February 8, 2024 • 26 mins
Today's special guest is Brian McLaughlin, also known as "B-Daht" Host of the IHeart podcast #IDKMYDE, aka "I Didn't Know Maybe You Didn't Know Either". B-Daht is also the co-founder/host of The Freestyle Funny Comedy Show, a 90 minute stand-up/improv show.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brian McLaughlin, also known as be Dot, is an American
comedian and radio host. B Dot has had the privilege
of performing for audiences all around the country, coupled with
having a decade of experience as the funny man Little
Wild Out Morning show on one O two Jams in
North Carolina. B Dodd let his own morning show on
one O two Jams three Live Crew with his co
host Roxy and Drinkens. He later became a cast member
(00:23):
on wild'n Out on MTV and is the co founder
slash host of the Freestyle Funny Comedy Show, a ninety
minute stand up slash improv show. His latest effort is
the I Didn't Know Maybe You Did? In either podcast
series or hashtag IDK myde. It's an introspective interpretation of
long lost history facts shared in an engaging and informative way,
(00:46):
layered with originality and equipped with actual historical references and
some hard truths. This journey of discovery is filled with
comedy and entertainment for all ages to learn and be entertained.
Here to tell us more about this fantastic program, we
have today guest the man himself, be Dot. This is
the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm your host,
(01:08):
Rams this job all right, be Dodd, Welcome to the
show man. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I'm great man, Thanks for having me. Rams's job, bro,
I'm happy to be here. Is day one, kicking off
season three of the podcast. Yeah time around here.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah man, So let let's let's talk about it. But
before we get there. You know, obviously we gave you
a little bit of an intro, but around here we
like to start all our stories at the beginning. So
do our listeners a favor. Give us a little bit
about your background, a little bit about your upbringing, sort
of what pushed you in the career path that you're
on right now, just to get folks a little bit
more acclimated if they are unfamiliar for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina, HBCU, graduate of Winston Salem
State University. I was a felon at the age of sixteen,
So I was one of those individuals that came from
an under pover's neighborhood, single parent household, you know, many
of the stereotypes that you were familiar with. But I
was always an entertaining individual, never was really high on scholastics.
(02:08):
I was very intellectual individual, but I just didn't do
school well. But after I graduated high school, mom gave
me an ultimatum, get out or get a job. I said,
I'm going to college. North Carolina Anti State University is
right up the street. I didn't really want to go there,
but I still wanted to be involved in that HBCU culture.
(02:29):
So I went to Winston Salem State University. It was
the best thing that ever happened to me. From there,
I met a lot of acquaintances and made a lot
of friendships, made a lot of connections, started doing PA
announcing from my all my model Winston Salem State University
football and basketball games. From there, I've created a niche,
a niche for myself and arena hosting, and I do
a lot of those things now in PA announcing. And
(02:51):
that was all birth at Winston Salem State University. Today,
I'm actually celebrating ten years of marriage to my wife, Carla.
We have two children, and I take great pride in
that we have a brand, Connect the dots. I'm All
Things Black bro And as it pertains to this podcast,
those were what it was very I don't know. I
(03:13):
accidentally stumbled upon this podcast because I'm so heavily on
social media. I do a lot of Instagram, a lot
of Twitter. Not too big on the tickety talk, as
they say, but I'll be trying to get numbers up
there too. But as it pertains to Instagram. When George
Floyd got killed a couple of years ago, four years ago,
to be exact, I was just suggested a book to
read called The History of the United States. And when
(03:35):
I started reading the History of the United States, stuff
just wasn't end up. The math wasn't mathing. You did
what I'm saying, and I'm very transparent and very vulnerable.
You talked about my radio personality, of my radio experience.
I have seventeen years morning radio in Greensboro, North Carolina.
I did a wild I wake up show with Kyleson
Tilly in Africa and Tashara McKee and Cap Jay, and
(03:55):
then I was fortunate enough to have my own morning
show for eight years, Drink on the Rocks, that's what
they are now, if we were the three live crew, me,
Drinkings and Roxy and from there. I've just always been
very transparent, very vulnerable, and when I was reading things
and educating myself in this book, it was an audiobook
because I can't really read just handhell books, I have
to listen to them. But I was sharing with my
(04:17):
Instagram audience. I was saying, Y're like, I didn't know.
Maybe you didn't either, but Christopher Columbus was a very
heinous individual.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Sure, yeah, when we.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Were talking about Christopher Columbus, they got it was this
nice cute song about fourteen ninety two and I dealed
the Ocean Blue and he came over and smoked a
couple of piece pipes with the you know, the natives
of the land and let's build it. No, he was
a rapist, he was hitler. He was a horrible individual,
and I honestly didn't know that. And as big as
(04:49):
that of an age as I was, I didn't know that.
And I just shared it with my Instagram and other people. Yo,
I didn't know that. It's funny the Black Information Network.
I just stumbled the upon that network in my car
about a month ago, and I locked into you guys,
And it's been interesting to me because some of the
topics that I did on season one and season two
(05:10):
of my podcast you all are touching on and I'm like, wow,
Like George Washington. You know, I shared. I didn't know
that George Washington not only owned slaves, but took the
teeth out of his slaves mouth and put him in
his own mouth because he had halotosis. But I didn't
know these things, and as I started to share them,
it just started to build an audience of his own
and Black Effect podcast Network with iHeart, they took a
(05:33):
liking to it, and two years ago we did season one,
and last year we did season two, and we did
three million downloads each season. We're very excited about that.
