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Speaker 1: Every day. I waiting go click yours up the Breakfast Club.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm finish for y'all done it morning.

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Speaker 2: Everybody's the DJ n V Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne, the gud

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Speaker 2: we are the breakfast Club.

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Speaker 3: Lon la Ros is here with us as well.

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Speaker 2: Now we got a special guest, a legend icon and

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Speaker 2: og a legend in this game, Ladies and gentlemen, a

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Speaker 2: city of Hall.

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Speaker 1: Yes, sir, how are you feeling?

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Speaker 3: I'm feeling great.

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Speaker 4: I'm thanking God for the day that Charlemagne called me,

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Speaker 4: because I wouldn't have done this without the voice of

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Speaker 4: respect on the other end of the phone. I mean,

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Speaker 4: I'm seventy years old, could have written a book many times,

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Speaker 4: but that's adult work.

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Speaker 3: It's a really hard thing to do. And he talked

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Speaker 3: me into it. And I'm so glad I did for

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Speaker 3: my son and for my legacy.

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Speaker 1: Man, I'm so glad you did too, because I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about your legacy today. Man. You know, I

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Speaker 1: always say that I got four entertainment icons, right, Jay Z,

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Speaker 1: Clarence Avon, P. D. Green, and Arsineo Hall. And I

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Speaker 1: feel like people don't truly understand the risk you took

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Speaker 1: to put black culture at the forefront at a time

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Speaker 1: when nobody was putting black culture at the forefront.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was hard.

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Speaker 4: I was coming along at a time when you go

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Speaker 4: to Paramount and say, let's book Bobby Brown the first

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Speaker 4: Friday night because people won't have to work on Saturday,

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Speaker 4: and really showing what show this is? He has this song,

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Speaker 4: don't be cruel in my prerogative, Let's let him break

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Speaker 4: one at the top and one at the bottle. Oh,

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Speaker 4: Johnny Carson only does three minutes of a song at

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Speaker 4: the end of the show. And I'm like, but I'm

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Speaker 4: not fucking Johnny. I'm not Johnny Carson.

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Speaker 3: So let's try this. But what was crazier is one

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Speaker 3: of the ladies in the room said, and why would

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Speaker 3: we give a model that much time?

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Speaker 4: And I didn't realize that there was a Bobby Brown

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Speaker 4: in the modeling world. Yeah, so I didn't know her.

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Speaker 4: And I realized My battle is that they have no

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Speaker 4: idea what I'm about to do. You know, you say,

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Speaker 4: Michael Bivens called me and he got these four dudes

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Speaker 4: they're called boys to men, and or Doctor Drake called

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Speaker 4: me and this kid, Calvin, he wants him to come

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Speaker 4: on and do this thing.

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Speaker 3: And this is how you know.

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Speaker 4: I was not him to it, but he wants to freestyle.

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Speaker 4: You'll just give him a beat and he'll just come

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Speaker 4: out of his head with whatever is in the environment.

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Speaker 4: And when his album is ready, then you can have

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Speaker 4: him on to do one, two, three, and the four

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Speaker 4: with Dre, you know. And I'm like, okay, we call

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Speaker 4: Snoop and he doesn't want to do the show, and

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Speaker 4: like why he says, you know, he's talking about the

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Speaker 4: streets of Long Beach.

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Speaker 3: I have respect and I don't want to, you know,

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Speaker 3: I don't want to lose the respect of the streets

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Speaker 3: to do this late night television type stuff, you know.

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Speaker 3: To go to the studio and uh talk him into it.

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Speaker 3: This is a guy who Snoop Dog is more popular

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Speaker 3: than last see now popular and did not want to

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Speaker 3: be on television.

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Speaker 4: But I'll never forget he walked in the door with

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Speaker 4: a blue hockey jersey, remember, and we gave him a beat.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think we'd.

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Speaker 4: Ever seen freestyle on television, you know, but those kinds

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Speaker 4: of things I wanted to. I saw a little kid

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Speaker 4: on a tape do an Elvis impression, and I tell paramount.

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Speaker 4: I want to put this kid on. They say, well,

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Speaker 4: you need tune in numbers names. If you put Prince,

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Speaker 4: you get a tune in number. You can put it

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Speaker 4: in TV guy two weeks ahead of time. That was

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Speaker 4: a game back then. And if you put some unknown

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Speaker 4: you know, this is not star Search. You can't put

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Speaker 4: an unknown kid on until you maybe in the fifth year.

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Speaker 4: And so I would put people on in a monologue,

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Speaker 4: and I created this little spot where put people on,

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Speaker 4: but the kid was Bruno Monomore and.

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Speaker 3: Stuff like that.

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Speaker 4: They didn't want Eddie Griffin because he's too edgy. So

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Speaker 4: during the monologue, I said, oh, Eddie Griffin. Because Aunt

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Speaker 4: Sullivan used to point in the audience when I was

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Speaker 4: a kid, there's Diana Rosh then of us Rash, you know.

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Speaker 4: And so I'm like, Eddie Griffin, what's something Hey come

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Speaker 4: in for a minute and it's not on the booking sheet, Paramount,

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Speaker 4: don't know what's gonna happen.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 4: That one backfired on me because Eddie Griffin did Michael

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Speaker 4: Jackson's Norton cocaine. He does and you know, because he

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Speaker 4: used to be a dancer, so he does that, you know,

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Speaker 4: he does all this little step and the lawyers had

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Speaker 4: a hard time that next day at Paramount because basically

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Speaker 4: he had done a routine on television about Michael Jackson's

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Speaker 4: Norton cocaine and then dancing.

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Speaker 1: Really it was hilarious. Yeah, you know, we'll never have

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Speaker 1: that kind of monoculture again when everybody is tuned in

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Speaker 1: watching one thing at once, because I remember all old moments.

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Speaker 1: We had no DVRs back now on Man, you couldn't

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Speaker 1: go back and watch it on YouTube.

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Speaker 2: You had you had to, you had, you had to

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Speaker 2: turn it on before we go back to because I

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Speaker 2: like to go back to the beginning so people understand

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Speaker 2: the story.

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Speaker 1: That's why you bought the book.

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Speaker 3: But that's why you're in this business.

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Speaker 2: But you know what, one thing I've noticed, I've watched

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Speaker 2: a lot of your interviews in the last week or

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Speaker 2: so to mine, when I look at your face, I

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Speaker 2: see a light that comes on like it's almost either.

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Speaker 3: A surprise light, like I'm surprised.

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Speaker 2: They really fuck with me, like you, like you look

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Speaker 2: amazed when these guys like like I'm thinking of myself,

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Speaker 2: I say no, no, no, he's the motherfucking And then

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Speaker 2: another thing that popped in my head is I know

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Speaker 2: you were retired. Maybe he's ready for that comeback, because

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Speaker 2: it's just the feeling, the energy. When I watch you

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Speaker 2: come out and just the light and you're pointing at

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Speaker 2: people and you're pointing at the bed.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, God, damn it, bring on senior back.

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Speaker 2: What so what is going through your mind when you

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Speaker 2: are doing these press runs and you're doing TV. What's

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Speaker 2: going through a senior's mind?

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Speaker 4: The light you saw, I mean that was the light

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Speaker 4: of a fan, the l of a kid from Cleveland

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Speaker 4: who did a talk show in his basement and I

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Speaker 4: had a little record player. I put the record player on.

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Speaker 4: There was a Temptation's Greatest Hits album. I'd play get Ready,

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Speaker 4: I'd come out, I do a magic trick, I'd do

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Speaker 4: a joke after taking the needle off the record, and

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Speaker 4: I would entertain the kids in my neighborhood with this

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Speaker 4: talk show. So you see a guy who's dreamed it

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Speaker 4: all his life and can't believe that I've dreamed it

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Speaker 4: into existence. My mother used to say, if you get

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Speaker 4: good grades, you can go to Detroit and watch the

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Speaker 4: Motown Review with your cousins.

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Speaker 3: For five dollars.

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Speaker 4: You could see Stevie wonder you could see the Temptations

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Speaker 4: and they give you two pips, well sometimes for five

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Speaker 4: hours what you want and that kind of stuff, and

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Speaker 4: you grow up and then you tour with the Temptations.

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Speaker 4: When they had to stand on the top touring, James

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Speaker 4: wrote them that track. Then one day Michael Bivens calls

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Speaker 4: you and says, hey, I got four guys that idolized

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Speaker 4: the Temptations. They're from Philly called Boys to Men. But

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Speaker 4: their album's not ready yet, and when it's ready, I

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Speaker 4: want to come. I say, oh, I got an idea.

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Speaker 4: If they love the Temptations, I got the Temptations on Thursday,

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Speaker 4: let them come and blend in with the Temptations and

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Speaker 4: you can imagine a paramount every night. It was a

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Speaker 4: nightmare because they wanted less black. Now I got fifteen

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Speaker 4: niggas man. But my thing was like, I'd rather do

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Speaker 4: six years my way than twenty years Johnny's way. And

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Speaker 4: Johnny dug the show because I wasn't trying to be him.

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Speaker 4: There was never a competition. I was looking for friends

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Speaker 4: of the show. I remember Alan King, a legendary old comic,

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Speaker 4: called me and he says, your show put out an

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Speaker 4: offer to me, and I just want you to know

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Speaker 4: I love what you're doing, but I'm a Johnny guy.

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Speaker 4: And that's when it hit me. You got to get

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Speaker 4: your guys. And so that's when I started trying to

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Speaker 4: go for the audience that didn't have a talk show.

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Speaker 4: And that made it work, you know, cause I had

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Speaker 4: been the Ed McMahon figure on a thing called Thick

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Speaker 4: of the Night, you know where I was, oh in Thick,

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Speaker 4: and so I got to watch it go on and

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Speaker 4: I got to learn from Alan's experience. Don't try to

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Speaker 4: be Johnny. Try to come up with an alternative. By

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Speaker 4: the way, when I was working for Alan Thick, there

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Speaker 4: was a little boy I brought Johnny Gill on Alan

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Speaker 4: Thick show. I met Johnny Gill in Cleveland with Gerald LeVert.

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Speaker 4: I bring Johnny Gill on the show and he gets numbers,

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Speaker 4: and that let me know, Hey, it's not that black

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Speaker 4: people don't get numbers, it's that we ain't trying it.

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Speaker 4: He came on with Stacy Lattisaw and they did perfect combination.

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Speaker 4: On the side, there's a little white boy with a

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Speaker 4: cub's cap on. It's Alan Thick's son who always surfaced

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Speaker 4: when there was R and B on the show and

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Speaker 4: that was Robin Thick. That's another example of how we

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Speaker 4: know who we are, we know who we want to be,

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Speaker 4: and that kid then knew he was the white Marvin Gay.

