WEBVTT - Gregory the Great 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:06.920 You are listening and waiting on reparations of reduction of 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:15.720 my heart radio than what's happening y'all? It is the 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.360 dope knife. This is the lingua franca, and we are 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:23.360 waiting on the reparation. I like the the the lingua franca. 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.320 You should consider making that like a real official change. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.720 I dikett, but you know, like lingua franca is often 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.360 used with what's that the singular definite article and that 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.720 you know it's the you know, English is the lingua franca, 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.960 is the lingua franca of the internet. Uh you know, 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.760 France is the lingua franca in uh quote unquote both 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.440 colonial Africa. So so where did where did the name come? 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.240 Because I don't think we've ever really discussed where a 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.800 red We not ever talked about this word. So um 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:56.720 so yeah, I have a master's in English for some 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:01.520 fucking reason, and I and sudden linguist has learned about 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:06.040 lingua francos, which are languages used to communicate across um 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.920 cultural boundary. So like I was saying, you know, Mandarin 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.440 um as the official language of China is the lingua franchise. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:17.319 Even the various dialects have spoken all over China, um, 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.160 and I could get all into the languages versus dialect. 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.560 But um, so, I you know, adopted this to my 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.240 rap name because I wanted my music to be a 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.959 lingual franchise for all kinds of people come together around 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.600 the music that name, and I hope that's true. Um, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:39.560 but that's a way more like noble reason than BT it. Obviously, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.360 my name is Mac, but like I used to have 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.200 a homie, you still call me Mac the Knife back 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:48.640 in the day, and yeah, yeah, so like I'll be. 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.160 My first rap name for years was just Mac. I 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:52.800 would just go by Mac. And then I just didn't 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:54.440 like the way that it looked like on the back 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.480 of mixed on the back of mix tapes, and just 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.240 look weird to see everybody with cool rap code names. 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.360 Like before people started just rapping by their their government 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.080 and ship like that. So it's like everyone's got like yo, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.720 I'm Spike, Yo, I'm little this young man. I was 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.920 just like I'm Mac. It's like, no, I got a chance. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.360 So I started going by Knife and I was in 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.239 a group Dope Sandwich. Long story short, you know, when 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.520 the group disbanded, it was kind of like, let me 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.720 keep the dope too, you know, symbolize my crew that 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.840 sort of thing. This ain't a regular knife. This is 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.600 a dope knight exactly exactly. Funny Ship was like, I 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.520 don't know why, but every now and then, Joe Rogan, 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.799 we'll be talking about like an actual knife on Instagram 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.680 or Twitter or some should be like a dope name. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.560 You'll say this is a dope knife, and then my 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:55.680 mentions will go fucking crazy for like a day. You capitalize, Yeah, 0:02:55.919 --> 0:03:00.280 y'all would hate me. Um. Yeah, anyway, so we're back. 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.040 How's your Weeker? Week was good? A week has been? 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.520 Oh weak? Um, I have been on one with regards 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:12.240 to my like uh my, my, my perpetual tustling with 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.880 the cops or yeah, we need to follow up on 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:16.880 what we talked about last Okay, So I talked to 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:18.880 you about how the police people was like real mad 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.160 at me, and uh yeah, So that all kind of 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.760 just dissipated in that the county manager kind of had 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.720 a word with him about his behavior because not only 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.880 was what he said just just generally offensive and inappropriate, 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.640 it was in violation of the county charter, like the 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.160 literal structure of how a government is supposed to work 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.640 in certain ways. So they had a little chat UM 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.480 and uh so that was all fine, But I was like, yeah, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.280 y'all thought you gonna silence me, but that's never going 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.840 to happen. Was it just like a talking to or 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.080 did he get disciplined somehow? No? He It was described 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.280 as a counseling, which I think is like a you know, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.880 a way to stoppen like hey, but we're just gonna 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:00.840 have a little chat, you know, only it was a 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.280 disciplinary matter. Probably felt like it for someone that operates 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.800 with utter impunity um, as law enforcement often does. But 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:17.120 excuse me, but so I pinned another opinion of editorial 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:21.320 on Monday night, UM just about revolutionary optimism and just 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:26.080 like how to understand losing UM because I had read 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.480 another article recently um to crying like to fund the 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.200 police that's like UM and and the like plooral vulnerability 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.520 and a failed movement and how people need to move on, 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.080 And I just wanted to reframe some of the evidence 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.520 they used that the HI fund had failed for people 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.560 that who might be more sensitive to that kind of rhetoric. