January 20, 2022 • 35 mins
Rip Micheals- Spills the tea over a can of spam. You will hear how he whips up an affordable dish while discussing his road from Homelessness, being a father to Wild N out, and the creation of the Wild N out tour! Rip goes into detail about how he leveraged his debt to create a never before seen sold-out tour.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You could do your intro. You want to just keep
taining talking. It's fine. I don't know what's up everybody.
It is ripped Michaels into the Wild now and a
whole bunch of other stuff because I'm successful now. But
it's not about that. It's about eating while broke with
my host over here, Colleen, and we're doing something real broke.
I'm talking about broke broke. I'm talking about south side
(00:20):
of Chicago. Bro We're doing spam tacos, and a a lot
of people don't even know what spam is. It's actually
something that you can get at the store. It's nine
store meat olicious. I'm actually, well, welcome to the spam club.
I don't even know how to get out of the
can everybody. So I'm really meat. It's a go to
because it's stage. You can seep in your bag, you
(00:40):
can do a lot with me. It is real meat.
Like So my green isn't super simple because uh, I
(01:11):
come from a little diverse struggle. So don't let the
little even she sweat the fool you in a little
a little change. But this is back in the day,
because you know why I don't paint her Nick pay
us in um Rock Kerry CDs and you know that
you were, so my gredients are super simple. I got
spam right here, cann of spam. Look at that. That's
enough meat for a week, and that only costs a
(01:32):
dollar nighting. Now that last your week, last your week.
But the way I cook it, unless you want to
splur and have guests because you know, maybe like two days.
I got tomatoes. Of course, tomatoes the cheap. I use
regular letters. We're not gonna see no no rollman, no mixed.
I'm talking about regular letters you can get for eighty nine.
Sense In here, we got mixed cheese, which I normally
don't do mixed cheese. I normally do, like uh like
(01:52):
sometimes I just take the Cheetos and I just scrub
the Cheetos cheese and put it in the thing and
then eat the Cheetos later. That's how you have two
meals and one I'm not stupid cheese. Got protein and
then we got onion, red onion, so it's gonna be
absolutely good. And all you need, of course, is your
mccormicks or Laurie's Tacos easing, which nor only like six
not sens. I got my water a little little oil
from my pant in my little season, in my little
(02:14):
ground pepper and stuff like that. Did you need oil
for your pans? I did? But it's sam. Spam is
like bacon. It kind of makes its own grease. If
you can see the gelatin, it'll definitely come. You know what,
if I was ever wondering based on like how you
look today and how successful you are, I would never
guess that you could creatively make or have eaten a
(02:34):
dish like this. So it's because look, you know, you're
very successful, and you're very successful, and I think it's
so important for people to see, you know, someone of
your stature, someone that's accomplished so much, see that you
legit ate like this. So go ahead, start us off
with the how do how do we get this meal started? Okay,
let's get this spam all cut up. It's get this
(02:55):
cut board over here. Yes, normally I wouldn't even have
a knife when you broke. You just literally just cut
it up. And you can see that the meat actually
lasts for a long time because you can see how
blacky it is and how they say falls apart just
like that. Now, do you when it comes to spam,
do you have to cook it all. Once you open
the can or can you like aluminum foil. Some of it,
actually spam can be eaten right out the can. A
lot of people don't know what. It's already pre cooked.
(03:16):
It's already actually ready to go. All you gotta do
is all we're really doing is warming it up a
little bit, because it's actually actually ready to go. I
actually on rush days just eat it just like this,
probably warming up in the microwave, and that's good to go.
A part of me wants to just try a little
slither of it. You think I'm trying to know why, No,
we don't have any I'm going to try a piece
of this, guys, just for one for the team, also
for doing on your plane. Okay, interesting, it's already go already,
(03:41):
I know you food or whatever. I'm not knocking spam.
By the way, it's actually pre cooked. Um, it's really salty, Yes,
it's it's definitely salty. That's why it's like you don't
really need oil, but you can use oils. It's definitely
a little salty. Um. Yeah for me, because you know,
I just recently lost a lot of weight. So because
I'm going back look great, look amazing. Thank you man,
(04:05):
you're gonna speaking to babies. That's what they spared my
weight loss. I actually went to Six Flags with my
daughter and I was three hundred thirty pounds and I
was too fat to get on the roller coaster. And
we went there and I was actually my daughter's first
time actually going to um uh to uh six Flags,
and she was so excited to ride two different roller
coasters and them and things like that. Yeah, so when
we got to the roller coaster, they don't tell you
(04:25):
don't have like a weight requirement, so they don't tell
you that you know you're too big, So there's no
way you'll know until you get on the road coaster.
So I'm sitting on the road coast and I'm uh,
they're trying to push the harness down and then pushing
the harness down there like sir, it won't it has
to close, and like four the little kids and it's
like roller coasters back up and it's hot, and everybody's
looking like why would this fat ass dude? No, he
is too big for this thing in roller coaster, and
so they're pushing it down. The management come and they
(04:46):
don't call you a fat ass. They just look at
you and they give you that white face and they go, sir,
it has to close, and the right then and there.
It was so embarrassing. I had to get off the thing.
They had to let everybody else's harness up. And then
my daughter wrote the rollercoaster by herself. And then with
my daughter so resilient, um, she was on the roller
coast and I'm like, sweetie, did you have a good time?
She was like it was okay, we can go home now.
(05:07):
And that's just showing how much my daughter actually and
she actually was like let's go home because she was
embarrassed for me. So God is so good. They have
this thing in six lags when you go down these
steps and it's like this little thing or it's like
a picture both where they take pictures of me and
they show how much fun you have. And so when
I look at the picture, but it was like yeah,
I was just why did you lie to me? You
have fun? And she was like, damn, I did it
so much fun as everything I thought it was. But
(05:29):
you're such fat and I no one told you to
eat twinkies late at night, and I'm so embarrassed. So
I spent the entire time at the music part, just
pretty much getting in the cotton candy line and stuff
like that. So that inspired my That inspired me so much,
and I promised my daughter that before the season and
we go back, and that happened in June. And in
all this I went back, I lost sixties seven pounds
(05:50):
and I got on every single roller coast and I
just kept my journey going from from there. Own. That's amazing.
So it sounds like you're an amazing dad. But let's
talk about how you got your start. Um. I actually
started doing comedy when I was a little kid around Chicago.
So you used to have this thing called the Comedy Click,
and we used to have this thing at Bernie Mac
(06:11):
used to host called the Cotton Club. I was actually
thirteen years old when I first started doing comedy. And
where were your parents during this whole thing? Just my dad.
My parents are still together, so they be married for
I want to say, forty three years and they be
cheating on each other forty two years. So my dad's
(06:32):
girlfriend is the actually person that got me in the comedy.
So yeah, telling you truth, my dad's girlfriend, I had
an I didn't know behind cameras, this is the truth.
I didn't even know she wasn't my auntie. I didn't
know that. My dad used to make me call his
girlfriend Auntie. I didn't know that married. Yeah they're still married.
I didn't know that wasn't my auntie. I thought that
was literally my Auntie Jockey. I had no idea to
(06:53):
One day I came home and I was like, Mama, look,
Auntie Jockey bought me a suit. And I was so happy.
I came and I was saying, Mamma, look what did
you Jockey? She bought me a suit. My mom was
like that, ain't you damn Auntie? That's your daddy girlfriend.
And go outside. Your uncle Craig gonna help you. Go
talk you to the zoo. So I had an Auntie
Jocket and Uncle Craig my whole life. It's a true story.
I have more questions though. That's the questions. Did your
(07:15):
did your was your mom? Were they cool? Was this
like an open marriage? They were just my mom would
just do, my dad doing, like okay, let's be doing,
let's go do it. And they're they're married still they
still look. Don't judge my parents. They know you don't
go to church, you don't know what they freak. They
still together. Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. I mean
very toxic now that you you know, look at it
coming on the outside going in. That's not how Mary. Yeah,
(07:37):
I didn't know if they were like best friends and
they're just like sharing their trade secrets. Oh no, they
were know J D. Pet Will Smith Augustustina in Templements,
straight up cheating. And my mom was smart because and
my dad would go out and come here like one
o'clock in the morning. My mom would come on the
tour from teen Ac like she would sleep all day.
I was keeping both day secrets. All right. Now, that's
(07:57):
what a good allowance, I tell you that. Yeah, but
they wow, but wow, you know that, no wonder come in. No.
So she's to take me around to the comedy clubs
because she was, you know, frequent him, and she would
take me around and she would be like, okay, cool.
And then my mom found out I was going to
comedy club and put a stop to it. Um So
then once my mom put a stop to it, I
stopped doing comedy altogether, and I couldn't go out anymore
(08:19):
because she was actually my connect for the whole thing.
So once that stopped, um, I wouldn't finished up high
school and everything. And I remember because I was going
back into it. Now that I'm out of high school.
I just graduated. I got a job doing construction, and
then my mom was like, you gotta I came home
and my mom was like, you gotta leave. You gotta
kick me out. Literally, I've just been working a week
and she's like, you can't stay here because you're not
going to college. And I was like, well, at least
(08:41):
let me get my paycheck so I can't find a
place to go and do. She's like no, all my
stuff was sitting on the porch and she's like, you
gotta go my mama. My MoMA is a Popeye Ladys
from Free Boil. We're like so. Um. Then I end
up going to college graduating because I have no other choice.
