July 6, 2024 • 24 mins
Can a brief internet sensation eclipse years of dedicated artistic work? Join me, Salman Qureshi, as I unpack this provocative question by reflecting on the meteoric rise of Haley, an unexpected internet star, and its impact on seasoned artists. I delve into the allure of authenticity and the unpolished moments that captivate audiences, drawing parallels with Justin Bieber's calculated ascent and Steve Martin's distinctive comedic flair. The episode emphasizes the importance of putting your work out there and trusting the audience to find you.
Moving on to a more critical note, I share my thoughts on the recently released Eddie Murphy film (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F), which left me yearning for more creativity and suspense. The lackluster narrative and predictable villain played by Kevin Bacon spark a discussion about the pitfalls of artistic comfort. I also explore what could have been a game-changing move for Eddie Murphy—a return to stand-up comedy—and ponder the fear of failure that holds many artists back. Through a personal anecdote about fan feedback, I underscore the significance of risk-taking in the creative journey. Tune in for a candid and thought-provoking exploration of the highs and lows in the world of entertainment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I grew up confused about my culture and identity
and felt out of place most ofthe time, until I found comedy
which forced me to be honestwith myself and I realized
mostly I'm just an expat brat.
Welcome to my show.
I'm Salman Qureshi.
Alright, everyone, hawk 2.
Alright, let's get this out ofthe way.
(00:21):
If, at this point, you don'tknow what that meant, then you
clearly don't spend enough outof the way.
All right, if, at this point,you don't know what that meant,
then you clearly don't spendenough time on the internet.
Actually, you don't have tospend enough time on the
internet.
You just have to be like aroundthe internet for like five
seconds and you'll know what itmeans.
And that's so interesting to me.
This whole thing is just goneviral of this girl I think her
(00:45):
real name is Haley and the wholething that she for five seconds
.
She's on camera for five tenseconds where she says two lines
, and now she's more famous thanso many artists who have been
working at their craft for years.
Now.
All right, listen, listen.
(01:05):
I'm not against her beingfamous and going viral.
I think too many people, toomany artists and too many comics
particularly.
They're always like cribbingabout someone else, having gone
viral while they're workingreally hard on their craft and
no one ever saw that.
And it's always this sob storythat you got to get over about.
(01:26):
In fact, if anything, it'sactually a really cool kind of
thing to look at.
You know, early on in the yearsago I would really sit there
and wonder what the hellhappened, like, why does this
stuff go viral?
You're trying to figure it outand then I think for me, one of
(01:48):
the things that stands out andevery artist should probably
think about it is the fact thatwhat we love about these moments
is it's funny, sure, but it'salso just really.
She's just like unheld back.
She's honest, just like unheldback, she's just honest.
(02:09):
It's refreshing.
It doesn't look polished up,and we love that kind of stuff.
That's the truth of it.
We were just so tired of peoplemarketing stuff at us so much
that when we watch these moments, we're just captivated by it,
and I think that's the deep downreason why it goes so viral.
You can't manufacture this stuff.
Well, you could, probably.
Who knows.
If you've heard the justinbieber story, then you know that
(02:33):
this stuff can be manufactured.
Actually, now that I speak outloud about it, if you don't know
the story basically his dad orone of his producers, if I
remember the story correctly.
They basically planted him asplaying in the garage, as an
amateur kid and stuff like that,and so the video looked very
(02:53):
homemade, but it was verydesigned to be like that.
So, hey, I just canceled my ownpoint, but it doesn't take away
.
Look, this is what I wantartists to take away from this.
All right, to stop cribbingabout it.
It's too many of you onlinewhining and going why does this
stuff go viral?
You got to think about the fact.
(03:15):
The next time you're putting outsomething, you got to remind
yourself look, you don't knowwhat people will love, and
that's the beauty of art.
That's the hardest thing asartists to get over is about
just putting it out there andthen you don't know how people
will react.
Some people will love it, somepeople will hate it.
A lot of people might love it.
(03:36):
No one might love it.
You can't control that.
It's out of your control.
What you can do, what's in yourcontrol, is to do your bit.
All right, that's all you cando.
You do your bit and your bit asa comic or whatever other art
form you're in.
You know what Anything creative, anything you're doing out
(03:56):
there.
Well, even if it's a report ina boring corporate job where you
have to give something back toyour boss and you're worried
about how that report will look,I tell all of the same people
the same thing.
Right, you guys, just put itout there.
Once you're done with it, onceyou've worked hard at it,
whatever you could look at, justput it out there without
worrying about how, what theimpact will be at that point,
(04:19):
because it's out of your control, all right.
So next time, when that littlecritic in your brain is like I
don't think this joke will workor I don't know if this piece
will be taken, well, put it outthere and see, and you can
always just, you know, just wipeit off and move on, all right.
(04:40):
And if it goes viral for thewrong reasons, it's still going
viral.
You got what you wanted, right,which is what is it?
What's the old saying?
No bad, nothing's bad?
Well, my God, I'm forgettingthe line.
Is it?
No publicity is bad publicity,or, yeah, something like that?
Right, you get what I'm talkingabout.