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Speaker 1: Is this book is your memoir closure for you? Or

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Speaker 1: is it correction?

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Speaker 3: A lot of correction?

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Speaker 4: I don't know if I Yeah, a little closure too,

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Speaker 4: because I loved putting that letter of resignation. A lot

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Speaker 4: of people barbershop journalists would say, well, you know, one

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Speaker 4: night he snuck fair Con in there. The amount didn't

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Speaker 4: know about it, you know, and interview fair Con and

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Speaker 4: you know, when the fact is paramount has to green

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Speaker 4: like that, they have to approve that. And so all

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Speaker 4: the barbershop journalism you get.

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Speaker 3: Because basically studios.

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Speaker 4: People think studios are above the fray and the bullshit,

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Speaker 4: and what they don't understand is.

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Speaker 3: That studios just like a relationship. You have a breakup with.

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Speaker 4: Somebody and then you hear that he said I left

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Speaker 4: her because I was sick of her bush and he's like, no, no.

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Speaker 3: No, that nigga's lying. And unfortunately business is like that too.

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Speaker 4: They want to position it sexy their way, and they said, well,

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Speaker 4: we'll come over Tuesday and we'll talk about crafting a

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Speaker 4: release to the press.

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Speaker 3: Of what we're going to do from here on. And

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Speaker 3: then Monday some shit.

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Speaker 4: Come out and you're like, you motherfuckers, you know, but

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Speaker 4: I get to correct those kinds of things, and yeah,

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Speaker 4: and have closure to.

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Speaker 1: Because I said, you actually quit the show, and I

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Speaker 1: remember when you first told me that. In my mind,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, really and when I.

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Speaker 3: Heard when I heard that that that little thing, that

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Speaker 3: that dental tongular thing.

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Speaker 4: You did, I had my woman going to garage and

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Speaker 4: I said, you got to find that let letter and

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Speaker 4: she found.

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Speaker 5: It because there were so many people that believed that

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Speaker 5: though that that you didn't quit the show. If you

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Speaker 5: had never written this book, how would you have ever

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Speaker 5: like try to clear it up any other place? Like

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Speaker 5: was that something that was sitting with you for a while.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I had a lawyer say, why do you care?

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Speaker 3: Look at your bank account? Why do you care? And

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Speaker 3: I'm like, because.

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Speaker 4: Truth matters, And I mean, forget television. We as a people,

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Speaker 4: uh a Puerto Rican gentleman also, uh.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about if.

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Speaker 4: We as a people have to be careful not to

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Speaker 4: let truth be buried mine is insignificant. How about the

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Speaker 4: history of our people in the way it's being changed,

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Speaker 4: buried and hidden from future children.

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Speaker 3: Truth is important.

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Speaker 4: It's important when it's on y'all side, So let it

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Speaker 4: be important for us to by.

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Speaker 1: The way, either way, you left his gangster walking away

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Speaker 1: because hey, man, I want to do my black stuff.

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Speaker 1: If it ain't working for y'all, it ain't gonna work

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Speaker 1: for me. I'm out. Or yeah, I bought a farra

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Speaker 1: con on. Yeah, that way it works.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, you get a free bean path for

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Speaker 4: that second. Brothers be very very supportive of you. But

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Speaker 4: you know, here's the deal, here's how you can understand it.

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Speaker 3: At the end of the day. Entertainment is cool.

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Speaker 4: But Quincy used to tell me the word business is

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Speaker 4: larger than the word show. And my ratings and my

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Speaker 4: income were attached. The higher the number, the more money

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Speaker 4: I get. When Letterman gets CBS, because I'm in syndication now,

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Speaker 4: I'm on bullshit stations most places, but my CBS stations

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Speaker 4: helped me succeed. When Letterman comes into the game and

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Speaker 4: all my CBS stations leave at the end of their term,

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Speaker 4: I'm like, what am I going to do now, and

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Speaker 4: so basically, and the money goes down, and now you're like, well,

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Speaker 4: I have to look at a movie every night and

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Speaker 4: read a Jackie Collins book. I'm like, I don't know

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Speaker 4: if it's worth it for a million a year, you know.

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Speaker 4: And the bottom line is I dashed when the money.

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Speaker 3: Also, I'm from Cleveland.

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Speaker 4: I grew up down the street from Jim Brown, and

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Speaker 4: I watched him leave on Top. I watched him start

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Speaker 4: doing movies when they still calling him to the locker room.

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Speaker 4: I always wanted to leave on Top. So the bottom

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Speaker 4: line when the money changed a little bit, and the

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Speaker 4: numbers change a little bit, and I didn't see a

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Speaker 4: future for syndication because I'm like, they're gonna put somebody

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Speaker 4: at ABC, I'm gonna lose those affiliates too. So eventually

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Speaker 4: there's a Kimmel and there's a Letterman. And the bottom

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Speaker 4: line is the money changed, Let's do something else. I've

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Speaker 4: gotten six years out of this. I've been on the

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Speaker 4: cover of Time magazine. I spent two years knowing I

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Speaker 4: was leaving and building a house on the beach. And

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Speaker 4: bottom line is I'm cool with how it all went down.

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Speaker 1: I was always shocked that Foxes didn't get into the

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Speaker 1: late night game.

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Speaker 4: It's funny. I just sat with Conan O'Brien and he

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Speaker 4: told me a cool story. He says he was in

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Speaker 4: a lunch room a cafeteria at Fox and he says,

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Speaker 4: you were very nice to me. You won't remember me,

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Speaker 4: but I was getting coffee and you showed me where

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Speaker 4: other stuff was. What I didn't realize is while I

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Speaker 4: was taking over for Jones Rivers and doing the late

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Speaker 4: show because she eventually got fired, her husband killed himself.

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Speaker 4: You remember all that stuff. I'm doing the late show.

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Speaker 4: I'm doing the last eleven weeks of her contract. Before

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Speaker 4: I go to do Coming to America, Conan had been

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Speaker 4: hired to create a show to replace me. So while

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Speaker 4: I was there, they had decided that I wasn't the

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Speaker 4: guy wow, and they created a thing called the Wilton

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Speaker 4: North Report. I went and did Coming to America, and

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Speaker 4: Paramount was like, when we finished this, if you want

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Speaker 4: a talk show, let's try it in syndication. Now, something

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Speaker 4: in syndication will never work again other than Byron All

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Speaker 4: and no one's gonna ever be able to make syndication

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Speaker 4: money because the network's got it.

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Speaker 3: You know it.

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Speaker 4: When I came into it. CBS and ABC didn't want

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Speaker 4: to be in the late night game, so they bought

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Speaker 4: my show. You know, it was a perfect time. Life

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Speaker 4: is all about timing an effort.

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Speaker 2: Now, you mentioned Coming to America, my favorite movie of all. Yes,

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Speaker 2: let's talk about that movie and how it came together

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Speaker 2: and who's decision made in here?

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Speaker 3: Any kind of beverage.

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Speaker 1: That's memoirs out right.

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Speaker 3: Now, I really appreciate you.

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Speaker 4: When I walked in and saw the monitor this and

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Speaker 4: there was a shot from this way, so it was

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Speaker 4: the book with Lauren's beautiful eyes behind.

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Speaker 3: And I'm like, yes, I appreciate that. I thank you

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Speaker 3: because they'll see it and they'll buy it.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry.

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Speaker 2: Coming to America. How did that movie come about? And

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Speaker 2: what was the decision to play so many different characters

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Speaker 2: for both you and Eddie?

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Speaker 4: Wow, the decision for me to play characters was Eddie saying, yeah,

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Speaker 4: him too, that's cool, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, because he's the king, you know. But the movie,

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Speaker 3: the movie.

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Speaker 4: Was all hinged on the fact that America missed Eddie

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Speaker 4: doing characters. They wanted that again. And yeah, and I

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Speaker 4: remember his manager saying to me, they want Eddie to

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Speaker 4: do character so when you guys go to America, he'll

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Speaker 4: be some of the people that you meet. And I'm like,

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Speaker 4: that's really cool. Now, I'm just a straight out stand

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Speaker 4: up I'm not an impressionist and I'm not an actor.

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Speaker 3: I was honored when he asked me to also do

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Speaker 3: some characters, but that movie was supposed to be me

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Speaker 3: as you know, like.

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Speaker 4: A personal assistant or an undersized bodyguard coming to America

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Speaker 4: from Zamunda with Eddie. He saw me do stand up

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Speaker 4: and I did this bit about going to church in

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Speaker 4: Chicago and going to the South Side. So I do

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Speaker 4: this preacher character, and he's like, that's all it is, man.

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Speaker 4: You know, we do the prosthetics and you do that,

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Speaker 4: and you're a preacher, you know. And of course my

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Speaker 4: dad was a Baptist preacher, and so at any moment,

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Speaker 4: I'm ready to preach.

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Speaker 1: I was loving another niggas I thought all you posted video.

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Speaker 1: He was like, I'm walking like the preaching and coming

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Speaker 1: to America. But not because I'm pretending.

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Speaker 4: Life is crazy, Because you know, at one point you're

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Speaker 4: in your twenties and you're standing in front of a mirror. Jess,

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Speaker 4: you've been through. They stand in front of a mirror,

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Speaker 4: you're practicing a character. You're looking at how Red Fox walks,

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Speaker 4: and you're breaking it down. And then one day you

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Speaker 4: turned seventy and you realize, now that's my walk.

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Speaker 3: But if loving you is wrong, I don't want you.

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Speaker 5: I was going to coming to America. I've read somewhere.

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Speaker 5: I think it was one of an interviews. You did something.

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Speaker 5: It almost didn't happen though, a couple of times, at

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Speaker 5: first because of the pitch, and then there was an

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Speaker 5: issue with Eddie Murphy and somebody on set.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, they wanted him to do characters

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Speaker 3: and that made the treatment perfection.

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Speaker 4: And he decided different things I can do when we

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Speaker 4: come to America. And the other thing you reference is

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Speaker 4: he had a conflict with Landis, and Landis is a

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Speaker 4: brilliant director, and they work that out.

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Speaker 3: Thank God, Thank God, my business manager, Thanks God every

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Speaker 3: day for me.

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Speaker 4: Residuals not as crazy as one might think. Okay, you know,

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Speaker 4: but because you see it all the time on v

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Speaker 4: H one and.

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Speaker 3: On things owned by sky Dance, I guess it is.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 4: By the way, the checks Eddie get are probably what

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Speaker 4: you just described. You know, but the bottom line is

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Speaker 4: I was a lucky actor to be involved, and mine

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Speaker 4: sometimes will be thirteen cents.

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Speaker 1: What did you think about this book? Did you let

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Speaker 1: any read it? Not yet?

