Episode 288 - Donnell Rawlings
Guest:Lock the gates!
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Really?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Pow!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:And it's also, eh, what the fuck?
Guest:What's wrong with me?
Guest:It's time for WTF!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:With Mark Maron.
Hey!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fuckineers?
Marc:What the fucklings?
Marc:What the fuckologists?
Marc:What the fucknitions?
Marc:How about what the fuckios?
Marc:That's pretty good.
Marc:I am Marc Maron.
Marc:This is WTF.
Marc:Thank you for listening.
Marc:I'm glad you're here.
Marc:Today on the show, in a little while, we've got Donnell Rawlings, Ashy Larry from the Dave Chappelle Show,
Marc:I have not talked to you guys since I got back from Bonnaroo.
Marc:Yeah, because it was a live one on Monday.
Marc:So now I'm back.
Marc:I'm back from Bonnaroo.
Marc:I had a great time down there.
Marc:And quite honestly, I don't enter the festival experience with much optimism or excitement.
Marc:In my mind, performing at a festival is not the...
Marc:The the best place to do comedy.
Marc:It's the one there, though.
Marc:They set it up as best as you can set it up for comedy.
Marc:It's basically a huge tent seated almost 2000 people like a circus tent, all seated.
Marc:It was good.
Marc:Did some shows in the middle of the day.
Marc:Again, not my favorite thing, but they were they were well attended and the audience was very pleasant.
Marc:Good times all around at Bonnaroo.
Marc:But I've got to be honest with you.
Marc:I have to be honest with you.
Marc:What I was really excited about to be that close to Nashville were two things.
Marc:Some of you have kept up with the show or know the show, know that I had an experience of Prince's chicken, Prince's hot chicken in Nashville.
Marc:And also I was going to interview Jack White.
Marc:Yeah, that's right.
Marc:The Jack White.
Marc:The only man purveying real rock and roll at this point in history.
Marc:That's a bit of an overstatement, but I was pretty excited about that.
Marc:I was nervous about that.
Marc:But the bottom line is I had a miserable time at Princess Hot Chicken.
Marc:The last time I went there, I went with Ryan and a few other comics.
Marc:I was told not to get the hot because they told me that you can't handle the hot.
Marc:They have extra hot there, too, which I was told that they wouldn't even sell to white people.
Marc:There's no reason for me to go back there again.
Marc:The last time I ate there, I almost ended up in the hospital.
Marc:In my mind, I almost died.
Marc:I ate it.
Marc:I took one bite and I couldn't feel my face.
Marc:It hurt my face.
Marc:My eyes were watering.
Marc:My body tried to reject it by hiccuping and I was no longer able to hear properly and I couldn't see.
Marc:I couldn't follow conversations.
Marc:The chicken was so hot that I was sweating and I had no sense of what was going on around me.
Marc:Now, if you listen to the way I describe that, that sounds like a miserable experience or it sounds like an amazing experience because I just talked about having my senses completely distorted.
Marc:What else does that?
Marc:Drugs.
Marc:Who likes drugs?
Marc:Moi.
Marc:Who doesn't do drugs anymore?
Marc:Me.
Marc:So I couldn't quite figure out why I was so compelled to go back to Prince's, but I needed to.
Marc:I needed to conquer that beast.
Marc:I needed to.
Marc:All right.
Marc:This is the thing about drug addicts.
Marc:I have not done drugs in a long time, but if you give me something, like not too long ago, I was on snus, which is that sweetest chewing tobacco.
Marc:And the first time I did snus, this is the difference between an addict and a person, a regular person.
Marc:First time I did snus, ordered it from Sweden, was really strong, stuck it in my mouth, started sweating, and then felt like I was going to vomit.
Marc:Now that would be a time, that would be a moment where the normal human being would say, this is fucking disgusting.
Marc:Why did I even put that in my mouth?
Marc:But what an addict says is,
Marc:I can get the hang of this.
Marc:I just got to ride this out.
Marc:I just got to ride this out.
Marc:And on the other side of this nauseousness and sweaty horror is the good thing.
Marc:That's how an addict thinks.
Marc:I'm just going to ride.
Marc:I'll get the hang of this.
Marc:I just got to commit.
Marc:Got to lay into it.
Marc:Lean into this.
Marc:So I needed to go back to Prince's to conquer.
Marc:But what I didn't realize is I needed to go back because I'm a fucking addict.
Marc:I had a plan.
Marc:I was going to get the medium or the mild and just enjoy it and not have a life-threatening experience.
Marc:So Friday night, I'm looking for people to go with me.
Marc:No one wants to go with me.
Marc:I'm furious.
Marc:Nobody.
Marc:Couldn't get Pete Holmes to go with me.
Marc:Couldn't get Joe DeRosa to go with me.
Marc:Ricky Lindholm said she'd want to go, but then I was nervous about that.
Marc:I didn't really want Pete Holmes to go either because I just didn't want to have to babysit anybody during this.
Marc:This was a man's trip.
Marc:Men needed to go to hurt themselves in the mouth.
Marc:OK, to eat the spicy chicken.
Marc:Then Saturday night, again, no one around to go at me.
Marc:And I'm like, fuck, I'm not going to be able to do this.
Marc:I had to go to interview Jack White on Sunday.
Marc:And I don't think I was going to have time on Sunday.
Marc:It turns out they're not even open on Sunday.
Marc:So I get back to the hotel after Bonnaroo.
Marc:And I'm like, I guess no one's going.
Marc:Fuck it.
Marc:Glenn, well, I was going to take him, but he was already too loopy.
Marc:And.
Marc:I'm about to turn it in.
Marc:I was either going to go myself or go to bed, and I was leaning towards going to bed, and in through the door walks Kyle Kinane.
Marc:Who else in the world?
Marc:That was the best.
Marc:I mean, Kyle Kinane was the perfect guy, and I'm like, Kinane, I'm going to eat this chicken that almost killed me last time.
Marc:It's Prince's hot chicken.
Marc:It's the hottest shit you ever put in your mouth.
Marc:And he basically said, that sounds good to me.
Marc:I'd like to try that.
Marc:Because I like hot food.
Marc:And I'm like, fuck yeah, you do.
Marc:Let's go.
Marc:So me and Kanan get in the car, 1230 at night.
Marc:It's open till 4.
Marc:He's saying, is this really hot?
Marc:I'm like, it's fucking hot, dude.
Marc:You got to get the medium.
Marc:Don't even get the hot.
Marc:Got the hot last time.
Marc:Almost ended up in the hospital in my mind.
Marc:I didn't almost die, but I was in a lot of pain later in the evening and on into the next day.
Marc:He's like, what's the point of going if we're not going to get the hot?
Marc:I'm like, just trust me, man.
Marc:Just start with the medium.
Marc:I'm probably going to get the mild because I went through this once before and I just want to taste it.
Marc:He's like, I don't know, man.
Marc:So we get there.
Marc:You walk in.
Marc:It's just us.
Marc:You know, it's there's like six booths.
Marc:There's a window at the back.
Marc:It's I don't know if it's in a black neighborhood, but it's in a strip mall.
Marc:And that strip mall is definitely a black neighborhood.
Marc:So you walk in.
Marc:There's some people hanging out.
Marc:There's a pay phone that's still in use.
Marc:There seems to be people actually waiting for calls from the pay phone.
Marc:A lot of activity, but it's early.
Marc:So there's not a lot of drunk, you know, after bar white people.
Marc:It's just me and Kyle and some black folks waiting to get chicken.
Marc:Great.
Marc:I order mild, a mild quarter.
Marc:I get I get Kyle a medium quarter and he goes, what did you get?
Marc:I said medium.
Marc:Like, really?
Marc:You got me medium.
Marc:Like, dude, just relax.
Marc:Get the medium and I'll buy you another piece of hot if you want it.
Marc:So here's where it gets interesting, because we get our chicken.
Marc:I get my mild piece.
Marc:He's got his medium piece.
Marc:And these pieces are situated on bread.
Marc:They're just sitting there on bread with this hot sauce on it.
Marc:But my mild, I'm eating it, but peeling off pieces with my finger.
Marc:I'm not getting any fucking bump off it.
Marc:It's no spice to it.
Marc:I'm kind of aggravated.
Marc:The chicken's great.
Marc:It's great fried chicken, but just a little teeny bit of spice.
Marc:And then I'm watching Kyle...
Marc:eat his piece of medium and he's already like hoofing he's like he's making these sounds that like you know that somebody eating something really hot would make and I'm like is it doing it he's like oh yeah oh yeah it's hot but Kyle's got this whole theory about hot eating hot foods that it's cleansing it's he's got a part of his health practice is eating you know hot Vietnamese soup and jalapenos and whatnot but he's huffing and puffing and his face is a little red but he's going at it and he's eating it
Marc:And I actually had a moment where I'm like, I'm not getting that.
Marc:Can I just get a little piece of your bread with the hot sauce on it just to remind myself?
Marc:So in other words, I was saying, can I just get a little bump?
Marc:Can I get a taste of that?
Marc:I just want a little hit of the hot stuff so I can remember.
Marc:And I put that little piece of bread in my mouth, just a little taste with the medium sauce on.
Marc:I'm like, oh, yeah, shit.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:So he ate his, and it was clearly hot.
Marc:And we watched a couple other white dudes who came in after us.
Marc:They got the hot.
Marc:We heard them order it.
Marc:And they were at a booth across from us.
Marc:And their night was ruined.
Marc:They were sweating.
Marc:They were crying a little bit.
Marc:And they were afraid to touch their face with their hands.
Marc:Know the feeling.
Marc:But me and Kyle were sitting there.
Marc:I'm like, are we doing?
Marc:What are we going to do?
Marc:And I said, do you need a hot piece?
Marc:And he's like, I don't know.
Marc:You?
Marc:And I'm like, yeah, I think I do.
Marc:I think I do need a hot piece.
Marc:So I went there to conquer it and I had to get the hot.
Marc:But what we figured out is that if you don't actually take the chicken up to your face and you pick it off with your hands, that you can actually enjoy the heat.
Marc:It's when you bring the actual sauce in contact with your face is where it burns your lips and makes you cry and causes a loss of hearing and sweating.
Marc:So what we did was, and this is a life, these are mind-altering substances, this hot sauce.
Marc:This is why people like hot shit, is because it's mind-altering, it's body-altering, it's perception-changing, it's a fucking drug.
Marc:And once we figured out that if we just eat with our fingers, we can get the most out of it without it being a shitty experience, you've got to learn your ritual around your drug.
Marc:And Kyle and I figured it out, and we ate a piece of hot, and I kicked that prince's chicken's ass.
Marc:And Kyle and I drove home and we checked in with each other the next day to see how things were going.
