Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Congratulations Missing Universe. Has it
Speaker 1: sunk in yet? I don't think so. I think this
Speaker 1: is like my almost a week now and yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think I'm getting used to it because the first
Speaker 1: people would be like Miss Universe and I'll just continue
Speaker 1: going that's not Universe. You dropped something that please Miss Universe.
Speaker 1: It is. It is a surreal experience. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: because you want Miss South Africa and then you go
Speaker 1: on this journey to you know, to compete for Miss Universe,
Speaker 1: and I mean, you know, it's amazing women from all
Speaker 1: around the world. The competition has evolved over the years
Speaker 1: to become more about like what the women are thinking
Speaker 1: as well as how you look and what you want
Speaker 1: to do in the world. So it is a challenging
Speaker 1: experience to me on like what was this journey? What
Speaker 1: has it been like for you? It's been interesting since
Speaker 1: I won Miss South Africa and finding out that I
Speaker 1: would be doing this Universe as well. But it was
Speaker 1: incredible the support that I got from back home. But
Speaker 1: it was challenging as well because I had a new
Speaker 1: look um that people were not used to and so
Speaker 1: um I got crowned and I got a lot of
Speaker 1: different responses, but I was I was quite excited about it,
Speaker 1: regardless of what was happening in what way. Tell me
Speaker 1: tell me about the responses, because that's interesting because a
Speaker 1: lot of people might think that would be something that
Speaker 1: happens like in a western country and another, but this
Speaker 1: was in South Africa and southern Yeah, you had one
Speaker 1: a prominently black country, and yet there were people who
Speaker 1: said to you, hey, we love you, but but yeah,
Speaker 1: so I first one, and I got a lot of
Speaker 1: comments where you know, a lot of people said, oh,
Speaker 1: is this the one this year? She's so underwhelming. Um.
Speaker 1: I got comments like, um, she's a downgrade from the
Speaker 1: others that we've had. And this was only from people
Speaker 1: in in in my country as well. Um. And then
Speaker 1: it got more international as people find found out that
Speaker 1: I was going to do Miss Universe, and then international
Speaker 1: people as well started you know, commenting in And I
Speaker 1: think my most interesting was one was and I came
Speaker 1: to New York for the first time. I think about
Speaker 1: four months ago. UM. I came back to South Africa.
Speaker 1: It was quite it was late in the evening and
Speaker 1: I took a photo from my apartment and I was
Speaker 1: like Oh, such a beautiful night. And a comment came
Speaker 1: in and I chuckled now about it. I was like,
Speaker 1: what this guy says, Oh, this photo is the so black,
Speaker 1: it's as black as you are, Miss Black Ugly South Africa.
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, it's quite And I think it
Speaker 1: was in that moment where I was like, I'm not
Speaker 1: even mad. I'm not mad because I think it's just
Speaker 1: how society has labeled beauty to be. It's just how
Speaker 1: we've been programmed to look at a beauty that way.
Speaker 1: You know, the furthest you are from being fair, um,
Speaker 1: is the uglier you are. And I just saw it
Speaker 1: as an education moment because I remember putting out a post,
Speaker 1: you know, just speaking about it, speaking about colorism, speaking
Speaker 1: about racism, speaking about how people need to see things
Speaker 1: in order to start believing in them. That was that
Speaker 1: was a big thing, especially for you, and I think
Speaker 1: so many people who saw you being crowned Miss Universe was.
Speaker 1: It was a moment where many people and this is
Speaker 1: what really interested me. I was proud of the South Africa. Um,
Speaker 1: I was proud as somebody who's grown up on the continent.
Speaker 1: But what really got me is how universally I mean,
Speaker 1: for our for our planet. Many people said, to see
Speaker 1: a dark skinned woman win an accolade like this, but
Speaker 1: then to see a woman with natural hair when this
Speaker 1: with her natural and that's and that's what a lot
Speaker 1: of people, that's what a lot of people initially want
Speaker 1: to be. To change. People are like, why don't you
Speaker 1: get a weave? Why don't you straighten your beautiful but
Speaker 1: why don't you just straighten your hair? There must have
Speaker 1: been a challenge. Why didn't you straighten your hair? Why
Speaker 1: didn't you were a week? Because this is my hair.
Speaker 1: This is the first person I gave you know, like you,
Speaker 1: because I don't think anyone tells other people to put
Speaker 1: on the weave, so why why should I? You know?
Speaker 1: For At first, people like, was this a strategy? I'm like,
Speaker 1: to what to where governed me? Myself? I don't know?
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, it's not a strategy. I've had,
Speaker 1: you know, shot here for three years and I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to change because I was now stepping into a
Speaker 1: beauty platform. Because then that means I don't think my
Speaker 1: hair is beautiful if I'm going to change it, And
Speaker 1: so I decided to keep it. You've kept it and
Speaker 1: everyone is happy that you've Also you've also kept many
Speaker 1: of the causes that you've been passionate about. You know, um,
Speaker 1: a lot of the time beauty pageants are associated with
Speaker 1: the superfluous world. But but as I've said, over the years,
Speaker 1: things are changing. The focus is changing. What people are
Speaker 1: trying to do is changing it. And you've taken on
Speaker 1: a really powerful issue, and that's been gender based violence,
Speaker 1: which is which is far from like a flowery issue
Speaker 1: that many people would want to tackle. Why gender based
Speaker 1: violence and what would you hope people would understand in
Speaker 1: and around this conversation. You know, for me, I think
Speaker 1: my my my thing begin when I want miss South
Speaker 1: Africa and femicide and gender based violences is very big
Speaker 1: back home, and I realized that it's not only a
Speaker 1: South African thing. It's a global issue because we have
Speaker 1: things like the Me Too movement, we have things like
Speaker 1: the Times Up movement. You know, women are fighting all
Speaker 1: over the world to be safe again in in this world,
Speaker 1: which is you know, it's quite crazy to me to
Speaker 1: have to have movements where we're fighting just to be alive,
Speaker 1: just to keep our lives. And I like to say,
Speaker 1: you know, women are an endangered species. There's days I
Speaker 1: feel like one day we're just going to wake up
Speaker 1: and you know, there's no women anymore. So I know, right,
Speaker 1: that's that's why I'm an allied. That would be horrible.