And the first two seasons it was really just me
throwing out random black history facts that I thought should
be taught in school. Bro. You know, I felt like
I heard recently on the Black Information Network, y'all did
(05:54):
want on Claw that COVID. I too, did an episode
on Claude that Covid she was a pioneer in the
bus boycotts, but because of her age and being pregnant
and Rosa Parks being more of a secretary and being
more accepted by white America, they went with that narrative.
And those are things that I think should be taught
in school. I think the way we were educated on
the Black Panther Party of Self Defense was totally inaccurate.
(06:16):
It was totally inaccurate. It was explained to us as
a way to scare us. But the Black Panther Party
of Self Defense was there to protect us. They have
food for the breakfast plans and reading programs and protection
for the neighborhoods. But they were deemed a terrorist organization.
Why has the Klan never been deemed a terrorist organization?
(06:39):
All the hate that the Clan has done over the years,
all they did is torment people very ignorantly, like I'm
no scholar Ramsey's job, Like, that's not me, Like, I'm
not this highly I'm very educated, but I'm not intellectual
or I want to run here. I'm just a bro
that just when I see these things, I'm like, yo,
this doesn't make sense to me. And I just shared
(07:00):
and from there he grew a leg of its own
to the point where season three, I'm super excited because
we've teamed up with Nisign Bro and Nissan has joined in,
so now the possibilities are legit endless because we have
the twenty nine episodes that we do for the podcast.
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either, they're just digestible,
three to five minute episodes that we dropped daily on
the Black Effect Podcast Network. But we also this year
(07:23):
tamed up with Nissan, like I said, and added eight
visual components to the podcast. So we're doing thirty seven episodes,
and with Nissan, we're doing more of a focus on
Steam and the STEM programs. And we were down at
the National Museum of African American Music and Nashville, Tennessee,
shooting some stuff there, and it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I'm just super super excited about the product and hopefully
one day it can be in the curriculum.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Listen, he came to the right place today, I am.
I am very very proud of you and inspired by you.
Longtime listeners of this show know that that is kind
of the cloth from which I am cut myself. I
have a radio show outside of this show that we're
doing right now, and that show is called Civic Cipher
(08:11):
and one of the segments in the show is called
the Way Black History Fact. And funnily enough, just yesterday
I learned more stuff too. You know, I've been doing
my shows for four years too, since the murder of
George Floyd. I felt like that show was necessary, Hence
(08:31):
Civic Cipher. You know, we're talking about government and you
know that sort of thing. And you know, we had
a lawyer on for our most recent episode, and she's
a lawyer slash activist and an older white woman who's
just kind of one of those, one of those folks,
and she taught me some stuff, some black history stuff
I didn't know about. In fact, our way black history fact,
(08:53):
we discussed a gentleman by the name of Osborne Dorsey
who's the inventor of the doorknob and the door stop.
And an additional fun fact it's a little sad, but
when they used to sell slaves as babies, they would
sell them by the pound, So there was this incentive
(09:15):
to fatten up the babies or have like the larger
of the slaves breeds so that you know, they could
sell the offspring by weight. And you know, I mean,
it makes sense when you think about it. But I
just learned it yesterday, you know, when we were recording
for again our forthcoming episode.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And so and I love that, like I love being
I love because it's just it's such wild factors. Like
to that point, I did an episode Cheaper by the dozen.
We've used that phrase for years, like shooting the dozens.
In the black community, we always shoot the dozens, but
the dozens or cheaper by the dozen, that phrase is
rooted in racism. They used to sit, when they used
(09:56):
to sell. And I try to I try to say
enslaved individuals very slaves, right, because they didn't choose that lifestyle.
They were enslaved. So from that space, these enslaved individuals
when they were have defects or handicaps, they will put
them in groups of twelve and they will be cheaper
by the dozen. That's a that's a fact. You did
(10:18):
what I'm saying. Like and when you talk about babies
like just gator bait, that was a big thing a
couple of years ago. And just make go ahead, bro
check out the podcast season one. I got it. I
got it on the Black Effect Podcast Network. We definitely
tackle a lot of these man because you know, and again,
I was talking to my daughter, my daughter, she's eleven,
so on the way to school in the mornings, we
(10:40):
do affirmations and we talk about everything from the enslavement
periods to civil rights to current states. And she was
asking me, you know, she asked me recently, and I
just put that in a podcast because I told her,
I said, they always tell you about George Washington, Carver,
they talked about Martin Luther King, but they don't talk
about stokely Carmichael. And she said, who's stokely Carmichael? And
(11:00):
I said, hold on, and I record her. I says,
ask me that again. She said, who's stokely Carmichael? And
I put that audio in the episode because people need
to know who's stokely carmichaels. You know that he went
to Howard. They need to know that he was one way,
because that's something that we always have a dilemma with
which side are you going to stand on? Are you Martin?
(11:22):
Are you turn the other cheek, non violent, or you
Malcolm by any means necessary. You did what I'm saying.
And my daughter and I we talk about that a lot.
And there are situations where I feel like you should
one hundred percent be Martin. You should one hundred percent
take the high road. You should one hundred percent term
the other cheek, help your neighbor, et cetera. But there
are times when that Malcolm attitude is necessary. That is
(11:46):
and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with
saying I'm going to defend myself. I'm going to defend
my territory in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
We're here today with comedian radio host while an out
cast member and the whole of the I didn't know,
maybe you didn't either, podcast Brian McLaughlin aka b dot
All Right, So, in your mind's eye, who is the
person listening to this podcast? Is this a person who
(12:18):
is a white person who has been under educated? Is
this a young black kid who is you know, going
to miss out on these things in their normal travels.