Marc:But that was the problem.
Marc:I had to go over to Third Man Records, interview Jack White.
Marc:And I knew that that chicken was going to be, you know, wanting to get out of me.
Marc:That the spices would be attacking me from the inside.
Marc:So I got to go to Third Man.
Marc:You know, I get there a little early, you know, to meet up with Jack White in his recording.
Marc:He's got a record plant down there.
Marc:Studios and a store and...
Marc:And performance based a whole bit.
Marc:So I get there early and I'm in the car and I'm like preparing, get my mics together.
Marc:And then I felt it in my guts.
Marc:That twist of horrible pepper driven pain that seeks that wants out of you that doesn't leave you with any choices.
Marc:That day after you eat hot stuff, that day is going to be touch and go for you.
Marc:I didn't plan right.
Marc:My plan was Friday, not Saturday, but I had to get it in.
Marc:So now I got to sit there and interview Jack White, you know, not knowing whether I'm going to have to go, you know, shit fire out of my ass.
Marc:I don't mean to be that graphic.
Marc:I certainly don't talk like this in a regular way, but that's where I was at.
Marc:So I walk in there, and he wasn't there yet, and there was some of his people that worked for him.
Marc:I'm like, I got to use the bathroom, man.
Marc:And I had that look on my face, and they're like, okay, you go ahead.
Marc:And I went in, and when you're in that situation, you don't know how long you got to sit there.
Marc:That could take a while.
Marc:You got to wait that out.
Marc:There's an arc to it.
Marc:You know, you might not even not much would happen, but you want to be in the place you need to be for if it does.
Marc:So I was in there like five or six minutes.
Marc:I came out as a little embarrassed.
Marc:I'm like, I'm sorry.
Marc:You know, I went to went to Prince's chicken.
Marc:They're like, oh, yeah.
Marc:Well, OK, good luck with that.
Marc:So then Jack comes.
Marc:I go into his office and we start the interview and he didn't know this.
Marc:But I know it, you know, all through that interview.
Marc:I did the best I could.
Marc:I was nervous already.
Marc:But now I was also worried that would be attacked from the inside by the night before his prince's hot chicken.
Marc:But that wasn't.
Marc:I made it through.
Marc:And I'm going to I'm going to give you that episode on Monday.
Marc:I had the deep blues.
Marc:I had the deep in my soul blues.
Marc:I had the deep in my guts.
Marc:I just ate way too spicy food blues as I talked to Jack White.
Marc:And I couldn't sing about it.
Marc:I couldn't talk about it.
Marc:I just had to sit with it and hope it didn't fuck things up.
Marc:You can put those cans on.
Guest:I don't, I need, um.
Marc:Those aren't good enough for you?
Marc:What do you need?
Marc:Beats by Dre.
Marc:You do Dre Beats?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I feel.
Marc:You know what I'm going to tell you right now?
Guest:I feel like you gave me the fucking shitty headphones.
Marc:I'll tell you right now that I guarantee you whatever's inside of Dr. Dre's beat phones is exactly the same shit you have on your head right now.
Marc:For $89, five pairs of these.
Marc:I don't think so.
Guest:I've listened to my voice and listened to shows with beats, and I can feel my ears are sensitive.
Guest:I can tell this is not the same quality as Dr. Dre's beats.
Guest:And another reason why- What's he paying you?
Guest:I mean, seriously.
Guest:He's not paying me anything, but these headphones don't make me feel super black.
Guest:Yeah, well, they don't look super black.
Marc:And I need to feel super black.
Marc:I understand that.
Marc:Well, I'm sorry.
Marc:Maybe it's just a plan I had in my head.
Marc:These headphones are the great leveler.
Marc:There's no color line in these headphones.
Marc:You see, me and you are equals.
Guest:No, we're not.
Guest:And that's the point.
Guest:I need shit to be...
Guest:Better than you.
Guest:That's the whole thing with black people and getting stuff excessive.
Guest:We need stuff to help us feel better than you.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:There's no reason for a person to have 28-inch rims on their car, Mark, ever.
Guest:No, absolutely.
Marc:But you can feel better than somebody else.
Marc:And I will defer to that greatness.
Marc:When I see those rims driving by or if you're walking by with your Dr. Dre's on, I'll be like, that fucker is better than me.
Marc:There's no way around it.
Guest:I mean, he probably didn't go to college or anything like that, but on a social set, he kicks my ass.
Guest:He beats the shit out of me in swag, you know?
Marc:So, wait, now, did I just hear you telling my... Mexican?
Guest:Yeah, my Mexican assistant that you speak Korean?
Guest:I speak Korean, and I'm not fluent, but it's a conversation level.
Guest:Where did that come from?
Guest:I was in the Air Force.
Guest:I had to change my voice to this point.
Guest:I was in the United States Air Force.
Guest:How long were you in the Air Force?
Guest:I was there for three years and eight months.
Guest:Did you fly?
Guest:I didn't fly.
Guest:I mean, that's the misconception people have about the Air Force, like stupid people.
Guest:You know, the first thing they say, you was in the Air Force.
Marc:Did you fly planes?
Marc:Well, I took a shot down there.
Marc:I thought that maybe there was an outside chance that you fucking flew a plane.
Guest:Mark, you know my background, right?
Marc:I know.
Guest:And the little or a lot that you know about me, you would never, in a lineup...
Guest:Say five people like Daniel looks like a guy who flew a plane.
Guest:Never.
Guest:You might say he looked like a guy who smoked some weed.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Did a little drugs, but never piloted.
Guest:On a plane.
Guest:Yeah, on a plane.
Guest:He might have been high as a plane, but he never flew a plane.
Guest:But I was in the Air Force, and I stationed in Kunsan, Korea, and I learned some Korean air.
Guest:Not fluent, but enough.
Guest:To get you laid?
Guest:Get me laid.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For real, you got to learn how not to get shitted on when it comes to, you know, the extra things that you do and how to order food.
Guest:So that's the first thing.
Guest:Like we did, it was like a ghetto Rosetta Stone back then.
Guest:It's like Omayo Poji.
Guest:That's like how much for the...
Guest:Pussy?
Guest:Pussy, yeah.
Guest:Because you couldn't say how much for the pussy.
Guest:Then that's almost like you're breaking up like a sting operation.
Guest:You got to have... So they'd be nervous if you said it like that?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:If you said how much for the pussy, oh, no pussy here.
Marc:You didn't ask politely.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:You didn't ask correctly.
Guest:No, you got to like...
Guest:Then they'd be like, oh, do you know how to say that's too much for that pussy?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When you said, no, you got to say it with frustration.
Guest:Hey, you got to, like, somebody shitted closely.
Guest:You're like, hey.
Guest:That's a thing, man.
Guest:What'd you just say?
Guest:Hande, pussy, no.
Guest:That's bad pussy?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, bad pussy.
Guest:Apo is hurting the pussy.
Guest:Hey, goop, if you hear this, and this is what you go for when you're dealing with Asian hookers, you know what I mean?
Guest:You want to hear, poji, Apo.
Guest:Which is... That hurts?
Guest:That mean my pussy hurts.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's what you want to hear?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Especially being a black guy.
Guest:You know, you got to hear that.
Guest:You want to hear that with anybody.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:If you don't hear a oppo...
Guest:You're like, man, let me get out of here.
Marc:How'd you end up in the Air Force?
Marc:How'd you fuck up your life to that degree?
Guest:That's a very, very valid point.
Guest:And most people that are in the military, because they fucked up their life some kind of way.
Guest:But when I was in high school, I wasn't really...
Guest:Academically, I wasn't really a sharp guy.
Guest:I was more into mechanical shit, building, maintenance, that type of stuff.
Guest:So I knew I wasn't going to college.
Guest:And one day, they had an announcement over the last week.
Guest:It was like, if anybody wants to get out of third, fourth, and fifth period, come take the ASVAB test.
Guest:ASVAB test is like the SAT for military.
Guest:So I took the test just because I wanted to get out of three classes.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And my scores came back, and they were okay.
Guest:And I was like, wait a minute, my thing about going to military, I didn't want to just not do anything after high school, it wasn't going to be college, so I joined the Air Force.
Marc:You were in what, 10th grade, 11th grade?
Guest:When I took the test?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:12th.
Guest:I waited, like, to the last minute, see?
Guest:White people playing for their future, like, in the 7th grade.
Guest:So, Donnell, when did you decide you wanted to do something with your life?
Guest:It was graduation.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's unfortunate, but it's the truth.
Guest:The day after graduation, I thought.
Guest:Yeah, that's why I was like, what am I going to do with my life?
Guest:But it's true, that's the thing.
Guest:It's sad, but a lot of times in black communities, they don't prepare their kids for college.
Marc:Is that true?
Marc:It's true, absolutely.
Marc:You can make a general statement.
Guest:I can make, that's a true statement.
Guest:You know, I don't care if anybody thinks I'm selling out of what, but it's true.
Guest:You know, a lot of black families, their accomplishment is out of high school.
Guest:You hear so many black parents, like, baby, if he got out of high school, that means you didn't get shot and you didn't go to jail.
Guest:You get a party.
Guest:Yeah, you get a party for graduating from high school.
Guest:White people, like, it's none of that shit.
Guest:It's like high school is like, duh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like, what college are you thinking about?
Guest:Black people, it's like you survived.
Guest:Yeah, you're like, oh my God, he made it to the 10th grade.
Guest:He is so old.
Guest:He is so old, he gonna make it, you know?
Guest:Where'd you grow up?
Guest:I grew up between D.C.
Guest:and Alexandria, Virginia.
Guest:What do you mean in between the two?
Guest:I lived in, I was born in Washington, D.C.
Guest:I moved to Alexandria when I was 12 years old.
Guest:So like, you know, younger years, it was D.C., then I moved to Alexandria.
Marc:Because I remember there was a gig in Alexandria for Chip Franklin.
Marc:Chip Franklin, it was at that, it was like a Holiday Inn or something in Alexandria.
Marc:Yeah, it was horrible.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah, it was a bad gig.
Guest:It was one of those clubs where the thing that makes it a club is like the banner in the back.
Marc:It's like, we moved to the other ballroom.
Marc:Yeah, to where the banner is in front of the door there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You see right down there?
Marc:That's a new place.
Guest:And they show all the pictures of guys when they first started.
Guest:You see comedians with hairlines.
Guest:Sure, sure.
Marc:All that shit.
Marc:A lot of pictures of Jeff Marder.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you started in the Baltimore area.
Marc:Did you start with Chappelle and Tony Woods and those guys?
Guest:No, when I started, Dave had already, he probably was in New York maybe like a year or two before I started.
Marc:He's like 16, nine-year-old.
Marc:How old are you?
