Wayne Brady

Welcome to the Season Finale of Thanks Dad! Ego's very special dad of the day is none other than the great Emmy-award winning Wayne Brady! Wayne joins Ego to talk about being raised by his grandmother, finding the balance between being your child's parent and best friend, and his ROTC days as an outlet for singing and dancing. Ego then asks for some "dadvice" about whether or not she should be aiming to buy properties.

We'll be taking a break between seasons, but stay subscribed for more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a headgum podcast. Okay, my next guest, Dad
for the day, is moistured up and down. And I'm
so happy because we both did the same thing before

(00:23):
we started recording, which means we really just might be kin.
Hi guys, I may go odem and welcome to Thanks Dad.
I was raised by single mom. I do not have
a relationship with my dad and I'm not gonna have
a relationship with him because, oh my gosh, he went
and died. So lord, oh my lord, oh my lord,
It's okay, waite, it's okay. Don't be worried for me.

(00:44):
You look nervous now.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
I was like, oh no, that's what I've stepped into.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
No when I tell you, it's fine. So on this podcast,
I'm sitting down with father figures who are old enough
to be my dad or just dads themselves. We will
never say which category our guests are in, and I'm
gonna get to ask the questions I've always wanted to
ask a dad, like how do I know if the
guy I'm dating is right for me? Or what should
I look out for when I'm buying a car, or

(01:09):
is it actually a wise investment to buy a house?
Is it really? People always say that. But anyway, before
we get into that the hard stuff. You know, my
next guest from the Emmy winning television series whose line
is it anyway? The Wayne Brady Show and his newest
reality series, Wayne Brady The Family Remix, please welcome my
dad for the Day. You guessed it because I said

(01:31):
it already, Wayne Brady.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Hi, Hey, two things. Yes, the show Din win the Emmys.
I want all the Emmys. The showd In win. That
was me just to clarify.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
I am so glad you're clarifying. And I'm about to
throw someone under a big old bus because I didn't
write that intro. But you know, I love that you
have clarified because there is a difference and people outside
the industry especially don't seem to know that. But you
won the Emmy and that's a huge deal.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So yeah, it's a big deal. And especially because i'm
your dad for the day. You know the thing that
I've taught my daughter that I will pass on to
you as my daughter for the day, which is always
weird when a beautiful woman calls you dad and then
you're like, oh, which category I fit in? Old enough
to be your dad or dad dad advice. As this

(02:22):
is not Daddy, then it gets it changes the conversation.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Daddy could get weird. But yeah, the.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Thing I'll tell you is for a lot of my life,
and I think that a lot of black people and
end up doing this is we work to be successful
depending on the environment where you're from. You you were
raised by a single mother. I was raised by my grandmother, Okay,
after my grandfather passed away and my father was a distant,

(02:48):
sad light, so I was raised by her. So basically
a single mom. And my folks is from the US
Virgin Islands, so I have the island hustle and mentality
of the immigrants. You struggle, you work, you want to
be the best. You want to be the best. You
kick ascid things, but then you can't always sound too
proud of those things, because then somebody's like you arrogant

(03:09):
or you can see that. So I spent a lot
of my life and a lot of my career when
someone would say, oh, you're really good at this, I
would downplay everything and I would make myself small. Yeah,
so I reached a point where I went, you know what,
if I truly did win this accolade, and if I
actually can do, if I actually can sing, dance, act right, produce,

(03:33):
do this shit, and that's my skill set, and I
do it well. It's not arrogant for me in certain
spaces to own that because there are other people who
have done far less and have bigger mouths and they
eat off of that. And I'm over here trying to
be polite to make the people in the room comfortable
because they because I don't want a rah rah. Well,

(03:54):
that's why anytime that my publicist I do a show,
you better make sure that my androw duct is five
time am you winning, two time Grammy nominee, it's got
a Broadway star because those are things that I've done.
I cannot save your life. I'm not a doctor. I
can barely fix your car. I can't change a spare tire,

(04:15):
I can't really cook, okay, but I can do this shit.
So yes, dam so that's my lesson. Daughter. Walk in
your shine because you kill it. You are amazing and
the world needs to know that you're amazing, and that
is not a problem.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
You are so kind and so generous, and I love
that I am talking to you right now because speaking
of not wanting to come across as arrogant. It's this
interesting dance we do and it sounds like you did
for a long time where you go, oh, yeah, I
don't want to come off as arrogant and I don't
want to sound haughty, but you really worked towards these things,
and it's okay to be proud of them, and it's

(04:51):
okay to own them. And shrinking doesn't help anybody, really,
And mind you, if people are uncomfortable because you're accomplished,
my mom might say in that moment, the discomfort belongs
to them. Yeah, there is nothing wrong with you celebrating
your achievements. So I'm sincerely, from the depths of my heart,
so grateful that you clarified because you did that, you
work towards that, and no one handed any of that

(05:12):
to you. So to say, hey, let's acknowledge these things,
I don't have a problem with it. And I love
that my dad has all those statues, so listen, well, well,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's a lesson that I had to teach my daughter,
especially being a young black woman. It's like, no, you
can be prot and she's so damn smart and talented,
and I'm never so at this age. She just turned
twenty two yesterday. I was like, I will not allow
you to make yourself smaller for your boss, for someone
you work force full, for anyone you work with, for

(05:43):
any man that is in your life. Do not make
yourself small.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
That is wonderful, wonderful dad advice. And I'm just I'm truly,
I'm stopped in my tracks because I'm like, this is
what a young woman needs to hear and have instilled
in her from a very young age. And I feel
very grateful that my mother did, I believe, a fantastic
job raising her four children to be confident and believe
they can do whatever it is they want to do.
I think I am a testament to that, and I

(06:08):
think my siblings are as well. You seem to have
now found such clarity and confidence on your own here, okay,
But was there a point where you had any relationship
with your dad at all?

Speaker 2 (06:22):
No?

