --> 0:46:41.359 to write some wonderful scripts and all things. In time, 0:46:41.440 --> 0:46:43.080 I could show you better than I can tell you, 0:46:43.600 --> 0:46:47.000 and I just hope that people will the opportunity comes 0:46:47.040 --> 0:46:50.400 where I can present this particular production so that people 0:46:50.480 --> 0:46:54.000 can experience us from another perspective as I do as 0:46:54.040 --> 0:46:58.520 a writer. I've completed my autobiography in five volumes. Years ago, 0:46:58.600 --> 0:47:01.600 I had a dialogue with all his Wilson and he 0:47:01.840 --> 0:47:04.600 was one of the very rare, rare writers who had 0:47:05.200 --> 0:47:07.920 a play written for every decade of the last century 0:47:07.960 --> 0:47:11.080 that we've gone through. But my point being, I asked 0:47:11.200 --> 0:47:13.360 him his technique and what should I do when I 0:47:13.480 --> 0:47:15.960 want to write my autobiography? And I got a lot 0:47:16.000 --> 0:47:19.160 of advice from my good friend mister Irvin Panton. He said, 0:47:19.960 --> 0:47:22.960 do it and I'll help you copy the books. So 0:47:23.120 --> 0:47:26.480 I began on a wonderful journey of getting wonderful information, 0:47:27.120 --> 0:47:29.720 and I didn't know that there was so much information 0:47:29.840 --> 0:47:32.000 on the work that I did in my early theater years. 0:47:32.400 --> 0:47:35.680 My point is that I had a resource with Schomberg. 0:47:35.920 --> 0:47:38.480 I had a resource with Lincoln Center and the people 0:47:38.560 --> 0:47:42.680 who were there in that area, the librarians, so to speak. 0:47:42.760 --> 0:47:45.440 They were very gracious to me. So it helped me 0:47:45.560 --> 0:47:49.200 to complete five complete volumes of my autobiography. I taught 0:47:49.239 --> 0:47:52.359 out a child development for five years. I'm the author 0:47:52.400 --> 0:47:55.920 of twenty children's books as well. So as a musician, 0:47:56.320 --> 0:47:59.120 I still sing, I do my voice. I hope that 0:47:59.239 --> 0:48:01.680 people will continue to like the work that not just 0:48:01.840 --> 0:48:05.960 myself does, but Bernadette and Jimmy too. We we literally 0:48:06.080 --> 0:48:08.160 have never stopped being friends. 0:48:08.640 --> 0:48:10.360 That's why we're still here. That's amazing. 0:48:11.200 --> 0:48:14.000 How do how do y'all feel about the The Good 0:48:14.040 --> 0:48:16.520 Times cartoon on Netflix? 0:48:16.680 --> 0:48:18.400 Well, that's Bernadette's thing. She'll tell you. 0:48:20.160 --> 0:48:20.680 How do you feel? 0:48:21.800 --> 0:48:21.840 It? 0:48:21.960 --> 0:48:22.400 A reboove? 0:48:22.400 --> 0:48:24.160 But that's not a no, that's not that's not it 0:48:24.239 --> 0:48:24.560 at all. 0:48:25.480 --> 0:48:26.960 No, that's not it at all. I think that. 0:48:28.440 --> 0:48:32.960 Our audience missed something, you know, they missed what happened 0:48:33.000 --> 0:48:36.200 to us. It's always they want the completion of it 0:48:36.520 --> 0:48:38.440 and it never really happened, you know. 0:48:39.280 --> 0:48:39.680 So far. 0:48:41.200 --> 0:48:45.880 My thing about the the animation was this that you know, 0:48:46.719 --> 0:48:50.279 I know that Jimmy Walker came to them and he 0:48:50.520 --> 0:48:55.640 presented a cartoon about five years before this, before this one, 0:48:56.040 --> 0:48:58.440 and it was it was the really the the all 0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:00.799 of us, the way we are in a in animation 0:49:01.280 --> 0:49:03.239 and we have our same voices and everything like that. 0:49:04.760 --> 0:49:06.320 And they they didn't bite that. 0:49:06.760 --> 0:49:09.759 But later on came up with they're gonna do an 0:49:09.760 --> 0:49:13.120 animation and I remember my manager called them and said, well, 0:49:13.160 --> 0:49:15.440 what are they gonna