So just put it out there,because, because when you look
(05:02):
at certain artists like um,there's another story I love is
about steve martin and uh, ifyou're aware of his stand-up
comedy in the 70s, he kind ofchanged it quite a lot because
he was so different.
It was uh, it was against whateveryone else was talking about.
So, you know, when it was goingthrough this phase of a lot of
politics and whatnot, he hadlike, uh, completely absurd, uh
(05:25):
crazy, irrelevant stuff in hispiece and he started using props
and and whatnot and it was awhole different kind of joke,
telling from the traditionalstand-up stuff.
And the story supposedly goesthat you know, he, what he said
something along the lines was I,I didn, was he didn't look for
(05:46):
his audience, he didn't changehis stuff for the audience, he
just did his stuff and then hisaudience found him.
So he talks about how he justgrew because people who liked
that told other people who likedit, and so his audience just
kept building until he becamethis mega star.
(06:06):
And I think it's hard to do.
It's easier to say it's hard todo as artists to kind of go
okay, I'm going to keep doingwhat I like, because we want
instant gratification, we wantpeople to immediately start
loving our stuff.
We want to.
In today's terms, it's allabout like I want to go viral
immediately.
In today's terms, it's allabout like I want to go viral
immediately, and I get why.
(06:26):
It just opens a lot more doors,right?
So if you're famous, if you'reknown, you're bound to be
gigging more.
It's easier to get booked, it'seasier to fly around.
The whole lifestyle seems somuch better and you know it's
(06:48):
what everybody as an artistwants is more freedom to do what
they want instead of doingawful gigs and and and.
If it's written for you, you'llget there, right?
I'm not so over the top aboutlike destiny and stuff.
I think you gotta put out there.
But at the same time, yeah, yougotta put it out there and see
what happens.
And if you become this nextphenomena, this girl, uh, I
think people are so much betterat handling fame like she's.
(07:09):
She's smart about it.
Her friends rallied around her.
Apparently her hats havealready sold for like 65 000,
not one hat like.
They're going for like 30 to 50, depending on whether they're
signed by her or not.
Um, but it's cool.
Know, people are remixing thestuff.
It's fun.
You got to look at the fun sideof these things as well instead
(07:30):
of just constantly beingself-obsessed and worrying about
how it came out for you.
I find it silly.
All right, it's not stuff Ilook out for, but when you see
stuff like this happen, it'sjust, it's nice, it's cool, um,
it's, it's lovely.
How, uh, she's just kind of likedoing it and and people are
like flocking to her and, um,people are having fun.
(07:52):
I've heard songs that are usingit.
She's kind of being remixedinto things.
People are using it as, asmemes, um, and that's great, you
know.
Uh, at the same time, you know,maybe it's not what you need.
It's great, you know.
At the same time, you know,maybe it's not what you need.
You think you need that, butit's not maybe what you need,
because with her particularthing, there's a certain type of
(08:13):
crowd that's being attracted toas well, and I don't know if
that makes everyone happy orwhether, 10 years down the line,
you want to be known as theHawk 2 person.
Who knows how this plays outright?
We've seen it happen to extrafame with Michael Jackson and
stuff, and whoa, that did notplay out right.
Did it For no one?
For nobody, not even himself,right?
(08:35):
He must have had this crazy funlife for a long time.
But man, towards the end, likepeople, forget his last five, 10
years, like where was he?
He was like in Qatar, man, orBahrain, sorry, in a tiny island
, an insignificant islandcompared to the rest of the
world in terms of people andmoney and whatever you know.
(08:55):
So this guy, who was thebiggest thing in the world,
spent a lot of his life towardsthe end on this tiny island and
that's really sad when you thinkabout it, and I know he did
horrible stuff, but, yeah, famedoes that to you.
Fame is a crazy ass thing.
I'm not defending his life andhis actions, but I think
everyone at that level of famewill have some crazy come out.
(09:19):
His was a certain thing.
I think you or me or anyone,right, anyone in this world with
that amount of power and fameand feeling of invincibility
will have some crazy type ofthing come out of our lives.
And again, I don't know ifanyone, even now, with a lot
more knowledge about it, wouldbe able to handle it right.
(09:41):
So, yeah, just sit back andenjoy some of this.
All right, it's quite fun to doso.
Yeah, that's, that's a hawk twomoment for me, all right.
Um, it's great.
Anyway, it's mango season.
How bad can the world be rightnow?
I mean, it's going, it'sburning away.
(10:01):
Every, every place you look atit's on fire with the heat and
stuff.
But I'm doing stuff that'sindoors.
And, and speaking of fame, I II just checked out the new
Beverly Hill Cops movie, eddieMurphy.
I was kind of excited about ituntil I watched it and I was
(10:24):
excited, but I also went in withvery low expectations.
Yeah, I really did, because Idon't know the guy.
You know it's funny how this isanother dude too much fame.
Right, it's funny how he shotto fame doing stuff that was so
out there, crazy, risky, risque,whatever you want to call it.
(10:46):
You know he was just atrailblazer and then since the
90s, his career just is weird.
There's been up and down.
There have been some goodmoments, some bad.
He's a legend, not taken away.
I still love Eddie, but he's alegend not taking away.