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Speaker 4: Okay, okay, but when the And that's another bit of

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Speaker 4: advice you gave me, I think you said. Kevin Hart

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Speaker 4: also agreed with you that in this culture, in this

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Speaker 4: day and age, the book on tape, the audible book

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Speaker 4: is very, very important. And that's when I was like, well,

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Speaker 4: let me call you back, because I've talked to George

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Speaker 4: Lopez and different people who have done this. And to

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Speaker 4: sit every day for eight hours and keep it consistent

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Speaker 4: in front of the mic and read this book. I

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Speaker 4: mean I used to read to my son before bed,

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Speaker 4: but it was like good Night Moon, and the book

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Speaker 4: was like eight pages.

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Speaker 3: You have a and I just did my audio book Arsen.

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Speaker 6: I'm so glad that you said that, because they say

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Speaker 6: I can't read in here all the time, because the

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Speaker 6: first day I went to read my book only read

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Speaker 6: like seventy pages and five hours. But it's voice acting,

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Speaker 6: is not just reading like you're reading six Night Moon.

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Speaker 6: He's a goddamn.

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Speaker 4: He is lying.

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Speaker 6: But four pages and you were struggling, but it was

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Speaker 6: you know, it's a copath to memoirs, so on some

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Speaker 6: of the parts I had to be emotional. Then they

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Speaker 6: had to relive some of the stuff. And you know,

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Speaker 6: it's not just like regularly reading.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to sit there.

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Speaker 4: I would sit there for eight hours a day, and

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Speaker 4: and you almost want to do it like when you

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Speaker 4: read to your kid. You want to have this intimate

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Speaker 4: moment with the audience on the other side of that

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00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:05,879
Speaker 4: speaker and they think you're actually reading to them and

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Speaker 4: talking to them and telling them this story.

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Speaker 3: So a lot of care and performance.

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Speaker 4: I saw Charlie Sheen talk about you know, I was

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Speaker 4: just going to read it, you know, and then I realized, well,

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00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,399
Speaker 4: let me step up the actor part of and I

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Speaker 4: listened to an interview he did, and so I put

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Speaker 4: great care into it. And I'm glad you told me

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Speaker 4: how important it was, because I didn't want to do

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Speaker 4: that shit.

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Speaker 1: Now you want to hear you Hall, like that voice

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Speaker 1: is very familiar to us.

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Speaker 5: I literally bought the audiobook just because I wanted to

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Speaker 5: hear how you went in and out of things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's you and you nearly bought it. I'm

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Speaker 3: gonna send you one no.

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Speaker 1: Audiobook.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we had this book as well too,

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Speaker 5: but I went and bought the audiobook because I was like,

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Speaker 5: I want to hear him, like get into it, and

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Speaker 5: you know, like all the emotion and just hearing your

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Speaker 5: voice again just.

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Speaker 3: Was you know, you know, emotion.

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Speaker 4: It did take me back. There are interviews, not interviews.

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Speaker 4: There are parts of the book based on interviews on

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Speaker 4: the show. Meeting Sammy. You know, Sammy came in three

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Speaker 4: waves in my life. There was a night he invited

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Speaker 4: me to his house. Sammy used to have a gun collection.

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Speaker 4: He showed me all his guns, and I love guns.

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Speaker 4: My dad was a marksman and a former serviceman and

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Speaker 4: sam yes, yes, And so he had a theater in

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Speaker 4: his house and he would have movie night and he

434
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:27,600
Speaker 4: invited us to movie nights. So you go see a

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Speaker 4: movie and it's surreal to knock at somebody's door.

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Speaker 3: And here, I'll get it, I'll tell you know. And

437
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 3: Sammy comes to the door.

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Speaker 4: And then I have him on the talk show later

439
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,640
Speaker 4: and of course he has cancer, but he sings anyway.

440
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:45,920
Speaker 4: And I don't want to give away everything, but that

441
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,560
Speaker 4: story conjured up so many emotions because as a kid,

442
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 4: I watched Sammy, this versatile man, this person. You know,

443
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,159
Speaker 4: people like Ali and Sammy was so important to me

444
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 4: to see these talented positive images. To see Ali doing

445
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 4: an interview after a fight comb his hands.

446
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:05,600
Speaker 3: I'm so pretty gone, how I do it?

447
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 1: You know?

448
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,119
Speaker 3: And and those people were so important to me.

449
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 4: So to have that moment at the end of his

450
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 4: life and him to say, I'm gonna sing for you, man,

451
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 4: because I would sing for Johnny and gets up and

452
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 4: goes over spontaneously and says, time after time. In d

453
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,120
Speaker 4: and my band, young people start playing Cyndy Lapper's song

454
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 4: time after time and no, no, no, no, you know

455
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 4: it's a time after time.

456
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,840
Speaker 3: I tell myself that. And and I realized how sick

457
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:44,160
Speaker 3: he was weeks later when he started to transition from

458
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 3: this earth. And so so that was emotional.

459
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,040
Speaker 1: Had to be emotional too, right now, Oh yeah, man.

460
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 4: The Richard Pryor stuff emotional also because he's the first

461
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 4: person I learned from comedy was insignificant. I was gonna

462
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 4: get there one way or the other. It's a life

463
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,440
Speaker 4: that Richard taught me about. And it's watching his life

464
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,440
Speaker 4: near the end when you realize those lawyers and agents,

465
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,760
Speaker 4: and a lot of hanger ons aren't around anymore when

466
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 4: you're sick, when they can't make money on you anymore.

467
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 4: And it taught me to find someone you love and

468
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 4: build your own bubble, because these people who get a

469
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,119
Speaker 4: commission aren't going to be here when they can no

470
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 4: longer get a commission. And I remember near the end

471
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 4: of his life, I used to go visit him, and

472
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 4: there weren't a lot of people around like there were

473
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 4: in the early days at the comedy store.

474
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:44,480
Speaker 1: I could guess.

475
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:49,960
Speaker 3: It's funny how those two things look alike.

476
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 4: Of fart and tears kind of manifested itself on your

477
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 4: face in the same way.

478
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,080
Speaker 2: I wanted to know about coming to America too. When

479
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 2: y'all shot that the see, Well, what were your thoughts

480
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 2: on it? Because it's so hard to top America, the

481
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 2: first original version. It feels like some things just shouldn't

482
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 2: be touched. What was your thoughts on that?

483
00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 4: I need this check, No, no, but my thoughts on it, God,

484
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 4: it was it was going back to this wonderful time

485
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,080
Speaker 4: in my life, you know, and and doing the characters

486
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,040
Speaker 4: again and hanging with Ed. We didn't get to do

487
00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 4: it here like the first one. The second one, Zamunda

488
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:38,400
Speaker 4: is Atlanta. Here's what's interesting. Zamunda the Palace is Rick

489
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 4: Ross's house, and that was kind of interesting. But I

490
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 4: I enjoyed doing it, but I also knew that it

491
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 4: was like trying to write a better song than Thriller.

492
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:58,640
Speaker 4: You know, it's very complicated. So winning has its traps too.

493
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's a bar that can't be set again.

494
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know if for my life, I don't

495
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,719
Speaker 4: know a higher bar than coming to America one.

496
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 1: Did you feel like that when you came back with

497
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,880
Speaker 1: your your talk show again? Yeah?

498
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 4: You know that was to do the talk show reboot

499
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,680
Speaker 4: was an interesting time because I initially wanted to do

500
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 4: a show that was scripted about a guy trying to

501
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 4: get back in the game at a time because it

502
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 4: had changed. You know, when I was doing research in

503
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,200
Speaker 4: the nineties, there was no cell phone, no Google, no search.

504
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 4: We had a file cabinet and so see if there's

505
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 4: an article on mel Gibson, I'm trying to find out

506
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 4: how old he is. You know, that was a different time.

507
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 4: So when I came back, I wanted to do a

508
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 4: scripted version of our Senior Hall. Coming back to television

509
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 4: and basically, you know, they say no to us a

510
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:49,919
Speaker 4: lot because I don't know if that'll work, and then

511
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:50,639
Speaker 4: they do hacks.

512
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 3: But because that's what it would.

513
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 4: It would have been black hacks, you know, and they

514
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,400
Speaker 4: talked me into because people don't people on how he would.

515
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 3: They're not very imaginative. They go with what's worked before.

516
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 3: You know, if you have.

517
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 4: Different strokes. Gary Coleman and it's working, and Envy pitches

518
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 4: a show about him and his wife. You know, you know,

519
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 4: you pitch them something, they'll say.

520
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 3: We don't know because that's new to them. But what

521
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,640
Speaker 3: they're looking for in that moment is another little black

522
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 3: man that don't grow, you know, and they you know,

523
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 3: because they know that works.

524
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: So what do they do?

525
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 4: They find Webster and that's how this town works. They

526
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 4: want to be safe. No one wants to have I mean,

527
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 4: you can say no and not get fired to a pitch,

528
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 4: but if you say yes, it better work.

529
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,720
Speaker 3: So executives try to keep it safe and.

530
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: Nobody thinks about what Emmanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman did

531
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: from MIDGS talks about that.

532
00:26:55,119 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, but tar Bridges wasn't to mention

533
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 3: not Todd. You mean you don't mean.

534
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,679
Speaker 1: Todd no, because he's said Gary Coban and to our

535
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: bridges Lewis, Oh, my man, my man, I'm sorry.

536
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 3: You know, they don't.

537
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,720
Speaker 4: Basically, what they said is, let's let's just do the

538
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 4: talk show again like you. And unfortunately the reason I

539
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 4: left is the reason it can't work in syndication. Now

540
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,120
Speaker 4: it's even harder because there's Kimmel and all these guys.

541
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 4: So you want me to compete against them on Channel

542
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 4: twenty nine in Phoenix, you know, and that's not gonna work,

543
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 4: and you don't have as much budget as the networks.

544
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 4: I remember I wanted to book Will Smith and they said, well,

545
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 4: Will Smith is not gonna do it. He's gonna do

546
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 4: Fallon and he can't do he can't do another show

547
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 4: after he does Fallon for two weeks, so there's some

548
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 4: kind of rule. But basically I couldn't even compete with

549
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 4: the offer because Fallon offered him the the opportunity to

550
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:02,879
Speaker 4: ride into the Tonight show on.

551
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 3: A white horse. Wow.

552
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, gosh, my first time around, Prince wanted

553
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 4: a purple piano and it took a week for me

554
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 4: to get it approved.

555
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 3: You know, so, you know, budget wise, when I came

556
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 3: back and did.

557
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,720
Speaker 4: The re you can't compete against Kimmel and Fallon and

558
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 4: James Corden was riding around in a car singing with famous,

559
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 4: I'm like, you know, I don't have that kind of budget, and.