Guest:That's because I'm exploring an acting career.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:It's one of those things that you're going to have to take a thorough investigation to get a hard number.
Guest:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But around my age?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, let them Google through you.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, around your age.
Marc:You might want to take that back.
Marc:I'm 48.
Marc:I'm a little younger.
Marc:You play a little younger, right?
Guest:Yeah, I fucking cut that hair off.
Marc:You'll play 30 to 45 if you want.
Marc:You don't look 48 at all.
Marc:Thank you very much.
Marc:Neither do you, quite honestly.
Guest:You set me up, son!
Guest:I got famboozled or whatever that word you used when white people trick you into shit.
Guest:What is it?
Guest:Famboozled.
Marc:Famboozled.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I like famboozled better.
Marc:Famboozled.
Marc:Let's start it, man.
Marc:But so you grew up in- D.C., Alexandria.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I mean, what kind of neighborhood?
Marc:I mean, because I get into trouble sometimes.
Marc:When I make things about black people, when I'm talking to black people.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is that a problem?
Marc:Well, it's a problem because a lot of people can't deal with the truth.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And when you tell people the truth, a lot of times they get offended by it.
Marc:Well, I was told recently that I don't get black people.
Marc:And I'm like, what the fuck does that mean?
Marc:I had Jay Oakerson on here.
Marc:And he said you don't get black people?
Marc:No, he didn't say that.
Marc:Someone wrote me and said I didn't get black people because I let Jay talk about performing in black rooms.
Marc:And they said, why are you drawing lines like there's segregation?
Marc:Some black people said to me, like, why are you making us seem like we're different?
Marc:I'm like, well, there are black rooms.
Guest:And they are different.
Guest:Yeah, they are.
Guest:Yo, I'm telling you, I did a nigger night the other day, man.
Guest:I did nigger night in March.
Guest:I'm telling you, the only reason I did nigger night.
Guest:Where?
Guest:Where was I?
Guest:It was in Atlanta.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I did nigger night, and I didn't want to, I got to be totally honest, I didn't want to do nigger night because I started with nigger nights.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I didn't want to do it.
Guest:In fact, my career is coming.
Marc:Do I have to just let you keep saying that word?
Guest:What's wrong with it?
Guest:They...
Guest:Mark, you don't say nigger night.
Guest:You're not going to say it here.
Guest:But I know there's been rooms.
Marc:I know, I know.
Guest:Yo, well, thinking and feeling it is the same as saying it.
Guest:If I say black wrong, people are going to indict me.
Guest:You can't describe the rooms I'm talking about as black night.
Marc:You know.
Guest:You know, it's like I'll be—it's nigger night.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Marc:Which means what exactly?
Guest:Well, a lot of times nigger night means that—
Guest:The show probably is going to start an hour and a half late.
Guest:Yeah, I'm serious.
Guest:I'm telling the truth, man.
Guest:The show probably start an hour and a half late, right?
Guest:You're the headliner, right?
Guest:But there's probably going to be like seven other comics that's just doing a quick guest spot, 25 minutes a piece.
Marc:Oh, no, come on.
Marc:You know what I'm saying?
Marc:They're supposed to do 10?
Guest:Yeah, they're not even supposed to be on the show.
Guest:I'm just going to do a little something.
Guest:And they don't work out.
Guest:They go up there.
Guest:They do their, like, this is the future HBO special shit.
Guest:They're really trying to murder you.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:And it's going to be a little bit more challenging.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:They're not going to want to laugh.
Guest:They're going to want you to make them laugh.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You know what I'm saying?
Marc:Do you find that there's a more competitive element to the black comedy circuit?
Marc:Competitive?
Marc:Well, I mean, like, sort of like, I'm going to hand you your ass.
Marc:Oh, yeah, definitely.
Marc:I'm here to fight.
Guest:because i know that was a rap thing and then it's definitely more oh yeah and there's that that happens and i and i and i and i think that's one of the reasons why there are a lot of pretty solid comics that come out of dc yeah because like i think like the training process it was all about ripping you it was always about ripping so hard the person can't follow you they want you know what i'm saying yeah you wanted no respect for
Guest:the show no respect for that no i want to rip fuck that guy yeah he's going down he's going that's what i really feel that's what made me a stronger comic you know i'm saying like wanting to i never was that guy that wanted to have like the light guy you know like hey guys you cannot uh swear and don't don't get close to this because i hit that i hit on that and if you could like i don't need no prep
Guest:Fuck that.
Guest:Bring your shit and I'm going to take it to the next level.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like you could, you could, oh, you could tell pussies, man.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:If you could, uh, you know, I have something similar.
Guest:You mean the headliner?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The guy that's got all of those joints.
Guest:I have, uh, um, I have something similar to that.
Guest:Uh,
Guest:Yeah, because that's so close to the thing that I do.
Guest:Are you talking about white headliners?
Guest:Some of them.
Guest:They sensitive with that shit.
Guest:Yeah, if you could that, you're doing an hour, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, you know that bit that you take 30 seconds to do?
Guest:If you could just not do that.
Guest:Sort of steps on it.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:It kind of.
Marc:It steps on my setup.
Guest:Yeah, it steps on my Michael Jackson bit.
Guest:It steps on my Michael Jackson bit.
Guest:And you know I'm the only one on the circuit with a Michael Jackson bit.
Marc:I can tell you got some headliners out there hating you.
Guest:I don't give a fuck.
Guest:Who hates me, man?
Guest:I've never befriended anybody.
Guest:And that's the beauty of starting to get a little success now.
Guest:Like when nobody likes you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:If you don't really like anybody else, when you start getting success, it feels great.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I don't know anybody anymore.
Guest:Yeah, I don't got to say thank you to anybody.
Marc:You're always nice to me.
Marc:I don't ever feel like we had any tension.
Marc:You always came in.
Marc:I remember you smoked menthol cigarettes because I bummed a cigarette off.
Marc:That was a long time ago.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I remember I bummed a cigarette off you.
Marc:I gave you a Newport?
Marc:It might have been.
Marc:I think you're stereotyped.
Marc:Why would I remember that?
Marc:Because I'm black and you assume that every black person- You never smoked a menthol cigarette.
Marc:I haven't smoked in over 10 years, so we're going back over 10 years ago.
Marc:10 years ago?
Marc:I think it was New York.
Guest:I don't think I gave you a new point.
Guest:What do you smoke?
Guest:I think you're stereotyped.
Guest:I mean, you profiling me?
Marc:Yeah, black people smoke you.
Guest:I smoke Marlboro Lights.
Guest:I like white girls, too, and I couldn't get white girls.
Marc:Maybe that's what it is.
Marc:You gave me a white girl.
Marc:Is that possible?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, that's definitely possible.
Marc:You gave me a white girl you weren't using.
Guest:Yeah, I was like, yeah, you can take her out.
Guest:I got like two, three other ones in the other room.
Marc:She's menthol.
Marc:I don't like menthol.
Guest:Yeah, I don't like menthol chicks either, man.
Marc:Fucking ass is too big, man.
Marc:So when you grew up, though, what was your parents like?
Marc:Parents.
Marc:No parents?
Marc:No, I mean, it's so funny.
Guest:White people just assumed as parents.
Marc:No, I just wanted to put it out there.
Marc:I didn't want to suggest that maybe one of them was gone.
Guest:Parents, you should be in the same household, right?
Marc:If you're in the same household.
Guest:Is that a mom and a dad?
Guest:Where was your dad?
Guest:He spent times away.
Guest:He spent time away.
Guest:He spent time away from home.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:You know, in places where it wasn't too appropriate for me to visit.
Guest:No?
Guest:No.
Guest:Not even on weekdays?
Guest:Weekdays, yeah, but that was a long-ass drive, man.
Guest:And it's a sad drive, too.
Guest:What got him in there?
Guest:He was a heroin dealer.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you grew up in a sort of a work environment.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely.
Guest:But you know what's so funny?
Guest:Like, I'm not even embarrassed to say, like, you know, I knew my dad what he did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But where I was from, I was so unhappy that he was a kingpin.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, you get more respect.
Guest:He wasn't like the guy on the street.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He didn't wear the hoodies with the tips.
Marc:He was the guy selling shit so he could get shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He was the guy that people come over to the house.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:The guys in the hoodie came to the house.
Marc:Yeah, came to the house.
Guest:To get their shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And not too many of those guys.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:It was like the distribution goes down.
Guest:It was like two of those guys came to the house.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And they took it to their house.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And six more guys came to the house.
Guest:And they stepped on it and made it shit.
Guest:They made it.
Guest:other guy and the next thing you know it's like a 40 person operation by the time it got to the guy who was sucking dick for money it was garbage yeah your dad had it yeah he had that pure shit you know i'm saying that's how we roll bitch you know i'm saying you do what you want to do when he left here it was right there don't blame me yeah i had nothing to do that talk to several franchises in between me and
Marc:yeah it's the same setups like it's amway yeah oh yeah you know like you know what you ever thought about having your own business no you'll start right here here's the triangle system pyramid scheme i never could get out of that first yeah circle yeah it tastes too much ass kissing man oh no you can't that's a racket i don't think anybody once you get the kit and give the the guy and the guy who turned you on to it the money it's over yeah he knows it's over no
Marc:Nobody ever sells that shit.
Guest:And then you get mad.
Guest:You're like, I need more kits.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Then you don't have the energy to push the kit, so you're stuck with all these kits.
Marc:You get those big ideas with Amway.
Marc:It's like, oh, they got this cleaning product.
Marc:I'm going to sell it to a gas station and get one client, make 600 bucks a month.
Marc:And I'm the first person to ever do this.
Guest:Not only that, I'm the first person to try to sell windshield wiper fluid to a gas station.
Marc:And as soon as you walk up with your goddamn kid, they're like, is that Amway?
Marc:Again.
Marc:You know, I got 12 boxes of that shit in the back now.
Marc:You got to add water to it.
Marc:I don't have the mixing drum.
Marc:Fuck that.
Marc:I don't want to do any of that.
Marc:Okay, so he was out of the picture, but your mom?
Guest:He was in and out.
Guest:In and out.
Guest:Yeah, he was in and out.
Guest:He had a good lawyer.
Guest:It's so funny because when he first came out, got out of prison, I kind of just started my career, right?
Guest:It's a true story.
Guest:So only thing I wanted him to do was to be proud of me.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:You were gone for like 12 years.
Guest:12 years.
Guest:So when did he go in the first time?
Guest:I can't remember the years.
Guest:I was probably like 13 or 14.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:It was like in the middle school, high school era.
Guest:And he did the prison time.
Guest:and he came to one of my shows, and this is what I was doing.
Guest:I was out of the military.
Marc:You were in for three years?
