September 9, 2025 • 55 mins
In Part 1 of this week’s episode of Pretty Private with Eboné, Eboné sits down with David Joyner—the man who brought Barney to life from 1991 to 2001. He shares his journey to becoming the heart of a cultural phenomenon that shaped generations, the dedication required to step into the iconic purple costume, and how his path eventually led him to work as a tantric practitioner.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebina, a space where no
question is off limits and storylines become lifelines. The views
shared by our guests are meant to inform, entertain and empower,
from the laughs to the lessons. Just remember, tough times
don't last, but Professional Homegirls do enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey, Professional Homegirls. Is Shagara Ebine here and I hope
all is cute. Before we get into today's episode, we've
got to celebrate the black off that.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Podcast network is turning five.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Five years of powerful voices, unforgivable moments in a community.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That keeps growing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And I will not be a part of this community
if it wasn't for you all, my Professional Homegirls. So
thank you so much for your support. This is truly
the power of the platform.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Now let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Okay, So I am super excited about this week's episode
as I sit down with David Joyner, the man behind
the iconic Purple Dinosaur that we all love Barney from
nineteen ninety one to two thousand and one, David and
I dive into the cultural impact of the show, the
joy it brought to millions of children, including myself, and
(01:25):
some of the lessons it taught him and all of
us about love. David also opens up about his personal journey,
how he went from bringing Barney to life on screen
to embracing a new path as a Tantric practitioner. Together,
David and I, we explore the behind the scenes stories,
the spiritual practices that guide him today, and how both
(01:47):
roles connect back to spreading love and healing in the world.
So get ready, because the man behind Barney park One
starts now. All right, to my guests, David Joiner, thank
(02:15):
you so much for being on the show, My pleasure.
How are you feeling.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I am feeling fan Tantric, as I always say.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Okay, right on brand.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I was telling him earlier y'all that I am just
like so fascinated with him and everybody in the Barny universe.
So thank you so much for taking the time out
to speak with me today.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Oh I'm excited. Now. What would you say?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It's like the biggest misconception about you, because I feel
like people are always kind of like on a little
nervous when it comes to speaking to you.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, It's funny because I'm such a and I
don't want to toot my own horn.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You can tute it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I'm such a positive, loving, spiritual guy that sometimes with
my Dantra healing business, some people misinterpret that. And a
lot of it has to do with lack of education
or lack of really understanding who I am. Because even
(03:19):
as a sixty year old, sixty two year old black man,
David You's sixty two, sixty two, Oh you know, I
practiced contra, which is all about energy and healing. Again.
But even as a sixty two year old black man,
sometimes people see me and they they think about Barney
or they don't know about Barney, and when I share
(03:42):
that I was Barnie and they're like, no, there's no way.
I'm like and I always say google Bernie black Man.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, you know what's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I'm jumping ahead, But I remember watching Barney and when
I was a little kid, I'm like, Barney was black.
I don't know what dance move you did. I was like,
I knew you was a black man. And I was
telling my friends because I'm like super excited about this conversation.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And they agreed. They was like, yeah, you did some move,
and they was like, we knew he was black.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
That's funny. That's funny.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Have anybody else ever told you that?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that sometimes.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Yeah, some people like I knew it, I knew it,
but you know, then some people who really I mean,
I did this interview back in I want to say
ninety two, maybe in ninety two or ninety four.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
That was ninety two People's magazine, and I was in
the magazine and a lot of people from that article
found out. But it's like a mainstream media years ago,
not a lot of people knew it. But now when
(04:50):
people hear about it, like really really, or you heard
I knew Barney was black. I knew Barney had really.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I think all the black people just knew that you
was black because we see each other.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So what was your childhood like? Like, what was little
David like?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You know, I tell people all the time that even
as a child, I was being trained to do Barney.
I grew up in a very very loving household. There
were six kids, and my mom had a child out
of wedlock, and then she was married before she met
(05:26):
my dad and had two more children. And then when
she met my dad, she had three children with my dad.
But we were raised that there was no stepbrother, no
step sister, brother's sister, everybody's all family. And my dad,
he truly taught us what it meant to love unconditionally.
(05:49):
And my dad's mother, Mama Girt. Mama Girt always told
me as a child that I had a gift of
healing and to always that gift. And so my thing
was always trying to and sometimes I would do it
without even knowing it. I wanted people to feel warm
(06:10):
and inviting when they were around me. And you know,
it was recently I was doing an interview and I
just remembered something that my parents did. My mom had
a mirror at our front door, and she would encourage
us when we before going outside, look in the mirror
and say, I love you. So you're walking outside with
(06:32):
this premise of love and love inside. So when you're
outside the house, you're not trying to tear people down
or look over people, but you're trying to just be love.
And I was always entertaining, always being silly, always goofy,
trying to mimic people doing different voices. When we would
(06:56):
sometimes at school and we're in practice, Uh be sports whatever,
and uh we need if we needed a ride home.
A lot of times I would call my dad or
call the house and I disguise my voice those type
of kids. Yeah, And I would play with my parents,
you know, like I was a bill collector. I'm gonna
(07:17):
shut off your electricity, you.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Know, stressing them out. O.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
This is met Peter Thompson with the Decatur of Power
and Light Company, and you just haven't paid your bill
and we're not shut a lot of electricity off until
you come down here and pay that bill.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I know they used to be stressed dealing with you.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
Be like, Dad, can you pick us up from practice?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So who would you say? Was your barney? Was it
your mom?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Your dad?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Or your grandma my barney? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Oh oh can I say all three?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You can, because I think that's like just sharing those
stories with me, Like I feel like you was made
for this role.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Yeah. And even on my father's side of the family,
there's a lot of spiritual gifts. My grandmother was clairvoyant.
She can see where they happen. My father was intuitive.
I developed my gift as I read energy, and I'm clairvoyant.
Sometimes I can see things before they happen, and through
(08:28):
an an intuition, I can feel sometimes when someone's going
through something. And growing up also my nickname was preacher
because a lot of times people would come to me
and they didn't necessarily know I had these gifts, but
if they came to me and they asked me certain
questions or ask for advice, then I would just channel
(08:49):
and I just start speaking, and I'd let them know
what they need to do or what's going on. And
sometimes they wouldn't even reveal what's happening in their situation,
but by me speaking to them, I would reveal what
they're going through. And a lot of times people just
looked at me shocked and they're like, man, you're a
preaching man. You're a preacher. And then plus, you know,
I grew up in the church, and I would always
(09:13):
mimic like our pastor doing his sermons and things. But
my thing also was just you know, with with my grandmother,
spending time with her and hearing some of her stories,
and a lot of my relatives, younger kids, siblings, they
didn't want to hang around Mama girt. They're like, Mama girt,
(09:35):
Mama girl says it it's gonna come true. I'm like,
I'm like I want to I want to stay around
Mama girt because I want I want to hear what's
going on. And then with my dad. You know, my
grandmother had five boys, and my dad and my uncles
they cherished their wives. I was also raised in an
(09:56):
environment where men honored feminis energy. And then with my mother,
my mother was my best friend. I could tell my
mother anything, and I could tell her about the girls
I was dating, my relationships, different situations. And my mom
(10:17):
was one of the best cooks. I know, everybody says
their mom is the best cook, but my mom also
cooked for the church and she would sell dinners. Sometimes
we made homemade ice cream. People scream from the house.
And even with their cooking, I would do my homework
in the dining room sometimes in the kitchen while she's cooking,
(10:39):
and I was just like, you know, see what she's
doing and just feel that energy because she put a
lot of love in her food. And some people say
soul food is the food of love. My mom has
some soul food cooking and it was delicious. And then
even as today a lot of people are like, man,
your cooking is amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
All of a sudden, you can cook.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cooking is one of my hobbies
when I travel. When I travel, I try to find
places that have kitchens so that I can cook. Cooking
is also very therapeutic and healing for me. Yeah. But
one of my one of my famous desserts is pair pie.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh I've never had that before, David, you.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And pear pie. You know. It's just a substitute of
apple pie. But I love in it a lot of cinnamon, graham,
cracker crust. I make some mean mixed vegetables, salt, onions,
and then the flavoring. My fried chicken is off the hook.
I like to cook chicken here. Now, I do a
(11:49):
lot of boneless, skinless, but sometimes when I do the wings,
I just want you to be able to slide the
bone out right.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You got kids, David, No kids? You ain't got kids?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
No kids? Oh wow, that's another story. Yeah, as a
matter of fact. As a matter of fact, when I
was doing Bernie, I thought, Okay, it's time to settle down,
you know, get some kids. I didn't want to have
kids out of wedlock. So I started auditioning women.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
It what happened, what's the tea?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
I started auditioning women to be who would who would
make a good mother. You gotta have good hair, good
skin complexion, active, beautiful body. Yeah. And then I got
married and then I found out later on that I
(12:49):
couldn't even have kids.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Oh wow, wow, I.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Didn't know that.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, and not that that ended the marriage, but there's
some other circumstances too. But I was like, Okay, God,
you got to sense a humor.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
DONI wow?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Because I know women would throwing them sales at you
just to show their appreciation for what you do mean
to their kids.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Well, we're about to get into it. How many women
through them sales at.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You, David.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Well, you gotta remember too, I was a healer. I
started studying TANTRA when I was nineteen. When I was
going to school for Electronic engineering technology, I also wanted
to make extra money as a massage therapist, so I
started taking classes to become a license massage therapist and
(13:43):
I was introduced to TNTRA. And when I was introduced
to TNTRA, I also understood the power of energy. And
as I was in school for electronic engineering technology, you're
learning energy from circuit boards and different components and sisters
and modulators, and so you know that certain capacitors and
resistors can't be next to each other because it will
(14:05):
change the frequency. It would change the voltage change elation,
so that could affect the board, and that could affect
you know how that board work. Same thing when I
started studying tentry, and you understand energy, and you understand
the energy within you and you and you try to
expand that energy. When expanding that energy, you're also able
(14:27):
to radiate that energy. And also growing up knowing I
had a gift of healing and I love giving massages.
