April 9, 2024 • 59 mins
The hysterical JB Smoove joined That Moment with Daymond John to share the incredible story of how a combination of non-stop hustle and the loss of a friend resulted in him landing the iconic role of Leon Black in HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. To put that moment in perspective, he also dove into the journey of becoming a comedian and how he made the decision to take the plunge and go all in.
Mixed in with anecdotes about his experiences performing at different venues and how he treats each show as a learning opportunity, he also got into his short-lived Saturday Night Live writer career that landed him new opportunities and what it was actually like auditioning for Curb with legendary Larry David (who he met for the first time when he walked into the audition room).
In typical JB form, he had me cracking up even while giving some of the most insightful comments and strategies that I’ve ever heard, from his methods for overcoming failure to his commitment to remaining authentic to the importance of wanting everybody - not just you - to win.
This episode of That Moment with Daymond John is such a fun discussion with note-taking-worthy lessons and takeaways for any listener. As JB explains (and you’ll have to tune in to hear how you can actually do this), you have to be the one driving your car and controlling how other people respect you, and I’m grateful he took the time to share his powerful journey with myself and all of the listeners.
Host: Daymond John
Producers: Beau Dozier & Shanelle Collins; Ted Kingsbery, Chauncey Bell, & Taryn Loftus
For more info on how to transform your life and business to the next level, check out DaymondJohn.com and @thesharkdaymond on all platforms!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Uh, so, thank you JB. Man, you know you're my guy.
I called you, I don't know randomly last minute. I
was like, I need you on here because I need
to know about that moment with JB. And uh, thank
you for being here, brother, oh man, thank.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You for having me. Man, you already know what it is. Man,
this is uh. You know, I like, I like talking
about the journal.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You know, well, well, a lot of people don't hear it.
I know that, you know, people like you and myself
were asked the general questions. You know. I'm trying to
get a little deeper into it. I see you on
huge billboards now. Of course you've been on many seasons
of uh, you know, Curb and Husband's Hollywood or you know,
your own shows, you know, and I've been on that one.
(00:54):
I believe I had the doing that show with you
and so many other things on me voice isn't veriss
of things.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I don't think you know a lot of people. I'd
be very honest, I know a lot of people who
are in the comedy world. My mother wanted to see
Kat Williams, and I love Kat Williams, and randomly Tommy
Davison came out on stage and I was like, oh man,
he's one of my favorites, you know. Yeah, and what's
the name was there? What's the name who? Mister Cooper?
(01:22):
Mark Curry, Mark Curry right.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Linnell? Uh, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It was amazing. And I you know, season two, I sat, uh,
Jeff fox really came onto the show to help Mark
Barnett shar Tank was suffering, you know, with Jeff Worthy
did Jeff Foxford did like smarter than whatever, greater and
we needed some We needed some We needed some heat.
We needed some heat. Jeff Foxford then you had to
you know, he had he had Middle America and he
(01:56):
sat there and said something to me that there's no
stranger to you. He said, damn. You know Michael Jackson
at the time, Michael Jackson was alive. He said, Michael Jackson,
I think he was a love. He said, Michael Jackson
or Madonna can do that damn song a thousand times.
I can't do a joke a thousand times. And by
the way, everybody that heard that song, they heard it prior,
so they're coming, they're ready to rock out to beat
(02:16):
it or material. I got to earn every goddamn joke,
every joke, and have they heard it before I'm done?
All right? I don't think a job is harder. They
say public speaking is hard, and it's not. I don't
think a job is harder than getting up there to
a whole bunch of strangers who will interpret something you're
(02:38):
saying different each person, and being the last forefront of
honesty to make fun of ourselves. And you get up
on stage, you make people forget about life and politics
and all this even though you're talking about it. We
take a minute to laugh at ourselves and you earn
every single bit of it. How do you do that
(02:59):
for thirty forty Yeah, I'm gonna get into that right now. Man,
were you a class clown?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know what? I was a hallway clown, man. I
you know, I was a hallway clown, meaning you know,
I was a.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Good student, you know, three point zero student, you know,
art major, engineering, drafting major, double major in high school.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So I was a hallway clown man, meaning.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That in between classes it was like it was like
the greatest time of our lives. Man, I had like
a I've been just blessed with you know, you know,
I grewup in the projects, Marvel in New York. But
I was blessed with meeting amazing friends, you know, friends
who were funny as me, but would never get on stage.
They weren't that kind of funny, but they were hilarious.
(03:49):
So for me, I was a hallway clown man, straight
up all way clown.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It took, and I've clowned so hard, you know, with
my friends. One time I almost got left back, almost
got up back. In eighth grade, we clowned so much
that and we were in mar High We were the
last eighth graders because they had to repair the eighth
grade school and they put the eighth graders in the
(04:14):
high school with the high schools.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So we had a little wing in the high school
if the.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
High school where they had the eighth graders at, and
the rest of the school was ninety nine to twelve,
and man, we were like animal house.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It was crazy over there.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I clown so much that I literally I had
all these in an F.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
If I had one more f I would have been
sitting back.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I'm already in high school and I would have been
sent back to the eighth grade that they just fixed.
You know how crazy that A bit sitting back to
the eighth grade school that they were fixing that they
took me in school, they were finished fixing it. But
I'm going to move back into the eighth grade school
that they were fixing.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Crazy. But I got out of that and that shocked me.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That that shook me up a little bit, man, And
I learned how to control by pall away clownness, you know,
and I.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Reeled it in. I real did.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, because I see most of the comedians I know,
or even the ones that I've seen, you know, in
the hood that we grew up with, and maybe they
didn't have as successful level career, I mean very few
of having successful career as you. They were the kind
of person that just couldn't help it. I mean they
would just be in class like and you know, it'd
be a small dude and the big bully do something
(05:35):
and the small dude just be like, you can't help it.
You know, he about to get his ass well, but
he just can't help it. So being a being that
is crazy. Now, now let's talk about the first time,
the first time you realize that moment, and I'm talking
(05:56):
about the first time you tried it, and I'm talking
about the first time you realize that you're gonna take
a real shot at it, or you realize that you're
never going back.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh man, I'm gonna give you two moments. I'm gonna
give you my moments. At Open State University. You know,
I met a whole new group of friends. You know,
I still have my mom vern crew, I still hang
up the scene. I'm still have the same friends from
eighth grade, seventh grade, I still have the same friends,
and some of my friends also from fifth grade. I
still have the same friends.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Man. So when I went to college and most university,
it's funny us to.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Growing up public speaking because I took a public speaking class,
you know, and I remember I.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Did a something about art.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And men that great dear standing in front of that
whole class. Really like kicked in this public speaking thing,
you know, learning how to put it in your own
put your own personality into it, which calmed me that you.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You don't you don't get as nervous when you just
being yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
It's when you don't trust yourself, you're trying to be
robotic and you're not fluid with it that makes it
a mess. When I met those those friends, when I
took that that published picking class and then I got
into his his what turned the corner park My friends,
my new friends off from Jersey, you know, one from
out vernon the resting Jersey.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They dared me to get into.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
This uh uh a bachelor, bachelor bachelorette on campus uh
contests at the student Union building, and I was one
of the three bachelors and it was a you know,
a beautiful girl she picked, you know, she would pick
one of us for a date.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And when I tell you, my friend said, I day,
I dare to do it. I said, man, don't damn
you man, you know I'll do it. He dared me
to go up there and do it. So I became
one of the bachelor's on stage and made every answer
I gave was ripping, ripping the audience. Many started stomping
the feet, throwing stuff on stage and started going crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Every answer I gave was killing it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Let me tell you something after I did that, you know,
having already been Richard Pryor fan, Eddie Murphy fan, you
know Bill Coffee fan, Red Fox fan, you know George
Calling fan.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Big fan of stand up.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Comedy already, when I got on that stage and I
was killing like that with no rich material. Off the
top of my head, I said, Yo, I think I
can do this. But I always wanted to be a comedian.
But also, you know, I mean, I was an artist,
so I had my.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Little art thing going on. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Here in that crowd, and that's to a union building
rocking like that. The girl ended up picking me, right,
But I'm gontain something. I never even took the girl out.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yo, Damn.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I was the man on campus. I was the man
for months. All they talked about was how I ripped
it at the student union building, and every answer I
gave that she was asking what's killing it? And I
never We never even went out.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
You know what I say? You know what?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
She picked me, But she picked me. I didn't pick up.
So what's supposed to happen? You're telling me, am I
supposed to chase her around campus for that day? Or
is she supposed to take Hey, I picked you? Ready
to go out?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
What? What? What do you think.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
She's supposed say? I picked you? No? No, No, you're supposed
to be yeah, you used to be sweating up, you
know you're supposed to be excited?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But am I supposed to ask her. Am I supposed
to say, hey, you picked me? We ready to go out?
Or am I supposed to wait? Because she picked me?
She's a bacherette, I'm the bachelor. She picked me out
of three other guys. To the gods, what's supposed to
happen here?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Wants to pick you? Ready to go? She's supposed to say? Read?
But but it does never happened anyway.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
It's not that I didn't care, but I was the
man like care man for three months.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So that rate there, that turn rate there got me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know, understanding that I drive my own vehicle, you
drive your vehicle in my vehicle that I'm driving, I
know how to drive.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
But I think that you know, there's a I've been
you know, you and I have been on stages for years,
and it took me a long It didn't take me
a long time because I was old enough to read
books on it. You were you were at that time,
like twenty yeah, twenty years old? Right. Yeah, you're taking
a public speaking class in this and you know a
lot of people don't realize, you know, the information that
you're going to share on the stage. Everybody has it,
(10:34):
but people are listening and they want to hear your perspective,
your experience from it. And you understood that at a
very young age you would transition that to you know
obviously that that that moment. Why were you confident enough?
Because I think even today, when people are speaking or
(10:55):
wanting to say something, they're so busy trying to say, Man,
I'm not I'm not a I'm not a professor, I'm
not a i'm not a millionaire, I'm not of this,
and that some young kid out there like you're just
You're just you're accepting who you are. What gave you
that confidence to feel like that?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I think what I think is you're humbold by your existence.
You're humble by your beginnings. You know, like I said, man,
I grew up with a private sm We ain't have much,
you know what I mean? We ain't have much, man,
You know we we you know, we got it. And
and I'm telling you, man, I lost a lot of
friends growing up. I lost a lot of friends before
(11:38):
they even got out of high school. So it's like this, Man,
if you can find a way two live, if you
can find a way to live and find a way
to navigate through it, through all that stuff, and see
and see.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It for what it is. I'm not gonna knock it
because it may be who I am.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I can and just say that I found a
way to navigate through all that, Through all the troubles
and things I've seen.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I see throw them off the roof.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I've seen a little bit of everything. I see people shot,
I've seen people throw off a building. You know, it's
New York, man, this is New York City. I've hung
in all the clubs, man, David, I have ran out
of probably fifty clubs.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Man. Lets you, that's how we started knowing each other.
I had no you in that industry, hanging in the
club when I first out of seeing you.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Look all the joints, rooftop tunnel, Bentley's, Red Parent, RP.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You name it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You named any club I have hung out in it
In New York City, Man, the Funhouse.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Don't give me. Don't get me going too far back.
The funhouse, man, I have seen.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Everybody, every hip hop artist in their humble beginnings, everybody.
I usually go to Lincoln Projects because my buddy used
his cousin was doing security for Douggie Fresh Back in
the days, we used to go to see basement parties
with Masterdon and Barry Beet battling on the crossbander and
up and down. Man, I seen testing. I mean I
(13:13):
have seen you. Name any hip hop moment, I know it.
