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Speaker 1: Then I got to La and I go to the

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Speaker 1: Imperor and I'm doing a set and they give me

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Speaker 1: a check for eight dollars and I'm.

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Speaker 2: Like, oh, no, a check.

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Speaker 1: A check eight dollars seventy five cents. And I was like,

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Speaker 1: what the hell is this?

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Speaker 3: I could not imagine someone giving me a check as

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Speaker 3: an adult for eight dollars and seventy five cents. But wait,

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Speaker 3: Gina Yashara's story is so inspiring, so that little eight

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Speaker 3: dollars and seventy five cent check makes perfect sense. It

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Speaker 3: was good for her, it motivated her. We got to

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Speaker 3: pay some bills. You can fast forward if you like,

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Speaker 3: but the next edition of Naked continues after the break.

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Speaker 4: It's the greatest sponson entertainment can make you put carry

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Speaker 4: Champion and carry Chappy is to be a champion.

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Speaker 2: A champion they carry Chappi and Nigger Chion. The care

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Speaker 2: with Shepion.

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Speaker 1: They care with.

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Speaker 2: The same inking naked wording on. Hey, everybody, thank you

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Speaker 2: for listening to another edition of Naked.

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Speaker 3: I really like our next guest because I think she

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Speaker 3: is the definition of hustle, hustle personified. It's rare that

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Speaker 3: I think I am out hustled, but she made me

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Speaker 3: feel lazy.

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Speaker 2: I need to do something with my life.

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Speaker 4: Uh.

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Speaker 3: Gina Yashera was born in the UK. She's Nigerian. She's

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Speaker 3: a comedian. She's also an actress. She's also a writer.

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Speaker 3: She's also currently a showrunner on the hit show that

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Speaker 3: she stars in her co stars in. It's on CBS.

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Speaker 3: It's called Bob Hart's Abby Shola. So go out and

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Speaker 3: support your girl. And the reason why you would want

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Speaker 3: to go support her is because she's really not an

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Speaker 3: overnight success. Her story is one of if you're not

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Speaker 3: going to give it to me, I will go take it.

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Speaker 3: This story should inspire you no matter what your discipline is,

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Speaker 3: no matter what you do for a living. I appreciate

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Speaker 3: Gina for telling her story and of course she's clearly hilarious.

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Speaker 2: To back, relax and enjoy.

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Speaker 4: Champion and carey chayann care chep.

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Speaker 2: I just fresh from London yesterday, landed yesterday. Oh really? Okay?

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Speaker 3: So I want you to talk to me about growing

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Speaker 3: up in London and living in London. What was What

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Speaker 3: is that like for a Nigerian born woman?

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Speaker 2: Well, I was born in London. You're born in London?

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, my parents were born in Nigeria, but I

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Speaker 1: was actually born and raised in London. My first few

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Speaker 1: years were in an area of London called Bethnal Green,

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Speaker 1: which is East London. I'm very much of Cockney by birth,

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Speaker 1: but at the time of my birth in the seventies, England,

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Speaker 1: especially East London, was going through a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a change. There were a lot of immigrants from Africa,

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Speaker 1: from the Caribbean, from India and Pakistan coming into East

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Speaker 1: London because it was a lot of council which is

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Speaker 1: kind of the projects and kind of slum buildings, so

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Speaker 1: that's where immigrants could get property. So the white working

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Speaker 1: class Brits were not happy about all these immigrants coming

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Speaker 1: into East London.

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Speaker 2: So there was a lot of.

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Speaker 1: Racist abuse on the streets, lots of skinheads, lots of graffiti.

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Speaker 1: So that was kind of what I was brought up

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Speaker 1: in the first for ten years of my life. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'd go out and my mum would be like, be

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Speaker 1: careful of.

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Speaker 2: The bad boys.

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Speaker 1: Used to call them the bad boys, and these were

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Speaker 1: skinn edds that'd be waiting in the stairwell of the

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Speaker 1: apartment building when you're going upstairs and call your names

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Speaker 1: and spit on you, that kind of thing. So that's

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Speaker 1: what the first eight to ten years of living in

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Speaker 1: London was like. Then we moved to North London, which

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Speaker 1: was a little bit more affluent and so racism wasn't

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Speaker 1: quite as in your face there because it was kind

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Speaker 1: of a more wealthier neighborhood. And then we, you know,

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Speaker 1: with my mom and my stepdad, bought a house so

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Speaker 1: that we left the projects and went into a house

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Speaker 1: and so it wasn't so bad.

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Speaker 2: But I, you know, I was a kid. I didn't

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Speaker 2: know any different. I was like, this is just how

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Speaker 2: it is.

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Speaker 1: You just stay away from the bad white people.

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Speaker 2: And dunting the good white people.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, were they were the good white people, easily

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Speaker 3: identifiable as opposed to the bad white people.

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Speaker 2: Well, when I was at school, you know, I had

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Speaker 2: a mixture of friends at school.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was going to school at age five,

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Speaker 1: six seven, and you know I had black friends, white friends,

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Speaker 1: Indian friends.

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Speaker 2: At school. We were just kids.

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Speaker 1: We at that age, we didn't really take on our parents'

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Speaker 1: prejudices until sort of later. So age four or five,

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Speaker 1: we didn't know we needed but we were just kids

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Speaker 1: running around just heay so I didn't, you know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't recognize the racism per se. I just thought those

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Speaker 1: are bad people who were spitting on me in the street,

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Speaker 1: and these are my friends at school.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 3: So then what I find interesting is that when I

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Speaker 3: was reading your bio, it said that you did comedy

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Speaker 3: for twenty years in the UK.

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Speaker 2: Is that accurate?

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Speaker 1: I've been I started comedy in nineteen ninety five, so

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Speaker 1: by the time I moved out to America in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and seven, I've been doing it about twelve years.

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Speaker 3: So tell me the start of comedic life for you

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Speaker 3: in the UK, because I could imagine your parents weren't

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Speaker 3: necessarily excited about that career choice for you.

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Speaker 2: I'm other was happy at all.

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Speaker 1: Now she wanted to be a doctor or an attorney. Perhaps, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I originally she worked me to be a doctor. But

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Speaker 1: eighteen doing a level biology, which is our advanced level biology,

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Speaker 1: we had to cut open a rat. Yeah, and that's

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Speaker 1: when I discovered that I, oh no, I could not

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Speaker 1: stand the sight of the blood. It was disgusting to me.

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Speaker 1: So I switched to engineering and I studied. I did

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Speaker 1: my degree in electrical let engineering and I actually worked

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Speaker 1: as an engineer. My last job was working for Otis,

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Speaker 1: the biggest elevator company in the world. I was building

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Speaker 1: and repairing elevators for a living. So that was my

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Speaker 1: last job. I was their first woman engineer in their

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Speaker 1: one hundred year history in the UK. Wow, which sounds good,

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Speaker 1: but it was a horrific experience because first woman and

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Speaker 1: a black woman of that. And I'm working on construction site.

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Speaker 1: So I'm walking into work and somebody's hung a banana

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Speaker 1: skin above my overalls, or I put on my boiler

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Speaker 1: suit and there are pictures of monkeys stuffed into the pockets.

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Speaker 2: Things like that. I put up with.

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Speaker 1: I put up with a lot of abuse at that job,

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Speaker 1: but I stuck it out for four years because I

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Speaker 1: refused to be driven out and I wanted to stay

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Speaker 1: there and prove that I can do the job as

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Speaker 1: well as any of these men.

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Speaker 2: Which I did. But I ended up leaving, and that's

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Speaker 2: how I ended up in comedy. I ended up leaving.

