TNCSSP S4 EP 145 | World Renowned Comedian/Impressionist Sylvia Morrison | February 12, 2025

Join TNCSSP crew for an awesome interview with celebrated comedian/impressionist Sylvia Morrison!!! Also Superbowl Recap!!! #tncssp #sylviamorrison #comedian #fortheculture #newmedia #superbowl #nfl #eagles #chiefs

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the No caapt Sports Show podcast with sports
and convos Collide. I'm your host, Kobe Turner aka the Cobra,
and it's me Big.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Boy.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes, sir, yes, sir. Hold on, Old Dog will be
here in one second. You getting getting logged in. So
we got a great show for for you tonight. To
all our viewers of listeners, we have renowned comedian impressionists
Sylvia tray More Morrison straight out of DC coming on
the show this evening approximately a fifteen.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
But before that, uh, me and the crew would like
to recap the Super Bowl again the Kansas City Chiefs
and uh and the Philadelphia Eagles. What's up, Old Dog?

Speaker 4 (00:54):
What's up? Fellas?

Speaker 5 (00:55):
Apologize for uh the late rival dealing with some traffic
and uh, it's a little nippy out here. Man, it's
a little chilly out here. We get we're dealing with
some cold weather out.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Here, so we're a certain time.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:10):
Man, it's a cold sixty five sixty five out here. Bro,
Like you see, I got I got the Scully on
and everything.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Man, hoodie, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Man, Oh my bad.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
What y'all y'all good over there?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, I'm walking through ten inches of snow today.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
Man, I don't know nothing about that, bro doing about that.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
But luckily it's that west snow. It's gonna it's gonna milk.
It's gonna be gone by tomorrow the next day.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
That's what's up this cold over here. Bro's cold sixty man.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Don't don't be petty. Yeah so little little fellers, Oh dog,
I just told off you as a listeners that we
have an awesome guest coming on the show tonight. Uh yeah,
doctor Sylvia Traymon Morrison and shoot on approximately A fifteen.
But before that, this gives us an opportunity to rap

(02:06):
about that super Bowl last last week and start starting
out with you pull me, man, what did you see
from that super Bowl? What did you like with? Then?
You didn't like anything that you didn't expect.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
I didn't expect them to get out on Kansas City
as like that.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Man.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, if you can create that around of pressure with Ford,
the same blueprint that John did when they beat the
pictures twice. If you create pressure like that, move that
quarterback off in space where just you know, rushing forward
without having the blisterings, but covers behind it it's tough
to beat. And I don't think Andy Reid did a
great job of making any calls to show that rushdown,

(02:45):
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
So yeah, yeah, what.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
Was your thoughts on the Super Bowl? Oh, same thing.
I just think that they got beat up front. It starts,
it starts and ends with the guys up front. They
was able to drop you know, seven eight, uh and
just let those four guys get after it, and they
was just out. They just came out of the gate,

(03:10):
just more physical, flying around to the ball and uh.
You know, it's also a lot of people don't understand
many they did just beat. A lot of those guys
was on that team now that they just beat, right,
so you know, and they remember that feeling, so you know,
they wanted to It's the ultimate ultimate payback. So they
wanted to get those guys back. And a lot of

(03:32):
people jailing hurts. Everybody talking about three P three P
three feet and nobody really was giving Philliadelfa Philadelphia a
chance besides the Philadelphia fans.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
So yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Thought it was. I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I was.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
It was a disappointing game because I wanted to see a.

Speaker 5 (03:49):
Good you know, I thought it was gonna be a good,
good game, like Pom said, I thought Andy Reeve was
gonna make some adjustments. But Ship Pooney could have came
out of retirement and it better at left tackle or
right tackle than those guys. Man, shame on those guys.
They got that, they got the ashoo like that.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
I was just wondering how these yogers man you and
the league, Like, how do you continue to let him
just bull rush you?

Speaker 5 (04:14):
Like at some point, look, everybody, you know, we we
we it's tough because we the cretics, you.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Know, without get it. But damn, I'm just saying. They
was like, I'm just more of a man than you,
and I'm gonna push you back. I ain't even gonna
speed rush, I ain't gonna spin. I'm just gonna bull
rush you. And they were just bull rushing. I mean,
that's that's the ultimate I'm a bigger man than you.
You know what I'm saying, Like that's as a as

(04:47):
an offensive alignment. If somebody just repeatedly bull rushing, they
just have no respect for you, Like it's it's just
I'm going through you and it's nothing you can do
about it. And that Ship was just amazing to me.

Speaker 5 (04:57):
And then they was trying to chip and and and stuff.
And the times they try to keep the back in
and chipping that ship still didn't work. They spread them
boys out, man, them them them d N them d
ns outside linebackers, whatever defense they was playing, man, they
got that wire split and them and them them boys
was on the island man, And uh it didn't work

(05:17):
out well for them, but.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Uh they worked for so bad. Did you see what
they tried to run a little tight end screen to
Travis Kelsey? You know the screen you're supposed to get
beat a little bit, you know, like you're supposed to
block and for a half a second, and they get beat.
This fucking beat Travis Kelsey out of stands. I said, man,
how to play goal for you? And you can't even
get the first part right? Man?

Speaker 5 (05:40):
And the yeah, they they dominated them boys. That's the
thing about football any given Sunday too. You know, it
ain't like basketball. You know basketball the best you know,
you you can go and make those adjustments, come out,
try something different. Seven game series football any given Sunday, man.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, And once they get rolling, it ain't like basketball.
We can come out hit a couple of three, get
a couple of stops. He like, man hit nine in
a row. You know what I'm saying, Like this twenty
two point game is only thirteen. Now. Yeah, them drives
was long, like it was.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
That's another thing they did. They kept up. They kept up.
They kept Kansas City up. They had some even when
they didn't score touchdowns, they had some long drives. Man,
that's long.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
And I think the Kansas City defense for the in
the beginning, they was doing okay, you know, as far
as because you remember it was fourteen to seven, but
whatever it was, and they'd only given up seven and fourteen.
You know, the other seven was the pick six, so
they was keeping They stopped them a couple of times.
They got the big interception, number six, got an interception
down by.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
The end zone.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
They stopped them a couple of times, and you know,
they was keeping them around. But I think that's that
when they didn't score right before the half, that do
Hop dropped that ball where it looked like he would.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Have still been running.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, he tipped over his.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
Do Hop dropped the past by himself, like yes, yes,
I start smoke cigars and went back and.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Got some more food. I said, yeah, you think what
you think, man?

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I mean, it was pure domination, like from from the
very big from the very beginning of the game. I
just thought that Philadelphia was the most physical team and
they and they bullied Kansas City. Obviously, if you watch
Philadelphia play throughout the course of the season the playoffs,
you know you're going to prioritize stopping sa Quon Barkley.

(07:46):
But I felt like Kansas City just they they committed
to trying to stop him too much. Where where they
wasn't even thinking about the other other players out there
on the field. I think they showed disrespect to Jalen
hurt like a lot of people do.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
But money more.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
Where you at, money more, money more? Where you at money.