560
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 3: You just can't do it. Now.

561
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 4: You can't do a syndicated show now. I snuck in

562
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 4: at a time when people didn't have product and I

563
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 4: could sell them mine. But now everyone, every network has product,

564
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 4: you know. And the reason I did syndication the first

565
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 4: time around is I knew a brother was never gonna

566
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 4: get the NBC, ABC or CBS job. But I was like,

567
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 4: I've been doing this in my basement since I was twelve.

568
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:53,760
Speaker 4: I'm gonna get something that's right.

569
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: And they said that.

570
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,520
Speaker 2: You know, at first, it was hard for you to

571
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 2: get guessed that you would actually have a security guard

572
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 2: call you and be like so and so saying.

573
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would chase because thank goodness, the show was

574
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 4: on the paramount lot on a film lot, versus like

575
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 4: Colbert here is at the Ed Sullivan Theater right on

576
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 4: the street. I was on a film lot where you

577
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 4: could find out what was being shot on the lot,

578
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 4: and there was a dude at the gate who would

579
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 4: let me know when certain people arrived, and I could

580
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 4: be in front of Andy Garcia's trailer when he got

581
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 4: there and ask him to come on. You know, I

582
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 4: mean many guests would. I would actually get the Paramount

583
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 4: executives to let me come over and meet people. It's like,

584
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 4: I hear Harrison Ford's having a meeting. Can I just

585
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 4: come say hello? And you know, like me and Charlamagne

586
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 4: are in business on this book. Paramount was like, yeah,

587
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 4: but just don't don't act like we invited you.

588
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 3: Just pop by, mister Ford.

589
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 6: Yeah, your life is very eventful. You got so much

590
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:55,800
Speaker 6: that you've done, you know what I mean? How could

591
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 6: you fit all of that into one book? What are

592
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 6: I know with some things that did not make the book?

593
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 3: Absolutely that? Oh man, Jess.

594
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 4: It was so hard because I looked at books to

595
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 4: find out what length they were. I looked at Barack

596
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 4: Obama's book, like, oh, that's big, but I know Barack Obamas,

597
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 4: so let me let me try to give him as

598
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 4: much as they can handle of this kid from Cleveland.

599
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 3: Barbara Streisand's book is huge.

600
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 4: I got a I got two great Barbara streisand stories

601
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 4: didn't put in the book.

602
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 3: I had to cut things down. I have a great

603
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,680
Speaker 3: new Kids on the Block story where they flew from

604
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 3: Australia to come on the shop.

605
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 4: See, we didn't have Twitter. You couldn't go on Twitter

606
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 4: and say what you have to say. You had to

607
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 4: if there was some shit that jumped off you. Donnie

608
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 4: Wahlberg and the whole group flew back to America because

609
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 4: they were being accused of lip synci and Donnie was like, Arsenial,

610
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 4: We're gonna fly home.

611
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 3: They may not like how we sound, but it's us,

612
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 3: you know.

613
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 4: And the milli evenilly thing it happened, so they wanted

614
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 4: to come and defend themselves. I met Tommy Mottola in

615
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 4: an ivy and he had a cassette tape with Vision

616
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 4: of Love written on it, and he gave it to me,

617
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 4: and he was with this young lady, you know. I

618
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 4: joked with him, I said, who is at the star

619
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 4: of the Young and the breastless?

620
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 3: Who is She's fine?

621
00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 4: You know?

622
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 3: And it was Mariah. And I called him the next morning.

623
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 3: I'm like, I couldn't believe that light that envy.

624
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 4: Talked about dog When you first hear Mariah Carey and

625
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 4: you realize she's not famous, and this ain't this ain't

626
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 4: what Johnny does, and you are going to be able

627
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 4: to present this woman to the world.

628
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 3: That light is shining while you sleep through your eyelids.

629
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,959
Speaker 1: So we might need to do like Charlie Murphy had

630
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: the True Hollywood Stories, you might need to do the

631
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: Arsenio Hall Truth. Put that out as a podcast or

632
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: something animated, or something animated would be really cool.

633
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 4: It would be really cool because then you can imagine

634
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 4: Bobby Brown performing my prerogative as an animated character.

635
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 1: This use me for one of the voices.

636
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 3: I'm real good at voice acting. I hear you. I

637
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 3: did Ghostbusters when I was young.

638
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 4: I paid the rent as because the Winston Zmore character,

639
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 4: there's one black Ghostbuster.

640
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 3: It's like back in the day they hired comics voice

641
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 3: acting me and Dave Coolier.

642
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: It was a comic and fool house.

643
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, so, you know I used to make my

644
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 3: living doing that kind of.

645
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 2: Did you mind the spool when people used to spoofy?

646
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 2: I remember like the super long finger. Did you mind

647
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 2: the spoof from back then?

648
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: By the way, all that's in the book, ar Senio.

649
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: The memoir, which is available everywhere you buy books.

650
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 3: Now, sir, you know, here's the deal.

651
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 4: First of all, if you're a comic, and I think

652
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 4: Jess would agree with this, if you're a comic, you

653
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 4: can't be sensitive to jokes about you. Most comics are sensitive, though, yeah,

654
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 4: I mean as humans, I think we're sensitive. But dude,

655
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,720
Speaker 4: there's an upside in the downside to every punchline. It's

656
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 4: like I have extremely long fingers. But I remember as

657
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 4: a little boy, as the pastor's son, I'd be standing

658
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 4: next to my dad and old sisters in the church

659
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 4: would shake my hand and they would.

660
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 7: Hold on a little long and how you doing, baby,

661
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 7: And it's like, you say, these fingers are gonna have

662
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 7: an upside to you know, people are responding to these

663
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 7: long ass fingers.

664
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: But the fingers the one thing? What about the ass pause?

665
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:41,440
Speaker 1: Remember when about That's another book, But going to.

666
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 4: Yes, I have a predominant dairy air, and uh, you know,

667
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 4: a if you're gonna do jokes, you got to be

668
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 4: able to listen to jokes and and and sometimes say.

669
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 3: Well, first sometimes you just said it's funny, that's a

670
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 3: funny shit. Then other times, like Dana Carvey, it was

671
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 3: a sign of the times that I was going through.

672
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 3: This guy created a character at SNL called Carcinio, and

673
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,799
Speaker 3: the essence of the sketch was that Johnny was gonna

674
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 3: get a high top fade and start wearing bright, double

675
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 3: breasted suits. And so for me, you can always flip

676
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 3: something into a positive.

677
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,439
Speaker 4: Now they're making fun of me, but at the same time,

678
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,600
Speaker 4: what they're really saying is Johnny's gonna have to find

679
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 4: a younger audience somehow, because that's what's up. And so

680
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 4: there's an up and a down to punchlines. But yeah,

681
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 4: you gotta be able to take it. You can't be

682
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 4: too sensitive. How you gonna be sensitive and then go

683
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 4: to the comedy store and do five minutes on Tiger Woods.

684
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 1: That's true. You know when you talk about the Dana

685
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: Carvey right when you were at your peak, do you

686
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 1: think people were loving Arsenio Hall or the idea of

687
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,400
Speaker 1: what you represented, the youthfulness, the hip hop, the black.

688
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 3: My ego won't let me think.

689
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: That it was me.

690
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,360
Speaker 3: I think it was what I was doing and what

691
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 3: it represented.

692
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,280
Speaker 4: But you know, it's like when I talk about talking

693
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 4: Alan Thicke into putting on Johnny gill. My thing in

694
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 4: the meeting was I think it'll get numbers, why not

695
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 4: try it? Third guest, I'll tried it. And what I

696
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,760
Speaker 4: loved that relates to that question is I was showing

697
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,880
Speaker 4: that there was a value that you all haven't looked at.

698
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 3: You know, I know you think.

699
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 4: It won't get numbers, but that proved for thick of

700
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 4: the night in a syndicated situation, there are people checking

701
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 4: for black people. And being from Cleveland, when I met

702
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,760
Speaker 4: Johnny and Gerald LeVert. Then Gerald calls me a certain

703
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 4: pointment that show was on the air, and he has

704
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 4: this track Casanova.

705
00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 3: He plays over the.

706
00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 4: Phone, can't send it to me on the link, plays

707
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 4: it on the phone. I'm like, that shit sound good

708
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 4: even through the telephone, you know. And he flies out

709
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,239
Speaker 4: with his cousin and his brother and LeVert does Casanova

710
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 4: and that was the late show.

711
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 3: You know, Ll cool J.

712
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,839
Speaker 4: That's another reason why I'm shocked that Fox didn't want

713
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,800
Speaker 4: to do a show, because it was apparent there that

714
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 4: something was going on, that the viewing audience was fucking

715
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 4: with us, and because there are a few Llo cool.

716
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 3: J was a first rapper.

717
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 4: Llo COOLJ and Houdini first hip hop things I ever

718
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 4: did way back on the Late Show when.

719
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 3: I took over for Jones, Rivers and Ll got big numbers.

720
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:43,440
Speaker 4: You know, and he did I'm Bad and Houdini did

721
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 4: the Freaks come out at Night and they did numbers.

722
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,359
Speaker 3: But at that point, Paramount was sneaking around Fox coming

723
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 3: to my dressing room.

724
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,840
Speaker 4: You know, you would think it was fans, but it

725
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 4: was guys that taking off their suits and put on

726
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 4: T shirts and come over to say, do this at Paramount.

727
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 4: If they don't get it, do this at Paramount because

728
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 4: they were seeing the numbers on a show where they

729
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,880
Speaker 4: had fired the host and now they're getting these numbers.

730
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 3: You know, people watched me to see me talk to

731
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:09,800
Speaker 3: Mike Tyson.

732
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: That's right, man. There was a debate on the bag

733
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:14,759
Speaker 1: Fuel podcast Lough the Bagfuel and they were happy. They

734
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,080
Speaker 1: were saying, it's our senior hall hip hop, and I'm like,

735
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 1: not only was ar senior hall hip hop, Arsenio was

736
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,239
Speaker 1: black culture from eighty nine to ninety four. I don't

737
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 1: even know if black culture in entertainment wise, and especially

738
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: hip hop could grow as much as it did without

739
00:37:30,239 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: the Arsenio Hall Show. What else would we have seen it?

740
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:33,800
Speaker 1: To that level.

741
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 3: You know, we would have found a way, just like now.

742
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 4: The problem with a late night talk show is what

743
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,640
Speaker 4: you all are doing in a for a cheaper budget.

744
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,480
Speaker 3: Podcasts, radio shows.

745
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 4: It's like you can't do those giant shows anymore with

746
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,400
Speaker 4: all that staff and a band and.

