WEBVTT - The Journey of Erika Alexander 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:45.040 Love he laugh. If you watch Coffee Time the baby 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.440 you know the name Flame, my role also known as 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.080 my role Flame. Come in with last and come in 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.559 with you love luds. Baby, you better catch it when 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.040 you can't drop a knowledge from Fatherhood of politics shouting 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.320 out comics just paying homics. What's up? Tip? Yeah you 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.000 know she read shot towns on speaking to the grown 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.959 a second, we're gonna laugh, cut of the kicking, and 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.440 at the end we leave it with just a lift. Dispirite. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.160 But do you want to revisit? So your first like 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.480 a list at kill folks for your sp all folks 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.160 that we dig it. No, you do train, No do 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:41.880 what you do? No kiss? Do what I do? Well? Hello, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.000 good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good somewhere good. So 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.240 come to Laugh and Learn. We were supposed to be 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.920 on another page, but guess who couldn't get it right. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.240 Y'all know I'm not technically savvy, So yeah, I was 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.360 supposed to be on the Laugh and Learned podcast page. 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.120 But girl, I don't know what this new tablet is 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.040 doing because my my girl ain't here to help me 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.040 out with my stuffy stuff today. Y'all don't like my hair. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:09.239 They said, my week is given disaster. My week is 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:14.320 looking this is fly. This is called wind blown. I've 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.760 been in a wind I was. Let me tell you something. 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.000 I was distracted this morning because I was watching the 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.840 news and prayers to the people in Brooklyn, New York 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:23.920 who were on the subway. I would hate to be 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.840 a short, fat black man in Brooklyn right now, because baby, 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.520 you know, the police is on high alert looking for 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.640 whoever the man was, because they did not catch the 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.840 suspect that released the smoke bomb and then just started 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.600 shooting in the subway. This is just to show you 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.240 that people are really, really, really on edge right now. 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.040 Ladies and gentlemen. You know, that's just showing that people 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.520 are human. This pandemic had more effect on more people 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.120 than we know. I e. Will Smith if you're already 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.560 to throw Well Smith up under the bus. But Will 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.360 is human. He's a human being, and it just happened. 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.320 It happened. I'm glad you guys joined me today. My partner, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:59.600 Long Hogan could not be here today. Her other job 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.799 has up to a way. She's really really busy, and uh, 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.000 but I'm here. Y'all don't like my hair, y'all like 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.680 my hair. It was cute when I put it on. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.960 I do know what happened. It's still cute. I felt 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.560 being blond today. Um, this week, we did get the 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.120 appointment of Katagi Brown Jackson. Yea, we got our first 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.160 black female to be appointed to the Supreme Court as 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.400 a justice. So I'm proud of that. This was a 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.239 great week for black women. Uh, it was also a 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.840 scary week because so many people in Congress and so 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.160 many people that were there have tested positive for coronavirus. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.519 I'm hoping that y'all did not think that Corona was gone. 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.520 I hope y'all think that Corona was done. She's not done. 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.000 She's still around. So you still have to take the precautions. 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.200 Were your masks, wash your hands, social distance all that 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.560 they relaxed the rules, But that don't mean that the 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.080 Corona gut relaxed. Baby, let me tell you something. I 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:53.240 go on my my scarecrow hair today. But the conversation 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.720 today is gonna be so great. Kendall was here, Hey, Kendoll, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.600 It is going to be the most magnificent conversation today 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.440 because not only is my very special guest I'm a 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.920 fan of, but I met her uh, well via zoom 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.600 with UM. When I was working with Karen Hunter doing 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.480 the Karen Hunter Friday shows, Foolish Fridays with Karen Hunter. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.400 And we all know Erica Alexander. We know her from 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.960 as Maxine Shot attorney at law, from Living Single, we 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.760 know her from The Cosby Show. But there is a 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.400 passion project that she's working on. She's a director, she's 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.920 an actress, she's a lot of things. Um. I mean, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.320 I just found out today that her birthday is the 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:34.520 same as my dragmother, Sherry Paine's birthday, which is eleven nineteen. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.480 That's my dragmother's birthday. So she's gonna be my very 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:39.159 special guest, and she's gonna come on. I want you 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.479 flame mess to weigh in with questions. I want you 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.280 all to be respectful. I want you to ask questions 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.360 that's important. Don't come on here with b s because 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:47.880 you know I do not play b S and there's 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.080 an X at the top. I will block your ask 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.000 for generations. You know I don't care. You know mother 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.719 does not care. So yeah, we're gonna have a great 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.920 conversation with her. I'm just mortified at what's going on 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:00.840 in the world. And that people do not see other 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.120 people's humanity. Because no, I do not agree with this 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.839 man shooting up the subway in Brooklyn, but it just 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.719 goes to show you that everybody who lives in the 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.479 world who's been affected by the effects of the pandemic, 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.120 the death, the numbers of death, and also being stuck 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.560 in the house, the financial crisis, that it has caused, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.920 the ostrogization, the loneliness, It is coming out in ways 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.040 that we have not would not believe. I think Will Smith. 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:28.760 I don't know if the pandemic got to Will Smith, 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:30.159 but I think it was a build up of things 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.480 and now people are exploding. This man went in there 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.880 and release the smoke bomb, and when people started running, 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.880 this food started shooting. So before I go any further, 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:41.880 ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna talk about some other things. 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:43.280 But I want to get to this because she has 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.919 other stuff to do, and I really appreciate that she 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:47.920 took the time to come on with me, and we 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:49.560 spoke months ago. I told I was going to get 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.159 a chance to interview with her. So I'm glad we 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.400 had a conflict. We had a conflict scheduling conflict yesterday, 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.000 but today we don't, and she is here, so I'm 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.599 going to bring her own. The Great, the one and only, 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:05.520 the beautiful Miss Erica Alexander, the Maverick, Miss Maxine Shall, 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:10.600 attorney at Guy used to love when used to say that, lady, 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.520 and please help me. Welcome my special guests, the beautiful 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:20.599 Miss Erica Alexander. Hello, Erica the Great Hello Monroe played 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:27.560 the most daring and beautifulest thing. How are you, beautiful? 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.640 How are you doing? I'm pretty good, I'm good. You 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.920 know what I gotta I gotta quick quit. I gotta 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.040 quick a story for you about that shooting. Okay, I 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.640 was on our train last night going to the Poor 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.840 People's campaign over Um, Reverend Barbera was here, and um, 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.000 I went out to support him and and do the 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.240 rally in the march, and I took the our trade 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.320 and that's the our train that I took. Oh my god, 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.680 I'm so glad that God protected you and keept you 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.719 off of the train. You know, I would hate to 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.920 be a short, fat black man in Brooklyn right now. 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.160 As you know, the police are on high alert. And 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.320 I'm not saying that as a joke, but they're not 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.400 gonna see a face. That description is a five by five, 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.560 heavy set black man. So all black men in Brooklyn, 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.680 if you five by five, stay in the house, please, 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:19.800 because maybe they're just gonna go crazy. Yes, it's it's 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.480 it's scary. I am so glad that you. I'm so 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.600 sorry about the mix up yesterday. We had a schedule 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:26.440 in Climflict. She thought I was on the East coast. 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.280 I thought she was on the West coast. But we're 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.320 here today, and I'm telling you, all week and all weekend, 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.760 I've been catching up on my old Living Single episodes 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:36.760 and will you know what I made me fall in 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.000 love with you? Not only your character on Living Single, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:40.960 but when you got married. You got married in a 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.680 pair of sneakers. I thought that was the cutest ship ever. 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.960 I remember seeing your wedding photos. I know you know 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.760 what it was, so thank you. I got an addressed 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.480 and I didn't want to wear white, and everyone said 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.080 I wanted to wear red. Get the same dress, but 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.400 beat it and red and people are like, no, you 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.000 have to wear white, and I vowed to the pressure. 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.720 And I hated that. So at the end, the designer 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:10.800 of the dress sent me a couple of pair of 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.360 his shoes if he had just done a line for kids, 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.120 and they had this sort of golden peacock print on it, 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.080 And I said, I didn't like any of the shoes 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.480 they got me for the dress because my assistantt helped 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.760 me get in shoes. They were back in the day's 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.000 shoes for wedding dresses. So awful. Anyway, long story short, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.239 I put those shoes on and that was my defiant 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.360 move and it also made me feel like me. But 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.880 when I I figured, no one's gonna see my feet anyway. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.840 But when I came down the step, I picked up 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.080 my dress and everyone saw my shoes and started laughing. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.480 So it was actually a really good moment for me. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:42.880 That was great. You know, you always had to find 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.200 you in the in the midst of everything else. A 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.520 whole lot of chaotic stuff can be going on around you, 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.520 but you always have to find you. And I love 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.600 that you found you at that moment. That was great. 