A lot of time. It's like, let me give you
a massage, and when I would give the massage, it
would feel different because you would feel that love and
you'd feel that beauty and that that that safe space
(14:49):
because my thing was always I wanted people to feel
safe around me.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What's up, y'all? Issue your m and a here, and
be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok at
pretty private podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe to my
YouTube channel at the Professional home Girl. Now let's get
back to the show.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I know your wife wasn't okay with you doing these massages.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well I wasn't doing it when I when I got married. Okay, yeah,
I kind of kind of transitioned off and I didn't
start my business still. Actually after my divorce was free. Yeah. Yeah,
And you know I married a Puerto Rican woman, so
she wasn't going I didn't get the memo on Puerto
Rican women.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, she wasn't going for that.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah. There's a lot of things she wasn't going for, right,
but one of them was me. I was like, wait
a minute, God, you mean I gave up all these women.
I was doing all this stuff right, and the women
I want to be with now don't want to be
with me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But I feel like, in a sense, because of your
introduction to tantra, it also kind of help you with
your role in Barney as well.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
What a lot of people when they when they hear tantra,
you know, they always think it's about sex. I think
people getting together and elevating their sex and weaving and
bonding their sexual energy together. And that is true. But
there's there's different types of tntra. Right when I just
described it is considered red tntra. The one I truly
gravitated toward and what I practice even today is white
(16:30):
lotus mantra. There's also black contra where people use sexual
energy to try to manipulate or to control get their way. Well,
White Lotus tantra, it's all about white light, love, the universe,
the energy as one. And if you can imagine a
(16:54):
radio when you're young, but back in the day, we
had antennas, and in order for you to get a
good signal from the station that's broadcasting the signal, you
sometimes have to raise that antenna. Well, you look in
white Lotus tntra, you look at the universe and the
(17:17):
creator of the universe as always broadcasting a signal. You
also look at the energy of the Earth, Mother Gaya
and understanding that they're healing elements within the earth. A
lot of times they tell us to ground ourselves by
walking outside with no shoes on. Well, sometimes when people
(17:40):
here grounding themselves, they really don't know the reality of it.
Our body is filled with electricity. There's current flowing through
us at all times. Energy. And if you can imagine
a major appliance, and when you plug something into a wall,
a small appliance will just have the negative and positive,
(18:00):
whereas a major appliance that has lots of voltage will
have three prongs negative, positive and grounding. So when you
ground that serpuitry and you ground that energy. You are
now taking this energy that's doing this and now allowing
that energy to do this. When you tap into white
(18:20):
Lotus TNTRA, you allow the antenna and you to rise
so that you can now get a better signal of
the energy that's harmonizing in the universe. The energy within
the universe is love. So now you're operating on a
frequency of love, and you're elevating and expanding that energy.
(18:43):
So the foundation is love. The energy around you is love,
the energy above you is love. So you're now operating
in this sphere of love right with your sexual energy.
Your sexual energy is the energy of creation. That's the
energy that created you, and that's the energy that's within
(19:04):
you that also can cause creation. From a male's point
of view, when you honor.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I feel like we're in the masterclass right now, I
am like glued.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
From a male's point of view, when you honor goddess energy,
feminine energy, you're literally honoring the energy of creation. Right.
Divine has given you the ability and the responsibility to
have children right who extend humanity. When the flesh is
(19:40):
developing in your womb for nine months it's not just physical,
it's also spiritual. Right when that energy is now released
into the physical realm, it is released through spirit, mind
and body, You yourself, who has now been nurturing the
spirit inside of you nine months. When this spirit is
(20:01):
released into the world, that spirit is already connected to
you and the intuition that you have with that spirit.
A lot of times you hear mothers knowing that something's
going along with their child, knowing that something's not right,
or knowing that their child is going through something beautiful.
You have that energy within you. So in white Lotus Tantra,
you understand that your sexual energy is an energy of
(20:26):
creation and energy of fuel. So we're not necessarily taught
sometimes how important that energy is. So then we go
through life kind of willy nilly giving that energy away.
Sometimes we give it away to those who don't really
understand that well. The transference of energy. Like I said,
in electronics, you have certain components that you can't allow
(20:48):
those components to be next to each other because they
can suck up the voltage of that particular component, or
they can cause that component to change its frequency modulation
or burn that component out because it's controlling that component.
Same thing with our energy. We have to know who
(21:09):
we're harmonizing our energy with. So when you understand the
principle of white lotus TNTRA, and you understand the principle
of self, first, you understand that your sexual energy is
not an energy of gratification, but it's for spiritual elevation.
When you allow that antenna to rise, you're now connecting
to the innerverse, the universal energy of love. So now
you're surrounding yourself with love, harmony, and peace. So then
(21:32):
when you're radiating that energy, you're attracting that energy. And
our body has a negative to positive polarity. We radiate
the energy through our right. We pull in energy with
our left, just like the electricity. So when we plug
our energy into someone have to stay grounded. So our
energy is not like this. Our energy is like this.
(21:53):
Our energy was with purpose. Now knowing all of that,
aways knew that children who were more spiritually connected than
we are as adults, because their mind is not fluttered,
it's pure, it's pure, and that's why children can always
pick up on something that's not right. I wanted to
(22:14):
be able to connect with children in the Barney costume
in a very loving spiritual way. I would take like
thirty to forty minutes before getting in costume. I would meditate,
I would increase my tea energy. I would ask Mother
Er to allow her healing energy to flow through me
at neasyum, the cop or the lava, the crystals, the
(22:37):
energy from the magnetic plates that wartext energy. I would
ask all that energy to infuse within me, and then
I would offer that energy up and let that energy
rise up through my chakras, up through the crown chopper,
and then I would ask God to allow that energy
to expand and allow your loving energy to then flow
(22:57):
through me through the cost through the camera, and let
that drawing and children on top of that. It would
increase my energy. And then I would take like thirty
to forty minutes and I would increase my t energy
off that energy up and then ask God to allow
that loving energy of the universe to flow through me
(23:20):
through the camera, through the costume, through the camera, and
let that draw in his children. I say, And when
I'm in there doing this, the Spirit's in there with me.
So a lot of times things are happening. The costumes
seventy pounds. It can get over one hundred and twenty degrees.
There's a bar attached to the jaw that's patted with
(23:43):
a sponge. I'm biting on the sponge, nodding my head
up and down to move Barney's mouth. Also, the peripheral
you can only see a certain distance, and mouse is closed,
you can't see anything. So then also I would have
to go off of energy. A lot of times I
would walk on a set and I would look and
(24:03):
see what's on the set, and I would literally take
a snapshot in my mind of what's going on. And
then I would practice in my home walking around with
my eyes closed and try to feel energy and feel
where things are. Because again through time, true you understand energy,
and you want to be able to feel. As you're
(24:24):
able to radiate, you're also able to pick up and feel.
And so when I'm on set in costume, a lot
of times when I couldn't see something, if I knew
I wanted to jump and do a three sixty turn,
I knew something was around me or something was in
close proximity, so I knew I had to alter the
jump or do bell kicks or dancing or whatever to
make sure that I'm not destroying the set or doing
(24:46):
anything destructive. So a lot of times the energy is
flowing through me and with me, and then also it's
giving me energy. And sometimes people would say, man, that
was amazing what you just did, and I'm like, that
wasn't me, Like, no, you did this right back down,
I'm like that was me. Man, I was just flowing
with the energy. And then also it gives you more vitality.
(25:10):
And like earlier when I was saying I was sixty two,
because I put an energy from above and from below,
I'm honoring this vessel that I've do you think.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
That's what's missing from children programming now? Because I feel
like everything that you just explained, like it was intentional,
Like you have a ritual, you meditate, you pray, you
know what I'm saying. Do you feel like that's like
the main component, which is, like I guess, somewhat spirituality
when it comes to the values in children programming today?
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Well, you know, I would say yes to no because
even what I was doing that wasn't necessarily happening with
the show itself. That was my personal life, right because
I wanted to radiate that energy with my role, my
participation in the show and then again, the whole family,
(26:03):
the production company, the environment of the show itself. Everyone,
we all knew that we were doing something very special
and we were all on board with that and knowing
that there was a family structure that was even going
on with us, so that energy was radiating through what
we were doing and shooting the show. I would love
(26:25):
to be able to give you an honest answer about
children's programming today. One of the other things too, is
when Barnie came on the air, there wasn't children's programming
for kids that age. Our target age group were two
year olds. Now the industry is flooded, the market flooded,
(26:47):
and with Barney, Yes, Bernie made a lot of money
and a lot of times shows came up it's like, hey,
we're going to do this to make the money and
not necessarily do it for the value you really teaching
and helping kids with their cognitive skills, their learning skills,
(27:07):
their emotional skills. They're just out there to put a
product out there on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And you can tell yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And a lot of kids they don't know, and the
parents are like, hey, let me put this in front
of my child so I can go do my thing.
So this child is just watching this thing, and you
know children, when they watch things repetitively, you know, then
it's like, hey, I want to see that again. Yes,
So that's what I loved about being Barnie. And then
(27:35):
to be totally honest with you, after I left the
show after doing it for ten years, and the guy
that took my place to do the television series, he
was doing the stage tour for a long time, and
I personally didn't think he was right for the television role.