So and then after I got to college, I pursued
(09:04):
my career fully. I met Dave Chappelle at a comedy
club in Ohio and yells with Dane Ohio and I
saw him. He's like, if you ever want to find
out funny? And I go to New York. So I
literally got off the Greyhound bus maybe like two weeks
later after my friend Jermain got locked up and he said,
this is what you're supposed to do. And I never
looked back. I stayed on the streets of New York
homeless for about a year. He's not the trash kings
(09:25):
and all that stuff. And the hard part was I
had a daughter at the time. Well I didn't know
I had a daughter. My mama called me. She was like,
some girl called here with a picture of a baby
to look just like yours. So she was like, that
ain't my baby. She was like, a baby got your eyes.
I was like, Mama, those ain't really my eyes. Those
are the eyes of niggas. That my baby, mama life.
So so it was such a weird thing to me,
(09:48):
my daughter, because she was already two years old. And
but how old were you that I was, So, you're
homeless in New York and get the phone, call your daddy.
I'm a daddy. Yes, I go home. I get in
the Greyhound bus. I go home. I see this little
girl and I'm like, she's you know, because you don't
know if she also you don't want to pick up
first or you just like this. So I'm looking at
it like this I'm examine her, but yes, she's been
my daughter, and um, I am getting full custoing to
(10:10):
my daughter. And like maybe four months later, I took
it to New York and she was like, you know,
in the street phones with me and I would go
to different hotels and get her milk in the morning
and and we would like the pursuit of happiness. I
want to call it that. It would just miss been
my road dog ever since. Man, I think that, you know,
if I wouldn't have my daughter, my driving determination for
what I do wouldn't be as great because she's my
(10:30):
other half, like and I raised it by myself entirely,
So it's just been a struggle. I love her to death,
like any time I'm there, Like I used to go
to comedy club and have her sitting right there in
a little car sin and then the car. And it's
been a journey every since everything I do. Wow, that's amazing.
So you're sitting you were a single dad while pursuing
your dreams? Correct there was was there a part of
you that felt like you had to hold down a
(10:51):
nine to five or did you during while you're pursuing
your dreams and being a single Dad, Well, since I
you know I have. I did get my degree in college.
I mean I get my degree economics. Find that I
just needed to know because I wanted to be a
comedian my entire life. Um since I was a little
kid and I saw death comedy and I just knew
that this is what I was supposed to do. And
I told God, if this is my gift, then allow
me to be uh to prosper off. This allow me
(11:12):
because making people laugh and and and and and and
being able to smile and bring them joy, because that's
what I do my comedy. My name is not actually
ripped Michaels. A lot of people don't know that's actually ripped.
If you look at this R I P M I
C H E L S, it's actually ripped Mike Heals.
So that's actually how you say my name, but everybody's
kept it risk Michael. So I don't really correct people,
but that's actually what it is because I like to
heal with my comedy. Most of my shows are urban,
(11:35):
and people come to urban shows with a lot of
different things, um and pressures, spending licenses where they don't
get an abortion and I hope bunch of stuff going
on You're the black show. That's why they go so
hard or ethnic show to UM. Actually, if they don't
like you, they booed because they didn't done a lot
to get to that little show, to pay to knowledge,
to get in. So I love for ten minutes to
the amount of what's going on in your life. If
I can take away some of that and make you
(11:57):
forget or make you laugh at some of your pain,
that's my whole job. Now. So you come to to
New York, you have your single dad, You're working. I'm
guessing a day job because you have a degree. No.
Never once, once I move to New York, I never
took a day job. I would do comedy on the streets.
I would entertained on the train and go put a
little red onions and entertained on the train. UM. I
(12:19):
would do sell metro swipes, and I would do and
they gave me the ability to be doing a bit
of comedy for anything. I would do comedy somebody basement,
I did gospel comedy. UM. And a lot of the
comedians in New York they have like the clickers thing.
So since I wasn't from there, they wouldn't allow you
to get on stage. It would make you come week
and week after week and never give you stage time.
And I used to have to bark. So I got
so good at barking. That means when you stand out
(12:41):
with a flyer and you try to get people to
come to the show. So I got so good at
barking that I would fill the entire rooms just off
me going outside speaking to people and getting into buy tickets,
to the point where I started doing my own rooms.
And and in my biggest break, I would say was
when I did a show because I was so skinny,
because I was like skinny, then I'm fat. I came
(13:01):
to a fact, but I was homeless, so is made
me so skinny because I didn't have anyone. When I
said I'm home, I'm talking about not sleeping the car home,
and it's not room the room. I'm talking about like
literally sleeping outside the Fifth Institute and Brian Park and stuff.
And then thank god I had a Value Membership um
from college and I would just take me and my
DA would go there and we shower and everything there.
(13:21):
And what's your family saying while you're doing all this?
Are they like questioning whether you're insane? Well, for me,
my mom and my dad have been like my dad
is kind of supportive and not really. They have been
my biggest um catalyst for me to be a commedie
because they always told me I would never be anything.
My mom al wasn't steal with me, that I wasn't attractive,
I wasn't good. No one's ever gonna laugh at your jokes,
(13:43):
and whatever you do, you're gonna fail and succeed it
and you're never going to succeed at it. So I
used that energy to always live my life to prove
my mother wrong. And you guys get along fine now, Yeah,
because I forget. I mean, she you know, she's coming
around now. Because I think everybody when a mother become
a grandmother, that's not the same person to rage you.
I'm gonna tell that right now. Is it just me?
I don't know yet? This my first grand mother to
(14:04):
trust me. That's not to say my mama used burned
me with a cigarette. I can't even yell at my
daughter from mama. She's a totally different person. To think
she's sick. She's trying to get in heaven. God seen
what you did. I'm gonna teach hbody how to read
with a cigarette. But yeah, we're super cool now and
now when I do TV shows and stuff. Um she
called me from time to time like, I'm very proud
of you. You said you would do it, and you
did regardless of how I made you feel. So you know,
(14:27):
that was a really defined moment when she apologized to me.
And we've been cool ever since. So when did you
realize like you had arrived? I still don't think I
high arrived. I think the entire time I've been to
a comedy because from that. My first television pearance was
U big shout out to Christina Milia and her mom.
They put me on the show. She had a show
(14:48):
at the time called um uh Wannabes and I was
so skinny, actually was the same size as y'all rule
And that was my first appearance and I was so
funny on that she allowed me to do warmer for
her show and all the rest of her shows, and
then she offered me a round. And then after I
did the show, I wanted the contest. It was like
a show where you get to uh become the artist.
(15:08):
So three people compete to be an artist and at
the end you get to make a music video if
you're good enough to be the artist. Um, and we
did that and then that turned actually um into me
being warm up and then she put me in the
movie let and costs the thing. And that's why I'm
nick and UM, I should have moved out here. But
you know, being a dad, I couldn't participate when while
Out first came out, So you know, I couldn't do
the things that you know, most people could do because
you know, my whole career has been you know, being
(15:30):
a dad and making sure my daughter had everything she needed.
So it's a lot of opportunities I had to pass up.
So now while you're in New York doing this, you're
are you turning? Are you actually making money doing stand up?
So what I started doing instantaneously when I realized I
was good at the bar, because I start producing my
own shows. Um to the point where I ran New
(15:51):
York and I could constantly. I can confidently say I ran.
I had more rooms than any comedian in New York.
So what I did was because the clubs wouldn't put
me on, I used that same negative energy as a catalyt.
So what I would do was go around to like
little bars and restaurants, and I would allow them to like, Hey,
let me do comedy here. You don't have to pay me.
I'll bring an audience, I'll do the show. So you
(16:14):
would let them keep the money, or you would have
like that they like the bar and the liquor, and
I would just take off of what I brung in.
So Um I got so good at that I had,
I would do comedy. I had three different rooms tonight.
So I started from comedians not putting me onto employing
all pretty much all the comedians in New York. You
I had the largest run in New York. So people
would have to call me, and in the week you
(16:34):
would make two thousand dollars off of me, just because
you would do every single room. It got to the
point where I was doing so many rooms. I would
bring up the feature and leave and go to another
room and host that one and come back and close
it and go to another one. And then when my
friend Um Rashid died, Um a great comedian. You played
Uncle Dope on Bad Boys, the comedy So Funny. When
he died, Um, he I end up his family, Um
(16:54):
end up asking me to host his rooms. Because when
he died, he was really good. He had like maybe
I want to say, five rooms. And when he passed away,
they were trying to host it. And I remember one
night I was there and they were like, everyone's bombing.
No one's doing really well. If you can bring the
crowd back in and kill it, I'll give you an
extra hundred dollars. So I did that, and then I
did like a couple of other times that happened, and
(17:14):
the next thing I know, I had his room on
top of my room. So I end up having like
twenty one rooms in a month to do comedy in
New York. And I would take the proceeds half the
money I got and give it to his family. A
lot of communities don't know that because they were like,
we're ripping. So I was like, no, I make sure
this family kept half the money. I used to take
half or whatever I got and give it to us,
this brother in law and his kids because he when
he died, he left three kids. Wow. And so now
(17:37):
it makes sense to me because when I see on
you know, on stage, talent like yourself, You're funny, you're charismatic.
