WEBVTT - REPLAY - VAN LATHAN - Angola State Grilled Cheese Part 1 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.520 Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:06.600 We are not in La today. We are over here 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:11.360 at eighty five South Studios with the special guests of 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.920 the day. Van Lengthen is in the building. You guys 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:21.040 may know him as podcaster, Academy Award winning executive producer. 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.840 You know, but I like to acknowledge you as the 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.600 man that stood up to Kanye West in the TMZ 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.280 office commissioner of the Commissioner. And we're gonna leave the 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:37.240 commission of the BBI off. But Van, before we get 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.440 into where you're at today, I want you to take 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.920 me back to where you were when you were broke. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:44.720 What dish you're gonna have. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.280 Cook for us to eat today, so you can start 0:00:48.280 --> 0:01:05.440 with that. 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.800 So I get out of college around I would say 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.800 two thousand and three. Two thousand and three. I get 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.240 out of college, and there's this like transitional period in 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:28.920 my life because I was always interested in people's stories, 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.119 and everybody's story seems so linear. Every story seems linear 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.399 when you're at the end of it. Everybody has a 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.039 moment that something happened for them. Everybody has a moment 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:42.959 that they realize something. But when you're in the middle 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.399 of it. You don't know you'll know when it's gonna 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:46.840 happen for you, you don't know how it's going to happen 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.120 for you. Certain people have more certainty than other people do, 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.560 but all you can do is work and try. And 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.760 I get to this point, and it's this weird, odd 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:59.560 point where I'm like, nothing that I thought was going 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.720 to happen and or no way that I wanted to 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:04.720 go is the way that I wanted to go. 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.359 So you're graduated, we're taking back to when you graduated, right, And. 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.640 So I'm working at best Buy And this is the 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.880 same time that The College Dropout has come out. Around 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.000 that same time, Conye's first album, and what he's talking 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:22.000 about great album. He's talking about disillusioned high school graduates 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.280 who now have to realize that they're not going to 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.120 conquer the world, that what they're going to do is 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:35.320 enter into the American workforce and they're going to be 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.280 a part of something, and everything that they did it's 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.440 not just not as meaningful as they thought it was 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.720 going to be. In a way, it's spiritually debilitating. And 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.360 the song is the whole album is about breaking free 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:53.359 of that. Really it's about saying, hey, like I dropped out, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.480 but I dropped out. I took a path that is, 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.799 let's admire but in a way drowned upon in order 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.560 to be more alive. Like I'm not killing myself, and 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:09.000 so I'm to the point to where I'm like having 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.240 an exisential crisis. I'm like, yo, I'm killing myself. It's 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.440 not it's not working. And so many things happen within 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.760 this two year period. My parents divorced. My mom leaves 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:21.040 the house, and that was very transformative for me, because, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:25.200 like when a woman leaves a home right away, everything 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.399 gets less. 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.440 What you were you were talking about after college though? 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:32.960 Were you living at home with your parents? 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:33.360 Sure? 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:34.720 Oh you were during college? 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.120 Yeah, I went to Southern University in bat Ruge. Had 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.200 gone away to school and then I came back and 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.320 I went to Southern University because I wanted to be 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:43.760 around all of my friends. So I was still living 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:47.600 in home. The school was about ten minutes away from 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:48.240 where we lived. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.600 Okay, so how old were you when your parents were. 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.480 Like two or twenty three? 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.120 And so you actually got to see it. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:55.920 I got to see it, right, I got to see it. 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.600 There's two people divorcing and not mommy and daddy divorcing. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:00.000 And I also got to see. 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:02.040 Just what do you mean they're not mommy and daddy divorcing. 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.960 It wasn't mommy and daddy divorcing when you're ten and 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.960 your parents break up, you're thirteen, fourteen, mommy and daddy 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.600 are divorcing. In my life, Crystal and Terry got a 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.680 divorce because I had enough of a frame of mind 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:17.680 or a frame of reference, should I say, for these 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.320 people to know who they kind of really were at 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.720 that point. So I knew the anger that my father had, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.599 I knew the paranoia that my mother had. I knew 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.240 that these were two people that were on diverging spiritual 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.880 growth the journey, should I say, and that they were 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.240 no longer compatible, and like what that means, Like when 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:39.720 you're a kid, it's like, oh, you guys are gonna 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.359 get split up. Okay, who am I going to live with? 