Episode 927 - Lil Rel Howery
Guest:Lock the gates!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck, buddies?
Marc:What the fucking ears?
Marc:What the fuck, Minister Fullers?
Marc:There's an oldie.
Marc:How's it going?
Marc:I'm Mark Maron.
Marc:This is my podcast, WTF.
Marc:You alright?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I am alright.
Marc:I'm recording this on a Sunday afternoon.
Marc:It's a little actually before noon.
Marc:I just woke up not too long ago.
Marc:I've been having a hard time sleeping.
Marc:Have you guys?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Have I talked about this before?
Marc:I think it's an age thing.
Marc:It's also an end of the world thing.
Marc:But I'm not really having insomnia at night.
Marc:I can get to sleep, but no matter what time I go to sleep, I wake up at like 6.30, like on the dot within a minute sometimes, 6.30.
Marc:I can't track it.
Marc:I don't know what the hell that's about.
Marc:And I know some of you are saying like, oh, poor guy.
Marc:I get up for work at 5.00.
Marc:Yeah, I get it.
Marc:But like like if I go to bed at two or three because I'm sitting there and I've just done three sets of comedy at the comedy store and I come home, I don't know what to do with myself.
Marc:I just spin around for three hours because I'm jacked up on.
Marc:I don't even know if it's the buzz of of the stage just back and forth.
Marc:I don't know what it is.
Marc:I mean, my theory, and I believe I've speculated before, is that because people say that when you get older, this happens.
Marc:That there are things that happen when you get older.
Marc:You get shorter.
Marc:Things begin to ache, apparently.
Marc:Though I'm not having much of that.
Marc:Things start breaking down.
Marc:You have to decide what it is you can accept or not accept.
Marc:Like, my big toes are fucked up.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:What am I going to do about it?
Marc:Because I imagine if I go somewhere, if I go to the big toe doctor, that they want to cut my toes open and fuck with my joints.
Marc:And then I could be, quote unquote, recovering for God knows how long.
Marc:Because I've got these weird bone spurs or bunions or whatever the fuck they are.
Marc:And the truth is, if I wear the right shoes, they don't hurt that much.
Marc:And if I wear the wrong shoes, they're fucking terrible.
Marc:But how much time do I got left?
Marc:I'm going to live with that one.
Marc:But the idea that you need less sleep as you get older is I think fundamentally some part of you knows that maybe you're running out of time and that you're up and it's sort of your body's way or the God's way of saying, hey, you may not want to be up, but time is limited, man.
Marc:So sit there and realize that or get up and do something.
Marc:Right?
Marc:Lil Rel Howery is on the show.
Marc:There's so many ways that name is hard for me to say because I have problems with my L's and W's.
Marc:Lil Rel Howery is here.
Marc:He's a great comedian.
Marc:He's got a movie coming out.
Marc:It's called Uncle Drew.
Marc:It's coming out this Friday, June 29th.
Marc:I was happy to talk to him.
Marc:So...
Marc:Thank you all for the support and for donating to the Texas Raisis for the immigration clusterfuck.
Marc:Me and the Glow Girls did a little public service PSA that we posted on Instagram.
Marc:We all sent little pieces and Betty Gilpin put something together in support of services that can help out.
Marc:And on we go.
Marc:Do not surrender to the attempt at a collective Stockholm syndroming of the country.
Marc:Don't become a brainwashed dummy.
Marc:Try to think critically.
Marc:Try not to be overwhelmed by the never-ending chaotic shitstorm of randomly fascistic confusing bullshit.
Marc:Some very scary stuff coming at us.
Marc:But, you know, try to...
Marc:Again, it's hard to separate, you know, how do you go on, you know, if you're of a certain ilk, you know, how do you go on just living your life when things are seemingly coming unraveled?
Marc:Well, you got it.
Marc:You got it.
Marc:You got to enjoy some stuff.
Marc:You got to focus on things and where you take that focus is up to you, hopefully on proactive stuff.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:But it's sort of funny.
Marc:I get emails sometimes and I just wonder if it's like, is this guy's way of being or is it a reaction?
Marc:I just got this email, subject line, items on desk.
Marc:Mark, let me start by saying thank you.
Marc:I've listened to every episode and the last time I emailed you was five plus years ago when I referenced my concern regarding my own WTF-related completionist autism, a term Patton Oswalt had used on an episode.
Marc:I also met you after a show in Houston when my dad kept telling you in a manner that was embarrassing but well-intentioned, my son is your number one fan.
Marc:This induced a mild panic attack, causing me to get tongue-tied and mumble something like, I've listened to all the episodes.
Marc:You were very kind at this time, signing my poster, We Good.
Marc:Anyway, my reason for writing is the result of a thought that occurred during the Holly Hunter episode when she became briefly fixated on all the different tchotchkes on your desk.
Marc:I'd never really given it much thought before and can only remember a few specifics related to these items like you having to get rid of some when Obama came and also Jennifer Lawrence playing with multiple items.
Marc:To the point, I was thinking that it would be interesting to see a breakdown of which item was picked by which guests.
Marc:With this data, the possibilities are endless.
Marc:Are there correlations based on things like race, gender, age, or personality type?
Marc:I'm not asking you to undergo this project.
Marc:I did consider that Brendan may be interested in devoting some time to this kind of venture.
Marc:At the very least, you could send out the following tweet.
Marc:Hey folks, if you've ever been a guest in my garage, I was wondering if you remember which of the items on my desk you tended to play with during the interview.
Marc:As a refresher, here are the items you had to choose from.
Marc:Hammer, stress ball, etc.
Marc:Thank you once again for all the joy, high quality content, and everything else you've given me over the years.
Marc:Jonathan.
Marc:Jonathan, dude, thanks for the email.
Marc:It's not going to happen.
Marc:And I would like to hear more about what you think, like you think that we can make columns and maybe do some sort of spreadsheet based on, you know, which of the four or five things on my desk and what it implies about race, gender, age.
Marc:You know, you really took it out there.
Marc:You took this out there and I appreciate the input and you're welcome to do it just from the information you have of people talking about.
Marc:I think that'd be a very small pool for the science of it.
Marc:But but good.
Marc:Thank you for that.
Marc:He's he's busy.
Marc:You know, Jonathan, I don't want to mock him.
Marc:He is a fan and clearly he has a brain that does this.
Marc:But wow.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So Lil Rel Howery is here, and I love talking to him.
Marc:I thought I'd met him before, but I had not.
Marc:And it was great.
Marc:We talked Chicago, we talked about comedy, and his new movie, Uncle Drew, which is in theaters everywhere this Friday, June 29th, is coming out.
Marc:And this is me talking to Lil Rel Howery.
Marc:Enjoy.
Marc:Do you live out here now?
Marc:How long have you lived out here?
Marc:Only three years.
Marc:Oh, three?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:From Chicago you came?
Guest:Yep.
Guest:Well, I'm from Chicago, but I lived in New York for two years, and then I came here once Carmichael's show happened.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Was it a good experience doing the network thing?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I'm doing it again now.
Guest:I just did a pilot with Fox called Rail.
Guest:Oh, you did?
Guest:Yeah, me and Gerard producing and writing it together.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:It's really good, but network is so, like I've done stuff from an acting standpoint for the network, so to be a producer and have to deal with a lot of the little small stuff is a little annoying.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It is what it is.
Guest:So you did it for Fox.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What was the pitch?
Guest:What's the angle?
Guest:What's the show?
Guest:It's based on my life.
Guest:It's just a version of it where I'm not a comedian.
Guest:Instead of a comedian, I made myself a nurse.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:I haven't seen that one.
Marc:I haven't seen a male nurse.
Guest:No, me neither.
Guest:That's what made me want to do it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's I mean, if anybody has ever seen my specials or heard any of my stand up, it's just it's basically my life.
Guest:I mean, it's me right after my ex-wife left with the kids and me trying to figure out, you know, trying to figure this long distance dad thing out.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:You know, it's really it's literally based on what happened to me for real.
Guest:The difference is I was a comedian actress, a male nurse.
Marc:And you were making it the narrative of your stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I get to play more than one character, which was fun.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Live studio audience.
Guest:How do you get to play more than one character?
Guest:It's the way I wrote it.
Guest:It's a twist?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It wasn't a twist.
Guest:I like shows like Martin.
Guest:I'm a big fan of Eddie Murphy.
Guest:So I used to do that type of stuff.
Guest:I play a pastor also.
Guest:But most of the people didn't know it when we tested it to people.
Guest:They didn't know it was me.
Guest:It was really good.
Guest:You had the makeup guy?
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Full on prosthetics?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What?
Guest:Like what?
Guest:I did like the cheeks, the chin.
Guest:I made everything grayer.
Guest:I did everything.
Guest:I look totally different.
Guest:I just look like an aged pastor.
Guest:It's so funny, but it was fun.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:There's going to be more characters I would introduce enough to knock on wood if the show was picked up.
Marc:You like doing that stuff.
Guest:Yeah, it's fun.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I never did a lot of characters, but I mean, there's a certain style to that.
Marc:I mean, like Eddie will do like a dozen sometimes, and you just liked that when you were a kid.
Marc:Yeah, I thought that was comedy.
Guest:I was like, oh, this is stand-up.
Guest:This is cool.
Guest:So that's why I love it.
Guest:But it's different putting the whole get up on.
Guest:Yeah, well, that's why like, so the Lucas Brothers, I know you talked to them before.
Guest:I love those guys.
Guest:We did a show called Friends of the People on True TV.
Guest:Oh, was that a sketch show?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And that was fun where I got a chance to play a bunch of characters on that show.
Guest:Right, and you just liked it.
Guest:I've always wanted to do it.
Guest:That was always the plan is to eventually do that.
Guest:Do you do characters in the stand-up?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, I mean, anybody ever seen my special?
Guest:The one that Kevin produced?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Every story I tell, I'm acting out everybody.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I'm acting out my dad.
Guest:I'm acting out my mom.
Guest:Oh, so it was right there.
Guest:It's just what it is.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I mean, that's a real skill, because you can really tell stories like that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, Eddie Murphy is who... Because you hear people say who they influencers are, and people are like, Eddie Murphy is my influencer, and you watch their stand-up, like, where?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But with me, he really influenced me.
Guest:Like Richard did the same thing also, just telling stories and acting the stories out.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I've heard it called peopling the stage, which I always liked, that you create a cast of characters.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you just move through it.
Marc:And you can do whatever you like.
Marc:As long as those characters are defined, you can be as funny as you want to be in that character.
Marc:It's a cheat code, too.
Guest:It's like a lot of times, yeah, I have a bunch of new material, but all I'm doing is putting the characters in different situations.
Guest:So when people end up liking these characters, I have to put them in different scenarios.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You just move them around.
Marc:Fuck it.
Marc:Well, you were so good in that movie, man, that Get Out movie.
Marc:I appreciate that.