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Okay, no, And.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Here is the tragedy I feel, and a lot of it.
And to anybody watching this is not to perpetuate what
I think is one of the most insidious and overtly
horrible stereotypes about black men in this country, about black
men are fathers and their absentee and they leave, and

(06:47):
that It's not that I didn't have a relationship with him,
because he was that. In fact, if anything, my father earlier,
I was very specific to say that he was a satellite.
My father was in the military. He was in the US,
and like, when I think of my dad, I think
of like this black Gi Joe type character, because that's
who he was. He was larger than life, like six two,

(07:08):
big barrel chested dude, bespoke multiple languages. My dad was
brilliant because of where he was and always being stationed someplace.
He made the choice, he and my grandmother, so that
I would have the island upbringing that he had that
instilled certain vagues in him. The downside of that is
I didn't have a relationship with him, and by the

(07:29):
time that I became a man and I was seeking
that relationship, I remember clearly. Oh and this turns into
my Oprah moment.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Please please, I'm no Oprah, but please.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I started acting when I was sixteen. I was so
proud of it. But even before then I knew I
wanted to perform. But your folks that yes, yes, yes,
then we come from the same claw, right where if
you tell somebody from the Islands, Mama, I want to
go on stage and I want to sing and dance
all nonsense that jump up and down nonsense That was

(08:04):
not in the plans for anyone. So even the relationship
with my dad, the closest that I got at one
point as a teenager is because Dad was in the
military and we couldn't talk. We had nothing in common.
I felt he was so big and masculine and I
was this little, skinny torpye kid that loved books and
loved to draw and create and do voices. So the

(08:25):
one thing that I could do that I could be
like my dad is I joined the ROTC in my school,
right because I was like, Dad, look, I'm going in
the ROTC and I'm in a uniform too, and maybe
we can talk about things like that and I can
ask you about my gigline and my head and all
this stuff, when really the theater kid in me was like,
this wasn't a uniform, It's a costume. And I loved

(08:48):
to march. I love doing drills because that was the
closest that I got to dancing. Oh, So that was
my way of being close to him. And then we
had a big falling out when I got guated high
school because I didn't want to go to college. I
got these scholarships that were pissed at me because I
turned down these these scholarships of schools. And I said,
I want to act, and I went on tour and finally,

(09:10):
when I was nineteen, I booked my first big guest
starring role on this show called In the Heat of
the Night, this old drama and it was a two
parter and it was directed by Carol O'Connor, who your
viewers are so young, nobody's going to remember, like all
in the family, but this big sitcom and Carol O'Connor

(09:31):
was a huge actor at the time and he's the
one that cast me. It was a big deal. I
was in the paper back in Orlando folks who are
like local actor on a big CBS show, blah blah blah.
And we were shooting in Covington, Georgia, which is where
my dad settled, and I got a chance. As I
was shooting, I called up my dad and said, Dad,
I would love to come and visit you. And you know,

(09:53):
so I drive out and I see him and we
sat down and we talked and It was the first
time in my life that I remembered that I sat
down and I was able to have a face to
face talk that I wasn't scared, that I didn't think
that the only time he talked to me was to
discipline me. It was I could sit across from him,
man to man, and he accepted me as a man.

(10:14):
One of the first things he said when I sat down,
he goes, Junior, because that's why, Brady, you're seeing you Junior.
I just saw that you're going beyond that show with
Archie Bunker. I'm so proud of you. And he got
on the phone and he's calling different guys from his
unit and he's like, yeah, my boy's going to be
on TV. And he was asking me what it was like, Yeah,

(10:36):
the process, And I said, oh, I'd love to have
you come out to set at some point and this
is what I do. And he hugged me. And it
wasn't a very long visit. I remember that because I
had to drive back and then I didn't see him again,
and then I moved to Los Angeles and about a
year and a half to two years later, he passed
of a massive coronary So to this day, I have

(10:57):
a hole where I have so many unanswered questions. I
don't know him, so there are pieces of myself and
behaviors that I do that I don't know where they
come from. Right that. It's kind of like I wish that,
you know, I would have had my dad to be
able to walk walk walk me through life.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Right right first till I'm so sorry about that. I mean,
I'm right along for the ride, and I go, I
don't see it going that way. And I feel like,
oftentimes we feel like we have enough time, or we'll
have enough time for things to go differently, or for
relationships to shift with people, and then there are so
many variables that are just outside of our control, and
I just feels that, Yeah, that feels tragic to me.

(11:38):
But thank you for being so open in that regard,
and to your point about there's so many parts about
you now that you go, I wonder if this is
from him. A few years ago I had read a
friend's obituary about her father and now maybe more less
of an obituary, more of a tribute on Instagram, but
it was really beautiful and they had a pretty frault relationship,
and in the cap I remember her saying, you know,

(12:02):
no matter who your father is, and she might have
been quoting someone and I might be bastardizing this, but
it was, no matter who your father is, he's part
of you, and he's in the way you hold a
cup or hold a pen. And I thought, that's so crazy,
because I've never thought about my father in that regard
because I feel whole myself. But I go, surely there

(12:22):
are parts of me that are a reflection of him,
even if he wasn't this presence in my life, and
so that mystery that you have is one that I
share with you. Are there parts of you that you
feel inclined to think are from him? Though?

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, yeah, and not always positive? Sure, To be completely honest,
I feel that the positive things that I've gotten from him,
especially as I got a little older, is I do
feel that he was a provider and a protector, which
is why I really do hate that fucking part of
my French.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
No, you're allowed to cus a pardon that.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
That stereotype that that really lives with us with so
many others, because if that dude did anything, he took
care of his mother, who they had such an amazing relationship,
which Thank God for my grandma. He took care of
that woman. He made sure that no matter where he

(13:22):
was in the world, even if she was married. And
she was married, He's like, Ma, I'm going to take
care of you. So you're married and you've got a
husband and whatever that money is, but I'm always going
to make sure that you have your own because if
you ever need to leave, you will always be independent, right.
And I was like, Oh, that is so deep that

(13:44):
he loved his mother so much. So I am a
provider and a protector and a nurturer, and I think
that is a direct line from him. That is something
that I got from from him. Yeah, I don't know
who I get my I've got a bit of a temper.
I'm not you know, like I don't go around kicking indoors,
but I definitely get frustrated very fast when people don't

(14:09):
keep up with the things that I see in my head.
And I saw that in him even when I was
a little kid, that your mind moves at such a
pace that you get angry at the world. And I
definitely know that I have that.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Do you know that someone said to me recently, Because
I think I at times have a bit of frustration
as well, where I go, Oh, this thing seems so
plain to me. And someone recently was saying to me that,
you know, that might be a function of a high IQ,
and I was like, I don't think I have a
high IQ and they're like, no, no, no. I'm dealing
with this thing with my son in school, and you know,
his teacher. He gets frustrated very easily because what's simple

(14:45):
to him is not simple to other people. And he's like,
kind of keep up. And his teacher said, it might
be a high IQ thing, So shoot, we might just
have high IQ's. I don't think that's what's going on
with me, but it might. It could be.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
What what did I say? Owner my gosh, how do
not do? How? How can you not like what I
know of you and what I followed, and I've seen
you in different interviews, the way you carry yourself, there's
no way, there's no way walking that you do not
have a high i Q. Which, by the way, for
those of you watching, calm down that you're like, well,
a high IQ is is merely a measurement of potential.