I was dead, I was dead, damn it. I'm telling
you all these things are a part of You gotta
see it. You gotta see it before your eyes to
understand that anything is possible. And that's a part of
your That's a part of everything. Your experiences are always
(13:33):
a part of your journey, Man, and being a part
of the exception of hip hop was definitely definitely something
that inspired me. Man, and we as comedians, we gotta
be inspired by everything, music, life, birds, anybody, anything, everything.
We gotta know how to talk about everything, So we
gotta be inspired by everything.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
We want to see how we live.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
What inspired you after that to hit the road, because
what did you have? The Internet wasn't out, so you
didn't you didn't pick up material from you know that
you've just seen floating around. Of course, you can go
and look at books or maybe older jokes by Rudy
ray Moore or whatever the case is. What inspired you
and what was that moment? Did you first hit the stage.
How did you go? Did you do Caroline? Like?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Who?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Where was the first one you said? You know after
this I'm cool? Did you investigate how to do it?
Did you just say, Yo, I'm gonna go downtown. You
go to a local ball what? What was that nest
thing you did?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Some of My best material is material that wasn't even
on stage.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was just me being silly with my friends.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Know, we used to do some of the funniest stuff, man,
and it would never make to It was stuff that
couldn't make it to the stage because it's just stuff
you are, you know, improvising in a moment.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's spontaneous stuff, you know. So for me, it was this.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
You know, when I when I ran out of money
and offa state university.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I d'n I ran out of money.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I said, i'mna go home, get a job, I'm work
and save some money and come back and finish up
my last year at North of State University. So I
went home, and I think that me being on that stage, man,
it really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
When I got home.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know, the first thing I did was, Man, I
just went downtown. I heard about this comedy club called
the Uptown Comedy Club in Paul. It was on one
was it, uh one, twenty fifth and fifth Avenue, Yeah,
fifth and fifth. Man, when I tell you, I went
down to that comedy club, and let me tell you,
(15:36):
I was blown away.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was packed with people.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
The lines were around the block to get upstairs to
this comedy club.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Everybody used to come through there.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Man, I'm talking about all the celebrities at that time
were comped Uptown Comedy Club. I'm gonna tell you it
was the National Black Theater in Paul. But on that night,
on every Sunday, it was stand up night. And man,
when I tell you, everybody used to be there. Man,
you name him, they were all there. And that's why
I started.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I remember. I went there. I stood in the back
of the room. It was packed.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Those seats were aveilable and it was seated across. It
wasn't even like idiots like like cocktail tables. It was
just like full of all chairs lined up row row
road rode all the way to the back of the room.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
You didn't even sometime I would sit there, like how
would I get the hell out of here if something happened.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I was looking around like, yeah, yeah, it's thick.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It was that, you know how, you know how it
was man, you just wanted to be in the building.
It was hot, no air conditioning.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
But maybe when I tell you, it was the most
amazing experience man, that got me.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
You know. I remember I was there, my friend Rob Stampleton,
he was on stage.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And man, I said, Man and I met. That's the
night I met my friend Rob Stampleton and I met
every other other comedians. Man, tell you that was the
most amazing experience man, to see something that was ours
and this was our stage, our our platform. But this
is early. This is before Depth Jail, before b a T,
(17:10):
before all these shows where we got a chance to
show who we were. Before you know, even Apollow had comedy,
but not like this.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
This was.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This was raw, straight up People in Harlem, Brooklyn, Bronx
everywhere would come to this comedy club. Stead online and
was saying we were had out free passes to get
up in there.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
We just wanted to captivating audience. You know.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
It was the most amazing thing ever. And that's where
I hold my skills. That's why I got on that movie.
We had a workshop on on Mondays, so we would
have a show on Monday, a workshop on Monday, the
show Sunday workshop on Monday, and this was this was
an amazing part about it.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
This is what made it. Everybody great.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Everybody had their own style, everybody had their own delivery,
everybody had their own character on stage. And it made
him and really the Brown brothers, Andre and Kevin Brown,
they they were smart in creating shows every Sunday that
were original and different. You could not come to that
(18:20):
place three weeks in row and see the same stuff
because they forced our hand to continue to write and
find out who we were as characters. And we written
and we wrote our jokes that fit our character.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I was very physical, so Michael jokes were all physical jokes.
I would fall on the.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Ground and do crazy stuff, you know, take the microphone
stand and make something out of it. Took the curtain
to make something out of it. I would take the chair.
I would do twenty things with a chair. I mean,
just talk you're talking about. I mean, this was this
is like the most to me. I'm comedy Clubs should
have had a documentary done too, because it was really
the inception of the last comedy at that time. You know,
(19:02):
I haven't heard rumours that they were supposed to. I'm
not even sure it's true or not, but I heard
things like death Jam came down to see to work
with them, you know, before Def Comedy Jam.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So all this was before this is when everybody's on
the way up. I remember, I remember we were.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I remember we were backstage one time. What you think
of TV back there watching Martin. I remember all this
stuff that we saw us growing as comedians.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And this is all. This is no social media, this
is all just streets.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Streets knew about it, and people were lined up around
the block, and a matter how cold it was, it
didn't matter. It was like the greatest experience. That's my
hombo beginnings at the Uptown Comedy Club and then being
in New York.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
After that, I did what I did DUF Comedy Jam,
first season, Duff Comedy Jams Martin posted first season second taping.
So I was blessed to be able to do that.
I did my own audition at your Peepet Lounge in Orange,
New Jersey. And I'm gonna tell you something. That club
didn't play. It did not play around. You go up
(20:09):
and there you your ass is about to get handed
to you if you don't bring you what you supposed
to bring on that stage. And to have an audition
for def comedy jam there, that's crazy. People were going
down the flames. Man, it was crazy up in there.
But it was but if you were able to capture
the moment and let them see you who you are
(20:30):
in your style. Man, when you hit it, it's like
when you hit it, you hit it like you hit it.
I remember I went like next to last or something
like that. Twenty five dudes went on before me. But
I found a way to to take the energy that
was created in the room already and use it to
(20:52):
my vam, use.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It to my vama, to my fan.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Now, all of a sudden, you go from that date
or that that audition, you know whatever, the bathetor being
eighty four all the way through Uptown Comedy Club airing
now in the blink of an eye for the most time,
but it felt like probably forever. You probably didn't you
didn't go back to school. I'm assuming six years later
(21:27):
and now you're airing on TVs nineteen ninety two. I
just looked it up. The hip hop songs in nineteen
ninety two were oh oh, we got one from your
town too, But we gotta jump around House of Pain.
We jumped criss crossed, but we got Pete rock cl Smooth,
you know mount Burn's finest, right, We got they want
Affects dos Effects? What New York was on fire at
(21:51):
that time. It was it was the renaissance. It was
the time where where we weren't you know, Spike Lee,
Maddie Richard already made it tall in them. They were
starting to do this. You got sare us, you got
you got you know, it's feeling good. New York rap
is great, Biggie's starting to come out. Or we feel
a lot of energy out there. Can you name a
(22:13):
song or something like that? I mean, you know we
had Do you remember any song that you really, you know,
loved at that moment when you were driving by, you
were saying, man, I'm on TV now, And I'm not
sure if you were like, damn, now, I really gotta
work or you were like, oh, you gotta.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Realize one thing, Yeah, you got that one thing. I
grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Right, you know who I grew up with, Pete rock
Stal Smooth, Heavy Dad, the boys, right, I'll be sure, Paul, Yeah,
ready to do all right? Next door to us, Grand
Cooper and Masters Masters of Ceremony later came later when
(22:57):
I was growing up. I'm talking about people. I'm really
who I really grew up with. Now, Yupis was right
right there. But I didn't know Xingum back then. But
I don't even know if that was even I don't
know if.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
He was even known yet.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, I'm just saying the element of all the people
I mean because all yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Going back to like early early, I'm going back to
when when when head and Salt Pepper.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I'm going back back, back, back back. I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Look, you talked to a dude who used to carry
record crates for his cousin, who used to battle against
heavy d in the boys. You're talking about a kid
that used to go to the Bronx for block parties
in neighborhoods and we didn't even know and we had
to be like contim we were from there be who
we didn't get beat up? You talking about it, dude,
(23:48):
You I was like mass spilt guard man talking louder.
I was one of the guests who put his lead
jeans between the mattress to make sure they were flat
and spread them with stars to cuting between the matches
to make sure that they would they would have the
best crease ever. And wait to go downtown and go
to that concert. Man, you're talking about man, Look you're
(24:10):
talking about somebody who's been to almost a few name
adio hip hop moment.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I was there. We are inspired by everything, and this
is early. I played football with our you know, I've
been to every man.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I was almost every party that Heaven did in mart Verna.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
People.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I see us smooth hanging out with those guys, and
I'm all forgetting people because we all grew up in.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
The boys and girls cluff.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
We all have history, man, and that that's our that's
our beginnings.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Man, this is each one of our talents fees the other.
It just has to You can't mart Brother's wanting four
square miles.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
How can you not be inspired by someone you went
to school with and see them blow up like that?
I'll be sure during that rooftop, I can't tell you
how I want to feel love out two ninety day
on the rooftop.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Doing video, it was like, oh, that's our friends.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
A year a year earlier we throwing football in middle
of the street, and he went from that to this.
When we saw that video, we said, yoh, look at
ow ow. It's on damn TV. He's on Video Music Box. See, man,
you I'm talking about age right now. I'm going I'm
going to hord right now.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Then no, no, no, no, no, I was over.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I was over the Hollers the same this. But you know,
you know what it will, Chuck Shall out from Chuck
Shall out from up there Brox.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So it was truly Uptown's ticketing, truly, all the battles
Shan and terrorist.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
One and all these things.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Man that we see it. We saw that. We went
to I used to go to look. I used to
go to soundview. I sell you uh sell view projects
over there. You know how many times I see.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The Cole Chris brothers.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I've seen the col Brothers for so many times flash
in a few age five.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Man, I've seen everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
But but and I want to get into like and
you clearly are like you know you like me, like
I think you're only four years old than me. But
you know, I had the same experience with Hollis and
we were all having you know, I was there, you
know the same thing when running that pulled that bus up.
You know they picked us all up from Hollis because
you know you're doing the same And I want to
get into your head though about the moments, because you
(26:28):
know you would go from there, then you would go
to Saturday Night Live. You're right on Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I did a lot of first in New York. I
did the first pilot on MTV. I did the first
pilot on Comedy Central. I did the first season of
the comedy Jam.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I did the first one of the first seasons of
B E. T Comic View.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So I feel, man, I can't even I try to
spain us to young, young, inspiring comedians and that you
truly have to know how to drive your vehicle.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You know I use it.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I use that metaphor because you know, you know, I
use it because I just have a write a dance car,
you know, the kind of car you got to hold
the foot and the break in the gas at red
lights because it was so when cut off on you.
That's how I feel like I had to move through
everything I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
So you didn't look at those pilots as opportunities or
did you look at it or did other people because
other people, some people would have been like, yo, man,
I ain't doing that that new stuff all the time,
and me because you were starting to get more established.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Look, I told this is what I told people when
I when I did BAT Comic View, I did BT
com with view once by the.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Death Comedy Jam twice right. That was different.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
When I did bat once right, and I realized that
all my other friends were doing it three four, five times,
I kept staying I cut up. I would tell them
to say, look, it's okay to do it that many times.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
But make sure now this is the term, this is
a big term.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Make sure you still do other stuff, do other stuff,
be able to communicate in other rooms. Don't just make
yourself one dimensional because they gonna see you with one
dimensional and meaning that I'm in saying it, because look,
I did multiple things, and I made sure that I
(28:26):
was able to perform in front of different kinds of audiences.
Not that I was excluding anybody, but I made sure
I understood and I made sure I tried to write
what's overall funny that you can get it, you can
get it, and I can still go top.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Tele comedy club and kill it you know what I mean.
