WEBVTT - Maz Jobrani 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:01.960 We start the rehearsal and I'm up there, I'm singing, 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.600 I'm dancing, I'm smiling. And then she stops. The whole rehearsal. 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.840 Everybody stops stop. She goes look at him, Look at him. 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:09.959 You see him. He's sick, he's here, he's singing, he's smiling. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:12.160 You gotta learn from him. And I was like, oh, 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:16.400 that's me. So it was a moment of like positive 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.040 reinforcement made me feel I can do this. And then 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:20.759 the year later, eighth grade, I come back and I 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.400 get the lead. I'm little Abner and Little Abner and 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.200 you know, I've been bitt and I loved it and 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:27.280 I just wanted to do it. And every time I 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.200 tell I tell a story, how like throughout my schooling, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:33.159 they would always be like, oh, you've got what it 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.839 takes to do this. So my parents would come to 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.680 the shows and the director or the teacher would say, 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:41.240 you know, your kids got the thing for this, and 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:42.960 my parents, oh, thank you, thinking and we get in 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:44.760 the car. My dad would be like, that bitch is crazy. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.360 Don't listen to her. You're gonna be a doctor or 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:57.920 a lawyer. Hi, I'm maz Jobrani and I am bald. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.880 Hi friends, welcome back here to Off the Beat. It 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.959 is I your trusty host, Brian Baumgartner. Today I have 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.920 a very special treat for you, because, as you just heard, 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:21.240 my guest is the hilarious actor and stand up comedian 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.919 Moss Joe Brownie. Now, if you know anything about Moss, 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.800 you know comedy isn't his only specialty. He actually studied 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.399 political science at UC Berkeley and then later dropped out 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:40.440 of his PhD program to do what yes, to pursue comedy. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.160 It's what all smart folks do. This was a great 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.920 move for Moss. He now has six comedy specials, a memoir, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:55.640 and countless TV appearances. Today, we're going to dive into 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.760 his unique take on comedy, not shying away from hard 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:06.000 time tompics like politics and race and why humor has 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.760 a unique power to make this kind of statement and yeah, okay, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.160 we're gonna crack some jokes along the way. This one 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.760 it is pretty pretty special. Let's jump right in with 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:25.960 my friend and yours, Moss Joe Browny. Bubble and Squeak. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:33.079 I love it, Bubble and Squeak. A Bubble and Squeaker 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:47.919 cookie every month left over from the Natio. Hi mas, 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.120 Hey Brian, how are you? I'm great, how are you? 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.280 Thanks for joining me, Thanks for having me, buddy. What's 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.960 going on? Hey? You know what? Not a whole lot, 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.800 but I'm excited to see. Where are you right now? 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.919 I'm in Los Angeles. Where are you? Okay? Well, so 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.320 it's it's it's it's a rainy day in southern California. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.280 I'm there as well. It's insane, crazy, right, yeah, And 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.720 there's nothing more boring than talking about the weather. But 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.959 it's a reality. That's it's a reality. And it's also 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.720 I've been my whole life. I've been in California, like 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.000 since I was six years old. And the only time 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.720 I remember raining almost as bad was I think I 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.760 was like in the fifth grade in northern California and 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.800 cars were literally like the water was up to the window. Yeah, 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.040 and it was crazy, and they made us evacuate. We 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:41.360 lived on a on a hillside, they made us evacuate. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.160 I don't think I've seen it this bad since. And 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.240 this might be worse than that, I mean worse and 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.560 better and all of the above. Yeah, No, it's insane. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:55.040 Cars stopped today, stuck right around my house in rivers 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.160 of water trying to get through. But it's so nutty. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:04.520 But you know what, it's warm and cozy here between 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.760 the two of us. I want to talk about your career. 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.040 I have a little bit of an existential conversation about 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.480 comedian versus actor. Will do that, but I first want 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.080 to start back at your youth. You were born in Iran, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.839 but came to California very early on. Is that right? Yeah, 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.960 So I was born in Iran and then late seventy 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.400 eight as there was protests. There's protests in the streets 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.520 of Iran. The leader back then was the Shaw, and 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.600 the Shaw was a monarch. He was a king. He 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.880 had helped modernize the country and he had gotten the 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.839 country to some level of prosperity. But he had people 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.760 that didn't like him because he was a king, and 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.200 so clearly, you know, there were many groups that couldn't 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.320 be vocal against him, you know, you know, he had 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.000 a secret police and all that kind of stuff. Okay, 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.279 so there was all these different groups that were critical 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.360 of him or opposed him. And what happened was these 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.800 protests started started out in the streets of Irun. They 