(15:19):
It doesn't mean but the fact is, you can you
have more going on than a lot of people, and
I can recognize that so own.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
That you are kind and generous and thank you. You
know what I will I'm going to try to heed
my dad for the day's advice throughout the rest of
this conversation. I'm going to try my damnedest to do that.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
And because people'll spend enough time trying to tear you
down in life, even if you're on TV, especially if
you especially, people spend enough time kicking you in the
ass that you've got to be your own hype man
sometimes that I forget that I got to reset every
single day.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is such sound vice to be
your own hype man, because there are so many people
who are ready to tear another down. By the way,
has nothing to do with you, the person who is
the target of those attacks. It has everything to do
with the other person. But you're still a person and
you can feel that, and one thing you can do
to counter that is to hype yourself up. Okay, I

(16:19):
like how this sounds, and I want to really really
walk in it and live it. You have parts of
you that are your father that you acknowledge or you

(16:40):
feel inclined to think are parts of your father. Did
you ever feel conflicted disappointed in the fact that your
father was this principled man who said, I'm going to
be a provider and a protector to my mother. That's
important to me that she has that, but perhaps was
not that for you.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
No, I've never because I've never thought about my father
in the negative light of you weren't here for me
because a like I said, he did take care of
my grandmother and he set up a system. He set
up a system, So yeah, it would have been nice

(17:21):
to spend more time with him, But I was raised
from the time that I was three months old. Because
I don't want to go into my wholeback story because
that's in the book.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Sure, go get the book. Everyone get the book.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
When I write it that my grandmother and that system
was all I ever knew. So I knew that my
mother was in the world, and I knew that my
father was in the world, but my grandmother was everything.
And I knew that my father took care of my
grandmothers were there for visa VI. He was taking care
of me. So I never really missed out on that,

(17:55):
Like I think for certain part of my life I
missed out on that. You know, hey, play ball with
me or I wish I could do, you know, then
that would have been cool. But I never resent him
for that because he was taking care of us, So
I did feel okay about that. My sister and I
may have different different recollections about that, because I've got

(18:18):
a sister that was partially raised with me and partially
raised with him, so I know that she has a
completely different relationship and intimacy level.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
With him, right, And I think to your point about
what you had always known from childhood, so you don't
miss perhaps what you didn't to know. So if it
was like my grandmother is raising me, that's just what
I know to be the case. And I'm not like
in dire need of this relationship that people are telling
me that I should have. I say this because I

(18:49):
felt that way growing up. And namely, I don't think
when I was a child in any way anyone was
trying to make me feel like I was missing something.
But as an adult in early college, people would be like,
you didn't have a relationship with your dad. It must
have been like this for you, and it must have
been so painful. And when I was like, oh no,
all I'd ever know my parents got divorced when I
was a baby, like a true baby, and so I'm like,
all I've ever known is my mom raised me, and

(19:11):
I was surrounded by love, and I felt fine about it.
That wasn't some There wasn't some like dad shaped hole
in my heart as far as I could perceive. Really,
you made a really lovely point at the top of
this conversation about not perpetuating a stereotype that's so nasty
about black men and fatherhood. And it was important to
me even doing this podcast that I don't perpetuate that

(19:32):
stereotype because my dad was not part of my life,
but not because he was a black man. He went
on to remarry and was very much part of his
children's lives in his new marriage. And I think dad's
are human. There is one of the big messages of
this podcast. All dads are human, All parents are human,
and that means absolutely imperfect. But I want to have

(19:54):
conversations like this with people because you and I I
feel like, just in a few minutes we've talked now
have so much in common in this regard and what
we were accustomed to versus what maybe other people would
have liked to see.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
For us right, Well, I yes, and to that that
I was never bothered right until it didn't hit me
until later in life. And this is what I think
is one of the deeper things. Is is And now
that I'm glad that I've got a son that at
this age. Now i have a two year old son,
and I'm looking forward to having conversations with him when

(20:28):
he gets a little older. I didn't miss having my
father truly in my sphere until I was where was I.
I was backstage. I was doing the play Fences, and
I was playing Cory the Sun, and I was a

(20:51):
late bloomer in all regards. So at this point I
think maybe I was twenty twenty twenty one. I just
ready to get hair. I just started to So I'm
backstage and everybody's getting ready for the show. I remember
this like it was yesterday, and they're all you know,
it's all these brothers inside the dressing room talking blah

(21:13):
blah blah. It feels cool to be in there with them.
It's like the barber shop, except into our dressing room.
And everybody's getting ready. And I see Eric, one of
the cast members next to me. He's like and he
gets ready and starts shaving. I so I've got shaving
stuff here, and I'm looking at Eric and like, okay,

(21:34):
that's what men do. I'd never shaved. Oh well, yeah,
I put this thing on, like okay, and I take
the razor and I go for what little hair that
I had. I just kept doing that because I'm like,
my logic is if hair grows this. This is when

(21:55):
you talk to someone who was so smart that they're stupid.
I'm like, well, the hair grows out the follicle like this,
So if I why would I go with the in
the direction of the hair with the hair, because then
that just means so if I shave up, the hair
goes the other way, that cuts it and it must
pull it out and that would be a clean shave.

(22:15):
Stupid ass, Wayne Brady, stupid.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
That's the recipe for ingrown hairs. And Brady, by the way,
I was saying while you were describing that, because I
was like the first time I shaved my legs the
way I shaved skin as well, because I was rushed
what you were you were doing the motion. I was like,
oh my goodness, So the man cut his face up
before doing the same thing.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
I like, cut myself, and then of course immediately the
next second bumps my faces were. I start freaking out right.
No buddy, he came over and they put put some
tonic on my face to bring down the bumps and
ice and swelling, and and then lady was like, dude, brother,

(22:59):
that is not how you do that. And about a
week later, once everything had calmed down and little bit
of hair started growing up, he showed me how to shave.
Another brother, a black man stepped into that father figure role.
Whether he knew it or not, he stepped into that
role and showed me how to shave. When I was thirty,
I was at the White House. I was singing at

(23:22):
the White House. My barber, mister Buck came came with
me to clean me up. I couldn't tie my tie
all those years of being in rotc. I used clip ons,
and at that point when I was doing my talk
show and my variety show and everything else, the stylist
always tied. I could not tie my tie. Mister Buck
showed me there in the White House how to tie

(23:45):
a windsor. And to this day that's the only knot
that I can tie. But it looks dope as hell.
But a black man stepped into that father figure role
and showed me that I've had a few men of
my community step into those roles where And that's the
only thing I think I missed with my father is Wow,
I wish that my dad would have showed me how

(24:06):
how to shave. I wish that I would have had
the sex talk with him. I wish I would have
had a relationship talk with him, which that's the part
of him that I feel that I might have because
I have never been able to make a relationship work
in my entire life, and I feel it is because
of his behind. Yeah, so those are the positives. Is
if you could find your tribe and maybe fill that role.