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.400 It's not the concern for me. The concern for me 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.160 is do these people still get to live the version 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.039 of their life that they want to live now that 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.719 they're no longer together? And so when I saw that, 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:52.920 you know, my mom, I was actually happy for them 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.240 that they had made the decision. I was happy for 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.279 them that my mother, I thought, Okay, this is a 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:01.000 new life for her. She had felt beaten down by 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.520 a lot of things emotionally, she had felt unsupported by 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.000 a lot of things emotionally, and obviously, with my father 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.919 doing some of the things that he was doing, he 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.080 must have been unhappy too. So maybe this is a 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.400 new life for them. I'm young enough to think at 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.520 that point that severing that type of relationship in some 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.000 way could be a positive for those two people as 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:20.920 much as they loved each other, and loved each other 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.479 until my father passed away. But immediately she left the 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.400 house and it was two niggas living in the house 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.120 that didn't know how to do shit, Like the house 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.840 just became It's like, it's just like, I. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.119 Remember, were you young, the youngest two or something? Who 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.039 are you the youngest in your family? Because you said 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.599 it was just the two, Yeah I was. 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:41.800 I was the youngest in the family. I was the 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.320 only one still around. My sister had gone. My dad 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.479 had other kids, but they were gone. But like, so 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:48.240 it's just me and him. 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.360 Your dad had other kids, Yeah, what do you mean 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:52.839 he had other kids? 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:59.360 A nigga. You know what I mean A lot? Yeah, yeah, 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.719 that's what I'm saying. So it was, it was that's 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.440 another reason why you're happy for her to go and 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.760 have a chance at a life that is for her. 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.760 Yeah right, And so you. 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:18.359 Know, me and him are there and it's like she 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:25.479 she's your mom, but she's also like a genius in creating. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:31.440 She's a genius in keeping things running. She you get 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.600 taught this lesson of misogyny, and the lesson is that 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:36.960 somebody leaves the house and they gonna make a whole 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:38.520 bunch of money. And my mother worked too and made 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.320 a lot of money. But somebody leaves the house and 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:41.760 gona makes a lot of money, and then they come 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.040 back into a castle and everything that they touch inside 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.279 the house turns to go. But you don't realize that 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.719 there's somebody who's keeping your life beautiful. There's someone who's 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:55.080 who's attention to detail, somebody whose ability to multitask, somebody 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.840 who who looks out for things. Somebody who when something's 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.719 broke they go, Okay, you gotta fix that. Somebody who 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.440 when something doesn't work, they okay, we gotta get it working. 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:09.000 And the moment that she left. It was the house 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.400 crumbled and fell apart, like the turn on the stove, pop, 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.160 pop the ille pop. And I look at him and 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.960 he looks at me, and I'm like, right, she gets 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.120 that fixed. That motherfucker popped till we got out of 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.240 the house. Him never fixed it, right. The washing machine broke, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.800 never got fixed, you know what I mean. It's just 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.680 just like little stuff like that. Like my mother used 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:31.800 to come out. This was a big, beautiful home on 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.400 about sixty acres that we had had. She would come 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:38.560 out and she would spray paint like like power washed 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.720 the outside of the house. A where everything like just 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.520 me and him were just too focused on the individual 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.160 things that we were doing to care about all of that. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.320 The place was just less beautiful because the woman of 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.640 the house had gone wow. And so during that whole time, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.040 I'm also broke. I'm also broke. I'm I'm I'm working 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:01.440 at best Buy. I'm like, I'm treading water. I don't 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.800 know what I want to do. And then Hurricane Katrina comes. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.720 And so when Hurricane Katrina comes, this is like a 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.320 weird two year period of my life, Like everything changes, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:21.200 like society crumbles, everybody strapped for cash because you've taken 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.400 on so much more. You got relatives living with you 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:25.760 that come down from down in the city. Everything's different 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.840 and now everyone's trying to stretch that dollar. You're eating different, 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.840 you're feeling different, and it just doesn't feel like there's 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.079 any abundance. It didn't feel like that in my life. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.600 And so that's when that was the most. That was 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:44.439 the point, honestly, from two thousand and three to two 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.160 thousand and five, that was the point where I figured 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.680 out myself. I moved to LA in two thousand and six. 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.680 By the time I got to LA, I could fucking 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.280 handle anything. I could handle anything. I had buried homeboys, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.560 I had put relaty in the ground. There was nothing 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.880 the world had showed me like some really ill shit. 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:09.840 And so when I got out there and was dealing 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:11.880 with LA, it was a piece of cake. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:17.880 So you also navigated, So what this are you gonna 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:22.880 have us eat today? Real cheese, grilled cheese. It's the 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.360 staple and the most simplastic and delicious meal. Did you 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.720 have to add any tomato, soup or anything? Or you 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.360 just didn't the legendary. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:38.200 Fuck all that butter bread cheese shout out to my 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.280 uncle David resting piece. Shout out to my uncle Mark, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.840 rest in peace. These guys taught me the beauty the 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:47.560 grilled cheese. And you know where they learned it at? 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:48.199 Where? 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.040 So you think, Nah, where you think they learned the 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.120 grilled cheese at these two uncles? What do you think? 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.560 Someone screamoda jail, jail. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.360 I could tell what y'a you've been. I can tell 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.840 what kind of life you'd have been living. They they 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.600 they learned the grilled cheese in jail. They were grilled 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:09.280 cheese mechanics. 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:09.880 Okay. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.160 They came back in here and they was like, I 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.920 don't know it was jail because they because because what 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.079 because yeah? Because because we know right there was grilled 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:21.360 cheese mechanics. 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.640 Okay, well, let's see, let's judge your grilled cheese. 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:24.959 I haven't made it in a long time because the 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:26.440 nigga is not broke no more. 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.280 You know what I've been doing this show for. This 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.280 will be our this is our third season. We're taping 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.480 right now. And some of the dishes are so good 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.400 on this show that I go home and I'll make 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.040 it broken, not broke, make it They're good. 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.560 Butter is a very it's very sensual. Look at butter. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:48.040 Wash this wash thiss, just wash this. Oh daddy, you 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:52.559 hear that. Look at the butter go Oh my god, 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:53.920 butter is like delectable. 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.280 Right, Oh yeah, I used butter on my cooking. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.720 Really, what's that? What's that? What's that? Blood pressure? Like? 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.520 I don't know, but I'm really healthy. We're really healthy. 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.640 Like what you get a church, Well, I don't know. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.280 If you could do a good grilled cheese. I'm watching 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:10.240 the way you're making this girl. 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:12.120 It's not gonna be good. 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.920 I'm concerned. I'm concerned because I feel like you are 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:17.480 gonna butcher this grilled cheese. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:19.719 It's it's not gonna be good. I can already tell 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.320 you it's not gonna be good. You know what I'm saying. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.559 I mean, yeah, because these jail birds, they definitely jail 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.040 the right way. How much cheese is gonna put on 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:28.800 this grilled cheese? 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:29.679 A lot? 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.520 This is how you did it, broke. Yeah, man, you 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:36.800 put three pieces of cheese on your broke grilled cheese. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:38.280 I don't know if you know this, but like I'm 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:39.120 a big ass nigga. 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.120 Yeah nah, bro, you're being judged and right now this 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.040 grilled cheese is looking like it's not cool. We're gonna see. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:48.920 We'll see well, I mean, we'll see what happens. Cash. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.800 Your question, is this show to judge people to get inspired? 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.880 You know what? The first the first season and a half, 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.320 I was very nice with people's feelings, and then I 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:00.679 had someone make tunic castro. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:03.000 Motherfucker. 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.440 It was terrible. Well, we tape in LA. Usually like 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.880 eighty five did this whole thing for us. Shout outs 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.640 to eighty five. They did the whole cook top and 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:15.800 whole build this whole kitchen. I'm in love with it. 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.560 Now I'm gonna have to come to Atlanta more. But yeah, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.079 I like it. It's cool. I haven't seen much out 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.040 here yet. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:24.920 Where do you travel to? Where do you go? 