But I wanted to make sure that you're.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Saying when you said that to other people that did
anybody say, nah, man, I'm mistake.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
No, no, no, that's not even you know, an answer
isn't even required. It's just mean to saying, hey man,
you should try to this other stuff so that way
later on it'll make sense. Right now, you might not
see it because you're killing you're killing me in the
black black clubs.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You don't mean killing it. I get it.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
And and there is comedians who do a lot of
black rooms and black theaters and they chill them. But
you still, if you want to have balance, I said,
don't exclude anything. Do what you do, but find a
way to communicate and be able to walk in any
room for a meeting and be able to communicate and
(29:30):
be able to sell your brand. Whatever your brand is,
you gotta be able to sell it. This is sharp language.
You gotta be able to sell your brand and know
what you do to the you know where it's it's effortless.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I don't want you to float over that point because
I'm sure when you walked into it, Okay, I you
know I'm not going to assume but when you walked
into every single room, different rooms, and you knock it
out the park all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
No man, no, but you got you gotta hear it.
You gotta go through your system, through your system. It
has to go through your ears, your decipels. You know.
You gotta be able to hear the difference and hear
different laughters. You gotta hear what they what this particular
audience tonight loves about me. Is it my delivery tonight?
(30:20):
Is it my timing tonight? Is it my mannerisms tonight?
Is it my physicality tonight? Every night I went on stage,
I got different things that that worked. But I had
to listen to what this particular audience is laughing at
tonight and give them more of what they want this
particular audience wants. Some audiences just want you to sit
(30:42):
there and give it to them. Some want you to
paint the pictures on stage.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think, you know, I think I think you're too
close to it, because I gotta tell you the Uptown
Comedy Club in the Saturday Night live audio, two different people,
Saturday Night, different people, and Curb two different people. Now,
when I go out and speak sometimes I will be
especially you know for some reason, a lot of times
I'm banking organizations and especially insurance organizations have to speak.
(31:09):
And the insurance organizations always say, damon, I got to
tell you we need change. We are all pale and stale.
And I walk into the room and a lot of
silver haired males are there that I'm about to tell
them a story about a little brown boy who got
left back and grew up damn near welfare from Hollis. Yeah,
And I'm looking at them and I you know, we
(31:32):
don't want to assume, you know what I mean, because
the people have all colors, who've helped all people around
the world. But I'm looking like, how are they going
to relate to me? And they do, But they're sitting
there in their staunch, you know, they're in their way.
They're in their suits right there next to their colleagues.
Maybe they don't want to have a good time. How
did you feel walking into these rooms, especially when sometimes
(31:54):
you did not get the reply you wanted? How did
you go back into that room?
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I need to drive, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
If I'm and I use that because I know how
to drive me and I know and I know how
to sell myself if you can sell yourself but read people,
you know, read their energies and feel what they're giving
you back, even if they don't say nothing to you,
and you're able to change the tune of the rule.
(32:23):
You know, and you can feel people, you know what
I mean. If you able to do that, you you
are able to control your destiny. Ain't anytime you see
me on the late night show, I'm always driving. It's
not my damn show. I'm not the guest, I'm not
I'm not the late night host. But but damn it, damnit,
I'm driving. I'm driving. I'm driving this damn show tonight.
(32:46):
When you pre interview me, and you're right, you got
ten questions for me, you might get the two or three.
You might know, you might get the two or three
of them. They already know when I come. They just
would throw that card away because.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Let's talk industry, because right now, what you just said,
because people listening right now, when you pre interview show,
people don't know that it's not just a given you're
gonna go on the show. You have producer against producer against. Yeah,
they don't know what you're gonna say. If you fit
the way that this uh you know, interview is going
to interview. So they call you up and they pre
interviewed because they want to know what are you gonna say?
(33:21):
Can I have this and that? And you're saying, they're
stuck in their own ways and a lot of us,
you know, we see people who are stuck in their
own ways. They have their ten questions. You're saying, you
barely let them get two out, and you dictate what's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Man, But I can't.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I cannot honestly tell anybody to do it. But I
know how I know how to do it. I trust
my process, I trust my thoughts. I trust listening to
what the audience is laughing at right now. I trust
the host who's show it is. You know, even even
(33:59):
hosts who have met for the first time.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
On their show.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I feel like we have we have to come across like, hey,
we're cool, we're friends, We're cool. This is gonna go
so smooth because and then they get then they get
caught up, and they disarm them exactly, and they see
what you're doing and they let you be you the crowd.
As long as the audience is having a good time
and at laughing man, carry on. Man, it's has some
(34:25):
fun and I think that's what makes anything. But it
took me. It took me time to figure that out.
I can'tnot sit here and say I figured it all out.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I learned.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Even today, every time I get on a set, every
time I get on stage, I still.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Learn I stumbled. I full, I do it all. But
can nobody tell you to be smooth? Who's not?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Feelings? Because I truly believe. And again, I got a
bad memory for failure. I have bad memory for failure.
If you ask if I stay home one night and
you ask you that next say what happened, I'd be like,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You gotta whoa, I don't know what ad memory for
fail Are you serious or you aer?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You have to?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I have to because if I do well on things
too long, my movement stops.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I tell people. I tell them people that all
the time. Don't let nobody talk you out of anything.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Experience it for yourself, Absorb it and figure out how
can I fix this?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
What did I do wrong last night? Stole and move on?
Now you're just stuck in the mud.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You're gonna want to You're gonna be too gunshot to
pull a trigger. You won't be able to pull a trigger,
they said, walking on stage right, it's half the battle.
If you can say I want to do this, and
you can get your hands out of that chair and
walk on that seat and grab that microphone, you're already
halfway where you need to be at.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So and why don't we why don't we on what
you said? You said, you walk in the room, you
feel out everybody, and then you relate to them. What
can somebody do right now when they walk into a room,
because a lot of people don't you know, they walk
into a room, they have their walls up in front
of them. Or are the cases I find you work
(36:17):
in a room. Everybody has some things in common. Everybody
has wives, they all have kids, they all have some
things they want to do, And like, is there anything
that you can tell us right now that when next
time I walk in a room and I don't know
how to read the room, that I can disarm them
and I can relate to them.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You walk in the room, if your auditioned for something,
you walk in the room.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I just want them I go in the room as
the character. I want them.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I want to see eyebrows raised, I want to see
them sit up in their chair. I want to see
them twist their head. I want to see them like, okay,
I see what they're doing. I disarmed them. And that's
the same thing I talk about with doing interviews. You
you'll control you're a cadence.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You're listen to.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
What a meaning. Let's talk what I mean because you
you're often in rooms when you're you know, you're a
businessman the end of the day, a huge and successful businessman.
Do you walk in the room as jab Smooth the
no comedian, or you walking there is the businessman?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I'm working as a businessman and how do you designed? Hey,
I'm jb all day.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Let's talk about what we're gonna Let's talk about right now,
what we plan on doing together.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Do you relate and how do you relate?
Speaker 2 (37:27):
How we can find our skills to do something? Don't?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
And this is how this is, This is how I'm
talking right now, is how I speak when I'm in meetings.
I'm passionate about what I do. I know how hard
I work, and I know that any I know people
can do this. I know they can do it, but
you gotta be passionate about it. And if it ain't
you who're gonna do it? Somebody else gonna do it,
and they're gonna feel like that when you walk out
(37:52):
of that room, Like dammit, I like this, dude, And
how how do I corral this moment and make it
and make it work for me?
Speaker 2 (38:01):
I can't sell myself short because I already been through it.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
I've already been through what I've been through it may
I lost my dad when I was fifteen years old, right,
my father died.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I guess that's what I had to do.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
I had to figure this shit out, and this is
how you got to move sometimes. I went to SNL
(38:34):
as a writer, right, That's what I ended up doing.
I ended up getting a job right as a writer.
That's one check. Then I started doing warm up on
the show. There's two chicks. Then they started cutting me
in minologus here and there. There's three checks. Then Cal
O'Brien was still downstairs, still at NBC during his show
in the same building, four stories down in his studio.
(38:58):
He finds out I'm upstairs as a writer. He alreadyknew
me already, he said, Man, Jamie's some stats. You know,
people claw on lawn MICUs and say, hey, can we
borrow j B? To put JB in some sketches on
my show? So I'm up there working as a writer
behind a computer. LAWD called my phone and say, hey,
you know JB. A.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Corn wants to borrow you for a little while and
do a sketch.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Go down there and do a sketch with Corn and
then come back and finish your writing. Man, what damn,
that's four checks. If that ain't a New York hustle,
I don't know what it is. Four separate checks for
doing four different jobs in the same building, you know
what I'm saying. So that being said, I had to
(39:42):
hustle to make that happen. I had to show up
to make them say, hey, you want to do warm up?
I had to show up to make them say we
didn't pick them for cast, but we're gonna thraw on
some sketches, you know what I mean. I had to
have a relationship already with Conan from previously. He had
to like me, you know, he had to. He had
to like me to say, hey, can we borrow j APE.
(40:05):
I had to do that a long time ago. I
had to plant that seed. That's another scene that got
planned that ends up coming back. So I ended up
not getting not getting I end up not getting renewed.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Right, man, this is crazy, this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
So I gotta I gotta go. I was watching I
got I fired everybody, so I gotta signed with a
new agent.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
So I would at home watching Cribby Enthusiasm, and I
told my wife, I said, man, I love to show
so much.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Man, I said, I would love to be on the show.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
One day, my wife said, you're gonna be on that show.
She said, I see it. I can see you and
Larry together. I don't know what it is. You love
this show so much, and you do you do this
stuff all the time, like with your eyes closed. You
improvised all the time. You gonna go to a party
(41:03):
and this saying you know the party is it's a
lot live in the whole party up because you just
being you and you're just improvising you. You and Larry
would be so funny together. She put that into the universe.
She's here's how things happen sometimes. One my wife told
me I was gonna be on the show. Two SNL
(41:26):
didn't resign me.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Right. If SNL resigns me, guess what.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I never know about I never know about quirk enthusiasm
because I wouldn't. But I ended up doing sue stand
up on the road when I didn't get renewed. I
was talking, I was, I just signed a new Asian.
I was on the road doing some stand up you're
talking about two or three months after I didn't resign.
I end up in Atlanta in the hotel room after
(41:52):
my show, my phone readings.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
My buddy O G.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Pearce, who produced the song, this is that's how we
do it, Marchal Jordan is how.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
We do it. You know, g Gonna make some dance.
You know, he produced that song.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
We became friends when I was on such as Anenter
Tannis show.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
He was doing the music supervisor, so me and him
hit it off. We came good friends. And then I
found out that O G passed away, right, I end up.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Leaving Atlanta and said, oh, and then I found out
they were having a memorial service for m in La.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
So look I just saw it. With a new agent.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
I get to La. I said, hell, way, I'm in La.
I'might as well go and see my new agent, go.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
And meet them.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
So I say, you know what, let me go over
here and meet meet these dunble heads. I met the
people in New York. Let me go meet the people
in the LA office. I go over to the LA office.
I'm only in town one days. Came for the memorial service.
I get to the office, right. I called myself in
town for a friends of memorial service. He passed away.
They said, come on over to the office and meet
the team. I go over there, man, I go to
(43:06):
go to this you know, big ass table, ten chairs
around the table.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I'm sitting at the head of the table.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Everybody got blue suits, hoole like weed, a damn matrix,
you know, like I'm in the major like a meo.
I said, okay, so what you want to do now?
You know you've been behind a computer typeing for three years.
You know what's what do you want to do? I said,
you know what, man, I'm just ready to get from
behind the camera back to the front of the camera again.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Man, my energy is good, you know God.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
And then Asian walks in and says, hey, man, hey,
JD get to meet you. Hey, I heard you in town.