Speaker 1: That would be horrible. Yeah, And so my thing is
Speaker 1: about gender based violence is to bring in the men.
Speaker 1: That's always been my main message because people will ask women,
Speaker 1: what do you think we should do to fight this?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, why are you asking me? You know
Speaker 1: I'm not the perpetrator and most of the instances, so
Speaker 1: don't we call out on the people that are that?
Speaker 1: And that that has been really beautiful because you have
Speaker 1: sparked a conversation not just in South Africa but on
Speaker 1: all the platforms you've you've taken around the world and
Speaker 1: saying hey, we need men to be a part of
Speaker 1: this conversation. We need to be engaging men and saying hey,
Speaker 1: here's how you can do better, here's what you can
Speaker 1: do to be better. Here's how men can call other
Speaker 1: men out in making women safe, because it's it's the
Speaker 1: men who are the perpetrators in this case. Um, you
Speaker 1: are a week end to being miss Universe, but it
Speaker 1: is now a journey that is going to take you
Speaker 1: over the course of a year. It'll feel like a lifetime.
Speaker 1: It will be over in a moment. What are you
Speaker 1: most looking forward to? What are you excited to achieve?
Speaker 1: What do you what do you what do you just
Speaker 1: want to do in this period of your reign. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to travel the world, I must say, though
Speaker 1: New York is so cold. Oh when I got you,
Speaker 1: I was like, I'd really love to fill my toes
Speaker 1: one more time. Um. Yeah, I'm so excited to travel
Speaker 1: the world. I haven't really had the opportunity to travel before,
Speaker 1: and I think this is I'm going to be quite
Speaker 1: an interesting one for me. I'm excited to have my
Speaker 1: messages and everything that I'm passionate about to just go
Speaker 1: across the globe. And one thing I always say is
Speaker 1: I don't want to feel like when I step out
Speaker 1: of this crown that it was wasted. I want to
Speaker 1: be responsible with it. And now I have a platform
Speaker 1: of you know, I have two point five million people
Speaker 1: thank you following me. Yeah, so I want to use
Speaker 1: that platform and whatever I do it must just be
Speaker 1: purposeful work, you know, but also to build my brand
Speaker 1: as well, because when people ask me what is this
Speaker 1: for you personally? For me, I say, it's the beginning
Speaker 1: of building generational wealth for my family, because it's not
Speaker 1: it's not something that we've had a post that is.
Speaker 1: That is one thing that is one part of your
Speaker 1: story that I think a lot of people will be
Speaker 1: surprised by because you know, it can often happen with
Speaker 1: the first time people see you. You're wearing a crown,
Speaker 1: you're wearing a beautiful gown or a dress, and and
Speaker 1: people go like, wow, this has always been you. But
Speaker 1: part of the reason many South Africans were proud is
Speaker 1: because of the story that came for your victories. And
Speaker 1: I was you came from humble beginnings. Yes I do.
Speaker 1: I grew up. I come from a village Guzzo in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Cape. Uh yeah, someone saying yes, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I come from a village and you would know, but
Speaker 1: you know, they wouldn't know how how it is. The
Speaker 1: Eastern Cape I think is one of the most impoverished
Speaker 1: places of of the country. While I was fortunate enough
Speaker 1: to have a mother who's the school principle and my
Speaker 1: dad who worked at least I was able to go
Speaker 1: to school. But things are quite different for other people
Speaker 1: who grew up there, and it's quite difficult to make
Speaker 1: it out of there. And so I think because I
Speaker 1: grew up there and people saw me growing up there,
Speaker 1: now you know I'm miss universe. It's it's it adds
Speaker 1: like an element of hope to people who feel like
Speaker 1: they couldn't have been able to do it before. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. Thank you for having me. This is
Speaker 1: you know what, it's truly, truly, truly one of my
Speaker 1: pleasures to have you on the show because, um, you
Speaker 1: have taken the world by storm. I remember when you
Speaker 1: first blew up in South Africa. You know, everyone's just
Speaker 1: black coffee, black offfer this guy this black black black
Speaker 1: coffer and black coffee bla coffee, bla coffee. And I
Speaker 1: was like, who is he? What is the coffee? Is
Speaker 1: that a drink? Is then you drink? That's out? What
Speaker 1: is going on? I was like, no, there is a
Speaker 1: dj and is huge. And then you went from South
Speaker 1: Africa and you went into the world and you've taken
Speaker 1: it by storm. Why do you think you have blown
Speaker 1: up as much as you have all over the world.
Speaker 1: Doesn't it sound like your story my story? Yeah? No, no,
Speaker 1: no you think so. Um no, no, no, no, no no
Speaker 1: no um um um Man, it's resilience, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: It's knowing hunger and knowing that you have experienced it
Speaker 1: and you don't want to go back there. Wow. Um.
Speaker 1: It's working from nothing knowing that you have nothing to lose,
Speaker 1: so whatever you gain is something. Um. That is what
Speaker 1: it's kept me going. That is what it's gotten me
Speaker 1: to where I am today. What I what I also
Speaker 1: loved about your journey and I've always enjoyed is that,
Speaker 1: like in South Africa, and in Africa and many countries
Speaker 1: around the world, there was always um an instinct for
Speaker 1: people to aspire to create like an American or two,
Speaker 1: or to create like a European. What's said Black Coffee
Speaker 1: Apart for me was you made the music of Africa,
Speaker 1: the music of South Africa, and the world fell in
Speaker 1: love with that. Was that like a specific choice you
Speaker 1: made where you're like, I'm not going to make European
Speaker 1: dance music. I'm just gonna make my music and it's
Speaker 1: going to be big in the world, definitely. And it
Speaker 1: hasn't been easy, you know, um, because sometimes there's hype
Speaker 1: that comes with the name and then you get a
Speaker 1: big room, right because the name is so big, and
Speaker 1: then but the music is is so maybe too soulful
Speaker 1: for the room. Oh right right, So we've been through
Speaker 1: different phases trying to build that's and and um, it
Speaker 1: took patience, you know, it took a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of time, it looked. It took a good team behind me,
Speaker 1: and it took love for what I do ment to
Speaker 1: to really push it really is souful. I remember at Coachella,
Speaker 1: I was so excited when I saw your name on
Speaker 1: the list of artists who are going to be performing.
Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of people think, like when
Speaker 1: it was dance. I remember my friends was like, guys,
Speaker 1: let's go to black coffee and they were like what
Speaker 1: what is? What is No? I want coffee with movie.
Speaker 1: I was like no again no, because everyone thinks as
Speaker 1: soon as you say do you like black coffee, people
Speaker 1: are like a bit of sugar DJ black coffee. And
Speaker 1: so we went to we went to the tent that
Speaker 1: you were playing in, and my friends said to me,
Speaker 1: is like, man, I'm not a big fan of like
Speaker 1: E d M. I'm not a fan of dance. But
Speaker 1: I was like, no, it's it's different you're dancing to it,
Speaker 1: but it's not because people always think of like that's
Speaker 1: what people think of, whereas your your music has and
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the whole tent was just like I mean,
Speaker 1: you had like a thousand people just like bouncing together.
Speaker 1: It was you know what I mean. It was Africa
Speaker 1: in the middle of California, black white, everyone dancing to
Speaker 1: your music. Yeah. No, it was really beautiful. It was
Speaker 1: really beautiful. You You You've done something really special for
Speaker 1: me though, in my opinion, and that is you've taken
Speaker 1: the success of your music and you've used it to
Speaker 1: inspire a new generation in South Africa. You started a
Speaker 1: project where you are building a school, but I think
Speaker 1: more impressive you're building a neighborhood. Yeah, what is that about?
Speaker 1: And why? Um, we're trying to and I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: we because I'm working with with other people. It's myself,
Speaker 1: it's Nelson mccamo who was here before. The artist. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's lad Duma Novolo who was coming right, the designer. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: you had he's coming right, What are you warning me?
Speaker 1: I'm telling you he's coming to this show. Um. We
Speaker 1: we're trying to change the narrative the continent where maybe
Speaker 1: it is our fault where we we always seen Africa
Speaker 1: as an inferior place. Um, all the best things where
Speaker 1: on TV, which means that we're here in America or
Speaker 1: in Europe, and it took away so much from the continent.
Speaker 1: And we're trying to reverse that and and and create
Speaker 1: a space in Africa that will inspire Africans to want
Speaker 1: to stay and create a future. Right. It's cos it's
Speaker 1: really a coffee because you have you, you have this
Speaker 1: initiative and it's called Africa is not a jungle. And
Speaker 1: what I love about it is you say it's about
Speaker 1: Africans creating for Africans and not always looking to Europe
Speaker 1: to create for them, which is a powerful statement to
Speaker 1: make when you look at your journey as Black Coffee.
Speaker 1: I mean you went out into a very competitive world.
Speaker 1: Djay is not like an easy thing to just break
Speaker 1: into a Actually when you have a different sound, what
Speaker 1: me d jay? Yeah, I used to d J. I
Speaker 1: used actually used to create music as well. And then
Speaker 1: I sent you a few samples and nothing has I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you've um, but I mean I sent a
Speaker 1: few No one has ever gotten back to me about
Speaker 1: it's yeah, it's I mean, there's nothing in here, but
Speaker 1: we can act like we're drinking just to get rid
Speaker 1: of the awkward situation. But yeah, what, like, what do
Speaker 1: you hope to achieve with the music around the world?
Speaker 1: You know, because I've always been intrigued by the message
Speaker 1: that you have. When you're playing your music. We see
Speaker 1: you collaborating with people like Drake, We see you, you know,
Speaker 1: people like Usher, we see we see artists who you
Speaker 1: wouldn't even associate with this genre saying no, I love
Speaker 1: Black Coffee because of his message and how it pertains
Speaker 1: to music as an art form. What are you trying
Speaker 1: to accomplish all over the world with your music? Um,
Speaker 1: Africa has a voice, and over the years, I feel
Speaker 1: like that voice has diminished because of how um the
Speaker 1: world has painted the continent. You know. One of the
Speaker 1: things that used to happen with me when I get
Speaker 1: bookings back in the day, they would want to put
Speaker 1: like bungos and African mask on the flyer, you know,
Speaker 1: because I'm from Africa, so we all wear masks and
Speaker 1: have bungos, you know. So it's something that we really
Speaker 1: fought for from the beginning. To say, look, we want
Speaker 1: to play on the global stage, right you know, which
Speaker 1: is what you're doing right right right now. Um. I
Speaker 1: would like to for the world to see that voice.
Speaker 1: I would like for the world to know that we
Speaker 1: are capable, um to be on the world stage. This
Speaker 1: is why I continue to try and collaborate with the
Speaker 1: greatest artists being from Africa though and still keeping the
Speaker 1: sound that I believe in because we have that voice,
Speaker 1: you know. So I'm trying to create different platforms that
Speaker 1: will showcase that not just conversation, but with action. Arts
Speaker 1: has always felt like it's been like a European thing,
Speaker 1: you know, It's like that's arts, and then it's like
Speaker 1: the Africans make nice things and be like, oh this
Speaker 1: is cute. Where did you pick this up? You know?
Speaker 1: But but but you're starting to shake that. You're starting
Speaker 1: to change all of that. You just came back from
Speaker 1: your own showing in Paris, you know, where people like
Speaker 1: your art works also all sold out. Who is Nelson
Speaker 1: Makamo and and why do you think you're experiencing this
Speaker 1: success in the art world? Um? Wow, I mean I
Speaker 1: don't know even know where to start. I mean, artists
Speaker 1: always been part of me growing up, I mean I
Speaker 1: grew up. I was born in a small town in
Speaker 1: South Africa. UM. It was quite interesting because growing up,
Speaker 1: toys where never actually an option is a black child,
Speaker 1: so you had to create your own choice. So my
Speaker 1: foundation of arts started from there. I started actually making
Speaker 1: toys from clay UM and then from them studying from
Speaker 1: primary UM. It was quite interesting because I mean South Africa,
Speaker 1: as you know, in the eighties, post apart it um
Speaker 1: were limited in terms of choices. Art was never an option.