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:26.840 What do you mean? Where do I go? 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:27.679 And where do you be at? 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.440 I'll be I'll be at LA, New. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.400 York, LA New York is Okay New York, Okay, La, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:32.840 New York. 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.680 I'm from there. You know. Let's focus on y'all story 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:40.319 for sure. Okay. So you graduate, you moved to LA 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.680 and you graduate with what degree? 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:47.520 I have a political science and English degree? 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:52.640 Okay? And your goal in life before you left. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.960 College was to be an attorney. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:56.760 Okay, and then you got to La to. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.520 Be uh in the movie game? 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.560 Okay? What happened in between those times to make you 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:04.360 change your career? 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:06.600 I spoke to a lot of attorneys. 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:09.600 You found out they don't like their jobs. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.600 What I found out. So, my brother Jabriel is one 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.559 of the most brilliant people I've ever known. Super brilliant, 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.320 like ridiculously smart, right smart in a way that's almost inaccessible. 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.320 And he went to Morehouse here in Atlanta, and then 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.760 he went to Stanford, one of the greatest law schools 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:33.440 in the world. And he didn't have a specific love 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.760 for the law, if you ask me, but he is 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.679 just an incredibly successful person. And it didn't seem like 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:42.520 to me like that was going to be a fulfilling life. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:48.640 What I like to do is commiserate, talk, create. Obviously 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.199 I like to go back and forth on all of 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:56.280 that stuff, But more than anything, I want to create 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.000 things that made people think and discuss. And I don't 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.000 think that that was going to be something that was 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:02.240 possible as an attorney. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.160 Okay. Now a little backstory, So did all your siblings 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:11.600 graduate college? No, okay, or any any of them, similar 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.320 to yours shows, similar to your path. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.800 My sister's a poet. Okay, she's one of the greatest 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:17.320 poets in the. 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.680 World, really, I think. So she made money on it. 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.800 She made no money on it, but she is ridiculously talented. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.240 And I'm inspired by her every single day because she 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:36.160 creates no matter what the circumstance is, and that, to me, 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.680 is more impressive than somebody who gets flown all over 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:46.000 the world to create. She creates because she must create, 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.280 and not because it's incredibly lucrative for her to create. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.760 So it's in her. It's in her, and that makes 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:54.440 me feel good. 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.360 So you get to LA, what's the next step. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.280 I work for a place called Capricorn Programs for a while. 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:17.360 What do you do there? 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.840 I produce a show called Cybernet. It's a video game show. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.320 So when I first get out to LA, I am 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.000 playing video games for a living and then reporting on 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.280 those video games on this show, Cybernet, and writing for 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:35.760 the show. Okay, and then then something happens. What happens 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:45.280 that company goes belly up financial crisis. So when that 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.440 company goes belly up, guess what I get to do? 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:53.240 Live on unemployment? Hell yeah, I love unemployment. 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.880 Yep. And I become one of the world's foremost pick 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.240 up basketball players. Every gym in La you see me, 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:00.840 twenty four hour fitness, you see me. 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:02.920 Oh you didn't try to hustle on top of the unemployment. 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.840 I definitely did. But the most thing that I did 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.080 was just play ball and vibe and right. I wrote 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.280 so much. I wrote so much, so much stuff. 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:14.960 But how long were you on unemployment? A year? 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:16.240 Two? 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.600 You can be on unemployment two years. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.080 You have to remember that at this time it was 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.400 the financial crisis, so they were extending benefits to meet 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:30.840 people's the years. It's two eighty and then it's like 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.400 going into twenty ten basics, and let me tell you 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.320 what happens. There's a true story. So I'm on unemployment, 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.560 I'm doing my thing. I'm walking into the gym LA Fitness, Hollywood. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.040 Everybody there knows me. I'm walking into the gym. I'm 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.560 walking into the gym. And as I'm walking into the gym, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.120 a lady outside the gym says, hey, you want to 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:51.400 take place in the c you want to take part 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.000 in the survey. Like yeah, sure, no problem. She's like, 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.360 take part in the survey, and we like what you say, 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:58.680 will give you five hundred dollars. 0:16:58.920 --> 0:16:59.440 Oh shit. 