Speaker 5 (08:06):
Moe, you would disappear when when Jayden hurts going, don't
worry next week.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
We'll see you next Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Money more, Yes, we will money more.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Get away from this. I want to. I want to
see him go against a defense not Washington. Ain't money Moe.
Where you at money, Moe? Then it hurts.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
Yeah, that man's props that man ball go ahead.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
And I think he was playing well throughout the season.
He was definitely playing great football in the playoffs, and
then we talked about this. Oh when we saw him
last time, he was in the Super Bowl game against
those Kansas City Chiefs. He looked like he was the
best player on the field in that game. So I think,
I think I just wanted to salute him. And you know,

(08:53):
he deserves its flowers because he was getting a lot
of criticism, like he wasn't a great professional quarterback, but
he wears games and and he gets his team to
a position to where they can compete for a title
just about every year. I mean last year that was
like it was a weird year because they had a
lot of internal conflict. But just think if it wasn't

(09:15):
for that, they had an opportunity to go three straight
years in my in my estimation, but they yeah, they
stopped Kansas City Chiefs and and and they deserve that.
They deserve that Super Bowl because they definitely was the
best team, the more physical team, and they straight up
bullied the.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Chief Oh have you ever seen a coach go from
fire week five?

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Six?

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Nick ji Yannie was fired. Everybody he was getting fired. Yeah,
could get paid because.

Speaker 5 (09:52):
But see that's the thing and dan Orlosky and all
them people talking crazy and they don't know. Sometimes, well,
you don't know what's go on behind the scenes. You
don't know what's going on in the locker room. You
don't know what the bottom line is offensive defensive coordinator
or whatever. They started off too and two they mess around,
made the adjustment say hey man, look aj Davonte, we

(10:14):
got Sakwan bro We gotta user.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
And and most receivers and stuff like that.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
Will want you to run the ball because now they
got to put more people in the box and they
give me more one on one.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Absolutely, that's just like good shooters.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
If I got a good if I'm a great shooter,
I want him dump it off. And I know I
got a great big man that can pass all. I
want to dump on the ball, and I'm getting ready
to go spot up so I can get ready to
shoot because he's gonna find an open guy. Yeah, here'sas
city they relied on. McDuffie. McDuffie can only cover one guy.

(10:50):
You forgetting about Davonte, the boy Dodson that the Washington
let go. They let him go, They let his ass go.
He was a first run. He ain't even make it
two years. Washington commander said get your ass out of here.
But with that being said, see see you go from
being a first round pick. This man was a first

(11:12):
round pick top twenty. Now your ass is fired and
you get traded and picked and they say we don't
want you. You go to Philly. Well he go to Philly.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
He blessed. Who's here round?

Speaker 5 (11:26):
He around one of his college teammates' o g sat
Juannie Gosson was there at the same time.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Dotson was young. He was younger than him, but that's
one of his old g's.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Right, Yeah, now you go.

Speaker 5 (11:38):
Now you know, now I'm not relied on to be
that dominant number two. I can sit back and play
there in the slot and be the number three receiver. Man,
and I want to prove some people wrong. You know
what I'm saying. He couldn't do it in Washington playing backside.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
Of Scary Terry.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
I agree, right, So you know I mean.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
Philip, I mean I think Philadelphia man just had all
of them had something to prove. Man, they all have
something to prove. And them boy and whoever that whoever
representing that boy, uh, what's his name? They had them Saxophone,
sweet Sweat, whoever represented him.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
I know they in Cabo somewhere. Man, Hey, look.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
The truck to get back.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Look look head, what should we in Cabo?

Speaker 5 (12:35):
Ain' don't need to get no break struggle, can't get
the cowbo. We don't need to get it over here?
Were good y'all ain't seeing me. It couldn't be me.
I'm in Cabo, in a villa somewhere.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Chel he got a fifty million dollars check comeing to
him in the next couple.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
I'm in Cabo. Then I'm going to South of France.
I'm out of here.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, and feelings. Before we introduce our special guests at
the evening, I want to get your opinion. And on
a halftime show we had Kendrick Lamar performed halftime.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Uh, you're talking about the Lakers or Dallas maths.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
Youre talking about your great offensive defensive player money Moe,
Kobe Turner. You're talking about your great defensive player Anthony Davis.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Halftime show.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, Well he made the past halftime here
at least he made he made a Pans halftime. Well
we're talking about talking about that performance about Kendrick Lamar
Super Bowl halftime. What was your thoughts on that performance,
because I know when we talked about it, when we
first heard the news that he would be performing months ago,
you know, we were kind of split. I know I

(13:38):
was one of those one of those people was like,
I really don't want to see Kendrick Lamar perform at
half at halftime because I just didn't think he had
those type of hits to like keep the crowd engaged.
And I didn't think he had that type of performance
in him. And I know, Puomy you you had you
said he had black community hits. So so what was

(14:02):
your thoughts after finally seeing his performance? Start with you pool?

Speaker 2 (14:09):
It had a message, but I could go the rest
of my life were not ever seeing nothing from from
Kendrick with mine? I just don't like his music. Like
he he just don't make good He don't make music
for me. Let me not say he don't make good music.
He don't make music for me. I don't care for him.
So that shit was boring and fuck to me. Didn't
have a message, yes, but the message that it had

(14:34):
it went over anybody's head who would have affected you
know what I'm saying, Like the black community got it,
but white people ain't see none of it, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, what's your thoughts?

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Oh? Dog, I thought it was dope. I thought the
whole concept was dope.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
I thought the creation, I mean, how they made it
be like a joystick, the control, the control and all
that type of house of game and having Samuel l
Jack and be Uncle Sam.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
And I thought all that joint was dope. You know
what I mean? Now, do I ride around listen.

Speaker 5 (15:05):
To Kendrick in my card not too much, every once
in a while, play a couple of his songs.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
Do I think that was one of the better things. Uh?

Speaker 5 (15:15):
No, But I thought it was. I liked I thought
it was dope. I thought it was cool. But yeah,
it was okay it. I love the mess, I love the.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
What you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I agree with
you guys. I thought it was a really good performance.
I think he exceeded his expectations, well, at least the
expect expectations I had of him. I liked the message
he had, the crowd engauge. He he did a few
teasers and stuff when when we thought he was going

(15:50):
to do the disc track against Drake and then he
pulled back and he did that two three times and
then he finally, uh did that song? Did that record?
But I think you know, overall, it was a good
it was a good show. Just like you, odoll, I
don't I don't listen to Kendrick on my on my
free time every now and again. You know, I'll listen

(16:11):
to to a couple songs of his, but but shout
out to him. Great job. That was a great honor
for him to be out there on that stage and
perform in front of people who probably would never have
seen him perform before. And just maybe a week or
two before that, he was at the Grammy. So I
mean the momentum now, he's really riding the wave right now.

(16:32):
So continue to push forward and continue to push that
positive message. And you know, I'm rooting for him.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, I salute the fact that he did it. Ain't
no subliminals.

Speaker 5 (16:41):
He went right at him, yep, his name, everything, and
went right at went right at Slim, you know what
I'm saying. So glew to that and can't wait to
see what Drake dude when he come back.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Okay, so we'll see I guess all right, Well, we
got a special guests in the building, and let me
go ahead and introduce her properly, so our special guest
for tonight is a comedian, a writer. She's a renowned
African American female impressionist. Matter of fact, she's the only

(17:16):
renowned African American female pressionist in the country. She was
one of the first solo artists to tour and open
up for Whitney Houston and venues that exceeded well past
thirty thousand. She also wrote for one of the longest
running TV shows, Saturday Night Live, and she even hosted
a ropes for the legendary heavyweight champion of the world,

(17:39):
Mohammed Ali straight out of Washington, d C. Let me
introduce the renowned doctor Sylvia Trey Moore Morrison walk.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Thank you, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you for coming. Are you feeling you know?

