October 3, 2023 • 29 mins
I have a special episode from the vault for you today while I'm on the road. This is an episode that gets into how to find your purpose, the importance of staying true to yourself, and taking smart risks. And the guest? He might be starring in the new BET+ show Average Joe, but my friend Deon Cole is anything but. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting and hanging out with the talented comedian and actor throughout his career, and when I heard about how much people are loving his newest show and his current tour “My New Normal,”, I knew I had to share this unreleased interview we did a little while back. So tune in to this exclusive from the vault content for Deon’s raw reflections into:
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How Deon’s Chicago upbringing and engaged activism shaped his perspectives
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How a bet with a friend led to him taking the stage for standup
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His experiences as a writer and how he continues to create new and engaging content
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Taking lessons and perspectives from others and working it into your own material in a unique way
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How to handle the pressure of speaking in front of an audience
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And so much more
Host: Daymond John
Producers: Beau Dozier & Shanelle Collins; Ted Kingsbery, Chauncey Bell, & Taryn Loftus
For more info on how to take your life and business to the next level, check out DaymondJohn.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a purpose when I'm here and what I'm going through.
This is just this is just gonna make my story
sweeter or whatever. And you know, I just keep going
because of the goal. The goal is to keep rocking
and making people happy. Every four years, this is a
new audience. That that number that that number four is
something we're talking about. You're graduating four years from school,
(00:23):
you graduate, presidents, go through terms for four years. It's
about the four years. It's every four years you almost
get a new life. The way you you can, you
can do it all over again. So you do as
much as you can in the four years that four
years up. You's fulfilling those years while being the best,
(00:44):
being the most original and funny and making people laugh.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And your reward is the feeling that you geteling at you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
What if I told you there was more to the
story behind game changing events? Getting ready for my new podcast,
That Moment with Damon John will jump into the personal
stories of some of the most influential people on the planet,
from business mobiles and celebrities to athletes and artists.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So I'm sitting here with my guy, Dion Cole, and
I'm just gonna give you a couple of accolades, NWCP Award,
Screen Actors Award, got an Emmy, right nominated, nominated for
an Emmy. All right, all right, he's he's a comedian,
actor and writer.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Uh you know, you see him on Blackish.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
He's also written for Conan O'Brien and so many other
things that we can learn from him. Before I lay
it all out, I want you to think think about this.
I was shooting one day Shark Tank with Jeff Foxworth
and he says something to me fascinating.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
He said, you know, it was a comedian. It's probably
one of.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The hardest jobs in the world because you got to
earn every single laugh.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
You got to earn every single thing. And you know, if.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Michael Jackson was alloted to that, he could sing beat
It for the next one hundred years, and everybody's gonna
sing beat it with him.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Once I tell a joke, it's over.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I got to earn, you know, the laughter from each
joke over the course of an hour or whatever the
case is, and then I can never tell that joke again.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
So think about that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Also, think about all these people that we see in
show business and entertainers.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Everybody thinks they can write.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Everybody thinks they can tell a joke, everybody thinks they
could sing, So you don't have an actual commodity that
is tangible and you can feel I have a shirt,
you can at least.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Tell that it costs five to ten or.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Twenty dollars to make, and if you don't want it,
I can discount it or sell it someplace else. If
you don't get the gig, I don't know how you
discount it or whatever whatever the case is. And there's
a million other people that think they can do the
same exact thing. So now you got to face all
these challenges, get rejected a million time, and still try
to find a way to feed your family. So I
just want to set that up for everybody who thinks
(02:53):
that it's just cool to get on stage and sing,
dance and or.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, make a joke.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Right, So, let's get into you, Dan, Let's get into
you know, tell me, tell me a little bit of
about your story.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
What was your family upbringing? Where were you born? Will
you raised?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
South side of Chicago, outside Chicago, outside of Chicago?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Only child? Uh? Me and my momil Yeah, me and
my mom. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
I was the only person. I was the only person
got in trouble.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, my imagination the only person.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Had to work and bring home money for the family. Hu.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Imagination is fierce, that's how Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, you know when I did something wrong on my
imaginary brother, but I was the only one who got
my my butt whips. I got all the attention, unlimited whippings.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So you know, south Side came up, gang infested, drugs,
all that same story, different well, same whale, different realm.
You know, my mom's moved me to the suburbs because
it was getting so bad and I was really plugged
on the South Side, Chicago with my cousin.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
He was really feared.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And then he started selling the dope he was started
using the dope he was selling, and then people weren't
scared of him no more.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So then it was like coming at us.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And my mother was like, yeah, we're gonna move the suburb,
move me to an all white suburb culture shock. But
I wouldn't have it no other way because when I
got out there, I started learning through this white dude
I was hanging with and started learning about like led
Zeppelin and the Doors and yeah, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Man, what's this? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
But in return, I would turn him on the public
enemy in l L and KRS, you know. And so
it was just it was great being out there, but
I fought more out there than I did in the
city because I started fighting for racial equality. These white
boys was whooping, whooping everybody ass out there, you know.
(05:05):
And so it was crazy how I was like fighting
out there so much, you know. But more black started
moving out, then more we started like teaming up.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yo that too.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
But at the same toga we we ended up fighting,
and and then that led to me going to school
and didn't stay there long about a year.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Left, came back to Chicago.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
And found comedy.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, I went to Philanders Smith in Arkansas. Yeah, I
went down there for a semester. And that was around
the time. Remember that show on HBO Banging a Little.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Rock YEP, when they showed how bad Little Rock was.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We was in the middle of that. Yeah, yeah, they was.
They were shooting at us and our kind of stuff.
