WEBVTT - RIP MICHAELS - Canned Meat Saves Money 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.920 You could do your intro. You want to just keep 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.800 taining talking. It's fine. I don't know what's up everybody. 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:08.719 It is ripped Michaels into the Wild now and a 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.200 whole bunch of other stuff because I'm successful now. But 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:13.880 it's not about that. It's about eating while broke with 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.800 my host over here, Colleen, and we're doing something real broke. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.239 I'm talking about broke broke. I'm talking about south side 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.319 of Chicago. Bro We're doing spam tacos, and a a lot 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.239 of people don't even know what spam is. It's actually 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.000 something that you can get at the store. It's nine 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:33.520 store meat olicious. I'm actually, well, welcome to the spam club. 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:35.080 I don't even know how to get out of the 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.360 can everybody. So I'm really meat. It's a go to 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.240 because it's stage. You can seep in your bag, you 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.800 can do a lot with me. It is real meat. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:01:11.160 Like So my green isn't super simple because uh, I 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.200 come from a little diverse struggle. So don't let the 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.280 little even she sweat the fool you in a little 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.400 a little change. But this is back in the day, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.080 because you know why I don't paint her Nick pay 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.240 us in um Rock Kerry CDs and you know that 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.480 you were, so my gredients are super simple. I got 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.200 spam right here, cann of spam. Look at that. That's 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.280 enough meat for a week, and that only costs a 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.160 dollar nighting. Now that last your week, last your week. 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:36.960 But the way I cook it, unless you want to 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.880 splur and have guests because you know, maybe like two days. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:41.800 I got tomatoes. Of course, tomatoes the cheap. I use 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.720 regular letters. We're not gonna see no no rollman, no mixed. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:46.920 I'm talking about regular letters you can get for eighty nine. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.520 Sense In here, we got mixed cheese, which I normally 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.200 don't do mixed cheese. I normally do, like uh like 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.320 sometimes I just take the Cheetos and I just scrub 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.560 the Cheetos cheese and put it in the thing and 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:58.120 then eat the Cheetos later. That's how you have two 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.200 meals and one I'm not stupid cheese. Got protein and 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.320 then we got onion, red onion, so it's gonna be 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.320 absolutely good. And all you need, of course, is your 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.400 mccormicks or Laurie's Tacos easing, which nor only like six 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.320 not sens. I got my water a little little oil 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.080 from my pant in my little season, in my little 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:15.960 ground pepper and stuff like that. Did you need oil 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.240 for your pans? I did? But it's sam. Spam is 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.120 like bacon. It kind of makes its own grease. If 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.840 you can see the gelatin, it'll definitely come. You know what, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.440 if I was ever wondering based on like how you 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.000 look today and how successful you are, I would never 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:34.400 guess that you could creatively make or have eaten a 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.560 dish like this. So it's because look, you know, you're 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:42.480 very successful, and you're very successful, and I think it's 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.480 so important for people to see, you know, someone of 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.400 your stature, someone that's accomplished so much, see that you 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.720 legit ate like this. So go ahead, start us off 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.960 with the how do how do we get this meal started? Okay, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:55.880 let's get this spam all cut up. It's get this 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:59.000 cut board over here. Yes, normally I wouldn't even have 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:00.919 a knife when you broke. You just literally just cut 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.720 it up. And you can see that the meat actually 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:04.280 lasts for a long time because you can see how 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.160 blacky it is and how they say falls apart just 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.480 like that. Now, do you when it comes to spam, 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.680 do you have to cook it all. Once you open 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.280 the can or can you like aluminum foil. Some of it, 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.160 actually spam can be eaten right out the can. A 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:16.639 lot of people don't know what. It's already pre cooked. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.360 It's already actually ready to go. All you gotta do 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:19.840 is all we're really doing is warming it up a 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.840 little bit, because it's actually actually ready to go. I 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:23.920 actually on rush days just eat it just like this, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.080 probably warming up in the microwave, and that's good to go. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:29.919 A part of me wants to just try a little 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.080 slither of it. You think I'm trying to know why, No, 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:34.000 we don't have any I'm going to try a piece 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.360 of this, guys, just for one for the team, also 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:41.600 for doing on your plane. Okay, interesting, it's already go already, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:47.080 I know you food or whatever. I'm not knocking spam. 