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.960 And I was like, hell yeah, okay, so I do 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:04.720 the whole thing. I do my whole little stick. I'm 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.800 on a little small camera that she has, and she goes, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.600 we like you, we want you to come out to 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.960 this place, do even more stuff right and take place 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.320 in this gigantic, bigger survey. Well, it's not a big deal. 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.720 We're gonna have you try out these products. And when 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.159 you try these products, we're just gonna ask you what 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.040 you think about them. I'm like, cool, the problem, all right? 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.800 So I decide to go to this thing. We cheese 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:31.639 it up right now. 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.520 It actually looks really good. Impressed. 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.480 And so I go to this thing into Van Eys, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.919 you know where van So I go in there and 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.719 I'm into the little deal or whatever, and a guy goes, Okay, 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.240 this is what you're gonna do. I want you to 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.160 go in here, take a shower and use this shampoo. 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.320 They're doing product testing. Take a shower, use this shampoo. 0:17:58.200 --> 0:17:59.960 Right when you get out of there, brush your tea, 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.800 use this toothbrush in this toothpaste. Cool. It's like, don't 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:05.840 do this don't do that stuff. We took those products 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:07.160 off the list. And then when you come in here, 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:08.879 we want you to shave with this razor. And I'm like, well, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.639 I'm not shaving my beer. He goes, yeah, well you 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.240 can just shave at the top and on the and 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:14.359 right here. Just tell us what you think about it. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.119 I'm like, cool, no problem. So after that, cool, I 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.160 do all this stuff. I get into this little room 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:20.919 and inside of this room is two other guys in 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.600 the room and they got towels on and I'm looking around. 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.800 I'm like, yo, what's going on here? What is this? 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:29.960 I try to weigh myself on the scale. Scale doesn't work. 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.400 I'm looking in the room. The room looks like a gym, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.520 except I know that we're not in a gym. Like, 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:40.119 what's going on? So I start using the uh, the 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.720 the razor, doing like this. And when I start using 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.440 the razor, somebody jumps out with a camera and they say, hey, 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.160 are you ready for the Gilet Fusion pro Glide Challenge. 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.960 It's a commercial. Oh my gosh, And I'm like, oh shit. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.040 And so I'm using the thing. I'm doing the whole thing. 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:56.879 I'm going back and forth to God I'm having fun. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.119 After the thing is over, I walk in there and 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:01.800 everybody's clapping. 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:02.800 Like, hey, why how are you doing? 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:04.920 You did a great job. You're in a commercial boom 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.240 and boom, So don't make five hundred dollars. I make 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:08.520 three thousand dollars. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.920 Yet the freaking out so high because. 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.160 It's a uh, we're done, baby special. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.840 That's a really good looking grilled cheese. Look at that. 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.720 The cheese is bubbling, guys. 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.240 It's bubbling over and it's a little buttered in. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.840 I just learned a trick and making grilled cheese. What 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.280 is it to stack a lot of cheese in the middle. 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:35.080 I mean, cheese is actually a pretty staple ingredient to the. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.399 Grilled cheese, I know, but I usually just put like 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.479 one or two. Yours is like, first of all, you 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:40.440 did it really impressed me. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:41.800 I tell you, I tell you, I tell you why 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:43.879 though that's why you're healthy, though you said you were 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:44.480 healthy before. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.920 Look at the like the even colored color. I don't 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.480 know if it's you did it really impressive grilled cheese? 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.919 Okay, yeah, just low and slow. Okay. So look, so 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.439 I'm there and they're like, okay, so it's Saturday. So 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.760 the five hundred bucks that you were promised, you get 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.960 that it's Saturday, so you get double the session fee 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.840 on that, plus like whatever you get like a holding 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:08.000 fee and all of that stuff. So I ended up 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:09.720 making like three thousand dollars for this commercial. Let me 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.880 tell you what kind of American I am. I come 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.280 home and I'm doing my unemployment and it asked if 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.800 you made any money? Yep, Why I put the money 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:22.160 on there? 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:22.719 Why? 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.240 I don't know. I've seen niggas get the death penalty 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.919 for less, So so I put so, I put the 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.639 money on there. I put the money on there, and 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:36.720 this is what happens. They then readjust my unemployment quarterly. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.080 Like me, Yeah, I would have told you not to 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:40.639 do that. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.280