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.159 got bigger and bigger and bigger, and what would happen 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.520 is his military or somebody would show up at the 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.559 protests and they would shoot into the crowd and somebody 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.760 would die, and then that would cause more protests to 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.159 just grow and grow and grow. And so eventually, late 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.760 seventy eight, my father was on business in New York 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.120 and he told my mom, He's like, why don't you 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.840 bring the kids to New York for a couple of weeks, 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.840 And he said, you know, hopefully things will cool down 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.039 and we can all return. And we didn't expect to 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.039 stay this long because really we left my baby brother 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.400 back there. I came with my older sister, Mariam. At 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.880 the time, I was six. I guess you must have 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:46.719 been eight. And I always like to say we packed 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:52.480 for two weeks and we stayed for forty four years. Now, yeah, 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.240 you just never went back, whatever back because things got 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.960 worse and worse, and early seventy nine the Shaw actually left. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.800 Then that's when the revolution really happened. And there was 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.680 actually a great documentary that was on HBO recently called 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.480 Hostages that kind of talked about that time and how 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.680 Ayatollahomeni comes in and really, I think a lot of 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:14.680 people at that time, thought, oh, this is going to 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:16.800 be great because now that the Shah's gone, will have 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.800 a democracy and everyone will get along. Well, actually it 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.440 got worse because what happened was you ended up with 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:29.240 this religious fundamentalist regime that didn't care about you know, 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:34.840 women's rights, LGBTQ rights, religious minority rights. They led us. 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.200 Then we ended up in a war with Iraq, so 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:39.720 millions of people died there, and we've seen now more 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.480 and more recently how brutal the regime is with executing 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.760 people and imprisoning people. And just last year they killed 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.240 Massa Amini, who's this twenty two year old girl walking 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:49.760 on the street with her hair out of her job 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.080 just a little bit, and so it became even more brutal. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.480 And it's been hard to be away from Iran for 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.200 forty four years. And I'm very American. I grew up 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.800 watching baseball and football and you know, playing those sports 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:10.600 and knowing American media. But there's always been a part 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.600 of my heart that has remained in my childhood home. 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.480 And it also breaks my heart to see the young 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.560 people of that country suffer the way they have. So really, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.120 all I could hope for is for a free run 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.840 where they could be fully democratic, like we are, well, 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.480 we're kind of democratic, we're going the other way. Would 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.480 you say, growing up, like, how important was it for 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:40.000 your parents for you to feel a connection to Iran 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.960 or were you just trying to become sort of fully 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.080 Americanized as a six, seven, eight year old. I mean, 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.320 not that you were fully conscious. But looking back, I 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.400 don't think that my parents have even thought about it 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:53.920 like that. I think I think that they were just 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.680 they were like they assumed because my parents, imagine, imagine 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.360 being in your at that time. My mom was probably 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.480 in our mid thirties or so, and my dad was 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.760 in his mid to late forties. Imagine if that far 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:07.760 into your life you had to get up and just 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.200 go to a totally different country. You don't speak the language, 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.560 you know, you know, you barely speak the language. They're there. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.520 The good news was my father, since he was a 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:19.320 successful businessman, he had the resources financially, he brought a 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:20.960 lot of money over which, by the way, he ends 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.480 up losing them in bad real estate investments, but still 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.640 to come over here. I don't think that they were 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.640 consciously going, oh, we must make sure our kids speak Persian. 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.240 And eat the Persian food and all that. It would 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.920 just assume that that's what it was. So they would 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:37.959 speak Persian to us, we would speak Persian to them. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.440 There were times actually, because my reading and writing in 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.800 Persian continues to not be that great because I left 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:44.360 when I was in the first grade, so there weren't 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.440 times when they would sign us up for like Persian 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.240 classes on a weekend and I hated it. I was like, 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.640 oh God, what I hate this. So but but but 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.920 really culturally speaking, and for them, it wasn't like they 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:59.439 even had an option. It wasn't like my mom was 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:04.640 going to be like, oh I'm gonna my dad wasn't 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.520 gonna be like I'm gonna watch less American sports so 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.520 that you become more Iranian. It was just like, I'm 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.160 only going to speak to you in Persian and you're 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.920 gonna respond to me in Persian, and that's all there 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.360 is to it. You know. Okay, what about you assimilating 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.760 into learning English going to school? Obviously you're learning English 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.400 in school, right, Yeah. Well, I actually went to an 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.120 international school in Iran, so I already spoke English. But 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.400 coming to America, I mean, you know, as a six 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.960 year old, and then seven and all those young ages. