December 29, 2022 • 43 mins
It’s a Red Table Talk event! A special reunion millions have been waiting for! After 35 years, the superstar cast of the groundbreaking series “A Different World” is reuniting for the first time at the Red Table, revealing exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, hilarious and heartfelt memories, and reliving their favorite episodes. Jada is joined by her co-stars Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell, Charnele Brown, Cree Summer, Glynn Turman, Ajai Sanders, Karen Malina White, and the legend who launched her career: Debbie Allen. Plus, special surprise messages from an Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei and The Godmother of Soul, Patti LaBelle.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, fam I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the
Red Table Pop Podcast, all your favorite episodes from the
Facebook Watch show in audio, produced by Westbrook Audio and
I Heart Radio. Please don't forget to rate and review
on Apple Podcasts. It's a Red Table Talk event with
a very special reunion after thirty five years. The stars
(00:22):
of a Different World are coming together right here at
the Red Tables a special. It was a groundbreaking series
that inspired generations and launched countless careers, including Mine Heilman
home Coming kicks off in five chop pleadings four, three eights,
(00:44):
two one. Come on out, God, this is so beautiful.
(01:06):
I found him in another country. This is like in
a different world. Burst onto the NBC's must see TV lineup,
Change to make it. The ratings were huge, with tens
of millions tuning in each week. It was a spinoff
of The Cosby Show, following Denise Huxtable's life at Hillman College,
(01:30):
a fictional version of a historically black college. The Brilliant
Jasmine Guy played Whitley Gilbert, the opinionated Southern bell who
was bad and bougie before there was bad and Bougie
And the next time you got me a panther, Bougie,
Princess Julien. It prepared for a damn how may Kadeem
Hardison was Dwayne Wayne with those trademark flip up glasses
(01:52):
who made it cool to be smart. I quit, I
quit with the legendary b Allen was the creative genius
behind the show. She's won five Emmy's, a Golden Globe
and has given wings to many careers, including mine. A
Different World was laugh out loud, funny, took on tough
(02:15):
topics and welcome to iconic guest stars like Halle Berry,
Whoopie Goldberg, Diane Carroll, Patti LaBelle, Lena Horn to Pop
and more. We got missed Debbie here. We're gonna start
with you first. I want you to I want you
to tell us what it was like the first time
you met Debbie. Oh, well, the first time I met Debbie.
(02:35):
I mean, like most of us had watched Debbie on Fame.
She was like the proto type, you know what I mean.
I was like, I want to be able to do that.
I want to be able to sing dance that. I
want a triple quadruple threat. So when I first got
to meet Debbie, it was crazy because I came to
(02:58):
audition for a guest are just a guest role? The
age episode? She walked in, Wait, let me just say this.
She walked in, she already had all that, and I said, wow,
you are a wonderful So where you I'm the next
Debbie al I'm like she said it said, and I
(03:20):
loved her from that minute. I said her now, so
I said, let's make a series regularly. She sure did happened,
But I mean, what what a dream come true? To
be seen by somebody you had idolized and she sees
me right away so much so she was like, we're
gonna put you on this show. She recognized she did,
(03:44):
but I think she did for both of us. Yeah,
so just tell your story. Yeah, I tracked a debt
be down. I was at the school. I'm glad I
didn't know any better. I was very naive just to
think I could go see her. It was an eight
hour dance audition. Yeah, fam was like that. And let
(04:06):
me tell you, I never danced so good. I looked if,
I said, is that my foot? All I knew was
I gotta get this part. You know. I wanted to
be on that show and work with you so bad,
so I became the ninth dancer. Yes you did, but Debbie,
you have started so many careers, and all my career.
(04:26):
Whenever people told me no, oh you're a dancer, you
can't be an actress, or you're a comedian, you can't
do drama, or yeah, I was like, did whatever you
say I can't do? She already done it that part.
And that's the thing that'd be just she could see us.
We were all her children. This one was my child
from way back when he was a little boy. I
(04:47):
went to my mom took me to the theater um
and afterwards she knew Debbie. So we went back to
Debbie's house for like a little after party, and I
must have been like, because I remember you jumping on
my water. Codeine went on to become an actor. He
and Debbie didn't see each other for many years, and
(05:09):
then we were already on a different You were already there,
and she came the second year and didn't remember. You
know what happened? Was he grown? I said Hi? He said,
it's me Debbie. Me, it's me Cadeine. Then I said,
oh my god, you Mike Codean. I didn't know till
(05:32):
just until we had that moment. But then that was
so good. We were all so yeah, we would look
like that baby. You remember she had her birthday on
the set and she was like eighteen. That said, how
old are you? Like? Why am I hanging out with
no idea? She was that young? Yes, I was a baby.
(05:56):
You were so grown. You look like a baby when
I look at it, I willow. Yes, yeah, it's all
rebellious and just young and grown. But it was great.
Think about those stories we did a different world's groundbreaking
episodes were ahead of its time, taking on controversial topics
that are still relevant today like domestic violence, sex. How
(06:22):
did you know it was time to be weird? That
from one team? Pregnancy, aids, consent and race. You know,
it doesn't matter how many degrees I get. All you
people see his color. I was thinking about Mammy DearS
because you were the one that told Weddley that her
family had owned slaves. Yeah, that was one of my favorite.
(06:44):
And then everybody was really having a meltdown off camera
for real. Imagine coming from an African American family that
owned over one hundred slaves. They are my space some mistake. No,
this doesn't look like in the stage. It's a reproduction
of a bill of sale. Your great great granddaddy had
(07:04):
just bought ten new slaves that he was a freeman
of color, but he was also a black master. But
why not. I didn't know that black people owned other
black people. Only if you did. Now we know why
you're so bossy. It's d n a them, no good ancestor.
(07:30):
I still get a cheer from this. Look at your
little face. It was really hard. It was hard. And
when we embraced it, and then we changed that around
because you were dancing. You made me do African dance.
I don't want you gonna dance. You went back to
(07:52):
the motherland. You're gonna You're gonna be all right. And
then she put me in that little I was like, heavy, bladdy,
come on, stop it. Let them see everything. That's how
you were. You were like, you're gonna be fine. Now,
I'll come on. Now, I'll stop it with all that. Now,
come on, want to three, let's go. I remember when
(08:13):
you came. I was a little jealous because you brought
that that energy, that edge. I was like, damn, she
gets to be home attitude. She was like at the police,
that is the beauty everybody was coming from a different
(08:33):
place and engage such a real view of who we
are as the people. Absolutely, we don't all think alike,
we don't look alike, don't think alike, but at some
point we come together, because at some point we have
to come together. Absolutely. I want to ask you, Debbie,
because it seems like when you came on the show,
the flavor of the show changed definitely. I mean, that's
why they brought me. Actually, I had come from Fame
(08:57):
and then I got this call from Carson Earner and
Bill Cosmi, we need you to come over here and
look at it different world because I had gone to
Howard and I don't know if anybody else had really
gone an HBCU. So I brought that experience in that reality.
So we just had to put hot sauce on the table.
We had to make it real because the Black University
College voice is strong. Yeah, I gave my two weeks
(09:20):
noticed during the first series before I said yeah, because
you were oh yeah, it was Booty. I was like,
I don't want to be in this anymore, and and
I didn't like the way they were treating the cast,
and so I went in there and I said, thank
you so much for this opportunity, and I've I've learned
so much and they're probably like, Okay, well did something
(09:41):
happen to you? I said, well, you know, I feel like, uh,
Lisa bon is disrespected in front of the audience. Well,
has it ever happened to you? I said, if it
happens to her, it happens to me. You're disrespecting the cast,
You're disrespecting some bad It doesn't have to happen to me.
I felt like it was happening to me. I thought
(10:01):
we could leave. You didn't read print that said six years.