I still love eddie, but uh, butis he so safe now?
I don't mean his humor per se,it's his choices.
They've just become so safe andit's a sad thing to see.
(11:09):
You know, I watched this movieand I thought there would be
something in it.
There must be some reason whyhe's gone after all these years,
years.
He's like I'm I'm gonna do thisright, and so I watched it, but
also, like was expecting someHollywood tropes and stuff, and
they didn't disappoint on thatfront.
So if you want to just watch acasual action movie, it's not
(11:31):
the worst thing in the world,and if you're a fan of Eddie
Murphy, it's still.
I don't know how I feel aboutit.
I think you know it's stillgood.
He's enigmatic, he's charming,but they just, they just the
movie is just so.
It's so dull.
That's what it is.
(11:51):
You know, there's, uh, there'slike nothing in it that makes
you go.
Why did he, like I don't know,like come out of axel retirement
, of playing this character, andgo, yeah, let's make this one
happen?
I mean, I would have thought itwould be a great script or some
new angle or something that wasso wonderful that it made him
go.
I want to do this movie againand it just seems more like um,
(12:14):
maybe it's a paycheck thing.
That's all it is then, which isfine.
I don people for it.
Hey, I would do a lot more fora lot less of a paycheck
compared to what he gets.
But it's still sad, you know,because look, the movie's like
they're doing the same tropeyshit that's going on in all
(12:35):
these kind of movies that arebeing made after a 10, 20-year
gap, and it's always one of thekids involved of the main
character, a younger one maybe,to pass the torch on.
That's what they're thinking.
Uh, it's a little bit morediverse.
So it's a daughter, not a son.
You know they're.
They're checking the boxes.
(12:56):
There's one white actor inthere as well.
That's the boyfriend, um, maybethe son, and maybe the daughter
and the new son-in-law.
Maybe they'll take beverly hillcops to the next thing.
Uh, who knows who knows right.
And and maybe that's the planif, if this gets well received.
But the movie itself, like eddie, first of all, it's like his
character has developed.
(13:17):
That's the problem with it.
He's actually developed into anolder, slightly more mature guy
, which which is you know, interms of character development.
I guess that's it's kind ofspot on.
But it's also this weird thingof like going well.
I'm not interested in thisboring character.
(13:37):
I love this movie and the waythe reason it stood out against
all the other action movies andstuff was because Eddie Murphy
was just this street smart andhe still is kind of I don't know
.
You got to watch it right.
Maybe I'm forgetting how goodthe previous three movies were.
Right, it's been a while.
I haven't re-watched them inages and I don't know how well
(13:59):
they might have aged, how wellhis stuff was.
I kind of remember it as beingpretty good and that's why it
stood out.
And instead, you know, this oneis just like a dull guy.
Sometimes he just looks slowand I'm like, of all the things
he wanted to redo or do again,this is unless he wanted to like
(14:20):
, really go tom cruise and andget fit and and do crazy stunts
at 60.
I don't see what the appeal wasfor him to do this.
I really don't.
How much did he get paid forthis?
That's what I want to know.
And so the movie, the whole.
The other problem is there's nostory.
The story is like if he was soelectrifying as he was when he
(14:41):
was younger in these kind ofroles, then I think the story I
wouldn't mind it as much,because he you know people like
him just make you want to watchthe film.
But instead, yeah, you do needa story with this one and it's
dull as hell.
It's like run-of-the-mill stuff.
It's a bit of action andthere's no suspense or twist or
anything of that.
I thought maybe something likethat might save the movie a
(15:03):
little bit.
But you immediately know, andthis, this is, uh, this isn't a
um, what do you call it?
I don't need to do a disclaimerof like this is a reveal or
whatever.
You immediately know kevinbacon's character is the villain
, right?
It's so odd.
Like I'm not saying it, like Iwas so smart, I guessed it.
They just made it.
So it is, and it's revealed inlike five minutes of introducing
(15:27):
his character.
Anyway, it's confirmed, right.
So I look at it and go.
I really thought there's goingto be a bigger twist at the end,
but there isn't.
It's just him and Eddie at itand they get through and so be
it.
I think there very engagingscene is when his daughter's
about to be killed early on inthe movie, and that was one kind
(15:52):
of like freaky scene that madeyou go.
Oh my God.
Other than that, the wholemovie just flew by and I was
like it's over what?
There's nothing else left and Ijust sat there and thought why
did they do this?
Why did everyone come out ofretirement to do this script?
You know, what would be moreinteresting is to just take a
(16:16):
random person in the world, anyrandom person, and read their
internet history.
Even that is generally quiteentertaining anyway, so maybe
it's a bad example.
Read their choices of fooddelivery, look up their food
delivery apps and look up at therestaurants that they've
ordered and the dishes they'veordered.
I think that would have beenmore interesting than this
(16:37):
actual script and it's reallysad to see this.
I hope they don't make any moreof these.
I hope they don't go the routeof, like the Terminator movies,
where they went after the secondone.
They should have just stoppedright but they went no, let's
make a third one.
And the third one's horrible.
And they go no, no, no, we'llfix this, we'll make another one
(16:57):
to fix this.
That's crap.