Sometimes I'm always like, is the talent really the entrepreneur?
The driving force. Now I'm familiar and I've heard that
you are the founder of the Walling Out Tour, and
that was like, what rips the founder of the tour
(17:58):
like creator, creator of it. I'm like, that's like more
of an entrepreneur, the skill set mixed with talent. So
tell me how did you do that? Again? I would,
I would give all my accomplishments to my daughter. Everything
I never tried to. I'm just now trying to be
a star or I'm just now trying to actually get
(18:21):
my name out. So when you ask me the question
did I arrived, I've never put energy in that my
whole thought process being the funniest person I could possibly be,
um continuing to have if you can watch any of
my show, I keep that crowd laughing and running and
having a great time. That's the type of energy I've
always run to it. So the catalyst for me doing
a while Now tour was I was I was working
(18:42):
with Nick on his special stand up Don't Shoot, and
we were going around opening up UM clubs. And I've
written for a lot of comedians, wrote Anthony Anderson, special
I wrote brand T Jackson special Um I wrote with
Nick Okay, I tried. I tried to get You'll always
you know, Nigga always one. Because there's some of Nick
(19:02):
stand up that we're very in the last one stand
Up Don't Show, and I'm writing on this new talk show.
He has a daytime talk shows. Well, so when we're
doing this, we're actually funny story because it actually happened
in Los Angeles. We're in Los Angeles and we just
leave the Ontario Improv and we're sitting at the Ontario
improb and we go. He's like, I'm gonna go and
see Cat. Do you want to go? So I happened
(19:24):
the car with Nick and he goes and he's watching
Cat and Nike it standing in with like look on it.
And I'm like, Nick, what you just like, you know,
like saying someone's watching like Michael Jordan played. And then
Nick goes, I'm like, You'll always wish I could sell
at the Rings, Yeah, And I go what He was like,
you Nick, canny, you put Cat what you're going? Of
course you could sell out of readings Like no, man,
that's never been I've never been able to do that.
(19:44):
He's like, that's my that's one of my dreams to
be able to do that, and I was like, Nick,
you put me on your show, and you've done so
much for me and change my life. You kept me
on it. When I tell you, Nick keeps me on
the show because I do some wild stuff from pulling
wigs off throwing powder every day. I'm almost fired. I've
been when I first threw powder of the whole cats
like fire. But Nick was like, that's the best thing ever.
Because I always looked at wild Out as being a character,
and I always wanted to be the wildest character because
(20:05):
that's who I am, like the wild guy that you
never know what's gonna do it. Did I go too far?
And so when he said that, I was like Nick.
I turned to Nick and I go, I'll do that
for you because I'd already have following. I've already been
doing my April Foods comedy gym, selling out arenas across
the country on my own. So then I was like,
I'll do that for you. So I took the wild
Out tour. And it's funny because Nick was like, how
(20:26):
are we gonna do this? How is it gonna go?
And everything like this until he thought I was joking.
So I was like, give me six months and we'll
be doing nothing but the ringing, And so I'll go
ahead and booked this little small show to get it off.
It's it was one of the hardest things I ever
promoted because people didn't know what it was. It wasn't
like it was a comedy. So people just like, it
comes on TV, it's gonna be were tables with it.
How are we how you guys were gonna do it? Yeah,
(20:47):
so everybody when I when I used to promote, it
was so hard to promote because I couldn't get the
concept to people wanting to buy a ticket to see it.
So then I structured it where I was like, I'm
gonna put artists on it. I'm gonna do this. So
I took it to this place called Amazuri in New York.
It was a small, little fifteen hundred seater place, and
I tried it out there and I remember going to
Nick and said, man, give me a day. You know Nick,
He's like, yeah, whatever, sure, Sure. So then I was like, Nick,
(21:10):
we have a show in three weeks and he's like,
what in the three weeks I'm met Chicago. I was like,
you told me we could do the one thing. And
you know Nick of course, why would he believe that
I was during dates? And so then I was like,
Nick was like, listen, rip, I'm making X amount of
dollars in Chicago. And I was like, look, whatever you're
making in Chicago, I promise you, as a man, I
(21:31):
will give you that because you gave me the day.
And Nick goes. Nick goes, Okay, are you serious? And
I was like, yes, whatever it is, I promise you
will not leave. You will not walk in the building
with all your money. And so Nick goes and you know,
Nick give you that face was like you can't make
yourself or kill yourself. But now did you know you
(21:51):
were gonna be able to do that? For sure? No doubt.
It was hard at first, but but you didn't did
You didn't have the money yet, know. So what I
did was I did because I had to pay for
the venue. I took all the money, max doll with
my credit card. But what I did was you personally
financed this thing. And I got with my friend Compton.
We used to do little shows together, and so we
took all the credit cards and maxim all out. And
every time I was still one ticket, I would just
(22:12):
run up with his tip, his tip Doe, so everything
I'll be putting money to say and he'd be like what.
And then um, it got to the point where not
only did I do one show to night, I did
two shows and then I did another show in Long
Island and we end up doing three shows in two days,
um and to a sold out crowd. And then I
remember his agents from ic N was there and they
were like, these people don't matter. And I was like,
(22:34):
what do you mean they don't matter? He was, I
seem to say, said these people don't matter. I was like,
it's in the hood. It doesn't matter that this in
the hood. And I was like, but it's hard working
people paying money they see the show. He's like, no,
this is in the real arena. So once he said
that to me, it made me go, okay, cool. And
I have one question. While all this is going on,
you're taking all the risks. Are you breaking even or
you making an actual dollars? Nick? In the beginning, I
(22:56):
was just paying people and me and I was just
paying people to get on. And then Nick says, I'm
saying we're gonna do it too. Because they said that,
it fuelled me to go and I booked like fifteen
or twenty arenas and just and it was hard to
get arend because it was like, you don't have arena
you know, you know you're doing this too. We never
heard of it. And so then I go to Nick
and I fly to Nick and I was like, Man,
we're gonna do an arena too. Here. It's all the
money that you require upfront to do an arena tour
(23:16):
for every single day. And Nick didn't believe me. So
he's sitting the back and he's counting money. He's like,
you're really serious, and he goes, so what I have
to do? I was like, to give me a draw
for every city and just hostedt's it. So you're so dope.
I just I was just blown away. Yeah, and we
know what it is. It's Nick and working with Nick.
It's that Nick always allowed me to have the ability
(23:39):
to trust in me and fail or or succeed on
my own. So he gave me that opportunity to prove
myself or disprove myself, and UM and the support behind it,
because I mean, he got so fleactive. I mean, MTV
was like, you got a two we don't know nothing about.
And when I tell you, I was selling out every
single arena. I still in that year hold the number
two on post Star, which is like Billboard of Promoters,
(23:59):
and Take itself were number two in the country, right
behind Janet Jackson. At You, I sold out every single arena,
and then I broke another record in d C by
setting out two arenas and one night in the same city.
So we did twelve tho the show Palatin, and we
came to do Capital One Arena and we did seventeen
five and I promoted that in thirty days and then
Nick shook my hand. He was like, you did it.
(24:20):
You did exactly what you said, and he gave me
his look, and I was like, I felt like I
repaid you for the opportunity to take care of my daughter,
because being on Wild Now changed my entire life. And
I felt like that thank you, like the camaraderie with
each other. And then when we actually sold out the
Staples Center, the actual producer of the Wild Now like
now elevens and everyone, they were like, we never thought
(24:42):
something we created would sell out in l A. You
sold out the Staples Center. Yeah, I remember, I remember
hearing about it, and they were like, we how no
one sells out in l A. And we started this
thing and you helped us sell out. You sold it
out in l A. I was like, yeah, thank you
guys for making me a part of this, this this thing,
because to me, while I was bigger than being on SNL,
it was like the death comedy gym thing. So Nick
(25:02):
is all about cultivating talent, and I just I love
the fact that he gave me the opportunity and he
trusted me and believe me when he shook my hand
and allowed me to do that and he actually showed
up at that date. Was everything. Yeah, and we've been
rocking around ever since. By the way, we gotta do
maybe I'll come out to your restaurant. We gotta do
a follow up on you just you know awesome. You
see my on my restaurant, on my show Alban needs
the treat to show on NBC, shot the NBC Peacock
(25:24):
and um, so many different things where you know, I
get to do the same thing. I pay back all
my friends, like I put all the people I've worked
with over the years and helped like Jack Queis and
Cardi B and um, so many different people that I've
inspired and helped over the years, like I've known Cardi
since you're just the dancer and the clubs I used
to host and to see her do her thing. And
you know, I remember when I used try to get
Cardi on whild Out. They were like, no, we wouldn't
like her brand, we don't like her image. And she
(25:46):
blew up and they was like, can you get Cardy
she was I was like, she said no. You gotta
understand how hard it was to meet a while. And
I did warm up for wild Out for three years,
three years, killing the woman to the point where they
would turn the cameras and they would bank my audience
applause and laughter and put it on the television show
because I would do one so so strong and um,
because I would always use that as an audition tape
(26:07):
to me um, to to let them know how funny
I was. UM. And I did all that just to
get an audition. So it was it was a it
was a big It was a big deal to actually
finally get on the show. It was amazing and it's
changed my entire life. Like when you were three years
for that, yeah, three years. More advice do you give
to someone that's coming up knowing everything that you've done
to get to where you're at. Um. I want honestly
(26:30):
say God has been my biggest thing because everybody around
me was so you know, negative, and he sent me
his angels. So he sent me his angels to say
that you know you could do this. Don't listen to
this noise. Don't listen to your parents, don't listen to
all this noise. Don't listen to noise. Go get a job.
