WEBVTT - EARTHQUAKE - The Grilled Cheese Sandwich Classic 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.920 Hey, y'all, welcome to another episode of Eating Wall Broke. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.040 I'm your host, Coneen Witt, and today we haven't legend 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.760 in the building. Let the lord user tell the legend. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.920 I literally d M called Bragg to all the friends, 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.440 all the comics that I knew, and was like, Yo, 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.119 you'll never guess who I have. I have earthquake in 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.400 the building. That's it, and I'm glad to be earthquake. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.440 I'm telling you, I enjoy your comedy. I just enjoy 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.840 it is great. I laugh out loud, which not a 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.280 lot of comics can do for me. We're very few, kid, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.040 but we won't. We won't say no names. No, we won't. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:01:00.680 We won't. And I'm a critic problem. Um, so what 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.320 do you have us eating today? Well, I'm ready to 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.840 give you one of my legendary mills and it is 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.240 called the grilled cheese sandwich. You understand real cheese? Is it? Uh? 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.200 Had it when I was broke. I'm eating it down 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:18.800 that I'm rich, um two weeks ago for real? Yes, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:25.520 you're like, okay, grilled cheese, go deep. Now are you 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.880 on those people that put the butter on the bread 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.480 directly or on the pan? No? I put it on 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.160 the bread, you spread it across the bread, and you 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.000 make sure. See when when I was broke, you know, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:41.360 I didn't have individual slices of cheese like that government cheese. 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:46.160 Had to have a knife a jackhammer to get it off. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.120 And it took like this playing right here. This ain't 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:53.400 gonna do it nine thousand degrees to milk it, you know, 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:55.320 to get it to milt. You know, I'm fresh on it. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.880 But now I have money, you know, I see you 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.600 got the individual slice of cheese, the American cheese. Do 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:03.680 you still eat American cheese or do you get the 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:05.840 real cheese down? No, I eat that. I don't like 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.000 the real cheese. I didn't know that wasn't real cheese. 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.280 So please do not tell me that's not real cheese. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:11.960 I just found that out when I was pregnant. Well, 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.799 please don't tell me it's real cheese. To me, Me 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.119 and that cheese ain't never had no problems. We ain't 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.000 gonna have no problem out to leave in your show. Okay, okay, 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:24.919 why don't you get started making the classic of all classics? Well, 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.760 first thing you have to do when you're doing you 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.079 got to get the bread right there. And you lay 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.560 it on there. You get this head with the buttom 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.400 and you have to come on through here and you 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.280 have to run it all the way across is evenly. See, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.280 some people just put it right here. Then when you 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.040 eat your grilled cheese, you're sitting there, you gotta spack 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.960 of butter on there. Cholesterol, hot, blood pressure a lot, 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.160 but that's not a lot of people die stroke right there. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.000 So you want to make sure spread it all the 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.240 way across, just like if it was mayonnaise when you 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.720 go out to restaurants. So you want those people that 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.000 you know, you get the butter and you slather it 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.680 on the bread when they bring it to the table. No, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:03.760 I like to do it the same way I'm doing 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:05.840 right here. It's like a woman. You want to make 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.440 it even. You know, you put it all over. You 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.320 don't want to just give it just a piece of it. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.200 If you wanted to have all of it. That what 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.720 I'm doing about. And then you throw this down here 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:22.360 by yourself. You just put it on a pan. Okay, 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:28.200 let me stop back back thinking to mind your business. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:30.200 Let me get all up in your business. What was 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.680 going on at the time when you were eating drilled 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.200 cheese sandwiches because you had to. At what point in 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.400 my life when I was young my mother didn't cook? 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.360 Is it this one? O? Um? I see I was. 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.800 I was staying out your business. You wasn't. You just 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:49.560 had to tell me I turn on the wrong eye 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:54.040 and I would took you to rest. Um. Younger life 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.680 when I ate girl cheese is my mother worked a lot. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.400 So this was the only dish that I could cook 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:04.120 for myself. Now that that in centiment to sliding underneath 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:11.000 the baller put two uh butter on a cinnamon on it. Anyway, Um, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.840 as I got older to eat it quick meal, give 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.280 you what you need real good. Don't take the time 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.160 now where I'm at now just missing you know it? 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:22.920 Set it off? You know it would be good today. 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.039 Grill cheese ya, that's the thing. God damn it. Yeah, 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.440 I want a grill cheese sounds So that's how it is. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.960 Do you eat out now a lot? I try not to, 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.800 but I do. I say about it three times a week. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:40.960 I eat out other times. Um eat that all. Now 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.680 that you have more money, are you the type that's 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.440 like more restrictive with your diet? Because I noticed a 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.760 lot of celebrities, they'll they'll switch to vegan or you know, no, 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.280 I think I believe in moderation. I think anything of 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.760 too much is bad for you. I don't eat any fries, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.080 fried food, any of it. Um. I try to stay 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.320 away from that. If I do it occasionally, here fry 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:12.320 here there, um bake everything and fish. I'm sorry. Yeah, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.960 everything is baked as much as possible. Fry, fry, fry 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.680 and food. It's not good for you, especially man can't 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.719 keep this kind of complexion, you know, all that fried chicken. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:28.599 As a comic, do you feel like there's pressure on image? No, 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.560 I don't. I think you're juice. Your jokes is the 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:35.800 number one UM product that you have. I mean, if 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.960 you stay funny, then whatever rapid come out don't matter, 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.200 you know what I mean? So you know, I mean 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.839 you look, you see obese comics that made it, such 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.479 as John Canny. You can be good looking, the d raised, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:58.039 the beyond, I mean Bell Bellamy, those good looking brothers, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.280 the average looking brothers such as myself, Cam the rest 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.919 of us. You know, that's kind of brother. So it 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.440 doesn't really matter. You know, Kevin is the most in 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.720 shape coming that we have, right now he's very physical, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.840 um conscious, Well you know, brothers, you know, so it 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.200 is what it is. Our majority of your fans and 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.200 women are I believe they are black women. My favorite 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.680 thing God has ever put on this earth. I think 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.279 women are my number one and perily black women. I 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.880 really write my jokes to them. Yeah, quite honest with 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.799 So when you first got your start, so you you 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:37.080 you grew up in in I would say you're saying 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:41.400 like a low income household four right, We weren't pour 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.560 We just I had a mother and father which you 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.680 know raised man. We was right now you will say 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.520 lower middle class. You know what I mean. We never 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.000 missed for anything or um wanted anything. But we had 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.640 to planet. But no spontaneous ship like it's going vacation 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.520 at save up for it, that type of thing. See 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.240 what you're looking for now and let it brown a 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.320 little bits it brown right there, put the cheese on 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.160 top of it, butter the other one on there. Didn't 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.160 put that pressure on that. So why comedy, Like what 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.680 was going on where you transitioned to comedy or was 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.800 it like a couple of pivots and landing into comedy. No. 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.680 I was in the military for nine years, and I 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.040 wanted to do twenty years. But the war broke out 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.960 and I was like, man, I on mined on mind 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.880 practicing for war, but you'll talk about fighting for real. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.560 I ain't your real soldier. You need to joined this 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.480 to get out of my motherhouse. Becauld have stayed and 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.200 they see to get shot at. So I had to 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:50.080 make a decision, you know, his true story. And I 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.640 turn on CNN. I remember like it was yesterday. And 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:54.960 you know how they always do the pole where is 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:59.239 the best city for black men to be for the best, 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.240 you know, the those opportunities for him to prosper in 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.520 the corporate world and anything, And they say Atlanta, Georgia. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.240 And I've never been Atlanta, Georgia. I say that's where 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.080 I'm going. So I got three of my friends who 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.760 also did mony fight in the war, say, man, we're 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.280 going to Atlanta. And we moved to Atlanta, all four 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.080 of us, and shared the two bad room apartment and 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.320 each one of them went to find different jobs. And 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.480 I went out and tried comedy while I was still 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:33.240 collecting my unemployment from on Sam And uh, when did 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:35.520 you actually get that inkling that you wanted to do? 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:40.480 It though it was deep. See I'm not and see 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:42.760 for me, I don't make plans and stuff. So it 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.120 wasn't no epiphany this is what I want to do. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.640 It was more of this is the best decision. I 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.360 tell young people all ain't I don't get the pressure 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.559 of what you should do, just put down what you 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.559 shouldn't do. I knew what I wasn't gonna do. I 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.319 an't gonna go to jail. I ain't gonna see I 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:03.560 no sell No, I wasn't gonna do this. Now everything 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.920 is open. So to get to answer your question is 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.240 comedy was the best decision that day, and a better 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.839 decision hasn't came this way. So it ended up being 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:18.000 my destiny or would you say your destiny my destiny? 