Black Music Month: Wayne Brady Part 2

In Part 2 of Wayne Brady's in-studio conversation with Questlove Supreme, the world-class entertainer speaks about what his cameo on Chappelle's Show did for his career and image. Wayne also talks about working on a game show, his love of music, spending free time, and much more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
What if y'all is on PayPal from Quest Love Supre
Last week, we gave you Wayne Brady Part one. In
that Wayne spoke about morning routines and why making the
bet is important. He talked about favorite cereals and candy,
and even remembered a bully from his past. It's an
amazing episode and you absolutely need to check it out
of the cabin if you have well done, because here's
part two. My friend Wayne Brady, Questlove, Fonte, Sugar Steve
and myself live in the studio New York City enjoint.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is actually, I think a good time to pivot
into this question aside question which was so my version
of this story was when I was a staff member
of The Chappelle Show.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Sorry to meaning sorry sorry sound yeah, because I want
to hear here, what's your version is?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay, So I'm a staff member of Chappelle. I wouldn't
go on location with those guys. I did all the
music for season two and so the roots just happened
to be in La at the time when we were
shooting a lot of the La Chappelle things. And what
you have to understand is that most shows are like

(01:14):
planned week in events. They have a writing staff. The
genius of season two was the fact that Neil Brennan
and Dave Chappelle were pretty much just flying off the
seat of their pants, knowing that on Thursday night they
have to turn in that tape the comedy Really you're

(01:34):
supposed to turn in like the Tuesday before, like days before.
I mean there would be times where like maybe a
half hour before the show's on the air, like the
Sesame Street. Oh yeah, Q tip thing, that's new thing.
I happen to know that they finished the edit maybe
a half hour before airtime. Yeah, before airtime, Like Comedy

(01:57):
Central has to like approve that were standing like we
went down to the wire. So I do know that
we had went out to the four seasons because we
wanted to get our Sino to do the whole cheese things.
Why don't you tell me the cheese was good, right,
that whole thing, and also got uh Anthony Anderson to

(02:18):
do the Ashy Larry you remember the dream? Yeah, what
I remember was we have met Anthony Ajai in the
hotel lobby. Anthony gi the bar wash. He's also the
father Maya Rudolph's Fire and Bridesmaids, and he's legendary comic.

(02:43):
We had spent so much time talking to him and
our Senio was there like just comedian war stories from
the seventies or whatever. That I had to go so
I can go to the airport. So what Neil will
tell me when I landed? He's like, dude, we just
created a masterpiece. Like the way they were describing how
the night was was like they had made Purple Rain

(03:06):
and Thriller at once. And I'm thinking, like, wait, from
the whole from that sketch. He says, no, man, He's like,
so when you were leaving and checking out at the
last minute, guess who we saw in the lobby. I
was like, who it's a dog. We saw Wayne Brady
and I said, oh my god, what happened? Because I
instantly went back mooney on, I'm what I'm expecting. This

(03:29):
is gonna be like beef from Broccoli. I said, well
went down? What went down? He says, no, man, we
shot something, And so I'm under the belief that it
was off the cuff. You just happened to be in
the lobby.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
You and Dave.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Had a miacopa kind of understanding moment thing and then
it was like, so what are you doing? Do you
want to shoot something? And it was very off the cuff,
and I was not prepared for any of.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Those things like oh no, no, no, no, no no.
It was so much different for you.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
All right, so what's your version of it?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Well, well, my version is is, well, just going back
to when the sketch aired, and I'll do it really,
really fast. And this isn't me complaining because I've said
this before, like on the Breakfast Club, and there's always
an asshole in the comments like like, well you shouldn't
the reason that the sketch bothered me. And I'll just
say it in that hill. Jokes are jokes. I do
comedy everything jokes. A joke's fine. I just happened to

(04:19):
come from a very very particular place, and you can't
tell me what I can and can't feel. I feel
Paul Mooney I worshiped at the shrine of Paul Mooney.
I never said that Paul Mooney wasn't funny or Paul
Moodey wasn't a genius and a writer. I love Paul Mooney,
I love Dave, so imagine my shock. I'm sitting at home,
I'm getting my barber. Came over to my spot. He's

(04:42):
doing Da Da Da Da, and the Chappelle shows on.
I'm excited. I was like, okay, show shot, we could
get through the whole thing. And then and then boom.
Negro was like Wayne Brady looked like him. I went, oh, oh, okay.
I didn't laugh at it, not because I was like,
I'm above being made fun of. If your joke is funny,

(05:02):
please make fun of me. That's what we do. But
to me, and now because you saw me talk to
my bullies. Oh, also Kendra.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
And Nicole and Nicole come on now it's as Adams Jones,
Johnson Harris.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Race has always been a subject that has played because
what does it mean to be black? You know, the
kid that grew up watching certain things, doing certain things,
liking certain things that have died, so those things for
form you.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
So I've always had that in the back of my
mind as a as a thing.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
So when I see that, I'm like, the joke isn't
funny to me, It doesn't even scan because you're now
making fun of Brian Gumbel, who like, say what you
want to say. But Brian gumble, this incredibly successful man
in his own right doing this thing. So now you're
gonna use me to take down him or him to

(05:57):
meet And then that means that I'm not black enough?
And so does that mean that one of my comedic heroes,
Dave Chappelle, who I've rocked with since Robin Hood men
in tights and watching him at evenings at the Improv.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
Before he blew up. This dude really knows who I am.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Oh, that's awesome, but nothing gonna shit on me and
Paul Mooney, who I love.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
He doesn't think I'm black enough. That's really wow.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
That shakes, which is why Wayne doesn't go out and
talk to people because I don't want to deal with
that shit sometimes. So I was already in my feelings
about it from a race place and just from a
joke point. I didn't feel that it was a good joke.
I thought it was too easy, so blah blah blah
blah blah. So fuck those guys immediately, and I'm like,

(06:38):
I don't give sex second and third chances. I am
a I'm a very petty, angry person inside sometimes when
it comes to certain things. So I was already like, well,
I guess I can watch a Chappelle's show click. I
can't enjoy the genius that is Dave Chappelle. Fast forward
to I forget what the show was. It was an
award show. It might have been the Hoodies, Steve Harvey's
Hoodies or something. But don hell was in the lobby bar.

(07:03):
We were in the bar Donelle's with somebody else and
I recognize him immediately because I like the show. Oh
it's it's ashy laire, but you gonna drink my drink.
He comes over so wonderful and gracious. Wayne, Hey, I'm Donelle.
I play Actually I know who you are. I've seen

(07:28):
your little playlids all right, just just through the energy.
And he was so sweet and Wayne blah blah blah.
I said, oh, yeah, that's great. I love the show
up until that whack ass joke by Paul Mooney blah
da da da da. But thanks. He goes, Oh my god,
I mean we you know, we have love for you.
I was like, I was like, to be honest, I

(07:49):
don't know. And I have to preface it, I had
been drinking. I had been drinking, so I was like, really,
was that how you love me? Black man? Is that
really so on about my day cut to the next day.
This is how fast the shit did happen. So I
don't know the timeline that you're talking about in terms
of when you came out to LA, but it happened where.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, I was at the fourth season Hotel, so.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Okay, so that might have been so so whenever I
saw him. Then the next day I was doing my
talk show. I get my assistant comes as I'm in
the writer's room.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Wait wait, you got a phone call? Who take Chappelle?
I was like, why no, you're lying take Shamlle?

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Okay, Hello, hey man, it's Dave.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Oh man.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
It just so sweet as like, look, I didn't write
that joke.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Mooney came up with it.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
I really didn't like the shit either, but you know,
I like the character and da da da, No offense
was meant now the fact that and now we live
in a day and age, no one's going to backtrack
on a joke for folks like I said what I said,
and I said it like like I said, Dave was
one of my guy He's one of my heroes. So
that itself, we could have just stopped it there. It
couldn't have gone any for I was like, thank you,

(09:02):
and I mean you didn't. Thanks, It's fine, it's cool.
He goes, Hey, would you ever want to be on
the show? Said, are you kidding me? It would be
a dream of it. Well, then, what are you doing
doing this weekend? Or if this was a Friday or something.
So I flew out. I said, I'll come to New
York immediately. Great, I'm gonna puts you in touch with
Neil and you guys decide what we're gonna do, and

(09:22):
we're gonna do something great.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
But great, thanks Dave. I was on cloud nine.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
So I immediately started thinking of ideas and this is
where it is so cool. So I so I'm writing
stuff on the plane. Neil had already worked out some stuff.
So when I get to New York, it all happens
like this. I get off the plane, we go to
where you guys shot a think in Brooklyn or someplace whatever.
We get up. As soon as soon as I get in,
I go Neil's waiting for me. He's like, so, what
do you want to do? Blah blah blah blah. He goes,

