Episode 1078 - Cedric the Entertainer

Episode 1078 • Released December 9, 2019 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:Alright, let's do this.

00:00:11Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?

00:00:12Marc:What the fuck, buddies?

00:00:13Marc:What the fucksters?

00:00:14Marc:What's happening?

00:00:15Marc:I'm Mark Maron.

00:00:16Marc:This is my podcast, alright?

00:00:17Marc:Is that right with you?

00:00:18Marc:Is that the wrong tone to start out with?

00:00:20Marc:What day?

00:00:20Marc:Is it Monday?

00:00:21Marc:What's going on?

00:00:23Marc:Is that too much for Monday?

00:00:24Marc:Today on the show...

00:00:26Marc:I talked to Cedric, the entertainer.

00:00:28Marc:Sort of a long time coming.

00:00:29Marc:I'd run into him here and there and be like, can you do it?

00:00:31Marc:Yeah, we can do it.

00:00:32Marc:And it was good.

00:00:33Marc:We got a little chunk of comedy history that revolves around St.

00:00:37Marc:Louis that I didn't know.

00:00:39Marc:A little sort of perspective on black comedy and when that kind of became a sort of a thing unto itself.

00:00:47Marc:And just kind of hanging out in general.

00:00:49Marc:I like Cedric and it was good to see him.

00:00:52Marc:So that's going to happen.

00:00:53Marc:Also,

00:00:55Marc:Let me do these tour dates.

00:00:56Marc:I told you about that it was going to happen, but I'm the guy.

00:00:58Marc:You're like, Mark, why don't you ever come to places like Grand Rapids, Michigan or Milwaukee, Wisconsin or Providence, Rhode Island or New Haven, Connecticut?

00:01:09Marc:Why has it been so long since you've been to Huntington, New York?

00:01:12Marc:Because I wanted to wait until it was the coldest time of the year and possibly fucking snowing, apparently.

00:01:19Marc:And why that tone again?

00:01:20Marc:It's in me.

00:01:22Marc:The tone is in me.

00:01:24Marc:This has nothing to do with anything any of you have done.

00:01:26Marc:I am talking to myself like this.

00:01:29Marc:Thursday, January 30th, I'm in Cleveland, Ohio at the Agora Theater.

00:01:33Marc:And that should be great if it's not snowing or under an avalanche of coldness.

00:01:39Marc:Friday, January 31st, I'll be in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Fountain Street Church.

00:01:43Marc:If it's not frozen shut, Saturday, February 1st in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I'll be at the Turner Hall Ballroom.

00:01:50Marc:If it's not ice, pure ice,

00:01:54Marc:Friday, February 14th, I take a break and go to Orlando, Florida at Hard Rock Live.

00:02:00Marc:That makes me nervous.

00:02:01Marc:But look, we'll see what happens.

00:02:03Marc:As many of you know, I do not do Florida because I don't think Florida does me.

00:02:09Marc:You dig what I'm saying?

00:02:11Marc:It's my gut feeling, but we'll see.

00:02:13Marc:Maybe I'll bring Dino down there.

00:02:15Marc:Tampa, Florida, Saturday, February 15th at the Strass Center.

00:02:21Marc:Is that really what it's called?

00:02:24Marc:It's not supposed to be Stars Center?

00:02:26Marc:Strass.

00:02:28Marc:It's a good word, Strass.

00:02:30Marc:Is it the Strass family?

00:02:32Marc:I don't know what that is.

00:02:33Marc:I hope it's right.

00:02:34Marc:It's got to be right.

00:02:36Marc:Strass, man.

00:02:37Marc:I'll be, were you playing in Tampa?

00:02:39Marc:The Strass?

00:02:41Marc:What is that?

00:02:41Marc:Is that slang?

00:02:42Marc:No, man.

00:02:43Marc:The Strass Center.

00:02:45Marc:Thursday, back into the Arctic.

00:02:48Marc:February 20th, I'm in Portland, Maine at the State Theater.

00:02:51Marc:On February 21st, I'm in Providence, Rhode Island, the Columbus Theater.

00:02:56Marc:Many of you know Providence and my relationship.

00:02:58Marc:It goes way back to when my car got stolen there.

00:03:02Marc:I was playing periwinkles and my car got stolen because I left it on the street overnight because I was too drunk to drive home and I got a ride or something and it was gone with my bomber jacket, which was sad.

00:03:16Marc:Yeah, so maybe I'll get some closure around that.

00:03:18Marc:Maybe I'll find my car.

00:03:20Marc:Friday, February 22nd, I'll be in New Haven, Connecticut at College Street Music Hall, which I think I played before.

00:03:26Marc:Again, might be Frozen.

00:03:29Marc:Sunday, February 23rd, Huntington, New York at the Paramount.

00:03:34Marc:I enjoy that place.

00:03:35Marc:I believe that's where they give you a brick when you perform there.

00:03:38Marc:I have a brick from there.

00:03:41Marc:pow look out just shit my pants just coffee.coop classic ad read that was never a read it was always a riff just coffee.coop get the WTF blend I get a little on the back end not a fortune hardly anything really but it's nice they send me coffee and I have been dabbling I have been chipping

00:04:03Marc:At the coffee.

00:04:04Marc:Pre-sale tickets go on sale Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

00:04:10Marc:where you are.

00:04:12Marc:This Wednesday at 10 a.m.

00:04:14Marc:where you are for Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Orlando, Tampa, Portland, Maine, Providence, Rhode Island, New Haven and Huntington, New York.

00:04:25Marc:Presale goes on stage at the venues that I mentioned or WTF pod dot com slash tour.

00:04:31Marc:And you can use the password Buster.

00:04:33Marc:That's that's the artist presale for all those dates.

00:04:37Marc:So let's get back to some more.

00:04:40Marc:Let's get back to the present.

00:04:41Marc:Let's deal with some kind of sad news, but not it's not not horrible yet.

00:04:45Marc:I don't know what to tell you, man.

00:04:47Marc:This the La Fonda.

00:04:49Marc:What do I want to call it?

00:04:50Marc:The journey.

00:04:52Marc:The other day, man, she was under the bed, and I'm like, I'm going to have to do this tomorrow.

00:04:56Marc:But then all of a sudden, she's hanging out, and I just realized she might not be dying immediately.

00:05:02Marc:This might just be the older LaFonda.

00:05:04Marc:She's a senior citizen.

00:05:06Marc:She's a little confused.

00:05:08Marc:She doesn't have the kind of bite that she used to.

00:05:11Marc:She's lost her edge completely.

00:05:12Marc:She's very fragile.

00:05:14Marc:But she's out and about.

00:05:15Marc:I mean, right now she spends, I would say, a quarter of the day under the bed and then another quarter like sleeping on the bed.

00:05:23Marc:And then, you know, half the day she's sort of out and about.

00:05:26Marc:So it's definitely not time to kill her.

00:05:28Marc:And I mean, put her down.

00:05:29Marc:Jesus, I'm sorry.

00:05:31Marc:I'm sorry, it's not time.

00:05:33Marc:But I think I'm in a certain amount of denial.

00:05:35Marc:Look, I think that I can still hike up the mountain every day and I'm a little beat up, but that's where it's at.

00:05:42Marc:I'm just going to wait it out.

00:05:43Marc:I kind of thought I would have to do it this week because I have to go out of town.

00:05:47Marc:for a week and then i'm back for a week and i'm out of town again so i thought like let's get this over with before i go uh which was you know selfish and so i just want you all to know that i'm not going to put lafonda down just because i might not be here to do it like i'm not going to do it because i don't want to miss anything

00:06:05Marc:If that makes sense to you.

00:06:08Marc:She's definitely ill.

00:06:09Marc:I think she might be under the bed right now, but she has been out and about and she is receiving love and she is eating and she's sort of hanging out and kind of looking wistfully out the window, which I project and I'm like that she's taking it in.

00:06:22Marc:She's just absorbing what she can for her journey.

00:06:27Marc:it's like when you know a cat is sick and not doing well and she was just sitting there looking out the window I'm like this is fucking almost too much for me to bear that she's just sort of like oh there's a bird this might be the last bird I think it's raining it's wet like I feel like that she's like soon this is all gonna be over me just sitting here looking out the window outside where I can never go

00:06:58Marc:Soon I will fly away.

00:06:59Marc:Fly, fly away in the morning, I'll fly away.

00:07:09Marc:Yeah, that's what I think she's doing.

00:07:11Marc:She's singing the Carter family version of Fly Away as she looks out the window, knowing that her time ain't long, as they say in the blues song.

00:07:22Marc:LaFonda's time ain't long.

00:07:25Marc:But she's doing OK right now.

00:07:27Marc:Still sad.

00:07:28Marc:But I like that she's hanging in.

00:07:32Marc:OK.

00:07:33Marc:As some of you know, I was on vacation in Ireland and I was away at my mother's for a bit.

00:07:40Marc:I guess what happened, I didn't quite realize it.

00:07:42Marc:Like after the special, after I recorded my special at the end of October, I did not do comedy at all.

00:07:48Marc:Since then, since October 30th, I was just sort of like enjoying my life without the stress and panic and compulsion to go perform comedy three nights a week.

00:07:59Marc:And then I did it the other night.

00:08:01Marc:I got back in.

00:08:02Marc:I went in and it was like it fucking...

00:08:06Marc:Spun me out, dude.

00:08:08Marc:But not in a real way.

00:08:09Marc:Look, I know I'm professional.

00:08:10Marc:I know that this is what I do.

00:08:11Marc:I've done it all my life.

00:08:12Marc:And I assume it will come back to me.

00:08:14Marc:But I was tired of all the material in a way.

00:08:16Marc:I hadn't reinvigorated it.

00:08:17Marc:I didn't know what I was going to say.

00:08:19Marc:And I made the mistake of bringing the director lady with me.

00:08:23Marc:and she got to experience that where you know deep down i'm like fucking horrified at the fact i haven't done comedy so long i don't want to talk to him i don't want to be up there i don't like the audience i know it's going to hurt i know it's going to take time to fucking at least one set to get back on my feet and uh you know i could have just gone through that myself but she chose to come with me so that means i was able to

00:08:46Marc:to kind of put all that frustration, anger, and a touch of fear and direct it right at her for no reason, which is one of the great reasons to be involved with me is the misdirection of anger.

00:09:00Marc:And I realized maybe I don't communicate emotionally that well.

00:09:03Marc:I don't.

00:09:04Marc:You know, I'm a grown man, but I don't know if I'm a grown up, but I'm trying.

00:09:08Marc:The patterns are less.

00:09:10Marc:And I think there needs to be an app of some kind, you know, created to translate immature kind of a defensive men's statements, you know, into what they really mean on an emotional level.

00:09:25Marc:Like, for instance, when I say something like, you know, fuck you, you don't fucking love me.

00:09:31Marc:What that really means is I love you.

00:09:34Marc:When I say something like, you're fucking with my head and I don't appreciate it.

00:09:39Marc:You're just worming your way in there.

00:09:41Marc:You're manipulating me.

00:09:42Marc:You're like fucking up in my shit.

00:09:45Marc:That means I feel very close to you right now.

00:09:50Marc:Right?

00:09:50Right?

00:09:52Marc:Go fuck yourself.

00:09:53Marc:Fuck you means please don't leave.

00:09:58Marc:Then maybe it should translate to like I'm sorry about that to what that really means is like I'm a hopeless asshole and a complete emotional fuck up.

00:10:11Marc:I should be grateful every day that you have the patience to even be here.

00:10:16Marc:That's what I'm sorry means.

00:10:19Marc:But also it's OK if you have to leave.

00:10:21Marc:and go fuck yourself.

00:10:23Marc:See, then you start over again, and then the app has to kind of go back.

00:10:28Marc:You know, it's tricky, but if anyone wants to design that app, you should get on it.

00:10:33Marc:I just heard Fonda yelping.

00:10:34Marc:She's not in pain.

00:10:36Marc:She's all right.

00:10:38Marc:She gets excited about water.

00:10:40Marc:Don't you wish you could?

00:10:42Marc:So I go on stage, and the first set, I took a little bit of a hit.

00:10:46Marc:It's just a horrible feeling, and I was talking to, who was I talking to?

00:10:49Marc:I was just talking to Ben Schwartz about it.

00:10:51Marc:It's a weird feeling of embarrassment and shame that just manifests into, you know, self-flagellation and then upsetting the person you're with.

00:11:03Marc:Maybe that last part's just me.

00:11:07Marc:Anyway, I did three sets on Saturday and I'm back in it, man.

00:11:13Marc:Everything's alive again.

00:11:14Marc:Everything's reinvigorated.

00:11:16Marc:Don't worry about me.

00:11:18Marc:I'm funny.

00:11:22Marc:Yeah, you heard it here first.

00:11:25Marc:Some guy comes up to me after the show, like, I only know you from, you know, your interviews, and I didn't know you did the stand-up.

00:11:32Marc:You're funny.

00:11:33Marc:I'm like, thank you.

00:11:34Marc:Thank you.

00:11:36Marc:I've been doing it my entire fucking life.

00:11:39Marc:And, you know, just like, why you got to be so dismissive, translate to, I appreciate you listening to my show, and I'm glad you got to see me do stand-up.

00:11:51Marc:Fuck that guy.

00:11:52Marc:That means I'm jealous of that person.

00:11:58Marc:This would be a very helpful app for a lot of insecure, angry people.

00:12:03Marc:That guy's not doing anything original.

00:12:05Marc:That means I need to write more.

00:12:08Marc:That thing is bullshit.

00:12:09Marc:I don't want to fucking do that gig.

00:12:12Marc:That means I'm scared.

00:12:15Marc:And I just need to overcome my fear.

00:12:18Marc:Okay.

00:12:19Marc:Anyway.

00:12:19Marc:God, I got to, maybe I should take a break here.

00:12:24Marc:Look folks.

00:12:26Marc:So Cedric's here.

