Speaker 1: My Next Guest is an Emmy Award winning producer and
Speaker 1: the writer, director, and actor known for hit ABC sitcoms Blackish, Grownish,
Speaker 1: Mixed Dish. He's also known for directing You People, starring
Speaker 1: Eddie Murphy on Netflix, among other things. Of course, now
Speaker 1: he's got a new podcast on Audible called The Unusual Suspects,
Speaker 1: and it appears that he's taking over my studio. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't even know whatever to think. One and only
Speaker 1: Kenya Barris is in the house. What's up, big time?
Speaker 1: How are you man?
Speaker 2: I'm good, bro. I just want to make a couple
Speaker 2: of quick changes.
Speaker 3: Oh my lord, that's my book, Just a.
Speaker 2: Couple of.
Speaker 3: What could I have done better? What could I have
Speaker 3: done better?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: Tell me, how are you? Bro?
Speaker 3: It's good to see you, my brother. Is good to
Speaker 3: see you.
Speaker 1: First of all, First order of business, with all that
Speaker 1: you've accomplished, with all the great things that you continue
Speaker 1: to do in Hollywood and beyond. Here you are are
Speaker 1: with a new podcast. Talk to me about this The
Speaker 1: Usual Suspects. What it's all about.
Speaker 2: I got with Malcolm, we became friends. I approached him
Speaker 2: at a restaurant and always my joke is like when
Speaker 2: you see a writer in public, it's kind of like
Speaker 2: seeing a porn star, you know, because it's like you've
Speaker 2: seen somebody who you have this intimate relationship with, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, and you don't see him out
Speaker 2: And so when I saw him, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: and I was like I did the whole I never
Speaker 2: do this, but like, he couldn't have been sweeter. And
Speaker 2: we struck up a friendship since then, and we kind
Speaker 2: of realized that we looked at things as he's a
Speaker 2: million times smarter than me, but we looked at things.
Speaker 2: We both like to look at the thing behind the thing,
Speaker 2: and we kind of thought we were a couple, but
Speaker 2: at the same time not our couple, and we I'm
Speaker 2: a huge fan of his revisionist history podcasts and his books,
Speaker 2: and we was like, let's get together and talk to
Speaker 2: people we both love that other people love but might
Speaker 2: not know that they love him, or why they love him,
Speaker 2: or who exactly we are. And that's that's kind of
Speaker 2: the point behind the podcast.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1: Shoot, I wish I would have thought about it my
Speaker 1: damn self, But that's why you are who you are.
Speaker 3: And I'm just little old me. I'm just little low me.
Speaker 3: I mean how much?
Speaker 1: How how interested are you in really really doing this?
Speaker 1: Because you're a doer. Some of us are just talkers
Speaker 1: for crying out loud. But you've done a lot, You've
Speaker 1: accomplished a lot. What is it going to be like
Speaker 1: for you to be in front of the microphone? And
Speaker 1: not only that, keep in mind that even in the
Speaker 1: age of podcasting, it almost seems like a video is
Speaker 1: attached to every podcast, So you're going to be seen
Speaker 1: and heard more from a literal perspective. And it's not
Speaker 1: just your name and people knowing the name and that's
Speaker 1: the man who does this great work. But now they'll
Speaker 1: see you and they'll know you. How ready are you
Speaker 1: for that?
Speaker 2: Well, we did it, so it's finished, so so it's
Speaker 2: coming out, so we will we will see. I was
Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'm I got a little bit more
Speaker 2: comfortable being in front of the camera doing blackf but
Speaker 2: I still feel like you can rob me with a camera.
Speaker 2: Deon Cole says, you can rob him with a snake,
Speaker 2: you can rob me with a camera. Like but I
Speaker 2: do I do like asking questions. I think that everybody's
Speaker 2: story is amazing. You know what I'm saying, even the
Speaker 2: time we've spent just talking about just like everybody's story,
Speaker 2: if you just sit out and talk to anybody, everybody's
Speaker 2: story is amazing. And we got to talk to some
Speaker 2: truly amazing people who had truly amazing stories. And one
Speaker 2: of the things that we I guess, like the narrative,
Speaker 2: you know, thematic that we were looking for everybody's like
Speaker 2: is there something that people who have achieved great things?
Speaker 2: Is there something in them that we could kind of
Speaker 2: find a narrative to. And there were some things I'm saying,
Speaker 2: relationships to mothers or surrogate mothers, relationships to you know,
Speaker 2: passion compared to compulsion, compared to you know, ambition, But
Speaker 2: like in general, it was really just amazing center and
Speaker 2: listening to people that we all kind of had our
Speaker 2: own like sort of secret private love relate relationship with.