Speaker 3 (18:00):
It's for me. It's nothing like listening to brothers talk
about sports and each one has kind of like a different,
uh painting of a picture, and it just really really
really just holds my interest. I like all three of
the personalities that I just witnessed, uh, because you know,
I've been watching watching the three of you for a

(18:20):
while and it's like, oh, they ain't playing, They're going hard.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yeah, we do.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
I loved it because I don't get an opportunity to
appear on a lot of sports shows, and when I do,
it's it's like a totally different, uh situation going on.
So thank you so much for having me here, and
thank you for that introduction. You laid it down there.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Oh yeah, definitely, you definitely deserve it. And it's an
honor for you to be on this show tonight. And
I know our viewers and listeners are excited to see
this interview and hear more about you, so they jump
right right into it. And on the note Castpotio podcast,
we like to start off from the beginning, so so

(19:08):
so growing up Washington, DC as a kid, I'm going
to assume that your first dream wasn't to be an
impressionist or a comedian, like like what like like what
was your dreams? What was your hopes? And who was
who was that person that that kind of motivated you

(19:32):
and you kind of looked up to it. Wanted to
be like.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
What I started out wanting to be a judge? Oh wow,
I wanted to be When I was a kid, I
wanted to be a judge. I had no idea that
I would head toward, uh, the entertainment industry. But what
happened is I could hear things. God gave me this
gift I could. I could hear the flapping of a
butterfly's wings. Now not only could I hear it, I

(19:57):
could also make the same sound. I could the sounds
of crickets. My folks used to think we had crickets
in the house because I'd be doing imitations of crickets.
And it wasn't until I guess I must have been
about ten or eleven years old. I was in this
little singing group and we got invited down to Mayor.
And now I'm old now, so I'm gonna take you.
I'm gonna get y'all some history right now, because I've

(20:19):
been around. I've been doing this now for fifty six years, wow,
fifty six of them. And so we got invited down
to Mayor Walter Washington's office. Mayor Washington is the very
first mayor of Washington, d C. I think it was
Marion Barry. No, it's Mayor Walter Washington. And when we
got there, we were invited to go to his office

(20:40):
to sing for this guy who sing who was a
jazz artist. Now coming up in DC. I grew up
in Northwest Washington. I lived twelve blocks from the White House. No,
it was not like it sounds. It was the ghetto.
It was the straight ghetto period. And when we went
down to the Mayor's office, I saw this old man.
Now I'm I'm young. I see a look like he's

(21:02):
about forty. Oldest dirt, you know, because if you nine
or ten years old, you think somebody forty is like
about to die, you know, because that's that's what you
think about old people. So I see this man sitting
over in a chair, and he was by himself, you know,
and he looked like my dad. Though he looked like
my father a little bit. So me with my little friendly,

(21:23):
I'm very friendly, at least I was. And I went
over there to him and I said, excuse me, sir,
but do you know a man named John Morrison? You know,
my last name is Morrison. And he said John Morrison.
I don't know. He said, why do you ask? I said,
you just remind me of him. So he said, so
where do you live? I said, we live in the
sixteen hundred block of Corkran Street. But you look just
like my dad. So he said, I tell you what,

(21:45):
when you get home, tell your father that Duke Ellington
said hello, Wow, I didn't know here on me, here
go me, duke who oh god. I did not know
who a Duke Ellington was. But when I got home
and told my father who i'd met, he was like, well,

(22:07):
did you get his autographic? Did you do anything? I
didn't know anything. I don't listen. I was listening to Motown.
I didn't know nothing about jazz. I didn't know anything
about that. And so it occurred to me that while
I was talking to him and I saw some of
the people there, I could imitate people. I could actually
do what that. I could sound just like someone like

(22:30):
And by the way, the whole money mow.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
Thing, yeah, I'm I'm I'm gonna fire his ass up.
He talking about Jane and her talking about he wasn't
gonna play good. But that's what we talked about. Yeah,
let me tell you something.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
I truly enjoyed that whole little session. And and so
I'm listening to you guys, and I think I might
be able to handle an impression of one of you,
but I usually like to make sure I'm comfortable with
doing an impression so I won't do it tonight, but
maybe if I'm ever invited back, I can bring one

(23:09):
of y'all while you're there to the stage.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Hey please please do oh dog please.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
I like the fact that you said, let's go from
the beginning because it's been a getting for fifty six years.
It's been a journey. It's been quite a journey, quite
a journey. And that was my first encounter with a
big celebrity and I didn't even know who it was.
And it's almost been like that almost my entire career.

(23:40):
I don't recognize people on the street. It's not that
I don't want to. I just I have a hearing gift.
I don't have a vision gift. So if I hear you,
I got it. But when I see I remember I
think I saw Debbie Allen or one of those people
from the Cosby Show. They were like walking right in
front of me. I don't know who it was. I

(24:00):
mean I probably could have imitated. But I have a
hearing gift and not a vision gift.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
So when you were what, what school did you go to?
Like high school did you go to in Washington, d C.
And then did you the high the high school that
you went to. Was it did you study like performing
art or anything, or did you like did you go
into acting? Were you doing plays or something like that or.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
No, you know what, that's that's a great question. I
actually went to what is now Duke Ellington. When I
was in school. It was it was Western, but no,
I never studied it until I got to college. I
called myself studying, but it never was had anything to
do with with what I do. You know, I learned
history and stuff, but not I didn't learn how to

(24:46):
do impressions or learn how to sing or learn no no, no, no,
no no. My impressions came as a gift from God.
And uh I remember, as I got a little older,
I created my own little singing group and I named
the Supremes. And so every time people would say, what's
the name of your group, I'd say the Supreme Legger. No no, no, no, no, no, no,
you can't be there's already a group called the Supremes.

(25:09):
But that's how much I loved Dona Ross. But when
I first started doing impressions, there weren't that many black
women in the forefront that I could do, so most
of my impressions were white girls. You guys might be
a little young to remember. Shows like the Beverly Hillbillies,
the Ed Sullivan Show. These were shows that we had

(25:32):
to watch because we didn't have any other shows to watch.
You know, there wasn't a whole lot of black shows
like it is now. I think we had maybe four,
And if anytime a black person came on TV, it
was like gold. Everybody, the whole neighborhoods would go nuts.
It's a black person on TV. You know, it was
just amazing. It was amazing. So I was doing people

(25:54):
like and for the listening audience, because I'm sure I
have a few people that couldn't wait for your podcast.
I need the watch. I said, no, no, no, it
won't be shown the same night. But now I see
that it is. It's live.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
We line, we line, you're saire.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
That's what okay. And so it was like there were
no platforms for me to perform none. I mean there
was nowhere to go. Like today, they have comedy clubs,
they have open mics, they have a karaoke it's like
a lot. But back then there was nowhere for a
black girl to get on stage and do what she did. Nowhere,

(26:38):
So I'm watching the show when I called the Flip
Wilson Show and these four girls came out. I think
it was three or four, and they were from the
Miss Black America Patron on National TV. And I'm sitting
up there looking, I'm like, how did they get there?
How did they get on National TV? Well, when I
found out they were contestants from the Miss Black America

(26:59):
patron the following year, I entered because I wanted to
be on National TV. Not because I thought I was
a looker or anything like that, but I wanted that opportunity.
And when I entered the pageant, I tied for first
place with a girl named Bernardette Stantis, who happens to
be Thelma from Good Times the first place, and that's right.