00:12:27Marc:And if you didn't know, he is currently on the CBS show, the neighborhood, which airs Monday nights.

00:12:33Marc:He's also going to be touring.

00:12:35Marc:He's Cedric, man.

00:12:36Marc:He's the Cedric, the entertainer.

00:12:37Marc:He's out there entertaining.

00:12:39Marc:And it was great to see him.

00:12:40Marc:Great to talk to him.

00:12:41Marc:So this is me talking to Cedric.

00:12:43Oh,

00:12:43Marc:Cedric, I haven't seen you in a while.

00:12:52Guest:Oh, man.

00:12:53Guest:Mark, how are you, brother?

00:12:54Guest:This is awesome.

00:12:55Marc:I'm good, man.

00:12:56Marc:You know, it's weird.

00:12:57Marc:I was trying to remember.

00:12:58Marc:I'm pretty sure that my memory is pretty clear.

00:13:01Marc:It wasn't the first time we met...

00:13:05Marc:At the fucking Aspen Comedy Festival.

00:13:07Marc:It was that one year, the first year they had like a black showcase.

00:13:13Marc:Yeah.

00:13:14Marc:Right?

00:13:14Marc:Yeah.

00:13:15Marc:It was you, Bernie.

00:13:17Guest:Bernie Mac.

00:13:18Guest:And I can't remember who else.

00:13:20Guest:Um...

00:13:21Guest:It had to be somebody odd, like maybe even like a John Hinton or somebody like that.

00:13:26Guest:Yeah, I can't.

00:13:27Guest:You know, they'll go black, black, and then they'll go, okay, let's do.

00:13:32Guest:What, almost black?

00:13:34Guest:Yeah, let's just.

00:13:35Guest:Lighten it up a little.

00:13:36Guest:Hey, guys, come on.

00:13:38Guest:Let's not test the waters too deep there.

00:13:41Marc:But I just remember it was like 95.

00:13:43Guest:Yeah, I think.

00:13:45Marc:Yeah.

00:13:45Marc:And it was to see, you know, in that environment to see Bernie Mac and you guys up there, it was crazy.

00:13:52Guest:Yeah.

00:13:52Guest:And, you know, it's like in Aspen, it was like the first time doing some stuff like that.

00:13:57Guest:You like you really seeing people like vacation in the cold.

00:14:01Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:14:01Guest:Like, what's this choice?

00:14:04Guest:What's this choice?

00:14:07Guest:I'm not understanding.

00:14:08Guest:So y'all chose to come here.

00:14:11Guest:It's super cold.

00:14:13Guest:And you can't breathe.

00:14:14Guest:And the audiences are weird.

00:14:16Guest:And he's from Chicago.

00:14:17Guest:I'm from St.

00:14:18Guest:Louis.

00:14:18Guest:So we're running from winter at all times, man.

00:14:22Guest:That was not a good look.

00:14:24Marc:I just remember the awkwardness of all of it.

00:14:28Guest:oh yeah and then yeah the night starts and it's like they're trying to you know this before they even came up with the term urban i think like so nobody knew exactly what to call hey guys it's uh is our african can we are we able to black do we say it's black night oh do you just say it right out like that

00:14:51Guest:Just go black.

00:14:52Guest:Really?

00:14:52Guest:Urban wasn't around yet?

00:14:54Guest:Yeah, urban wasn't here yet.

00:14:55Guest:We couldn't do it.

00:14:56Guest:We couldn't make it politically correct at the moment.

00:14:58Marc:I don't know what, that urban thing is kind of odd.

00:15:01Marc:So you remember when that happened?

00:15:03Marc:When it was just urban?

00:15:04Guest:Yeah, you know, it came in because, you know, I mean, black people, for one, we make sure, because we go through it.

00:15:10Guest:We'll be like, we're African-Americans.

00:15:13Guest:There's some people like, I'd just rather be called black.

00:15:15Guest:And then some people just like, look, I'm American.

00:15:18Guest:Don't put no color on me.

00:15:20Guest:Oh, really?

00:15:20Guest:So it's that.

00:15:21Guest:So there's conversations within the community.

00:15:23Guest:Yeah, that happens all the time on what we are actually going to be calling ourselves in the next year.

00:15:28Marc:Does it come down to a personal level or is there a generalized sense of it?

00:15:33Guest:It is a generalization.

00:15:34Guest:It is like a caucus.

00:15:36Guest:Yeah.

00:15:36Guest:Like a big sense.

00:15:37Marc:Where are we at now?

00:15:38Guest:We're still an African American, but really all the black people just go with black.

00:15:46Guest:So on paper, on paper, like if you fill out anything, it's going to be African American.

00:15:52Guest:Right.

00:15:52Guest:If you ask a black person, they're going to be like, yeah, I'm black.

00:15:55Marc:So black's okay.

00:15:55Guest:Yeah, black is fine.

00:15:56Yeah.

00:15:57Marc:African-American's good.

00:16:00Marc:It's a lot.

00:16:01Guest:One that's out completely is colored.

00:16:05Guest:Yeah, of course.

00:16:07Marc:Yeah, it's been a long time.

00:16:09Marc:But do people have... Do you know people that have a problem with African-American?

00:16:14Guest:Not really.

00:16:15Guest:I mean, it is a subculture, like the extremely woke, if you will, like people that don't like those kind of...

00:16:26Guest:unofficial categories yeah like all right i gotta fit in this one group one because we got so many people that's like just so multicultural now oh yeah you know yeah yeah but the idea the identify of how you look right to a person would be like yo you're black right you know so and also like not all black people are african based yeah exactly yeah yeah sorry

00:16:50Guest:That's cold bloody.

00:16:55Guest:Is it?

00:16:56Guest:Source from Africa.

00:16:58Marc:Well, I mean, it is the source where we all come from.

00:17:01Guest:Right.

00:17:02Guest:But not, oh, we're, yeah.

00:17:04Marc:It's so weird.

00:17:05Marc:It's odd to me that, like, in talking about, like, I had this situation just with a guy.

00:17:09Marc:When you talk about black stuff with black people and you're not, you know, I'm white.

00:17:13Marc:But, and then people go, like, why you got to bring that up?

00:17:17Marc:I'm like, why not?

00:17:18Marc:Why not?

00:17:19Marc:Yeah.

00:17:19Marc:But we're just supposed to pretend like, you know, there's no color lines.

00:17:22Marc:There's no gender lines.

00:17:23Marc:There's no.

00:17:24Marc:And it's like that's pretend.

00:17:26Guest:And then you get everybody always ends that with.

00:17:30Guest:Yeah.

00:17:30Guest:You know, all we got to do is talk more.

00:17:32Guest:Yeah.

00:17:33Guest:We got to do we got to keep these kind of conversations in the atmosphere, guys.

00:17:37Guest:Yeah.

00:17:38Guest:But as soon as you bring it up, don't don't you ever say that about me.

00:17:41Marc:Well, it's weird because the news, your show, what are we going into season three?

00:17:46Marc:Season two right now.

00:17:47Marc:Of the neighborhood.

00:17:48Marc:Of the neighborhood.

00:17:49Marc:Yeah, man.

00:17:49Marc:Well, because that's sort of what that's about.

00:17:51Marc:Yeah.

00:17:52Marc:But it's sort of a straight up CBS, you know, three camera deal.

00:17:56Marc:Yeah.

00:17:56Marc:And you got, what is it?

00:17:58Marc:It's a white guy that moved into a black neighborhood.

00:18:00Marc:Correct.

00:18:00Marc:And clearly it's not, it's before they take it over entirely.

00:18:04Marc:Right.

00:18:04Guest:correct so it is the it is when it's a small window yeah it's that small window we're going into like a dead tail that small window just got about another year before the whole foods right and we like oh that's how it starts do you guys talk about that on the show

00:18:23Guest:What?

00:18:24Guest:That's going to happen?

00:18:25Guest:Yeah.

00:18:26Guest:Oh, you do?

00:18:26Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:18:27Guest:We definitely start to build out into it, and we're going to do it more.

00:18:31Guest:We're in season two, and as we build out to the final part of it, we're going to start to show.

00:18:38Marc:More white people coming?

00:18:39Guest:This move is starting to happen.

00:18:40Guest:It won't be necessarily the white people, but it'll be like the businesses and the idea of how people are really getting ready.

00:18:47Guest:What are you going to do?

00:18:48Guest:Do you just complain or do you try to get involved or what do you do?

00:18:54Marc:Is it wrong, I guess, is the real question.

00:18:57Marc:Because I was part of it.

00:18:58Marc:I moved out of Highland Park and I got accused of being sort of a gentrifier, a colonialist, whatever you call it.

00:19:07Marc:Right, I showed up and they all followed and then I got out because it got... Your square shoes and your little... Yeah, exactly.

00:19:13Marc:Well, the hipster look, you know, because it got too much for me, you know, but I saw it happen and I've been in neighborhoods where that happens and you do feel attention after a certain point, but then there are some people who have lived there all their lives and they are of the culture that lived there before the white people came in who were like, well, it's doing the neighborhood good, but then there's the hardcore people that are like, they fucked everything up.

00:19:34Guest:No, it's so true.

00:19:36Guest:And I mean, it's hard because people people have always these, you know, kind of mythical, beautiful ideas of the neighborhoods that they grew up in.

00:19:44Guest:Right.

00:19:45Guest:But, you know, one, when, you know, ideas of services and goods and things are coming, moving in, you want those things.

00:19:53Guest:But, you know, when it's, you know.

00:19:55Guest:All cultural all one race or something to that nature and it feels like you can't get those same services Yeah to come in but when they start to come and you live there Yes, you want a great grocery store right around the corner.

00:20:07Guest:I don't want to move Yeah, but I can't afford to stay here.

00:20:11Guest:Like that's what happened right you can't afford the grocery store.

00:20:14Marc:Yeah, exactly what orange

00:20:17Marc:Three dollars?

00:20:18Marc:Yeah, I need a credit.

00:20:19Marc:Three dollars.

00:20:20Guest:Let me do a little home loan.

00:20:22Marc:So you come from Missouri?

00:20:23Guest:Yeah, St.

00:20:24Guest:Louis.

00:20:25Guest:Well, actually, two little places.

00:20:29Guest:I was all over Missouri.

00:20:30Guest:Really?

00:20:30Guest:Born in Jeff City.

00:20:31Guest:My mother was in college at the time.

00:20:34Guest:Then Caruthersville, Missouri, which is in the boot hill, down in between St.

00:20:40Guest:Louis and Memphis, that way.

00:20:41Guest:And then St.

00:20:45Guest:Louis.

00:20:45Marc:You know, I've gotten a little shit for talking shit about Missouri recently.

00:20:51Marc:Uh-oh.

00:20:51Marc:No, I was in St.

00:20:52Marc:Louis.

00:20:52Marc:I had great shows there.

00:20:53Marc:I was nervous to go to Missouri because it is sort of a conservative state, an example of, you know, we're going to try to make this a theocracy.

00:21:03Marc:We're going to make everything illegal and make it Jesus Town.

00:21:06Marc:But St.

00:21:07Marc:Louis, I had a good time there.

00:21:08Marc:They're good people.

00:21:08Marc:It's a good old city.

00:21:09Marc:What was your experience growing up there?

00:21:11Marc:But there's, I mean, well, it's a huge black community in Missouri.

00:21:15Guest:Yeah, you know, it's still one of the most polarized, to your point, though, like Missouri is actually, if you live there, you know, you're kind of used to this energy and you can operate in it, but it's still very one of the- Which energy?

00:21:27Guest:The energy of like knowing that people want to be, yeah, like it's a whole sector of people that want to just-

00:21:34Guest:Break away from the union and just kind of be like yo, we're you know, we can do things our way, right?

00:21:39Guest:Yeah, anything we want to do.

00:21:41Guest:It's our way, you know, very very, you know Why it's white fundamental fundamentalism exactly strong and bold and so you you'll see that in the in the town you grew up with it and

00:21:53Guest:Yeah.

00:21:54Guest:Yeah.

00:21:54Guest:I mean, it's there.

00:21:55Guest:St.

00:21:55Guest:Louis, of course, in the metropolitan areas, it's not as much because of the density of, you know, the black culture and people.

00:22:04Guest:But the city's still very much divided black and white.

00:22:08Guest:South St.

00:22:08Guest:Louis, pretty much white.

00:22:10Guest:North St.

00:22:10Guest:Louis, black.

00:22:11Guest:Yeah.

00:22:12Guest:North the suburbs, same way you get west, it's more white.

00:22:17Guest:You know, again, people are starting to, you know, economically change and mix in.

00:22:21Guest:Yeah.

00:22:21Guest:But it's that.

00:22:23Guest:It's still that.

00:22:23Guest:You see it.

00:22:24Guest:It's so obvious that, you know, they don't even have to deal with other cultures issues.

00:22:31Guest:It's not a part of their life.

00:22:32Marc:And they accept the segregation, but they champion themselves as being integrated.

00:22:39Marc:Yeah.

00:22:39Marc:You know, well, we all work in the city.

00:22:42Marc:It's just when we leave the city a few miles, we go to our separate places.

00:22:46Guest:Yeah, exactly how, you know, and it's really how a thing like Ferguson happened, you know, that was that kind of powder keg of when people don't really work, live in the communities where they work and they just work it.

00:23:00Guest:Yeah.

00:23:00Guest:They just go in there and work it like it's a

00:23:02Guest:you know like it's an inanimate object like they don't give a shit they leave and go home you know so you treat people like that and next thing you know you like you got this this huge disconnect that leads to violence yep and when you was it always the thing how many people in your family

00:23:20Guest:It's just my sister and I. Your folks still around?

00:23:24Guest:Yeah, when my mom was passed, my dad's still around now.

00:23:28Guest:They were divorced since I was a kid.

00:23:31Marc:Oh, really?

00:23:31Guest:Yeah, so it was a single-parent household, my mother and my sister.

00:23:35Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:23:35Guest:Yeah, my mother.