Hey what do you How long you here? I said,
I leave tomorrow. I only came in to town because
my buddy O. G. Pierce passed away. I only came
to town for that, so I'm leaving tomorrow. I got
a gig on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Man.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
He says, well, I got an audition. If you have
time to go over there.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
I said, yeah, I'm free, I can go over there.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I can go over there today. I said, what's it four?
He said, Curby Enthusiasm. I said what I said, man, I.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Love Kurb Enthusiasm. I said, I love kurb enthusiasm. He said,
can you go over there now? I said, I said,
I said, give me the sides. He gave me the sides.
There's three different things on the page right. He said,
it's you know you're gonna do it, maybe two of
these off this list. I said, okay, I read the paper.
I said, man, I'm going ahead. I know I know
(44:30):
what this is. I get over there, man, I go
split over there. Everybody's in that room ready to go
in the audition. All my friends, all all my comedian
friends are all going in for the same role, for
my role, going in there, for vivoicous role, going in
there for Auntie Rag's role. All the roles people are
(44:50):
in that room going in there. I'm saying, oh, man,
you know we're joking around in there. So I said, yo,
I said one, okay, So I read it, and here's
what I do. I walk in the room. This is
my thing. I feel like, especially when I'm trying to
figure the character out. Like I said, I go into
the room as the character.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Mm hmmm. I walk in the room as Leon. M Yo.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Your white people were looking at me like, what in
the hell is going on here?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
They didn't know what I was doing, but I had
him laughing.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
They were like, they said, yo, and Larry's still in
the middle of the room. I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
At a curb your enthusiasm audition, you improvised directly with Larry.
I had no idea. I had no idea you over
this is room. Sometimes you're going on tape.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
That gotta be intimidating too.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
But see, just save me. It saved me because I
didn't go in the room as JP. I didn't go
and I went in the room as Leon.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
You always Leon. From from the minute from the time.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
I turned the door knob the walk in there, I
was already in Leon Low.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
I already started doing some man of riasms who I
thought he was. I started speaking differently.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
I started speaking more aggressively to Larry because I wanted
to put him on his heels. The first thing I
said to Larry, this is crazy. I did this though
I wouldn't recommend anybody doing this, but I said, I said, okay, okay.
JB said you're gonna improvise with Larry. Let's do seem one.
And I said, Okay, Larry, let's improvise. I said, may
We're gonna improvise, right, And I've been doing it. I've
been improvising my whole life. I've been improvising through my
(46:36):
real life and my stand up life. That's the only
way I'm able to have that type of confidence in
what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Win or lose. You gotta have it. I walk in there,
I said, okay, Larry, for improvise. I said, anything can happen, Larry.
I don't know. I might slap in the face. I
don't know. Let's see what happened. Le's see what we going.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Larry looked at me like what the what is room?
Speaker 2 (47:02):
And the producers all like and Larry looked at the producers.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Like like, okay, you know, and man, from that moment on,
I had that dude crying.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
He had to we we get it off, so.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
Well, see you don't you don't know how these things work.
Then later on I found out that Larry actually but well,
Larry's on the show that I used to love, which
was Fridays.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Remember that show. Fridays. Fridays was a show that was
in competition with SNL back and the day.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
Remember Fridays, God Fridays. Oh Man, Fridays was a joint.
Michael Richards was on Fridays, Larry was on Fridays. It
was a show that went head to head with.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
It was freaking Hilarry's. It was the only other sketch
show that was just like SNL that came on late
at night. Different now work. I.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
I go in the corner and we just started. We
hit it. We immediately hit it off.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
We laugh and he laughed in his say asshof, you
know producers like me and I left out of there.
My agent called me, and my new agent called me.
Ticked on me. He said, Man, how did we go?
I said, Man, if anybody else walk in and get
that role, God blessing, but all often.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
Saying me and Larry had a great time. But Larry.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
But Larry didn't work in SNL for a year. Now,
I'm gonna tell you when I worked at SNL for
three seasons. I can count on one hand how many
of my sketches made it to air one hand, and
I might be able to remove two fingers.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Why you didn't get anything renewed but yet?
Speaker 3 (48:45):
But but let me tell you them. I was definitely
a favorite at SNL. My pictures are legendary, legendary.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
You took comedian who writes.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
For himself and you put them in a writing position,
you know, actuality. I probably should have been both. I
probably should have been a cast member who wrote for
himself and other people. Because I mean, to this day,
people still bring up my old sketches.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
I don't care who I see.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
I could see Lauren, I could see head writers from
back then, task members from back then. They all remember
every pitch I ever pitched, because I would pitch. I
would pitch as a comedian meeting. I would stand up
and I would pitch my, my, my, my sketch ideas.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
So this is crazy. I leave there.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
I said, if someone gets it this, god bless him,
I said. Me and Larry had a good time. I
thought about it. I didn't think about it no more.
I said, whatever happens happens. I've seen a lot of
people in that room who are talented as hell, so
for me and so like, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
You know.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
I didn't think about it. I just laborated a good time.
I don't know how it's gonna turn out.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
I get on my flight for the next day. I
fly to Pittsburgh to do a stand up show. I
landed Pittsburgh. I had to drive two hours to get
to the comedy club, which is deep and Pensedica.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
I get there the.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
Most horrible hotel I've ever been in, motel Motel No.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
I got to three hours earlier.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
I laid on the bed in my clothes and my
colt and no, I'm thinking about this is praise, how
life is.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
I'm laying there one damn thirty ass bed. Right.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
It's a horrible ass motel, you know, And I'm sitting
there like, damn my ass used to write form. I
get on stage, Man, I had a good show. Right,
go back to the room, I said, Nah. After I
can smell bad weather coming. I can smell it, I said, nah,
(51:03):
I'm two hours from the airport.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna leave here. I'm
gonna go drive.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
And stay at the airport in a nice clean room.
Got a Hampton in I'm not gonna stand this raggedy
ass motel. I packed myself, put it in the trunk,
started driving. Fifteen minutes into my drive, it is freaking me.
Bury's coming down, snow wurry. Then it's like more snow.
Then it's more snow.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Man.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
It got a half an hour into the ride, I
couldn't see. I said, damn it. Should I turn around
and go back? I said, no, what I'm these coats.
I can drive it in this snow. We used to
driving in the snow. I'm done fifteen hours. An hour
is freaking the blizzard. People are pulling over under it
and other passes and stuff. I'm just driving in the
middle of the highway. My agent calls me. Now I'm
(51:50):
thinking he's calling me about what happened club and be
cussing his ass out. He said, you know what, I said, man,
Look man, that dude is a trip. He said, yeah,
I know, Mann, we we've he always gets into it
other people. Then he says, I said, now, when a
Holloway doing fifteen miles an hour, man the snow, He said,
slow down to ten miles an hour because I need
(52:12):
you to come back to LA tomorrow, because you just
got Curby enthusias dang, And I said, yo, I said
what I said? Let me call you back, man. I
call my wife.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
I said, baby, guess what happened. Guess what I got
Kirby enthusiasmic. She said, God, I do it. I told
you you. I told you he's gonna love you. I
do it it.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
That's IM saying, listen to your wives. I tell her,
tell people all the time, it's still the wife. Once
in a while, my wife on the show. David, this
is nuts, dammit.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
I get back to l a right. But first day
on set with that, we were having so much some
damn fun.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
Right in between shots, Larry says to me, he said, man,
this is crazy, but I feel like we've been working
together for years. I said, no, what Larry has ironically
be had And I had to think about this on
my head. We were both on essdel. We both barely
(53:18):
got sketches on SNEL. Larry even quit while he was
on Essendel went home. His roommate said, are you crazy?
That's a check. Larry went back to work the next
day and pretend like he did. He actually did an
episode of a side thought on it. He quit because
(53:42):
I asked whole his roommates so, are you crazy? That's
a freaking check.
Speaker 4 (53:45):
Man.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
Larry went back to work. By nothing happened. Damn its crazy,
he said. So that's when we had that moment, right,
did the whole season Kirk enthusing?
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Right? We ended up. You know they had the rap part.
So they had the rap part.
Speaker 3 (54:05):
Just everybody, you know, all casts or crew, they celebrate
the season being over.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
We get to the.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Rap part, right, my wife and are there showing it.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
They have something called the gag wheel.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
The gag wheels all the funny moments from the season,
or the photos of everybody on crew taking pictures of
pictures and candid photos of each other, videos scenes that
you know where were laughing too much.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Or whatever, you know, group of rios stuff. Man, So
dam it's crazy. Just what song was on the Jagga
Bull the bean music? Right? This is how we do it, shit.
Speaker 3 (54:50):
Yo, yo, man, My heart just started being crazy and
my wife and I looked at each other like, Yo,
that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
I would never have even been in LA. I had
to think about everything.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
I said, one, what if WO you didn't die, What
if you didn't die at that week, or what if
you didn't die at all? I would have never been
in LA. What IFS and L would have resigned me
for my fourth season? I wouldn't have been in LA,
I said.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
Third or first?
Speaker 3 (55:29):
You told me I was want to be on the show,
but you wouldn't. We wouldn't have had that. She told
me I was gonna be on that show before I
got fired.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
And if I think about that moment, you gotta.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
Have several moments. I think, but you gotta have the
right frame of mind. You gotta want everybody to win.
You don't want just yourself to win. Even when I
left that audition, I wanted my friends to win. Those
are a real friends in that room going in after me. Now,
(56:04):
I ain't a lie. When I came out there, I was.
I was fucking with my little bit. I said, hey, man,
I hold the door. I was just that's just how
we do a commedity. I hold the door. I was
all right, all right, okay, Mary, you call me later. Man,
you'd be cool and close the door. I said, Yeah,
said y'all get just sco the.
Speaker 2 (56:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
You don't want to be in the room.
Speaker 2 (56:22):
You don't want to be a room.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
You don't want to be in a room with all
your comedians. And one time it's O no no.
Speaker 3 (56:26):
Everybody started laughing. Because that's how we do. I said, hey, man,
y'all gonna have fun. Man, I gotta go with the
Pittsburgh Man do a show. I said, good luck, everybody,
good luck. But I say that because that's how we are.
We that's how I am. I root for everybody because
I know if you could walk in that room and win,
(56:47):
that opens up. That opens up other doors. Yeah, it
opens other doors up. So my moment can become your moment, you.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
Know, Jay, And this is probably one of the most informal,
most powerful interviews I've done it in a long time
for various reasons. I think that you did go over
what that moment was. I've had those type of moments,
but I think everything is not just that simple. It is,
like you said, planning seeds, and that moment is a
culmination of a bunch of moments that happened. And I
(57:19):
think you said it right, man. You know, you lost
a lot of people, so you value the moments that
when you when you're with people, you you walk out
the room and you wish everybody you know success, even
if it's no one against maybe your success, but it
doesn't matter. You know, you don't want to get in
their way. It doesn't make your way any easier, you
know what I mean. And then you had a special moment. Man.
(57:41):
I really really thank you, man, because I think that
I got to reflect and think about things. And you know,
you've always been like that. I don't know if I've
ever met I mean, you know, Quincy. You know, you've
never had people in between any of us. Like when
I speak to you, and I've always whenever I've speak
spoken to anybody spoken you, it's almost like you're talking
to a long lost friend or old body, you know.
(58:04):
And even if you have somebody there who's working with you,
like my Chauncey or my Ted parent or Ted, it's like, yeah,
that's cool, but we're talking to you. We're just all
hanging out. And I think that that is what makes
you such a beautiful person. And it comes off on TV.