We have you for seven years. This was a time
where there was the separation between the writers and the actors.
If they said oh instead of ah, they had to
stop the cameras and do it again. I worked really
hard to break down that barrier between the writers and
the actors day one. So you gave the cast a
(10:23):
voice that I gave them a voice, and you felt
like you didn't have a voice before. We just get
your blinds, do the best and hope they don't make you.
We were filming till one in the morning. I was like,
why are we doing this again? I don't even know
what I'm doing wrong, Like why are we just doing
things over and over until the if it was funny?
(10:45):
At any point it was gone, well, i'll tell you what.
By the time I got there, it was already a
groove happening because we go to Debbie and go, this
is not working. No, Debbie, can we do this? Like
I felt like I had a voice, so going anyplace
else and not having a voice was like, what, wait
a minute? Did I learned the hard way on other sets,
I was like, oh, actors don't like to get notes
(11:06):
from the other actors. Because Kadem and I talked about everything.
It was like this didn't work and this funny blah
blah blah. But when I did that with other actors,
there was a brace and I said, oh, I didn't know.
I wasn't supposed to listen. I have to say that
I remember the first time watching a different world and
looking at you and saying, you can do that, And
(11:29):
then I remember the day that she was gonna premiere
on the show. I can remember sitting in the living
room with my family, Uh, we got a flag girl,
Reach here nine Lina James class. I really liked the
(11:53):
way that sounds. I was so excited. I was so
excited for her. I'll just never forget. I mean, just
the whole thing, Debbie, just the whole thing. It was
just amazing because when she auditioned and she said she's
gonna write apart from me, I was like, what, Yeah,
(12:15):
we owe everything to you. You don't owe me because
she walked in. Ready. That's what it is. That's the
thing that young people need to understand. They need to
train the young people today. They're watching TikTok that last
ten seconds they do this? Do they have craft? I
remember hiring somebody that was a dancer who was on
the competition circuit. That child could not dance past one minute.
(12:38):
He needed a respiraate to child. He was not in shape.
He was just used to doing his best seconds. That
was it, right, But Debbie, that's such an important point
for Instagram talent, TikTok talent, a lot of talent out there.
But you're right, it's gotta it's gotta go further than
that minute. And can you do a ten twelve hour day?
(12:59):
Can you do eight shows a week? Break it down? Yes,
you introduce yourselves to us, but now what now? What jazz?
What would you say? Your favorite moment was There were
many moving moments because there was a lot of um
real feelings in our episodes, and I was happy that
(13:23):
we could be funny, of course, but I love the
more meaningful shows and real issues. And even though my
character was a lot younger than me, I was like parallel,
Like when I got married, there was things happening in
my personal life. I was breaking up with Dominant, so
(13:44):
there were always like this kind of juxtaposing situations. But
we were are professional, didn't let things affect the work,
but we were going through things, you know what I mean.
There were real life was happening, and we were kind
of growing up to other two because none of us
were from LA and didn't have like roots, Like I
(14:04):
felt like that was my family. You know. I can
relate to that to Jasmine because even me sending Jada
to come out to California, I was back in Baltimore
just getting myself together right in my recovery process. I
was very early on, but I felt safe knowing that
(14:25):
Debbie was there. We talked to you a lot about stuff, Debbie, Yeah,
you know, and I felt like you you had Jada's back,
and that was important for me. Very important important for me.
I know she had her hands full with just me alone. Like,
but you had a very adventurous life, but you were
(14:48):
always so patient. You would never judgmental, You would never like, look,
you need to get your together, but you would just
be like, now, look, you know you got a nice future,
that opportunity. Let's just let's try to stay focused. What
(15:08):
about you can deem? Did you have a special episode
or a particular episode that really stuck out always, like
all the deep stuff. Yeah, like we did the racism
episode where he sprayed and word on and I had
to deal with that dude. This acting you hired. This
(15:28):
dude was so strong and grabbed me and pushed me
against the wall. If you see it, you can see
the set shake the only way like a hundred and seventeen. Yes,
through all I went flying, think you are brother, come
(15:52):
around here acting, Let you all that I'm taking care
of my boy. Shoot what I'm saying. My father wasn't
even around for me. Cheirs off me. But that was
one of my favorite moments, just because you know, I
always thought I was gonna be action here right right
kind of start. I wanted to be the romance dude
and action Dude and horror films and Debbie in this
(16:14):
show gave me a chance to do a little bit
of everything. We have so much fun. Do you remember
what we had those Browns. You didn't make your flight.
I didn't make my flight, but I was trying. I
was done. I was trying to drive, and you guys
were like something, you took my gear. Jasmine was like, now, look,
you know you can't drive. Stop And I was like,
(16:35):
I gotta gown and I had to stay. We put
you in the bed. You passed out. Have mercy. Oh
my god, I was tore down. I had never had.
Oh my god, Oh my god. I was trying to drive.
(16:57):
Jasmine was like, you need to just go lay now. Absolutely.
Oh man. Oh I remember one night with you, Debbie,
which one Oh god, I threw up all over her house.
It's okay, it's all right. All I remember is just
(17:19):
throwing up everywhere, and Debbie's like, it's okay, you can
stay here. You're gonna be all right. You know you
raised you raised a lot of us. Well, we got
some of our other alumnis that I would love for
you to see. Well, hello boys. So many favorite memories
(17:44):
I know that they probably involved Jasmine because we were
always up to no good. We called ourselves hot and bothered.
But I think one of my favorite moments would probably
be the No Means No episode when Kadeem has rescued me.
The two of us are in the dorm and we
(18:06):
just sit down together for a moment and I thank
him for being my friend. Even thinking about it makes
me want to tear up because it was a very
real moment between us. I'll never forget that that really
moved me. I got a memory of Jazzy. I call
her Princess Peach fuzz my Jasmine. One day we were
(18:26):
doing a scene and I had to look for something
in the drawer and in between takes, she said, girl,
what are you looking for? And I said, uh, I
don't know, and she said, it shows And it was
such a lightbulb moment. I was eighteen years old. She
(18:47):
really helped me to be a better actress. My favorite
scene who Chaw. I love when we got to do
the Step show. I love that Freddie was so raggedy
in the beginning, and I love that I got to
pull it together in the end. What does the show
mean to me so much? It's a defining moment in
my life and my career. It brought me Cadeem, my
(19:10):
first true love. I am from Saskatchewan, Canada. We don't
have any HBC used in Canada, and I got to
experience the side of black life I probably never would
have earned. I got to work with Debbie Allen, who
changed me profoundly, taught me so much, and I made
forever friends. I'm keeping all of y'all your mind, and
(19:34):
how much do I love all of you? This goddamn
so we got some more special folks joining the table.
Good She played student who was the mother of the group,
(19:56):
Don Lewis, and he played funny musician Roy Johnson. It
was the winds ride on Dogs. Best Friend we got
d V Darren Bell. I've been listening to y'all tell
all the good stories. I know you have some good
(20:17):
stories to tell. We'll start with you, Daryl, Like, what
was some of your favorite moments on the show. Well, one,
everybody talks about the wedding episode, right, but my favorite
scene from the wedding zone is actually when you because
it's from the bachelor party when Ron made the slamming
pinion Cold Lady in the House, But you did ain't
(20:43):
buy seeing you milk and refrigerator. Oh yeah, I used
that to make this slamming pen. That was best milk
raw Restu milk. That's one of my favorite moments. The
(21:03):
jail episode was, without a doubt, you know, one of
my favorite episodesically told Roschmon style from everybody's point in view.
I remember it was hard for cademon I because it
was Dean Kaine's first job and we had to really
get into each other's face about a lot of different things.
They have no respect, They don't care about this country
(21:25):
at all. All they do is ship on their butt
and complain. And what do they have to complain about.
