MO'NIQUE in the Trap! | 85 South Show Podcast

Mo'Nique joins the 85 South Show for a candid conversation. The comedian discusses her career journey, from early stand-up to iconic roles, sharing personal stories and reflections.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Ja, it is time to get serious and get back
to work. We ain't playing today while we ain't because
we don't got time to.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Waste, like yeah, because we got a real legend, because.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
We don't have time to play.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I know you feel the same way about the lady
as I do, because you.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Don't work with it before. And even if you don't
work well or not, if you ever came in.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Prison with this lady, she gave you some loves him uplifting.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
And what he calls you, my sweet baby.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Not only is he a great president, she's a magnificent comedie.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
A yes, a prolific writer.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
You did a good damn joke teller.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
The further you get in the hood, the more hood
the compliments.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Get what you're talking about now she talks ship, ship,
talking a joke, telling an actress.

Speaker 5 (00:57):
A magnificent actress, fucked motherfucker's up.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
You've seen it. She told that big bitch kicked out.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
And I want a holes, want a holoss.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
She sat down, bitch, I let you get yourself together.
Now come down.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
You better go down better. That that was right up,
That was right the way down the steps. I just
down the step.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Come on, man, I'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
She was acting so good.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I was like, when I was watching it, I'm like, boy,
then it got more Nigga back on the cigarettes.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
But that wasn't that she was on the squawn.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
She was on the squab.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
No no queens a comedy. So I have lost count
at this point. It ain't nothing. You can't say nothing
but good things. Better go look up on Google.

Speaker 6 (01:48):
Come on man, none other then ooh, the legendary mo Nigga.

Speaker 7 (02:01):
I'm gonna stay up there. I'm gonna you gotta get
you think they're standing to get up right there?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Up the whole episode the definition money for real, for real,
for real, real money.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Welcome to the eighty half self.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Thank y'all for having me ba couch. Y'all know how
long I have wanted to come sit on this couch?
Could y'all know how long I have wanted to come
sit on this couches? Well, we'll get coach to the building. Listen,
I'm like, as soon as they call him there, now
y'all know it's lay for me, okay. And then when
we came down the dark road, I said, okay, it

(02:44):
is everybody strapped because we don't know what this is
gonna be everybody, and then y'all opened up the gate. Yes,
and here we are. Yes.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Man, it's so crazy. I don't we don't even know
what to ask. We just know you're gonna tell us something.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Question.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I want to know the beginning on the comedy.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Side, because the work that you put in in the
comedy game.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
And like you said, DC, we was talking before you
got here.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Man, it's like you gave me an opportunity so long ago,
and you spoke over my life.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
You said you a millionaire. You don't. You're a millionaire already.
You don't even know it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
And just for you saying that on the national TV,
on the platform on BT one of those shows where
my people can see me doing it. And it was
just five minutes, but it had a lasting impression for
all the people that I grew up around, the aunties
and uncles, you know, the people who ain't mobile no more,
who can come to a show. They got to see

(03:43):
they boy, and I always wanted to tell you thank you,
and I tell you every time I see you, I.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Still thank you for that moment.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
But tell me how it all started for you.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
You know, I think that it starts the same way
it starts for all of us with funny and then
somebody says you should, and then you go do that
I should. And now it's thirty five years plus. You know,
for me, it was my brother thought he was the
funny one and did it open mic night and the

(04:16):
key word to start right. He thought he was the
funny one, and they bowed him damn. And I said,
you shouldn't embarrass the family like that, because if I
was on stage, I would have said. And now we're
thirty five years later, yeah, thirty thirty five.

Speaker 8 (04:33):
How do you keep that same motivation from day one
until like year thirty five? Like you said, like I
remember watching all of them, all of them, missus, Paul.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
I watched it all. I watched the Paul.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I watched it all.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
I just saw it and then until we met in
our journey a line in cross Paths.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I want to I also want to tell you,
cause we were talking outside.

Speaker 5 (04:57):
I want to say thank you because that was my
movie debut. Yes, and I was among them, a one
hit us, but you made me feel so comfortable you
Literally every time I remember you leaning, you was like
you ready, I'm like yes, you were like I'm gonna

(05:18):
throw it at you. I'll throw it back, I.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Said, I got you. I was like, oh beat, I'm
like huge shit. That means she trust my comedic timing.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
So I'm in a spot being a student and I
just want to tell you.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Thank you, Oh baby, thank you. It was a pleasure
to sit next to you because, as I told you then,
I said, they're talented people and they're gifted people. And
that's two different things. Talent you can teach somebody to
say a line. You can teach somebody to be funny

(05:52):
in that second. Gifted you can't teach that. And sitting
next to you, I saw your gift because everything I
gave you, you wouldn't flinch when I said to you, boy,
I will stab you with this fork, and you said
I like that. I was like, and you were. You

(06:17):
were fearless, And I said, you were a breath of
fresh air. And you weren't competing, you were just being
And that's what makes it magical when there's no competition,
you're just being in the moment. And you were always
in that moment. There was never a time that you
got shook. There was never a time that I saw you,

(06:40):
even watching in Villio, village watching you. You were just
so present and you let your gift take over. That's
why you know, I'm honored to be sitting him with you, babies,
because you didn't quit from the Monique Show to right now.
You kept going. And though you took that fire minutes,

(07:01):
that five minutes made you famous. To people that said
that you said to them one day, one day, and
then at five minutes they had a chance to see
they boy, they nephew, their grandson, their cousin become famous.
So it's an honor to watch you babies grow and

(07:25):
keep going and make room for the next babies that's
coming up. It is as me and my husband was
sitting back in the green room, I said, Daddy, this
is beautiful because the baby took me on a tour
of your business and all these different rooms and all
these different avenues, and then y'all are making room and
avenues for other young babies coming up in this game.

(07:47):
This wasn't possible twenty years ago. So to watch y'all
do it and do it effortlessly, and you do it
so giving. Because I'm watching, I'm watching your staff, I'm
watching your everybody black, everybody's blash everybody's black, got one

(08:09):
white wife. But just to watch out do it is awesome,
awesome to speak on that too, because man to do
comedy back then, and to do it when it was
time where it was.

Speaker 9 (08:25):
Like when a spotlight it on me, I ain't worry
about nobody else.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
How do you break through that that threshold and how
do you continue to stay like positive and motivated during
the time where it's.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Like, ain't nobody giving you no shot?

Speaker 5 (08:40):
And even when you good that damn it put you
in the back of the line because niggas is definitely skinny.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, because every shot was a shot, like I never
looked at it like, oh no, every turn was a turn.
And I've always told the comedians, when you get on
that stage, it's your moment. You can't worry about who
wan't befo you, who is going after you. It is
just your moment. And when you're gifted, you can't get

(09:08):
away from the gift. You can try, you can say oh,
but when you're gifted, you can't get away from that gift.
And that's the motivation, because you don't want to disappoint
to give the universe for the gift you've been given.
I still go on my closet. I'll say to my husband,
I'm in the closet on stage, Daddy. I still do that.

(09:30):
I still get in the bathroom mirror and I'm talking
and I'm going over things, even if there's no show
lined up. Because when you're gifted, and I say that humbly,
when you're gifted, you can't stop that. That's a part
of you. You cannot stop. So when people say why
was sugaray Lynn to get back in the ring, because
it's a gift, you can't. You want to keep expressing

(09:53):
that gift. So that's how I stay motivated. I enjoy
expressing the gift.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Now I gotta ask this because you created one of
Black America's favorite shows. There was a time in my
life where you couldn't go with a young lady house
past a certain time, and Miss Nikki Parker wasn't on that.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
And I'm talking about you. You might get eight episodes
in a row. Come on you to be able to
be Miss Naked Parker.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Let me tell you first that there were three people
that actually created that show. Sarah Andy, Ralph haar Quar,
and Vita Spears. I just worked with. They were they
were the creators. However, in them, me and the creators,
Countess Vaughan and I and Dorian Wilson and Event Wilson
and Jennevan Lloyd and my baby Ken Lawson, we brought

(10:48):
those characters to life. And and in bringing those characters
to life, those characters will be with us forever. You know,
there are some people to say, don't call me by
that name, because I done it so long ago. I
will forever be Niki Parker, and I walk in that proudly.
Because Nikki Parker gave Monique a string. Nickki Parker and

(11:10):
Monique began to intertwine with things that Nicki Parker did
that Monique may have been too insecure to do. So
when people said, oh, you just had it going on,
Nicki Parker and Monique began to intertwine, like remember I
had to wear a bathing suit, and that ain't Monique
would have done. That's my personal that ain't for nobody.
But Nikki Parker was like, hell no, we ain't gonna

(11:33):
let these other bitches be in these bathing suits. And
we not bath were bathing too, So you know, it
was just that it was the strength and the carriage
and and the confidence and the funny and being with countless.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Vaughn chemistry was amazing.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
It was magical. You couldn't explain that. Like the first
day we met, I knew she was mine and she
knew I was hers. Could not explain that chemistry. It
was just time. It was the right. We still talk
to this day. That's still my pudding and she still say,
Mama is so dope.