(09:47):
We've got this idea of like doing this training day
thing because you know, like you do your talk show.
Oh and at this time, this is when I was
leaving my talk show because I found out that because
I told somebody off at Disney that they that they
threatened me and said, uh said, oh, you know, if
you don't do this particular thing, we always can find
someone to do your show. And I said, oh, if
you can find another Wayne Brady to do the Wayne

(10:09):
Brady Show, please be my guest.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
I come back in.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Tony Danzel's name is in the papers, but that's cool.
I was like, great, I'm out.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Of this Banddamn questions.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
I'm handling all the black people because they they they
had a band, ate not a band, because they were
gonna say we never said that. Certain guests that I'd
bring up, they'd go, oh, no, you can't do that,
bla blah blah blah blah blah blah. So I was like, really,
I had Missy Elliott bust the rhymes if you were
black and my favorite rapper, you were on that show
you show at that time. I was so this was great.
I was like yes, So in my mind I was like,

(10:38):
we need to do something that will burn burn the
house down. Fuck it, let's go So Neil's idea was
the training day thing, and I said, well, if we're
doing training day where I'm showing Dave through the neighborhood
and doing shit, then we really need to lean into
the fact of when folks are like, oh, Wayne, I
love you because I see your talk show where you're
this you're everybody's favorite black guy.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
I said, I want to do a thing where a
cop stops me and he started singing my jingle and
I wrote that and then I'm gonna go but be
behind him and I'm gonna kill him, and.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
That will freak and that'll freak out Dave.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
And I want a microphone to come down and go great,
well let's do that and then we'll do the other
thing with an ATM and you'll get your money. So like,
we'll follow the beats. I said, great, So we came
up with it. So we had these two ideas and
mushed them together. We shot it all night. We wrapped
like six in the morning because I had to get
back on a plane to go back to shoot. And
then I get a call like Monday. He's like, dude,

(11:38):
this is amazing. You aren't gonna be ready. I think
we I think we've made history. Yes, and I knew it,
like not often are you in the middle of something,
But I knew it as we're doing it because there
was such desparate worlds right of Dave and this and me,
especially of that time, of what folks thought of me
and the gigs I was doing. It's like, well, wow,

(11:58):
does that all fit together? And we weren't doing a sketch.
In my mind, I was like, no, I'm really doing
this shit because I'm also showing you what I do
as an actor. It's like, we're really doing this. And
the way that he shot it, it was a beautiful
thing that came together. And I knew that we made
TV history.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
I knew it, and I'm telling you this, like Rick James, nia,
we have a problem, right, Rick James and Prince they
were excited about but we were more excited about the
scripts because we had the scripts way before they were shot.
But I do remember up until that point they were
really excited about the racial draft. But the way they

(12:36):
were talking about how quickly this thing came together and
how and I was I was disappointed because I couldn't add.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Music to it.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Like I was said, all right, so what am I
gonna do? What am I gonna do? They're like, it's
done already, man, you just you wait till it comes
on and literally okay. So I mean that was that
was the beginning of what we call like the viral face.
How did you're our's perception of you or reaction? How
did that change after that episode?

Speaker 3 (13:07):
It was instantaneous because at that point, you know, the
Chappelle Show was everywhere all the time. It was on
a loop, so everywhere you went, and being on tour
and going you know, to very various cities, I could
see the reactions like if and right after that it
was on tour, you know, like I was in Philly
and New York and Atlanta and Chicago and Detroit, so

(13:30):
I got to see firsthand black reaction to the sketch. Now,
the thing is that I never wanted the narrative to
be like all black people voted unanimously that Wayne Brady
was corny or whatever, because that was not the case.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
More black people rocked with me than not. It was.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
It was some fine, you couldn't say what you wanted to,
But I did notice as soon as that sketch hit.
This is the thing that I got, which I loathed
to this day, but I know where it comes from.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
When like a particular cat comes up.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yo, Wayne, Nigga, that's that, dude, I'm gonna slap me
a hole.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
It's like, no, no, man.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
It's actually, it's actually, it's actually, it's actually choko. That's
what I meant. That's what I meant. I gotta tell
you something. I gotta tell you something. I didn't fuck
with you before.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
I didn't.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
I didn't with all honest I didn't fuck with you before.
I was like, well, thanks for telling me you're in
the thoughts I did. Really you didn't digest my okay, fine.

Speaker 5 (14:28):
But now now now, nigga, now, now hug me now,
man now, And then I'm like, well, thank you.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
But the funny thing is, oh, so you love me now?

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Because I had hoes, made Dave take drugs, and it
was yeah, I get I get it, I get it.
But the thing that I loved the most about it
is whatever your reaction and whatever you felt, and I
feel it to this day. It's a classic sketch. It's
in the Museum of Telling Vision History. I'd love Dave

(15:01):
and I thank Dave, and I thank Neil for and
I thank Donnelle for coming up to me because I
got a chance to do something that was so dope,
and I see the effects of it today that people
got to see because I was doing a Disney talk show,
I was doing an a ABC talk show, I was
on a Who's Line at night. I was doing those things. Now,
the people that followed my act, that saw me in

(15:23):
the comedy clubs and theaters, they knew that it's kind
of like the Bob Saget thing. My act is my acting.
And I tell you, tell folks, just because you watched
whose Line or your kid likes Sophia the First, don't
bring your kids to my show because it's not that
kind of show.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
So it's not that.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
So I felt that that began a shift where folks
to your point earlier, where folks say that they really
don't know me, they know the things that I do.
I feel that was a step in people going Okay,
I guess there's more to the person than I thought.
And if it takes an event like that to make
you open your mind, then cool. I don't care where
it comes from.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Azanza comes, well, then I'll ask you something I thought.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
We're on our way to being best friends.

Speaker 6 (16:06):
We started with we wanted to be friends friends is
so exciting, Yes, sir, And this is an objective question,
so I don't know if I can get a definitive answer.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Of course, is the grass greener on the other side?

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Well, you know, I would not know still because and
this is a larger conversation for a thing. I I
have issues where I still feel where now it's mostly
oddly enough, ironically it's white Hollywood and white studio exects.
And I don't even say agents that I've had in

(16:44):
the past and people because black is black to me.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
We are not a monolith. That's what Whiz is about.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Come see the Whiz until June tenth, so until no, no,
but you got a seed in general, but just know
that story.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
So black is all thesewed beautiful things.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
But the problem is that when we call each other
out and we go, oh, you're not black of this
or your experiences in this, there are people on the
other side listening, like studio execs and like other people
that they're oh, so that's not black enough.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
So what is black? Jamal?

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Tell me what is black? And he's like, well, I
don't mess with that dude, but I think that dude. Okay, great.
So my problem on the grass side isn't even with
my own folks. I love my folks, and my folks
mess with me. It's how I am perceived. I think,
even for roles even in series that I know that
I would kill it, I am by by the gatekeeper

(17:34):
who maybe the show creators black, but the studio head is.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
Like, oh no, I wouldn't consider Wayne Brady for that.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Are there three roles that got away?

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Three roles that got away?

Speaker 7 (17:43):
No?

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Three? Is there one? What role almost had it? Well?

Speaker 3 (17:47):
I have a few that I have almost had it
that that I'm not going to blame on race because
maybe I wasn't the dude on that day, but I
was offered some a couple of things and then offers, god,
oh because but the one that's thicks out of my
head that and I feel it We're going so long,
so I'm trying to make things quol Okay. This is
not a great movie by any stretch, but it was

(18:10):
one of the ones. It was around the Chappelle thing
that I was like, I'm gonna show folks what the
fuck I do it? Was snakes on the plane. And
here's the thing. It was for the role of the rapper. Now,
now the dude that got it, that's my boy flex.
I did a movie with Flex. I love Flex.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
So if I'm happy that, she said, I was like
doing another Flex.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
So if anybody got it, I was happy because flexing, Yes,
that's fam But what I did and my audition was
so genius. I have to say this ship was genius.
It was for the rapper. I looked at the script like, uh,
not a great script, the concept you said. I was like,
screw it, I'm gonna go in. So I hired two

(18:57):
actors to play my bodyguards, and I hired a couple
girls to be my video vixens, and I for the audition.
For the audition, I'll never forget, I drove in traffic.
Like if any of you were actors back in the
day in La if you had to go over to
Santa Monica to audition for this day, it was horrible
getting there. I spent about an hour an hour and

(19:18):
a half in traffic, and I came up with the idea.
I said, I could do this script. But what I'm
gonna do is I'm gonna be this dude, and then
I'm gonna freestyle what's in I'm in a freestyle the
story of snakes on a plane, and then I'm gonna
walk out so I get there. I timed it so

(19:39):
that my time was don't even know what time. My
time was like four thirty. Now, keep keep in mind,
I'm in full like I'm in my Adidas thing. I've
got chains, the whole nine. I've got these rings, my
shits to the side. I walk in and the dude,
the one of the bodyguards has a boombox were the track.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
I walk in the casting office.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Click boom boom boom boots the boom boots walking. There
are actors waiting. I walked right through. I walked right
through into the Wait. Wait, you can't get boot to
a click? Hey, how you doing?

