Jamie Foxx and the Art of Public Transparency

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Can laughter really bring you to tears while offering profound life lessons? Jamie Foxx's recent comedy special does just that, blending humor with emotional resonance in a way that echoes the genius of legends like Richard Pryor and Martin Lawrence. We dive into the incredible performances, particularly the heartwarming moments shared on stage between Jamie and his daughter. As the public grapples with rumors and speculation following Jamie's health scare, we dissect the weight of expectations placed on celebrities to share personal narratives. Through this lens, we explore how Jamie's transparency contrasts with the private approaches of stars like Martin Lawrence and Beyoncé, and marvel at his graceful navigation of public attention and misinformation.

Health is more than just physical; it's a complex tapestry woven from personal stories, societal dynamics, and identity. Our conversation traverses these landscapes, reflecting on how aspects like race and gender frame our health experiences, from childhood to adulthood. Jamie’s journey becomes a touchstone for broader discussions on the interplay between personal health and societal context, highlighting the unique challenges faced by diverse demographics. As we explore these themes, we invite you to join us in our ongoing series of thought-provoking discussions, where we uncover the layers of identity, health, and public life.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up y'all?
We are here on a mobile quickreview for the Open Book Podcast
of the Jamie Foxx Show.
What had happened was we justfinished watching it.
It's something that we had onthe docket for a while.
We, like yo, we got to get tothis.
We knew we had to watch it.

(00:21):
We are, we, you know our familywe will.
I will say, me and Bae as acouple, we watch a lot of good
comedy specials.
Yeah, we do, and we have whenwe have, and you know I grew up
on this was like a mainstay inour household, watching these
kind of specials, stand-upspecials, so.

(00:45):
But I was just telling Bae, likeyou know to know to finish that
like it was so powerful, moving, bring you to tears, have you
rolling.
Honestly, I remember watchingRichard Pryor live on the Sunset
Strip, watching Bill Cosbyhimself some of the greatest of
all time, even the one thatJamie Foxx is honoring Martin
Lawrence Runtel that, yeah, it'sup there with those.

(01:08):
To me, eddie Murphy Raw, it'sup there with those, in my
opinion, because it's so funny,yeah, and so moving.
It's very emotional At the sametime, like I literally was
rolling and couldn't stoplaughing but was also crying and
couldn't stop crying in thesame special.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, and I mean, you know it's to see him in the
space that he is now and towatch him relive that.
It's tough.
It's tough to watch, but, um,it was so powerful to to be, for
him to be able to share hisstory and feel safe enough to

(01:50):
allow his emotions to be whatthey were and to bring his
daughter out and to have herplay and perform together.
It was very moving and all ofthe jokes were hilarious and he
was right, everybody did.
Even after the special, it wasso many people that came back
and still said that he wascloned.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Do y'all believe in cloning?
Do y'all believe this ishappening to people?
Hit our Facebook page and tellus?
Do y'all think that?
I mean because we see peoplesaying that all the time.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
All the time About everybody right.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
I'm a little shocked on this one, right?
Because you know like whenpeople said Dave Chappelle was a
clone, I was like I don'tbelieve in that stuff.
But I can see why y'all wouldsay that he do seem like an
entirely different person.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
He looks different, his body's different, his voice
is different.
Yeah, but Jamie Foxx?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
is exactly the same, like I different about it.
I mean he just look a littleolder.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And I mean, you know he had a couple of twitches and
things on, you know, as he wasgoing through, but I mean he had
a stroke.
It's like I think so manypeople get caught up.
I mean, yes, these people havevery public lives, but sometimes
just shut up, I mean everythingdon't need to be voiced.
It's you know, it's so manythings out there, you see, and

(03:06):
it just be like like everybodygot an opinion about everything.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
it's like you, it's fine for you to have an opinion,
but you ain't gotta blast iteverywhere you go.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
It's like, just let people be like.
You know people go through somereal serious stuff and
everybody got an opinion on whatit is trying to track them down
, you know trying to had a viralmoment, and you know it don't
even really be that deep forreal, like move on, just move on
, just move on.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
One thing I will say, though.
I think, in all fairness, whenyou are a public persona who has
made a living off you know thepublic showing you love and
giving you their money.
Yeah, people do have a vestedinterest in your life, but I
don't think you need to be like.
I think the way it worked outfor Jamie is the way it should

(03:45):
work right.
When he had an emergency, hewent to the hospital.
His family kept the press away.
I think people need to stayaway in the moment to let them
deal with it privately, but I dothink, as a public persona, you
do have a responsibility tocome back and tell your audience
what happened when you can't,and I thought Jamie did a great

(04:07):
job of doing that.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
I don't believe that.
I personally don't believe that.
I don't feel.
I feel like if I want to shareit, I will, but if I don't want
to share it I'm not going to.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I feel that but even if you don't share it, people
going to try to crack in becausethat's how your life is set up.
Now People are going.
So I think I thought Jamie, andI think like the last thing
that he did, where he said youknow, if y'all still out there
calling me a clone F you.
But then he said, no, I don'twant to end it like that.
If y'all prayed for me and gaveme good words, thank you.

(04:40):
I thought that was the perfectway to address it, because there
are people who do have a vestedinterest in your life and the
details of it out of a lovingway, and I thought he did a
great job through the wholeprogram of showing those people
I love you back.
Thank you for all the support.
Here's what happened to me.