Speaker 1: You know, when I look at you and I think
Speaker 1: about the great work that you've done throughout the years,
Speaker 1: I guess the question that I think about asking you
Speaker 1: often is what would you say you bring to Hollywood,
Speaker 1: to television, to movies, et cetera. That's an aberration that's different,
Speaker 1: not than what other people have brought.
Speaker 2: A bunch of luck. Now I feel like I think
Speaker 2: I you know, you know, and just entire same thing.
Speaker 2: I think that you do same thing. I think that
Speaker 2: a lot of people do. We come from a different
Speaker 2: place that Hollywood was not used to, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, And I try to bring the most authentic
Speaker 2: version of who I am, the most version of telling
Speaker 2: stories and also the most authentic version of other people's stories.
Speaker 2: I think that is for me. I don't like to
Speaker 2: play the you know, the game of like trying to
Speaker 2: say to you know, reach everybody. I want to reach
Speaker 2: the people who want to hear the truth. And I
Speaker 2: think that's something that we do in this podcast, and
Speaker 2: then I, you know, I won't hopefully do just in
Speaker 2: the in the work that I do.
Speaker 1: Why do you think you've been able to pull it off,
Speaker 1: particularly in ways that most people, especially most black folks,
Speaker 1: haven't been able to pull off. Obviously, the road or
Speaker 1: the obstacles that Hollywood presents and what have you.
Speaker 3: That's a challenging and of itself.
Speaker 1: But you've clearly conquered a lot of the obstacles that
Speaker 1: have been placed in the path of many many of
Speaker 1: us that hasn't been the case for you, at least
Speaker 1: from them from our vantage point, how do you think
Speaker 1: you've been able to pull it off?
Speaker 2: I mean, first and foremost, like you know, not just
Speaker 2: as a good I mean, you know, obviously God what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Like, you know, I think he has plans
Speaker 2: and He's given me, you know, some some blessings and
Speaker 2: a destination that has a journey for me. So I
Speaker 2: always want to, you know, take that first. I think
Speaker 2: that I also feel, like you know, I started from
Speaker 2: the bottom I was a PA and work my way up.
Speaker 2: I think that's something that doesn't happen as much anymore,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. People kind of get thrust
Speaker 2: into it and they aren't quite ready because the place
Speaker 2: that they're thrust into they haven't seen all the stuff
Speaker 2: that can come before. I think working your way up
Speaker 2: and learning that, you know, what everybody's job is, what
Speaker 2: everybody's name is, that everybody's job is important, and having
Speaker 2: respect for that, and just like really really being curious,
Speaker 2: Like I'm really really curious about a lot of different stuff,
Speaker 2: and so I'm being curious and trying to answer my
Speaker 2: curiosities and then do it in an entertaining way. I
Speaker 2: think that's sort of if there's been anything that's sort
Speaker 2: of been. The thing that I try to do is
Speaker 2: like take stuff that people are curious about and how
Speaker 2: to answer it back, and not just answer from one
Speaker 2: point of view. Make sure you put enough different people
Speaker 2: in different characters. Me and Malcolm are different but the
Speaker 2: same in some aspects. But make sure you don't come
Speaker 2: out from just one point of view. Come at it
Speaker 2: from a lot of different points of view, and be
Speaker 2: open to like people disagreeing, like you disagree with your
Speaker 2: co hosts and people all the time. I think that's
Speaker 2: what makes some of the best stories.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm wondering what do you feel about the
Speaker 1: advent of podcast and not only that, seemingly everybody having
Speaker 1: their own production company in this day and age, venturing
Speaker 1: into a world that some would say you've now mastered.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the proliferation of it, just
Speaker 1: the activity in the industry now more so than ever before.
Speaker 1: Because I imagine somebody like yourself has an idea about
Speaker 1: who's qualified to be in this space and who isn't.
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker 2: I love it, you know what I'm saying. I love it.
Speaker 2: And the reason I love it is, you know, I
Speaker 2: you know, I look up you know, I look at you.
Speaker 2: The difference between you, a difference between Cam and May's,
Speaker 2: the difference between shann and the difference between you know,
Speaker 2: Oprah or whoever. You know what I'm saying, people or
Speaker 2: you know whatever. And I feel like there's a I think,
Speaker 2: finally there's a lot of diversity, and I think it's
Speaker 2: really important. I also feel like it will show eventually
Speaker 2: that the cream will rise, which I think is really
Speaker 2: important because I think that everybody can't do something, and
Speaker 2: once everybody thinks they can, it kind of actually makes
Speaker 2: the people who can do it a little bit more special.
Speaker 2: So in a little bit of an asshole way, I
Speaker 2: love that body's trying to do it. I love. One
Speaker 2: of my favorite things is like, people are coming from
Speaker 2: my house and my house is decent. My boys I
Speaker 2: grew up with will be like, man, I should start writing,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, man, because it's just that easy.