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Speaker 1: The building industry went through a bit of a slump

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Speaker 1: in the mid nineties, and they were making people redundant,

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Speaker 1: they were laying people off. They were never going to

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Speaker 1: lay me off because I was their token black girl

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Speaker 1: that they put on all their posters and magazines and stuff.

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Speaker 1: They were never going to lay me off, but I

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Speaker 1: was like, I want to leave. So I marched into

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Speaker 1: my manager's office and I was like, you need to

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Speaker 1: let me go. You need to pay me off and

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Speaker 1: let me go because I don't want to be here anymore.

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Speaker 1: And they were like, well, we have no intention of

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Speaker 1: doing that. And I was like, well, unless you want

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Speaker 1: me to go public with the racism and misogyny I suffered.

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Speaker 2: On this job, you need to let me go. And

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Speaker 2: they went, you know what, We're going to let you go. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And that was in the summertime, so I was like,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to enjoy the summer off. So I was

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Speaker 1: having a good time over the summer. And people had

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Speaker 1: always told me I was funny. People always told me

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Speaker 1: that I should be an actor as a kid.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: Teachers were always saying to my mom, you know your daughter, Gina,

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Speaker 1: she's very lively, she's fun. You know, maybe she should

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Speaker 1: go in, you know, into acting or something. And my

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Speaker 1: mom would always say, well, she can act like a

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Speaker 1: doctor when she becomes until she becomes a doctor, that

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Speaker 1: she was not entertaining the prospect to me going into

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Speaker 1: the arts. So after I left my job as an engineer,

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Speaker 1: let me try this thing, you know, let me just

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Speaker 1: do some fun things that I've always been kind of

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Speaker 1: interested in, but never you know, never tried.

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Speaker 2: And so, you know, I started going to workshops and.

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Speaker 1: I joined the Nation of Islam for about twelve minutes,

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Speaker 1: and then I started getting into community works doing stuff

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Speaker 1: within my community. And they were doing a fundraiser one

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Speaker 1: day and they were like, okay, singers and dancers, and

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Speaker 1: so me and my two friends were always messing around

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Speaker 1: doing our parents' accents.

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Speaker 2: And I wrote what I thought was a play for

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Speaker 2: us to perform. What kind of play was it?

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Speaker 3: Then?

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Speaker 2: You thought you guys were going to perform.

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Speaker 1: It was a play about the cultural differences between us,

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Speaker 1: the young, the first generation, the British born Nigerians and

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Speaker 1: our parents who come straight from Nigeria. And I wrote

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Speaker 1: this play, but it turned out was a play. It

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Speaker 1: was a comedy sketch. People laughed their asses off through

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Speaker 1: the entire thing, and I was like.

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Speaker 2: And everyone was like, huh, I love it. I love it. Okay,

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Speaker 2: I love it. Give me more. And I was like, oh,

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Speaker 2: this is comedy.

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Speaker 1: So then we took that play stroke comedy sketch, and

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Speaker 1: we kept performing it at various talent competitions around London,

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Speaker 1: and we kept kept winning these competitions with this one sketch.

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Speaker 1: And then one day two of my friends who were

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Speaker 1: in this group with me didn't turn up for a

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Speaker 1: competition we were in and we were in the semi

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Speaker 1: five and they didn't turn up and I was there

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Speaker 1: on my own and they were like, you've got to

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Speaker 1: go up on stage. You're doue up on stage and

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Speaker 1: my two friends weren't there, so I kind of just

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Speaker 1: went up on stage and talks for like ten minutes

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Speaker 1: and just told silly stories and the audience loved it,

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Speaker 1: and I got us through to the final with this

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Speaker 1: monologue that I did, and then people were coming up

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Speaker 1: to me afterwards going you're a stand up comic, that's

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Speaker 1: what you are, and I was like, what is this

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Speaker 1: stand up comedy? And then I started researching into that

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Speaker 1: and started doing open mics and I was like, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to do this for a bit, for fun, because

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Speaker 1: this is a good time. And people started going, Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'll give you ten bucks, I'll give you fifty bucks

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Speaker 1: if you come and do my show, and I'm like,

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Speaker 1: fifty bucks for five minutes work.

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Speaker 2: This is fantastic. This is more than I'm going to

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Speaker 2: earn as an engineer.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, I'm gonna do this for six

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Speaker 1: months and then come winter, I'm going to go back

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Speaker 1: and get a proper job and get another job as

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Speaker 1: an engineer. And that just never happened. I ended it

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Speaker 1: up just continuing and it's just never. I never ended

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Speaker 1: up going back to work.

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Speaker 3: I was going to ask you too, I was like,

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Speaker 3: if you went from being an engineer to stand up comedean,

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Speaker 3: how did you survive? But you're saying, are you saying

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Speaker 3: you were making more money initially starting out than you

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Speaker 3: were as an engineer?

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Speaker 2: Not more money initially, But I was making money, so

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Speaker 2: it was enough.

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Speaker 1: You know. I had a very cheap apartment at the

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Speaker 1: times of the revenue cheek. I owned my car outright,

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Speaker 1: it was a paid off car, bought it cash, so

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Speaker 1: I didn't need a lot of expenses. So I was

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Speaker 1: I was like, well, as long as I'm making enough

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Speaker 1: to pay this two hundred dollars a month rent mm

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Speaker 1: hm and enough to buy groceries m hmm, that's all

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Speaker 1: I need. And so from the beginning of my comedy career,

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Speaker 1: I was making enough money to pay my two hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars rent and to put food and put gas in

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Speaker 1: the car. So I was like, well, I can survive

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Speaker 1: off this more income. Let me see how much further

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Speaker 1: this comedy will take me. And so I started driving

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Speaker 1: all over the country doing shows for nothing, just to

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Speaker 1: build my experience and just to try and get and

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Speaker 1: that's what I did, and eventually within six months I

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Speaker 1: landed on a talent show on television.

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Speaker 2: What was the name of the show.

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Speaker 1: It was called The Big Big Talent Show. And thinking wise,

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Speaker 1: the comedians went, triloquis, magicians, singers, it was everybody, and

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Speaker 1: I was the only stand up that got through to

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Speaker 1: the final and this is within six months of starting.

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Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, I'm going to be a star.

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Speaker 1: I've got on television within six months of starting this.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be huge. Forget engineering. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: concentrate all my efforts on this comedy thing because I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be a huge stand up star.

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Speaker 2: That's what I thought. Yeah, it didn't happen that way.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, Well listen, I think that it started off

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Speaker 3: good for you though, because every this is a beautiful story.

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Speaker 3: I hear stories. I interview a lot of comedians and

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Speaker 3: it's never I did it once and I was like, oh,

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Speaker 3: I'm perfect, very rarely not perfect, but very rarely do

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Speaker 3: I hear the story of I gave it a go.

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Speaker 2: People were like, this is what.

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Speaker 3: You should be doing, Like you found where you belong.

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Speaker 3: I looked at how it's such a tough ask. What

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Speaker 3: is the difference between being a stand up comedian in

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Speaker 3: the UK versus when you come to the States and

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Speaker 3: you want to make it. Tell me the significant differences,

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Speaker 3: or the comedy clubs all the same. Do you have

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Speaker 3: to grease the wheels and be friends with certain people

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Speaker 3: to get time on stage?

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Speaker 2: Like tell me the right of passage if you will well.

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Speaker 2: In England.

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Speaker 1: At the time that I was starting out, there were

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Speaker 1: a lot of comedy clubs and they all paid good money.