So we left.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was a weird time because at the same token
that they was down there banging like that, we were
also working with Bill Clinton right before he became president,
like and like like good friends would do, like when
he won the presidency. It blew my mind that man,
(06:10):
mister Clinton, mister Clinton won like it was crazy, you know.
But he loved us because he loved blues and from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So she used to always call us shot.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Time, and we always talked about music and I would
make up. I knew about Coco Taylor and Muddy Water
and all them, but I didn't really listened to her,
but I would live to say that in order to
talk to him, you know what I mean. But yeah,
and then it just and then after that I came
home and found comedy and start doing well.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think that there's one thing that I think we
haven't well, a couple of things in common. Obviously growing
up o with children, having a strong mother who was
willing to take the risk and go out of the
comfort zone to save us.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
But also, you know, my mother didn't move me to
the suburb.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
However, every every summer she would send me away, send
me to Hawaii, or send me some.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Place to be around other cultures.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Now, somebody may say, well, man, your mom has gotta
like that to send you to white. No, my mother
had a girlfriend who lived on a Navy base, so
she knew I could stay there for free.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
She bought the ticket four years.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
In advance, so it was a seventeen connecting flight to Hawaii.
I left on you know, I left in you know June.
I got there in July, all the fans because of
the standby.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
But no matter what I got to see.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I got to see how other cultures live later on
equipment in life, to not be afraid, not think that
they're better, not think that they're worse, to just understand
a little bit more value the people. Now you're fighting
with someone, but on the flip side, you'll bring public
enemy them.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
And they were teaching you about led Zeppelin.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You were learning the theory and hopefully that probably as
we talk about it, that empowered you to move forward
into this big world of la in Hollywood. Now where
did you find comedy and how did you decide to
be on the back end of it?
Speaker 5 (07:57):
First of all, being a writer or the not seen
the end of it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well as far as writing, that led for me doing
stand up And I know it was no funny dude,
And I never was funny, Like I'm always People that
know me they know that I'm super chill really, you know,
But I wasn't funny. It was just my outlook on things,
(08:22):
the way I looked at things. If somebody tripped and
fail in front of me and my friends, everybody be laughing,
I'll be the only person like, why did they fall?
Let's investigate why they fail and going to depth about
why they fail like that would be me all the
time with everything. And so that comedy led to me
(08:42):
starting to be in a world of comedy that really
didn't fit. But I was a black comic and it
was different and it was unique. Ended up getting on
Death Jam and Deaf Comedy Jam. Yeah, I went on
TV show and I went on tour. Only had fourteen minutes.
I did seven minutes on death Jam, meaning I had
(09:04):
another seven left.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I went on tour and I was getting boomed fourteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I did seven minutes on death Jam, meaning I had
another seven left. I went on tour and I was
getting boomed like left and right, or wasn't nobody laughing
like I think? I did like four cities and then
they sent me home. I remember sitting in the airport
with my Death Jam hat jacket, just sitting there like
humiliated that I was being sent home from the tour.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
You know, who were at that time too.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
No, No, I was working. Yeah, I was doing like
shows around in the city, but I.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Was doing it. What were you doing to pay the bills?
Purely commine?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, I stopped Yeah after I did Death Jam. Because
before Depth Jam, I think I was doing. My career
took off really quick. I was doing comedy like like
probably like eight months before I got on Depth Jam,
so everything went really quick. I was working a space
called leather Makers right before while I was and then
leather Makers closed and that's all.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I started doing was comedy.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So I was just making money ends meet by doing
little shows around the city and stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
But Depth Jam give.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
You the what But what gave you the confidence? If
you felt already listen, I'm not really funny. I just
analyzed a different way. What gave you the competency even
applied to do stand up anywhere?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I think it was the fact, well, me first, when
I first started, it wasn't even me. It was a
friend of mine who bet me fifty dollars. He was
like something happened and he was like, dude, you should
do stand up like you are right, you're so twisted,
like you should do stand up. When I was like,
I ain't doing no stand up because I just went
into that. Plus I was into some other like like
(11:05):
ill shit, and so I didn't want that kind of
attention on me.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And he was like, man, I bet you fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And I went on stage and I remember again standing
ovation at first time off of five minutes that I did,
and I knew that my life changed, but I still
didn't like the attention. I didn't like being on stage
because of all of the shit that I was into.
And I remember my death jam Are. I remember when
(11:33):
like the next day I was at the gas station
and people roll up on me and be like yo,
and I'll run, really because I didn't I would.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I didn't know what I wouldn't. I didn't think.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I didn't know what fame was, and I just always
was on the lookout, you know what I mean, Like
always like paranoid. Anytime somebody came up to me, I
would run. And it was weird even at shows, like
I wouldn't even I would like try to go through
the back door just to go on stage, and then
I'll go out the back because I didn't want to
be around nobody. But that paranoia had me like really
(12:05):
really tripping or whatever, which led to like me doing
a lot of weed, which led to me forgetting a
lot of my jokes, which led to me it may be,
but it created this fantastic bit that I still do
to this day, which is I take this notepad on
stage with me, and I like do my jokes from
(12:27):
this notepad. But that actually came from a condition that
I was having at the time. I was so scared
on stage and so paranoid that I would just read
the jokes off the paper and people would laugh because
I would just go, Yo, I gotta do these jokes,
and I gotta go And I would read these jokes
and people would laugh and they would laugh, and they laughing,
(12:48):
I'll go, all right, I'm out of here, and now
I would leave.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I wouldn't even rememorize them. I would just write them
down and then go.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
What was What was what was the allure or the
passion or drive to keep doing it?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
You know, you're somebody who didn't like the public, you know,
seeing you're paranoid.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Or just the you're opinion, the bills off of it?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was it that? It was? It was?