Guest:Yeah, three years.
Guest:I was out of the military, and I was a stand-up comic.
Guest:He came to one of my shows, and I'm like, Dad, first of all, it was good to see you.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I was like, so how'd you like it?
Guest:He was like, it was all right.
Guest:I'm like, it was all right.
Guest:Because I told a joke about him selling drugs, right?
Guest:And then he said, why you telling them lies about me?
Guest:I'm like, what lie?
Guest:He said, I never sold shit two for 50, nigga.
Guest:He was mad that I made a joke about him being on the block.
Guest:He was pissed.
Guest:He was like, I ain't never sold shit for two for 50.
Guest:He said, you couldn't even talk to me unless you was getting a goddamn key.
Guest:And that's how he rounded up my set.
Guest:That was the moment.
Guest:You misrepresented him in his business.
Guest:And he loved Bernie Mac, RIP.
Guest:That was his favorite comic.
Guest:Did you know Bernie?
Guest:I worked with Bernie, but I didn't know him personally.
Marc:He was something, huh?
Marc:He was an awesome guy, man.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So Bernie Mac was his guy.
Marc:So did your dad warm up to your material eventually?
Marc:Did you change?
Guest:He started, but I was really pissed that I wasn't his favorite comedian.
Guest:What are you going to do?
Guest:I was pissed.
Guest:I wanted to be like, motherfucker, you shouldn't have been locked up, motherfucker.
Guest:I wanted to heckle him.
Guest:It felt like I was getting heckled.
Marc:You probably wouldn't even have been doing this if he was around.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:But then I know he'd be like, you might have been flying planes.
Guest:I might have been dope.
Guest:I might have been having people come over to the room and shit.
Guest:But I was like, you know, he fucking loved Bernie Mac.
Guest:And he just, and like, maybe it wasn't a couple years ago, he was like, because I used to always talk to him about that.
Guest:I'm like, Dad, damn, you don't like my shit.
Guest:He was like, son, let me tell you something.
Guest:If I told you all the good things that you were doing, it's not going to make you a better person.
Guest:He said, anybody can tell you all the good shit you're doing.
Guest:He said, but it's the fucked up shit that you're doing that's going to make you better, right?
Guest:I'm like, what fucked up shit, man?
Marc:That's such a twisted logic.
Marc:It's like, I'm not going to tell you anything good about yourself.
Guest:Yeah, you suck.
Guest:Oh, now I work harder and shit.
Guest:And then he started seeing more of my shows, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I thought when Bernie Mac passed away, I was like, okay, now I can be.
Guest:Here's my chance.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's dead.
Guest:I'm like, now I can be my dad's number one comic, right?
Guest:So I remember one time he told me, he said, you know who my hero is now?
Guest:And I'm waiting.
Guest:I'm like, damn, it's going to be one of those moments, right?
Guest:He said, you know who my hero is now?
Guest:I'm like, who?
Guest:He said, Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Guest:I'm like, what?
Guest:He said, that's a cool motherfucker right there, right?
Guest:He was like, I'm like, what's so cool about Snoop?
Guest:He said, the way he called them bitches, bitches.
Guest:This is what my dad said.
Guest:He said, the way he called them bitches, bitches.
Guest:And then he cared about the kids.
Guest:That's a cool motherfucker right there.
Guest:So my dad respects somebody to call women's bitches.
Guest:But he cares about the kids.
Guest:Because if you're going to call a woman a bitch,
Guest:You gotta be a part of a non-profit or something.
Guest:You gotta be a part of something positive.
Guest:He never said nothing good about... Nah, he never.
Guest:Did he watch you on the Chappelle show?
Guest:He just started watching it.
Guest:You got him the DVDs?
Guest:Is he out or in now?
Guest:He's out.
Guest:But what he gets excited about now...
Guest:is his friends that know me.
Guest:That's making him more of my fan now.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:You know my son?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And Ashley Larry?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he'd be like, who the fuck is Ashley Larry, right?
Guest:And they'd be like, that's not your son.
Guest:So that's kind of made him closer to him.
Marc:I get that, too.
Marc:My dad, he can't even listen to the podcast.
Marc:He doesn't know what the hell is going on.
Marc:But people come up to him and say that they love the show.
Marc:And then it makes him feel good.
Guest:Yeah, it's like, yeah, they want to be proud about something.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:Yeah, and they figure if that guy knows him, then he must be doing something.
Guest:But it's so funny, because my dad, he just came to New York, and he saw me at Caroline's, right?
Guest:And he saw me perform in the D.C.
Guest:area, so he saw, like, friends.
Guest:He haven't seen, like, in another state, you know, in another venue.
Guest:And he came to my show, and then at the end, he was at the bar, and he doesn't drink, and he was getting some water, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He pulled out a five-dollar bill, the guy gave him the water, he's getting five bucks.
Guest:And he said, are you with him?
Guest:And he said, Donnell is my son.
Guest:And the guy was like, oh, your money's no good here, right?
Guest:So you could see the scheming in my dad's eyes, right?
Guest:He wanted to order.
Guest:Start drinking?
Guest:Yeah, he was like, yo, a bottle of champagne?
Guest:He's ready to go buy a car with that shit.
Guest:You know Donnie Rollins is my son.
Guest:I'm like, dad, it only worked for water and chicken and shit like that.
Guest:You can't use it anywhere.
Guest:But he's really proud now.
Guest:He's happy.
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Marc:What about your mom?
Guest:My mom is awesome, man.
Guest:My mom is probably one of the reasons I think that my sense of humor comes from her because when we grew up, we really have too much, but we never felt like we didn't have anything.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Because she always would crack a joke.
Guest:How many siblings you got?
Guest:This is an interesting question for me.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:For a black guy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because the first thing you think is on your mother's side or your father's side.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know the difference, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How many came with which one?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, which one?
Yeah.
Guest:Which group are you in?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:It's almost like offense or defense.
Guest:It's like, are you with the Northeastern Conference or are you with the Southeast Conference?
Guest:I was with the Mother Conference.
Guest:Of course I am, right?
Guest:But I have two younger siblings on my father's side.
Guest:on my mom's side that he can't that came out damn that came out of your mother came out of my mom and then i got like oh shit with my dad that shit that list goes on i was meeting different brothers and sisters every two years man do they do they do do any of them track you down and go you team like you're doing all right
Marc:No, we all cool.
Marc:We're cool.
Guest:Yeah, but they starting to feel a little different now.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah, they starting to feel a little different now.
Guest:I'm still the same person, but my dad had a lot of kids, but we were all close.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I don't know how he swing.
Guest:How many different women?
Guest:Oh, man, it probably is like eight.
Guest:How many kids we talking about?
Guest:My dad has like 10 kids.
Guest:My mom, at least my mom knows them.
Guest:My mom can tell you that she knows these aren't kids.
Guest:My dad is kind of toss up.
Guest:But yeah, he had a lot of kids.
Guest:And you know them all.
Guest:Yeah, I know them all.
Guest:And they're all cool.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:One of my brothers, he lives here in California.
Guest:He's older than me.
Guest:He's gay.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:How's that?
Guest:It's awesome.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Nowadays, you know what I mean?
Guest:Like, you get points if you have a gay relative.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like, you can't really get on certain lists at clubs and everything.
Guest:It's like, you got a gay brother?
Guest:No.
Guest:Is there a card?
Marc:You get a card with you and your brother, your brother being gay, and you're just standing there.
Guest:Yeah, like, I'm in.
Guest:They're like, oh, yeah, you can come in.
Guest:But he just recently...
Guest:really came out.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because.
Marc:To the family or in general?
Guest:To like, to the, I think the family knew.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But it wasn't, he didn't like it.
Guest:Black people, we gotta, you gotta make an official announcement.
Marc:But is there more acceptance in the, in the world now?
Marc:I mean.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:With gay people?
Guest:Yeah, for sure.
Guest:I mean, and I know my dad is old school.
Guest:He uses the word bitches, crackers.
Guest:He says that he's where he came.
Guest:And when my brother told me one day, I was at the improv with Melrose, right?
Guest:And he came up to me, he was like, you know I keep it real like you write.
Guest:That's the exact voice.
Guest:You know I keep it real like you write.
Guest:I'm like, what?
Guest:He said, see that guy over there?
Guest:I was like, yeah, that's your brother-in-law.
Guest:But I was in the middle of taking pictures and shit.
Guest:It didn't register, Mark.
Guest:So I think it's another brother.
Guest:I'm like, my father just don't stop.
Guest:I'm like, this shit, when is it going to stop?
Guest:I didn't think about it.
Guest:Then I'm driving home.
Guest:I'm like, oh, shit.
Guest:My brother just introduced me to his baby daddy or somebody, right?
Guest:And I called my dad, right?
Guest:I'm like, dad.
Guest:He was like, what, son?
Guest:I was like, Charles just told me he was gay.
Guest:And my father was like, yeah, man.
Guest:I was like, yeah.
Guest:He's like, yeah.
Guest:And this is why I know the world has changed.
Guest:My dad was like, yeah, man.
Guest:He said, man, you know, I ain't with that shit, but the dude he dating is a good dude.
Guest:Like he validated the relationship.
Guest:He said it like he said it like tough.
Guest:That's sweet though.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Like in a tough way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, he said the duty would he like he threw the towel in on it.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like the duties would he's a good dude.
Guest:He's a good nigga, man.
Guest:That's exactly what he said.
Guest:And I haven't heard my dad say somebody's a good nigga.
Guest:It was reserved for, like, one of his strong-armed guys or somebody he committed a crime with.
Guest:Yeah, like, see that dude?
Guest:He's got a gun.
Guest:But I never thought you could use it with explaining the gay relationship your son has with another man.
Guest:Well, that's the way he talks, so, you know.
Guest:And it was like, and I was like.
Marc:That's pretty sweet.
Guest:That's when I knew the world, like, it's changing.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, things are changing.
Marc:but his generation too I guess I mean I don't know exactly how the down low works but I mean it's been going on for a long time oh yeah yeah and there's some people you can't you know everybody's sort of like well we're not going to say anything but it's pretty clear yeah it was clear so alright so you go back to DC your mom's still in DC yep Alexandra
Marc:and uh but i met you in new york so you lived in new york for a while i remember yeah who were you dating rachel right for a while where'd you get that really did i make that up you had to make that up you just they was like oh you already said that you already said that white women thing yeah they do they kind of like the jewish girls too yeah it's true yeah yeah it is true black women or no yeah i do yeah how's that the ones that grew up with white chicks
Marc:What do you got against black women from the neighborhood?
Guest:I don't have nothing against, oh, a lot, from the neighborhood.
Guest:I thought you said black women in general.
Guest:I got a problem with weave.