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Speaker 1: So the difference is if you became good and you

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Speaker 1: got those clubs, you'd get regular work and it didn't

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Speaker 1: matter whether you were famous or not. Because the audiences

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Speaker 1: went to the comedy clubs based on the comedy club's reputation.

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Speaker 1: They didn't know who was going to be on It's

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Speaker 1: similar to how the comedy scene is in New York

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Speaker 1: with the comedy sellers and the Gothams. For the most part,

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Speaker 1: the comedy seller people just go there because they know

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Speaker 1: it's the comedy seller and they know that they're going

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Speaker 1: to get a great night of comedy. They don't necessarily

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Speaker 1: know who's going to be on. And that's how the

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Speaker 1: comedy scene was in England. You went, they booked you.

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Speaker 1: Everybody got the same money, whether you were on the

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Speaker 1: beginning the show or the end of the show. Everybody

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Speaker 1: got whatever it was two hundred bucks a set, and

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Speaker 1: the MC got a little bit more because he had

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Speaker 1: to be or he or she had to be there

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Speaker 1: all night. Whereas in London I could do a set here,

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Speaker 1: finish my set and then jump in the car or

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Speaker 1: jump on my motorbike, go to another comedy club, do

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Speaker 1: another set. So I could make four six hundred dollars

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Speaker 1: a night just running a down doing shows. So that

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Speaker 1: was the joy of doing. And then when doing the

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Speaker 1: comedy clubs, when you got to a state in your

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Speaker 1: estate in your career where people started to come to

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Speaker 1: see you, when you were starting to get on television

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Speaker 1: and starting to get known, then you transcended the comedy

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Speaker 1: clubs into small theaters. So I did comedy clubs for

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Speaker 1: about seven eight years, and I started to build a

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Speaker 1: good audience, and I started to get little bits of

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Speaker 1: stuff on television, so people started to know me and go, oh, well,

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Speaker 1: that girl off the TV. So then I transcended the

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Speaker 1: comedy clubs and started booking my own theaters. Because I'd

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Speaker 1: go to comedy club and i'd as soon as I

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Speaker 1: walk on stage, they'd go Genie Asha, and I'd hear

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Speaker 1: the cheers and I'd go, oh, those people are cheering

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Speaker 1: really loudly, which means they know who I am. So

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Speaker 1: if I'm if I was to go and book my

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Speaker 1: own theater, then rather than just being paid two hundred

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Speaker 1: bucks for a set here, if I book a small

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Speaker 1: theater for a hundred people and all those people are

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Speaker 1: paying ten bucks each to come and see me, then

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Speaker 1: I'm going to make a lot more money. So that's

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Speaker 1: what I started doing, and I started going into small theaters,

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Speaker 1: building my own thing and doing my own shows. Why

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Speaker 1: it would just be me doing rather than doing a

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Speaker 1: twenty minute set at comedy club, it'd be me on

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Speaker 1: my own doing an hour and then I'd get all

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Speaker 1: the money. So that's what happens. That's the kind of

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Speaker 1: write passage in England. You start for the open mic

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Speaker 1: and you start getting paid at the comedy clubs, and

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Speaker 1: most a lot of comics, the majority of the comics

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Speaker 1: stay at that comedy club level because not everybody gets

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Speaker 1: on TV, not everybody gets famous. But if you stay

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Speaker 1: at that comedy club level, you can still make sixty

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Speaker 1: to one hundred thousand a year just doing comedy clubs.

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Speaker 1: But if you're even if nobody knows who you are,

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Speaker 1: could run around the country because there were comedy clubs

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Speaker 1: all over the country. You could run around all the

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Speaker 1: country doing all the comedy clubs and making anywhere between

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Speaker 1: sixty one hundred year and maybe more if you did

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Speaker 1: corporate shows where you a company will go, we need

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Speaker 1: a comedian for our yearly Christmas party, and you'll get

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Speaker 1: five or ten thousand or whatever. So as a no

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Speaker 1: name comedian in England, you could I was making a

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Speaker 1: good living before I even got to the level where

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Speaker 1: I was doing theaters wow wow, where Whereas that is

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Speaker 1: pretty much impossible in America, absolutely, Because in America, when

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Speaker 1: I came and I didn't know that when I came here.

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Speaker 1: So when I came to America, I was like, I'm

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Speaker 1: a comedian. I'm a well known comedian in England. I'm

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Speaker 1: making a good living here. Once I get to America,

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Speaker 1: I'll just go go to the comedy clubs. They'll see

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Speaker 1: how funny I am. I'll start getting booked and I

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Speaker 1: can at least make sixty grand a year doing comedy

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Speaker 1: clubs in America until I get on TV and get sick,

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Speaker 1: come or get in an audio or something. That's what

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Speaker 1: I thought. Then I got to La and I go

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Speaker 1: to the Improv and I'm doing a set and they

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Speaker 1: give me a check for eight dollars and I'm like,

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Speaker 1: oh no, I check out a check eight dollars. I

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Speaker 1: remember my first check from the improv eight dollars seventy

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Speaker 1: five cents, and I was like, what the hell is this?

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Speaker 1: So basically clean? To headline a comedy club in America,

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Speaker 1: it's a different beast. You have to be famous. So

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Speaker 1: for a comedy club to book you as a headliner

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Speaker 1: and pay you a decent fee, it is the onus

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Speaker 1: is on you to bring the audience. When an audience

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Speaker 1: comes to comedy club to see a headliner. They're coming

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Speaker 1: because they've seen him on a sitcom or seen her

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Speaker 1: on this show or see and so you get paid

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Speaker 1: according to that. But if you're not a big name comedian,

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Speaker 1: they don't care how funny you are. You're not putting

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Speaker 1: bums on seats. So when I got to America, I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I'm really funny. I'm selling out theaters all over the

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Speaker 1: country in the UK and I'm a TV style in

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Speaker 1: the UK. Can you pay me to do comedy? And

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Speaker 1: they're like, we don't know who the hell you are,

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Speaker 1: so nobody's paying to come and see you. You can

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Speaker 1: open for this other comedian who's on a sitcom and

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Speaker 1: they'll get whatever, twenty thousand dollars for the weekend, but

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Speaker 1: you're going to get eight dollars seventy five.

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Speaker 2: That's insane. And that's what was happening in LA.

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Speaker 1: And it's very specific to LA because in LA, the

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Speaker 1: comedy clubs, their attitude is very much listen, you're in LA.

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Speaker 2: You could be seen by Steven Spielberg.

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Speaker 1: We're doing you a favor by letting you performer our

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Speaker 1: comedy club for five cents. Yeahitude, And I'm like, that

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Because the bar staff are being paid,

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Speaker 1: the security are being paid, the people's you know, everybody

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Speaker 1: else in the comedy club ecosystem is being paid except

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Speaker 1: for the reason why the audience is there. That didn't

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Speaker 1: make sense to me, and I couldn't understand why LA

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Speaker 1: comedians were putting up with that.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was like, why haven't you guys got

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Speaker 2: a union? This doesn't even make sense to me.

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Speaker 1: That's just how the system was set up in LA

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Speaker 1: is everybody wants to be seen, everyone wants everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to be seen, and that they'll do these sets of

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Speaker 1: peanuts and hoping to get audition out of it, or

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Speaker 1: hoping there's a casting director sitting in the crowd and

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Speaker 1: it will lead to other things. But I'm like, when

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Speaker 1: I came here, I was like, I'm a comedian. I

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Speaker 1: don't care about being an actor. I'm a comedian. Like

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Speaker 1: there are in LA there's a lot of actors pretending

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Speaker 1: to be comedians, so they they ah, I stand up

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Speaker 1: as a way to get as a calling card to

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Speaker 1: get on TV. Then once they get on TV, they

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Speaker 1: never do stand up again. Whereas I am a comedian

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Speaker 1: first and foremost. If I could make half a million

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Speaker 1: or a million a year just doing stand up. I

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Speaker 1: would never step foot in an auditional room, do you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was me.