It's because of them and their quotas that I'm not
in the ivy league where I belong. You all had
quotas for centuries. You call them legacies, restricted country clubs,
the law. Oh hey, my grandfather came to this country
with nothing. He couldn't even speak the language, but he
(21:46):
worked hard and he made a place for himself and
his family. Now, why can't you people do the same.
My grandfather built this country. Man. Now, the writing on
that show was brilliant and it was without a filter. Yes,
that still holds up about the stuff we did. As
much as they let us push the envelope, they still
(22:07):
kept rain on everything. Like the AIDS episode, we couldn't
show the card. We had to refer to it in
the Yeah, there were so many things that we could
just get so far and in expressing what it was
we wanted to express without them trying to put all
kind of constraints. Well, I remember also when we addressed
the presidential campaign, we we satilized it. That thought of
(22:33):
jameson back on the cross, our candidates President Georgia much,
I'm on the ballot. It's taddy duty can offer. Yeah.
(23:04):
I was always going into the principal's office buets. So
Murphy Brown gets to be on the cover of Time
magazine for being saying what she says about politics are
abortion or whatever. But we can't even do this. I said, guys,
have you ever watched Saturday Night Live? Have you ever
watched in living color? We're a show that bridges that world.
(23:27):
And that's a good thing for y'all. Stop it already. Yeah,
you are always in the principal's office. This always was
always And here's our math professor and favorite colonel. You
haven't seen each other in a while, though I've seen you, Dawn,
because you know, ever since Dawn and I were married
(23:49):
on the show, I have not been able to get
rid of her, right Joe Anne. On the test of that,
Dawn was at our wedding. She ended up singing and
she have been me now. So uh, I still want
to get Darry Belle back out on the golf course.
(24:09):
I owe him a bud whipping out there. Debbie Allen,
you were so instrumental in changing the outlook of the
show itself. The final wedding scene where Dwayne Wayne Uh
breaks in, I think that was one of the most
romantic scenes we've never seen on television. Jasmine Whitley, who
(24:30):
was just never more beautiful. That was probably one of
my favorite scenes because it was talking about what the
show was was saying all along, don't give up on love.
Love always wins. Hey you guys, hope to see you
soon and God bless Okay, So Lena say something I
(24:57):
remember during the wedding episode, and Diane Carroll came over
and said, y'all, don't realize what you are. You're twenty
something years old. You're starting on the hit television series.
And when I was your age, black people weren't even
allowed on this lot, right, And I don't mean actors.
I mean you couldn't have a black janitor here at
(25:18):
CBS RAP And now here you are twenty years old
starting on the show. And this is my first time,
Diane Julia Carroll said, my first time working on the
show starring black women, written by black women, directed by
black women, and produced by black boy. Yeah. Yeah, magnificent moment.
(25:41):
And we just have that veteran seasoned insight. You know,
we had some faces that were prominent. I'm Patty LaBelle
and I have such great memories of a different world.
I mean when Diane Carroll got rest her soul and
I did the Turkey Day, that was priceless because she
was so glad and I was so ghetto. This is
(26:02):
a a junior farm fed turkey. Oh that's why it's
got that little scrawny chest. This is a double D company.
And my mad prove power for Chipmunk. It was really blueberries,
not probes, because it was problems. It would have been
all over. But that was a fun moment with my son,
Chipmunk mom that I learned a lot from Debby you know,
(26:24):
doing a different moral for the things that I'm doing now.
A lot of it is because of Debbie Allen being
so great at what she does. It was a great,
great show and you you co wrote the theme song
I did. I was originally singing it. They didn't know
(26:45):
they had hired the same person to write the theme
song that they had hired to be in the show,
so I was no longer allowed to sing it. Why
wouldn't you allowed to sing it because you are on
the show? Because because I wasn't the start, it was
Lisa's show, and they thought it would be too much
a tent to on on me, and so they brought
in Phoebe Snow So the first voice that everyone heard
(27:06):
was Phoebe's version. Then they thought, let's redo this every year,
we'll revamp it. So season two they had a wreath
to do it right? Okay, here we go, run love
Sam behind come what man? I know that I'm ready. Yeah,
(27:32):
it's a little different, bro. Then where you come from? Then?
Where you come from? Yeah? Oh that was so great
getting a wreathe here? You know we got a bust Behindney. Yeah,
you don't find where? Right? It was yest we thanked
(27:57):
friends for life. After that time, I called her, Yeah
I knew her, I said, Retha, what Dabbie? I said,
do you know the show different? Oh? I like that show,
I said, if we want to redo the title, uh um,
I don't fly away whist in the bus. My personal
favorite Fund episode was when Gladys Knight came on the
(28:17):
show and we got to be pips her being on
the show and us being able to sing behind her.
That was like if I never do anything again, to
be able to share a stage with her new choreographers.
Love her, love her, love her. Yeah alright, what was
(28:41):
your favorite episode? What was my favorite? Maybe it was
the one that could deem directed, the one in my pocket. Yeah, well,
maybe I'll be down to scoop you up late in life.
You ain't shriveled up, be like Ozzy Davis and Ruby
d You know, you always got a place of my heart.
(29:07):
I didn't realize you directed that that was a good episode.
That was so easy to direct. Yeah, I was like, damn,
that was great. But that was the beauty of it
that you all got to do these things. You got
your directed because that's where the you, you all had
it in you. I can't just do it if you
(29:27):
don't have the craft, you said, and the sensibility. You
better get it in your contract, right. So, Debbie, you
had Kadeem put it in this contract to have a
certain amount of directing jazz. Right. It's so important to
hear you guys talk about this stuff because I think
the audience sometimes they just see the actors in front
(29:50):
of the camera and they don't understand the importance of
producing and writing and directing. Behind the scene is where
a lot of the power is, yeah, for sure, and
a lot of creative brilliance, you know. And so we
have three more special Hillman alumni. Charnell Brown played pre
(30:10):
med major Kim, the girl everyone went to for advice,
and one of my roommates at Hillman, A J. Sanders,
a sorority girl, brought the bunny. And we also have
missed Karen Molina, always studying and sometimes annoying girl on
(30:33):
the campus. He Charnelle, where are you? I am in Houston,
Texas my hometown, Debbie. I I have an acting school
here and I find myself saying things that you said
(30:56):
to us and morphing into you, which I don't know.
If you don't know but I was watching, and I
thank you for that because my actors right now, a
Prisca them are working because of you. Compressed Charlie. That's
I want to time to visit me, Mama, I must say, like,
I'm sitting here listening to you guys, and it brings
(31:17):
me back to the feeling that I felt when I
first came onto the show. I was so intimidated, but
I was also star struck by every single last one
of y'all. And I was homeless before I got the job,
and I was supposed to only be there for like
one episode, and I remember thinking, if I don't get this,
then I'm just gonna go back home and rethinking this
(31:39):
whole thing. And the first person that I met was Jasmine,
and she walked up to me and said, Hi, my
name is Jasmine, and welcome to the show. And I'll
never forget what that felt like. Yeah, And so I
just want to thank you all for giving me a
life and a career. And I mean, there are no
words that I didn't even think about that yet, because
(31:59):
it's the superstar struck, you know what I mean. Because
we had been watching you guys, you know, and I
had never worked in TV before, Like I didn't even
know what a mark was. I just followed. I just
did what y'all did? You get better than me? Because
Davy was on the now speaker and that was all
over the place. She was like miss saying, I'm sending
(32:20):
your behind back the Broadway. I was like, uh, jasper high, Princess,
Hi Darling took me aside and taught me those cameras
and I want to thank you, princess for that, because
I didn't know where the hell to go. And my
favorite is the wedding um seeing baby Please Baby, It
(32:43):
just took me over, baby, Please please, I do. But
I just love that we were living. That's why I
loved that episode because we all were living. We weren't acting,
we were living. Yeah, that's really caring. Jay, How are
you doing? I'm good. I have to just echo what
(33:06):
everybody said. I knew what I was coming into a
tight ship and I didn't know how I was gonna
fit in, But y'all just welcomed me. I mean, I
remember you hung out the Dame's Rum. All I did
was like mad, but I just hung out there, and
you know, just everybody just welcomed me with open arms.