00:23:36Guest:And then my dad lives in Memphis, and he had remarried.

00:23:39Marc:Yeah?

00:23:39Guest:Yeah.

00:23:39Marc:That's a pretty good town, huh?

00:23:41Guest:Yeah, I was just there.

00:23:42Guest:Just there.

00:23:42Guest:Did a show.

00:23:43Guest:Great.

00:23:44Guest:Hung out.

00:23:45Guest:Lakers was there.

00:23:45Guest:Took my dad to the game.

00:23:47Guest:It was dope, man.

00:23:48Guest:So you get along with him?

00:23:49Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:49Guest:You know, we grew into it.

00:23:50Guest:I had to be... I got about 20, 21 years old and finally, like, kind of understood relationships.

00:23:59Marc:Well, so it took you that long, though?

00:24:00Marc:Were you pissed off at him as a kid?

00:24:02Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:02Marc:But he was always a part of your life, right?

00:24:04Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:05Guest:But you just were like, fuck that.

00:24:06Guest:Yeah, yeah, you doing the rebellious boy thing.

00:24:09Marc:Like, you know, man, you don't know shit, man.

00:24:11Marc:Fuck off, man.

00:24:12Marc:But he hung in there?

00:24:13Guest:He did.

00:24:14Guest:He did, man.

00:24:15Guest:He had the patience of Joe.

00:24:16Guest:And God bless him for that.

00:24:17Guest:When you think about it, like, he just, like, dealt with it, man.

00:24:21Marc:Yeah, you put your parents through some shit.

00:24:23Guest:Yeah.

00:24:23Marc:And then, like, when you get out on the other side of it and you get a little empathy, you're like, wow.

00:24:27Guest:Yeah, right.

00:24:28Marc:Yeah.

00:24:28Guest:Right.

00:24:30Guest:You didn't have to deal with any of that.

00:24:32Guest:Especially when it comes down to relationships, because when you're living with your mom, and they explain it, your dad's just a super piece of shit.

00:24:40Guest:And you're like, all right.

00:24:42Guest:And she never really, she never did that.

00:24:44Guest:Right.

00:24:45Guest:But...

00:24:46Guest:You assume it.

00:24:47Guest:The inference.

00:24:48Guest:She never said it, but she definitely inferred, like, fuck.

00:24:53Guest:And so you get it, and you start to take on those kind of things.

00:24:58Guest:Pick a team.

00:24:59Guest:Yeah, and then you get a grown adult-style relationship yourself and go, like, oh.

00:25:05Guest:Oh.

00:25:07Guest:People were flawed.

00:25:09Guest:Yeah, let me call my man and say, bro, I get it.

00:25:13Guest:Yeah, sorry.

00:25:15Guest:Yeah, there's no way.

00:25:16Guest:I could have fucking took that shit either.

00:25:20Marc:Yeah, it is.

00:25:21Marc:Empathy is not always second nature.

00:25:25Marc:It's not always right there, especially for parents because there's no distance.

00:25:29Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:25:30Marc:But that's good, so you guys get along now.

00:25:32Guest:Yeah, man.

00:25:33Guest:That's good.

00:25:34Marc:And your sister, what'd she do?

00:25:36Guest:My sister's a professor at Pepperdine.

00:25:38Marc:Oh, wow.

00:25:38Marc:Right here?

00:25:39Guest:Yeah, right here.

00:25:40Guest:She's married.

00:25:41Guest:Her husband's the chaplain there.

00:25:43Guest:So they got a nice little family.

00:25:46Marc:She married a man of the cloth.

00:25:47Guest:Yeah, he grew into that.

00:25:50Guest:He was an educator, like a writer.

00:25:53Guest:He did plays and stuff, but he was always an orator.

00:25:56Guest:He was a guy that wanted to write and say things.

00:25:59Guest:Was he man of faith, though?

00:26:01Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:26:01Guest:You have to be a man of faith.

00:26:02Guest:He's definitely a man of faith, though.

00:26:04Guest:He's definitely a solid dude.

00:26:06Guest:It's one of them, you know, you're kind of happy when your sister, you know, you're like, all right, yeah, dude's a good dude.

00:26:10Marc:Yeah, it is good.

00:26:11Marc:It's good when you get people, your siblings, you know, you don't have to be like, oh, shit.

00:26:16Guest:Yeah, when you get that call, you got to go, like, with Sonny.

00:26:19Guest:Be like Sonny and the Godfather.

00:26:21Guest:Right, right.

00:26:22Guest:I'll go.

00:26:23Guest:I'll go.

00:26:24Guest:I'll go.

00:26:24Guest:Yeah.

00:26:25Guest:Get set up.

00:26:26Guest:Yeah.

00:26:27Marc:No, it's always, yeah, it's always nice.

00:26:29Marc:I've made some bad choices in my life, and I've been that guy.

00:26:34Marc:And, you know, the weird thing about that shit is no one can say anything.

00:26:37Marc:Yeah.

00:26:37Marc:Like, you know, people, even if they do, they're like, hey, man, we're a little concerned.

00:26:40Marc:It's like, what the fuck do you know?

00:26:42Marc:Mind your own business.

00:26:43Marc:I love her.

00:26:45Marc:Okay.

00:26:47Marc:Yeah.

00:26:47Marc:And then after it fucking blows up, they're like, we tried to tell you.

00:26:50Marc:Did you, though, really?

00:26:51Marc:Yeah, you're wrong.

00:26:52Marc:Why didn't you stop it?

00:26:53Guest:There were signs.

00:26:55Guest:There's always signs happening in hindsight.

00:27:00Marc:So did you always want to do the stand-up thing or were you studying for something else?

00:27:04Guest:Yeah, I studied something else.

00:27:07Guest:I was always like a funny kid, like as a kid, you know, that kind of personality, but my mother was a school teacher.

00:27:15Guest:so i had to go to college right it was you know that was just her way and that's what we did so yeah so i studied went to school got a degree in um radio television mass communication minor in theater oh you did yeah southeast missouri you knew the area that you wanted to be involved with yeah so you did theater in college yeah yeah yeah like what'd you do

00:27:37Guest:I mean, you know.

00:27:38Guest:The college stuff?

00:27:39Guest:College stuff.

00:27:40Guest:It was a couple of little plays, you know.

00:27:43Guest:And we never really did any, like, hardcore Shakespeare stuff, so it would be, like, I don't even remember some of the plays.

00:27:49Guest:Musicals?

00:27:49Guest:A couple of musicals.

00:27:51Guest:You sing?

00:27:51Guest:Yeah, I sing a bit.

00:27:52Guest:Yeah?

00:27:53Guest:Yeah, so...

00:27:54Guest:Yeah, just try to keep up with the, you know, with the entertainment.

00:27:58Guest:I used to dance.

00:27:59Guest:That's where the whole name came from.

00:28:00Guest:I used to dance, like really dance.

00:28:02Marc:Really?

00:28:02Guest:And do all that stuff, man.

00:28:04Guest:Like as a part of your show?

00:28:06Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:28:08Marc:Before comedy?

00:28:09Guest:Yeah, before comedy, yeah, I was just being...

00:28:11Guest:Dance groups.

00:28:12Guest:I would dance to get into the club.

00:28:14Guest:You know, you'd just be like one of the- You were a dancer.

00:28:16Guest:Like a street dancer style.

00:28:17Guest:Sure.

00:28:17Guest:You know, like, yeah.

00:28:18Marc:And that's how you got into the club?

00:28:19Guest:Yeah, that's how you get in the clubs because you'd be one of the dancers.

00:28:22Guest:They'd be like, oh, let the dancers in so that the party looked like it's hot.

00:28:26Marc:That was your job?

00:28:27Marc:That was my move.

00:28:28Marc:You were the shill.

00:28:29Marc:You were the dance shill.

00:28:30Guest:The fluffer.

00:28:32Marc:Yeah.

00:28:33Marc:That guy looks like he's having fun.

00:28:34Marc:Let's everybody go.

00:28:35Guest:Everybody should go.

00:28:36Marc:He's obviously having a great time.

00:28:39Guest:Yeah, man.

00:28:39Guest:but you knew like early on that you wanted to be involved in the entertainment thing so what'd you learn in film and broadcasting did you do shit yeah i did i did a lot of cool stuff though in school i had a tv show we did like uh um so i had a show that was kind of like uh entertainment tonight oh yeah um you know you just college stuff yeah sure then we had a sketch show yeah called cape you know the city was cape gerardo we called it

00:29:03Guest:Cape Garage Door.

00:29:05Guest:We did it in the garage.

00:29:07Guest:It was kind of dope.

00:29:11Guest:And then I had a radio show.

00:29:15Guest:So I had one of the earlier podcasts.

00:29:18Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:29:18Marc:A college radio show, it was called.

00:29:20Marc:Sure.

00:29:20Guest:Yeah, an earlier podcast.

00:29:23Guest:I used to get a lot of music from Europe, which was cool.

00:29:26Guest:It made me special.

00:29:27Guest:I knew these guys.

00:29:28Guest:They were DJs.

00:29:29Guest:in the city, and they would get me new music.

00:29:33Marc:Dance music from Europe?

00:29:34Guest:Yeah, all the cool stuff.

00:29:35Guest:So I would have stuff quaid.

00:29:36Guest:Like techno and shit?

00:29:37Guest:Yeah, craft work and stuff like that before people even heard it.

00:29:41Guest:That's right, we're the same age, so yeah, craft work was like, yeah.

00:29:43Guest:Yeah, before people in the States got it.

00:29:46Guest:Even like Sade and stuff like that, people hadn't even heard of it.

00:29:51Guest:You're breaking artists.

00:29:52Guest:Check this out.

00:29:52Guest:Yeah, yeah, I got something.

00:29:54Marc:Yeah, yeah, guys.

00:29:55Marc:This is the cool voice.

00:29:56Marc:Are we the same age?

00:29:57Marc:What are you, 50?

00:29:58Marc:55, man.

00:29:58Marc:Yeah, I'm 56, so it's about the same time.

00:30:01Marc:Yeah.

00:30:01Marc:We grew up in the same time.

00:30:03Marc:Yeah, man.

00:30:04Marc:So you graduate college, and then you're doing, how long were you doing the dancing to get in clubs?

00:30:09Guest:Well, that's...

00:30:10Guest:It went for a while.

00:30:11Guest:I was like, so I graduated college and I started, you know, you bouncing around looking for jobs and stuff.

00:30:18Guest:What kind of jobs do you have?

00:30:21Guest:And I worked for Best Buy when they were new, brand new selling small electronics, which means you didn't get a lot of money.

00:30:28Guest:Yeah.

00:30:28Guest:Just a little tape recorders.

00:30:30Marc:Oh, it was a commission thing.

00:30:31Guest:Yeah.

00:30:31Guest:You get, you get a little base, but then your real money was in commissions.

00:30:35Guest:And so you got the, you want to be on TV.

00:30:36Guest:We had the vest, man, you know, had this, the cooler.

00:30:40Guest:Hey, welcome.

00:30:41Guest:Let's buy.

00:30:41Marc:Yeah.

00:30:42Marc:Okay.

00:30:42Guest:What are you looking for today?

00:30:43Guest:You know what?

00:30:45Guest:Those are great.

00:30:46Guest:But, you know, if you really want to get some, you need the dual responding.

00:30:49Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:50Marc:That one's a good starter, but you look like you're serious.

00:30:52Guest:You look like a real serious guy about this.

00:30:54Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:30:55Guest:And you could use a stand to put it on.

00:30:57Marc:Oh, yeah, of course.

00:30:58Marc:These just came in.

00:31:00Guest:Yeah, we got to have them.

00:31:01Guest:Interested in some headphones?

00:31:04Guest:Yeah.

00:31:05Guest:Just moving small pieces.

00:31:06Guest:That was it, the small electronics.

00:31:08Guest:How long that lasted?

00:31:09Guest:That lasted about, I don't know.

00:31:11Guest:I don't even think I worked there a full year.

00:31:13Guest:Maybe in a little year I had a bunch of odd jobs.

00:31:16Guest:Then I started working for this company, Modern Business Systems.

00:31:21Guest:They sold Ricoh fax machines from the Ricoh Corporation.

00:31:26Marc:Right, yeah.

00:31:27Guest:And fax were new.

00:31:29Guest:Exciting new technology.

00:31:30Guest:Oh, man.

00:31:31Guest:It was hot.

00:31:32Guest:I was popping off.

00:31:34Guest:So you had the company car.

00:31:35Guest:You get to wear the shirt and tie to work.

00:31:37Guest:You start feeling like a young executive.

00:31:40Marc:Selling fax machines.

00:31:40Guest:Selling fax machines, getting a little cash.

00:31:43Guest:You know what I'm saying?

00:31:46Guest:Because I end up finding this kind of world where auto body shops could use it to go to their...

00:31:52Guest:to send stuff back and forth to the insurance companies.

00:31:56Guest:And when I got them to, that became my niche.

00:31:59Marc:Oh, really?

00:32:00Marc:And you figured that out yourself?

00:32:01Guest:I figured that out.

00:32:02Guest:I stumbled up on it one day, and it was like, oh, like, boom, boom, boom.

00:32:05Guest:So you were moving the shit.

00:32:06Guest:I was slanging them, Jones.

00:32:08Guest:I was the fax machine dope boy.

00:32:11Guest:I just did it all wrong.

00:32:12Guest:Chains on, gold teeth, clothes.

00:32:16Guest:Everybody's like, what are you doing?

00:32:17Guest:I'm selling these fax, son.

00:32:20Guest:Got pinched.

00:32:23Guest:Getting pinched.

00:32:25Guest:Looking too much like a dope boy.

00:32:27Guest:Were you able to save some money on that one?

00:32:29Guest:I did.

00:32:30Guest:I saved a little dough, but then I ended up going to work for State Farm.

00:32:33Guest:I got a job at State Farm as a claims adjuster.

00:32:36Guest:And that was cool, man.

00:32:38Guest:That was like another.