(27:20):
At that time, she wasn't Thelma yet, but they gave
her a card the night of the pageant to go
an audition for that role. And they sent me to
Europe to entertain the American troops from the Vietnam War.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Wow, yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
It was.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
It was deep. It was deep because I went from
not having anywhere to perform to performing in front of
thousands and thousands of men and women who fought in
the Vietnam War, and that was that was just just incredible.
I did the Sherry Shepherd show. She invited me off
a Black History month and I told that story. And

(27:57):
after the show she told me she said, Sylvia, first
of all, that you tied with Bernardette's standards. That's like,
you know, she was the America's sweetheart and you know,
from good times. And here I was nobody had no clue,
nothing about who I was, what I was doing. But
I went when I went to Europe, this guy kept
checking me out and sending notes and he said, when

(28:20):
she gets back to the States, fly her out here
to California. And that guy was Red Fox. Oh wow,
he was my first manager.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Very that is awesome. So so you hey, so you
was the first of a lot of things. So you
know this this this young girl. They got this urn
called flood out, So you might have been the first
one been flood out.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yeah. But I went out to the like he he
sent for me. I went out to la and I
found a comedy club. It's called the Comedy Stores. It's
huge now, it's like one of them those iconic comedy
clubs of At that time, I was in line to
get on stage with Jay Leno, David Letterman, Robin Williams.

(29:10):
I mean, all these white guys that went on to
become amazing multi whatever you want to call it, millionaires, billionaires, whatever,
And I was like the only person that, the only
woman that looked like me out there on stages with them.
And so my father was down there. I'm a daddy's girl.

(29:31):
So when he got sick, I had to go home.
I'm a big time daddy's girl. And who died. And
I didn't want to leave my mother to go back
to California. So I moved to New York. And in
New York, I found a couple of comedy clubs, but
none of them white guys would let me on the stage.
It's like, why now, I'll let everybody get on the

(29:52):
stage except for people that look like me. And I
was the only one. And so finally, after about six
weeks of running back and forth to this club called
Catch a Rising Star, the guy who was the host said,
you know what, you just don't give up, and he
said take three minutes. And that guy was Jerry Seinfeld.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
So in my career I've run into people like that.
The whole while, and I know it was God's blessing
because I wouldn't have been able to find those people
like that. So if you don't stop me, I'll keep talking.
So you know, you.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Said again, I said, did you kill your three minutes?

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh my god. I didn't have any problems getting back
on stage at open Mics at all, at all. And
keep in mind that Jerry Seinfeld had not started his
show yet, you know, he had the Seinfeld Show hadn't
come on yet. So a lot of this stuff happened
before all these people became famous. And I remember sitting

(30:58):
home in the living room in New York Park one
particular evening, and I picked up the paper and said
Muhammad Ali was coming to New York. They were roasting
him and Richard Pride was hosting. So I said, you
know what, wait a minute, excuse me. I have a
little granddaughter. Yes, ma'am, I'm on the phone. Okay, go

(31:21):
ask Mammy, okay, ask my thank you. And so I
was surprised that they have instructions not to disturb me
while that's okay. And so I read where Muhammad Ali
was coming to town. They were at the Apollo Theater.
They were roasting him, and Richard Pride was hosting. Now,

(31:41):
they gotta let me in that show. I don't know
how I'm gonna get in there, but I didn't know anybody,
but somebody had to let me on that show with
Muhammad Ali being roasted by Richard Pride. Really and all
of the roasters were going to be like big sports stars.
They had Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Harry Belafonte is not

(32:01):
an athlete, but I mean, just it's Muhammad Ali. So
you know, they had all these high tier people, and
so I decided I would crash. I would crash the Rose.
I got I gotta be there, So I'm going to
crash the Rose. I know I'm gonna get locked up.
I know the police is gonna come.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
I do this.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I already knew it up front, but I ain't care
because I figured this was a way for me to
get in the newspaper. This was a way for Ali
to find out who I was, and for all the others,
the celebrities and so forth, to check me out. Because
I did impressions. Weren't no other black women doing them none.
So I was actually dating a guy that played in

(32:44):
the NBA down at San Antonio, and I was in
Texas when I got the call one of the girls
who was in the pageant with me because Dick Gregory
was the host, I mean, he was the producer, and
he couldn't find anybody because it was a day of
and know everybody was already booked. So she said, you
gotta get this girl, Sylvia. She'll handle that, I promise you.

(33:07):
So he said, bring her in, no script, no nothing.
Pride called and said he couldn't make it. So that's
why they called me in. And at the end of
the at the end of the roast, because it was
it was so much, it was so incredible, it was
just incredible. Here I was somebody wanted the crash. The
rows now ended up posting it. So at the end

(33:28):
of the roast, Ali after I introduced Muhammad Ali, and
I never I rarely called people by their names like that.
I usually say mister Ali or whatever. I'm a very
respectful artist. So mister Ali came out on that stage
and I told him, I said, wait, man, give me
a minute. I have something because I had just learned
to do my impression of him. So I went out

(33:49):
on the stage. I did the impression and he came
out and grabbed my hand, took me to the front
of the audience and held it up and said you
doing me a woman doing he that's awesome. And the
whole place went nuts. And right after that, Garret Moore
from Saturday Night Live came to me and said, you
need to meet my boss. Took me to NBC Lord

(34:12):
Michael Simi told me he hired me right on the spot.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Wells more about that about that experience being Saturday Night Live,
I mean, that's that's.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Wait wait wait wait wait ho ho ho.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
We can't just get off the fact that she talking
about she was day one.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Of these too.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
Okay, wait a minute, but hey, that wouldn't happen to
be George Garver was who did you say, George?

Speaker 4 (34:40):
Was it George?

Speaker 3 (34:42):
No? No, no, no, your finger rope? I man, George Garvin.
You know what. I paid tribute to him at one
of my shows because he he that guy, because he
was teammate with the one I dated. He was so

(35:02):
kind to me. He was I will always have a
spot in my heart for him. He was a gentleman.
He was he was kind, he was respectful, was talented
on that dad on basketball court. He was all of that.
No I dated I dated A FORDOK So, anyway, after

(35:29):
I got the job on Saturday Night Live as an
associate writer, y'all need to you don't need to, but
you should understand that it was it wasn't a bowl
of cherries for a black female in comedy back then.
It wasn't. I don't care how many accolades I earned
as a result of what I did, it was I

(35:50):
never got the the As a matter of fact, they
wrote a book about comedian's laugh be a Lady, and
they got me in the chapter with Cloris Leachman, Mary Talamo,
all these queens of television. But that Muhammad Ali roast
opened a whole lot of doors for me. First of all,
Ali was Ali was in his prime. He was in

(36:13):
his prime when he was like I think he was
third in his mid thirties. And when they bought him
downstairs on the stage for me to introduce him, I'd
never seen a man like him. I'd never seen anybody
that even so much has even looked like him. I
mean the suit he had on at that time we talked,
in nineteen seventy nine. I know that suit had to

(36:34):
be anywhere between four and five thousand dollars, which is
probably equivalent to about forty or fifty thousand dollars now.
But he was built. I'd never seen a man built
like that, you know he was and then he was handsome,
He was charming, he was funny, he was everything. And
so for him to come out on the stage and
grab me and take me to the front of the

(36:55):
stage and tell people how good I was. It got
me a job as an association right off for Saturday
Night Live. So I have the utmost respect.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Yeah, and being an African American, not just African American,
but African American woman. And I know you mentioned Red Fox.
Was there anybody else that kind of took you under
their wing and helped you navigate through getting to where
you needed to go?