Speaker 8 (12:10):
I appreciate that show because it gave it gave it
showed strength, and it also showed that black women may
be uh, what's the word I'm looking for, may have
the wrong impression because of how we talk and you
don't understand our love language.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
With every show you got a lass.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
You made sure why still spoiled. At the same time,
it was right there.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
I can't let you go out there and just do
anything for the world is gonna It's gonna tell you.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
That matter of fact. You in school. I'm gonna watch it. Yes,
I'm gonna work there. Yes, so I keep my eye
on you. Yes, but I got this state. I gotta
keep that tone right there. Yes, man. I think that's
why that show was was so successful, because it was
real and it was a lot of mother daughter relationships.
Kim was trying to her grown, NICKI was trying to

(13:02):
keep her baby. So that was a constant battle, but
they loved each other. There was that constant conflict where
you're trying to find your woman and your mama saying
you still ain't grown. I'm trying to get out the way,
but I can't get out the way. I can't let
you fall, but I want to let you slip. So
it was that constant going back and forth that mothers

(13:24):
and daughters were going through them. I appreciated those two
women because they were not your stereotypical beauties. They weren't that.
You had Countess Vaughan, who was short and little, pudgy
and cute. You had Nikki Parker, who was this big
black woman. But neither one was apologetic. Neither one was

(13:45):
saying I'm sorry for who I am. They were both
saying this is who we are. Take us or leave us,
but we ain't going away. Look damn good.

Speaker 10 (13:53):
Oh come on, you'm all standing when you were lying
you ain't want it no more.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
You saw that, But that just goes to show you.
Listen the moment she said that's okay, even though she
still loved him, even though she still believed that one
day this man will be mine all the way up

(14:20):
to that day when she was going to marry another man,
only because she felt like there was no more hope,
not because she didn't love him. Because the moment and
Dell said he he loved you, she had to look
at that cat and say, I've been fighting for this

(14:41):
for five years. Do you think in two shows you're
gonna come in and take me. Nikki was like, Na,
that's the one I really want. And that goes to
show women. If you gotta stark a nigga, you got
to believe that. You believe it to the leaf. You

(15:03):
did that.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Now I want to ask you about the original Queen's
of Comedy. Yes come on one of the highest selling tours,
Yes with black female comedians of all man.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
How many days did y'all do? How long were y'all
out there?

Speaker 1 (15:18):
What's some of your favorite moments and favorite cities and
how you grew from it?

Speaker 3 (15:24):
A lot of stuff came from the Queens of Comedy.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Everything was my.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Favorite, just the whole experience.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
The whole experience to be on stages with some of
the funniest women to ever hold a microphone. What an
honor right. And to be unified in that tour in
a way that we didn't know we would wind up

(15:49):
being unified like that because at first it was the Queen's,
it was the Kings. Then it was the queens and
the Kings together, and the Kings will get treatment that
the Queen's wasn't getting. And I had to say, wait
a minute, each other what's happening, and the other Queen's
had to say, Okay, wait a minute, what's happening. But

(16:10):
to have that experience with the Kings as well, so
now you're on stages with what will go down in
history and some of the greatest to ever do it.
It's a moment in time that I'll never forget. It's
a moment in time to be with some more Adele

(16:31):
Givings Laura Hayes, and to look back right. The beauty
is for me is that when my sons can go
back and say, wow, Mommy, When my grandsons favorite show
us The Parkers and he's seven and he's singing the
theme song. When my granddaughter, who's now three, she doesn't

(16:55):
know how to say, I want to watch the Parkers.
She says, put Grandmammy on, put Grandma Ma on. So
those are those moments that are the special ones all
of it. Most so when people say, Monique, what was
your favorite? All of It's been my favorite because I'm
still that little fat girl in the mirror saying one day,

(17:17):
that's how you stay motivated. Some of us believe we arrived.
So I'm here. I still feel like I'm still I'm
still I'm still walking in it. I'm still dreaming. I've
never stopped dreaming.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Now a lot of people might not know, but you're
from Baltimore all day, and that's become one of our
favorite cities.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
That's the reason why we click.

Speaker 8 (17:42):
If I wasn't from the South, I'd probably be from
DC or Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, forty trip. Yeah, Baltimore is real Little Baltimore. Baltimore's
blue collar, Baltimore's down home. Baltimore is what made me
be unafraid. Baltimore's made me say I won't apologize. Baltimore
is what made me say I don't give a god
damn what your title is. Wrong is wrong and right
is right. Baltimore made me say I won't back down.

(18:08):
I won't back up because that's what I'm from. Yeah,
I love love when they come to the ship country.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
We all do at the comedy Factor.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yes, man, Baltimore, they coming, they.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yes, and they treaty family.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't consider people fans anywhere. I never call somebody
a fan because that's sure for fanatic and I don't
want to be fanatic fanatic of them on me. We family.
So when you go to Baltimore, it's family. When you
get in front of your people, it's family. And you
have some of us that get in front of our

(18:55):
people and they treat our people like they're doing them
a favor, not understanding. Without our people, we don't work.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Now, I'm about to ask you one of the trade
secrets now asking you know, as comedians you do movies.
Also when you're working on a movie, some you know
this take months sometimes years?

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, six eight months, twelve, thirteen months.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Do you still feel the need like I gotta get
on stage tonight when you when you shoot in a movie.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Or a TV show, you don't have to.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Know when I'm doing that. I'm doing that, you know.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
But you still get to itch like shit, it'd be
a good night to go hit that.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
No, only because I mean you know. I've been doing
it for over thirty five years. So do I get
the it's to say I'm gonna go to open mic night? No,
Because if I'm in town doing this, that's what I'm
focused on. And when I'm done doing that, I go

(19:53):
back to my room and then I deal with my family.
I don't mix those two things up. Oh now they said,
come from the movie, Now, where's the stage? No? No,
I don't get that itch anymore to do that. Now.
Do I still get the itch to do stage? Yes? Yeah,
and that's when I go.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Do a show tour.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yes, But to just say I'm gonna go down there
and go open my knife. Now I heard you. I
heard you say that your brother would on stage.

Speaker 8 (20:19):
And then you most different and you and you you
kind of like told, is that what you would say?

Speaker 5 (20:24):
What was the first time Molique stay up off stage
and grabbed him?

Speaker 2 (20:31):
It was at Burks in Baltimore. What did was that?
Nineteen nineteen ninety?

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Look, he remembered.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
I remember that. I was, yeah, listen, it was nineteen
ninety and wow. Right after that night, I said this
is it because I knew, and I say this humbly,
I knew I was going to be famous. There was
there was. I knew that, and I didn't know what

(21:03):
I was going to be famous at, but I knew
I would be famous. I was a full figured model.
I worked at a sexphone line. I knew that. Let
me get its root all things involved in a microphone. Yes,

(21:29):
you was on the drift room. I was on the
drive through, baby, always.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Want if you all the fucking pope, and Monique was
on the speaker, maybe you're taking my sweet baby.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's how when you came to my drive through, because
I was so proud that I had a job and
I was making my own money. But it was still
a microphone, so that was my opportunity to talk in
that microphone. And when you pulled up, Baby, I said, Hi,
welcome to Popeye's. My name is Monique. What would you
like this afternoon or this evening, whatever time it was, baby?