Marc:You were the punchline of the whole thing.
Marc:You were the tag.
Guest:I was the tag, man.
Guest:I was the voice of the people.
Guest:You guys did a couple endings?
Guest:Yeah, we did.
Guest:The original ending is way darker than me.
Guest:No relief.
Guest:No relief.
Guest:It was just sad.
Guest:I remember the first cut I saw of the movie was with the original ending, and I couldn't sleep.
Guest:So the original ending, no one is saved.
Guest:Nah, he goes to jail.
Guest:And I go to the jail to try to get information out of him to help him out.
Guest:But he just owned it.
Guest:Like, yo, come on, bro.
Guest:You know they're not going to let me out of here.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:Yeah, it was very dark.
Marc:Yeah, and what do you think made them change it?
Marc:Was there a discussion?
Guest:Jordan changed it, I think, based on what we already see every day.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like, yeah, we already see this every day.
Guest:But that was the way he wrote it.
Guest:That's the way he wrote it.
Guest:But he also felt like we needed a hero.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I thought it was brilliant to come up with a hero that was just a friend.
Guest:I didn't kill nobody.
Guest:I just picked him up.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:It was perfect.
Marc:But your character was always in there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:All the way through.
Guest:I thought that was the brilliant thing about what he wrote.
Guest:I don't know how many times we've seen, from the beginning of the movie, my character said, hey man, I don't think you should be doing this.
Guest:From the beginning.
Yeah.
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:From the jump.
Guest:So I thought that Jordan's really smart, man.
Guest:I'm very grateful to be a part of that amazing, cool movie.
Marc:Yeah, I was sort of surprised by it because I'm not, you know, I don't go see horror movies.
Marc:It's not my trip.
Marc:I mean, I've seen them before in my life, but like, you know, everybody was talking about that movie, and it was really, you know, I just, I thought you were hilarious, and thank God there was that comic relief at the end.
Marc:It would have been a nightmare.
Marc:No, it would have been a whole different experience for that movie.
Guest:It would have been a different experience.
Marc:Well, that's interesting, because I wonder if Jordan was thinking that that was satisfying, like he was being real, and that was the way he saw it, with that kind of weird, heavy-hearted, horrible... That's a real horror movie at the end there, if he let him just sit in jail.
Marc:But then, what a great turn of events for everybody involved.
Guest:I mean...
Guest:When I think about it, even us talking about it now, because we reshot the ending like a month before the movie came out.
Marc:It held for that long.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So he went out and tested that thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:With that old ending.
Guest:People were just angry.
Guest:They loved the movie, but they was leaving angrier.
Guest:And it would have been a whole different shift if we'd have kept that like that.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:When you saw those lights coming down the road.
Guest:just picking them up that must have been how long did it take you to shoot that thing the last the movie yeah only jordan said this now for me i only shot i shot everything in a week yeah um right a week and one day i did i did the movie on my hiatus week of carmichael show oh all movies work like that i could just have a week sure yeah you just shoot everything yeah shoot it all out uh but it only took him 28 days wow
Marc:Are you going to work with him again?
Guest:I hope so.
Guest:Now we're all so busy.
Guest:I'm hoping to work with him again.
Guest:He told me once he saw the first cut of Get Out, he gave me a call and was like, all right, get ready, brother, because you're about to go on a ride.
Guest:I'm like, all right.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, right after that, the movie offers.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It happened literally the day after that movie came out.
Guest:That's when people just started offering me stuff.
Guest:I didn't really audition anymore.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:For like what?
Guest:Like Uncle Drew that comes out.
Marc:What is that movie about?
Marc:They didn't send me a screener.
Marc:I didn't get to watch it.
Guest:It's with me and Kyrie Irving and Shaq and all those guys.
Guest:Kyrie had those commercials he did with Pepsi where he played the old guy that played ball real well.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:So the movie's based on my character who puts together this team.
Guest:I lose my star player, my team to my rival, this rival dude I've been rivaling with, which is Nick Crow, for a while.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:So I spent all my money.
Guest:I lost my team, but I still need a team.
Guest:So one of the guys at the barbershop, which is J.B.
Guest:Smoove, suggested I go find Uncle Drew.
Guest:And I ended up seeing him by chance at a playground.
Guest:And he has all these older friends that we helped recruit to bring us all together to play in this tournament.
Guest:Ah, so it's a heartwarming thing.
Guest:It's heartwarming and funny, yeah.
Guest:And you were the lead.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's amazing.
Marc:Who directed it?
Guest:Charles Stone.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:Who did Paid in Full.
Guest:He did, well, that's my favorite movie.
Guest:He's a what's up guy.
Guest:He didn't want to create a death.
Guest:Oh, he did?
Marc:That's crazy, though.
Marc:So Chicago, I love, I've been going to the city more, you know, like I've grown to love Chicago just because it's a real place.
Marc:It's its own trip.
Marc:But like what generation of cats did you come out with?
Marc:Did you, like, are you, you're younger than Hannibal and those guys, right?
Marc:No, I'm older than Hannibal.
Marc:So Hannibal,
Marc:I met Hannibal when he was in college.
Guest:He opened for me when he was in college.
Guest:So you were like a Chicago mainstay.
Guest:I'm in between the old and the new.
Guest:It's a very weird line with me.
Guest:Like me, but you're younger than me.
Guest:I'm 38.
Guest:Oh, you're much younger than me.
Guest:So it's like... Who's the old?
Guest:Who we talking?
Guest:Like the veterans for me was like Deion Cole.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Guys like that.
Guest:D-Ray Davis, Corey Holcomb.
Guest:D-Ray Davis.
Guest:All those guys.
Guest:And then like...
Marc:So Dion was an older guy?
Guest:Yeah, Dion was a part of it.
Guest:I was opening for him.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:When did you start?
Guest:Where were you growing up?
Guest:West side of Chicago is where I'm from, which is near the United Center and all that good stuff.
Guest:I used to ride my bikes.
Guest:My friends used to ride our bikes to Chicago Stadium just to watch Mike drive off.
Guest:He'd almost kill us because he'd just pull onto this car.
Guest:He just drives so fast.
Guest:When you were a kid?
Guest:Yeah, we just used to watch the players leave the stadium.
Marc:They just thought that was fun.
Marc:In fancy cars?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so was it a difficult neighborhood?
Marc:What was the situation?
Guest:I mean, I grew up, I guess it's almost cliche to say it, but I mean, I grew up in the hood pretty much.
Guest:But I grew up with both my parents in that situation.
Guest:My dad and mom were like...
Guest:very hands-on in our community.
Guest:So my dad used to fix everybody's bikes.
Guest:My dad, like, coached the baseball teams, you know what I'm saying?
Guest:My mom volunteered all the time.
Guest:I mean, there was a time I was embarrassed that they were so involved.
Guest:Like, Jesus Christ, why can't I be like everybody else not coming all the time?
Guest:But they were very involved.
Guest:What were their jobs?
Guest:So my dad was, well, both of them were CNAs, actually.
Guest:Which is?
Guest:Certified nurse's assistant.
Guest:Oh, so you grew up with the nurse thing.
Guest:But my mom worked at my grammar school, too, at one point.
Guest:She, like, the first time they ever let kids into the school that, like, these two little boys, like, they had, I think they had HIV.
Guest:And she took, they paid her well.
Guest:She took the job.
Guest:But, like, when I think about it, I've been thinking about, like, a lot of weird stuff lately.
Guest:Like, oh, that did happen, where, like, you know,
Guest:Early on, I learned, like, to not judge people because of that.
Guest:It's like, it's such a weird kid lesson to have so early because people were so scared.
Guest:That's when it was kind of fresh and nobody knew, like, you can't be around or do near that room.
Marc:And your mom's job was to what?
Marc:Just to take care of them.
Marc:These two HIV kids.
Marc:Yeah, she was a teacher's assistant.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So she used to, like, take them home.
Guest:And make sure no one bullied them?
Guest:Bothered them, yeah.
Guest:Because they were really, they were not just, besides the disease, they were, you know, handicapped also, so.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:She took care of him.
Guest:And she defended him.
Guest:But it changed the way I saw everything.
Guest:Like, I just see everything differently.
Guest:I think just doing your research and understanding stuff.
Guest:Because of your mother's actions also and not to be afraid.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I used to catch it sometimes because people were like, hey, man, your mom would like, come on.
Guest:i've learned to outsmart bullies that way like yo you're an idiot why don't you do your research you know i mean like these are kids yeah i was a kid that like that wasn't afraid of like yeah i don't know i got some weird confidence because of all that when she did that but that's what she taught us though and i i always appreciate her for even taking that job and she did that job until they both they both end up passing really young oh really and that's when they stopped the program or whatever
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So she was like a pioneer and no one wanted to do the gig?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's sad.
Marc:But I guess that's really what having that engagement with the community is about is to instill confidence and fearlessness and not judge people.
Guest:That's what made me love the arts so much.
Guest:It almost goes back to why I like to do characters in my story.
Guest:I love people so much, and I thought that was the first...
Guest:To love those two kids, it was almost like brothers to me.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:So you knew them really well?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Their family became our family, me and my brother.
Guest:It was very interesting.
Guest:I thought about this the other day.
Guest:It's like you almost forget about little sections of your life.
Marc:And what else was wrong with them other than the HIV?
Guest:I forget.
Guest:It was a muscle disease, too.
Guest:Both of them?
Guest:Yeah, both of them.
Guest:Had it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Ugh.
Guest:And one had it worse than the other one, you know what I mean?
Guest:Like Clarence had it really, Clarence was the first one to pass.
Guest:He was always in a wheelchair.
Guest:And then Timothy, you know, he had it and got sick.
Guest:It was very... How old were you?
Marc:Like eight or nine.
Marc:And they just became almost like members of your family.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:And their parents too?
Guest:Yep.
Guest:My mom was doing stuff on the weekends.
Guest:She didn't have to do certain stuff.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:So you had to deal with all that with the death and the disease.
Marc:But it was like...
Guest:It just made me respect my mom.
Guest:She just liked taking care of people.
Guest:I thought that was dope.
Guest:She actually really cared about people.
Guest:That's why I love people.
Guest:Sure, and you have brothers and sisters?
Guest:Yeah, I had two brothers.
Guest:I feel like I got a sad story.
Guest:My middle brother passed away from cancer in 2013.
Guest:Oh, sorry, man.
Guest:So you got one brother?
Guest:One brother left, my youngest brother, who's probably been my muse.
Guest:He still is, actually.
Guest:I just call him and we just randomly talk about it.
Guest:Can we talk sports all the time?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like literally our phone calls sound like we have a podcast.
Guest:Just diving into the games.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You got to have somebody you gel with because that's where the new ideas come from.
Guest:He's been like that since like the first time I ever went on stage.
Guest:And I remember I got booed at this spot.
Guest:You did?