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.560 You don't want to be different, you know what I'm saying. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.760 It's like the last thing you want is to be different. 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.840 And first coming over from Iran to America, Iran I 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.080 think had some European influence, so my mom would dress 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.600 me up a little more European e and already in 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.959 America they're like, you know, what's wrong with you? Why 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.960 are you wearing those clothes? And then and then there 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.200 was times when like just little minor things became big 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.319 things in our grade. Right, so we had a day 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.320 called Pizza Day, and Pizza Day was where every kid 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.719 was going to bring some ingredient to the school. We're 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.040 gonna cook pizza together. This is I think third grade. 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.880 And so I was in charge of sausages. So I 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.880 go grocery shopping with my mom and my aunt and 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.560 in Persian the word for hot dog is so cease sausage. 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.559 So so we're there, I go I need sausages, like, oh, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.480 you need so cis. So they give me a pack 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.280 of hot dogs, which really is like, I mean it's 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.560 a it's a small sausage. Really, I mean sausages are 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.199 it is? So I show up with a you know, 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.320 pack of hot dogs, and of course all the kids hah, 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.720 he brought hot dogs. I know these are sausages. Those 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.160 are hot dogs, you know, like ruined my my, my 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.800 whole life. And I go home and tell my mom 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.199 these are not this is hot dogs, like this is socias. 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.839 Now that story comes full circle when years later I 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.160 went to study abroad in Italy. When I was in college, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.680 I go to pizzeria and they have pizza with hot 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.720 dogs on it, and I'm like, you bastards. I was 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.440 right all along. So yeah, so I was just trying 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.319 to blend in. Man. I just wanted to be American. 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.439 I mean I played baseball, I you know, American culture. 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.439 Like that's probably where I discovered listen. By the way. Also, 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.079 my dad and I think this was just parenting of 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.400 the time. But I didn't play catch with me or 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:17.800 any of that. I mean, he was a great father. 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.680 He was very generous, he was giving. It wasn't like 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.960 let's go outside and play catch, you know. So because 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:26.600 of that, like I was learning a lot of stuff 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.800 from American television. So I'd sit there and watch hours. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.520 I'd watch Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, Leave it to Beaver all 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.800 these reruns. That's that's how I think I came upon 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.880 comedy my first you know, like finding Eddie Murphy when 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.800 I was ten years old and going, what's Saturday Night Live? 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.400 I want to do this, you know? So, yeah, I 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.760 was trying to blend in. Yeah, I read Eddie Murphy 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:53.520 was one of your first loves. That sounds weird, but yeah, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.840 one of your heroes, one of your first heroes. There 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.600 you go in comedy. When did you start performing? Were 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.880 you in school plays or yeah? It was basically so 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.120 in the seventh grade, they had they had a musical. 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.960 I went to Delmar Middle School in northern California and Tibron. 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.240 They were doing The Boyfriend and I don't know why 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.000 we all decided to do it, but it's a handful 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:18.839 of guys decided to do it some girls and went, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.960 I go, let's try this. So I go and I auditioned, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.559 and again it was seventh and eighth, so most of 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.319 the leads went to the eighth graders. Seventh graders were 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.520 just background dancers. And there was a lady named Shirley 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.440 bomb Bright. She was our director. And Shirley Bombright said 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.760 when you're doing a musical. When you're on stage, you 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.560 always need to be smiling, when you're dancing, smiling and 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.719 singing and radiating. Oh, and she said. The other things 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:41.599 she said is you're part of an ensemble, so you 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.360 better be here. So one day I go to the rehearsal. 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.120 I go, Miss bomb Bright, I just gotta let you know. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.720 I'm a little under the weather. I got a cold, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.640 but you told me I gotta be here. So I came. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.400 I'm here, and then we start the rehearsal and I'm 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.760 up there, I'm singing, I'm dancing, I'm smiling. And then 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.840 she stops. The whole rehearsal. Everybody stops stop. She goes, 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.400 look at him, Look at him. You see him. He's sick, 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.079 he's here, he's singing, he's smiling. You gotta learn from him. 