Speaker 3 (37:22):
You know what? That's the I'm going to say a name,
and I think you guys may recognize it because.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
It was local.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Nobody would give me any work, but Chris Thomas saw
me one night. I don't know if y'all know who
Chris Thomas is.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
You know Chris hes bt yeah, mayor.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Raps it a. Yeah, Chris saw me one day and
he said, you know what you need to be all
over the country, he said, because nobody's seen anything like this,
nobody's seen a woman doing what you do. So he
took me around all over the country the stages, and
I have the utmost respect for Chris to this day.
He's probably my best friend in comedy. H He he

(38:02):
didn't have to do all that he did. He really
didn't because he was popular at the time.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
He was new.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Everybody you know, what's the d o, Hugh Glee, Bill Bellamy,
all these guys love Chris. Jamie Fox wanted him to
come out to California to stay out there with them,
you know, so he could get his committed out. So yeah,
Chris was, uh, somebody who took me around. But as

(38:29):
far as me having someone to look up to or
or what do you call it a uh when you
take out the song, I didn't have anybody. Yeah, I
didn't have a mentor. I didn't have none of that,
none of it, not a bit, none nothing.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Wow. And you know DC is such a hot bed
for comedians. Oh and you know you have Tommy Davison, Martin,
Dave Chappelle, Earthquake, Donelle Rollins. Uh yeah, yeah, the list
goes on. So did you ever interact with those folks

(39:08):
like coming up in the in the comic world? And
I know, I listened to a lot of interviews with
comedians and they always talk about something called it.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
I think it's a chilling circuit or whatever. You did
you ever experience that?

Speaker 3 (39:23):
You know what? I remember when each one of those
people that you named started comedy, I was there. I
was there to see them when they first did. As
a matter of fact, I have a friend. We did
a film and you guys may have seen it. I
don't know. It's called The Mecca of Comedy and it
talks about the very people you just named, and it's
pretty new. They just released it about five or six

(39:44):
months ago, and it's streaming on all the major networks
I think except for Netflix, and I think, yeah, all
the other stream streaming lines. It's you guys should watch it.
It's wonderful. Everybody that you just named is in there,
including my myself and people who like Mike Brooks, Rick Grant,

(40:06):
all the DC comics because they claimed that d C
is a Mecca of comedy, so yeah, they I knew
all those guys. My friend has footage of Chappelle, Martin
Tommy Davis and all of them when they were like sixteen,
sixteen years old. It's amazing. Now Tommy Davison, whenever he

(40:29):
comes to town, if I come to his show, he's
going to put me on stage. I've never put Tommy
Davison show. And he didn't say Sylvia's in the house,
y'all coming out.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Oh wow, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
And I've just actually came off the road a couple
of months ago with George Wallace. Okay, and one of
the highlights of my career is I did. I got
a call one night I was home and they told
me that Whitney Houston was in town and she didn't
have an open. Yeah, could I come down to the
Warner Theater and opened for it? Yeah. I ran down

(41:04):
there and I open Before it went well, I got
like three standing ovations, and at the end of the show,
she came back to me and she said, you know what,
when I go on the road, I'm gonna take.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
You with me.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Wow, and dad going to she did not like she
took me. I did like twenty three cities with her,
not just opening for her, but hanging out and learning
Whitney hisston.

Speaker 5 (41:25):
Wow that we got a DC guy right there.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Uh poom, what you got? What you got?

Speaker 1 (41:32):
You d C.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I was going to ask you, what's your favorite impression
or what do you think is the one that you
do the best?

Speaker 3 (41:43):
Every every show that I've been on, Today's heard me before,
they'll say, dude, Whoopy Goldberg. If you want Whoope, I'll
give it to you right quick. Okay, well, let me
let me just say that I'm you know, I don't

(42:06):
mind when people want to hear me, so I just
go ahead and do it.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, that was.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
It's crazy that you say whoop was doing because that's
what I was thinking about when you're talking about coming
through you know as a black woman. You know, in
the in the eighties, that was the only like mainstream
representation of black women. So have you ever had an
opportunity to work with her or tour or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
No, I haven't, but I have been I'm gonna say
blessed to have. I've never worked with Whoopee, but I
know that she knows that I exist. I've heard you know,
Sherry I did, like I said, I did the Shery
Shepherd Show, and I bought on chair. I bought with
Whoopy on there, and I bought Wendy Williams on there,
I bought theon Ward, I bought a bunch of If

(43:00):
you go to YouTube and search for Sherry and Sylvia,
I'll come up and uh. I've never got a chance
to actually meet whoopee, but people have come back and
told me some things that she said and very nice,
very nice.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
Did you ever did you ever get into the uh
with with doing impressions and stuff like that or whatever?
Did you ever go think about when you when you
throughout your career, maybe doing it voiceovers and stuff like
for movies or for you know, anything or like any
type of like uh, you know, animation or cartoons or
something like that.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Did you ever that would have been good? But I
was so busy traveling with folks, you know, uh, run
around the country, run around the world, actually gotcha stuff.
So I never got a chance up and up until lately.
I got a call about about two months ago, I guess,
and this was so big that I just didn't know

(43:59):
how they decided to choose me. I do know how
they decide to choose me, but it was like a surprise.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
Sis.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
Jewish boy, he called Jewish guy. Rather, I'm sorry, I
gotta be careful. It's a Jewish guy calls me on
the phone. He said, Ms. Morrison, we've been looking for
you for about six months and we couldn't find any
information on you. And I happened to see that you
were on social media and he said, I don't know
if you remember rich Little, And I said, rich Little

(44:26):
was the only other person in the world that I
knew who did impressions that he was a guy, a
white guy. So he said, well, we're working on a
documentary for him, and then they started naming the people
who were going to be on the documentary as well,
and I was like, oh my god, this is a

(44:48):
this is a group, I mean supposedly the top echelon
of comedians and actresses and actors, people like Married Palomore,
Carl Burnett, you know, names that today's generations don't know about.
But they they actually turned over the top for people

(45:09):
to be able to come through and do what they do.
And they included me on this particular event that they're doing,
and it's it's like such an honor. Well, it's like
such as it's almost like, you know, I don't know
if you remember Coe, but I'm going to be at
the Kennedy Center. I don't know. Now that Donald Trump

(45:31):
has decided he might now let me tell you why.
He probably will keep me on the bill. This is
just what I think. I'm a clean comic. I don't curse.
I am uh not vulgar at all at all. Straight

(45:52):
entertainment and history. I'm a little nervous about the history
that I do because you know, they certain.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah, we get we got we got, I got it,
we got thank you.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
That's what you know what I knew I was going
to like as soon as I turned in, I said,
they're gonna They're gonna understand. These guys gonna understand. Yeah,
do you understand. I'm I'm scheduled to be there April
nineteenth for two shows, two o'clock in seven thirty. And
I can't tell you the people across the country who
have called and said, congratulations. We don't get to do that,

(46:25):
you know, we don't. But they're bringing me in basically
because of my history.

Speaker 4 (46:31):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Because of my history, that's awesome.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
Missie.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
Are you a are you a Washington Redskins fan?

Speaker 3 (46:39):
You know what. I didn't get into football until maybe
about two years ago. But I knew about college. I
knew college sports way better. Like you know, I know
your dad, my dad and his brother carl.

Speaker 4 (46:57):
And and Darryl.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Yeah, good gracious a life.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
Those them Evans boys, wow, right in them in them Turners.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
Oh you know about the whole, the Turners and the
Evans and.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
My my my dad is booboo window Evans. No, yeah,
that's my father, Me and Kobe, Me and Kobe first cousin.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
Yeah, I did not know.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
Do you know I loved your father. I've been to
his hand, his wife's house.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
They welcomed me with open arms. I love the whole,
that whole clan, y'all's hold everybody in the family. I
had no idea you were going to be on this show.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
We appreciate. I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
That's is amazing.