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Speaker 1: So when I came here, I was like, I want

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Speaker 1: to do stand up. I don't care about whether there's

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Speaker 1: a casting agent sitting in the crowd. I want to

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Speaker 1: make a living doing what I do, which is stand up.

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Speaker 1: And I struggled for seven years in LA earning peanuts,

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Speaker 1: and I'd have to keep going. So every month I

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Speaker 1: have to go back to England. I'd call my agent

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Speaker 1: in England and I'd go time for bankfrade and I'd

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Speaker 1: fly back to England through a bunch of shows, make

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Speaker 1: my money, and then bring that money back to LA

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Speaker 1: and live off that money because I was making no

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Speaker 1: money in La.

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Speaker 3: Hey, everybody, we gotta pay some bills and we will

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Speaker 3: be right back with Gina Yahara.

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Speaker 4: Every champion and carry champions. To be a champion, a

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Speaker 4: champion and carry champion and carry chat be out a

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Speaker 4: champion and carry chapion and carry chaffray is the sports

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Speaker 4: and entertainment and naked work.

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Speaker 3: Kerry.

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Speaker 4: Champion and carry champion is to be a champion, a

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Speaker 4: champion and carry champion nigger shot a champion and carry

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Speaker 4: champion and carry chap.

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Speaker 2: Entertainment and naked Word.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back to this edition of Naked Actress, Comedian, all

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Speaker 3: around Badass.

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Speaker 2: Gina Yashara is still here with us.

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Speaker 3: You said it's time for a bank raid, you needed

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Speaker 3: to go and get your cash, come back here, And well,

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Speaker 3: why did you want to just stay there in the UK?

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Speaker 3: Why did you want to quote unquote do it here

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00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:10,399
Speaker 3: in the States.

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00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: Because I'd hit a glass ceiling as a black comedian

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Speaker 1: in England, I'd hit a glass ceiling and he made

439
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Speaker 1: I got to a certain level of fame and fourteen

440
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 1: and I was coming up with white comedians who were

441
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 1: very similar to me talent, and they were where I

442
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,920
Speaker 1: was selling theaters based on my own hard work. You know,

443
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 1: I could sell out a two thousand seat a theater.

444
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 1: Perhaps my white peers were able to do seventeen thousand

445
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: sea stadiums because they were given a lot more opportunities

446
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,159
Speaker 1: to be on TV. I'd always be the guest on

447
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,160
Speaker 1: someone else's TV, but I could never get on someone

448
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 1: else's TV show.

449
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 2: But I could never get my own TV show as

450
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 2: a black woman.

451
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 1: Whereas my white peers who I came up with were

452
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 1: all getting their own TV shows, which then led to

453
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 1: them being a exposed to a much larger audience, which

454
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 1: meant they can go and do these massive tours. And

455
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 1: I was never going to get to that because the

456
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 1: TV industry in England is run by old white men

457
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 1: who only give TV shows to other white men. So

458
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 1: I'd hit a glass ceiling. And for me, as a

459
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 1: child living in England, I'd always known from the age

460
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 1: of four, I knew that England was not where I

461
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,640
Speaker 1: was supposed to be. I was supposed to be in America.

462
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 1: From childhood, I thought American kids had a better life.

463
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 1: You know, every TV show I saw was American kids

464
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 1: running each to hang out with their friends on the

465
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 1: beach and riding bikes around town solving crimes.

466
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:38,880
Speaker 2: So I always.

467
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: That the kids in America had a much better life.

468
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: So from childhood, I wanted to be in America. Even

469
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 1: when I worked as an engineer, I worked for Otis,

470
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 1: which was an American company, because my plan was to

471
00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 1: transfer and becoming an engineer in America. Always my plan

472
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,360
Speaker 1: had always been to come to America from the age

473
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,280
Speaker 1: of four. So then when I started doing comedy, I

474
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,119
Speaker 1: was like, well, America is the home of comedy, so

475
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,439
Speaker 1: one day I'm going to go to America and do comedy.

476
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 1: So even when I started out, even when I was

477
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 1: doing really well in England, i'd fly out to America

478
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: every year and just go to comedy clubs and just

479
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: go up and do my stuff, just to see if

480
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:22,880
Speaker 1: my stuff traveled.

481
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 2: So I knew I could perform in America long before

482
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:27,200
Speaker 2: I moved.

483
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,919
Speaker 1: Here, because I was out here coming out on vacations

484
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 1: again in New York, going to Miami and just going

485
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: up at comedy clubs and going I'm a comedian from England.

486
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,200
Speaker 1: Let me go up and do five minutes. You don't

487
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:39,480
Speaker 1: even have to pay me, And I'd just go up

488
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 1: and do five minutes. So I always knew, and I

489
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: knew that I and when I hit that glass ceiling

490
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: in England, that was even more you know, of an

491
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 1: incentive for me to get the hell out, Yeah, to

492
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: do what you are So you it's interesting you knew.

493
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: I feel like Hollywood is running by white man, but you, yeah.

494
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,920
Speaker 3: You there is, but there is more of an app

495
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 3: opportunity for you to thrive then there is one in

496
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 3: the UK.

497
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:06,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

498
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,879
Speaker 1: I always say that I hit the glass ceiling in

499
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,440
Speaker 1: the UK and I was probably making at that point

500
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty grand a year.

501
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 2: Uh huh.

502
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: But when you hit the glass heel, the glass ceiling

503
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,440
Speaker 1: for black performers in America is much higher than the

504
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: one in the un Yeah.

505
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want to play hit the.

506
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 1: Glass ceiling in America, I can hit the glass ceiling

507
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 1: as a millionaire.

508
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 3: Uh huh.

509
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:31,679
Speaker 2: You know you're right, You're right, you know you're right.

510
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: You're I was like, I'd rather go to America and

511
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,440
Speaker 1: hit that glass ceiling because I'll be a millionaire when

512
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: I hit it, and I can cry in my money.

513
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 2: Yeah it's so awful air, but I've got my money.

514
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 3: So then you you come here, you get on the

515
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 3: circuit eight seventy five, something I'll never ever forget as

516
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,200
Speaker 3: a robbery. And but it is.

517
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 2: I do I know the scene. I'm very familiar with

518
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,159
Speaker 2: how people are like, this is this societ. You're going

519
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 2: to make it. You start working.

520
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,439
Speaker 3: How long does it take you in terms of years,

521
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 3: five years, six years, where you find it to a

522
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 3: point where you are moving comfortably and not making eight

523
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 3: to seventy five a show.

524
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 2: After I moved to New York.

525
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 1: So I was in LA for seven years, and then

526
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: in those seven years, every year I'd fly to New

527
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: York and just ingratiate myself with all the comedy clubs

528
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: in New York. So I got into the Seller, I

529
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,719
Speaker 1: got into the Gotham Comedy Club, and I just started

530
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: getting and that I do like two or three weeks

531
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: in New York. And the comedy clubs in New York

532
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 1: paid decently, not as much as they paid in England,

533
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,640
Speaker 1: but you could do a bunch of sets around New York.