(22:03):
And if they said hi Monique, I would like, I
was like, and that I took the order. I would suggest,
would you like a hot apple pile with that? You
know what, Monique? I think I would on around baby? Yeah,
you know he was going back to it.

Speaker 11 (22:26):
You do that?

Speaker 2 (22:28):
I did that?

Speaker 3 (22:30):
And how did they come about was honey.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Let me tell you. I did that for maybe a
year and a half. I didn't actually talk to the men.
I transferred the calls.

Speaker 9 (22:41):
Oh okay.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
And it was an ad in the paper and they
were paying nine dollars an hour. It said customer service.
So that's all it said, nine an hour customer I'm like, well,
what the kind of customer service is this? So I'm
going to interview and they take me back in the
room and you begin to listen to the calls. I
was like, so wait a minute. You telling me I

(23:03):
just have to listen to the calls, transfer the calls,
and i'make nine dollars an hour, sign me up. And
when I tell you it was one of the best
jobs that I've ever had because some of the shit
you've learned, you was like, okay, it was incredible. It

(23:25):
was incredible.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
That's amazing.

Speaker 12 (23:28):
Man.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Like I want to ask you this, what's your favorite work?
Is it movies? Is it TV? Is it the road?
Is it radio? Is it? What is it? What you like?

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Stand Up is my baby first and foremost. Stand up
is my first love. Like stand up was and is
stand up saved my life because you can walk out
on that stage and you can be in some place mentally,
but when you're done, it can bring you back balanced.

(24:03):
You can walk out on the stage and be so
unbalanced and going through life, but that audience doesn't care
because I paid my money, bitch, I'm unbalanced, so I
need to laugh tonight, so your issues doesn't matter to me.
And when you can share your issues and then y'all
can laugh with you at the issues, that's very therapeutic,

(24:28):
very therapeutic.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Tell me about it.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, you've gone up on stage. I'm sure some nights
and life was life, but you had to go out
there and you said, you know what, I've got to
be funny. I've got to be funny because they dealing
with life too. And we are the medicine. And again
I said, humbly, we are oftentimes people's medicine to feel

(24:55):
better without popping a pill. So you gotta swallow yours
and you gotta go on the stage and be medicine.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
It's different levels to it, too, especially when you at
the stage of your career where it's like now you're
playing the game or you don't eat that day, whereas
like I'm trying to get to the other side where
that money at.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
I need this show money tonight. Oh baby. Tell me.
The only thing I gotta do is make y'all laugh. Nigga,
I'm hungry. I've been waiting on this all day. I'm
about to fuck y'all up.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, I need.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
It, yeah, oh man.

Speaker 8 (25:30):
Because you know, I listened to you and I could
tell from tones and people have great tranquility and be
very calm.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
What did my sweet.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Babies come from?

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Because my sweet babies is like a word where baby,
you won't want to be nothing after my sweet baby.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
It's still the point that when we even hear your
name and that's you, gotta say.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
It my sweet my sweet baby, because you're are and
for me it's such a term of endearment that how
can you be mad at that? How can you have
a problem with that?

Speaker 10 (26:04):
You know?

Speaker 2 (26:05):
And one day my grandson said it to me, he said, hey,
my sweet baby, and that thing melted me. And I'm like,
is that what people feel when I say that? Is that?

Speaker 3 (26:19):
What?

Speaker 10 (26:20):
So?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
For me? It it makes me feel good. I hope
it makes you feel good. And if I don't remember
your name, hey sweet.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
Baby, my sweet baby, yes, because you.

Speaker 8 (26:40):
Always had the energy because I saw a clip.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
It was some TV show and it was the daughter
and the.

Speaker 8 (26:47):
Mama was standing right there at the door, like I
don't want to hear that.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
You was just fighting with you, was just trying to
I saw it where you were.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Like this, But you know what, baby, I'm gonna fight
with you.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
I said, what's she good? That it was? Chim school
was a great learning lesson, even for me because even
at that time, there were decisions and choices I was
making that I wasn't mature enough right. And I can

(27:21):
remember going home one night and I was telling my
husband about it, the fight that was get ready to
happen with the young lady's mother and then and he said, Mama,
he said, you are there to teach and learn, so

(27:42):
you can't handle it like they would handle it. You
can't get flustered, you can't get shook because now you're
in the same position. And at the time, mentally, as
I look back on it, and I said, wow, I
could have handled it differently. I could have said that differently.

(28:02):
I could have walked through that differently because I was
in my thirties. Now I'm a fifty seven year old woman.
So things I did in my thirties, I wouldn't do
in my fifties. So I would never challenge a baby
to take her in the bag. Okay, said now, I said,
we can go in the bag.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
We can go in the bag, and we can go
in the bag and then we can come back our baby.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
The Baltimore came out and be like, what we gonna do.
I would never do that at fifty seven years old.
So with that show, watching the Bag, I've learned just
like those women have learned. And I'm happy for those sisters,
for the ones that said I'm gonna keep it going,
I'm gonna do something with it. I'm happy for those babies.
And if I had to do it again, I would

(28:48):
do some things.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
Differently that might be interesting, that might be an interesting,
that might be an interesting that.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Like bull click click too, he looks Buck that need
to get you great?

Speaker 5 (29:07):
Need go talk Monique, We're going to back, going to back, right,
Jinna take it back, but talk this.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Some I would still take to other back, say proper situation.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Now, you know, we were fans of comedy over here,
and we been keeping the records.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
So I want to ask you what was comedy like
in the nineties, because that's the era.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
We'll never get the experience.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
It was magical. Baby. See, there was a time that
we didn't know how you lived. We didn't know that
you had a private jack. We didn't know that you
had a yacht. We didn't know that you had twenty
five cars. We just knew you were funny, and that's
what we were going after. We didn't know how Richard
Prior lived, we didn't know how Eddie Murphy lived. We

(29:56):
just knew that these people were got bucket fun and
we wanted to get there. Well, I think for you, babies,
where it's different. You see people saying I want to
live and imagine. I want to have fancy cars, I
want to get on TV. I want to be in
the movies. So sometimes the stand up can lack because

(30:19):
you're chasing what you see on social media. You're chasing
what you hear about this person's on Forbes, and you're
no longer chasing the dream and the gift. You're now
chasing the materialistic part of it. And you've stepped away
from let me just go up on this stage and
show my gift, let me show the universe. I appreciate

(30:41):
that they chose me.

Speaker 12 (30:43):
What is something you learned after you made it that
you wish you knew on your way coming up.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Nigga, hit you with some deep shit.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
What's something that I've learned once I got there on
my way.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Coming out that you wish you knew on your way coming.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Up that I didn't need a bunch of shit, that
I didn't need to waste money on a bunch of
shit that you don't need when you When I first
got my first check from the Parkers, right, I understood
my contract, but I didn't understand it when I opened

(31:30):
up that first check, I didn't quite understand I was
getting twenty two more of those checks at that number. Right,
So when I understood that I'm gonna get another check
like this next week, fuck this chat and we bolling.
We are bolling, baby when I tell y'all want the

(31:50):
Cosco on board ship that I did not need. Yeah,
But then once you settle in and once you understand
this is not promise tomorrow and some of us get
in positions where we live these multimillion dollar lives on Monday,

(32:11):
but Tuesday it was taken away. So now what do
you do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? So you start seeing a pattern. Oftentimes.
That's why for me it was important to read the
stories of the sisters that came before me, and most
of them died broke, unhealthy, and by themselves because they

(32:34):
never thought that it would end, especially when you ride
and high, especially when everyone says you're the best and
you're the greatest, and something happens and just like that,
now it's done. But you are still in this million
dollar lifestyle that you still have to try to maintain

(32:56):
and afford. So some sisters and brothers can find themselves
doing things that you gotta maintain this lifestyle instead of saying, Okay,
wait a minute, let me make sure I'm not living
above my means even though I get that check every week.
Let me make sure that if that check gets taken away,

(33:17):
I'm not gonna be taken away.