(24:27):
But then also you'll constantly there are things that you
do miss from certain interactions.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
That makes sense. That makes sense, And I was going
to ask you, even as you were describing the shaving story,
my next question was going to go, did you know
how to tie a tie? Where did you learn how
to tie a tie? Because I've actually never talked to
anyone on the podcast about that, And these are things
that I remember growing up watching sitcoms, and it was
like the moment the dad shows him how to tie
a tie. It's a real father son bonding moment and

(24:54):
something that sticks with you. And so of course it
feels natural though that those moments would happen and then
would go, oh, this is something I wish my dad
would have shown me. Is it important to you when
you think about these moments, from shaving to tying a
tie with your son who is too Is it going
to be important for you? Do you feel like you're

(25:14):
going to go, I'm going to really take the time
to teach my son these things because these things really
matter to me.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Hell yes, yeah, absolutely, those pieces of ritual just like
i'd imagine there are motherhood the rituals that you must
pass down. It's important both from a functional place right
that let me teach you how to tie this tie,
because if you go into a job that needs to tie,

(25:39):
here's how you tie to. Let me show you how
to shave, because you need to to Let me talk
to you about sex. Let me talk to you about
relationships and women and manhood and masculinity and all of
these things even down down to And I'm not saying

(26:00):
that everyone's father because we all come from different places.
But you know what I would have loved to learn
early in my life how to tip at a restaurant,
certain you know, certain thing things that are just life deals.
How how to change this tire, how to do things
like that. Oh there's a fuse out in the circuit box.
Let me show you how to do that. I learned

(26:20):
to do those things. But I learned because I was
bumping into walls.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
As opposed to someone going, hey, something happened in our house,
the shared roof, and I want to take this moment. Hey, Wayne,
come and look at this, Come and look at this thing.
Is your son, Wayne Brady the third?

Speaker 2 (26:36):
No, no, no no. I was going to for a second,
but then I wanted to. And his mother was very
gracious and let me name him Val, after my grandmother
because I lost her a couple of years during during COVID,
So that was a big blow. Like my grandmother was
my everything. So I named him Val, and his name

(26:59):
is Vale Henry after her her father's will. So I
get to so I get to think about her every
single day.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
That's really beautiful. That's special.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Man.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Shout out to grandmothers. I don't think we've gotten to
shout them out on the podcast. I was very close
to my grandmother too. And you know, I don't know
what it is to be a grandmother, but I imagine
because I see grandparents' relationships with their grandkids and parents saying,
my parents are spoiling my children and letting them have
whatever they want. And I go, well, I guess that's
the joy of being a grandparent. I imagine is like

(27:31):
I did my job raising my kid, and now I
get to just be party time, good time, good vibes
over here.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Being a grandparent looks like the victory lap m.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Right. That's I feel like that's exactly the right way
to look at it. Before we go into what your
parenting style is like any further, I do want to
ask about the Wayne Brady junior of it, for you
did that in any way to you feel like pressure
to live up to a name. I always wonder when
I meet a junior. And I don't know that I've
asked this yet.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I think in the household because nobody else knows, but
around my family, there was definitely a pressure because, like
I was saying that to me, and this is completely
based off of the perceptions of a child into you know,
a teen teenager that my dad was one of those

(28:20):
dudes like he really was, like when you think of black, tough,
seventies born guy, he was that dude. So the pressure
in my house was to live up to him, and well,
especially with my grandmother because he was so wonderful to
her and he did take care of things. What I

(28:42):
always heard growing up in my household was about how
smart my dad was, about how he graduated from high
school early, and then he was raised in Puerto Rico,
A he and my aunt and they went to the
Albert Einstein Academy. There was a school, and how even
in the military, he was always getting these degrees and

(29:04):
dad can do this, And so there was the thing
of well, this is what your dad does, what are
you going to do? Why aren't you? And then when
I got a little older and your team, why aren't
you as tough as your dad? And they didn't do
do it on purpose, but you know that generation of

(29:24):
parents sometimes they talk to you in a way that
they think that it's helping you aspire to something versus
kicking you in the ass with it. So everything that
I did, I wanted to try to make sure. So,
I mean, I'm lucky enough that like in elementary school.
I was so proud that I went from kindergarten to
second grade. I was proud that I that I was

(29:44):
in this gifted program so I could say, Dad, it
was just like you. I was proud that I made
this state engineering program so I could be like him
because he was an army engineer, I could say, but
I didn't love any of those things. So the comparison
was a was a kick in the ass all the time,
right until I exploded when he passed. I yelled at

(30:06):
my grandmother the only time in my adult life, and
never yell at your mother or your grandmother.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
You feel horrible, horrible, and you think about it forever
and ever, even if you've apologized, all.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
That shit came out, all of it. It's like and Dad,
and you always compared me, and I came all the
way back and blah blah blah blah. Aesh, she's mourning
her son. What a jerk. But that's what happens when
you're constantly getting compared to. You got to build your
own identity, right.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
I'm hearing you as you say that you felt the
pressure of that comparison and it's what made you pop
off with or your grandmother would you say, ultimately it
was more important to you to make your grandmother proud
or your father proud? Or is that like not a
fair question.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh, it's not that it's not fair. It's it was
always important for me to make my grandmother proud, because,
like I said, that was my son and moon. I
wanted my dad to be proud of me in general. Yeah,
absolutely wanted my dad proud. That's why I was glad
to have that conversation with him before he passed, right.
I always wanted him to see what I was doing.