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Oh? Wait is it yo?

Speaker 3 (20:14):
I'm not waiting. I'm gonna read that ship. Blah blah blah.
Went on this whole thing about the script, like that script. Look,
he hit the thing and I did all. I can't
even remember what I said that it was based basically,
because you want me to explain, I got snakes on
a plane that's up in their legs and the contempt
and we got this dude and want to sit next
guy in the Sam Sam said, fuck these planes.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
You know who I am. But I come in. I
do this about a da da dad.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
And when it's finished, like I, I cleared their desk
of these pap by flash dance of like the good
shots in the scripts, I was like, because clear ship,
and I through the script because I'm reading this ship,
let's go. Walked right back out, walked out of the
casting office, went to my car and I was.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Like, oh, hey, thanks, here's fifty bucks.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Thank you so much. You guys were great. I'm getting
as I'm driving home. By the time I get home,
I have on my next tail. I had a cease
and desist. I had a message from my agent.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Call nine one one oh.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
They wanted to offer me the role. They really liked
you for this role is. I was like, I did it.
It actually worked, and it was that thing of I've
got a name, you see me on TV every day
of these things, I'm still begging and fighting people to
get into rooms, and I'm even trying to get into
this whack movie. So at least I was like, at

(21:38):
least I know that I'm good and this thing happened,
and now it pays off. Now here's where I'm gonna
be careful because all I know is what I was
told by my reps at this time.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
So they get a call.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
I'm not going to name who the person was, but
somebody who was in a position of power at the studio. When,
of course these names are being run up the flag pole,
Wayne Brady's name come up, and this white person says,
oh no, uh uh, not Wayne Brady.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
He's not black enough.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
He no, he's not black black, he's not black black
black black. There's always an expert air quotes, Yeah, but
I love how he hit black black. So I'm not
black black so but but so so then flex gets
it and that's cool. And I found out this information
because I guess somebody at some point in the chain
felt so bad. They were like, I just want want

(22:31):
you to know. So I was like, okay, So that
one stung me, not because I didn't do a great job,
but because I knew it would be something that I'd
be facing. And I'm not gonna boohoo because it's something
that just as black actors, black people, black black lawyers, black,
we face a certain thing. The naivete that I had
up until that point was well, surely, if I'm really

(22:55):
dope and you've seen me do things and I'm a
great at I do broad I do, surely I should
get the job. Like Nope, because I don't think that
you are based on blah blah blah. I was like, oh,
I'm an adult, now, fuck it, I get it. So
so that helped me understand. So so that's that's the

(23:16):
one that got away that I was disappointed in, not
because of I didn't get it, but because I was like.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Man, you're being judged.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
If I'm dealing.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Dealing with this, then that sucks for the actor who
is coming up and doesn't have any cloud or doesn't
have a thing to fall back on. So so that
made me very sympathetic to that.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
Damn man, I'm sorry you didn't get that, and it's
this could have been That movie was terrible though, right,
I mean it was a commercial.

Speaker 8 (23:46):
Yeah, it was actually one of the first movies I
remember like that really went viral, like yeah, the VI
because the campaign.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Later because they was like people.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Right, I'll even say right, like am I right? Thinking
that Sam was already doing this thing. Of course he
was Sam Jackson. But but I feel like that line in
that boost kind of made the mythos of Sam Jackson,
where in every movie you gotta say motherfucker that that
and and the Tarantine Tino joint, so like those are
the two that cemented Sam as that dude.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
All right, So, speaking of which, what secret talent do
you have that the general public is not aware of?

Speaker 4 (24:38):
I was afraid you'd ask me this questions I saw
you ask some.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
I think you asked, uh Hannibal this, Yes, you know
the reality is, and here's my secret. I don't have
secret talents because I've worked so hard to make the
talents that I do loud like I sing, I dance,
I act, I write.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
I can do these things.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
I need you to know those things because if you
don't know them, then I can't. But the regular life
talent shit, I don't. I honestly, he said Tumblr. I
mean one time Tumblr all. I really don't know if
I do have any other talents that are of merit.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
So let me remix it. What secret talents do you
have in the kitchen that we're not aware of?

Speaker 3 (25:29):
I'm a master at mixing my cereals, and I don't
say that lightly. My ratios are on points. They are beautiful.

Speaker 9 (25:40):
It's a real talent and I.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Can make I'm a good baker. Bakers, Yeah, yes, I
can bake.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Well. Who are the three people that you text the
most each day? Who are the top three people? He
doesn't text? You're anti technology?

Speaker 4 (25:58):
Now, Oh, I'm not a FaceTime but I do text text.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
I text my daughter but she gets mad because I
do like to like the FaceTime her. But I text
my daughter to check check in. I text my daughter,
I text Mandy. What what three people do you communicate
with your phone every day?

Speaker 9 (26:15):
You know?

Speaker 3 (26:15):
And my and my chief of staff Sarah, those are
the three people that that I text with the most?

Speaker 10 (26:23):
Maybe staff can about to say?

Speaker 1 (26:26):
There you go? All right?

Speaker 9 (26:28):
Before you ask him what kind of laundry detergent he use?

Speaker 1 (26:30):
This?

Speaker 9 (26:30):
Can I ask a real question?

Speaker 10 (26:32):
Yes, I'm kind of I'm kind of obsessed with Let's
make a deal.

Speaker 9 (26:37):
Oh yeah, I was wondering besides like what it's like.

Speaker 10 (26:40):
I don't think we've ever had like a but like
what's that like in general? But but also did you
were you a fan of the old Let's make a
deal with Monty Hall?

Speaker 4 (26:50):
And no, okay, and I don't say that in a
bad way.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
I used to watch it because that's what was on
when my grandmother would watch watch you know, it's like
being black and your mom watches the story story right,
So there was a progression. You would watch The Price
is Right at some point because they were all on CBS,
and then I think she would switch over to ABC
to watch Monty and then she'd watch the story. So
I would watch it just by being around. But any

(27:16):
game show that I liked, I was a snob because
I liked Jeopardy. I liked anything that I had to
that was skilled, skill based or trivia. So so so
I wasn't really checking so much for Let's make a
Deal as a kid because I don't yeah, because that
wasn't my thing. So later in life when I was
offered Let's make a Deal, I turned it down a
few times because in my mind, and this was before

(27:39):
game show hosting became.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Cool, I created that lane.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
It was I, well, this is my fifteenth season, so
I guess go go back to what I'm doing the show. Yeah,
my daughter is twenty one, since she was born in
two thousand and three. So I started the show, which
was a so so two thousand and something, when I
was offered it, game shows were kind of game shows.

(28:07):
And in my mind when I think a game show host,
I think of the game show hosts that we grew
up on, which were cool. But you know, the guys
with long, long long mics and Jean.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
And I love and love al right, so you have
let me kiss you? And why you Richard Dawson, that
whole thing.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
So I was like, game shows are that like being
being a game show host almost I felt had a
taste to some people, especially in the entertainment business, like
being it's something that could be parodied easily, like a
weather man or or a bad DJ. Hey this is Jimmy,
and that you could easily make fun of it and
do a shorthand. So I was like, why would I

(28:47):
do that? Why would I do that thing? I'm not
going to be made fun of for doing that thing. So,
and it was nothing against the show. I say, no,
you got the wrong guy because on that show, and
you correct me if I'm wrong. You just say, hello,
Irma from Pacoima. You're addressed as a bread Do you
have a quarter?

Speaker 4 (29:06):
That's lovely?

Speaker 3 (29:07):
And that's lovely that they do that, but I have
a skill set that exceeds that. So no, no, thank
you until Mike, Mike Richards, who was the EP at
the time, he said, Monty Hall really wants to meet you.
And I was like, I'm not going to say no
to meeting Monty Hall, especially because my mom doesn't know.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
And no, no. When I started the show.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
When I started the show was alive and Monty I
had lunch at Monty's house and he was so lovely,
and I said, Monty, thank you so much, sir, But
I'm getting ready to write a sitcom. I've got a
deal for that. I've got things that I need need
to do. I don't do this. He goes, no, I
don't want you to. I want you to do what
you do. That's the only way that this show is

(29:43):
going to work for a new audience. Because they tried
various iterations of it, like with Billy Bush I think
was one of the last ones, and they and they
tried like a like an adult, let's make a deal.
It's like if you have a dildo in your pocket.
I was like, well, that's crass. That's not gonna fly.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
So I did not know, so it was wasn't Drew
Carrey was he doing it on time?