Speaker 1: So as a child UM you were told to either
Speaker 1: become a doctor, you know, you become a teacher, a lawyer. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what your parents hoped you would do. That's what
Speaker 1: my parents were actually hoping for me to do. Is
Speaker 1: not an option for like a young black child, That's
Speaker 1: exactly that. But I was actually job. I was fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to have a mother who truly believe in my
Speaker 1: talent that from an Ali age, she truly supported me right,
Speaker 1: So I had a strong supporting UM figure from an
Speaker 1: Ali age. And but it was also quite interesting because
Speaker 1: she never saw that as something that I would also
Speaker 1: make a living out of it as well. You've made
Speaker 1: more than just a living now, I mean you've gone
Speaker 1: from being a successful artist in South Africa to a
Speaker 1: world renowned artists. I mean, you know people I'm to
Speaker 1: South Africa to view your art, to purchase your art,
Speaker 1: and I mean everybody you know from you know from
Speaker 1: from from Alicia Keys through to to Oprah Winfrey. I
Speaker 1: mean I remember Oprah telling the story of how she
Speaker 1: came to your building. And you have a building in
Speaker 1: the Hearts of Johannesburg in South Africa. There's no elevator.
Speaker 1: Actually that was quite one of the most interesting story
Speaker 1: because um, I was on the thought floor. Yes, there
Speaker 1: was no elevator, right, so she had to think the
Speaker 1: steps from the first from the ground floor to the
Speaker 1: fourth floor. Right. She wasn't hippy at all because my
Speaker 1: favorite she's like Oprah doesn't climb stands for anybody. Operah
Speaker 1: I was like no. She's like, I'm gonna where is
Speaker 1: this guy? Why is he not coming with the arts?
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, this is where the studio is.
Speaker 1: But but she came to you and she fell in
Speaker 1: love with the art. And as many people have, why
Speaker 1: do you think it connects with so many people from
Speaker 1: different walks of life? Because so many people would think
Speaker 1: of African art as African or but it's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is art and you happen to be South African.
Speaker 1: I think like one of the privileges that I actually
Speaker 1: had was UM. I mean, I studied in a community
Speaker 1: based college and UM I applied for residency UM which
Speaker 1: UM I went to Italy for three months. I think
Speaker 1: having to have an experience of outside South Africa that
Speaker 1: has actually helped me to sort of view things not
Speaker 1: only from an African perspective, but to actually look at
Speaker 1: things from a global perspective. As right, I started creating
Speaker 1: work more like a language, a universal language, UM in
Speaker 1: a way that UM it was quite interesting because the
Speaker 1: first thing that I did was to use a child
Speaker 1: as a subject in my work. Yeah, we've seen some
Speaker 1: of those amazing pictures. You've got these images of children,
Speaker 1: and I think on the cover of Time they called
Speaker 1: it the Arts of Hope. You know it because it
Speaker 1: showed South Africa and Africanness in a very different way.
Speaker 1: For so long we've seen arts that makes it it's
Speaker 1: it's all about poverty, it's all about pain, it's all
Speaker 1: about suffering. And here these images you can and you
Speaker 1: can they open to interpretation. But they feel hopeful, they
Speaker 1: feel young, they feel like children who live in Africa,
Speaker 1: and the scale of them is also huge. I mean,
Speaker 1: we have some some pictures of you, you know, like
Speaker 1: working on some of your artwork. You you have giant,
Speaker 1: giant pictures that you create. Why the children, why their eyes?
Speaker 1: Why the glasses? What does that symbolize? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: I think another thing that I actually realized as time goes,
Speaker 1: I realized that, um, you know, and art, I mean
Speaker 1: when you look at art doesn't mean time mean I've
Speaker 1: got inspired by because of which way? He was none
Speaker 1: non African, Right, then you start realizing that ironically because
Speaker 1: it was inspired by Africans, that's that's exactly that as well.
Speaker 1: But then you realize that there was something there that
Speaker 1: says that as people, we don't necessary in terms of culture,
Speaker 1: I mean, the way we live the world today, we
Speaker 1: all sort of aspires models the same thing as well. Um,
Speaker 1: I had to use a reference that was too close
Speaker 1: to me, which is was a child an African child
Speaker 1: and there isn't. Why I also did that was the
Speaker 1: fact that if you look at how the image of
Speaker 1: an African child was portrayed globally, it was portrayed either hungry,
Speaker 1: disadvantage in all of that as well. But if you've
Speaker 1: been to Africa and you realize that none of those things,
Speaker 1: it's almost like a taboo. And um, I had to
Speaker 1: go back and actually reintroduce how the way we are
Speaker 1: as Africans to actually say that we are model the
Speaker 1: same as any other person in the world as well
Speaker 1: by its success and also inspired by beauty, we follow culture,
Speaker 1: we love music. Um, today when you go to Africa,
Speaker 1: you have a child who's got a smartphone that actually
Speaker 1: tells you in terms of where we are as people
Speaker 1: as well my thing and my view and how I've
Speaker 1: actually also drawn the inspiration from the world. The advantage
Speaker 1: of traveling has made me to also look at my
Speaker 1: environment as a source of inspiration as well. And why
Speaker 1: did I actually also had to blow them and make
Speaker 1: them so giantic is to actually bring them up close
Speaker 1: and personality. And when I did that, I realized that
Speaker 1: it actually also created a dialogue that as human beings
Speaker 1: we experienced the same thing. We experience the same joy
Speaker 1: we all sort of have. We go through the same
Speaker 1: experiences in life as well, we go through the same
Speaker 1: political we go through the same struggles as well. So
Speaker 1: as a young African who actually been given an opportunity
Speaker 1: to sort of like rewrite history and reintroduce our image
Speaker 1: to the world, I had to go back and look
Speaker 1: at myself and say, if I was if I were
Speaker 1: to sort of represent ourselves globally, what language you alle use?
Speaker 1: I had to actually use a universal language. I had
Speaker 1: to use um a child who's close to me as
Speaker 1: the point of reference. But that child is like any
Speaker 1: other child in the world. We don't actually choose to
Speaker 1: be born in certain spaces as well. Actually, for me,
Speaker 1: it was such a pleasing to be born in a
Speaker 1: continent that has so much history that allowed me to
Speaker 1: actually tell that history what is actually currently happening as well.