(31:07):
I think me wanting him to be proud of me
was I wanted him to see that I was doing
my thing, which was acting, and I wanted to be
recognized for that within not just the family sphere. But
I wanted him to see that I was doing my
own thing and that I was going to be all right.
And more importantly, because he would always tell me this

(31:29):
whenever my grandmother would say something to him, and he
felt that because I was a really good kid. But
every kid mouths off. Sometimes he's like, Junior, look, you
don't put that old lady through no changes. It was
like changes, I mean, yeah, changes, you never put her
through changes. You make sure that she is always straight
and level, because that's what I do. Don't you put

(31:49):
her through. So I wanted to prove to him that
by acting, I'm not going to put her through any changes.
I'm going to take care of her. She is going
to be all right. That's what I wanted him to
be proud of me. I guess in a way, I
never got that because he did pass before I achieved
any real success. And that was my whole mission the
rest of my life until she passed. I said, I

(32:10):
will always make sure that you are taking care of
old lady. There's not a thing that you will ever
want for And that was my promise to him.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah, that is so powerful and moving, and I'm like,
I just want to be like Wayne Brady Junior, you
did it. I feel you did it. I want to
take a moment to celebrate you and all of your accomplishments.
I feel like I call my mom, who doesn't know
a lot of celebrities, and be like, yeah, I know
who Wayne Brady is and I'm like, she's the barometer
for me of like how famous is this person? Has

(32:39):
my mom heard of them? I'm like that is a
household name, Wayne Brady. You made that a household name.
So I think you did both of them proud if
I'm allowed to.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Say thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, I feel like you have such strong, clear values
as well. And so in terms of the relationship you
have with your kids, you have a twenty two year
old daughter two year old son. What kind of father
would you say you are?

Speaker 2 (33:03):
I would like to say, you know, blanket statement. I'd
like to say that I'm a good father, and my
daughter will attest to that. And she even left me
message yesterday you know, I love you. Not everybody gets
to hang out with their best friend and and she's
best friend. Yeah, we lucked out. Not everyone has a
twenty two year old that actually wants to spend time

(33:25):
with them. Yeah, so her mother and I we lucked out.
In fact, I'll even show you. We went to the Grammys.
She was my date because I was performing for the
opening ceremony, and we did this whole thing. And and
I love doing stuff like that just because I get
to show off my daughter and to show that I

(33:46):
have this buddy who still wants to hang out. How cool?
Twenty two?

Speaker 1 (33:50):
That is quite an accomplishment for her to want to
hang out with you guys at twenty two.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Oh yeah, this is her right here, that's seed.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Oh that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
That's my girl. She is my pal. So I think
she'll say that I'm a good father. I think she'll
say that I am a especially when she was coming up.
I'm a strict father, but I will own like many
people of my generation, I'm.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
A very flawed man, a flawed.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Person, and so in doing the therapeutic work, really doing
a lot of therapy later in life because of a
lot of the baggage that you end up accumulating, and
even parenting, parenting through a filter, and you're parenting through
the filter of I come from the generation of don't
talk back to me, if you even look, don't don't
even look sideway, because if you're not looking at me

(34:40):
when I'm talking to you, right, don't let me snatch you.
I'm gonna snatch you up a very violent underturned discipline.
I'm gonna snatch you up. Don't make me come over
there if I have to. Boy, don't you ever and
me forgetting that The reason that I think to this day,
I'm a very quiet person. When I'm on a camera,

(35:01):
I'm very quiet and very introverted. It's because I learned
early in my house, don't talk back, even if something's wrong.
You don't talk back to me so much to the
point that I remember I have a sensation in my
jaw and sounding all artsy as an actor. If I
ever need to summon frustration, I just remember what my

(35:24):
jaw fel was like being luck because I can't speak,
so I would always remember, shut up, don't say things.
I realized that at a certain point that I was
enforcing some of those things on her for such a
smart young lady and inquisitive. So if you, as a
parent sometimes don't have the answer, it's either because I

(35:47):
said so, But why do I have to do that?
Because I said so, because that's what my mama did,
and that's what I'm doing right now, But why don't
ask me? Why? So flawed? And I own that We've
had talks about that, because a whole family goes to therapy,
and we've had therapy together, and so I've got a
chance to apologize. I think I'm a really good dad,

(36:08):
but I also think that I was parenting sometimes through
through that filter.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
That's incredible that you guys go to therapy together. I mean,
I'm just marveling at that because I'm like, how many
families would be healed if they would be willing to
go to therapy together. Because there might be parties who
are interested in it and open to it, but everyone's
got to be willing to go. And the fact that
you guys are able to do that. Is there something

(36:32):
that made you guys go to therapy? Is there an
inciting incident or just period of time where it was like, Okay,
this is I think this is necessary.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I know that for me, my personal therapy became when
I owned up to the fact that I was going
through depression and not just going through depression, that I
was that my behavior, which I also feel, you know
now after years of therapy and even going to clinical doctors,
and I know that I've had clinical depression, and I

(37:03):
know that my body chemistry, which I know that I've
inherited from my father makes me prone to depression, make
certain behaviors that I've done, especially in relationships, or even
the reason that I am very quiet and I stay
to myself and I isolate all those things. I had

(37:24):
to own up to that to a certain point because
I ran from it for years. I was able to
get going and you know, the hustle, like when you're
in the city and you're at first you're trying to
make it. I was too busy to notice depression or
any of the behaviors because I'm doing a show here,
auditioning there. I'm on a hustle, on a grind. I
get up, I do this thing. But and then you
get some success and oh my god, I'm doing this
not go a little bit of money. I a little

(37:45):
bit of money, I would get this thing. Bah bah
bait baby bye baby. The first chance that you get
when there's a and and it catches up with you.
And it did catch up with me. It really caught
up with me. I would say, like in my late thirties.
It hit me like a brick. It was either go
to therapy or be very unwell. And my ex wife, Mandy,

(38:10):
who is my best friend and if any of you
have seen The Family Remix, our show on Hulu, which
is our Family, she is Miley's mother. She made me
go to therapy. She's like, you need there's so much
that you have not unlocked. I'm fine therapies for white people.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, was it high functioning depression, perhaps because the symptoms
of depression as I understood them until I had heard
the term high functioning depression was like you're having trouble
getting out of bed, and you're not interested in your
hobbies anymore. And I think it shows up differently in
different people. I am no expert at all, but from

(38:47):
what I understand now, I'm like, it just shows up differently.
And do you feel like that's what it was? Because
to still be able to do all that you were
doing and then entertain and you're making people laugh. And
I know this kind of hits you like a ton
of bricks once you slowed down, but it was there
in the background.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Likely right, it does present in a different way, and
there's a whole slew of issues which I love the
TikTok and Instagram information, the generation because you learned so much.
Not only was I suffering from the chemical imbalance that
needed to be corrected, but you know the things that