00:32:39Marc:So that's where you go out to the accident?

00:32:41Guest:Yeah, that's when you go.

00:32:43Guest:Look at the car?

00:32:44Guest:Look at the car.

00:32:46Guest:Meeting sad people?

00:32:48Guest:Yeah.

00:32:49Guest:Well, you mainly kind of do it.

00:32:53Guest:Wearing the cars at the shop.

00:32:55Guest:You don't actually go to the accident.

00:32:57Guest:When the car's at the shop, you go and take a look at it and be like, all right, cool, boom, boom.

00:33:01Marc:We're going to need a whole new car.

00:33:03Guest:Everybody wanted a new car.

00:33:06Marc:Everybody wanted their car totaled.

00:33:07Marc:They total things now more than they used to because things are cheaper and they're just like, fuck it.

00:33:12Marc:Exactly.

00:33:12Marc:Total.

00:33:13Marc:Total that shit.

00:33:14Marc:But not then.

00:33:15Marc:Not back then.

00:33:15Guest:Oh, no, no.

00:33:16Guest:You would have to get that joint fixed, man.

00:33:19Guest:But, you know, the big scam was people getting rental cars for their kids around prom time.

00:33:24Guest:So it would be these little fakes.

00:33:26Guest:Fake accidents?

00:33:27Guest:Oh, super fake accidents where people would come in and be like, yo, I need to, you know, this has to go in the shop for two weeks.

00:33:35Guest:just to rent a car?

00:33:36Guest:Yeah, I would love to, you know, because you get your rental insurance from your insurance, so they're paying for your rental car.

00:33:43Marc:And they're fixing the fake accident.

00:33:44Guest:Fake accident for two weeks, you know, your kid shows up in the Cadillac or whatever they're renting.

00:33:51Marc:And you saw that as a pattern?

00:33:52Guest:Oh, that was a straight hustle.

00:33:55Guest:That was a hustle.

00:33:56Marc:I would never think to do that.

00:33:58Marc:I can't afford a rental car, but if we fuck this car up, we'll get it.

00:34:04Guest:We'd get a rental car for two weeks.

00:34:07Guest:It was a real thing.

00:34:08Guest:It was a scam.

00:34:10Marc:It was a scam, man.

00:34:11Marc:Did you fix their cars?

00:34:12Guest:I knew what it was, man.

00:34:14Guest:You got to take care of the hood, man.

00:34:18Guest:You knew what it was, man.

00:34:20Guest:He was like, yo, got you, doc.

00:34:22Guest:Like, oh, so this her senior year?

00:34:25Guest:Oh, they got it, dude.

00:34:27Guest:The last prom, man.

00:34:28Guest:The last prom.

00:34:29Guest:And my man on the honor rolls?

00:34:31Guest:Oh, that's dope, man.

00:34:32Marc:No doubt.

00:34:33Guest:Yeah, come on, put it in the shop, man.

00:34:34Guest:It's cool.

00:34:35Guest:Y'all go and get a Cadillac, man.

00:34:37Guest:It's all good.

00:34:37Guest:Great.

00:34:38Marc:Good for you, man.

00:34:39Guest:Helping out.

00:34:40Guest:Yeah, that's it.

00:34:41Guest:End of the day.

00:34:42Marc:And then where'd that lead you?

00:34:45Guest:So then I left State Farm to do comedy.

00:34:50Guest:When I left State Farm, I was doing comedy.

00:34:53Marc:Well, what was that moment?

00:34:54Marc:I mean, when did you go do the thing?

00:34:57Guest:When did you first do the thing?

00:34:58Guest:The thing, man, it was kind of cool.

00:35:02Guest:It was like one of them, you know, in a way it was one of those stories that people always kind of tell.

00:35:06Guest:Sure.

00:35:06Guest:It was another guy that did comedy.

00:35:09Guest:At State Farm?

00:35:10Guest:No, he was just a friend of a friend of mine.

00:35:13Guest:Is he still doing it?

00:35:14Guest:Yeah, Percy Cruz III.

00:35:17Guest:The second or is he the third?

00:35:20Marc:Is he still at it?

00:35:21Guest:He's still at it, man.

00:35:23Guest:He's out there and he does a lot of...

00:35:25Guest:A lot of corporate gigs, a lot of cruise ships.

00:35:28Marc:Isn't that funny when you get to our age and the guys that we knew who never broke out here, but they kept with it.

00:35:36Marc:That's always where it goes.

00:35:36Marc:A lot of corporates doing the boats, doing whatever you got to do.

00:35:40Guest:Stand busy, got a good life, though.

00:35:41Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:35:42Guest:I like it.

00:35:43Marc:If you can stay on the boats and you can deal with the boats, you can do all right.

00:35:47Guest:Yeah.

00:35:47Guest:yeah so but yeah he he signed me up it was a it was the johnny walker remember the johnny walker comedy i do remember that like a big yeah it was big big and you would end up the nationwide nationwide yeah like it would start local all around right and then they would go in these big regions and then the person would win and go on carson

00:36:05Marc:Right.

00:36:06Marc:Really?

00:36:07Marc:It was Carson?

00:36:07Marc:Yeah, it was Carson back then.

00:36:08Marc:What year was that?

00:36:09Marc:Because I feel like I was already going by that point.

00:36:11Guest:Yeah, you may have been, but it was like late, I'm going to go early, late 80s.

00:36:17Guest:Yeah, late 80s, late early, early 90s.

00:36:19Marc:Right, early 90s, I feel like, yeah.

00:36:21Guest:Late 80s, I think, for sure.

00:36:23Guest:Because I started in 87, 88, so it had to be super late.

00:36:26Marc:I started working.

00:36:27Marc:And I was young.

00:36:28Guest:In 88.

00:36:29Guest:So it might have been 88 because the first thing I ever did was the dude signed me up to be in the local version of that.

00:36:36Guest:Without ever having done comedy?

00:36:38Guest:No, yeah, exactly.

00:36:39Guest:But he used to like stuff that I would say and basically showed me how to do my show.

00:36:47Guest:He was like, yo, do that joke, do this right here, do that.

00:36:50Guest:And we put my set together.

00:36:52Guest:And he was like, I got to be gone.

00:36:54Guest:I signed you up.

00:36:55Guest:You know, go up if you rock.

00:36:57Marc:So this was an audition.

00:36:59Marc:The first time you get on stage to do stand-up, it's an audition.

00:37:01Marc:It's an audition.

00:37:03Marc:Holy shit.

00:37:03Guest:To be in the competition that night, right, this later thing.

00:37:07Guest:So you got to go and do five minutes.

00:37:09Guest:Yeah.

00:37:09Guest:Then they pick people.

00:37:10Guest:This is like in the daytime.

00:37:12Guest:Then they pick people, and they're going to pick 10 people to come up that night to be featured.

00:37:16Guest:Who were the judges?

00:37:17Guest:I can't remember.

00:37:18Guest:It was local because this was local.

00:37:20Guest:St.

00:37:20Guest:Louis?

00:37:21Guest:Yeah, it was all St.

00:37:22Guest:Louis at this time, like the level that I entered on.

00:37:25Guest:It was only St.

00:37:26Guest:Louis comics.

00:37:27Guest:Then you would compete with guys from maybe somewhere in Illinois and then somewhere in Kentucky, just a small group.

00:37:35Guest:So you made the cut?

00:37:36Guest:So I made that initial cut.

00:37:39Marc:The second set was a competition set.

00:37:43Guest:Yeah, so you broke me.

00:37:44Guest:I won.

00:37:45Guest:The first time I ever did, I won.

00:37:46Guest:I won 500 bucks that night.

00:37:48Marc:That night after you did your first set, you did your second set, and you won 500 bucks.

00:37:52Marc:Killed it.

00:37:53Marc:Yeah, with five minutes.

00:37:55Marc:Murdered.

00:37:56Guest:No fear?

00:37:57Guest:No fear?

00:37:58Guest:No, because I used to, like I said, when I was in college, I was in groups.

00:38:02Guest:I used to, I did plays.

00:38:03Marc:So you lived on stage.

00:38:04Guest:It was part of you that was ready to go.

00:38:06Guest:Yeah, exactly.

00:38:06Guest:It was ready to go.

00:38:07Marc:And then after that, then you just started doing stand-up?

00:38:10Guest:Yeah, and then I just started to try to find to do it all the time.

00:38:13Guest:Like, that competition stopped because they went to, like, the next round, and it was professionals showed up.

00:38:20Marc:Right.

00:38:20Guest:So, like, you know, I was in the round with, like, all rookies and probably new guys.

00:38:24Guest:Right, right, yeah.

00:38:24Guest:And then the next round, pros showed up.

00:38:27Guest:So they knocked you out.

00:38:28Guest:Oh, what?

00:38:28Guest:Yeah.

00:38:29Guest:You realize, like.

00:38:30Guest:Who was it?

00:38:33Guest:Remember?

00:38:33Guest:Who came in?

00:38:34Guest:Like Buzz Sumberland or something like that.

00:38:37Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:38:38Guest:Great names like that.

00:38:39Marc:Yeah, those feature acts.

00:38:40Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:38:40Marc:From the late 80s.

00:38:41Marc:Dak.

00:38:42Guest:Dak.

00:38:43Guest:Yeah.

00:38:43Guest:dac wall yeah dac wall there were some real guys from that time i don't remember it was it was like a buzz sunderland i remember that and it was uh there was like uh people like chaz elsner chaz like chaz was he had to do that he used to be a clown

00:39:00Marc:Oh, that's hilarious.

00:39:01Marc:But, all right, so you didn't make the big cut.

00:39:05Marc:So how do you start doing comedy in Missouri?

00:39:07Marc:Was there a club?

00:39:08Guest:Yeah, so, you know, this was also right around the time of the, you know, the insurgents of, like, all-black comedy.

00:39:16Guest:Like, so...

00:39:17Marc:So it did happen like in the early 90s.

00:39:19Guest:Early, late 80s.

00:39:20Guest:Late 80s.

00:39:21Guest:Yeah, so like Comedy Act Theater, like people like Robin Harris started doing.

00:39:26Marc:Robin Harris.

00:39:26Guest:Yeah, they were doing clubs out here.

00:39:27Marc:Was he a Chicago guy?

00:39:28Guest:Chicago guy.

00:39:29Marc:Bay Bay Kids.

00:39:30Guest:Yeah, Bay Bay Kids.

00:39:32Marc:Did you know that guy?

00:39:34Guest:I had a chance to meet him one time.

00:39:36Guest:He was the one that inspired me the most because...

00:39:39Guest:His comedy was like an uncle, like a cousin.

00:39:44Guest:Storytelling.

00:39:45Guest:Yeah, it was like somebody you knew already.

00:39:47Guest:And when I saw that style, I was like, okay, yeah, I can do that.

00:39:51Marc:That's what you want to do.

00:39:51Guest:So he became my guy.

00:39:53Guest:And so I did get a chance to meet him one time in L.A., and then he died shortly after that.

00:40:00Marc:Young, man.

00:40:00Marc:Yeah, man.

00:40:01Marc:So, all right.

00:40:01Marc:Well, that's interesting because I don't know if I ever had a timeline on that where I guess it was because the sort of black comedy scene kind of coalesced.

00:40:11Marc:It sort of happened.

00:40:12Guest:Yeah.

00:40:12Guest:You know those things like- What was the Playhouse Place you talked about?

00:40:16Guest:That was the Comedy Act Theater.

00:40:19Guest:Yeah, where was that?

00:40:20Guest:That was in the Leimert Park area.

00:40:22Marc:In Missouri?

00:40:23Marc:In L.A.

00:40:24Guest:In L.A.

00:40:24Guest:That was L.A.

00:40:25Guest:Oh, really?

00:40:25Guest:Yeah, so that was those places, and they had one in Atlanta, and so those places started to pop around.

00:40:32Guest:And so this black comedy thing was happening.

00:40:34Guest:So people in places like Missouri, I just would do one.

00:40:38Marc:Was it like a produced show?

00:40:41Marc:Wasn't it every week kind of thing?

00:40:42Marc:Every week.

00:40:43Guest:Oh, every week.

00:40:44Guest:So they have it at a place.

00:40:45Guest:Yeah, and I made a deal.

00:40:47Guest:This was me, young entrepreneur, ideas.

00:40:51Guest:Had a dude, had a nightclub.

00:40:53Guest:Went to his slow night.

00:40:54Guest:Like a Tuesday?

00:40:56Guest:Tuesday night, baby, come on.

00:40:57Guest:Yeah.

00:41:01Guest:I get the door, he get the bar.

00:41:02Guest:Yeah.

00:41:03Guest:He was like, all right, and he didn't believe that it was going to work, and I packed that place the first week, and the second week was lines out the door.

00:41:10Guest:We had to do two shows.

00:41:11Guest:Who were the acts?

00:41:12Guest:Who'd you go in?

00:41:13Guest:It was guys.

00:41:14Guest:Local guys?

00:41:15Guest:Local guys.

00:41:15Guest:Like it was guys that were all, again, that wanted to do comedy locally.

00:41:19Guest:And they got like 10 minutes, 15 minutes each?

00:41:21Guest:Yeah, 10, 15.

00:41:22Guest:People just tried it.

00:41:23Guest:We had a couple of people that, you know, like you get lucky, like guys like Joe Torre was already doing comedy.

00:41:30Guest:And if he came home, he would do it.

00:41:32Guest:His brother was young and emerging.

00:41:35Guest:So Guy Torre, so he had the name and you can throw it out there.

00:41:38Guest:Rodney Winfield legend old-school, but he would he was big he would only show up every now and then But there was a lot of little guys in there that was like all of us were trying to Rock yet again, and it was enough comics like it was it was plenty So that was it so you didn't even have to fuck with the mainstream comedy club circuit

00:41:59Guest:No, but when I started that night where I did that thing that was at the Funny Bones, which was, they were headquartered in St.

00:42:07Guest:Louis, so I did do that because I did so well that night.

