Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: What if y'all is on PayPal from Quest Love Supre
Speaker 2: Last week, we gave you Wayne Brady Part one. In
Speaker 2: that Wayne spoke about morning routines and why making the
Speaker 2: bet is important. He talked about favorite cereals and candy,
Speaker 2: and even remembered a bully from his past. It's an
Speaker 2: amazing episode and you absolutely need to check it out
Speaker 2: of the cabin if you have well done, because here's
Speaker 2: part two. My friend Wayne Brady, Questlove, Fonte, Sugar Steve
Speaker 2: and myself live in the studio New York City enjoint.
Speaker 1: This is actually, I think a good time to pivot
Speaker 1: into this question aside question which was so my version
Speaker 1: of this story was when I was a staff member
Speaker 1: of The Chappelle Show.
Speaker 3: Sorry to meaning sorry sorry sound yeah, because I want
Speaker 3: to hear here, what's your version is?
Speaker 1: Okay, So I'm a staff member of Chappelle. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: go on location with those guys. I did all the
Speaker 1: music for season two and so the roots just happened
Speaker 1: to be in La at the time when we were
Speaker 1: shooting a lot of the La Chappelle things. And what
Speaker 1: you have to understand is that most shows are like
Speaker 1: planned week in events. They have a writing staff. The
Speaker 1: genius of season two was the fact that Neil Brennan
Speaker 1: and Dave Chappelle were pretty much just flying off the
Speaker 1: seat of their pants, knowing that on Thursday night they
Speaker 1: have to turn in that tape the comedy Really you're
Speaker 1: supposed to turn in like the Tuesday before, like days before.
Speaker 1: I mean there would be times where like maybe a
Speaker 1: half hour before the show's on the air, like the
Speaker 1: Sesame Street. Oh yeah, Q tip thing, that's new thing.
Speaker 1: I happen to know that they finished the edit maybe
Speaker 1: a half hour before airtime. Yeah, before airtime, Like Comedy
Speaker 1: Central has to like approve that were standing like we
Speaker 1: went down to the wire. So I do know that
Speaker 1: we had went out to the four seasons because we
Speaker 1: wanted to get our Sino to do the whole cheese things.
Speaker 1: Why don't you tell me the cheese was good, right,
Speaker 1: that whole thing, and also got uh Anthony Anderson to
Speaker 1: do the Ashy Larry you remember the dream? Yeah, what
Speaker 1: I remember was we have met Anthony Ajai in the
Speaker 1: hotel lobby. Anthony gi the bar wash. He's also the
Speaker 1: father Maya Rudolph's Fire and Bridesmaids, and he's legendary comic.
Speaker 1: We had spent so much time talking to him and
Speaker 1: our Senio was there like just comedian war stories from
Speaker 1: the seventies or whatever. That I had to go so
Speaker 1: I can go to the airport. So what Neil will
Speaker 1: tell me when I landed? He's like, dude, we just
Speaker 1: created a masterpiece. Like the way they were describing how
Speaker 1: the night was was like they had made Purple Rain
Speaker 1: and Thriller at once. And I'm thinking, like, wait, from
Speaker 1: the whole from that sketch. He says, no, man, He's like,
Speaker 1: so when you were leaving and checking out at the
Speaker 1: last minute, guess who we saw in the lobby. I
Speaker 1: was like, who it's a dog. We saw Wayne Brady
Speaker 1: and I said, oh my god, what happened? Because I
Speaker 1: instantly went back mooney on, I'm what I'm expecting. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be like beef from Broccoli. I said, well
Speaker 1: went down? What went down? He says, no, man, we
Speaker 1: shot something, And so I'm under the belief that it
Speaker 1: was off the cuff. You just happened to be in
Speaker 1: the lobby.
Speaker 4: You and Dave.
Speaker 1: Had a miacopa kind of understanding moment thing and then
Speaker 1: it was like, so what are you doing? Do you
Speaker 1: want to shoot something? And it was very off the cuff,
Speaker 1: and I was not prepared for any of.
Speaker 3: Those things like oh no, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 3: It was so much different for you.
Speaker 1: All right, so what's your version of it?
Speaker 3: Well, well, my version is is, well, just going back
Speaker 3: to when the sketch aired, and I'll do it really,
Speaker 3: really fast. And this isn't me complaining because I've said
Speaker 3: this before, like on the Breakfast Club, and there's always
Speaker 3: an asshole in the comments like like, well you shouldn't
Speaker 3: the reason that the sketch bothered me. And I'll just
Speaker 3: say it in that hill. Jokes are jokes. I do
Speaker 3: comedy everything jokes. A joke's fine. I just happened to
Speaker 3: come from a very very particular place, and you can't
Speaker 3: tell me what I can and can't feel. I feel
Speaker 3: Paul Mooney I worshiped at the shrine of Paul Mooney.
Speaker 3: I never said that Paul Mooney wasn't funny or Paul
Speaker 3: Moodey wasn't a genius and a writer. I love Paul Mooney,
Speaker 3: I love Dave, so imagine my shock. I'm sitting at home,
Speaker 3: I'm getting my barber. Came over to my spot. He's
Speaker 3: doing Da Da Da Da, and the Chappelle shows on.
Speaker 3: I'm excited. I was like, okay, show shot, we could
Speaker 3: get through the whole thing. And then and then boom.
Speaker 3: Negro was like Wayne Brady looked like him. I went, oh, oh, okay.
Speaker 3: I didn't laugh at it, not because I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm above being made fun of. If your joke is funny,
Speaker 3: please make fun of me. That's what we do. But
Speaker 3: to me, and now because you saw me talk to
Speaker 3: my bullies. Oh, also Kendra.
Speaker 1: And Nicole and Nicole come on now it's as Adams Jones,
Speaker 1: Johnson Harris.
Speaker 3: Race has always been a subject that has played because
Speaker 3: what does it mean to be black? You know, the
Speaker 3: kid that grew up watching certain things, doing certain things,
Speaker 3: liking certain things that have died, so those things for
Speaker 3: form you.
Speaker 4: So I've always had that in the back of my
Speaker 4: mind as a as a thing.
Speaker 3: So when I see that, I'm like, the joke isn't
Speaker 3: funny to me, It doesn't even scan because you're now
Speaker 3: making fun of Brian Gumbel, who like, say what you
Speaker 3: want to say. But Brian gumble, this incredibly successful man
Speaker 3: in his own right doing this thing. So now you're
Speaker 3: gonna use me to take down him or him to
Speaker 3: meet And then that means that I'm not black enough?
Speaker 3: And so does that mean that one of my comedic heroes,
Speaker 3: Dave Chappelle, who I've rocked with since Robin Hood men
Speaker 3: in tights and watching him at evenings at the Improv.
Speaker 4: Before he blew up. This dude really knows who I am.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's awesome, but nothing gonna shit on me and
Speaker 3: Paul Mooney, who I love.
Speaker 4: He doesn't think I'm black enough. That's really wow.
Speaker 3: That shakes, which is why Wayne doesn't go out and
Speaker 3: talk to people because I don't want to deal with
Speaker 3: that shit sometimes. So I was already in my feelings
Speaker 3: about it from a race place and just from a
Speaker 3: joke point. I didn't feel that it was a good joke.
Speaker 3: I thought it was too easy, so blah blah blah
Speaker 3: blah blah. So fuck those guys immediately, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't give sex second and third chances. I am
Speaker 3: a I'm a very petty, angry person inside sometimes when
Speaker 3: it comes to certain things. So I was already like, well,
Speaker 3: I guess I can watch a Chappelle's show click. I
Speaker 3: can't enjoy the genius that is Dave Chappelle. Fast forward
Speaker 3: to I forget what the show was. It was an
Speaker 3: award show. It might have been the Hoodies, Steve Harvey's
Speaker 3: Hoodies or something. But don hell was in the lobby bar.
Speaker 3: We were in the bar Donelle's with somebody else and
Speaker 3: I recognize him immediately because I like the show. Oh
Speaker 3: it's it's ashy laire, but you gonna drink my drink.
Speaker 3: He comes over so wonderful and gracious. Wayne, Hey, I'm Donelle.
Speaker 3: I play Actually I know who you are. I've seen
Speaker 3: your little playlids all right, just just through the energy.
Speaker 3: And he was so sweet and Wayne blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: I said, oh, yeah, that's great. I love the show
Speaker 3: up until that whack ass joke by Paul Mooney blah
Speaker 3: da da da da. But thanks. He goes, Oh my god,
Speaker 3: I mean we you know, we have love for you.
Speaker 3: I was like, I was like, to be honest, I
Speaker 3: don't know. And I have to preface it, I had
Speaker 3: been drinking. I had been drinking, so I was like, really,
Speaker 3: was that how you love me? Black man? Is that
Speaker 3: really so on about my day cut to the next day.
Speaker 3: This is how fast the shit did happen. So I
Speaker 3: don't know the timeline that you're talking about in terms
Speaker 3: of when you came out to LA, but it happened where.
Speaker 1: Well, I was at the fourth season Hotel, so.
Speaker 3: Okay, so that might have been so so whenever I
Speaker 3: saw him. Then the next day I was doing my
Speaker 3: talk show. I get my assistant comes as I'm in
Speaker 3: the writer's room.
Speaker 4: Wait wait, you got a phone call? Who take Chappelle?
Speaker 4: I was like, why no, you're lying take Shamlle?
Speaker 3: Okay, Hello, hey man, it's Dave.
Speaker 4: Oh man.
Speaker 3: It just so sweet as like, look, I didn't write
Speaker 3: that joke.
Speaker 4: Mooney came up with it.
Speaker 3: I really didn't like the shit either, but you know,
Speaker 3: I like the character and da da da, No offense
Speaker 3: was meant now the fact that and now we live
Speaker 3: in a day and age, no one's going to backtrack
Speaker 3: on a joke for folks like I said what I said,
Speaker 3: and I said it like like I said, Dave was
Speaker 3: one of my guy He's one of my heroes. So
Speaker 3: that itself, we could have just stopped it there. It
Speaker 3: couldn't have gone any for I was like, thank you,
Speaker 3: and I mean you didn't. Thanks, It's fine, it's cool.
Speaker 3: He goes, Hey, would you ever want to be on
Speaker 3: the show? Said, are you kidding me? It would be
Speaker 3: a dream of it. Well, then, what are you doing
Speaker 3: doing this weekend? Or if this was a Friday or something.
Speaker 3: So I flew out. I said, I'll come to New
Speaker 3: York immediately. Great, I'm gonna puts you in touch with
Speaker 3: Neil and you guys decide what we're gonna do, and
Speaker 3: we're gonna do something great.
Speaker 4: But great, thanks Dave. I was on cloud nine.
Speaker 3: So I immediately started thinking of ideas and this is
Speaker 3: where it is so cool. So I so I'm writing
Speaker 3: stuff on the plane. Neil had already worked out some stuff.
Speaker 3: So when I get to New York, it all happens
Speaker 3: like this. I get off the plane, we go to
Speaker 3: where you guys shot a think in Brooklyn or someplace whatever.
Speaker 3: We get up. As soon as soon as I get in,
Speaker 3: I go Neil's waiting for me. He's like, so, what
Speaker 3: do you want to do? Blah blah blah blah. He goes,
Speaker 3: We've got this idea of like doing this training day
Speaker 3: thing because you know, like you do your talk show.