Don't listen to a noise. You need to plan and B.
Don't listen to the noise. You gotta go to college
because what if it fails, there is no plan. B.
If there's only a plan, ain't and you don't fail
(26:51):
until you quit. So whatever your level of successes, don't
determine it by someone else's because your story is going
to be your story. It's not. I can't have the
Kevin Harns story. I don't have the Nick Candid story.
I don't have a brand of ty Jacson Storey. I
didn't step on stage when I'm sixteen, and someone says,
let's put him in every single movie. So I would
tell people to stay resilient, and there's so many ways
to do it. So what I what I every no
(27:12):
I got I turned into it. Yes, okay, you're not
great at doing satire. So I went to Barnes and
Nobles and I stayed every day and the reading every
single book that was ever written on comedy. How to
write comedy scripts, how to write comedy writing secrets, and
know how to put jokes together and right double entendres
versus and playing words, and do every single form of comedy.
So I can walk into a church and do comedy.
I could do a golf tournament. I did the Governor's
Ball in New York, Um, so I could. There's that stuff.
(27:34):
Of course. I mean a lot of people don't look
at comedy that you don't have to go and learn
about it. But I think that's probably the only few
people jump into that. Oh I'm silly, but if you
actually do the research, you'll find it so much into it.
And I start reading all these other books at Barnes
and Nobles about being an entrepreneur and what it takes,
and reading uh Napoleon Hills, Uh I think and grow
(27:55):
rich and understanding that you know a lot of entrepreneurs
sell the same drive and determination and finding out how
to do those things and applying yourself, because there is
no such thing as no except for your mind. As
long as you believe in God, there's no such thing
as Notice that's there's nothing you cannot do. You only
limited about who you are. Wow, Wow, we haven't even
in You gotta feed us and we're gonna slice up
(28:21):
these tomatoes and we're gonna get this type of sausa.
But if you know, you know, without no sauce, it's
gonna be a little dry. It's okay, you know this
is eating all broke for real? So what are you
working on? UM? I just got my own show on
NBC show NBC called Urban Eason Treats, where I go
around showing there's great stuff to eat in urban neighborhoods.
I feel like, you know, with the whole Black Lives Matter,
(28:42):
a lot of people don't understand the minority neighborhoods. We
have great stuff to eat. We have a insanely good dishes.
There's fusion, there's so much going on. So a lot
of my guests, like Nick Cannon was on the Russell
Peters Tamar Braxton Shack, they take us to these restaurants
that they used to eat it, that they still eat it.
To this day that are great and you see these
great chefs and has a restaurant owner myself else it's
great to be able to share a lout on all
these minority owned businesses. It's not a black thing. It's
(29:04):
just minority owners. Like a lot of times people to
go black and it's no weird minority. I think when
you think like minorities, it opens up for everyone. And
I think sometimes when people like black black black, you're
excluding people. So now they have to feel like they
have to start their own thing. But if we think
as minorities together, then we become to majority. And that's
just my whole thought process. And I create Indian food,
great Mexican restaurants. They get this this Israeli taco place
(29:27):
where it's like it's really food mixed with Mexican and
it's just it's great, great dishes. So you'll go around
on the show and you try, Yeah, we're going too
these restaurants. So if you could think of dinners, drives,
and dives mixed with comedians and cars. Because they have
these interviews and they go in depth about how they
started doing everything, it's just great. And then when their
jokes and the funny thing is all these rich people
leave me with the bill at the end of the episode.
(29:49):
They leave me at the bill, the bill with the
end of the end of the episode, Yeah, which is
hilarious because I'm sitting here with tone bill and I'm like,
these dudes are rich and Genie, y'all sharing, and they're
leaving me with I would think that the restaurants would like,
let you no, and that's I would never want to
take advantage because I know they can, of course, and
I want them to showcase and the food is good.
And I'm always about I'm always about paying for things
(30:11):
and letting people know that I support them. I think
that sometimes when you get to a certain level that
people think, oh, you're supposed to get everything free because
I'm such and such a such a and I know
what that's like. So I don't ever want to be
that person for me personally. And then now did you
you created the show, so did you shop it to
get NBC? I feel like you did everything to get it.
(30:32):
Big shout out to Kevin. That's actually Kevin Hart and
Jeff Clanigan. When I was actually doing the tour um
in my agent and they were like Jeff knows me
from the Shack all Star thinking, and when he saw it,
he was always trying to, you know, pick some kind
of thing to to work on. When Kevin saw it,
he just automatically gravitated toward something. Kevin was like, Rip,
We're gonna definitely do something with this, and so big
shout at him because he wanted to do the whole
(30:53):
thing and in process to deal and I woke up
one day and he was like, here you go, Rip,
and I was like, look at God. Wow, look at God.
And that was right after, you know, the whole COVID
thing and the tour getting council. So I got two
other projects that I'm doing currently UM. And I turned
my restaurant into I've noticed that during COVID it wasn't
a lot of opportunities for comments and singers. So what
I did is I turned my my restaurant actually into
(31:15):
a full service UM performance space, so now I can
have more artists performed. So I took the dance flowout
and much and now it's a performerformer space or now
poets and everything can showcase they think and I can
give them fair deals because a lot of people don't
understand it. When we do these comedy clubs, we don't
get fair deals. We get seventy percent of the door,
we get no bar, we get no food, weeted, nothing.
So we walk away with a thirty thousand on the weekend.
(31:35):
But you're not realizing the comedy club made a hundred
and so it's not even a fair thing. So when
when when artists come, I actually give them a fair check.
I give them a portion of the ball, I give
them a portion of the I give them the entire door.
So it's just the opportunities that you know that we
need to start having for each other. Sorry about that.
And today I'm just impressed that you just totally freestyle
saw in front of names I've never I didn't even
(31:57):
know you could do this. Um, I'm promised you. I'm
learning to cook because feeding won't broke right here. So
we want do take a little bit of your spam.
Awesome spam and onions, Yes, a little caramelized onions. Did
we go pieces? And then perfect? Awesome? Let's try to
line it up like a little fancy restaurant. Yeah, that's
(32:18):
that's good. Then I like to like me personally. I
like the cheese to kind of be on top of
these again, yeah, because it's like it melts right. A
lot of people like the cheese on top to give
you that cold effect. But I actually like my cheese
right on top of my meat. Weird like that, but
you know, can I put the cheese? Put your cheese
on top. I like to have the balance of co
(32:40):
hot coal hot. Please never tell a strong woman no,
please put my cheese on. I promise you. We're gonna
be like best friends. So he totally freestyle the salsa. Everyone.
I want to get some overhead camaman. Look at that.
Look at that. So this is a spam taco. A
(33:01):
spam taco, A taco that actually cost probably about ninety cents,
and I think the most expensive partner taco is the bread.
And you can get quite a bit of tacos out
of this. Oh yeah, of course, I love it. And
you get all the ingredients pretty much at your local
Dollar Tree or Family Dollars. Nanny served milk and meat
and everything like that. Okay, now let's eat, let's try,
(33:23):
let's see, let's see what we're working with. Okay, that's
going to blue trucks. I don't have my own saucers.
But you know, like a real chef over here apologizing.
Let's see everybody. You're gonna take a watch first. Mmm. Good, oh,
(33:43):
thank you again. I don't have all my fix. I
didn't get the spam. I gotta get another bike. M
you know what that's also, it's not even dry. You're
all worried. Yeah, it's actually really good. Thank you, and
(34:05):
you will help me. Good. You put the cheese on.
We made it together. You know it's an US thing,
but you did your thing. I like how everyone. I
definitely want to make sure you add the salts a
bit that you did in the end, because I can
see where it could have when driving a little bit
more peppers if I had peppers and chop up in it,
make it more people out. You'd enjoy the taste a bit,
(34:25):
a little bit more spicy. You know this tastes great.
Thank you great, all women in the peppers and more stuff.
But you know, bro, check out the book, shout out
the recipe. You'll definitely survive while pursuing your here again,
this is yes, so thank you so much for coming
out feeding me and they and the baby. I really
(34:48):
enjoyed your time today and I can't wait to link
back up with you here. I'm very proud of everything
you're doing. And I know your daughters inside like proud,
jumping up for joy and she just beautiful. So that's
gonna be amazing. Thank you so much. I'm not hearting
on because this to me too movie. I feel like
every guy's afraid now ye like, yeah, you get a
little bit. So thank you guys. Um for listening. Check
(35:11):
us out on the I heart Radio app. For more
Eating Wall Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite show, Show, Show, Show, Show
You could do your intro. You want to just keep
taining talking. It's fine. I don't know what's up everybody.