Guest:I can't stand weave.
Guest:I can't accept it.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I'm not saying everybody, I just can't accept it.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I just can't accept it.
Guest:On principle.
Guest:Yeah, I just can't.
Guest:To me, it's not secure with yourself.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:If you feel like you have to put 13 feet of hair to feel beautiful and that gives you your personality, I can't accept it.
Guest:But I don't have a problem with black chants.
Guest:I love everybody.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Well, that's good.
Guest:But white chicks at one point in my life, they were a lot of fun, Mark.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They were a lot of fun.
Guest:They were a lot of fun.
Guest:They were easy.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Is it a certain type of white chick?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I like the white chicks that work for nonprofits.
Guest:It's something about the peaceful bitches.
Guest:I mean women.
Guest:I'm sorry.
Guest:It's like, I'm sorry, man.
Guest:It's like women that like.
Guest:The one that they're like, he's going to be my experiment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, you got to do it once.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I'll be your guy.
Guest:I don't want you to really accept me 100%.
Guest:I want you to dabble in it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I want to dabble her.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:It was like, yo, I had a lot of shots.
Guest:I had vodka, so it was just an opportunity.
Guest:I took advantage of it.
Guest:Like, I want you to save.
Guest:You gotta, like, if you, like, save, like, bitches would like to save shit.
Marc:So, of course, you're dealing with a lot of Jewish girls.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're all about saving trees, whales, pit bulls, the earth.
Guest:Fucking a black guy once.
Guest:Yeah, once dabble.
Guest:dabble dabble dabble and then they move on to somebody oh they find the person they're gonna marry yeah right the Jewish guy yeah the Jewish guy they gotta explain you somehow yep I know the system you know it usually happens like it usually happens I say in the like like 20 year range to like 24 25 uh huh you know you start hitting them 26s they not now so what kind of rap do you lay on them like oh yeah I come from the neighborhood and uh no they come on nah I don't I don't
Marc:You don't have to?
Marc:No, I don't have to.
Marc:You don't have to lay on the black experience?
Guest:No, the thing that they like about me, like, I'm black, but I'm, it's an edge, but it's still non-threatening.
Marc:Right.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Marc:Right.
Guest:I think I have experience like that.
Marc:You're not going to turn them out or anything.
Guest:Yeah, I'm not going to turn them out or anything.
Guest:I'm not going to hit them with a, you know, I'm not going to butt them with a knife or a gun or anything like that.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Don't ever turn on me, bitch.
Guest:Yeah, bitch, you know, bitch,
Guest:bitch, I killed you.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I don't have that voice when I approach you.
Guest:Like, bitch, I will kill you.
Guest:Do you know who the motherfuck you talking to?
Guest:I don't use that voice.
Guest:You can't get on that voice.
Guest:You can do that voice in that role play.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like they want the ghetto.
Guest:They want ghetto role play?
Guest:Is that what it's called?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:They want ghetto.
Guest:They want to feel like they've been fucked by 50 cents.
Guest:Yeah, do the pimp again.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Bitch slap me again.
Guest:They want that.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:But you just got to adapt to your environment.
Marc:You started doing comedy when what?
Marc:You were like 23, 24?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:And you've been doing it a long time.
Marc:That's weird because when I first saw you, I thought you were kind of hard, but you're not hard.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, I'm not a pussy.
Marc:No, I'm not saying you're a pussy.
Marc:But that's because... You're in the Air Force.
Guest:You speak Korean.
Guest:Because you didn't meet me.
Guest:You're black.
Guest:You didn't feel that way because I was in a stand-up New York environment.
Guest:Like that crowd, that whole... But you always minded your own business.
Marc:You always smoked him by yourself.
Marc:And you always traveled alone.
Marc:There was no hangers-on or any weirdness.
Guest:That's how I've always been.
Guest:I always felt like... My model was like rip and roll.
Guest:You go to a spot, do your shit.
Guest:I don't need to hang out to hear people say good sets and good sets.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I'm like, I'm getting the fuck out of here.
Marc:How'd it go with the Black Night the other night?
Marc:What happened?
Guest:I ripped.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, it's not even- Did you close it?
Marc:Yeah, I always close it.
Marc:Where was that?
Guest:At the Uptown Comedy Corner.
Guest:It was Nigger Night.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Here?
Guest:No, Uptown.
Marc:In New York?
Guest:In Atlanta.
Guest:Oh, in Atlanta, that's right.
Guest:They don't have a strong- They're Black Night that's strong here.
Guest:Where, the Improv?
Marc:The Improv.
Guest:More Better Tuesday.
Guest:Yeah, it's always gotta have- I see?
Guest:I know y'all got racist jokes.
Guest:Yo, white people not show up for a show with a theme.
Guest:With a theme.
Guest:If it's like Chocolate Sundays or Tickle Me Tuesdays, I don't know what it is with the Black Roads, man.
Guest:It's got to be tripping on Tuesdays.
Guest:Hot to death, the death jam.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:You don't show up for those nights.
Guest:You don't show up for those lights.
Marc:Who hosted that one member back in the day, the Boston Comedy Club, Talent?
Marc:Talent.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He used to host that, what was it called?
Marc:I don't remember what it was.
Marc:Something on Sundays.
Guest:Something on Sundays.
Guest:Something black on Sundays.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Chicken on Sundays, slipping on Sundays.
Guest:It just couldn't be a Sunday.
Marc:It had to be something on Sunday.
Marc:Right, but I just remember there was those nights where at the Boston Comedy Club, like during the week, you'd go to your shows, and then one day you'd walk in, and you're like, this is not our room anymore.
Marc:Yeah, they took over.
Guest:Buried this.
Guest:How long is this going to go on?
Guest:People dressed up and shit.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:It was like alligator shoes, alligator underwear.
Marc:What is happening in here?
Marc:Can I go on?
Marc:There were moments where I'd walk in, and I'd see what was going on.
Marc:I'd be like, I got to try and go on here.
Guest:No, that's not what you thought, Mark.
Guest:When you walked in, you thought you were in the middle of nigger night.
Guest:No.
Guest:You thought you were an African-American night, right?
Guest:No, no.
Marc:I mean, I knew it was black night, but I always wanted to go on.
Marc:I never performed enough for black audiences.
Marc:I did it once or twice at the Uptown Comedy Club when they had that up by Columbia.
Marc:Downstairs, Greer Barnes used to run that room.
Marc:Yeah, I know you're doing it.
Marc:I did all right, but I didn't have enough experience doing it.
Marc:I was afraid.
Guest:I will say that the one thing about starting in black rooms, it gives you tough skin.
Guest:It makes you develop your personality.
Guest:You can't be afraid.
Guest:Yeah, it makes you... Like sometimes, I know sometimes in the white rooms, they allow you to develop a joke first.
Guest:But in the black room, you got to develop a personality first.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Marc:Yeah, you better be prepared.
Marc:Yeah, you got to be...
Marc:You enter the war.
Marc:One or two times I did it, it's just a matter of like, if you're confident with yourself, or at least pretending to be, it's fine.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But if you get up there like, I don't know if this is going to work, you're like, he's not prepared.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:The minute you say, so what do you guys want to talk about?
Guest:Boo!
Guest:Fuck out of here.
Guest:Talk about you getting off the stage.
Guest:You're supposed to have some shit on the paper.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I'll tell you, there's no better feeling than when a black audience, when they love you, it feels like you're part of family.
Guest:Like when they give it up and love you, they love you.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:It's not like applaud breaks.
Marc:There was always those white dudes that could play black rooms.
Marc:There were guys that only played black rooms.
Marc:Do you remember those guys?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Bill Burr.
Marc:Yeah, for a while.
Guest:DC Benny.
Guest:It was a couple of them, but once they started getting on, they don't go back.
Guest:They don't keep it real after that.
Guest:I was like, I go do nigger night at least once a month somewhere.
Guest:Whatever city I'm in, I'm like- Keep fresh?
Guest:Yeah, and I get- Get your edge on?
Guest:I let people, you gotta take a picture so I can tweet it.
Guest:You're still in the- Yeah, I'm still in the nigger night.
Guest:Yo, I'm like, tweet this shit because it ain't going to happen for another 30 days.
Guest:You know, like, cool.
Guest:Get some traction out of that tweet.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:I'm like, yo, let's go viral with this shit.
Guest:Oh, the chicken wings and Hennessy and all that.
Guest:You're holding both of them?
Guest:Yeah, at the same time.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:That's how you got to do it.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:That's the name of the night, isn't it?
Marc:N-word night.
Guest:It's a good time.
Marc:Oh, now it's N-word night?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So how did the Chappelle thing happen?
Marc:Because you were there at the beginning, weren't you?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It happened with... Because actually Larry's pretty fucking funny.
Guest:Yeah, it's pretty big too.
Marc:Yeah, still.
Guest:Yeah, it's just like I can't – I don't really understand it.
Guest:I didn't know what the fascination was with – I didn't get it.
Marc:What was the – how did the character get created?
Guest:The character was created on the paper, on the breakdown.
Guest:The only thing that – the only thing I had was he was going to wear boxer shorts.
Guest:He was going to wear dress socks, right?
Guest:And I was like – like whenever I got a role on Chappelle's show –
Guest:I would try to think of how deep I could go with it, like the most comedy I could get out of it.
Guest:Add some shit to it.
Guest:So I was like, I want to be ashy.
Guest:Because when I was younger, I used to be ashy.
Guest:And I used to shoot dice, and my mom could tell when I shot dice.
Marc:But ashy just means you had that gray look.
Guest:Yeah, but I told Neil, I was like, I want to be ashy.
Guest:I want to be so ashy I could write how much money people owe me on the side of my leg.
Guest:And Dave loved it.
Guest:So it was basically it was Larry.
Guest:I added the ash element to it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that's what it just blew up.
Marc:What does it actually come from?
Guest:It comes from not moisturizing.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like white people would say chalky skin.
Guest:You know, it's more prominent with black people.
Guest:Our skin gets a little ashier.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's more intense when you go to like a public swimming pool.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Like chlorine makes it more intense.
Marc:Yeah, because that's kind of got white to it, too.
Guest:Yeah, and then when you're out in cold weather, you get it.
Guest:Yeah, but the average black person is an ashy motherfucker.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think maybe that's why America got attached to it.
Marc:Yeah, but would you just put talcum powder on?
Guest:Yeah, we did talcum powder in the sketch.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and the biggest laugh of that sketch...
Guest:It happened.
Guest:I always was trying to think of what I could do next.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was in the makeup.
Guest:I was like, I need, when I'm doing my Marcy son, I was like, I need to get a big laugh.
Guest:And I went to makeup.
Guest:I was like, yo, give me some of that powder.