747
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:57,840
Speaker 1: The lights.

748
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 4: Now you put theo von in front of a fake plant,

749
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 4: you know, and it's really inexpensive to do. And so

750
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:10,879
Speaker 4: that's what's happened to late night. You know, it's it's

751
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 4: hard to do it the other way.

752
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,799
Speaker 1: But I'm saying hip hop and black culture, Yeah, there

753
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: was no platform for that. Right from eighty nine to

754
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: ninety four. We ran it was our Sineo, your MTV raps,

755
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 1: and we all.

756
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,960
Speaker 3: Grew up waking up on Saturday to watch that.

757
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 1: Ralph McDaniels had the thing that was New York, Me

758
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:32,280
Speaker 1: Daniels all around the country.

759
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:36,319
Speaker 4: Soul trained was what I had. You know, even when

760
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 4: I saw a white person, it was so trained. I

761
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,239
Speaker 4: remember seeing Elton John play a crylic clear piano and

762
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 4: do Benny and the Jets for Don Cornel.

763
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 3: Don wasn't crazy about hip hop, and neither was Oprah.

764
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 3: And that's a good point. That also was part of

765
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:56,359
Speaker 3: the history of this. I saw a vacancy. I saw

766
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 3: a void.

767
00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 4: And the best way to make money, whether you're creating

768
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 4: a product or scope and show business is to find

769
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 4: the void and fit into it.

770
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:11,720
Speaker 3: You know what Lauren does? You know she saw a void.

771
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 4: You know, they need a competent black journalist to jump

772
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,279
Speaker 4: into this infotainment Hollywood news, and she filled it, you know,

773
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 4: with with an accuracy and hard work effort that she

774
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:28,879
Speaker 4: found herself.

775
00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 3: A place.

776
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:32,279
Speaker 1: Accuracyacy.

777
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 2: Who taught you the business? You just knew so much

778
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,239
Speaker 2: like the syndication, Like that's nothing that you can read about.

779
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 2: So how did you learn and understand the business and depth.

780
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 4: Well, whether it's sitting to like I would if Don Cornelius,

781
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,800
Speaker 4: if Don Cornelius would go to lunch with me, I

782
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:55,320
Speaker 4: would take that lunch.

783
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 3: You know, I'll buy you know, he took me to

784
00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 3: lunch one day.

785
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:00,840
Speaker 4: I've sat with Quincy in front of a board and

786
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 4: listen to all the off the wall stuff before anybody

787
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:09,000
Speaker 4: heard it. And he said, you're from Ohio, right, He said,

788
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 4: let me play this for you and put it up

789
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:13,919
Speaker 4: on big reels, you know, And he played a song

790
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 4: called just Once. He said this kid is from Ohio

791
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 4: and it was James Ingram. I would sit and talk

792
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,759
Speaker 4: to legends and try to learn everything I could, and

793
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 4: I would take jobs. We've all taken jobs just to

794
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:29,120
Speaker 4: get education. We go to college and we pay to go.

795
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,239
Speaker 4: So I would do things just to learn, like the

796
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 4: Thick of the Night job. It probably looked real corny

797
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 4: and me sitting next to Alan Thick.

798
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 3: And saying we'll be right back.

799
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 1: You know.

800
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 3: I was that guy.

801
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 4: But I was learning syndication in Late Night and a

802
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,760
Speaker 4: couple of the people in that show when it failed,

803
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,719
Speaker 4: I hired them, you know. But I did everything I

804
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,840
Speaker 4: could to learn any place I could go. Richard Pryor

805
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,040
Speaker 4: invited me to the set of Jojo Dancer once, and

806
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,399
Speaker 4: I wanted to be in the movie, but Richard said,

807
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 4: just stand around and learn because I'm going direct and

808
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 4: cool and go everywhere. You can do everything you can

809
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 4: because knowledge is keen.

810
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,759
Speaker 3: Clarence Clarence Ava.

811
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can say a million times during this interview, but.

812
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:30,280
Speaker 3: Wow, yeah, yeah. Other than Donnie Wahlburg, ain't nobody alive. Clarence.

813
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 3: He was the man. He was special.

814
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 4: And the thing about Clarence there was a stealth element

815
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:40,320
Speaker 4: of his business where I wouldn't even know how something happened,

816
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 4: and later on they would say, well, Clarence got him

817
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,719
Speaker 4: to talk to him and that's how it happened. I

818
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 4: love the way he did business. He wasn't messy and

819
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:52,840
Speaker 4: he wasn't always there, but you knew it happened because

820
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 4: of him, you know, good day, good times.

821
00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 5: I was going to ask, did you ever feel alone

822
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 5: in your fight? Like just story about n WA and

823
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,279
Speaker 5: trying to push for that, and I don't know. I

824
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 5: guess with the Clarence Abot thing though you had the support,

825
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:10,800
Speaker 5: but it just feels like you were always like fighting,

826
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,720
Speaker 5: And I wonder if you ever felt like internally more support.

827
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:18,000
Speaker 5: Externally you had it was divided, but internally who was there?

828
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:18,839
Speaker 5: And did you feel lonely?

829
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:19,839
Speaker 1: Yeah?

830
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 4: And you know it was hard, even the situation where

831
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 4: the queer nation came after me. First of all, you

832
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:30,399
Speaker 4: fight hard when you know you're right.

833
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,359
Speaker 3: Yeah. And the bottom line is to say I don't

834
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,839
Speaker 3: I'm homophobic and I don't put on enough gay guess

835
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,960
Speaker 3: that's bullshit. And we're at a time when everybody ain't

836
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 3: gonna tell you that gay. Ellen would come on.

837
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 4: And do jokes and Rosie would come on and do jokes,

838
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:46,879
Speaker 4: but they weren't gonna talk about their dates with women.

839
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 4: They would probably make their dating bit about a man.

840
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 4: Everybody on my staff was gay except me. That's an exaggeration,

841
00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:03,399
Speaker 4: but but the bottom line is it was a time

842
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,640
Speaker 4: when you just didn't know who was gay and they

843
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 4: were in a trap of you know, there were people

844
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,120
Speaker 4: who were gay and they knew if I say I'm

845
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,600
Speaker 4: gay and women, no, I'm not singing to them, it

846
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 4: could ruin my career.

847
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:17,239
Speaker 3: You know.

848
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 4: Thank god times have changed and people can be themselves

849
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:26,919
Speaker 4: and still survive. But yeah, there were some very lonely times.

850
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,080
Speaker 4: And when you when you have this battle with the

851
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,319
Speaker 4: queer nation and no one defends you and say, oh

852
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:35,840
Speaker 4: no that's wrong about him, you know, you feel alone

853
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:43,160
Speaker 4: or the nw A situation. I had to wait, and

854
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 4: that's a patience was the lesson there because at first

855
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:49,880
Speaker 4: they fought me, you can't do NWA and I was

856
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 4: mad because eventually the group broke up and I had

857
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 4: to do Dre and ice Cube and Easy separately. And

858
00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:59,399
Speaker 4: that's what God meant for it to be, I guess,

859
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 4: but initially I wanted to do n w A and

860
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 4: Paramount I wasn't big enough, successful enough yet to say

861
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 4: I'm doing it, you know, and later I was. But

862
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,960
Speaker 4: what you have to go through is you're fighting for

863
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 4: n w A and then you hear a track where

864
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 4: ice Cube is rhyming your name with the word bi

865
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:25,719
Speaker 4: centennial and dogging you, and you're like, fuck does brother, No,

866
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 4: I'm in here fighting for him. But sometimes because I

867
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:31,719
Speaker 4: couldn't get them on the show, then oh yeah, yeah,

868
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 4: because he wanted me to get them on to do

869
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 4: fuck the Police, and I wanted to get them on,

870
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 4: but Paramount didn't wasn't ready yet, you know, and and

871
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 4: and down the road, I got to call more shots.

872
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 4: And in life, that's the way it is. The more

873
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,040
Speaker 4: successful you get, then you get to take some chances

874
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:54,840
Speaker 4: and do what you want to do. But initially you

875
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 4: gotta do what Paramount says, do call between a rock

876
00:44:58,680 --> 00:44:59,319
Speaker 4: and a hard places off.

877
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask chance, did you try it?

878
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:01,680
Speaker 1: I didn't work.

879
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 3: Chances. I took that that didn't work well. Paramount was right.

880
00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 4: About what they were saying. If you want to maybe

881
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 4: be in the position to be considered the king when

882
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 4: Johnny leaves, do this show. So when Johnny Leaves. People know,

883
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 4: you know, the show I was doing. I could have

884
00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 4: been a lot more successful and made a lot more

885
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:36,520
Speaker 4: money if I was a little more commercial and if

886
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:37,359
Speaker 4: I listened.

887
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,480
Speaker 3: A little more. But I was hard hitded and I

888
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,640
Speaker 3: had a love for hip hop and black music. And

889
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 3: my thing was, I've said this many times.

890
00:45:48,719 --> 00:45:51,800
Speaker 4: I did the show I loved, and I knew that

891
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,200
Speaker 4: I needed to do more Steve and Edie, you know,

892
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,759
Speaker 4: but I wanted to get Q tip sitting in with

893
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:02,040
Speaker 4: the posse. And the bottom line is, I wouldn't change

894
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 4: a thing. I loved being in that position and being

895
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 4: that guy. And unfortunately they were right. If I wanted

896
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:15,280
Speaker 4: bigger numbers. You know, you can get a huge number

897
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:19,640
Speaker 4: if you do share. But I wanted Tony Braxton.

898
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,239
Speaker 1: But the problem with that is there's no reward for that.

899
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:25,000
Speaker 1: Ain't no reward for being real, right like, So you

900
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,160
Speaker 1: do all of that, but then when the rent do

901
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 1: you know, with everybody that loves you, when they see

902
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:32,879
Speaker 1: you and experience, boy, you'd be keeping it really kept

903
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:33,719
Speaker 1: the real LATTINEO.

904
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just That's why when you look in the

905
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 4: mirror and you're happy and satisfied with who you are.

906
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,880
Speaker 4: That has to be your that has to be your

907
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:50,320
Speaker 4: barometer of success, failure and happiness. I was loving what

908
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 4: I was doing. Two Bobby Brown numbers that night made

909
00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:55,400
Speaker 4: me happy.

910
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:57,239
Speaker 1: That's a jewel, old man. And that's the thing. Like

911
00:46:57,320 --> 00:46:59,920
Speaker 1: even with you and Eddie, right, I always felt like

912
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 1: y'all never let fame confuse your sense of self worth,

913
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:07,400
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like in regardless of how

914
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:10,760
Speaker 1: famous y'all were, y'all, y'all didn't run into the cameras.