It is ripped Michaels into the Wild now and a
whole bunch of other stuff because I'm successful now. But
it's not about that. It's about eating while broke with
my host over here, Colleen, and we're doing something real broke.
I'm talking about broke broke. I'm talking about south side
(00:20):
of Chicago. Bro We're doing spam tacos, and a a lot
of people don't even know what spam is. It's actually
something that you can get at the store. It's nine
store meat olicious. I'm actually, well, welcome to the spam club.
I don't even know how to get out of the
can everybody. So I'm really meat. It's a go to
because it's stage. You can seep in your bag, you
(00:40):
can do a lot with me. It is real meat.
Like So my green isn't super simple because uh, I
(01:11):
come from a little diverse struggle. So don't let the
little even she sweat the fool you in a little
a little change. But this is back in the day,
because you know why I don't paint her Nick pay
us in um Rock Kerry CDs and you know that
you were, so my gredients are super simple. I got
spam right here, cann of spam. Look at that. That's
enough meat for a week, and that only costs a
(01:32):
dollar nighting. Now that last your week, last your week.
But the way I cook it, unless you want to
splur and have guests because you know, maybe like two days.
I got tomatoes. Of course, tomatoes the cheap. I use
regular letters. We're not gonna see no no rollman, no mixed.
I'm talking about regular letters you can get for eighty nine.
Sense In here, we got mixed cheese, which I normally
don't do mixed cheese. I normally do, like uh like
(01:52):
sometimes I just take the Cheetos and I just scrub
the Cheetos cheese and put it in the thing and
then eat the Cheetos later. That's how you have two
meals and one I'm not stupid cheese. Got protein and
then we got onion, red onion, so it's gonna be
absolutely good. And all you need, of course, is your
mccormicks or Laurie's Tacos easing, which nor only like six
not sens. I got my water a little little oil
from my pant in my little season, in my little
(02:14):
ground pepper and stuff like that. Did you need oil
for your pans? I did? But it's sam. Spam is
like bacon. It kind of makes its own grease. If
you can see the gelatin, it'll definitely come. You know what,
if I was ever wondering based on like how you
look today and how successful you are, I would never
guess that you could creatively make or have eaten a
(02:34):
dish like this. So it's because look, you know, you're
very successful, and you're very successful, and I think it's
so important for people to see, you know, someone of
your stature, someone that's accomplished so much, see that you
legit ate like this. So go ahead, start us off
with the how do how do we get this meal started? Okay,
let's get this spam all cut up. It's get this
(02:55):
cut board over here. Yes, normally I wouldn't even have
a knife when you broke. You just literally just cut
it up. And you can see that the meat actually
lasts for a long time because you can see how
blacky it is and how they say falls apart just
like that. Now, do you when it comes to spam,
do you have to cook it all. Once you open
the can or can you like aluminum foil. Some of it,
actually spam can be eaten right out the can. A
lot of people don't know what. It's already pre cooked.
(03:16):
It's already actually ready to go. All you gotta do
is all we're really doing is warming it up a
little bit, because it's actually actually ready to go. I
actually on rush days just eat it just like this,
probably warming up in the microwave, and that's good to go.
A part of me wants to just try a little
slither of it. You think I'm trying to know why, No,
we don't have any I'm going to try a piece
of this, guys, just for one for the team, also
for doing on your plane. Okay, interesting, it's already go already,
(03:41):
I know you food or whatever. I'm not knocking spam.
By the way, it's actually pre cooked. Um, it's really salty, Yes,
it's it's definitely salty. That's why it's like you don't
really need oil, but you can use oils. It's definitely
a little salty. Um. Yeah for me, because you know,
I just recently lost a lot of weight. So because
I'm going back look great, look amazing. Thank you man,
(04:05):
you're gonna speaking to babies. That's what they spared my
weight loss. I actually went to Six Flags with my
daughter and I was three hundred thirty pounds and I
was too fat to get on the roller coaster. And
we went there and I was actually my daughter's first
time actually going to um uh to uh six Flags,
and she was so excited to ride two different roller
coasters and them and things like that. Yeah, so when
we got to the roller coaster, they don't tell you
(04:25):
don't have like a weight requirement, so they don't tell
you that you know you're too big, So there's no
way you'll know until you get on the road coaster.
So I'm sitting on the road coast and I'm uh,
they're trying to push the harness down and then pushing
the harness down there like sir, it won't it has
to close, and like four the little kids and it's
like roller coasters back up and it's hot, and everybody's
looking like why would this fat ass dude? No, he
is too big for this thing in roller coaster, and
so they're pushing it down. The management come and they
(04:46):
don't call you a fat ass. They just look at
you and they give you that white face and they go, sir,
it has to close, and the right then and there.
It was so embarrassing. I had to get off the thing.
They had to let everybody else's harness up. And then
my daughter wrote the rollercoaster by herself. And then with
my daughter so resilient, um, she was on the roller
coast and I'm like, sweetie, did you have a good time?
She was like it was okay, we can go home now.
(05:07):
And that's just showing how much my daughter actually and
she actually was like let's go home because she was
embarrassed for me. So God is so good. They have
this thing in six lags when you go down these
steps and it's like this little thing or it's like
a picture both where they take pictures of me and
they show how much fun you have. And so when
I look at the picture, but it was like yeah,
I was just why did you lie to me? You
have fun? And she was like, damn, I did it
so much fun as everything I thought it was. But
(05:29):
you're such fat and I no one told you to
eat twinkies late at night, and I'm so embarrassed. So
I spent the entire time at the music part, just
pretty much getting in the cotton candy line and stuff
like that. So that inspired my That inspired me so much,
and I promised my daughter that before the season and
we go back, and that happened in June. And in
all this I went back, I lost sixties seven pounds
(05:50):
and I got on every single roller coast and I
just kept my journey going from from there. Own. That's amazing.
So it sounds like you're an amazing dad. But let's
talk about how you got your start. Um. I actually
started doing comedy when I was a little kid around Chicago.
So you used to have this thing called the Comedy Click,
and we used to have this thing at Bernie Mac
(06:11):
used to host called the Cotton Club. I was actually
thirteen years old when I first started doing comedy. And
where were your parents during this whole thing? Just my dad.
My parents are still together, so they be married for
I want to say, forty three years and they be
cheating on each other forty two years. So my dad's
(06:32):
girlfriend is the actually person that got me in the comedy.
So yeah, telling you truth, my dad's girlfriend, I had
an I didn't know behind cameras, this is the truth.
I didn't even know she wasn't my auntie. I didn't
know that. My dad used to make me call his
girlfriend Auntie. I didn't know that married. Yeah they're still married.
I didn't know that wasn't my auntie. I thought that
was literally my Auntie Jockey. I had no idea to
(06:53):
One day I came home and I was like, Mama, look,
Auntie Jockey bought me a suit. And I was so happy.
I came and I was saying, Mamma, look what did
you Jockey? She bought me a suit. My mom was
like that, ain't you damn Auntie? That's your daddy girlfriend.
And go outside. Your uncle Craig gonna help you. Go
talk you to the zoo. So I had an Auntie
Jocket and Uncle Craig my whole life. It's a true story.
I have more questions though. That's the questions. Did your
(07:15):
did your was your mom? Were they cool? Was this
like an open marriage? They were just my mom would
just do, my dad doing, like okay, let's be doing,
let's go do it. And they're they're married still they
still look. Don't judge my parents. They know you don't
go to church, you don't know what they freak. They
still together. Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. I mean
very toxic now that you you know, look at it
coming on the outside going in. That's not how Mary. Yeah,
(07:37):
I didn't know if they were like best friends and
they're just like sharing their trade secrets. Oh no, they
were know J D. Pet Will Smith Augustustina in Templements,
straight up cheating. And my mom was smart because and
my dad would go out and come here like one
o'clock in the morning. My mom would come on the
tour from teen Ac like she would sleep all day.
I was keeping both day secrets. All right. Now, that's
(07:57):
what a good allowance, I tell you that. Yeah, but
they wow, but wow, you know that, no wonder come in. No.
So she's to take me around to the comedy clubs
because she was, you know, frequent him, and she would
take me around and she would be like, okay, cool.
And then my mom found out I was going to
comedy club and put a stop to it. Um So
then once my mom put a stop to it, I
stopped doing comedy altogether, and I couldn't go out anymore
(08:19):
because she was actually my connect for the whole thing.
So once that stopped, um, I wouldn't finished up high
school and everything. And I remember because I was going
back into it. Now that I'm out of high school.
I just graduated. I got a job doing construction, and
then my mom was like, you gotta I came home
and my mom was like, you gotta leave. You gotta
kick me out. Literally, I've just been working a week
and she's like, you can't stay here because you're not
going to college. And I was like, well, at least
(08:41):
let me get my paycheck so I can't find a
place to go and do. She's like no, all my
stuff was sitting on the porch and she's like, you
gotta go my mama. My MoMA is a Popeye Ladys
from Free Boil. We're like so. Um. Then I end
up going to college graduating because I have no other choice.