(39:22):
I'd seen as my superpower, which is kind of why
even as a kid I could play, I can imagine
I could do all these things. Why I felt so
frustrated with the world and then sometimes and that is
also because of undiagnosed ADHD and add that I didn't
know even the depression. All those things I thought of

(39:43):
as my fuel, which there's a whole generation of us
we think of those behaviors as that's just the way
that it is. That's why if you go to a
cookout and there's always an Uncle Jimmy in the corner
talking to himself and he served either in Vietnam or
an Iraq, and he's up, that's just Uncle Jimmy. Many
he crazy is that's no, he's unwell. He's unwell, and

(40:06):
it hasn't been documented because we don't do that work.
I had so much going on that I didn't notice
that the wheels are falling off until I took a
second and I knew that I needed to. The catalyst
of it was because I needed to be present for
my daughter. I couldn't be breaking down and having just

(40:26):
out of the blue, I'm fine, and then I'm crying
or I'm incredibly angry and I have to go pick
up my daughter and take her someplace, or she sees
this thing happening. I can't model that behavior. I have
to find out why. And that was my real impetus
to start therapy, and once she became old enough, I'm
in therapy. Her mom's in therapy, her mom's partner, Jason,

(40:49):
is in therapy. Therapy. Therapy was the next step because
people think of therapy as you have to have something wrong.
I like to think of therapy as, especially as a child,
give this child an outlat to talk. Give this child
an outlet to get what they need to get out
in a safe space, which is so they don't grow
up being able to feel tension and lockjaw and have

(41:10):
like my head. I swear that I've got these big
old things on the side the side of my head
because of all the stress that I kept in. So
we definitely gave her the option for therapy. And she's
been in it for thirteen years now.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
That is incredible. That's incredible. I have so many questions.
I'm like trying to figure out which one I want
to want to ask.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
I feel like I've been talking so damn much. I
know it's a podcast, but I'm just like blah blah
blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
And I'm trying to shut up because you're saying so
many wonderful things and so many rich things, and I'm
like I'm grabbing onto all of them. Okay, the first
one I'll ask you is in terms of inheriting depression
because there's genetics. It related to mental health. Yeah, from
your father's side, was it diagnosed in him or is
this something you've then figured out when you go, oh,

(41:58):
this is the way he showed up in the world
is reflective of this mental illness.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
We had to retro fit that, right, because I don't know,
and I also don't want to. I don't want to
sound like I'm either blaming my dad or I'm speaking
on something that he had because I don't know. All
I do know, Like I do know for certain that
after he passed, and my sister at the time, she
was working in the medical field in a clerical way,

(42:28):
having access to his house because I was because I
was out of town. You know, he did have certain medications,
which I do believe after hearing them, that they were
to treat things related. Now, even that being said, I'm
pretty certain that my father did not go to therapy
because he was not of that generation. Sure, But what

(42:50):
I do know is that's a man that passed from
a massive coronary who he was not even when I
saw him that one time I saw a man that
I make up. I saw somebody who was in a
bit of darkness, who who had a thing on him.
And I can recognize that because Game recognized Game. I

(43:11):
know that thing. Yeah, But even at that age, whenever
I felt that thing, I was like, Nope, let's go
make a laugh, make a laugh. So so I wish
that I would have known. So I speculate. I speculate
because a lot of the same behaviors is because of
some of his medical records. But I'll never know for certain.

(43:35):
But even in talking to the doctors, like you say,
you know that there are genetic markers of of that
and and it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yeah, And I don't even hear you placing any blame
because it's just science. The reality is, oftentimes your mental
health can be a function of genetics. That's just the
science of it. And we don't actually get to pick
our genetics. It's always like, we don't get to pick it.
We just show up in the world and we got
we got what we got. Now. In terms of your
daughter calling you her best friend, which is man, that

(44:05):
is beautiful. Man. Thank you for sharing your dad with
me today. But do you find balancing that reality with
the fact that she thinks she were strict challenging and
what does that even look like? Because if I hear like,
dad is my best friend, I'm like, Okay, dad's fun time,
and I feel like I can talk to Dad. But
then to hear that you're also strict, Yeah, how does

(44:28):
that look?

Speaker 2 (44:29):
She can talk to me and we have amazing conversations.
So I think that because her mother was even more
strict because her mom came from her father's Japanese so
she was raised in a very strict environment as well,
so she got double teamed in terms of the strictness.

(44:50):
But her mother was more strict than me, like super strict.
So I think that we found the balance. Yes, I
love you and I'm your best friend, but I don't
I don't think that we're the best friend in a
way because I will be the first to say to
some parents, you can't be your child's literal best friend.
And I use that word intentionally, like you see some people, Yes,

(45:12):
we're best ease and we go out and we do
everything together. Well, then your child has a different level
of respect for you. The way I put it as
best friend is she respects me as her father. She
knows my rules and my policies and my stance, but
she also knows that as her friend, I have her
back in this life, and as her friend, I'm not
just gonna let you get away with nonsense. So that's

(45:35):
that's her best friend. Her best friend is the person
that has her best interest even when she doesn't want
to hear it. Sometimes I'm like, Miley, don't go to
that party, don't go do that thing. You just don't
want me to go have fun you I said, no,
I want you to go have all the fun in
the world. But I also want you to use common sense.
Why would you, as a single woman, walk into that
party downtown by yourself and park your car five blocks away?

(45:58):
Why not go with someone do these things. I can't
make you do things anymore, but I can surely give
you an informed opinion as somebody who loves you more
than anybody else.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Right right? That makes sense. That is such a great distinction.
I haven't heard it distilled that way quite yet. Now,
in terms of considering one another best friends, I understand
that means I have her best interests at heart. Do
you want Miley to be able to tell you and
talk to you about anything, yes, okay.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
And we really worked on that because because of how
strict I was, I realized that if I would have
gone down the same road that my grandmother did, I
would have ended up in a relationship with my daughter
where she would have found out about sex from somebody else.
She would have talked about heartbreak to somebody else. And
I was lucky enough that I caught it early enough

(46:50):
that now we're at a place where she can share,
and she shares with her her mom, and there are
some things that she probably doesn't share with me because
they have a different relationship, but she can and come
to me. And even now she has a boyfriend. It's Newish.
He's a really good dude. She introduced me to him.
She asked me questions. She asked me about certain things

(47:13):
going into it, because I'd also witnessed her other, her
first love, and how that went south, and I kept
my mouth shut. She trusts me now, she knows that
there's no judgment. And I had to earn that, Yeah,
because I think the way that I did parent she
felt there was judgment because I was constantly coming at her.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah. I always say that in any relationship, even with friends,
my siblings, whatever. I'm always like, it's nice when people
are asking you questions to understand and true curiosity versus
asking you questions with a little judgment on it, and
you can feel it, you can feel the difference.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
That's who you like.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Yeah, okay, all right. And I don't want to go
in on Miley and I don't even know Miley, and
I want to protect Miley's business. But just as a dad,
just hearing that with her first love, you were like,
I kept my mouth shut. Was that hard for you
to do? And what made you make that choice?