Speaker 8 (33:19):
How you deal with people that don't understand and it's
just begging and asking.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
You've got to get comfortable and no. And you've got
to get comfortable with your no with no explanation, because
when you say yes, they don't say why you say yes,
They just say what time can I pick it up?
Are you zelling it? Are you overnight in it? But
they never say dc why you say yes? So the

(33:44):
moment you say no, you's got to be comfortable, and
why you say no? Because I can, And that's it.
And it took me a long time to get comfortable
in my nose, and it cost me a relationship with
my biological family because I was so used to saying
yes that the moment you say no, you become the villain.

(34:10):
And that was very uncomfortable. I didn't want to be
the villain, so I would say no, but okay, because
I don't want you to be mad. I don't want
you to be upset Till you get to a place
where you're looking in the mirror and the person looking
back is mad at you because they're saying everything you
said you wouldn't do, you're doing. And now you have

(34:31):
resentment for yourself, not for them, because you're resenting the
fact that you didn't keep your word to say, I
can't take care of you, I can't take you along.
But a lot of things go with that. A lot
of us don't want to be by ourselves, so we
take people along that we know don't deserve it, because

(34:51):
you're simply afraid of being by yourself and then you
look up and you have people that you gotta get
mad at yourself because they said, but you knew who
I was. You knew I was a take up, But
now you thought something was going to change. You just
have more to give me. So you have to get
comfortable in your no and be okay with that. You

(35:14):
hear that, mother, No, No, I.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Still need Is there anything left you want to do?

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yes? Yes, there's so much left that I want to do.
I want to learn how to bake a cut damn
chocolate cake from scratch and then don't tilt. That's what
I want to learn. How I know how to do it?
Wait minute, sugar. That was judgment, no.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
Mean following.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Because oftentimes in this business, we get so caught up
in business and people say what's next, and you don't
don't even think to say, you know what, my grandbabies.
You don't think because you only think to deliver business.
I've had to learn to separate that. It's like, I

(36:11):
hope tomorrow's next because today is beautiful. So if I
just get to tomorrow, what a blessing that will be.
So when you say what more do I want to be?
I want to continue to be the best wife, the
best mother, the best grandmother, the best friend. The business
is the business, but the business won't be there when

(36:34):
I'm taking that last breath. The business won't be there
when I'm sick. The business won't be there when I'm
going through it. So what's next is going to be
what's next. But I hope I get as much as
time with my family that I can possibly get.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
How did you adjust to living your life publicly? Because
I did. I saw you just reconciled with your sony.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
And the like. That's life.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
And you hear what I'm saying, but you'd have to
do it publicly knowing that it would happen. But being
on the world's timeline, how do you adjust to that
just when you going through regular life shit in front
of everybody.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
It's what it is. And if my situation can help
your situation, I'm willing to go through that publicly. If
a mother and a son was able to reconcile watching
me and my son, I'm able to go through that publicly.
And as long as I'm telling the truth, I don't

(37:33):
give a damn who sees it or who hears it.
It's a part of what we do. You can't live
your life and they not know what you're doing. Now,
some things you can say, I'm gonna hold this just
to me. I'm gonna keep this right here, but everybody's
watching now, so if you see it, I'm not gonna
run from it. When my son went public, I couldn't

(37:54):
run from it. It was it was right there. It
was what it was. But as I said to him,
time will heal. Time will heal. And because I have
a king, it didn't make my knees buckle. Because I
have a man and says we're gonna stand in this together, Mama,
whatever they throw at us, we're right here. And because

(38:18):
you mind, I'll stand in front of it. My knees
don't buckle. I don't waver from what I know is right.
I don't wave it from the truth. So if that
has to be public, I'm okay with that. I'm still
waiting for Tyler Perry, still waiting for Oprah Winfrey to say,
let's have this public, open conversation. Don't run, don't run,

(38:40):
because that may be able to heal our community, just
like my son and I. And I'm not saying, oh,
we're these healers. No, but you got a chance to
see it in real time because I love him and
he loves me, and I was not gonna let that
split second cost us the rest of our lives. When

(39:02):
my mother left, I had no relationship. My father left,
I had no relationship. When my sister left, I had
no relationship. I have two biological brothers that I have
no relationship with. And I called my son and said,
I do not want us to go another moment like this,
and both of us were willing, so it had to

(39:25):
happen publicly. But look at where it is now. So
I'm okay with that. I ain't got your.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Die and you did? You brought up the Tyler Perry
and lead that.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I did because I didn't know if y'all was okay.
I mean, we brought you here just to show you love.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
I love what we do on the on the comedy
side of things, the entertainment side of things. But you
did see when I did my Club Sha Shade, he
brought up you and I told me, you know, the
quote was that people say Monique hard to work with, yes,
And I told him, no, she ain't.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
She just ain't to be played.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
With, right, So what do you say to the people
who say Monique hard to work with, Well.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
For the people that said I'm hard to work with,
they've not worked with me exactly, So I can't even
entertain it because they've not worked with me. But when
you have a man named Tyler Perry saying she's difficult
to work with, and you've never worked with me, and
that cost me twelve years of my career. So when
people say, Monique, let that go, I'll ask you, because

(40:35):
you know the streets. If somebody cost a man two
thousand dollars for lying on him in the streets, what happens? Okay,
that's two thousand. Now let's say twenty thousand. What happens? Okay?
So now let's say and fifty thousand. That is when

(41:00):
you gotta saya put it in gud hand. Okay, I'm
gonna keep going up because I'm making a point. So
now let's say that lie cost you two million. Now
let's say that lie cost you between twenty four and
thirty six million dollars. Do you let it go? I'm

(41:20):
asking you. Do you let it go? Do you let
it go? So? Whyever would I let that go? Whyever
would I not talk about it every opportunity I get
because you've cost my family that money. And what happens
is we get so afraid of power that we're too

(41:41):
afraid to say what's real. I've set in front of
brothers and sisters who will say off camera that shit
was wrong, but the moment the camera comes on, I
don't really know if I want to say this, because
we get afraid of what will be taken from me,
what what will happen to me? I keep saying it

(42:04):
out loud because I know they're sisters that came before
me that are no longer here, that they couldn't say
it because they were too afraid to say that one
cost me, that one did this, that one did that.
I'm gonna stand for each one of those sisters, and
for the ones that aren't even here yet until they
make it right. I'm unapologetic about that. I'm unapologetic about

(42:28):
saying you've got to make it right, because that's why
our community keeps getting treated the way it gets treated,
because we've been told from slavery, let it go. You
don't wanna upset them. I don't give a goddamn who's upset.
I don't give a goddamn who's hard of hearing it.
I'm gonna keep saying it until that black man and
that black woman and Lionsgate makes this right because you

(42:51):
cost my family generational money. For the other people, that's
cowardly and say I would just let it go, that's
your big business. My business says, never let it go.
And that's a part of entertainment. So I appreciate you said, hey, Mama,
we brought you here to show you love. This is
a part of it. This is a part of it

(43:13):
for the next black woman that says I won't be quiet,
because if I keep being quiet, it lets the next
black woman get her ass kicked.

Speaker 12 (43:28):
Just let that sit, boy, let it similar.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
My mama always said, when you got your Asshoopy'll.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
Walk to the roof.

Speaker 9 (43:35):
Don't say nothing, nap, don't ain't look at nobody.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
We heard go to sleep.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
We saw it too.

Speaker 12 (43:40):
Shit listen with Precious with that strip, right, did you
feel any type of way as because I know that
that's not you, right, so, like did you feel any
type of way doing that movie?

Speaker 3 (43:52):
Like was it some point you like god damn, like
who wrote this ship? Like did you have it? Did
you say it loud?

Speaker 13 (43:59):
Like bitch, get I'm sorry, baby, that would.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Because it was it was like it was.

Speaker 12 (44:11):
It was just so intense and like damn, like damn.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
When Lee first sent me that script, when I got
to page ten, I called him up. I said, what
is this? Ship? What is this? He was like, bitch,
I know is right, And but my husband and I
were reading that script. He said, Mama, he said, don't
judge her, just become her. That was it. So when

(44:37):
he said action, Lee said this bitch is a monster.
When he said action, I was a monster. When he
said cut, I was Monique that way. It was just
that easy. It was just that because it allowed us
to play, like how far can we go? Like how
far do you want to push this damn envelope? And yes,
when he said cut, I was like, Gabby, you okay?