Speaker 4 (47:51):
And that's my brother up there from from another mother. Uh.

Speaker 5 (47:55):
Uh you know, uh we we we threw him away
and he came back the ventures and.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
Uh and you know what, I kept looking at you,
and I kept saying, God.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
He looks familiar.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Old yeah, old boo boo. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Definitely they definitely would'tlened Donald Trump Kennedy, So you know,
and and who else?

Speaker 3 (48:27):
I love this Burnoard?

Speaker 4 (48:28):
Oh yeah, and then and then did you ever what
you do in comedy? You know? Our uncle Andy, uh.

Speaker 6 (48:36):
Andy is the guy who has the.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Film pieces of Chappelle and Martin and Tommy his that's
his work. Yeah, that worked belongs to him, and it's
in the film The Mecca of Comedy. I know Andy
real well. As a matter of fact, we're engaged.

Speaker 7 (48:52):
Shout out to our uncle, and I thought you listed
welcome to the family.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
What's up?

Speaker 4 (49:06):
An?

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Andy sits around all the time and he has me
tell his stories. As a matter of fact, he was
He used to be a counselor at George Mason University.
They had they welcome to Oh no, Mellan, Okay, what's
so far?

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Okay, we use that.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Turn it back on. I know she did attention, but
she doesn't understand. I'm on the I'm on the phone
with Royalty. I'm okay, let me see this.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
Yeah there we go.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
So yes, so Andy went. They invited him out the
other night to uh George Mason because he was the
guy who took the first black students and and brought
him into George Mason University.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
He's that guy that's aw Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
So I'm now I know. I'm just thrilled that I'm
on this, on this.

Speaker 5 (50:14):
We appre we appreciate you, We appreciate you coming on
on the show.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Family.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Yeah, he knows that I'm on your show tonight. He
was He was like, don't forget to to remember that's
family now. I said, okay, we got we got it.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
We're gonna get on going ahead.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
He would love it on what I saw the first
part of this podcast, because you know, he thinks the
world of Carl and Daryland that that's like them, his boys,
and and Boo Boo was like his like his other hand.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
He just said, look, got a good group right there.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
That's I have no idea the yob this is so wonderful.
This is I'll be Karlin. Jean just called me last night.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
You know what's the thing used to play for the Redskins.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
Leslie Leslie Shepherd, Leslie Shepherd. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (51:15):
That's called me last night. And you know, I get
to talk to the family a lot. I came in,
I came in the family and they kind of liked me.
So I'm so excited about that.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Yeah I can.

Speaker 5 (51:28):
Yeah, next time, next time, I'm back on that on
that East coast. We definitely got to get together and
grab lunch or something for sure.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
And you know what, who else I would love to
see Brian on this show with y'all.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
Because for him, y'all talk a lot of light. I'a'll
be getting it down, y'all put it.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
I don't really have no cut cars, Auntie. I keep that,
you know, it is what it is with your nephew.
Oh you know, I'm trying. I'm trying to, you know,
get a little better. But it seems to me, like
like what you just said though, Auntie, what you just said,
you said you you.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
Like what I was doing. You know, we got to
higher ups, Auntie, We got to higher ups. They trying
to They trying to, They trying to keep me quiet.
They don't want me to be old though.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
You know, if you ever get on a TV show,
on the sports show.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
It's it's gonna be on. And I got another person
who another is somebody who won't leave me alone. I'll
tell you, I just.

Speaker 5 (52:34):
Tell us, tell us a little bit about what you
got going on, though, tell our listeners and viewers about
what you got, what you got going on now in
the future, and and you know some things, and how
you see the DC comedy circuit now like compared to
how it was when you were coming up.

Speaker 4 (52:50):
Talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
I like that because I've been watching comedy for six
decades almost man, and each ten years it changes up
each ten years. It's like now we're in the era
of the internet streaming people doing videos. They don't do

(53:14):
a lot of stand up in the clubs like that
like they used to do anymore. As a matter of fact,
when I first started, it was the comic that opened
for the singers as opposed to the singers.

Speaker 5 (53:27):
Oh you know wow, yeah, yeah, it was Red Fox.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
He'd be out there with Ella Fitzgerald opening, you know ye.
And speaking of which, Andy Evans wrote a play for
me entitled The Return of Jackie Moms Maybley, and we've
showed it at the Carlisle and at the Bowie Center
for the Performing Arts and the Howard Theater. And what

(53:55):
he did was he brought up eight divas from you know,
from from back in the day away for a whole
lot of people. Ella Fitzgerl. She was a scat artist
and he said, can you scat Sylvia? And I said didn't,
didn't did? He said how about Wi can you hit?

(54:21):
You know? He went, he said how about Saravon? I said,
look at me. This is a kitchen up the tree.
So he pulled up, uh seven divas and that's who
we brought on stage with Moms Mabley. So right now
my big show coming up if Trump doesn't cancel it

(54:45):
is the Kennedy Center April nineteenth, twenty twenty five. I
have uh three books. I've written three books. I wrote
one my early autobiography. Whitney Houston's tour with her was
like so iconic for me. I ended up writing a
book inspired by her entitled Jellybeans from Heaven, and then

(55:08):
I wrote My last book I wrote was Me Satan
God in COVID nineteen because I had COVID with pneumonia
and it was the most horrible thing ever so I had.
Once I got well, I set up and Andy. Andy
took care of me the whole while I was sick
with COVID. He never left me the whole time I

(55:29):
was sick with COVID. Not one day did he leave
out the house. He made sure I had everything I needed,
so I have to always salute him on that. And
he was there when I wrote the book and he
thought it was you know, he thought it was a
great book. And so they're all on Amazon, or you
can come on my social media pages and pick up
a copy. I'd be honored to sign it and send

(55:51):
it out.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Awesome, Thank you, Miss Sylvia. Let the views and listeners
know with your social media.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
I'm on Facebook at Sylvia T. Sylvia tray More Morrison
tray more spelled t r a y like a tray
and more m r. Sylvia tray More Morrison. And on
Instagram I'm Sylvia T. Morrison. And on uh TikTok Sylvia T. Morrison,
on wick wa Woo woo wom wham and all the

(56:23):
other social media station it's usually Sylvia T. Morrison.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
Yeah, yeah, and miss Sylvia. Speaking of comedians opening up
for for singers, there's several more heavy hitters that you
didn't mention that I've read that you opened up for.
Uh share the temptations sha Ka Khan, Gladys Knight. I mean,
talk to us a little bit about that experience that

(56:50):
had to be wonderful.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Well, you know, it's it's it's almost like those. There's
a whole lot more too. Is a matter of fact.
I got hired to go to Vegas to host the
play Awards in Las Vegas, and while I was there,
I wanted to go. I hadn't met George Wallace yet,
I didn't know Monique, but I wanted to see them

(57:12):
on stage. So I had Chris Thomas to call both
of them and tell them that I was in town,
and so they both invited me to come to the show.
So I went to Monique's show first, she was on
her residency.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
And.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
They set me in the VIP section and Monique came
out on the stage. But I talked to Rodney Perry first.
I don't know if you guys know who Rodney Perry is,
but he said, ooh smiss Sylvia, Dad, Monique on love you.
So when her show was over with, I saw him
talking to her. Now, by the way, all these stories
will be told at the Kennedy Center, but in full

(57:49):
full length. So I saw Rodney talking to her while
she was just getting off her show, and she had
tears in her eyes, and so she came. He told
her all about me, and she came over to me
and she said, how you doing, miss Sylvia. You know what,
let me let me let me apologize. I see you,
my baby, because I've never heard of a Sylvia trade

(58:09):
more Marson. I don't know who a Sylvia trade more Marson.
And I'm doing my impression in her, y'all. So I hope, y'all.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
We want you, We will you.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
She called me to the back.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
She took me in her dressing room and her entire
staff was there. The hairdresser, the makeup artist, the road manager,
the manager. Oh, I mean, just everybody. And she set
me down in a chair and she's sat in front
of me and she said, we just my team. And
I just had this conversation this morning. She told She said,
I've been promoting this black woman who was a rapper

(58:44):
back in the eighteen hundreds, and she said, nobody knows
who she is, and I felt like they need to
know who she is. And she said, she came to
me this morning. Y'all gotta get ready for this. Now,
girl hits you upside the head. I'm getting ready to
hit you. She said, she came to me this morning
and told me don't worry about promoting her. She said.