Then they bring in JamesCameron himself and the original
I can't remember the actress'sname.
Now they bring Sarah Connorback.
You know they're like let'smake this shit happen.
They bring Arnold.
They bring AI-generated stuffso he looks younger, and it's
still crap.
And I'm not surprised they'restill trying to make one more
(17:21):
and I just hope these kind ofmovies like Beverly Hills.
I don't think they have thelegs or the hope or the fan base
to even have another go.
Um, yeah, yeah, I, you knowit's one of those films you go,
it's not bad.
You know, what I'm really angryabout, though, is eddie murphy
saying, like there was thisrumor was it around 2020, around
(17:42):
the covid time, just after orbefore, I don't know?
And he there were rumors thathe'd been hitting a few stand-up
clubs drop-ins and, potentially, was working on a special.
Now, see that?
That is risky.
That is the kind of stuff Iwant to see.
That's the kind of thing thatwe would make me go damn,
(18:02):
eddie's really putting his neckout, you know, because stand-up
oh, to try to match those twofirst specials would be such a
big risk, but that's what wouldmake it really great, and I
think he's scared of it.
He is because he said somethingalong the lines of he made some
other shit up about how, onceyou've achieved this, then going
back to stand up is like goingback to basics of something, the
(18:25):
way you framed it.
He made it sound like it'sbeneath him now to have to go
back down to doing stand-up, andI and I just so strongly
disagree with that because Ithink that, like I said, that
would have been the risky move.
That would have been the placewhere he'd grow again as an
artist and and probably acquirednew fans as well, right and?
(18:46):
And there's so much materialhe'd have.
So, unless he's hiding it andhe's actually going to surprise
us very soon with it I don't.
I think he's kind of backed offfrom that idea.
It just tells me he's this olddude who's scared of failing now
and that's not fun.
That's not eddie murphy andthat's the sad bit that he he
not making that choice.
(19:07):
I wish he would and I hope.
When I watch these guys I justgo.
I'm never going to be at theirfame level or anything, but I
just hope as an artist, just asan artist, I don't fall into
that trap, but I get it.
I'm sympathetic to it because Iwas actually like looking at my
own stuff sometimes and I knowI've always stalled and their
(19:28):
fame is so much more right.
So disclaimer again, like I'mnot comparing myself in
whatsoever.
In fact, I was very humbledrecently on an Instagram post.
Someone added me and messagedme after a show and said, hey,
watching you was really great,it had such a profound impact,
some shit like that.
And then went I've never heardof you, but this was great.
(19:48):
I've been doing comedy for morethan a decade over a decade
closer to 15 years or somethingand I'm still listening to this
stuff.
So so I'm not comparing myselfto Eddie Murphy in that sense,
but I do get.
I do get that comfort level asan artist, because every time I
do have a night like that or Ihave a few great shows, this
(20:10):
part of me wants to fall backinto safety, wants to kind of go
.
I don't want to do too manygigs and fail in front of people
again.
How do I stay here In moderntimes?
That's the biggest threat toyou as an artist.
And I still get that feeling inthe back of my head, uh, in my
brain, this voice just kind ofgoing hey, listen, um, you know,
(20:35):
this is just back off.
Do your best stuff and andmaybe don't go to the same
places too often what are yougoing to do?
People will be disappointed.
They see you again you don'twant to disappoint your five
fans, who do know you.
They don't really remember yourname, but they know you.
So when you're at his level offame, I suppose that voice might
(20:58):
get stronger, and that's ashame.
So I just kind of you know, Ilook at these stories and kind
of remind myself like I got tonot become so safe in whatever I
do do, artistically at least.
Uh, maybe life as well.
You know, you have to find thisbalance of, like doing stuff
and then taking some risk togrow, uh, and it's tricky as you
(21:23):
get older and more comfortablewith some luxuries and stuff and
you're like, why do I need torock the boat so I get it, but I
don't want to become dull, youknow uh.
So yeah, it's a good reminder.
I mean, I see too many.
Otherwise you become like theseold artists and some of you
might not know, uh, or may haveheard of this bollywood guy, for
(21:44):
example, amitabh bach, hugestar from India.
I was a big fan of him as well.
But the more he ages and thisis my thing with, like all older
people, clint Eastwood,everybody I think at some point
you got to put them away fromthe limelight for their own sake
, so that people remember themfondly, right?
(22:04):
We just had another older dudewhat's his name?
The Sandman guy, neil Gaiman,with all the stuff.
Okay, that's horrible, hedeserves to be outed.
I just look at this stuff and Igo, oh man, at some point we
should have packed them away.
There are enough of thoseexamples.
But what age is that?
When's the right time?
I just don't know.
(22:25):
But with this guy, particularlythis Indian actor, my problem
with him is he's gone so far.
Right, you know, he's justbecome this weird spokesman for
the whole new Indian whole thingof like extremism and stuff.
And it's really sad because youknow he has fans, or had fans
(22:48):
all over the world who loved hisstuff.
But now I can't stand himtalking about some things he
goes off on about language andthis and that, and this is after
his dad's, a poet.
And I just look at this guy andI'm like man, some of your best
dialogues were written by otherreligious, by writers that were
from other religions and useUrdu over Hindi and stuff, and
(23:12):
those are things you rememberforemost, the dialogues you
delivered, and that's that.