And as you're doing a stage show, you're doing the
(27:58):
same performance night after night after night. The children and
the audience, they're not truly focused on you. They've got
the stage, they've got the sets, they've got other characters.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I guess a lot trying to pay attention to.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
You've got your siblings, you're eating, you got your parents,
you got other kids in the audience. And what I
told him, I said, you have to radiate that energy
through that constume and through that camera because you want
that child at home doing this. Yeah, you want them
glued in to you and glued in because they're feeling
this loving vibration, this loving energy. But of course he
(28:34):
wasn't able to do that, and so whenever I would
watch the show to try to take notes or even
try to offer some advice. After a while, it just
got to the point where he's not listening. Yeah, then
you're watching it and it's like, oh.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I feel like once you left, Once Bob left,
obviously when Shryl stupp down, which we'll talk about, or
when she left, I feel like everything's just changed.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, it changed, and it didn't necessarily have that principal value. Yeah,
we all love to. Plus, the company was sold to
Hit Entertainment, and Hit Entertainment was a conglomerate that had
other shows. When we had Barney with the Lions Group
and Lyrics Studios, Barney was the main focus. Yeah, we
(29:22):
went in the building, everybody knew it was all about Barney.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yeah, what a time.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
But another interesting fact about you was you were one
of the engineers behind the Texas calculators.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
Well well, well, a lot of people when they hear
Texas instruments, they think calculators, right, Texas Instruments did a
whole lot more.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Than just got true true true.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And I worked in an area that we had a
contract with the Navy and we designed infrared circuit boards
for the infrared devices arms missiles, and I was a
software analyst there. We worked in an area called the
readact division where designed the circuit boards and then by
(30:12):
designing the circuit boards, you would give that information to
the facility that would then manufacture the boards manually. And
my role was as a software analyst sometimes to come
up with different ways because we had different facilities making
these different boards and making them on different systems. We're
(30:36):
pushing all that energy to the place that's now manufacturing
the board, so sometimes that data coming to that facility,
that data is a little different and it's challenging. So
what I would come up with ideas to marry that energy,
I mean marry that data. I'm always about energy data
together so then that board can be manufactured and the
(30:57):
people that are manufacturing they don't have to try to think.
They could just manufacture and then that data isn't put
into the system, and then if something went wrong, I
was the one who was in charge of troublestreating trying
to find out if it was through manufacturing, through design
in the field, through the engineering, so I would have
(31:25):
to investigate. Sometimes it was a lot more than just calculators,
and even with that, I would use my entertainment skills.
I was recruited by Texas Instruments and they asked, you know,
what's your long term goal. I said, I want to
work here at least five years and then quit to
pursue entertainment full time. Of course, they laughed at me,
(31:47):
and look, I'm also performing. I would stand in the
store windows as a mannequin on the weekends, mister Entertainment,
davidy Joiner, the mannequin man, and I'm standing in the
windows and people would literally bring their kids, set their
kids on them all floor and then go shop. I
was also performing at certain nightclubs, dancing, singing.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
I know you was outside, David, I know he was out.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
And sometimes, you know, even when when at Texas Instruments,
when I'm trying to, you know, investigate, and a lot
of times people didn't want to, uh, they didn't want
to be at fault, and so I tried to call
and they wouldn't give me information. Then I'd call back, Hi,
my name is Susie and I work with the Blah
blah blah division.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
And I just want to know.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
It's just something simple about the board. I don't understand
why the board malfunction, and you know, people would give
up the goods because they didn't think it was me, right,
And you know, I called back again and I described
my voice and say that, you know, I'm trying to
travelish you this board here and I'm not sure exactly
(32:57):
what happened. Could you just explain on the bond, you know,
what you feel happened, and people and then I would
use it. We'd be show up in a meeting and
and you have to give you introductions on David Joiner
and people be like, you're a David Joiner.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
What are you coming out with your book? Because you
have you have a lot of lives that you have live.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I get that question all the time too. I am
the book.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Yeah, but we need a physical copy that we can
have all over the world.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, have you thought about it? Oh yeah, I'm
actually making book notes right now.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Okay, but as a matter of.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Fact, I could go through my book notes right now
drop some nuggets on. You're going to be like, what what?
Let me just give you an example here. We got
an exclusive this one. This is a lot of times
things come to me. I get channeled, right, and this
is talking about what I do Contra. I practice and
(34:03):
honor the modality of white lotus TNTRA. My healing sessions
are also based on white lotus TNTRA. It's all about
connecting your divine spiritual energy with your sacred sexual energy,
allowing that amazing energy to rise freely as you offer
it up to Father God, and by honoring Mother Earth
with lots of loving gratitude for allowing us to navigate
(34:26):
on her plane, connecting the divine trinity within spirit, mind,
and body. The way you honor your sexual energy determines
what type of soil you're planting your star seed in.
Know your true value, your true worth, and keep shining
your divine light. You are a beautiful goddess filled with
(34:49):
God's divine light. Don't ever let anyone cause you to
feel anything less. Own your goddess power, Own your goddess energy,
Own your goddess sacred space. Kindness is like a merry
go round. Don't get off before the kindness comes back
to you.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
M Ay, that was a good one. That that was
a good one. I'm have to borrow that one.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Always remember we cannot clean our bowels without taking a ship.
Sometimes in life we're taught to take a ship so
that we can clean our bowels, wipe, flush, get off
the pot, wash your hands, and then happily leave the room.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Oh yeah, I need an autograph copy for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I tell my clients sometimes because I work with a
lot of women that are in paths and gifts and
they pick up on other people's energy, and I tell
them all the time. Do the throne meditation. You're sitting
on the throne and you're releasing the waste from your body.
Ask the creator to the waste from your spirit. Start repeating,
(36:03):
I released the way, release the waste from my spirit,
as I released the waste from my body. Release the
waste from my spirit as.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I released the waste from my body.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Release the waste from my spirit as I released the
waste from my body. And you just start releasing things
that don't belong to you. You know.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I feel like you've always been like very spiritual. Can
you tell us about the dream you had when God
was giving you signs on how you knew this role
was for you.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Yeah. When the casting director Shirley Abrams wanted to me
auditioned for Barney, I initially said no, Why did you
say no. Well, I didn't want to be in a costume.
I wanted to be seen, you know. And I had
never done anything like it before. And at the time,
(36:56):
I was working at an acting school, the Young Actor Studio,
And because when I told Texas Instruments, I was going
to be there at least five years, and then quick
well that six the fifth year came around, I wasn't ready.
So I stayed six and even in that where they
were about to have a major layoff. I'll come back
(37:16):
to the story of a second. They're about to have
a major layoff, and I knew somebody in my area
was going to get laid off because of seniority, and
so I went to my supervisor and I asked if
you would put me on the severance package, because they
were trying to get people to do a severance package
to retire early. And I know I'm going to leave
this year. I don't know when, but I wouldn't want
(37:38):
someone to lose their job and then I'm gone, and
then that person hasn't already left the job, and now
you got to hire somebody else, right, And so he
came back to me, he says, I can't put you
on the severance package, and I said okay. So I
went to my desk. I pulled up my calendar. I
had all twelve months in front of me. I meditated,
I closed my eyes and I said, all right, tell
(37:58):
me when I'm supposed to quit. I did like this,
It went September. So the last friday in September, September
twenty eighth. I said, all right, September twenty eighth's that's it.
So September fourteenth, two weeks. Notice this is in April.
I'm telling my friends. I'm like, yeah, man, I'm quitting
(38:18):
this September. And they're like, what are you gonna do.
I'm saying, I'm going to perform. I'm going to act.
What do you have lined up? Nothing? So and then
I said, okay, I'm making money performing as a mannequin man, dancing, singing.
Now it's time to focus on my acting. And I
started taking this acting workshop. And the gentleman that ran
(38:40):
the acting workshop, Jay Corn, his wife Lindecito, ran the
acting school for kids. Well, they both ran it together,
but she was it was her school and on weekends
we would do improv comedy with the kids from the
acting school. And so I developed this rapport with the kids,
and so when they needed a substitute teacher, they asked
(39:01):
me to do it because they were preparing the kids
for this showcase where they would fly in casting directors
and agents from Dallas. I mean from Los Angeles to Dallas.
It's a two day workshop. And this casting director, Shirley Abrams,
came in and saw me working with these kids, and
I was doing this whole mannequin thing where I'd have
(39:22):
them freeze in a certain mannequin pose and you may
would do a line from their scene, and I'd have
them it was like, okay, go crazy, move move, now
freeze and they they'd have to pick a very unique pose.
So now you have to use your cognitive skills and
you couldn't just freeze. You had to you had to
find something unique and different, right. Hold that. So as
(39:43):
you're holding that, you're now focusing and concentrating not only
on that pose, but on your body and then also
on your mind, trying to remember what your line is.
And then I walk up to one of them or
two or three, and I'd say, now give me a
line from your scene, and then they'd have to do that,
and it's fro in position. So what they're now doing
is channeling that energy and they're grounding that energy. Really
(40:06):
saw that. She's like, oh my gosh, that's that's pretty impressive.
She was so like graver, headshot, and resume. And so
she called me into audition for America's Most Wanted. And
what I was auditioning for was this drug dealer who
had shot a guy. There was a drug dealer who
(40:26):
had just got out of jail.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Now how she get that from what she was doing
with the kids?
Speaker 7 (40:30):
Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, Because I'm a right,
right and so and so here's a funny thing.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
This is a bridge. Right. In fourth grade, my tooth
got knocked out. I used to have a what you
call one of those flippers where you could just take
the tooth out right, and then later on I had
to have a root canal, and so then I had
to have two, So there was two teeth on like
this flipper. Right, Sometimes I could take my tongue and
(40:59):
they come out. So I'm in this audition and there's
the drug dealer who's the leader of the game, sitting
in the passenger seat. One of his guys is driving.
They had a guy in the back and one of
the guys had snitched on him, and so they also
had that guy in the back seat. So in the
(41:22):
scene the drug dealer, he turns around, he shoots the guy,
and then he tells ther. He tells the guy in
the back seat to push him out the car, and
then he tells the driver to run over him. And
this was true. This was a reenactment, so they had
us switch to different roles in the audition. So I'm
(41:42):
doing the drug dealer guy and I turned around to
the back seat and just making the sound bang my
teeth came out. So the guy, the guy that was
sitting behind me, he was like a worse. Shirley was like, wow,
(42:02):
that was so convincing. That was incredible. And so then
we're walking outside and the dude was like, man, what
the hell was that? Right? Sorry? Man? Sometimes my te like, man,
you scared me.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Wait you ever seen that video with Dame Dash teeth
falling out?