Who's who's listening to your show?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
This is the average under educated American. It isn't race specific,
it isn't age specific. I try to make the episodes digestible.
In the idea of Tom agree to four minutes per episode.
We do one episode a day in February, so there
are three minute episodes four minute episodes, and the content
(12:56):
ranges from things we've discussed here Gator baits and the
Tulsa riots up to white people who were allies for
black people like Peter Buston. We hear a lot about
the Tuskegee Experiment and how they were given syphilis to
the black black community. But we don't ever go do
a little bit more research. Well, who stopped it? And
(13:17):
the whistleblower on that was a white man named Peter
Buston who was just looking at the mixic this. Something
ain't right, something ain't that, This math ain't mathing, and
we need allies, We need those types of situations. So
I try, I try to cover a spectrum of understanding
that I don't want this to be something you go
to and after you hear it, you're upset and you're
(13:38):
angry at either race. But I do want it to
be something where you go and you listen to it,
you're like, dang, I ain't know that. Hold on, hold on,
let me go to Google real quick. That couldn't have
been correct. What you mean? It was free college in
nineteen before nineteen seventy. No, a free college in America. No,
how well Ronald Reagan and the Republicans I didn't know.
Maybe you didn't either, it is, that's like what you mean?
(14:01):
GPS was invented by a black woman? What? No way?
Oh yeah, Gladys made West and she went to an HBCU.
You should check it out. Like those type of little things.
It's wow, conversation starters. Isn't anything to be threatening, isn't
anything to be offended by, but it is something to
open your eye and to just to give you a
(14:21):
little piece of educating and hopefully you'll want to go
do a little bit more deep dobbing yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
You know, I'm going to ask you a question that
I think might be easy and hard at the same time.
So the truth is is that there's a ton of podcasts,
and I don't want to say there's a ton of
podcasts that focus on black history, but this would not
(14:50):
be the first, right What is it that makes your podcast?
So I think I know the answer, but I want
to hear in your own words, what is it that
makes your podcast so special? And what is it that
makes it so listenable? For again, you mentioned three million
(15:12):
downloads of your show, so that's incredibly successful. What is
it about this show that makes it stand out in
the podcast space?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, maybe the sauce that a lot of people that
can read the fact, but everybody can't drift the sauce back.
I'm very fortunate in the idea that I've always had
a personality that people gravitate towards since I was a
wee lad you did what I'm saying, And I've learned
(15:41):
how to master that in my skill set of radio
in seventeen years that I've learned the intricacies of how
to capture an audience within the first three to five
seconds of listening. So I implement a lot of that
in the setup and the production of the actual podcast episodes.
I do the production on these episodes ninety I say
seventy percent of it myself. I have a strong team
(16:05):
with writers, my team Tiffany and my editor that adds
nice little accents and little ad libs and highlights, But
as far as the delivery, where I want music to
stop and where I want the most impactful part when
you're listening to them, each episode is like a narrative
is a narrative quilt, and it's seamlessly interject some humor
(16:28):
and some historic insight, and it's in a bite sized
listening session for it. And I think it's strength and
all of that. I think I give just enough for
you to learn something, but intrigue you enough where you
want to go and do a little bit more homework,
and you share it with other people. Did you know that?
I didn't know that? That which is and again all
of that is in the title. It's very transparent, it's
(16:49):
very vulnerable, it's very I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
And you know, I didn't know this. Need to check
this out. And if you did know, that's cool. That's
something else about black folk too. We got a chick.
I think all of us know everything on the same spectrum.
It's okay for me to know and you not to know.
And you got you to know and me not to know.
That's where we educate each other. And I learned from
(17:09):
each oun What you mean you didn't know the George
Washington own slaves? No, I didn't know the George Washington
own slaves? How did that happen? Educate me and then
I can go and tell somebody else. But so many
times we want to be the horder of the information
and the look down on if you don't know this information,
And that's stupid and it scares people off from asking
(17:31):
questions and genuinely being educated in situations.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Man, this is a fantastic hot take. Well, first off,
let me say this, your answer to the question was
exactly what I was hoping for. Obviously, it's one thing
to just kind of share a factoid or the benefit
of the listener. It's a whole other thing to interject
your personality into that make it more listenable, make it
(17:57):
sort of bite size. Because that's the world in which
we live. Things are just kind of condensed, and folks
that are inspired will do their own you know, research
and kind of crack open the books or do the
Googles or whatever it is that comes next and so
and then, you know, a bit of humor goes a
long way. It's almost like that Mary Poppins saying a
spoonful of sugar helps some medicine go down, you know.
(18:18):
So I certainly believe on my show and I can
imagine on your show, that we deal with a lot
of heavy topics, a lot of injustices that have happened
to our people. These are things that, under normal circumstances
would make make a feeling thinking person cry. Right, this
is heavy stuff. But while you know, something like that
(18:39):
might turn folks off, like, loo, I'm not in the
mood for crying. I got enough to be depressed about.
I don't need to look backwards. You know, that sort
of thing when you have a little bit of fun
with it and you invite the listener into an environment
where as you mentioned, you're we're going to educate you.
This is some of this stuff's going to be heavy,
but we're here to celebrate, We're here to honor our
(19:01):
ancestors and look forward. Armed with this additional information of
knowing the shoulders the shoulders of the giants upon which
we stand, it makes for a more inclusive and more
welcoming in a more entertaining format. And that's just kind
of what I've been putting together about the show. So
kudos to you for that. I know you mentioned that
(19:25):
you'd partner with the Black Effect, you know, some time ago,
and I you know, kudos to you for that as well.