It comes off when people meet you. Man, and and
it's good to see people that don't put a lot
of shields in front of them. And if we have
(58:26):
to go and speak to the other people, it's all good.
But we know that, we know that it's part of
the process and it was all cool. But thank you
for sharing that moment with me.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
I think you're me man too. We know we always have.
Speaker 1 (58:37):
Good talk, we always have a good time. We're gonna
have any more the we're gonna have. Well, thank you
for being with us.
Speaker 2 (58:44):
Brother, Hey man, I love you'all. Man, You'll be good day.
Speaker 1 (58:46):
This has been That Moment with Damon John. 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
(59:09):
to your favorite show and don't forget to subscribe to
the show and rate the show. You can all connect
with me on any social media platform at the Shark
daymon as in Raymond with a D
Uh, so, thank you JB. Man, you know you're my guy.
I called you, I don't know randomly last minute. I
was like, I need you on here because I need
to know about that moment with JB. And uh, thank
you for being here, brother, oh man, thank.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You for having me. Man, you already know what it is. Man,
this is uh. You know, I like, I like talking
about the journal.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You know, well, well, a lot of people don't hear it.
I know that, you know, people like you and myself
were asked the general questions. You know. I'm trying to
get a little deeper into it. I see you on
huge billboards now. Of course you've been on many seasons
of uh, you know, Curb and Husband's Hollywood or you know,
your own shows, you know, and I've been on that one.
(00:54):
I believe I had the doing that show with you
and so many other things on me voice isn't veriss
of things.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I don't think you know a lot of people. I'd
be very honest, I know a lot of people who
are in the comedy world. My mother wanted to see
Kat Williams, and I love Kat Williams, and randomly Tommy
Davison came out on stage and I was like, oh man,
he's one of my favorites, you know. Yeah, and what's
the name was there? What's the name who? Mister Cooper?
(01:22):
Mark Curry, Mark Curry right.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Linnell? Uh, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It was amazing. And I you know, season two, I sat, uh,
Jeff fox really came onto the show to help Mark
Barnett shar Tank was suffering, you know, with Jeff Worthy
did Jeff Foxford did like smarter than whatever, greater and
we needed some We needed some We needed some heat.
We needed some heat. Jeff Foxford then you had to
you know, he had he had Middle America and he
(01:56):
sat there and said something to me that there's no
stranger to you. He said, damn. You know Michael Jackson
at the time, Michael Jackson was alive. He said, Michael Jackson,
I think he was a love. He said, Michael Jackson
or Madonna can do that damn song a thousand times.
I can't do a joke a thousand times. And by
the way, everybody that heard that song, they heard it prior,
so they're coming, they're ready to rock out to beat
(02:16):
it or material. I got to earn every goddamn joke,
every joke, and have they heard it before I'm done?
All right? I don't think a job is harder. They
say public speaking is hard, and it's not. I don't
think a job is harder than getting up there to
a whole bunch of strangers who will interpret something you're
(02:38):
saying different each person, and being the last forefront of
honesty to make fun of ourselves. And you get up
on stage, you make people forget about life and politics
and all this even though you're talking about it. We
take a minute to laugh at ourselves and you earn
every single bit of it. How do you do that
(02:59):
for thirty forty Yeah, I'm gonna get into that right now. Man,
were you a class clown?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know what? I was a hallway clown, man. I
you know, I was a hallway clown, meaning you know,
I was a.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Good student, you know, three point zero student, you know,
art major, engineering, drafting major, double major in high school.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So I was a hallway clown man, meaning.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That in between classes it was like it was like
the greatest time of our lives. Man, I had like
a I've been just blessed with you know, you know,
I grewup in the projects, Marvel in New York. But
I was blessed with meeting amazing friends, you know, friends
who were funny as me, but would never get on stage.
They weren't that kind of funny, but they were hilarious.
(03:49):
So for me, I was a hallway clown man, straight
up all way clown.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It took, and I've clowned so hard, you know, with
my friends. One time I almost got left back, almost
got up back. In eighth grade, we clowned so much
that and we were in mar High We were the
last eighth graders because they had to repair the eighth
grade school and they put the eighth graders in the
(04:14):
high school with the high schools.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So we had a little wing in the high school
if the.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
High school where they had the eighth graders at, and
the rest of the school was ninety nine to twelve,
and man, we were like animal house.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It was crazy over there.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I clown so much that I literally I had
all these in an F.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
If I had one more f I would have been
sitting back.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I'm already in high school and I would have been
sent back to the eighth grade that they just fixed.
You know how crazy that A bit sitting back to
the eighth grade school that they were fixing that they
took me in school, they were finished fixing it. But
I'm going to move back into the eighth grade school
that they were fixing.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Crazy. But I got out of that and that shocked me.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That that shook me up a little bit, man, And
I learned how to control by pall away clownness, you know,
and I.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Reeled it in. I real did.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, because I see most of the comedians I know,
or even the ones that I've seen, you know, in
the hood that we grew up with, and maybe they
didn't have as successful level career, I mean very few
of having successful career as you. They were the kind
of person that just couldn't help it. I mean they
would just be in class like and you know, it'd
be a small dude and the big bully do something
(05:35):
and the small dude just be like, you can't help it.
You know, he about to get his ass well, but
he just can't help it. So being a being that
is crazy. Now, now let's talk about the first time,
the first time you realize that moment, and I'm talking
(05:56):
about the first time you tried it, and I'm talking
about the first time you realize that you're gonna take
a real shot at it, or you realize that you're
never going back.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh man, I'm gonna give you two moments. I'm gonna
give you my moments. At Open State University. You know,
I met a whole new group of friends. You know,
I still have my mom vern crew, I still hang
up the scene. I'm still have the same friends from
eighth grade, seventh grade, I still have the same friends,
and some of my friends also from fifth grade. I
still have the same friends.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Man. So when I went to college and most university,
it's funny us to.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Growing up public speaking because I took a public speaking class,
you know, and I remember I.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Did a something about art.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And men that great dear standing in front of that
whole class. Really like kicked in this public speaking thing,
you know, learning how to put it in your own
put your own personality into it, which calmed me that you.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You don't you don't get as nervous when you just
being yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
It's when you don't trust yourself, you're trying to be
robotic and you're not fluid with it that makes it
a mess. When I met those those friends, when I
took that that published picking class and then I got
into his his what turned the corner park My friends,
my new friends off from Jersey, you know, one from
out vernon the resting Jersey.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They dared me to get into.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
This uh uh a bachelor, bachelor bachelorette on campus uh
contests at the student Union building, and I was one
of the three bachelors and it was a you know,
a beautiful girl she picked, you know, she would pick
one of us for a date.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And when I tell you, my friend said, I day,
I dare to do it. I said, man, don't damn
you man, you know I'll do it. He dared me
to go up there and do it. So I became
one of the bachelor's on stage and made every answer
I gave was ripping, ripping the audience. Many started stomping
the feet, throwing stuff on stage and started going crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Every answer I gave was killing it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Let me tell you something after I did that, you know,
having already been Richard Pryor fan, Eddie Murphy fan, you
know Bill Coffee fan, Red Fox fan, you know George
Calling fan.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Big fan of stand up.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Comedy already, when I got on that stage and I
was killing like that with no rich material. Off the
top of my head, I said, Yo, I think I
can do this. But I always wanted to be a comedian.
But also, you know, I mean, I was an artist,
so I had my.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Little art thing going on. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Here in that crowd, and that's to a union building
rocking like that. The girl ended up picking me, right,
But I'm gontain something. I never even took the girl out.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yo, Damn.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I was the man on campus. I was the man
for months. All they talked about was how I ripped
it at the student union building, and every answer I
gave that she was asking what's killing it? And I
never We never even went out.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
You know what I say? You know what?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
She picked me, But she picked me. I didn't pick up.
So what's supposed to happen? You're telling me, am I
supposed to chase her around campus for that day? Or
is she supposed to take Hey, I picked you? Ready
to go out?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
What? What? What do you think.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
She's supposed say? I picked you? No? No, No, you're supposed
to be yeah, you used to be sweating up, you
know you're supposed to be excited?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But am I supposed to ask her. Am I supposed
to say, hey, you picked me? We ready to go out?
Or am I supposed to wait? Because she picked me?
She's a bacherette, I'm the bachelor. She picked me out
of three other guys. To the gods, what's supposed to
happen here?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Wants to pick you? Ready to go? She's supposed to say? Read?
But but it does never happened anyway.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
It's not that I didn't care, but I was the
man like care man for three months.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So that rate there, that turn rate there got me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know, understanding that I drive my own vehicle, you
drive your vehicle in my vehicle that I'm driving, I
know how to drive.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
But I think that you know, there's a I've been
you know, you and I have been on stages for years,
and it took me a long It didn't take me
a long time because I was old enough to read
books on it. You were you were at that time,
like twenty yeah, twenty years old? Right. Yeah, you're taking
a public speaking class in this and you know a
lot of people don't realize, you know, the information that
you're going to share on the stage. Everybody has it,
(10:34):
but people are listening and they want to hear your perspective,
your experience from it. And you understood that at a
very young age you would transition that to you know
obviously that that that moment. Why were you confident enough?
Because I think even today, when people are speaking or
(10:55):
wanting to say something, they're so busy trying to say, Man,
I'm not I'm not a I'm not a professor, I'm
not a i'm not a millionaire, I'm not of this,
and that some young kid out there like you're just
You're just you're accepting who you are. What gave you
that confidence to feel like that?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I think what I think is you're humbold by your existence.
You're humble by your beginnings. You know, like I said, man,
I grew up with a private sm We ain't have much,
you know what I mean? We ain't have much, man,
You know we we you know, we got it. And
and I'm telling you, man, I lost a lot of
friends growing up. I lost a lot of friends before
(11:38):
they even got out of high school. So it's like this, Man,
if you can find a way two live, if you
can find a way to live and find a way
to navigate through it, through all that stuff, and see
and see.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It for what it is. I'm not gonna knock it
because it may be who I am.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I can and just say that I found a
way to navigate through all that, Through all the troubles
and things I've seen.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I see throw them off the roof.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I've seen a little bit of everything. I see people shot,
I've seen people throw off a building. You know, it's
New York, man, this is New York City. I've hung
in all the clubs, man, David, I have ran out
of probably fifty clubs.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Man. Lets you, that's how we started knowing each other.
I had no you in that industry, hanging in the
club when I first out of seeing you.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Look all the joints, rooftop tunnel, Bentley's, Red Parent, RP.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You name it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You named any club I have hung out in it
In New York City, Man, the Funhouse.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Don't give me. Don't get me going too far back.
The funhouse, man, I have seen.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Everybody, every hip hop artist in their humble beginnings, everybody.
I usually go to Lincoln Projects because my buddy used
his cousin was doing security for Douggie Fresh Back in
the days, we used to go to see basement parties
with Masterdon and Barry Beet battling on the crossbander and
up and down. Man, I seen testing. I mean I
(13:13):
have seen you. Name any hip hop moment, I know it.
I was dead, I was dead, damn it. I'm telling
you all these things are a part of You gotta
see it. You gotta see it before your eyes to
understand that anything is possible. And that's a part of
your That's a part of everything. Your experiences are always
(13:33):
a part of your journey, Man, and being a part
of the exception of hip hop was definitely definitely something
that inspired me. Man, and we as comedians, we gotta
be inspired by everything, music, life, birds, anybody, anything, everything.
We gotta know how to talk about everything, So we
gotta be inspired by everything.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
We want to see how we live.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
What inspired you after that to hit the road, because
what did you have? The Internet wasn't out, so you
didn't you didn't pick up material from you know that
you've just seen floating around. Of course, you can go
and look at books or maybe older jokes by Rudy
ray Moore or whatever the case is. What inspired you
and what was that moment? Did you first hit the stage.