915
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,680
Speaker 1: You know, y'all, y'all, y'all coming in out the spotlight

916
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:15,759
Speaker 1: when y'all want to, And it feels like y'all know

917
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,520
Speaker 1: exactly who y'all are, regardless of if all of this

918
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:19,760
Speaker 1: goes away tomorrow.

919
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think sometimes if you have that,

920
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:29,240
Speaker 4: you have to thank God and thank your parents because

921
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 4: that's usually based on your foundation and how you're raised,

922
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 4: how you're taught, and maybe, like I talked about seeing

923
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:42,279
Speaker 4: certain heroes when you're young and how they carry themselves.

924
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 4: You know, before we had the term cancel culture, we

925
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 4: all remember Sammy Davis Junior hugging Richard Nixon, right, and

926
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:56,400
Speaker 4: you're like, oh, okay, so you learn about pr marketing

927
00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:59,760
Speaker 4: and positioning and things like that. I was a student

928
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 4: of show business. You know, if you want to play basketball,

929
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,120
Speaker 4: you're watching somebody crossover in the science of putting your

930
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:11,440
Speaker 4: weight here and shifting it back this way. And you know,

931
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 4: if you're Chris Mullen, you go to the ghetto and

932
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:18,239
Speaker 4: play basketball where the best star. All my life, I've

933
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:21,560
Speaker 4: wanted this, and I've watched the people who were successful

934
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 4: at it and studied it so that one day I

935
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 4: could apply all those things.

936
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:27,719
Speaker 3: I knew who I was.

937
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,879
Speaker 4: I would go see Al Green because my mother loved

938
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 4: Al Green, and I would take her. But I was

939
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,040
Speaker 4: there early when the house lights were still on and

940
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:38,880
Speaker 4: everybody was filing in and there was a stand up

941
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:41,960
Speaker 4: comic on the stage. Because I knew who I was,

942
00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:45,040
Speaker 4: and I was a magician as a kid, so I

943
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,080
Speaker 4: had birds and doves. And when I go to a

944
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:50,799
Speaker 4: bar mitzvah or birthday party to make money, I had

945
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:52,440
Speaker 4: all this shit. My mother would have to rent a

946
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,080
Speaker 4: station wagon to take me. I was a musician. I

947
00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 4: was a drummer, so I had tom toms and cymbals.

948
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 4: That night, I watched Al Green and the stand up

949
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:04,560
Speaker 4: open for him. The dude just walked out with a

950
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 4: juice little glass. He put it on the stool and

951
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:09,359
Speaker 4: everything was from the neck up.

952
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 3: And I'm like, that's what I want to do.

953
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,120
Speaker 4: And be careful what you say in your life, what

954
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:21,080
Speaker 4: you manifest verbally, because my house burned down and I

955
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:24,320
Speaker 4: lost the boxes, the doves, the symbols, the drums, and

956
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,759
Speaker 4: then it was like I graduated and I'm like, I'm

957
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:29,080
Speaker 4: gonna be a stand up because.

958
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:29,799
Speaker 3: I have nothing else.

959
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:33,840
Speaker 4: And by the way, in my junior year, I'm playing

960
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:37,760
Speaker 4: ball every day after classes with Steve Harvey. So we're dreaming,

961
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:43,040
Speaker 4: we're talking about it. And then Steve left Kent in

962
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:45,320
Speaker 4: his junior year and we didn't have cell phones.

963
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:47,839
Speaker 3: So I'm like, if you don't get Steve mama's number,

964
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 3: wh's Steve?

965
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:49,480
Speaker 1: You know?

966
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 4: And he didn't come back, you know. But in our

967
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:54,480
Speaker 4: junior year we did a lot of dreaming. We went

968
00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:57,040
Speaker 4: to see Franklin JII perform. We went to see Dick

969
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:03,480
Speaker 4: Gregory perform. And that's my biggest message, dream because you

970
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,360
Speaker 4: can manifest a dream into reality.

971
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:10,480
Speaker 3: I know this. It's not a coincidence. It's not just me.

972
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:13,480
Speaker 4: I was on the campus of Kent State with Steve Harvey.

973
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:19,080
Speaker 4: We were dreaming and right now Steve is fine on Time.

974
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:23,279
Speaker 1: Was there a moment where fame ever did confuse your

975
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:24,080
Speaker 1: sense of self worth?

976
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,320
Speaker 3: Like, how do you mean that?

977
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,240
Speaker 1: Like when you was at your like the height of everything,

978
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:34,440
Speaker 1: then you're all cultural everywhere, Like in just the cover

979
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:37,399
Speaker 1: of Time magazine that did you walk into Paramont say

980
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:38,800
Speaker 1: I need ten million dollars a season.

981
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:44,399
Speaker 3: The bottom line is envy and I have to keep

982
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:49,720
Speaker 3: reprising his thought about that light. Dude.

983
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:53,399
Speaker 4: I was just always maybe God, maybe I have low

984
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:55,879
Speaker 4: self esteem as a black man, but I was glad

985
00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:56,560
Speaker 4: to be in the game.

986
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,520
Speaker 3: I was glad to have an opportunity. I felt blessed

987
00:50:59,520 --> 00:50:59,880
Speaker 3: every day.

988
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:03,520
Speaker 4: I prayed before that screen flew every night because I

989
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:06,960
Speaker 4: thanked God every night before when.

990
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,640
Speaker 3: That motherfucker was holding the old ursineo and you.

991
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 4: See the silhouette behind that screen, that screen flew right

992
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 4: before you saw that silhouette light go on. I was

993
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:18,920
Speaker 4: praying and thanking God for all these moments, for these

994
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 4: things because I'm a kid from Cleveland. The closest I

995
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,120
Speaker 4: got to fame was my uncle used to run numbers

996
00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 4: with Don King. That's the first time I saw Rose

997
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 4: Royce Don King was in town with Ali, and you know,

998
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,320
Speaker 4: I was a dreamer and now I was living my dream.

999
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:40,680
Speaker 4: So I was always grateful, and it sometimes can keep

1000
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:42,440
Speaker 4: you from becoming arrogant.

1001
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:47,279
Speaker 1: You know. Gratitude turns what we have into enough. So

1002
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 1: that's what you had. You had extreme gratitude, so what

1003
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:50,839
Speaker 1: you had was enough.

1004
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:52,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, when I got to Hollywood, man, I used to

1005
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:55,480
Speaker 3: I used to go to the supermarket.

1006
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 4: And there's days when I would walk around the supermarket

1007
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:00,960
Speaker 4: and pretend to shop, putting stuff in my car. But

1008
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 4: the stuff in the little baby part of the cart,

1009
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:06,560
Speaker 4: the little baby seat, I had stuff in there.

1010
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:09,200
Speaker 3: That stuff was what I was eating, you know.

1011
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,439
Speaker 4: So I was eating in the supermarket and pushing it around,

1012
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 4: and when I got full, left the cart and run

1013
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:17,960
Speaker 4: out the store, or walk fast out the store. I

1014
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:20,359
Speaker 4: would go there on the I knew a day when

1015
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:25,000
Speaker 4: the Jimmy Dean's lady would cook sausages in a little

1016
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,200
Speaker 4: electric fryar and she put toothpicks in them on the plate.

1017
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:30,239
Speaker 4: I would go in there and talk to her and

1018
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 4: eat ten sausages and make her laugh. And that was breakfast,

1019
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:39,360
Speaker 4: you know. So when things took off for me. I

1020
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:42,160
Speaker 4: was just grateful to have a meal.

1021
00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:44,080
Speaker 1: What about that in your show?

1022
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,480
Speaker 6: In your show, right, has there ever been anybody that

1023
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:51,040
Speaker 6: would talk shit about you but then one come on

1024
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:52,719
Speaker 6: your show and you let it happen.

1025
00:52:57,480 --> 00:52:57,680
Speaker 1: Yeah?

1026
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:02,319
Speaker 3: Once, yeah, at one time, but for the most part,

1027
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 3: you know what, Oh, I forgot her name.

1028
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:13,239
Speaker 4: But it was somebody who you know now that I

1029
00:53:13,360 --> 00:53:19,000
Speaker 4: think maybe there are jokes that weren't too much, but.

1030
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 3: I forgot it. But she was a comic, another comedian. Yeah,

1031
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 3: it was. It was a young comic and I was like, no,

1032
00:53:26,480 --> 00:53:31,279
Speaker 3: not now, keep that same energy when you was calling

1033
00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:37,359
Speaker 3: me the F word on stage, you know. But yeah, yeah,

1034
00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:41,239
Speaker 3: which is rough on a black man, because you know,

1035
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:42,560
Speaker 3: you know that whole history.

1036
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:47,160
Speaker 4: I was one of those guys that would put the

1037
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:49,200
Speaker 4: business before my personal feelings.

1038
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:53,879
Speaker 3: I've had Spike Lee call me and uncle tom mm hmm.

1039
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:58,000
Speaker 3: But when it's time for Spike Lee to promote his ship,

1040
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:02,239
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, I'm here, come on. You know.

1041
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,320
Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, Spike was mad at me

1042
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:06,560
Speaker 4: because I probably didn't give him the date. I think

1043
00:54:06,719 --> 00:54:10,200
Speaker 4: he wanted a certain date and it sweeps and all

1044
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 4: that date's taken That Friday night date, and he got

1045
00:54:12,719 --> 00:54:15,799
Speaker 4: mad at me and you know, call me and Uncle Tom,

1046
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:18,160
Speaker 4: and it's like you would think that we would never speak.

1047
00:54:18,239 --> 00:54:22,040
Speaker 4: But I walked up to him at a Laker game,

1048
00:54:22,080 --> 00:54:25,480
Speaker 4: a Laker Knicks game, grabbed him, dude, come on.

1049
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:26,919
Speaker 3: Through some time next price.

1050
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 1: I never understood that though, Like how could Spike Lee

1051
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:32,560
Speaker 1: called call Arsenio Hall on Uncle Tom, like like like

1052
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:34,440
Speaker 1: you was doing do the right thing every night? Way

1053
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:35,480
Speaker 1: he was fighting for black.

1054
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:38,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, and you know he was, like I said,

1055
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:41,839
Speaker 4: he people, you make mistakes, you say stuff a lot

1056
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:42,200
Speaker 4: of times.

1057
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 3: By the fact when I hugged him, we talked and

1058
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 3: it was over.

1059
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:50,920
Speaker 4: You realize in the moment he said that because he

1060
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:55,160
Speaker 4: didn't get the date, he wanted to promote you know whatever,

1061
00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:55,880
Speaker 4: the Muncle.

1062
00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:59,239
Speaker 5: Tom is wrong, especially when you already had people that

1063
00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 5: were feeling like that about you. So for him to

1064
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:03,120
Speaker 5: echo it, it made it, you know, bigger.