It's just pack these guys away,man, and God help me if I ever
go down that route.
So that's the price of fame.
At some point, the Hawk 2 ladyhelp me if I ever go down that
route.
So that's the price of fame Atsome point.
(23:32):
The Hawk 2 lady is hope shedoesn't become a prude and go
the other way either.
That's fame, that's fame people.
Anywho, this has been fun.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I'll catch you in the next
one.
Till then, take care.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
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I grew up confused about my culture and identity
and felt out of place most ofthe time, until I found comedy
which forced me to be honestwith myself and I realized
mostly I'm just an expat brat.
Welcome to my show.
I'm Salman Qureshi.
Alright, everyone, hawk 2.
Alright, let's get this out ofthe way.
(00:21):
If, at this point, you don'tknow what that meant, then you
clearly don't spend enough outof the way.
All right, if, at this point,you don't know what that meant,
then you clearly don't spendenough time on the internet.
Actually, you don't have tospend enough time on the
internet.
You just have to be like aroundthe internet for like five
seconds and you'll know what itmeans.
And that's so interesting to me.
This whole thing is just goneviral of this girl I think her
(00:45):
real name is Haley and the wholething that she for five seconds
.
She's on camera for five tenseconds where she says two lines
, and now she's more famous thanso many artists who have been
working at their craft for years.
Now.
All right, listen, listen.
(01:05):
I'm not against her beingfamous and going viral.
I think too many people, toomany artists and too many comics
particularly.
They're always like cribbingabout someone else, having gone
viral while they're workingreally hard on their craft and
no one ever saw that.
And it's always this sob storythat you got to get over about.
(01:26):
In fact, if anything, it'sactually a really cool kind of
thing to look at.
You know, early on in the yearsago I would really sit there
and wonder what the hellhappened, like, why does this
stuff go viral?
You're trying to figure it outand then I think for me, one of
(01:48):
the things that stands out andevery artist should probably
think about it is the fact thatwhat we love about these moments
is it's funny, sure, but it'salso just really.
She's just like unheld back.
She's honest, just like unheldback, she's just honest.
(02:09):
It's refreshing.
It doesn't look polished up,and we love that kind of stuff.
That's the truth of it.
We were just so tired of peoplemarketing stuff at us so much
that when we watch these moments, we're just captivated by it,
and I think that's the deep downreason why it goes so viral.
You can't manufacture this stuff.
Well, you could, probably.
Who knows.
If you've heard the justinbieber story, then you know that
(02:33):
this stuff can be manufactured.
Actually, now that I speak outloud about it, if you don't know
the story basically his dad orone of his producers, if I
remember the story correctly.
They basically planted him asplaying in the garage, as an
amateur kid and stuff like that,and so the video looked very
(02:53):
homemade, but it was verydesigned to be like that.
So, hey, I just canceled my ownpoint, but it doesn't take away
.
Look, this is what I wantartists to take away from this.
All right, to stop cribbingabout it.
It's too many of you onlinewhining and going why does this
stuff go viral?
You got to think about the fact.
(03:15):
The next time you're putting outsomething, you got to remind
yourself look, you don't knowwhat people will love, and
that's the beauty of art.
That's the hardest thing asartists to get over is about
just putting it out there andthen you don't know how people
will react.
Some people will love it, somepeople will hate it.
A lot of people might love it.
(03:36):
No one might love it.
You can't control that.
It's out of your control.
What you can do, what's in yourcontrol, is to do your bit.
All right, that's all you cando.
You do your bit and your bit asa comic or whatever other art
form you're in.
You know what Anything creative, anything you're doing out
(03:56):
there.
Well, even if it's a report ina boring corporate job where you
have to give something back toyour boss and you're worried
about how that report will look,I tell all of the same people
the same thing.
Right, you guys, just put itout there.
Once you're done with it, onceyou've worked hard at it,
whatever you could look at, justput it out there without
worrying about how, what theimpact will be at that point,
(04:19):
because it's out of your control, all right.
So next time, when that littlecritic in your brain is like I
don't think this joke will workor I don't know if this piece
will be taken, well, put it outthere and see, and you can
always just, you know, just wipeit off and move on, all right.
(04:40):
And if it goes viral for thewrong reasons, it's still going
viral.
You got what you wanted, right,which is what is it?
What's the old saying?
No bad, nothing's bad?
Well, my God, I'm forgettingthe line.
Is it?
No publicity is bad publicity,or, yeah, something like that?
Right, you get what I'm talkingabout.
So just put it out there,because, because when you look
(05:02):
at certain artists like um,there's another story I love is
about steve martin and uh, ifyou're aware of his stand-up
comedy in the 70s, he kind ofchanged it quite a lot because
he was so different.
It was uh, it was against whateveryone else was talking about.
So, you know, when it was goingthrough this phase of a lot of
politics and whatnot, he hadlike, uh, completely absurd, uh
(05:25):
crazy, irrelevant stuff in hispiece and he started using props
and and whatnot and it was awhole different kind of joke,
telling from the traditionalstand-up stuff.