I really feel like the three of us, you know,
(33:28):
clicked up pretty nice, Me and you and a j.
It was almost like it was an instant, Like, yeah,
it was just an instant posse. I love the episode
when we discovered Billy Dee Williams in the basement MS Page,
(33:49):
Mr Page, anybody ever taken you for simple? Jason? We
had no accident. I said that, yeah, I'm just spent
off or something. Maybe yes, and Billy that was my
(34:15):
mother's icon what I called and told her I was
gonna be seen with Billy d She was like, I
need to come out there. I was like, no, you
need to keep your job right now. I'm not a
regular yet. It was so cool because Karen was so
down for whatever, and so I was like, Okay, when
we get on the staff, let's just do the wave.
And so she just followed up. She was just she
just she just subscribed to all my craziness. We had
(34:37):
so much fun, Karen, can you think of a favorite
moment a favorite show? When Lena Horn, Yes, I admire
your style as a songstress. You see, I'm a musician
trumping about trading. If I can never deck a little
diddle for you, just have to be using in front
(34:58):
of his horn. But my name is Lena, and I'm
so proud to be named after you. I have met
her a couple of years before she came on our show.
I couldn't wait to tell miss Horn how inspirational she
was and how what she meant to me. So I
walked over her and she held my face in her
hands and said you on that show, aren't you? And
I said yeah. She says your name is Dawn. You
(35:21):
good at je Lisa, and I started crying. She said,
y'all are doing such a good job. Y'all keep that up.
I'm so proud of you. But it flips me to
now who we have become, to people to walk up
to us and say, you don't know how you inspired me,
How you empowered me to get an education, to speak
up for myself when I feel abused or violated or minimized.
(35:43):
Speaking of that, I'm just remembering when we had that
show about domestic abuse with um, how did you get
that bruise on your life? I told you I bumped
into my desk, Gina. I thought you said coffee table.
Looking it was just an accident. Okay, He's just nervous
(36:05):
about the concert. Oh so that gives him reason to
hit you. I'm not asking you to understand. Just promise me,
if you want to be my friend, just keep this quiet. Gina,
you are in trouble. It's m trouble, not yours, not
anybody else's. Okay, you got it. I wrote that that
was something that happened in the in our circle circle,
(36:26):
and I wanted to address it without calling any names.
Somebody in point to somebody. I'm so proud of what
we have accomplished together, and everybody needs to step up
right now. This is now the time to be quiet.
You know, there's a lot of feathers that can ruffle,
but so what So that's it. That's it. We got
(36:47):
one more Helmet alumni, okay that wants to say Hi,
Hi there. I know, I cannot believe that it's been
thirty five years. What Those were some of the best
times I've had as a working actor. I loved being
(37:08):
with you all. I loved the spirit of that show.
I just love that we were young and having parties,
and that we were so focused on our work, and
that it was about something so different from what we
had been seeing on television. In general, and I felt really,
really lucky to be there with you all. I remember
that Kadeem and I wanted to have a story where
(37:30):
our characters got together. The kabosh was put on that,
but not because of my extremely bad haircut that was
given to me. They were great times and I still
want to do another show like that. That would be
so wonderful. I love you all, Thanks for including me today. Wow. Me, Lisa,
(37:51):
and Marissa were in New York. Lisa and I were
in Brooklyn, Marissa was in Lower Manhattan, and all of
us came out thinking we were going to be filming
in Brooklyn because I lived in Brooklyn. It was like
ten fifteen minutes from my house and they're like, no,
y'all are moving in California. All three of us were like,
I don't want to go. You wanna go? No, I
don't want to go. But there we were, and uh,
it was just wonderful. And her life and career has
(38:13):
gone through the roof since, and she was She's just
a beautiful person. It was magical the little group that
we had. They liked us right, and if they had
the right person behind the scene to direct me. Towns
like having the right, coach, right, we could win. Yeah,
and that's why I worked out. That's what happened, all right,
lasted are y'all talk about how Different World impacted generations,
(38:37):
here's just a few who wanted to ship in Journey Hey,
A Different World cast. Growing up seeing Kim and Dwayne
studies STEM inspired me to do the same. I ultimately
earned a pH d and biomechanics and today I'm working
at a science palsy analysts. A Different World was more
than just entertainment, and I decided to create the podcast
(38:57):
Him and Class Reunion with the premise that A Different
World is the most important sitcom ever. I just have
to thank you all because of the show. I went
to an h b C U and I'm my best
life because of it. Seeing it on my television, I
was like, you know what that is for me? I
want the full HBC experience, So I started applying to
all the h b c s and thank you to
(39:18):
the Throne Cooking University for setting me up for success.
Go Wildcats. As a Californian originally from Compton, first in
family to go to college and watching a Different World
on a weekly basis, I could see myself in those
characters and this comedy and this beauty of every form
of blackness was just something that was amazing. Then came
(39:41):
Jada's character and she was from the hood, so like
everything that I felt like I was was represented on
that show. And I think of a different world. I
think of how that show, Um, it's the inspiration for
a lot of us who have gone to HBCUs. I
am a proud graduate of Baby University, Louisiana. I am
(40:01):
someone who was born with a learning disability, and if
it wasn't for uh Xavier, I wouldn't be where I
am today in my career. When it just goes to
show you how much of an impact the show has had.
And just a huge shout out to all of the
actors on the show. Of course, Dabby Allen, you are
the goat. You are the goat for creating such an
(40:23):
amazing masterpiece. I mean my master thesis on the show.
Since then, I've gone on to receive my PhD. I
am also now a professor. I really want to say
thank you to the cast of a Different World and
Debbie Allen for showing me the power of education. Thank
you for everything You're important. See your respective roles am
the lasting fact you had in the culture A different
(40:44):
world can be rooted and well rounded. I felt seen
because of that show. Like Whitley, I had my own
awakening of sources. I got older, I found my voice
and learned to love myself and others. For me, A
Different World gave me the courage that I needed to
embrace my differences and embrace my identity. And A Different
World was and is my blue print, and I feel
(41:07):
grateful to have a show that I can return to
to see myself represented in such a rich and a
timeless way. I was so excited to go to Hillman
Um because I thought that was a real play. I
thought that the only thing was just amazing and just
such a great reflection of black excellence. Thank you for
your impact on television, black culture, and just leaving your mIRC.
(41:31):
I remember vividly growing up UM watching A Different World
and asking my parents where can I attend a college
like Himan. So they sent me on a HBCU college
tour as a student at More House. It literally changed
my life tremendously. So thank you so much. A Different World, Um,
shout out to your thirty five years and shout out
(41:52):
to my RTT family and of course shout out to
more House College. That's right, that the Red Table Talk.
I feel really like I'm in high cotton that we
(42:14):
got invited. What do you know? The thing about it is,
we were like, this is such tough times and the
nostalgia of having us all come together and just to
feel good of it. It's been good for my soul today,
and I think it's gonna be so nice, you know,
for the holidays. Just that piece of like that love
(42:35):
that we brought to television for that particular error. Let's
have a moment. Handle have a moment with your two
Let's have a moment, A moment, a moment. Yes, And
thanks to God, the powers of the universe, and our
ancestors for being the wind that I'm back and the
light before our footsteps. We are privileged for the work
(43:00):
we have done, and we are challenged for the work
we must continue to do. Unified, don't divide us. Amen, Amen,
Crockle Mama Debbie. To join the Red Table Talk family
and become a part of the conversation, follow us at
Facebook dot com slash red table Talk. Thanks for listening
(43:23):
to this episode of Red Table Talk podcast. Produced by Facebook, Watch,
Westbrook Audio, and I Heart Radio.