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.320 By the way, it's actually pre cooked. Um, it's really salty, Yes, 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.280 it's it's definitely salty. That's why it's like you don't 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.800 really need oil, but you can use oils. It's definitely 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.360 a little salty. Um. Yeah for me, because you know, 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.400 I just recently lost a lot of weight. So because 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.440 I'm going back look great, look amazing. Thank you man, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.920 you're gonna speaking to babies. That's what they spared my 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:10.360 weight loss. I actually went to Six Flags with my 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.280 daughter and I was three hundred thirty pounds and I 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.080 was too fat to get on the roller coaster. And 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:15.640 we went there and I was actually my daughter's first 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:20.560 time actually going to um uh to uh six Flags, 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.640 and she was so excited to ride two different roller 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.440 coasters and them and things like that. Yeah, so when 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:25.680 we got to the roller coaster, they don't tell you 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:27.280 don't have like a weight requirement, so they don't tell 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:28.640 you that you know you're too big, So there's no 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.159 way you'll know until you get on the road coaster. 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.080 So I'm sitting on the road coast and I'm uh, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.440 they're trying to push the harness down and then pushing 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.479 the harness down there like sir, it won't it has 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.840 to close, and like four the little kids and it's 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:40.719 like roller coasters back up and it's hot, and everybody's 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.760 looking like why would this fat ass dude? No, he 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:44.960 is too big for this thing in roller coaster, and 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:46.960 so they're pushing it down. The management come and they 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:48.480 don't call you a fat ass. They just look at 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.280 you and they give you that white face and they go, sir, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.920 it has to close, and the right then and there. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:55.480 It was so embarrassing. I had to get off the thing. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.520 They had to let everybody else's harness up. And then 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.320 my daughter wrote the rollercoaster by herself. And then with 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.000 my daughter so resilient, um, she was on the roller 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:05.480 coast and I'm like, sweetie, did you have a good time? 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:07.560 She was like it was okay, we can go home now. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.039 And that's just showing how much my daughter actually and 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.560 she actually was like let's go home because she was 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.599 embarrassed for me. So God is so good. They have 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.240 this thing in six lags when you go down these 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.120 steps and it's like this little thing or it's like 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:20.960 a picture both where they take pictures of me and 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:22.280 they show how much fun you have. And so when 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.400 I look at the picture, but it was like yeah, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:25.839 I was just why did you lie to me? You 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:27.360 have fun? And she was like, damn, I did it 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.159 so much fun as everything I thought it was. But 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:30.760 you're such fat and I no one told you to 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.280 eat twinkies late at night, and I'm so embarrassed. So 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.480 I spent the entire time at the music part, just 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.359 pretty much getting in the cotton candy line and stuff 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.000 like that. So that inspired my That inspired me so much, 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.320 and I promised my daughter that before the season and 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.160 we go back, and that happened in June. And in 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.599 all this I went back, I lost sixties seven pounds 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:52.280 and I got on every single roller coast and I 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.000 just kept my journey going from from there. Own. That's amazing. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.640 So it sounds like you're an amazing dad. But let's 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.159 talk about how you got your start. Um. I actually 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.720 started doing comedy when I was a little kid around Chicago. 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.560 So you used to have this thing called the Comedy Click, 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.560 and we used to have this thing at Bernie Mac 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.920 used to host called the Cotton Club. I was actually 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.440 thirteen years old when I first started doing comedy. And 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:22.719 where were your parents during this whole thing? Just my dad. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:24.760 My parents are still together, so they be married for 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.839 I want to say, forty three years and they be 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.000 cheating on each other forty two years. So my dad's 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.159 girlfriend is the actually person that got me in the comedy. 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:38.360 So yeah, telling you truth, my dad's girlfriend, I had 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:42.599 an I didn't know behind cameras, this is the truth. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:44.440 I didn't even know she wasn't my auntie. I didn't 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.200 know that. My dad used to make me call his 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.880 girlfriend Auntie. I didn't know that married. Yeah they're still married. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:51.640 I didn't know that wasn't my auntie. I thought that 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.840 was literally my Auntie Jockey. I had no idea to 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:55.520 One day I came home and I was like, Mama, look, 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.120 Auntie Jockey bought me a suit. And I was so happy. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:06:59.480 I came and I was saying, Mamma, look what did 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.560 you Jockey? She bought me a suit. My mom was 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.800 like that, ain't you damn Auntie? That's your daddy girlfriend. 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.760 And go outside. Your uncle Craig gonna help you. Go 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:07.479 talk you to the zoo. So I had an Auntie 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:12.119 Jocket and Uncle Craig my whole life. It's a true story. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.280 I have more questions though. That's the questions. Did your 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.040 did your was your mom? Were they cool? Was this 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.680 like an open marriage? They were just my mom would 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.600 just do, my dad doing, like okay, let's be doing, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.400 let's go do it. And they're they're married still they 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.480 still look. Don't judge my parents. They know you don't 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:29.960 go to church, you don't know what they freak. They 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.800 still together. Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. I mean 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:34.640 very toxic now that you you know, look at it 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.360 coming on the outside going in. That's not how Mary. Yeah, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:39.360 I didn't know if they were like best friends and 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.120 they're just like sharing their trade secrets. Oh no, they 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.160 were know J D. Pet Will Smith Augustustina in Templements, 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.880 straight up cheating. And my mom was smart because and 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.080 my dad would go out and come here like one 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:53.440 o'clock in the morning. My mom would come on the 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.040 tour from teen Ac like she would sleep all day. 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.720 I was keeping both day secrets. All right. Now, that's 0:07:57.760 --> 0:07:59.600 what a good allowance, I tell you that. Yeah, but 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:06.040 they wow, but wow, you know that, no wonder come in. No. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.040 So she's to take me around to the comedy clubs 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.240 because she was, you know, frequent him, and she would 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:12.000 take me around and she would be like, okay, cool. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:13.200 And then my mom found out I was going to 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.480 comedy club and put a stop to it. Um So 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.480 then once my mom put a stop to it, I 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.559 stopped doing comedy altogether, and I couldn't go out anymore 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.480 because she was actually my connect for the whole thing. 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.920 So once that stopped, um, I wouldn't finished up high 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:27.760 school and everything. And I remember because I was going 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.280 back into it. Now that I'm out of high school. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.640 I just graduated. I got a job doing construction, and 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.920 then my mom was like, you gotta I came home 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.360 and my mom was like, you gotta leave. You gotta 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:38.280 kick me out. Literally, I've just been working a week 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:39.559 and she's like, you can't stay here because you're not 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.199 going to college. And I was like, well, at least 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.240 let me get my paycheck so I can't find a 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:45.880 place to go and do. She's like no, all my 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:47.240 stuff was sitting on the porch and she's like, you 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:53.359 gotta go my mama. My MoMA is a Popeye Ladys 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:58.600 from Free Boil. We're like so. Um. Then I end 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.360 up going to college graduating because I have no other choice. 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.960 So and then after I got to college, I pursued 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.880 my career fully. I met Dave Chappelle at a comedy 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.120 club in Ohio and yells with Dane Ohio and I 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:11.800 saw him. He's like, if you ever want to find 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.839 out funny? And I go to New York. So I 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.960 literally got off the Greyhound bus maybe like two weeks 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.240 later after my friend Jermain got locked up and he said, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:20.640 this is what you're supposed to do. And I never 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:22.280 looked back. I stayed on the streets of New York 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.439 homeless for about a year. He's not the trash kings 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.760 and all that stuff. And the hard part was I 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.120 had a daughter at the time. Well I didn't know 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:30.640 I had a daughter. My mama called me. She was like, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:32.800 some girl called here with a picture of a baby 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.319 to look just like yours. So she was like, that 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.280 ain't my baby. She was like, a baby got your eyes. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.520 I was like, Mama, those ain't really my eyes. Those 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.440 are the eyes of niggas. That my baby, mama life. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.880 So so it was such a weird thing to me, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:49.520 my daughter, because she was already two years old. And 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:54.720 but how old were you that I was, So, you're 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.120 homeless in New York and get the phone, call your daddy. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:58.760 I'm a daddy. Yes, I go home. I get in 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.880 the Greyhound bus. I go home. I see this little 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:02.600 girl and I'm like, she's you know, because you don't 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:03.920 know if she also you don't want to pick up 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.600 first or you just like this. So I'm looking at 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.760 it like this I'm examine her, but yes, she's been 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.000 my daughter, and um, I am getting full custoing to 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:11.880 my daughter. And like maybe four months later, I took 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:13.400 it to New York and she was like, you know, 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.160 in the street phones with me and I would go 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.040 to different hotels and get her milk in the morning 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.320 and and we would like the pursuit of happiness. I 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:21.600 want to call it that. It would just miss been 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.319 my road dog ever since. Man, I think that, you know, 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.360 if I wouldn't have my daughter, my driving determination for 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.240 what I do wouldn't be as great because she's my 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.720 other half, like and I raised it by myself entirely, 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.120 So it's just been a struggle. I love her to death, 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:36.959 like any time I'm there, Like I used to go 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:38.920 to comedy club and have her sitting right there in 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:40.760 a little car sin and then the car. And it's 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.840 been a journey every since everything I do. Wow, that's amazing. 