(59:05):
She told me, I'm going to send you who you
need to be promoting. And she said, miss Silvia, you
walked in the door. From that day forward, if you
go and listen to the Schafhe interview with Monique and
towards the end, you'll hear her telling Shaha about me. Wow,

(59:26):
it's it was out. She called me up. She said,
did you hear did you hear an interview? I said no.
She said, I just got off with Shae Shay and
I told him all about you. Because my first paid
in comedy, My first time I got paid was at
a white club in downtown d C called the Comedy
what is it? The Comedy Connection or the Something, and

(59:48):
he was on K Street and they asked if I
wanted to open for this white girl, Elaine Boosla, who
I love, and I said, sure, I want to because
it was gonna give me a chance to get on
the stage. Nobody else was giving me no opportunity. I
opened for her, and at the end of the show,
everybody usually set at the bar to get paid. So
I set at the bar and the owner said, okay,

(01:00:09):
so what are you drinking? And I said, I don't drink,
and he said, well, you gotta drink something, So I said, okay,
a Coca Cola. I'll take a coke. That was my
pay My first payment as a comedian was a Coca Cola.
But I'm gonna bringing full circle. I'm gonna bring full circle.
So then he said, how about Rosial donnad You want
to work with rosil Donna? I said sure, So rosal

(01:00:32):
Donna came. I opened for Rosie and sat down at
the bar. He fixed me a coke and handed me
a five dollar bill. So when Monique heard that story,
she was pissed off. You know how she does, y'all know,
I said. She said, tell me they actually gave you
a Coca Cola. And I said, Monique, I'm not angry

(01:00:53):
about it because at that time, we're talking like the
nineteen late seventies, early eighties, wasn't getting no stage time,
so just for the exposure I was. I was happy
for that. So what they've done now is reached out
to Coca Cola to tell them that I was doing
Coca Cola back then, and I'm doing Coca Cola today.

(01:01:14):
So that's my hopefully new contract. I'll get and get
some of those six figure numbers.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
And then after I did moniques, after I talked to one,
she invited me to do her residency with her. So
I did six shows out in Vegas on her residency.
But I tell y'all it was crazy. On the last night,
George Wallace walked in and when I got off the stage,

(01:01:44):
he ran behind me to the dress He said, hold on,
hold up, who I don't know nothing?

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Vote.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
He invited me to do his show in d C
at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz. Yeah, And so after
it went so well, he took me on the road.
I did, I did. I think I did fifteen shows
with him. And we've been friend Me, Monique j all
of us, we've been friends for the longest, all the

(01:02:14):
people that I've had an opportunity to work, that's part
of my story. And you'll hear that at the Kennedy Center.
And I have several more that are like absolutely insane,
just insane. And I know that God blessed me with
those because I followed instructions. I up, I never gave up,

(01:02:35):
so he's still giving me stuff. You know. I was
in Jacksonville three nights ago and all the comics down
there said, do you know what, Sylvia, if we had
an opportunity to be at the at the Kennedy Center,
do you know how huge that is? I said, God,
just see just I don't know, It's just I'm thankful.
I'm just very thankful, and I'm thankful to be here
tonight with you because these guys have blessed my heart.

(01:03:00):
I said, blessed by heart. You know who you are with?

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
This is crazy?

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
No, thank you is Annorah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Yeah, So anybody won't know anything else because.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Miss Sylvia, I wanted to ask you this, in terms
of impressionists, who do you think is the best impressionist
coming up that you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
See coming up in DC or in the country.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
In the in in all of comedy.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
I think I think Jamie Fox is it's coming for
the you know, number one position, because I've seen him
do everybody? Yeah, And I'm like, good, Now, there are
a lot of good impressionist out and Chris gonna get
me for that because Chris is an impression its. Chris
Thomas is an impressionist. A matter of fact, if I'm

(01:03:48):
at a show with Chris and he sees that I'm
in the audience. He's going to call me up on
the stage and we go back and forth. He'll do
Howard Cosel, I'll do Muhammad Ali, He'll do Billy d Williams,
I do Die Ross. You know that kind of thing.
And it's really really entertaining. So so I'm gonna have
to include Chris up there in my top three.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
You know, you know, like impressions, I like, do you
ever listen to a Spears?

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Oh? I love Ic. I love him. So it's it's
like yeah, And it's funny because when people like uh
Chappelle or or Tommy. I remember I did Wendy Williams
on Tommy Show. One day. He was at the in
Baltimore at the Baltimore Comedy Factory, and I bought Wendy

(01:04:35):
Williams out and he flew to the front of the stage.
He said, oh my god, you sound just like her.
And I said, oh my god, that's tough.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
I loved Tommy. Oh, let me put Tommy in into
what am I doing? I forgot, I gotta put to
he does excellent impressions, excellent, I.

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
Got, I got, I got a question for you.

Speaker 5 (01:05:03):
And it's not just about impression, give me give me
your top five comedians.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
You know what it's It's interesting because Tony Woods and
I had that conversation and he said, and he told me,
he said, I'm not too happy when I see posts
that say, who are the best five comedians that you
know of? He said, because it's almost like, and I'm
not saying this is yours. I know you're talking directly
to me. You're not asking the public. You're asked me,

(01:05:35):
So I can answer that. I uncomfortable answer that. But
when they get online and say name, you know, you
get a thousand responses, this one, that one, this one,
this one, this one is like it's it's it's I
came up with Richard pryor.

Speaker 5 (01:05:52):
It's no order, just just just your maybe five that
you like that you know, if you got to listen
to five that you like or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
It's no, it's no particular order. So that's one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:03):
That's George Wallace. Two George. I'm sorry, Monique, that's three.
Let mean it was it was so many behind them.
I'm like, uh, I'm gonna reserve my my last two
for the next time I come on the show. If
I'm invited back.

Speaker 5 (01:06:23):
Well give me give me a young go ahead, Pool.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
I was to all your time and and and all
your your travels and all the shows you big who
was your one comedian? He's like, man, I don't want
to come behind this one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Oh that's such a good question, because everybody says that
Sylvia can follow anybody because she's so different. You know,
I don't come out and try to make the audience laugh.
I go straight. They don't. They're so not ready for me.
They're not ready to see a woman doing impressions. Think

(01:07:03):
about the last time you saw a black female on
stage doing impressions. I'm talking about straight impression, just straight.
When's the last time you've seen that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
We haven't I remember.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
So I haven't. It's not that I guess God just
gave me a wall of confidence. I'm not afraid to
go behind anybody.