00:42:10Guest:Oh, so you moved it over there?

00:42:12Guest:No, no.

00:42:13Guest:I would just go there when I could because they had more of a system, more of a traditional system, and you can't, you got to do this kind of time, you got to set your jokes up, and the black comedy was different.

00:42:24Guest:It was just like, yo, just walk up and...

00:42:26Guest:You start talking about somebody's outfit.

00:42:28Guest:You can just do whatever you want to, like, you know, and build your set.

00:42:31Guest:Sinbad style.

00:42:32Guest:Yeah.

00:42:33Guest:And, you know, the more traditional comic clubs was definitely joke, punchline, set up, you know, had a formula.

00:42:39Marc:Yeah, you had to look like an act.

00:42:41Guest:Yeah.

00:42:42Guest:The whole thing, all these things were rules.

00:42:45Marc:Yeah, which is just like, I think you could get away with it if it looked like an act.

00:42:49Marc:You know what I mean?

00:42:49Marc:It seems like if you're just riffing, though, to find shit and doing crowd work and stuff, you got more freedom.

00:42:53Marc:But yeah, when you get into a meeting, they're like, what are you doing up there?

00:42:56Marc:Especially if they don't get you.

00:42:58Marc:It's a weird thing, because you could have an act, and they might not get it just because of your style, and then they're going to accuse you of being not professional.

00:43:06Guest:Yeah, that's true.

00:43:07Guest:It's kind of fucked up.

00:43:08Guest:No, that's so true.

00:43:09Marc:Because I know a lot of dudes.

00:43:10Marc:Did you know those dudes that had a certain pace, and it wasn't that quick?

00:43:13Marc:and they weren't going to change gears, but eventually they got funny.

00:43:17Marc:But when they started, people were like, what the fuck is that guy doing?

00:43:19Marc:Yeah.

00:43:20Guest:Yeah.

00:43:20Guest:Oh, yeah, it was several guys like that that was their kind of thing.

00:43:23Guest:Yeah, and they get funny.

00:43:25Marc:Yeah.

00:43:25Guest:Yeah, it was this dude I used to love, this dude named Big Stan the Comic Man.

00:43:30Marc:Yeah.

00:43:30Guest:Big Stan was tall.

00:43:31Guest:Yeah.

00:43:31Guest:But he was, like, different like that.

00:43:34Guest:Right.

00:43:35Guest:His style was extremely funny because he just would walk up and be like, what's up, y'all?

00:43:39Guest:Yeah.

00:43:40Guest:Yeah.

00:43:42Guest:Go real slow.

00:43:45Guest:Ain't too bad.

00:43:46Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:43:46Guest:You ever just don't like your grandmother, man?

00:43:49Guest:You know, and he'd just be like, oh, it'd just be so funny, like the way he would do it.

00:43:53Guest:It's like a slow build.

00:43:54Guest:Yeah, and it'd be like, he want to say something, then he'll just step away from it, and then he'll go back.

00:44:00Guest:That's funny.

00:44:01Guest:What happened to that guy?

00:44:02Guest:He passed.

00:44:04Guest:He got ill.

00:44:05Guest:Some young dude had like a kidney or liver or something.

00:44:10Marc:Oh, fuck.

00:44:10Marc:Yeah, man.

00:44:11Marc:So, all right, so you're doing that, and then when do you start to do the bigger shows?

00:44:15Marc:I mean, how does it all happen?

00:44:16Marc:How does it unfold?

00:44:17Guest:You know, it kind of unfolds in this weird way, like, you know, the deaf.

00:44:22Guest:So, you know, that comedy is happening, and, you know, things are kind of bubbling off.

00:44:27Guest:And I meet Steve Harvey because... Oh, yeah.

00:44:29Guest:So what happens is I end up, like, I'm doing the local shows, and then I decide, like, oh, I meet the guy that runs the Funny Bone.

00:44:38Guest:They had 22 clubs, and if you got booked by them, you can do them twice a year.

00:44:43Guest:So that was 44 dates.

00:44:44Guest:And that's how I quit State Farm, when they booked me for those 44 dates.

00:44:50Guest:Right.

00:44:51Guest:And that was it.

00:44:51Guest:But it was the same time that...

00:44:55Guest:Black comedy was popping off now.

00:44:57Marc:But those weren't black rooms.

00:44:58Marc:No, no, no, it was just regular rooms.

00:45:00Guest:But this was me being able to take my savings and then be able to know that I had a base salary, right?

00:45:07Guest:So I'm not going to leave my job for nothing.

00:45:09Marc:You're making that run twice a year.

00:45:11Guest:No, I got dates.

00:45:12Guest:I got this amount of money on the books, and I'm just going to go for my passion.

00:45:15Marc:But you don't have a family yet.

00:45:16Guest:No.

00:45:17Guest:No, I'm just me.

00:45:20Guest:My mom, I had the house that I grew up in.

00:45:23Guest:My mom had remarried, and so I was living in the house I grew up in.

00:45:28Guest:Cool.

00:45:29Guest:Had a car.

00:45:31Guest:Stuff, man.

00:45:31Guest:Had trappings.

00:45:32Guest:Driving the gigs.

00:45:33Marc:Driving the gigs.

00:45:33Guest:Yeah, drove, man.

00:45:34Guest:Yeah.

00:45:35Guest:Driving, like, all the way driving, like, for real, like, whatever, 15, 20, 30 hours, go get it.

00:45:41Marc:Yeah, and those were like Wednesday through Sunday kind of gigs.

00:45:44Guest:Yeah, yeah, staying in the condo.

00:45:46Marc:Oh, yeah, the worst.

00:45:47Marc:Keeps getting worse every year you go back.

00:45:49Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:45:51Marc:What's happened on this couch?

00:45:53Guest:Well, it's so great because when you hear it in your mind, it sounds so amazing.

00:45:57Guest:Like, oh, yeah.

00:45:57Guest:Comedy condo.

00:45:58Guest:Oh, we got a condo, guys, you're going to stay in.

00:46:00Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:46:00Guest:And you're thinking, oh.

00:46:01Marc:Cool.

00:46:02Marc:Well, you know what was always funny is that when a new club would open and they'd get the new condo and you'd get in there in the first couple months, you're like, this is fucking nice.

00:46:08Marc:Yeah.

00:46:08Marc:And then you'd go back a couple years later and you're like, ugh, what happened to it?

00:46:12Marc:Look what they did.

00:46:13Marc:Yeah, this is wacky.

00:46:13Guest:Look what the monsters did to this place.

00:46:15Guest:But then it was always good if you went there with a big act and they don't stay there, so then you get the big room.

00:46:21Marc:Oh, yeah, got both rooms.

00:46:21Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:46:22Marc:Yeah, that was the best.

00:46:23Marc:It was always a drag when you're featuring, and you've got to stay with the big act.

00:46:27Marc:And then he's like, come on, we're going to hang out.

00:46:29Marc:I'm like, I don't even like you.

00:46:31Marc:Yeah, man.

00:46:32Marc:You're whack.

00:46:32Marc:I'm not going to learn anything from you by going to the mall with you.

00:46:36Guest:I saw something about you I was thinking about.

00:46:39Guest:In that experience, one of my big nights was opening for Sam Kinison one night on a Humber.

00:46:44Guest:Where?

00:46:44Marc:In St.

00:46:45Guest:Louis?

00:46:45Guest:In Des Moines.

00:46:46Marc:Really?

00:46:47Guest:Des Moines, Iowa.

00:46:49Guest:At a club?

00:46:50Guest:At the club.

00:46:50Guest:He was a funny bone.

00:46:53Guest:He was like a big deal, but he wasn't doing Madison Square Garden.

00:46:58Guest:So this is either he was going to write for Madison Square Garden or just when guys just go out on the road and just sell it out real quick.

00:47:05Guest:How was that?

00:47:06Guest:Was it weird?

00:47:06Guest:It was crazy, dog, because I'm a new guy.

00:47:10Guest:I'm in Des Moines.

00:47:11Guest:It's very much like...

00:47:13Guest:St.

00:47:14Guest:Louis on steroids.

00:47:15Guest:You know what I mean?

00:47:17Guest:Separation.

00:47:18Guest:The weird white thing?

00:47:19Guest:Yeah.

00:47:20Guest:And then it's Sam Kinison.

00:47:21Guest:So, you know, his audience is like fucking... Angry white people.

00:47:27Guest:So, I'm like the young opening act.

00:47:29Guest:Like, go up.

00:47:30Guest:And, you know, I got a good show.

00:47:31Guest:It's working.

00:47:32Guest:Boom, boom.

00:47:32Guest:I don't have a lot of material yet.

00:47:34Guest:Right.

00:47:34Guest:What do you do?

00:47:35Guest:Five to eight when you're the OVMC, man?

00:47:37Guest:Right.

00:47:37Marc:There's a feature.

00:47:38Guest:He probably brought Carl or somebody.

00:47:40Marc:Yeah.

00:47:41Guest:And so he didn't even have his regular feature at that point because the feature...

00:47:47Guest:Goes up and panics.

00:47:49Guest:Yeah.

00:47:49Guest:Because he does, I do good.

00:47:52Guest:The feature doesn't do well at all.

00:47:54Marc:And that's the sweet spot.

00:47:55Guest:Right.

00:47:55Marc:If you can't do that 25, 20 to 25.

00:47:58Guest:So he comes off stage early.

00:48:00Guest:Uh-oh.

00:48:00Guest:The owner sends me back up.

00:48:03Guest:Sam's in the car fucked up.

00:48:06Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:48:07Guest:Dog fucked up.

00:48:08Guest:Yeah.

00:48:09Guest:And this dude is telling me to stretch.

00:48:11Guest:Right.

00:48:12Right.

00:48:12Guest:And I'm new, man.

00:48:14Guest:I'm talking about shaking in my boots.

00:48:18Marc:Like I'm just doing the audience work, crowd work.

00:48:21Guest:Oh, you're just trying that.

00:48:23Guest:And then, you know, and they were being patient with me for a while.

00:48:26Guest:And then it was like, Sam, Sam, Sam, you know, and he's like, fuck.

00:48:30Guest:And I'm just going, going.

00:48:32Guest:I'm looking at the manager like, what you want me to do?

00:48:34Guest:I'm like, yo, guys, he'll be here any minute.

00:48:38Guest:Look at this lady.

00:48:39Guest:What's that outfit you got on?

00:48:42Guest:And the manager telling you, don't do that.

00:48:45Guest:Don't do that type of shit.

00:48:46Guest:OK, so now you can't do that.

00:48:48Guest:He's trying to come up with you.

00:48:50Marc:Yeah, new material, riffing.

00:48:51Guest:All of a sudden, he walks in from the front of the club like his partners are just walking him to the fucking stage.

00:48:58Guest:Oh, no.

00:48:58Guest:He gets up there and turns into fucking Sam Kinison.

00:49:02Guest:He kills it?

00:49:03Guest:Like magic?

00:49:04Guest:Like magic, dog.

00:49:05Guest:Like I'd never seen nothing.

00:49:07Guest:Like they was dragging this dude into the club.

00:49:09Marc:Yeah, I know.

00:49:10Guest:And he walked on stage and he's like, what's up, fuckers?

00:49:13Guest:And boom.

00:49:14Guest:And next thing you know, hour.

00:49:16Guest:Killed it.

00:49:17Guest:Gone.

00:49:17Guest:Wow.

00:49:18Guest:You like, what?

00:49:19Marc:It was kind of a frightening electric event when he's doing it.

00:49:25Guest:It was.

00:49:25Guest:When he's doing it.

00:49:27Guest:And then, of course, everybody's like, you did good, man.

00:49:30Guest:You did good.

00:49:30Guest:You want to open for Sam?

00:49:31Guest:No.

00:49:33Guest:No.

00:49:34Guest:No.

00:49:35Guest:That was not a great experience for me.

00:49:37Marc:Not for me at all, bro.

00:49:38Marc:Who else did you get to open for that kind of, like, that at least was inspirational?

00:49:45Guest:I mean, who were you looking up to?

00:49:46Guest:At that time, it was, you know, Damon Wayans.

00:49:49Marc:Oh, he was so good, man.

00:49:50Guest:Damon Wayans, Tommy Davidson.

00:49:52Guest:So Tommy Davidson, he hosted an event that I was a part of, and it was great to be.

00:49:57Guest:Where was that?

00:49:57Guest:That was in St.

00:49:58Guest:Louis.

00:49:58Guest:It was another, like, a comedy challenge thing.

00:50:01Guest:So, but he was just young.

00:50:02Guest:He was, you know, he was on Living Color.

00:50:04Guest:So he was famous.

00:50:05Guest:Like we knew who he was, but he was, so that was like special.

00:50:09Guest:And then he used to be a guy, St.

00:50:13Guest:Louis dude, local dude, Ron Ramey.

00:50:15Guest:He was dope.

00:50:16Guest:Yeah.

00:50:17Marc:What happened to that guy?

00:50:17Guest:I think he passed recently, too.

00:50:20Guest:Like, I don't know exactly.

00:50:21Guest:But he never really got to the heights.

00:50:23Guest:But he was like super.

00:50:25Guest:He was the pro from St.

00:50:26Guest:Louis.

00:50:26Guest:Like the black dude that was the pro.

00:50:28Guest:Right.

00:50:29Guest:Everybody like, yo.

00:50:30Marc:Local hero.

00:50:31Guest:Wouldn't be like Ron Raimi.

00:50:32Marc:Yeah.

00:50:33Guest:Yeah.

00:50:34Marc:Was he one of those guys that was like a comics comic?

00:50:37Marc:Not really.

00:50:38Guest:He was kind of arrogant.

00:50:39Guest:People didn't really like him that much overall.

00:50:42Guest:I don't remember, but he was good.

00:50:46Guest:You could not argue.

00:50:48Guest:Oh, this dude's good.

00:50:50Guest:But he was good-looking.

00:50:52Guest:He had an arrogance about him that was hard to be close.