(44:58):
So because ship okay? Then look are you good? Listen listen.
There's one scene and this is what Lee has said
to me. He says after the scene, he said, Bitch,
that was the most brilliant ship I've ever seen. The
way you grabbed your heart and you bent over. Bitch,

(45:19):
you are incredible. I said, Nikka, I can't let you
believe that I bent over because I was laughing at
that bitch because she kicked her slipper down the steps
at me, so I had to bend over so I
didn't mess up the scene. And what's out laughing? Yeah,
watch them part watch it, you'll see me go because

(45:42):
I'm trying to hold the laugh back. Yeah, in the
middle of it, and she was like, that's what she's doing.
I got the top of the steps. They can't see her,
so I'm in it, and I'm like, it was so good,
it was so it was so good, It was so good. Yeah,

(46:04):
we played.

Speaker 8 (46:07):
After such an intense scene, and you know, you don't
never talk sometimes after that such an intense scene.

Speaker 13 (46:15):
Get back to yourself after the snap back.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Look. You know I've had people ask me that, like
did you have to get the programs that the moment
he said cut, I was Monique. I didn't take that anywhere.
Ship was done. Yeah, yeah, you.

Speaker 14 (46:43):
Really made black history or if you know that, because
there's how many movies centered around a romantic comment. Yes,
and it must have resonated because you all get the
budget on three million, but like eighteen.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Bocks off, come on now, Google Entertainment and the money and.

Speaker 14 (47:03):
Music and moves always fascination. Yes, So talk to us
about then how they connected and uh and what was
like carrying such a heavy road, Jay, we are trying
to get a podcast.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
Right, that's one of you would call who movies because
that's right before everything went digital.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
So he was watching ship like that.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
We were actually going and picking it up and going
to Blockbusters and written and buying that and you know
what I'm saying, these are movies that people will.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yeah, he went crazy. Yeah, Fat Girls was was this
brilliant sister. Niggas Lecky wrote that right, and when she
first sent it to me at the time, my sister,
my biological sister, was working in the office and she
told that woman Monique's not accepting scripts right now, right,

(47:58):
And she was like, okay, well, I didn't know anything
about that. And then just so happened. I'll say about
six months later, she got that script in my hands
and I could not put it down. And I called
her at night and I said, let's do it because
I had never seen a big black woman portrayed that way,
which she was the love interest and she wasn't the joke,

(48:19):
and it wasn't oh you know, it's a pity relationship.
It was this man really loving this woman, so that
that one was a lot of fun to do, a
lot of fun to do. Not the best business deal,
but a lot of fun to do. Yes, well, because
at the time there were so many things I didn't know.

(48:42):
There were questions I didn't know to ask, and people
aren't going to volunteer the information. So I didn't own
any effect.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Girls.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
I was simply a worker, and though that's my image.
So what happens is when my husband did come on
and I said to him, I need you to be
my manager, he was like, Mama, that ain't that didn't
what I do until he saw how things were going
down and he knew I gotta step in. So we

(49:11):
made no more deals like that after he came in
as my manager. Now, everything we do, we have to
own some of it. We ain't saying we gotta have
all of it, but that's my image. That's our work.
We gotta have a piece of it. If you making money,
shouldn't we make money? That's it.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
And you on tour with Cat, you still doing things
with Cat?

Speaker 9 (49:32):
No.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
I finished with Cat in May, Okay. And when I
tell you y'all, that tour was a tour that tour
was a tour. I had never seen a machine run
that way, and Kat Williams ran that machine because when
you see those arenas and you see all the trucks,

(49:54):
and I mean the brother just had that machine running
in a way where it was so it was just
a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun
to walk out on those stages and you standing in
front of ten thousand, fifteen thousand, twenty thousand, and you're
just that love and an enjoyment and it's like, wow,
get it, brother, But I still love a comedy club.

Speaker 8 (50:19):
The company you cannot so it did right there, It's
right there, it is right, it is in the moment
I can look at you and tell a few in it.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Or if you're not so now I gotta ask.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
You're gonna do some club dates? Is that on?

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Well? I just did a club date. I did Rob
Stapleton's club in the Bronx.

Speaker 10 (50:42):
Yes, yes, when you do the Bronx. The Bronx is
in New York, but it's in the South, Like you
still walking in front of a Southern crowd. It's that
damn home dark liquor.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Let's get it. Yeah, Yeah, I still love a club.
I still love a club.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Uh, that's what the.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Baby, because like you said, it's got the down home field.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Yes, with the Spanish infusion.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
You did that ship right with that. Yes, there's a
lot of clubs we go to. It be like this,
this is a cool room, but it ain't.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
It ain't one of them.

Speaker 9 (51:20):
Did you go to places like Baltimore Comedy?

Speaker 2 (51:24):
It's on the schedule every year. I'm stopping here every year.
I'st own a comedy club in Baltimore. Call moniques, mm hmm,
open back up so we can go back in them.
He had mo niques.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Yeah, that's hard.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Yeah, they had one of Miami.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
What's some of your favorite times in there? We got
to see you.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Send us some pictures and moniques at your club.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Baby. Listen, he was gonna shut us down a few times.
Was crazy. It was a black comedy club. Okay, we
ain't have all the ship all the time, right. We
took that so the people loved it so much they
would bring us the liquor in with was that. Listen?
One night one night the fire the fire up Marshall

(52:10):
came right and all the ship that they said was
wrong was wrong. They wouldn't they weren't making ship. I
was wrong, right, but I knew the mayor at the time,
and he said, if you ever need anything, you called me,
I will call you down today. I told you said
you wait right here, sugar, I'll be right back. I said, hey,

(52:30):
they got the fire marshall down here and trying to
yell me down. He said, give me a second, Mantell
Williams's father was the chief, right Chief Williams. The Chief
Chief Williams called back and said, because you put that
gentleman on the phone. I said, yes, sir, I show
a character. When he got off the phone, that gentleman

(52:51):
walked past me and said, I want to apologize and
we'll never return again. Thank you, my love, thank you.
So I've always been covered, and now we had to
get this ship fixed. Like his daddy was like, yok,
they don't make me repay it, right, But it was
just you know that that covering, that that thing, baby.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Moniques with Steve Harvey. Everybody came through moniques. Everybody came
through moniques.

Speaker 8 (53:17):
Yes, and you don't see a lot of people, Yes,
you don't seen a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
What are some.

Speaker 5 (53:22):
People that you saw where you was like, man, they
they they got it.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
That the world may not have got a chance to see. Wow,
that I saw that the world didn't get a chance
to see. The ones I saw that I knew was special,

(53:50):
the world got a chance to see. So there's there's
you know, I can't think of one that didn't make it,
you know, at least had a shot, yeah, or at
least had a shot. Yes, yes, But the babies that
came through, and we were babies, you know, everybody was
after that. I want to be funny like Richard. I

(54:10):
want to be funny like Eddie. I want to be
funny like not. I want to be rich like we
wanted to be funny like Yeah. But all the ones
that came through that was supposed to get it, they
got it.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
What was your death Jam experience Deaf Jam?

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Yeah, Deaf Jam was incredible.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
You rocked that motherfucker.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Some of them sets you watch and then you see
people rip, but it's like some people get on stage
like like god damn, I wish I would have if
I could that moment right there, because it's like, I
guess people don't realize it just it just looked so
much bigger just watching it because.

Speaker 8 (54:49):
It seems like if you get a great moment on
Death Jam, you knew the movies coming, you knew, you
knew something coming.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
It was like something Deaf Jam was great. I remember
when Death Jam first came out and I was like,
I was seeing all the sisters do it and I
hadn't gotten a call, and I was like, wow, everybody
done it and name called me yet?

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Right?