Speaker 3 (30:06):
So he said, I want you to do He said, well,
what do you mean what would I do? He's like, no,
you're funny and the improv that you do and the
things and the characters. I said, really, okay, well if
you're cool with it. Then I thought about it and
I tried to do the business. Mind I'm like, well,
like with my talk show, and I remember being in

(30:26):
people's homes. It's a very powerful thing, being able to
touch people every day.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
And I also did it because my grandma.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
You know, I'm like, if I can do something that
my grandma likes, So I said yes, and I started it,
and I remember being clowned at first, and I'm and
what's funny is right? As I got clowned by a
couple of people out here whispers. Then, oddly enough, a
season or two later, then other men of color were
doing game shows with very lucrative contracts. And now and

(30:55):
now you can't you throw a rock at TV? Michael Strand, myself,
Steve Anthony Anderson, Jamie Fox, we did all comedy guys, Shazam.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'll beat Shazama.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
It's all a thing.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
But as I did it, it was like, look at
this game show, corny, how much is he making for that?

Speaker 1 (31:17):
And what season is he?

Speaker 4 (31:19):
And I really wasn't making it.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
And I'll say, and I wasn't making what I feel
I should have now because I know what I bring,
Like the thing that I've created with that show, with
the improv, with characters being able to couch it in
this it's so much fun and I'm.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Glad that people love it.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
But I take pride in the fact that I've helped
along with our team because everybody on that staff gets
me and they're like, Okay, let's support that vision.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Even though you say you don't text that your FaceTime
or whatever, I'm saying communicating not texting. Yeah, who are
the three most famous people that you've texted in your
phone score right now? Like ever, no, no, no, this in
in the last hour or two since the.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
Last I haven't texted anyone famous in the last hour two.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
The most famous name in your your scroll at the
top of your scroll right now is who sugar Steve?

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Oh, well, that's it, Rayu oh okay now rays famous
to musicians, Yeah, of.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
Dancing with the Stars fame.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
So Rachu texted me that that that was great, and
I don't think anybody else that. Oh and Ben Vereen,
who like if you know, you know Ben, Ben is
like my godfather.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
So between he's in communication with you.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yes, then leave you?

Speaker 4 (32:47):
And why don't you love me?

Speaker 1 (32:51):
We want her on the shelves. You can, you know,
put in a good word.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
I don't know if this is she would love to come,
She would love to all right.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Slight weird question.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Bring it?

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Have you ever almost been arrested?

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Are you allowed to talk about it?

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, because the case is finished. No. No,
it was like you wanted to know about me, man,
you wanted to know. Yes.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Once as a kid, I was almost arrested for driving
without a license because a friend of mine was drunk
and I was trying to to drive him home and
I was doing the thing of somebody who really I
was driving very slow?

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Oh I was.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
But and of course if you see somebody going like
this then and so even back then, I think I
had a gift for gab. I let the machine take
over and he's like, hey, let me see your drivers. Look,
I'll tell you right off the bat, I'm officer, I
don't have a license. I'm I don't have a license.
This is not my car, and contray what you may

(34:00):
be thinking. I didn't steal it. This happens to be
my friend's car. As you can see, my friend is intoxicated.
He's drunk. When we were at a Disney party, we
we both work at Walt Disney World right up the street.
I wanted to make sure that he got home. I
took his keys from him. So I would never let
my friend get behind the wheel of a car because
his death would be on my conscience. So if I'm
going to get in trouble for that, then I guess

(34:22):
I'm ready to go to jail. Oh okay, well, just
drive a little faster. And how far away is it live?
He lives two minutes away, all right. And I and
I got off.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
That works that, you.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Know, that's the one time that that worked. And and
I've been stopped once or twice by cops and by
the grace of God or social media or TV.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
Hey, you you know what. I love that that's your
pel thing? Where you go? Oh man, that's awesome, d.

Speaker 9 (35:00):
Ah man, aren't you tigger? The pinching tager?

Speaker 4 (35:04):
Well, my kid is like when I was a kid.
I was pinched by a tigger.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Of all your birthdays, what was the best one ever
that you remember?

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Wow, you are amazing.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
These these questions you've never been asked before, never been
asked before.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
I look, I said that in one of the interview
people I normally wouldn't talk to like youngers, whatever, And
I want to ask questions that just aren't about your
press junket.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
The best birthday ever?

Speaker 9 (35:32):
I think you might have already given it a way.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
I think you know, it's the birthday that I found
out that my ex wife was pregnant, and my gift
was she told me for my for my twenty ninth.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
Birthday, that was her gift.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
She she told me, I'm pregnant because I wanted a baby,
and she wasn't necessarily on board because she she was
a dancer and an actress and at that point, you know,
and and she would have to give up her thing.
So I was kind of in my feelings about it.
And little did I know that she was working to
make my dream come true. I guess, and it happened.
And so on my birthday, on my twenty ninth birthday,

(36:11):
she said, uh, this is your gift.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
Yeah, No, my was it thirtieth birthday on my third
thirtieth birthday.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, okay, that's what's up. What was your childhood nickname
or what is it? Do you have a nickname that
people call you?

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah, and now I have to address the camera again.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
One of the childhood nicknames that I remember is there
was a time when and I hope that you're remembering
all this, Bill, because when we do my one man
show that I talked to you about, all these stories
are going in it. So we have to write songs
to go with these things. Okay, so we need to
and then and then Mere you can executive produce. Okay, Okay, great.
So I was actually called gas Man for and I

(36:53):
don't even know and this was, like I want to say,
this was maybe at the end, maybe it was eighth
or ninth grade.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
So this wasn't like I was a child.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
And the reason I was called gas man is because
my grandmother, God bless her, she uses mothballs. I don't
know if everybody still uses mothballs. But have you smelled
smelled a moth ball? Okay, so so you know what
a mothball smells like. Now imagine every drawer has mothballs.
What is the purpose of mothballs to keep away moths?

Speaker 9 (37:24):
Wow?

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Edit that out please, or some would say, or some
would say to attract them. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, that's going to be our commercial.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
What are mothballs for fun?

Speaker 4 (37:40):
What? Hey?

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Normally when you put a mothball in, you drop a
ball or two and that should do the job in
each thing. My grandmother nothing like no moderation, mothballs, a
coating of mothballs, and all of the drawers, so all
of my clothing that was always folded up in my drawers,
and of course you don't smell stuff outside the house

(38:04):
until so I started to get called gas man on
gas man on the bus going to school. And then
also besides gas man, then there were you know, kids
can be clever, especially we beautiful kids in the hood
with minds that can freestyle and make and make things up.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
So there were always songs, great songs.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
About gas man, the gas man.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Who who that gas man?

Speaker 3 (38:32):
You know they would put put some Uncle Luke on
it gas man gas man or or because then my
mom she shopped very practically for me.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
She's like, when I don't have to spend all this
money on your clothes, you always look clean. You look
clean and dressed.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
My shoes so my shoes, Bobbos make fine.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
I heard the.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
Bobo's thing, but yeah, so gas man and Bobo's ah okay.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Oh and Jamaic make Jamaica fuck is what it is?
Jamake make?

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (39:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (39:04):
They reduce everybody down to children are shitty people.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
Children. No, that's true.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Children a shitty people because you're limited you you kids
kids have because you know, because they're little little drunks
that depend on you and our prefuntal cortexes aren't really
formed to what twenty five really so, so they have
no empathy, no sympathy.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
No filter, no filter.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
So I get it.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
So that's why I say, man, that's all in the past,
and thank you because they give me great stories.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
There you go, thank you, gash Man with me. What
theme often occurs in your dream? Is there running theme
that happens in your dreams?

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Easy? Too.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
I feel in this session I've been able to unload
more than the therapists that I've seen from the past.

Speaker 7 (39:56):
You like a therapy, says, I've ever been likely this
is like us doing true and your friends.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
But I have a belief that dreams are kind of
absolutely the I feel like dreams are how you get
communicated to from other entities. Yes, and I feel like
my father's talking through me through my dreams.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Yeah, I'm so glad you. Yes, I absolutely feel that.
I know that my father talks to me. I know
that my grandmother talks to me sometimes. And besides them
talking to me, I feel that your dreams keep you safe.
That they're almost an early warning system for some of
the shit that you may do in real life that
you realize in your subconscious or things that you're afraid of.

(40:41):
Two of my running that I that I've had the
same dreams since.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
I was a child.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
We were the only house on our street on Casino Avenue.
Because people loved and respecting my grandmother, we were the
only house that that was never broken into. And in fact,
if somebody broke in, like there was one to where
my next door neighbors to the left, this this this
this this white family, the only white white fam family

(41:07):
on our side the neighborhood. They were getting broken into,
and my grandmother walked outside and she actually saw the
kid and it was one of my school kids. She's like,
what are you doing? Oh, I'm sorry, miss Valerie. You know,
I'm just She's like, don't go in to mine house
doing it. And and instead of being brawling towards her
or doing something, he was like, I'm sorry, man, you
know what and didn't go in. Oh oh they got

(41:28):
him later, Oh yeah, sure right. But I was always afraid.
So my whole thing growing up was I was always
afraid of somebody breaking into because I never felt that
our house was safe enough. So I always checked the locks.
We had a we we had the old we had,

(41:49):
oh and the pull thing you do, so we had that.
But I never felt that our windows were safe, and
I was always wondering if somebody's gonna break into the
back door. So I've kept that throughout my entire life.
Light clockwork. Every couple of days, I always.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Have that dream.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
No no matter what house, no matter what apartment I
used to live in was, I have the recurring dream
of I have to defend myself. No, that's the thing.
I defend myself. I have to defend my family, I
have to defend my property. I have to because if
they get in, then we'll we'll be in danger. So
that's always been my thing, is I have to defend.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Okay, I dream about trains.