Speaker 3: Oh and at this time, this is when I was
Speaker 3: leaving my talk show because I found out that because
Speaker 3: I told somebody off at Disney that they that they
Speaker 3: threatened me and said, uh said, oh, you know, if
Speaker 3: you don't do this particular thing, we always can find
Speaker 3: someone to do your show. And I said, oh, if
Speaker 3: you can find another Wayne Brady to do the Wayne
Speaker 3: Brady Show, please be my guest.
Speaker 4: I come back in.
Speaker 3: Tony Danzel's name is in the papers, but that's cool.
Speaker 3: I was like, great, I'm out.
Speaker 1: Of this Banddamn questions.
Speaker 3: I'm handling all the black people because they they they
Speaker 3: had a band, ate not a band, because they were
Speaker 3: gonna say we never said that. Certain guests that I'd
Speaker 3: bring up, they'd go, oh, no, you can't do that,
Speaker 3: bla blah blah blah blah blah blah. So I was like, really,
Speaker 3: I had Missy Elliott bust the rhymes if you were
Speaker 3: black and my favorite rapper, you were on that show
Speaker 3: you show at that time. I was so this was great.
Speaker 3: I was like yes, So in my mind I was like,
Speaker 3: we need to do something that will burn burn the
Speaker 3: house down. Fuck it, let's go So Neil's idea was
Speaker 3: the training day thing, and I said, well, if we're
Speaker 3: doing training day where I'm showing Dave through the neighborhood
Speaker 3: and doing shit, then we really need to lean into
Speaker 3: the fact of when folks are like, oh, Wayne, I
Speaker 3: love you because I see your talk show where you're
Speaker 3: this you're everybody's favorite black guy.
Speaker 4: Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: I said, I want to do a thing where a
Speaker 3: cop stops me and he started singing my jingle and
Speaker 3: I wrote that and then I'm gonna go but be
Speaker 3: behind him and I'm gonna kill him, and.
Speaker 4: That will freak and that'll freak out Dave.
Speaker 3: And I want a microphone to come down and go great,
Speaker 3: well let's do that and then we'll do the other
Speaker 3: thing with an ATM and you'll get your money. So like,
Speaker 3: we'll follow the beats. I said, great, So we came
Speaker 3: up with it. So we had these two ideas and
Speaker 3: mushed them together. We shot it all night. We wrapped
Speaker 3: like six in the morning because I had to get
Speaker 3: back on a plane to go back to shoot. And
Speaker 3: then I get a call like Monday. He's like, dude,
Speaker 3: this is amazing. You aren't gonna be ready. I think
Speaker 3: we I think we've made history. Yes, and I knew it,
Speaker 3: like not often are you in the middle of something,
Speaker 3: But I knew it as we're doing it because there
Speaker 3: was such desparate worlds right of Dave and this and me,
Speaker 3: especially of that time, of what folks thought of me
Speaker 3: and the gigs I was doing. It's like, well, wow,
Speaker 3: does that all fit together? And we weren't doing a sketch.
Speaker 3: In my mind, I was like, no, I'm really doing
Speaker 3: this shit because I'm also showing you what I do
Speaker 3: as an actor. It's like, we're really doing this. And
Speaker 3: the way that he shot it, it was a beautiful
Speaker 3: thing that came together. And I knew that we made
Speaker 3: TV history.
Speaker 1: I knew it, and I'm telling you this, like Rick James, nia,
Speaker 1: we have a problem, right, Rick James and Prince they
Speaker 1: were excited about but we were more excited about the
Speaker 1: scripts because we had the scripts way before they were shot.
Speaker 1: But I do remember up until that point they were
Speaker 1: really excited about the racial draft. But the way they
Speaker 1: were talking about how quickly this thing came together and
Speaker 1: how and I was I was disappointed because I couldn't add.
Speaker 4: Music to it.
Speaker 1: Like I was said, all right, so what am I
Speaker 1: gonna do? What am I gonna do? They're like, it's
Speaker 1: done already, man, you just you wait till it comes
Speaker 1: on and literally okay. So I mean that was that
Speaker 1: was the beginning of what we call like the viral face.
Speaker 1: How did you're our's perception of you or reaction? How
Speaker 1: did that change after that episode?
Speaker 3: It was instantaneous because at that point, you know, the
Speaker 3: Chappelle Show was everywhere all the time. It was on
Speaker 3: a loop, so everywhere you went, and being on tour
Speaker 3: and going you know, to very various cities, I could
Speaker 3: see the reactions like if and right after that it
Speaker 3: was on tour, you know, like I was in Philly
Speaker 3: and New York and Atlanta and Chicago and Detroit, so
Speaker 3: I got to see firsthand black reaction to the sketch. Now,
Speaker 3: the thing is that I never wanted the narrative to
Speaker 3: be like all black people voted unanimously that Wayne Brady
Speaker 3: was corny or whatever, because that was not the case.
Speaker 4: More black people rocked with me than not. It was.
Speaker 3: It was some fine, you couldn't say what you wanted to,
Speaker 3: But I did notice as soon as that sketch hit.
Speaker 3: This is the thing that I got, which I loathed
Speaker 3: to this day, but I know where it comes from.
Speaker 4: When like a particular cat comes up.
Speaker 3: Yo, Wayne, Nigga, that's that, dude, I'm gonna slap me
Speaker 3: a hole.
Speaker 4: It's like, no, no, man.
Speaker 3: It's actually, it's actually, it's actually, it's actually choko. That's
Speaker 3: what I meant. That's what I meant. I gotta tell
Speaker 3: you something. I gotta tell you something. I didn't fuck
Speaker 3: with you before.
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 3: I didn't with all honest I didn't fuck with you before.
Speaker 3: I was like, well, thanks for telling me you're in
Speaker 3: the thoughts I did. Really you didn't digest my okay, fine.
Speaker 5: But now now now, nigga, now, now hug me now,
Speaker 5: man now, And then I'm like, well, thank you.
Speaker 4: But the funny thing is, oh, so you love me now?
Speaker 3: Because I had hoes, made Dave take drugs, and it
Speaker 3: was yeah, I get I get it, I get it.
Speaker 3: But the thing that I loved the most about it
Speaker 3: is whatever your reaction and whatever you felt, and I
Speaker 3: feel it to this day. It's a classic sketch. It's
Speaker 3: in the Museum of Telling Vision History. I'd love Dave
Speaker 3: and I thank Dave, and I thank Neil for and
Speaker 3: I thank Donnelle for coming up to me because I
Speaker 3: got a chance to do something that was so dope,
Speaker 3: and I see the effects of it today that people
Speaker 3: got to see because I was doing a Disney talk show,
Speaker 3: I was doing an a ABC talk show, I was
Speaker 3: on a Who's Line at night. I was doing those things. Now,
Speaker 3: the people that followed my act, that saw me in
Speaker 3: the comedy clubs and theaters, they knew that it's kind
Speaker 3: of like the Bob Saget thing. My act is my acting.
Speaker 3: And I tell you, tell folks, just because you watched
Speaker 3: whose Line or your kid likes Sophia the First, don't
Speaker 3: bring your kids to my show because it's not that
Speaker 3: kind of show.
Speaker 4: So it's not that.
Speaker 3: So I felt that that began a shift where folks
Speaker 3: to your point earlier, where folks say that they really
Speaker 3: don't know me, they know the things that I do.
Speaker 3: I feel that was a step in people going Okay,
Speaker 3: I guess there's more to the person than I thought.
Speaker 3: And if it takes an event like that to make
Speaker 3: you open your mind, then cool. I don't care where
Speaker 3: it comes from.
Speaker 1: Azanza comes, well, then I'll ask you something I thought.
Speaker 3: We're on our way to being best friends.
Speaker 6: We started with we wanted to be friends friends is
Speaker 6: so exciting, Yes, sir, And this is an objective question,
Speaker 6: so I don't know if I can get a definitive answer.
Speaker 1: Of course, is the grass greener on the other side?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I would not know still because and
Speaker 3: this is a larger conversation for a thing. I I
Speaker 3: have issues where I still feel where now it's mostly
Speaker 3: oddly enough, ironically it's white Hollywood and white studio exects.
Speaker 3: And I don't even say agents that I've had in
Speaker 3: the past and people because black is black to me.
Speaker 4: We are not a monolith. That's what Whiz is about.
Speaker 3: Come see the Whiz until June tenth, so until no, no,
Speaker 3: but you got a seed in general, but just know
Speaker 3: that story.
Speaker 4: So black is all thesewed beautiful things.
Speaker 3: But the problem is that when we call each other
Speaker 3: out and we go, oh, you're not black of this
Speaker 3: or your experiences in this, there are people on the
Speaker 3: other side listening, like studio execs and like other people
Speaker 3: that they're oh, so that's not black enough.
Speaker 4: So what is black? Jamal?
Speaker 3: Tell me what is black? And he's like, well, I
Speaker 3: don't mess with that dude, but I think that dude. Okay, great.
Speaker 3: So my problem on the grass side isn't even with
Speaker 3: my own folks. I love my folks, and my folks
Speaker 3: mess with me. It's how I am perceived. I think,
Speaker 3: even for roles even in series that I know that
Speaker 3: I would kill it, I am by by the gatekeeper
Speaker 3: who maybe the show creators black, but the studio head is.
Speaker 4: Like, oh no, I wouldn't consider Wayne Brady for that.
Speaker 1: Are there three roles that got away?
Speaker 4: Three roles that got away?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 1: Three? Is there one? What role almost had it? Well?
Speaker 3: I have a few that I have almost had it
Speaker 3: that that I'm not going to blame on race because
Speaker 3: maybe I wasn't the dude on that day, but I
Speaker 3: was offered some a couple of things and then offers, god,
Speaker 3: oh because but the one that's thicks out of my
Speaker 3: head that and I feel it We're going so long,
Speaker 3: so I'm trying to make things quol Okay. This is
Speaker 3: not a great movie by any stretch, but it was
Speaker 3: one of the ones. It was around the Chappelle thing
Speaker 3: that I was like, I'm gonna show folks what the
Speaker 3: fuck I do it? Was snakes on the plane. And
Speaker 3: here's the thing. It was for the role of the rapper. Now,
Speaker 3: now the dude that got it, that's my boy flex.
Speaker 3: I did a movie with Flex. I love Flex.
Speaker 1: So if I'm happy that, she said, I was like
Speaker 1: doing another Flex.
Speaker 3: So if anybody got it, I was happy because flexing, Yes,
Speaker 3: that's fam But what I did and my audition was
Speaker 3: so genius. I have to say this ship was genius.
Speaker 3: It was for the rapper. I looked at the script like, uh,
Speaker 3: not a great script, the concept you said. I was like,
Speaker 3: screw it, I'm gonna go in. So I hired two
Speaker 3: actors to play my bodyguards, and I hired a couple
Speaker 3: girls to be my video vixens, and I for the audition.
Speaker 3: For the audition, I'll never forget, I drove in traffic.
Speaker 3: Like if any of you were actors back in the
Speaker 3: day in La if you had to go over to
Speaker 3: Santa Monica to audition for this day, it was horrible
Speaker 3: getting there. I spent about an hour an hour and
Speaker 3: a half in traffic, and I came up with the idea.
Speaker 3: I said, I could do this script. But what I'm
Speaker 3: gonna do is I'm gonna be this dude, and then
Speaker 3: I'm gonna freestyle what's in I'm in a freestyle the
Speaker 3: story of snakes on a plane, and then I'm gonna
Speaker 3: walk out so I get there. I timed it so
Speaker 3: that my time was don't even know what time. My
Speaker 3: time was like four thirty. Now, keep keep in mind,
Speaker 3: I'm in full like I'm in my Adidas thing. I've
Speaker 3: got chains, the whole nine. I've got these rings, my
Speaker 3: shits to the side. I walk in and the dude,
Speaker 3: the one of the bodyguards has a boombox were the track.