That's a brilliant strategic move. I'm a big fan of
Charlemagne myself, and he and I have worked together in
the past. And then you mentioned also that Nissan was
a sponsor. I believe that's how you phrased it of
the show at this point. So with that in mind,
(19:46):
what is the plan for the future of the show,
anything additional that you're bringing to the audience.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Oh for sure. Well, this season, again, we're very excited
just with the partnership with Nissan. Seriously, you know how
this goes, Ramsey Joy like, we're trying to build a
product that somebody will find important enough to put some
money in and invest so we can get it out
to more people. We just want more people to absorb
the content, so for Nissan to take a liking to it,
(20:15):
And it really was a situation where with Black Effect,
Charlemagne is a good friend of mine, but Dolly Bishop,
who's the president of Black Effect, that's a great friend
of mine. She and I both attended Winston Salem State
University together and when she had an HBCU summit for
the Black Effect last year, Nissan was out there. It's
the Thrill the Possibility Summit, and they were really liking
(20:39):
the content and they were fast forward thinking to February
and they say, hey, can we get that guy to
come out and we shoot some content. And I went
out there for that situation only. But again, you know
how this goes. We never know who we're impressing, we
never know who we're auditioning for when we're out doing
our thing. And the people from Nissan, they really liked it.
(20:59):
They really liked the content. They really liked how I
was able to engage with the HBCU, the HBCU students
that were there and even the other people that were there,
and they decided to put some money in the campaign. Man,
they said, we want to put an umbrella above this,
and we want because they're doing things again with the
STEAM program. We talked about science, Technology, Engineering, the arts,
(21:20):
and MAD and I'm a product of STEM. Like I
remember going to HBCUs in the summer where we would
do STEM where it was just STEM before they added
the arts part and it was just science, Technology, engineering
and math again. And so now to be able to
be a person that's magnifying that and exemplifying that for
people because I am a product of STEAM, It's just
(21:42):
full circle. Man. Like in life, you just never know
what you're going through or the things that you're going through,
how they're setting you up for the future. You just don't.
And I always talk about, like when I go talk
to the motivational speaking and talk to high schoolers and
middle schoolers or EOG pet rally tours, I let them
know how I messed up completely when I was a teenager.
(22:02):
I was working at a spot where they do rides
and games, and I was taking tokens and giving out
the tokens and pocketing the money, and that was embezzlement.
I called an embezzlement charge when I was sixteen years old.
And from that experience, I always knew that I would
never in my mind, this is how. I don't know
(22:24):
if I crippled myself or strengthen myself, but I always
told myself, I'll never be able to get a job
where I have to fill out an application because if
you read the application, you're gonna throw it away. My
grades aren't high enough. I'm a feeling, you know. So
I always felt like I have to be able to
talk to people. And I was blessed with the gift
(22:45):
of gap. I was blessed with the gift to be
able to control rooms and control audiences and be entertaining
and be welcoming in that regard, and all of that
with the podcast, with the radio, with the experiences from
my past, with being honest enough to know what I
don't know, and being vulnerable enough to share that with
people so that they can give me that information. A
(23:08):
lot of times again just doubling back to that we're
so fearful of appearing to be the we're so fearful
of being the person that doesn't know that we won't
even ask questions. Yeah, and a lot of times when
you ask questions and people give you that information, it
empowers both of you. It empowers you because you got
(23:30):
to get educated on it, and it empowers the other
person because they got to share this information with somebody.
So let's let's let's kill that noise. Black folk like,
let's let's talk. It's okay to.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Talk, man, Well listen, I know where you're having the
conversation right now, So do us a favor. Share the website,
social media, any connective tissue folks might need to tap
in with you and with the I didn't know, maybe
you didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Neither podcast absolutely b dot TV on all social media platforms,
and that's b d a h T B dot not
be the hat. The A is before the h B dot.
It's fanatically see the ah is ah so b dots. Nevertheless,
you can check out the podcast wherever you get your
podcast from Man, but exclusively on the Black Effect Podcast Network,
(24:18):
which is on our heart radio. So make sure you
check that out. And again, the future goal for this
is to get this as a curriculum in the school system.
We're working on that. We've been diligently working on that
for the past year, and eventually get this to a
platform where it's visual because I want to go to Galveston, Texas,
I want to go to Charleston, South Carolina. I want
to touch the roads in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I want
(24:39):
to put my spend and my energy on it and
present it to the world.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Well, I wish you all the luck in the world.
I'm definitely inspired by this, and hopefully we can talk
more when we're done here, but I'll I'll wrap it
up right here. I'd like to thank you for taking
the time to wait.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Wait, wait, I just gotta do one more thing. Shout
out for your barble, Like I don't know if you
tip your barble, but you gotta temple. I'll talk about
the way he got the line right step, I'm gonna
screenshot this and send it to my babble. You're gonna
be an inspiration to him.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
You understand what I appreciate it. Hey, you know what
it is. It's the It's the babbylist pro just in
a long time and Harry face, that's what just just
get myself right every so often and make sure I
look decent to be able to have these conversations. Man,
I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Given Lenny Krabbits and I wrote with it.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'll take that too.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I've been called worse, so I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
All right.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Well again, thank you so much for coming on and
for sharing this amazing, inspiring podcast with our listeners. It
is timely, it is necessary, and I know that it's
going to lead to a more informed, more successful, more
inspired future for black people in this country. Once again,
Today's guest his comedian radio host wild'n Out cast member
(25:57):
and the host of the I Didn't Know Maybe You Did?