So and then after I got to college, I pursued
(09:04):
my career fully. I met Dave Chappelle at a comedy
club in Ohio and yells with Dane Ohio and I
saw him. He's like, if you ever want to find
out funny? And I go to New York. So I
literally got off the Greyhound bus maybe like two weeks
later after my friend Jermain got locked up and he said,
this is what you're supposed to do. And I never
looked back. I stayed on the streets of New York
homeless for about a year. He's not the trash kings
(09:25):
and all that stuff. And the hard part was I
had a daughter at the time. Well I didn't know
I had a daughter. My mama called me. She was like,
some girl called here with a picture of a baby
to look just like yours. So she was like, that
ain't my baby. She was like, a baby got your eyes.
I was like, Mama, those ain't really my eyes. Those
are the eyes of niggas. That my baby, mama life.
So so it was such a weird thing to me,
(09:48):
my daughter, because she was already two years old. And
but how old were you that I was, So, you're
homeless in New York and get the phone, call your daddy.
I'm a daddy. Yes, I go home. I get in
the Greyhound bus. I go home. I see this little
girl and I'm like, she's you know, because you don't
know if she also you don't want to pick up
first or you just like this. So I'm looking at
it like this I'm examine her, but yes, she's been
my daughter, and um, I am getting full custoing to
(10:10):
my daughter. And like maybe four months later, I took
it to New York and she was like, you know,
in the street phones with me and I would go
to different hotels and get her milk in the morning
and and we would like the pursuit of happiness. I
want to call it that. It would just miss been
my road dog ever since. Man, I think that, you know,
if I wouldn't have my daughter, my driving determination for
what I do wouldn't be as great because she's my
(10:30):
other half, like and I raised it by myself entirely,
So it's just been a struggle. I love her to death,
like any time I'm there, Like I used to go
to comedy club and have her sitting right there in
a little car sin and then the car. And it's
been a journey every since everything I do. Wow, that's amazing.
So you're sitting you were a single dad while pursuing
your dreams? Correct there was was there a part of
you that felt like you had to hold down a
(10:51):
nine to five or did you during while you're pursuing
your dreams and being a single Dad, Well, since I
you know I have. I did get my degree in college.
I mean I get my degree economics. Find that I
just needed to know because I wanted to be a
comedian my entire life. Um since I was a little
kid and I saw death comedy and I just knew
that this is what I was supposed to do. And
I told God, if this is my gift, then allow
me to be uh to prosper off. This allow me
(11:12):
because making people laugh and and and and and and
being able to smile and bring them joy, because that's
what I do my comedy. My name is not actually
ripped Michaels. A lot of people don't know that's actually ripped.
If you look at this R I P M I
C H E L S, it's actually ripped Mike Heals.
So that's actually how you say my name, but everybody's
kept it risk Michael. So I don't really correct people,
but that's actually what it is because I like to
heal with my comedy. Most of my shows are urban,
(11:35):
and people come to urban shows with a lot of
different things, um and pressures, spending licenses where they don't
get an abortion and I hope bunch of stuff going
on You're the black show. That's why they go so
hard or ethnic show to UM. Actually, if they don't
like you, they booed because they didn't done a lot
to get to that little show, to pay to knowledge,
to get in. So I love for ten minutes to
the amount of what's going on in your life. If
I can take away some of that and make you
(11:57):
forget or make you laugh at some of your pain,
that's my whole job. Now. So you come to to
New York, you have your single dad, You're working. I'm
guessing a day job because you have a degree. No.
Never once, once I move to New York, I never
took a day job. I would do comedy on the streets.
I would entertained on the train and go put a
little red onions and entertained on the train. UM. I
(12:19):
would do sell metro swipes, and I would do and
they gave me the ability to be doing a bit
of comedy for anything. I would do comedy somebody basement,
I did gospel comedy. UM. And a lot of the
comedians in New York they have like the clickers thing.
So since I wasn't from there, they wouldn't allow you
to get on stage. It would make you come week
and week after week and never give you stage time.
And I used to have to bark. So I got
so good at barking. That means when you stand out
(12:41):
with a flyer and you try to get people to
come to the show. So I got so good at
barking that I would fill the entire rooms just off
me going outside speaking to people and getting into buy tickets,
to the point where I started doing my own rooms.
And and in my biggest break, I would say was
when I did a show because I was so skinny,
because I was like skinny, then I'm fat. I came
(13:01):
to a fact, but I was homeless, so is made
me so skinny because I didn't have anyone. When I
said I'm home, I'm talking about not sleeping the car home,
and it's not room the room. I'm talking about like
literally sleeping outside the Fifth Institute and Brian Park and stuff.
And then thank god I had a Value Membership um
from college and I would just take me and my
DA would go there and we shower and everything there.
(13:21):
And what's your family saying while you're doing all this?
Are they like questioning whether you're insane? Well, for me,
my mom and my dad have been like my dad
is kind of supportive and not really. They have been
my biggest um catalyst for me to be a commedie
because they always told me I would never be anything.
My mom al wasn't steal with me, that I wasn't attractive,
I wasn't good. No one's ever gonna laugh at your jokes,
(13:43):
and whatever you do, you're gonna fail and succeed it
and you're never going to succeed at it. So I
used that energy to always live my life to prove
my mother wrong. And you guys get along fine now, Yeah,
because I forget. I mean, she you know, she's coming
around now. Because I think everybody when a mother become
a grandmother, that's not the same person to rage you.
I'm gonna tell that right now. Is it just me?
I don't know yet? This my first grand mother to
(14:04):
trust me. That's not to say my mama used burned
me with a cigarette. I can't even yell at my
daughter from mama. She's a totally different person. To think
she's sick. She's trying to get in heaven. God seen
what you did. I'm gonna teach hbody how to read
with a cigarette. But yeah, we're super cool now and
now when I do TV shows and stuff. Um she
called me from time to time like, I'm very proud
of you. You said you would do it, and you
did regardless of how I made you feel. So you know,
(14:27):
that was a really defined moment when she apologized to me.
And we've been cool ever since. So when did you
realize like you had arrived? I still don't think I
high arrived. I think the entire time I've been to
a comedy because from that. My first television pearance was
U big shout out to Christina Milia and her mom.
They put me on the show. She had a show
(14:48):
at the time called um uh Wannabes and I was
so skinny, actually was the same size as y'all rule
And that was my first appearance and I was so
funny on that she allowed me to do warmer for
her show and all the rest of her shows, and
then she offered me a round. And then after I
did the show, I wanted the contest. It was like
a show where you get to uh become the artist.
(15:08):
So three people compete to be an artist and at
the end you get to make a music video if
you're good enough to be the artist. Um, and we
did that and then that turned actually um into me
being warm up and then she put me in the
movie let and costs the thing. And that's why I'm
nick and UM, I should have moved out here. But
you know, being a dad, I couldn't participate when while
Out first came out, So you know, I couldn't do
the things that you know, most people could do because
you know, my whole career has been you know, being
(15:30):
a dad and making sure my daughter had everything she needed.
So it's a lot of opportunities I had to pass up.
So now while you're in New York doing this, you're
are you turning? Are you actually making money doing stand up?
So what I started doing instantaneously when I realized I
was good at the bar, because I start producing my
own shows. Um to the point where I ran New
(15:51):
York and I could constantly. I can confidently say I ran.
I had more rooms than any comedian in New York.
So what I did was because the clubs wouldn't put
me on, I used that same negative energy as a catalyt.
So what I would do was go around to like
little bars and restaurants, and I would allow them to like, Hey,
let me do comedy here. You don't have to pay me.
I'll bring an audience, I'll do the show. So you
(16:14):
would let them keep the money, or you would have
like that they like the bar and the liquor, and
I would just take off of what I brung in.
So Um I got so good at that I had,
I would do comedy. I had three different rooms tonight.
So I started from comedians not putting me onto employing
all pretty much all the comedians in New York. You
I had the largest run in New York. So people
would have to call me, and in the week you
(16:34):
would make two thousand dollars off of me, just because
you would do every single room. It got to the
point where I was doing so many rooms. I would
bring up the feature and leave and go to another
room and host that one and come back and close
it and go to another one. And then when my
friend Um Rashid died, Um a great comedian. You played
Uncle Dope on Bad Boys, the comedy So Funny. When
he died, Um, he I end up his family, Um
(16:54):
end up asking me to host his rooms. Because when
he died, he was really good. He had like maybe
I want to say, five rooms. And when he passed away,
they were trying to host it. And I remember one
night I was there and they were like, everyone's bombing.
No one's doing really well. If you can bring the
crowd back in and kill it, I'll give you an
extra hundred dollars. So I did that, and then I
did like a couple of other times that happened, and
(17:14):
the next thing I know, I had his room on
top of my room. So I end up having like
twenty one rooms in a month to do comedy in
New York. And I would take the proceeds half the
money I got and give it to his family. A
lot of communities don't know that because they were like,
we're ripping. So I was like, no, I make sure
this family kept half the money. I used to take
half or whatever I got and give it to us,
this brother in law and his kids because he when
he died, he left three kids. Wow. And so now
(17:37):
it makes sense to me because when I see on
you know, on stage, talent like yourself, You're funny, you're charismatic.