Speaker 2 (48:07):
That was so hard to do? Because I didn't want
to be judgmental, and I realized that if I would
have opened my mouth and said some of the things
that I really wanted to say, which I said in
the beginning, Okay, in the beginning, I was very liberal
with my comment because I'm dead, I'll say say what's
on my mind. M H and I saw her begin

(48:27):
to turn away or to maybe do things in seek,
not do things in secret, but she wasn't as forthcoming
and maybe she didn't talk about things. And I was like, oh,
I am no longer a safe haven because I am
judging her, even if I don't think that I'm judging her,

(48:47):
even by having something to say about him, saying, Miley,
it's this isn't about you, but like one of my
big beefs with him, and she she's I dating him now,
so he can suck it.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
And he really can suck it. I don't even know him,
but I can see.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Can you can suck it?

Speaker 1 (49:01):
My non existent d but god.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
So so he uh, you know, in in my household, yes, sir, no, ma'am.
When you walk into somebody else's house, especially if you're
younger and they're your elders, you always greet them. You
always shake hands or you say say hi, you always acknowledge.
The first couple of times that he came over, he

(49:27):
never did that. And the excuse was, Dad, stop, he's
just really shy. Okay, I get shy. And and I
went up to him. You know, it's a little bit
of ego. I'm like, well, you in my house or
you just you say and and he was nice. I
gave him that at first, you know, shake hands, blah
blah blah. But I had a problem with that. And
in my mind, when certain things are telling, if you're

(49:50):
not respectful. If you can't be respectful of space for
her parents, that's gotta be a little bit of a
flag of of just a repet level in general. If
you can't be respectful of her folks, is he going
to be respectful of you?

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Listen, Dad, I've heard it said. The way you do
anything is the way you do everything. And you can
really tell a lot by about a person, I think
in some of those moments, and that is incredibly telling
to me right off the bat. Now, if I'm her
and I'm kind of like, but I like this guy
and he's attractive, and we have this thing in common

(50:26):
and we enjoy doing this one thing a lot, I go, Okay,
I'm gonna make excuses for it. I'm gonna make excuses
for it. And I do think ultimately, yes, even in friendship,
if you can feel a friend starting to judge you,
you pull away, even if that friend is right, even
if you know that friend is right, by the way,
especially especially if you know the friend is right, You're like,
but I want to have my experience. So you were

(50:48):
liberal up top, and then ultimately, how did you stopped
saying things when I'm like, once that sweet spot.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
It's when I realize that I'm pushing her away. Okay, okay,
And I can't even lie to you and say it's
perfect yeah, because I still have a tendency to give
my opinion because it's born out of care. Like like
last night, she's an actress as well, and I was
helping her do a self tape. I sometimes getting notes

(51:22):
from me if I'm coaching her on something, or if
I listened to her sing and I'm like, oh, that thing,
blah blah blah. I'm coming from the viewpoint of I
didn't have a parent in the business or somebody who
did this to any success to help me. I just
got bumped into walls and made it. You have me.

(51:42):
I want to help you. I was put on this
earth to help you. That's what I'm Oh, shit, I
can do it. She hears You're not good enough like
that blah blah blah blah blah. And I have to
realize that even last night, I have to just go, oh,
even if I'm right right now, I think I might
be overloading her and this isn't the interaction that she wants,
and I have to be respectful of that. I have

(52:05):
to be respectful of that interaction. Yeah, so even now
I've got to be respectful of what I say to
her as an adult, even though she's my daughter.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
I feel like, again, parents, every parent is imperfect simply
because they are human. But you seem to have mastered
at least your north star in terms of the type
of parent you want to be. And that's not to
say you're going to get it right every time and
in every moment. That would be impossible. But I think
that is such a tight rope to walk, and I

(52:34):
think you get it. I'm like, that's exactly the kind
I see. I'm listening to you, and I go, I
see why she calls you her best friend. I'm like,
you get it. You get it. You respect the boundaries
and understand she needs to have her experience and want
her to be able to have the experiences she needs
to have to flourish into the person she is. Is
there any other example you can think of that where

(52:56):
maybe you lacked a thing in childhood in terms of
guidance in terms of a parent figure, and so you
use that as your guide in how you parent Miley
and your son. Where you go, I'm doing this thing,
but now I'm realizing I'm doing it because I lacked it,
and I don't even think you want it.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Actually, Oh absolutely, and I think I've got a chance
with Val. I already missed the boat with Miley sat sadly.
And it's where it comes to relationships. I never had
healthy relationships, especially because my dad was not in the
picture with my mom. They were divorced when I was ten,

(53:36):
but even when they were married, I didn't live with
them my grandmother. You know, once my grandfather passed, my
aunts divorces, there was no one in my immediate sphere
that had a healthy relationship. And coupled with the fact
that we never talked about sex, we never talked about intimacy.

(53:57):
You learn things on the school school yard about girls,
especially in the hoods. You hear these things and this
is what you're supposed to do, and this is what
you say, and girls are like this and this is
what they want and death. So I think that that
stuck with me and I never modeled a healthy relationship

(54:19):
to Miley. Even when she was growing up. The only
healthy thing that she ever saw was how I treated
her mother. She knew that even though her mother and
I were not together anymore, and she's old enough to
remember us being divorced. Never spoke ill about her mother.
Always said that her mother was MY best friend and
I was always going to take care of her, and
that's something that she has seen to this day. But

(54:39):
in terms of really having a relationship, my awkward ass
way of learning about relationships and interaction cost me many
relationships and how and the work that I never did
therapeutically blew up so many relationships. And I never modeled

(55:00):
what it was like to be in a healthy, good,
loving relationship. So how could I give her relationship advice?
So I kind of missed that boat. Sure, So that's
something that I do feel bad about. But on the
flip side, her mother did model that because she's been
in an amazing relationship with Jason for like thirteen years