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.000 You know, it's a lot of young people out here 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.560 who have their hope really high that they contained to 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:49.279 the world, and so I just wanted to like offer 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:54.120 them a word of hope in ways that probably further angered, um, 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.720 the law enforcement officials in my community. But you know what, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:58.920 I'm not worried about it. I'm not wal worried about it. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.240 They got a problem with it. They know where they 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:06.600 could stick it. About that, I mean, I don't I know, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.120 you can't say that. I can't say that. I will 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.680 not say that, but um, I will say that I 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.039 have frequently found at moments of high tension when I 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.440 am getting like yelled at by many people about something, 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.120 it generally coincides with when something really important is happening 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:24.839 in a very important conversation that we need to have 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.240 is happening. So it's not something like eye relashan or 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.799 just like it does. It does come with a personal 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.200 and cost and cost my mental health. But it's like, mm, 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.839 I've seen this correlation a lot. It probably means that 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.600 this is important if this is starting to happen to me, Well, 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.440 I mean it is always always recognizing and prioritizing what's 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.640 important versus what's not. You know what I'm saying, Like 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:50.520 knowing would what battles to fight and win. So yeah, um, 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:54.960 all right, so let's get into what we're getting into today. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.200 So today is an episode that we have been long 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.720 talking about for the last two weeks. We are going 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.560 to be talking about the man, the myth, the legend, 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:12.120 Dick Gregory, now Richard Claxton Gregory as he's in Claxton Claxton, 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.480 let me talk to Claxton. Richard Claxton Gregory was comedian, author, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:21.840 civil rights and health activists. Born October twelfth, nineteen thirty two. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:26.520 He would eventually pass away August nineteen. His career had 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:31.480 several moments of social relevance, from his rise in stand 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.960 up comedy in the fifties, his civil rights work alongside 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.839 Mega Evers and MLK in the sixties, his anti Vietnam 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.039 War activism in the seventies, and jump start that jump 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.880 started by a health and fitness revolution that he had 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:48.720 going on in the eighties. I mean, the brother was 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.320 fitness revolution. I want to have a health and fitness revolution. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.000 Oh yeah, like, I mean like his his impact on 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:00.040 health and fitness in the eighties was so much that 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.640 Dick Gregory became like a what's the word I'm looking 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:11.320 for this linguist. It's like like people would say something like, hey, man, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.560 you're looking good. You've been you've been losing weight? Oh yeah, man, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.200 you know I've been doing that. Dick Gregory, his name 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:23.400 became with health and fitness exactly like even a house party, 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:25.600 house party, there's a there's a part where like there's 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.320 a there's an overweight guy, but he's like tell us, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:30.480 He's like, yo, bring me over. Some of that did 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.720 Gregory because like Dick Gregor used to have this uh 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.800 like vitamin mineral supplement juice thing. He was he was 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.520 really really had, you know, headstart on the whole juice 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:45.320 and juicing movement and all that clear about which one 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.840 were talking about here, all right, So um yeah, we're 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.120 gonna get into that. We're going to dive into his 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.880 life at times, talk about some of his activism over 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.239 the years, and you know, just for for for caps 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.000 who do know Dick Gregory and have heard of him, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:05.239 because he is a pretty famous dude. You know, uh, 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.480 you're you're gonna be here and some of the things, 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:08.840 you know, you might hear some stuff you don't know. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.440 But for some of the younger folks out there who 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.440 have never heard of I never I never heard about Dickory. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.840 You never heard Okay, So see, like, why how did 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.920 I come to hear about Dick Gregory. Besides for like 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:24.440 the colloquial you know, references like in weight loss and 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.840 stuff like that. I think I started hearing about him 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.680 in the like early two thousand's. I mean, obviously he 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.559 had been around for longer, but I think the early 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.040 two thousand's he uh started speaking or at least in 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.240 forms where I would see, like he would speak at 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:43.079 like BT events, and you know, I think Martin Lawrence 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.559 did like a comedy special that he was part of 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.959 in his old in his advanced old age and stuff 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:49.719 like that. So it was always like, oh man, this 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.920 is like some old dude talking some real ship. And 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.640 obviously there's more two of them than I knew, you know, 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.240 And and that that was pretty much my exposure to 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.560 Dick Gregory. But this will be cool of you hadn't 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.120 heard of him before this. Yeah, let's get it all right. 