1065
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's probably why he went for that Achilles

1066
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:10,320
Speaker 4: heel or that spot you know in the world. But

1067
00:55:11,040 --> 00:55:14,200
Speaker 4: I think sometimes to hold a grudge, you have to

1068
00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:16,759
Speaker 4: keep that ugly thing with you.

1069
00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:22,279
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's it's easier for you to let it. Gold guys.

1070
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:24,359
Speaker 5: Okay, wait, I was trying. I've been trying to get

1071
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:26,640
Speaker 5: this in. You got really personal just about like a

1072
00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:29,279
Speaker 5: dating life as well too. In this book, you talk

1073
00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:32,560
Speaker 5: about Pamela Anderson and Paula Abdul and what.

1074
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:34,400
Speaker 4: By the way, one of the reasons I wanted to

1075
00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:37,960
Speaker 4: tell the Pamela Anderson story is because I don't know

1076
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 4: if it's.

1077
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:42,160
Speaker 3: Changed, but the older comics that was that was the

1078
00:55:42,239 --> 00:55:42,800
Speaker 3: kind of advice.

1079
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 4: It's like, Yo, Johnny Witherspoon in this book, he stayed

1080
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:48,839
Speaker 4: away from white women, you know, and you're a young

1081
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,880
Speaker 4: kind You're like, okay, you know, because there were no

1082
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:54,799
Speaker 4: white women in my neighborhood and I didn't know why.

1083
00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:57,880
Speaker 4: And of course the night I walked into the comedy

1084
00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 4: store with Pamela Anderson, Johnny Witherspoon looked at me and

1085
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:05,040
Speaker 4: did that tungular thing that you what I tell you,

1086
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:08,839
Speaker 4: you know, And just I wanted to take people through

1087
00:56:09,719 --> 00:56:17,240
Speaker 4: that growth process of what the ogs told you and you're.

1088
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:15,960
Speaker 1: Talking about like.

1089
00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:18,320
Speaker 3: That.

1090
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:21,879
Speaker 4: And had an argument because Tupac in an article said,

1091
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:25,400
Speaker 4: uh something about Quincy and our Sineo and some of

1092
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:27,520
Speaker 4: these brothers and these white women you see with white

1093
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:31,279
Speaker 4: you know, it's like back then that was a no

1094
00:56:31,520 --> 00:56:34,120
Speaker 4: no to the older brothers who were talking to you,

1095
00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:36,200
Speaker 4: and and they were trying to tell you, that's a

1096
00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:40,040
Speaker 4: problem you know that you know, And and it was

1097
00:56:40,200 --> 00:56:43,880
Speaker 4: some people in your demo will not like you if

1098
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:48,239
Speaker 4: they see you in Jet magazine with a playmate, you know,

1099
00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:50,239
Speaker 4: So he was trying to protect me.

1100
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:54,000
Speaker 5: Was she the first white celebrity that you had dated

1101
00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:55,959
Speaker 5: or that just the one that we know about now.

1102
00:56:58,040 --> 00:57:00,080
Speaker 3: Before her? I and I think I talk about this

1103
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:00,480
Speaker 3: in the book.

1104
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:05,440
Speaker 4: I was at an ABC function and met Emma Sam's

1105
00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 4: who was about they were about to replace Luke and

1106
00:57:08,239 --> 00:57:12,320
Speaker 4: Laura on the soap opera with Luke and Holly. And

1107
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 4: I met her the day she got the role and

1108
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:15,280
Speaker 4: we went out for a minute.

1109
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:16,800
Speaker 1: And was that why it ended?

1110
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,160
Speaker 5: Because you in the book, but also just whenever you

1111
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:21,400
Speaker 5: have mentioned it, you always make it like it just

1112
00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 5: was like a quick thing. But what did it end

1113
00:57:23,120 --> 00:57:24,520
Speaker 5: because you were like, all right, I can't do this

1114
00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:26,240
Speaker 5: like career, Why is it not gonna.

1115
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:32,160
Speaker 4: Well, everything ended back then because I was young and

1116
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:37,000
Speaker 4: I was busy the woman in your life at that

1117
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 4: time in your career. I don't know if it's like

1118
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:40,560
Speaker 4: this for everybody. But she's always going to be on

1119
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:43,080
Speaker 4: the be the chick on the side. You know, show

1120
00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:47,520
Speaker 4: business has to be your woman, or you have to

1121
00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:50,000
Speaker 4: be a man who's probably not doing the right thing

1122
00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 4: in your relationship because you I was on the road.

1123
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:56,040
Speaker 4: That's all that was important to me, So relationships weren't

1124
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:56,520
Speaker 4: gonna work.

1125
00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:01,400
Speaker 3: Thank God. Actually, thank god.

1126
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:05,280
Speaker 4: My life worked out the way it did because my woman,

1127
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:09,440
Speaker 4: who I've been with for twenty years, I can't imagine

1128
00:58:09,480 --> 00:58:16,400
Speaker 4: my life without her. That's the only thing that's important

1129
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,560
Speaker 4: to me. She's my best friend. The only reason I

1130
00:58:19,680 --> 00:58:21,560
Speaker 4: want to get on a plane and go home is.

1131
00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:23,400
Speaker 3: Because she's there, you know.

1132
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:29,600
Speaker 4: And to eventually become famous, get your paper, and find

1133
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:35,000
Speaker 4: a successful relationship of that nature. You're like, God knew

1134
00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:37,720
Speaker 4: what he was doing, because you know, I could have

1135
00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:41,840
Speaker 4: had somebody pregnant or been married, you know, when I

1136
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:46,120
Speaker 4: was a guest on MERV Griffin. You know that, and

1137
00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:48,800
Speaker 4: I never would have been in the situation I'm in

1138
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:51,120
Speaker 4: now and I have an incredible woman in my life.

1139
00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:54,480
Speaker 5: Now, I was just gonna say, you've always protected that.

1140
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:57,520
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, so, but and now you're talking more about it.

1141
00:58:57,680 --> 00:58:59,120
Speaker 5: Is it just because of the book, or are you

1142
00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:00,840
Speaker 5: at a place where you just want people to see

1143
00:59:00,920 --> 00:59:01,960
Speaker 5: that love that you're asked.

1144
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:05,360
Speaker 4: Well, when Charlemagne and I talked, I knew that was

1145
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:07,280
Speaker 4: That's why I wanted to think think about it, you know,

1146
00:59:07,360 --> 00:59:11,640
Speaker 4: because I've always been a very private person. I'm a

1147
00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:14,800
Speaker 4: loner and I'm very private because i know the more

1148
00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:17,000
Speaker 4: you give people, the more they have to hurt you with.

1149
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 4: So I'm very private about my life and I knew

1150
00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:23,320
Speaker 4: this book would make me talk about.

1151
00:59:24,760 --> 00:59:28,040
Speaker 3: You know, I also protect the one I love. I don't.

1152
00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:30,560
Speaker 4: I don't put my woman out there because you put

1153
00:59:30,560 --> 00:59:32,480
Speaker 4: your woman out there, you put your child out there.

1154
00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:34,200
Speaker 3: I remember as far.

1155
00:59:34,240 --> 00:59:38,360
Speaker 4: Back as Kathy Lee Gifford and she put Cody out there,

1156
00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:40,760
Speaker 4: and we do jokes about Cody.

1157
00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:45,040
Speaker 3: We talk about Cody and everything that's ever gone on

1158
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:46,560
Speaker 3: in my life. I've learned something from it.

1159
00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:49,600
Speaker 4: So I get to this point where I'm famous, and

1160
00:59:49,640 --> 00:59:51,440
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm not gonna give them the stuff they

1161
00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:51,920
Speaker 4: can hurt me with.

1162
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:54,240
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give them show business. That's all I'm giving them.

1163
00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:57,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, and if that because a lot of times there

1164
00:59:57,080 --> 01:00:00,320
Speaker 4: are people famous for their personal life. We know people

1165
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,040
Speaker 4: we don't we don't know what their art is or

1166
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:06,240
Speaker 4: we don't. We haven't seen heard a record, but we're

1167
01:00:06,280 --> 01:00:10,160
Speaker 4: talking about their girlfriend or their boyfriend. And uh, I've

1168
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:12,960
Speaker 4: always said, if show business ain't enough, if my performance

1169
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:16,040
Speaker 4: ain't enough, fuck y'all.

1170
01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:17,680
Speaker 3: I'm not giving y'all the personal stuff.

1171
01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:20,200
Speaker 1: I got two quick questions, where you go there? Writing

1172
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:22,160
Speaker 1: this book force you to confront any lies you might

1173
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 1: have been telling yourself.

1174
01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:32,240
Speaker 3: Hmm, any lies that I might have been telling myself. No, because.

1175
01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:37,080
Speaker 4: Part of who I am is is dealing with dealing

1176
01:00:37,080 --> 01:00:38,720
Speaker 4: with the fact that, you know, my ass is big,

1177
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:45,360
Speaker 4: my fingers along, and I'm from Cleveland. You know, I've

1178
01:00:45,400 --> 01:00:47,960
Speaker 4: heard people call my hometown the mistake on the Lake.

1179
01:00:48,640 --> 01:00:54,240
Speaker 3: So yeah, So the bottom line is, I'm pretty real.

1180
01:00:56,760 --> 01:00:58,880
Speaker 4: I know it's it's weird, but it can help you

1181
01:01:00,040 --> 01:01:02,760
Speaker 4: to look in the mirror and tell yourself the truth.

1182
01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 1: First and last, what do you want people to unlearn

1183
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:11,440
Speaker 1: about you after reading this?

1184
01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:14,240
Speaker 3: You know what.

1185
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:19,440
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to educate or teach people anything. I

1186
01:01:19,600 --> 01:01:23,200
Speaker 4: see the book as another form of entertainment. It's a

1187
01:01:23,320 --> 01:01:27,400
Speaker 4: story that can motivate you. It's about a kid who

1188
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:33,240
Speaker 4: dreamed you can manifest success. I think, and like I

1189
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:35,600
Speaker 4: told you about Robin think. I think we know inside

1190
01:01:35,640 --> 01:01:37,840
Speaker 4: if we look at our kids and we listen to them,

1191
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:40,640
Speaker 4: there's a dream in there and we can help them

1192
01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:42,840
Speaker 4: make that dream come true.

1193
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:44,520
Speaker 3: You know.

1194
01:01:44,560 --> 01:01:47,480
Speaker 4: I remember one of my last images of Kobe Bryant

1195
01:01:48,880 --> 01:01:53,800
Speaker 4: was him taking Gigi to a Connecticut game or something.