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.679 And I was like, oh, that's me. So it was 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.000 a moment of like positive reinforcement made me feel I 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.400 can do this. Then the year later, eighth grade, I 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.160 come back and I get the lead. I'm little Abner 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.560 and little Abner and you know, I've been bitt and 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.400 I loved it and I just wanted to do it. 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.079 And every time I tell I tell a story how 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.600 like throughout my schooling, they would always be like, oh, 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.160 you've got what it takes to do this. So my 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.079 parents would come to the shows and the director or 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:31.840 the teacher would say, you know, your kids got the 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.680 thing for this, and my parents, oh, thank you. Thinking 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.040 we get in the car, my dad would be like, 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.800 that bitch is crazy. Don't listen to her. You're gonna 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:45.240 be a doctor or a lawyer. So they had they 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.480 didn't see the spark inside you. They were not interested 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.760 in you pursuing this as a career. Right, Yeah, it 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.640 wasn't that they didn't see the spark. It's that I 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:56.400 think you know again, immigrant parents, that's all they knew, 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:58.800 and it was a previous generation. I was just talking 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:00.800 to somebody about how my daughter or twelve now and 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.800 I'm encouraging her to become a dj okay And I 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:05.600 was like, if I went to my Irani dad back then, 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.240 I want to be a DJ, like a d what 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:09.920 you know, You'd be like, what are you talking about it? 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.600 But you know, we live in a different world where 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.200 people are making millions on TikTok or whatever, and so 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.800 back then I don't think they understood at all what 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.480 this meant or how it went. There was nobody in 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.040 my family. There was one. My aunt had married this 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.840 American guy. He was the only guy who kind of 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.880 was like, oh, you're interested in this, let's go to 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.800 the bookstore and get some books on acting. And it 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.800 was kind of having me look at that. But other 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.480 than that, they I just think my parents didn't know 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.800 what this was. And there was a lot of throughout 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.480 my life. It was a lot of detours, you know, 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.440 because of my parents. I started political science thinking I 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.720 was going to be a lawyer. Then when I went 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:51.760 to Italy to study abroad, I thought maybe I'd come 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.520 back and be a professor. So I got into a 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.200 PhD program, and then I dropped out of that, and 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.320 then I was going to go work in advertising. But 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:03.080 all along I always would find opportunities to get on stage. 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.600 I would kind of play a local play here there, 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.240 and I was always like, I love this. Right then 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:09.880 I was like, what am I going to do with it? 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:11.480 I mean, you know how it is. It's like, it's 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.440 not like you just apply to a school and then 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.440 you come out of that school and then Hollywood starts 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:21.440 hiring you. You know, what I'm saying, Oh, if it 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:26.480 was that easy, right exactly. So you mentioned getting into 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:31.040 political science. This ends up being a significant thing for 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:35.680 you in your career. Were you doing plays at Berkeley 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.720 or well, because it was Berkeley, were you just finding 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.880 other other ways to perform? Well, it's interesting you said 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.560 that because again at Berkeley too. So I sot some year, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.280 I forget what year it was. Maybe it was like 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.120 my I don't forget what year it was. To be 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.240 honest with you, must have been senior. One of the years. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.560 As I was signing up for classes, I was like, oh, 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.800 maybe I'll take an acting class, and I remember it 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.640 was all very last minute. Did one semester of an 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.680 acting class at Berkeley, and the teacher was like, you 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.760 got what it takes. So every time I encountered somebody 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.880 who was teaching, it was like, you've got what it takes. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.480 And I think that just meant like I like being 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.160 a ham. I was comfortable. I wasn't self conscious. I 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.440 was up there doing it, you know, And so even 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.720 there I was like, wow, people could tell them. The 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:26.840 people that are in this world keep telling me go 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:31.480 for it. But you, within yourself, you didn't couldn't make 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.920 the choice to listen to them. Yeah, I think you know, 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.600 I've I've read about this. First of all, your brain 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.600 isn't developed till isn't fully developed till like your mid 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.560 twenties or so, so you have a lot of stuff 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.920 going on in your head right that maybe you're not 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.960 I'm always I'm always amazed by comedians who go I 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.200 started when I was seventeen, I go, what, how did 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.800 you know? You know? Chappelle started when with fourteen? I go, 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.680 why does that even happen? And I had dabbled in it, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.200 I kept doing the plays and my parents, I think 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.480 it convinced me do something legit and then do the 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.840 plays on the weekend. So I think in my mind, 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.040 I was like, yeah, that's right. You know, I'll just 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.840 you know, do the local playhouse and I'll be a 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.600 lawyer whatever. So while I was in high school, there 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.320 was a talent show and they said, anybody any talents. 