Speaker 2 (55:13):
And then I get the call. And I remember when
Death Jam went on tour and the sisters, you know,
they were all getting these dates. I was like, they
ain't invited me to do the dates yet, but when
it was my turn, I got fifteen dates, right. So
I had to understand that when it's your turn, it's
your turn. Now I got a Deaf Jam story. Where's

(55:35):
my camera, Joe, I'm telling on your ass assum to okay,
And I'm also telling on Tommy Davison. You know, I'm
tell on the nigga. You tell always told on the
even as a child. So okay, I get my first

(56:00):
death Jam date right and we're sitting in the back
at the catering. So I said, wow, I'm the last
female to really be invited on the tour, and Joe
Torre says, that's because you're not funny, and there was
nobody else to choose from. Now this is my first date, right,

(56:22):
So I'm like, oh, so I can't let this nigga
see that it got me. I can't let him see
that it just stunned. So I get up and go
in the bathroom. But I guess my walk away was
a little you know. I was like this and got
go on stage and he telling me a funny new
kind of is the right right?

Speaker 12 (56:42):
Right?

Speaker 2 (56:42):
So here comes a knock on the door. I said, yes,
he said, Monice is Tommy Tommy Davidson. Let me in.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Now.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
He don't know if I'm shipping, He don't know what
I'm doing in this day. I opened up the door
and he came in. He said, let me tell you something.
You go out there to night and you kick the ass.
Don't listen to what he had to say. He was
just so big brother in that moment, and I never
forgot it. He was like, when you hit that god
damn stage, you take all of that and you crush
that shit. You don't take that shit like he was

(57:15):
just so like that pep coach for I went out
and I never forgot that so to be able to
play with him on the Cat Williams tour and that chemistry.
I just when I would watch him perform. Tommy Davison
is one of the most brilliant comedians I've ever seen
do it because he can do a show in front

(57:36):
the kindergarteners all the way up to elderly and it's
the same show. Now I cannot do that, Okay, give
me some differ, but to watch him do his thing,
I will forever honor him because that night, he don't
know how impactful he was coming in that bathroom saying,
don't listen to his ass. Go out there and do

(57:56):
your thing.

Speaker 9 (58:01):
Joey.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
That's what he did. But it was great. But he
didn't smile with it. That was Joe when he had
to visit, that was Joe.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
I was that you hurt me, Let me get right.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Yeah, but it just made me stronger, Like it just
made me be like, all right, dad. It's part of
it because when you knew to it, you don't know.
You don't know that somebody can say some slick ship.
You don't know. You're just thinking everyone's good. This is
so good. This is all these black people and We're
gonna go and do wonderful things. You don't know that
somebody could say that. And when he said it, it

(58:49):
was like the part of because I'm a fighter. I
was like, but I said, let me get up and
go catch myself.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Yeah, And that night was a great time. Great rocked it.
It was a great time. It was a great time.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Did you come back and be like, yeah, well fuck me?

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Nope, no, nope. I've never said, you know, for as
many years as I've been on stages and before my
husband was my husband, he was like my brother, right
and I would call him. He said, how did it go?
And I said, I had a great time. I will
never say I gotta stand innovation. I would never say
I rocked it. I would never say I ripped it

(59:28):
tonight because I always felt like I would then be
taking it from the universe and making it mine. So
even now I have great times on stage, but that's
what I say, we had a great time. I won't
say I gotta stand innovation because then I make it

(59:48):
mine and I take away the gift and it becomes
what I did. So after thirty five years, baby, I
still say, don't my daddy, we had a great time.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
That's it. Now, I gotta ask you this. Did you think.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
That they would get so mad that you saying take
them goddamn Bunnis off?

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
You ain't.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
You ain't saying nothing wrong.

Speaker 12 (01:00:14):
Every time I see a Bunning on the airport, I'd
be like, she said, it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Goes on the pillow. I didn't think the older ones
would have something to say. I understood the younger generation.
That's why I didn't take it personal, because I understood it.
I didn't think that the older ones would have something
to say. That was the part that was like, you

(01:00:41):
have a problem with me saying be your best? What's
wrong with you? Like what's happening? So when I did say,
and I still stand by it, when you wear that
Halloween costume, that's what you look like Halloween. You have
one of the bonnet, the pajamas, the slippers, that's a
whole costume. And when did we get there? When did

(01:01:02):
that become okay? When did we say that was acceptable?
So again I'm gonna go back to let it go.
We got so used to letting shit go. Just let
it go, don't say nothing. Well, we let it go,
and now that's what our babies think it's supposed to be.
See what happens when you let shit go. You let
it go for so long it becomes normal. So when

(01:01:23):
I see him in the airport, excuse me, and I
don't see as many I want to play him fair.
I do. At one point it was every third one,
and you're like, what kind of shit is this? Now?
I see them not as often. And when I see them,
if we lock eyes, right, if we lock eyes and

(01:01:46):
they look like they're open, I say, come here, baby girl,
you're too beautiful to walk around like that. She'd be like,
I know, auntie, let me go take it off. But
if I see one and we lock eyes and she
looked like bitch, I and wait for you to say

(01:02:08):
with yourself. But if your man happens to look at
an old woman, he should. He should. You're nothing to
look at. If you out and you looking like a
whole ball a mess, and your man happened to look
at something walking by, he should, that's only fair. You're
not giving him anything to say. Look at my girl,
look at how she represented me, look at how she

(01:02:28):
representing our family. So I still stand on that, not
backing down. Yeah, what a girl is a clacky. I
know a lot of it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
I know a lot of the up and coming young
women comedians. I know they get the red with you
from time to time. What caunt advice are you giving
the up and coming feemale comedians.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Keep going unapologetic. I can't tell you how many times
someone said to me, cussing like that won't get you nowhere.
You gotta change your act. You gotta do it this way,
you gotta do it that way, do it the way
your gift allows you to do it. And if you
get out the way of that, you'll be fine.

Speaker 8 (01:03:17):
Just keep going, they explain, explain that because you know
you some comedian, they be like, gotta clean up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
You know you, you won't do it to get it
clean up.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
And you're like, man, I'm just me.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Clean for you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
I'ma be real.

Speaker 5 (01:03:31):
They fuck kids, book somebody else with that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
That's it. Ain't dripping, that's it's there's room for everybody.
There's room for you to go to the church and
speak about Jesus and comedy. There's room for you to
go to the strip club and speak about pussy and funny.
There's room for you to go to the regular club
and have dark lookuor and add all of it together.
There's room for everybody. So for you to say you

(01:03:56):
must change, you're not for me. And I'm okay, I'm
okay with that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Joke.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
It's not a dirty joke. It's an artist joke.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
What about the k y jail? You said, nigga put
it on a biscuit, nigger.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
And that's the fun part too, when somebody could say,
I remember when you said that, I remember this part.
I remember that part. One day I was dropping my
grandson off the school, right, and in the car it
was three different it was three generations, and all of
them knew me differently. Right, the youngest one knew me

(01:04:41):
from the rung Rats and I played a moo right
once I started talking, it was like that's up move.
Then the the younger, the middle child knew me from
the Parkers. Then the older one knew me from deaf
Jam and all of those moments. So to be able

(01:05:02):
to live through that, what a blessing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Absolutely, how can you like animation? But even that's a
whole that, that's a whole foor nance bag to be into.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
When you first get in this business, there's no one
on one, no one sits you down and say this
is one O one of entertainment. No one says, here's
the handbook, here's the no one goes over ship with you.
You just have to figure it out. So when I
first got called for animation, no one told me how
to do goddamn animation, so I thought I had to

(01:05:35):
do different ship. So they was like, you have to
be an otter. I don't know what the goddamn people
ain't never no damn. So no one said just talking
and record.

Speaker 11 (01:05:45):
I was like, yeah, they had got this shit.

Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
I got this right for that. Then they were like,
no one told me. You just wanposed to talk and
your work with shit, right, So I didn't understand why
they were left. I'm like, well, shit, because I don't audition.
I'm like, I just came in here and read this. Okay,

(01:06:19):
I'm like I got this ship. Yeah, they didn't call back, right,
they didn't say anything. But when I wanted for aunt
MoU right, I knew now at this point, you just
talk in your voice and they'll put it to the
little character. So again there's no one on one. Nobody
explains shit to you. You just gotta figure it out.

(01:06:41):
So when people say I don't have a college degree.
Yes you do. You go through college with this shit
everything you do. Baby, because you don't go to a
building and sit down with a book and a pen,
don't mean you ain't been to college. We've been to college.
Some of us got all degrees and some of us didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
In the field with it and come on back my
class outside.