1196
01:01:54,440 --> 01:01:58,240
Speaker 4: I watched him seeing what she loved, seeing what she did,

1197
01:01:59,120 --> 01:02:00,320
Speaker 4: and trying to nurture that and.

1198
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:04,280
Speaker 3: Help with that. And that's what we always want to

1199
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:07,040
Speaker 3: do with our kids. And so I don't know.

1200
01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:10,760
Speaker 4: This book is just another project for me and and uh,

1201
01:02:11,120 --> 01:02:15,480
Speaker 4: it's entertainment, you know in a sense, and sharing my

1202
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:19,120
Speaker 4: story and hopefully somebody will say, I'm not going to

1203
01:02:19,160 --> 01:02:21,720
Speaker 4: give up, because the day you give up your blessing

1204
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:22,640
Speaker 4: might be tomorrow.

1205
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:26,120
Speaker 1: It's definitely the real story of our senior Hall. It's

1206
01:02:26,160 --> 01:02:27,880
Speaker 1: not just about it, you know, a guy with a

1207
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:30,720
Speaker 1: late night show man. Go get our Senio a memoir

1208
01:02:31,080 --> 01:02:33,880
Speaker 1: available everywhere you buy books now, and just salute to you,

1209
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:34,360
Speaker 1: my brother.

1210
01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:39,080
Speaker 4: I don't even know how you got my number. We

1211
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:42,480
Speaker 4: had just come out of the pandemic and I didn't

1212
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:45,200
Speaker 4: know what you stand up. You go to clubs and

1213
01:02:45,240 --> 01:02:48,440
Speaker 4: people were wearing masks and we were in the parking

1214
01:02:48,520 --> 01:02:53,480
Speaker 4: lot of the venues performing and it was a depressing time.

1215
01:02:53,520 --> 01:02:55,000
Speaker 4: And I think you and I have the same lawyer.

1216
01:02:55,080 --> 01:02:57,720
Speaker 4: Maybe yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, I think so.

1217
01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 1: I don't remember. I remember I was trying to get

1218
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:01,440
Speaker 1: you to do the podcast.

1219
01:03:02,520 --> 01:03:05,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, yeah, so I was thinking that's how you

1220
01:03:05,920 --> 01:03:06,520
Speaker 3: got my number.

1221
01:03:06,560 --> 01:03:07,680
Speaker 1: But probably I don't remember.

1222
01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:12,200
Speaker 3: Maybe on a bathroom wall somewhere, but I think.

1223
01:03:12,040 --> 01:03:13,680
Speaker 1: We exchanged numbers when I did your show, when you

1224
01:03:13,880 --> 01:03:14,840
Speaker 1: when you brought the show back.

1225
01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 3: Oh yes, yep, oh yeah, yeah. I forgot about the reboot.

1226
01:03:18,200 --> 01:03:20,960
Speaker 4: Yes, but thank you for the call because you gave

1227
01:03:21,080 --> 01:03:24,600
Speaker 4: me something to do for a couple of years. Man,

1228
01:03:25,280 --> 01:03:29,280
Speaker 4: it was a lot of fun, and I think I

1229
01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:29,919
Speaker 4: did it well.

1230
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:30,720
Speaker 1: I'm glad you did.

1231
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:30,920
Speaker 3: No.

1232
01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:33,120
Speaker 1: This is one of the best entertainment memoirs I've ever

1233
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:34,920
Speaker 1: read in my life. That it said with no bias,

1234
01:03:35,040 --> 01:03:37,560
Speaker 1: not just biased for publishing it, not biased because I

1235
01:03:37,640 --> 01:03:39,800
Speaker 1: look at you as an inspiration. But this is actually

1236
01:03:39,880 --> 01:03:42,040
Speaker 1: one of the best entertainment memoirs I ever read in

1237
01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:42,439
Speaker 1: my life.

1238
01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:43,800
Speaker 3: You could I just add one more thing.

1239
01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:47,280
Speaker 4: When you talk about dreaming and teaching and what the

1240
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:49,800
Speaker 4: book does and all that kind of stuff. What you

1241
01:03:50,080 --> 01:03:54,440
Speaker 4: just said is important. A black man saying to me

1242
01:03:54,560 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 4: on the phone, I want to do this because I

1243
01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:02,560
Speaker 4: want more black office. I want more books in the

1244
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:07,360
Speaker 4: hands of Nubian people. Of what you did calling me

1245
01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:10,880
Speaker 4: was so important and to do it with you, because

1246
01:04:10,880 --> 01:04:12,919
Speaker 4: that's what I told Nina, and that's what I told

1247
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:17,560
Speaker 4: my publicist. I gotta do it because he's trying to

1248
01:04:17,640 --> 01:04:20,960
Speaker 4: do something and I believe in what he's trying to do.

1249
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:24,360
Speaker 4: And I knew your history and your parents being educators,

1250
01:04:24,440 --> 01:04:28,400
Speaker 4: and it was so it's so important for us. Sometimes

1251
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:31,600
Speaker 4: we don't work together, we will. We will work with

1252
01:04:31,720 --> 01:04:34,000
Speaker 4: anybody but our own I don't know why. And then

1253
01:04:34,040 --> 01:04:40,520
Speaker 4: you know, and there's a lot of that in us,

1254
01:04:40,600 --> 01:04:42,840
Speaker 4: even when we don't say it. But I foxed with

1255
01:04:42,960 --> 01:04:46,320
Speaker 4: this nigga and got a book.

1256
01:04:46,320 --> 01:04:48,160
Speaker 1: And you'll freed me a long time ago because I

1257
01:04:48,200 --> 01:04:49,520
Speaker 1: you know, I used to want to do late night

1258
01:04:49,560 --> 01:04:51,480
Speaker 1: television because of ur senior house. You know, you do

1259
01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:53,480
Speaker 1: radio and you get a talk show and you think, like,

1260
01:04:53,520 --> 01:04:54,920
Speaker 1: I gotta make it at the late night hosts. Got

1261
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:56,400
Speaker 1: to make it into the late night host And when

1262
01:04:56,440 --> 01:04:58,680
Speaker 1: you was on press for coming to America too, somebody

1263
01:04:58,800 --> 01:05:00,840
Speaker 1: asked you. They said, you know, who do you think

1264
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:03,760
Speaker 1: is like the closest to you in this generation? And

1265
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 1: you said, I would say somebody like Charlamagne, but he

1266
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:08,320
Speaker 1: does radio and you watch it on YouTube, and you

1267
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:10,320
Speaker 1: know that's like where people go to get I guess

1268
01:05:10,360 --> 01:05:12,840
Speaker 1: that's so called late night fixed. I remember you said that.

1269
01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:16,160
Speaker 3: I was like, yo, hey, that song. Everything must change.

1270
01:05:16,640 --> 01:05:19,880
Speaker 4: The business is that way too, that late night format

1271
01:05:19,960 --> 01:05:24,040
Speaker 4: that Johnny created. He was the king, but for budget

1272
01:05:24,120 --> 01:05:29,520
Speaker 4: reasons and for the advancement of technology. This shit has

1273
01:05:29,600 --> 01:05:33,919
Speaker 4: to change. And what you're doing now when Tupac would

1274
01:05:33,920 --> 01:05:38,520
Speaker 4: call me on the landline and say, I need to

1275
01:05:38,560 --> 01:05:40,600
Speaker 4: come on the show Man because they trying to make

1276
01:05:40,680 --> 01:05:43,400
Speaker 4: me take an age test before I do poetic justice.

1277
01:05:43,840 --> 01:05:47,240
Speaker 4: And I ain't gonna really fuck Janet, right, okay, So

1278
01:05:47,360 --> 01:05:49,600
Speaker 4: why should I have to take an age test? And

1279
01:05:50,640 --> 01:05:53,160
Speaker 4: back then, we didn't have the word twitter, we didn't

1280
01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:56,640
Speaker 4: have that. It wasn't a bluebird, it was a blackbird.

1281
01:05:56,720 --> 01:06:00,800
Speaker 4: I was the guy you called and came in, talked

1282
01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:02,840
Speaker 4: about your problems of the business, of what you were

1283
01:06:02,880 --> 01:06:06,480
Speaker 4: going through, iced Tea coming on and explaining cop killer,

1284
01:06:06,800 --> 01:06:10,520
Speaker 4: explaining you know, I'm not really killing cops, Arnold Schwarzen,

1285
01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:13,200
Speaker 4: theyg ain't really determinator. This is a piece of art

1286
01:06:13,280 --> 01:06:16,200
Speaker 4: trying to give a message. And so what I was

1287
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:18,160
Speaker 4: doing when I watch you, when I listen to you,

1288
01:06:18,240 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 4: I'm like, he's doing it. And the medium has come

1289
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:24,120
Speaker 4: to a different place. You know, there's no curtain, there's

1290
01:06:24,160 --> 01:06:27,520
Speaker 4: no a mcman, there's no Doc Severnson. But what Charlamagne

1291
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:31,520
Speaker 4: is doing is what I did for this time, for

1292
01:06:31,680 --> 01:06:35,320
Speaker 4: this culture. And look how it's evolved.

1293
01:06:35,720 --> 01:06:37,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I mean it got the two ladies

1294
01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:38,720
Speaker 3: now and of course envy.

1295
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:41,120
Speaker 1: It was just free for me because it just teaches

1296
01:06:41,160 --> 01:06:43,000
Speaker 1: you you don't always have to be chasing something. And

1297
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:45,520
Speaker 1: it goes back to gratitude. Gratitude turns what we have

1298
01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:46,800
Speaker 1: into enough.

1299
01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:51,040
Speaker 2: Hello there you having sitio hall, ladies and gentlemen, thank

1300
01:06:51,080 --> 01:06:53,000
Speaker 2: you so much for joining us. The memoir is out

1301
01:06:53,120 --> 01:06:54,880
Speaker 2: right now and make sure you pick it up.

1302
01:06:55,240 --> 01:06:56,040
Speaker 3: And we appreciate you.

1303
01:06:56,120 --> 01:06:56,800
Speaker 1: O G so much.

1304
01:06:57,400 --> 01:06:59,160
Speaker 3: Thank you man, I appreciate y'all.

1305
01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:04,120
Speaker 4: Glad to finally meet the other three of the foursome

1306
01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:06,480
Speaker 4: in person thing and the Porto Rican do.

1307
01:07:06,560 --> 01:07:12,320
Speaker 3: With the Boss Breakfast club is all Citior Halls.

1308
01:07:13,680 --> 01:07:16,000
Speaker 1: Hold up every day a week ago.

1309
01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:18,160
Speaker 3: Pake your glass up the breakfast club.

1310
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:19,640
Speaker 1: You're finish. Y'all done,