534
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: Get one hundred and twenty dollars here, one hundred here,

535
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: eighty dollars here, so over a weekend you could make

536
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,879
Speaker 1: one thousand to twelve hundred to fifteen hundred dollars over

537
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: a weekend to doing sets all over New York, just

538
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,359
Speaker 1: running around New York doing different comedy clubs, because they

539
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,159
Speaker 1: paid anywhere between fifty and one hundred and thirty dollars

540
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: for a set. Some clubs even paid two hundred dollars

541
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,439
Speaker 1: a set. So I was like, oh, the comedy clubs

542
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: in New York, it's it's merit based. It's not based

543
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 1: on who your agent though is because in La. I

544
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: couldn't get on it a lot of the comedy clubs

545
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,440
Speaker 1: in LA because I didn't have a big name agent

546
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,720
Speaker 1: who could make a call and get me on stage there,

547
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: whereas in comedy in New York, the comedy clubs it

548
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 1: was more merit based.

549
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 2: If you're good, you got booked. So I'd go. When

550
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 2: I was living in LA, I fly to New York

551
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 2: every year.

552
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: And I'd come back to LA with my pockets full

553
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 1: of fat, and I was like, Oh, if I go

554
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: to New York, I can actually make.

555
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 2: A somewhat.

556
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 1: I've been living in New York while I'm waiting for

557
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 1: the big break. So I left LA after seven years.

558
00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:58,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm going to New York because I want

559
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: to do comedy.

560
00:27:58,880 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 2: I don't want to.

561
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: I don't want to go auditions. I can't do an

562
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: American accent. I don't want to play on Young Sheldon.

563
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:06,119
Speaker 2: I want to be.

564
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: I didn't want that. So I was like a lot

565
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,440
Speaker 1: of my agents kept sending me auditions and I was like,

566
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 1: I don't want that. I'm not going to turn up

567
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: for this audition. You know, I'm not going to learn

568
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: an American accent so I can be the fucking's the sassy.

569
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:34,000
Speaker 3: Or you know, yeah exactly. I know, we just need

570
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 3: some diversity in this episode, so I put in the

571
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:37,479
Speaker 3: like security.

572
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I.

573
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: Refuse to go for those auditions. So I was like,

574
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to New York and do comedy

575
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: there and and I'm just going to do comedy and

576
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: then from there I will try and get booked to

577
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: comedy clubs about the country. It just try to make

578
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: a living. So I moved to New York, and in

579
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 1: between my the road gigs where I'd go to comedy

580
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 1: club in whatever, Philadelphia and do a weekend at a

581
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 1: comedy club, I'd be able to work in the city

582
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: so I didn't have to go to London so often

583
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: to do the bank rates because I could work and

584
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: earn my rent money doing comedy clubs in New York.

585
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: And then from then I started to get booked for

586
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,920
Speaker 1: you know, I booked my first I made. I started

587
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: making my own specials. So I was trying to get

588
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: stand up specials on show Time and Netflix and and

589
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 1: nobody would give me a special. So I was like, well,

590
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 1: then fuck you guys, and to make my own special.

591
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 2: So my first.

592
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 1: Special I made in London in two thousand and eight,

593
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: went to London, sold out a two thousand seater theater,

594
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: booked my own camera crew, my own director, and shot

595
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 1: my own special good for Real. And then I got

596
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: that special and I sent it to Showtime and I

597
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 1: was like, what do you think of it? And they

598
00:29:58,240 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: were like, this is nice.

599
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 2: Why off you? We'll option it for a year. So

600
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 2: that's what they did.

601
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 1: I sold my first special called Skiddy Bitch to show

602
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: Time and they paid me a lump time.

603
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 2: It wasn't a lot of money. It was like maybe

604
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 2: fifty sixty grand.

605
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 1: Well that was a nice chunk of money that I

606
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 1: could go, Oh, I could live on this is I

607
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: could live on this for a good year while I'm

608
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 1: still hustling to make it. Yes, So I did that.

609
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: I sold that first special to Showtime. Then I made

610
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: my second special. I made in San Francisco. Nobody knew

611
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: who I was. I was still living in LA. It

612
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,000
Speaker 1: was just it was in the interim between the time

613
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,479
Speaker 1: I was moving from because I spent a year closing

614
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: down my life in LA to New York. I spent

615
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,360
Speaker 1: a year just slowly winding everything down. And it was

616
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 1: in that year I shot my second special, Laughing to America.

617
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: I shot it in San Francisco. I didn't want to

618
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: shoot it in LA because LA audiences are full of

619
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 1: actors who were.

620
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 3: Not that's all this and there, and they're not generous

621
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 3: with their laughter either. There's stingy. I was like, let

622
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 3: me shooting in San Francisco, where there's real people.

623
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:16,280
Speaker 1: Book. I rented a theater nine months in advance in

624
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 1: San Francisco, just rented this theater. Nobody knew who I was,

625
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: So what I would do for the next nine ten months.

626
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: Every weekend, I would fly or drive to Los Angeles

627
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: is from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and I'd go

628
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: round every comedy club, every venue in San Francisco and

629
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 1: do shows for free.

630
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 2: Go up and go, Can you just let me do

631
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 2: five minutes?

632
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: You'll have to pay me, and I'd go up and

633
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 1: do a set I'd kill and then after those sets,

634
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 1: I'd stand outside handing out flyers with my special by

635
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,840
Speaker 1: work that I was shooting nine months later, and I'd

636
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 1: do that every weekend for nearly a year. I did that,

637
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: and by doing that, I managed to sell out this

638
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: little three hundred and fifty seater theater go free loss

639
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, and then I flew my director over

640
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 1: from London from England to so I got an Airbnb.

641
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 1: I've got a house in San Francisco and Airbnb, and

642
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: I flew everybody from England because it was cheaper to

643
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: fly my guy from America to direct their special, then

644
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 1: to book an American direct couldn't afford an American one,

645
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: so I flew him over and then he sourced the

646
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: camera crew in San Francisco, so he did all the

647
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: technical stuff.

648
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 2: I concentrated.

649
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 1: I'm getting the theater selling tickets, sold this place out,

650
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: and then I shot my own special in last that

651
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. Shot the special in San Francisco, got

652
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 1: the DVD, and then was like who wants it?

653
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 3: So you were like a legit how rappers back in

654
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 3: the day, did you gave out your comedic mixtapes like so,

655
00:32:59,120 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 3: let me just tell you.

656
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 2: This is the highest hit on the bike, go ahead

657
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 2: and get it. Good for you? Yeah, good fore you.

658
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: Yes, I made my special selling it at shows and

659
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: then I ended up option in that one to MBC Ciso.

660
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: Do you remember when MBSC tried to do their own

661
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 1: version of Netflix. It was called Siso, No, I don't.

662
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 1: It lasted about.

663
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:23,840
Speaker 2: But you got sold it.

664
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,160
Speaker 1: But I told them the special and they paid me

665
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: a nice chunk for that. And then when Ciso died

666
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 1: a death, the ownership of the Special reverted back to me.

667
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: Them.

668
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: Yeap, I sold it to them because the what I

669
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,239
Speaker 1: used to do, I didn't sell this them out right.

670
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: I'd go, you could have it for twelve months, so

671
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 1: they kind they kind It was like a lease almost.

672
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: So when SISO went defunct, the Special converted back to

673
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 1: me as owner, and I resold it Serious. So now

674
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: I made it into a sound file and now Serious

675
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 1: and I get checks every month from my specials playing

676
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: on Serious.

677
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 2: And so tell story is sure you're rich, is what

678
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 2: you're trying to tell us. I'm not rich. I'm definitely.

679
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 1: Riched from that, but I earned a good living from

680
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 1: it that was able to sustain me while I was hustling.