Speaker 1: Take that very same inspiration that I've actually grown globally,
Speaker 1: combine it and putting it in in in in in
Speaker 1: in an artwork as well. Abata, Welcome to the Daily
Speaker 1: Social Distancing Show. It feels good. It feels good to
Speaker 1: have somebody pronounced my name and surname very correctly. I
Speaker 1: practiced for a very long time just so you know, Okay,
Speaker 1: it was, like I said, the whole day, I was
Speaker 1: like nom zam oh baha, and then I'm practiced, and
Speaker 1: I practice when I practice. Yes, and I just sat down.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna practice. How are you? I'm
Speaker 1: so good all the moment for being here. Oh are
Speaker 1: you kidding me? Are you kid? This is an amazing
Speaker 1: day for me because not only do I get to
Speaker 1: celebrate you as a fellow South African, I get to
Speaker 1: celebrate your success in the most successful movie of the year,
Speaker 1: the movie that broke Amazon Prime coming to America. Congratulations
Speaker 1: are not just being part of the biggest film, but
Speaker 1: also being one of the breakout stars. I mean, do
Speaker 1: you ever take a moment to think about how amazing
Speaker 1: that is? Eddie Murphy, James Old Jones are senior whole,
Speaker 1: Wesley Snipes, you know, Leslie Jones, Jermaine Fowler, and so
Speaker 1: many people are like, man, that nom z oh, she's amazing.
Speaker 1: It is crazy. It is crazy. I mean, honestly, it's
Speaker 1: been an outer body experience for the longest time. But
Speaker 1: I think you would be able to let me know,
Speaker 1: you know, how to you know, go about this Hollywood
Speaker 1: thing because having to call Eddie Murphy Eddie, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: when Eddie came on too, said or a senior and
Speaker 1: it's not a senior Hall or Wesley. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: been an amazing journey, honestly, and a very incredible out
Speaker 1: of body coming together like a full circle moment for me.
Speaker 1: You're Coming to America story was was almost as crazy
Speaker 1: as the original Coming to America story because you have
Speaker 1: to audition for this movie. You went in the country
Speaker 1: when you were doing it, walk me through the story
Speaker 1: of how you came to be one of the stars
Speaker 1: in the movie. So it's crazy. I'm in the U
Speaker 1: a E. I literally flew from New York to Switzerland
Speaker 1: to the U a E. By the time that I'm
Speaker 1: in the U a E. I'm supposed to fly back
Speaker 1: to South Africa because I was supposed to go and
Speaker 1: host the South African Music Awards. Yes, right. I get
Speaker 1: a call the night before my flight from my agents
Speaker 1: and he says, you to be in the room for
Speaker 1: this one. You can send a sell tape, but you
Speaker 1: want to be in the room. And I was like, listen,
Speaker 1: I've spent so much money flying and then out these auditions.
Speaker 1: I'm not working out and I'm not going to spend
Speaker 1: another penny. And he said, well, it's a lead and
Speaker 1: coming to America, and I was like, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: So I literally changed my flight from flying out of
Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi to South Africa to a new flight from
Speaker 1: Dubai to uh l A. And so I canceled that
Speaker 1: and I drove from Abu Dhabi to Dubai qutter flight
Speaker 1: from Dubai into l A, and I made them too
Speaker 1: unto um the officers of LEA Butler and I did
Speaker 1: no audition. It is quite a feat, you know, because
Speaker 1: I mean, getting into a an American film is already
Speaker 1: a big jump. Getting into a you know, a major
Speaker 1: marquee film is another jump. But I mean, to be
Speaker 1: seen as one of the breakout stars of it is
Speaker 1: the ultimate, ultimate, ultimate celebration of what you have done.
Speaker 1: And you know, like any four instance even said, he's like,
Speaker 1: you have the most authentic sense. He's like he loved
Speaker 1: how you were doing the thing. You know, you play
Speaker 1: um Jermaine Fowler's Barba in the in the story, you know,
Speaker 1: and the love interest, and and what's cool about the
Speaker 1: story is you don't you don't know which way it's going.
Speaker 1: You're like, are we gonna stay in the mundo? We're
Speaker 1: gonna go back to America. But but here you are
Speaker 1: in this world? Was it was? It? Was it interesting
Speaker 1: for you when you were getting the job, because I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of people don't know this, especially like Americans.
Speaker 1: They just go to other countries and they work. You know,
Speaker 1: you can go to another country and you can work,
Speaker 1: and then if you're you're British, you can just go
Speaker 1: to another country, New York. But as a South African,
Speaker 1: there's such a big process behind, like did you you
Speaker 1: have to go to get a visa and everything right?
Speaker 1: Yet they had to approve you to come and do
Speaker 1: the job. I mean, first of all, you are coming
Speaker 1: into America with a tourist visa, and then you move
Speaker 1: from being a tourist to being somebody that's employed in America.
Speaker 1: So it's a whole process. I mean I remember even
Speaker 1: when you know, I got the call to make it
Speaker 1: back to the States, it was like you need to
Speaker 1: come back. You need to sign papers so that we
Speaker 1: can give you, you know, your official oh one visa
Speaker 1: and go back to the embassy in South Africa. Do
Speaker 1: you have that visa stuck in your possible and then
Speaker 1: come back. Let me tell you. I was like, I
Speaker 1: really genuinely deserve this movie because it did anybody say
Speaker 1: anything to you at the at the visa place. Because
Speaker 1: I remember one of my favorite things about about the process,
Speaker 1: Americans don't realize you do this, so so to everyone
Speaker 1: who's watching it doesn't understand, this is how it works
Speaker 1: for a lot of countries around the world. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna come work in America, you can come in for
Speaker 1: the interview and then Americans can accept you for the job.
Speaker 1: But then you have to go back to your country
Speaker 1: so that Americans in your country can stamp your passport
Speaker 1: and put a visa in your passport so that you
Speaker 1: can come back to the country which is America, so
Speaker 1: that you can get the job. And what happens in
Speaker 1: between is you get you get like you meet some
Speaker 1: of the most interesting people in the process. So so
Speaker 1: on my side, I'll never forget the guy who was working,
Speaker 1: you know, immigration, He looked at my visa and he's like, yo, man, yo,
Speaker 1: your visa says you got an oh one And I
Speaker 1: said yeah, and he said, man, oh want means you
Speaker 1: the best of the best. I said, well, I'm just
Speaker 1: good at what I do and he's like, nah, oh
Speaker 1: want means you the best you like the Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: of what you do? And I said, well, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that's like, what do you do?