Speaker 5 (13:10):
It was a curiosity what was going on?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
It was. It was the it was the fail.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Comedy has a feel that's that's very unique. It's nothing
like it sex, money, it's nothing like this feel to
go into a room and stand on the stage or
a microphone and say what you think and and and
get it across to a room full of people that
(13:36):
you've never seen before, and to get them to go, yeah,
we get that, Yeah we agree with you. Yeah, that's funny. Yes,
we understand what you're saying it.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I mean, because I'm thinking you get on stage, everybody's
sitting there with their mouth open like this, like hurry
up and make me laugh, and then people start going you.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But that's but that's but see, that's how great the
feeling is. The feeling is so great that you will
risk being booed by hundreds of thousands or ten people whatever.
You will risk that in order to chase that feeling.
That's how great that feeling is.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I don't think there's any difference in that and business.
You can make a product and or something, you send
it out to everybody you think that they have. You
know they're gonna understand. They send it back and say
it sucks, and you're like, maybe you didn't get it.
But I'm telling you I can make you feel good
with this, with this product or this lotion, with this cake,
with his T.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Shirt right right, It's the same thing. But this feeling
is like it I can't even really describe it. It's
like it's almost like a conquering type thing in a sense.
And it also gives you this sense of accomplishment as
well as helping people. You know, man, you wouldn't believe
(14:52):
how many people in hospital beds, prisons that it came
up to me and told me that, Yo, they seen
me on TV and my joke helped them. It's people
that told me that a family member then died and
they just wanted to laugh and be happy until.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
They until they last days.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And so when you hear that, like you go wow,
you know, you understand your purpose and then you go
even further and further with what you do.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
That is that an empowering feeling.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
It's almost a feeling that you never get rewarded for,
you know what I mean, like agents, agents, book people
don't to me, people think they agent like that, Like
they just take the gig and they mad at you
for not getting them to gigs and then when you're
getting then when you get one, it's yours and you
get all the glory. So it's almost like that. It's
just I don't know, man, I don't know. Maybe somebody
(15:49):
I still cannot describe that feeling. I just know that
I've never felt nothing like it, you know. I mean,
I've been in front of five people on stage, and
I've been in front of thirty five thousand, and it's
it's it's feeling that I leave. I always have to
kind of digress when I get off stage, even with
(16:10):
five people, I have to digress.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And now you know, you're you've been in front of
the camera often as well as in back of the camera.
Is there you know, like in black Ish, right, is
there a difference in regards to being in back of
the camera writing for somebody else to you know, you
gotta be you got to embody that person. That person
has to embody the materials, and then you're in front
of the camera. I don't know, when you're in front
(16:32):
of the camera, like on black and some of those shows,
other people are writing for you, correct, is there a
difference in that?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, when I'm when I'm in front of the camera,
I'm escaping. I'm becoming somebody else, and I'm doing things
that I wouldn't normally do myself, and I try to
do it through this character. Even things that I think
I wish I could do that I don't, I try
to incorporate it in that character. Me writing for someone else,
it's more of me keeping my chops up, But it's
(17:03):
also learning to adapt. If I wrote something for you,
it's like this, the way you are with your mother
ain't the way that you are with your kids, And
the way you are with your kids ain't the way
you are with your woman. The way you are with
your women ain't the way you are out with your boys.
So it's adapting and this knowing these environments and then
learning these environments and then writing for that environment. You
(17:25):
get what I'm saying. So, yeah, that's that's the difference
to me.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Basically in between that time from starting to where you
are today, be on the road door slamming your face,
not knowing if you're gonna be able to, you know,
pay the rent the next day. I mean, it didn't
sound like you a trust fun baby. You know what
did you do during that time? Because how long was that?
How long was the stretch of period time since you
(17:49):
started in comedy, and today.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
This October would be twenty six years.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Twenty six years a long time, ye quarter?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And what happened those times when it got dark, when
you were put back on a plane from in the
middle of depth dam tour. You were a crappy ass
hotel in the middle of West Virginia. Not that everything
in the middle of New York whatever, Right, we have
crappy ass hotels everywhere. And then you got booed, right,
and you were you know, did you have a question?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Why are you doing this?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And what made you keep going for twenty six years
with no promise of anything and probably the first or
eighty percent of that time.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Right, I think it's I think it's it's the fantasy
of what could what could be looking at other people's
career and seeing what they did, and looking at their
trials and tribulations, and then looking at.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Mine and going, it's not that bad. You know.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Bernie Mack used to take the train from Chicago to
LA to do a show to open for Gladys Knight
and get right back on the train and come back.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know what I mean, You don't you got a
second guess yourself to say maybe he was just funnier
than me, or like a model will say, maybe somebody's
more handsome me or somebody stronger than me.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
No, but we're talking about determination. What keeps you going
when when I hear these stories and I see what
he did, it makes me go and I'm complaining about
flying first class somewhere and the show is late, you know,
like these are these are these situations that put me
in tune with what's going on and what's what I'm
(19:29):
here for.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The purpose of what I'm here for is for the people.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Every day you got knocked down, you look at somebody
else and say, you know what, they got knocked down too.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, that's that's powerful.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Actually really powerful. I think I'm gonna use that one
day and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Please do it. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
The life of a coming. So what's next? Human?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Oh man?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So we're just right now shooting Blackish and Grownish. We
got a couple of shows that I'm I'm I'm writing
and about to produce right now to get on get
on air. Great great material, great content that's about to happen.
Shooting the Netflix special in November very excited about that.