681
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: And then I started, you know that, I got booked

682
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 1: on the daily shows a British corresponden, So that didn't

683
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:28,719
Speaker 1: pay much money, but it got me a little bit

684
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 1: of notoriety, notoriety which helped get other things U the

685
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,320
Speaker 1: moment I started, so I was earning good living. You know,

686
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: at that point, I was comfortable. You know, I wasn't

687
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: earning by a house money in America, but I was

688
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,680
Speaker 1: earning rent a nice place money, you know what I mean.

689
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: I've never had a roommate. I've never done any of that.

690
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 1: Even when I came to La, I had my own apartment.

691
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm I'm a grown ass woman. I'm

692
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: not doing roommates and I have to because I owned.

693
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: I owned property before I came here.

694
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 2: I owned Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you lived a whole nother

695
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 2: life that you just couldn't have a house on. Yeah.

696
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I had a house I have. So I

697
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: was like, I'm not going I'm gonna come ahead and

698
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 1: start again for less money and make no money. But yeah,

699
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,280
Speaker 1: I would not compromise on my living situation.

700
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 2: I have to have my own. Yeah, and no one

701
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 2: wants to be bothered. Who wants to be bothered? Okay,

702
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:23,520
Speaker 2: So I will ask this.

703
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 3: Then you get this, you get you get this CBA show,

704
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,800
Speaker 3: Bob Heart's Abbi shola Am I saying.

705
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 2: It right, Yeah, that's when everything changed.

706
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 3: So tell me now, I was thinking, as you're telling

707
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 3: this story, you're a very specific type of actor, like

708
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 3: that's what you The role you would get would be

709
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 3: who you are, you know, not who you are, but

710
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 3: you didn't have to change too much of yourself.

711
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 2: Tell me about the role you play on this show

712
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 2: and how that impacted your life.

713
00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: Well, originally I didn't start as an actor on the show.

714
00:35:58,120 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 1: I wasn't meant to be an actor on the show

715
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:01,880
Speaker 1: I got. When I was living in New York. I

716
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: got a call from Chuck Glory's production company that they

717
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,799
Speaker 1: were the Chuck had an idea for this TV show,

718
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 1: but he wanted a Nigerian comedian to help him create it,

719
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,080
Speaker 1: so he just finished Michael Molly. He wanted to make

720
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,320
Speaker 1: another show about another couple, but he didn't want to

721
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 1: make another Michael Molly. He wanted the female protagonist to

722
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 1: be an African woman, and so they called me over

723
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: ostensibly to help them create the show, help them write it,

724
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: because they're like, we're three white guys, we don't know

725
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 1: how to write about Africans. It's going to be an immigrant,

726
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 1: you know, the it's gonna be immigrants. We need someone

727
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 1: you can help us write. So I came on originally

728
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,840
Speaker 1: as a consultant. Then I went from consultant to co

729
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 1: co creator and producer Yay and then so I was

730
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,120
Speaker 1: helping them write the pilot, and obviously I'm a comedian

731
00:36:57,680 --> 00:36:59,720
Speaker 1: and my dream has always been to be the funny

732
00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:00,800
Speaker 1: best friend in a sitcom.

733
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 2: So I wrote myself in as her best friend.

734
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: I didn't want the lead role because I was like,

735
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,279
Speaker 1: I don't want the lead role because I'm going to

736
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,800
Speaker 1: be writing this show. But the funny best friend is

737
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,480
Speaker 1: always the fun gets the best lines, and I don't

738
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 1: have to carry the show. It's not based on me. Yeah,

739
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 1: so let's get some beautiful woman to be the lead,

740
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 1: lead actress and let me be the funny friend. So

741
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: I wrote myself in as the best friend. The character

742
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,520
Speaker 1: is kind of based on my mother and how my

743
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: mother is around her friends. I was Shore based on

744
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: my mom, the harsh side of my mom, the serious mother,

745
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,080
Speaker 1: you know, matriarchside of my mom.

746
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 2: And then to Kenny is based on my mom when

747
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 2: she's around her friends.

748
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,880
Speaker 4: Every champion and carry Champion is to be a champion,

749
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,800
Speaker 4: a champion and carry Chatpi and in carry Chat Beta

750
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 4: Champion and carry Chatty and in carry Chat Great is

751
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:58,840
Speaker 4: the Sports and Entertainment and Naked Wok. Harry champion and

752
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 4: Carrie Chappy is to be a Champia champion. They carry

753
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,800
Speaker 4: Chatty and they champion. They carry Chappy and they carry

754
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 4: Chafra is the sporting entertainment.

755
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 3: You all right, so you're you're the best friend is Kimmy,

756
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 3: who's based off how your mom behaves around her friends.

757
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 3: And Shola is based off of your mother. So you

758
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 3: had the shee, you have the the best lines, and

759
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,759
Speaker 3: you wrote yourself in. Now did you write yourself in

760
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 3: as a series regular or you just wrote yourself in

761
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 3: for just the pilot. Originally I was just Kemmy, didn't

762
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 3: even have a name. She was woman on the bus

763
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 3: and she wrote the pilot and Chuck comes in one day.

764
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,879
Speaker 3: Because they didn't know, I didn't tell them I wanted

765
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 3: that part.

766
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,759
Speaker 1: I just kept I was subliminately feeding them information, going,

767
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, Abishchola needs a best friend,

768
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:48,759
Speaker 1: don't you think she needs a question? But I didn't

769
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 1: tell them that I wanted that role. So then one

770
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 1: day Chuck comes in and goes, Okay, this pilot is

771
00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,080
Speaker 1: almost finished. I think it's going to be a goer.

772
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,319
Speaker 1: I think CBS is gonna like it. If you want

773
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: the role, of Abishchola. You're gonna have to order and

774
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 1: I went, I don't want the role of that Bashola

775
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 1: and they were like what. I was like, I want

776
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 1: and I pointed to the whiteboard and I was like,

777
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 1: woman on the bus. I want woman on the bus.

778
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:11,960
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and he was like, they're

779
00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:20,320
Speaker 1: very fucking smart. So originally she was just a guest,

780
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: but that was only because they didn't know what I

781
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 1: was bringing to this law because Chuck and them a

782
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: lot had just found me. If I tell the story

783
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 1: when when I asked them how they found me when

784
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 1: they brought me over to LA for our first meeting,

785
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 1: I was like, how did you find me? And I'm

786
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 1: assuming they were going to go, oh, we've seen you

787
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: on Netflix specials, we saw you on the Daily Show,

788
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 1: we've seen you on the Tonight Show.

789
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 2: We'd be following your work. What they said was, oh, no,

790
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,960
Speaker 2: we googled Nigerian female comedian. Yo, are you serious?

791
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,680
Speaker 1: That is how they found me. So they didn't know

792
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 1: anything about me. They just went they googled Nigerie comedian.

793
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 1: Set that I'd done on TV in England came up

794
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: and they were like, oh, she's funny. Get her over

795
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 1: here for this meeting. Wow.

796
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,800
Speaker 2: So they'd done no research on me.

797
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:10,839
Speaker 1: No, I want to say.

798
00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:12,640
Speaker 2: I was like, that was it. They just googled one

799
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:13,160
Speaker 2: person and.

800
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 1: That was it. Yep, they googled and I was the

801
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 1: best one that came up because I'm the best. And

802
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,399
Speaker 1: they were like where is she and they were like, Oh,

803
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,359
Speaker 1: she's in New York. Fantastic, get her over for a meeting.