Sometimes I'm always like, is the talent really the entrepreneur?
The driving force. Now I'm familiar and I've heard that
you are the founder of the Walling Out Tour, and
that was like, what rips the founder of the tour
(17:58):
like creator, creator of it. I'm like, that's like more
of an entrepreneur, the skill set mixed with talent. So
tell me how did you do that? Again? I would,
I would give all my accomplishments to my daughter. Everything
I never tried to. I'm just now trying to be
a star or I'm just now trying to actually get
(18:21):
my name out. So when you ask me the question
did I arrived, I've never put energy in that my
whole thought process being the funniest person I could possibly be,
um continuing to have if you can watch any of
my show, I keep that crowd laughing and running and
having a great time. That's the type of energy I've
always run to it. So the catalyst for me doing
a while Now tour was I was I was working
(18:42):
with Nick on his special stand up Don't Shoot, and
we were going around opening up UM clubs. And I've
written for a lot of comedians, wrote Anthony Anderson, special
I wrote brand T Jackson special Um I wrote with
Nick Okay, I tried. I tried to get You'll always
you know, Nigga always one. Because there's some of Nick
(19:02):
stand up that we're very in the last one stand
Up Don't Show, and I'm writing on this new talk show.
He has a daytime talk shows. Well, so when we're
doing this, we're actually funny story because it actually happened
in Los Angeles. We're in Los Angeles and we just
leave the Ontario Improv and we're sitting at the Ontario
improb and we go. He's like, I'm gonna go and
see Cat. Do you want to go? So I happened
(19:24):
the car with Nick and he goes and he's watching
Cat and Nike it standing in with like look on it.
And I'm like, Nick, what you just like, you know,
like saying someone's watching like Michael Jordan played. And then
Nick goes, I'm like, You'll always wish I could sell
at the Rings, Yeah, And I go what He was like,
you Nick, canny, you put Cat what you're going? Of
course you could sell out of readings Like no, man,
that's never been I've never been able to do that.
(19:44):
He's like, that's my that's one of my dreams to
be able to do that, and I was like, Nick,
you put me on your show, and you've done so
much for me and change my life. You kept me
on it. When I tell you, Nick keeps me on
the show because I do some wild stuff from pulling
wigs off throwing powder every day. I'm almost fired. I've
been when I first threw powder of the whole cats
like fire. But Nick was like, that's the best thing ever.
Because I always looked at wild Out as being a character,
and I always wanted to be the wildest character because
(20:05):
that's who I am, like the wild guy that you
never know what's gonna do it. Did I go too far?
And so when he said that, I was like Nick.
I turned to Nick and I go, I'll do that
for you because I'd already have following. I've already been
doing my April Foods comedy gym, selling out arenas across
the country on my own. So then I was like,
I'll do that for you. So I took the wild
Out tour. And it's funny because Nick was like, how
(20:26):
are we gonna do this? How is it gonna go?
And everything like this until he thought I was joking.
So I was like, give me six months and we'll
be doing nothing but the ringing, And so I'll go
ahead and booked this little small show to get it off.
It's it was one of the hardest things I ever
promoted because people didn't know what it was. It wasn't
like it was a comedy. So people just like, it
comes on TV, it's gonna be were tables with it.
How are we how you guys were gonna do it? Yeah,
(20:47):
so everybody when I when I used to promote, it
was so hard to promote because I couldn't get the
concept to people wanting to buy a ticket to see it.
So then I structured it where I was like, I'm
gonna put artists on it. I'm gonna do this. So
I took it to this place called Amazuri in New York.
It was a small, little fifteen hundred seater place, and
I tried it out there and I remember going to
Nick and said, man, give me a day. You know Nick,
He's like, yeah, whatever, sure, Sure. So then I was like, Nick,
(21:10):
we have a show in three weeks and he's like,
what in the three weeks I'm met Chicago. I was like,
you told me we could do the one thing. And
you know Nick of course, why would he believe that
I was during dates? And so then I was like,
Nick was like, listen, rip, I'm making X amount of
dollars in Chicago. And I was like, look, whatever you're
making in Chicago, I promise you, as a man, I
(21:31):
will give you that because you gave me the day.
And Nick goes. Nick goes, Okay, are you serious? And
I was like, yes, whatever it is, I promise you
will not leave. You will not walk in the building
with all your money. And so Nick goes and you know,
Nick give you that face was like you can't make
yourself or kill yourself. But now did you know you
(21:51):
were gonna be able to do that? For sure? No doubt.
It was hard at first, but but you didn't did
You didn't have the money yet, know. So what I
did was I did because I had to pay for
the venue. I took all the money, max doll with
my credit card. But what I did was you personally
financed this thing. And I got with my friend Compton.
We used to do little shows together, and so we
took all the credit cards and maxim all out. And
every time I was still one ticket, I would just
(22:12):
run up with his tip, his tip Doe, so everything
I'll be putting money to say and he'd be like what.
And then um, it got to the point where not
only did I do one show to night, I did
two shows and then I did another show in Long
Island and we end up doing three shows in two days,
um and to a sold out crowd. And then I
remember his agents from ic N was there and they
were like, these people don't matter. And I was like,
(22:34):
what do you mean they don't matter? He was, I
seem to say, said these people don't matter. I was like,
it's in the hood. It doesn't matter that this in
the hood. And I was like, but it's hard working
people paying money they see the show. He's like, no,
this is in the real arena. So once he said
that to me, it made me go, okay, cool. And
I have one question. While all this is going on,
you're taking all the risks. Are you breaking even or
you making an actual dollars? Nick? In the beginning, I
(22:56):
was just paying people and me and I was just
paying people to get on. And then Nick says, I'm
saying we're gonna do it too. Because they said that,
it fuelled me to go and I booked like fifteen
or twenty arenas and just and it was hard to
get arend because it was like, you don't have arena
you know, you know you're doing this too. We never
heard of it. And so then I go to Nick
and I fly to Nick and I was like, Man,
we're gonna do an arena too. Here. It's all the
money that you require upfront to do an arena tour
(23:16):
for every single day. And Nick didn't believe me. So
he's sitting the back and he's counting money. He's like,
you're really serious, and he goes, so what I have
to do? I was like, to give me a draw
for every city and just hostedt's it. So you're so dope.
I just I was just blown away. Yeah, and we
know what it is. It's Nick and working with Nick.
It's that Nick always allowed me to have the ability
(23:39):
to trust in me and fail or or succeed on
my own. So he gave me that opportunity to prove
myself or disprove myself, and UM and the support behind it,
because I mean, he got so fleactive. I mean, MTV
was like, you got a two we don't know nothing about.
And when I tell you, I was selling out every
single arena. I still in that year hold the number
two on post Star, which is like Billboard of Promoters,
(23:59):
and Take itself were number two in the country, right
behind Janet Jackson. At You, I sold out every single arena,
and then I broke another record in d C by
setting out two arenas and one night in the same city.
So we did twelve tho the show Palatin, and we
came to do Capital One Arena and we did seventeen
five and I promoted that in thirty days and then
Nick shook my hand. He was like, you did it.
(24:20):
You did exactly what you said, and he gave me
his look, and I was like, I felt like I
repaid you for the opportunity to take care of my daughter,
because being on Wild Now changed my entire life. And
I felt like that thank you, like the camaraderie with
each other. And then when we actually sold out the
Staples Center, the actual producer of the Wild Now like
now elevens and everyone, they were like, we never thought
(24:42):
something we created would sell out in l A. You
sold out the Staples Center. Yeah, I remember, I remember
hearing about it, and they were like, we how no
one sells out in l A. And we started this
thing and you helped us sell out. You sold it
out in l A. I was like, yeah, thank you
guys for making me a part of this, this this thing,
because to me, while I was bigger than being on SNL,
it was like the death comedy gym thing. So Nick
(25:02):
is all about cultivating talent, and I just I love
the fact that he gave me the opportunity and he
trusted me and believe me when he shook my hand
and allowed me to do that and he actually showed
up at that date. Was everything. Yeah, and we've been
rocking around ever since. By the way, we gotta do
maybe I'll come out to your restaurant. We gotta do
a follow up on you just you know awesome. You
see my on my restaurant, on my show Alban needs
the treat to show on NBC, shot the NBC Peacock
(25:24):
and um, so many different things where you know, I
get to do the same thing. I pay back all
my friends, like I put all the people I've worked
with over the years and helped like Jack Queis and
Cardi B and um, so many different people that I've
inspired and helped over the years, like I've known Cardi
since you're just the dancer and the clubs I used
to host and to see her do her thing. And
you know, I remember when I used try to get
Cardi on whild Out. They were like, no, we wouldn't
like her brand, we don't like her image. And she
(25:46):
blew up and they was like, can you get Cardy
she was I was like, she said no. You gotta
understand how hard it was to meet a while. And
I did warm up for wild Out for three years,
three years, killing the woman to the point where they
would turn the cameras and they would bank my audience
applause and laughter and put it on the television show
because I would do one so so strong and um,
because I would always use that as an audition tape
(26:07):
to me um, to to let them know how funny
I was. UM. And I did all that just to
get an audition. So it was it was a it
was a big It was a big deal to actually
finally get on the show. It was amazing and it's
changed my entire life. Like when you were three years
for that, yeah, three years. More advice do you give
to someone that's coming up knowing everything that you've done
to get to where you're at. Um. I want honestly
(26:30):
say God has been my biggest thing because everybody around
me was so you know, negative, and he sent me
his angels. So he sent me his angels to say
that you know you could do this. Don't listen to
this noise. Don't listen to your parents, don't listen to
all this noise. Don't listen to noise. Go get a job.