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:15.800 We'll be right back with that after the jump. Okay, 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.680 ladies and gentlemen, we are back and we are about 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.840 to jump into this whole thing with Dick Gregory. Now 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.800 Gregory attended. The one thing I'm gonna say first, The 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.880 one thing I'm gonna stay first, is that, do you 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.240 hear me? Yeah? Okay, the one do you want to 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.200 stay first? We're talking about, like, oh, who you know? 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.200 Have you? Young folks haven't heard Dick Gregory? Now? If 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.520 you had to sit me down and say, who do 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:45.199 you think Clacton Gregory was, I'd be like, it's me 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:52.280 the governor of Mississippi. Did he hey, my grandfather from 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.360 a tree and steal his land? And still a little 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.440 just today like like the odest want to say, that 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.320 is surprising. I think a lot of what we're gonna 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.400 talk about today if prising, given the old timiness of 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.800 his name. I does don't trust old timins. Nobody name Ethel, 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:14.360 I don't trust nobody names. Loraine do trust no Bertha, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:19.960 none of y'all. Note y'all cool with me? Well, Gregory 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.200 is still a little even just that a lot like 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.200 looking at you so sideways? I don't know about that. Well. 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.439 In Dick Gregory's defense, I had never heard the name 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:34.520 Claxton used in in association with Dick Gregory until looking 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.079 at his Wikipedia thing. So it's not I only I've 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.400 only ever heard the name Claxton. It was the last 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.720 name of the whitest girl in my elementary He was 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.400 trans loosened in the light. I think there was a 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.320 basketball player back in the day called Speedy Claxton. This 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:56.280 nigga's name was Speedy Claxton. Yeah, be Claxton, BEDI Claxton, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:01.079 And it wasn't a nickname. Nigga's name was Speedy. I just, 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.600 I just, I mean, I joked on this in my head. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:10.720 Should I say out loud? There's so many anyways, So 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:18.959 Speedy class did attend me. Clas Dick Gregory attended Southern 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.080 Illinois University on a track scholarship before getting drafted into 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.800 the United States Army. Now, it was in the Army 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.440 that he would eventually get his quote unquote start in 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.280 comedy after he was urged on by a commanding officer 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.760 to get into the game, who he noticed that he 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.040 had a pension for telling jokes. That's surprising as hell 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:43.040 in itself, given how regimented and soul prefting the army 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.920 is like. And you know what we don't do around 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:47.600 here a lot? How fun? You know what you're good 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:51.800 at making people have fun? We're talking about fired. We're 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:56.880 talking about early fifties too, you know. Yeah, so so 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.719 he uh, he ended up getting into that way. He 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.160 would eventually go back to the Southern Illinois University, but 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.560 he only went I think, uh for maybe like another 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.280 year or so before he dropped out. He would state 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.959 that the school wanted him to run and not to learn, 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.839 but in any event, he was considering using this as 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.200 a jumping off point to try to pursue a career 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.839 and being a professional stand up comic. Speaking of what 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.320 I'm gonna butt in with all kinds of random ship 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.800 because um, I'm drinking Carlo Carlo Rassi go speaking of 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:36.240 dropping out of college. Um we uh. We talked about 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.760 student debt on like episode maybe a year ago, and 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.680 it's been coming up a lot because the re loan 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.280 payments are about to start again like in sixty days 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.600 and everybody's real mad about it and the Democrats gonna 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.400 lose the make terms over it. But this issue, but 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.400 didn't Biden already drop it? Then he said, no, I 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.360 don't didn't do ship for anybody. I mean not to know. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.080 He didn't get child tax credit. That was pretty cool, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.120 but in in researching this whole issue because I'm gonna 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:07.880 trying to push war kN off at a stop to 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.600 get behind the other congress people who are pushing canceled 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.920 student debt. Um. I learned that of student loan borrowers 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.679 drop out of college. They don't even finish coup. They 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:23.360 got like thirty thousand, sixty dollars and loans, but they 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.280 only have an agreed So. But back in back in 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.760 Claxton's days, Um, you don't have to worry about that. 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.760 You go to the army. You know, you get your 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:34.600 school paid. I mean, I guess that's still true. But 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.040 you know, college costs like three thousand dollars a year. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.240 You can be making nickels at the little so to 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.320 float shop on Main Street and pay for that ship. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.440 So he's like, Who's like, yo, I don't pay ship 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.480 for this degree. What's up going to become a professional comedian? Probably? 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.040 I mean it's contrasting the you know, the time a 0:13:54.040 --> 0:14:01.720 little bit so. So somewhere somewhere after he uh left 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.480 school and left the army, he would have tried his 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:06.720 hand in opening up a comedy club, but that would 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.240 eventually fail, wouldn't work out the way that he wanted to, 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.000 but he still stuck with it, still kept doing his comedy, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.440 and his star was rising. He became part of a 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:19.200 new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell. Stop 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.960 I didn't know that Nipsey Hustle's name came from somewhere. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:29.880 Stop it, I didn't know. Yeah, yeah, Nipsey Russell. He 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:35.000 was a comedian, yeah, obviously, but I mean he was 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.680 like he's like one of those um he's like one 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.000 of those like old like Amos and Andy type of 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.560 comedians like back in the day, you know, apparently because 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.680 he was born in fucking nineteen eighteen. Yeah, yeah, like 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.000 like this in Atlanta, which makes me more embarrassed. I 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.840 didn't know who he was. Well, see, okay, so you know, 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.680 part of that generation with Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, Godfred Cambridge. 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.880 These are all guys who broke the whole minstrel show 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.320 tradition and show buzin at the time. They're bucking stereotypical 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.200 portrayals of black people and that Gregory, as far as 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.920 his comedy goes, it's much akin to something that we 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.040 would recognize now, at least like in like an early 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.520 day of Chappelle or Chris Rock stuff like that where 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.800 a lot of his comedy was based on the racial 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:23.160 issues of the day. Um well, here's what I'm gonna 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.840 say about that, though, is that as much as you 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.920 can be groundbreaking and like showing the many facets of blackness, 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.120 I feel like, and we'll get into more of like 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.480 Dick Gregory's like audience in a bit, but when we 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.400 talk about people like Bill Cosby, who I know is 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.920 really influential you know, to me when I was growing up, 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.640 but even people like Dave Chappelle, like, at some point 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.440 you are performing for white people, particularly in the era 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.200 when you have like stuff on TV, you have Netflix, Like, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.320 it's not as like geographically to find the audiences. So 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.600 it's not like you're performing in a comedy club but 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.200 a black neighborhood. It's like you've got special on Netflix. 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.680 Who knows he's watching it, and so like like it's 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:02.720 almost like, I hate to say this, but in some 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:06.720 ways it could still be minstrel ce like because you're 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.440 still kind of like, you know, doing a song and 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.520 dance for white people, even if you don't mean to. 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.400 Even if it's not as like like that, it's not 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.040 as flattening of the black experience, as like menstre Ce 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.400 was when they're like openly like trying to make white 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:25.160 people laugh about black people, think about like the making 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.600 of Claxton, think about Clayton Bigsby. Like I remember when 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.520 I was in middle school and that should dropped. I 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.760 had a bunch of fucking like white friends who were 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.240 in bands with me, like laughing about like you know, nigger, nigger, nigga, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.360 this and that. Like it's like problematic because it kind 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.720 of reinforces some stiff that people think about black people 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.200 if they don't know actual black people. But not to 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.160 say that Dick Gregory was like that, I'm the stand 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.480 Like when we talk about breaking with the minstrel minstrel 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.680 show tradition, I think it's like a complex thing accident. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.240 But I mean, I mean, first, Dick Gregory wasn't even 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.000 well we'll get into a little bit of what he 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.600 thought about his audience and the changing his audience and 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.719 who he was trying to reach. But Dick Gregory himself 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:13.280 personally wasn't against the minstrel shows. He wasn't against the 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.120 amos and Andy's and stuff like that. As a matter 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.720 of fact, He's quoted saying that the problem was much 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.960 like today, is that there wasn't ballads. You know. He 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.840 was like, it's not a matter of, oh, get rid 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.320 of Amos and Andy. It's a matter of that's all 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.639 that there is. So that they're not showing the full 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.760 facets of blackness as as he would go on to 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.840 describe it. But I mean also also we're not talking like, 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:42.720 um metaphorical minstrel ship. Yeah. I mean, like the comedians 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:48.200 that that Dick Gregory was coming after were literally minstrel shows. 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.280 You know what I'm saying, Like like literally like bug 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.760 very specific in that context. Yeah, like like so, so 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.000 by bucking that tradition, I just mean that and the 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.159 little like I mean that, I mean that in the 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.879 technical sense. I would say if somebody started doing sound 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.080 film and they went from silent film, you know what 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:09.320 I mean, Yeah, nothing makes sense. There's a metaphorical sense, uh, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.040 and then there's a literal, actual contextual, historical sense. And 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.840 I think saying in this instance, yea. So he would 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:20.639 credit his jump off to Hugh Hefner, the owner of 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.440 owner of founder of Playboy. Now a lot of people 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.760 have again for our younger audience, and obviously it's way 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.640 before my time. But the Playboy Club in the Playboy 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.760 clubs that were like franchise around the US were like 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:40.560 a big deal in the fifties and sixties. Franchise. I'm 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.000 sorry when you said franchise, you made me think when 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.640 Playboy clubs were like a fucking stunty tea or some ship. 