Speaker 7 (01:07:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
I don't care who y'all. It's because I'm going to
be able to entertain you differently than what that person
had just got off the stage.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Solute.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
So, so, miss Sylvia, before we get out of here,
is there is there any words of wisdom that you
would like to give maybe an inspiring comedian, impressionists or writer,
or whatever they want to do in life. Any any
inspiring words you want to give out viewers and listeners
that that that may need that extra push of motivation

(01:07:56):
to get to where they want to go.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
Well that I preciate you asking that, because I've been
told that if he opened the dictionary and look for
the word perseverance, you're gonna see my picture. And I
told you guys early, I'm a daddy's girl. My father
served in two wars. He served in World War Two
and the Korean War, and all he bragged about was

(01:08:21):
when he died, they would give him a twenty one
gun salute.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
That's all.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
I don't know if I know any man in the
world who loved being a soldier more than him, I
don't think I know anybody. And his whole thing was
to have a twenty one gun salute. He said, You
guys have never seen anything like it. Talking to me
and my sisters and brothers, and he said, they're gonna
give your mother a flag, and then they're gonna give
me a twenty one gun salute, he said, And I

(01:08:46):
promise you will never experience anything like it. So the
day when he died, you know, I already got that
keep in mind on Daddy's girl. When he died. Sure enough,
they gave they folded the flag, and he gave it
to my mother. And I'm in tears now because I
know the one thing he wanted all his life was
about to take place, and I'm gonna bring this full

(01:09:06):
circle to the one thing he wanted all his life
was about to go down. He was about to get
his twenty one gun salute. But I saw the soldiers leave,
so I ran beside the soldiers, you know, ran up
to him and said, excuse me, sir, but my dad's
getting a twenty one gun salute. And they said, ma'am,
no he's not. We have a captain who's getting a

(01:09:27):
twenty one gun salute, and he takes precedence over your father,
so we have to go and give him the twenty
one gun salut. Guys, when I tell you the level
of devastation I had knowing that my father was waiting
on that twenty one gun salute, I didn't worry about it.
I said, you know what, I got this. So I
went home and I said, I'm gonna write the President
of the United States and tell him what happened. I

(01:09:49):
d to make this story short. I ended up writing
six United States presidents, from President Carter all the way
to Barack Obama, and no nothing. I didn't get any
you know, they always said, we moved your letter to
the State Department, and they would say, contact your congressman.

(01:10:10):
Just a lot of craft. So for forty six years,
I went through the Pentagon, I went through the Navy,
I went through the President's I went to Vice President.
I went to every place I could think of to
get my dad his twenty one gun salute, and tear comes,
here it comes. So I met this guy up in
Pennsylvania whose neighbor, his ex boss, was friends with Barack Obama,

(01:10:34):
and they talked about it, and finally they hooked me
up with the Air Force and they said, are you serious.
You've been waiting forty six years to get your father
twenty one gun salute. I said, that's my daddy. Whatever
I'm supposed to get him, I'm going to get it.
And so they made arrangements. They told me, y'all gonna

(01:10:54):
love this. I loved this, so I'm getting ready to cry.
So she said, tell us you have to go through
the army. Because he was an army person, but we're
Air Force. If they don't want to do it, we'll
do it. And so that really gave me encouragement, you know,
in confidence. So the army when I finally recause, I
talked to the army one hundred and sometimes and they said, no,

(01:11:17):
we gave him a flag and that's it. I said, well,
that was for one war. What about the other war?
So they said, the Army said, we'll do it. So
on April nineteenth, twenty twenty four, they gave my father
his twenty one gun salute. He died in eighteen seventy seven.
But here's the killers, here's the highlight of the story.

(01:11:37):
April nineteenth, twenty twenty four, they gave him his twenty
one gun salute. They hired me to come to the
Kennedy Center April nineteenth, twenty twenty five. Talk to me, y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
That's me.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
Your father worked for you. He got that date for.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
You in that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
So for all the ladies out here who have a father,
I mean, all the girls, children, whatever, if you have
a father, I hope you love him as much as
I loved mine. Because my father was amazing and your
booboo was amazing your call is. You know, y'all got
amazing dads. And I'm speaking from a female perspective because

(01:12:22):
I wouldn't have been able to live like I lived
if my father had never gotten his twenty one gun Salu.
I prepared my daughters that if I died before he
got his twenty one gun salu, to keep it moving,
make sure he gets that salute. And I've been invited.
As a matter of fact, I'm doing the Northern Virginia
Veterans Organization. I'm a keynote speaker for them because of

(01:12:45):
that story.

Speaker 5 (01:12:47):
As you should should you should be the whole Washington. Yeah,
ain't nobody going, Ain't nobody saying nothing else out of that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:59):
It's over.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
But I do want to drop of Mike. This is
so so much fun, so for upcoming comedians, and if
you don't really love it, it's gonna be tough. You
gotta love this game, you I mean, you gotta love it.
You gotta you gotta eat it, you gotta drink it,
you gotta speak it, you have to dream it. You

(01:13:20):
have to do all of that because comedy is the
only the only job in the world that a person
can get and not need any credentials. You don't have
to have a teaching and you know, diploma, you don't
have to have nothing. You can just wake up one
day and say I'm a comic. But baby, when you
hit them stages, it's a whole different world. You gotta

(01:13:41):
be able to take the downs with the ups, you know,
because people gonna boo you, they'll, they'll, they'll do a
whole bunch of stuff. I'm just fortunate that I've never
had a heckler, not one day in my entire career,
not once. Wow once so there, but boogoo journey. You
are funny, you said show.

Speaker 4 (01:14:05):
Thank y'all for coming off.

Speaker 3 (01:14:08):
That's interesting that he would get his twenty one gun
salute on the nineteenth of April and then Peter Kennedy
Center April or nineteenth, twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
That's like, yeah, it only can be one thing. Yeah,
that's yeah, that's Pop's looking over. That's beautiful. Yeah, thank you,
thank you beautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
And I've had soldiers when I tell that story when
I'm on stage, because I don't do any more shows
now without asking. If if you see me at the show,
you're gonna hear me say. If you're a veteran of
you wear a uniform whatever, please stand because I want to.
I want to thank you for your service. Every show
I do, I give that up to these men and women.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Yeah wow, yeah, well, miss Sylvia, thank you. It's been
an absolute pleasure. I know if you was a listener
enjoy hearing your story that this was an awesome interview.
You definitely welcome back anytime you want to come on
your your family this hey, this this is your living room,

(01:15:07):
so come on here, have you one kick your feet up,
you know, and just vibe with the fellas. And then also,
I didn't get to formally tell you that I wanted
just to thank you for speaking and performing at my
father's seventieth birthday party. Also man and a mental lot
to everyone.

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
Thank you, thank you very much. It was my honor
because you know, your father is so he's just such
a he's so golden that when he got up there
and talked, none of us could believe it. You know,
it was like, wait a minute, called us a talk.
You know, he's a door, he's a job done. And
but it was I had a ball that even so,

(01:15:50):
thank you guys for inviting us.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, too, and viewers and
listeners make sure you go get those tickets for the
April nineteen show at the Kennedy Center and go support
miss Sylvia Morrison and watch you do her thing.

Speaker 3 (01:16:05):
Thank you so much. It was good, y'all. I enjoyed it.

Speaker 4 (01:16:07):
I really appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Appreciate listen. No cash for your podcast with Miss Sylvia Morrison.
See you next week. Salute Salo