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.559 So you're sitting you were a single dad while pursuing 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.320 your dreams? Correct there was was there a part of 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:51.199 you that felt like you had to hold down a 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.120 nine to five or did you during while you're pursuing 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.120 your dreams and being a single Dad, Well, since I 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.040 you know I have. I did get my degree in college. 0:10:58.080 --> 0:10:59.880 I mean I get my degree economics. Find that I 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.840 just needed to know because I wanted to be a 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.240 comedian my entire life. Um since I was a little 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:05.920 kid and I saw death comedy and I just knew 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:07.720 that this is what I was supposed to do. And 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.079 I told God, if this is my gift, then allow 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.840 me to be uh to prosper off. This allow me 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.760 because making people laugh and and and and and and 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:17.640 being able to smile and bring them joy, because that's 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.320 what I do my comedy. My name is not actually 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.320 ripped Michaels. A lot of people don't know that's actually ripped. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.480 If you look at this R I P M I 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.880 C H E L S, it's actually ripped Mike Heals. 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.800 So that's actually how you say my name, but everybody's 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:31.360 kept it risk Michael. So I don't really correct people, 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:32.800 but that's actually what it is because I like to 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.120 heal with my comedy. Most of my shows are urban, 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.280 and people come to urban shows with a lot of 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.480 different things, um and pressures, spending licenses where they don't 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:41.880 get an abortion and I hope bunch of stuff going 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:43.680 on You're the black show. That's why they go so 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.480 hard or ethnic show to UM. Actually, if they don't 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:48.880 like you, they booed because they didn't done a lot 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:50.440 to get to that little show, to pay to knowledge, 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:52.480 to get in. So I love for ten minutes to 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.760 the amount of what's going on in your life. If 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.040 I can take away some of that and make you 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:58.880 forget or make you laugh at some of your pain, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:03.520 that's my whole job. Now. So you come to to 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.040 New York, you have your single dad, You're working. I'm 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.280 guessing a day job because you have a degree. No. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.360 Never once, once I move to New York, I never 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.680 took a day job. I would do comedy on the streets. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.599 I would entertained on the train and go put a 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.800 little red onions and entertained on the train. UM. I 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.000 would do sell metro swipes, and I would do and 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:23.280 they gave me the ability to be doing a bit 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.520 of comedy for anything. I would do comedy somebody basement, 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.559 I did gospel comedy. UM. And a lot of the 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.160 comedians in New York they have like the clickers thing. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.040 So since I wasn't from there, they wouldn't allow you 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:34.560 to get on stage. It would make you come week 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:36.600 and week after week and never give you stage time. 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.360 And I used to have to bark. So I got 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.439 so good at barking. That means when you stand out 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.400 with a flyer and you try to get people to 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:45.320 come to the show. So I got so good at 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.719 barking that I would fill the entire rooms just off 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.080 me going outside speaking to people and getting into buy tickets, 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.000 to the point where I started doing my own rooms. 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.120 And and in my biggest break, I would say was 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.120 when I did a show because I was so skinny, 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.520 because I was like skinny, then I'm fat. I came 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.520 to a fact, but I was homeless, so is made 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.760 me so skinny because I didn't have anyone. When I 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.520 said I'm home, I'm talking about not sleeping the car home, 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.480 and it's not room the room. I'm talking about like 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:14.960 literally sleeping outside the Fifth Institute and Brian Park and stuff. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.840 And then thank god I had a Value Membership um 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:19.920 from college and I would just take me and my 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:21.800 DA would go there and we shower and everything there. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.960 And what's your family saying while you're doing all this? 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.560 Are they like questioning whether you're insane? Well, for me, 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.679 my mom and my dad have been like my dad 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.880 is kind of supportive and not really. They have been 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.840 my biggest um catalyst for me to be a commedie 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:38.600 because they always told me I would never be anything. 