Hey, fam I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the
Red Table Pop Podcast, all your favorite episodes from the
Facebook Watch show in audio, produced by Westbrook Audio and
I Heart Radio. Please don't forget to rate and review
on Apple Podcasts. It's a Red Table Talk event with
a very special reunion after thirty five years. The stars
(00:22):
of a Different World are coming together right here at
the Red Tables a special. It was a groundbreaking series
that inspired generations and launched countless careers, including Mine Heilman
home Coming kicks off in five chop pleadings four, three eights,
(00:44):
two one. Come on out, God, this is so beautiful.
(01:06):
I found him in another country. This is like in
a different world. Burst onto the NBC's must see TV lineup,
Change to make it. The ratings were huge, with tens
of millions tuning in each week. It was a spinoff
of The Cosby Show, following Denise Huxtable's life at Hillman College,
(01:30):
a fictional version of a historically black college. The Brilliant
Jasmine Guy played Whitley Gilbert, the opinionated Southern bell who
was bad and bougie before there was bad and Bougie
And the next time you got me a panther, Bougie,
Princess Julien. It prepared for a damn how may Kadeem
Hardison was Dwayne Wayne with those trademark flip up glasses
(01:52):
who made it cool to be smart. I quit, I
quit with the legendary b Allen was the creative genius
behind the show. She's won five Emmy's, a Golden Globe
and has given wings to many careers, including mine. A
Different World was laugh out loud, funny, took on tough
(02:15):
topics and welcome to iconic guest stars like Halle Berry,
Whoopie Goldberg, Diane Carroll, Patti LaBelle, Lena Horn to Pop
and more. We got missed Debbie here. We're gonna start
with you first. I want you to I want you
to tell us what it was like the first time
you met Debbie. Oh, well, the first time I met Debbie.
(02:35):
I mean, like most of us had watched Debbie on Fame.
She was like the proto type, you know what I mean.
I was like, I want to be able to do that.
I want to be able to sing dance that. I
want a triple quadruple threat. So when I first got
to meet Debbie, it was crazy because I came to
(02:58):
audition for a guest are just a guest role? The
age episode? She walked in, Wait, let me just say this.
She walked in, she already had all that, and I said, wow,
you are a wonderful So where you I'm the next
Debbie al I'm like she said it said, and I
(03:20):
loved her from that minute. I said her now, so
I said, let's make a series regularly. She sure did happened,
But I mean, what what a dream come true? To
be seen by somebody you had idolized and she sees
me right away so much so she was like, we're
gonna put you on this show. She recognized she did,
(03:44):
but I think she did for both of us. Yeah,
so just tell your story. Yeah, I tracked a debt
be down. I was at the school. I'm glad I
didn't know any better. I was very naive just to
think I could go see her. It was an eight
hour dance audition. Yeah, fam was like that. And let
(04:06):
me tell you, I never danced so good. I looked if,
I said, is that my foot? All I knew was
I gotta get this part. You know. I wanted to
be on that show and work with you so bad,
so I became the ninth dancer. Yes you did, but Debbie,
you have started so many careers, and all my career.
(04:26):
Whenever people told me no, oh you're a dancer, you
can't be an actress, or you're a comedian, you can't
do drama, or yeah, I was like, did whatever you
say I can't do? She already done it that part.
And that's the thing that'd be just she could see us.
We were all her children. This one was my child
from way back when he was a little boy. I
(04:47):
went to my mom took me to the theater um
and afterwards she knew Debbie. So we went back to
Debbie's house for like a little after party, and I
must have been like, because I remember you jumping on
my water. Codeine went on to become an actor. He
and Debbie didn't see each other for many years, and
(05:09):
then we were already on a different You were already there,
and she came the second year and didn't remember. You
know what happened? Was he grown? I said Hi? He said,
it's me Debbie. Me, it's me Cadeine. Then I said,
oh my god, you Mike Codean. I didn't know till
(05:32):
just until we had that moment. But then that was
so good. We were all so yeah, we would look
like that baby. You remember she had her birthday on
the set and she was like eighteen. That said, how
old are you? Like? Why am I hanging out with
no idea? She was that young? Yes, I was a baby.
(05:56):
You were so grown. You look like a baby when
I look at it, I willow. Yes, yeah, it's all
rebellious and just young and grown. But it was great.
Think about those stories we did a different world's groundbreaking
episodes were ahead of its time, taking on controversial topics
that are still relevant today like domestic violence, sex. How
(06:22):
did you know it was time to be weird? That
from one team? Pregnancy, aids, consent and race. You know,
it doesn't matter how many degrees I get. All you
people see his color. I was thinking about Mammy DearS
because you were the one that told Weddley that her
family had owned slaves. Yeah, that was one of my favorite.
(06:44):
And then everybody was really having a meltdown off camera
for real. Imagine coming from an African American family that
owned over one hundred slaves. They are my space some mistake. No,
this doesn't look like in the stage. It's a reproduction
of a bill of sale. Your great great granddaddy had
(07:04):
just bought ten new slaves that he was a freeman
of color, but he was also a black master. But
why not. I didn't know that black people owned other
black people. Only if you did. Now we know why
you're so bossy. It's d n a them, no good ancestor.
(07:30):
I still get a cheer from this. Look at your
little face. It was really hard. It was hard. And
when we embraced it, and then we changed that around
because you were dancing. You made me do African dance.
I don't want you gonna dance. You went back to
(07:52):
the motherland. You're gonna You're gonna be all right. And
then she put me in that little I was like, heavy, bladdy,
come on, stop it. Let them see everything. That's how
you were. You were like, you're gonna be fine. Now,
I'll come on. Now, I'll stop it with all that. Now,
come on, want to three, let's go. I remember when
(08:13):
you came. I was a little jealous because you brought
that that energy, that edge. I was like, damn, she
gets to be home attitude. She was like at the police,
that is the beauty everybody was coming from a different
(08:33):
place and engage such a real view of who we
are as the people. Absolutely, we don't all think alike,
we don't look alike, don't think alike, but at some
point we come together, because at some point we have
to come together. Absolutely. I want to ask you, Debbie,
because it seems like when you came on the show,
the flavor of the show changed definitely. I mean, that's
why they brought me. Actually, I had come from Fame
(08:57):
and then I got this call from Carson Earner and
Bill Cosmi, we need you to come over here and
look at it different world because I had gone to
Howard and I don't know if anybody else had really
gone an HBCU. So I brought that experience in that reality.
So we just had to put hot sauce on the table.
We had to make it real because the Black University
College voice is strong. Yeah, I gave my two weeks
(09:20):
noticed during the first series before I said yeah, because
you were oh yeah, it was Booty. I was like,
I don't want to be in this anymore, and and
I didn't like the way they were treating the cast,
and so I went in there and I said, thank
you so much for this opportunity, and I've I've learned
so much and they're probably like, Okay, well did something
(09:41):
happen to you? I said, well, you know, I feel like, uh,
Lisa bon is disrespected in front of the audience. Well,
has it ever happened to you? I said, if it
happens to her, it happens to me. You're disrespecting the cast,
You're disrespecting some bad It doesn't have to happen to me.
I felt like it was happening to me. I thought
(10:01):
we could leave. You didn't read print that said six years.
We have you for seven years. This was a time
where there was the separation between the writers and the actors.
If they said oh instead of ah, they had to
stop the cameras and do it again. I worked really
hard to break down that barrier between the writers and
the actors day one. So you gave the cast a
(10:23):
voice that I gave them a voice, and you felt
like you didn't have a voice before. We just get
your blinds, do the best and hope they don't make you.