00:50:56Marc:Good-looking comics is tricky.

00:50:58Guest:Yeah, I don't trust them.

00:50:59Guest:Yeah, you can't.

00:51:00Guest:What are they up to?

00:51:01Guest:Isn't there something else they can do?

00:51:04Guest:Why you got to have charm too?

00:51:06Guest:What's that all about?

00:51:07Guest:Charm and good looks.

00:51:08Guest:You're not a comic.

00:51:09Guest:Come on, get out of here.

00:51:10Guest:Go model some clothes or something.

00:51:11Marc:Exactly.

00:51:12Marc:So when do you meet Steve?

00:51:14Guest:So I meet Steve at the second part of that first run.

00:51:18Guest:I'm out on that big run.

00:51:20Guest:That Funny Bones run?

00:51:22Guest:Yeah, I meet him in Dallas.

00:51:24Guest:I get stuck.

00:51:25Guest:I get down there, Dallas Club.

00:51:26Guest:They go under new management.

00:51:28Guest:And they don't need me as an opening act.

00:51:31Guest:I drove 10 hours down to Dallas.

00:51:33Guest:To open for Steve?

00:51:34Guest:To open for, no, Steve's got his own thing going.

00:51:38Guest:So he's got like a black comedy night happening somewhere.

00:51:40Marc:But does he live in Dallas?

00:51:42Guest:Yeah, he's living there at the time.

00:51:43Guest:I guess, you know, it made sense.

00:51:46Marc:Was he doing radio and shit?

00:51:46Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:51:47Guest:He had a little light radio show going.

00:51:49Guest:It was new.

00:51:50Guest:He had a girl, you know, he was living down there.

00:51:53Guest:And I think, you know, of course...

00:51:54Guest:And then, like, in the late 80s, Dallas was like this it town to be in.

00:51:59Guest:Like, it was economically strong.

00:52:02Guest:The basketball team was new.

00:52:03Guest:The football team was hot.

00:52:04Guest:Deion Sanders, them.

00:52:06Guest:Dallas was, like, popping.

00:52:07Guest:Like, it was just a dope city to be in.

00:52:10Guest:And so Steve was living there, and he was on the radio.

00:52:12Guest:And then he had a black comedy club, like, called Bucure's.

00:52:16Guest:And I remember they told me they didn't need me at the Funny Bones, and they're not going to pay me.

00:52:22Guest:And the guy who...

00:52:24Guest:Set me up to do comedy.

00:52:27Guest:The guy told me to be in the competition.

00:52:31Guest:Told me about Steve.

00:52:32Guest:He kind of introduced us to each other through just word of mouth.

00:52:35Guest:So when I went there, I told Steve, I'm the guy that Percy Cruz knows.

00:52:39Guest:And he was like, oh, yeah.

00:52:40Guest:And it just so happens his headliner act was bombing.

00:52:44Guest:He was like, this dude was bombing.

00:52:46Guest:He was like, you think you can go up and do a few minutes?

00:52:48Guest:I was like, yep.

00:52:49Guest:Went up, killed five minutes.

00:52:51Guest:So I told him what my situation was.

00:52:53Guest:He said, let me talk to the owner.

00:52:55Guest:And then basically he said, just come back every night.

00:52:57Guest:This dude don't do well.

00:52:59Guest:I'm putting you up.

00:53:00Guest:And then at the end of it, we're going to see what we can do.

00:53:02Guest:And they basically...

00:53:04Guest:I did that, hoping this dude to bomb every night.

00:53:07Guest:And then he gave me $250 and I was able to get home.

00:53:10Guest:And that was it.

00:53:11Guest:Then he brought me back as a headliner like two months later.

00:53:15Guest:So that was... That worked out.

00:53:16Guest:That was my man.

00:53:18Guest:Then we went on the infamy TV shows and the Kings of Comedy.

00:53:22Marc:Isn't that crazy?

00:53:23Marc:So how long did that take?

00:53:24Marc:What was that process?

00:53:24Marc:How long were you out there headlining before?

00:53:26Marc:Whose idea was the Kings of Comedy?

00:53:29Marc:Because that was a big deal.

00:53:30Marc:Because that was a big sort of...

00:53:32Marc:crossover big deal in a way, right?

00:53:34Guest:Yeah, yeah, it was.

00:53:35Guest:I mean, I've been doing comedy for a while, you know, we were on the Steve Harvey show.

00:53:41Guest:You already hosted shit?

00:53:42Guest:Yeah, I did some shit.

00:53:44Guest:I'd hosted BET's Comic View.

00:53:48Guest:Yeah, I'd probably been on Def Comedy Jam twice.

00:53:53Guest:I'd been...

00:53:53Guest:I had made a little name for myself just with little splashes.

00:53:57Marc:Was that whole Deaf Comedy Jam and Comic View, that all came up in the late 80s, early 90s?

00:54:01Marc:That all started to happen?

00:54:02Guest:Yeah, exactly.

00:54:04Guest:Both of those.

00:54:05Guest:They were both early 90s, I'm going to say.

00:54:09Guest:Yeah, because I think...

00:54:11Guest:Yeah, you did.

00:54:12Marc:You did the Apollo, too.

00:54:13Guest:Yeah, I did Apollo first.

00:54:16Guest:That was one of the first things.

00:54:17Guest:Actually, I did this other show called Uptown, but Apollo aired first.

00:54:22Guest:And so I did.

00:54:24Guest:And when I did Apollo, you know, so intimidating, but I did well.

00:54:29Guest:And and like you say, I never went back.

00:54:32Guest:I was like, I call it one and oh, baby.

00:54:35Guest:I got the stand ovation.

00:54:36Guest:I left like, OK, I'm out of there.

00:54:38Marc:Is it a good experience?

00:54:40Marc:Did you feel like it was something like a rite of passage?

00:54:43Marc:Yeah, you had to do it.

00:54:44Marc:It was not something you wanted to do twice?

00:54:47Guest:Well, I didn't at the time, but I've been back since and done things there.

00:54:51Guest:But at the time, I didn't want to take no chances on going back.

00:54:55Guest:It was...

00:54:55Guest:Because it was scary, yeah.

00:54:58Guest:It was scary, man.

00:54:59Guest:New Yorkers are tough.

00:55:01Marc:And that's where they boo you?

00:55:04Guest:They'll light you up.

00:55:05Guest:Who was hosting when you were there?

00:55:08Guest:It seemed like it was Rick Avila, maybe.

00:55:11Guest:Rick Avila?

00:55:12Marc:No shit.

00:55:13Marc:I think that's right.

00:55:14Guest:Hey, Rick Avila.

00:55:16Guest:How you doing, man?

00:55:17Guest:Exactly.

00:55:18Guest:I think it was Rick Avila.

00:55:19Guest:I remember Rick Avila.

00:55:21Guest:Junkie pigeons.

00:55:23Guest:Yeah, exactly.

00:55:24Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:55:24Marc:Yeah, I knew him pretty well.

00:55:26Marc:Are you from New York?

00:55:28Marc:I started in L.A., but then I moved to New York.

00:55:30Marc:I was in New York, 89, on and off through 95.

00:55:33Marc:So I knew Rick.

00:55:35Marc:I knew his girlfriend.

00:55:36Marc:I didn't know.

00:55:38Marc:For years, he was the guy in Ghost.

00:55:42Marc:Yeah.

00:55:42Marc:And then he got sick.

00:55:44Marc:Yeah.

00:55:45Marc:You know, the drugs, they do you in.

00:55:48Marc:Do you in, man.

00:55:48Marc:But it's like that's a long time you were doing it before the original Kings of Comedy.

00:55:53Marc:I mean, if you're kicking around the early 90s, you don't do that tour until, what, 99?

00:55:59Marc:99.

00:55:59Marc:Yeah, we started in 99.

00:56:02Marc:I love Hughley.

00:56:03Guest:Yeah, he was my guy, too.

00:56:06Marc:He's a great guy.

00:56:08Marc:I saw his first HBO half hour, and I thought, like, that angry motherfucker.

00:56:13Marc:Look at that guy.

00:56:14Marc:Just fuming.

00:56:15Marc:And he's being funny, but like I could see, he was full of rage.

00:56:19Guest:Yeah, so much.

00:56:20Guest:He's always so ready to let people have it.

00:56:23Marc:Yeah, and I was like, that guy's great.

00:56:25Marc:I finally got to interview him.

00:56:26Marc:He's a great guy.

00:56:27Marc:So it was you, Steve Harvey, Bernie, and DL?

00:56:32Marc:Yeah.

00:56:32Marc:And that was it?

00:56:33Marc:That was it.

00:56:34Marc:So was that a tour before Spike decided to get involved?

00:56:38Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:56:39Guest:We had toured, you know, this guy, Walter Latham, he used to...

00:56:44Guest:tour all of us individually.

00:56:46Guest:So back there- He was your booking agent?

00:56:48Guest:He was a promoter, like a guy that does shows.

00:56:53Guest:And he was the guy that has been successful, but he would, you know, it was all about theater shows at the Wild, so he would do, so he could take Bernie out on a theater show and make money.

00:57:03Guest:He'd take Steve out on a theater show, he'd take me out, and he would take D.L.

00:57:07Guest:out.

00:57:07Marc:It's so funny, because at that time,

00:57:09Marc:Like all you do, especially Bernie, I mean, you didn't have any crossover audience.

00:57:13Guest:No, it was all black audiences.

00:57:16Guest:But when Def Comedy Jam blew up and Comic View, that little niche where that was the entertainment...

00:57:25Guest:to happen, it was all you needed to do.

00:57:28Guest:You can say anybody was coming to town and all of us could sell out a 2,000 seats theater easy.

00:57:35Guest:That money was crazy back then.

00:57:37Guest:It was so easy.

00:57:39Marc:It was not a lot of comments.

00:57:41Marc:If you showcase on any of those shows, it meant that you could sell.

00:57:44Guest:Everybody's watching.

00:57:45Guest:Everybody watching that show, and if you were good.

00:57:48Guest:And if they put you on a package, so like, it was a lot of package shows where it'd be four or five comics.

00:57:55Guest:But on that small level, nobody had did it for an arena.

00:57:58Guest:And that guy thought of that idea.

00:58:00Guest:With you guys.

00:58:00Guest:Yeah, so he was like, nobody did like all the big guys at once.

00:58:04Guest:and put it in the arena.

00:58:05Marc:But you were already doing theaters and stuff.

00:58:07Guest:Yeah, we would do theaters.

00:58:08Guest:I would go and do the Fox Theater somewhere.

00:58:12Guest:All black audience.

00:58:13Guest:All black audience.

00:58:14Guest:Pack.

00:58:15Guest:Might even do two shows.

00:58:17Marc:Pack.

00:58:18Marc:Crazy.

00:58:19Marc:So when you guys do the original Kings of Comedy, I don't know what the years are with that.

00:58:25Marc:It was 99 to... But did Bernie have a show yet?

00:58:28Guest:No.

00:58:29Marc:So it was like still all black audience.

00:58:31Guest:Yeah, Bernie was the king.

00:58:33Guest:Bernie was like, he had this most famous eight minutes of comedy from his deaf comedy jam set, the I Ain't Scared of You Motherfuckers set.

00:58:41Guest:Right.

00:58:41Guest:Made him the- Huge.

00:58:43Guest:He was big.

00:58:43Guest:He was like, Chappelle is now.

00:58:45Guest:He was like the dog comic.

00:58:47Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:58:48Guest:And so that was it.

00:58:50Guest:Bernie, you say Bernie Mac coming and it's gone.

00:58:52Marc:Yeah.

00:58:52Guest:Chick is gone.

00:58:53Marc:Powerful.

00:58:54Guest:Yeah.

00:58:54Guest:So and so in the end.

00:58:57Marc:And now how does Spike get involved?

00:58:59Marc:That must have been exciting.

00:59:00Guest:Yeah.

00:59:01Guest:Well, Spike got involved because we were we were going to shoot the movie.

00:59:05Guest:Yeah.

00:59:06Guest:And then we were just trying to give the movie this splash.

00:59:08Guest:Give it this identity again.

00:59:11Guest:And Walter, he thought of that idea.

00:59:13Guest:To do the movie.

00:59:14Guest:Well, we all thought about doing the movie, but he thought of the idea of bringing somebody like Spike Lee in to make it a splash.

00:59:22Marc:And he was into it?

00:59:22Guest:And then Spike, he saw us in New York.

00:59:25Guest:It was a big deal.

00:59:27Guest:We went to New York and he came, saw the show.

00:59:29Guest:He was like, he was in.

00:59:30Guest:So that was that.

00:59:31Guest:And he wanted to be able to make it like this cultural experience, which is what his kind of niche is.

00:59:37Guest:And I think that's why the movie still has legs to this day.

00:59:42Guest:And the name.

00:59:44Guest:All of that, all these things.

00:59:46Guest:We never were able to capitalize on it again, which was so unfortunate, but... In what sense?

00:59:52Guest:Well, we never did two.

00:59:53Guest:We never did... You could've.

00:59:55Guest:Yeah, but... You guys never toured again after that together?

00:59:59Guest:Never toured again, like crazy.

01:00:01Guest:It just...

01:00:02Guest:You know, just like a great, you know, band.

01:00:05Guest:Everybody severed.

01:00:06Marc:Yeah, I guess so.

01:00:07Marc:It's weird, though, because you would think that.

01:00:10Marc:But you would think now, if you wanted to, well, I mean, you could probably get D.L.

01:00:14Marc:to go, right?

01:00:15Marc:D.L.

01:00:15Marc:to go.

01:00:16Guest:Yeah.

01:00:17Guest:I'm gonna get ready to see D.L.

01:00:20Guest:after this.

01:00:20Guest:We see each other all the time.

01:00:22Guest:D.L.

01:00:23Guest:would do it.

01:00:24Guest:Steve won't do it.

01:00:27Guest:He's the one.

01:00:28Guest:I'll try to convince Steven to do it now.