Speaker 9 (42:27):
You said there were two dreams.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
Oh, the other one's flying. I'm always flying fear of flying?

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Or you're always flying.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
No, I'm always flying.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
I'm two, but it's because but not on the plane,
by yourself, by myself.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Oh my god, that's another three thousand revelations. Well he
told me a story like Selo taught him Astro traveling
Andre three thousand.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, he goes into detail about that. Okay, I'm always
obsessed with trains, be it soul train or like the subway.
There was a point point where I was obsessed. There's
an obsession I have with During the pandemic, I discovered
a YouTube page of a guy whose goal was to

(43:12):
just track from soup to nuts, like one end to
the other end of any train line and anywhere America.
So during the pandemic, I would actually pretend I was
going to school, like I get on the mark and
Frankurt elevated train at fifteen, get off fifteenth Street, and
then I changed the channel to the subway. And literally,

(43:35):
I don't know why I have an obsession with train
routes on YouTube where the guy just gets on the
front car and oh, so you're seeing the POV right, Yeah,
like I can I pretend that now. I know now
that the next level of the v R thing is
they're now going to create worlds. What was the movie

(43:56):
the movie where the little boy in India gets separated
from his family and he uses Google Earth. Yes, he
uses Google Earth to find his village. Like he got
separated from his township for twenty years and then you know,
as a three year old, he remember there was a
water tower and he zoomed in and saw right, he

(44:16):
got lost on the train system as a three year
old and didn't know where he lived, and then he
just lived all over. He got adopted by a well
to do family and he told his well to do family,
it's my dream to find my birth family. And they's like, well,
if you go on if you remember this water tower
thing very specific as a three year old, we can
go on Google Earth and look for it. And that's

(44:38):
how he was reunited with his family. But yeah, like
they're going to create worlds like that on what's Apple?
Yeah whatever, so.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
That you go on Oculus and you use your it's
it's not amazing technology, but I've done using the Google
Earth to look and now on the Apple Pro, I've
done the same thing. I love the Apple Pro. They're
like that that thing is amazing.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
So how do you use it? What's should I use
it to?

Speaker 3 (45:13):
To watch movies because you really can make the you
can make an imax.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yeah, you can go in the movie.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
Theater and you can be watching the movie.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Or if I am doing work that you actually can type,
there's a virtual screen. I look at my emails, you
can go online. And the great thing because of the past,
you can do these things as you're just in the world.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, Seriously, during twenty twenty, during like the pandemic, got
two oculuses and to be trapped in the house. But
with those things on, like I would build worlds and
malls and everything, and literally we'd have date night, like
get it on the roller coaster and let's walk in

(45:57):
the mall and it felt real. I built. We would
do like virtual ping pong and this this resort like
a Pocono's type of resort thing, but it really felt
like we were there.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Like Mike's girlfriend and I did the same thing and
we would go she would go to sing karaoke that
there'd be these virtual karaoke bars, which just the avatars
and everybody would sing, and I would go along with
her until my avatar would.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Just and sit in the audience and watch, sit and.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Watch, and sometimes I'd sing because at that point nobody
knows who anybody is, so upus I would do that,
and we'd go to Virtual Disney.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
And I'm not try that yet.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
It's so cool. That's when I fell in love with
the Oculus.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
I'm certain now it's more advanced like I had it
when it first came out.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
This new Oculus is much better.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
And then I tapered off, like once we went outside,
I stopped going on it. But I can only imagine
now in twenty twenty four that it's super advanced and
it's great. I can't wait for that shout out to Oculus.
If five records define who you are as a human being,

(47:07):
what five records in your record collection best describes who
you are?

Speaker 4 (47:12):
In my record collection? Oh man, Okay, you know what.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
I'm going to go through my Apple Music real fast
because I don't have records in the records are are
in storage, so I have to remember which ones I have. Okay,
So just off the top of my head, because that's
a really deep, deep question. I'd say, oh, you know what,
the Miseducation of Lauren Hill four And I can't tell

(47:38):
you exactly why I love that record so much. And
I felt like I was being spoken to in terms
of being a creative because she was finding her voice
and finding her thing.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Then and then Zion.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
That was released right as Miley was born, the first
time that I knew about having a child, and some
people wanted to clown her for her MTV performance when
she broke.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Down crying, but I was like, no, I get it.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
I finally get what it's like to love somebody that much,
to break down crying and not care what you think. Okay,
that's one of my faite favorites. Kid and played Too
Hype Kid and played too Hype Wow. Yes, And the
reason is, I don't know if it's because of a
It's not because of a trait.

Speaker 4 (48:29):
It's because of a time.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
It's like, that's when I saw these dudes dancing and
having a good time. Hip hop wasn't you know that
ear of hip hop wasn't serious. And when I saw
them dancing, they gave me the courage because I would
sing and dance in my house. Nobody knew that I
could sing or dance until the first time that I

(48:52):
did a musical on stage.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Your family didn't know about your talent, nobody.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
How'd you hide that in my room? I did a
lot of things in my room.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
You have a voice like I did, you know, rejecting
the shower?

Speaker 4 (49:05):
Nobody I would.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Nobody would know because because the couple of times that
I would do things, my my grandmother said stop running
around in that nonsense.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
I was like, Okay, got it.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Nonsense, can do it in front of you, safety, won't
do it in front of anybody.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
I got it.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
But it wasn't until so So when SO that came
out in like eighty eight or eighty nine. Eighty okay,
so eighty eight, So I was a so So I
was a That was at the beginning of my of
my junior year, and that's when I started doing theater
and I saw those guys dancing and Hammer came out

(49:38):
around that time and to hype. So I was like, okay,
you know what, I'm gonna learn those dances and with
my crippling ass social anxiety, I'm going to go to
a school dance and I'm gonna get up and do
the whole thing. Ude. They gave me the courage to
go out and do that, and so that was one
of those things that I just copied their their.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Moves getting funky.

Speaker 4 (50:00):
Still, Oh, come on, man, lets you go get funking.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Can't play Lauren Hill.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
Prince's purple Rain. Okay, uh, you know it's a little
oh and and that's not it. That's not it either,
that purple reign. I think for our generation that that
like watching someone.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
That I didn't even know what the whole story was about.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
It made me feel some kind of way like watching
this this guy sing about sex and these girls and
you know, like vanity and watching this.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Whole thing felt dangerous.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
It felt like I hadn't seen anything like that.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I assume that your parents are strict or Christian if
they're from the Islands.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
It wasn't even about being Christian if she was very much.
But Prince wasn't the devil. She wasn't consistent. There were
certain things that were bad, but she's like Prince, then
it be you know, that's rare, that's Prince.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
But but the Prince was everyone's favorite target.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
I love Prince.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
The thing that I didn't like is that was my
first time really seeing and and recognizing what homophobia was
because you know, my grandmother look at Prince, oh, Prince Princess,
and Auntie Man is Auntie Man.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
You know.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
He's gay because he didn't know that's an anti min
is old.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
And and so my other rel is my man, Nah,
that's Auntie Money, don Seron and his ass all hanging
out and I don't know who he so, but I
was like, I don't, hey, I don't think so look
at that's actually cool. So watching this dude, I was like,

(51:42):
I wish I had that confidence. That guy's wearing frills
and he's on a motorcycle and that and all those
women want him. That's cool. So so definitely Prince Run
DMC rock Box okay, because that was probably my introduction
to hip hop. Okay, like a lot of other kids,

(52:03):
I'd heard, I guess on the radio and Dad's car
uh to hip hop hip it. I'd heard that in
the message when I was little, But rock Box was
I think it was like ten maybe because USA night Flight,
I don't remember that. I remember, Okay, So you would
say that's how I would get on my music because
I would take take a tape recorder and I'd record

(52:24):
for all of the videos USA Night Flight, so I
would just wait, so rock Box Band but ten because
I did, And then I was like, what are these
That wasn't like the hip hop because that wasn't to
the right, to the left everybody jay wasn't that And
these guys are in the leather and what are they doing?

