THE BIG INTERVIEW - Donnell Rawlings on Dave Chappelle, “I’M RICH”, Life Before Comedy, and Upcoming Special

THE BIG INTERVIEW - Donnell Rawlings on Dave Chappelle, “I’M RICH”, Life Before Comedy, and Upcoming Special

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another episode Oh the Big, The Big Interview Podcast. Probably one
of the most iconic phrases in sketchtelevision. Oh yeah, it was a
rep raising sketch. I'm driving thetruck full of cigarettes right. First off,
I didn't have a driver's light,so they didn't ask me. I'm
just like, I'm not gonna belike I'm gonna drive. I gotta hit

(00:22):
this mark. I can't run thislight. It's a real light. The
ladies right there on the apple box. I gotta take the keys out because
you can't hear the engine. Thatwill mess up to sound. I gotta
lean over and I gotta deliver thisline right. And I did it about
six or seven times. I couldnot get it right right, And then
Neil Brennan said, Donelle, wedon't got all day for this. Either

(00:42):
you get it or we're gonna cutit. And out of frustration, I
was like, Hai, rid bigboys, neighborhood, alrighty, he's back
in the neighborhood. Ladies and gentlemenDownie Rawlings, welcome back to the neighborhood.
Broads flying Hi, you know howI feel? Man? Why when
people do peez? I don't knowthe word. I never know no words
and no song, but but youknow enough, I know the probably like

(01:04):
and I'm feeling good. Heymen,let me tell you, I don't even
know what's all you're saying, NinaSamone feeling good? Okay, okay,
commercial my thing is this, manI am. It's not gonna get cleared
on our YouTube channel anyway. Sobut you know you sung it's so bad
it might you know, saying Ididn't know we was going to start.

(01:26):
I had a different attitude from thelast time I came here. I said,
I'm gonna be nice even though youmean to me. You know,
it's like it's called passive aggression,not at all. And this is like
because I'm in therapy now, okay, all right, the therapy is my
weed dealer, all right, andI'm learning how to deal with people,
like with your personality as people knowyou. And I said this before,

(01:47):
it to be a nice, gentleperson, right, but I don't always
see that, all right? Right? Yeah, wait, nasty to me.
That's all I'm saying. I'm nasty. And the text messages you sent
me what I wasn't clear inconcise onit? Right ride the time frame of
when you respride. Then I sayto myself, Donille, people have lives,

(02:08):
they have other things, and Ican't expect him to text me right
back. But it's been like twomonths that you text me and no response.
Oh my god, bro, doI need to pull up the text
right now? Show that you area liar at the streets? Say where
the receipts right right the street?Say okay, so you so you text

(02:30):
me? You text me, andthen I wait two months. I waited
two months to hit you back.Alrighty, here we go. Okay,
all right, let me go toyou're Donnelle rollings right, yeah, alrighty,
here we go. Alrighty now itsays on it's got a lot of
scrolling going on over there because wehad a lot of conversation. Alrighty.

(02:53):
So on Monday, okay, soTuesday of September nineteenth, you hear me
and you said, which sounds likeyou? And why did I read this
in his voice? You know whatI'm saying now, this is where you
got me a Can I come upnext week? That was on Tuesday to
nineteenth. Personally, I didn't seethat. Oh, because things are going

(03:15):
down. It's closed nothing but thenI came back a week later, No,
not a week later. I cameback the following Monday. A week
later. It's Tuesday, all right, so you said two months. So
then all right. I might havebeen off with that time, but you
know, disrespect it still in thattime, I should have started. I
should have started here. Wait wait, so no, this is Tuesday.

(03:38):
Then I came back, and thenyou said, I don't want to be
that guy, so on and soforth, but you wanted to come and
do the show, which I lovehaving you on. I hit you back
immediately. You hit me at twelveo six, and I immediately hit you
back the next hour, and Isaid, donell what day is your show?
Where is it at? And thenyou came back. You said,
Irvine, twenty ninth through the firstThen I came back. That was at

(04:00):
one o seven. I came backat one ten. I said, when
he got guilty, you got guiltyat guilty because I wanted to come back.
I wanted you guilty. I wantedyou in the neighborhood. And then
you realized how how tricky it gotwith this dude. Was like, man,
I said, can you come inon Thursday? Then you waited three
three hours before you hit me,but get no. And then when you

(04:24):
when you came, I said,can you come in? I gave him
the time he came in that littlecorner thumbs up. We don't book shows
like that. I just know that'show corner. And so then I came
back and I said, are yougood for that slot? Is that what
you mean by that modern day me? And then he said I dropped it,
and then he sent me a damnegg plan. I didn't do that.

(04:46):
That was a TYPEO. I said, turney man first, turn first,
Adam twenty two and Drake. Nowthis dude sending me man, that
was supporting your diet. I wantedto be consistent on what you like to
eat right right right? Yeah,I ain't even going there with you.
Well, welcome back to the neighborhood. I'm excited about it, man.