Guest:Yes, golly.
Guest:And we listened to the tape.
Guest:He was the person I listened to the tape with.
Guest:He was like, so you going to do this again?
Guest:I guess so.
Yeah.
Guest:Was he in the room, too, or no?
Guest:No, because I had a tape, so I taped the show.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And I brought it home and let him listen to it.
Guest:It's brutal.
Guest:It's brutal.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:You want to try this again next week?
Guest:How old's that guy?
Guest:My brother's 30, what is he, 34 now?
Marc:What's his business?
Guest:so which is so funny in the show rail the new show the new show uh my it's based on my brother when he first got out of jail yeah brother went to jail for you and uh and i want to tell that story because you know first people like oh that's cliche to make the black dude come out of jail for so but the weird thing is people say that stuff and a lot of times it's like it happened it happened yes that's what i'm like it actually this is actually what happened
Marc:I was thinking about that the other day where it's sort of like just because a public person or a creative person or a comedian tells a story that seems like it's a stereotype, it's not their responsibility to change their life story to accommodate people being...
Marc:It's not political correct.
Marc:It's just sort of like, you know, the reason why some things everyone knows about is because they fucking happen.
Marc:You're preaching to the damn choir.
Guest:I swear to you.
Guest:I thought it was because, you know, they had a test group and I watched the test group, watched the show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:One of the things we don't like the stereotype.
Guest:I'm like, no, but it fucking happened to them.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:this is what happened i'm not like coming up with this like this is what happened right if you get rid of stereotypes it doesn't solve the problem what do you mean like so let's let's find a more interesting story that that is unique and weird but completely contrived and has no bearing on reality so that happened to him and i watched him why'd he go to jail
Guest:Man, being around the wrong cats at the wrong time.
Guest:And in Chicago, they tend to lock everybody up.
Guest:Even if one person is the drug dealer, but they be out in that car.
Guest:That's what happened?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he went to jail for a year.
Guest:But, I mean, this is why I wanted to tell the story on the show.
Guest:And this is what I was trying to tell the network.
Guest:I saw the progression of him.
Guest:Now he's engaged, he has a great job, he has a baby, and he's just a smart, I saw him, you know what I mean?
Guest:Because at first, me and my middle brother, before he passed, we felt terrible.
Guest:We was like, yo, is it our fault?
Guest:Did we just focus on ourselves and let him run around with these cats, you know what I'm saying?
Guest:Like, what the fuck?
Guest:Felt guilty?
Guest:Felt guilty.
Guest:So when we got out, we were both really hands-on with him and make sure he got his shit together.
Marc:As opposed to go the wrong way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Was that, you think it was a possibility?
Guest:He could have, yeah.
Guest:But I think that's a great thing about family, man.
Guest:And that's, once again, we felt bad because we were just, I knew I was focused on my own shit.
Guest:Once I left the house, I was just focused on comedy.
Guest:That was just what it was.
Guest:I was on the road.
Guest:I was doing all the shit.
Guest:I lived with two other comedians.
Guest:That's just what it was.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:But I didn't realize, damn, I wasn't paying attention to, you know, this is the youngest, right?
Guest:We supposed to look out for him.
Guest:But when he came out, you know, like hands on with him.
Guest:I had him like coming to all my shows with me just to see a cool, just see some dope shit.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Just take him out with me.
Guest:Make him feel part of something.
Guest:Part of something.
Guest:Did that prison fuck with his head?
Guest:I think it did at first.
Guest:It made him real, he didn't trust anybody.
Guest:But the great thing about it, when he went to, like one of my homies was there too.
Guest:So it was somebody looking out for him, too.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Guest:But at the same time, like, it took us really, like, really molding and just when I think about it now, like, he's dope as fuck.
Marc:Well, just being supportive and, you know, being there when he's got questions and stuff.
Marc:That's great, man.
Guest:And I put all that in the show, but it was so weird for people like, that's the stereotype.
Guest:Like, it's not a fucking stereotype.
Yeah.
Guest:And also, I wanted to show a guy from that situation clean up.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:How's the stereotype that it happens every fucking day?
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's a jail full of people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:I mean, even they even I'll tell you the test audience, even.
Guest:Felt like we wasn't hard enough on him when he got out.
Guest:And I thought that was insane, too.
Guest:Because I'm like, oh, maybe you ain't never.
Guest:First of all, if somebody been in jail for a year, whatever time.
Guest:We ain't going to come out like, motherfucker, look at you, you fucking bum.
Guest:They already caught it.
Guest:They was in jail.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he's your brother.
Guest:He's your brother.
Guest:You come out, you're going to love on him.
Marc:yeah i thought that was i'm like who are these people who were those people just random people they pick they to do to watch shit what do you think it was uh because like it seems to me that that those kind of questions are coming out of some sort of uh you know white guilt right crazy part was black people yeah it was brothers in there like yeah because that's not realistic that they just were supportive when he got out of jail i'm like what maybe not your family
Guest:Like, yeah, that's what I thought was crazy.
Guest:Like, they throw parties for people when they going to jail.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I'm through.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So they can feel good because they're going to jail.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I wonder what that is.
Marc:I guess the weird thing is that for people who it's not their experience, they think it's some sort of stereotype just because it's not their life.
Guest:It's not their life.
Guest:And that's funny.
Guest:I don't look at somebody that grew up in the suburbs.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Tell me what your experience is.
Guest:I can't guess this shit.
Guest:I'm an asshole.
Guest:I'm just going to guess your life.
Guest:And I think that's fun.
Guest:I think that's what's going to be fun about my show, Knock on Wood, if they pick it up.
Guest:Which, honestly, I don't say this about a lot of stuff.
Guest:It looks really good.
Guest:It's really funny.
Guest:I'm very proud of it.
Guest:Who's the other supporting cast?
Guest:Sinbad plays my dad.
Guest:Yeah, and he's hysterical.
Guest:Yeah, nonstop, man.
Guest:He is.
Guest:And you know what's dope about Sinbad?
Guest:Even when he wasn't in scenes, he would just hang out on set, man.
Guest:Oh, sure.
Guest:I'd be like, man, that was good, man.
Guest:I like it, man.
Guest:I'm telling you, man.
Guest:You're doing it, man.
Guest:He likes to put on a show too.
Guest:He was hysterical.
Guest:He always had a story.
Guest:I heard some amazing stories.
Guest:It's so funny.
Guest:The funniest story he told was.
Guest:So it's a video where James Brown was in concert and Michael Jackson and Prince.
Guest:I don't know if you've ever seen the video at the concert.
Guest:He brings Michael Jackson on stage.
Guest:Michael Jackson kill it.
Guest:Then Michael Jackson whispers in his ear that he brings Prince on stage.
Guest:Just a great video.
Guest:First of all, I could tell James Brown didn't know who Prince was.
Guest:He's like, Prince?
Guest:Prince?
Guest:He's calling his name.
Guest:Prince?
Guest:Prince?
Guest:Prince?
Guest:So Prince is on somebody's shoulders walking through the crowd.
Guest:The guy puts him on stage.
Guest:He's a little guy.
Guest:So this is the story.
Guest:I've seen this video a million times.
Guest:I get joy from watching.
Guest:Man, that's so cool.
Guest:All of us at the concert hanging out, supporting each other.
Guest:And somebody's like, nah, Michael and Prince didn't like each other.
Guest:I said, what?
Guest:I said, no, man, they didn't like each other.
Guest:That night, that concert, he described, I was like, wait, the video I seen?
Guest:Like, yeah, man, Michael Jackson tried to hit Prince with his car.
Guest:Like, what?
Guest:Hit him with his car?
Guest:Yeah, he tried to, it's like these people, yeah, man, they used to try to run each other all the time, man.
Marc:Oh, man.
Guest:It was crazy, they didn't like each other at all.
Guest:So Michael Jackson brought him up because he knew Prince was drunk.
Guest:Oh, right.
Marc:He ruined your nice video for you.
Marc:He ruined the brotherhood.
Marc:It makes it funnier.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Like, oh, look at this.
Marc:Well, Sinbad's seen it all.
Marc:He's been around a long time.
Marc:He's a legend, man.
Marc:I think we forget that, too.
Marc:I do.
Marc:I think he's a guy that doesn't get the credit he deserves.
Marc:He doesn't.
Marc:Because he delivers the goods all the time still, and he riffs like crazy.
Marc:He'll just go out there with nothing.
Marc:That's why I wanted him on the show.
Marc:Did he improvise a lot?
Marc:Did you let him?
Guest:Yeah, we let him do that.
Guest:Who plays your mom?
Guest:So I'm sticking to real life, so my mom has passed away in this.
Guest:But it is an episode I want to do that, because he talks about it.
Guest:My dad in the show talks about, you know, things have been different since our mom has been gone.
Guest:So it is an episode idea where I do want to do this flashback episode of just Sinbad just show his chops.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I think it'll be fun to do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:yeah it's it's it's so because i wanted who plays the brother my brother is jordan l jones this young guy um kind of no name actor yeah actor i think he started to do comedy so funny yeah i watched every audition tape i watched everybody yeah you got it some people don't i realize a lot of people don't oh you want they watch who the casting director brings i watch everybody it's wild it gets a little painful sometimes
Guest:Well, you know, I think from being on the other side of it, I actually enjoy it.
Guest:You want to give them a chance.
Guest:If I have friends who have shows, they want me to come watch audition tapes with them, I'll do it.
Guest:I like watching auditions.
Guest:I like watching what choices somebody makes.
Guest:Sure, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Crazy choice, why would you do that?
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:Yeah, and it's weird.
Marc:Sometimes people on tape are different than when you meet them, too.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:I mean, it's happened a couple times.
Guest:Like, with Jordan, I knew he was my brother.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think me and Gerard was at dinner, and I didn't even listen to his audition.
Guest:I just saw his mannerism.
Guest:Like, oh, this is my little brother.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like, I just knew it.
Guest:And then when I watched him, like, oh, yeah, this is him.
Guest:And then my best friend, which is...
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I can say this.
Guest:So one of my best friends is Tiffany Haddish.
Guest:That's like for real.
Guest:For real in your life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Did she start in Chicago?
Guest:No.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:I met her.
Guest:We did a show called Bill Bellamy's Who Got Jokes.
Guest:Bill Bellamy.
Guest:On TV One.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And she won her episode in LA.
Guest:So they flew the winners from the other cities to Chicago to see our episode.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I won my episode in Chicago.
Guest:And I'm backstage and I'm about to go to the dressing room or wherever.
Guest:And I hear somebody say,
Guest:That part.
Guest:Hey, boy, come here.
Guest:I'm like, who's that?
Guest:We're going to be friends.
Guest:We're going to be like, who the hell are you, lady?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:We're going to be friends.
Guest:You are so funny.
Guest:We're going to be friends.
Guest:And you're still friends.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's where my friend sits there.