Speaker 2: Everybody can do it, you should start doing it too,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. It's like, I think the
Speaker 2: idea of you know, we're in a place where the
Speaker 2: media and the tools have allowed people feel like everybody
Speaker 2: can do it. Everybody can't do it, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. We'll see if I can do it, But
Speaker 2: I feel like there are certain people who are good
Speaker 2: at what they do, and you got to give everybody
Speaker 2: a chance so that it will actually the cream will
Speaker 2: rise and people will say, oh, that dude is actually really.
Speaker 3: Special when you look at right now.
Speaker 1: Particularly, let me transition for a quick second to what
Speaker 1: you live in Los Angeles and what it's transpired in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles with the wildfires, obviously has been catastrophic, so
Speaker 1: many people being displaced, so many people losing their homes,
Speaker 1: et cetera.
Speaker 3: You have folks who ain't even.
Speaker 1: Political getting a bit political because they're disgusted with the
Speaker 1: local government and how they've been doing things of their planning,
Speaker 1: being their preparation, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3: You could take it anywhere you want to go.
Speaker 1: As this stuff has unfolded over the last few weeks
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and its outskirts of Pacific Palisades and
Speaker 1: beyond out to Dina, Let's not forget that. What have
Speaker 1: you been what have been your thoughts watching all of
Speaker 1: this unfold.
Speaker 2: I've had a huge amount of thoughts I'm saying, and
Speaker 2: like it's a really big, big, big big It's like
Speaker 2: it's it's stopped me from doing a lot of my work.
Speaker 2: You know, I had a conversation, you know, with a
Speaker 2: couple of filmmakers. If I had if I had time
Speaker 2: right now, I would turn a camera on and I
Speaker 2: would tell that camera to go and start taping, and
Speaker 2: I would call it a tael of two cities. And
Speaker 2: I want to see right now, in real time, how
Speaker 2: these two cities affected by both fired unbelievable tragedy or
Speaker 2: people our stuff, how it's handled, and the difference in
Speaker 2: how it's handled. I love to tell that story. That's
Speaker 2: one thing I'd love love did. I think you could
Speaker 2: almost make a case study out of how it's you know,
Speaker 2: the difference of how it's handled. I've also talked to
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of friends and people that have
Speaker 2: relationships with to try to talk about for my particular
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. I'm sad for everyone, but
Speaker 2: you know, my particular people to advocate like and Altadium
Speaker 2: was the first one of you know, if not the
Speaker 2: first black middle class enclave where we could have it
Speaker 2: and It's one of the only places in America where
Speaker 2: you have like historic you know, passed down like grandmothers
Speaker 2: gave the houses to mothers, gave the houses to daughters,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And that's one of the
Speaker 2: only places that's still in this country you could see that.
Speaker 2: I'm very much so concerned that ALTA, you know, some
Speaker 2: big development group, black so black Rock, whatever you wanna
Speaker 2: call it, is going to come in and they're going
Speaker 2: to take it from us, and it's going to be
Speaker 2: you know, passing in the hills, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: or passing in too, and I feel like I want
Speaker 2: to make sure that that place continues to look like
Speaker 2: it was, like it looked before it was. You know,
Speaker 2: this tragedy happened because I think it's really important that
Speaker 2: we had. We saw it happen to us in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: We saw it happened. It happened happening to us in Harlem,
Speaker 2: saw it happening in Brooklyn, We saw it happen in
Speaker 2: you know, Miami, the Venice Canals, We saw it happened.
Speaker 2: To the idea that when things happen, we get you know,
Speaker 2: we get wiped out and they figure out another way.
Speaker 2: So I've I've had some conversations and I'm saying I
Speaker 2: have been in some aspects really inspired by the response.
Speaker 2: In other aspects, I keep it to myself right now.
Speaker 2: I feel like certain people have sort of degalvanized from
Speaker 2: a group and sort of been more interested in their
Speaker 2: in their path. But I feel like for me, I
Speaker 2: really want this to be something that we help the
Speaker 2: city and the audience and the guests and the people
Speaker 2: who live there, you know what I'm saying. And the
Speaker 2: people have been a part of the strategy be able
Speaker 2: to look and see that city it looks like the
Speaker 2: city that they remember when they you know, when it
Speaker 2: was at its heyday. I think the population is at
Speaker 2: thirty six percent black. It was well over fifty or sixty,
Speaker 2: and gentrification and started shrinking it. I don't want to
Speaker 2: look up ten years from now and it's just been
Speaker 2: wiped away.