We were filming till one in the morning. I was like,
why are we doing this again? I don't even know
what I'm doing wrong, Like why are we just doing
things over and over until the if it was funny?
(10:45):
At any point it was gone, well, i'll tell you what.
By the time I got there, it was already a
groove happening because we go to Debbie and go, this
is not working. No, Debbie, can we do this? Like
I felt like I had a voice, so going anyplace
else and not having a voice was like, what, wait
a minute? Did I learned the hard way on other sets,
I was like, oh, actors don't like to get notes
(11:06):
from the other actors. Because Kadem and I talked about everything.
It was like this didn't work and this funny blah
blah blah. But when I did that with other actors,
there was a brace and I said, oh, I didn't know.
I wasn't supposed to listen. I have to say that
I remember the first time watching a different world and
looking at you and saying, you can do that, And
(11:29):
then I remember the day that she was gonna premiere
on the show. I can remember sitting in the living
room with my family, Uh, we got a flag girl,
Reach here nine Lina James class. I really liked the
(11:53):
way that sounds. I was so excited. I was so
excited for her. I'll just never forget. I mean, just
the whole thing, Debbie, just the whole thing. It was
just amazing because when she auditioned and she said she's
gonna write apart from me, I was like, what, Yeah,
(12:15):
we owe everything to you. You don't owe me because
she walked in. Ready. That's what it is. That's the
thing that young people need to understand. They need to
train the young people today. They're watching TikTok that last
ten seconds they do this? Do they have craft? I
remember hiring somebody that was a dancer who was on
the competition circuit. That child could not dance past one minute.
(12:38):
He needed a respiraate to child. He was not in shape.
He was just used to doing his best seconds. That
was it, right, But Debbie, that's such an important point
for Instagram talent, TikTok talent, a lot of talent out there.
But you're right, it's gotta it's gotta go further than
that minute. And can you do a ten twelve hour day?
(12:59):
Can you do eight shows a week? Break it down? Yes,
you introduce yourselves to us, but now what now? What jazz?
What would you say? Your favorite moment was There were
many moving moments because there was a lot of um
real feelings in our episodes, and I was happy that
(13:23):
we could be funny, of course, but I love the
more meaningful shows and real issues. And even though my
character was a lot younger than me, I was like parallel,
Like when I got married, there was things happening in
my personal life. I was breaking up with Dominant, so
(13:44):
there were always like this kind of juxtaposing situations. But
we were are professional, didn't let things affect the work,
but we were going through things, you know what I mean.
There were real life was happening, and we were kind
of growing up to other two because none of us
were from LA and didn't have like roots, Like I
(14:04):
felt like that was my family. You know. I can
relate to that to Jasmine because even me sending Jada
to come out to California, I was back in Baltimore
just getting myself together right in my recovery process. I
was very early on, but I felt safe knowing that
(14:25):
Debbie was there. We talked to you a lot about stuff, Debbie, Yeah,
you know, and I felt like you you had Jada's back,
and that was important for me. Very important important for me.
I know she had her hands full with just me alone. Like,
but you had a very adventurous life, but you were
(14:48):
always so patient. You would never judgmental, You would never like, look,
you need to get your together, but you would just
be like, now, look, you know you got a nice future,
that opportunity. Let's just let's try to stay focused. What
(15:08):
about you can deem? Did you have a special episode
or a particular episode that really stuck out always, like
all the deep stuff. Yeah, like we did the racism
episode where he sprayed and word on and I had
to deal with that dude. This acting you hired. This
(15:28):
dude was so strong and grabbed me and pushed me
against the wall. If you see it, you can see
the set shake the only way like a hundred and seventeen. Yes,
through all I went flying, think you are brother, come
(15:52):
around here acting, Let you all that I'm taking care
of my boy. Shoot what I'm saying. My father wasn't
even around for me. Cheirs off me. But that was
one of my favorite moments, just because you know, I
always thought I was gonna be action here right right
kind of start. I wanted to be the romance dude
and action Dude and horror films and Debbie in this
(16:14):
show gave me a chance to do a little bit
of everything. We have so much fun. Do you remember
what we had those Browns. You didn't make your flight.
I didn't make my flight, but I was trying. I
was done. I was trying to drive, and you guys
were like something, you took my gear. Jasmine was like, now, look,
you know you can't drive. Stop And I was like,
(16:35):
I gotta gown and I had to stay. We put
you in the bed. You passed out. Have mercy. Oh
my god, I was tore down. I had never had.
Oh my god, Oh my god. I was trying to drive.
(16:57):
Jasmine was like, you need to just go lay now. Absolutely.
Oh man. Oh I remember one night with you, Debbie,
which one Oh god, I threw up all over her house.
It's okay, it's all right. All I remember is just
(17:19):
throwing up everywhere, and Debbie's like, it's okay, you can
stay here. You're gonna be all right. You know you
raised you raised a lot of us. Well, we got
some of our other alumnis that I would love for
you to see. Well, hello boys. So many favorite memories
(17:44):
I know that they probably involved Jasmine because we were
always up to no good. We called ourselves hot and bothered.
But I think one of my favorite moments would probably
be the No Means No episode when Kadeem has rescued me.
The two of us are in the dorm and we
(18:06):
just sit down together for a moment and I thank
him for being my friend. Even thinking about it makes
me want to tear up because it was a very
real moment between us. I'll never forget that that really
moved me. I got a memory of Jazzy. I call
her Princess Peach fuzz my Jasmine. One day we were
(18:26):
doing a scene and I had to look for something
in the drawer and in between takes, she said, girl,
what are you looking for? And I said, uh, I
don't know, and she said, it shows And it was
such a lightbulb moment. I was eighteen years old. She
(18:47):
really helped me to be a better actress. My favorite
scene who Chaw. I love when we got to do
the Step show. I love that Freddie was so raggedy
in the beginning, and I love that I got to
pull it together in the end. What does the show
mean to me so much? It's a defining moment in
my life and my career. It brought me Cadeem, my
(19:10):
first true love. I am from Saskatchewan, Canada. We don't
have any HBC used in Canada, and I got to
experience the side of black life I probably never would
have earned. I got to work with Debbie Allen, who
changed me profoundly, taught me so much, and I made
forever friends. I'm keeping all of y'all your mind, and
(19:34):
how much do I love all of you? This goddamn
so we got some more special folks joining the table.
Good She played student who was the mother of the group,
(19:56):
Don Lewis, and he played funny musician Roy Johnson. It
was the winds ride on Dogs. Best Friend we got
d V Darren Bell. I've been listening to y'all tell
all the good stories. I know you have some good
(20:17):
stories to tell. We'll start with you, Daryl, Like, what
was some of your favorite moments on the show. Well, one,
everybody talks about the wedding episode, right, but my favorite
scene from the wedding zone is actually when you because
it's from the bachelor party when Ron made the slamming
pinion Cold Lady in the House, But you did ain't
(20:43):
buy seeing you milk and refrigerator. Oh yeah, I used
that to make this slamming pen. That was best milk
raw Restu milk. That's one of my favorite moments. The
(21:03):
jail episode was, without a doubt, you know, one of
my favorite episodesically told Roschmon style from everybody's point in view.
I remember it was hard for cademon I because it
was Dean Kaine's first job and we had to really
get into each other's face about a lot of different things.
They have no respect, They don't care about this country
(21:25):
at all. All they do is ship on their butt
and complain. And what do they have to complain about.
It's because of them and their quotas that I'm not
in the ivy league where I belong. You all had
quotas for centuries. You call them legacies, restricted country clubs,
the law. Oh hey, my grandfather came to this country
with nothing. He couldn't even speak the language, but he
(21:46):
worked hard and he made a place for himself and
his family. Now, why can't you people do the same.