Speaker 1: I said, I'm a comedians like you. To Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: of comedy, I was like, I don't even know what
Speaker 1: he's like. Hey, man, if I see your jokes and
Speaker 1: they're not funny, you're going back to your country, you
Speaker 1: hear me, And then he stamped my passport and I
Speaker 1: came in. So I wanted, like, did you meet anybody?
Speaker 1: Because they always say interesting things. It is I'm thinking
Speaker 1: right now, I'm cracking up because I'm thinking, you got
Speaker 1: a threat. And I had a threat as well, because
Speaker 1: oh she saw my she saw my old one and
Speaker 1: she said it says Paramount and I said yes. She says,
Speaker 1: well what do you do? And I said, I'm an actress.
Speaker 1: Oh which movie? And she and I said, oh, coming
Speaker 1: to America And she was already you know, I said,
Speaker 1: coming to America and she stopped writing. She looked up.
Speaker 1: She said, don't mess it up. So no one wants
Speaker 1: to know. We want to make a good movie. Movies
Speaker 1: on your shoulders, girl, you don't if I'm watching that
Speaker 1: movie in I'm going to come find you and take
Speaker 1: your passport and go you going back home? Don't please,
Speaker 1: don't I like it? No, it's it's it's only been
Speaker 1: a success story. It's been beautiful. People have been celebrating
Speaker 1: you back home. You know, everyone's excited to say kai
Speaker 1: and they're just like, oh no, Exambo, You've done it
Speaker 1: for us. UM. It's a new journey now, and I
Speaker 1: know it's scary and it's a crazy time to come
Speaker 1: to America during a pandemic. But you have dreams, you
Speaker 1: have hopes, you have aspirations. What are you hoping to
Speaker 1: do now that you're in this new world, you know,
Speaker 1: building on the success from South Africa into the US. UM, honestly,
Speaker 1: just to continue to do the work that I do. UM,
Speaker 1: to continue to work with the United Nations, the Refugee Agency,
Speaker 1: to continue to make more films. Right now, I want
Speaker 1: to get into producing as well. I think I'm in
Speaker 1: that space, just like that creative what are you? What
Speaker 1: are you doing for life? Though? Like, because this is
Speaker 1: a question I love asking people who have just come
Speaker 1: to a new country, like, so, do you have any
Speaker 1: favorite things you do in l A do you have
Speaker 1: like because it's it's pandemic plus a new country. So
Speaker 1: what is what is your like normal life? Now, do
Speaker 1: you have any normal you know, honestly, you when you
Speaker 1: come to America, I think you've you've said this before
Speaker 1: about the eating. So there's the first couple of months
Speaker 1: of jazz eating and thinking that it's not going to
Speaker 1: go anywhere, and then you want to go home and
Speaker 1: everyone says, my goodness, I'm not it's so good to
Speaker 1: you your cheese. So I try not to eat a
Speaker 1: lot um. But also, you know, I love chicken sandwiches.
Speaker 1: I didn't think I love chicken sandwiches as much as
Speaker 1: I do. I enjoyed chicken sandwiches. What's the most American
Speaker 1: thing that? Oh? Oh, the crossing up the street was
Speaker 1: kind of very hard for me in the beginning. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: I was trying not to die in America. It's very
Speaker 1: expensive to transporter body home. So yeah, there was just
Speaker 1: those those kind of things that I was going through.
Speaker 1: But honestly, it's very hard to come into a new
Speaker 1: country as a person who's on the other side. So
Speaker 1: I had a lot of culture shock, a lot of
Speaker 1: culture shock, but there's a lot of learning as well.
Speaker 1: So I mean, what do I do. I haven't hyped,
Speaker 1: I haven't done I haven't done the normal um touristy things.
Speaker 1: I haven't gone to the Hollywood Walk of Aim. So
Speaker 1: you know I'm taking its low. Oh I love it.
Speaker 1: So what you need to do is I'll give you
Speaker 1: a two tips for l A. What you need to do.
Speaker 1: You need to get like a really nice dog, and
Speaker 1: then you need to go for a hike. But then
Speaker 1: you need to dress as if you didn't care. But
Speaker 1: you have to dress as if you're on a runway.
Speaker 1: And then you go for the hike, and then make
Speaker 1: sure you don't sweat, but make it look like you
Speaker 1: were working out exactly. And I need to have a
Speaker 1: bottle of water as well. But it must be like
Speaker 1: a like a like a special type of bottle. It
Speaker 1: like it must be a bottle that says something about
Speaker 1: you as a person, very natural but not too natural,
Speaker 1: what I mean? And then like yeah, and then and
Speaker 1: then just enjoy l A. Be yourself, but don't be yourself,
Speaker 1: just be who you who you think you should be,
Speaker 1: and you'll have a good time for me. I don't
Speaker 1: think I can be able to do it, and I
Speaker 1: don't know can I tell you no, But can I
Speaker 1: tell you the thing for real though, is that's the
Speaker 1: great thing about what you're doing what a lot of
Speaker 1: people do, is you are you and people are loving
Speaker 1: you for that. I think that's why you're successful. In
Speaker 1: the movie. You play the character fantastically, and I think
Speaker 1: when people meet the real norms are more in real life,
Speaker 1: they go like, Wow, she's even more of a princess
Speaker 1: in real life. So I think you're gonna experience more
Speaker 1: sex as more joy, and you have no risk of
Speaker 1: somebody taking away that possible. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining me on the show. Thank you going to see
Speaker 1: you when the lockdown ends? Yes, yes, yes, please stay
Speaker 1: safe okay, and we're so proud of you. Yes, Thanks
Speaker 1: Trevor By Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Hi Trevor,
Speaker 1: how are you? I am fantastic because I'm speaking to
Speaker 1: somebody who is not just from my home country, but
Speaker 1: somebody who has also moved to America and is making
Speaker 1: a name for themselves. I'm less happy for your success
Speaker 1: and more happy that I have somebody to share South
Speaker 1: African stories with and eat South African food. That's that's
Speaker 1: really what I'm excited about. But congratulations first of all,
Speaker 1: or not just making it into the industry, but making
Speaker 1: it in such a big way. What has that journey
Speaker 1: been like? And please tell me how on earth did
Speaker 1: this happen for you? You know, I don't even know
Speaker 1: where to start, um, but I heard of the Underground
Speaker 1: Railroad in November twenty eighteen. I was in New York
Speaker 1: for the International Emmy Awards and I did like the
Speaker 1: first audition then, and I sort of just forgot about
Speaker 1: it because I didn't think anything of it. I was like,
Speaker 1: this is my first international audition. I don't even have
Speaker 1: the accent, right. It's just like, go there and do
Speaker 1: your best. And then I came to l A and
Speaker 1: top of nineteen and then I was able to make
Speaker 1: it into a room with Francine Meisla, who was the
Speaker 1: casting director for Underground Railroad. And then at the end
Speaker 1: of that night, I got a call from my manager
Speaker 1: telling me that it was a call back and that
Speaker 1: Barry wanted to meet me the next day. Barry Jenkins.