How did you go? Did you do Caroline? Like?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Who?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Where was the first one you said? You know after
this I'm cool? Did you investigate how to do it?
Did you just say, Yo, I'm gonna go downtown. You
go to a local ball what? What was that nest
thing you did?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Some of My best material is material that wasn't even
on stage.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was just me being silly with my friends.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Know, we used to do some of the funniest stuff, man,
and it would never make to It was stuff that
couldn't make it to the stage because it's just stuff
you are, you know, improvising in a moment.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's spontaneous stuff, you know. So for me, it was this.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
You know, when I when I ran out of money
and offa state university.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I d'n I ran out of money.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I said, i'mna go home, get a job, I'm work
and save some money and come back and finish up
my last year at North of State University. So I
went home, and I think that me being on that stage, man,
it really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
When I got home.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know, the first thing I did was, Man, I
just went downtown. I heard about this comedy club called
the Uptown Comedy Club in Paul. It was on one
was it, uh one, twenty fifth and fifth Avenue, Yeah,
fifth and fifth. Man, when I tell you, I went
down to that comedy club, and let me tell you,
(15:36):
I was blown away.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was packed with people.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
The lines were around the block to get upstairs to
this comedy club.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Everybody used to come through there.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Man, I'm talking about all the celebrities at that time
were comped Uptown Comedy Club. I'm gonna tell you it
was the National Black Theater in Paul. But on that night,
on every Sunday, it was stand up night. And man,
when I tell you, everybody used to be there. Man,
you name him, they were all there. And that's why
I started.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I remember. I went there. I stood in the back
of the room. It was packed.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Those seats were aveilable and it was seated across. It
wasn't even like idiots like like cocktail tables. It was
just like full of all chairs lined up row row
road rode all the way to the back of the room.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
You didn't even sometime I would sit there, like how
would I get the hell out of here if something happened.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I was looking around like, yeah, yeah, it's thick.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It was that, you know how, you know how it
was man, you just wanted to be in the building.
It was hot, no air conditioning.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
But maybe when I tell you, it was the most
amazing experience man, that got me.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
You know. I remember I was there, my friend Rob Stampleton,
he was on stage.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And man, I said, Man and I met. That's the
night I met my friend Rob Stampleton and I met
every other other comedians. Man, tell you that was the
most amazing experience man, to see something that was ours
and this was our stage, our our platform. But this
is early. This is before Depth Jail, before b a T,
(17:10):
before all these shows where we got a chance to
show who we were. Before you know, even Apollow had comedy,
but not like this.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
This was.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This was raw, straight up People in Harlem, Brooklyn, Bronx
everywhere would come to this comedy club. Stead online and
was saying we were had out free passes to get
up in there.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
We just wanted to captivating audience. You know.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
It was the most amazing thing ever. And that's where
I hold my skills. That's why I got on that movie.
We had a workshop on on Mondays, so we would
have a show on Monday, a workshop on Monday, the
show Sunday workshop on Monday, and this was this was
an amazing part about it.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
This is what made it. Everybody great.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Everybody had their own style, everybody had their own delivery,
everybody had their own character on stage. And it made
him and really the Brown brothers, Andre and Kevin Brown,
they they were smart in creating shows every Sunday that
were original and different. You could not come to that
(18:20):
place three weeks in row and see the same stuff
because they forced our hand to continue to write and
find out who we were as characters. And we written
and we wrote our jokes that fit our character.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I was very physical, so Michael jokes were all physical jokes.
I would fall on the.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Ground and do crazy stuff, you know, take the microphone
stand and make something out of it. Took the curtain
to make something out of it. I would take the chair.
I would do twenty things with a chair. I mean,
just talk you're talking about. I mean, this was this
is like the most to me. I'm comedy Clubs should
have had a documentary done too, because it was really
the inception of the last comedy at that time. You know,
(19:02):
I haven't heard rumours that they were supposed to. I'm
not even sure it's true or not, but I heard
things like death Jam came down to see to work
with them, you know, before Def Comedy Jam.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So all this was before this is when everybody's on
the way up. I remember, I remember we were.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I remember we were backstage one time. What you think
of TV back there watching Martin. I remember all this
stuff that we saw us growing as comedians.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And this is all. This is no social media, this
is all just streets.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Streets knew about it, and people were lined up around
the block, and a matter how cold it was, it
didn't matter. It was like the greatest experience. That's my
hombo beginnings at the Uptown Comedy Club and then being
in New York.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
After that, I did what I did DUF Comedy Jam,
first season, Duff Comedy Jams Martin posted first season second taping.
So I was blessed to be able to do that.
I did my own audition at your Peepet Lounge in Orange,
New Jersey. And I'm gonna tell you something. That club
didn't play. It did not play around. You go up
(20:09):
and there you your ass is about to get handed
to you if you don't bring you what you supposed
to bring on that stage. And to have an audition
for def comedy jam there, that's crazy. People were going
down the flames. Man, it was crazy up in there.
But it was but if you were able to capture
the moment and let them see you who you are
(20:30):
in your style. Man, when you hit it, it's like
when you hit it, you hit it like you hit it.
I remember I went like next to last or something
like that. Twenty five dudes went on before me. But
I found a way to to take the energy that
was created in the room already and use it to
(20:52):
my vam, use.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It to my vama, to my fan.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Now, all of a sudden, you go from that date
or that that audition, you know whatever, the bathetor being
eighty four all the way through Uptown Comedy Club airing
now in the blink of an eye for the most time,
but it felt like probably forever. You probably didn't you
didn't go back to school. I'm assuming six years later
(21:27):
and now you're airing on TVs nineteen ninety two. I
just looked it up. The hip hop songs in nineteen
ninety two were oh oh, we got one from your
town too, But we gotta jump around House of Pain.
We jumped criss crossed, but we got Pete rock cl Smooth,
you know mount Burn's finest, right, We got they want
Affects dos Effects? What New York was on fire at
(21:51):
that time. It was it was the renaissance. It was
the time where where we weren't you know, Spike Lee,
Maddie Richard already made it tall in them. They were
starting to do this. You got sare us, you got
you got you know, it's feeling good. New York rap
is great, Biggie's starting to come out. Or we feel
a lot of energy out there. Can you name a
(22:13):
song or something like that? I mean, you know we
had Do you remember any song that you really, you know,
loved at that moment when you were driving by, you
were saying, man, I'm on TV now, And I'm not
sure if you were like, damn, now, I really gotta
work or you were like, oh, you gotta.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Realize one thing, Yeah, you got that one thing. I
grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Right, you know who I grew up with, Pete rock
Stal Smooth, Heavy Dad, the boys, right, I'll be sure, Paul, Yeah,
ready to do all right? Next door to us, Grand
Cooper and Masters Masters of Ceremony later came later when
(22:57):
I was growing up. I'm talking about people. I'm really
who I really grew up with. Now, Yupis was right
right there. But I didn't know Xingum back then. But
I don't even know if that was even I don't
know if.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
He was even known yet.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, I'm just saying the element of all the people
I mean because all yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Going back to like early early, I'm going back to
when when when head and Salt Pepper.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I'm going back back, back, back back. I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Look, you talked to a dude who used to carry
record crates for his cousin, who used to battle against
heavy d in the boys. You're talking about a kid
that used to go to the Bronx for block parties
in neighborhoods and we didn't even know and we had
to be like contim we were from there be who
we didn't get beat up? You talking about it, dude,
(23:48):
You I was like mass spilt guard man talking louder.
I was one of the guests who put his lead
jeans between the mattress to make sure they were flat
and spread them with stars to cuting between the matches
to make sure that they would they would have the
best crease ever. And wait to go downtown and go
to that concert. Man, you're talking about man, Look you're
(24:10):
talking about somebody who's been to almost a few name
adio hip hop moment.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I was there. We are inspired by everything, and this
is early. I played football with our you know, I've
been to every man.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I was almost every party that Heaven did in mart Verna.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
People.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I see us smooth hanging out with those guys, and
I'm all forgetting people because we all grew up in.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
The boys and girls cluff.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
We all have history, man, and that that's our that's
our beginnings.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Man, this is each one of our talents fees the other.
It just has to You can't mart Brother's wanting four
square miles.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
How can you not be inspired by someone you went
to school with and see them blow up like that?
I'll be sure during that rooftop, I can't tell you
how I want to feel love out two ninety day
on the rooftop.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Doing video, it was like, oh, that's our friends.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
A year a year earlier we throwing football in middle
of the street, and he went from that to this.
When we saw that video, we said, yoh, look at
ow ow. It's on damn TV. He's on Video Music Box. See, man,
you I'm talking about age right now. I'm going I'm
going to hord right now.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Then no, no, no, no, no, I was over.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I was over the Hollers the same this. But you know,
you know what it will, Chuck Shall out from Chuck
Shall out from up there Brox.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So it was truly Uptown's ticketing, truly, all the battles
Shan and terrorist.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
One and all these things.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Man that we see it. We saw that. We went
to I used to go to look. I used to
go to soundview. I sell you uh sell view projects
over there. You know how many times I see.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The Cole Chris brothers.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I've seen the col Brothers for so many times flash
in a few age five.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Man, I've seen everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
But but and I want to get into like and
you clearly are like you know you like me, like
I think you're only four years old than me. But
you know, I had the same experience with Hollis and
we were all having you know, I was there, you
know the same thing when running that pulled that bus up.
You know they picked us all up from Hollis because
you know you're doing the same And I want to
get into your head though about the moments, because you
(26:28):
know you would go from there, then you would go
to Saturday Night Live. You're right on Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I did a lot of first in New York. I
did the first pilot on MTV. I did the first
pilot on Comedy Central. I did the first season of
the comedy Jam.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I did the first one of the first seasons of
B E. T Comic View.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So I feel, man, I can't even I try to
spain us to young, young, inspiring comedians and that you
truly have to know how to drive your vehicle.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You know I use it.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I use that metaphor because you know, you know, I
use it because I just have a write a dance car,
you know, the kind of car you got to hold
the foot and the break in the gas at red
lights because it was so when cut off on you.
That's how I feel like I had to move through
everything I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
So you didn't look at those pilots as opportunities or
did you look at it or did other people because
other people, some people would have been like, yo, man,
I ain't doing that that new stuff all the time,
and me because you were starting to get more established.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Look, I told this is what I told people when
I when I did BAT Comic View, I did BT
com with view once by the.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Death Comedy Jam twice right. That was different.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
When I did bat once right, and I realized that
all my other friends were doing it three four, five times,
I kept staying I cut up. I would tell them
to say, look, it's okay to do it that many times.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
But make sure now this is the term, this is
a big term.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Make sure you still do other stuff, do other stuff,
be able to communicate in other rooms. Don't just make
yourself one dimensional because they gonna see you with one
dimensional and meaning that I'm in saying it, because look,
I did multiple things, and I made sure that I
(28:26):
was able to perform in front of different kinds of audiences.
Not that I was excluding anybody, but I made sure
I understood and I made sure I tried to write
what's overall funny that you can get it, you can
get it, and I can still go top.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Tele comedy club and kill it you know what I mean.
But I wanted to make sure that you're.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Saying when you said that to other people that did
anybody say, nah, man, I'm mistake.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
No, no, no, that's not even you know, an answer
isn't even required. It's just mean to saying, hey man,
you should try to this other stuff so that way
later on it'll make sense. Right now, you might not
see it because you're killing you're killing me in the
black black clubs.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You don't mean killing it. I get it.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
And and there is comedians who do a lot of
black rooms and black theaters and they chill them. But
you still, if you want to have balance, I said,
don't exclude anything. Do what you do, but find a
way to communicate and be able to walk in any
room for a meeting and be able to communicate and
(29:30):
be able to sell your brand. Whatever your brand is,
you gotta be able to sell it. This is sharp language.