Speaker 4: I walk in the casting office.
Speaker 3: Click boom boom boom boots the boom boots walking. There
Speaker 3: are actors waiting. I walked right through. I walked right
Speaker 3: through into the Wait. Wait, you can't get boot to
Speaker 3: a click? Hey, how you doing?
Speaker 4: Oh? Wait is it yo?
Speaker 3: I'm not waiting. I'm gonna read that ship. Blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: Went on this whole thing about the script, like that script. Look,
Speaker 3: he hit the thing and I did all. I can't
Speaker 3: even remember what I said that it was based basically,
Speaker 3: because you want me to explain, I got snakes on
Speaker 3: a plane that's up in their legs and the contempt
Speaker 3: and we got this dude and want to sit next
Speaker 3: guy in the Sam Sam said, fuck these planes.
Speaker 4: You know who I am. But I come in. I
Speaker 4: do this about a da da dad.
Speaker 3: And when it's finished, like I, I cleared their desk
Speaker 3: of these pap by flash dance of like the good
Speaker 3: shots in the scripts, I was like, because clear ship,
Speaker 3: and I through the script because I'm reading this ship,
Speaker 3: let's go. Walked right back out, walked out of the
Speaker 3: casting office, went to my car and I was.
Speaker 4: Like, oh, hey, thanks, here's fifty bucks.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. You guys were great. I'm getting
Speaker 3: as I'm driving home. By the time I get home,
Speaker 3: I have on my next tail. I had a cease
Speaker 3: and desist. I had a message from my agent.
Speaker 4: Call nine one one oh.
Speaker 3: They wanted to offer me the role. They really liked
Speaker 3: you for this role is. I was like, I did it.
Speaker 3: It actually worked, and it was that thing of I've
Speaker 3: got a name, you see me on TV every day
Speaker 3: of these things, I'm still begging and fighting people to
Speaker 3: get into rooms, and I'm even trying to get into
Speaker 3: this whack movie. So at least I was like, at
Speaker 3: least I know that I'm good and this thing happened,
Speaker 3: and now it pays off. Now here's where I'm gonna
Speaker 3: be careful because all I know is what I was
Speaker 3: told by my reps at this time.
Speaker 4: So they get a call.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to name who the person was, but
Speaker 3: somebody who was in a position of power at the studio. When,
Speaker 3: of course these names are being run up the flag pole,
Speaker 3: Wayne Brady's name come up, and this white person says,
Speaker 3: oh no, uh uh, not Wayne Brady.
Speaker 4: He's not black enough.
Speaker 3: He no, he's not black black, he's not black black
Speaker 3: black black. There's always an expert air quotes, Yeah, but
Speaker 3: I love how he hit black black. So I'm not
Speaker 3: black black so but but so so then flex gets
Speaker 3: it and that's cool. And I found out this information
Speaker 3: because I guess somebody at some point in the chain
Speaker 3: felt so bad. They were like, I just want want
Speaker 3: you to know. So I was like, okay, So that
Speaker 3: one stung me, not because I didn't do a great job,
Speaker 3: but because I knew it would be something that I'd
Speaker 3: be facing. And I'm not gonna boohoo because it's something
Speaker 3: that just as black actors, black people, black black lawyers, black,
Speaker 3: we face a certain thing. The naivete that I had
Speaker 3: up until that point was well, surely, if I'm really
Speaker 3: dope and you've seen me do things and I'm a
Speaker 3: great at I do broad I do, surely I should
Speaker 3: get the job. Like Nope, because I don't think that
Speaker 3: you are based on blah blah blah. I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm an adult, now, fuck it, I get it. So
Speaker 3: so that helped me understand. So so that's that's the
Speaker 3: one that got away that I was disappointed in, not
Speaker 3: because of I didn't get it, but because I was like.
Speaker 1: Man, you're being judged.
Speaker 4: If I'm dealing.
Speaker 3: Dealing with this, then that sucks for the actor who
Speaker 3: is coming up and doesn't have any cloud or doesn't
Speaker 3: have a thing to fall back on. So so that
Speaker 3: made me very sympathetic to that.
Speaker 1: Damn man, I'm sorry you didn't get that, and it's
Speaker 1: this could have been That movie was terrible though, right,
Speaker 1: I mean it was a commercial.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was actually one of the first movies I
Speaker 8: remember like that really went viral, like yeah, the VI
Speaker 8: because the campaign.
Speaker 1: Later because they was like people.
Speaker 3: Right, I'll even say right, like am I right? Thinking
Speaker 3: that Sam was already doing this thing. Of course he
Speaker 3: was Sam Jackson. But but I feel like that line in
Speaker 3: that boost kind of made the mythos of Sam Jackson,
Speaker 3: where in every movie you gotta say motherfucker that that
Speaker 3: and and the Tarantine Tino joint, so like those are
Speaker 3: the two that cemented Sam as that dude.
Speaker 1: All right, So, speaking of which, what secret talent do
Speaker 1: you have that the general public is not aware of?
Speaker 4: I was afraid you'd ask me this questions I saw
Speaker 4: you ask some.
Speaker 3: I think you asked, uh Hannibal this, Yes, you know
Speaker 3: the reality is, and here's my secret. I don't have
Speaker 3: secret talents because I've worked so hard to make the
Speaker 3: talents that I do loud like I sing, I dance,
Speaker 3: I act, I write.
Speaker 4: I can do these things.
Speaker 3: I need you to know those things because if you
Speaker 3: don't know them, then I can't. But the regular life
Speaker 3: talent shit, I don't. I honestly, he said Tumblr. I
Speaker 3: mean one time Tumblr all. I really don't know if
Speaker 3: I do have any other talents that are of merit.
Speaker 1: So let me remix it. What secret talents do you
Speaker 1: have in the kitchen that we're not aware of?
Speaker 3: I'm a master at mixing my cereals, and I don't
Speaker 3: say that lightly. My ratios are on points. They are beautiful.
Speaker 9: It's a real talent and I.
Speaker 3: Can make I'm a good baker. Bakers, Yeah, yes, I
Speaker 3: can bake.
Speaker 1: Well. Who are the three people that you text the
Speaker 1: most each day? Who are the top three people? He
Speaker 1: doesn't text? You're anti technology?
Speaker 4: Now, Oh, I'm not a FaceTime but I do text text.
Speaker 3: I text my daughter but she gets mad because I
Speaker 3: do like to like the FaceTime her. But I text
Speaker 3: my daughter to check check in. I text my daughter,
Speaker 3: I text Mandy. What what three people do you communicate
Speaker 3: with your phone every day?
Speaker 9: You know?
Speaker 3: And my and my chief of staff Sarah, those are
Speaker 3: the three people that that I text with the most?
Speaker 10: Maybe staff can about to say?
Speaker 1: There you go? All right?
Speaker 9: Before you ask him what kind of laundry detergent he use?
Speaker 1: This?
Speaker 9: Can I ask a real question?
Speaker 10: Yes, I'm kind of I'm kind of obsessed with Let's
Speaker 10: make a deal.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, I was wondering besides like what it's like.
Speaker 10: I don't think we've ever had like a but like
Speaker 10: what's that like in general? But but also did you
Speaker 10: were you a fan of the old Let's make a
Speaker 10: deal with Monty Hall?
Speaker 4: And no, okay, and I don't say that in a
Speaker 4: bad way.
Speaker 3: I used to watch it because that's what was on
Speaker 3: when my grandmother would watch watch you know, it's like
Speaker 3: being black and your mom watches the story story right,
Speaker 3: So there was a progression. You would watch The Price
Speaker 3: is Right at some point because they were all on CBS,
Speaker 3: and then I think she would switch over to ABC
Speaker 3: to watch Monty and then she'd watch the story. So
Speaker 3: I would watch it just by being around. But any
Speaker 3: game show that I liked, I was a snob because
Speaker 3: I liked Jeopardy. I liked anything that I had to
Speaker 3: that was skilled, skill based or trivia. So so so
Speaker 3: I wasn't really checking so much for Let's make a
Speaker 3: Deal as a kid because I don't yeah, because that
Speaker 3: wasn't my thing. So later in life when I was
Speaker 3: offered Let's make a Deal, I turned it down a
Speaker 3: few times because in my mind, and this was before
Speaker 3: game show hosting became.
Speaker 4: Cool, I created that lane.
Speaker 3: It was I, well, this is my fifteenth season, so
Speaker 3: I guess go go back to what I'm doing the show. Yeah,
Speaker 3: my daughter is twenty one, since she was born in
Speaker 3: two thousand and three. So I started the show, which
Speaker 3: was a so so two thousand and something, when I
Speaker 3: was offered it, game shows were kind of game shows.
Speaker 3: And in my mind when I think a game show host,
Speaker 3: I think of the game show hosts that we grew
Speaker 3: up on, which were cool. But you know, the guys
Speaker 3: with long, long long mics and Jean.
Speaker 4: And I love and love al right, so you have
Speaker 4: let me kiss you? And why you Richard Dawson, that
Speaker 4: whole thing.
Speaker 3: So I was like, game shows are that like being
Speaker 3: being a game show host almost I felt had a
Speaker 3: taste to some people, especially in the entertainment business, like
Speaker 3: being it's something that could be parodied easily, like a
Speaker 3: weather man or or a bad DJ. Hey this is Jimmy,
Speaker 3: and that you could easily make fun of it and
Speaker 3: do a shorthand. So I was like, why would I
Speaker 3: do that? Why would I do that thing? I'm not
Speaker 3: going to be made fun of for doing that thing. So,
Speaker 3: and it was nothing against the show. I say, no,
Speaker 3: you got the wrong guy because on that show, and
Speaker 3: you correct me if I'm wrong. You just say, hello,
Speaker 3: Irma from Pacoima. You're addressed as a bread Do you
Speaker 3: have a quarter?
Speaker 4: That's lovely?
Speaker 3: And that's lovely that they do that, but I have
Speaker 3: a skill set that exceeds that. So no, no, thank
Speaker 3: you until Mike, Mike Richards, who was the EP at
Speaker 3: the time, he said, Monty Hall really wants to meet you.
Speaker 3: And I was like, I'm not going to say no
Speaker 3: to meeting Monty Hall, especially because my mom doesn't know.
Speaker 4: And no, no. When I started the show.
Speaker 3: When I started the show was alive and Monty I
Speaker 3: had lunch at Monty's house and he was so lovely,
Speaker 3: and I said, Monty, thank you so much, sir, But
Speaker 3: I'm getting ready to write a sitcom. I've got a
Speaker 3: deal for that. I've got things that I need need
Speaker 3: to do. I don't do this. He goes, no, I
Speaker 3: don't want you to. I want you to do what
Speaker 3: you do. That's the only way that this show is
Speaker 3: going to work for a new audience. Because they tried
Speaker 3: various iterations of it, like with Billy Bush I think
Speaker 3: was one of the last ones, and they and they
Speaker 3: tried like a like an adult, let's make a deal.
Speaker 3: It's like if you have a dildo in your pocket.
Speaker 3: I was like, well, that's crass. That's not gonna fly.
Speaker 1: So I did not know, so it was wasn't Drew
Speaker 1: Carrey was he doing it on time?