Speaker 1: Please consider me a soldier on your behalf and making
Speaker 1: sure we keep a spotlight on that kind of story,
Speaker 1: because clearly we don't need to just sit back and
Speaker 1: let that happen and be quiet about it. Ain't no
Speaker 1: question about that. So I'm riding with you on that
Speaker 1: one all day every day. I got to ask you
Speaker 1: about Hollywood in this regard though. Talking to Rob Lowe
Speaker 1: just a couple of days ago, he was talking about
Speaker 1: how he's lived in Los Angeles since the seventies and
Speaker 1: Hollywood meaning the business in Hollywood, Hollywood itself, you know,
Speaker 1: just the business. Uh, that's everywhere, they said, Atlanta, there's
Speaker 1: various other places, Detroit, various other places throughout the country,
Speaker 1: out the world, even Vancouver, around out lot of stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But in Hollywood businesses, you just see the
Speaker 1: level of activity dissipating. Does Hollywood have a lot to
Speaker 1: worry about because of the government, the local government and
Speaker 1: things that are going on in the state of California.
Speaker 3: Does Hollywood have a lot to worry about?
Speaker 2: Hell? Yeah. I feel like you are in an industry
Speaker 2: that is controlling the world right now in terms of entertainment.
Speaker 2: Sports controls is the number one, you know driver right
Speaker 2: now of entertainment. Are all the entertainment facets, from the
Speaker 2: streamers to the linear parts to the cable have quadrupled
Speaker 2: ten time fold their contracts, double down, triple down. They
Speaker 2: understand the sports is a driving force. I think the
Speaker 2: idea of like actual narrative. You know, content is taking
Speaker 2: a die. There's been several articles that talked about I
Speaker 2: think comedies are down thirty seven percent. I feel like, I,
Speaker 2: you know, try to like examine why. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: I went to a game the other day and the
Speaker 2: Clippers are down a Clipper and the Clippers are down
Speaker 2: twenty six in the first by the end end, but
Speaker 2: we won the game. And I think that's one thing
Speaker 2: that people understood about sports and the while those contracts
Speaker 2: in the NBA and NFL, and we we're able to
Speaker 2: sort of get the money they want because every night
Speaker 2: when you watch a sports game, it's like watching potentially
Speaker 2: a hit movie. And there's nothing else in the world
Speaker 2: that can give you that promise of that. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm saying, you can't promise that with the with the
Speaker 2: television show, a promise that on the movie. So I
Speaker 2: understand why sports is so important, But I also feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're seeing a contracting of all the media studios.
Speaker 2: You know, it used to be twenty and now we're
Speaker 2: saying its game became attracted to this many this and
Speaker 2: it's gonna be smaller and smaller. And I feel like
Speaker 2: more and more jobs are being lost. You see, when
Speaker 2: tragedies like this happen, those are people are gonna move
Speaker 2: out of Los Angeles where they going to go. I
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, I was looking doing a documentary
Speaker 2: on the Great Jerry West. I got to interview Adam Silver.
Speaker 2: In basketball, which I'm a huge fan of, it's down
Speaker 2: in watching. I think it's down forty eight percent something
Speaker 2: like that, you know what I'm saying. And I think the
Speaker 2: only reason you can look at that is kids don't
Speaker 2: watch aren't watching TV live, right, what I'm saying, sort
Speaker 2: if you're really a basketball fan growing up, I watch
Speaker 2: my team every know you had to watch them three
Speaker 2: four times a week. You know what I'm saying. Football
Speaker 2: has a great advantage even though there's a couple of days,
Speaker 2: but in general you get one day week. They own
Speaker 2: a day of the week, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And it's benefiting from that. Also the thing that I
Speaker 2: this is my own person before, like you know, NBA
Speaker 2: dominates social media. You can go look at the clips,
Speaker 2: which in some aspects probably felt like a really great thing.
Speaker 2: But when you're not watching watching your team every week
Speaker 2: every night, and you can just look on clips and
Speaker 2: see LaMelo's highlights, or see Bronze highlights, or see jobs highlights.
Speaker 2: That helps hurts the you know things. And I also
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, the globalization of sports, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. I think there's a lot of different
Speaker 2: things that are affecting what media is. But I do
Speaker 2: think that it is we're seeing sparks if it come back.
Speaker 2: I was super happy to see East's movie open up. Well,
Speaker 2: I'm excited about the Oscars. Maybe bring some excitement to it.
Speaker 2: I think if you look at the you know, we've
Speaker 2: had to survive a pandemic, a strike, and now these fires,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, And now you know, just
Speaker 2: in an election, I'm saying, I think there's been some
Speaker 2: things that have really stun it and what entertainment is
Speaker 2: and having it grow. But I feel like there, hopefully
Speaker 2: there is some hope of some things coming back, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. I think that we're seeing some
Speaker 2: of the right people, like you know, you Chuck Shaq.
Speaker 2: I've seen people who actually know the game getting into
Speaker 2: it in a different way. They're going to create you
Speaker 2: guys are going to create better stuff. So I have faith,
Speaker 2: But I do I am worried.