you know, are we gonna be 0:49:15.480 --> 0:49:18.200 in it or not. So the way they describe the 0:49:18.680 --> 0:49:23.680 animation to us was this, it was going to be 0:49:23.800 --> 0:49:27.560 a modern day, you know, progression of what everything is 0:49:27.640 --> 0:49:31.400 going to be for the good Times family. So you know, fine, 0:49:32.600 --> 0:49:35.000 But they asked Jimmy and I to do a tiny 0:49:35.080 --> 0:49:37.960 little part. But it sounded okay, you know, we didn't 0:49:38.280 --> 0:49:40.680 see the scripts. So Jimmy did a part. I did 0:49:40.719 --> 0:49:42.960 a little part. My character's name is Peaches. You know, 0:49:43.080 --> 0:49:46.680 she's like a project lady. That's whatever. But when the 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:51.200 when the when it came out, when the trailer came out, 0:49:52.239 --> 0:49:55.200 we saw it and everybody was like, no, you know, 0:49:55.280 --> 0:49:57.080 you don't have a crack baby in somebody in the 0:49:57.160 --> 0:49:57.719 mother's arms. 0:49:57.760 --> 0:49:58.279 You don't do that. 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:02.279 So and I I remember having an interview with the 0:50:03.360 --> 0:50:09.759 singer Gilstrap, Jim Gilstrap a year before, and he was saying, 0:50:09.800 --> 0:50:11.560 you know, there are some lyrics that they took out. 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:14.480 So I said, were the lyrics and he said, well, 0:50:14.520 --> 0:50:19.520 you know they say roaches roaming the hallway, roaches roaming 0:50:19.600 --> 0:50:23.279 the hallway and the landlord lives on the other side 0:50:23.280 --> 0:50:25.640 of town or something like that. He said that they 0:50:25.719 --> 0:50:30.360 took it out because fifty years ago now they thought 0:50:30.400 --> 0:50:33.719 that that would be offensive to black people. Okay, but 0:50:33.880 --> 0:50:37.720 fifty years later you have two roaches singing in a shower. 0:50:38.840 --> 0:50:41.360 They sing in the song good Times. So I'm like, 0:50:41.920 --> 0:50:44.920 this is not it, you know, I'm sorry. You know, 0:50:45.560 --> 0:50:47.440 I know people have you know, want to write it 0:50:47.520 --> 0:50:49.239 at they want to do this and that, but you 0:50:49.400 --> 0:50:51.880 have to do it right, you know, you have to 0:50:51.960 --> 0:50:53.360 represent it correctly. 0:50:54.040 --> 0:50:58.200 So to me, it was not represented correctly, and I 0:50:58.360 --> 0:50:59.560 had to say that, you know. 0:51:00.320 --> 0:51:01.600 I haven't watched it, mister card. 0:51:01.880 --> 0:51:04.799 I actually was quite disappointed with the actors who took 0:51:04.880 --> 0:51:07.640 the time to sign on to that project. These are 0:51:07.680 --> 0:51:10.000 actors and the artists and comedian that I really had 0:51:10.040 --> 0:51:12.759 a high regard for I won't use the past tense 0:51:12.840 --> 0:51:15.040 with them right now, but I'm disappointed at the fact 0:51:15.080 --> 0:51:18.239 that they did that. When I did take a quick 0:51:18.320 --> 0:51:23.360 review of this particular rubbish that I saw, I was 0:51:23.600 --> 0:51:26.319 contacted by some media outlets from my point of view, 0:51:26.800 --> 0:51:29.880 but I refused to dignify it with a response. And 0:51:30.000 --> 0:51:33.279 I'm just pretty much disappointed with the artists who signed. 0:51:33.080 --> 0:51:33.560 On to it. 0:51:34.200 --> 0:51:36.920 I don't think anybody ever saw it. I mean, I 0:51:37.000 --> 0:51:40.920 know Seth mcfollowen to me, is very, very funny, but 0:51:41.760 --> 0:51:44.439 this is not his bag. It would be like saying, hey, 0:51:44.520 --> 0:51:48.120 we're doing Romeo and Juliet. You know we hired JJ 0:51:48.400 --> 0:51:50.240 Walker and Lawanda Page. 0:51:55.920 --> 0:52:01.279 Really wow, that's a good analysis. 