In either podcast, The One and onlyb Dot. This has
been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's show
is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like
to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host Ramsey's
(26:21):
Jaw on all social media and join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
Brian McLaughlin, also known as be Dot, is an American
comedian and radio host. B Dot has had the privilege
of performing for audiences all around the country, coupled with
having a decade of experience as the funny man Little
Wild Out Morning show on one O two Jams in
North Carolina. B Dodd let his own morning show on
one O two Jams three Live Crew with his co
host Roxy and Drinkens. He later became a cast member
(00:23):
on wild'n Out on MTV and is the co founder
slash host of the Freestyle Funny Comedy Show, a ninety
minute stand up slash improv show. His latest effort is
the I Didn't Know Maybe You Did? In either podcast
series or hashtag IDK myde. It's an introspective interpretation of
long lost history facts shared in an engaging and informative way,
(00:46):
layered with originality and equipped with actual historical references and
some hard truths. This journey of discovery is filled with
comedy and entertainment for all ages to learn and be entertained.
Here to tell us more about this fantastic program, we
have today guest the man himself, be Dot. This is
the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm your host,
(01:08):
Rams this job all right, be Dodd, Welcome to the
show man. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I'm great man, Thanks for having me. Rams's job, bro,
I'm happy to be here. Is day one, kicking off
season three of the podcast. Yeah time around here.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah man, So let let's let's talk about it. But
before we get there. You know, obviously we gave you
a little bit of an intro, but around here we
like to start all our stories at the beginning. So
do our listeners a favor. Give us a little bit
about your background, a little bit about your upbringing, sort
of what pushed you in the career path that you're
on right now, just to get folks a little bit
more acclimated if they are unfamiliar for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina, HBCU, graduate of Winston Salem
State University. I was a felon at the age of sixteen,
So I was one of those individuals that came from
an under pover's neighborhood, single parent household, you know, many
of the stereotypes that you were familiar with. But I
was always an entertaining individual, never was really high on scholastics.
(02:08):
I was very intellectual individual, but I just didn't do
school well. But after I graduated high school, mom gave
me an ultimatum, get out or get a job. I said,
I'm going to college. North Carolina Anti State University is
right up the street. I didn't really want to go there,
but I still wanted to be involved in that HBCU culture.
(02:29):
So I went to Winston Salem State University. It was
the best thing that ever happened to me. From there,
I met a lot of acquaintances and made a lot
of friendships, made a lot of connections, started doing PA
announcing from my all my model Winston Salem State University
football and basketball games. From there, I've created a niche,
a niche for myself and arena hosting, and I do
a lot of those things now in PA announcing. And
(02:51):
that was all birth at Winston Salem State University. Today,
I'm actually celebrating ten years of marriage to my wife, Carla.
We have two children, and I take great pride in
that we have a brand, Connect the dots. I'm All
Things Black bro And as it pertains to this podcast,
those were what it was very I don't know. I
(03:13):
accidentally stumbled upon this podcast because I'm so heavily on
social media. I do a lot of Instagram, a lot
of Twitter. Not too big on the tickety talk, as
they say, but I'll be trying to get numbers up
there too. But as it pertains to Instagram. When George
Floyd got killed a couple of years ago, four years ago,
to be exact, I was just suggested a book to
read called The History of the United States. And when
(03:35):
I started reading the History of the United States, stuff
just wasn't end up. The math wasn't mathing. You did
what I'm saying, and I'm very transparent and very vulnerable.
You talked about my radio personality, of my radio experience.
I have seventeen years morning radio in Greensboro, North Carolina.
I did a wild I wake up show with Kyleson
Tilly in Africa and Tashara McKee and Cap Jay, and
(03:55):
then I was fortunate enough to have my own morning
show for eight years, Drink on the Rocks, that's what
they are now, if we were the three live crew, me,
Drinkings and Roxy and from there. I've just always been
very transparent, very vulnerable, and when I was reading things
and educating myself in this book, it was an audiobook
because I can't really read just handhell books, I have
to listen to them. But I was sharing with my
(04:17):
Instagram audience. I was saying, Y're like, I didn't know.
Maybe you didn't either, but Christopher Columbus was a very
heinous individual.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Sure, yeah, when we.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Were talking about Christopher Columbus, they got it was this
nice cute song about fourteen ninety two and I dealed
the Ocean Blue and he came over and smoked a
couple of piece pipes with the you know, the natives
of the land and let's build it. No, he was
a rapist, he was hitler. He was a horrible individual,
and I honestly didn't know that. And as big as
(04:49):
that of an age as I was, I didn't know that.
And I just shared it with my Instagram and other people. Yo,
I didn't know that. It's funny the Black Information Network.
I just stumbled the upon that network in my car
about a month ago, and I locked into you guys,
And it's been interesting to me because some of the
topics that I did on season one and season two
(05:10):
of my podcast you all are touching on and I'm like, wow,
Like George Washington. You know, I shared. I didn't know
that George Washington not only owned slaves, but took the
teeth out of his slaves mouth and put him in
his own mouth because he had halotosis. But I didn't
know these things, and as I started to share them,
it just started to build an audience of his own
and Black Effect podcast Network with iHeart, they took a
(05:33):
liking to it, and two years ago we did season one,
and last year we did season two, and we did
three million downloads each season. We're very excited about that.
And the first two seasons it was really just me
throwing out random black history facts that I thought should
be taught in school. Bro. You know, I felt like
I heard recently on the Black Information Network, y'all did
(05:54):
want on Claw that COVID. I too, did an episode
on Claude that Covid she was a pioneer in the
bus boycotts, but because of her age and being pregnant
and Rosa Parks being more of a secretary and being
more accepted by white America, they went with that narrative.