Speaker 3: So he said, I want you to do He said, well,
Speaker 3: what do you mean what would I do? He's like, no,
Speaker 3: you're funny and the improv that you do and the
Speaker 3: things and the characters. I said, really, okay, well if
Speaker 3: you're cool with it. Then I thought about it and
Speaker 3: I tried to do the business. Mind I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: like with my talk show, and I remember being in
Speaker 3: people's homes. It's a very powerful thing, being able to
Speaker 3: touch people every day.
Speaker 4: And I also did it because my grandma.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm like, if I can do something that
Speaker 3: my grandma likes, So I said yes, and I started it,
Speaker 3: and I remember being clowned at first, and I'm and
Speaker 3: what's funny is right? As I got clowned by a
Speaker 3: couple of people out here whispers. Then, oddly enough, a
Speaker 3: season or two later, then other men of color were
Speaker 3: doing game shows with very lucrative contracts. And now and
Speaker 3: now you can't you throw a rock at TV? Michael Strand, myself,
Speaker 3: Steve Anthony Anderson, Jamie Fox, we did all comedy guys, Shazam.
Speaker 1: I'll beat Shazama.
Speaker 4: It's all a thing.
Speaker 3: But as I did it, it was like, look at
Speaker 3: this game show, corny, how much is he making for that?
Speaker 1: And what season is he?
Speaker 4: And I really wasn't making it.
Speaker 3: And I'll say, and I wasn't making what I feel
Speaker 3: I should have now because I know what I bring,
Speaker 3: Like the thing that I've created with that show, with
Speaker 3: the improv, with characters being able to couch it in
Speaker 3: this it's so much fun and I'm.
Speaker 4: Glad that people love it.
Speaker 3: But I take pride in the fact that I've helped
Speaker 3: along with our team because everybody on that staff gets
Speaker 3: me and they're like, Okay, let's support that vision.
Speaker 1: Even though you say you don't text that your FaceTime
Speaker 1: or whatever, I'm saying communicating not texting. Yeah, who are
Speaker 1: the three most famous people that you've texted in your
Speaker 1: phone score right now? Like ever, no, no, no, this in
Speaker 1: in the last hour or two since the.
Speaker 4: Last I haven't texted anyone famous in the last hour two.
Speaker 1: The most famous name in your your scroll at the
Speaker 1: top of your scroll right now is who sugar Steve?
Speaker 3: Oh, well, that's it, Rayu oh okay now rays famous
Speaker 3: to musicians, Yeah, of.
Speaker 4: Dancing with the Stars fame.
Speaker 3: So Rachu texted me that that that was great, and
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody else that. Oh and Ben Vereen,
Speaker 3: who like if you know, you know Ben, Ben is
Speaker 3: like my godfather.
Speaker 4: So between he's in communication with you.
Speaker 1: Yes, then leave you?
Speaker 4: And why don't you love me?
Speaker 1: We want her on the shelves. You can, you know,
Speaker 1: put in a good word.
Speaker 4: I don't know if this is she would love to come,
Speaker 4: She would love to all right.
Speaker 1: Slight weird question.
Speaker 4: Bring it?
Speaker 1: Have you ever almost been arrested?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to talk about it?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, because the case is finished. No. No,
Speaker 4: it was like you wanted to know about me, man,
Speaker 4: you wanted to know. Yes.
Speaker 3: Once as a kid, I was almost arrested for driving
Speaker 3: without a license because a friend of mine was drunk
Speaker 3: and I was trying to to drive him home and
Speaker 3: I was doing the thing of somebody who really I
Speaker 3: was driving very slow?
Speaker 4: Oh I was.
Speaker 3: But and of course if you see somebody going like
Speaker 3: this then and so even back then, I think I
Speaker 3: had a gift for gab. I let the machine take
Speaker 3: over and he's like, hey, let me see your drivers. Look,
Speaker 3: I'll tell you right off the bat, I'm officer, I
Speaker 3: don't have a license. I'm I don't have a license.
Speaker 3: This is not my car, and contray what you may
Speaker 3: be thinking. I didn't steal it. This happens to be
Speaker 3: my friend's car. As you can see, my friend is intoxicated.
Speaker 3: He's drunk. When we were at a Disney party, we
Speaker 3: we both work at Walt Disney World right up the street.
Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure that he got home. I
Speaker 3: took his keys from him. So I would never let
Speaker 3: my friend get behind the wheel of a car because
Speaker 3: his death would be on my conscience. So if I'm
Speaker 3: going to get in trouble for that, then I guess
Speaker 3: I'm ready to go to jail. Oh okay, well, just
Speaker 3: drive a little faster. And how far away is it live?
Speaker 3: He lives two minutes away, all right. And I and
Speaker 3: I got off.
Speaker 4: That works that, you.
Speaker 3: Know, that's the one time that that worked. And and
Speaker 3: I've been stopped once or twice by cops and by
Speaker 3: the grace of God or social media or TV.
Speaker 4: Hey, you you know what. I love that that's your
Speaker 4: pel thing? Where you go? Oh man, that's awesome, d.
Speaker 9: Ah man, aren't you tigger? The pinching tager?
Speaker 4: Well, my kid is like when I was a kid.
Speaker 4: I was pinched by a tigger.
Speaker 1: Of all your birthdays, what was the best one ever
Speaker 1: that you remember?
Speaker 4: Wow, you are amazing.
Speaker 3: These these questions you've never been asked before, never been
Speaker 3: asked before.
Speaker 1: I look, I said that in one of the interview
Speaker 1: people I normally wouldn't talk to like youngers, whatever, And
Speaker 1: I want to ask questions that just aren't about your
Speaker 1: press junket.
Speaker 4: The best birthday ever?
Speaker 9: I think you might have already given it a way.
Speaker 3: I think you know, it's the birthday that I found
Speaker 3: out that my ex wife was pregnant, and my gift
Speaker 3: was she told me for my for my twenty ninth.
Speaker 4: Birthday, that was her gift.
Speaker 3: She she told me, I'm pregnant because I wanted a baby,
Speaker 3: and she wasn't necessarily on board because she she was
Speaker 3: a dancer and an actress and at that point, you know,
Speaker 3: and and she would have to give up her thing.
Speaker 3: So I was kind of in my feelings about it.
Speaker 3: And little did I know that she was working to
Speaker 3: make my dream come true. I guess, and it happened.
Speaker 3: And so on my birthday, on my twenty ninth birthday,
Speaker 3: she said, uh, this is your gift.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, my was it thirtieth birthday on my third
Speaker 4: thirtieth birthday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that's what's up. What was your childhood nickname
Speaker 1: or what is it? Do you have a nickname that
Speaker 1: people call you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and now I have to address the camera again.
Speaker 3: One of the childhood nicknames that I remember is there
Speaker 3: was a time when and I hope that you're remembering
Speaker 3: all this, Bill, because when we do my one man
Speaker 3: show that I talked to you about, all these stories
Speaker 3: are going in it. So we have to write songs
Speaker 3: to go with these things. Okay, so we need to
Speaker 3: and then and then Mere you can executive produce. Okay, Okay, great.
Speaker 3: So I was actually called gas Man for and I
Speaker 3: don't even know and this was, like I want to say,
Speaker 3: this was maybe at the end, maybe it was eighth
Speaker 3: or ninth grade.
Speaker 4: So this wasn't like I was a child.
Speaker 3: And the reason I was called gas man is because
Speaker 3: my grandmother, God bless her, she uses mothballs. I don't
Speaker 3: know if everybody still uses mothballs. But have you smelled
Speaker 3: smelled a moth ball? Okay, so so you know what
Speaker 3: a mothball smells like. Now imagine every drawer has mothballs.
Speaker 3: What is the purpose of mothballs to keep away moths?
Speaker 9: Wow?
Speaker 4: Edit that out please, or some would say, or some
Speaker 4: would say to attract them. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be our commercial.
Speaker 3: What are mothballs for fun?
Speaker 4: What? Hey?
Speaker 3: Normally when you put a mothball in, you drop a
Speaker 3: ball or two and that should do the job in
Speaker 3: each thing. My grandmother nothing like no moderation, mothballs, a
Speaker 3: coating of mothballs, and all of the drawers, so all
Speaker 3: of my clothing that was always folded up in my drawers,
Speaker 3: and of course you don't smell stuff outside the house
Speaker 3: until so I started to get called gas man on
Speaker 3: gas man on the bus going to school. And then
Speaker 3: also besides gas man, then there were you know, kids
Speaker 3: can be clever, especially we beautiful kids in the hood
Speaker 3: with minds that can freestyle and make and make things up.
Speaker 4: So there were always songs, great songs.
Speaker 3: About gas man, the gas man.
Speaker 4: Who who that gas man?
Speaker 3: You know they would put put some Uncle Luke on
Speaker 3: it gas man gas man or or because then my
Speaker 3: mom she shopped very practically for me.
Speaker 4: She's like, when I don't have to spend all this
Speaker 4: money on your clothes, you always look clean. You look
Speaker 4: clean and dressed.
Speaker 3: My shoes so my shoes, Bobbos make fine.
Speaker 1: I heard the.
Speaker 3: Bobo's thing, but yeah, so gas man and Bobo's ah okay.
Speaker 4: Oh and Jamaic make Jamaica fuck is what it is?
Speaker 4: Jamake make?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: They reduce everybody down to children are shitty people.
Speaker 4: Children. No, that's true.
Speaker 3: Children a shitty people because you're limited you you kids
Speaker 3: kids have because you know, because they're little little drunks
Speaker 3: that depend on you and our prefuntal cortexes aren't really
Speaker 3: formed to what twenty five really so, so they have
Speaker 3: no empathy, no sympathy.
Speaker 1: No filter, no filter.
Speaker 4: So I get it.
Speaker 3: So that's why I say, man, that's all in the past,
Speaker 3: and thank you because they give me great stories.
Speaker 1: There you go, thank you, gash Man with me. What
Speaker 1: theme often occurs in your dream? Is there running theme
Speaker 1: that happens in your dreams?
Speaker 4: Easy? Too.
Speaker 3: I feel in this session I've been able to unload
Speaker 3: more than the therapists that I've seen from the past.
Speaker 7: You like a therapy, says, I've ever been likely this
Speaker 7: is like us doing true and your friends.
Speaker 1: But I have a belief that dreams are kind of
Speaker 1: absolutely the I feel like dreams are how you get
Speaker 1: communicated to from other entities. Yes, and I feel like
Speaker 1: my father's talking through me through my dreams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so glad you. Yes, I absolutely feel that.
Speaker 3: I know that my father talks to me. I know
Speaker 3: that my grandmother talks to me sometimes. And besides them
Speaker 3: talking to me, I feel that your dreams keep you safe.
Speaker 3: That they're almost an early warning system for some of
Speaker 3: the shit that you may do in real life that
Speaker 3: you realize in your subconscious or things that you're afraid of.
Speaker 3: Two of my running that I that I've had the
Speaker 3: same dreams since.
Speaker 4: I was a child.
Speaker 3: We were the only house on our street on Casino Avenue.