And the story supposedly goesthat you know, he, what he said
something along the lines was I,I didn, was he didn't look for
(05:46):
his audience, he didn't changehis stuff for the audience, he
just did his stuff and then hisaudience found him.
So he talks about how he justgrew because people who liked
that told other people who likedit, and so his audience just
kept building until he becamethis mega star.
(06:06):
And I think it's hard to do.
It's easier to say it's hard todo as artists to kind of go
okay, I'm going to keep doingwhat I like, because we want
instant gratification, we wantpeople to immediately start
loving our stuff.
We want to.
In today's terms, it's allabout like I want to go viral
immediately.
In today's terms, it's allabout like I want to go viral
immediately, and I get why.
(06:26):
It just opens a lot more doors,right?
So if you're famous, if you'reknown, you're bound to be
gigging more.
It's easier to get booked, it'seasier to fly around.
The whole lifestyle seems somuch better and you know it's
(06:48):
what everybody as an artistwants is more freedom to do what
they want instead of doingawful gigs and and and.
If it's written for you, you'llget there, right?
I'm not so over the top aboutlike destiny and stuff.
I think you gotta put out there.
But at the same time, yeah, yougotta put it out there and see
what happens.
And if you become this nextphenomena, this girl, uh, I
think people are so much betterat handling fame like she's.
(07:09):
She's smart about it.
Her friends rallied around her.
Apparently her hats havealready sold for like 65 000,
not one hat like.
They're going for like 30 to 50, depending on whether they're
signed by her or not.
Um, but it's cool.
Know, people are remixing thestuff.
It's fun.
You got to look at the fun sideof these things as well instead
(07:30):
of just constantly beingself-obsessed and worrying about
how it came out for you.
I find it silly.
All right, it's not stuff Ilook out for, but when you see
stuff like this happen, it'sjust, it's nice, it's cool, um,
it's, it's lovely.
How, uh, she's just kind of likedoing it and and people are
like flocking to her and, um,people are having fun.
(07:52):
I've heard songs that are usingit.
She's kind of being remixedinto things.
People are using it as, asmemes, um, and that's great, you
know.
Uh, at the same time, you know,maybe it's not what you need.
It's great, you know.
At the same time, you know,maybe it's not what you need.
You think you need that, butit's not maybe what you need,
because with her particularthing, there's a certain type of
(08:13):
crowd that's being attracted toas well, and I don't know if
that makes everyone happy orwhether, 10 years down the line,
you want to be known as theHawk 2 person.
Who knows how this plays outright?
We've seen it happen to extrafame with Michael Jackson and
stuff, and whoa, that did notplay out right.
Did it For no one?
For nobody, not even himself,right?
(08:35):
He must have had this crazy funlife for a long time.
But man, towards the end, likepeople, forget his last five, 10
years, like where was he?
He was like in Qatar, man, orBahrain, sorry, in a tiny island
, an insignificant islandcompared to the rest of the
world in terms of people andmoney and whatever you know.
(08:55):
So this guy, who was thebiggest thing in the world,
spent a lot of his life towardsthe end on this tiny island and
that's really sad when you thinkabout it, and I know he did
horrible stuff, but, yeah, famedoes that to you.
Fame is a crazy ass thing.
I'm not defending his life andhis actions, but I think
everyone at that level of famewill have some crazy come out.
(09:19):
His was a certain thing.
I think you or me or anyone,right, anyone in this world with
that amount of power and fameand feeling of invincibility
will have some crazy type ofthing come out of our lives.
And again, I don't know ifanyone, even now, with a lot
more knowledge about it, wouldbe able to handle it right.
(09:41):
So, yeah, just sit back andenjoy some of this.
All right, it's quite fun to doso.
Yeah, that's, that's a hawk twomoment for me, all right.
Um, it's great.
Anyway, it's mango season.
How bad can the world be rightnow?
I mean, it's going, it'sburning away.
(10:01):
Every, every place you look atit's on fire with the heat and
stuff.
But I'm doing stuff that'sindoors.
And, and speaking of fame, I II just checked out the new
Beverly Hill Cops movie, eddieMurphy.
I was kind of excited about ituntil I watched it and I was
(10:24):
excited, but I also went in withvery low expectations.
Yeah, I really did, because Idon't know the guy.
You know it's funny how this isanother dude too much fame.
Right, it's funny how he shotto fame doing stuff that was so
out there, crazy, risky, risque,whatever you want to call it.
(10:46):
You know he was just atrailblazer and then since the
90s, his career just is weird.
There's been up and down.
There have been some goodmoments, some bad.
He's a legend, not taken away.
I still love Eddie, but he's alegend not taking away.
I still love eddie, but uh, butis he so safe now?
I don't mean his humor per se,it's his choices.
They've just become so safe andit's a sad thing to see.
(11:09):
You know, I watched this movieand I thought there would be
something in it.
There must be some reason whyhe's gone after all these years,
years.
He's like I'm I'm gonna do thisright, and so I watched it, but
also, like was expecting someHollywood tropes and stuff, and
they didn't disappoint on thatfront.
So if you want to just watch acasual action movie, it's not
(11:31):
the worst thing in the world,and if you're a fan of Eddie
Murphy, it's still.