And those are things that I think should be taught
in school. I think the way we were educated on
the Black Panther Party of Self Defense was totally inaccurate.
(06:16):
It was totally inaccurate. It was explained to us as
a way to scare us. But the Black Panther Party
of Self Defense was there to protect us. They have
food for the breakfast plans and reading programs and protection
for the neighborhoods. But they were deemed a terrorist organization.
Why has the Klan never been deemed a terrorist organization?
(06:39):
All the hate that the Clan has done over the years,
all they did is torment people very ignorantly, like I'm
no scholar Ramsey's job, Like, that's not me, Like, I'm
not this highly I'm very educated, but I'm not intellectual
or I want to run here. I'm just a bro
that just when I see these things, I'm like, yo,
this doesn't make sense to me. And I just shared
(07:00):
and from there he grew a leg of its own
to the point where season three, I'm super excited because
we've teamed up with Nisign Bro and Nissan has joined in,
so now the possibilities are legit endless because we have
the twenty nine episodes that we do for the podcast.
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either, they're just digestible,
three to five minute episodes that we dropped daily on
the Black Effect Podcast Network. But we also this year
(07:23):
tamed up with Nissan, like I said, and added eight
visual components to the podcast. So we're doing thirty seven episodes,
and with Nissan, we're doing more of a focus on
Steam and the STEM programs. And we were down at
the National Museum of African American Music and Nashville, Tennessee,
shooting some stuff there, and it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I'm just super super excited about the product and hopefully
one day it can be in the curriculum.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Listen, he came to the right place today, I am.
I am very very proud of you and inspired by you.
Longtime listeners of this show know that that is kind
of the cloth from which I am cut myself. I
have a radio show outside of this show that we're
doing right now, and that show is called Civic Cipher
(08:11):
and one of the segments in the show is called
the Way Black History Fact. And funnily enough, just yesterday
I learned more stuff too. You know, I've been doing
my shows for four years too, since the murder of
George Floyd. I felt like that show was necessary, Hence
(08:31):
Civic Cipher. You know, we're talking about government and you
know that sort of thing. And you know, we had
a lawyer on for our most recent episode, and she's
a lawyer slash activist and an older white woman who's
just kind of one of those, one of those folks,
and she taught me some stuff, some black history stuff
I didn't know about. In fact, our way black history fact,
(08:53):
we discussed a gentleman by the name of Osborne Dorsey
who's the inventor of the doorknob and the door stop.
And an additional fun fact it's a little sad, but
when they used to sell slaves as babies, they would
sell them by the pound, So there was this incentive
(09:15):
to fatten up the babies or have like the larger
of the slaves breeds so that you know, they could
sell the offspring by weight. And you know, I mean,
it makes sense when you think about it. But I
just learned it yesterday, you know, when we were recording
for again our forthcoming episode.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And so and I love that, like I love being
I love because it's just it's such wild factors. Like
to that point, I did an episode Cheaper by the dozen.
We've used that phrase for years, like shooting the dozens.
In the black community, we always shoot the dozens, but
the dozens or cheaper by the dozen, that phrase is
rooted in racism. They used to sit, when they used
(09:56):
to sell. And I try to I try to say
enslaved individuals very slaves, right, because they didn't choose that lifestyle.
They were enslaved. So from that space, these enslaved individuals
when they were have defects or handicaps, they will put
them in groups of twelve and they will be cheaper
by the dozen. That's a that's a fact. You did
(10:18):
what I'm saying. Like and when you talk about babies
like just gator bait, that was a big thing a
couple of years ago. And just make go ahead, bro
check out the podcast season one. I got it. I
got it on the Black Effect Podcast Network. We definitely
tackle a lot of these man because you know, and again,
I was talking to my daughter, my daughter, she's eleven,
so on the way to school in the mornings, we
(10:40):
do affirmations and we talk about everything from the enslavement
periods to civil rights to current states. And she was
asking me, you know, she asked me recently, and I
just put that in a podcast because I told her,
I said, they always tell you about George Washington, Carver,
they talked about Martin Luther King, but they don't talk
about stokely Carmichael. And she said, who's stokely Carmichael? And
(11:00):
I said, hold on, and I record her. I says,
ask me that again. She said, who's stokely Carmichael? And
I put that audio in the episode because people need
to know who's stokely carmichaels. You know that he went
to Howard. They need to know that he was one way,
because that's something that we always have a dilemma with
which side are you going to stand on? Are you Martin?
(11:22):
Are you turn the other cheek, non violent, or you
Malcolm by any means necessary. You did what I'm saying.
And my daughter and I we talk about that a lot.
And there are situations where I feel like you should
one hundred percent be Martin. You should one hundred percent
take the high road. You should one hundred percent term
the other cheek, help your neighbor, et cetera. But there
are times when that Malcolm attitude is necessary. That is
(11:46):
and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with
saying I'm going to defend myself. I'm going to defend
my territory in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
We're here today with comedian radio host while an out
cast member and the whole of the I didn't know,
maybe you didn't either, podcast Brian McLaughlin aka b dot
All Right, So, in your mind's eye, who is the
person listening to this podcast? Is this a person who
(12:18):
is a white person who has been under educated? Is
this a young black kid who is you know, going
to miss out on these things in their normal travels.
Who's who's listening to your show?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
This is the average under educated American. It isn't race specific,
it isn't age specific. I try to make the episodes digestible.