Speaker 4 (52:41):
So that made me so I got.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Into run DMC, which led me to ll cool J,
which led me to that whole movement, which which would
so that was really pivotal. That's when I started freestyling
because I wanted to learn their songs, but then I
would just take words that they used and then just
try to rap along with them.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
How did you develop your confidence for improv and freestyling?
Because I feel like if I could just lose one aspect,
like when I told you at the top of the
episode about like the whole Norm McDonald embracing silence and
a bomb joke or whatever, like now I'm a little
fearless with it, but I believe that really good freestylers,

(53:26):
you lind Tarik, if you let your brain go one hundred,
all the answers are there. And it's quick. How do
you let go? Because you you kind of revealed or
out yourself as a person who's like guarded and that
sort of thing, but you're also in a profession with
the creativity that requires you just to be geranimo, like

(53:50):
just fall over and pray that there's a soft landing
when you land.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
But that's where I feel safe.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Yeah, I saw.

Speaker 8 (53:56):
I remember it was an episode of Who's Line? And
I think this was an episode that really because you
were the reason I watched who was lying, Like straight up,
I'm you're not like for real, I'm like, yo, I want.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
To monster on that show.

Speaker 8 (54:06):
Yeah, and so like it was one and you had
been killing it. I was like a fuck with this dude,
because that was my first time really hearing about you.
You did a character, it was like a superhero sketch.
You did a character called the Ballroom Brawler bro that shit.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
I think I remember you threw yourself the entire dog.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
That was hilarious.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Like see with that freedom that you talk about, and
you even said when I teach improv Like, I can't
speak for anybody else's thing, but I know that all
my ship comes from being that kid who sat in
that room. If I didn't have anybody to play with,
I had to think and I had to create. And

(54:46):
then the things that I watched, I if I mimicked it,
I had to be all the parts.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
So it just made sense to me.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
Were your only child, was it?

Speaker 3 (54:54):
I have a sister that was raised with me partially,
but it wasn't until I was ten, so for the
most part, I was raising only child, gotcha? So I
found ways to be creative on my own that I
didn't know. Nobody put a label on it. Like I
hadn't met Keith Johnstone, who who's one of the fathers
of improvisation, and so I hadn't met them. I didn't
even know there was a word for it. So cut

(55:14):
to later when I actually started doing improv with the
group that I was with from Orlando called the called
sac Theater, and then seven of us moved out to
LA and became the House full of Honkeys, and that's
how I got Who's line. I didn't know that there
was an organized thing for it. So when they were like, oh, yeah,
it's theater where you make up, I said, oh, yeah,
that's fine because I could always bend on that freestyle

(55:37):
like I would just freestyle for my friends or we
can do yeah, so if you want me to and characters, sure,
I'll just make make stuff up in scenarios great because
I didn't know what the thing was. But my methodology
of doing it is I have to act everything out
to make it tactile.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
So when you see a scene like that, that's how
I do.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
My thing is I know how it's supposed to look
and feel, and I can do the musical improv because
I love music and I'm a songwriter. So I just
think of an improv song as my first draft. So
I feel safe in that, which is weird because I
feel weird about every other thing and nervous. But with that,
it's like, oh, I yeah, you just trust fall Yeah, yeah,

(56:18):
because I know that something will be there. Now will
it be the most brilliant thing all the time. No,
and it's not supposed to be. The One thing I
did learn later is with the yes, sand also comes
with and Bill can back me up on this, and
the sense of Okay, I'll go for it, jeronimo. I

(56:38):
hit it great, I don't hit it better because I
got to come back around and justify whatever happened. And
if I'm on stage with partners. I've just given you
a lane to let you jump in and save me.
So you have to embrace that failure. And that's one
of the rules that Keith Johnson and the father of
theater sports, that I never understood, is like, you have

(56:58):
to be willing to failsation. By definition, you shouldn't be
getting laughs. You shouldn't be successful because it goes against
our primal building character right right, Like it goes against
the thing of I want you to like me, and
I want you to understand what I'm saying. I don't
want you to root for my downfall. When you watch
an improv show, whether you know it or not, you

(57:21):
are rooting to see what's he gonna say. There's no
way that he's gonna rhyme hypothalamus. Nope, not gonna happen.
Orange get out of here. That's not gonna happen. He
sucks orange door hinge. If someone comes up with that,
mm Ryan, Okay.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
So Jimmy obviously started a culture at thirty Rock in
which he was known to break character a lot, which
was frowned upon a lot at that show, like no
matter what, don't break character. But now that Jimmy sort
of make it like a coup like cutey thing. Then
you know, you see people look down this weekend, watch SNL,

(58:05):
watch Kristy Wig and everyone break character. But that level
of chaos. I do dig, but you know, sometimes I'll
just get in my head like I won't know where
to go cons and callosis rhymes with hypothalamus worseman. Okay,

(58:30):
but I'm a guy who I don't know if you
ever see in a micro bigulious don't think twice of course, yes, okay,
So is there a general rule like if you're in
a group of people, like the temptation to not show
off or show out, Like there's a point where they
tell Keegan Michael Key like all right, well, don't do
your bomber impression. Like in other words, I know when

(58:53):
you're showing off and going to the short shot, you
going yeah, like your aristocrats trick in the group is
not doing that.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
I think that's always the key, especially in a group
of improvisers. It's a conglomeration of everyone's efforts.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
But how do you know when it's time to shine
and bring the show to another level?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Honestly, I think with our group it's repetition and doing
it over and over again. It's like a great basketball
team or a great soccer team. Like in a good
basketball team, the reason an alley oop works is because
the guy knows what the other guy's going to be,
so he throws the ball to where he knows it's
going to be. It's the same thing with us. I
feel like, you like, if you know Lin's coming up
to do something, you'll lob him align and it'll work whatever,
and you'll leave him somewhere that makes it funnier, and

(59:32):
everything just sort of gets like on top of each other,
on top of each other and top each other until
it's like ready to explode. And that I mean, sometimes
it's luck. It feels like sometimes it's having a great night,
and honestly, sometimes you have a shit night. I mean
we've done hundreds of shows where it's just like, wow,
we can't even buy a laugh.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
You know.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
That's kind of the thing about improv, which I find
to be so interesting. It's like even bombed, like bombed
and like in front of many thousands of people, and
it's just like it teaches you to fail.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Yeah, absolutely, And that's kind.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
Of and you have to know what that feels like
and I think the worst thing that can happen to you,
and this happened to me is with the success of
Who's Line. Before Who's Line, I was not the funny
person in the Household of Honkeys. I had my role.
I was like, I do the song stuff, and I
can do characters and physical things. But because improv isn't
really my thing, I'm doing the group haha. But my

(01:00:24):
thing is I'm gonna get cast in a sitcom or
and another thing or like so, so I don't consider
myself funny.

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
You can use me.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
But after I got Who's Line and then I was
one of four that they're like, oh no, we hired
you because we expect you to be able to come
up with something. Now it was the first time that
I was called upon to be funny on the dime.
And the training that Whose Line gave us is it's
kind of the antithesis to what you just said. The
four of us that you know, the regulars, we've come

(01:00:53):
to know each other's strengths and we can give each
other lobs all day. But because of the nature of
the games and what it is, it's always it's a
team sport, but it's also we know that Wayne can
do this, We know and can do that, We know
the Ryan's gonna do this. We needed a so you're
always you can lob for somebody else, but they expect
you to be able to step forward and take it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Is there ever free practice or like, are you given
slide sides? No?

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
The only practice that we have is a camera blocking
and so we know the games, but we don't know
and any suggestions. And the camera blocking isn't even for us,
it's for the actual camera guys to know. Because Whose
Line was so innovative and people have tried to shoot
improv shows before.

Speaker 4 (01:01:35):
But the reason that whose.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
Line works is and I learned this as a producer
from Dan Patterson, the guy that created it. He's not
doing Who's Line for the people that are in that audience.
The people in the audience are a tool. He's doing
it for the home viewer. So the reason that we
would have that camera blocking is he wanted to know
is if we were doing a game like talk show

(01:01:57):
wait and I'm gonna put you in the audience, and
if we're following the conventions of a talk show, maybe
I might get up and be angry and run down
the stage and tackle him, or I might run out
the bin. We want the cameraman to know if we're
doing X game and they have to follow, but we
would never get a prompt. And that's what was so
amazing about it, and our hit to miss ratio got

(01:02:17):
to be so good, like it was scary. I was like,
we really don't have They're like, oh, there must be
so much who's lying that you left on the floor. No,
because they're so cheap in a good way that if
we take for four hours, everything we try has made
it onto air at some point in some time. So
I got lolled into a false sense of oh, well,
I'm bad in everything until the first time that I

(01:02:39):
did say something on stage this is shit. Shit didn't
work in a comedy club like oh pardon me, wow.

Speaker 4 (01:02:46):
So learning to accept that failure and go, oh, great,
well that didn't work. Cool. I suck, but I won't
suck now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Is it true that you guys have to have a
certain level sit energy with each other for it to
truly work? Yes, Like say if like I'm passive aggressive
with you and will kirk that stage, like and we
have a disagreement or an argument whatever, is it easy
to turn back on and.

Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
Just it's possible, or maybe it's possible. I also think
it depends on how well you know each other. Like
a group like Freestyle Love Supreme, they came up together
and they have a chemistry that have been lucky enough
to jump in and out and sample. Like my friend
Jonathan and I who hosts Let's make a Deal? I
mean to who co hosts it, and he's also and
Let's make a deal. We've known each other since we
were nineteen, so we have a shorthand. It's easy when

(01:03:37):
you have a shorthand. If you're mad at somebody, to
do a successful improv show, it would be hard because
you have to be so open to what the other
person is doing.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
It's trust.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
And so if I don't trust you, I'm not gonna
mess with you, because then I'm gonna take it on
my back.

Speaker 4 (01:03:52):
I'm gonna go. You know what, No, I got this.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Okay, I'm gonna wind down. Five questions left, and I'll
try to make it briefish. What one thing did you
leave behind in twenty twenty, hm, And what new thing
did you gain in twenty twenty?

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
I left behind in twenty twenty I think I left
behind a bit of that fear that I talked talked about,
and I gained a brand new sense of I'm going
to live my life because life is too short. I
literally tried to live my life knowing that there's a
clock and not a bad clock. But there's just a clock, okay,

(01:04:34):
and I want to be happy?

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
All right? What movie are you ashamed to admit that
you've never seen?

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
There are so many movies I feel that that are
in the zeitgeist that we've heard, we've seen, bits that
you feel like you've seen that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
You're supposed to feel like I've seen that, Like I
don't even I'm nowhere near it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Or better yet, like a movie that you're supposed to
have seen.

Speaker 4 (01:04:54):
Oh, Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Brady brother. Now, granted I can give the entire Star
Wars with him, I can.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
Give you the entire plot of Star Wars and because
over the years, but I never Star Wars fell in
the gap of I didn't see a movie and a
movie theater until I was sixteen years old, and I
went on a date that I could afford to pay for.
We never went but as but my grandma went, well,
you can't see the movie. But we got you these
and McDonald's had the commemorative Star Wars glasses, remember totally,

(01:05:31):
so so she got me those and we collected the
set of four. It's like, there's your Star Wars. So
it's like, okay, so never seen it? Still what you are?

Speaker 9 (01:05:42):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
What's you you never see?

Speaker 8 (01:05:45):
I never Star Wars this day to this day. Anything
was just like magical White People and l's and ship.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
I ain't fucking with that ship. So like Magical White People.
Let's talk about Lord of the Rings, Game of Throne.

Speaker 8 (01:06:01):
I've watched Thrones, but I've not watched Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter, I've never seen like I'm yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah, I in the pandemic. I finally watched Star Wars
and it was a struggle, like I've watched them five
times or on the you know, the tour bus, you start,
I start the Godfather on the tour bus.

Speaker 8 (01:06:20):
Is like all the I mean, the first three are
like them, the ones, but then all the ones they made,
yeah I heard them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
I heard one of them are good. Yeah. So it's
I've still not watched Return of the Jedi, but I
think I confiiciently say that I've watched Star Wars to
the point where I remember it Empire strikes back. I
know I've seen it twice, but I don't remember shit
like and I still can't tell you what Star Wars
is about, like.

Speaker 9 (01:06:45):
Good versus Evil.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's the hero's journey. But yeah, like now,
I don't know if it holds up to to the
other stuff that invincible invincible spoken, invincible invincible learn.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Okay, are you five minutes early or twenty minutes late?

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
Five minutes early.

Speaker 9 (01:07:09):
So now you can't be friends?

Speaker 4 (01:07:10):
This sucks, no, but.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
I can give you a well well that comes with
a in parentheses. So five minutes early, because if left
to my own devices, I will be twenty minutes late
because I get caught up in that thing I forget
what they call it, the time blindness, or I will
get I'll stand stand in my closet distracted red shirt,
the sweater you can't wear that, and then I play

(01:07:37):
the scenarios.

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
If now that won't look at it, if I do,
if I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
It, oh, okay, I got no, But I have to
and I'll be rooted in one spot until whatever the
thing is that I have to solve solves. So I
have to leave extra early to allow time for me
getting stuck.

Speaker 8 (01:07:51):
When you officially die and noose with ADHD and when
was that and like, what's that process been like kind
of managing it?

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
It's been great because you using the medication when I
need it. It does help me focus and as a creative,
you know, we all have ideas. Oh I'm gonna it
helps me get things done. It's no problem getting an idea.
It's doing something with the fourteen that you have and
then write and shit down or or even using getting
focused enough to I'm up. Now I have to get

(01:08:18):
out of bed, and now I'm gonna make my bed.
I'm not gonna lay in my bed. I'm not gonna
using it that way. And also understanding certain patterns and
behaviors that I have, some that are superpowers and some
that aren't.

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
So so it's a good process.

Speaker 8 (01:08:32):
How old were you when you like finally realize I
guess or we're diagnosed.

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
Five years ago?

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Oh wow?

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
Okay, oh yeah, I've come to many things late in life,
but better late than never.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
That's part of that trying to be be be happy thing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
This is part of the pandemic pivot, like I'm home now,
and yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
Why am I like this? Why does this thing happen?
Why am I not happy? Blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
Okay, Soe, you mentioned something on the tonight show which
I kind of want to ask, which was because the
thing was Twenty twenty was the year in which, as
I predicted, half of my friends made life transitions as
far as their partnership was concerned, including my own relationship

(01:09:21):
imploded in twenty twenty one at the time. To the
person I was dating before the pandemic, you made a
decision to quarantine with your blended family. Yeah, with your
ex wife who's now still your partner and whatnot your
daughter you I don't know your current situation now, but

(01:09:43):
first of all, whose idea was it? And would you
recommend that?

Speaker 4 (01:09:49):
Like, I would only recommend it to someone if you've.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
The family became known because of TikTok when everybody got
on TikTok at that point, and we started doing dance
videos and we would post, oh, this is our family story,
and then news outlet's pick that up, and it was
so weird. For wait a minute, you're quarantining with your
ex wife, you're living in the same but if we
don't understand, so the only way that we could get
to that is I wouldn't recommend that unless you've had

(01:10:16):
before twenty twenty. Mandy and I met in ninety five.
We were together for years and then we got divorced,
and we had our baby before that, and then we
made a decision to stay friends and to work on
our and we genuinely love each other like we are family.
Like we couldn't be together romantically, but that is my heart,

(01:10:37):
that is my family. She would kill for me and
I'd kill for her, you know, And so being able
to it's a fluke for some people. And to then
do it with her boyfriend, who her boyfriend, Jason, and
it's not even boyfriend her her life partner used to
be my backup dancer when I'd had my Vegas residency.

(01:10:58):
So add another layer on top of and it it
sounds wa a whacky sitcom.

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
But we we love each.

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
Other enough, and I'd like to think that with enough
therapy we needed to do therapy. I needed so much
therapy to be okay with myself that I could be
okay with Jason and I try to be on some
toxic man shit have like.

Speaker 4 (01:11:17):
Well, that was my But you can't be bitdebba.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
No, this is another man who stepped in, who my
daughter feels safe around, and who I've never gotten a
call from my ex wife saying this guy's hurting me
or he's stealing money, or he has treated us another way,
so I love him. So I would not recommend it
unless you have a history of therapy with your family,
because even knowing everything I know, now, that's not for

(01:11:42):
the week.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
You must know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
Each other well to be quarantined together. That's no joke.

Speaker 1 (01:11:48):
Okay. What will you admit is one of your worst habits?

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
Commitment? Okay, and not that I was cheating or doing anything.
I'd get into.

Speaker 3 (01:11:59):
Sort to anything and then go, whoop, I can't do
it because I would be because I commit so fast,
because I want, oh, like I would love that relationship,
or I would love to do this job. Because they
think that I'm talented, or she thinks I'm good, or
they think that I mean And then you jump into
something you're like, oh, this was not the right move.
I shouldn't have done it. Okay, I gotta quit. I

(01:12:20):
gotta quit, I gotta quit, I gotta quit. And so
you get out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
Yeah, I see, I'm gonna complete this. I fucked up.
I said yes to everything, and I'm not regretting it
because they're passions. But I wish I could.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
Just be like dog just so you can you can
help me, because Mandy lives by if you say yes,
you have to rock it all all the way through.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
And I agree with that in theory.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
But there are some things that you say yes to
that are not good for you, like somebody may not
be good for you, so I don't want to. My
habit was I would try to see it through to
some kind of conclusion instead of just chopping it off
and then even accepting a job that you're like, Okay,
this is gonna suck. Why am I doing this? It's
not gonna be good for me. I'm gonna look bad.
Look I'm out.