(20:40):
It's my second special actually like third in the sense,
and yeah, I'm just excited excited about that and just
keep it going and stuff. Yeah, yeah, I'm on tour
right now. I'm doing my tour U and I'm doing
the tour with Martin too. And I also created this
hair product, this hair tool car Easy Scratch. So becoming
(21:03):
an entrepreneur and doing that, it's crazy dabbling with that.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Man. Man, all I know is.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
If I'm comfortable, I mean, I ain't elevating because elevation
ain't comfortable.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So what would you say is the is the number
one source of or or things that empower you? How
do you use things around your life or your mentality
to empower yourself every day today?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I think just being around people that are successful and
that have paved the way and have done things and
seeing how they do things and incorporating every little bit
that I get from from everybody and applying it to me,
you know, and just you don't have to be big lessons,
neither could be little lessons that that I can learn.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
One time I was with Conan. We was on uh.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
One is like this private jet that he had and
we were touring and he was on there with like
all these different execs and stuff. And I jumped on
the plane. I had like Gucci backpack, Gucci, a garment bag, trolley, Gucci.
I'm hopping on Gucci glasses. I'm hopping on it on
the PJ like yo. We outs soon as I get
(22:17):
on coning and them sitting there and they was like, hey,
what's going on? And I was like, man, ready to roll.
And they was like this, that's a nice luggage. I
was like, yo, that's that's that's that's yours. And I
started looking at them. Each one of these dudes one
hundred million dollars apiece, fifty million whatever. Garment bag looked
(22:38):
like a garbage bag right here. This bag is just
like a little roly trolley.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I was a lie.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I was just like, now, somebody loaned this to me,
and you know that's and I'm gonna give it back
after we're done. And they was like, oh yeah, make
sure you give it back to them, you know. And
I was like, okay, cool, that experience right there, just
let me know that, you know, these dudes are filthy rich.
Not one Gucci belt nowhere, you know what I mean.
(23:08):
But but these the story. The point I'm making is
being around these people allow me to go, yo, I
don't have to be this way. This is why I
could be. Don't don't get me wrong. We black, so
we're gonna be fresh, but we don't have to be
over the top like that, you know what I mean.
So it's just being with certain people whatever. I've been
around you before and you just said certain stuff, and
(23:30):
I'm a sponge.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I just don't say nothing. But I took it.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
I learned. It's a long time ago as well. You know,
I learned that lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And you know, I came in a room with the
diamond out rolelegs and everything, and I was in a
room where there was probably about six billionaires in the
room and they didn't they didn't have anything on them,
and you know, they, you know, they looked at people.
There's certain people like you come to the room and
you're looking for attention, especially when you're somebody who's trying
to get people invest in you. They really believe that
(23:58):
you now going to spend your ears responsible, you're financially irresponsible.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
And they kind of move on.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
A lot of people think due diligence starts when you
give somebody, you know, a prospectus or an investment document.
Due diligience starts when they pick up their phone, look
at you on Instagram, or when when you when you're
walking on the plane with a bunch of.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Gucci and they're like, man, don't give this to the check.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Don't give him a check. Is he gonna blow it off?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So it's that it's that a parent, it's those little
nuances that are that are way bigger than a cent.
And then then like a seminar, you sitting up with
somebody and they drilling something in your head or whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
It's like, yo, just those little.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Things and being in those moments allowed me to you
know what I'm saying, like, uh learn in a sense
you know?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So now I love it.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think that all those little nuggets, whether it's the
resetting after four years and the nuances and what people
are noticing and or educating us on how you know what.
There's people in the hospital bed who say you made
me laugh, you made me feel better. I think I
think all we can take away all of those aspects
and think about how we're empowers us. So with the
point now where we have a bunch of them questions
(25:06):
here that were submitted by fellow Sharks and fans and supporters.
I want you to read it out, you know, answer it,
and then you're gonna write your own question and we're
gonna throw it in there for the next nice.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Nice This is great sell what you got. So let
me say this one. Okay, what is your idea of
a perfect day?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And when was the last time you have one of
these days?
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Perfect day, A perfect day?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Plenty No, I'm just no, no, no care. So a
perfect a perfect day to me would be waking up,
creating the entire day.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Just just anything I think of is just hot hot,
writing down stuff, writing down stuff, writing down stuff like
I've had few these days. I'm not even like I've
had few these days, and I'm still chasing these days, man, man, and.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's just unraveled.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Like if I just keep writing the whole day, if
I come up with a bomb joke or a TV
show or movie idea wherever, even if it ain't for me,
just for somebody else, because I liked I like to
come up with stuff and call people be like, man,
this is great for you.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You should take this and run with it.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
If that happened, man, that's a great day.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I think, so, I think the last time that happened.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Man, it's hard for me to write, man, because it's
just I can't. I can't write like just the obvious
spoon feeds you what you want to hear type stuff,
you know what I mean. So it's hard for me
to really find that groove or whatever. But it's been
it's been a while before I had an entire day
like that. I've had moments. I have moments in days
(27:09):
that I go, oh, this is funny, Yeah, this is cool.
But ideas that I already have jotted down that I
can't really find a niche for like that, Yeah, that
that's sent my whole day off sometimes. But if I can,
if I can do that and write something like all
day long, like that perfect day, perfect.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Day, maybe that's one of the reason why you're so successful,
because you don't settle with what an average day is.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
For the perfect day, you're in search of the perfect day.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yo, and and and and Conan told me one time,
he was like, every day can't be magical. If every
day was magical, we wouldn't have magical days. So I
have to remember that. And I also need to know
and it's also important to know that what I do
for a living.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It is not the yess that's the job title.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
It's the nose. For every ten jokes, I write only
one or two work. But I have no problem with
writing a hundred jokes in order to get a nice
tim And it's sad, It's.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
All right, do you have it?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Special Thanks and my friend Dion Cole for sharing those
special moments with us on his personal experiences and his
perspective on the realities of the journey to success. Also
shout out to Dion for spending those special times with
us to help us forget about what's going on in
the world and just laugh for a little while.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
I'll see you next time on that moment.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
That Moment with Damon John is a production of the
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite show and don't forget
to subscribe to and rate the show. And of course
you didn't all connect with me on any of my
(28:56):
social media platforms. At the Shark, Damon spelt like Raymond,
the wooded Dee
It's a purpose when I'm here and what I'm going through.