01:00:30Guest:He would do probably... Two shows.

01:00:33Guest:If we could get him to understand it's a special, short-lived one, he'd do it.

01:00:40Guest:It'd take some maneuvering, but he'd do it.

01:00:42Marc:And what, do you think he could pull still?

01:00:44Marc:Everybody get the people in?

01:00:46Guest:Yeah, that would work.

01:00:49Guest:Everybody goes, what do you do about the Bernie of it all?

01:00:53Guest:I don't think there's a replacement.

01:00:55Guest:Do you do it to three?

01:00:59Guest:Do you do a little video homage of Bernie?

01:01:01Guest:Do you try to find a new guy?

01:01:05Guest:Who's that new guy?

01:01:06Guest:Everybody goes, who's the new king?

01:01:08Marc:So that's what you think the expectation is.

01:01:11Guest:And that's kind of what happens.

01:01:12Guest:It's like everybody who's hot enough to really do it and fit in, they got their own lane.

01:01:17Guest:Like, yo, I'm doing my own thing.

01:01:18Marc:That's right.

01:01:19Marc:That's what happens.

01:01:20Marc:Everybody gets old and everyone's doing okay.

01:01:23Marc:Yeah, exactly.

01:01:25Marc:So the comedy thing, but...

01:01:27Marc:You still do it?

01:01:28Marc:Yeah, man.

01:01:30Marc:But acting, you turned out to be... You're a very good actor.

01:01:33Marc:You can do all the stuff.

01:01:35Marc:Yeah, man.

01:01:35Marc:Thank you, man.

01:01:35Marc:You can do comedy.

01:01:36Marc:You can do the series.

01:01:38Marc:You show... You got an emotional range.

01:01:41Marc:Yeah.

01:01:42Marc:You do a lot of different shit.

01:01:44Marc:Yeah.

01:01:44Marc:And it's pretty great.

01:01:47Marc:I mean, you were in that dark fucking movie.

01:01:50Marc:What was that one?

01:01:51Marc:First Perform.

01:01:53Marc:Did Paul Schrader direct it?

01:01:54Guest:Yeah, wrote it, directed it.

01:01:56Marc:Well, I know, and he's a trip.

01:01:58Marc:And that movie's wild, but you're almost like the happy part of it.

01:02:02Guest:Yeah, a bad movie.

01:02:03Marc:Yeah.

01:02:06Marc:But how do you, did you just audition for that?

01:02:09Guest:You know, it was weird because, you know, Paul Schrader was looking for, he actually wanted Steve for that role.

01:02:17Guest:He wanted someone that he believed the...

01:02:20Guest:The black community would believe this person is that person like right away.

01:02:25Guest:Yeah.

01:02:26Guest:And then I thought you were.

01:02:29Guest:Yeah.

01:02:29Guest:And I think that's, you know, that that kind of authenticity where you believe like, OK, if you say these things, I believe that you would really say that.

01:02:37Guest:And then as this kind of big, powerful black leader, I could believe you would also be that.

01:02:42Guest:And so without it being jokey.

01:02:46Guest:That was a big thing he said when he spoke to me on the phone.

01:02:50Guest:He's like, you know, there's no comedy.

01:02:52Guest:I don't want you to bring any jokes.

01:02:53Guest:I was like, I got you, man.

01:02:55Marc:I can do that.

01:02:56Marc:I can turn it off.

01:02:57Marc:Yeah, man.

01:02:57Marc:Yeah.

01:02:58Marc:But, like, you did a lot of, like, there's so many fucking movies.

01:03:01Marc:The barbershop movies were huge.

01:03:02Guest:Yeah.

01:03:03Marc:And that Ice Cube produced those?

01:03:04Guest:Yeah.

01:03:05Marc:And he's in them.

01:03:06Marc:Yeah.

01:03:06Marc:Those were fun.

01:03:07Guest:Those were great.

01:03:08Marc:Yeah, that was a great comedy showcase, right?

01:03:10Guest:Yeah, another one where, you know, it was an opportunity to try and do something creative and do, like, because I wanted to play the old man.

01:03:18Guest:So that was, like, a wild choice, like, at the time.

01:03:21Guest:You know, I asked to play that old man.

01:03:23Guest:They was like, why you want to play the old man?

01:03:25Guest:I said, I know this old man.

01:03:26Guest:Yeah.

01:03:26Guest:Like, I know him.

01:03:27Guest:Like, I got him.

01:03:29Guest:And he was like, all right.

01:03:30Guest:And I went in, and I did it in a reed.

01:03:33Guest:Yeah.

01:03:33Guest:And he killed, and everybody was like, all right, cool.

01:03:35Marc:And then, like, you were involved with the Honeymooners.

01:03:39Marc:Yeah, produced that.

01:03:41Marc:Now, how did you get involved with that?

01:03:43Marc:And did it work out?

01:03:45Guest:You know, that was one of those Hollywood tales that you go like, you know, when everybody gets a bright idea and think, all right, cool, let's do the black version of this big, white, iconic show.

01:03:58Guest:And, you know, it was like, see, you can pull it off.

01:03:59Guest:And I really believed it.

01:04:00Guest:One, I love Jackie Gleason.

01:04:02Guest:My grandmother was like one of, you know, she loved that whole Jackie Gleason variety show and just grew up on him back then.

01:04:10Guest:And so...

01:04:11Guest:I love the idea of it.

01:04:13Guest:And when we first started it, that's the thing about doing any kind of movies.

01:04:16Guest:When we first started it, it was an executive who got me.

01:04:20Guest:We hired Mike Epps.

01:04:21Guest:So he got like what we were trying to do.

01:04:24Guest:We were breaking the movie out.

01:04:26Guest:And I was like, look, man, this episode, if we're going to do this, we should do something that feels authentic so we could tell the story.

01:04:33Guest:Let's break out into a heightened version of the episode where the guy leaves the bus, the money on the bus and the briefcase.

01:04:40Guest:And then we can have this story that'll feel authentic to it being black because we can make it far more, you know, hyper into this new world and it'll feel real.

01:04:50Guest:Right.

01:04:52Guest:Loved it.

01:04:53Guest:Cool.

01:04:54Guest:He gets fired.

01:04:55Guest:So the movie's going.

01:04:57Guest:It's greenlit.

01:04:58Marc:Which guy?

01:04:58Guest:The producer, the big head of the studio dude.

01:05:02Guest:So he's our guy.

01:05:03Guest:When we first started, he's my guy.

01:05:05Guest:Now this is the first time I'm coming off another movie.

01:05:09Guest:So this is my first time getting paid a lot of money to be the lead dude.

01:05:13Marc:And you get a producer credit.

01:05:15Guest:And it sets my quote.

01:05:17Guest:So this is getting ready to be...

01:05:18Guest:Like, yo, I don't know, like $5 million or something.

01:05:22Guest:And if I do this movie, then I get this number from here on out.

01:05:26Guest:So I got to do this movie.

01:05:28Guest:So I'm not going to walk away from it.

01:05:30Guest:So then the new guy comes in.

01:05:32Guest:He wants to put dogs in the movie.

01:05:34Guest:He feels like it should be a lot more of a universal idea.

01:05:38Guest:That's just right there.

01:05:40Marc:That's one of the suggestions.

01:05:43Marc:We need dogs.

01:05:44Marc:Damn.

01:05:44Marc:Dogs are big now.

01:05:45Guest:Yeah.

01:05:46Guest:And you're trying to fight it, and he's the new guy, and he needs to make his mark.

01:05:50Marc:We need to put dogs.

01:05:51Guest:And we're doing this dog, and we're doing dogs, guys.

01:05:53Guest:And then they cut the budget, and we end up shooting a movie in Ireland.

01:05:59Guest:So now we're doing Dublin for New York.

01:06:03Guest:And dogs.

01:06:04Guest:And the dog racing.

01:06:06Guest:So it's dog racing.

01:06:07Guest:Dog racing?

01:06:08Guest:Greyhounds, dog.

01:06:09Guest:Like people...

01:06:10Guest:Don't even know what this like a part of the of American nostalgia that people like what?

01:06:16Marc:What are the conversations on set?

01:06:18Marc:I can't I can't imagine that Mike Epps is easy to deal with in this.

01:06:21Guest:Oh, man.

01:06:22Guest:He's like, you know, you like a young young comic.

01:06:25Guest:Mike Epps all crazy.

01:06:27Guest:We in Ireland.

01:06:28Guest:He all I don't even know.

01:06:30Guest:I think he had to get some kind of special permit to even go, man.

01:06:34Guest:Mike Epps used to be a whole thing, man.

01:06:37Guest:So that was that disaster.

01:06:39Guest:Yeah.

01:06:39Guest:So then when the movie comes out, that guy's fired and a new executive is in charge.

01:06:46Guest:by the time the movie comes out.

01:06:47Guest:So they just don't care about it at all.

01:06:50Guest:So the movie actually is a good film, in my opinion.

01:06:53Guest:It could have been a better film, but it just got lost in the minutia of what is it.

01:06:58Guest:To put a movie out in Hollywood, it's not as simple as what people think.

01:07:03Marc:Oh, of course not.

01:07:03Marc:It's a fucking disaster sometimes.

01:07:05Guest:Yeah.

01:07:06Marc:But then you did a lot of voice work.

01:07:07Marc:How do you choose movies?

01:07:09Marc:I never saw Cadillac Records.

01:07:12Guest:Oh, it's awesome.

01:07:13Marc:But it looks like it's great.

01:07:14Guest:Yeah, it's awesome.

01:07:15Marc:Because I love all the people that are, you were Willie Dixon.

01:07:18Marc:Yeah.

01:07:18Marc:And it was great.

01:07:19Marc:Did you do a lot of research to do that?

01:07:20Guest:Yeah, I did some research, learned how to play the upright bass a little bit.

01:07:24Marc:Because he was something else, that guy.

01:07:26Guest:Yeah, he was pretty wild.

01:07:27Guest:Chess Records and great actors.

01:07:30Guest:Jeffrey Wright, amazing in there.

01:07:32Guest:Who'd he play?

01:07:33Guest:Jeffrey Wright played Muddy Waters.

01:07:35Marc:Holy shit, I gotta watch that movie.

01:07:37Marc:I don't know how I missed it.

01:07:39Guest:It's a great movie.

01:07:39Guest:It's a small film, but, you know, Adrian.

01:07:43Guest:Brody?

01:07:43Guest:Yeah, Adrian Brody.

01:07:44Guest:He plays the big chess.

01:07:48Marc:One of the chess guys, Leonard.

01:07:49Marc:Yeah.

01:07:50Guest:And then Beyonce plays...

01:07:55Guest:At last.

01:07:56Marc:Etta James.

01:07:57Marc:Etta James.

01:07:57Guest:Oh, that's good.

01:07:59Guest:So she plays Etta James.

01:08:01Guest:Mos Def plays Chuck Berry.

01:08:03Guest:Oh, kill.

01:08:04Guest:It's dope.

01:08:04Marc:Oh, I gotta watch that thing.

01:08:06Marc:Yeah, it's dope.

01:08:06Marc:And what's this one that you directed?

01:08:08Marc:What's the one that you put together?

01:08:09Marc:The Dance Foo movie?

01:08:10Guest:Dance Foo.

01:08:10Guest:So Dance Foo is my first time directing.

01:08:12Guest:It's a small movie.

01:08:13Guest:It's fun.

01:08:14Guest:You know, I was inspired by this kind of whole, like, Napoleon Dynamite was kind of popping off in all these quirky movies.

01:08:20Marc:Kind of weird movies.

01:08:20Guest:Yeah, so the guy Kel Mitchell, you know, he just was on Dancing with the Stars, you know, Kenan and Kel fame.

01:08:29Guest:He had this idea.

01:08:30Guest:He came to us.

01:08:32Guest:We liked it.

01:08:32Guest:We kind of helped him beat the movie out, write it out, and just shot it, man, for like $200,000 or something like that.

01:08:40Guest:Yeah.

01:08:40Guest:It's fun, man.

01:08:41Guest:It's a crazy, quirky movie about him as a kid who comes from Chicago to try to make it.

01:08:49Guest:His uncle, who's a big kind of club owner out here, gets murdered by this villain.

01:08:55Guest:A villain.

01:08:55Guest:Yeah, it's like this dude, pretty-eyed Willie.

01:08:59Guest:He's got pretty hair, and he wears makeup on one eye, and he wears a patch on the other eye.

01:09:03Guest:Okay.

01:09:04Guest:And it's just like...

01:09:05Guest:And he has to dance battle this guy to save the family and the legacy of his uncle's club.

01:09:14Marc:It's hilarious.

01:09:16Marc:Oh, wild.

01:09:16Marc:Now, when you do something like that, obviously, you get some people to throw some money in, right?

01:09:21Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:09:22Marc:But what were your expectations out of that?

01:09:24Marc:Did it meet your expectations?

01:09:26Guest:Probably not.

01:09:27Guest:I think, you know, at the end, you know, like in all those kind of things, you didn't really, you know, you don't understand the whole process of, you know, kind of getting your distribution right before you go ahead and you're expecting the movie to, you know, to do this or do that.

01:09:42Guest:And, you know, you had some flaws.

01:09:46Guest:It was my first time directing.

01:09:47Guest:You had some flaws in the storytelling.

01:09:50Guest:You miss a few things, and you're like, you know.

01:09:52Guest:We made a good movie, though.

01:09:54Guest:It was a movie that I love.

01:09:55Guest:My kids love it.

01:09:56Guest:It's one of them funny, weird.

01:09:57Guest:It's a good, bad movie.

01:09:59Marc:That's what you say.

01:09:59Guest:Like, it's a bad movie, but it's good, though.

01:10:02Marc:How many kids you got?

01:10:03Guest:Three kids total.

01:10:05Guest:I got a daughter that's 30, you know, previous relationship, lives in St.

01:10:09Guest:Louis with a little granddaughter that's three.

01:10:12Guest:Got a granddaughter?