Speaker 2 (42:22):
No?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Oh, I got this. I'm a DM t Okay, you're
gonna crack up.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
So I ended up getting the roll. It wasn't the
role of this guy. It was the role of the
driver and we were gonna go to Arkansas and shoot
this whole America's most Wanted. And I'm bragging to my friends, Yeah,
I'm going to Arkansas. We're gonna shoot this day America's
most Wanted. And this was now in August, right, And
so Shirley gives me a call. She says, I have
(42:50):
some good news and I have some bad news. And
I said, yeah, what is it? He says, well, the
good news is they found the guy. And the bad
news is we're not now We're gonna not gonna shoot
the project. Wow, learned a very very important lesson, very
valuable lesson. Don't go bragging off about what you're supposed
to do and what you're gonna do. And had facts,
(43:13):
especially in entertainment facts and then she says, but I've
seen you, I've seen your work with children, I've seen
you know. I'm gonna I got something for you. So
cut to I turned in my two weeks notice at
Texas Instruments a week later. There's a facts that comes
through Facts.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Is listen you now?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
And so it was, you know, the audition for Barney,
you know, and the premise was a good actor athletic
works well with children, and if you have any costume
character experience. So when I read it, I was like,
I don't then least Lsito, who owns the school. Her
(44:02):
and Shirley are good friends, and she says, well, if
you don't want to do it, you should call Shirley
and just let her know that you don't want to
do this, right, So I called Shirley. Shirley said, no,
I'm not taking no for an answer. I've seen you.
I think you're perfect for it. You had this rasp
be voice. She says, no, David, I'm not going to
take nor answer. I've seen you work with these children,
(44:24):
and I think you're perfect for it. I was like,
it's like the raft of God.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
You know what, Shirley for you, I'll do it right.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
I'm going to send you some videos. Study the videos
so when you come to the audition you'll be prepared.
So every time I pop in one of these videos
to watch, I would fall asleep. Mmm, I'm like this
is boring. I was like, I don't want to do this,
and so every time I was like, all right, let
me pop another one in.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Because what are the eyes that The first barning name
was Barney Too. I mean his name is David too.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
I know right right, and so I'm like, I don't
get it. I don't get it. And and two of
the kids that were on the show, Lucy and Derek,
there were students at the acting school, and so I
talked to them and talked to their mom and you know,
find out a little bit about the show. And so
the night before the audition, I'm laying there and I'm
(45:20):
listening to Prince. I'm a huge Prince fan. Prince resonates
with me. Sometimes I hear his music and it's like
the angels are talking to me. Sometimes, of course he's
Prince music. A lot of times my massage and I
would saying, do me like you never done before.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
I know these women, these massage just be done like
a bit.
Speaker 6 (45:48):
You.
Speaker 4 (45:55):
Anyway, So I'm listening to Prince after I popped in
this video and I just couldn't watch it. I fell asleep.
So now I'm laying on the sofa listening to the Prince.
And then I get up and I go to bed.
And a lot of times things come to me in
my dreams, and sometimes if I intentionally ask for guidance,
(46:16):
ask for it, show me the way before I lay
my head down. And then there's a grounding effect that
you learn. Whereas when you lie flat, you put the
palms down on the mattress and you intentionally feel the
roots like a tree fingertips going down into the soil
and grounding you and connecting you, and you take like
(46:38):
ten deep breaths, and then you just lay there and
allow that energy to now feel you up. What that
also does is allows you in your dream state to
be very clear and direct and with purpose what you
want to see or what you're trying to manifest. So
I went to bed that night and I asked, Okay,
give me guidance, let me know, because I I don't
(47:00):
want to go in the city audition. I don't want
to embarrass Shirley. I don't want to embarrass the raft
of God, you know. And so I had this dream
and in the dream, Barney's In the dream, Barney passes out.
I see it, Barney mouth the mouth through suscitation and
revive them. And so then the next day I'm driving
to the audition, and my spiritual number is twenty two.
(47:24):
Whenever I see it, twenty two, always stop and give thanks,
and I say the same prayer all the time. I
love you, I adore you. I magnify your name, allow
your will to be my will each and every day.
And so when I see it too, too, too, I
know something very powerful and significant is about to happen.
We're getting at a stoplight. Spirit says, look up. I
(47:45):
look up at this billboard. It says, Breathe life into
your vacation Southwest Airlines. I'm driving, I get into the
parking lot. I go to turn off the car. It's
twelve twenty two, so I stop and save my meditation.
And then I look up and there's this same advertisement
on a different billboard, Breathe life into your vacation Southwest Airlines.
(48:06):
Now I start walking across the parking lot, and then
that's when it hit me. Barney passed out in the
dream because there was no energy, there was no life.
I kept falling asleep watching this video because I felt
there wasn't enough energy into this audition. And if I
breathe life into this character, I'm going on vacation after
(48:30):
I got the role, because they didn't pick me at first.
They picked a young lady and they asked me if
I would consider being back up. But the spirit had
already told me that it was my role after several
auditions and even one audition, but it was like six
or seven auditions.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
And at one point Bob West was there and we
had to memorize the script and then they wanted to
see some ad lib and so one of the other
stories is when I was about seven years old, I
would stand in front of the TV and I would
lip sync whatever was going on to entertain the family
and friends. And so growing up being a party gag
(49:13):
where I'd walk in and like, dang, do your thing,
Do your thing. So I'd study someone's mannerisms. I'd listen
to them talk and then I say, okay, I'm going
to turn around. I'm going to become your body while
you're talking. And I would do that and people are like, ahh,
that's funny. Well, little did I know he was trained
to do that. So in the auditioned that Bob was there,
(49:35):
We're doing the script. I'm moving the mouth as best
as I can. The costume was a little comforsome for me,
that constant one that David Voss had, and so I
had to stand a certain way to actually make it
look straight. So my body was kind of contort in there,
and so then when we got to the ad lib
and I'm moving the mouth with what he's saying, and
(49:55):
I'm doing the gestures and the jumps and everything. So Wilson,
who is the performance director, she comes and she looks
into the mouth and she says, wait a minute. She says,
what are you doing? I said, what do you mean?
She says, how are you doing that? I said, what
are you talking about? How are you moving your mouth
at the same time that he's talking. And I said, oh,
this little party gag that I used to do back
(50:15):
in the day. I would mimic people. And she's like,
that's amazing. So then all of this was happening. I'm
getting all these compliments. But then at the end of
the day they picked the young lady, like why would
they put a woman over me?
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Right?
Speaker 4 (50:31):
And then after a while was she white? Yes?
Speaker 3 (50:43):
She was, okay, there you go.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Well, you know not.
Speaker 4 (50:47):
That that was because you want the white guys here too, right, right, right?
A black man to be bonne, right, But anyway, so
you know, you be back up and I said yeah.
So apparently she had to do one live performance and
wasn't able to handle it. And this was before they
(51:09):
went to the studio to shoot the first video. The
first video was going to be Barnie in concert, and
that's what the audition was for to shoot two home
videos because they'd already shot a series now they wanted
to shoot two more home videos. So that's what that's
what was on the audition sheet. And so when they
then asked me if I would do it, and I
(51:29):
said yeah, I said, but it's gonna cost you more money.
Now exactly created you know a little bit better than Plus,
I knew what the kids are making and I'm like,
I'm not going to be in a costume. You can't
see me in a heavy costume, and I'm making the
same amount of money next to me that you can
see the likeness, you can hear the voice, you can
hear the person singing. I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
(51:51):
no no, we got to be fair about this.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Contract, it was a good contract. And so then once
I got the roll, I knew. I was like, man,
if this thing ever gets on television, it's going to
go crazy.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Oh so you knew when you first, like once you
join and you signed a contract, you just knew off
the rip.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
I knew I could feel it I could feel it.
Then I'm like, okay, I came into the audition with
this energy and also being an athlete, I had this
athletic energy like woo. And the David Voss version of
Barney was, you know, kind of stiff, kind of you
(52:31):
could move. And then I said, okay, now why would
they pick a woman to be in this six seven costume,
this heavy costume? And I said, I got to figure
it out. So one night I was talking to Miss Penny,
our performance director, and I said, you know, I couldn't
understand why they picked the young lady over me, and
blah blah blah. And I said, tell me something about
David Voss and and she says, what a lot of
(52:52):
people didn't know at the time that he was gay,
come out of the closet. And so we used to
all also that feminine energy, right, So I said.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
And so I said, all right, I got to tone
my energy down. I got to find a balance. So,
and here's the other thing about TNTRA and TNTRA. They
teach you to honor the feminine and the masculine energy
within you because they all have both energies within us. Right,
A lot of times men being homophobic, they don't want
(53:28):
that feminine energy to lead and they try to hide
that energy.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Trying to mask it.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
Yeah, and then some of the men sometimes who are
homophobic are on the d L right right, when you
tap into that feminine energy also as a heterosexual, and
as you're taught to honor goddess energy, you're also honoring
the goddess energy within you.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Fast.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
So I said, okay, I got to bring that energy out,
so that energy is now equal to the masculine energy
inside the Barnie costume. The other thing I would say,
and this may sound bad, you know, forgive me if
y'all don't consider this the right thing to do or
the right thing to say, but I would. After I
(54:12):
do my meditation and everything, I said, all right, let's
be gay. And so instead of doing this, I was glad.
Speaker 3 (54:25):
And it worked.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
I get in costume. It's like and jay can mean happy. Yeah,
it was happy.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
This concludes part one of this week's episode. Part two
drops next week, same time, same place.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
For listening and celebrating five years of the Black Effect
podcast Network with us. Keep following, sharing, and streaming, because
the next five years are about to be even bigger.