Speaker 3: Because people loved and respecting my grandmother, we were the
Speaker 3: only house that that was never broken into. And in fact,
Speaker 3: if somebody broke in, like there was one to where
Speaker 3: my next door neighbors to the left, this this this
Speaker 3: this this white family, the only white white fam family
Speaker 3: on our side the neighborhood. They were getting broken into,
Speaker 3: and my grandmother walked outside and she actually saw the
Speaker 3: kid and it was one of my school kids. She's like,
Speaker 3: what are you doing? Oh, I'm sorry, miss Valerie. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm just She's like, don't go in to mine house
Speaker 3: doing it. And and instead of being brawling towards her
Speaker 3: or doing something, he was like, I'm sorry, man, you
Speaker 3: know what and didn't go in. Oh oh they got
Speaker 3: him later, Oh yeah, sure right. But I was always afraid.
Speaker 3: So my whole thing growing up was I was always
Speaker 3: afraid of somebody breaking into because I never felt that
Speaker 3: our house was safe enough. So I always checked the locks.
Speaker 3: We had a we we had the old we had,
Speaker 3: oh and the pull thing you do, so we had that.
Speaker 3: But I never felt that our windows were safe, and
Speaker 3: I was always wondering if somebody's gonna break into the
Speaker 3: back door. So I've kept that throughout my entire life.
Speaker 3: Light clockwork. Every couple of days, I always.
Speaker 4: Have that dream.
Speaker 3: No no matter what house, no matter what apartment I
Speaker 3: used to live in was, I have the recurring dream
Speaker 3: of I have to defend myself. No, that's the thing.
Speaker 3: I defend myself. I have to defend my family, I
Speaker 3: have to defend my property. I have to because if
Speaker 3: they get in, then we'll we'll be in danger. So
Speaker 3: that's always been my thing, is I have to defend.
Speaker 1: Okay, I dream about trains.
Speaker 9: You said there were two dreams.
Speaker 4: Oh, the other one's flying. I'm always flying fear of flying?
Speaker 1: Or you're always flying.
Speaker 4: No, I'm always flying.
Speaker 3: I'm two, but it's because but not on the plane,
Speaker 3: by yourself, by myself.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's another three thousand revelations. Well he
Speaker 1: told me a story like Selo taught him Astro traveling
Speaker 1: Andre three thousand.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he goes into detail about that. Okay, I'm always
Speaker 1: obsessed with trains, be it soul train or like the subway.
Speaker 1: There was a point point where I was obsessed. There's
Speaker 1: an obsession I have with During the pandemic, I discovered
Speaker 1: a YouTube page of a guy whose goal was to
Speaker 1: just track from soup to nuts, like one end to
Speaker 1: the other end of any train line and anywhere America.
Speaker 1: So during the pandemic, I would actually pretend I was
Speaker 1: going to school, like I get on the mark and
Speaker 1: Frankurt elevated train at fifteen, get off fifteenth Street, and
Speaker 1: then I changed the channel to the subway. And literally,
Speaker 1: I don't know why I have an obsession with train
Speaker 1: routes on YouTube where the guy just gets on the
Speaker 1: front car and oh, so you're seeing the POV right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I can I pretend that now. I know now
Speaker 1: that the next level of the v R thing is
Speaker 1: they're now going to create worlds. What was the movie
Speaker 1: the movie where the little boy in India gets separated
Speaker 1: from his family and he uses Google Earth. Yes, he
Speaker 1: uses Google Earth to find his village. Like he got
Speaker 1: separated from his township for twenty years and then you know,
Speaker 1: as a three year old, he remember there was a
Speaker 1: water tower and he zoomed in and saw right, he
Speaker 1: got lost on the train system as a three year
Speaker 1: old and didn't know where he lived, and then he
Speaker 1: just lived all over. He got adopted by a well
Speaker 1: to do family and he told his well to do family,
Speaker 1: it's my dream to find my birth family. And they's like, well,
Speaker 1: if you go on if you remember this water tower
Speaker 1: thing very specific as a three year old, we can
Speaker 1: go on Google Earth and look for it. And that's
Speaker 1: how he was reunited with his family. But yeah, like
Speaker 1: they're going to create worlds like that on what's Apple?
Speaker 1: Yeah whatever, so.
Speaker 3: That you go on Oculus and you use your it's
Speaker 3: it's not amazing technology, but I've done using the Google
Speaker 3: Earth to look and now on the Apple Pro, I've
Speaker 3: done the same thing. I love the Apple Pro. They're
Speaker 3: like that that thing is amazing.
Speaker 1: So how do you use it? What's should I use
Speaker 1: it to?
Speaker 3: To watch movies because you really can make the you
Speaker 3: can make an imax.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can go in the movie.
Speaker 4: Theater and you can be watching the movie.
Speaker 3: Or if I am doing work that you actually can type,
Speaker 3: there's a virtual screen. I look at my emails, you
Speaker 3: can go online. And the great thing because of the past,
Speaker 3: you can do these things as you're just in the world.
Speaker 4: It's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Seriously, during twenty twenty, during like the pandemic, got
Speaker 1: two oculuses and to be trapped in the house. But
Speaker 1: with those things on, like I would build worlds and
Speaker 1: malls and everything, and literally we'd have date night, like
Speaker 1: get it on the roller coaster and let's walk in
Speaker 1: the mall and it felt real. I built. We would
Speaker 1: do like virtual ping pong and this this resort like
Speaker 1: a Pocono's type of resort thing, but it really felt
Speaker 1: like we were there.
Speaker 3: Like Mike's girlfriend and I did the same thing and
Speaker 3: we would go she would go to sing karaoke that
Speaker 3: there'd be these virtual karaoke bars, which just the avatars
Speaker 3: and everybody would sing, and I would go along with
Speaker 3: her until my avatar would.
Speaker 1: Just and sit in the audience and watch, sit and.
Speaker 3: Watch, and sometimes I'd sing because at that point nobody
Speaker 3: knows who anybody is, so upus I would do that,
Speaker 3: and we'd go to Virtual Disney.
Speaker 1: And I'm not try that yet.
Speaker 4: It's so cool. That's when I fell in love with
Speaker 4: the Oculus.
Speaker 1: I'm certain now it's more advanced like I had it
Speaker 1: when it first came out.
Speaker 4: This new Oculus is much better.
Speaker 1: And then I tapered off, like once we went outside,
Speaker 1: I stopped going on it. But I can only imagine
Speaker 1: now in twenty twenty four that it's super advanced and
Speaker 1: it's great. I can't wait for that shout out to Oculus.
Speaker 1: If five records define who you are as a human being,
Speaker 1: what five records in your record collection best describes who
Speaker 1: you are?
Speaker 4: In my record collection? Oh man, Okay, you know what.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go through my Apple Music real fast
Speaker 3: because I don't have records in the records are are
Speaker 3: in storage, so I have to remember which ones I have. Okay,
Speaker 3: So just off the top of my head, because that's
Speaker 3: a really deep, deep question. I'd say, oh, you know what,
Speaker 3: the Miseducation of Lauren Hill four And I can't tell
Speaker 3: you exactly why I love that record so much. And
Speaker 3: I felt like I was being spoken to in terms
Speaker 3: of being a creative because she was finding her voice
Speaker 3: and finding her thing.
Speaker 4: Then and then Zion.
Speaker 3: That was released right as Miley was born, the first
Speaker 3: time that I knew about having a child, and some
Speaker 3: people wanted to clown her for her MTV performance when
Speaker 3: she broke.
Speaker 4: Down crying, but I was like, no, I get it.
Speaker 3: I finally get what it's like to love somebody that much,
Speaker 3: to break down crying and not care what you think. Okay,
Speaker 3: that's one of my faite favorites. Kid and played Too
Speaker 3: Hype Kid and played too Hype Wow. Yes, And the
Speaker 3: reason is, I don't know if it's because of a
Speaker 3: It's not because of a trait.
Speaker 4: It's because of a time.
Speaker 3: It's like, that's when I saw these dudes dancing and
Speaker 3: having a good time. Hip hop wasn't you know that
Speaker 3: ear of hip hop wasn't serious. And when I saw
Speaker 3: them dancing, they gave me the courage because I would
Speaker 3: sing and dance in my house. Nobody knew that I
Speaker 3: could sing or dance until the first time that I
Speaker 3: did a musical on stage.
Speaker 1: Your family didn't know about your talent, nobody.
Speaker 4: How'd you hide that in my room? I did a
Speaker 4: lot of things in my room.
Speaker 1: You have a voice like I did, you know, rejecting
Speaker 1: the shower?
Speaker 4: Nobody I would.
Speaker 3: Nobody would know because because the couple of times that
Speaker 3: I would do things, my my grandmother said stop running
Speaker 3: around in that nonsense.
Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, got it.
Speaker 3: Nonsense, can do it in front of you, safety, won't
Speaker 3: do it in front of anybody.
Speaker 1: I got it.
Speaker 3: But it wasn't until so So when SO that came
Speaker 3: out in like eighty eight or eighty nine. Eighty okay,
Speaker 3: so eighty eight, So I was a so So I
Speaker 3: was a That was at the beginning of my of
Speaker 3: my junior year, and that's when I started doing theater
Speaker 3: and I saw those guys dancing and Hammer came out
Speaker 3: around that time and to hype. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm gonna learn those dances and with
Speaker 3: my crippling ass social anxiety, I'm going to go to
Speaker 3: a school dance and I'm gonna get up and do
Speaker 3: the whole thing. Ude. They gave me the courage to
Speaker 3: go out and do that, and so that was one
Speaker 3: of those things that I just copied their their.
Speaker 1: Moves getting funky.
Speaker 4: Still, Oh, come on, man, lets you go get funking.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: Can't play Lauren Hill.
Speaker 3: Prince's purple Rain. Okay, uh, you know it's a little
Speaker 3: oh and and that's not it. That's not it either,
Speaker 3: that purple reign. I think for our generation that that
Speaker 3: like watching someone.
Speaker 4: That I didn't even know what the whole story was about.
Speaker 3: It made me feel some kind of way like watching
Speaker 3: this this guy sing about sex and these girls and
Speaker 3: you know, like vanity and watching this.
Speaker 1: Whole thing felt dangerous.
Speaker 4: It felt like I hadn't seen anything like that.
Speaker 1: I assume that your parents are strict or Christian if
Speaker 1: they're from the Islands.
Speaker 3: It wasn't even about being Christian if she was very much.
Speaker 3: But Prince wasn't the devil. She wasn't consistent. There were
Speaker 3: certain things that were bad, but she's like Prince, then
Speaker 3: it be you know, that's rare, that's Prince.
Speaker 1: But but the Prince was everyone's favorite target.
Speaker 4: I love Prince.
Speaker 3: The thing that I didn't like is that was my
Speaker 3: first time really seeing and and recognizing what homophobia was
Speaker 3: because you know, my grandmother look at Prince, oh, Prince Princess,
Speaker 3: and Auntie Man is Auntie Man.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: He's gay because he didn't know that's an anti min
Speaker 4: is old.
Speaker 3: And and so my other rel is my man, Nah,
Speaker 3: that's Auntie Money, don Seron and his ass all hanging
Speaker 3: out and I don't know who he so, but I
Speaker 3: was like, I don't, hey, I don't think so look
Speaker 3: at that's actually cool. So watching this dude, I was like,
Speaker 3: I wish I had that confidence. That guy's wearing frills
Speaker 3: and he's on a motorcycle and that and all those
Speaker 3: women want him. That's cool. So so definitely Prince Run
Speaker 3: DMC rock Box okay, because that was probably my introduction
Speaker 3: to hip hop. Okay, like a lot of other kids,
Speaker 3: I'd heard, I guess on the radio and Dad's car
Speaker 3: uh to hip hop hip it. I'd heard that in
Speaker 3: the message when I was little, But rock Box was
Speaker 3: I think it was like ten maybe because USA night Flight,
Speaker 3: I don't remember that. I remember, Okay, So you would
Speaker 3: say that's how I would get on my music because
Speaker 3: I would take take a tape recorder and I'd record
Speaker 3: for all of the videos USA Night Flight, so I
Speaker 3: would just wait, so rock Box Band but ten because
Speaker 3: I did, And then I was like, what are these
Speaker 3: That wasn't like the hip hop because that wasn't to
Speaker 3: the right, to the left everybody jay wasn't that And
Speaker 3: these guys are in the leather and what are they doing?