This is just this is just gonna make my story
sweeter or whatever. And you know, I just keep going
because of the goal. The goal is to keep rocking
and making people happy. Every four years, this is a
new audience. That that number that that number four is
something we're talking about. You're graduating four years from school,
(00:23):
you graduate, presidents, go through terms for four years. It's
about the four years. It's every four years you almost
get a new life. The way you you can, you
can do it all over again. So you do as
much as you can in the four years that four
years up. You's fulfilling those years while being the best,
(00:44):
being the most original and funny and making people laugh.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And your reward is the feeling that you geteling at you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
What if I told you there was more to the
story behind game changing events? Getting ready for my new podcast,
That Moment with Damon John will jump into the personal
stories of some of the most influential people on the planet,
from business mobiles and celebrities to athletes and artists.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So I'm sitting here with my guy, Dion Cole, and
I'm just gonna give you a couple of accolades, NWCP Award,
Screen Actors Award, got an Emmy, right nominated, nominated for
an Emmy. All right, all right, he's he's a comedian,
actor and writer.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Uh you know, you see him on Blackish.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
He's also written for Conan O'Brien and so many other
things that we can learn from him. Before I lay
it all out, I want you to think think about this.
I was shooting one day Shark Tank with Jeff Foxworth
and he says something to me fascinating.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
He said, you know, it was a comedian. It's probably
one of.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The hardest jobs in the world because you got to
earn every single laugh.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
You got to earn every single thing. And you know, if.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Michael Jackson was alloted to that, he could sing beat
It for the next one hundred years, and everybody's gonna
sing beat it with him.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Once I tell a joke, it's over.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I got to earn, you know, the laughter from each
joke over the course of an hour or whatever the
case is, and then I can never tell that joke again.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
So think about that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Also, think about all these people that we see in
show business and entertainers.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Everybody thinks they can write.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Everybody thinks they can tell a joke, everybody thinks they
could sing, So you don't have an actual commodity that
is tangible and you can feel I have a shirt,
you can at least.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Tell that it costs five to ten or.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Twenty dollars to make, and if you don't want it,
I can discount it or sell it someplace else. If
you don't get the gig, I don't know how you
discount it or whatever whatever the case is. And there's
a million other people that think they can do the
same exact thing. So now you got to face all
these challenges, get rejected a million time, and still try
to find a way to feed your family. So I
just want to set that up for everybody who thinks
(02:53):
that it's just cool to get on stage and sing,
dance and or.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, make a joke.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Right, So, let's get into you, Dan, Let's get into
you know, tell me, tell me a little bit of
about your story.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
What was your family upbringing? Where were you born? Will
you raised?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
South side of Chicago, outside Chicago, outside of Chicago?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Only child? Uh? Me and my momil Yeah, me and
my mom. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
I was the only person. I was the only person
got in trouble.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, my imagination the only person.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Had to work and bring home money for the family. Hu.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Imagination is fierce, that's how Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, you know when I did something wrong on my
imaginary brother, but I was the only one who got
my my butt whips. I got all the attention, unlimited whippings.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So you know, south Side came up, gang infested, drugs,
all that same story, different well, same whale, different realm.
You know, my mom's moved me to the suburbs because
it was getting so bad and I was really plugged
on the South Side, Chicago with my cousin.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
He was really feared.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And then he started selling the dope he was started
using the dope he was selling, and then people weren't
scared of him no more.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So then it was like coming at us.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And my mother was like, yeah, we're gonna move the suburb,
move me to an all white suburb culture shock. But
I wouldn't have it no other way because when I
got out there, I started learning through this white dude
I was hanging with and started learning about like led
Zeppelin and the Doors and yeah, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Man, what's this? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
But in return, I would turn him on the public
enemy in l L and KRS, you know. And so
it was just it was great being out there, but
I fought more out there than I did in the
city because I started fighting for racial equality. These white
boys was whooping, whooping everybody ass out there, you know.
(05:05):
And so it was crazy how I was like fighting
out there so much, you know. But more black started
moving out, then more we started like teaming up.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yo that too.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
But at the same toga we we ended up fighting,
and and then that led to me going to school
and didn't stay there long about a year.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Left, came back to Chicago.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
And found comedy.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, I went to Philanders Smith in Arkansas. Yeah, I
went down there for a semester. And that was around
the time. Remember that show on HBO Banging a Little.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Rock YEP, when they showed how bad Little Rock was.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We was in the middle of that. Yeah, yeah, they was.
They were shooting at us and our kind of stuff.
So we left.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was a weird time because at the same token
that they was down there banging like that, we were
also working with Bill Clinton right before he became president,
like and like like good friends would do, like when
he won the presidency. It blew my mind that man,
(06:10):
mister Clinton, mister Clinton won like it was crazy, you know.