0:52:01.600 --> 0:52:05.600 I mean, it's just Seth is. I mean, I love 0:52:05.760 --> 0:52:09.440 all his stuff. It's racist, it's terrible, it's fantastic. It 0:52:09.560 --> 0:52:12.360 kills me. But he's yeah, it's funny, but he's not 0:52:12.680 --> 0:52:17.920 right for this. And Steph Curry, I know he's went 0:52:18.080 --> 0:52:22.200 watching Lebron James and he sees Lebron James has his projects. Look, 0:52:22.280 --> 0:52:24.600 let me tell you something. I'm from New York. I 0:52:24.719 --> 0:52:27.480 played basketball against Nate Archibald. You guys are too young. 0:52:27.480 --> 0:52:31.600 You remember Nate Archibald, but he's a big star. I mean, 0:52:32.320 --> 0:52:35.320 I played against Nate Archibal and he only scores sixty 0:52:35.360 --> 0:52:37.520 three on us three times that we played them. He 0:52:37.600 --> 0:52:40.920 called sixty one, sixty three and sixty three. Look, let 0:52:41.000 --> 0:52:42.800 me tell you something. It'd be like me going to 0:52:42.840 --> 0:52:44.960 Steph and say, look, I played against Nate Archibald. I 0:52:45.040 --> 0:52:47.800 want to be on the Golden State Warriors. And you go, 0:52:47.960 --> 0:52:50.680 why I play against Nate Archibal. I belong on the team. 0:52:50.840 --> 0:52:55.360 Come on, but no, he's just the wrong guy to 0:52:55.440 --> 0:52:56.360 be in this. 0:52:57.400 --> 0:53:03.680 Y'all don't like the good times to say that fifty 0:53:03.760 --> 0:53:04.359 years a good times. 0:53:04.360 --> 0:53:06.879 I'm talking like nobody did a documentary or some type 0:53:06.880 --> 0:53:10.640 of you know, reunion show, Like y'all didn't get approached about. 0:53:10.440 --> 0:53:10.680 None of that. 0:53:10.840 --> 0:53:13.800 Now, the anthology that I did, right it wouldn't be 0:53:15.200 --> 0:53:18.200 a product commercially right now, again because of the losses 0:53:18.280 --> 0:53:18.799 that we had. 0:53:20.160 --> 0:53:22.640 They we didn't have people that we worked that we're 0:53:22.680 --> 0:53:24.720 going to put together, and we had all the characters. 0:53:24.800 --> 0:53:27.960 It's just this is the now ancestors. 0:53:28.040 --> 0:53:32.480 So this is Brett Miller, who works with Norman and 0:53:32.680 --> 0:53:35.680 that's the guy who kind of kind of gabashed us, 0:53:36.040 --> 0:53:37.680 and that that was it. I mean, that's the way 0:53:37.880 --> 0:53:41.919 because when I took it around, everybody I talked to says, 0:53:42.120 --> 0:53:44.160 well do you own the rights? And we go no, 0:53:44.760 --> 0:53:46.960 and they said, well, nothing we could do for you. 0:53:47.200 --> 0:53:50.200 And these are all friends of mine. So that's the 0:53:50.239 --> 0:53:54.239 way it was. I just think that, you know, they 0:53:54.480 --> 0:53:57.239 they didn't want us involved, and they achieved their goal. 0:54:00.080 --> 0:54:03.520 We love y'all, y'all. 0:54:03.719 --> 0:54:07.080 Yes, our fans really kept writing us and telling us 0:54:07.120 --> 0:54:08.960 how much that they loved us, and we did. They 0:54:09.040 --> 0:54:12.120 did not like the animation, you know, they respect us 0:54:12.239 --> 0:54:14.520 in so many different ways. So we still got our 0:54:14.560 --> 0:54:15.439 satisfaction out. 0:54:15.320 --> 0:54:16.920 Of it, you know, absolutely. 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:19.080 And when the people don't like it, watch out. 0:54:20.320 --> 0:54:23.759 Because they're writing and what they think people want to 0:54:23.800 --> 0:54:25.960 see you, Well, it's a disconnect. 