Speaker 1: Barry Jenkins, and I'm like, quite, you know, first of all,
Speaker 1: called back, how we're not doing I didn't even tell
Speaker 1: I wasn't around like mostly mentally you know, like just yeah.
Speaker 1: And so I met Barry the next day at the
Speaker 1: end of it. He actually looked at me and he said,
Speaker 1: you are the character. I'm not saying you've got the role,
Speaker 1: but you know. And then in those two weeks between
Speaker 1: meeting Barry and the tissued, I read the book like
Speaker 1: twice in preparation for that, and I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I want to do this, but I don't
Speaker 1: know if I have it in me to serve the
Speaker 1: character as authentically as she needs to be served. But
Speaker 1: I'll just do my best and then the rest is
Speaker 1: up to Barry. So what makes the story so so
Speaker 1: so difficult to tell is you're talking about one of
Speaker 1: the most painful periods in American history, and that is slavery.
Speaker 1: When you're playing this character, it must have felt strange
Speaker 1: and yet familiar to be an African woman playing a
Speaker 1: story about Africans who are displaced and put into America.
Speaker 1: What what was that journey like for you in building
Speaker 1: and creating that character. So for me, most importantly, I
Speaker 1: realized very early on that I had a lot of
Speaker 1: unlearning to do in order to learn the truth and
Speaker 1: the saying that what I knew about the enslaved body
Speaker 1: in America was shaped by media and a very white
Speaker 1: male gaze, so that serves a particular agenda. So I
Speaker 1: have to throw all of that away and completely, you know,
Speaker 1: be open to new information. Barry sent me stuff to read.
Speaker 1: He sent me audio tapes to listen to audio tapes
Speaker 1: of former enslaved people. And it's when I heard them,
Speaker 1: like the sound and how they spoke, that something in
Speaker 1: me really shifted because here I was listening to people
Speaker 1: who are seventy five years old, you know, ninety years old,
Speaker 1: but they sound sixteen. And the English that they speak
Speaker 1: is broken, and it made sense because they were being
Speaker 1: taught English for instruction and not English for conversation. And
Speaker 1: it really struck me is that the broken English that
Speaker 1: they spoke is that in English that if you went
Speaker 1: to South Africa today or parts of Africa, that's how
Speaker 1: people in the rural areas or in the townships speak today.
Speaker 1: So when when that hit, it stopped being an African
Speaker 1: American story and became a story about Africans in America,
Speaker 1: and so would hit much closer to home for me.
Speaker 1: What was the hardest thing for you to do in
Speaker 1: in in playing the character and trying to tell that
Speaker 1: story as authentically as possible. You know, man, I think
Speaker 1: the hardest thing to do was actually outside the world
Speaker 1: of the character, which was keeping a balance and you know,
Speaker 1: being aware of who Too So is and who the
Speaker 1: character was, because it's very easy to take on what
Speaker 1: the character is feeling and have it bleed into your
Speaker 1: everyday life, especially because what's happening in the story is
Speaker 1: still very relevant to what is happening today, you know,
Speaker 1: and the character is shaped by this huge sense of lost, rejection, abandonment,
Speaker 1: and she kind of has to fight to to get
Speaker 1: that what she wants, which is ultimately her freedom, and
Speaker 1: you know, being a black woman, being a black body
Speaker 1: in the world today, I'm not even gonna say just America.
Speaker 1: Those are the same type of struggles that we see,
Speaker 1: you know, It's just it happens to be in a
Speaker 1: different time. So I had to be very very off
Speaker 1: aware what papes when you're feeling this way. That's the
Speaker 1: residy of the character and not just yeah, but otherwise
Speaker 1: on set, I always felt protected. I completely trusted Barry.
Speaker 1: When he pushed me, I knew it's because he knew
Speaker 1: I was capable of doing it. You are now pushing
Speaker 1: yourself to explore new horizons in the US. I mean,
Speaker 1: you already lining our projects and one of the most
Speaker 1: exciting that we've seen is that you are going to
Speaker 1: be teaming up with none other than Viola Davis herself.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about that and how how
Speaker 1: that came about, and what you're gonna be doing in that.
Speaker 1: In the very first audition, I was already working with
Speaker 1: the director, Gina Prince by the wood she was, you know,
Speaker 1: was a whole working session stretching me. But then she
Speaker 1: did something to me. She said, at the end of it,
Speaker 1: she says good luck. And I said, no, you can't
Speaker 1: say good luck because now I imagine going to an
Speaker 1: interview and then they say good luck with all your
Speaker 1: other interviews for me in the like. But I want
Speaker 1: you to be my good luck. We must work, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I think a few days later, we had
Speaker 1: a meeting and I got a chance to meet Viola
Speaker 1: and I absolutely loved it because from the interviews I've
Speaker 1: seen her, her process is my process. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna learn a lot from her if I get
Speaker 1: to work with her. And then eventually we were able
Speaker 1: to do the test shoot, and then tada, we're shooting
Speaker 1: it in South Africa. It's gonna be awesome. I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Oh well, they I feel like you've achieved the ultimate
Speaker 1: goal to come to America. You make it in America,
Speaker 1: and then you find a way to make the American
Speaker 1: production go shooting in South Africa, and look at that,
Speaker 1: You've just got a free round trip. Congratulations. I am
Speaker 1: so happy to be here. I don't think you understand
Speaker 1: how excited I know. I am not afraid to share this.