But he loved us because he loved blues and from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So she used to always call us shot.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Time, and we always talked about music and I would
make up. I knew about Coco Taylor and Muddy Water
and all them, but I didn't really listened to her,
but I would live to say that in order to
talk to him, you know what I mean. But yeah,
and then it just and then after that I came
home and found comedy and start doing well.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think that there's one thing that I think we
haven't well, a couple of things in common. Obviously growing
up o with children, having a strong mother who was
willing to take the risk and go out of the
comfort zone to save us.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
But also, you know, my mother didn't move me to
the suburb.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
However, every every summer she would send me away, send
me to Hawaii, or send me some.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Place to be around other cultures.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Now, somebody may say, well, man, your mom has gotta
like that to send you to white. No, my mother
had a girlfriend who lived on a Navy base, so
she knew I could stay there for free.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
She bought the ticket four years.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
In advance, so it was a seventeen connecting flight to Hawaii.
I left on you know, I left in you know June.
I got there in July, all the fans because of
the standby.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
But no matter what I got to see.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I got to see how other cultures live later on
equipment in life, to not be afraid, not think that
they're better, not think that they're worse, to just understand
a little bit more value the people. Now you're fighting
with someone, but on the flip side, you'll bring public
enemy them.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
And they were teaching you about led Zeppelin.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You were learning the theory and hopefully that probably as
we talk about it, that empowered you to move forward
into this big world of la in Hollywood. Now where
did you find comedy and how did you decide to
be on the back end of it?
Speaker 5 (07:57):
First of all, being a writer or the not seen
the end of it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well as far as writing, that led for me doing
stand up And I know it was no funny dude,
And I never was funny, Like I'm always People that
know me they know that I'm super chill really, you know,
But I wasn't funny. It was just my outlook on things,
(08:22):
the way I looked at things. If somebody tripped and
fail in front of me and my friends, everybody be laughing,
I'll be the only person like, why did they fall?
Let's investigate why they fail and going to depth about
why they fail like that would be me all the
time with everything. And so that comedy led to me
(08:42):
starting to be in a world of comedy that really
didn't fit. But I was a black comic and it
was different and it was unique. Ended up getting on
Death Jam and Deaf Comedy Jam. Yeah, I went on
TV show and I went on tour. Only had fourteen minutes.
I did seven minutes on death Jam, meaning I had
(09:04):
another seven left.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I went on tour and I was getting boomed fourteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I did seven minutes on death Jam, meaning I had
another seven left. I went on tour and I was
getting boomed like left and right, or wasn't nobody laughing
like I think? I did like four cities and then
they sent me home. I remember sitting in the airport
with my Death Jam hat jacket, just sitting there like
humiliated that I was being sent home from the tour.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
You know, who were at that time too.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
No, No, I was working. Yeah, I was doing like
shows around in the city, but I.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Was doing it. What were you doing to pay the bills?
Purely commine?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, I stopped Yeah after I did Death Jam. Because
before Depth Jam, I think I was doing. My career
took off really quick. I was doing comedy like like
probably like eight months before I got on Depth Jam,
so everything went really quick. I was working a space
called leather Makers right before while I was and then
leather Makers closed and that's all.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I started doing was comedy.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So I was just making money ends meet by doing
little shows around the city and stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
But Depth Jam give.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
You the what But what gave you the confidence? If
you felt already listen, I'm not really funny. I just
analyzed a different way. What gave you the competency even
applied to do stand up anywhere?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I think it was the fact, well, me first, when
I first started, it wasn't even me. It was a
friend of mine who bet me fifty dollars. He was
like something happened and he was like, dude, you should
do stand up like you are right, you're so twisted,
like you should do stand up. When I was like,
I ain't doing no stand up because I just went
into that. Plus I was into some other like like
(11:05):
ill shit, and so I didn't want that kind of
attention on me.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And he was like, man, I bet you fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And I went on stage and I remember again standing
ovation at first time off of five minutes that I did,
and I knew that my life changed, but I still
didn't like the attention. I didn't like being on stage
because of all of the shit that I was into.
And I remember my death jam Are. I remember when
(11:33):
like the next day I was at the gas station
and people roll up on me and be like yo,
and I'll run, really because I didn't I would.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I didn't know what I wouldn't. I didn't think.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I didn't know what fame was, and I just always
was on the lookout, you know what I mean, Like
always like paranoid. Anytime somebody came up to me, I
would run. And it was weird even at shows, like
I wouldn't even I would like try to go through
the back door just to go on stage, and then
I'll go out the back because I didn't want to
be around nobody. But that paranoia had me like really
(12:05):
really tripping or whatever, which led to like me doing
a lot of weed, which led to me forgetting a
lot of my jokes, which led to me it may be,
but it created this fantastic bit that I still do
to this day, which is I take this notepad on
stage with me, and I like do my jokes from
(12:27):
this notepad. But that actually came from a condition that
I was having at the time. I was so scared
on stage and so paranoid that I would just read
the jokes off the paper and people would laugh because
I would just go, Yo, I gotta do these jokes,
and I gotta go And I would read these jokes
and people would laugh and they would laugh, and they laughing,
(12:48):
I'll go, all right, I'm out of here, and now
I would leave.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I wouldn't even rememorize them. I would just write them
down and then go.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
What was What was what was the allure or the
passion or drive to keep doing it?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
You know, you're somebody who didn't like the public, you know,
seeing you're paranoid.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Or just the you're opinion, the bills off of it?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was it that? It was? It was?
Speaker 5 (13:10):
It was a curiosity what was going on?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
It was. It was the it was the fail.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Comedy has a feel that's that's very unique. It's nothing
like it sex, money, it's nothing like this feel to
go into a room and stand on the stage or
a microphone and say what you think and and and
get it across to a room full of people that
(13:36):
you've never seen before, and to get them to go, yeah,
we get that, Yeah we agree with you. Yeah, that's funny. Yes,
we understand what you're saying it.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I mean, because I'm thinking you get on stage, everybody's
sitting there with their mouth open like this, like hurry
up and make me laugh, and then people start going you.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But that's but that's but see, that's how great the
feeling is. The feeling is so great that you will
risk being booed by hundreds of thousands or ten people whatever.