Speaker 1: Let me transition to you in this regard multi generational
Speaker 1: Coca Cola commercial.
Speaker 3: I watched it. That's so Laura London, and then.
Speaker 1: I mean I was like, I said, damn, that seems
Speaker 1: I'm I mean, that seemed like a Super Bowl commercial.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is some special stuff right here right now.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about with Keny Burch. Talk to
Speaker 1: me about that. Tell me about how that came about.
Speaker 2: I got a chance. They came to me. They've only
Speaker 2: did it once before, they did with the creator of
Speaker 2: the Bear. They wanted to do something that scratched over
Speaker 2: some generations. I worked with them. I pitched that idea
Speaker 2: of like, you know, growing up in the hood, everybody
Speaker 2: had that liquor store that they went to and it
Speaker 2: served a lot of different purposes. It was, you know,
Speaker 2: the thing that kind of almost becomes like a community icon.
Speaker 2: And I felt like I wanted to tell a story
Speaker 2: that like what happens over the generations. And I think,
Speaker 2: you know, interesting enough, Coca Cola is often a sponsor
Speaker 2: of that. You know what I'm saying. You go in
Speaker 2: there and you do your suicide at the machine, or
Speaker 2: you play video games, or you had your first kiss,
Speaker 2: or you got your in your first fight, got your bikes,
Speaker 2: got your bike still there. So I feel like telling
Speaker 2: that story was really special to me, and they really
Speaker 2: you know, we had, you know, to get that cast together,
Speaker 2: you know, get my sister Lauren in London, and get
Speaker 2: the great Omaro Hardwig, you know, pay Hacker. I got
Speaker 2: my kid's mom and my kids were in it with
Speaker 2: me and saying Lionel voices, I think I think could
Speaker 2: be the face of the next generation of black superstars,
Speaker 2: and saying to do it under the banner of coke
Speaker 2: and under the banner of a store in the hood,
Speaker 2: like that was. I was a dream come true. Man.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you ever realized.
Speaker 1: I mean, how phenomenal it is that you pulled off
Speaker 1: what you pulled off with Blackish. And this is what
Speaker 1: let me tell you this little story because Anthony Anderson
Speaker 1: is a friend of mine and he came to me
Speaker 1: and he talked to me about black as he came
Speaker 1: on first take to promote Blackish before before the first episode,
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget he and I were talking in
Speaker 1: the green room prior to it and I said, bro,
Speaker 1: great cast, Ken use that, dude. I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: the content. Here's my problem. Look at the world we
Speaker 1: live in.
Speaker 3: It the title blackish? Are you sure? Are you sure
Speaker 3: that that's not gonna hold it?
Speaker 1: ABC Network Television Blackish? He said, we ain't worried one
Speaker 1: damn bit. We're gonna do this. That's what he said
Speaker 1: to me. That's what And sure enough, y'all did it?
Speaker 1: Did you have any reservations or was that on purpose purposeful?
Speaker 3: The title Blackish?
Speaker 1: Did you think in any way that that was going
Speaker 1: to galvani or not shun to say galvinis but polarized
Speaker 1: or alienate an audience.
Speaker 3: Were you ever worried about that at all?
Speaker 2: I wasn't this the network was you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: The network had us go on a tour you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying to talk about what because people thought
Speaker 2: it meant like curse. People thought it might like is
Speaker 2: this saying like black shit or just you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, or like or less than black and whatnot.
Speaker 2: And they really didn't come down from I really came
Speaker 2: to like, I have six kids, they have their little
Speaker 2: friends come over. Well, I looked around the country and
Speaker 2: there really wasn't a black or white kid that I
Speaker 2: remember left in the you know what I'm saying, Like
Speaker 2: even when you go to the hood. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Black kids is dressing and like skaters. I
Speaker 2: feel like we're all a little bit of blackish, black,
Speaker 2: white black. What I'm saying, there's a black culture has
Speaker 2: penetrated the culture in such a way that I really
Speaker 2: felt like that was what like we are this country
Speaker 2: is blackish. I'm saying, is a little bit of us
Speaker 2: is in everything we've done. And I want I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan of titles. I think titles matter a lot,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, Like when I slid four
Speaker 2: year old Virgin, you got what it was immediately. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. When I you know, I'm saying
Speaker 2: the things that I really love, Like I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, you want a title that sticks out, that
Speaker 2: makes noise, it's loud, and I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: same thing I did black af I feel like you
Speaker 2: want something that says what it is, you know what
Speaker 2: it is in the title, and makes people actually want
Speaker 2: to tune in it. What's that story?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: That's that The average Hi restern fan listens an hour
Speaker 2: a day. The average high restern hater listens two hours.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, When you when you get
Speaker 2: people sort of mad, it's all something they want. They
Speaker 2: actually want to tune in more and sometime we'll actually
Speaker 2: find something that they will know the best way. I think,
Speaker 2: you know my grandmother thing. You want to exit a
Speaker 2: conversation differently than you enter it. That's a good conversation.