Speaker 1: When you won your Academy award, I remember I was
Speaker 1: sitting in I owned a tiny little Folkswachen golf and
Speaker 1: I was in it and they had announced that you
Speaker 1: want the Oscar, and I started crying and I was like,
Speaker 1: she's so good. He's like all of South Africa. And
Speaker 1: I was like, she's so amazing and so golden. It's
Speaker 1: so good. Thank you. I said exactly the same thing
Speaker 1: when you got this, and I said, he's so amazing.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for being here. Wonderful to have you,
Speaker 1: so happy to be You are a bona fide action star.
Speaker 1: I mean, Atomic Blonde is based on a graphic novel
Speaker 1: You spent what five years developing the story. For those
Speaker 1: who have no clue what it's about, real quick, what
Speaker 1: is Atomic Blonde all about? It's about it m I six,
Speaker 1: agent who gets sent into Berlin five days before the
Speaker 1: wall falls, and she's supposed to just go and recruit
Speaker 1: a colleagues body and bring the body back, and then
Speaker 1: she gets kind of caught up trying to find this
Speaker 1: list and and all sorts of action ensues. Action ensues
Speaker 1: is an understatements. I have never seen more people being
Speaker 1: kicked in my life. Like this is just extensive kicking it.
Speaker 1: And you are kicking them by the way. I like,
Speaker 1: I've seen you kick ass in a movie, but not
Speaker 1: like this. You you you did a lot of your stunts.
Speaker 1: Is this is this like a new thing you just
Speaker 1: don't like, how you know, an old thing. I feel
Speaker 1: like South African girls are just tough. There's something in
Speaker 1: the water in South Africa, right, cholera. No, that's not true,
Speaker 1: that's not true. We actually have some of the best
Speaker 1: waters in the world. That's not true. That's something. Some
Speaker 1: of the rivers have a problem, but the water is good.
Speaker 1: Let's change your gears for a moment and talk about
Speaker 1: the work that you do off camera. Um, you have
Speaker 1: a foundation that has been really successful working in and
Speaker 1: around South Africa and in Africa, that Charlie Sturn Foundation
Speaker 1: that you you you work with people to help and
Speaker 1: fight the scourge of HIV and AIDS. I mean, we
Speaker 1: we joke about that all the time. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because back home we joke about it more than people
Speaker 1: are comfortable with America because I think part of it
Speaker 1: has been like, we don't We're trying not to stigmatize.
Speaker 1: You want to turn the light on in the black room. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't want it to feel like the thing that
Speaker 1: people are whispering about or nobody's talking about. So I
Speaker 1: get that. I think sometimes you have to do We're
Speaker 1: looking at the work now. Do you feel that people
Speaker 1: are still paying attention to issues that are happening in
Speaker 1: third world countries? Or do you think now that Trump
Speaker 1: is turning American to a third world country people are
Speaker 1: more focused on Do you still have attention in what
Speaker 1: you're doing? I might, I might have to bring my
Speaker 1: work back here the foundation move Um. Look, South Africa
Speaker 1: is unfortunately the hardest hit when it comes to HIV.
Speaker 1: It's still today, but we're also you know, it's a
Speaker 1: virus and it's still very much alive in in in America. UM,
Speaker 1: it kills a lot of adolescence in America. And so
Speaker 1: I think it's a big mistake to think that we've
Speaker 1: come this far and uh, you know, we have medications
Speaker 1: and a r v S and everything's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: It's a virus and if it comes back, it might
Speaker 1: come back roaring, and our bodies might not be taking
Speaker 1: to those r vs anymore. So I think that it's
Speaker 1: a big mistake to kind of be complacent right now
Speaker 1: when it comes to AIDS. Let me ask you one
Speaker 1: final thing. As a fellow South African, I love it
Speaker 1: when you say that as a fellow South African. As
Speaker 1: a fellow South Africa, I've always wanted you know, you
Speaker 1: came to the U. S A at a different time,
Speaker 1: but I always wondered if you had a similar experience
Speaker 1: of people wondering what South Africa is and Africa is.
Speaker 1: I know that I had some people look at me
Speaker 1: and go like Africa Africa and I'll be like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm from Africa, and they're like huh not not like Egypt,
Speaker 1: Algeria and I'm like, no, no, Africa, like just Africa, Africa,
Speaker 1: but you you don't look what like what many people
Speaker 1: would think they would find in South Africa. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: get that. Not Sweden, Sweden, Um, yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think it's strange for people to see a white girl
Speaker 1: say she's from Africa. Right there, we we have there
Speaker 1: are white girls in Africa too, um, and we have
Speaker 1: the booties to prove it. But I always get I
Speaker 1: don't know if you get this. I a lot of
Speaker 1: times I get so, did you grow up with zebras
Speaker 1: in your backyard? Yes? Did you get that a lot?
Speaker 1: I did? And then one day I I was I
Speaker 1: fumed that someone was like, that's not what it is.
Speaker 1: We don't just have zebras running around. We don't have
Speaker 1: And then the next day in the news there was
Speaker 1: a story of a zebra that was blocking traffic on
Speaker 1: the freeway and I was like, that's an isolated incident
Speaker 1: that's never happened before. We are about much more than that. Yes,
Speaker 1: we do have the zebras, but not all the time, yes,
Speaker 1: not all the time. Of the two things I just
Speaker 1: have to ask is for those back home, what would
Speaker 1: you say is the biggest thing you miss about South Africa,
Speaker 1: Because I mean we get that you're a Hollywood start
Speaker 1: a list and the work is where you are. But
Speaker 1: what is the one thing you go like? Man, Southern
Speaker 1: one thing is tough. I mean it smells like I
Speaker 1: miss all the food I really do, right, I mismelk
Speaker 1: that and cook sister and BRAI this is going deep yeah,
Speaker 1: and popping soas and all of that, all of that.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think I'm lucky. I get to
Speaker 1: go back at least once a year, if not twice
Speaker 1: year because of my foundation, and then I just pick out.
Speaker 1: But you know, I there's something in the soil there,
Speaker 1: There's something uh in the air. There's something in the
Speaker 1: people that you just can't find anywhere else. Watch The
Speaker 1: Daily Show weeknights a Central or on Comedy Central in
Speaker 1: stream fool episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been
Speaker 1: a Comedy Central podcast