Don't listen to a noise. You need to plan and B.
Don't listen to the noise. You gotta go to college
because what if it fails, there is no plan. B.
If there's only a plan, ain't and you don't fail
(26:51):
until you quit. So whatever your level of successes, don't
determine it by someone else's because your story is going
to be your story. It's not. I can't have the
Kevin Harns story. I don't have the Nick Candid story.
I don't have a brand of ty Jacson Storey. I
didn't step on stage when I'm sixteen, and someone says,
let's put him in every single movie. So I would
tell people to stay resilient, and there's so many ways
to do it. So what I what I every no
(27:12):
I got I turned into it. Yes, okay, you're not
great at doing satire. So I went to Barnes and
Nobles and I stayed every day and the reading every
single book that was ever written on comedy. How to
write comedy scripts, how to write comedy writing secrets, and
know how to put jokes together and right double entendres
versus and playing words, and do every single form of comedy.
So I can walk into a church and do comedy.
I could do a golf tournament. I did the Governor's
Ball in New York, Um, so I could. There's that stuff.
(27:34):
Of course. I mean a lot of people don't look
at comedy that you don't have to go and learn
about it. But I think that's probably the only few
people jump into that. Oh I'm silly, but if you
actually do the research, you'll find it so much into it.
And I start reading all these other books at Barnes
and Nobles about being an entrepreneur and what it takes,
and reading uh Napoleon Hills, Uh I think and grow
(27:55):
rich and understanding that you know a lot of entrepreneurs
sell the same drive and determination and finding out how
to do those things and applying yourself, because there is
no such thing as no except for your mind. As
long as you believe in God, there's no such thing
as Notice that's there's nothing you cannot do. You only
limited about who you are. Wow, Wow, we haven't even
in You gotta feed us and we're gonna slice up
(28:21):
these tomatoes and we're gonna get this type of sausa.
But if you know, you know, without no sauce, it's
gonna be a little dry. It's okay, you know this
is eating all broke for real? So what are you
working on? UM? I just got my own show on
NBC show NBC called Urban Eason Treats, where I go
around showing there's great stuff to eat in urban neighborhoods.
I feel like, you know, with the whole Black Lives Matter,
(28:42):
a lot of people don't understand the minority neighborhoods. We
have great stuff to eat. We have a insanely good dishes.
There's fusion, there's so much going on. So a lot
of my guests, like Nick Cannon was on the Russell
Peters Tamar Braxton Shack, they take us to these restaurants
that they used to eat it, that they still eat it.
To this day that are great and you see these
great chefs and has a restaurant owner myself else it's
great to be able to share a lout on all
these minority owned businesses. It's not a black thing. It's
(29:04):
just minority owners. Like a lot of times people to
go black and it's no weird minority. I think when
you think like minorities, it opens up for everyone. And
I think sometimes when people like black black black, you're
excluding people. So now they have to feel like they
have to start their own thing. But if we think
as minorities together, then we become to majority. And that's
just my whole thought process. And I create Indian food,
great Mexican restaurants. They get this this Israeli taco place
(29:27):
where it's like it's really food mixed with Mexican and
it's just it's great, great dishes. So you'll go around
on the show and you try, Yeah, we're going too
these restaurants. So if you could think of dinners, drives,
and dives mixed with comedians and cars. Because they have
these interviews and they go in depth about how they
started doing everything, it's just great. And then when their
jokes and the funny thing is all these rich people
leave me with the bill at the end of the episode.
(29:49):
They leave me at the bill, the bill with the
end of the end of the episode, Yeah, which is
hilarious because I'm sitting here with tone bill and I'm like,
these dudes are rich and Genie, y'all sharing, and they're
leaving me with I would think that the restaurants would like,
let you no, and that's I would never want to
take advantage because I know they can, of course, and
I want them to showcase and the food is good.
And I'm always about I'm always about paying for things
(30:11):
and letting people know that I support them. I think
that sometimes when you get to a certain level that
people think, oh, you're supposed to get everything free because
I'm such and such a such a and I know
what that's like. So I don't ever want to be
that person for me personally. And then now did you
you created the show, so did you shop it to
get NBC? I feel like you did everything to get it.
(30:32):
Big shout out to Kevin. That's actually Kevin Hart and
Jeff Clanigan. When I was actually doing the tour um
in my agent and they were like Jeff knows me
from the Shack all Star thinking, and when he saw it,
he was always trying to, you know, pick some kind
of thing to to work on. When Kevin saw it,
he just automatically gravitated toward something. Kevin was like, Rip,
We're gonna definitely do something with this, and so big
shout at him because he wanted to do the whole
(30:53):
thing and in process to deal and I woke up
one day and he was like, here you go, Rip,
and I was like, look at God. Wow, look at God.
And that was right after, you know, the whole COVID
thing and the tour getting council. So I got two
other projects that I'm doing currently UM. And I turned
my restaurant into I've noticed that during COVID it wasn't
a lot of opportunities for comments and singers. So what
I did is I turned my my restaurant actually into
(31:15):
a full service UM performance space, so now I can
have more artists performed. So I took the dance flowout
and much and now it's a performerformer space or now
poets and everything can showcase they think and I can
give them fair deals because a lot of people don't
understand it. When we do these comedy clubs, we don't
get fair deals. We get seventy percent of the door,
we get no bar, we get no food, weeted, nothing.
So we walk away with a thirty thousand on the weekend.
(31:35):
But you're not realizing the comedy club made a hundred
and so it's not even a fair thing. So when
when when artists come, I actually give them a fair check.
I give them a portion of the ball, I give
them a portion of the I give them the entire door.
So it's just the opportunities that you know that we
need to start having for each other. Sorry about that.
And today I'm just impressed that you just totally freestyle
saw in front of names I've never I didn't even
(31:57):
know you could do this. Um, I'm promised you. I'm
learning to cook because feeding won't broke right here. So
we want do take a little bit of your spam.
Awesome spam and onions, Yes, a little caramelized onions. Did
we go pieces? And then perfect? Awesome? Let's try to
line it up like a little fancy restaurant. Yeah, that's
(32:18):
that's good. Then I like to like me personally. I
like the cheese to kind of be on top of
these again, yeah, because it's like it melts right. A
lot of people like the cheese on top to give
you that cold effect. But I actually like my cheese
right on top of my meat. Weird like that, but
you know, can I put the cheese? Put your cheese
on top. I like to have the balance of co
(32:40):
hot coal hot. Please never tell a strong woman no,
please put my cheese on. I promise you. We're gonna
be like best friends. So he totally freestyle the salsa. Everyone.
I want to get some overhead camaman. Look at that.
Look at that. So this is a spam taco. A
(33:01):
spam taco, A taco that actually cost probably about ninety cents,
and I think the most expensive partner taco is the bread.
And you can get quite a bit of tacos out
of this. Oh yeah, of course, I love it. And
you get all the ingredients pretty much at your local
Dollar Tree or Family Dollars. Nanny served milk and meat
and everything like that. Okay, now let's eat, let's try,
(33:23):
let's see, let's see what we're working with. Okay, that's
going to blue trucks. I don't have my own saucers.
But you know, like a real chef over here apologizing.
Let's see everybody. You're gonna take a watch first. Mmm. Good, oh,
(33:43):
thank you again. I don't have all my fix. I
didn't get the spam. I gotta get another bike. M
you know what that's also, it's not even dry. You're
all worried. Yeah, it's actually really good. Thank you, and
(34:05):
you will help me. Good. You put the cheese on.
We made it together. You know it's an US thing,
but you did your thing. I like how everyone. I
definitely want to make sure you add the salts a
bit that you did in the end, because I can
see where it could have when driving a little bit
more peppers if I had peppers and chop up in it,
make it more people out. You'd enjoy the taste a bit,
(34:25):
a little bit more spicy. You know this tastes great.
Thank you great, all women in the peppers and more stuff.
But you know, bro, check out the book, shout out
the recipe. You'll definitely survive while pursuing your here again,
this is yes, so thank you so much for coming
out feeding me and they and the baby. I really
(34:48):
enjoyed your time today and I can't wait to link
back up with you here. I'm very proud of everything
you're doing. And I know your daughters inside like proud,
jumping up for joy and she just beautiful. So that's
gonna be amazing. Thank you so much. I'm not hearting
on because this to me too movie. I feel like
every guy's afraid now ye like, yeah, you get a
little bit. So thank you guys. Um for listening. Check
(35:11):
us out on the I heart Radio app. For more
Eating Wall Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite show, Show, Show, Show, Show
Host
Coline Witt
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