You will risk that in order to chase that feeling.
That's how great that feeling is.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I don't think there's any difference in that and business.
You can make a product and or something, you send
it out to everybody you think that they have. You
know they're gonna understand. They send it back and say
it sucks, and you're like, maybe you didn't get it.
But I'm telling you I can make you feel good
with this, with this product or this lotion, with this cake,
with his T.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Shirt right right, It's the same thing. But this feeling
is like it I can't even really describe it. It's
like it's almost like a conquering type thing in a sense.
And it also gives you this sense of accomplishment as
well as helping people. You know, man, you wouldn't believe
(14:52):
how many people in hospital beds, prisons that it came
up to me and told me that, Yo, they seen
me on TV and my joke helped them. It's people
that told me that a family member then died and
they just wanted to laugh and be happy until.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
They until they last days.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And so when you hear that, like you go wow,
you know, you understand your purpose and then you go
even further and further with what you do.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
That is that an empowering feeling.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
It's almost a feeling that you never get rewarded for,
you know what I mean, like agents, agents, book people
don't to me, people think they agent like that, Like
they just take the gig and they mad at you
for not getting them to gigs and then when you're
getting then when you get one, it's yours and you
get all the glory. So it's almost like that. It's
just I don't know, man, I don't know. Maybe somebody
(15:49):
I still cannot describe that feeling. I just know that
I've never felt nothing like it, you know. I mean,
I've been in front of five people on stage, and
I've been in front of thirty five thousand, and it's
it's it's feeling that I leave. I always have to
kind of digress when I get off stage, even with
(16:10):
five people, I have to digress.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And now you know, you're you've been in front of
the camera often as well as in back of the camera.
Is there you know, like in black Ish, right, is
there a difference in regards to being in back of
the camera writing for somebody else to you know, you
gotta be you got to embody that person. That person
has to embody the materials, and then you're in front
of the camera. I don't know, when you're in front
(16:32):
of the camera, like on black and some of those shows,
other people are writing for you, correct, is there a
difference in that?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, when I'm when I'm in front of the camera,
I'm escaping. I'm becoming somebody else, and I'm doing things
that I wouldn't normally do myself, and I try to
do it through this character. Even things that I think
I wish I could do that I don't, I try
to incorporate it in that character. Me writing for someone else,
it's more of me keeping my chops up, But it's
(17:03):
also learning to adapt. If I wrote something for you,
it's like this, the way you are with your mother
ain't the way that you are with your kids, And
the way you are with your kids ain't the way
you are with your woman. The way you are with
your women ain't the way you are out with your boys.
So it's adapting and this knowing these environments and then
learning these environments and then writing for that environment. You
(17:25):
get what I'm saying. So, yeah, that's that's the difference
to me.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Basically in between that time from starting to where you
are today, be on the road door slamming your face,
not knowing if you're gonna be able to, you know,
pay the rent the next day. I mean, it didn't
sound like you a trust fun baby. You know what
did you do during that time? Because how long was that?
How long was the stretch of period time since you
(17:49):
started in comedy, and today.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
This October would be twenty six years.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Twenty six years a long time, ye quarter?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And what happened those times when it got dark, when
you were put back on a plane from in the
middle of depth dam tour. You were a crappy ass
hotel in the middle of West Virginia. Not that everything
in the middle of New York whatever, Right, we have
crappy ass hotels everywhere. And then you got booed, right,
and you were you know, did you have a question?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Why are you doing this?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And what made you keep going for twenty six years
with no promise of anything and probably the first or
eighty percent of that time.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Right, I think it's I think it's it's the fantasy
of what could what could be looking at other people's
career and seeing what they did, and looking at their
trials and tribulations, and then looking at.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Mine and going, it's not that bad. You know.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Bernie Mack used to take the train from Chicago to
LA to do a show to open for Gladys Knight
and get right back on the train and come back.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know what I mean, You don't you got a
second guess yourself to say maybe he was just funnier
than me, or like a model will say, maybe somebody's
more handsome me or somebody stronger than me.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
No, but we're talking about determination. What keeps you going
when when I hear these stories and I see what
he did, it makes me go and I'm complaining about
flying first class somewhere and the show is late, you know,
like these are these are these situations that put me
in tune with what's going on and what's what I'm
(19:29):
here for.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The purpose of what I'm here for is for the people.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Every day you got knocked down, you look at somebody
else and say, you know what, they got knocked down too.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, that's that's powerful.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Actually really powerful. I think I'm gonna use that one
day and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Please do it. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
The life of a coming. So what's next? Human?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Oh man?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So we're just right now shooting Blackish and Grownish. We
got a couple of shows that I'm I'm I'm writing
and about to produce right now to get on get
on air. Great great material, great content that's about to happen.
Shooting the Netflix special in November very excited about that.
(20:40):
It's my second special actually like third in the sense,
and yeah, I'm just excited excited about that and just
keep it going and stuff. Yeah, yeah, I'm on tour
right now. I'm doing my tour U and I'm doing
the tour with Martin too. And I also created this
hair product, this hair tool car Easy Scratch. So becoming
(21:03):
an entrepreneur and doing that, it's crazy dabbling with that.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Man. Man, all I know is.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
If I'm comfortable, I mean, I ain't elevating because elevation
ain't comfortable.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So what would you say is the is the number
one source of or or things that empower you? How
do you use things around your life or your mentality
to empower yourself every day today?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I think just being around people that are successful and
that have paved the way and have done things and
seeing how they do things and incorporating every little bit
that I get from from everybody and applying it to me,
you know, and just you don't have to be big lessons,
neither could be little lessons that that I can learn.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
One time I was with Conan. We was on uh.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
One is like this private jet that he had and
we were touring and he was on there with like
all these different execs and stuff. And I jumped on
the plane. I had like Gucci backpack, Gucci, a garment bag, trolley, Gucci.