My grandfather built this country. Man. Now, the writing on
that show was brilliant and it was without a filter. Yes,
that still holds up about the stuff we did. As
much as they let us push the envelope, they still
(22:07):
kept rain on everything. Like the AIDS episode, we couldn't
show the card. We had to refer to it in
the Yeah, there were so many things that we could
just get so far and in expressing what it was
we wanted to express without them trying to put all
kind of constraints. Well, I remember also when we addressed
the presidential campaign, we we satilized it. That thought of
(22:33):
jameson back on the cross, our candidates President Georgia much,
I'm on the ballot. It's taddy duty can offer. Yeah.
(23:04):
I was always going into the principal's office buets. So
Murphy Brown gets to be on the cover of Time
magazine for being saying what she says about politics are
abortion or whatever. But we can't even do this. I said, guys,
have you ever watched Saturday Night Live? Have you ever
watched in living color? We're a show that bridges that world.
(23:27):
And that's a good thing for y'all. Stop it already. Yeah,
you are always in the principal's office. This always was
always And here's our math professor and favorite colonel. You
haven't seen each other in a while, though I've seen you, Dawn,
because you know, ever since Dawn and I were married
(23:49):
on the show, I have not been able to get
rid of her, right Joe Anne. On the test of that,
Dawn was at our wedding. She ended up singing and
she have been me now. So uh, I still want
to get Darry Belle back out on the golf course.
(24:09):
I owe him a bud whipping out there. Debbie Allen,
you were so instrumental in changing the outlook of the
show itself. The final wedding scene where Dwayne Wayne Uh
breaks in, I think that was one of the most
romantic scenes we've never seen on television. Jasmine Whitley, who
(24:30):
was just never more beautiful. That was probably one of
my favorite scenes because it was talking about what the
show was was saying all along, don't give up on love.
Love always wins. Hey you guys, hope to see you
soon and God bless Okay, So Lena say something I
(24:57):
remember during the wedding episode, and Diane Carroll came over
and said, y'all, don't realize what you are. You're twenty
something years old. You're starting on the hit television series.
And when I was your age, black people weren't even
allowed on this lot, right, And I don't mean actors.
I mean you couldn't have a black janitor here at
(25:18):
CBS RAP And now here you are twenty years old
starting on the show. And this is my first time,
Diane Julia Carroll said, my first time working on the
show starring black women, written by black women, directed by
black women, and produced by black boy. Yeah. Yeah, magnificent moment.
(25:41):
And we just have that veteran seasoned insight. You know,
we had some faces that were prominent. I'm Patty LaBelle
and I have such great memories of a different world.
I mean when Diane Carroll got rest her soul and
I did the Turkey Day, that was priceless because she
was so glad and I was so ghetto. This is
(26:02):
a a junior farm fed turkey. Oh that's why it's
got that little scrawny chest. This is a double D company.
And my mad prove power for Chipmunk. It was really blueberries,
not probes, because it was problems. It would have been
all over. But that was a fun moment with my son,
Chipmunk mom that I learned a lot from Debby you know,
(26:24):
doing a different moral for the things that I'm doing now.
A lot of it is because of Debbie Allen being
so great at what she does. It was a great,
great show and you you co wrote the theme song
I did. I was originally singing it. They didn't know
(26:45):
they had hired the same person to write the theme
song that they had hired to be in the show,
so I was no longer allowed to sing it. Why
wouldn't you allowed to sing it because you are on
the show? Because because I wasn't the start, it was
Lisa's show, and they thought it would be too much
a tent to on on me, and so they brought
in Phoebe Snow So the first voice that everyone heard
(27:06):
was Phoebe's version. Then they thought, let's redo this every year,
we'll revamp it. So season two they had a wreath
to do it right? Okay, here we go, run love
Sam behind come what man? I know that I'm ready. Yeah,
(27:32):
it's a little different, bro. Then where you come from? Then?
Where you come from? Yeah? Oh that was so great
getting a wreathe here? You know we got a bust Behindney. Yeah,
you don't find where? Right? It was yest we thanked
(27:57):
friends for life. After that time, I called her, Yeah
I knew her, I said, Retha, what Dabbie? I said,
do you know the show different? Oh? I like that show,
I said, if we want to redo the title, uh um,
I don't fly away whist in the bus. My personal
favorite Fund episode was when Gladys Knight came on the
(28:17):
show and we got to be pips her being on
the show and us being able to sing behind her.
That was like if I never do anything again, to
be able to share a stage with her new choreographers.
Love her, love her, love her. Yeah alright, what was
(28:41):
your favorite episode? What was my favorite? Maybe it was
the one that could deem directed, the one in my pocket. Yeah, well,
maybe I'll be down to scoop you up late in life.
You ain't shriveled up, be like Ozzy Davis and Ruby
d You know, you always got a place of my heart.
(29:07):
I didn't realize you directed that that was a good episode.
That was so easy to direct. Yeah, I was like, damn,
that was great. But that was the beauty of it
that you all got to do these things. You got
your directed because that's where the you, you all had
it in you. I can't just do it if you
(29:27):
don't have the craft, you said, and the sensibility. You
better get it in your contract, right. So, Debbie, you
had Kadeem put it in this contract to have a
certain amount of directing jazz. Right. It's so important to
hear you guys talk about this stuff because I think
the audience sometimes they just see the actors in front
(29:50):
of the camera and they don't understand the importance of
producing and writing and directing. Behind the scene is where
a lot of the power is, yeah, for sure, and
a lot of creative brilliance, you know. And so we
have three more special Hillman alumni. Charnell Brown played pre
(30:10):
med major Kim, the girl everyone went to for advice,
and one of my roommates at Hillman, A J. Sanders,
a sorority girl, brought the bunny. And we also have
missed Karen Molina, always studying and sometimes annoying girl on
(30:33):
the campus. He Charnelle, where are you? I am in Houston,
Texas my hometown, Debbie. I I have an acting school
here and I find myself saying things that you said
(30:56):
to us and morphing into you, which I don't know.
If you don't know but I was watching, and I
thank you for that because my actors right now, a
Prisca them are working because of you. Compressed Charlie. That's
I want to time to visit me, Mama, I must say, like,
I'm sitting here listening to you guys, and it brings
(31:17):
me back to the feeling that I felt when I
first came onto the show. I was so intimidated, but
I was also star struck by every single last one
of y'all. And I was homeless before I got the job,
and I was supposed to only be there for like
one episode, and I remember thinking, if I don't get this,
then I'm just gonna go back home and rethinking this
(31:39):
whole thing. And the first person that I met was Jasmine,
and she walked up to me and said, Hi, my
name is Jasmine, and welcome to the show. And I'll
never forget what that felt like. Yeah, And so I
just want to thank you all for giving me a
life and a career. And I mean, there are no
words that I didn't even think about that yet, because
(31:59):
it's the superstar struck, you know what I mean. Because
we had been watching you guys, you know, and I
had never worked in TV before, Like I didn't even
know what a mark was. I just followed. I just
did what y'all did? You get better than me? Because
Davy was on the now speaker and that was all
over the place. She was like miss saying, I'm sending
(32:20):
your behind back the Broadway. I was like, uh, jasper high, Princess,
Hi Darling took me aside and taught me those cameras
and I want to thank you, princess for that, because
I didn't know where the hell to go. And my
favorite is the wedding um seeing baby Please Baby, It
(32:43):
just took me over, baby, Please please, I do. But
I just love that we were living. That's why I
loved that episode because we all were living. We weren't acting,
we were living. Yeah, that's really caring. Jay, How are
you doing? I'm good. I have to just echo what
(33:06):
everybody said. I knew what I was coming into a
tight ship and I didn't know how I was gonna
fit in, But y'all just welcomed me. I mean, I
remember you hung out the Dame's Rum. All I did
was like mad, but I just hung out there, and
you know, just everybody just welcomed me with open arms.