Guest:I don't see a lot of platonic friendships on TV.
Marc:With men and women?
Guest:Right.
Guest:Because it usually ends up when they're together and all that shit.
Guest:I wanted to show just a friendship and that's just what it is.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which is what we did a good job of writing and putting in the show.
Guest:That's great.
Guest:It's a comedian named Jess Hilarious.
Guest:She became like...
Guest:She got like four million followers on Instagram.
Guest:That's how I found her.
Guest:I was following her on Instagram.
Guest:I thought she was fucking hysterical.
Guest:She got something called Jess with the Mess where she just goes in on celebrities and she's fucking hysterical.
Marc:And that's her real name?
Guest:Yeah, Jessica.
Guest:But Jess Hilarious is what she's known as.
Marc:That's what she goes as.
Guest:Is she going to be listed as that in the credits?
Guest:What we did, I think we put her first name with Jess Hilarious in her last name.
Guest:But she is hysteric.
Guest:The network gave me a fight for both of them, because they both were green, like she would say.
Guest:But she played everything really to any actress I saw.
Guest:I saw some really great actresses out there.
Guest:I mean, I had to fire somebody, and that was tough at the table read.
Guest:I was like, oh, what?
Guest:We doing that?
Guest:That was the most, that was the EP thing.
Guest:An actor?
Guest:And then you cast her as her first.
Guest:So the first version of that.
Guest:Tough man, right?
Guest:And you're in this meeting with the execs, and they tell you all this great shit and other little notes, and they're like, oh yeah, so we have to get rid of, I'm like, wait.
Guest:And they did it to her last year, which is crazy, the actress.
Guest:The same actress?
Guest:After the table read, yes, fired.
Guest:And I was like, I stopped the meeting, like, okay, y'all, before we...
Guest:Okay, y'all know y'all did this last year, right?
Guest:It's just quiet in the room.
Guest:First of all, it was my first time that he peels up, so I'm just like, I'm green in the room.
Guest:I'm like, okay, let's stop this.
Guest:So y'all want to fire her again.
Guest:Jesus Christ.
Guest:I'm like, this is mean.
Guest:I'm the only one that think that.
Marc:Yeah, acting's a tough racket.
Marc:Aren't you glad you're a comic, too?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's like, Gerard loves, oh, God, he loves being a producer.
Guest:He's like a evil genius.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:He just loves all of it.
Guest:You know, but.
Marc:So are you guys, you're not running the show though, are you?
Guest:Our show runner is Mike Scully.
Guest:How do I know that guy?
Guest:He wrote on the, he writes on The Simpsons.
Guest:Oh right, that's right, yeah, yeah.
Guest:He did Carmichael's show with us.
Guest:He's really dope.
Guest:And we just got a good group, like Joshua Bennewitz and Kevin Barnett, who I did Friends of the People with.
Guest:Right.
Guest:They're writers and producers also on the show.
Guest:So it was just friends.
Guest:How many people in the writing room?
Guest:Just us?
Guest:Oh, for the first show?
Marc:Yeah, so you haven't really made a room yet.
Guest:No, I actually started meeting writers, which is always weird.
Guest:I'm taking meetings for something that might not happen.
Guest:It's kind of awkward.
Guest:Show business.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You got to do it.
Marc:You might as well do it.
Guest:I say, just in case I get a show, let's talk.
Marc:If things are looking good and we really like your stuff, I'll let you know.
Marc:But in terms of acting, though, did you train at all?
Marc:Nah.
Marc:See, some people are just naturals, you know what I mean?
Guest:It is just, and it's from, like, when I was a little kid, I did, like, the plays and stuff.
Marc:What do you mean?
Guest:Like, I did plays in grammar school.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:Like, I made the high school play.
Guest:I was, like, in seventh grade.
Guest:I wouldn't audition for...
Guest:So you were always into it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You knew early on that you loved being on stage.
Guest:I knew this.
Guest:I wrote a show called Name Your Adventure.
Guest:They used to come on NBC.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was hosted by Mario Lopez.
Guest:It was only on, they only showed like six episodes, but I was in it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I wrote this show like, yo, I want my adventures to be on The Living Color.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And they wrote me back like the show was canceled.
Guest:Sorry.
Guest:Good luck, kid.
Guest:You'll figure it out.
Guest:Your dreams will come true.
Guest:He does whatever they tell a kid.
Guest:I was like, what?
Guest:What?
Guest:The show's canceled.
Guest:I just saw an episode a minute ago.
Yeah.
Guest:Which show was it?
Guest:Name Your Adventure.
Guest:And what was that about?
Guest:It was on NBC.
Guest:They just grant kids adventures.
Guest:So you'll write a man.
Guest:You want to be on Living Color?
Guest:Yeah, that was my adventure.
Guest:And weren't you part of a reboot?
Marc:I was.
Marc:That's what made it full circle.
Marc:You should write those producers and say, you know what?
Marc:It did work out, but they didn't pick it up.
Guest:Dream came true.
Guest:I told Kenan that the first day.
Guest:I was like, hey, man, you probably ain't going to believe me, but I wrote a show called Name Your Adventure.
Guest:I feel like I was the only kid watching it.
Guest:Every time I bring it up, nobody else.
Guest:I never heard of it.
Guest:It was a song, Name Your Adventure.
Guest:It was like a whole song and everything.
Marc:Was it on for a long time?
Marc:It was NBC.
Marc:Was it on a long time?
Marc:No, just one season.
Marc:That's why no one watched it.
Marc:But I thought it was amazing.
Marc:I'm like, wow, this is cool.
Marc:What was the angle on the Living Color reboot?
Marc:I mean, what happened there?
Marc:It was Keenan?
Guest:Yeah, Keenan Ivory Williams is still the man.
Guest:When we first got, so this is such a, it probably could be a short film, just what happened.
Guest:But when we first got casted, the new cast, we were supposed to do sketches with the original cast, too.
Marc:Wow, that's a lot of weigh-ins.
Guest:It was going to be fun.
Guest:But they were still there.
Guest:So Jim Carrey, everybody was coming back.
Guest:Really?
Guest:But from what I heard, Fox was paying them next to nothing.
Guest:I think they were paying these superstars really nothing.
Guest:Like David Alan Greer.
Guest:David Alan Greer, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Sean.
Guest:Jamie?
Guest:Everybody was coming back.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And Damon was the first one like, no, forget this.
Guest:And everybody just followed his lead.
Guest:So I remember the first day of shooting, I'm excited.
Guest:We've been looking at these scripts all week.
Guest:I show up and like David's packing all the stuff.
Guest:I was like, where you going, David?
Guest:Yeah, not doing it.
Guest:And he just left.
Guest:I'm like, what?
Guest:And that's when we found out like, wait, they all left?
Guest:So now it's panic around the set.
Guest:And like I had to learn sketches on the spot.
Guest:So they was sliding scripts under the door.
Guest:Like, hey, you and this sketch.
Guest:You're like, what?
Marc:So they were rewriting the whole show the day of?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And how many did you shoot?
Marc:How many sketches we shot?
Marc:Oh, you didn't even make a whole show?
Marc:No.
Guest:I think we made it a pilot.
Guest:That's what we did.
Marc:So all those cats, what, the day of?
Marc:The day of.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:See, that's a kick in the ass by show business.
Guest:But it was still fun, though.
Guest:I can't even lie to you.
Guest:Keenan Rewinds, it was like everything happened for a reason to me.
Guest:And I became a better actor and all that because of that.
Guest:And I got a chance to talk to him.
Guest:I used to sit with Keenan for lunch.
Guest:The first few times, he's looking at me like, dude, you can sit.
Guest:You don't want to sit somewhere else?
Guest:He's like, nope.
Guest:I don't know if I ever had this moment again, brother.
Guest:And then he started just telling these cool stories, man.
Marc:He's a smart guy.
Marc:I haven't seen him in a long time.
Marc:Was he just telling you about the old days?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I love hearing those.
Guest:I'm that guy.
Guest:You tell me stories all day.
Guest:I love hearing just straight stories about stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So you remember when they did the tour a couple years ago, like they was on tour.
Guest:It was Sean, Marlon, Damon, and Kenan.
Guest:Oh, I didn't realize.
Guest:So I went to see the show.
Guest:I went to the one in Jersey.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And such a funny story with that, too.
Guest:But I went to the show.
Guest:Well...
Guest:When the reboot didn't happen, I ended up doing an interview and somebody took what I said out of place.
Guest:They said I blamed Damon Wayans as the reason why it didn't get picked up.
Guest:I didn't say that, but that's what they twisted.
Guest:That was the first time I learned that can happen.
Guest:Like, oh, damn, you got to watch what you say because somebody could just twist that shit.
Guest:And I felt so terrible.
Guest:I remember that day, I felt drastically bad.
Guest:And I remember, like,
Guest:About being set up?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I told Kenan, I'm sorry, man.
Guest:Kenan said, don't worry about it.
Guest:I was on the road.
Guest:I sat in my hotel room in the dark.
Guest:I felt terrible.
Guest:Like you fucked up.
Guest:Yeah, because it went viral for a second.
Guest:I'm like, oh, shit.
Marc:That's the worst, and you're alone in the hotel room.
Guest:I'm tearing up.
Guest:I didn't ruin my-
Guest:I didn't say that.
Guest:Destroyed my life.
Guest:The Wayans are going to hate me.
Guest:The Wayans army.
Guest:But Kenan, that's what he explained to me.
Guest:Like, bruh, ain't a big deal.
Guest:You know, they are misconstrued.
Guest:That's why you got to watch what information you give and how you say it and all that shit.
Guest:And so anyway, I go backstage.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:after he told you and Damon was like this is like a this is a wild I didn't think they talked to each other I don't know what the fuck I'm about so Damon was like what the fuck did you say again and walked up on me and I'm like I'm about to fight this like the way he did it so now I'm a little nervous cause Damon ain't a little guy like fuck and he just hugged me they all started fucking laughing I was like fuck y'all right I was like
Guest:Do y'all know how stressful I was about the whole thing?
Marc:He knew.
Marc:He obviously knew.
Guest:That's why I love that family, man.
Guest:They're really dope, and they all are so talented, man.
Guest:I used to love watching Damon.
Guest:I used to love watching him.
Guest:He's brilliant, man.
Guest:He's so good.
Marc:He'd do characters, he'd stay in them a real long time, and it was just wild to watch him.
Guest:Didn't give a fuck.
Guest:I saw him that night, and I remember leaving, calling comics like, yo, ain't nobody.
Guest:None of us better than this motherfucker.
Guest:He's like, he is the man.
Guest:Yeah, and people don't know him as that.
Guest:That's what's so interesting.
Guest:I don't know if it needs to be another documentary done.
Guest:How can we save these guys' reputation as comics when they don't do it anymore?
Guest:I wouldn't mind doing something just focused on the storytellers and the character work comics and just focus on that.