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.160 My mom al wasn't steal with me, that I wasn't attractive, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.840 I wasn't good. No one's ever gonna laugh at your jokes, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:45.679 and whatever you do, you're gonna fail and succeed it 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.560 and you're never going to succeed at it. So I 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.880 used that energy to always live my life to prove 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.920 my mother wrong. And you guys get along fine now, Yeah, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.560 because I forget. I mean, she you know, she's coming 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.800 around now. Because I think everybody when a mother become 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:00.280 a grandmother, that's not the same person to rage you. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:01.679 I'm gonna tell that right now. Is it just me? 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.920 I don't know yet? This my first grand mother to 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:06.360 trust me. That's not to say my mama used burned 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:07.880 me with a cigarette. I can't even yell at my 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.240 daughter from mama. She's a totally different person. To think 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:11.840 she's sick. She's trying to get in heaven. God seen 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.600 what you did. I'm gonna teach hbody how to read 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.520 with a cigarette. But yeah, we're super cool now and 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.680 now when I do TV shows and stuff. Um she 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.520 called me from time to time like, I'm very proud 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:24.840 of you. You said you would do it, and you 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.520 did regardless of how I made you feel. So you know, 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.640 that was a really defined moment when she apologized to me. 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:36.640 And we've been cool ever since. So when did you 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.920 realize like you had arrived? I still don't think I 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:41.880 high arrived. I think the entire time I've been to 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.640 a comedy because from that. My first television pearance was 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.360 U big shout out to Christina Milia and her mom. 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:48.640 They put me on the show. She had a show 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.480 at the time called um uh Wannabes and I was 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.720 so skinny, actually was the same size as y'all rule 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.240 And that was my first appearance and I was so 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.280 funny on that she allowed me to do warmer for 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.120 her show and all the rest of her shows, and 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.280 then she offered me a round. And then after I 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.120 did the show, I wanted the contest. It was like 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.680 a show where you get to uh become the artist. 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:10.360 So three people compete to be an artist and at 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.160 the end you get to make a music video if 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.400 you're good enough to be the artist. Um, and we 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.440 did that and then that turned actually um into me 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:18.600 being warm up and then she put me in the 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.240 movie let and costs the thing. And that's why I'm 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.880 nick and UM, I should have moved out here. But 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:24.680 you know, being a dad, I couldn't participate when while 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:26.840 Out first came out, So you know, I couldn't do 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.600 the things that you know, most people could do because 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.640 you know, my whole career has been you know, being 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.160 a dad and making sure my daughter had everything she needed. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.000 So it's a lot of opportunities I had to pass up. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.680 So now while you're in New York doing this, you're 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.960 are you turning? Are you actually making money doing stand up? 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.480 So what I started doing instantaneously when I realized I 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:46.960 was good at the bar, because I start producing my 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.960 own shows. Um to the point where I ran New 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.560 York and I could constantly. I can confidently say I ran. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:55.720 I had more rooms than any comedian in New York. 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.560 So what I did was because the clubs wouldn't put 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.000 me on, I used that same negative energy as a catalyt. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.760 So what I would do was go around to like 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.760 little bars and restaurants, and I would allow them to like, Hey, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:08.440 let me do comedy here. You don't have to pay me. 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:14.120 I'll bring an audience, I'll do the show. So you 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.600 would let them keep the money, or you would have 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:17.720 like that they like the bar and the liquor, and 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:19.360 I would just take off of what I brung in. 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.000 So Um I got so good at that I had, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.200 I would do comedy. I had three different rooms tonight. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.240 So I started from comedians not putting me onto employing 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.520 all pretty much all the comedians in New York. You 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.200 I had the largest run in New York. So people 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.240 would have to call me, and in the week you 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:35.960 would make two thousand dollars off of me, just because 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:37.160 you would do every single room. It got to the 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:38.720 point where I was doing so many rooms. I would 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:40.640 bring up the feature and leave and go to another 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.200 room and host that one and come back and close 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:43.800 it and go to another one. And then when my 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:48.200 friend Um Rashid died, Um a great comedian. You played 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.520 Uncle Dope on Bad Boys, the comedy So Funny. When 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.400 he died, Um, he I end up his family, Um 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.560 end up asking me to host his rooms. Because when 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.080