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.959 When you're that as talent as you are, Well, I 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.079 guess what's the difference between purpose and destiny? Because I 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:25.480 would look at someone like you and be like, wow, 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:29.360 you found your purpose like you are. You know what 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.000 I'm saying. I mean, I'm different with that. I knew 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:36.959 I was going to be successful anything that anything, once 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.599 I decided what I wanted to do. But comedy is 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.880 one of the hardest, It would say it's not only 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.079 the hardest, but I would imagine you failed quite a 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.600 few times before you were good from the job. From 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.040 day one. You never had a bomb. You never had 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.400 a bomb. I had one hiccup, and this because it 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.720 was emotional. A good friend of my rest in peace. UM. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.800 He portrayed me at the highest level, and I told 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.640 my agents and everything. Did not let him be on 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.280 none of my shows, No nothing, We don't have nothing. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.120 And for some reason he was on my show and 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.679 UM who was at North Carolina and ten teams at college, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:20.319 UM show and and I had just seen him, and 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.480 I haven't seen him since the time that he did 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.280 what it is and it threw off all everything. See, 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.480 I don't write, I don't have a set set. A 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.720 lot of comedians have a set set. I go up 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.960 there and it comes to me, and I followed where 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.520 it takes me and right there, that was one of 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.439 the times that it just didn't come and it was 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.319 it was frustrating, but I waver it through it. But 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.319 the bomb part, Wait a minute, are you still like that? 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:47.840 You still do your sets like that where you don't 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.160 so when we watch you on Netflix or what have you, 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.559 it's not like a pre I already knew what I 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:59.720 wanted to talk about, but it's never UM choreograph. Each 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.120 is to say this, this and this. It's a lot. 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.800 That's why I never watched my UM specials because I 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.439 always know I can come back like damn, I forgot 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.680 to do this. And I finally watched my legendary spot 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.360 um Um legendary special that was done by Dave Chappelle, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.520 and I was like, damn, I forgot to put in 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:26.280 on January six, when I was back back, been like 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:32.000 I'm i'd be like John walking the back back. I 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.679 forgot all that part. It was a lot of partsitive forget. 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.240 I forgot. You didn't have to do like two different tapings. 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:40.679 I would assume we had to do too, right, I 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.079 did too, but it was two different days. One of 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.199 the day well, and Dave said that we did the 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:48.520 first one and he said, we don't even have to 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.160 do the second. We got it in one take quick, Yeah, 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:56.880 and we was there. We got that looks good. Then 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:58.880 you get a big you got to get the cheese, 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.400 gotta get it right here, right here, So you step 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:09.160 out into comedy in Atlianta, and then what happens, Well, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.080 they had a historic comedy club and it was called 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:18.840 um it was called the Comedy Act Theater. It was historic. 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.599 You know, broke some may through. Robin Hurts had the 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.839 one here in l A. And they had one and 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:29.199 around him and black people. You know, you tell a 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.080 woman you're a comedian first day, then, were you gonna 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.280 be at the comedy act? I said, well, I'm not 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.120 at the comedy act. I'm down. You're working for a 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.559 white man, Charlie. You know the white clubs and the 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.480 well call me when you come to comedy act. So anyway, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.120 I told her, I said, okay, Oh, I finally went 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.400 to the You had to go on open mic, and 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.320 uh proved that you deserve to be on that stage. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.000 So I went there and proved it. He gave me 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.959 a date. He said, man, I'm a finally book you 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.000 have been asked. I said, look me, book me. Yeah, 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:06.800 tell me. I said, up, I say you're donna book me. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.040 Say I'm gonna let you open up for Paul Mooney. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.840 So I went to the girl. I was like, hey, Maan, 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.480 I finally got it. Come on, come and see me 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.839 this Friday. I'm on two shows. I ain't told a 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.640 girl to come she came in anything at the show. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.679 I go up to the owner. I say, man, when 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.400 what time am I going? He said, you were't working 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.360 here there? I said, you said I was gonna work it. 