Guest:I remember when I did Last Comic Standing, and that was one of the reasons why I was eliminated.
Guest:They said my set felt like it was sketchy, like I was doing a sketch.
Marc:I fucking hate when people do that because that is what stand-up was.
Marc:Like the great guys, the guys who could tell stories, the guys who did voices, they all did voices.
Marc:Even Lenny Bruce did fucking voices, like the characters.
Marc:Pryor, the old Cosby.
Marc:You know, not, you know, but, you know, the original Cosby stuff.
Marc:I mean, like they were all doing characters.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And that was what stand up was.
Marc:I don't like when people say, oh, you're a storyteller.
Marc:It's like, no, I'm not a stand up comic.
Marc:That's the way it was.
Marc:There were joke guys.
Marc:There were story guys.
Guest:I didn't like the way they started separating what.
Guest:And that's what I hate to say that.
Guest:That's what shows like that does and try to control what comedy is.
Guest:And comedy is so many different things.
Guest:That's why, you know, you hear about some people who, like, hate Dane Cook.
Guest:There's so many styles of it.
Guest:Like, I don't, there's no way to put a finger on it.
Guest:This is the style you should, no, fam.
Marc:And there's so many comics.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There's so many comics.
Marc:So, but no, but I, it's something that I get, I get mad about it.
Marc:Like when they say, like, well, Maren's a storyteller.
Marc:I'm like, what are you talking about?
Marc:that's what stand-up is that's what stand-up is yeah they i mean there are joke guys but that you can't have everybody being joke guys it's just be annoying i could i can't i can't do that to save my life i can't either i mean i when i write a joke by accident i'll do it and i'll be like this is a great joke and i'm but i have to fight myself from announcing it's like i don't write jokes like this yeah but i did this one you know what i do is i usually put a joke in a story like i i'm
Marc:oh yeah yeah i'll make the joke a story because i can't just tell this joke it's satisfying the first couple times but then you're just sort of like wearing out like you get bored with it right because it's like but i wrote this one joke and i'm like this is what why it feels so good but guys who do jokes they write a hundred of those yeah am i gonna do that i'm like no i lucked into this one i didn't i didn't write it just happened so when did you start how old were you when you started
Guest:I always tell people it's almost two beginnings with comedy.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Because you start probably while you're still working a job or in school, so you're not doing it regularly.
Guest:I started 19 is the first time I went on stage.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I was still going to Harry Washington College, and I was working.
Guest:So I was only able to go once.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What were you studying in college?
Guest:I don't have a real major.
Guest:I just went because I didn't want to look like I wasn't doing shit.
Guest:yeah you know i mean i knew i wanted to do stand-up but i didn't i didn't know how to figure i had to figure out a way to let my family know this is what the fuck i was gonna do so i was like let me go to hair washington college yeah well i don't have to have a because i had a college scholarship it was a hair washington college community college downtown it was like a little small two-year thing yeah yeah yeah so it was like i could major in math i don't know just so they think you're doing something yeah yeah you know i mean so i did that
Guest:But I was going up at the Lion's Den, which is where I started going up.
Guest:I went there.
Guest:I heard of that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:On Monday night, I almost got jumped leaving there one night from a Hispanic gang and shit.
Guest:I used to wear my hat to the left.
Guest:What kind of place was it?
Guest:It was a small bar.
Guest:I remember, you know how you first start, everything looks big?
Guest:Like, oh, man, this place is big on the stage.
Guest:And it was just a mic?
Guest:Yeah, it was just an open mic.
Guest:And I remember going back and watching like...
Marc:i thought this place was huge this little tiny ass like a place this to me this place was like the biggest yeah yeah it's very interesting well yeah because you're on stage yeah so of course you're gonna think it's huge yeah i don't think a lot of the places i started were huge because there was always so few people there
Guest:But that's the thing, too.
Guest:I think once you start doing it in front of strangers, you don't even think about it.
Guest:It's just the audience to you.
Guest:So it's almost like that little small spot is a theater to me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Isn't that weird, though?
Marc:I don't know if you did, but you go up for nine people and be like, life or death, man.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:For nine fucking people.
Marc:You just hang your whole sense of yourself on these fucking people.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:sitting there, one guy by himself, three top, and then the four people in back, and you're like, oh, fuck, man.
Guest:I gotta give it to him.
Guest:Yeah, I gotta, this better go good, man.
Guest:Oh, that's, yeah, that's so, it's so funny, like, because I started then, and then.
Guest:What kind of open mic was it?
Guest:Just an open mic?
Guest:It used to be like 20 people go up.
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was like crazy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that was fun, and then.
Guest:Where were you working?
Guest:The day job?
Guest:I worked at TTC.
Guest:It was a telemarketing company.
Guest:We sold like all those, you know, calling old people like, hey, you want the bill, the vitamins, you know, pills and all that.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Soul killing job.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But you didn't give a shit.
Guest:No, I needed the money.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Were you married then?
Guest:Nah.
Guest:Not yet?
Guest:I didn't get married until I was 28.
Guest:So I was already, I was like, by the time I met my wife, I like started kind of
Guest:In Chicago, because this is what I did, this was my plan, right?
Guest:I was like, I went to Jamie Foxx's Laugh Palooza one year, and Jamie Foxx used to do this festival, Laugh Palooza in Atlanta.
Guest:And I went to one of those symposiums or whatever, panels or whatever you call them, and his manager was like, yo, the smartest thing you could do is be the man in your city first.
Guest:and then try to venture out yeah so that's what i did i like really hustled like d ray you know i used to see d ray had a club uh riddles comedy club riddles yeah on sunday nights which was like everybody used to come there like kind yeah everybody used to it was like the that was the famous black comedy club yeah riddles sunday night i think i talked to didn't they make a documentary about
Guest:oh no no you're talking about all jokes aside that's a different club but like riddles was the first it was just dope as fuck like every fine everybody dope they was buying bottles of champagne that's how crazy it was so D-Ray made a killing from that like he used to do a night there he did a night just Sunday nights 300 seats
Guest:He got the door.
Guest:He used to sell out.
Guest:We'd do like two or three shows sometimes.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And that's how he started?
Guest:That's not how he started, but I think that's what helped him pay for his way to come out.
Guest:He's a Chicago guy.
Guest:He's a Chicago guy.
Guest:That's the first person I saw really... Like Damon Williams is somebody who we call the godfather there, who's another Chicago person, but...
Guest:D-Ray was the first one I've ever saw hustle it and make money for real, like how to do it like that.
Guest:And I'm like, oh, I guess this is, I want to do it.
Guest:It's like he figured out how to make, he sold comedy like it was drugs.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like, yo, this is brilliant.
Guest:Even the way he promoted, party promoters, the way they promoted in Chicago, the style came from D-Ray.
Guest:D-Ray was like passing out flies with people who was going to work at the train, going to the club, like doing that his cell.
Guest:I used to go with him.
Guest:And I thought that was brilliant.
Guest:You were opening for him?
Guest:I used to seat every Sunday.
Guest:I used to seat the people to get five minutes every Sunday.
Guest:And all the comics thought I was degrading myself by doing that shit and all this other thing.
Guest:You were what for doing it?
Guest:It's not degrading, just seating people.
Guest:No, I want to go up every week at the hottest spot.
Guest:I will seat people.
Marc:And he gives me $50.
Marc:I was the doorman at the comedy store.
Marc:What are you going to do?
Marc:You're around the shit.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Some people care about an image of looking like they're somebody.
Guest:When you're nothing?
Guest:When you're nothing.
Guest:And it doesn't make any sense.
Guest:It doesn't make any difference either.
Guest:I thought it made people nicer to me because I would seat them and speak to them.
Guest:So when I went up, they was like, oh, it's the guy that sat us.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Marc:Yeah, make a good impression.
Marc:Did you get tips and shit?
Guest:I ain't get no tips.
Guest:But I had so much fun doing that.
Guest:And eventually I ended up hosting.
Guest:When D-Ray moved to...
Guest:LA.
Marc:So that was your regular gig, Sunday nights.
Guest:Sunday nights.
Marc:You'd seat the people, you'd give you 50 bucks, you'd have five minutes, and it was just you two or there was a whole bunch of people?
Guest:No, no, it was a whole show.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was like Chicago, like comics on the road used to be so afraid because all the Chicago comics would come up there to destroy it.
Guest:Like who were the guys?
Guest:You got people like Leon Rogers and Corey Holcomb and Damon Williams and B. Cole.
Guest:There's so many comics from that comic view.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:That was just fucking hidden at the time.
Guest:But then we'll have people like Tony Roberts and Cat Williams.
Guest:He brought Rudy Ray more than Dolomite.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, who Cat did?
Guest:No, D. Ray.
Guest:D. Ray booked it, too.
Guest:He brought Dolomite?
Guest:Dolomite.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:was at Riddle's Cabaret.
Guest:And let me tell you, I opened for Dolomite.
Guest:Had a fun time, great set.
Guest:You did or you didn't?
Guest:I did.
Guest:Couldn't wait to meet him, right?
Guest:He was nice to me in the lobby because I bought like a couple DVDs too.
Guest:Go on stage and shit on all of us for not having our own theme song.
Guest:Your own theme song?
Guest:He's like, these motherfuckers ain't comedians?
Guest:You don't even got your own goddamn song.
Guest:I'm like, what?
Guest:Was he funny?
Guest:He was just shitting on us for 15.
Guest:I don't even really remember.
Guest:I just remember like shitting on us about not doing comedy right.
Guest:Were people happy to see him?
Guest:They were.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because he did.
Guest:First of all, his intro was long as fuck because he got his own song.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He had the cape on and shit, he had the cane.
Guest:Old school bullshit.
Guest:It was Dolomite, man.
Marc:So you're doing this every Sunday with D-Ray, and you get to see everybody.
Marc:See, that's the thing that people don't realize about working the door and doing those kind of things in a bigger venue, is then you get to study all the dudes.
Marc:You get to watch Cat Williams in a small club.
Marc:That must have been great.
Marc:J.B.
Guest:Smoove was...
Guest:For the longest, I had a tape of him because I taped myself that night and I just kept it on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So funny.
Guest:Man, it's one of the, like to me, one of the funniest people I've ever seen that ever made me, like you can hear me cough laughing.
Guest:I got sick from laughing.
Guest:He's just so, like the way he milks a joke, it's just like.
Guest:He's got that weird way of talking.
Guest:Come on, man.
Guest:You got to do it like this.
Guest:Goddamn, man.
Guest:If you're big, you got to do big shit.
Guest:But he was the first headliner that was like extremely nice to me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I remember I hung out with him one day.
Guest:He let me hang out with him and shit.
Guest:Like, oh shit, JP Spoon let me party with him.
Guest:We went out.
Guest:And it was just fun.
Guest:He kept asking women for cheese.