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.360 Let's get to live. Let me get to living single 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.000 because let me tell you something. That show was such 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.680 a popular show and and and older than you a 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:06.040 couple of a couple of years. Uh. Look, but that show, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.160 that show taught me, Um how to roommate if I 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.760 had to roommate, because you guys had disagreements. You had, 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.280 you know you had, but at the end you always 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.680 sound solid because your friendship was more important than the 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.200 disagreement you had. I loved that that show taught that 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:21.760 because you know, they love to say that a bunch 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.280 of black women can be in a room together, it's 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:28.360 always gonna become chaotic and and disastrous. But you guys, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.640 show love, you guys show support. The show was so 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.760 much fun. We almost felt like we were a part 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.240 of the show that we watched it every week. You 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.760 that's how engaging you all were to us. And I 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.040 knew the whole backstory with the whole free and things 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:42.280 and all that, because that show you that we ain't 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.040 changed much in this country. That show that last week 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.800 when Katagi Brown Jackson got fifty three to forty seven, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.360 and in nineteen thirty four thirty five when h third 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.480 Gradmasha was put on, he was sixty one, plug four 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.880 and eleven against are we going back with Erica? Sixty 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:03.079 years ago? So when that show came to an end, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.680 how did you feel about it? Because the character of 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.640 Maxine schal Attorney allowed how close to that character is 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.200 Erica Alexander. Well, you know, we bring yourself to every 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.160 role you play, even though that is not ideal for 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.800 someone like me, because I think I'm quite boring. I'm 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.880 not certainly don't have a law degree. Come home, miss Lam, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.800 I don't have a law degree. I'm high school graduate 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.280 of a very good school, Philadelfinie High School for Girls. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.840 I did get accepted into the like you, but I 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.640 left after two weeks because I got a role on 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.000 a in a world tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:39.880 and it was to grow around the world. And I 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.720 asked my mother, uh if that was cool, and she said, 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.640 you know, that's his own education, you to see the world. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.760 So I I left and then um, after that time, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.600 my father passed away and my I figured I was 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.560 working since I was fourteen and and getting some shil 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.120 work and TV and stage. So I thought I'd helped 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.200 my mother continue to work and bringing an inn come 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.160 and that's what I did. So I'm not like my 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.160 character in that way. She's highly educated, she's but but 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.880 everything else definitely, And we were taught expect to mentors 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.240 with five emism and and all sorts of other people politically. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.240 I didn't know how much I'd get in the game. 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.520 But Max is to me that she's a She's a 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:22.240 uh real pastiche of the women I met and the 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.360 women who raised me and the people I admired. She's 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.640 also the house that Fox. The Red Fox was one 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.800 of my comedy mentors. I didn't know I be such 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.440 a comedic actress, but Red Fox, Um, Michael J. Fox, 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.800 I love Fox, I was on Fox Network, and I 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.280 love Sherman Helmsley. Those are the types of people you 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.400 see in Max. Those are the people I was watching. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.480 Oh when you were Maxine Shall attorney and law and 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.280 slept with all the men you wanted to. I never 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.720 looked at that character as being a thought. I always like, y'all, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.640 let men do it. I love that you were so 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.120 dominant as a woman in that role, and it shows 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.160 so much male aggression, or not aggression, that's not the 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.840 right word. It shows so much male dominance because you 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:06.839 know me and could sleep with twenty five women and 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.280 nobody looks at him like he's a whore. But Max 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:10.800 Thin was like, I want this one, this one, and 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.600 I'm I'm good with you. Go home. Girl. That made 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.160 me like, oh, I would be like that. I'm sorry, 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:22.240 I was like that already. That was And so when 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.839 the storyline went and you and Kyle hooked up with 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.120 all the bickering because y'all had the greatest one liners 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.839 at each other, those one liners that you guys will 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.240 go back and forth with how much of that was 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.360 rehearsed and how much of that rolling off the top 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.240 of your dome because some of that looked just too 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:46.200 organic for it to be rehearsed, really or absolutely, you know, 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.240 it's chemistry is everything. I'm telling you, we're in comedy 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.640 that if you have people who you know able to 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.440 throw you the ball, the point the only thing you 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.320 have to be aware of that throw that, but don't 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.240 decide how it has to be tossed back all the way. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.480 You have to be stuck in those decisions. And so 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.840 the key is to remain open to your urges and reactions. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.760 So what's true in the moment is how we reacted. 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:11.960 But true in the moment are there's things that we 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.720 do with our eyes, our hands, and sometimes every now 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.120 and then addatives that work. I mean, PC and I 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.000 would go back and forth with that, but he would 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.360 always seem to get me because he's so nasty. He 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.480 goes and do all that I you could see when 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.240 Eric is there and Max is not. But event Lee Bowser, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.480 to her credit, not only the commission knew the girl 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.200 like I'm physical, so they had to play to my physicality. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.120 They had to play to the fact that I was unsentimental. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.079 That's very Erica, where I'm there to have a lot 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.960 of empathy and love, but I'm not the person who's 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:46.040 gonna be olverly like girls. You know, you can do 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:51.080 it unless that's the joke, you know, because that's not me. 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.480 What they did was put me from in their character 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.120 that she created, which by the way, is event Lee Bowser. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.040 She is Max. She was the person who was a 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.200 way to Standford, to be a lawyer and all that 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.920 mess not me. She has She married man named Kyle Bowser, 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.040 not Barker, but that's her. What they what they got 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.200 right was um allowing me to be free. So all 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.360 that physicality is all that girl. You brought so much 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.120 life to that role. Eric, I'm telling you I loved 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.600 all the characters on the show, but for some reason 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.640 I resonated with Max. I'm telling you Max to me 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.440 because you know, my first drag name was Maxine, my 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.640 very first drag name. That was it was my prostitute name. 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.200 It wasn't my show girl name. It was my whole 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.360 name when I was the other girl, but that was 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.240 that's the name of my car. My name of my 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.280 new car is Maxine because that name that's so I 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.080 was like, oh my god, I thought I was the 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:53.480 only Maxine. But so many of those episodes, the leaching 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.040 when you were just walking the house and just take 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.680 what you wanted. And the episode that I watched this 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:01.880 week in that really just took me over the edge 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:03.640 was the one with you and the girl who played 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.280 Kim on a Different World when she was Cadian's best 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.080 friend and she was freeloading. You kept trying to tell 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.320 Kadiji because I've been in that instant so many times 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.920 we're trying to tell another friend that another friend was girl, 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.640 that she's not the one. But when I watched the 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.400 episode this weekend, I was like, yea, it was just 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.960 the greatest chemistry of all of you ladies on the 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.920 show and the guys. Because I've never met the other 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.960 comedian what's his name, um, John Hinton. I never met 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.120 John Hinton on the road doing stand up at not 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.480 not as of yet, because I met him. Yeah. I 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.080 worked with Kim Fields actually before with Sherry Shepard at 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.440 the Comedy Union a few years ago. Kim is just 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.360 a bubbly I'm like, girl, do you turn off? Because baby, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.120 she was all over the place. I'm like, do you 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:52.480 turn off? But that show was so popular, and I 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.200 hate that the country that we live in would put 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.680 two of the same at almost the same identical twin 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.440 shows with one black, one white, and the one white 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.560 went catapulted to the at stratosphere and the one black 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.200 kept stay black famous. Even though y'all crossed over some y'all, 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.160 that show should have been still on TV to this 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.720 day because the rules that you all taught and the 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.880 love that y'all have for each other in the show 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.280 resonates with so many of the audience members. That's why 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.640 we stayed tuned to that damn show every week. It 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.400 wasn't because it was Queen Latifa and Kim Fields and 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.480 Eric Elizon. It was because we knew these I know 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.600 this bitch, I felt like, I know this, that's my sister. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.440 I know. That's what made it so genuine for us 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.840 as audience members. And I hate that show in a way. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:37.560 I want to ask you, Eric because I know you 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:47.320 won't never been on TV. It's well, yeah, it had 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.120 to end, yeah yeah, And we cast those episodes, We 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.600 cast those reruns every chan. Let me Chell you something. 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.040 It ain't nothing for me to take an edible and 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.680 have a bowl of popcorn and watch Living Single all day. 