Speaker 4: So that made me so I got.
Speaker 3: Into run DMC, which led me to ll cool J,
Speaker 3: which led me to that whole movement, which which would
Speaker 3: so that was really pivotal. That's when I started freestyling
Speaker 3: because I wanted to learn their songs, but then I
Speaker 3: would just take words that they used and then just
Speaker 3: try to rap along with them.
Speaker 1: How did you develop your confidence for improv and freestyling?
Speaker 1: Because I feel like if I could just lose one aspect,
Speaker 1: like when I told you at the top of the
Speaker 1: episode about like the whole Norm McDonald embracing silence and
Speaker 1: a bomb joke or whatever, like now I'm a little
Speaker 1: fearless with it, but I believe that really good freestylers,
Speaker 1: you lind Tarik, if you let your brain go one hundred,
Speaker 1: all the answers are there. And it's quick. How do
Speaker 1: you let go? Because you you kind of revealed or
Speaker 1: out yourself as a person who's like guarded and that
Speaker 1: sort of thing, but you're also in a profession with
Speaker 1: the creativity that requires you just to be geranimo, like
Speaker 1: just fall over and pray that there's a soft landing
Speaker 1: when you land.
Speaker 4: But that's where I feel safe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw.
Speaker 8: I remember it was an episode of Who's Line? And
Speaker 8: I think this was an episode that really because you
Speaker 8: were the reason I watched who was lying, Like straight up,
Speaker 8: I'm you're not like for real, I'm like, yo, I want.
Speaker 1: To monster on that show.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and so like it was one and you had
Speaker 8: been killing it. I was like a fuck with this dude,
Speaker 8: because that was my first time really hearing about you.
Speaker 8: You did a character, it was like a superhero sketch.
Speaker 8: You did a character called the Ballroom Brawler bro that shit.
Speaker 3: I think I remember you threw yourself the entire dog.
Speaker 1: That was hilarious.
Speaker 3: Like see with that freedom that you talk about, and
Speaker 3: you even said when I teach improv Like, I can't
Speaker 3: speak for anybody else's thing, but I know that all
Speaker 3: my ship comes from being that kid who sat in
Speaker 3: that room. If I didn't have anybody to play with,
Speaker 3: I had to think and I had to create. And
Speaker 3: then the things that I watched, I if I mimicked it,
Speaker 3: I had to be all the parts.
Speaker 4: So it just made sense to me.
Speaker 1: Were your only child, was it?
Speaker 3: I have a sister that was raised with me partially,
Speaker 3: but it wasn't until I was ten, so for the
Speaker 3: most part, I was raising only child, gotcha? So I
Speaker 3: found ways to be creative on my own that I
Speaker 3: didn't know. Nobody put a label on it. Like I
Speaker 3: hadn't met Keith Johnstone, who who's one of the fathers
Speaker 3: of improvisation, and so I hadn't met them. I didn't
Speaker 3: even know there was a word for it. So cut
Speaker 3: to later when I actually started doing improv with the
Speaker 3: group that I was with from Orlando called the called
Speaker 3: sac Theater, and then seven of us moved out to
Speaker 3: LA and became the House full of Honkeys, and that's
Speaker 3: how I got Who's line. I didn't know that there
Speaker 3: was an organized thing for it. So when they were like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's theater where you make up, I said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's fine because I could always bend on that freestyle
Speaker 3: like I would just freestyle for my friends or we
Speaker 3: can do yeah, so if you want me to and characters, sure,
Speaker 3: I'll just make make stuff up in scenarios great because
Speaker 3: I didn't know what the thing was. But my methodology
Speaker 3: of doing it is I have to act everything out
Speaker 3: to make it tactile.
Speaker 4: So when you see a scene like that, that's how
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 3: My thing is I know how it's supposed to look
Speaker 3: and feel, and I can do the musical improv because
Speaker 3: I love music and I'm a songwriter. So I just
Speaker 3: think of an improv song as my first draft. So
Speaker 3: I feel safe in that, which is weird because I
Speaker 3: feel weird about every other thing and nervous. But with that,
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, I yeah, you just trust fall Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: because I know that something will be there. Now will
Speaker 3: it be the most brilliant thing all the time. No,
Speaker 3: and it's not supposed to be. The One thing I
Speaker 3: did learn later is with the yes, sand also comes
Speaker 3: with and Bill can back me up on this, and
Speaker 3: the sense of Okay, I'll go for it, jeronimo. I
Speaker 3: hit it great, I don't hit it better because I
Speaker 3: got to come back around and justify whatever happened. And
Speaker 3: if I'm on stage with partners. I've just given you
Speaker 3: a lane to let you jump in and save me.
Speaker 3: So you have to embrace that failure. And that's one
Speaker 3: of the rules that Keith Johnson and the father of
Speaker 3: theater sports, that I never understood, is like, you have
Speaker 3: to be willing to failsation. By definition, you shouldn't be
Speaker 3: getting laughs. You shouldn't be successful because it goes against
Speaker 3: our primal building character right right, Like it goes against
Speaker 3: the thing of I want you to like me, and
Speaker 3: I want you to understand what I'm saying. I don't
Speaker 3: want you to root for my downfall. When you watch
Speaker 3: an improv show, whether you know it or not, you
Speaker 3: are rooting to see what's he gonna say. There's no
Speaker 3: way that he's gonna rhyme hypothalamus. Nope, not gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Orange get out of here. That's not gonna happen. He
Speaker 3: sucks orange door hinge. If someone comes up with that,
Speaker 3: mm Ryan, Okay.
Speaker 1: So Jimmy obviously started a culture at thirty Rock in
Speaker 1: which he was known to break character a lot, which
Speaker 1: was frowned upon a lot at that show, like no
Speaker 1: matter what, don't break character. But now that Jimmy sort
Speaker 1: of make it like a coup like cutey thing. Then
Speaker 1: you know, you see people look down this weekend, watch SNL,
Speaker 1: watch Kristy Wig and everyone break character. But that level
Speaker 1: of chaos. I do dig, but you know, sometimes I'll
Speaker 1: just get in my head like I won't know where
Speaker 1: to go cons and callosis rhymes with hypothalamus worseman. Okay,
Speaker 1: but I'm a guy who I don't know if you
Speaker 1: ever see in a micro bigulious don't think twice of course, yes, okay,
Speaker 1: So is there a general rule like if you're in
Speaker 1: a group of people, like the temptation to not show
Speaker 1: off or show out, Like there's a point where they
Speaker 1: tell Keegan Michael Key like all right, well, don't do
Speaker 1: your bomber impression. Like in other words, I know when
Speaker 1: you're showing off and going to the short shot, you
Speaker 1: going yeah, like your aristocrats trick in the group is
Speaker 1: not doing that.
Speaker 2: I think that's always the key, especially in a group
Speaker 2: of improvisers. It's a conglomeration of everyone's efforts.
Speaker 1: But how do you know when it's time to shine
Speaker 1: and bring the show to another level?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think with our group it's repetition and doing
Speaker 2: it over and over again. It's like a great basketball
Speaker 2: team or a great soccer team. Like in a good
Speaker 2: basketball team, the reason an alley oop works is because
Speaker 2: the guy knows what the other guy's going to be,
Speaker 2: so he throws the ball to where he knows it's
Speaker 2: going to be. It's the same thing with us. I
Speaker 2: feel like, you like, if you know Lin's coming up
Speaker 2: to do something, you'll lob him align and it'll work whatever,
Speaker 2: and you'll leave him somewhere that makes it funnier, and
Speaker 2: everything just sort of gets like on top of each other,
Speaker 2: on top of each other and top each other until
Speaker 2: it's like ready to explode. And that I mean, sometimes
Speaker 2: it's luck. It feels like sometimes it's having a great night,
Speaker 2: and honestly, sometimes you have a shit night. I mean
Speaker 2: we've done hundreds of shows where it's just like, wow,
Speaker 2: we can't even buy a laugh.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: That's kind of the thing about improv, which I find
Speaker 2: to be so interesting. It's like even bombed, like bombed
Speaker 2: and like in front of many thousands of people, and
Speaker 2: it's just like it teaches you to fail.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, And that's kind.
Speaker 3: Of and you have to know what that feels like
Speaker 3: and I think the worst thing that can happen to you,
Speaker 3: and this happened to me is with the success of
Speaker 3: Who's Line. Before Who's Line, I was not the funny
Speaker 3: person in the Household of Honkeys. I had my role.
Speaker 3: I was like, I do the song stuff, and I
Speaker 3: can do characters and physical things. But because improv isn't
Speaker 3: really my thing, I'm doing the group haha. But my
Speaker 3: thing is I'm gonna get cast in a sitcom or
Speaker 3: and another thing or like so, so I don't consider
Speaker 3: myself funny.
Speaker 4: You can use me.
Speaker 3: But after I got Who's Line and then I was
Speaker 3: one of four that they're like, oh no, we hired
Speaker 3: you because we expect you to be able to come
Speaker 3: up with something. Now it was the first time that
Speaker 3: I was called upon to be funny on the dime.
Speaker 3: And the training that Whose Line gave us is it's
Speaker 3: kind of the antithesis to what you just said. The
Speaker 3: four of us that you know, the regulars, we've come
Speaker 3: to know each other's strengths and we can give each
Speaker 3: other lobs all day. But because of the nature of
Speaker 3: the games and what it is, it's always it's a
Speaker 3: team sport, but it's also we know that Wayne can
Speaker 3: do this, We know and can do that, We know
Speaker 3: the Ryan's gonna do this. We needed a so you're
Speaker 3: always you can lob for somebody else, but they expect
Speaker 3: you to be able to step forward and take it.
Speaker 1: Is there ever free practice or like, are you given
Speaker 1: slide sides? No?
Speaker 3: The only practice that we have is a camera blocking
Speaker 3: and so we know the games, but we don't know
Speaker 3: and any suggestions. And the camera blocking isn't even for us,
Speaker 3: it's for the actual camera guys to know. Because Whose
Speaker 3: Line was so innovative and people have tried to shoot
Speaker 3: improv shows before.
Speaker 4: But the reason that whose.
Speaker 3: Line works is and I learned this as a producer
Speaker 3: from Dan Patterson, the guy that created it. He's not
Speaker 3: doing Who's Line for the people that are in that audience.