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.200 Well that's kind of ride down to your local frit mall. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.600 Come on, kids, hop into them. We're gonna go. The 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.080 Playboy clubs. Well that's how it was. I mean, I mean, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.959 the Playboy Club. It wasn't they weren't They were like 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.919 it's the actual phrase, quote unquote gentleman club is that what? 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.000 There weren't necessarily strip clubs, you know what I mean 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.960 there was, There weren't women dancing naked and stuff like that. 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.719 It was more so it was more so just like 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.399 you know, stuffy white guys in suits smoking cigars and 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:15.480 as when it just it just had a lot of 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.200 popularity to it. You know, there's like a Playboy Club Chicago, 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.679 there's a Playboy Club Club l A. And I just 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.600 mean in a time before their work chuck e cheeses 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.520 and stuff like the Playboy Club was a big deal. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.960 So when Dick Gregory got his opportunity to um oh, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.159 when he threw a chance encounter with Hugh Hefner, Hugh Hefner, 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.080 you know, decided to have him fill in on a 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.720 spot at the Playboy Club. And just from the you know, 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.960 like the Playboy Club is, it's kind of like what 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:43.879 has that. It's kind of like if you're on like 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.240 a huge podcast or something like that. You know, it's 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.840 like once, once you play the Playboy Club as a comedian, 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:50.879 then it's then your name starts getting out there. So 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.520 that that's uh so he he took to the day 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.200 he died. He accredited Hugh Hefner with launching his comedy career. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.160 What do you think? I mean, that's cool. Good for him, 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.359 that's great. I'm so caught up on this, like idea 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.400 of the Playboy Club. Still think about Chucky Teas. I'm like, well, 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.440 the Dave of Busters is like David bust Ut, Yeah, 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.040 go in there in your leisure student, like I don't know, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.800 get asthma from breathing in the car smoke. You should. 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.280 You should check out some like some old footage from 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.879 the old Playboy Club things, because I just you know, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:32.439 in this I think through time maybe it just it 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.439 has a different connotation. Not that it wasn't like some 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.920 it's a ton of girls in bonny ears and little 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:44.960 leotard's I'm not complaining about, but that definitely was the case. 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.000 I just mean, you know, it wasn't a strip club. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.639 You know, if you think Playboy and you have clothes, 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.960 there's not a lot. Yeah, this is fine, it's cool. 0:20:55.720 --> 0:21:03.399 So while we're working for the United States Postal Service 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:08.440 in the daytime, Gregory performance comedian small primarily black patronized nightclubs. 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.720 In an interview with The Huffington's Post, Gregory described the 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:16.320 history of black comics as limited. Blacks could sing, Blacks 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.240 could sing and dance in the white nightclubs, but weren't 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.719 allowed to stand flat footed and talk to white folks, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.840 which is what comic does. And there's something about that 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.000 quote dans flat footed, like what am I supposed to 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:32.040 doing on my tippytales around white people? No, he's saying, 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:37.280 he's saying, it's just unders a funny image. Well, I 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.920 mean comedians don't sing and dance. I guess that is 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:41.600 what he was saying, at least not the style of 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:43.760 comedy that he was doing. He you know, because like 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.880 again he was doing like that. Gregory used to get 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:50.000 some of the criticism that he would get from other 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:53.360 black comedians of the day is that he was too serious. 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.760 You know. A lot, a lot of the criticism that 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.480 he would get was, oh man, he's more of an 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.600 activist the comedian of his his stuff is more angry 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:04.920 than funny, you know what I'm saying. So like for 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:09.840 him him going to the Playboy Club and doing a 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:13.879 set at the time, it's like, hey, this isn't like 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.639 somebody come up their wide eyed talking about hey boss, 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:18.800 you know what I mean. It's like a fucking suave 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.760 you know, smooth, cool ass, intelligent black dude smoking us 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.199 a guard talking about real ship of the day like like. 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:31.040 Because of the razor early charged nature of his act, 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.000 the administration the University of Tennessee, for instance, along with others, 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:38.959 branded him as an extreme racist whose appearance would be 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:42.560 an outrage and an insult to many citizens of the state, 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.320 and they revoked his inverstation by students to speak on campus. 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:50.399 The students sued, and they noted. The students sued with 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:56.639 noted litigator William Kunstler as their counsel, and in Smith 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:00.240 versus the University of Tennessee, they want an order from 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.560 the court that the university's policy was too broad and vague. 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:07.040 In the University of Tennessee implemented an open speaker system 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:09.640