Guest:And I had it in my hand.
Guest:Neil didn't know it was in my hand.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Nobody knew.
Marc:When you blow in the day.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was like, Marcy son, I shook it.
Guest:And when I blew it, that was the only time I did it.
Guest:And the motherfucker was like, we keeping that shit.
Guest:And the wraparounds, it murdered.
Marc:You played dice when you were a kid for real?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's how my mom used to know when I was a lion because my knees would be scraped up and ashy for being on the ground.
Guest:Yeah, I was a serious dice roller when I was younger.
Marc:And how does a game work like that?
Guest:It's the same as crap.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:People are just betting on the roll.
Guest:Yeah, you bet on a roll.
Guest:You can bet on anything.
Guest:That's when you're hot.
Guest:You start betting on anything.
Guest:But for the most part, in a street dice game, you just bet on a point.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You bet on a point or crapping out.
Guest:But that's it.
Guest:But people fell in love with that dude, man.
Guest:Yeah, it's very funny.
Guest:It's weird because at the height of that show and that character, I was in Vegas one night.
Guest:And I was at the crap table.
Guest:And everybody's like, oh, shit, it's Ashley Lurie.
Guest:I got 20 on Ashley.
Guest:100 on Ashley.
Guest:Everybody put their money down, right?
Guest:And I crapped out, right?
Guest:I'm like, how motherfuckers didn't see the skin?
Guest:I suck at this shit.
Guest:And they was pissed, man.
Guest:I had like 20 fans, like two people like, yo, fuck that motherfucker.
Marc:But you do suck at it.
Marc:The character sucks at it.
Marc:So why the hell would they?
Guest:They just was caught up in it.
Marc:Now, when you go on the road and you're touring on the success of Ashy Larry, what do they usually expect?
Marc:You just do straight shit.
Marc:There's no way to bring that character on the stage.
Guest:No, and it's funny because sometimes people are like, yo, man, we thought you was going to do Ashy Larry.
Guest:What, I'm supposed to get naked with some Ashy knees?
Guest:But that's why people, like, a lot of people didn't know that I was a stand-up.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, people, like, they thought I was a comedic actor.
Right.
Guest:And that's why it's weird.
Guest:So when people come out now and they're coming out, they probably think I'm going to do a lot of characters.
Guest:I might try to do something beautiful and shit.
Guest:But then they see me do straight stand-up for an hour and 20 minutes and they're like, oh, shit.
Marc:They like it, right?
Marc:They've got to be surprised.
Marc:Because I find that now even with podcasting, people don't necessarily know me as a comedian and they hear me twice a week on this.
Marc:You did radio.
Marc:And they're like, I know that guy.
Marc:He's the guy from the radio.
Marc:And then you go out there and you do your jokes and they're like, holy shit, you can do that too.
Guest:This motherfucker's a shit.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I know, like, if I'm cocky about one thing in my career, it's stand-up.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, I'm confident to say that I'm a ripper and I tear shit up.
Guest:You know, it's always when people are like, oh, man, I saw you on Chappelle's show.
Guest:Can't wait to see you do stand-up.
Guest:I'm like, if you love me on Chappelle's show,
Guest:You're going to be gay after seeing like an hour stand up.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:You're going to turn into my brother.
Guest:He funny.
Guest:But I love it too.
Guest:You love stand up.
Marc:I do.
Marc:I do.
Marc:And I'm happy to be able to do it for people that know who I am.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:People used to talk about you all the time.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:In a bad way.
Guest:Not a good way.
Guest:You was like the smart motherfucker.
Guest:You're like, that motherfucker is so- Did the word funny ever come in?
Guest:Yeah, no, funny.
Guest:No, but funny, but like smart.
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:And at that time, I'm like, I was getting a lot of funnies.
Guest:I'm like, can somebody throw smart in me?
Guest:You know, do any of these jokes make you think about anything?
Guest:No.
Guest:and i was like god damn i'm like i used to watch your shit and hear people talk about you because you probably want to only comments like doing at that time one man shows right yeah and turning them around yeah i used to watch it like i'm like you can see a guy do a set yeah and you can see keep keep doing the same set and he's ripping with that same set
Marc:For 10 years.
Guest:For 10 years, and he's acting like that's the first time.
Marc:I'm like, you're doing it for the money, man.
Marc:I did a set last night where I had to time out a joke that I've been doing a lot around town, and I got off stage, and I'm like, God damn it, I had to fucking do that joke again.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, because I know there's got to be one or two dudes in there going, oh shit, it's just doing that joke again.
Guest:Yeah, but you know, that's how you got to do the work.
Guest:But some of it, it's like...
Guest:It's like we got plays, audibles.
Guest:You do certain shit, you got a certain rhythm.
Guest:You're like, all right, if I'm losing them now.
Guest:We're going to that.
Guest:Yeah, we're going to.
Guest:Look at this nigga with them tight-ass jeans.
Guest:That would be the segue in a black audience.
Guest:Yo, look at that tight-ass shirt.
Guest:Tight-ass shirt.
Guest:I'm telling you, you didn't know to use that when you used to do the black rules, Mark.
Guest:The tight-ass shirt?
Guest:Yeah, I should have been like, if you'd have been like, Donnell, what happens if they don't like me?
Guest:Say somebody got a tight-ass shirt.
Guest:Yeah, you got to point and you got to be like, oh, look at that tight ass shirt.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then it's like, oh, he's a tight ass shirt.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then you got to just see me like bombing like the way I bomb, which is like just to complete crickets.
Marc:And people are like, is he going to cry?
Marc:And I'm like, hey, look at this.
Guest:But the way you if you were to I can't see you bombing.
Guest:But if you were to bomb, I think like certain people bomb certain ways.
Guest:Like I think you were bombing a way like I couldn't communicate that thought exactly.
Guest:I know there's something there.
Marc:I get angry.
Marc:That's what happens.
Marc:And that's certainly not going to work in a black room.
Marc:If I'm like, what the fuck?
Marc:No, that works.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:And tight ass shirt.
Marc:Can you fuckers hear me?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm not speaking Spanish.
Marc:You funny as a motherfucker.
Guest:Stop.
Guest:Stop.
Guest:Give him a show.
Guest:Give him a show.
Guest:Go ahead.
Guest:This nigga funny.
Guest:All right.
Guest:What do you say?
Guest:That's it.
Guest:He told us to go fuck ourselves.
Guest:Oh, she wanted to go fuck ourselves.
Guest:I can't believe.
Guest:This nigga funny as shit right here.
Guest:He told me, yo, what you drinking, Mark?
Guest:Yeah, and you're sitting there all worked up.
Guest:Yeah, no, I meant it.
Marc:Yeah, sure you did.
Marc:And they laughing at this shit.
Marc:The Wire, you were good on that too.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:You did like four or five episodes, right?
Guest:Yeah, I was on- You know I had to sit down and watch all of those.
Guest:See, that's the intellect.
Guest:I know you're an intellect.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, because white people always talk about Dwight.
Marc:It's like, yeah, the show you- I missed it.
Marc:I tried to watch it when it was on HBO, but if you entered anywhere after the first episode, you're fucked.
Marc:You can't even watch it.
Marc:So I had to sit down and spend like two weeks and watch every one of them.
Guest:To get caught up.
Guest:Yeah, that was fun.
Guest:That was a lot of fun, too.
Guest:It was kind of special.
Guest:Damn, can I be tough and use the word special?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was kind of special.
Guest:It's nice.
Guest:You want to do it more like your dad would do?
Guest:Yeah, yo, yo, you know what make me feel motherfucking good?
Guest:Some shit that made me feel good.
Guest:Some shit that made me feel good inside, you know, was, you know, fucking with him on the Chappelle Show set and fucking with him on the wires.
Guest:You know, I was feeling him, you know.
Guest:Yeah, that's better.
Guest:You feel better?
Guest:It's special.
Guest:Yeah, it's special.
Guest:Nah, because people got to see us, both of us, from comedic side and then switch and go on the dramatic side.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But Dwight was good.
Guest:I did The Corner.
Guest:You ever watch The Corner?
Guest:Mm-mm.
Guest:The Corner was a...
Guest:Charles Dutton directed series.
Guest:David Simon, he wrote The Corner.
Guest:It was based on a book.
Guest:Him and another police investigator in Baltimore wrote this book called The Corner.
Guest:Then they made it to a miniseries.
Guest:It won like three Emmys.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I heard of it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Sounds like it's for black people.
Marc:Is it for black people?
Guest:Yeah, it is for black people.
Guest:It's black based, but white people liked it because it was a smart show.
Marc:Yeah, I'm going to have to look it up.
Guest:That's one thing about The Wire.
Marc:I was told I don't get black people.
Marc:I need to learn more about black people.
Marc:So would that be a show I would watch to learn something about black people?
Guest:No, you don't want to learn anything about black people on that show.
Guest:That's not a good show.
Guest:If you want to learn something about black people, watch Jefferson's.
Guest:I did watch shows.
Marc:I think I was misled on that one.
Guest:Watch the Jeffersons, man.
Guest:Nothing like a fucking black dude calling white people cracker.
Guest:I don't know how they pull that off.
Guest:But people, intellects love the wire.
Guest:The thing that was good about it, it had a lot of layers.
Guest:Yeah, and it had, like, people, like, real street people enjoyed it and real intellects enjoyed it.
Marc:Well, you know, because after all is said and done, the only, you know, it investigated all these different levels of society, but the only one that had integrity in any real rules was the street level.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:They had the most respect out of all of them.
Marc:They were the only ones with a fucking code of honor.
Marc:But you couldn't respect it.
Guest:You couldn't respect it on the other side because if you're not from that, you don't understand, like, principle shit.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I understood it.
Guest:I'm not from it.
Guest:But you're cool.
Guest:Yeah, you got swag, man.
Guest:All right.
Guest:I mean, I don't know if you need to hear it more often or whatever, but you got a swag to you, man.
Marc:All right, I appreciate that.
Marc:But you saw that too, though.
Marc:You understood even that.
Marc:Did you?
Marc:Well, I mean, obviously, you grew up in that.
Guest:No, I just watched for the shooting scenes.
Marc:Yeah, but you grew up in that shit.
Marc:If your dad was doing dope, I mean, you know that there is definitely a code.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And that there was an order to it.
Guest:Yeah, it was a reason to get killed for no reason.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:oh this guy yo you stepped in my motherfucking shoes why you stab him on principle i need to be in an environment where that principle didn't matter right well why does but well that's a good question because i don't know that i can answer that question that why does that happen why do people you know why is it acceptable to shoot people over bullshit
Marc:It's not acceptable.
Marc:Well, obviously.
Marc:But why is that the life?
Marc:I mean, is it just because that's the only order there is?