01:10:13Guest:Yeah, man.

01:10:14Guest:And then my oldest turned 16.

01:10:16Guest:I mean, my youngest turned 16 yesterday.

01:10:19Guest:And then my son is 19.

01:10:21Guest:He's at University of Arizona.

01:10:23Marc:Oh, that's a big school.

01:10:24Marc:Yeah, big old school.

01:10:25Guest:You like it?

01:10:26Guest:Yeah, he's enjoying it.

01:10:27Guest:He's having a good time.

01:10:28Guest:Are they going to be in show business?

01:10:29Guest:I don't know.

01:10:30Guest:He probably will be.

01:10:31Guest:Oh, yeah?

01:10:32Guest:Yeah, he likes to animate and draw.

01:10:35Guest:He likes to act.

01:10:37Guest:So he's got a big personality, but I think he'll probably find it as he goes along.

01:10:43Guest:But yeah, he's a strong actor.

01:10:44Guest:He's done a few plays, and I had him on my show a couple of times.

01:10:49Marc:Oh, yeah?

01:10:49Guest:Yeah, he's strong, though.

01:10:50Marc:You did, like, I didn't see the, how did that run of American Buffalo do that you were in?

01:10:56Guest:It was short-lived.

01:10:57Guest:It was great, though, man.

01:10:58Marc:Did you play teach?

01:10:59Marc:Who'd you play?

01:11:00Guest:I played, yeah, teachers, but who owns the pod?

01:11:03Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:11:06Guest:I owned the pod shop, yeah.

01:11:08Guest:And so, you know, it was great, man.

01:11:10Guest:And, you know, John Mead, John Leguizamo, Haley Jo Osmond.

01:11:14Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:11:14Guest:And it was...

01:11:16Marc:And it was like a big, it got a big push, right?

01:11:18Guest:Yeah, it got a big deal, and then the economic crisis happened.

01:11:24Guest:Oh, the bank thing?

01:11:26Guest:Yeah, the big fall happened, man.

01:11:28Guest:And that was that?

01:11:29Guest:And our big investor dude ran for the heels, and that was it.

01:11:33Guest:Like, we opened...

01:11:34Guest:We had a mixed review in the New York Times, but yeah, it was a short run, man.

01:11:41Guest:I think we ran maybe, we opened, and then we probably ran maybe four more weeks.

01:11:48Guest:Oh, that was it?

01:11:49Guest:It was tough.

01:11:50Guest:Oh, man.

01:11:50Guest:But it was a great experience for me, like, you know, because all my reviews were amazing.

01:11:57Guest:Cedric surprises in this piece of theater that nobody else was good at.

01:12:02Marc:Yeah, like, yeah.

01:12:03Marc:And what's your relationship with wrestling?

01:12:06Guest:You know, that was coming up in St.

01:12:08Guest:Louis.

01:12:08Guest:It used to be a whole big thing back then called Wrestling with the Chase.

01:12:13Guest:And there was a version of a wrestling show that they used to do.

01:12:17Guest:And that was a big part of our whole neighborhood.

01:12:20Guest:So when I was asked to be a part of the whole wrestling stuff, I was like, oh, hey.

01:12:24Guest:Oh yeah.

01:12:25Guest:You like it?

01:12:25Marc:Yeah.

01:12:26Marc:You grew up with it?

01:12:27Marc:Yeah.

01:12:27Marc:Cause you like, you wrestled Chavo, right?

01:12:29Marc:Yeah, exactly.

01:12:30Marc:Cause he's like, I'm on glow, you know, and he's the, he's the, uh, he's the trainer.

01:12:35Marc:Like he's the guy that teaches all the chicks on my show to wrestle.

01:12:38Marc:He's like the in-house wrestling coach.

01:12:40Guest:Oh, that's funny.

01:12:41Marc:Yeah.

01:12:41Marc:So I see him all the time.

01:12:43Marc:He's a great guy.

01:12:43Marc:Yeah.

01:12:44Marc:Yeah.

01:12:44Marc:He's a wrestling family.

01:12:45Guest:That's hilarious.

01:12:46Marc:Yeah.

01:12:47Guest:I grew up with a family of wrestlers.

01:12:48Marc:Yeah, man.

01:12:49Marc:I mean, it's a family business.

01:12:51Marc:So what's the plan now?

01:12:53Marc:Are you shooting other things now?

01:12:56Guest:Yeah, well, I'm going to run this neighborhood thing for as long as it goes.

01:12:59Guest:We're doing great.

01:13:01Guest:And so that goes until March.

01:13:04Guest:You're shooting more now?

01:13:06Guest:Yeah.

01:13:06Guest:So you're shooting the season?

01:13:07Guest:Second season.

01:13:07Guest:You know, because this is network television, so we get 23.

01:13:10Guest:23?

01:13:11Guest:Yeah, man.

01:13:12Guest:So you're doing all right.

01:13:13Guest:Yeah, man.

01:13:15Guest:23, and you've been around as long as you've been around?

01:13:20Guest:Yeah, man.

01:13:22Guest:I'm not.

01:13:23Guest:That's what I told somebody.

01:13:24Guest:I'm not.

01:13:25Guest:Hey, dude, I'm quiet over here.

01:13:27Guest:You're covered, man.

01:13:28Guest:You're not hearing me complain about a thing.

01:13:31Guest:I'm like, I'm over here.

01:13:32Guest:At this stage of my career, I feel like I'm stealing money.

01:13:34Guest:I'm like, okay, cool.

01:13:35Guest:That's great.

01:13:36Marc:And so that's pretty much it for now.

01:13:38Marc:No dates.

01:13:39Guest:Yeah, no, I still do things.

01:13:41Guest:I got a big run right after the holidays.

01:13:42Guest:So I did, like I said, I did Memphis last week.

01:13:45Guest:That was great.

01:13:46Guest:Then I just kind of chilled for Thanksgiving and my daughter's birthday this whole weekend.

01:13:51Guest:And then I do a big run right after Christmas.

01:13:55Guest:So 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st.

01:13:58Guest:So starting Detroit.

01:14:00Marc:Where do you play there?

01:14:01Guest:Detroit, I do the sound board at the casino, Motor City Casino.

01:14:07Guest:Great room.

01:14:07Guest:We love that room.

01:14:08Guest:That's a great room.

01:14:10Guest:Chicago, we're going to do.

01:14:11Guest:This is one of these big kind of shows with a lot of comics.

01:14:14Guest:DL and I, DL, Hughley, a few other guys.

01:14:17Guest:A lot of great guys will be on these shows.

01:14:19Guest:There's usually about four comics on these shows.

01:14:22Guest:And we'll do like Chicago Polly Pavilion or something.

01:14:29Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:14:29Guest:I don't know.

01:14:31Guest:And then Atlanta.

01:14:32Marc:What do you do there?

01:14:33Guest:Atlanta will do, this is probably another arena show.

01:14:37Marc:Oh, yeah?

01:14:37Marc:Wow.

01:14:37Guest:So we'll probably do Phillips.

01:14:39Guest:Big places, huh?

01:14:40Guest:Probably Phillips Arena.

01:14:42Guest:And then we'll do, yeah, because we're doing New Orleans, the Smoothie King.

01:14:47Marc:Oh, wow.

01:14:48Marc:That's a hard market for a comic sometimes.

01:14:51Guest:With New Orleans?

01:14:52Guest:Yeah.

01:14:52Marc:You do good there?

01:14:53Guest:Yeah.

01:14:54Guest:And you go there with a group of people, too.

01:14:56Guest:But we do pretty good in New Orleans.

01:14:59Guest:It is a slower market, though, for sure.

01:15:01Guest:Weird place.

01:15:01Guest:But they come out, though.

01:15:02Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:15:03Guest:Good.

01:15:03Guest:And then Houston for New Year's Eve.

01:15:05Marc:Wow, you do the New Year's Eve show.

01:15:07Marc:Yeah, man.

01:15:08Marc:I just don't do them anymore.

01:15:09Guest:I used to, you know, I stopped for a couple years, but, you know, because it did get like a little dragging, but then it became this cool thing where I would, you know, take my family and my kids and then we would go do the New Year's Eve show and then take off and go somewhere.

01:15:24Guest:Oh, yeah, that's nice.

01:15:25Guest:It became our little thing.

01:15:26Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:15:27Guest:So in the end, you go like, all right, cool.

01:15:30Guest:You just get this big chunk of money, and then you go like, ah, go into the new year with my family.

01:15:35Guest:Is that what you're going to do?

01:15:37Guest:But I got to be right back at work on the TV show on the 2nd this year.

01:15:42Guest:So last year, we did Houston, and we went to Cabo and stayed at a friend's house.

01:15:47Guest:And this year, we're just going to stay in Houston for a day and just kind of hang out.

01:15:52Marc:It's an all right city.

01:15:53Marc:It's an okay city.

01:15:53Guest:Yeah, it's all right.

01:15:54Guest:We got good friends there.

01:15:55Guest:All right.

01:15:55Marc:It's cool.

01:15:56Marc:Well, it was great talking to you, man.

01:15:58Marc:Yeah, man.

01:15:58Guest:Appreciate this, brother.

01:15:59Guest:I know it's been a long time.

01:16:00Guest:We were trying to get this to happen, but that's good.

01:16:02Guest:I appreciate your pay.

01:16:03Guest:You're one of the kings of this podcast thing, man.

01:16:06Marc:Well, I think so.

01:16:06Marc:I think now it's, I don't know if I'm a king, but I'm certainly in an OG.

01:16:10Marc:I'm certainly one of the originals.

01:16:12Guest:I like it.

01:16:13Marc:You know, like, I don't know if my kingship holds as much as it used to, but I'm definitely one of the guys that was there at the beginning.

01:16:20Guest:Yeah, that's dope, man.

01:16:22Guest:I mean, you know, of course, everybody's trying to talk me into getting one.

01:16:25Guest:Of course.

01:16:25Guest:What, your agent?

01:16:27Guest:Yeah, no, just my business managers and people.

01:16:31Marc:They're recommending everybody.

01:16:33Marc:It's important.

01:16:34Marc:Just do it.

01:16:34Marc:Oh, it's important now.

01:16:35Marc:It's important.

01:16:36Marc:This is where you get your audience.

01:16:38Marc:Keep the brand going.

01:16:39Marc:Yeah, you got to do it, man.

01:16:41Marc:Man, they're telling everybody.

01:16:42Marc:You know, there were podcasts before me and before most of the popular, but I was there.

01:16:46Marc:The timing was right.

01:16:47Marc:It was at the beginning of this new wave of the medium.

01:16:52Marc:But now, like, everybody, everyone's being recommended to do a podcast.

01:16:56Marc:If you've got any kind of name value, go do one.

01:16:59Marc:Yeah.

01:16:59Marc:See what happens.

01:17:00Marc:Well, are you going to do it?

01:17:02Marc:I don't know.

01:17:03Marc:It's a lot of work.

01:17:05Marc:I mean, you make it look cool, man.

01:17:07Marc:Well, you can do it from your house.

01:17:08Guest:You don't do the cameras or anything either.

01:17:11Marc:I don't.

01:17:12Marc:You've got a classic old school.

01:17:15Marc:It's audio, man.

01:17:16Marc:There was a reason for that.

01:17:18Guest:I love the tape, the 8-track reel that's rolling.

01:17:21Marc:Yes, sir.

01:17:21Marc:We've got the reel-to-reel going.

01:17:23Marc:You can look at those dials.

01:17:25Guest:A lot of people don't see what's going on here.

01:17:28Guest:It's all analog.

01:17:29Guest:It looks

01:17:29Guest:like we're in NASA.

01:17:30Guest:Yes.

01:17:31Guest:In a Tom Hanks movie.

01:17:32Marc:Big control board.

01:17:34Guest:We're both in our own booth.

01:17:35Guest:You look great over there and I love you.

01:17:37Guest:Thank you, buddy.

01:17:38Guest:That's smooth.

01:17:39Marc:In my chair with the joystick.

01:17:40Guest:Your chair joystick.

01:17:41Guest:You look really cool like that.

01:17:42Guest:I like it.

01:17:43Guest:You're a little higher than me.

01:17:44Marc:Well, you know, I got to feel like I'm important.

01:17:47Marc:Thanks, man.

01:17:47Marc:All right, brother.

01:17:53Marc:That was Cedric the Entertainer talking to me right here.

01:17:56Marc:The show is The Neighborhoods on CBS Monday nights.

01:18:01Marc:And go to WTFPod.com slash tour for all them dates.

01:18:06Marc:For all of them dates.

01:18:08Marc:Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Orlando, Tampa, Portland, Maine, Providence, New Haven, Huntington, New York.

01:18:16Marc:There's the presale starts on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

01:18:20Marc:wherever you are.

01:18:21Marc:And the password is Buster.

01:18:23Marc:Dig it.

01:18:24Marc:All right.

01:18:25Marc:Now I will play guitar for you like I do all the time.

01:18:29Marc:You don't have to make comments about my fucking guitar playing.

01:18:33Marc:You don't have to listen to it.

01:18:35Marc:This is the wrong tone.

01:18:36Marc:What am I responding to?

01:18:37Marc:What just happened, Mark?

01:18:38Marc:Let's go through it.

01:18:39Marc:Wait, let's use the app.

01:18:40Marc:Why was Mark yelling as if somebody specific?

01:18:44Marc:Why was Mark making a general angry statement to everybody about not commenting on his guitar?

01:18:50Marc:What does that mean, app?

01:18:51Marc:That means one guy commented on Twitter about his guitar playing and didn't even at him.

01:18:57Marc:So the entire world is critical of my guitar playing.

01:19:03Marc:Fuck that guy.

01:19:06Marc:In this case, that means fuck that guy.

01:19:11Marc:All right.

01:19:12Marc:I'll talk to you later.

01:19:14Marc:Enjoy these three chords.

01:19:32Guest:Thank you.

01:19:51Thank you.

01:20:09Guest:Boomer lives.