Guest:It was fucking weird, but it was just fucking hysterical.
Guest:I just laughed like, you got some cheese in it?
Guest:She's like, what?
Guest:Some cheese.
Guest:He's a weird dude.
Guest:It's fucking hysterical.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So the buses stopped running and I couldn't get home.
Guest:She's like, no, you can sleep on the floor, man.
Guest:And I met people talking like, man, you know, I'm trying to get it, man.
Guest:I'm trying to get it.
Guest:He lived in Chicago?
Guest:No.
Guest:So he ended up meeting his wife.
Guest:That's so crazy.
Guest:He's from New York.
Guest:Yeah, because that's where I thought he started.
Guest:But he used to come to Chicago.
Guest:D-Ray loved bringing him to Riddles.
Guest:Riddles, we love JB motherfucking smooth.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:oh god like this what's so funny about certain cities that get certain type of comedy in a way Chicago loves that shit yeah when you can tell stories when you can fucking do characters like they fucking yeah he was milking shit it's a show it's a show yeah and comics what I used to love about it when JB came to town all of us were there oh yeah all of us he had a real following it was all the comics back there fucking dying oh that's great yeah I had no idea about that about him
Guest:Man, it's odd.
Guest:That's what's so funny.
Guest:Because in New York, he was just another dude in New York.
Guest:That's so funny you say that.
Guest:The way I talk about him sometimes to New York cast, they're like, I mean, Jace B's cool.
Guest:I'm like, what?
Guest:Motherfucker, he's a legend.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I love that.
Guest:I learned how to milk a joke because of that guy.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, you just don't stop.
Marc:Yeah, you just keep pushing.
Marc:Man, that shit...
Marc:That's a good skill.
Marc:It's one that I just started in the last few years trying to do, to just keep pushing it if you can.
Guest:If you can find that wave and stay on it.
Guest:Well, that's funny, too.
Guest:Being a comedy fan, I remember watching the old tape of myself, and I'm watching myself kind of sound like J.B.
Guest:Smoove.
Guest:Sure, of course.
Guest:Because I was young, I didn't know who the fuck I was.
Guest:And I'll crack it up like, what the fuck was I doing?
Guest:But then it's so funny once you figure out you.
Guest:Yeah, it goes away.
Guest:It goes away.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You still got the skill set, but it goes away.
Guest:It's so common.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think people are scared to talk about that sometimes.
Guest:Like, yo.
Guest:we start because of who we love.
Marc:So you tend to sound like them at first.
Marc:And you don't know, you don't know how to do it and you don't do it on purpose.
Marc:No.
Marc:You just like, you know, it just, it's some, it's a, it's a way to get, you just borrow the confidence is really, I think is what it really comes down to is it's almost innate.
Marc:You're going to take your, absorb your hero's confidence.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And like for a while there, there was like a bunch of a tells in New York and
Marc:There was Hedbergs everywhere for a while, right?
Marc:Oh, God, yeah.
Marc:You just see it ripple through the community, and then cats grow out of it.
Marc:They grow out of it.
Marc:So what was the big break?
Marc:After doing that, when did you start headlining around Chicago?
Guest:Fast, really.
Guest:I mean, I just got good fast.
Guest:And when I started hosting Riddles, that's when it started to be even better.
Guest:Because you get to go back up every time.
Guest:Go back every time.
Guest:Is that when you start working the characters?
Guest:Well, that...
Guest:Yeah, but then I started going, I hosted this open mic that was not even comedy.
Guest:It was like rappers, fucking singers, poets, and just me freestyling and roasting and doing all this shit.
Guest:It gave me so much freedom to play around and insane confidence.
Guest:I became this crazy little spot that was just a Masonic Hall.
Guest:And you made the open mic?
Guest:No, this dope deal out, dude.
Guest:He was a promoter.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was fun.
Guest:And because it wasn't comedy, you could fucking experiment.
Guest:You could just play, yo.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You could play with music.
Guest:You could do so much shit.
Guest:So by the time all that happened, then Mary Lindsay came and opened Jokes and Notes Comedy Club up.
Guest:And that's when my career trajectory was like, all right, everything started changing.
Guest:When she opened that club up,
Guest:I remember I featured for another comic, and after I featured, she said, you can't feature for nobody no more.
Guest:Who was that?
Guest:You're the only headline.
Marc:Who did you feature?
Marc:You gave him a run for his money?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It was crazy.
Guest:She's like, you can't feature no more.
Guest:You're headlining here for the now.
Marc:Yeah, because even if you're holding back, that feature spot's sweet.
Marc:You get some payback for that eventually.
Marc:If you blow a headliner off, it'll come back around at some point.
Guest:But you know what's funny?
Guest:I like when somebody kills in front of me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, kill, please.
Guest:Because I have to be better then.
Guest:I can't walk in like that.
Guest:That's what's so weird when you do hear about headliners who ask for certain features.
Guest:They know who the shitty feature is.
Guest:Like, yeah, it's perfect.
Guest:This guy does it.
Guest:Or if you're a black comic, give me a white comic.
Guest:I don't want no other black comic on the show.
Guest:So I can have the only black opinion.
Marc:I just like guys to do what they do.
Marc:I don't want them to do what I do, but I want them to do what they do and then do it well.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I've been with Joker with Hannibal.
Guest:It's so funny because Hannibal, like I said, I first met him.
Guest:When he was in college and he opened for me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He kind of bummed.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he was funny as fuck to me.
Guest:I'm like, yo, you're fucking hysterical.
Guest:I bought him a drink at the after party.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's how we became cool, actually.
Guest:Well, it's so funny because when he started, he was different.
Guest:But then the switch, like I would literally watch this dude go from that to like a star.
Guest:And I'm like, hey, can I open for you?
Guest:Which is, that's why I tell people, it's good to be nice to everybody.
Guest:You don't know who going to be.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And also people get funnier.
Marc:Like he was one of those dudes when I saw him when he was first coming around the alternative room.
Marc:And he was a black dude that was like the black dude at the alt-white shows.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like he was that guy.
Marc:Right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I watched him and I was like, you know, it's good.
Marc:It's thoughtful.
Marc:He's smart.
Marc:But then at some point it's just like something clicked.
Guest:Something clicked.
Marc:Right?
Marc:And then he's coming out with a fucking shiny suit on, doing everything.
Guest:Got music.
Guest:He became that guy.
Guest:I love the fact that he stayed true to himself.
Guest:I mean, as a comedian, we don't pick our audiences, for real.
Guest:We don't know who the fuck will be fans of us.
Guest:We really don't know.
Guest:and I'm proud of that dude.
Guest:It was so funny.
Guest:It was funny watching the switch happen.
Guest:I remember I was at the Just For Last Festival, and I was doing New Faces Unrep, and I didn't like my set because I don't feel like they laughed that hard.
Guest:I just left.
Guest:I went up and left the venue.
Guest:And Handel was telling me, like, where the fuck did you go?
Guest:I was like, hey, man, I left, man.
Guest:I was fucking bummed.
Guest:I was like, no, you did.
Guest:You did great.
Guest:I said, I didn't want nobody laughing.
Guest:I was like, no, because it's all fucking execs here writing shit down.
Guest:They all looking for you.
Guest:I'm like, for reals?
Guest:I was like, yeah, I left.
Guest:I'm at a party with Russell Peters.
Guest:I thought I ate it.
Guest:But it's just funny watching that dynamic of it, but it's even more fascinating when it turns back around.
Guest:So like, me and Hannibal for no reason go to the Essence Festival the last two years, just last minute calling, like, yo, let's just go to Essence Festival.
Guest:Like, all right, cool.
Guest:And I remember we went one year and, you know, Hannibal walking around, people, oh, Hannibal Bird's like, look, you know.
Guest:Then we went last year, this is after Get Out came out.
Guest:I couldn't go no far, to the point he tucked it to my security.
Guest:He helped you out?
Guest:Yeah, because I couldn't fucking go.
Guest:And I've never had that before.
Guest:And I didn't think straight about, like, oh, I can't just walk around.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:The fuck am I doing?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Yeah, you're getting a lot of attention.
Guest:Oh, my God, yeah.
Guest:Once you take one picture, it's like shit.
Guest:Oh, yeah, then they converge.
Guest:But it was funny watching that and just watching us be at this cool place.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It's like, all right, man.
Guest:I think we stars now or something, right, brother?
Marc:Cool, right?
Marc:That's nice.
Marc:That's nice.
Marc:And you're both good guys, and it doesn't seem like, you know, because I think some people become a certain type of star where they just leave everybody behind and you don't know them anymore.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I've seen that a couple times.
Guest:It's a good group of us that are friends, man.
Guest:I mean, I look at the Lucas Brothers.
Guest:I look at Jermaine Fowler.
Guest:I look at Gerard.
Guest:I look at Tiffany.
Guest:It's just everybody's cool.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Those are good people.
Guest:And doing well.
Guest:Like, you know.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So jokes and notes happen, right?
Guest:Jokes and notes happen.
Guest:She gives me Wednesday night there, which was just a regular open mic.
Guest:But I'm like, yo, I'm finna make this crazy, though.
Guest:So I'm like.
Guest:And you knew the skills.
Guest:I knew how to promote it.
Guest:I was giving away.
Guest:I made like a comedy CD to give away.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I would go to regular clubs.
Guest:I never understood why comedians promote at other comedy shows.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, go to an audience that's not here.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So I used to go to clubs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like, it'd be a car full of girls.
Guest:I'm like, I'm funny, I'm telling you.
Guest:Uh-huh, we'll see.
Guest:Here's my, listen to the CD on your way home.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I was that confident because it was funny shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like, it started being lying.
Guest:I had a lying around the building every Wednesday.
Guest:Mostly women.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:mostly women that's who you're handing the shit out to yo that's what i because i think i always thought if you have more women that's gonna make the dudes come yeah and that's when the dudes started coming and like like the dope boys would come out it was funny me i actually i think about this makes me laugh i got a chance to like mold people into comedy fans right yeah like people that never been a comedy show yeah i taught them how to act at comedy shows i taught like it's so very interesting yeah
Guest:when I talk to these cats now, especially some of my homies and some street guys, these motherfuckers are like comedy judges now.
Guest:Like his set was good.
Guest:Like who the fuck are you now?
Guest:You remember how to roast you for fucking talking too much?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:So it's funny watching that.
Guest:Like oh yeah, I got a chance to mow the crowd.
Guest:But it became a thing.
Guest:I mean we had an after party.
Guest:People forgot it was an open mic.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was just a big night out.
Guest:People were scared to go out at my shop.
Guest:Newcomers were like, I don't want to go.
Guest:This is a real crowd.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it was every week I was freestyling and my chops got better.
Guest:Like I was just, like my special, like I look at the special I did that Kevin Hart produced.
Guest:Like, I didn't work on it.
Guest:It was just like, I just did the best of what I did.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That's what you were doing.