0:54:26.200 --> 0:54:28.520 It's a disconnect because that's not what the people really 0:54:28.560 --> 0:54:29.000 want to see. 0:54:29.120 --> 0:54:31.759 But yeah, but you have like those pockets of people, 0:54:31.840 --> 0:54:35.080 like like people trying to appeal to what media is 0:54:35.320 --> 0:54:37.680 like feeding, you know what I mean, and all that 0:54:38.040 --> 0:54:40.880 ghetto rad shirt roach singing, and it's like how. 0:54:40.960 --> 0:54:42.040 They they see it. 0:54:42.239 --> 0:54:44.919 Yeah, but all of that, all of that rubbish tends 0:54:44.960 --> 0:54:48.440 to dumb people down. You know, and that's what how 0:54:48.680 --> 0:54:51.560 people will for it, you know, Like, you don't try 0:54:51.640 --> 0:54:55.719 to make me spotted a long time to be just dumb. Yeah, 0:54:55.840 --> 0:54:58.360 so don't try to make me want to think. And 0:54:58.520 --> 0:55:02.160 that's the the in my critical analysis. People must think 0:55:02.200 --> 0:55:05.080 for theirselves and solve their own problems. I guess when 0:55:05.120 --> 0:55:06.680 you do that, you can help other people. 0:55:06.840 --> 0:55:09.319 Yeah, I guess they felt that. You know, fifty years later, 0:55:09.760 --> 0:55:12.800 no one would notice. We can make them look like 0:55:13.120 --> 0:55:14.200 the way we want them to look. 0:55:15.440 --> 0:55:15.840 I don't know. 0:55:16.280 --> 0:55:19.160 I've never craved for attention like that. I like, I 0:55:19.320 --> 0:55:23.760 live an isolated life to the degree that I live alone, 0:55:23.800 --> 0:55:25.920 but I'm not lonely, you know. I have a loving 0:55:26.000 --> 0:55:29.200 family that I speak to practically every week, and by 0:55:29.360 --> 0:55:32.480 virtue of that, my sense of grounding is a lot 0:55:32.600 --> 0:55:34.520 different than some people. 0:55:34.560 --> 0:55:37.479 You know, which was in the original Good Times. 0:55:37.600 --> 0:55:40.879 Yeah, well, I am to be taken seriously because life 0:55:41.000 --> 0:55:42.200 is serious, or. 0:55:42.200 --> 0:55:44.120 Don't want the legacy at Good Time to ultimately be. 0:55:45.000 --> 0:55:48.279 I hope that we made people enjoy the process of 0:55:48.360 --> 0:55:50.799 a family that was able to stay cohesive and live 0:55:50.880 --> 0:55:55.799 together in spite of the financial conditions. That we had 0:55:55.840 --> 0:55:58.200 a tendency to be a part of but the fact 0:55:58.239 --> 0:56:00.480 that we tried to make as many people for happy 0:56:00.560 --> 0:56:04.239 as possible without placating them with patronizing them. We just 0:56:04.640 --> 0:56:06.359 did our job as artists. 0:56:06.800 --> 0:56:09.200 And Good Time solved a lot of problems for people, 0:56:09.640 --> 0:56:12.399 showed people how you know, if you didn't have a father. 0:56:12.520 --> 0:56:15.319 John Namis was a father type to you, your mom, 0:56:15.440 --> 0:56:19.120 you know. So we did a lot for our people, 0:56:19.200 --> 0:56:21.640 I think, you know, and I would like it to 0:56:21.680 --> 0:56:22.560 stay that way. 0:56:23.160 --> 0:56:26.240 And it helped us grow and stay grounded more than anything, 0:56:26.360 --> 0:56:28.239 you know. I like that part about it, you know, 0:56:28.520 --> 0:56:31.880 because I thoroughly enjoyed going to work. I was devastated, 0:56:31.920 --> 0:56:35.520 of course when John Amis's character left, but beyond that 0:56:36.080 --> 0:56:39.279 because I'm glad because my biological father, Ralph and John 0:56:39.320 --> 0:56:41.600 Amis got along life brothers, so it was you know, 0:56:42.160 --> 0:56:46.000 I had co fathers, so to speak. But the truth 0:56:46.040 --> 0:56:49.000 of the matter is is that I think that we 0:56:49.239 --> 0:56:53.399 left aunt a paramount impact on people because again we're 0:56:53.480 --> 0:56:57.359 bombarded with positive energy. I know I am, and being 0:56:57.480 --> 0:57:00.120 that I'm able to walk the streets of Brooklyn on 0:57:00.239 --> 0:57:03.279 my own, I'm able to greet some about people. I 0:57:03.360 --> 0:57:05.640 don't walk around the streets son, Hey, look at me, 0:57:05.719 --> 0:57:10.520 I'm here. No, if anything, I know when to shut down. 0:57:10.640 --> 0:57:12.720 That's what I love about Jimmy Walker as a comedian. 