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.120 I don't let nobody open up for Paul Paul and 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.680 I said you did say it. I said, I didn't 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:37.680 say it. In this comedian who was a good friend 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.280 of mine, stood up to him, say you did tell 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.280 him that his name was Sherman. Golden said, I think 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.920 you did tell him that. So um, he said, I 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.719 didn't tell us. The girl say, see how knew he 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.079 was lying? You know, damn comedian. So I said, that's 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.120 all right. So I called my mother and told her 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.360 what happens to this and this? And my mother that 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.319 she always do get me tough love. She said, why 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.960 are you upset? Whatever I told you? You can told 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:02.480 you when you're a little boy, you can't get mad 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.760 at a kid that don't let you ride their bike, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.120 even if they promised you. So why you beat up 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:08.840 the other boy from not letting them ride your bike? 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.960 You even get your own comedy club or go somewhere 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.320 else somebody else. And that was motivated me to open 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:19.200 my own company club. I opened up Uptown Comedy Corner 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.880 and closed his club. That's crazy. I was wondering. I 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.520 was gonna ask you when when did the comedy club. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.040 I was motivated to the point that I had nowhere 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.320 in Atlanta to perform and he had the only club, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.480 and he jerked me around, and I thought I was 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.120 gonna get some sympathy from my mother, and she gave 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.720 me real hard love, like get your own. And that's 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:46.000 where I happened. And and I in turn, when you 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:51.360 got my club and called it Uptown Comedy. Yeah, I'm 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.280 still here today. I mean, I don't know no longer 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.760 on a part of it, but shout out to you uptown. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.440 So but now you go from a comic on stage 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.920 to do in the business. And I'm sure there hasn't 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:07.080 been like a world one of education that you had 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.520 to pick up or how how did that whole trans well. 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.560 To be honest with you again, I try to tell people, 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.560 which you might look as as a slight or a dish, 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.160 could be the best blessing God that ever gave you 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.640 for me opening up my own club comedy act being 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:25.520 so strong. He told every comedian in the line of 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.520 black comedian if you work his club, you'll never work 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.240 my club. You can't work your black ball And you 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.400 know you got the biggest club, Minarge open up for 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.800 the first time. So what they did was I had 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.600 to do all the time and didn't have other comedians there. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.440 When he said that, oh, that's still the rule for 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.600 a lot of comedians comedy clubs. You should do that 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:48.600 all the time. You work and prov you can't work 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:52.560 the funny Bone, you work comedy store, you can't work 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.760 I didn't know that. Yes, it's it's always because they 0:15:55.840 --> 0:16:00.080 feel it's the competition. So if they're sitting hire, if 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.200 you go over there, pick what's out, and comedians like, 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.640 we just want to work. So they boy caught you 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:06.360 and they'll tell you right now, if you worked this 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.960 one club, you couldn't worked out and you know that 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:14.520 was the rule. So they wouldn't come work my club because, um, 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:19.360 because they didn't want to be, you know, excommunicated from here. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.120 In l a comedy act, you gotta understand, Robin Hurd 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.000 was high the Tories. It was it was the staple 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.600 I'm Brandon club. So now you end up doing most 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.520 of your stand up and owning the club exactly. So 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.080 and nobody wouldn't do it. That's why me and Steve 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.600 Harvey is so tight. Called Steve because we was friends. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:39.920 I said, none of these mothers would do my club, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.760 and this and this and that. He said, fun, then 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.440 I do it, and he called me and he came. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.280 And once he came, he was hosting showtime at the 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:54.200 follow at the time, and he did My club sold 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.320 him out. Everybody came to see him, but discovered me. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.080 So from that point on, we was. We was rolling 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.600 and plus we was better. We was uptown. We had food, 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.159 we had that balet service. He was downtown and a 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.560 bad part of town, which was midtown when people are 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.359 breaking in the car. That's why I called my um 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.120 My Club uptown because at that particular time, black people 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.640 wasn't going on to Buckhead. It was staying away from Buckhead. 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.840 It was kind of like Cobb County and Marietta. Now 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.760 that's black people. I've just left Atlanta there there and then. 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.359 But back then, that's when them cocaine and people like 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.800 hit the line, don't bring your black heads up here. 