Guest:It's when the things that you hold as things that are valuable.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like if you're from nothing, you know what I'm saying?
Guest:If you're from nothing, the smallest thing you hold.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, it's a big deal.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, like, fucking $100 for a pair of sneakers, it's a big deal.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, your mother would probably tell you, if somebody tried to take these shoes, you better pick up something, bust them in the head with a brick.
Guest:Because I'm not buying you another thing.
Guest:Yeah, I'm not buying you.
Guest:The smarter thing would have been, like, get your son.
Guest:If you want to save your son's life, give him a $10 pair of sneakers.
Guest:You paid for the murder of your son.
Guest:How does that make you feel?
Guest:Yeah, how does that make you feel?
Guest:Hey, Dad!
Guest:You bought him a pair of $300 sneakers and you live with projects.
Guest:Come on.
Guest:That's like fucking ghetto bait.
Guest:Did your dad have guns in the house and shit?
Guest:Nah.
Guest:My dad kept his life away from us.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I only knew what he did through when he went to court through newspaper clippings and stuff like that.
Marc:Who was saving that shit?
Marc:Nobody, I just happened to read it.
Marc:I should have saved it, but he would have been like, yo, remember this shit, 1976?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, he wasn't like, hey son, look, this is how you chop down a block of coke.
Guest:You know, in fact, he told us he was in real estate, and we believed it.
Guest:But I could tell, like, in our neighborhood, he was like the only one with like a...
Guest:a mark five um lincoln oh yeah yeah the long ones like only people drove those cars back there were like pimps like pimps pastors and drug dealers and drug dealers and it was and it was and he would roll down it was almost and whenever he came it always to sound like a a 70s soundtrack was in the background or something you know but he kept all that stuff away from us
Marc:Oh, that's probably better off, huh?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How much radio did you do?
Marc:Did you get in trouble on the radio?
Guest:I wouldn't call it trouble.
Guest:Other people would call it trouble.
Guest:I think every time I was on radio, it was a situation where I worked with Miss Jones in New York at Hot 97.
Guest:I hated her.
Marc:The one who's on TV now?
Guest:That's Wendy Williams.
Marc:Wendy Williams is cool.
Guest:Miss Jones, we just didn't have a good work relationship.
Guest:I was there before her.
Guest:Then she came in.
Guest:They made her the main person.
Marc:You were the driver?
Guest:No, I never was.
Guest:I was always the funny guy.
Guest:The funny guy, yeah.
Guest:I think I could have wore both hats, but being a comedian, I think, oh, just be funny.
Guest:Sidecar.
Guest:Yeah, I had fun doing radio.
Guest:Didn't work out with her.
Guest:And then I went to Power 105 after Star and Buck Wilde got fired, and that didn't work.
Guest:I did a joke, a Jewish joke, and it was at the same time Don Imus, stuff was real hot in the news, and every program director felt like they had to prove some type of point.
Guest:You know, like, yeah, we fired him, we're changing our ways.
Guest:And the joke was, Ed Lover asked me, he said, as a radio personality, who are you excited, what album you're excited to hear?
Guest:I said, Nickelback.
Guest:He was like, you mean Nickelback?
Guest:I said, no, Nickelback.
Guest:He said, it sounded like a Jewish rock group.
Guest:I was like, it's a cheap Jewish rock group.
Guest:Cut to one dude named Cory Schneider.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wrote a letter.
Guest:One dude.
Guest:One dude.
Guest:One.
Guest:It didn't take a march.
Guest:It just took one dude.
Guest:They didn't even see it.
Guest:He could have just been an email.
Guest:Could have been in the building.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:And they was like, yeah, we're going to go in another direction.
Guest:And that was it.
Marc:Another direction.
Marc:Not a black guy making Jewish jokes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Another direction always means you're fired.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Today.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Now.
Guest:We like everything you're doing here.
Guest:They always set you up.
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:The more compliments you get, that's the day you're going to get fired.
Guest:We love everything.
Guest:You've got a big future ahead of you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you get great.
Guest:The things you did with Mark and Ron, we love it.
Guest:We're going to implement more of that.
Guest:But we're going in a different direction.
Guest:What direction did they
Guest:going they went to a direction i wasn't on in that road i wasn't on no side of the street they went totally different direction meant cut to donnell not doing radio that was it that was the end of it now when i loved it i loved it i had a good time that's why i thought it was in both cases i thought they lost because it's hard to get somebody to love getting up early in the morning going to work i enjoyed it you know
Marc:When I did morning radio, it was the best.
Marc:Because you're in it, man.
Marc:You're driving people to work.
Marc:You're in it.
Guest:And not only that, but you're doing it.
Guest:You have a relationship with people every day.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:They remember yesterday.
Guest:And then you're like me.
Guest:You're probably always thinking,
Guest:on the creative joke side, so it was a perfect outlet.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:You're like, oh, shit, I'm dropping this shit off early in the morning.
Marc:Today, right.
Marc:Yeah, now.
Marc:Real time.
Marc:Because you know everyone's going to be doing it by the end of the day.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:And it's like, boom, I hit that right then.
Marc:And also, when you're working with a good crew, it doesn't have to be, the punch lines can be okay, but as long as the conversation...
Marc:you know and you're riffing that's it that's the amazing thing about morning radio you can people can condescend to it but when you do it you know now like when you go on the road and it's time to do radio you know you're going into someone else's house and they're expecting you to show the fuck up and you blast it yeah yeah you blast it you better blast and sometimes i get caught up yeah like when i do radio it's almost over i take over and i gotta remember and the only thing they're there for is like he'll be performing at mgooby's this weekend you know i mean just to drop it but
Marc:Yeah, you know you take over when at the end of your bit, they go, we're going in different directions the next time you come into town.
Guest:Yeah, they're like, yeah.
Guest:And it's always that asshole host.
Guest:It's like, oh.
Marc:Oh, the guy with the big ego.
Marc:This is his turf.
Marc:He's the biggest guy in the market.
Guest:Thank you for coming.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Thank you for coming.
Guest:Like, you know, I was going to tear it up.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:you know yeah that's so funny when you get like you got it's a delicate thing you got to go with them and make them feel like they're adding to it where you're just sort of like yeah i wish i could just let me deal with the laughing dude sometimes i yeah sometimes i just take the whole the whole break sometimes they but they yeah but sometimes like when i did it when someone come in and just run with it it's like good i can take a rest i can get organized yeah he's looking at the next segment yeah yeah yeah yeah go ahead but it all it's just like it's um it's like just definitely chemistry you got to have with the other person but
Guest:like it's just something about radio morning radio like being in the best way my audience I know people listen to the office but it's that person in the car oh yeah that's the one because that's the audience for your ass man you get them laughing in their car they gotta pull over yeah that's the best compliment morning radio yo you almost crashed my shit and you're like yo crash that shit I had to pull over yo man I had to stop or when they don't get out of the car oh I was late
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And my friends, when I started building a bass, they was like, man, I don't get up there early.
Guest:And what I would tell them, you know, average morning shift is 6 to 10.
Guest:So I was like, you ain't got to get up so early.
Guest:If you could, just get up a half hour for me.
Guest:You know, get up at 9.30.
Guest:Check out the last half.
Guest:If you get up, you like it, then you're going to get up at 9.00.
Marc:Next thing you know, you might be- Did you turn on the juice in that last half?
Marc:9.30 to 10, that was Donnell time.
Guest:But I was always on.
Guest:They used to try to, some people try to time it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, I used to come in that joint, like, three minutes to six, ready just to- Go.
Guest:Wake motherfuckers up.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I used to see, like, guys that had been doing it for a while, they would be like, Donnell, there's not even really nobody listening right now.
Guest:Right?
Guest:And I'm like, that's what, isn't that our job to try to get them to listen?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I would see them wait for like- Those guys would wait till 7, 7, 10.
Guest:7.20, yeah.
Guest:You know they gotta, it's all a study.
Guest:It's like, good morning, the morning show.
Guest:And then all of a sudden, yo, yo, it's 720.
Guest:Good morning, it's the big show.
Guest:We up in this bitch.
Guest:We giving away money, cash, frisbees, hot dogs.
Guest:Stay tuned.
Guest:I'm Bob Johnson from Willy Wonka's, whatever.
Guest:They always give us a shit.
Guest:And you can check us out at the Ford Motor Company.
Guest:We're going to be giving away frisbees and hot dogs all night with a free moon bounce ride.
Guest:If your kids are between the age of 12 and 16, come on down.
Guest:Tell them rock and rock.
Guest:You know, it's got to be like a rock and rock.
Guest:It's 7.20.
Guest:We'll be back in two seconds.
Guest:And then, you know, when they cut the mic, it's like, yo, anybody want to call?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:But I used to feel so excited because after that shift, when you're done, you really feel like you did something.
Marc:Like everyone else is just getting to work.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:I won.
Marc:I already fought a fight.
Guest:Yo, man, I made a decent amount of money.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's 10 o'clock, dude.
Marc:I'm off work.
Marc:Yeah, I'm going to take a nap for four hours and then figure out.
Guest:It's the best, especially when I was doing it in New York.
Guest:That's the number one market for radio.
Guest:And to be able to go to work 6, get off at 10, do your post-production shit until like 11.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Hit a lunch, get a little nap on, go do an audition, and get ready to go hit a stage.
Guest:It's good.
Guest:It's the shit, son.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It sounds like you were able to roll in at six.
Marc:I mean, because we were crunching so much news and doing the politics, I had to get up at like three and I had to go to bed at nine.
Guest:But I didn't, I wouldn't, I'd be eager to crack the mic at six, but I would get to work like five o'clock.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:But then like sometimes when I really wanted to, when I was trying to prove a point, because they used to say, Donnell don't prepare.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, but I was like, but my answer was,
Guest:Y'all don't, y'all not doing this for real.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:You're getting there a half hour early.
Guest:You're looking for headlines.
Guest:You don't know how to talk.
Guest:And I used to read that shit the night before.
Guest:They'd be like, yo, you're not prepared.
Guest:I'm like, ask me any question about anything.
Guest:Quiz me.
Guest:Right now.
Guest:They'd be like, blah, blah.
Guest:I'm like, bam, bam, bam.
Guest:They're like, oh shit.
Guest:I don't want to kill Earth.
Guest:I don't think you got a Xerox.
Guest:200 pages of shit to get three pages where you have the highlighted shit.
Marc:Have an assistant outline the headlines.
Guest:Yeah, and the whole thing is you're going to set it up for me to hit it home anyway.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I'm in there listening to the conversation.
Marc:Yeah, I always liked it when it was better when people were really talking.
Marc:Would you do it again?
Marc:Morning radio?
Marc:Well, I don't know.