Guest:They're like, you don't want to go on the road to work on the set?
Guest:I'm like, nope, I got it.
Guest:Kevin's like, come on, man, you need it.
Guest:Nah, nope.
Guest:Don't just do it.
Guest:I promise you.
Guest:It came out great, right?
Guest:Yeah, because you just know it.
Guest:How'd Kevin Hart get involved?
Guest:well you know some i wanted i wanted to be it was more of a strategic thing on my part but i i felt like i wanted to be introduced by a world veteran comedian yeah yeah it thought that'd be fun like because if i talked to said about it first that's who i first talked to who said your entertainer yeah and he was down and then i mentioned it to russell peters or somebody else i was thinking about yeah so but by uh my agent at the time was like yo kevin having to be great i think kevin would want to do it like for real when we talked to kevin kevin's like
Guest:yeah i'm in i'm a big fan you know yeah and uh but that's why i did it that way just because you know it was just an introduction interesting like even like i wouldn't so funny all the rest of the specials kevin like brought he brought them out he was in front i was like hey nah you come at the end of my shit because i don't want you to be a distraction yeah yeah being excited about seeing you at nc because it's my it's my fucking night you know what i mean yeah so with him coming out the end and stamping it
Guest:oh it worked it was perfect yeah it was fucking perfect and you saw a difference it worked big difference oh yeah big difference but that's just like me i knew exactly what i wanted my special to be from you know i had my kids open it up my special because i saw damon wayans do that yeah how old are your kids uh were they nine and eight nine eight and one i got a nine eight and one yo but at the time they were five
Guest:I don't know, like four or five, something like that.
Guest:They were really little.
Guest:When I watch it now, I almost tear up on some dad shit because they were so little and funny.
Guest:But I did it because I saw Damon Wayans do that with his HBO special where he had little Damon.
Guest:I thought that was cute.
Guest:And I'm like, oh, I want to do that.
Guest:It makes you a person.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It makes it.
Guest:And then because of Dolomite, I made an original song.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I made a song called Relevant, which is the name of the special.
Guest:I had my friend record an original song for it.
Guest:And it's so funny, that's what, I thought about, when he said it, I remember the time, like, damn, fuck that.
Guest:But I'm like, man.
Guest:You don't have a song.
Guest:Maybe I should have a song.
Marc:And now you got one.
Marc:Now I got one.
Marc:Now I got a song.
Marc:So what happened with the, you know, what happened with the personal life?
Guest:I mean, life is life.
Guest:So I got married at 28.
Guest:I met my ex-wife.
Guest:She used to come to the comedy.
Guest:She used to come to Jokes and Notes.
Guest:Yeah, for the Wednesdays?
Guest:Yep.
Guest:And she was a regular, too, like a regular fan.
Guest:Married a fan.
Guest:I did that.
Guest:You said I did that.
Guest:It's a good way to lose a fan.
Guest:But she was nice, though.
Guest:And at that time, I was looking to sit.
Guest:I was having a great time.
Guest:I'm hosting this high-open mic for the last few years.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was smart too.
Guest:Some dudes would've probably banged every chick.
Guest:I didn't do that.
Guest:It was almost like my jokes was like,
Guest:My jokes was a stripper.
Guest:Like I was so sexy through comedy.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:So it's like they all were there like, I mean like fine motherfuckers.
Guest:And sometimes I make myself like, how the fuck did I pull that off?
Guest:But it helped me though, you know what I'm saying?
Guest:Made you strong.
Guest:It just made you, Chicago made me feel like a star.
Guest:So when I went to New York and LA, I felt,
Guest:like I was dope already.
Guest:I had so much confidence.
Guest:People used to ask, why are you so confident?
Guest:Because of Chicago.
Guest:You got nervous?
Guest:Nah.
Guest:This is a place there that loves me, so yes.
Guest:But I met her.
Guest:The funny story is I met her twice.
Guest:The first time I met her, she went to Tennessee State University and D-Ray, we used to do these colleges, and D-Ray used to send me out to the colleges early
Guest:To promote the show.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So I'll be on somebody campus for a week.
Guest:It's almost like I was a student.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Just walking around and shit, passing off lines.
Guest:So you really, you worked for D-Rack.
Guest:I basically did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But because he gave me opportunities.
Guest:Is he still your friend?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Hell yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's still my big brother.
Guest:Because I appreciate the, like, I'm so glad I had to work for these opportunities.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It wasn't just about being, I learned.
Marc:And learned, yeah.
Guest:I learned the hustle of it.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So you're Tennessee?
Guest:I'm at Tennessee State.
Guest:I go to the library.
Guest:I see this beautiful girl, which was her.
Guest:I give her a flyer, flirt with her a little bit, and I just remember thinking, like, dang.
Guest:I just had a feeling about her.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Years later, I ain't seen it again.
Guest:Let's go five years later, some shit, right?
Guest:I do some black doctors thing in San Francisco and perform.
Guest:They got like a black doctors union.
Guest:I don't know what the fuck.
Guest:Whatever it is.
Guest:Corporate gig?
Guest:It wasn't even corporate because they all still students.
Guest:They're like black medical students.
Guest:Some shit.
Guest:They were all doctors.
Guest:My manager at the time, Knowledge Beckham, which was my first manager who was amazing, who big part of what, everything.
Guest:That was basically my business partner, my big brother, but he was fucking great.
Guest:He ended up hollering at one of the girls there.
Guest:He's like, yo, when you're in Chicago, come to, you know, Wednesday night.
Guest:And she was friends with her and brought her.
Guest:And when we first met again, I'm like, where the fuck do I know you from?
Guest:And it took one of her friends and said, you don't remember meeting where El at?
Guest:Till he stayed.
Guest:Maybe he tried to talk to you in the library.
Guest:He's like, oh, shit, that's you?
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:okay hey yeah and right away we hit it off like right away right away it was like i remember like so many chicks being jealous of her shit like at the comedy club because i was i was professing my love on stage like hey i'm happy now like because i talked about when i was on the mic i talked about whatever the fuck i had going on sure yeah good or bad and that's where i was settled down and i was like hmm
Guest:But she was just dope.
Guest:I mean, I would say this, and it's just more than telling the whole story.
Guest:I think if we were older, things would have been different.
Guest:I just don't think you should get married under 30.
Guest:Especially not if you're in this business and you're on this rise.
Guest:It's just like... So what stressed it out?
Guest:I mean, when my mom passed,
Guest:I went in a dark place like in 09, right?
Guest:And I was still doing, I remember like doing dumb shit and I had to weigh on her.
Guest:Like I was getting to fights in the club for no fucking reason.
Guest:But I was hurting.
Guest:I didn't fucking, and I had to, people don't realize when you still have to do comedy for a living, this is how you pay your bills, this is how you raise your, you know what I mean?
Guest:Sure.
Guest:I didn't give myself time to mourn.
Guest:I just went to perform.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:And then you try to work through it on stage, and you ain't ready yet.
Marc:Yeah, it's just a lot.
Guest:It's just heavy.
Guest:You don't know what to do with this energy.
Guest:And it depends on what the situation was.
Guest:Sadness.
Guest:I was sad, and I felt a lot of guilt.
Guest:Why?
Guest:Well...
Guest:My mom wrote a journal when she was sick, because it happened really fast.
Guest:She found out she had cancer, and then four or five months later, she passed.
Guest:She wrote in a journal.
Guest:She was like, you know, and I remember one day I was in New Jersey, and she was calling me and shit, and I ignored it.
Guest:I'm like, I'm getting ready for my show.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:And when she left the journal, I read it, and it was like, you know,
Guest:She was saying how I was always the one person she could talk to about anything, but she wouldn't call me because she felt like she was bothering me.
Guest:And I felt terrible, like damn, I made you feel, I got so caught up in my trying to make it shit that
Guest:damn like you felt you my mom you felt like I was bothering you yeah and I felt I felt terrible and you read that after she died yeah so that was that shit weighed on me yeah because there's nothing you can't make it right except for yourself sometimes I think because I used to keep the voice the last voicemail she left me I think somebody erased that motherfucker because I think they knew I kept listening to it so after reading that I just felt fucking bad like yeah and you know I was just me me and Jamie Foxx was actually talking about this last night
Guest:because we was talking about Kanye right and you know most people like Kanye crazy and this is just pitch for you know and like I watched I watched his interview and I watched his TMZ thing and I know what that looks like to be still hurting over some shit like that and I think that guy is still mourning
Guest:It's mine.
Guest:It's mine.
Guest:And not just mourning.
Guest:It feels guilt about that shit.
Guest:You know, and I know what that looks like.
Guest:It was so scary.
Guest:I'm like, oh, fuck.
Guest:I just wasn't famous when it was happening to me.
Guest:I probably, people, if this happened to me like that, out of it, losing my, people thought I was fucking crazy.
Marc:So your regular personality starts to crack because you're hiding too much shit.
Marc:You create this weird-ass bubble.
Guest:You're saying crazy shit.
Guest:like it's so weird watching this happen because i'm like it kind of made me go back to like oh fuck yeah because i remember having a conversation with my ex-wife and it'd be things i said to her that i don't even fucking remember yeah because you were in too much pain i didn't give a fuck yeah were you drinking or anything oh everything yeah yeah not everything but like drinking just like i was because i was i i didn't even the fights i wanted a motherfucker to hit me yeah
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like, fucking hit me, please.
Guest:I was starting fights with people who would walk up to me and be like, hey, Rel, I'm a big fan.
Guest:What you say, motherfucker?
Guest:And it's like, nigga, I said you're big, and then you start fighting.
Guest:You wanted to get punished.
Guest:I wanted to get punished.
Guest:And it's so crazy, that type of mindset.
Guest:That's why I'm looking at this shit, and I'm like, oh, no, that dude, I don't agree with anything he's saying, but I know he just, I don't know if he...
Guest:He's trying to maneuver around dealing with it.
Guest:That's what you do.
Guest:You try to maneuver around dealing with it.
Guest:And I'm going to tell you something.
Guest:One thing I love about comedy is, slowly but surely, that's what started helping me out that shit.
Guest:Comedy.
Guest:Comedy.
Guest:Of course.
Guest:What else have you got?
Guest:Comedy.
Guest:When I started doing my mom on stage and telling these stories and this and that,
Guest:Because I'll black out in character sometimes.
Guest:When I'm in character, I'm fucking in it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it started making me remember conversations.
Guest:I literally performed these conversations on stage.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:And did you feel you got closure?
Guest:I got closure from it.
Guest:I mean, we all got our different ways of doing stuff.
Guest:You know, me, I prayed about it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I ended up having a dream where she just talked to me and told me everything was cool.
Guest:Let you go, released you.
Guest:Yeah, you're good.
Guest:What are you talking about?
Marc:Yeah, and also you did the good thing with your little brother.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, you know, that's paying it forward too, right?