In the idea of Tom agree to four minutes per episode.
We do one episode a day in February, so there
are three minute episodes four minute episodes, and the content
(12:56):
ranges from things we've discussed here Gator baits and the
Tulsa riots up to white people who were allies for
black people like Peter Buston. We hear a lot about
the Tuskegee Experiment and how they were given syphilis to
the black black community. But we don't ever go do
a little bit more research. Well, who stopped it? And
(13:17):
the whistleblower on that was a white man named Peter
Buston who was just looking at the mixic this. Something
ain't right, something ain't that, This math ain't mathing, and
we need allies, We need those types of situations. So
I try, I try to cover a spectrum of understanding
that I don't want this to be something you go
to and after you hear it, you're upset and you're
(13:38):
angry at either race. But I do want it to
be something where you go and you listen to it,
you're like, dang, I ain't know that. Hold on, hold on,
let me go to Google real quick. That couldn't have
been correct. What you mean? It was free college in
nineteen before nineteen seventy. No, a free college in America. No,
how well Ronald Reagan and the Republicans I didn't know.
Maybe you didn't either, it is, that's like what you mean?
(14:01):
GPS was invented by a black woman? What? No way?
Oh yeah, Gladys made West and she went to an HBCU.
You should check it out. Like those type of little things.
It's wow, conversation starters. Isn't anything to be threatening, isn't
anything to be offended by, but it is something to
open your eye and to just to give you a
(14:21):
little piece of educating and hopefully you'll want to go
do a little bit more deep dobbing yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
You know, I'm going to ask you a question that
I think might be easy and hard at the same time.
So the truth is is that there's a ton of podcasts,
and I don't want to say there's a ton of
podcasts that focus on black history, but this would not
(14:50):
be the first, right What is it that makes your podcast?
So I think I know the answer, but I want
to hear in your own words, what is it that
makes your podcast so special? And what is it that
makes it so listenable? For again, you mentioned three million
(15:12):
downloads of your show, so that's incredibly successful. What is
it about this show that makes it stand out in
the podcast space?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, maybe the sauce that a lot of people that
can read the fact, but everybody can't drift the sauce back.
I'm very fortunate in the idea that I've always had
a personality that people gravitate towards since I was a
wee lad you did what I'm saying, And I've learned
(15:41):
how to master that in my skill set of radio
in seventeen years that I've learned the intricacies of how
to capture an audience within the first three to five
seconds of listening. So I implement a lot of that
in the setup and the production of the actual podcast episodes.
I do the production on these episodes ninety I say
seventy percent of it myself. I have a strong team
(16:05):
with writers, my team Tiffany and my editor that adds
nice little accents and little ad libs and highlights, But
as far as the delivery, where I want music to
stop and where I want the most impactful part when
you're listening to them, each episode is like a narrative
is a narrative quilt, and it's seamlessly interject some humor
(16:28):
and some historic insight, and it's in a bite sized
listening session for it. And I think it's strength and
all of that. I think I give just enough for
you to learn something, but intrigue you enough where you
want to go and do a little bit more homework,
and you share it with other people. Did you know that?
I didn't know that? That which is and again all
of that is in the title. It's very transparent, it's
(16:49):
very vulnerable, it's very I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
And you know, I didn't know this. Need to check
this out. And if you did know, that's cool. That's
something else about black folk too. We got a chick.
I think all of us know everything on the same spectrum.
It's okay for me to know and you not to know.
And you got you to know and me not to know.
That's where we educate each other. And I learned from
(17:09):
each oun What you mean you didn't know the George
Washington own slaves? No, I didn't know the George Washington
own slaves? How did that happen? Educate me and then
I can go and tell somebody else. But so many
times we want to be the horder of the information
and the look down on if you don't know this information,
And that's stupid and it scares people off from asking
(17:31):
questions and genuinely being educated in situations.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Man, this is a fantastic hot take. Well, first off,
let me say this, your answer to the question was
exactly what I was hoping for. Obviously, it's one thing
to just kind of share a factoid or the benefit
of the listener. It's a whole other thing to interject
your personality into that make it more listenable, make it
(17:57):
sort of bite size. Because that's the world in which
we live. Things are just kind of condensed, and folks
that are inspired will do their own you know, research
and kind of crack open the books or do the
Googles or whatever it is that comes next and so
and then, you know, a bit of humor goes a
long way. It's almost like that Mary Poppins saying a
spoonful of sugar helps some medicine go down, you know.
(18:18):
So I certainly believe on my show and I can
imagine on your show, that we deal with a lot
of heavy topics, a lot of injustices that have happened
to our people. These are things that, under normal circumstances
would make make a feeling thinking person cry. Right, this
is heavy stuff. But while you know, something like that
(18:39):
might turn folks off, like, loo, I'm not in the
mood for crying. I got enough to be depressed about.
I don't need to look backwards. You know, that sort
of thing when you have a little bit of fun
with it and you invite the listener into an environment
where as you mentioned, you're we're going to educate you.
This is some of this stuff's going to be heavy,
but we're here to celebrate, We're here to honor our
(19:01):
ancestors and look forward. Armed with this additional information of
knowing the shoulders the shoulders of the giants upon which
we stand, it makes for a more inclusive and more
welcoming in a more entertaining format. And that's just kind
of what I've been putting together about the show. So
kudos to you for that. I know you mentioned that
(19:25):
you'd partner with the Black Effect, you know, some time ago,
and I you know, kudos to you for that as well.