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:39.239 It was Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, and um they told him 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.200 they can't. And I was from Washington, d C. Over 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.640 the hell you say we can't come up here, I'm 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.399 coming up here. So I went on and put my 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.800 club up there and called an uptown comedy Corner. How 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.320 did you finance everything? Well, you know what happened is 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.600 I had this partner, his name was Gary. He was 0:17:55.680 --> 0:18:00.479 doing like um he was. He was doing one nighters 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.600 and one night is is just where you just have 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.719 comedy that night. He was doing them in like Taco 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.040 Max and little Speakeasies and shon. So I said, man, 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.320 we need to open up a club. And he was 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.320 like the club and like hen a black comic. So 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.520 I took him down to the comedy act and said, 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:22.560 look at this. They got four other people in here, 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.000 two waitresses, no food service, and bad and they used 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.000 the same comics for the whole months. If you see 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.440 this motherfucker this Friday and thurtaty, you don't see the 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.960 same act next Friday and hurdy and which is against 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.840 the law in being comedy. So he um he said, 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:42.960 I ain't beat. So he we both went out and 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.840 tried to get some people to um finance the club. 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.600 Of course, I went to all my brothers who's in basketball, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.480 like Dion. I mean sports athletes like Dion and all 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.439 of them and all different, none of them an get 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.600 me no money. He found a plastic surgeon, the number 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.560 one last day surgery in the in Georgia in the 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.920 country at that time. He gave us a half a 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.920 million hours to start the club. And did you guys 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.640 know him or was it just around well he know him, 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.280 I didn't know him, and he was he a black guy? 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.880 Was he was wit and he financed half a million dollars, 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.040 gave us a half a million dollars to start the club. 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:23.280 First before he gave us the half a million dow, 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.840 he gave us like twenty dollars and say, I flipped 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.760 that twenty on comedy and show me y'all can make 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:33.880 money off of it, then I'll support y'all in um 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.560 for the club. So that's how we found Ricky Smiley. 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.200 We went down to Birmingham to do a one night 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.800 and ran into Ricky Smiley and let him open up 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:52.600 the show. He was the feature and birmingha ways from 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.840 and he uh, he was the feature. The dude who 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.440 his name is Gary, He was the m C and 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.040 I was they head line And we just did shows 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.440 down and flipped the money and came back to Dr 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.280 Thomas and bring you back sixty off the forty. He said, Okay, 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.119 y'all really can do this, and then he gave us 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.680 a half a million hours. And why didn't you guys 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.680 have the Steve Harvey connect at the time. Well, Steve 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.639 wasn't Steve at that part. That was because it was 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.480 before the club. It was he was doing Apollo and everything. 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.840 And plus his manager, Christo Petta, who owned a comedy 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:32.960 club itself, was it was. It was we could say 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.479 he was our counselor he was our consultant, told us 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:37.119 where to get the stuff at, how to run a 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.960 club and all that. We know, all the in the 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.840 nuance arounding the club. And he managed Steve at the 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.479 same time. And you know, once we got on our 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.840 feet and everything, we called Steve up and Steve came 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.159 in there for us and we turned it in and 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.320 from that one club, we made it out of Ti 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:01.080 about four to in Atlanta at one x is No. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:07.760 Three in Alana, and one in Texas Downars Texas. Wow, 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:12.840 that's yeah. We was the first ones to ever do 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.560 one nighters for comedy for Black comics. Thank you flavor 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.399 the man. We was the first one down South to 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:24.040 actually say for tonight, it's gonna be a comedy show here, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:29.480 not doing comedy between dancing and everything. Actually tonight is 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:33.000 a comedy night. Now, most comedy clubs don't. They make 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.560 their money off like alcohol too. Well, the double in it. 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.639 It all depends on how you um um structure to 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:43.359 deal a person of my status. If you know, looking 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.960 at it, you they probably asked for a guarantee of 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.800 a certain amount of money and a percentage of the board, 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:55.080 the percentage of the door eighty minus expenses, what I'm saying, 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.520 and then the liquor and the food is the clubs, 0:21:57.560 --> 0:21:59.280 that's how they make their mine. So what did you 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.280 guys have to get a liqualizers? Of course, and that 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:06.040 wasn't hard to do. So much money. Well, that wasn't 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:07.680 hard to do because they was white. It would have 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.240 been harder to do for me if I did it, 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:12.560 you know what I mean, because the surgeon was like, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.200 well the surgeon was white, and my partner was what 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:18.960 I mean, I'm Gary, he's white too. I was the 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:21.760 only chip in the cookie of this. So I was 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.720