You gotta be able to sell your brand and know
what you do to the you know where it's it's effortless.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I don't want you to float over that point because
I'm sure when you walked into it, Okay, I you
know I'm not going to assume but when you walked
into every single room, different rooms, and you knock it
out the park all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
No man, no, but you got you gotta hear it.
You gotta go through your system, through your system. It
has to go through your ears, your decipels. You know.
You gotta be able to hear the difference and hear
different laughters. You gotta hear what they what this particular
audience tonight loves about me. Is it my delivery tonight?
(30:20):
Is it my timing tonight? Is it my mannerisms tonight?
Is it my physicality tonight? Every night I went on stage,
I got different things that that worked. But I had
to listen to what this particular audience is laughing at
tonight and give them more of what they want this
particular audience wants. Some audiences just want you to sit
(30:42):
there and give it to them. Some want you to
paint the pictures on stage.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think, you know, I think I think you're too
close to it, because I gotta tell you the Uptown
Comedy Club in the Saturday Night live audio, two different people,
Saturday Night, different people, and Curb two different people. Now,
when I go out and speak sometimes I will be
especially you know for some reason, a lot of times
I'm banking organizations and especially insurance organizations have to speak.
(31:09):
And the insurance organizations always say, damon, I got to
tell you we need change. We are all pale and stale.
And I walk into the room and a lot of
silver haired males are there that I'm about to tell
them a story about a little brown boy who got
left back and grew up damn near welfare from Hollis. Yeah,
And I'm looking at them and I you know, we
(31:32):
don't want to assume, you know what I mean, because
the people have all colors, who've helped all people around
the world. But I'm looking like, how are they going
to relate to me? And they do, But they're sitting
there in their staunch, you know, they're in their way.
They're in their suits right there next to their colleagues.
Maybe they don't want to have a good time. How
did you feel walking into these rooms, especially when sometimes
(31:54):
you did not get the reply you wanted? How did
you go back into that room?
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I need to drive, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
If I'm and I use that because I know how
to drive me and I know and I know how
to sell myself if you can sell yourself but read people,
you know, read their energies and feel what they're giving
you back, even if they don't say nothing to you,
and you're able to change the tune of the rule.
(32:23):
You know, and you can feel people, you know what
I mean. If you able to do that, you you
are able to control your destiny. Ain't anytime you see
me on the late night show, I'm always driving. It's
not my damn show. I'm not the guest, I'm not
I'm not the late night host. But but damn it, damnit,
I'm driving. I'm driving. I'm driving this damn show tonight.
(32:46):
When you pre interview me, and you're right, you got
ten questions for me, you might get the two or three.
You might know, you might get the two or three
of them. They already know when I come. They just
would throw that card away because.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Let's talk industry, because right now, what you just said,
because people listening right now, when you pre interview show,
people don't know that it's not just a given you're
gonna go on the show. You have producer against producer against. Yeah,
they don't know what you're gonna say. If you fit
the way that this uh you know, interview is going
to interview. So they call you up and they pre
interviewed because they want to know what are you gonna say?
(33:21):
Can I have this and that? And you're saying, they're
stuck in their own ways and a lot of us,
you know, we see people who are stuck in their
own ways. They have their ten questions. You're saying, you
barely let them get two out, and you dictate what's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Man, But I can't.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I cannot honestly tell anybody to do it. But I
know how I know how to do it. I trust
my process, I trust my thoughts. I trust listening to
what the audience is laughing at right now. I trust
the host who's show it is. You know, even even
(33:59):
hosts who have met for the first time.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
On their show.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I feel like we have we have to come across like, hey,
we're cool, we're friends, We're cool. This is gonna go
so smooth because and then they get then they get
caught up, and they disarm them exactly, and they see
what you're doing and they let you be you the crowd.
As long as the audience is having a good time
and at laughing man, carry on. Man, it's has some
(34:25):
fun and I think that's what makes anything. But it
took me. It took me time to figure that out.
I can'tnot sit here and say I figured it all out.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I learned.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Even today, every time I get on a set, every
time I get on stage, I still.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Learn I stumbled. I full, I do it all. But
can nobody tell you to be smooth? Who's not?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Feelings? Because I truly believe. And again, I got a
bad memory for failure. I have bad memory for failure.
If you ask if I stay home one night and
you ask you that next say what happened, I'd be like,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You gotta whoa, I don't know what ad memory for
fail Are you serious or you aer?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You have to?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I have to because if I do well on things
too long, my movement stops.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I tell people. I tell them people that all
the time. Don't let nobody talk you out of anything.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Experience it for yourself, Absorb it and figure out how
can I fix this?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
What did I do wrong last night? Stole and move on?
Now you're just stuck in the mud.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You're gonna want to You're gonna be too gunshot to
pull a trigger. You won't be able to pull a trigger,
they said, walking on stage right, it's half the battle.
If you can say I want to do this, and
you can get your hands out of that chair and
walk on that seat and grab that microphone, you're already
halfway where you need to be at.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So and why don't we why don't we on what
you said? You said, you walk in the room, you
feel out everybody, and then you relate to them. What
can somebody do right now when they walk into a room,
because a lot of people don't you know, they walk
into a room, they have their walls up in front
of them. Or are the cases I find you work
(36:17):
in a room. Everybody has some things in common. Everybody
has wives, they all have kids, they all have some
things they want to do, And like, is there anything
that you can tell us right now that when next
time I walk in a room and I don't know
how to read the room, that I can disarm them
and I can relate to them.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You walk in the room, if your auditioned for something,
you walk in the room.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I just want them I go in the room as
the character. I want them.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I want to see eyebrows raised, I want to see
them sit up in their chair. I want to see
them twist their head. I want to see them like, okay,
I see what they're doing. I disarmed them. And that's
the same thing I talk about with doing interviews. You
you'll control you're a cadence.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You're listen to.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
What a meaning. Let's talk what I mean because you
you're often in rooms when you're you know, you're a
businessman the end of the day, a huge and successful businessman.
Do you walk in the room as jab Smooth the
no comedian, or you walking there is the businessman?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I'm working as a businessman and how do you designed? Hey,
I'm jb all day.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Let's talk about what we're gonna Let's talk about right now,
what we plan on doing together.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Do you relate and how do you relate?
Speaker 2 (37:27):
How we can find our skills to do something? Don't?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
And this is how this is, This is how I'm
talking right now, is how I speak when I'm in meetings.
I'm passionate about what I do. I know how hard
I work, and I know that any I know people
can do this. I know they can do it, but
you gotta be passionate about it. And if it ain't
you who're gonna do it? Somebody else gonna do it,
and they're gonna feel like that when you walk out
(37:52):
of that room, Like dammit, I like this, dude, And
how how do I corral this moment and make it
and make it work for me?
Speaker 2 (38:01):
I can't sell myself short because I already been through it.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
I've already been through what I've been through it may
I lost my dad when I was fifteen years old, right,
my father died.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I guess that's what I had to do.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
I had to figure this shit out, and this is
how you got to move sometimes. I went to SNL
(38:34):
as a writer, right, That's what I ended up doing.
I ended up getting a job right as a writer.
That's one check. Then I started doing warm up on
the show. There's two chicks. Then they started cutting me
in minologus here and there. There's three checks. Then Cal
O'Brien was still downstairs, still at NBC during his show
in the same building, four stories down in his studio.
(38:58):
He finds out I'm upstairs as a writer. He alreadyknew
me already, he said, Man, Jamie's some stats. You know,
people claw on lawn MICUs and say, hey, can we
borrow j B? To put JB in some sketches on
my show? So I'm up there working as a writer
behind a computer. LAWD called my phone and say, hey,
you know JB. A.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Corn wants to borrow you for a little while and
do a sketch.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Go down there and do a sketch with Corn and
then come back and finish your writing. Man, what damn,
that's four checks. If that ain't a New York hustle,
I don't know what it is. Four separate checks for
doing four different jobs in the same building, you know
what I'm saying. So that being said, I had to
(39:42):
hustle to make that happen. I had to show up
to make them say, hey, you want to do warm up?
I had to show up to make them say we
didn't pick them for cast, but we're gonna thraw on
some sketches, you know what I mean. I had to
have a relationship already with Conan from previously. He had
to like me, you know, he had to. He had
to like me to say, hey, can we borrow j APE.
(40:05):
I had to do that a long time ago. I
had to plant that seed. That's another scene that got
planned that ends up coming back. So I ended up
not getting not getting I end up not getting renewed.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Right, man, this is crazy, this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
So I gotta I gotta go. I was watching I
got I fired everybody, so I gotta signed with a
new agent.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
So I would at home watching Cribby Enthusiasm, and I
told my wife, I said, man, I love to show
so much.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Man, I said, I would love to be on the show.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
One day, my wife said, you're gonna be on that show.
She said, I see it. I can see you and
Larry together. I don't know what it is. You love
this show so much, and you do you do this
stuff all the time, like with your eyes closed. You
improvised all the time. You gonna go to a party
(41:03):
and this saying you know the party is it's a
lot live in the whole party up because you just
being you and you're just improvising you. You and Larry
would be so funny together. She put that into the universe.
She's here's how things happen sometimes. One my wife told
me I was gonna be on the show. Two SNL
(41:26):
didn't resign me.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Right. If SNL resigns me, guess what.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I never know about I never know about quirk enthusiasm
because I wouldn't. But I ended up doing sue stand
up on the road when I didn't get renewed. I
was talking, I was, I just signed a new Asian.
I was on the road doing some stand up you're
talking about two or three months after I didn't resign.
I end up in Atlanta in the hotel room after
(41:52):
my show, my phone readings.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
My buddy O G.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Pearce, who produced the song, this is that's how we
do it, Marchal Jordan is how.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
We do it. You know, g Gonna make some dance.
You know, he produced that song.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
We became friends when I was on such as Anenter
Tannis show.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
He was doing the music supervisor, so me and him
hit it off. We came good friends. And then I
found out that O G passed away, right, I end up.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Leaving Atlanta and said, oh, and then I found out
they were having a memorial service for m in La.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
So look I just saw it. With a new agent.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
I get to La. I said, hell, way, I'm in La.
I'might as well go and see my new agent, go.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
And meet them.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
So I say, you know what, let me go over
here and meet meet these dunble heads. I met the
people in New York. Let me go meet the people
in the LA office. I go over to the LA office.
I'm only in town one days. Came for the memorial service.
I get to the office, right. I called myself in
town for a friends of memorial service. He passed away.
They said, come on over to the office and meet
the team. I go over there, man, I go to
(43:06):
go to this you know, big ass table, ten chairs
around the table.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I'm sitting at the head of the table.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Everybody got blue suits, hoole like weed, a damn matrix,
you know, like I'm in the major like a meo.
I said, okay, so what you want to do now?
You know you've been behind a computer typeing for three years.
You know what's what do you want to do? I said,
you know what, man, I'm just ready to get from
behind the camera back to the front of the camera again.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Man, my energy is good, you know God.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
And then Asian walks in and says, hey, man, hey,
JD get to meet you. Hey, I heard you in town.
Hey what do you How long you here? I said,
I leave tomorrow. I only came in to town because
my buddy O. G. Pierce passed away. I only came
to town for that, so I'm leaving tomorrow. I got
a gig on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Man.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
He says, well, I got an audition. If you have
time to go over there.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
I said, yeah, I'm free, I can go over there.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I can go over there today. I said, what's it four?
He said, Curby Enthusiasm. I said what I said, man, I.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Love Kurb Enthusiasm. I said, I love kurb enthusiasm. He said,
can you go over there now? I said, I said,
I said, give me the sides. He gave me the sides.