804
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: So they flew me from New York to LA for

805
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 1: this meeting. So they'd done no research. So when So

806
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: when I created this best friend character, they just assumed

807
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: it was just going to be a guest starring character

808
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 1: that might pop in once every ten episodes. But what

809
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: they didn't know is that I had a long career

810
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,440
Speaker 1: of creating characters in England for television and the character

811
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,760
Speaker 1: this was a character that I'd been waiting to play

812
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,719
Speaker 1: on a sick camp for years. I knew that once

813
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,920
Speaker 1: they saw this character, they were going to fall in

814
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: love with this character. So we shot the pilot. Now,

815
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: in the pilot, my character had literally three lines in

816
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 1: the whole pilot, but when they put the trailer of

817
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,800
Speaker 1: the show out, every one of those three lines was

818
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,759
Speaker 1: on the trailer, so they obviously saw the character and

819
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, we love this character. And then

820
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 1: obviously I'm in the writer's room, so I'm writing. So

821
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,840
Speaker 1: for the first few episodes of season one, I was

822
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 1: just guest star getting guest star rates, which was a

823
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 1: fraction of what the other actors were getting. But I'm

824
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 1: in the writer's room, so I'm seeing that I'm in

825
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,399
Speaker 1: every episode, because every time we wrote an episode, Chuck

826
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,759
Speaker 1: will come into the room and go, wait, I don't

827
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: see Kenny put Kemy in. So I called my agent

828
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 1: and I was like, listen, I'm we were episode eight.

829
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 2: We got to so far of the.

830
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:55,600
Speaker 1: You know, the story setups, the outlines of these stories,

831
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:58,680
Speaker 1: where we've outlined eight episodes so far, and Kemy's in

832
00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: every single one of them. So you need to go

833
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: back and get me bumped up from guest star because

834
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 1: this is obviously I'm a series regular now, but I'm

835
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,879
Speaker 1: not getting series regular money. So my agent went back

836
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,720
Speaker 1: and reallygotiated, and I became a series regular.

837
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 3: I I love it.

838
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 2: You're so you don't understand how this is really so

839
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 2: right on time for me.

840
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 3: I love it. I love your hustle. I love it

841
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:28,800
Speaker 3: whatever it takes. I love how smart you are. I

842
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:31,480
Speaker 3: love how you were fighting for yourself always. I love

843
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 3: how you didn't want the main role because everyone was

844
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 3: all about I want to be on TV.

845
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 2: You're like, I want to do the real y'all. Remember,

846
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,480
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it, I love it. Congratulations

847
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 2: to you. Just amazing. Do you ever just sit in

848
00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 2: marvel at what you've been able to accomplish? No, because

849
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 2: I'm so competitive.

850
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, and you know, sometimes you know,

851
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 1: and sometimes I've had to force myself to sit down

852
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:03,360
Speaker 1: and just enjoy the moment because I was joy I'm like,

853
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 1: I've got to sit Come on TV. I'm making amazing

854
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,120
Speaker 1: money now and I've managed to buy two houses in

855
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:10,279
Speaker 1: Los Angeles off of it.

856
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm doing well. I'm billing The first check

857
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 3: was eight that was in seventy five cents. Yeah, and

858
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 3: I got two houses. Talk yo, Gina, I am so

859
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,319
Speaker 3: happy for you. My producer's gonna have to bleep out

860
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,239
Speaker 3: all my curse words. Oh yeah, sorry, No, No, it

861
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 3: doesn't matter.

862
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:32,720
Speaker 2: I'm kidding. I'm joking. She's probably be like, y'all silly.

863
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,480
Speaker 2: I will say this. I will say this.

864
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 3: What when you what is it about ambitious people that

865
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 3: can't appreciate what you have? Because I see the distance,

866
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:47,440
Speaker 3: and when you tell this story, I'm marveling. All I

867
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 3: imagine is seeing you out there. Let me just have

868
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 3: five minutes driving back and forth and ride to California.

869
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,480
Speaker 3: Excuse me, LA to San Francisco's not a small one.

870
00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:58,000
Speaker 3: It's a nine to eight hour drive. You're going back

871
00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 3: and forth for a year. You're maybe you're flying, maybe

872
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,960
Speaker 3: you're driving. You're selling yourself so that you can sell yourself,

873
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:04,759
Speaker 3: and you like.

874
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:05,719
Speaker 2: I'm a flower on my own.

875
00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 3: You're doing everything it takes because they wouldn't do it

876
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:10,240
Speaker 3: for you, So I'm gonna do it myself.

877
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 2: Do you see the distance between then and now?

878
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:17,879
Speaker 1: Yes, I definitely do. And I have to sit down,

879
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: you know, because and I tell you what you know,

880
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: as I've got a big competitive spirit, so I often

881
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,000
Speaker 1: you know, Instagram and these social medias is a good thing,

882
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,239
Speaker 1: is a bad thing? Yeah, because you're watching other people

883
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:34,879
Speaker 1: and going have they got that I'm fair?

884
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 2: Then they are.

885
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:38,040
Speaker 1: I was doing a lot of that and I had

886
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,479
Speaker 1: to you know, And I tell you when everything changed

887
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,319
Speaker 1: for me before I got this show. I one day,

888
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 1: I sat myself down and I was getting very angry

889
00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:48,960
Speaker 1: and very bitter when things weren't going my way, and

890
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:50,960
Speaker 1: I was like, why am I struggling so much when

891
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: I'm this good and you got these mediocre people just

892
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 1: sailing through and just getting opportunities after opportunity. And then

893
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:01,799
Speaker 1: he had that to set myself down and listen, you're

894
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 1: doing comedy for a living. You're making a very good

895
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 1: living doing something you love. Ninety nine percent of people

896
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 1: on a planet and not doing things that they love

897
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 1: for a living, You're doing something you love. You're traveling

898
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 1: the world and telling jokes, and that is paying your bills.

899
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: Stop complaining, stop looking sideways at other people, and just

900
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: concentrate on enjoying this journey. And that slight changing mindset

901
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:34,480
Speaker 1: open the world up for me. The moment I started

902
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:38,040
Speaker 1: doing that, It's like the universe was like, oh, okay,

903
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,399
Speaker 1: you're ready now. And that's when everything started to click

904
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,040
Speaker 1: into place. Then the specials started coming, I started getting

905
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 1: more TV work, and then this show landed, and that

906
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: was after I went I'm just going to enjoy the journey.

907
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:55,880
Speaker 1: So now I'm doing with you well, making good money.

908
00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 1: I have to try and sit myself down again because

909
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:02,839
Speaker 1: now I'm like, now, why are getting any nominations? Why

910
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 1: is this show getting any nominations?

911
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 2: And we ain't.

912
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:07,480
Speaker 1: I'm getting into that mindset again, so I have to

913
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,440
Speaker 1: sit down and go, Gina h seven years ago, you

914
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 1: would have killed to be in the position you're in now,

915
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,160
Speaker 1: where you're a show runner. You wouldn't even have known

916
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:20,160
Speaker 1: you And I had no intention of writing on TV shows.

917
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,080
Speaker 1: People were offering me writing gigs for years, and I

918
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:24,680
Speaker 1: refused because I was like, I don't want to work

919
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 1: in no office. I don't want no one telling me

920
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:29,880
Speaker 1: what to do, and I've heard horror stories about how writers'

921
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 1: rooms are for black writers.

922
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 2: So I never took writing gigs. Now I'm show running

923
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 2: a show.

924
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 1: I'm the show runner, yeah, and I'm you know, I'm

925
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:44,600
Speaker 1: hiring black writers and I'm making sure that yeah, they're

926
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 1: that they they you know that they will get opportunities

927
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:52,000
Speaker 1: going forward from this. I provided work for black actors

928
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,360
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have got anything in this industry. So I

929
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:58,399
Speaker 1: had to sit myself down and go, five years ago,

930
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:00,160
Speaker 1: you would never have known that you'd been in the

931
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 1: position you're in now. Yeah, joy it it's an adventure.