Speaker 2: You want people to try to exit this this episode
Speaker 2: different than the interest. So they want them to go
Speaker 2: into the show feeling a certain way and leave out
Speaker 2: feeling about a different way. And then I feel like
Speaker 2: that's what true success is.
Speaker 3: Do you care about being hated or disliked doing what
Speaker 3: you do full.
Speaker 2: Of I don't, I'm saying, but I but I do
Speaker 2: for my kids, if that makes sense. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I met, I make jokes about the whole
Speaker 2: I'm a coloriss. You know what I'm saying, thing like
Speaker 2: I saw a joke somebody puts, you know, says like
Speaker 2: I'm a colorist and I just did a show based
Speaker 2: around my family. My wife is biracial, and the kids
Speaker 2: that we make look like the kids that me and biracial.
Speaker 2: When we'll make and people were like, you're a coloriss,
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, this are just doing a show based
Speaker 2: on my feeling. But I understand, you know, the commentary
Speaker 2: around and I wanted to talk about that. But I
Speaker 2: do feel like when the only time it affects me
Speaker 2: is when it affects me kids. When people come and
Speaker 2: like you know, leave comments like you're not really black
Speaker 2: and things like that, that does affect me because I
Speaker 2: feel like they don't they didn't ask to be brought
Speaker 2: into this, although they've you know, reaped a lot of
Speaker 2: the benefits of it too much time. But I do
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, I think that that is and
Speaker 2: I think you know better than anybody. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Like you're gonna do you, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. And if you do, If you do you
Speaker 2: and people don't have some shit to say, then you're
Speaker 2: probably not doing it right. Look at Lebron, look at Exactly,
Speaker 2: look at George, look anybody who's you know, we're doing everything.
Speaker 2: If people just like everything you're doing, you're problem. You're
Speaker 2: not doing it right.
Speaker 1: With that being said, you brought up your kids on
Speaker 1: a couple of occasions for minders.
Speaker 3: And first of all, you got six kids, right, I'm
Speaker 3: right about that, right, you got six kids?
Speaker 2: Right? Uh?
Speaker 3: Wife? How many? And how many of your kids work
Speaker 3: for you? And how do you.
Speaker 1: Do you even try to shield them from the kind
Speaker 1: of things you just talked about, wanting to avoid them
Speaker 1: being subjected to.
Speaker 2: Well, my daughter and I just sold a movie yesterday.
Speaker 2: She wrote. We wrote the Richard Pryor series, which were
Speaker 2: with which I'm umbly she was in the room and
Speaker 2: she did an amazing job. She became one of the youngest,
Speaker 2: my middle daughter, she became one of the younger.
Speaker 3: First of all, what's her name? Now? How old is she?
Speaker 2: Her name is Leah Barris. Okay, she's twenty three. Amazing
Speaker 2: young young writer. She is, you know, just such a
Speaker 2: better writer than me. Smart, funny I'm saying, really her
Speaker 2: own person. My daughter, Kaylee is runs our social media.
Speaker 2: She is She went to usc and very interesting, like
Speaker 2: it's full of riz and full of always kind of
Speaker 2: telling me, you know how I'm what I'm not doing right?
Speaker 2: And I'm corney. My daughter comes to corny and lame constantly.
Speaker 3: My youngest.
Speaker 1: So I got a sixteen and fifteen year old. My
Speaker 1: youngest daughter just called me corny. She just called me
Speaker 1: corny two days ago.
Speaker 2: It definitely did. It does hurt your feeling because they
Speaker 2: can get you. They don't care. My youngest daughter, not
Speaker 2: a little bit. My youngest daughter, Lolagosta, she's been. She's
Speaker 2: interned at our company. She's at Spelman right now. Four
Speaker 2: point zero student. You know what I'm saying, went to
Speaker 2: Sierra Canyon with Juju and and Bronni and Rice and
Speaker 2: was all part of that, and went out to Atlanta
Speaker 2: and is having her culture shock. Aliver bit that my
Speaker 2: oldest son Bo, we call him Pops. He's interned there.
Speaker 2: He's doing, you know, has something. So those four have
Speaker 2: worked there. Hopefully my next two will will in some
Speaker 2: aspects come and work work with me. But I feel
Speaker 2: like that's the greatest thing that I've been able to do,
Speaker 2: is to be able to do something. I get to
Speaker 2: work with my kids, and I've stolen so much from
Speaker 2: them in the stories and the ideas, and you know,
Speaker 2: they're my my test group. No matter what I do,
Speaker 2: they have to like they're forced to read, listen and
Speaker 2: hear it pitches and do all that. I kind of
Speaker 2: think like that's something that we used to do a
Speaker 2: lot more as black people would get to like work
Speaker 2: with our family. And I think, to me, that's the
Speaker 2: greatest gift any of this has been given me is
Speaker 2: the idea of not only being able to provide, but
Speaker 2: to be able to work with them and see them
Speaker 2: grow and see them be a part of what, you know,
Speaker 2: our hope is a better future.