Guest:I mean, it's paying it forward, but it's also like,
Guest:But that's why I feel, and I've been saying this, and I bring up Kanye again, but it's like, that's why I wouldn't mind talking to him.
Guest:Like, you need somebody to talk to?
Guest:Like, not just about this shit, but like, fuck all that.
Guest:We know you're saying, Craig, you got free speech, all this shit, okay, fine.
Guest:What's up, bro?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Does he have anybody like that anymore?
Guest:I don't think he does.
Guest:I don't think he does.
Guest:There's no way this motherfucker could drive up to TMZ.
Guest:Ain't nobody be like, hey, man, I don't think you should do that.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Where's that guy?
Guest:You could just do your own interview somewhere.
Guest:Go talk to Mark Matthews.
Guest:Do some chill.
Guest:Don't go to fucking TMZ.
Guest:Why are you doing it live?
Guest:The man drove up to the place, which is insane.
Guest:that's the other problem with him he's a little insane which i think that happens with that shit if you don't deal with it you lose your fucking especially if you're creative too we already have these yeah and at the level of fame he's at too it's very isolating it's very isolating yeah yeah yeah i just i i get that part of it and that's what i'm saying like i you know don't you have a way to get to him
Guest:Well, you know, it's funny.
Guest:We do know the same fucking people.
Guest:And maybe soon it will happen.
Guest:Because I keep thinking about it.
Guest:I really want to just talk to them.
Marc:It feels like a lot of people have had enough.
Marc:And it seems like he's got friends that they may say they're tired of it, but they'll show back up for him eventually.
Guest:But this is what I hate about our fucking society.
Guest:We had enough of this rapper venting.
Guest:And we let every politician of fucking news do what the fuck they want to do.
Guest:And we nod up at arms about it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That's insane to me.
Marc:Well, yeah, because you feel powerless somehow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like, dude, we have a president that just don't give us a fuck.
Marc:It's a monster.
Marc:It's a fucking disaster.
Marc:It's a fucking disaster every day.
Marc:But do you feel like you can do anything about it?
Marc:And I think that's the other thing that Kanye compounded it with.
Marc:It's like, why are you going to start aligning yourself with this monster that we have no control over?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I see what you're saying, though, now.
Marc:I see you feel that self-punishment drive.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That there's grief there, and he feels guilty about something, so he's bringing it all down on himself.
Marc:And he's creating other stuff to distract it.
Marc:That's why he's taking on all this shit.
Marc:But he's also making his fans and everybody that had any love for him question him.
Guest:But that's why I think I feel like I'm different in a way when it's like as far as heart goes.
Guest:This guy inspired the fuck out of me.
Guest:When a college dropout album came out, just being from Chicago, I was like, yo, this dude made it.
Guest:Yo, I can make it too.
Guest:Oh, shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because we saw Yeah at the Comedy Club.
Guest:Yeah, he made it, fam.
Guest:Oh, shit.
Guest:Yeah, he's famous.
Guest:We all can get out of here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that's the first time I've ever felt like that.
Guest:And because of that, I'd like applaud him.
Guest:I'd like love that dude for that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So when I see somebody hurting that I felt like inspired me like that, I don't want to see nothing crazy happen to him because we're doing this shit.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:Point.
Guest:He's just talking shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He could say slavery didn't exist if he wanted to, but it don't change shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It happened.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So why are we just debating with this motherfucker that said something stupid?
Yeah.
Guest:right you just we forgot what we used to do to people that say shit stupid remember back in the day people say something stupid like all right this motherfucker's stupid yeah and you just you didn't listen to it right you didn't bring it back up like all right so you're saying you gotta look past it just if you don't want to buy that man music or whatever case may be do that shit like all this like i don't want to see somebody harm themselves that looks like they're hurting right right yeah well hopefully maybe you can get through to them man
Guest:I mean, you know, we'll see.
Guest:I keep bringing it.
Guest:I brought it up twice already, but I feel he's saying shit just like
Guest:Because I watched both interviews.
Guest:The one with Charlamagne was really good.
Guest:And you could see, I could see people's pain easily.
Guest:And I think people are upset because they don't know themselves too.
Guest:I'm a person, I know who the fuck I am.
Guest:I've been through the worst of it.
Guest:When people are constantly looking for heroes, you're making heroes out of people.
Guest:And it's funny, ironically, me doing Get Out and Jordan making me a hero,
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He started to understand.
Guest:That's why people were so happy.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:You're a hero.
Guest:All I did was pick him up.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:We're searching for heroes so fucking bad.
Marc:We want to be saved.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Instead of you becoming a hero.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:yeah stop looking for somebody else to do this and i think that's where everybody be like i'm so fucking hurt he's hurting man hurt me i mean like i'm more hurt that he looks like he's hurting yeah right yeah yeah yeah you know what i mean yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it happens to comedians i mean comedians have meltdowns i think that's what i think we've seen comics have meltdowns yeah not as much as we used to i used to yeah it used to be it used to happen a lot
Marc:Back before cell phones could take pictures.
Guest:There was always a dude losing his shit somewhere.
Guest:It still is, though.
Guest:It's still like, you know, you still, every once in a while, because I keep myself, I do keep a tight circle, but every once in a while when you're just hanging out at the comic club and you hear, like, the bitter conversations.
Guest:You mean offstage?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Yeah, it's like, what the fuck?
Guest:Like, sometimes when I go to Chicago and I hear comics say shit, like, yeah, see, now what you got to do is, like, do y'all know y'all don't know what the fuck y'all talking about?
Marc:Well, we did it too, but you were working.
Marc:There's always been that guy.
Marc:That's nothing new.
Guest:Yeah, but that's why I've always at least tried to keep myself around
Guest:I've always had a positive mindset about this shit.
Guest:And it's friends I still have in this business that I don't talk to as much anymore because they haven't changed their mindset.
Marc:That's right, right.
Marc:They're still morbid or morose or cynical or bitter.
Marc:Yeah, but they must have people in their life that want to keep them that way.
Marc:I think so.
Marc:Yeah, because I was certainly more bitter and I just needed to deal with it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, to open up the heart a little bit.
Marc:How do you get along with your ex and your kids?
Guest:You all right?
Guest:Well, yeah.
Guest:I mean, so Brittany and Judah, which is my daughter's nine, my son is eight.
Guest:Me and Verena, we good.
Guest:We co-parents.
Guest:Nothing's ever perfect in this shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Especially when you start making money.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:um that that's what makes things harder sure always yeah money yeah um and then harlem the little one one year old um me and his mom we're cool i mean he's trying to figure it's such a weird situation but he's such a beautiful kid a beautiful kid you're not with her either not at all yeah uh i'm very single yeah yeah i can't wait to meet her whoever the fuck this is so i can stop all this shit and just chill the fuck out
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Cause I would love to settle again.
Guest:I don't, it's so funny too.
Guest:Cause you, you know, your homeboys like, man, if I was you, kid, I'd be out here.
Guest:Like, fam, you're not me.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:It's not that it don't, it's not as easy as you think it is.
Guest:Out here just slinging your dick everywhere.
Guest:Like, you know what I mean?
Marc:And also that, where does that go?
Marc:I mean, it's like, there's always part of your brain that wants that because it feels good.
Marc:It's exciting, you know, new people, but like, where does it go?
Marc:Nowhere.
Marc:It goes nowhere.
Marc:It's like, I had to get real old to really realize that, but it's like drugs, it's like anything else.
Marc:Yeah, it feels great, but there's no free ride.
Marc:You can't just go out there and do that and not be held accountable.
Guest:That's what's so interesting about being with somebody that gives you kind of peace in a way, right?
Guest:Like,
Guest:The more work I have to do now, the more responsibility I have, I just want to come home and kind of just talk to her about it.
Guest:Like, yeah, this is what happened today.
Guest:How was your day?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And just leave it at that.
Guest:Right now, it's just like, it's so many different, I don't remember, what did you do again?
Guest:It's not grounded.
Guest:Yeah, it's like.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then you're doing, it's all work.
Guest:It's all work.
Guest:I don't want to keep doing it no more, man.
Guest:I'm like, it's so funny to get to that place now, but that's what I'm at with.
Guest:I'm like, I'm done, yo.
Guest:I just want to like, I just want to, I want to settle down.
Guest:And I've been saying it more out loud lately so it can happen.
Guest:Maybe manifest it.
Guest:Manifest it, man.
Marc:Because it's like, I've had my fun, man.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, I'll keep, you know, you said it here.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Maybe something will come.
Marc:You'll be getting some weird mail.
Guest:Most of the women I date probably like, ah, fuck real.
Guest:I meet some amazing women.
Guest:Lately, I've met some great women.
Guest:To me, it's always something like, especially after you've been, I've been married before, so like,
Guest:Yeah, but it's always going to be something, dude.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I'm glad you said it.
Guest:So it has to be something that will make... It is something in me that I need something that makes me feel bad or makes me feel I need to talk to you.
Guest:And it's been one woman that's been close to that, but it's like... What do you mean you need something that makes you feel bad?
Guest:Like if I'm in a situation where I'm on a road and a bunch of badass chicks come in and I don't think about you right away, I'm like, oh, come on, man.
Guest:You don't want to hurt her.
Guest:If I don't have that shit, it's not going to work.
Guest:It's not going to work.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:It's just not gonna work.
Guest:You need to feel... I need to feel bad.
Guest:Like a guilty motherfucker.
Guest:You gotta feel the guilt right away.
Guest:Gotta feel the guilt.
Guest:Go in my room and FaceTime him.
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:What do I stand to lose?
Marc:You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Marc:Well, it's great talking to you, buddy.
Marc:I'm glad we did this.
Marc:Man, we talked about it a lot.
Marc:We did.
Marc:It was great.
Marc:And a continued success.
Marc:And I'm excited about it.
Marc:I hope the new show goes.
Marc:And I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.
Marc:Yeah, Uncle Drew, man.
Guest:It's going to be great.
Guest:June 29th.
Guest:All right, man.
Guest:Thanks, man.
Marc:Okay, that was me and Lil Rel.
Marc:Tauri.
Marc:Very funny guy.
Marc:Sweet guy.
Marc:Kind of cool to hear that history about the Chicago comedy scene.
Marc:Kanye.
Marc:It was good.
Marc:I enjoyed it.
Marc:Vintage WTF posters are back in the Swag Store.
Marc:Go to podswag.com slash WTF or go to the merch page of WTFpod.com.
Marc:We've got five posters up there, all signed by me.
Marc:Some of them limited edition.
Marc:So...
Marc:There's that.
Marc:I'm going to play a riff.
Marc:All right.
Marc:You know, like even if you don't listen to the guitar part and even if it annoys you or even if it's like redundant, Brendan makes some files and uses them later.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, so that, that, that happens despite you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:guitar solo
Marc:Boomer Lives!