Speaker 3: The people in the audience are a tool. He's doing
Speaker 3: it for the home viewer. So the reason that we
Speaker 3: would have that camera blocking is he wanted to know
Speaker 3: is if we were doing a game like talk show
Speaker 3: wait and I'm gonna put you in the audience, and
Speaker 3: if we're following the conventions of a talk show, maybe
Speaker 3: I might get up and be angry and run down
Speaker 3: the stage and tackle him, or I might run out
Speaker 3: the bin. We want the cameraman to know if we're
Speaker 3: doing X game and they have to follow, but we
Speaker 3: would never get a prompt. And that's what was so
Speaker 3: amazing about it, and our hit to miss ratio got
Speaker 3: to be so good, like it was scary. I was like,
Speaker 3: we really don't have They're like, oh, there must be
Speaker 3: so much who's lying that you left on the floor. No,
Speaker 3: because they're so cheap in a good way that if
Speaker 3: we take for four hours, everything we try has made
Speaker 3: it onto air at some point in some time. So
Speaker 3: I got lolled into a false sense of oh, well,
Speaker 3: I'm bad in everything until the first time that I
Speaker 3: did say something on stage this is shit. Shit didn't
Speaker 3: work in a comedy club like oh pardon me, wow.
Speaker 4: So learning to accept that failure and go, oh, great,
Speaker 4: well that didn't work. Cool. I suck, but I won't
Speaker 4: suck now.
Speaker 1: Is it true that you guys have to have a
Speaker 1: certain level sit energy with each other for it to
Speaker 1: truly work? Yes, Like say if like I'm passive aggressive
Speaker 1: with you and will kirk that stage, like and we
Speaker 1: have a disagreement or an argument whatever, is it easy
Speaker 1: to turn back on and.
Speaker 3: Just it's possible, or maybe it's possible. I also think
Speaker 3: it depends on how well you know each other. Like
Speaker 3: a group like Freestyle Love Supreme, they came up together
Speaker 3: and they have a chemistry that have been lucky enough
Speaker 3: to jump in and out and sample. Like my friend
Speaker 3: Jonathan and I who hosts Let's make a Deal? I
Speaker 3: mean to who co hosts it, and he's also and
Speaker 3: Let's make a deal. We've known each other since we
Speaker 3: were nineteen, so we have a shorthand. It's easy when
Speaker 3: you have a shorthand. If you're mad at somebody, to
Speaker 3: do a successful improv show, it would be hard because
Speaker 3: you have to be so open to what the other
Speaker 3: person is doing.
Speaker 4: It's trust.
Speaker 3: And so if I don't trust you, I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: mess with you, because then I'm gonna take it on
Speaker 3: my back.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go. You know what, No, I got this.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna wind down. Five questions left, and I'll
Speaker 1: try to make it briefish. What one thing did you
Speaker 1: leave behind in twenty twenty, hm, And what new thing
Speaker 1: did you gain in twenty twenty?
Speaker 3: I left behind in twenty twenty I think I left
Speaker 3: behind a bit of that fear that I talked talked about,
Speaker 3: and I gained a brand new sense of I'm going
Speaker 3: to live my life because life is too short. I
Speaker 3: literally tried to live my life knowing that there's a
Speaker 3: clock and not a bad clock. But there's just a clock, okay,
Speaker 3: and I want to be happy?
Speaker 1: All right? What movie are you ashamed to admit that
Speaker 1: you've never seen?
Speaker 3: There are so many movies I feel that that are
Speaker 3: in the zeitgeist that we've heard, we've seen, bits that
Speaker 3: you feel like you've seen that.
Speaker 2: You're supposed to feel like I've seen that, Like I
Speaker 2: don't even I'm nowhere near it.
Speaker 1: Or better yet, like a movie that you're supposed to
Speaker 1: have seen.
Speaker 4: Oh, Star Wars.
Speaker 1: Brady brother. Now, granted I can give the entire Star
Speaker 1: Wars with him, I can.
Speaker 3: Give you the entire plot of Star Wars and because
Speaker 3: over the years, but I never Star Wars fell in
Speaker 3: the gap of I didn't see a movie and a
Speaker 3: movie theater until I was sixteen years old, and I
Speaker 3: went on a date that I could afford to pay for.
Speaker 3: We never went but as but my grandma went, well,
Speaker 3: you can't see the movie. But we got you these
Speaker 3: and McDonald's had the commemorative Star Wars glasses, remember totally,
Speaker 3: so so she got me those and we collected the
Speaker 3: set of four. It's like, there's your Star Wars. So
Speaker 3: it's like, okay, so never seen it? Still what you are?
Speaker 9: Wow?
Speaker 1: What's you you never see?
Speaker 8: I never Star Wars this day to this day. Anything
Speaker 8: was just like magical White People and l's and ship.
Speaker 1: I ain't fucking with that ship. So like Magical White People.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Lord of the Rings, Game of Throne.
Speaker 8: I've watched Thrones, but I've not watched Lord of the Rings.
Speaker 8: Harry Potter, I've never seen like I'm yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I in the pandemic. I finally watched Star Wars
Speaker 1: and it was a struggle, like I've watched them five
Speaker 1: times or on the you know, the tour bus, you start,
Speaker 1: I start the Godfather on the tour bus.
Speaker 8: Is like all the I mean, the first three are
Speaker 8: like them, the ones, but then all the ones they made,
Speaker 8: yeah I heard them.
Speaker 1: I heard one of them are good. Yeah. So it's
Speaker 1: I've still not watched Return of the Jedi, but I
Speaker 1: think I confiiciently say that I've watched Star Wars to
Speaker 1: the point where I remember it Empire strikes back. I
Speaker 1: know I've seen it twice, but I don't remember shit
Speaker 1: like and I still can't tell you what Star Wars
Speaker 1: is about, like.
Speaker 9: Good versus Evil.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's the hero's journey. But yeah, like now,
Speaker 3: I don't know if it holds up to to the
Speaker 3: other stuff that invincible invincible spoken, invincible invincible learn.
Speaker 1: Okay, are you five minutes early or twenty minutes late?
Speaker 4: Five minutes early.
Speaker 9: So now you can't be friends?
Speaker 4: This sucks, no, but.
Speaker 3: I can give you a well well that comes with
Speaker 3: a in parentheses. So five minutes early, because if left
Speaker 3: to my own devices, I will be twenty minutes late
Speaker 3: because I get caught up in that thing I forget
Speaker 3: what they call it, the time blindness, or I will
Speaker 3: get I'll stand stand in my closet distracted red shirt,
Speaker 3: the sweater you can't wear that, and then I play
Speaker 3: the scenarios.
Speaker 4: If now that won't look at it, if I do,
Speaker 4: if I don't.
Speaker 3: It, oh, okay, I got no, But I have to
Speaker 3: and I'll be rooted in one spot until whatever the
Speaker 3: thing is that I have to solve solves. So I
Speaker 3: have to leave extra early to allow time for me
Speaker 3: getting stuck.
Speaker 8: When you officially die and noose with ADHD and when
Speaker 8: was that and like, what's that process been like kind
Speaker 8: of managing it?
Speaker 3: It's been great because you using the medication when I
Speaker 3: need it. It does help me focus and as a creative,
Speaker 3: you know, we all have ideas. Oh I'm gonna it
Speaker 3: helps me get things done. It's no problem getting an idea.
Speaker 3: It's doing something with the fourteen that you have and
Speaker 3: then write and shit down or or even using getting
Speaker 3: focused enough to I'm up. Now I have to get
Speaker 3: out of bed, and now I'm gonna make my bed.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lay in my bed. I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: using it that way. And also understanding certain patterns and
Speaker 3: behaviors that I have, some that are superpowers and some
Speaker 3: that aren't.
Speaker 4: So so it's a good process.
Speaker 8: How old were you when you like finally realize I
Speaker 8: guess or we're diagnosed.
Speaker 4: Five years ago?
Speaker 1: Oh wow?
Speaker 3: Okay, oh yeah, I've come to many things late in life,
Speaker 3: but better late than never.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 3: That's part of that trying to be be be happy thing.
Speaker 1: This is part of the pandemic pivot, like I'm home now,
Speaker 1: and yeah.
Speaker 3: Why am I like this? Why does this thing happen?
Speaker 3: Why am I not happy? Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: Okay, Soe, you mentioned something on the tonight show which
Speaker 1: I kind of want to ask, which was because the
Speaker 1: thing was Twenty twenty was the year in which, as
Speaker 1: I predicted, half of my friends made life transitions as
Speaker 1: far as their partnership was concerned, including my own relationship
Speaker 1: imploded in twenty twenty one at the time. To the
Speaker 1: person I was dating before the pandemic, you made a
Speaker 1: decision to quarantine with your blended family. Yeah, with your
Speaker 1: ex wife who's now still your partner and whatnot your
Speaker 1: daughter you I don't know your current situation now, but
Speaker 1: first of all, whose idea was it? And would you
Speaker 1: recommend that?
Speaker 4: Like, I would only recommend it to someone if you've.
Speaker 3: The family became known because of TikTok when everybody got
Speaker 3: on TikTok at that point, and we started doing dance
Speaker 3: videos and we would post, oh, this is our family story,
Speaker 3: and then news outlet's pick that up, and it was
Speaker 3: so weird. For wait a minute, you're quarantining with your
Speaker 3: ex wife, you're living in the same but if we
Speaker 3: don't understand, so the only way that we could get
Speaker 3: to that is I wouldn't recommend that unless you've had
Speaker 3: before twenty twenty. Mandy and I met in ninety five.
Speaker 3: We were together for years and then we got divorced,
Speaker 3: and we had our baby before that, and then we
Speaker 3: made a decision to stay friends and to work on
Speaker 3: our and we genuinely love each other like we are family.
Speaker 3: Like we couldn't be together romantically, but that is my heart,
Speaker 3: that is my family. She would kill for me and
Speaker 3: I'd kill for her, you know, And so being able
Speaker 3: to it's a fluke for some people. And to then
Speaker 3: do it with her boyfriend, who her boyfriend, Jason, and
Speaker 3: it's not even boyfriend her her life partner used to
Speaker 3: be my backup dancer when I'd had my Vegas residency.
Speaker 3: So add another layer on top of and it it
Speaker 3: sounds wa a whacky sitcom.
Speaker 4: But we we love each.
Speaker 3: Other enough, and I'd like to think that with enough
Speaker 3: therapy we needed to do therapy. I needed so much
Speaker 3: therapy to be okay with myself that I could be
Speaker 3: okay with Jason and I try to be on some
Speaker 3: toxic man shit have like.
Speaker 4: Well, that was my But you can't be bitdebba.
Speaker 3: No, this is another man who stepped in, who my
Speaker 3: daughter feels safe around, and who I've never gotten a
Speaker 3: call from my ex wife saying this guy's hurting me
Speaker 3: or he's stealing money, or he has treated us another way,
Speaker 3: so I love him. So I would not recommend it
Speaker 3: unless you have a history of therapy with your family,
Speaker 3: because even knowing everything I know, now, that's not for
Speaker 3: the week.
Speaker 4: You must know.
Speaker 3: Each other well to be quarantined together. That's no joke.
Speaker 1: Okay. What will you admit is one of your worst habits?
Speaker 4: Commitment? Okay, and not that I was cheating or doing anything.
Speaker 4: I'd get into.
Speaker 3: Sort to anything and then go, whoop, I can't do
Speaker 3: it because I would be because I commit so fast,
Speaker 3: because I want, oh, like I would love that relationship,
Speaker 3: or I would love to do this job. Because they
Speaker 3: think that I'm talented, or she thinks I'm good, or
Speaker 3: they think that I mean And then you jump into
Speaker 3: something you're like, oh, this was not the right move.
Speaker 3: I shouldn't have done it. Okay, I gotta quit. I
Speaker 3: gotta quit, I gotta quit, I gotta quit. And so
Speaker 3: you get out of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see, I'm gonna complete this. I fucked up.
Speaker 1: I said yes to everything, and I'm not regretting it
Speaker 1: because they're passions. But I wish I could.