Speaker 1: Why do you think we're not doing more of that
Speaker 1: as a people? I don't know what we used to do.
Speaker 1: What you just alluded to, the opportunity work.
Speaker 2: I think the opportunities are not there, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, or not as present, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: With the American dream has not been as kind to
Speaker 2: us as we would like it to be. You know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, We've had to sort of grab it
Speaker 2: in a different kind of way, and when it has
Speaker 2: we've kind of more so done it to you know,
Speaker 2: provide and and and just you know, get by. I
Speaker 2: think the idea of the you know, for most of
Speaker 2: us have had any kind of real, you know, some
Speaker 2: type of success that people would say is is more
Speaker 2: than nominal. We're first generation. I got to work with
Speaker 2: Tracy Ross and Rashida Jones, who like, are some of
Speaker 2: the only second generation successful people I know. But in general,
Speaker 2: for most of us, this is first generation. We don't
Speaker 2: have a blueprint. Who's been our blueprint of how we sort.
Speaker 2: We don't know how to pay taxes and pay paxes
Speaker 2: the right way and tax loops and when a stock
Speaker 2: is gonna split and we're how to do this, Like
Speaker 2: we're kind of figuring it out for the first time.
Speaker 2: So I feel like having my kids around so that
Speaker 2: when their their time comes up, they have an ability
Speaker 2: to do something that I didn't do. Like that, to me,
Speaker 2: is everything great.
Speaker 3: Great advice.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna lie to you because I think about
Speaker 1: the same thing you got me thinking about it. I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about going home having a conversation with my daughters
Speaker 1: by like, they gotta get.
Speaker 3: To work for me. They got to get to work
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 1: They've been holding off long enough. They don't want to
Speaker 1: answer to their dad. That's what they They're like, we
Speaker 1: gotta deal with you enough. We don't want to deal
Speaker 1: with you on a job too. But I'm anyway, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make them anyway before I let you get on
Speaker 1: out of here. You brought up to Richard prior project. Right,
Speaker 1: I know you mentioned that, but did you whence you
Speaker 1: involve a remake of the Wizard of Oz? When'd you
Speaker 1: involved with something along those lines as well as It's
Speaker 1: a Wonderful Life and what's going on with those two projects.
Speaker 2: I mean we're they were ready to go, strike happen.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying, we and now everything has to. People
Speaker 2: understand that whenever things like you you know you've seen
Speaker 2: it happen in sports, or you've happen contract negotia, it
Speaker 2: takes everything a step back. What I'm saying, scripts are written,
Speaker 2: you know, we're ready to go. We have to you
Speaker 2: know it. Right now, it's about getting things casts and
Speaker 2: people don't understand how magical actors are. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. You can't do anything when actors. So it's
Speaker 2: about getting a cast. And budgets are shrinking because the
Speaker 2: studios are all contracting, and like they have to look
Speaker 2: at you know, what is their spend for this year,
Speaker 2: what's their spind for that year. It's it's a lot
Speaker 2: that goes into making movie. I don't think people understand,
Speaker 2: like you have to not only get the script to
Speaker 2: a point when people want to make it. Then you
Speaker 2: got to get a budgeted. Then you got to get
Speaker 2: the stars. Then the stars have to be available. Then
Speaker 2: you have to get a director who's available during the time.
Speaker 2: Then you have to make sure that the company in
Speaker 2: that quarter has you know, one hundred hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars two hundred million dollars to spend. Then they
Speaker 2: have to make sure that they have you know, seventy
Speaker 2: five to one hundred million dollars in PA. Then you
Speaker 2: have to make sure that you're you're ready in a
Speaker 2: place to go shoot. The things that come together to
Speaker 2: make a movie happen are it's it's amazing that they
Speaker 2: happen the way that they do, because it is a
Speaker 2: lot of things that have to fall into place.
Speaker 1: I got you before I get you, Let you get
Speaker 1: on out of here. I'm man, you think you know
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let you get on out of here.
Speaker 3: But I'll talking about yourlippers, right, You're not gonna have
Speaker 3: to ask you what we've gotten talking about.
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't expect them to be I didn't
Speaker 1: expect them to be as good as they were.
Speaker 3: They still got some work to do. It's nice to
Speaker 3: see Kawhi lend it on a court.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long that's gonna last, but we
Speaker 1: got a hold on it that moment we got what
Speaker 1: about that? James Todd lou is a hell of a coach.