Until next time, everyone Later. Pretty Private is a production
(55:04):
of the Black Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe and rate
the show, and you can connect with me on social
media
Speaker 3 (55:19):
At Pretty Private Podcasts
Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebina, a space where no
question is off limits and storylines become lifelines. The views
shared by our guests are meant to inform, entertain and empower,
from the laughs to the lessons. Just remember, tough times
don't last, but Professional Homegirls do enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey, Professional Homegirls. Is Shagara Ebine here and I hope
all is cute. Before we get into today's episode, we've
got to celebrate the black off that.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Podcast network is turning five.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Five years of powerful voices, unforgivable moments in a community.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That keeps growing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And I will not be a part of this community
if it wasn't for you all, my Professional Homegirls. So
thank you so much for your support. This is truly
the power of the platform.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Now let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Okay, So I am super excited about this week's episode
as I sit down with David Joyner, the man behind
the iconic Purple Dinosaur that we all love Barney from
nineteen ninety one to two thousand and one, David and
I dive into the cultural impact of the show, the
joy it brought to millions of children, including myself, and
(01:25):
some of the lessons it taught him and all of
us about love. David also opens up about his personal journey,
how he went from bringing Barney to life on screen
to embracing a new path as a Tantric practitioner. Together,
David and I, we explore the behind the scenes stories,
the spiritual practices that guide him today, and how both
(01:47):
roles connect back to spreading love and healing in the world.
So get ready, because the man behind Barney park One
starts now. All right, to my guests, David Joiner, thank
(02:15):
you so much for being on the show, My pleasure.
How are you feeling.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I am feeling fan Tantric, as I always say.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Okay, right on brand.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I was telling him earlier y'all that I am just
like so fascinated with him and everybody in the Barny universe.
So thank you so much for taking the time out
to speak with me today.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Oh I'm excited. Now. What would you say?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It's like the biggest misconception about you, because I feel
like people are always kind of like on a little
nervous when it comes to speaking to you.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, It's funny because I'm such a and I
don't want to toot my own horn.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You can tute it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I'm such a positive, loving, spiritual guy that sometimes with
my Dantra healing business, some people misinterpret that. And a
lot of it has to do with lack of education
or lack of really understanding who I am. Because even
(03:19):
as a sixty year old, sixty two year old black man,
David You's sixty two, sixty two, Oh you know, I
practiced contra, which is all about energy and healing. Again.
But even as a sixty two year old black man,
sometimes people see me and they they think about Barney
or they don't know about Barney, and when I share
(03:42):
that I was Barnie and they're like, no, there's no way.
I'm like and I always say google Bernie black Man.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, you know what's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I'm jumping ahead, But I remember watching Barney and when
I was a little kid, I'm like, Barney was black.
I don't know what dance move you did. I was like,
I knew you was a black man. And I was
telling my friends because I'm like super excited about this conversation.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And they agreed. They was like, yeah, you did some move,
and they was like, we knew he was black.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
That's funny. That's funny.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Have anybody else ever told you that?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that sometimes.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Yeah, some people like I knew it, I knew it,
but you know, then some people who really I mean,
I did this interview back in I want to say
ninety two, maybe in ninety two or ninety four.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
That was ninety two People's magazine, and I was in
the magazine and a lot of people from that article
found out. But it's like a mainstream media years ago,
not a lot of people knew it. But now when
(04:50):
people hear about it, like really really, or you heard
I knew Barney was black. I knew Barney had really.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I think all the black people just knew that you
was black because we see each other.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So what was your childhood like? Like, what was little
David like?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You know, I tell people all the time that even
as a child, I was being trained to do Barney.
I grew up in a very very loving household. There
were six kids, and my mom had a child out
of wedlock, and then she was married before she met
(05:26):
my dad and had two more children. And then when
she met my dad, she had three children with my dad.
But we were raised that there was no stepbrother, no
step sister, brother's sister, everybody's all family. And my dad,
he truly taught us what it meant to love unconditionally.
(05:49):
And my dad's mother, Mama Girt. Mama Girt always told
me as a child that I had a gift of
healing and to always that gift. And so my thing
was always trying to and sometimes I would do it
without even knowing it. I wanted people to feel warm
(06:10):
and inviting when they were around me. And you know,
it was recently I was doing an interview and I
just remembered something that my parents did. My mom had
a mirror at our front door, and she would encourage
us when we before going outside, look in the mirror
and say, I love you. So you're walking outside with
(06:32):
this premise of love and love inside. So when you're
outside the house, you're not trying to tear people down
or look over people, but you're trying to just be love.
And I was always entertaining, always being silly, always goofy,
trying to mimic people doing different voices. When we would
(06:56):
sometimes at school and we're in practice, Uh be sports whatever,
and uh we need if we needed a ride home.
A lot of times I would call my dad or
call the house and I disguise my voice those type
of kids. Yeah, And I would play with my parents,
you know, like I was a bill collector. I'm gonna
(07:17):
shut off your electricity, you.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Know, stressing them out. O.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
This is met Peter Thompson with the Decatur of Power
and Light Company, and you just haven't paid your bill
and we're not shut a lot of electricity off until
you come down here and pay that bill.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I know they used to be stressed dealing with you.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
Be like, Dad, can you pick us up from practice?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So who would you say? Was your barney? Was it
your mom?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Your dad?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Or your grandma my barney? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Oh oh can I say all three?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You can, because I think that's like just sharing those
stories with me, Like I feel like you was made
for this role.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Yeah. And even on my father's side of the family,
there's a lot of spiritual gifts. My grandmother was clairvoyant.
She can see where they happen. My father was intuitive.
I developed my gift as I read energy, and I'm clairvoyant.
Sometimes I can see things before they happen, and through
(08:28):
an an intuition, I can feel sometimes when someone's going
through something. And growing up also my nickname was preacher
because a lot of times people would come to me
and they didn't necessarily know I had these gifts, but
if they came to me and they asked me certain
questions or ask for advice, then I would just channel
(08:49):
and I just start speaking, and I'd let them know
what they need to do or what's going on. And
sometimes they wouldn't even reveal what's happening in their situation,
but by me speaking to them, I would reveal what
they're going through. And a lot of times people just
looked at me shocked and they're like, man, you're a
preaching man. You're a preacher. And then plus, you know,
I grew up in the church, and I would always
(09:13):
mimic like our pastor doing his sermons and things. But
my thing also was just you know, with with my grandmother,
spending time with her and hearing some of her stories,
and a lot of my relatives, younger kids, siblings, they
didn't want to hang around Mama girt. They're like, Mama girt,
(09:35):
Mama girl says it it's gonna come true. I'm like,
I'm like I want to I want to stay around
Mama girt because I want I want to hear what's
going on. And then with my dad. You know, my
grandmother had five boys, and my dad and my uncles
they cherished their wives. I was also raised in an
(09:56):
environment where men honored feminis energy. And then with my mother,
my mother was my best friend. I could tell my
mother anything, and I could tell her about the girls
I was dating, my relationships, different situations. And my mom
(10:17):
was one of the best cooks. I know, everybody says
their mom is the best cook, but my mom also
cooked for the church and she would sell dinners. Sometimes
we made homemade ice cream. People scream from the house.
And even with their cooking, I would do my homework
in the dining room sometimes in the kitchen while she's cooking,
(10:39):
and I was just like, you know, see what she's
doing and just feel that energy because she put a
lot of love in her food. And some people say
soul food is the food of love. My mom has
some soul food cooking and it was delicious. And then
even as today a lot of people are like, man,
your cooking is amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
All of a sudden, you can cook.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cooking is one of my hobbies
when I travel. When I travel, I try to find
places that have kitchens so that I can cook. Cooking
is also very therapeutic and healing for me. Yeah. But
one of my one of my famous desserts is pair pie.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh I've never had that before, David, you.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And pear pie. You know. It's just a substitute of
apple pie. But I love in it a lot of cinnamon, graham,
cracker crust. I make some mean mixed vegetables, salt, onions,
and then the flavoring. My fried chicken is off the hook.
I like to cook chicken here. Now, I do a
(11:49):
lot of boneless, skinless, but sometimes when I do the wings,
I just want you to be able to slide the
bone out right.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You got kids, David, No kids? You ain't got kids?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
No kids? Oh wow, that's another story. Yeah, as a
matter of fact. As a matter of fact, when I
was doing Bernie, I thought, Okay, it's time to settle down,
you know, get some kids. I didn't want to have
kids out of wedlock. So I started auditioning women.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
It what happened, what's the tea?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
I started auditioning women to be who would who would
make a good mother. You gotta have good hair, good
skin complexion, active, beautiful body. Yeah. And then I got
married and then I found out later on that I
(12:49):
couldn't even have kids.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Oh wow, wow, I.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Didn't know that.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, and not that that ended the marriage, but there's
some other circumstances too. But I was like, Okay, God,
you got to sense a humor.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
DONI wow?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Because I know women would throwing them sales at you
just to show their appreciation for what you do mean
to their kids.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Well, we're about to get into it. How many women
through them sales at.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You, David.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Well, you gotta remember too, I was a healer. I
started studying TANTRA when I was nineteen. When I was
going to school for Electronic engineering technology, I also wanted
to make extra money as a massage therapist, so I
started taking classes to become a license massage therapist and
(13:43):
I was introduced to TNTRA. And when I was introduced
to TNTRA, I also understood the power of energy. And
as I was in school for electronic engineering technology, you're
learning energy from circuit boards and different components and sisters
and modulators, and so you know that certain capacitors and
resistors can't be next to each other because it will
(14:05):
change the frequency. It would change the voltage change elation,
so that could affect the board, and that could affect
you know how that board work. Same thing when I
started studying tentry, and you understand energy, and you understand
the energy within you and you and you try to
expand that energy. When expanding that energy, you're also able
(14:27):
to radiate that energy. And also growing up knowing I
had a gift of healing and I love giving massages.