That's a brilliant strategic move. I'm a big fan of
Charlemagne myself, and he and I have worked together in
the past. And then you mentioned also that Nissan was
a sponsor. I believe that's how you phrased it of
the show at this point. So with that in mind,
(19:46):
what is the plan for the future of the show,
anything additional that you're bringing to the audience.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Oh for sure. Well, this season, again, we're very excited
just with the partnership with Nissan. Seriously, you know how
this goes, Ramsey Joy like, we're trying to build a
product that somebody will find important enough to put some
money in and invest so we can get it out
to more people. We just want more people to absorb
the content, so for Nissan to take a liking to it,
(20:15):
And it really was a situation where with Black Effect,
Charlemagne is a good friend of mine, but Dolly Bishop,
who's the president of Black Effect, that's a great friend
of mine. She and I both attended Winston Salem State
University together and when she had an HBCU summit for
the Black Effect last year, Nissan was out there. It's
the Thrill the Possibility Summit, and they were really liking
(20:39):
the content and they were fast forward thinking to February
and they say, hey, can we get that guy to
come out and we shoot some content. And I went
out there for that situation only. But again, you know
how this goes. We never know who we're impressing, we
never know who we're auditioning for when we're out doing
our thing. And the people from Nissan, they really liked it.
(20:59):
They really liked the content. They really liked how I
was able to engage with the HBCU, the HBCU students
that were there and even the other people that were there,
and they decided to put some money in the campaign. Man,
they said, we want to put an umbrella above this,
and we want because they're doing things again with the
STEAM program. We talked about science, Technology, Engineering, the arts,
(21:20):
and MAD and I'm a product of STEM. Like I
remember going to HBCUs in the summer where we would
do STEM where it was just STEM before they added
the arts part and it was just science, Technology, engineering
and math again. And so now to be able to
be a person that's magnifying that and exemplifying that for
people because I am a product of STEAM, It's just
(21:42):
full circle. Man. Like in life, you just never know
what you're going through or the things that you're going through,
how they're setting you up for the future. You just don't.
And I always talk about, like when I go talk
to the motivational speaking and talk to high schoolers and
middle schoolers or EOG pet rally tours, I let them
know how I messed up completely when I was a teenager.
(22:02):
I was working at a spot where they do rides
and games, and I was taking tokens and giving out
the tokens and pocketing the money, and that was embezzlement.
I called an embezzlement charge when I was sixteen years old.
And from that experience, I always knew that I would
never in my mind, this is how. I don't know
(22:24):
if I crippled myself or strengthen myself, but I always
told myself, I'll never be able to get a job
where I have to fill out an application because if
you read the application, you're gonna throw it away. My
grades aren't high enough. I'm a feeling, you know. So
I always felt like I have to be able to
talk to people. And I was blessed with the gift
(22:45):
of gap. I was blessed with the gift to be
able to control rooms and control audiences and be entertaining
and be welcoming in that regard, and all of that
with the podcast, with the radio, with the experiences from
my past, with being honest enough to know what I
don't know, and being vulnerable enough to share that with
people so that they can give me that information. A
(23:08):
lot of times again just doubling back to that we're
so fearful of appearing to be the we're so fearful
of being the person that doesn't know that we won't
even ask questions. Yeah, and a lot of times when
you ask questions and people give you that information, it
empowers both of you. It empowers you because you got
(23:30):
to get educated on it, and it empowers the other
person because they got to share this information with somebody.
So let's let's let's kill that noise. Black folk like,
let's let's talk. It's okay to.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Talk, man, Well listen, I know where you're having the
conversation right now, So do us a favor. Share the website,
social media, any connective tissue folks might need to tap
in with you and with the I didn't know, maybe
you didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Neither podcast absolutely b dot TV on all social media platforms,
and that's b d a h T B dot not
be the hat. The A is before the h B dot.
It's fanatically see the ah is ah so b dots. Nevertheless,
you can check out the podcast wherever you get your
podcast from Man, but exclusively on the Black Effect Podcast Network,
(24:18):
which is on our heart radio. So make sure you
check that out. And again, the future goal for this
is to get this as a curriculum in the school system.
We're working on that. We've been diligently working on that
for the past year, and eventually get this to a
platform where it's visual because I want to go to Galveston, Texas,
I want to go to Charleston, South Carolina. I want
to touch the roads in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I want
(24:39):
to put my spend and my energy on it and
present it to the world.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Well, I wish you all the luck in the world.
I'm definitely inspired by this, and hopefully we can talk
more when we're done here, but I'll I'll wrap it
up right here. I'd like to thank you for taking
the time to wait.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Wait, wait, I just gotta do one more thing. Shout
out for your barble, Like I don't know if you
tip your barble, but you gotta temple. I'll talk about
the way he got the line right step, I'm gonna
screenshot this and send it to my babble. You're gonna
be an inspiration to him.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
You understand what I appreciate it. Hey, you know what
it is. It's the It's the babbylist pro just in
a long time and Harry face, that's what just just
get myself right every so often and make sure I
look decent to be able to have these conversations. Man,
I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Given Lenny Krabbits and I wrote with it.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'll take that too.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I've been called worse, so I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
All right.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Well again, thank you so much for coming on and
for sharing this amazing, inspiring podcast with our listeners. It
is timely, it is necessary, and I know that it's
going to lead to a more informed, more successful, more
inspired future for black people in this country. Once again,
Today's guest his comedian radio host wild'n Out cast member
(25:57):
and the host of the I Didn't Know Maybe You Did?
In either podcast, The One and onlyb Dot. This has
been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's show
is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like
to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host Ramsey's
(26:21):
Jaw on all social media and join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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