(05:01):
I know you want to know.
I thought he did a great joband still saying some people
were saying the wrong thing,Some people was disrespecting my
sister did a good job keepingthem out and TMZ want to run
with the wrong type of stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I thought he did a really good job of circling the
whole thing.
In my opinion, yeah, he didgood, but I mean I also feel
like Martin.
I mean you know everybody,what's wrong with Martin?
Something wrong with Martin andhe came on and was like I'm
good and left it at that, likeyou don't have to.
I mean, look at Beyonce.
She never comes out and saysanything and let people say
whatever it is that they think,and they still support her.
They still.
Some people hate her, somepeople love her, most people

(05:38):
love her and I mean it just iswhat it is.
She is who she is, regardlessof what people think or have to
say.
I mean, even with this whole JCsituation, you know they, she
didn.
She didn't, came on and saidnothing.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
She didn't say anything when we fought.
She didn't say anything in thevideo in the elevator.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
She never says anything and that's because you
know that's her prerogative.
She don't have to and I justkind of I feel like that.
I mean I don't have to sayanything.
You can either support me ornot, but I don't have to.
You know, I'm going to be who Iam, I'm going to put out this
music.
You don't have to buy it, Idon't owe anybody anything.
So you know, you purchasing mymusic or you come and watch my
movie or whatever, you havinginterest in me is because that's

(06:18):
something that you want and Idon't.
I mean, I just that's me.
I don't feel like I owe anybodyanything and I'm not, you know,
obviously, my family, but likejust if I'm famous and you know
I mean.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
But that's like I said that's me.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
I don't feel like I need to buy into that.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
I definitely can understand that.
I don't agree with it.
I don't think it can be everthat one-sided.
I don't think that's just theway.
It's never going to work evenlythat way.
I do understand that, though,and I think a lot of people want
that.
I think Beyonce has cultivatedthat kind of thing.
I think a lot of it depends onthe kind of relationship you
have with your fan base.

(06:51):
Some of it is an authentic,loving relationship like what we
saw play out with Jamie andthat audience in Atlanta and
maybe a lot of comedians wouldbe that way where you have a
growing kind of evolvingrelationship, one-on-one, with
people and they come out to seeyou and they talk back to you,
and you talk back to them andyou see them in public.
So you know there is arelationship there.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, you know.
Well, I mean, I understand that.
But I mean, even then you lookat the beehive, it's formed by
people.
She's never come out and saidanything about the beehive being
formed, being created, beingrepresenting her.
She's never come out and said athing you know.

(07:33):
So it's just kind of it can goboth ways.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, I think it can.
But yo shout out to JamieReally dope to see him doing
well he did a really good job.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
It was nice to see him sing and see him play and
you know do all the differentcharacters.
It was really really good.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, I thought he showed everything.
He showed everything that he'sgot.
He showed that he still got it.
I think everybody would haveloved him even if he didn't
still have all of it, but hestill got all of it and I
thought that was dope.
I thought he was really honestto talk about the details of him
not being able to walk.
I mean it was very reminiscentof Richard Pryor to me, richard

(08:11):
Pryor telling on stage whathappened to him when he burnt up
and how he had to have peoplebathe him and he couldn't walk
and couldn't talk and peoplereported that he died in the
news.
I thought it was extremelyreminiscent of that.
I thought it was really dope,very honest, to talk about
exactly what happened.
I thought it was really dope,very honest, you know, to talk
about exactly what happened.
I thought it was really good.

(08:32):
It brought his daughter out andit tore me up.
Really good, really good.
Great job, jamie Foxx man.
Excellent transparency, honestyand talent.
His talent is through the roofand always has been.
That dude is a dude.
I think it matches up well withhis first special what was the
name of that one when he wasplaying the piano?

(08:54):
I can't remember the name of it, but it was.
I know we watched it abajillion times because I think
I was always so surprised at howmusically talented he was, but
I think a lot of people weresurprised at how funny he was,
stand-up wise.
Yeah, I can't remember the nameof it, but it was way back late

(09:14):
90s.
He was playing the piano onstage, just like he was in this
one.
This was before all of thealbums and all of that stuff.
It was a bookend to that.
That was the beginning and thiswas the newer version of that.
Yeah, there you go.

(09:35):
I think that's it.
I don't know, does it haveyears on those?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
93, 97.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, it probably was 90.
I don't know, I don't know.
Y'all Let me know if y'all knowwhat was the stand-up special
he did on stage where he toldjokes, played the piano and all
that.
But yo, I couldn't wait for himto do Ray.
Yeah, I know, but he did RayCharles.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
I was like yo yeah, man, jamie had so many hits.
You know, any Given Sunday wasone of my favorites.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yes, that was your joint, all of them were.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean, he's just a phenomenal talent and it was so
nice to be able to see him shinehis light after you know him
being quiet and you know himgoing through a health issue.
So I'm going to segue into ournext show.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
It's actually going to be about health.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
It's going to be about health, where we talk
about you know looks like forsome people and what the
aftermath of that looks like,and so, yeah, it was really nice
to see what the aftermath ofthat looks like for Jamie.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, so stay tuned with us.
We're going to hit on health.
I think we probably have two orthree shows out of that,
because there's physical health,there's mental health, there's
all of that stuff, and we'regoing to address it.
What does it look for us?
What has our journey been like?
What is it to deal with that inmarriage?
What is it to deal with that inindividual life?
What is it to deal with thatwhen you're black?

(11:05):
What is it to deal with thatwhen you're a woman, when you're
a man, when you got kids, allof that man, these things that
we got to start to talk about asa community and as a family man
, what are you bringing with youfrom your past?
from your youth, your childhood,what you bringing with you.
Look at that.
So stay tuned with us, y'all.
But thanks for chopping it upwith us about my man, eric

(11:26):
Bishop, aka Jamie.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Folks.
See, we can keep it nice andshort and sweet.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
You know, yeah, this was one of our scenes.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Alright.