A lot of time. It's like, let me give you
a massage, and when I would give the massage, it
would feel different because you would feel that love and
you'd feel that beauty and that that that safe space
(14:49):
because my thing was always I wanted people to feel
safe around me.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What's up, y'all? Issue your m and a here, and
be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok at
pretty private podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe to my
YouTube channel at the Professional home Girl. Now let's get
back to the show.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I know your wife wasn't okay with you doing these massages.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well I wasn't doing it when I when I got married. Okay, yeah,
I kind of kind of transitioned off and I didn't
start my business still. Actually after my divorce was free. Yeah. Yeah,
And you know I married a Puerto Rican woman, so
she wasn't going I didn't get the memo on Puerto
Rican women.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, she wasn't going for that.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah. There's a lot of things she wasn't going for, right,
but one of them was me. I was like, wait
a minute, God, you mean I gave up all these women.
I was doing all this stuff right, and the women
I want to be with now don't want to be
with me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But I feel like, in a sense, because of your
introduction to tantra, it also kind of help you with
your role in Barney as well.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
What a lot of people when they when they hear tantra,
you know, they always think it's about sex. I think
people getting together and elevating their sex and weaving and
bonding their sexual energy together. And that is true. But
there's there's different types of tntra. Right when I just
described it is considered red tntra. The one I truly
gravitated toward and what I practice even today is white
(16:30):
lotus mantra. There's also black contra where people use sexual
energy to try to manipulate or to control get their way. Well,
White Lotus tantra, it's all about white light, love, the universe,
the energy as one. And if you can imagine a
(16:54):
radio when you're young, but back in the day, we
had antennas, and in order for you to get a
good signal from the station that's broadcasting the signal, you
sometimes have to raise that antenna. Well, you look in
white Lotus tntra, you look at the universe and the
(17:17):
creator of the universe as always broadcasting a signal. You
also look at the energy of the Earth, Mother Gaya
and understanding that they're healing elements within the earth. A
lot of times they tell us to ground ourselves by
walking outside with no shoes on. Well, sometimes when people
(17:40):
here grounding themselves, they really don't know the reality of it.
Our body is filled with electricity. There's current flowing through
us at all times. Energy. And if you can imagine
a major appliance, and when you plug something into a wall,
a small appliance will just have the negative and positive,
(18:00):
whereas a major appliance that has lots of voltage will
have three prongs negative, positive and grounding. So when you
ground that serpuitry and you ground that energy. You are
now taking this energy that's doing this and now allowing
that energy to do this. When you tap into white
(18:20):
Lotus TNTRA, you allow the antenna and you to rise
so that you can now get a better signal of
the energy that's harmonizing in the universe. The energy within
the universe is love. So now you're operating on a
frequency of love, and you're elevating and expanding that energy.
(18:43):
So the foundation is love. The energy around you is love,
the energy above you is love. So you're now operating
in this sphere of love right with your sexual energy.
Your sexual energy is the energy of creation. That's the
energy that created you, and that's the energy that's within
(19:04):
you that also can cause creation. From a male's point
of view, when you honor.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I feel like we're in the masterclass right now, I
am like glued.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
From a male's point of view, when you honor goddess energy,
feminine energy, you're literally honoring the energy of creation. Right.
Divine has given you the ability and the responsibility to
have children right who extend humanity. When the flesh is
(19:40):
developing in your womb for nine months it's not just physical,
it's also spiritual. Right when that energy is now released
into the physical realm, it is released through spirit, mind
and body, You yourself, who has now been nurturing the
spirit inside of you nine months. When this spirit is
(20:01):
released into the world, that spirit is already connected to
you and the intuition that you have with that spirit.
A lot of times you hear mothers knowing that something's
going along with their child, knowing that something's not right,
or knowing that their child is going through something beautiful.
You have that energy within you. So in white Lotus Tantra,
you understand that your sexual energy is an energy of
(20:26):
creation and energy of fuel. So we're not necessarily taught
sometimes how important that energy is. So then we go
through life kind of willy nilly giving that energy away.
Sometimes we give it away to those who don't really
understand that well. The transference of energy. Like I said,
in electronics, you have certain components that you can't allow
(20:48):
those components to be next to each other because they
can suck up the voltage of that particular component, or
they can cause that component to change its frequency modulation
or burn that component out because it's controlling that component.
Same thing with our energy. We have to know who
(21:09):
we're harmonizing our energy with. So when you understand the
principle of white lotus TNTRA, and you understand the principle
of self, first, you understand that your sexual energy is
not an energy of gratification, but it's for spiritual elevation.
When you allow that antenna to rise, you're now connecting
to the innerverse, the universal energy of love. So now
you're surrounding yourself with love, harmony, and peace. So then
(21:32):
when you're radiating that energy, you're attracting that energy. And
our body has a negative to positive polarity. We radiate
the energy through our right. We pull in energy with
our left, just like the electricity. So when we plug
our energy into someone have to stay grounded. So our
energy is not like this. Our energy is like this.
(21:53):
Our energy was with purpose. Now knowing all of that,
aways knew that children who were more spiritually connected than
we are as adults, because their mind is not fluttered,
it's pure, it's pure, and that's why children can always
pick up on something that's not right. I wanted to
(22:14):
be able to connect with children in the Barney costume
in a very loving spiritual way. I would take like
thirty to forty minutes before getting in costume. I would meditate,
I would increase my tea energy. I would ask Mother
Er to allow her healing energy to flow through me
at neasyum, the cop or the lava, the crystals, the
(22:37):
energy from the magnetic plates that wartext energy. I would
ask all that energy to infuse within me, and then
I would offer that energy up and let that energy
rise up through my chakras, up through the crown chopper,
and then I would ask God to allow that energy
to expand and allow your loving energy to then flow
(22:57):
through me through the cost through the camera, and let
that drawing and children on top of that. It would
increase my energy. And then I would take like thirty
to forty minutes and I would increase my t energy
off that energy up and then ask God to allow
that loving energy of the universe to flow through me
(23:20):
through the camera, through the costume, through the camera, and
let that draw in his children. I say, And when
I'm in there doing this, the Spirit's in there with me.
So a lot of times things are happening. The costumes
seventy pounds. It can get over one hundred and twenty degrees.
There's a bar attached to the jaw that's patted with
(23:43):
a sponge. I'm biting on the sponge, nodding my head
up and down to move Barney's mouth. Also, the peripheral
you can only see a certain distance, and mouse is closed,
you can't see anything. So then also I would have
to go off of energy. A lot of times I
would walk on a set and I would look and
(24:03):
see what's on the set, and I would literally take
a snapshot in my mind of what's going on. And
then I would practice in my home walking around with
my eyes closed and try to feel energy and feel
where things are. Because again through time, true you understand energy,
and you want to be able to feel. As you're
(24:24):
able to radiate, you're also able to pick up and feel.
And so when I'm on set in costume, a lot
of times when I couldn't see something, if I knew
I wanted to jump and do a three sixty turn,
I knew something was around me or something was in
close proximity, so I knew I had to alter the
jump or do bell kicks or dancing or whatever to
make sure that I'm not destroying the set or doing
(24:46):
anything destructive. So a lot of times the energy is
flowing through me and with me, and then also it's
giving me energy. And sometimes people would say, man, that
was amazing what you just did, and I'm like, that
wasn't me, Like, no, you did this right back down,
I'm like that was me. Man, I was just flowing
with the energy. And then also it gives you more vitality.
(25:10):
And like earlier when I was saying I was sixty two,
because I put an energy from above and from below,
I'm honoring this vessel that I've do you think.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
That's what's missing from children programming now? Because I feel
like everything that you just explained, like it was intentional,
Like you have a ritual, you meditate, you pray, you
know what I'm saying. Do you feel like that's like
the main component, which is, like I guess, somewhat spirituality
when it comes to the values in children programming today?
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Well, you know, I would say yes to no because
even what I was doing that wasn't necessarily happening with
the show itself. That was my personal life, right because
I wanted to radiate that energy with my role, my
participation in the show and then again, the whole family,
(26:03):
the production company, the environment of the show itself. Everyone,
we all knew that we were doing something very special
and we were all on board with that and knowing
that there was a family structure that was even going
on with us, so that energy was radiating through what
we were doing and shooting the show. I would love
(26:25):
to be able to give you an honest answer about
children's programming today. One of the other things too, is
when Barnie came on the air, there wasn't children's programming
for kids that age. Our target age group were two
year olds. Now the industry is flooded, the market flooded,
(26:47):
and with Barney, Yes, Bernie made a lot of money
and a lot of times shows came up it's like, hey,
we're going to do this to make the money and
not necessarily do it for the value you really teaching
and helping kids with their cognitive skills, their learning skills,
(27:07):
their emotional skills. They're just out there to put a
product out there on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And you can tell yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And a lot of kids they don't know, and the
parents are like, hey, let me put this in front
of my child so I can go do my thing.
So this child is just watching this thing, and you
know children, when they watch things repetitively, you know, then
it's like, hey, I want to see that again. Yes,
So that's what I loved about being Barnie. And then
(27:35):
to be totally honest with you, after I left the
show after doing it for ten years, and the guy
that took my place to do the television series, he
was doing the stage tour for a long time, and
I personally didn't think he was right for the television role.