0:57:12.760 --> 0:57:16.000 He's not always on. When Jimmy's locked into what he's 0:57:16.040 --> 0:57:18.840 gonna do, he's gonna do it. But other than that, no, 0:57:19.000 --> 0:57:21.280 you won't get him to say dynamite because he's already 0:57:21.400 --> 0:57:24.600 done that. You can see the reruns. When you want 0:57:24.640 --> 0:57:26.720 to play that, you can do it like that. But 0:57:27.760 --> 0:57:31.120 I just think that working with our people here has 0:57:31.240 --> 0:57:33.880 been a reward for me because I've learned a tremendous 0:57:33.880 --> 0:57:36.840 a lot of information from Ben and Dead and from Jimmy. 0:57:37.200 --> 0:57:38.760 What do you want the legacy to be? Mister Walker? 0:57:39.440 --> 0:57:42.680 You know, I really hadn't thought about it until Norman 0:57:42.760 --> 0:57:45.720 Lear died and then everybody started jumping up and down 0:57:45.800 --> 0:57:49.120 about Norman dying and stuff like that. It really, I 0:57:49.640 --> 0:57:54.080 hate to say it, it never crossed my mind. I never, 0:57:54.920 --> 0:57:57.680 I never ever thought about it, just never. 0:57:57.880 --> 0:57:58.440 In there. 0:58:00.040 --> 0:58:03.200 Thinking about them girl calling girls and getting my shots 0:58:03.280 --> 0:58:05.280 on the When I was doing the David Letterman Show, 0:58:05.320 --> 0:58:10.880 which is my opinion, my alleged best work, I loved it. 0:58:11.000 --> 0:58:13.640 It was fabulous, you know, because Letterman started out with 0:58:13.720 --> 0:58:17.000 me as a writer, and uh, you know my writing staff. 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:19.480 I'm so proud of all those guys. Is the old 0:58:19.520 --> 0:58:22.480 man that's dying. But it's them, I mean had Jay Leno, 0:58:22.560 --> 0:58:26.640 and Louis Anderson and and Elaine Boosler, who to me 0:58:26.960 --> 0:58:32.200 represents the good in women's comedy. She has the greatest 0:58:32.240 --> 0:58:34.920 stuff because women. Now it's a little rough out here 0:58:35.200 --> 0:58:39.160 what women are doing. But Elaine wrote, great, clean, solid, 0:58:39.520 --> 0:58:43.960 monster jokes man, and this is perfect example. You won't 0:58:43.960 --> 0:58:46.600 see this kind of joke done anymore, but this is 0:58:46.720 --> 0:58:50.120 kind of joke she wrote. She says, men are so hypocritical. 0:58:50.600 --> 0:58:52.600 They want you to scream. Now, this is the best 0:58:52.680 --> 0:58:55.480 you've ever had while swaying. You've never done this before. 0:58:57.680 --> 0:59:03.720 Now see that, to me is a joke. That's a solid, killer, monster, 0:59:04.080 --> 0:59:05.400 clean joke that is. 0:59:07.720 --> 0:59:07.919 Well. 0:59:08.080 --> 0:59:13.880 Please, I'm sorry all those people on your writing staff. Yeah, 0:59:14.920 --> 0:59:21.960 Jay Leno, Louis Anderson, Elaine Boosler, Ralphie may Byron now 0:59:22.120 --> 0:59:25.480 started me he was fourteen years old. No, he started 0:59:25.480 --> 0:59:28.520 writing for me? Is doing jokes for me? I always 0:59:28.560 --> 0:59:32.440 tell the same thing, but it's true. He was doing comedy, 0:59:32.520 --> 0:59:34.680 claiming he was eighteen years old at the store. Okay, 0:59:35.000 --> 0:59:37.120 got on one of my writers saw him. He says, 0:59:37.480 --> 0:59:39.520 do you write? He says, yeah, I do write. He says, 0:59:39.560 --> 0:59:42.120 could you write for Jimmy Walker? He says, ja ja Yeah. 0:59:42.400 --> 0:59:44.720 He says, oh yeah, I could do it. So he 0:59:44.960 --> 0:59:47.760 calls me up. And I got Leono at the house, 0:59:47.800 --> 0:59:49.480 and I got Louis at the house, and I got 0:59:49.680 --> 0:59:51.560 David let him in at the house, and I got 0:59:51.680 --> 0:59:55.600 Ralphie May at the house. And I said, well, says Wayne, 