I really feel like the three of us, you know,
(33:28):
clicked up pretty nice, Me and you and a j.
It was almost like it was an instant, Like, yeah,
it was just an instant posse. I love the episode
when we discovered Billy Dee Williams in the basement MS Page,
(33:49):
Mr Page, anybody ever taken you for simple? Jason? We
had no accident. I said that, yeah, I'm just spent
off or something. Maybe yes, and Billy that was my
(34:15):
mother's icon what I called and told her I was
gonna be seen with Billy d She was like, I
need to come out there. I was like, no, you
need to keep your job right now. I'm not a
regular yet. It was so cool because Karen was so
down for whatever, and so I was like, Okay, when
we get on the staff, let's just do the wave.
And so she just followed up. She was just she
just she just subscribed to all my craziness. We had
(34:37):
so much fun, Karen, can you think of a favorite
moment a favorite show? When Lena Horn, Yes, I admire
your style as a songstress. You see, I'm a musician
trumping about trading. If I can never deck a little
diddle for you, just have to be using in front
(34:58):
of his horn. But my name is Lena, and I'm
so proud to be named after you. I have met
her a couple of years before she came on our show.
I couldn't wait to tell miss Horn how inspirational she
was and how what she meant to me. So I
walked over her and she held my face in her
hands and said you on that show, aren't you? And
I said yeah. She says your name is Dawn. You
(35:21):
good at je Lisa, and I started crying. She said,
y'all are doing such a good job. Y'all keep that up.
I'm so proud of you. But it flips me to
now who we have become, to people to walk up
to us and say, you don't know how you inspired me,
How you empowered me to get an education, to speak
up for myself when I feel abused or violated or minimized.
(35:43):
Speaking of that, I'm just remembering when we had that
show about domestic abuse with um, how did you get
that bruise on your life? I told you I bumped
into my desk, Gina. I thought you said coffee table.
Looking it was just an accident. Okay, He's just nervous
(36:05):
about the concert. Oh so that gives him reason to
hit you. I'm not asking you to understand. Just promise me,
if you want to be my friend, just keep this quiet. Gina,
you are in trouble. It's m trouble, not yours, not
anybody else's. Okay, you got it. I wrote that that
was something that happened in the in our circle circle,
(36:26):
and I wanted to address it without calling any names.
Somebody in point to somebody. I'm so proud of what
we have accomplished together, and everybody needs to step up
right now. This is now the time to be quiet.
You know, there's a lot of feathers that can ruffle,
but so what So that's it. That's it. We got
(36:47):
one more Helmet alumni, okay that wants to say Hi,
Hi there. I know, I cannot believe that it's been
thirty five years. What Those were some of the best
times I've had as a working actor. I loved being
(37:08):
with you all. I loved the spirit of that show.
I just love that we were young and having parties,
and that we were so focused on our work, and
that it was about something so different from what we
had been seeing on television. In general, and I felt really,
really lucky to be there with you all. I remember
that Kadeem and I wanted to have a story where
(37:30):
our characters got together. The kabosh was put on that,
but not because of my extremely bad haircut that was
given to me. They were great times and I still
want to do another show like that. That would be
so wonderful. I love you all, Thanks for including me today. Wow. Me, Lisa,
(37:51):
and Marissa were in New York. Lisa and I were
in Brooklyn, Marissa was in Lower Manhattan, and all of
us came out thinking we were going to be filming
in Brooklyn because I lived in Brooklyn. It was like
ten fifteen minutes from my house and they're like, no,
y'all are moving in California. All three of us were like,
I don't want to go. You wanna go? No, I
don't want to go. But there we were, and uh,
it was just wonderful. And her life and career has
(38:13):
gone through the roof since, and she was She's just
a beautiful person. It was magical the little group that
we had. They liked us right, and if they had
the right person behind the scene to direct me. Towns
like having the right, coach, right, we could win. Yeah,
and that's why I worked out. That's what happened, all right,
lasted are y'all talk about how Different World impacted generations,
(38:37):
here's just a few who wanted to ship in Journey Hey,
A Different World cast. Growing up seeing Kim and Dwayne
studies STEM inspired me to do the same. I ultimately
earned a pH d and biomechanics and today I'm working
at a science palsy analysts. A Different World was more
than just entertainment, and I decided to create the podcast
(38:57):
Him and Class Reunion with the premise that A Different
World is the most important sitcom ever. I just have
to thank you all because of the show. I went
to an h b C U and I'm my best
life because of it. Seeing it on my television, I
was like, you know what that is for me? I
want the full HBC experience, So I started applying to
all the h b c s and thank you to
(39:18):
the Throne Cooking University for setting me up for success.
Go Wildcats. As a Californian originally from Compton, first in
family to go to college and watching a Different World
on a weekly basis, I could see myself in those
characters and this comedy and this beauty of every form
of blackness was just something that was amazing. Then came
(39:41):
Jada's character and she was from the hood, so like
everything that I felt like I was was represented on
that show. And I think of a different world. I
think of how that show, Um, it's the inspiration for
a lot of us who have gone to HBCUs. I
am a proud graduate of Baby University, Louisiana. I am
(40:01):
someone who was born with a learning disability, and if
it wasn't for uh Xavier, I wouldn't be where I
am today in my career. When it just goes to
show you how much of an impact the show has had.
And just a huge shout out to all of the
actors on the show. Of course, Dabby Allen, you are
the goat. You are the goat for creating such an
(40:23):
amazing masterpiece. I mean my master thesis on the show.
Since then, I've gone on to receive my PhD. I
am also now a professor. I really want to say
thank you to the cast of a Different World and
Debbie Allen for showing me the power of education. Thank
you for everything You're important. See your respective roles am
the lasting fact you had in the culture A different
(40:44):
world can be rooted and well rounded. I felt seen
because of that show. Like Whitley, I had my own
awakening of sources. I got older, I found my voice
and learned to love myself and others. For me, A
Different World gave me the courage that I needed to
embrace my differences and embrace my identity. And A Different
World was and is my blue print, and I feel
(41:07):
grateful to have a show that I can return to
to see myself represented in such a rich and a
timeless way. I was so excited to go to Hillman
Um because I thought that was a real play. I
thought that the only thing was just amazing and just
such a great reflection of black excellence. Thank you for
your impact on television, black culture, and just leaving your mIRC.
(41:31):
I remember vividly growing up UM watching A Different World
and asking my parents where can I attend a college
like Himan. So they sent me on a HBCU college
tour as a student at More House. It literally changed
my life tremendously. So thank you so much. A Different World, Um,
shout out to your thirty five years and shout out
(41:52):
to my RTT family and of course shout out to
more House College. That's right, that the Red Table Talk.
I feel really like I'm in high cotton that we
(42:14):
got invited. What do you know? The thing about it is,
we were like, this is such tough times and the
nostalgia of having us all come together and just to
feel good of it. It's been good for my soul today,
and I think it's gonna be so nice, you know,
for the holidays. Just that piece of like that love
(42:35):
that we brought to television for that particular error. Let's
have a moment. Handle have a moment with your two
Let's have a moment, A moment, a moment. Yes, And
thanks to God, the powers of the universe, and our
ancestors for being the wind that I'm back and the
light before our footsteps. We are privileged for the work
(43:00):
we have done, and we are challenged for the work
we must continue to do. Unified, don't divide us. Amen, Amen,
Crockle Mama Debbie. To join the Red Table Talk family
and become a part of the conversation, follow us at
Facebook dot com slash red table Talk. Thanks for listening
(43:23):
to this episode of Red Table Talk podcast. Produced by Facebook, Watch,
Westbrook Audio, and I Heart Radio.
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