And as you're doing a stage show, you're doing the
(27:58):
same performance night after night after night. The children and
the audience, they're not truly focused on you. They've got
the stage, they've got the sets, they've got other characters.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I guess a lot trying to pay attention to.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
You've got your siblings, you're eating, you got your parents,
you got other kids in the audience. And what I
told him, I said, you have to radiate that energy
through that constume and through that camera because you want
that child at home doing this. Yeah, you want them
glued in to you and glued in because they're feeling
this loving vibration, this loving energy. But of course he
(28:34):
wasn't able to do that, and so whenever I would
watch the show to try to take notes or even
try to offer some advice. After a while, it just
got to the point where he's not listening. Yeah, then
you're watching it and it's like, oh.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I feel like once you left, Once Bob left,
obviously when Shryl stupp down, which we'll talk about, or
when she left, I feel like everything's just changed.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, it changed, and it didn't necessarily have that principal value. Yeah,
we all love to. Plus, the company was sold to
Hit Entertainment, and Hit Entertainment was a conglomerate that had
other shows. When we had Barney with the Lions Group
and Lyrics Studios, Barney was the main focus. Yeah, we
(29:22):
went in the building, everybody knew it was all about Barney.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yeah, what a time.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
But another interesting fact about you was you were one
of the engineers behind the Texas calculators.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
Well well, well, a lot of people when they hear
Texas instruments, they think calculators, right, Texas Instruments did a
whole lot more.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Than just got true true true.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And I worked in an area that we had a
contract with the Navy and we designed infrared circuit boards
for the infrared devices arms missiles, and I was a
software analyst there. We worked in an area called the
readact division where designed the circuit boards and then by
(30:12):
designing the circuit boards, you would give that information to
the facility that would then manufacture the boards manually. And
my role was as a software analyst sometimes to come
up with different ways because we had different facilities making
these different boards and making them on different systems. We're
(30:36):
pushing all that energy to the place that's now manufacturing
the board, so sometimes that data coming to that facility,
that data is a little different and it's challenging. So
what I would come up with ideas to marry that energy,
I mean marry that data. I'm always about energy data
together so then that board can be manufactured and the
(30:57):
people that are manufacturing they don't have to try to think.
They could just manufacture and then that data isn't put
into the system, and then if something went wrong, I
was the one who was in charge of troublestreating trying
to find out if it was through manufacturing, through design
in the field, through the engineering, so I would have
(31:25):
to investigate. Sometimes it was a lot more than just calculators,
and even with that, I would use my entertainment skills.
I was recruited by Texas Instruments and they asked, you know,
what's your long term goal. I said, I want to
work here at least five years and then quit to
pursue entertainment full time. Of course, they laughed at me,
(31:47):
and look, I'm also performing. I would stand in the
store windows as a mannequin on the weekends, mister Entertainment,
davidy Joiner, the mannequin man, and I'm standing in the
windows and people would literally bring their kids, set their
kids on them all floor and then go shop. I
was also performing at certain nightclubs, dancing, singing.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
I know you was outside, David, I know he was out.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
And sometimes, you know, even when when at Texas Instruments,
when I'm trying to, you know, investigate, and a lot
of times people didn't want to, uh, they didn't want
to be at fault, and so I tried to call
and they wouldn't give me information. Then I'd call back, Hi,
my name is Susie and I work with the Blah
blah blah division.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
And I just want to know.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
It's just something simple about the board. I don't understand
why the board malfunction, and you know, people would give
up the goods because they didn't think it was me, right,
And you know, I called back again and I described
my voice and say that, you know, I'm trying to
travelish you this board here and I'm not sure exactly
(32:57):
what happened. Could you just explain on the bond, you know,
what you feel happened, and people and then I would
use it. We'd be show up in a meeting and
and you have to give you introductions on David Joiner
and people be like, you're a David Joiner.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
What are you coming out with your book? Because you
have you have a lot of lives that you have live.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I get that question all the time too. I am
the book.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Yeah, but we need a physical copy that we can
have all over the world.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, have you thought about it? Oh yeah, I'm
actually making book notes right now.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Okay, but as a matter of.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Fact, I could go through my book notes right now
drop some nuggets on. You're going to be like, what what?
Let me just give you an example here. We got
an exclusive this one. This is a lot of times
things come to me. I get channeled, right, and this
is talking about what I do Contra. I practice and
(34:03):
honor the modality of white lotus TNTRA. My healing sessions
are also based on white lotus TNTRA. It's all about
connecting your divine spiritual energy with your sacred sexual energy,
allowing that amazing energy to rise freely as you offer
it up to Father God, and by honoring Mother Earth
with lots of loving gratitude for allowing us to navigate
(34:26):
on her plane, connecting the divine trinity within spirit, mind,
and body. The way you honor your sexual energy determines
what type of soil you're planting your star seed in.
Know your true value, your true worth, and keep shining
your divine light. You are a beautiful goddess filled with
(34:49):
God's divine light. Don't ever let anyone cause you to
feel anything less. Own your goddess power, Own your goddess energy,
Own your goddess sacred space. Kindness is like a merry
go round. Don't get off before the kindness comes back
to you.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
M Ay, that was a good one. That that was
a good one. I'm have to borrow that one.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Always remember we cannot clean our bowels without taking a ship.
Sometimes in life we're taught to take a ship so
that we can clean our bowels, wipe, flush, get off
the pot, wash your hands, and then happily leave the room.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Oh yeah, I need an autograph copy for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I tell my clients sometimes because I work with a
lot of women that are in paths and gifts and
they pick up on other people's energy, and I tell
them all the time. Do the throne meditation. You're sitting
on the throne and you're releasing the waste from your body.
Ask the creator to the waste from your spirit. Start repeating,
(36:03):
I released the way, release the waste from my spirit,
as I released the waste from my body. Release the
waste from my spirit as.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I released the waste from my body.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Release the waste from my spirit as I released the
waste from my body. And you just start releasing things
that don't belong to you. You know.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I feel like you've always been like very spiritual. Can
you tell us about the dream you had when God
was giving you signs on how you knew this role
was for you.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Yeah. When the casting director Shirley Abrams wanted to me
auditioned for Barney, I initially said no, Why did you
say no. Well, I didn't want to be in a costume.
I wanted to be seen, you know. And I had
never done anything like it before. And at the time,
(36:56):
I was working at an acting school, the Young Actor Studio,
And because when I told Texas Instruments, I was going
to be there at least five years, and then quick
well that six the fifth year came around, I wasn't ready.
So I stayed six and even in that where they
were about to have a major layoff. I'll come back
(37:16):
to the story of a second. They're about to have
a major layoff, and I knew somebody in my area
was going to get laid off because of seniority, and
so I went to my supervisor and I asked if
you would put me on the severance package, because they
were trying to get people to do a severance package
to retire early. And I know I'm going to leave
this year. I don't know when, but I wouldn't want
(37:38):
someone to lose their job and then I'm gone, and
then that person hasn't already left the job, and now
you got to hire somebody else, right, And so he
came back to me, he says, I can't put you
on the severance package, and I said okay. So I
went to my desk. I pulled up my calendar. I
had all twelve months in front of me. I meditated,
I closed my eyes and I said, all right, tell
(37:58):
me when I'm supposed to quit. I did like this,
It went September. So the last friday in September, September
twenty eighth. I said, all right, September twenty eighth's that's it.
So September fourteenth, two weeks. Notice this is in April.
I'm telling my friends. I'm like, yeah, man, I'm quitting
(38:18):
this September. And they're like, what are you gonna do.
I'm saying, I'm going to perform. I'm going to act.
What do you have lined up? Nothing? So and then
I said, okay, I'm making money performing as a mannequin man, dancing, singing.
Now it's time to focus on my acting. And I
started taking this acting workshop. And the gentleman that ran
(38:40):
the acting workshop, Jay Corn, his wife Lindecito, ran the
acting school for kids. Well, they both ran it together,
but she was it was her school and on weekends
we would do improv comedy with the kids from the
acting school. And so I developed this rapport with the kids,
and so when they needed a substitute teacher, they asked
(39:01):
me to do it because they were preparing the kids
for this showcase where they would fly in casting directors
and agents from Dallas. I mean from Los Angeles to Dallas.
It's a two day workshop. And this casting director, Shirley Abrams,
came in and saw me working with these kids, and
I was doing this whole mannequin thing where I'd have
(39:22):
them freeze in a certain mannequin pose and you may
would do a line from their scene, and I'd have
them it was like, okay, go crazy, move move, now
freeze and they they'd have to pick a very unique pose.
So now you have to use your cognitive skills and
you couldn't just freeze. You had to you had to
find something unique and different, right. Hold that. So as
(39:43):
you're holding that, you're now focusing and concentrating not only
on that pose, but on your body and then also
on your mind, trying to remember what your line is.
And then I walk up to one of them or
two or three, and I'd say, now give me a
line from your scene, and then they'd have to do that,
and it's fro in position. So what they're now doing
is channeling that energy and they're grounding that energy. Really
(40:06):
saw that. She's like, oh my gosh, that's that's pretty impressive.
She was so like graver, headshot, and resume. And so
she called me into audition for America's Most Wanted. And
what I was auditioning for was this drug dealer who
had shot a guy. There was a drug dealer who
(40:26):
had just got out of jail.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Now how she get that from what she was doing
with the kids?
Speaker 7 (40:30):
Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, Because I'm a right,
right and so and so here's a funny thing.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
This is a bridge. Right. In fourth grade, my tooth
got knocked out. I used to have a what you
call one of those flippers where you could just take
the tooth out right, and then later on I had
to have a root canal, and so then I had
to have two, So there was two teeth on like
this flipper. Right, Sometimes I could take my tongue and
(40:59):
they come out. So I'm in this audition and there's
the drug dealer who's the leader of the game, sitting
in the passenger seat. One of his guys is driving.
They had a guy in the back and one of
the guys had snitched on him, and so they also
had that guy in the back seat. So in the
(41:22):
scene the drug dealer, he turns around, he shoots the guy,
and then he tells ther. He tells the guy in
the back seat to push him out the car, and
then he tells the driver to run over him. And
this was true. This was a reenactment, so they had
us switch to different roles in the audition. So I'm
(41:42):
doing the drug dealer guy and I turned around to
the back seat and just making the sound bang my
teeth came out. So the guy, the guy that was
sitting behind me, he was like a worse. Shirley was like, wow,
(42:02):
that was so convincing. That was incredible. And so then
we're walking outside and the dude was like, man, what
the hell was that? Right? Sorry? Man? Sometimes my te like, man,
you scared me.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Wait you ever seen that video with Dame Dash teeth
falling out?