I'm hopping on Gucci glasses. I'm hopping on it on
the PJ like yo. We outs soon as I get
(22:17):
on coning and them sitting there and they was like, hey,
what's going on? And I was like, man, ready to roll.
And they was like this, that's a nice luggage. I
was like, yo, that's that's that's that's yours. And I
started looking at them. Each one of these dudes one
hundred million dollars apiece, fifty million whatever. Garment bag looked
(22:38):
like a garbage bag right here. This bag is just
like a little roly trolley.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I was a lie.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I was just like, now, somebody loaned this to me,
and you know that's and I'm gonna give it back
after we're done. And they was like, oh yeah, make
sure you give it back to them, you know. And
I was like, okay, cool, that experience right there, just
let me know that, you know, these dudes are filthy rich.
Not one Gucci belt nowhere, you know what I mean.
(23:08):
But but these the story. The point I'm making is
being around these people allow me to go, yo, I
don't have to be this way. This is why I
could be. Don't don't get me wrong. We black, so
we're gonna be fresh, but we don't have to be
over the top like that, you know what I mean.
So it's just being with certain people whatever. I've been
around you before and you just said certain stuff, and
(23:30):
I'm a sponge.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I just don't say nothing. But I took it.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
I learned. It's a long time ago as well. You know,
I learned that lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And you know, I came in a room with the
diamond out rolelegs and everything, and I was in a
room where there was probably about six billionaires in the
room and they didn't they didn't have anything on them,
and you know, they, you know, they looked at people.
There's certain people like you come to the room and
you're looking for attention, especially when you're somebody who's trying
to get people invest in you. They really believe that
(23:58):
you now going to spend your ears responsible, you're financially irresponsible.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
And they kind of move on.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
A lot of people think due diligence starts when you
give somebody, you know, a prospectus or an investment document.
Due diligience starts when they pick up their phone, look
at you on Instagram, or when when you when you're
walking on the plane with a bunch of.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Gucci and they're like, man, don't give this to the check.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Don't give him a check. Is he gonna blow it off?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So it's that it's that a parent, it's those little
nuances that are that are way bigger than a cent.
And then then like a seminar, you sitting up with
somebody and they drilling something in your head or whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
It's like, yo, just those little.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Things and being in those moments allowed me to you
know what I'm saying, like, uh learn in a sense
you know?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So now I love it.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think that all those little nuggets, whether it's the
resetting after four years and the nuances and what people
are noticing and or educating us on how you know what.
There's people in the hospital bed who say you made
me laugh, you made me feel better. I think I
think all we can take away all of those aspects
and think about how we're empowers us. So with the
point now where we have a bunch of them questions
(25:06):
here that were submitted by fellow Sharks and fans and supporters.
I want you to read it out, you know, answer it,
and then you're gonna write your own question and we're
gonna throw it in there for the next nice.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Nice This is great sell what you got. So let
me say this one. Okay, what is your idea of
a perfect day?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And when was the last time you have one of
these days?
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Perfect day, A perfect day?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Plenty No, I'm just no, no, no care. So a
perfect a perfect day to me would be waking up,
creating the entire day.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Just just anything I think of is just hot hot,
writing down stuff, writing down stuff, writing down stuff like
I've had few these days. I'm not even like I've
had few these days, and I'm still chasing these days, man, man, and.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's just unraveled.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Like if I just keep writing the whole day, if
I come up with a bomb joke or a TV
show or movie idea wherever, even if it ain't for me,
just for somebody else, because I liked I like to
come up with stuff and call people be like, man,
this is great for you.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You should take this and run with it.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
If that happened, man, that's a great day.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I think, so, I think the last time that happened.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Man, it's hard for me to write, man, because it's
just I can't. I can't write like just the obvious
spoon feeds you what you want to hear type stuff,
you know what I mean. So it's hard for me
to really find that groove or whatever. But it's been
it's been a while before I had an entire day
like that. I've had moments. I have moments in days
(27:09):
that I go, oh, this is funny, Yeah, this is cool.
But ideas that I already have jotted down that I
can't really find a niche for like that, Yeah, that
that's sent my whole day off sometimes. But if I can,
if I can do that and write something like all
day long, like that perfect day, perfect.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Day, maybe that's one of the reason why you're so successful,
because you don't settle with what an average day is.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
For the perfect day, you're in search of the perfect day.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yo, and and and and Conan told me one time,
he was like, every day can't be magical. If every
day was magical, we wouldn't have magical days. So I
have to remember that. And I also need to know
and it's also important to know that what I do
for a living.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It is not the yess that's the job title.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
It's the nose. For every ten jokes, I write only
one or two work. But I have no problem with
writing a hundred jokes in order to get a nice
tim And it's sad, It's.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
All right, do you have it?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Special Thanks and my friend Dion Cole for sharing those
special moments with us on his personal experiences and his
perspective on the realities of the journey to success. Also
shout out to Dion for spending those special times with
us to help us forget about what's going on in
the world and just laugh for a little while.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
I'll see you next time on that moment.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
That Moment with Damon John is a production of the
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite show and don't forget
to subscribe to and rate the show. And of course
you didn't all connect with me on any of my
(28:56):
social media platforms. At the Shark, Damon spelt like Raymond,
the wooded Dee
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