I don't know how I feel aboutit.
I think you know it's stillgood.
He's enigmatic, he's charming,but they just, they just the
movie is just so.
It's so dull.
That's what it is.
(11:51):
You know, there's, uh, there'slike nothing in it that makes
you go.
Why did he, like I don't know,like come out of axel retirement
, of playing this character, andgo, yeah, let's make this one
happen?
I mean, I would have thought itwould be a great script or some
new angle or something that wasso wonderful that it made him
go.
I want to do this movie againand it just seems more like um,
(12:14):
maybe it's a paycheck thing.
That's all it is then, which isfine.
I don people for it.
Hey, I would do a lot more fora lot less of a paycheck
compared to what he gets.
But it's still sad, you know,because look, the movie's like
they're doing the same tropeyshit that's going on in all
(12:35):
these kind of movies that arebeing made after a 10, 20-year
gap, and it's always one of thekids involved of the main
character, a younger one maybe,to pass the torch on.
That's what they're thinking.
Uh, it's a little bit morediverse.
So it's a daughter, not a son.
You know they're.
They're checking the boxes.
(12:56):
There's one white actor inthere as well.
That's the boyfriend, um, maybethe son, and maybe the daughter
and the new son-in-law.
Maybe they'll take beverly hillcops to the next thing.
Uh, who knows who knows right.
And and maybe that's the planif, if this gets well received.
But the movie itself, like eddie, first of all, it's like his
character has developed.
(13:17):
That's the problem with it.
He's actually developed into anolder, slightly more mature guy
, which which is you know, interms of character development.
I guess that's it's kind ofspot on.
But it's also this weird thingof like going well.
I'm not interested in thisboring character.
(13:37):
I love this movie and the waythe reason it stood out against
all the other action movies andstuff was because Eddie Murphy
was just this street smart andhe still is kind of I don't know
.
You got to watch it right.
Maybe I'm forgetting how goodthe previous three movies were.
Right, it's been a while.
I haven't re-watched them inages and I don't know how well
(13:59):
they might have aged, how wellhis stuff was.
I kind of remember it as beingpretty good and that's why it
stood out.
And instead, you know, this oneis just like a dull guy.
Sometimes he just looks slowand I'm like, of all the things
he wanted to redo or do again,this is unless he wanted to like
(14:20):
, really go tom cruise and andget fit and and do crazy stunts
at 60.
I don't see what the appeal wasfor him to do this.
I really don't.
How much did he get paid forthis?
That's what I want to know.
And so the movie, the whole.
The other problem is there's nostory.
The story is like if he was soelectrifying as he was when he
(14:41):
was younger in these kind ofroles, then I think the story I
wouldn't mind it as much,because he you know people like
him just make you want to watchthe film.
But instead, yeah, you do needa story with this one and it's
dull as hell.
It's like run-of-the-mill stuff.
It's a bit of action andthere's no suspense or twist or
anything of that.
I thought maybe something likethat might save the movie a
(15:03):
little bit.
But you immediately know, andthis, this is, uh, this isn't a
um, what do you call it?
I don't need to do a disclaimerof like this is a reveal or
whatever.
You immediately know kevinbacon's character is the villain
, right?
It's so odd.
Like I'm not saying it, like Iwas so smart, I guessed it.
They just made it.
So it is, and it's revealed inlike five minutes of introducing
(15:27):
his character.
Anyway, it's confirmed, right.
So I look at it and go.
I really thought there's goingto be a bigger twist at the end,
but there isn't.
It's just him and Eddie at itand they get through and so be
it.
I think there very engagingscene is when his daughter's
about to be killed early on inthe movie, and that was one kind
(15:52):
of like freaky scene that madeyou go.
Oh my God.
Other than that, the wholemovie just flew by and I was
like it's over what?
There's nothing else left and Ijust sat there and thought why
did they do this?
Why did everyone come out ofretirement to do this script?
You know, what would be moreinteresting is to just take a
(16:16):
random person in the world, anyrandom person, and read their
internet history.
Even that is generally quiteentertaining anyway, so maybe
it's a bad example.
Read their choices of fooddelivery, look up their food
delivery apps and look up at therestaurants that they've
ordered and the dishes they'veordered.
I think that would have beenmore interesting than this
(16:37):
actual script and it's reallysad to see this.
I hope they don't make any moreof these.
I hope they don't go the routeof, like the Terminator movies,
where they went after the secondone.
They should have just stoppedright but they went no, let's
make a third one.
And the third one's horrible.
And they go no, no, no, we'llfix this, we'll make another one
(16:57):
to fix this.
That's crap.
Then they bring in JamesCameron himself and the original
I can't remember the actress'sname.
Now they bring Sarah Connorback.
You know they're like let'smake this shit happen.
They bring Arnold.
They bring AI-generated stuffso he looks younger, and it's
still crap.
And I'm not surprised they'restill trying to make one more
(17:21):
and I just hope these kind ofmovies like Beverly Hills.
I don't think they have thelegs or the hope or the fan base
to even have another go.
Um, yeah, yeah, I, you knowit's one of those films you go,
it's not bad.