Marc:I'm doing this, and this is pretty good, but I like it.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Everybody talk about your joint.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That was from my hood, niggas.
Marc:Your joint.
Marc:I think I know that one.
Marc:That means what I'm doing here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:They know about it.
Guest:You got it popping over here.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I'm popping in my joint.
Guest:Yeah, they know you're keeping it moving.
Guest:You already know.
Guest:You heard?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, you got to do all your slang in one sentence.
Marc:You already know Papa, you heard?
Marc:I'm very careful not to do too much slang.
Marc:Yeah, a few times when I started saying we good, I'm okay with that one.
Marc:You're all good, I don't like.
Marc:I'm all good.
Marc:It's all good.
Marc:It's all good.
Guest:And a lot of times it's not all good.
Guest:No, it's never all good.
Guest:It's usually like my aunt just passed away.
Guest:It's all good.
Guest:What's good about that?
Guest:My manager got hold of one slang word he's been using for years.
Marc:This is a white Jewish guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Which one?
Guest:One.
Guest:One?
Guest:Yeah, that's how you... One.
Guest:That's how you end the phone conversation.
Guest:One.
Guest:All right, I'll talk to you later.
Guest:One.
Guest:What does that mean?
Guest:I really don't know what it means.
Guest:One?
Guest:The number one?
Guest:Yeah, just one.
Guest:He does that?
Guest:Yeah, he don't say the number one.
Guest:He just say one.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:That's a slang of some kind?
Guest:Yeah, just how you... Because you're around a black person and they say, talk to you later, say one.
Guest:One.
Guest:And they'll be like, one.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And that's the only one he picked up?
Guest:That's all he want.
Guest:There's no other numbers.
Guest:Not two.
Guest:Don't try another number.
Guest:No, but that's the only one Jason picked up?
Guest:Yeah, that's the only one he used.
Guest:One.
Guest:But when he first started doing it, you could tell he was a little uncomfortable.
Guest:Trying it out?
Guest:Yeah, it was like, one?
Guest:You're like, one?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like silent eye.
Guest:Eye?
Guest:Yeah, eye.
Guest:One.
Guest:One.
Guest:I wonder where the hell that came from.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:We don't really research it to find out.
Guest:We just do it.
Guest:If it becomes cool, if it's in a rap song, you just do it.
Marc:You don't wonder what the origins of it.
Marc:The Latin root word.
Marc:Let's get to the source of this semantic curiosity.
Guest:None of that shit.
Guest:Who said one?
Guest:Who said one?
Marc:One.
Marc:Who said one?
Marc:One.
Marc:So when the Chappelle debacle went down where you were like, oh, fuck.
Marc:Nah.
Marc:Nah.
Guest:I was happy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And this is why I'll tell you I was happy because we weren't really making a lot of money on a Chappelle show.
Guest:We were starting to make money road gigs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So when we started second, the third season, I had started, we had the I'm Rich Bitch tour.
Guest:I was like, we got too much popularity not to be having no money, you know?
Guest:So I got Charlie.
Guest:I took Charlie Murphy on stage for the first time to an open mic.
Guest:He'd never done standard.
Marc:I was like, you were the, you're the one that unleashed that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He'll tell you like, if you, he'll argue with you like, nah, it was, it was inevitable.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That's what happened.
Guest:But I kind of, he said in his book, I kind of bullied him.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, you know, Charlie's a tough guy.
Guest:I was like, yeah, you want Charlie's shut up, put a microphone in his hand.
Guest:Because off stage or whatever, he's a funny guy.
Guest:And it was almost like a challenge.
Guest:And it was me and Charlie.
Guest:Then I was like, I want this show to be strong.
Guest:And Bill Burr was on the show.
Guest:So I grabbed Bill, found a Jewish guy that saw the value of a Rich Bitch tour.
Guest:And we started doing it.
Guest:That's where we made cash.
Guest:So when we were going to the third season, it was a time when the tour was really hot.
Guest:So we had to kind of stop taking dates.
Guest:to work on a show that we weren't really making a lot of money off of.
Guest:So when he went on his hiatus, I was like, word.
Guest:Let's go get this money.
Guest:One.
Guest:One, right.
Guest:I was like, one.
Guest:That's like, David coming back.
Guest:I was like, one.
Guest:And we started winning.
Guest:We started winning, right?
Guest:So it didn't affect me.
Guest:Because I wasn't making a living off the Chappelle show, but it was giving me the exposure for people.
Guest:That's where the money came in.
Marc:And you still good with Charlie?
Guest:Yeah, that's my dog.
Marc:Yeah, you guys tour a lot together still?
Guest:Not anymore.
Guest:You know, when we first started.
Marc:How's his stand-up?
Guest:It's coming along strong.
Marc:I haven't seen him.
Marc:Yeah, he's a storyteller.
Guest:When he first started, it was new, but it's like he was in a tough position to start as an open-miker selling out.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:That's tough.
Marc:But at least it was a supportive crew.
Marc:People knew him.
Marc:Yeah, they wanted to hear him.
Guest:They fascinated with the dude.
Guest:And he just started, you're gonna get better.
Guest:If you're selling out weekend shows, eventually you're gonna get better.
Guest:You ever work with Mooney?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yes, I've worked with Mooney.
Guest:He invented the word, nigga, nigga, nigga.
Guest:You niggas, you niggas.
Guest:Yo, he does all the nigga rums.
Guest:Paul Mooney, I remember the first time before I even started doing comedy.
Guest:I was at the comedy store.
Guest:I was on a trip to Disney World or something.
Guest:Stopped in the comedy club.
Guest:At 1.30 in the morning?
Guest:Yeah, I saw Paul Mooney.
Guest:And I was like, who is this black person that's talking to white people like this?
Guest:I felt like a slave almost.
Guest:I was like, he's going to get us in trouble.
Guest:You can't talk to him like that.
Guest:I was like, I've never seen a black person talk so down to.
Guest:They just say one and they just left.
Guest:They was leaving.
Guest:He was walking people and wasn't apologizing or anything.
Guest:I was like, wow.
Marc:I found like I, the story I tell about, about him is that I used to see him at the comedy store, but I didn't, it didn't register the same way as it did with you, but I worked with him once.
Marc:I was middle form in Sacramento, which is pretty white.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And he was closing and, and he will find racism in white people.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:If they think they're not racist and the way he does it is he'll do two hours.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, if you're a white person sitting in a show two hours into something, especially to Paul Mooney, you're eventually going to go, when is this going to... Yeah, you're like, come on, like, can I get something else?
Guest:You know, it almost like, like, Paul Mooney's a legend, you know, but it's like, I mean...
Guest:white people aren't that evil anymore.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Times really change, man.
Guest:It's like, I don't know.
Guest:It feel like whenever I watch him, I feel like I want to go march or something.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, do you find that you don't need to hit that?
Marc:I mean, how much did you hit the black and white thing anyways?
Guest:It's old, man.
Marc:Right.
Guest:I mean, unless you find, you know, unless you find a different twist, you know what I mean?
Guest:But like black people do this, white people do that.
Guest:But it's bigger than that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like it's more shit to talk about.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In the world.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:There's a lot more shit.
Guest:Black people, white people do something different.
Guest:You know, I don't know.
Guest:I just, I feel like when you perform, man, you should be able to perform for anybody to be able to get it.
Marc:And what's the Chappelle audience like when they come to see Ashley Larry?
Guest:My audience is everybody.
Guest:That's one of the things that I told the audience.
Guest:I was in Baltimore the other day, and I thanked the audience.
Guest:I was like, you know, it's a good feeling.
Guest:I did, like, a sold-out weekend.
Guest:I was like, to go from a place where the promoter had to bring the people for you, people didn't know if you were on the bill, you know what I mean?
Guest:It's like, okay, this guy better be funny.
Guest:Right.
Guest:To, like, people making you a part of their weekend.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:Like, I'm buying a Marc Maron ticket.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, your name was like, it's like, I still feel humbled.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Sometimes.
Marc:I'm like, yo.
Guest:And then when I look out there, and a lot of it is because Chappelle Shaw, I'm like, I see a senior couple, senior citizens.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I'll see some 19, 20-year-olds.
Guest:I'll see people that are old enough to be their parents.
Guest:Black, white, Chinese, Indian.
Guest:I'm like, that's the shit.
Marc:But once a month, you got to go to the black room.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, once a month, I go do nigger night.
Guest:Yeah, and I don't want to see, I'm telling you, I'd go to the ones like, if you see two white people, it's like, yo, this is a diverse room.
Guest:I'd go to ones that's so black, if you show up, and another white guy, people like, the comedians be like, yo, man, it's white night tonight.
Yeah.
Guest:Like, I've seen some comedians get rattled with five white people.
Guest:They're like, oh, man, this room is changing, man.
Guest:It's 200 black people, five white people.
Marc:It's great talking to you, Donnell.
Marc:One?
Marc:One.
Marc:Is this the time to say one?
Marc:One.
Guest:One.
Guest:Good time, man.
Marc:One.
Marc:One.
Marc:Did I say it right?
Guest:Yeah, one.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:You can't hang on just one.
Guest:When you say one, it's like you got to hang the phone and something has to be terminated.
Guest:You can't say one and keep talking.
Marc:All right, one.
One.
Marc:All right, folks, that's our show.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Thank you, Donnell.
Marc:Thank you, Princess Chicken.
Marc:Look forward to Jack White on Monday.
Marc:I will bring the journey to you that I took in Nashville to Third Man Records.
Marc:Also, if you need anything WTF-related, go to WTFPod.com.
Marc:As always, how about a little...
Marc:Wait for it.
Marc:Pow!
Marc:Look out!
Marc:Just shit my pants.
Marc:JustCoffee.coop, available at WTFPod.com.
Marc:Get some of that WTF blend.
Marc:They kicked me a little something on the back end.
Marc:You can get on the mailing list at WTFPod.com.
Marc:You can get merch, pick up a new Coop shirt, get the link to the Mark and Tom show, me and Tom Sharpling's second foray into the co-hosted radio conversation.
Marc:You can pick that up over there on the homepage.
Marc:There should be a link.
Marc:You can get a link to the first 100 episodes of WTF on DVD in MP3 format.
Marc:That's over there.
Marc:You can get the app.
Marc:You can see the episode guide.
Marc:Not tell me to put people on that have already been on.
Marc:You can do a lot of stuff.
Marc:So anyways, I guess that's it.
Marc:God damn it, man.
Marc:I can't believe that I waited the whole day to come in here and record this.
Marc:I'm sitting in the living room.
Marc:I'm literally sitting there eating puffins and vanilla soy milk and watching Cajun Pawn Stars.
Marc:That's either a very sad picture or a celebration of America.