0:59:55.680 --> 0:59:58.080 Wayne the joke train says, you're good. Once you come 0:59:58.120 --> 1:00:00.280 over the house and we'll see what you got. He says, 1:00:00.600 --> 1:00:02.840 I'll come over, but I have to wait for my mom. 1:00:03.080 --> 1:00:05.480 I said, why, what's happening? He said, my mom has 1:00:05.520 --> 1:00:06.439 to drive me over. 1:00:06.920 --> 1:00:07.120 Wow. 1:00:07.240 --> 1:00:10.480 I said, drive you over? He says, yeah, I'm fourteen 1:00:10.600 --> 1:00:14.400 years old. I said, oh okay. Because his mom worked 1:00:14.440 --> 1:00:17.160 for NBC. She was she was on staff over there 1:00:17.240 --> 1:00:20.600 as a pr gal. Right, so it comes over. First 1:00:20.680 --> 1:00:22.960 joke Byron never wrote for me fourteen years old. First 1:00:23.000 --> 1:00:25.960 joke he says white people black people are much different. 1:00:26.160 --> 1:00:28.040 Says white people go to a movie, they don't like it. 1:00:28.080 --> 1:00:30.160 They say, I would like my money back. This is 1:00:30.240 --> 1:00:31.880 what black people go to the movie. He says, I 1:00:31.920 --> 1:00:37.200 didn't like this movie. I want everybody's money back. Fourteen 1:00:37.240 --> 1:00:43.560 year old that joke. Wow, see that's the kind of 1:00:43.560 --> 1:00:44.280 stuff I look for. 1:00:44.560 --> 1:00:47.600 Got you And now he just mentioned it. But do 1:00:47.680 --> 1:00:48.960 you get tired of saying not on my. 1:00:49.120 --> 1:00:49.920 Do people go to it? 1:00:50.040 --> 1:00:50.080 No? 1:00:50.160 --> 1:00:50.520 Don't do it? 1:00:50.600 --> 1:00:52.520 No, no, no, no, I'm not asking to say no. 1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:53.560 I'm going to ask. 1:00:53.680 --> 1:00:53.720 No. 1:00:54.000 --> 1:00:56.160 I would never ask. I would say, do you get tired? 1:00:56.160 --> 1:00:59.040 Because I mean, people don't really people don't really ask 1:00:59.120 --> 1:01:02.640 because the comedy crowd is different than a TV crowd. 1:01:03.080 --> 1:01:07.919 You know, they come, if that's all I did, people go, well, 1:01:08.200 --> 1:01:10.720 it wasn't worth paying to see this guy because that's 1:01:10.760 --> 1:01:13.800 all he did. But when you see my act, people go, 1:01:14.400 --> 1:01:17.240 you know, I think some of the best comments I've 1:01:17.240 --> 1:01:19.560 ever got. My guys who are valets because I travel 1:01:19.600 --> 1:01:21.480 every week to do the road, they go, hey, man, 1:01:21.880 --> 1:01:24.600 we saw that specially did with Michael Winslow. You know, 1:01:24.760 --> 1:01:28.040 we always knew you were funny. This is much better 1:01:28.120 --> 1:01:30.680 than I ever thought that you had. I didn't know 1:01:30.760 --> 1:01:32.960 you had this kind of stuff. That to me is 1:01:33.080 --> 1:01:34.640 like a great compliment. 1:01:35.000 --> 1:01:35.440 I like that. 1:01:36.680 --> 1:01:38.400 I just feel like a white man asking you to dance. 1:01:43.560 --> 1:01:44.320 No, I don't. 1:01:44.480 --> 1:01:44.600 You know. 1:01:44.720 --> 1:01:48.600 People ask, but I don't really do it, but I have. 1:01:48.920 --> 1:01:51.720 I never did it in my act until recently. I 1:01:51.760 --> 1:01:54.320 found a spot for it and it works great. So 1:01:55.720 --> 1:01:57.920 it's a very good piece. I have to admit that 1:01:57.960 --> 1:01:59.920 I wrote it myself. Thank you. I can't really do 1:02:00.160 --> 1:02:02.000 it now, and it's not dirty. I don't do any 1:02:02.080 --> 1:02:04.800 dirt or anything like that. That's another thing. I grew 1:02:04.880 --> 1:02:07.480 up in the non dirt area. And there's only I'm 1:02:07.520 --> 1:02:12.120 not kidding, allegedly there's nine thousand comics making twenty five 1:02:12.240 --> 1:02:14.840 thousand or more up to the Dave Chappelle two hundred 1:02:14.840 --> 1:02:18.439 thousand a night kind of level. I would say there's 1:02:18.560 --> 1:02:21.840 no more other than the religious guys, the Ricky Smiley 1:02:21.920 --> 1:02:24.880 type of cats. I would say there's no more than 1:02:25.000 --> 1:02:31.400 twenty five clean guys in America and girl girls. I'm stunned. 