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.280 But you know, well, I wish somebody would call me 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.119 and put me in one. You know what my problem 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.160 is with acting, Erica. They always want me to play me. 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:10.760 I don't know how to play me. I just know 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:12.680 how to beat me. When you tell me go and 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.760 say be flame, I'm like, what do I do? You know, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.720 I don't know what to do. I just be flame. 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:19.640 I don't know how to be somebody. But it's coming. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:24.439 Just because you said it is coming, we got we 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.920 got we in talks for some stuff, so we shall see. 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:28.320 But I want to ask you, because I know you 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.119 were on The Cosby Show. How many seasons were you 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:35.920 on the Cosby Show? Just too when they when they 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.240 when they scandal came out about Bill Cosby. Because I 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.120 don't think I've ever heard you comment about I don't 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.119 think that you would ever put in that space because 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.280 you were so young. How did you feel about that? 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.760 Because you know a very different deal Cosby than what 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.040 we know. We know Bill Cosby the America's dad and 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.359 what we've seen, but then when we hear about this 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.200 other side you've worked with him, did you ever get 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.440 any inclination about that or how did you feel about 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.680 that whole situation. I don't think anyone could have never 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:06.880 imagine that the types of allegations and um uh stories 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.080 that came out could ever exist, not about anybody I knew, 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.479 let all about um, Mr Cosby. What I always say, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.199 because I have been asked, is that do I'm a 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:21.240 woman's advocate um UM My mother was molested when she 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.680 was younger, and my sister who was raped. UM. I 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.080 speak an advocacy of women and believing them UM, and 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.520 so I believed that the women who came out UM 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.840 needed to have their stories told, and it needs to 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.000 be told from their mouth. I did not experience that 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.119 type of behavior, and I'm grateful for that. It doesn't 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.200 mean that, UM, I have nothing more word to tell 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.160 the stories within selfie did and things like that. I'm 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.560 since these women weren't always in the position to be 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.480 not only heard but believe, and things have changed. They 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.720 were things that they didn't believe when children told them. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.800 And there's laws that changed because people broke through. But 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.880 people think who are always living in this world and 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.120 that they don't even know what a feminist is FEMINESSI 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.720 feminist is a person who believe that females should have 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.159 the same rights as men. That's simply it. But that 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.080 wasn't always the case. We didn't even have right to 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.480 our own credit people black black people, but women had 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.280 to be signed a credit and a man had to 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:23.840 sign with you. And Nate Holden was a young counselman 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.480 in l A was one of the people who changed 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:28.080 it and then became all of the land. So yeah, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.879 we need to learn our history to understand that things change, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.480 change change because people helped change them. That what you 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.639 need to know is that before you cast the stone, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.080 look at the atmosphere and look at how far we 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.120 had to come for even those things go forward. So 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.840 I wish my best to all the people who are 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.600 advocating for those types of changes in the world. That 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.040 is great information, Erica, thank you for that. I didn't 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.959 even know that. But I am a woman. I'm an 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.800 advocate for women as well because I'm a female impersonator. 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:54.479 Let me say that one more time. I am a 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.240 female impersonator. I impersonate women because I admire and adore 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.440 and love women, and I'm much more comfortable working as 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.720 a woman than i would be dressed up as a man. 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:06.160 I get a lot of backlash from my own community 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.840 because of that. To Erica, because I see women for 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.040 the role that they positioned that they are in our 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.359 lives as female impersonators, I would not know how to 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.120 be a girl if I had to watch a guy 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.359 to learn how to be a girl, That is crazy 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.880 to me. Women are givers of life. Women bring everybody 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.200 to the earth. At my joke on stages, if straight 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.040 people stop sucking, won't be the more l G B 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.719 t Q. I'm just saying, because you can't get pregnant 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.160 in the booby. That's a horrible joke to say publically, 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:33.560 but I see it right now. You know, I don't 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:38.240 care as a female person that I didn't realize that 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.680 I was studying women as a kid. You don't realize 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.120 that you you watch your mother, your sisters, your Auntie, 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.800 your cousins, you're best friend because you're learning how to 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.000