Speaker 2 (42:22):
No?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Oh, I got this. I'm a DM t Okay, you're
gonna crack up.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
So I ended up getting the roll. It wasn't the
role of this guy. It was the role of the
driver and we were gonna go to Arkansas and shoot
this whole America's most Wanted. And I'm bragging to my friends, Yeah,
I'm going to Arkansas. We're gonna shoot this day America's
most Wanted. And this was now in August, right, And
so Shirley gives me a call. She says, I have
(42:50):
some good news and I have some bad news. And
I said, yeah, what is it? He says, well, the
good news is they found the guy. And the bad
news is we're not now We're gonna not gonna shoot
the project. Wow, learned a very very important lesson, very
valuable lesson. Don't go bragging off about what you're supposed
to do and what you're gonna do. And had facts,
(43:13):
especially in entertainment facts and then she says, but I've
seen you, I've seen your work with children, I've seen
you know. I'm gonna I got something for you. So
cut to I turned in my two weeks notice at
Texas Instruments a week later. There's a facts that comes
through Facts.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Is listen you now?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
And so it was, you know, the audition for Barney,
you know, and the premise was a good actor athletic
works well with children, and if you have any costume
character experience. So when I read it, I was like,
I don't then least Lsito, who owns the school. Her
(44:02):
and Shirley are good friends, and she says, well, if
you don't want to do it, you should call Shirley
and just let her know that you don't want to
do this, right, So I called Shirley. Shirley said, no,
I'm not taking no for an answer. I've seen you.
I think you're perfect for it. You had this rasp
be voice. She says, no, David, I'm not going to
take nor answer. I've seen you work with these children,
(44:24):
and I think you're perfect for it. I was like,
it's like the raft of God.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
You know what, Shirley for you, I'll do it right.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
I'm going to send you some videos. Study the videos
so when you come to the audition you'll be prepared.
So every time I pop in one of these videos
to watch, I would fall asleep. Mmm, I'm like this
is boring. I was like, I don't want to do this,
and so every time I was like, all right, let
me pop another one in.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Because what are the eyes that The first barning name
was Barney Too. I mean his name is David too.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
I know right right, and so I'm like, I don't
get it. I don't get it. And and two of
the kids that were on the show, Lucy and Derek,
there were students at the acting school, and so I
talked to them and talked to their mom and you know,
find out a little bit about the show. And so
the night before the audition, I'm laying there and I'm
(45:20):
listening to Prince. I'm a huge Prince fan. Prince resonates
with me. Sometimes I hear his music and it's like
the angels are talking to me. Sometimes, of course he's
Prince music. A lot of times my massage and I
would saying, do me like you never done before.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
I know these women, these massage just be done like
a bit.
Speaker 6 (45:48):
You.
Speaker 4 (45:55):
Anyway, So I'm listening to Prince after I popped in
this video and I just couldn't watch it. I fell asleep.
So now I'm laying on the sofa listening to the Prince.
And then I get up and I go to bed.
And a lot of times things come to me in
my dreams, and sometimes if I intentionally ask for guidance,
(46:16):
ask for it, show me the way before I lay
my head down. And then there's a grounding effect that
you learn. Whereas when you lie flat, you put the
palms down on the mattress and you intentionally feel the
roots like a tree fingertips going down into the soil
and grounding you and connecting you, and you take like
(46:38):
ten deep breaths, and then you just lay there and
allow that energy to now feel you up. What that
also does is allows you in your dream state to
be very clear and direct and with purpose what you
want to see or what you're trying to manifest. So
I went to bed that night and I asked, Okay,
give me guidance, let me know, because I I don't
(47:00):
want to go in the city audition. I don't want
to embarrass Shirley. I don't want to embarrass the raft
of God, you know. And so I had this dream
and in the dream, Barney's In the dream, Barney passes out.
I see it, Barney mouth the mouth through suscitation and
revive them. And so then the next day I'm driving
to the audition, and my spiritual number is twenty two.
(47:24):
Whenever I see it, twenty two, always stop and give thanks,
and I say the same prayer all the time. I
love you, I adore you. I magnify your name, allow
your will to be my will each and every day.
And so when I see it too, too, too, I
know something very powerful and significant is about to happen.
We're getting at a stoplight. Spirit says, look up. I
(47:45):
look up at this billboard. It says, Breathe life into
your vacation Southwest Airlines. I'm driving, I get into the
parking lot. I go to turn off the car. It's
twelve twenty two, so I stop and save my meditation.
And then I look up and there's this same advertisement
on a different billboard, Breathe life into your vacation Southwest Airlines.
(48:06):
Now I start walking across the parking lot, and then
that's when it hit me. Barney passed out in the
dream because there was no energy, there was no life.
I kept falling asleep watching this video because I felt
there wasn't enough energy into this audition. And if I
breathe life into this character, I'm going on vacation after
(48:30):
I got the role, because they didn't pick me at first.
They picked a young lady and they asked me if
I would consider being back up. But the spirit had
already told me that it was my role after several
auditions and even one audition, but it was like six
or seven auditions.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
And at one point Bob West was there and we
had to memorize the script and then they wanted to
see some ad lib and so one of the other
stories is when I was about seven years old, I
would stand in front of the TV and I would
lip sync whatever was going on to entertain the family
and friends. And so growing up being a party gag
(49:13):
where I'd walk in and like, dang, do your thing,
Do your thing. So I'd study someone's mannerisms. I'd listen
to them talk and then I say, okay, I'm going
to turn around. I'm going to become your body while
you're talking. And I would do that and people are like, ahh,
that's funny. Well, little did I know he was trained
to do that. So in the auditioned that Bob was there,
(49:35):
We're doing the script. I'm moving the mouth as best
as I can. The costume was a little comforsome for me,
that constant one that David Voss had, and so I
had to stand a certain way to actually make it
look straight. So my body was kind of contort in there,
and so then when we got to the ad lib
and I'm moving the mouth with what he's saying, and
(49:55):
I'm doing the gestures and the jumps and everything. So Wilson,
who is the performance director, she comes and she looks
into the mouth and she says, wait a minute. She says,
what are you doing? I said, what do you mean?
She says, how are you doing that? I said, what
are you talking about? How are you moving your mouth
at the same time that he's talking. And I said, oh,
this little party gag that I used to do back
(50:15):
in the day. I would mimic people. And she's like,
that's amazing. So then all of this was happening. I'm
getting all these compliments. But then at the end of
the day they picked the young lady, like why would
they put a woman over me?
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Right?
Speaker 4 (50:31):
And then after a while was she white? Yes?
Speaker 3 (50:43):
She was, okay, there you go.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Well, you know not.
Speaker 4 (50:47):
That that was because you want the white guys here too, right, right, right?
A black man to be bonne, right, But anyway, so
you know, you be back up and I said yeah.
So apparently she had to do one live performance and
wasn't able to handle it. And this was before they
(51:09):
went to the studio to shoot the first video. The
first video was going to be Barnie in concert, and
that's what the audition was for to shoot two home
videos because they'd already shot a series now they wanted
to shoot two more home videos. So that's what that's
what was on the audition sheet. And so when they
then asked me if I would do it, and I
(51:29):
said yeah, I said, but it's gonna cost you more money.
Now exactly created you know a little bit better than Plus,
I knew what the kids are making and I'm like,
I'm not going to be in a costume. You can't
see me in a heavy costume, and I'm making the
same amount of money next to me that you can
see the likeness, you can hear the voice, you can
hear the person singing. I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
(51:51):
no no, we got to be fair about this.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Contract, it was a good contract. And so then once
I got the roll, I knew. I was like, man,
if this thing ever gets on television, it's going to
go crazy.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Oh so you knew when you first, like once you
join and you signed a contract, you just knew off
the rip.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
I knew I could feel it I could feel it.
Then I'm like, okay, I came into the audition with
this energy and also being an athlete, I had this
athletic energy like woo. And the David Voss version of
Barney was, you know, kind of stiff, kind of you
(52:31):
could move. And then I said, okay, now why would
they pick a woman to be in this six seven costume,
this heavy costume? And I said, I got to figure
it out. So one night I was talking to Miss Penny,
our performance director, and I said, you know, I couldn't
understand why they picked the young lady over me, and
blah blah blah. And I said, tell me something about
David Voss and and she says, what a lot of
(52:52):
people didn't know at the time that he was gay,
come out of the closet. And so we used to
all also that feminine energy, right, So I said.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
And so I said, all right, I got to tone
my energy down. I got to find a balance. So,
and here's the other thing about TNTRA and TNTRA. They
teach you to honor the feminine and the masculine energy
within you because they all have both energies within us. Right,
A lot of times men being homophobic, they don't want
(53:28):
that feminine energy to lead and they try to hide
that energy.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Trying to mask it.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
Yeah, and then some of the men sometimes who are
homophobic are on the d L right right, when you
tap into that feminine energy also as a heterosexual, and
as you're taught to honor goddess energy, you're also honoring
the goddess energy within you.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Fast.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
So I said, okay, I got to bring that energy out,
so that energy is now equal to the masculine energy
inside the Barnie costume. The other thing I would say,
and this may sound bad, you know, forgive me if
y'all don't consider this the right thing to do or
the right thing to say, but I would. After I
(54:12):
do my meditation and everything, I said, all right, let's
be gay. And so instead of doing this, I was glad.
Speaker 3 (54:25):
And it worked.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
I get in costume. It's like and jay can mean happy. Yeah,
it was happy.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
This concludes part one of this week's episode. Part two
drops next week, same time, same place.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
For listening and celebrating five years of the Black Effect
podcast Network with us. Keep following, sharing, and streaming, because
the next five years are about to be even bigger.
Until next time, everyone Later. Pretty Private is a production
(55:04):
of the Black Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe and rate
the show, and you can connect with me on social
media
Speaker 3 (55:19):
At Pretty Private Podcasts
Host
Eboné Almon
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