Speaker 8 (01:07:00):
Yes, I just don't want with my books.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Come on now, come on. And you're only smart at
what you know. That's it. You smart at what you
know when people say I got my doctric and what
you know. But take your ass to the jungles or
the congo. Let's see how smart your ass is. You
gonna need some assistance. Yeah, you smart at what you know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Who are some of your all time favorite comedians or
just regular people who make you laugh, Like from the hood, your.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Block, the funniest person it makes me laugh. I sleep
with them and that's my husband. Black people don't know
that about it. They don't know you sit here and
not be like, yeah, did you just say that?

Speaker 9 (01:08:04):
Ship?

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Like I signed him up on time for open mic
night at my comedy club. He kept winning the ship.
He was like, listen because I see how committed you are.
I couldn't do this ship, he said. When I get
to Kentucky, I might not feel like being funny that night.
You've got to be funny that night. And that's the difference.
But he's naturally funny, gut bucket like gut bucket, down home,

(01:08:27):
Mississippi funny.

Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
Oh shit, that like.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
And he's When I did the BT Awards, it was
at the last one. He wrote everything. He wrote every
single thing I said. And when I said to him, Daddy,
can you write this? He was like yeah. I never like,
it was just a trust that. I'm like, he got this,

(01:08:54):
he got this, And here's where your ego can get involved, right.
I remember that night being interviewed and I was writing
so high because the show was so good, and it
was like, oh my god. And I never even said
my husband wrote this. I just took it. Yeah, I
just because I'm right. But then when you play it back,

(01:09:15):
it's like, oh, no, ma'am, no, ma'am. Writers, he wrote that.
Let me make sure I acknowledge that. So when you
say who's funny? Did you laugh your ass off? Right? All? Right?

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
Then? Now what made you do the whole Beyonce dance
type ship.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Because I'm a Donza, I'm ance.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
I'm a don one of those moments that's gonna live forever.
But every time the BT Awards come around, they clip
start going back around.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
You know. I I've forever been a big woman, and
I knew that the way big women are treated in
this country, especially Black big women, it's almost like you've
committed a crime. And to see us beautiful and sexy

(01:10:11):
and unapologetic, it's like, listen, let's show them something different.
Let's show them our sexy and our beauty. And yeah,
we might jiggle a little bit, but damn it, the
average woman dies. So when I first went to BT,
to Stephen Hill, he said, oh, that's gonna be so funny,

(01:10:32):
and I said, it's not a joke. It's not a joke.
We're doing this for real. And once he knew I
wasn't laughing, he was like, oh okay. And even the
introduction of it, I was unaware of it. When the
guy says let's get ready to jiggle. Oh no, I

(01:10:53):
had no idea that was gonna happen. I had no
idea that was gonna happen. So the actual women and
the dance was so impactful. And again I said that humbly,
you don't even remember that. You gotta think about that
to go back to it. So for that moment in

(01:11:14):
time to see those big women, and I could see
them at home, jumping up and down in front of
their TVs. I could feel them. I could feel them saying,
we're good. Mo we okay, moe, we are sexy, we
all beautiful. So that will be a moment in time

(01:11:34):
that I always hold on to.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
And this is the crazy part about it, uplifting big
Black women bbw's whoever whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
Name to go by these days.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
And then you went on your weight loss journey and
they got mad too.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
Well, am I a small woman?

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
Are you asking me?

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
I am?

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Okay, So if you saw me walking down the street,
would you say, that's a big woman. And and I'm
not a set about that's a big woman, right, So
to say some of the sisters got mad, It's like, y'all,
I got to two hundred pounds, Whenever is that a

(01:12:24):
small person? I got to one ninety eight. Whenever is
that a small person? Am I smaller than I was? Yes?
But I am still a big woman. I will always
be a big woman. You see my head, you see

(01:12:45):
my feet, you see my ass like I'm a big woman,
and I'm okay with that. But what I am saying
to our sisters now, listen, It's okay to be a
big woman, but can we be healthy Women's okay to
be healthy women. There was a time I didn't think
that way. There was a time I ate what I
wanted to eat when I wanted to eat it. However,

(01:13:07):
I wanted to eat it because I was this big
woman and that's how people knew me. And you know what,
and I'm over three hundred pounds and I can't climb
a flight of steps without being out of breast and
I can't move around like I'm supposed to. So it
took my husband saying to me, check this out. That's
too much, and what you're gonna do? And when you've

(01:13:29):
never been loved the way that I'm being loved, you
have to make a different decision MM to say I
want that. I want that kind of love. I wanted
love back like that, So I'll never be a small woman.
But I don't wanna be close to the cemetery due
to self neglect. So I hope our big, beautiful sisters

(01:13:52):
can understand when I say that, and don't get it twisted.
Sometimes people think because you're big, you're unhealthy, and because
you're s you're healthy. Sometimes it's the complete opposite, baby,
because if you don't take care of your body, I
don't give a damn what size you are. That's why
I started the Monique's Movement. It's on the YouTube channel.
It's a free workout. Come on there and get your

(01:14:13):
workout in. You don't have to be judged. You gotta
be insecure. You can do it right in your home
and just move your body. The person that moves, even
if they're obese, will outlive the person that is not.
But they don't move.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
Man, we can sit here and do this all day.
It's just it's so refreshing. It's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
That's how I felt about you, DC. I swear to
goodness baby that day. I was just like, look at
this baby ranked here and could take a note. That
baby took a note with sitting at that damn table. Oh,
what's so good. I appreciate it so good. You said,
I'm gonna throw it at you.

Speaker 5 (01:14:56):
I said, first of all, she already asked that, right,
she don't care she like, I won't see you win.

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
So when I throw something at you, and the whole
time I'm.

Speaker 8 (01:15:08):
There, I'm like, I know the script cause we doesn't
see at the table for three weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
Everybody gotta get their POV.

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
I'm like, but the longest po okay.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
And I swung everything, man, I said, I ain't no win.
But she was like, they coming at you.

Speaker 3 (01:15:23):
I was like, my day.

Speaker 9 (01:15:24):
She said I'm gonna throw it at you.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
I'm like, I don't know what you gonna say.

Speaker 5 (01:15:29):
But when she said that with the fuck and all that,
and I said that and they were like cut, she
was like, yeah, what you got.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
That football game that was not in the script, that
was not in this And I'm like this baby, he's
letting his get when he ran over and said that
one was for you, that wasn't in the script. Like,
I'm just like, create goal and you just kept going
and look at you now.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
But yeah, guy, not say I just know that the
hood to be on my ass if I didn't ask
you about another.

Speaker 3 (01:16:10):
Iconic black movie that you've been a part of. Welcome
Home Roscoe.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
Yes, yes, what he going, that's the ship. I like,
just get up and walk off and come back. It's
your ship.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
You can.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
Welcome home. Roscoe.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
Chinking was.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
Such an amazing time. And Martin Lawrence is selfless because
he let everybody shine. Everybody. Everybody was able to do
the thing right. And when you when you were with

(01:17:06):
Mike Epps and Michael Clock Duncan, and you know that
Mike Epps is gonna go to the left at any time,
and you know that Michael Clock Duncan like say something
else and I'm gonna get your ass. So when you
see them he chased him, that's real ship. That's not scripted,
that's not that is real. Like it was just so there.

(01:17:27):
And then Martin Lauren says, come on down to my trailer.
What's the nicest trailer you ever been in?

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
The nic.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
Pretty decent. Describe it like beroom, I mean right.

Speaker 3 (01:17:47):
And the.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
Door when I stepped in his ship it was three
stories okay when I stepped in, hit this trailer home.
And then he said to me, Monique, don't ever let
them tell you what you can have. And that was

(01:18:10):
that brother showing me all that was possible, without bragging,
without saying, look at my shit. He was saying, don't
you ever let them tell you what you can have
because if you want it, this is this is what's available.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
And I would.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
I was grateful for him in that moment because that
was a moment of hey, sis, this is the kind
of shit that's available to us. This is what's available
to us. So it was incredible. It was incredible to
make that movie with someone that I grew up watching
House Party, What's happening now?