1:02:32.000 --> 1:02:40.840 I don't think there's any Well, no, she's not a joke. 1:02:41.880 --> 1:02:49.240 I don't think. I to me, I haven't I got 1:02:49.320 --> 1:02:54.360 she's got. I got Wendie Leeman, I got Ellen DeGeneres, 1:02:54.800 --> 1:02:57.680 I got elayinne Boozler. And I'm going to add on 1:02:57.960 --> 1:03:00.840 three more just for the kicks. That maybe I left out. 1:03:01.160 --> 1:03:04.480 I don't think there's ten clean women comics in America. 1:03:05.040 --> 1:03:09.160 I don't think there are. I mean, maybe there's somebody 1:03:09.240 --> 1:03:12.640 I'm missing. I have not met them. And see, when 1:03:12.680 --> 1:03:16.640 I started, women were the cleanest. They were talking about 1:03:16.640 --> 1:03:20.360 their husbands or their boyfriends. And I think the joke 1:03:20.440 --> 1:03:23.080 I just did by Elaine or if you look at 1:03:23.520 --> 1:03:28.000 Ellen that that to me is the hardest stuff to do. 1:03:28.520 --> 1:03:32.959 That And women now they're talking about their sexual act. 1:03:33.080 --> 1:03:36.240 From the beginning, I met this guy and I went 1:03:36.320 --> 1:03:38.560 home and I did this and I did that, and 1:03:38.720 --> 1:03:43.439 he couldn't do it. You go, hey, easy, I don't 1:03:43.480 --> 1:03:45.840 want to know about all that. You know, that kind 1:03:45.840 --> 1:03:46.400 of stuff like that. 1:03:46.520 --> 1:03:47.880 They call you back, you don't want to know about 1:03:47.920 --> 1:03:51.440 all I'm not in a public setting. 1:03:52.120 --> 1:03:54.680 If they do it on stage, I mean they talk 1:03:54.720 --> 1:03:57.360 about it on stage where you just go. 1:03:58.080 --> 1:04:02.480 Oh my god, I'm on you to be funny. 1:04:02.680 --> 1:04:06.280 Yeah, that's it, you know. And see, I tell comics 1:04:06.360 --> 1:04:08.760 all the time, whether they're women or men, if you 1:04:08.920 --> 1:04:11.800 do the F word or whatever, if you only do 1:04:11.920 --> 1:04:14.959 it once, it will have more impact than just saying 1:04:15.000 --> 1:04:17.480 it all the time, all the time, all the time. 1:04:17.600 --> 1:04:20.400 If you say it once or twice, it will have 1:04:20.600 --> 1:04:23.760 tremendous impact. You know, I always bring up and I 1:04:23.840 --> 1:04:26.240 don't mean the curse about anything, but I always bring 1:04:26.360 --> 1:04:31.440 up Cosby, who I think is the most devastating thing 1:04:31.480 --> 1:04:34.040 I've gone through with the Cosby thing because I opened 1:04:34.080 --> 1:04:38.760 for Cosby for like two three years and I knew 1:04:38.760 --> 1:04:40.800 they had a lot of women. That was the thing 1:04:40.920 --> 1:04:44.440 that But see, to me, this is Camille's problem. It's 1:04:44.520 --> 1:04:48.240 not our problem. It's Camille's problem. And I think what 1:04:48.520 --> 1:04:51.160 killed Cosby, and I say this all the time, was 1:04:51.240 --> 1:04:54.040 that he got on and he stood on top of 1:04:54.160 --> 1:05:00.680 a mountain saying, I'm America's dad, follow me, pull your 1:05:00.760 --> 1:05:04.320 pants up. Don't use language. I think, and I've always 1:05:04.400 --> 1:05:07.400 used this line. It's true. I think if he hadn't 1:05:07.480 --> 1:05:10.920 done that, if he hadn't been such the guy to 1:05:11.320 --> 1:05:13.880 just say you can't do this, I think it would 1:05:13.880 --> 1:05:16.880 have gone away. And I used this. If it had 1:05:17.000 --> 1:05:21.960 been Mick Jagger, nobody would have said anything, because you know, 1:05:22.160 --> 1:05:25.440 Mick Jagger has had more women than Cosbrey's had. But 1:05:25.560 --> 1:05:28.040 you'll never know about it because you go, it's the 1:05:28.200 --> 1:05:33.360 Rolling Stones, man, what do you expect? But Cosmy gives us. 1:05:33.640 --> 1:05:36.520 I would never do that. I raised my kids, I've 1:05:36.600 --> 1:05:39.680 done my so you got to come down off the mountain. Sometimes, 1:05:39.800 --> 1:05:41.880 unless you're totally innocent. 