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.280 I said, I'd like to try my hand to stand up, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.640 and so I would write this material. And back then 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.600 I'm a teenager, So the materials are mostly sex based. 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.359 And also, you know, my influenced by Eddie Murphy and 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.240 all this stuff. So one of the jokes I remember 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:32.399 I came up with it was like, why is our 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:34.520 genitalia in the middle of our body, which is the 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.080 least comfortable place, Like it should be on our palm 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.320 of our hands to just go around high fiving and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.160 having sex all day? And so I would write this 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.119 and I was like, oh, this is great, and then 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:45.479 the next day i'd read it, I go, this is 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.760 horrible because I'm in my head right, and I ended 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.119 up canceling. I was like, guys, I can't do this. 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.320 I just freaked out. And I was actually lucky. I 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.239 think that I canceled because they said, Okay, if you're 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:56.640 not going to perform, you need to at least show 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.280 up and help run the show, just like by seating 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.640 people and stuff. So turned out the audience for that show, 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.280 we're basically a bunch of juvenile delinquents. So if I 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:08.960 went up there and died in front of those guys, 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.960 it would have probably, you know, quashed my dreams for 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.840 the rest of my life, right, But I didn't do it, which, 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.720 by the way, just a side note. Years later, there's 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.520 a comedian named Jeremy Hats. It was very funny. I 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.040 saw him doing that joke. I'd never done it. I 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:24.679 saw him doing it, which makes you go, oh, a 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.520 professional did it. It wasn't it wasn't that bad material, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.560 But so I tried. I didn't do it. Then when 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.800 I was at Cow one day, I was having just 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.040 this like horrible day, and I'm sitting at this bar. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.679 It's called the Bear's Lair, and they say stand up 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.199 comedy competition and it was already on. It was like 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.000 we got to watch it, and it was like National 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.240 Lampoon's Comedian, Young comedian, you know of the country or whatever. 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.480 And the two guys who went up there I knew 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.159 one of them, and the other guy I didn't know, 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.920 but they were horrible. And I'm watching them and I, oh, 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.120 my god, if they can do it, I can do it. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.639 And I always say I would say, you're inspired by 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:07.240 greatness in mediocrity, right, And so then I said, the 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:08.720 next time I get a chance, I'm going to do this. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.160 So then I was listening to the hip hop station. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.479 They go, there's a comedy competition, submit your tapes. So 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.680 I just came up with a tape of me doing 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.000 different accents and like like a dating tape, and me 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.439 being different characters. I submitted it and then they hit 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.800 me back. They go, congratulations, you want a sixteen finalists. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.120 So all of a sudden, I was in this stand 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.280 up comedy competition. I had no material, right, and I 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.159 had to start writing it. And I wrote like this 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.400 five minute sketch that was just me doing different accents. 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.399 And then I went to the hip hop station to 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.520 promote it, and I quickly found out I was the 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:46.399 only non African American comedian and the whole thing. And 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.200 then while we're promoting it, they start doing yo Mama 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.840 jokes and they all know each other. They're all on 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:53.840 the stand up comedy circuit. I'm not, and they're like, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:55.399 Yo Mama, this is yo Mama that I'm sitting in 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.840 the middle. IM like what am I doing? And again, Brian, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.840 what was interesting was the guy who put this competition 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:04.920 together was like a real estate agent who I think 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.720 was trying to make a quick buck. So he'd gotten 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:09.720 a theater in Oakland and was going to do this 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.719 show with all these people, and I guess he had 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.200 trouble selling tickets. And again I think I lucked out 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.480 because if I'd gone up in front of whatever it 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.280 was few thousand people African American crowd and done my 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.639 little stupid act. I would have bombed. It would have 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.520 been the death of me, you know. And so again 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.040 I didn't get a chance to do it then. And 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.280 so then I was like, okay, I've got this in 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:34.639 my back pocket. I see what I do. So then 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.199 I come down to La I'm working in that summer, 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.520