932
00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 1: A don't be looking at other people's TV shows and

933
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,560
Speaker 1: comparing yourself. So I've gotta set I'm gonna do that

934
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:13,600
Speaker 1: mindset changing.

935
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,560
Speaker 2: You gotta you gotta if you need me to hype

936
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:16,960
Speaker 2: you up. But you did get a good black woman

937
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,279
Speaker 2: to hype up another one. I feel that's neither. I'm

938
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 2: so imported, Gina.

939
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 3: You have motivated me, like in my world and what

940
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 3: I do. I love this because I'm gonna go get it.

941
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 3: You're not gonna give it to me. I'm going to

942
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,520
Speaker 3: take it. You're gonna give me a special I'll make

943
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 3: my own. I exactly want wait for the gatekeepers to

944
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:39,160
Speaker 3: validate you. You gotta go take the power you want

945
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:40,399
Speaker 3: because they're not giving it away.

946
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:45,600
Speaker 2: A man. A'men okay, So in that same vein, but

947
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 2: still keeping focused on focus. What's next? What can I tell?

948
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:52,920
Speaker 3: Obviously we need to watch Bob Heart's Abby Shola, and

949
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:56,520
Speaker 3: then we also Bob as in Bob Hearts as in

950
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 3: Love's Abby Shola, and that's on CVS, and then.

951
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:03,480
Speaker 2: And it's on Max. I think it's on Max, and

952
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:04,360
Speaker 2: I think it's amaz.

953
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was on Age the first three seasons one

954
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: on HBO, Max but I no, that's now changed to Max.

955
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 1: I think it might have migrated over to Max. And

956
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:16,000
Speaker 1: I've seen it on Amazon Prime, so it's out there

957
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,359
Speaker 1: to watch. It is easy to find, and I will

958
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:20,399
Speaker 1: be the biggest advocate can I? And then what else

959
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:21,400
Speaker 1: do you have? Are you in it?

960
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 2: Are you doing any stand up? Coming up soon?

961
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:24,200
Speaker 3: In La?

962
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,600
Speaker 2: I'm doing a tour right now called The Woman King

963
00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:31,920
Speaker 2: of Comedy. A yeah, and where can I find out more?

964
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 2: Word website?

965
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:36,680
Speaker 1: But my website, Gina Yashave dot com. Just go to

966
00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,160
Speaker 1: the website. I've got all the links for all the shows.

967
00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:44,080
Speaker 1: I'm doing New York next month. I'm doing San Francisco,

968
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: I'm doing Chicago, I'm doing Portland, Detroit, Los Angeles, and

969
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm missing one, but they're all listed on

970
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 1: my website Genie dot com The Woman King of Comedy.

971
00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:58,640
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really fun, show me a couple of comedians,

972
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,359
Speaker 1: probably gonna get some DJ on stage so we can

973
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 1: have fun.

974
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 2: It's gonna be a good night. So I'm doing that.

975
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:08,080
Speaker 1: I've got a book, a memoir out called cat Candied,

976
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:09,320
Speaker 1: which means left handed.

977
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:11,520
Speaker 3: And yeah, but when did you? When did you write that?

978
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,120
Speaker 3: I was going to ask you about when did you

979
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,640
Speaker 3: read I wrote that in the first few months of

980
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,520
Speaker 3: the pandemic the shutdown. So I got the deal a

981
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:20,480
Speaker 3: year before I got the TV show, but I'm a

982
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,879
Speaker 3: terrible procrastinator and hadn't.

983
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 1: A word. And then I got the TV show and

984
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I don't know how

985
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:30,759
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have time to write this book because I'm

986
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:32,040
Speaker 1: now writing this TV show.

987
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:36,920
Speaker 2: And then the pandemic happened and I was like, Okay,

988
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:42,880
Speaker 2: that's given me nothing but time. Yeah, And I wrote

989
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: that book during the first four months of the pandemic.

990
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 1: Go for You. That came out last year in the States,

991
00:49:49,760 --> 00:49:52,759
Speaker 1: and it came out in paperback recently in England and

992
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,440
Speaker 1: after Bob Harts that's the next show I'm working on.

993
00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:58,319
Speaker 2: I'm going to be turning that memoir.

994
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:04,560
Speaker 1: Into a scripted series, like a grittier version of Everybody

995
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:07,279
Speaker 1: Hates Chris. So it's gonna be yeah, like you know,

996
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:10,239
Speaker 1: the book covers my life from birth to the day

997
00:50:10,239 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 1: I step on a plane to move to America, So

998
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:15,160
Speaker 1: it's gonna be covering different aspects of my life and

999
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:19,160
Speaker 1: it's gonna be me narrating it. Hopefully with a younger

1000
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,000
Speaker 1: actor playing me. And it's been gritty, it's gonna be live.

1001
00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:24,440
Speaker 1: And this is the moment I decided to punch the

1002
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:28,840
Speaker 1: bitch in the face, you know. So that will be

1003
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:31,960
Speaker 1: the next project. But the next immediate stuff is, Yeah,

1004
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 1: I'm on tour, the Woman King of Comedy coming to

1005
00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:35,760
Speaker 1: your city.

1006
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,200
Speaker 2: We're putting this all in the note. They will find it.

1007
00:50:38,239 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 3: I will also post it on Instagram and every other

1008
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,360
Speaker 3: social media outlet that I have. Gina, thank you for

1009
00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:47,480
Speaker 3: inspiring us today. And I am truly, I'm truly moved

1010
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:49,840
Speaker 3: by your hustle because I thought I had hustle. You're like, no,

1011
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 3: let me just move over. Let mession good for you,

1012
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 3: and let me share what this hustle looks like. Now.

1013
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:57,760
Speaker 2: You deserve it all. You deserve it all. You deserve

1014
00:50:57,800 --> 00:50:58,640
Speaker 2: it all and more.

1015
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:01,640
Speaker 3: And I hope you can really appreciate the distance. That's

1016
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,080
Speaker 3: what I try to for myself, see where it used

1017
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,480
Speaker 3: to be, where I am. Thank you, thank you, thank

1018
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,840
Speaker 3: you for coming on, Nate, thank you, thanks for having me.

1019
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:13,400
Speaker 3: And again, don't forget you need to go get her

1020
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:17,400
Speaker 3: memoirs called cac Handled. It's basically about her life story

1021
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:20,000
Speaker 3: everything she shared with us, but more detail, more gritty,

1022
00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:24,080
Speaker 3: and obviously more entertaining. I appreciate her coming on the show.

1023
00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 3: I feel motivated. I feel also the need to say

1024
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,640
Speaker 3: I should appreciate the distance. I am giving you all

1025
00:51:30,920 --> 00:51:34,440
Speaker 3: that message today. You may not be exactly where you

1026
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:36,480
Speaker 3: want to be in your personal life or in your

1027
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,560
Speaker 3: professional life, but you can always see the distance. I

1028
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 3: say that a lot, but it's so true. I'm in

1029
00:51:41,719 --> 00:51:44,759
Speaker 3: this phase of my life where I'm just trying to

1030
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:48,359
Speaker 3: appreciate what I've accomplished, although I still have so much

1031
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,320
Speaker 3: more to do, and we're always on our own timeline.

1032
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:53,360
Speaker 3: But when it's supposed to be, it is supposed to be.

1033
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 3: Gina Yaesharee, thank you for that message, and thank you

1034
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 3: all for listening. Naked back next week.

1035
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:09,000
Speaker 2: Have a good one y'all. H