Speaker 1 (01:13:07):
Yeah, I did shit to the detriment of like the
casualty of my was basically my relationship, which was again,
as soon as we got out in the world, the
first thing I thought about was all the work I'm
gonna do now that we're out in the world, instead
of like the progress that I was on, like hey,

(01:13:28):
and then it's like all right, well, you'll you'll have
time for this relationship in twenty thirty something, so, you
know which, I was like, all right, so I guess
this is over. Even though it was quasi amicable. The
breakup much to the detriment of my relationship at the time, Like.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
Even when I'm sacrified amicable, what did you say, Even
when it's amicable, it's not amicable because somebody's got to
kick the other person and that just sucks.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
Yeah, I'm in trust me. I'm definitely the bad guy
in this scenario. And I feel horrible that I made
so much progress and improving and slowing down and sleeping
more and all that stuff, and the second life was open.
I was like, oh, back to work, you know, funstones,
and now realize I fucked up. So but I'm gonna

(01:14:20):
see this stuff through, and then I promise I'm really
going to commit to just like one thing at a
time and not stack a whole back pile of things
like it's not human to direct four movies at once
and make a record and no, it's not human. So

(01:14:41):
I don't recommend.

Speaker 4 (01:14:42):
That, but you did it, so good job.

Speaker 1 (01:14:45):
Well yeah, it's it's it's going to be good. So
hopefully not. Hopefully I'm training myself to not. I don't
talk to be good. Yes're talking to the affirmative, the affirmative.
All right, last question, You have thirty seconds to talk
to your twelve year old self.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Oh wow, well this is easy because I've talked to
him many times. So what do you want me to
talk to him about?

Speaker 4 (01:15:11):
Well?

Speaker 9 (01:15:12):
What would you mixing cereals?

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
What would you want to tell him if you were
allowed to have a butterfly wing effect to a certain belief.
This's part of me that actually wishes that I give
an opportunity. I'm almost thinking I'm sick enough to actually say,
you know what, everything the way happened, let it happen.
But I think I would be open to some sort

(01:15:39):
of improvement, like if I could have the confidence and
the insight that I have now at fifty three, right
at maybe like thirty three, even forty three, Like you're.

Speaker 4 (01:15:51):
The same person. I hate you?

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
Right, No, no, no, I'm just one of my regrets
was like, wow, at forty nine my eyes finally opened,
And now I'm just thinking like damn man, like forty
nine now and that would be sixty and shit. No,
but you can't think I could have made magic.

Speaker 8 (01:16:11):
You want everyone's ass like thirty, Like Noah, thirty, you
don't get it, then it's you want to do hood
at shit with your brain like a somewhere it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:22):
Can't even work, like because that's around the same. Yeah,
like I would have had that epiphany. I'm fifty one now,
so it wasn't until you know, like being forty six,
forty seven, that you start doing that work. And of
course you would wish for that confidence, but I would
challenge you and say, if the confidence that you could
even have at forty or thirty whatnot, who knows where

(01:16:45):
you would be. So so the only thing that I
could tell to my twelve year old self is I
can't regret anything, because I guess things have turned out okay.
There are things that I hate all the time, like
career moves that I went. I wish I wouldn't have
done that shit, but but life isn't horrible. So the
only thing I can tell him is I wish that

(01:17:05):
what I want for him is maybe not to change anything,
but I want for twelve twelve year old Wayne to
know when this sounds like a hackneyed life thing, to
just know that you're enough in that sense and just
and just know that you're gonna be and like you're dope, Like,
trust me, you're You don't even understand how dope you are,
because I don't even know how dope I am. Because

(01:17:27):
I get excited if somebody that I recognize, like you
even saying hi to me, or anybody that I respect
and says, oh Wayne, I saw Alicia Keys the other
day and Swizz and.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
They're like, oh Wayne, it's like you know who I am?

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
Oh my god, that whole thing that's still that twelve
year old kid who is like, but.

Speaker 4 (01:17:43):
So yo, you are so good. You are so great.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
Don't worry about being cocky, don't about pleasing people, don't
about being black enough, don't be that you're gonna be good.
So do what you want to do instead of living
your life and having it affect your choices and then
without telling him to change anything. Maybe if he just
did that, then we'd see what would happen.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
Butterfly wise, all right, before I close this show, man,
it's just hitting me right now how apropos this moment is.
Because I've had a relationship with one particular date that
for me was always doom and gloom and always I

(01:18:26):
felt like defined the darkest period of my existence. Like
for me, the idea of questlove was invented, the idea
of this, the idea of everything was invented. On all
the ironic dates to remember fucking June second, Like, in

(01:18:51):
my mind, June second, eighty nine was the worst day
of my life in which you you know, you always
had that moment. I don't know if it happens for
you guys, whatever, but you know, I'm certain you've had
it where you just like that, never again. I'll show them.
I'm going to oh yeah, and that moment was June second,

(01:19:15):
Like I documented June second, nineteen eighty nine, where I
will you know letters you see Michael Jackson writing himself
no longer I will be the like I've written composition notebooks.
I'm never cutting my hair. I'm growing this outrageous June second,

(01:19:35):
nineteen eighty nine. It's so weird that what I deemed
the worst day of my life now is someone that
I in the beginning was talking like, oh yeah, it
would be cool. Now I'm like, ah, fucking universe is
sending me something. It was even to the point where
I hate it all Geminis.

Speaker 4 (01:19:53):
That's when you were a juge Gemini.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Oh I get that now, dog, And that's the thing,
Like there's a Gemini Kathy's is like the people that
are real close to me. I hate Jim, I used
to hate so this whole these whole two episodes. Thank you,
Wayne Brady. You finally disarmed, disarmed my my ire and

(01:20:22):
disdained for Geminis.

Speaker 4 (01:20:23):
Well, I'm glad I was able to bring some love.

Speaker 1 (01:20:26):
Do I appreciate you coming and doing that? Wait, I
guess so that Amber is not totally angry with me.
How's your experience been with the Wiz?

Speaker 7 (01:20:35):
Were about to know you as a person and not
your profession. But no, the Wiz come on, Like, what
can I say in just a few seconds? You know,
the Wiz to be able to bring this seminal piece
of black theater to stage again after almost fifty years
of being not here, That's why I wanted to be
a part of the show. I want to be part

(01:20:56):
of this black moment. This is a moment and the
talent on stage is it's it's impeccable. It's like when
you talk about black excellence, and I know that some
of us have a hang up now with to turn
black excellence because it denotes that other people. I'm gonna
say it, it is black excellence because everybody on.

Speaker 1 (01:21:15):
That stage it's real bad, right, right, not consumers and
blax right, It's not that.

Speaker 4 (01:21:20):
Look at what I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:21:22):
It is watching people Like when I watch the dancers dance,
and I know a couple of them used to be
a ley and they trained. You watch people that when
when I watch them dance, I think of in the
classical world, you know, black bodies in the ballet space
and the modern space being being told your butt's too big,
your hips are too wide, you can't do those things
because of how you're built and being able to turn

(01:21:44):
a eurocentric thing on its head and then come come
up with your own form of it. Watching these dancers
do that, I was like, that is excellent. Listening to
these voices, these these these amazing voices, like like our
Dorothy and the Tin and the I forget the characters,
but but I know their names, Avery, Philip and Kyle.

(01:22:06):
Their voices are anointed, the voices in the cast, the
talent you can throw a rock and any of those
people you would pay to listen to a record from
from them, and I look at that and I go, Wow,
that's what it feels like to not be the only you.
And I look at that and it's one of the
only times that I've been in a cast like that,
where I go, I'm so blessed. I'm humble that you're

(01:22:29):
in a community of youth that I'm in a community,
and it's amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:22:32):
So please come out and see the Wiz.

Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
That's all saying.

Speaker 3 (01:22:37):
You don't have to be black to see the Wiz.
I'm just saying you don't have to go. So Bill Sugar,
I'll see you there. Thank you for the invite. Way
we will be there.

Speaker 9 (01:22:46):
Yes, Now is this the machine talking or is this.

Speaker 1 (01:22:48):
Really wanting you to come out?

Speaker 9 (01:22:50):
I just want to know who to ask for when
I got there.

Speaker 4 (01:22:53):
Wayne's very proud.

Speaker 1 (01:22:54):
Of a brother. Thank you for coming on the show. Yeah,
got out to a liah suage Love.

Speaker 3 (01:23:06):
Next time I come back, we have to freestyle. We
have to set it up so we can do something today.

Speaker 1 (01:23:11):
Yes, you're definitely going to be a mainstad on the
show Man. Thank you for coming on. We have a
new Bill and Healthy Sugar and font Diegelo and Liyah
Uh this quest Love and Wayne Brady.

Speaker 9 (01:23:26):
Thank you very much and.

Speaker 1 (01:23:26):
We'll see you on the next Quest Love Supreme. Thank
you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by a
mere Quest Love, Thomas, Why You, Saint Clair, Fonte, Coleman, Sugar,
Steve Manteo, an unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a
mere Quest Love, Thompson, Sean Ge and Brian Calton. Produced

(01:23:51):
by Me Benjamin Cousin, Jack Payne, Liah Saint Clair, edited
by Alex Conroy. Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown. What's
Love Supreme is a production of ihearten Radio. For more

(01:24:17):
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.