Speaker 3: Just be like dog just so you can you can
Speaker 3: help me, because Mandy lives by if you say yes,
Speaker 3: you have to rock it all all the way through.
Speaker 4: And I agree with that in theory.
Speaker 3: But there are some things that you say yes to
Speaker 3: that are not good for you, like somebody may not
Speaker 3: be good for you, so I don't want to. My
Speaker 3: habit was I would try to see it through to
Speaker 3: some kind of conclusion instead of just chopping it off
Speaker 3: and then even accepting a job that you're like, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is gonna suck. Why am I doing this? It's
Speaker 3: not gonna be good for me. I'm gonna look bad.
Speaker 3: Look I'm out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did shit to the detriment of like the
Speaker 1: casualty of my was basically my relationship, which was again,
Speaker 1: as soon as we got out in the world, the
Speaker 1: first thing I thought about was all the work I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do now that we're out in the world, instead
Speaker 1: of like the progress that I was on, like hey,
Speaker 1: and then it's like all right, well, you'll you'll have
Speaker 1: time for this relationship in twenty thirty something, so, you
Speaker 1: know which, I was like, all right, so I guess
Speaker 1: this is over. Even though it was quasi amicable. The
Speaker 1: breakup much to the detriment of my relationship at the time, Like.
Speaker 3: Even when I'm sacrified amicable, what did you say, Even
Speaker 3: when it's amicable, it's not amicable because somebody's got to
Speaker 3: kick the other person and that just sucks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in trust me. I'm definitely the bad guy
Speaker 1: in this scenario. And I feel horrible that I made
Speaker 1: so much progress and improving and slowing down and sleeping
Speaker 1: more and all that stuff, and the second life was open.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, back to work, you know, funstones,
Speaker 1: and now realize I fucked up. So but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: see this stuff through, and then I promise I'm really
Speaker 1: going to commit to just like one thing at a
Speaker 1: time and not stack a whole back pile of things
Speaker 1: like it's not human to direct four movies at once
Speaker 1: and make a record and no, it's not human. So
Speaker 1: I don't recommend.
Speaker 4: That, but you did it, so good job.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, it's it's it's going to be good. So
Speaker 1: hopefully not. Hopefully I'm training myself to not. I don't
Speaker 1: talk to be good. Yes're talking to the affirmative, the affirmative.
Speaker 1: All right, last question, You have thirty seconds to talk
Speaker 1: to your twelve year old self.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, well this is easy because I've talked to
Speaker 3: him many times. So what do you want me to
Speaker 3: talk to him about?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 9: What would you mixing cereals?
Speaker 1: What would you want to tell him if you were
Speaker 1: allowed to have a butterfly wing effect to a certain belief.
Speaker 1: This's part of me that actually wishes that I give
Speaker 1: an opportunity. I'm almost thinking I'm sick enough to actually say,
Speaker 1: you know what, everything the way happened, let it happen.
Speaker 1: But I think I would be open to some sort
Speaker 1: of improvement, like if I could have the confidence and
Speaker 1: the insight that I have now at fifty three, right
Speaker 1: at maybe like thirty three, even forty three, Like you're.
Speaker 4: The same person. I hate you?
Speaker 1: Right, No, no, no, I'm just one of my regrets
Speaker 1: was like, wow, at forty nine my eyes finally opened,
Speaker 1: And now I'm just thinking like damn man, like forty
Speaker 1: nine now and that would be sixty and shit. No,
Speaker 1: but you can't think I could have made magic.
Speaker 8: You want everyone's ass like thirty, Like Noah, thirty, you
Speaker 8: don't get it, then it's you want to do hood
Speaker 8: at shit with your brain like a somewhere it.
Speaker 3: Can't even work, like because that's around the same. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like I would have had that epiphany. I'm fifty one now,
Speaker 3: so it wasn't until you know, like being forty six,
Speaker 3: forty seven, that you start doing that work. And of
Speaker 3: course you would wish for that confidence, but I would
Speaker 3: challenge you and say, if the confidence that you could
Speaker 3: even have at forty or thirty whatnot, who knows where
Speaker 3: you would be. So so the only thing that I
Speaker 3: could tell to my twelve year old self is I
Speaker 3: can't regret anything, because I guess things have turned out okay.
Speaker 3: There are things that I hate all the time, like
Speaker 3: career moves that I went. I wish I wouldn't have
Speaker 3: done that shit, but but life isn't horrible. So the
Speaker 3: only thing I can tell him is I wish that
Speaker 3: what I want for him is maybe not to change anything,
Speaker 3: but I want for twelve twelve year old Wayne to
Speaker 3: know when this sounds like a hackneyed life thing, to
Speaker 3: just know that you're enough in that sense and just
Speaker 3: and just know that you're gonna be and like you're dope, Like,
Speaker 3: trust me, you're You don't even understand how dope you are,
Speaker 3: because I don't even know how dope I am. Because
Speaker 3: I get excited if somebody that I recognize, like you
Speaker 3: even saying hi to me, or anybody that I respect
Speaker 3: and says, oh Wayne, I saw Alicia Keys the other
Speaker 3: day and Swizz and.
Speaker 4: They're like, oh Wayne, it's like you know who I am?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that whole thing that's still that twelve
Speaker 3: year old kid who is like, but.
Speaker 4: So yo, you are so good. You are so great.
Speaker 3: Don't worry about being cocky, don't about pleasing people, don't
Speaker 3: about being black enough, don't be that you're gonna be good.
Speaker 3: So do what you want to do instead of living
Speaker 3: your life and having it affect your choices and then
Speaker 3: without telling him to change anything. Maybe if he just
Speaker 3: did that, then we'd see what would happen.
Speaker 1: Butterfly wise, all right, before I close this show, man,
Speaker 1: it's just hitting me right now how apropos this moment is.
Speaker 1: Because I've had a relationship with one particular date that
Speaker 1: for me was always doom and gloom and always I
Speaker 1: felt like defined the darkest period of my existence. Like
Speaker 1: for me, the idea of questlove was invented, the idea
Speaker 1: of this, the idea of everything was invented. On all
Speaker 1: the ironic dates to remember fucking June second, Like, in
Speaker 1: my mind, June second, eighty nine was the worst day
Speaker 1: of my life in which you you know, you always
Speaker 1: had that moment. I don't know if it happens for
Speaker 1: you guys, whatever, but you know, I'm certain you've had
Speaker 1: it where you just like that, never again. I'll show them.
Speaker 1: I'm going to oh yeah, and that moment was June second,
Speaker 1: Like I documented June second, nineteen eighty nine, where I
Speaker 1: will you know letters you see Michael Jackson writing himself
Speaker 1: no longer I will be the like I've written composition notebooks.
Speaker 1: I'm never cutting my hair. I'm growing this outrageous June second,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine. It's so weird that what I deemed
Speaker 1: the worst day of my life now is someone that
Speaker 1: I in the beginning was talking like, oh yeah, it
Speaker 1: would be cool. Now I'm like, ah, fucking universe is
Speaker 1: sending me something. It was even to the point where
Speaker 1: I hate it all Geminis.
Speaker 4: That's when you were a juge Gemini.
Speaker 1: Oh I get that now, dog, And that's the thing,
Speaker 1: Like there's a Gemini Kathy's is like the people that
Speaker 1: are real close to me. I hate Jim, I used
Speaker 1: to hate so this whole these whole two episodes. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Wayne Brady. You finally disarmed, disarmed my my ire and
Speaker 1: disdained for Geminis.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm glad I was able to bring some love.
Speaker 1: Do I appreciate you coming and doing that? Wait, I
Speaker 1: guess so that Amber is not totally angry with me.
Speaker 1: How's your experience been with the Wiz?
Speaker 7: Were about to know you as a person and not
Speaker 7: your profession. But no, the Wiz come on, Like, what
Speaker 7: can I say in just a few seconds? You know,
Speaker 7: the Wiz to be able to bring this seminal piece
Speaker 7: of black theater to stage again after almost fifty years
Speaker 7: of being not here, That's why I wanted to be
Speaker 7: a part of the show. I want to be part
Speaker 7: of this black moment. This is a moment and the
Speaker 7: talent on stage is it's it's impeccable. It's like when
Speaker 7: you talk about black excellence, and I know that some
Speaker 7: of us have a hang up now with to turn
Speaker 7: black excellence because it denotes that other people. I'm gonna
Speaker 7: say it, it is black excellence because everybody on.
Speaker 1: That stage it's real bad, right, right, not consumers and
Speaker 1: blax right, It's not that.
Speaker 4: Look at what I'm.
Speaker 3: It is watching people Like when I watch the dancers dance,
Speaker 3: and I know a couple of them used to be
Speaker 3: a ley and they trained. You watch people that when
Speaker 3: when I watch them dance, I think of in the
Speaker 3: classical world, you know, black bodies in the ballet space
Speaker 3: and the modern space being being told your butt's too big,
Speaker 3: your hips are too wide, you can't do those things
Speaker 3: because of how you're built and being able to turn
Speaker 3: a eurocentric thing on its head and then come come
Speaker 3: up with your own form of it. Watching these dancers
Speaker 3: do that, I was like, that is excellent. Listening to
Speaker 3: these voices, these these these amazing voices, like like our
Speaker 3: Dorothy and the Tin and the I forget the characters,
Speaker 3: but but I know their names, Avery, Philip and Kyle.
Speaker 3: Their voices are anointed, the voices in the cast, the
Speaker 3: talent you can throw a rock and any of those
Speaker 3: people you would pay to listen to a record from
Speaker 3: from them, and I look at that and I go, Wow,
Speaker 3: that's what it feels like to not be the only you.
Speaker 3: And I look at that and it's one of the
Speaker 3: only times that I've been in a cast like that,
Speaker 3: where I go, I'm so blessed. I'm humble that you're
Speaker 3: in a community of youth that I'm in a community,
Speaker 3: and it's amazing.
Speaker 4: So please come out and see the Wiz.
Speaker 1: That's all saying.
Speaker 3: You don't have to be black to see the Wiz.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying you don't have to go. So Bill Sugar,
Speaker 3: I'll see you there. Thank you for the invite. Way
Speaker 3: we will be there.
Speaker 9: Yes, Now is this the machine talking or is this.
Speaker 1: Really wanting you to come out?
Speaker 9: I just want to know who to ask for when
Speaker 9: I got there.
Speaker 4: Wayne's very proud.
Speaker 1: Of a brother. Thank you for coming on the show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: got out to a liah suage Love.
Speaker 3: Next time I come back, we have to freestyle. We
Speaker 3: have to set it up so we can do something today.
Speaker 1: Yes, you're definitely going to be a mainstad on the
Speaker 1: show Man. Thank you for coming on. We have a
Speaker 1: new Bill and Healthy Sugar and font Diegelo and Liyah
Speaker 1: Uh this quest Love and Wayne Brady.
Speaker 9: Thank you very much and.
Speaker 1: We'll see you on the next Quest Love Supreme. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by a
Speaker 1: mere Quest Love, Thomas, Why You, Saint Clair, Fonte, Coleman, Sugar,
Speaker 1: Steve Manteo, an unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a
Speaker 1: mere Quest Love, Thompson, Sean Ge and Brian Calton. Produced
Speaker 1: by Me Benjamin Cousin, Jack Payne, Liah Saint Clair, edited
Speaker 1: by Alex Conroy. Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown. What's
Speaker 1: Love Supreme is a production of ihearten Radio. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.