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
Come on?

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
Come on? Remember Martin Lawrence was on What's Happening now? Okay,
then you see the Martin Show. Oh, and now I
get a chance to play with this brother.

Speaker 3 (01:19:04):
You fuck me up because I didn't even know they
had three story trailers.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
Did not.

Speaker 2 (01:19:11):
Okay I did not either, And it was just so
I've been appreciative of the ones I've been around who
was willing to share, like I've been around some of
the greats, Patty LaBelle Astra and Simpson. I've been around
Stephanie Mills. I've been around those people that said, let
me show you something, let me put something in your ear.

(01:19:32):
I've appreciated those moments because they've walked the path before
me and they were willing to say, let me just
show you if you just stay on this path you
all right, that's all right?

Speaker 3 (01:19:45):
Well what we got for Well, this could really be
a ten part series. You can come back every month
and you can come back whenever you want. You can
come back and host this ship if you want to.
You know what, I I just want to get out
the house we have there. But we did get you something.
We got something. We can't let you come down here.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
And not get you Sure, Oh my babies, thank you?
Should I open it now? Yes, it's like priscip Yes, like, oh,
y'all have merchandise.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Around and what.

Speaker 2 (01:20:27):
Sweet baby, you gotta pop your collar twenty five sounds.
It's my size though, right, it won't be a midrif
on me. Okay, you're gonna be coming Oh yeah, that's yes,
that's clear on Maybee.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
Do whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:20:48):
You're gonna make sure it's baby.

Speaker 3 (01:20:51):
Any questions from the floor, anybody?

Speaker 9 (01:20:54):
Come on? Now, we got a real we got a
real icon in here.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
Now I know you do your baby you on the podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:21:03):
So be for Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (01:21:04):
Yes to like what is the origin of behind that?

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
Always that to do how you say those words?

Speaker 2 (01:21:12):
We say Doug, we say mother, we say father, f
A v A m O v A. That's just how
we say it, you know, that's that's our dialogue. That's
how we talk. I can't we say Baltimore with that
D and that Baltimore Baltimore. We say Bottimore too.

Speaker 3 (01:21:37):
You don't understand the new lingo they got.

Speaker 2 (01:21:39):
Today, do I don't understand none of it. When they
be abbreviating ship, I'm like, listen.

Speaker 13 (01:21:46):
And the fighting Latugansk Baltimoreatugan, you know, talk.

Speaker 3 (01:21:59):
Like that.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
I've not meant them yet. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:22:04):
I don't know. He was speaking more like, yeah, we
sing when we talk.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
Yeah, we we we sing with it. Yeah, the youth
part just.

Speaker 3 (01:22:16):
Kind of like frustrain yell. You got some questions in
the industry.

Speaker 14 (01:22:24):
You realize you're the only woman in that boom.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
In that state.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
When if I realized I was the only woman in
the room that day on it on the Deaf Jam
tour with Joe Toy, I was the only woman in
the room, and I had to make a decision. Do
I cuss his ass out and never be the only
woman in the room again? But do I get up
and catch my breath and then go put the gift

(01:22:53):
on stage? So, yeah, when you do realize that you
hold your position. You ain't gotta be a fella, you'd
be the woman in the room. That's such a great question.
I love James L. Jones, okay, and I know he
has since transitioned. And James O. Jones is an older gentleman, right.

(01:23:17):
And I was standing next to him one day, okay,
and he went to hug me around my waist, but
his hand was like on the top of my ass,
and I was like, it's James Jones, this is made
of daddy. This is route from Claude day. I didn't

(01:23:39):
even say nothing. I let him stay right there. He
can't tell from a back to the you know, it's
all right. But he was he was everything. He was
truly that patriarch. He was the energy of I've been here,
I've done it. I'm gonna share my gift with these babies.

(01:24:01):
He was that, just like Danny Glover. Like to work
with Danny on almost Christmas. Danny Glover was everything. We
would watch Danny Glover do this, and this is O
g shit, this is how you preserve yourself. He would
sit at the down on the table and do this
when we were in cut. He would go to sleep

(01:24:26):
when it was time to go. He was up in it.
We are young, We Gone. But I just watched him.
I watched him say, let me preserve, and when it's
my turn, let me go. I watched James George Jones
do the same thing. When it wasn't they turn, they
was like, I don't need to be nowhere. But when

(01:24:48):
it was they turn, baby. So yeah, when you work
with the greats, you go to school, you go to school. Yeah,
you did you.

Speaker 3 (01:25:00):
Like growing up like in high school and things and stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
That's such a great question. I was in one school
play and I played a dying grandmother and I had
no lines, but I was gonna show that mother fucker's
baby that I was gonna beat something.

Speaker 4 (01:25:20):
It took me five minutes to die, nigga. I didn't
even care about the other bitsures line hou.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Yes, just one school play, baby.

Speaker 3 (01:25:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:25:40):
So, not to get too much into me, but my
mother was a social I got pregnant and I was
born into a family that had a strong hold of
patriot toxicity.

Speaker 16 (01:25:51):
And and I hear you say that you didn't have
a relationship with.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Your parents, and you have siblings that you don't have
relationships with.

Speaker 16 (01:25:58):
It that's you have such a and loving heart, how
do you make the choice to give and not be
consumed with hating anger towards the people that you want
to have with the relationship would fits you love your dad?

Speaker 10 (01:26:15):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:26:16):
For me and I don't know, this only worked for me.
I know what I came from, and I know what
I prayed for, and when I received what I prayed for,
I couldn't take what I came from and put it
into that because I would be just carrying the poison
from one generation to the next generation. So for me,

(01:26:39):
I had to get to a place where I had
to save my life and I had to really appreciate
and respect the family that I prayed for. I aksed
for a second chance. I aks for another chance. So
I didn't hate my family. I don't hate my family.
I love those people. However, I knew that in staying

(01:27:03):
with those people, I would continue to be sick. And
I was mentally sick. I was ill, and that illness
was taking over and it was getting me to a
place where it was getting dangerous. So I had to
choose me. I had to choose me and I stop loving.

(01:27:24):
But I had to get to a place where I
had to say, I've got to walk away from this
because if not, I will repeat the same thing. And
if y'all are not willing to change, I'm not going
to try to change you. I just gotta change me
and keep moving. And I think too, And it took

(01:27:45):
me a long time to do that, so I don't
want you to think that that's something that's just like,
oh girl, you just gotta walk away. It took me
years because you always told that's your family, and you
get down for your family, and I don't care. I
will not get down for people that will not get
down from me, regardless as to who you are, because

(01:28:07):
you will wind up in a place of misery and
you'll start taking your last breaths, saying I wonder what
would have happened if I would have only done that.
So as long as you still got breath, baby, be happy,
Be happy, Monique.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
We more than appreciate you stopping through here.

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
I thank y'all for having any.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
While you're here. He get you, shine, man.

Speaker 2 (01:28:41):
I gotta tell y'all something, that's the best ship I
ever been on. Okay, because I ain't lift let me
just tell you why turn my right he was rolling
to my left he already had one roll sitting right here. Baby,
you had a little piece you was. I said this
that ship.

Speaker 3 (01:28:59):
Oh no, we got through the world smoking about it up.

Speaker 1 (01:29:12):
Come on this side way, it's it's a little more
room over here. You're my lighter for you steal it
because you be stealing the lighters stealing.

Speaker 2 (01:29:22):
Hemn. I don't put that label on me now, and
I don't accidentally talk some ship.

Speaker 3 (01:29:26):
But I ain't no lighter thief ship.

Speaker 9 (01:29:29):
You know what, I'm gonna come drop out a load
of lighter so that just wipe off all the little
thief for your death, my dead eighty five seth show Monique,
what is it?

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
I'm not getting my butts on here. Y'all are awesome, baby,
y'all are.

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
Let's let's get a.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
You smiling, yeah? Are you smiling? Yes? Okay, I'm smiling.
Now you're trying to give from the hard eighty vice him?
Oh my, thank you babies.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
Anytime you know what.

Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
I want to take nice because my phone with my
baby's

Speaker 12 (01:30:34):
Yes, take one, my phone two third player, yeah, Michael,
let me y'all hold u