Speaker 1: He came on this show. He came on this show.
Speaker 1: It raved raved about. Uh, you know, Jeff Van Gundy
Speaker 1: and what he's brought to the team defense as an
Speaker 1: assistant coach. How are you feeling about your Clippers right now?
Speaker 2: I'm feeling I'm feeling excellent. I'm feeling excellent. I feel
Speaker 2: like every night before we got Kawhi, I feel like
Speaker 2: every night we were competitive. Even if we lost, every
Speaker 2: night we were competitive. And I feel like tyleru the
Speaker 2: ability to get dudes who before they came to him,
Speaker 2: who didn't think that they could play on that level.
Speaker 2: The ability of not just the coaching that, but what
Speaker 2: it takes for a coach to get into the mentality
Speaker 2: of a player to make them believe that they can
Speaker 2: compete on the highest level and play as a team.
Speaker 2: That is an amazing thing to do.
Speaker 1: How the hell is somebody living in Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: they find themselves being a Clippers fan and not a
Speaker 1: Lakers fan.
Speaker 3: How does that happen?
Speaker 2: Why I'm a Laker fan. I'm not a Clipper. Fans
Speaker 2: can be Laker fans. Laker fans have to be Clipper haters.
Speaker 2: I'm a Laker. I'm I'm a point I'm a Laker fan.
Speaker 2: Love Lebron, you know, love jj JJ. Redick is trying
Speaker 2: to do love a d rich Paul is my boy.
Speaker 2: I kep saying I'm a Laker fan, but my Clippers.
Speaker 2: When I started being able to buy tickets from my
Speaker 2: family could afford them, they were affordable. The the environment
Speaker 2: felt like a real environment, like people who were there
Speaker 2: wanted to be there. It wasn't so good seeing glossy.
Speaker 2: They were scrappy. I got to go through Lob City,
Speaker 2: I got the I got to see the end of
Speaker 2: Pool Richardson. I get to now see. I got to
Speaker 2: see PG, whose game was like jazz to me. I
Speaker 2: got to see you know Harden, who I think might be.
Speaker 2: You know when it all goes sitting down, you know,
Speaker 2: is he in the top five? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: When it's all said and done, I got.
Speaker 3: To know, No, I love them.
Speaker 2: If you want to start talking about stats, you're want
Speaker 2: to start talking about stats.
Speaker 3: Somebody stopped that. Come on, come on, stop, can you
Speaker 3: stop it? He's not he's top ten, top five, he's
Speaker 3: top He's not.
Speaker 1: Not to one of the greatest scores in NBA history
Speaker 1: of the greatest scorer is no doubt.
Speaker 2: In history, in history, right. And if you have when
Speaker 2: you add up all his stats, his stats have to
Speaker 2: put him in the top ten. His stats have to
Speaker 2: put him in.
Speaker 3: The top ten. You know what, I'm gonna dedicate a
Speaker 3: segment on this show.
Speaker 2: It's gonna blow your mind on this show. Blow your mind.
Speaker 2: It's gonna blow your.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, I'm gonna replay it for the NBA audience,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna say, ken you, Barrett said James Harden
Speaker 1: top five.
Speaker 2: I say top ten.
Speaker 3: Sucking it, I say.
Speaker 1: Top ten, top ten, top Ten's.
Speaker 2: Logistically he might be in the top five. And if
Speaker 2: you just go shooting guards, I am absolutely sure he's
Speaker 2: in the top five.
Speaker 3: You know you on camera right, I will say that
Speaker 3: right now, you know right?
Speaker 2: And James, James is not my boy. I love his game.
Speaker 2: I am saying that basic and he's his When you
Speaker 2: look at hististics, they are phenomenal phenomenal. Okay, you know
Speaker 2: they are.
Speaker 1: I'm not knocking it. I'm saying I'm saying you peaqued
Speaker 1: my curiosity. I gotta go back and look at it
Speaker 1: hard about this, and I gotta say, wait a minute, now,
Speaker 1: look at you. Can you vantaged point and let's see
Speaker 1: if it's right. Look, man, I'm gonna let you get
Speaker 1: on out of here. I appreciate it the usually the
Speaker 1: unusual suspects. When is the podcast? When is the podcast?
Speaker 2: Drop?
Speaker 3: It drops tomorrow?
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, I'm gonna say yes because I don't have
Speaker 2: actual yes for the confidence.
Speaker 1: Yes, it drops tomorrow. I know this for sure. I
Speaker 1: was just double checking. But anyway, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I owe you big time.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry they get my day job. Maybe I don't run.
Speaker 1: I'm not my own boss with everything like you something
Speaker 1: just not with everything.
Speaker 3: So that's what I owe you, big time man. Thank you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you having me. I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: All one and only. Can you barriss right here with
Speaker 3: stephen A