You know, what I'm really angryabout, though, is eddie murphy
saying, like there was thisrumor was it around 2020, around
(17:42):
the covid time, just after orbefore, I don't know?
And he there were rumors thathe'd been hitting a few stand-up
clubs drop-ins and, potentially, was working on a special.
Now, see that?
That is risky.
That is the kind of stuff Iwant to see.
That's the kind of thing thatwe would make me go damn,
(18:02):
eddie's really putting his neckout, you know, because stand-up
oh, to try to match those twofirst specials would be such a
big risk, but that's what wouldmake it really great, and I
think he's scared of it.
He is because he said somethingalong the lines of he made some
other shit up about how, onceyou've achieved this, then going
back to stand up is like goingback to basics of something, the
(18:25):
way you framed it.
He made it sound like it'sbeneath him now to have to go
back down to doing stand-up, andI and I just so strongly
disagree with that because Ithink that, like I said, that
would have been the risky move.
That would have been the placewhere he'd grow again as an
artist and and probably acquirednew fans as well, right and?
(18:46):
And there's so much materialhe'd have.
So, unless he's hiding it andhe's actually going to surprise
us very soon with it I don't.
I think he's kind of backed offfrom that idea.
It just tells me he's this olddude who's scared of failing now
and that's not fun.
That's not eddie murphy andthat's the sad bit that he he
not making that choice.
(19:07):
I wish he would and I hope.
When I watch these guys I justgo.
I'm never going to be at theirfame level or anything, but I
just hope as an artist, just asan artist, I don't fall into
that trap, but I get it.
I'm sympathetic to it because Iwas actually like looking at my
own stuff sometimes and I knowI've always stalled and their
(19:28):
fame is so much more right.
So disclaimer again, like I'mnot comparing myself in
whatsoever.
In fact, I was very humbledrecently on an Instagram post.
Someone added me and messagedme after a show and said, hey,
watching you was really great,it had such a profound impact,
some shit like that.
And then went I've never heardof you, but this was great.
(19:48):
I've been doing comedy for morethan a decade over a decade
closer to 15 years or somethingand I'm still listening to this
stuff.
So so I'm not comparing myselfto Eddie Murphy in that sense,
but I do get.
I do get that comfort level asan artist, because every time I
do have a night like that or Ihave a few great shows, this
(20:10):
part of me wants to fall backinto safety, wants to kind of go
.
I don't want to do too manygigs and fail in front of people
again.
How do I stay here In moderntimes?
That's the biggest threat toyou as an artist.
And I still get that feeling inthe back of my head, uh, in my
brain, this voice just kind ofgoing hey, listen, um, you know,
(20:35):
this is just back off.
Do your best stuff and andmaybe don't go to the same
places too often what are yougoing to do?
People will be disappointed.
They see you again you don'twant to disappoint your five
fans, who do know you.
They don't really remember yourname, but they know you.
So when you're at his level offame, I suppose that voice might
(20:58):
get stronger, and that's ashame.
So I just kind of you know, Ilook at these stories and kind
of remind myself like I got tonot become so safe in whatever I
do do, artistically at least.
Uh, maybe life as well.
You know, you have to find thisbalance of, like doing stuff
and then taking some risk togrow, uh, and it's tricky as you
(21:23):
get older and more comfortablewith some luxuries and stuff and
you're like, why do I need torock the boat so I get it, but I
don't want to become dull, youknow uh.
So yeah, it's a good reminder.
I mean, I see too many.
Otherwise you become like theseold artists and some of you
might not know, uh, or may haveheard of this bollywood guy, for
(21:44):
example, amitabh bach, hugestar from India.
I was a big fan of him as well.
But the more he ages and thisis my thing with, like all older
people, clint Eastwood,everybody I think at some point
you got to put them away fromthe limelight for their own sake
, so that people remember themfondly, right?
(22:04):
We just had another older dudewhat's his name?
The Sandman guy, neil Gaiman,with all the stuff.
Okay, that's horrible, hedeserves to be outed.
I just look at this stuff and Igo, oh man, at some point we
should have packed them away.
There are enough of thoseexamples.
But what age is that?
When's the right time?
I just don't know.
(22:25):
But with this guy, particularlythis Indian actor, my problem
with him is he's gone so far.
Right, you know, he's justbecome this weird spokesman for
the whole new Indian whole thingof like extremism and stuff.
And it's really sad because youknow he has fans, or had fans
(22:48):
all over the world who loved hisstuff.
But now I can't stand himtalking about some things he
goes off on about language andthis and that, and this is after
his dad's, a poet.
And I just look at this guy andI'm like man, some of your best
dialogues were written by otherreligious, by writers that were
from other religions and useUrdu over Hindi and stuff, and
(23:12):
those are things you rememberforemost, the dialogues you
delivered, and that's that.
It's just pack these guys away,man, and God help me if I ever
go down that route.
So that's the price of fame.
At some point, the Hawk 2 ladyhelp me if I ever go down that
route.
So that's the price of fame Atsome point.
(23:32):
The Hawk 2 lady is hope shedoesn't become a prude and go
the other way either.
That's fame, that's fame people.
Anywho, this has been fun.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I'll catch you in the next
one.
Till then, take care.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
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