There's three different things on the page right. He said,
it's you know you're gonna do it, maybe two of
these off this list. I said, okay, I read the paper.
I said, man, I'm going ahead. I know I know
(44:30):
what this is. I get over there, man, I go
split over there. Everybody's in that room ready to go
in the audition. All my friends, all all my comedian
friends are all going in for the same role, for
my role, going in there, for vivoicous role, going in
there for Auntie Rag's role. All the roles people are
(44:50):
in that room going in there. I'm saying, oh, man,
you know we're joking around in there. So I said, yo,
I said one, okay, So I read it, and here's
what I do. I walk in the room. This is
my thing. I feel like, especially when I'm trying to
figure the character out. Like I said, I go into
the room as the character.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Mm hmmm. I walk in the room as Leon. M Yo.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Your white people were looking at me like, what in
the hell is going on here?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
They didn't know what I was doing, but I had
him laughing.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
They were like, they said, yo, and Larry's still in
the middle of the room. I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
At a curb your enthusiasm audition, you improvised directly with Larry.
I had no idea. I had no idea you over
this is room. Sometimes you're going on tape.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
That gotta be intimidating too.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
But see, just save me. It saved me because I
didn't go in the room as JP. I didn't go
and I went in the room as Leon.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
You always Leon. From from the minute from the time.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
I turned the door knob the walk in there, I
was already in Leon Low.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
I already started doing some man of riasms who I
thought he was. I started speaking differently.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
I started speaking more aggressively to Larry because I wanted
to put him on his heels. The first thing I
said to Larry, this is crazy. I did this though
I wouldn't recommend anybody doing this, but I said, I said, okay, okay.
JB said you're gonna improvise with Larry. Let's do seem one.
And I said, Okay, Larry, let's improvise. I said, may
We're gonna improvise, right, And I've been doing it. I've
been improvising my whole life. I've been improvising through my
(46:36):
real life and my stand up life. That's the only
way I'm able to have that type of confidence in
what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Win or lose. You gotta have it. I walk in there,
I said, okay, Larry, for improvise. I said, anything can happen, Larry.
I don't know. I might slap in the face. I
don't know. Let's see what happened. Le's see what we going.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Larry looked at me like what the what is room?
Speaker 2 (47:02):
And the producers all like and Larry looked at the producers.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Like like, okay, you know, and man, from that moment on,
I had that dude crying.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
He had to we we get it off, so.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
Well, see you don't you don't know how these things work.
Then later on I found out that Larry actually but well,
Larry's on the show that I used to love, which
was Fridays.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Remember that show. Fridays. Fridays was a show that was
in competition with SNL back and the day.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
Remember Fridays, God Fridays. Oh Man, Fridays was a joint.
Michael Richards was on Fridays, Larry was on Fridays. It
was a show that went head to head with.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
It was freaking Hilarry's. It was the only other sketch
show that was just like SNL that came on late
at night. Different now work. I.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
I go in the corner and we just started. We
hit it. We immediately hit it off.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
We laugh and he laughed in his say asshof, you
know producers like me and I left out of there.
My agent called me, and my new agent called me.
Ticked on me. He said, Man, how did we go?
I said, Man, if anybody else walk in and get
that role, God blessing, but all often.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
Saying me and Larry had a great time. But Larry.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
But Larry didn't work in SNL for a year. Now,
I'm gonna tell you when I worked at SNL for
three seasons. I can count on one hand how many
of my sketches made it to air one hand, and
I might be able to remove two fingers.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Why you didn't get anything renewed but yet?
Speaker 3 (48:45):
But but let me tell you them. I was definitely
a favorite at SNL. My pictures are legendary, legendary.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
You took comedian who writes.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
For himself and you put them in a writing position,
you know, actuality. I probably should have been both. I
probably should have been a cast member who wrote for
himself and other people. Because I mean, to this day,
people still bring up my old sketches.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
I don't care who I see.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
I could see Lauren, I could see head writers from
back then, task members from back then. They all remember
every pitch I ever pitched, because I would pitch. I
would pitch as a comedian meeting. I would stand up
and I would pitch my, my, my, my sketch ideas.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
So this is crazy. I leave there.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
I said, if someone gets it this, god bless him,
I said. Me and Larry had a good time. I
thought about it. I didn't think about it no more.
I said, whatever happens happens. I've seen a lot of
people in that room who are talented as hell, so
for me and so like, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
You know.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
I didn't think about it. I just laborated a good time.
I don't know how it's gonna turn out.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
I get on my flight for the next day. I
fly to Pittsburgh to do a stand up show. I
landed Pittsburgh. I had to drive two hours to get
to the comedy club, which is deep and Pensedica.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
I get there the.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
Most horrible hotel I've ever been in, motel Motel No.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
I got to three hours earlier.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
I laid on the bed in my clothes and my
colt and no, I'm thinking about this is praise, how
life is.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
I'm laying there one damn thirty ass bed. Right.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
It's a horrible ass motel, you know, And I'm sitting
there like, damn my ass used to write form. I
get on stage, Man, I had a good show. Right,
go back to the room, I said, Nah. After I
can smell bad weather coming. I can smell it, I said, nah,
(51:03):
I'm two hours from the airport.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna leave here. I'm
gonna go drive.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
And stay at the airport in a nice clean room.
Got a Hampton in I'm not gonna stand this raggedy
ass motel. I packed myself, put it in the trunk,
started driving. Fifteen minutes into my drive, it is freaking me.
Bury's coming down, snow wurry. Then it's like more snow.
Then it's more snow.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Man.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
It got a half an hour into the ride, I
couldn't see. I said, damn it. Should I turn around
and go back? I said, no, what I'm these coats.
I can drive it in this snow. We used to
driving in the snow. I'm done fifteen hours. An hour
is freaking the blizzard. People are pulling over under it
and other passes and stuff. I'm just driving in the
middle of the highway. My agent calls me. Now I'm
(51:50):
thinking he's calling me about what happened club and be
cussing his ass out. He said, you know what, I said, man,
Look man, that dude is a trip. He said, yeah,
I know, Mann, we we've he always gets into it
other people. Then he says, I said, now, when a
Holloway doing fifteen miles an hour, man the snow, He said,
slow down to ten miles an hour because I need
(52:12):
you to come back to LA tomorrow, because you just
got Curby enthusias dang, And I said, yo, I said
what I said? Let me call you back, man. I
call my wife.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
I said, baby, guess what happened. Guess what I got
Kirby enthusiasmic. She said, God, I do it. I told
you you. I told you he's gonna love you. I
do it it.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
That's IM saying, listen to your wives. I tell her,
tell people all the time, it's still the wife. Once
in a while, my wife on the show. David, this
is nuts, dammit.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
I get back to l a right. But first day
on set with that, we were having so much some
damn fun.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
Right in between shots, Larry says to me, he said, man,
this is crazy, but I feel like we've been working
together for years. I said, no, what Larry has ironically
be had And I had to think about this on
my head. We were both on essdel. We both barely
(53:18):
got sketches on SNEL. Larry even quit while he was
on Essendel went home. His roommate said, are you crazy?
That's a check. Larry went back to work the next
day and pretend like he did. He actually did an
episode of a side thought on it. He quit because
(53:42):
I asked whole his roommates so, are you crazy? That's
a freaking check.
Speaker 4 (53:45):
Man.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
Larry went back to work. By nothing happened. Damn its crazy,
he said. So that's when we had that moment, right,
did the whole season Kirk enthusing?
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Right? We ended up. You know they had the rap part.
So they had the rap part.
Speaker 3 (54:05):
Just everybody, you know, all casts or crew, they celebrate
the season being over.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
We get to the.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Rap part, right, my wife and are there showing it.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
They have something called the gag wheel.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
The gag wheels all the funny moments from the season,
or the photos of everybody on crew taking pictures of
pictures and candid photos of each other, videos scenes that
you know where were laughing too much.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Or whatever, you know, group of rios stuff. Man, So
dam it's crazy. Just what song was on the Jagga
Bull the bean music? Right? This is how we do it, shit.
Speaker 3 (54:50):
Yo, yo, man, My heart just started being crazy and
my wife and I looked at each other like, Yo,
that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
I would never have even been in LA. I had
to think about everything.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
I said, one, what if WO you didn't die, What
if you didn't die at that week, or what if
you didn't die at all? I would have never been
in LA. What IFS and L would have resigned me
for my fourth season? I wouldn't have been in LA,
I said.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
Third or first?
Speaker 3 (55:29):
You told me I was want to be on the show,
but you wouldn't. We wouldn't have had that. She told
me I was gonna be on that show before I
got fired.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
And if I think about that moment, you gotta.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
Have several moments. I think, but you gotta have the
right frame of mind. You gotta want everybody to win.
You don't want just yourself to win. Even when I
left that audition, I wanted my friends to win. Those
are a real friends in that room going in after me. Now,
(56:04):
I ain't a lie. When I came out there, I was.
I was fucking with my little bit. I said, hey, man,
I hold the door. I was just that's just how
we do a commedity. I hold the door. I was
all right, all right, okay, Mary, you call me later. Man,
you'd be cool and close the door. I said, Yeah,
said y'all get just sco the.
Speaker 2 (56:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
You don't want to be in the room.
Speaker 2 (56:22):
You don't want to be a room.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
You don't want to be in a room with all
your comedians. And one time it's O no no.
Speaker 3 (56:26):
Everybody started laughing. Because that's how we do. I said, hey, man,
y'all gonna have fun. Man, I gotta go with the
Pittsburgh Man do a show. I said, good luck, everybody,
good luck. But I say that because that's how we are.
We that's how I am. I root for everybody because
I know if you could walk in that room and win,
(56:47):
that opens up. That opens up other doors. Yeah, it
opens other doors up. So my moment can become your moment, you.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
Know, Jay, And this is probably one of the most informal,
most powerful interviews I've done it in a long time
for various reasons. I think that you did go over
what that moment was. I've had those type of moments,
but I think everything is not just that simple. It is,
like you said, planning seeds, and that moment is a
culmination of a bunch of moments that happened. And I
(57:19):
think you said it right, man. You know, you lost
a lot of people, so you value the moments that
when you when you're with people, you you walk out
the room and you wish everybody you know success, even
if it's no one against maybe your success, but it
doesn't matter. You know, you don't want to get in
their way. It doesn't make your way any easier, you
know what I mean. And then you had a special moment. Man.
(57:41):
I really really thank you, man, because I think that
I got to reflect and think about things. And you know,
you've always been like that. I don't know if I've
ever met I mean, you know, Quincy. You know, you've
never had people in between any of us. Like when
I speak to you, and I've always whenever I've speak
spoken to anybody spoken you, it's almost like you're talking
to a long lost friend or old body, you know.
(58:04):
And even if you have somebody there who's working with you,
like my Chauncey or my Ted parent or Ted, it's like, yeah,
that's cool, but we're talking to you. We're just all
hanging out. And I think that that is what makes
you such a beautiful person. And it comes off on TV.
It comes off when people meet you. Man, and and
it's good to see people that don't put a lot
of shields in front of them. And if we have
(58:26):
to go and speak to the other people, it's all good.
But we know that, we know that it's part of
the process and it was all cool. But thank you
for sharing that moment with me.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
I think you're me man too. We know we always have.
Speaker 1 (58:37):
Good talk, we always have a good time. We're gonna
have any more the we're gonna have. Well, thank you
for being with us.
Speaker 2 (58:44):
Brother, Hey man, I love you'all. Man, You'll be good day.
Speaker 1 (58:46):
This has been That Moment with Damon John. 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
(59:09):
to your favorite show and don't forget to subscribe to
the show and rate the show. You can all connect
with me on any social media platform at the Shark
daymon as in Raymond with a D
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