1:05:41.600 --> 1:05:44.240 You agree with that take. You agree with that take? 1:05:44.760 --> 1:05:50.200 Yeah, way, you know, well, we appreciate you guys for 1:05:50.320 --> 1:05:50.720 joining us. 1:05:50.760 --> 1:05:53.919 Fifteen the lyrics to the theme song. 1:05:55.040 --> 1:05:55.760 You'll all know that. 1:05:56.200 --> 1:05:58.160 No, I don't know it. I think Rolf knows it. 1:05:58.400 --> 1:06:02.000 Just looking out of the window watching yesphalt girl, seeing 1:06:02.040 --> 1:06:04.680 how it all looks. Tear me down, but you're keeping 1:06:04.720 --> 1:06:07.720 your head above water, making a wave when you can. 1:06:08.520 --> 1:06:14.120 Temporary layoffs, good times, easy credit, ripall good time, scratching 1:06:14.200 --> 1:06:17.760 and surviving, good good times. Hanging in a child line. 1:06:19.440 --> 1:06:21.120 That's how I have. 1:06:23.120 --> 1:06:26.080 Yes, it is hanging in versions, hanging in. 1:06:26.560 --> 1:06:29.800 Ting and and driving. But also I have on document 1:06:30.080 --> 1:06:35.960 and my archive hanging in the child, so they versions 1:06:36.080 --> 1:06:39.880 of it. However, it really caught on the way that 1:06:40.000 --> 1:06:45.360 the wonderful Ja wrote this the the soundtrack for moving 1:06:45.440 --> 1:06:48.960 on Up for the Jeffersons do Wise, there is the 1:06:49.040 --> 1:06:52.200 writer and the musician and the vocalist that sings that song, 1:06:52.800 --> 1:06:56.880 so that in itself, when you deal with themed songs, 1:06:57.080 --> 1:06:59.280 and when we were coming on y'all were grace is 1:06:59.360 --> 1:07:01.959 enough to play for us. So it was a nice 1:07:02.000 --> 1:07:05.280 way to walk into your sound studio, and we thank you. 1:07:05.920 --> 1:07:07.520 So the mystery continued. We still don't know if it's 1:07:07.560 --> 1:07:08.240 hanging in the child. 1:07:11.000 --> 1:07:13.000 Hanging, it's hanging in and giving. 1:07:13.760 --> 1:07:15.560 Yeah, that's what it is, Anderne. They're not going to 1:07:15.640 --> 1:07:17.040 have this going on for a while. 1:07:19.920 --> 1:07:22.200 Jim Jim Gilsdraft, the one who sung it, told me. 1:07:23.200 --> 1:07:24.640 He said it was hanging in and giving. 1:07:25.640 --> 1:07:26.160 That's what it was. 1:07:26.360 --> 1:07:28.160 But it came off I don't know if it was 1:07:28.200 --> 1:07:30.680 the annunciation of it or not, but it came off 1:07:30.960 --> 1:07:33.480 as hanging in a chow line. It sounds that way, 1:07:33.800 --> 1:07:35.720 but it really was hanging in and giving. 1:07:35.800 --> 1:07:38.160 And there's a second verse that people have never heard 1:07:38.200 --> 1:07:41.600 that goes to the same song. So the information that 1:07:41.800 --> 1:07:44.160 I do have it has what I'm saying. 1:07:44.360 --> 1:07:45.040 That's a little. 1:07:46.600 --> 1:07:47.880 Singing in the shower. 1:07:48.400 --> 1:07:51.760 So you guys have been wonderful. I thank you for 1:07:51.920 --> 1:07:55.080 thinking enough of us. Again to your listening audience, we 1:07:55.240 --> 1:07:58.920 thank you again for wonderful fifty years. May you be 1:07:59.040 --> 1:08:01.480 blessed by every do you breathe in every beat of 1:08:01.560 --> 1:08:02.080 your heart. 1:08:03.040 --> 1:08:03.800 Thank you very much. 1:08:04.000 --> 1:08:06.120 That's right. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, thank you. 1:08:06.480 --> 1:08:09.640 Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club