(55:20):
and she's seen that, so it's never too late. I'm
still trying.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
Yeah, I mean, you want to the opportunity, hopefully to
show that to Vow. And in terms of just modeling
it as opposed to imposing relationship advice as well, I
think that is an important distinction. So I can't imagine
even Miley or val later in life rejecting your modeling
if you will. I guess they could. But it's when

(55:45):
people impose. I think that's when you start to go
you wanted this thing. You were lacking this thing in childhood,
like a parent who was in the industry who could
give advice. You lacked it. And so now you think
I want all this advice. I don't want. I don't
want your opinion about everything. But modeling a positive relationship
I do think I can only imagine is helpful and powerful,
even though I do know some friends whose parents have

(56:07):
healthy relationships and they go, well, now this feels like pressure.
It feels like pressure to achieve this guy. So I'm
telling you it's never quite right.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
It's never going to be perfect, it's never good. It's
like to not sound trite and to use that thing.
But it's all a work in progress. And especially being
a parent, here's the thing. You're never just when you
feel even if you feel like you're hitting all the
checkpoints and doing it right, because your child hits stages.

(56:37):
You only got this part right, and now we're over here,
and now you have to work on this and you
probably never get that, And then you feel like you're
in school and now you're two chapters behind, and this
thing happened, and there's a big quiz. So the biggest
win that you could take, Like, I have such pride
in the basic fact that I've raised a great human

(56:58):
and at twenty two years of age, I did my
part in keeping a human alive. Yeah, for twenty two years,
and now they're going to go out in the world.
But I and her mother we did that. So that's
the win that I'm going to take.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
I love that, I love that perspective, and I love
so many of the perspectives you shared with us. Now
I'm going to take an opportunity to be a little
more selfish and ask you for a piece of dad vice.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Please.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
You may or may not be an expert in the area,
but because you're my dad, for the dad, like you
to try like a dad would. Okay, buying property, So
I bought a house. That's exciting, and I'm thinking, should
I just keep buying properties and buy investment properties and

(57:42):
rent them out? Is that the best use of money?
And it's not because I'm just swimming in it, but
I'm like, let's plan for the day that I might
be swimming in it. What would I do? What would
I do I don't. You don't write would you do
you do a bunch of properties?

Speaker 2 (57:55):
Or is that that is such a no, no, no,
never silly to want to plan for the future. I
can only give you the advice that has been handed
off to me. Now, if you look online, there's always
some Instagram or TikTok guru who they will either say
buying is bad because it's a money pit and da
da da, or somebody will go it's great, go online

(58:17):
to the government website and find all these abandoned properties,
and you too can be a slum lord. I think
the truth is somewhere in the middle. Like what I'm
even trying to do right now is even at this
point in my life, I'm trying to build a portfolio
of properties. I wasn't thinking that way in my late twenties,
thirties and forties when I was acquiring things. Now I'm

(58:38):
at a point where I want to be able to
leave these things. And I look at people who are
incredibly wealthy, and I'm talking out of show business wealthy
talking about it's property. It's a different thing. So it's
a different thing I have. I've started to invest I'm
with a commercial investment group that I've bopped, that I've
invested in, bought three big commercial properties. I'm in the

(58:59):
midst of buying a couple of smaller homes that I'll
rent out. I think that if you are in a
space to be able to do it and it's not
going to take away from your living capital, I think
you should. I think you should invest in property. Property
is the one thing. And because I'm not an expert,

(59:19):
mind you, that's why I have a business manager, but
I'll be your you're expert. I will say buying property,
I think is like any other thing. Don't spend more
than you have, Don't over extend yourself, because I also
see people do that. They take out all these loans
and there every extent, I've got twelve houses, and now

(59:42):
what you're going to do unless the twelve houses are
bringing in an incredible amount of rents? And then do
you really want to be a Do you want to
be a landlord to all these things? Or you're going
to have to hire a property manager if you do.
And you have to know that these these zone or ordinances,
you will be responsible to some to someone else. If

(01:00:05):
you're okay with that, if you're really building in your future.
Start slowly and location, location, location. You want to buy
in a place that maybe is on the come up.
You don't want the most expensive house on the street,
even if it's the house that you buy to live in. Well,
look what is I just dropped six million of his house.
But yeah, but the guy down the road he has

(01:00:26):
a house worth two hundred thousand dollars. So you've just
taken a loss because you your house isn't going to
bring up the value. So a spend what you can spend,
Spend wisely, don't overextend yourself. Look for locations that are
that are definitely on the come up. It all depends

(01:00:46):
on the city it then it depends on is this
a great neighborhood? Are are they gentrifying? Or is it
already great? I think that those are the things that
you have to think about. But ultimately you're making the
right move. Make those moves now, WHI while you're young
enough to still have income coming in, so that at

(01:01:08):
some point your money can work for you and instead
of you working for money.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
Okay, I like that, and I've not heard it put
quite that way. And I also just want to say
it's so wild. How the term location, location, location has
been imprinted in our minds. I don't even know who
said it first. Real estate agent said it first, but
we hear it and we all know immediately what it means,
and we know we're talking about buying property. That is
sound advice you gave me. I'm not in a position yet,

(01:01:33):
but I thought what would Yeah? Is that smart to do?
But I think you gave me great guidelines. I think
you did great.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
Even if you want to thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
You sounded like an expert, sounded like a confident dad.
Wade Brady Junior, Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for being my dad for the day. Is
there anything you would like to plug?

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Let's see what's going on? Yeah, I would love to
plug it. You know, I've got the latest season of
Let's Make a Deal. We're getting ready to go back
to work right now. I will be on the road
at some point this year, touring with my improvised musical
show called Making Sit Up. I'll be back on Broadway

(01:02:13):
starting in July. I can't say which show yet, but
definitely check out my Instagram.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Thank you for doing this again. I want to say
thank you so much to our listeners, we will be
taking a brief hiatus on Thanks Dad as this is
the season finale and what a way to end the
season with a bang with you Wayne Brady as my
dad for the day. Thank you again and we'll see
you soon. Bye bye. Thanks Dad is a head gum

(01:02:39):
podcast created and hosted by me Igo Odem. This show
is engineered by Rochelle Chen and Anya Kanofskaya and edited
by Rochelle Chen with executive producer Emma Foley. Katie Moose
is our VP of Content at Headgum. Thanks to Jason
Mathini for our show art and Faris Manshi for our
theme song. For more podcasts by Headgum, visit headgum dot

(01:03:02):
com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Leave
us a review on Apple Podcasts, and maybe, just maybe
we'll read it on a future episode that was a
hit Gum podcast