(05:09):
And I was like, what doI gotta do. I don't have a
grand I've been working thirty years,I've been building a resumes, and I'm
like, what do I gotta doto get up here? Because for years
I was on the East coast rightand I knew about the legend that this
big boy, but I never thoughtthat I were actually people on the East
Coast. For some reason, theynever unless you're here, you never think
that you'll be on the show.So the first time I came, I

(05:29):
felt like it was a checklist ofpeople I wanted to work with or people
I wanted to sit down with,legends like yourself. That's why I was
excited the first time. Man,let me tell you the second time,
I'm trying to sell tickets at everybody. Right. It was good, But
I want to tell you straight up, man, like for you, I'm
a fan first. You know whatI'm saying. I'm a fan first,
Bro, I've been a fan ofyour comedy for years, and not just

(05:50):
talking about when you jump on withDave Chappelle. I'm talking about you always
being funny to me. So anytimethat you hit me up, man,
I was like, what, Irvine, You're gonna blame some out there come
through. I appreciate that, andI'm glad you said that, because there
is no way for me not tobe associated with the Chappelle brand, especially
what we did on that show,be touring him whatever. But what I

(06:11):
tell people is that I do havean identity of my own. Even when
I tell people. I tell peoplethis, I'm mental people. I talked
to people. I said, youcan't get caught up in somebody's dreams so
much that you forget what your realitiesare. Wow, you know. And
I think even though I was apart of that iconic show, like I've
stood on my own for thirty years, yes, sir, you know,
and the thing that's happening for me, I feel like something really specialists happening

(06:35):
right now. I've been funny fromthe first time I ever touched the mic,
I gotta stand in ovation really andI don't. And it was because
I used to go to this comedyclub and I would have gold people.
Yeah, man, And I sharedthat story with you, and it was
almost like the audience was rooting forme to do it. If you go
to a lot of comedy clubs,you'll see somebody in the background as a

(06:55):
heckler. You're like, he probablycould do it, he should try it.
I finally tried it. They gonnastand to know. And I was
telling somebody the other day, afterthirty years, every year I feel like
I get better every year, Iget more motivated every year. I ask
myself, what can I do togo to the next level. And I'm
talking about a guy that's been funnyfor years, you know what I'm saying.

(07:15):
And I'm like, even though mycareer is going this way, I'm
like, how can I What's what'sgonna make the rocket, What's gonna take
me out of the atmosphere? Andthis year, I feel like this is
the year that it's gonna be explosive. And that's being consistent for thirty years.
But it's something special. You feelsomething different, Yeah, like different
even like I just if people thatfollow me on Instagram they notice that.

(07:39):
Even on my attire when I domy shows, I used to be a
graphic T shirt guy, g andguy, which I still do it at
time. But now I'm starting tosuit up. I'm starting to see I'm
telling you for people like, oheat corny heat wearing suits. The reaction
you get from real women, Ohhell when you suit it up. This

(08:01):
is where you know you nice whenyou hear this. Okay okay, But
I'd be like this, Oh Isee you, okay, come through suit
all that type of stuff. Heyman, is this down there rawlings geared
that you're wearing? Ready here?Yeah, So I was gonna do something
else. I was like, no, I mean, if it's any chance
for me to bread myself a dryou can get a Donna Rawlins dot com.

(08:24):
Amen. So you did start offkind of just And when you say
hecklers can do it, hecklers reallycan't get on stage. Hecklers are good.
A lot of hecklers are good fromthe audience. They're good on the
block with the homies, but it'stotally different when you get a mic.
Why don't you step up there byyourself now? But hecklers are usually cowards,
right, that want to do it, but just can't push that button

(08:48):
to do it, you know whatI mean. And it's hard to make
that transition. You that what scaredYeah, I just didn't know. I
never wanted to be a comedian.I just like being an a hole in
the audience right right that everybody playingthat position that was trying to be funny
don't work. I'm like, thatis my job. I could put it

(09:09):
back there. But once I starteddoing I was like, I could never
heckle anybody. But it's a toughtransition. But when it happens and it
pops, like when I did thefirst time I got on first stae.
I knew that this was what Iwas gonna be doing wrest What material do
you write going from a heckler inthe crowd to getting on stage and getting
a standing ovation though I don't whatis just life? It was life?

(09:33):
Yeah, it was just observation.I'm gonna tell you someone that really inspired
me when I first started the firsttime I saw Martin Layin's life and this
is when he was I just didthe you so crazy special? I was
like this dude. I watched himat the comedy Connection to greenb but that's
where I first started, and Iwas like, this dude is talking about
regular stuff. Like everything that hesaid, I could relate to the uncle

(09:56):
that goes to the party, likedating it. I mean, it wasn't
Martin wasn't like his comedy wasn't supercomplex. It was just like, this
is a dude I want to havea beer with, I want to smoke
a joint with, or just hangout with. You know. It wasn't
genius material. And when Martin firststarted, he was more animated, physical,

(10:16):
ain't just funny looking. He's justone of those people like as soon
as you see him, you wantto laugh. When I remember watching him.
I'm like, everything he's saying,I've experienced in life, and that
kind of gave me some excitement abouttrying to do it this again. I
was still that coward, heckler guydidn't do it. But once I did
it and it popped for that firsttime, I said, this is what

(10:37):
I'm gonna be doing for the restof my life. And I had to
figure out a way to get firedfrom my job. What kind of job
were you doing? Oh, butdidn't you want to be a police officer
at all? You want to bea police officer? You did? That
was the field I chose being inthe military. So when you're trained or
whatever you do in the military,for the most part, when you get

(10:58):
out, that's the job. You'rea force. I was thank for your
service. You know what's so funnywhen people say thank you for your service.
I'm like this, I was inthe military. I wasn't patriotic,
right, you know your serious waslike, thank you for your cirta.
No, no, no, Iwasn't patriotics. I was in the military.
White people and black people in themilitary for different reasons. You asked,

(11:24):
white and wife is in the military? Protect this great nation. Sir.
Yes, yes, sir sir,they do all that. Why are
you in it for the benefits?Right? Get off the block transition.
I wasn't trained or anything to getoff the block. And that was like
sometimes we go might as well likeman, Well, same with relationships.
You've been dating somebody for fifteen years, get married. Well, it's a

(11:48):
lot of my as well Americans.I was a my as well military guy,
right, and everybody like you,just like you. I saw it
in your face. You was likethis, thank you reserves. Now,
I will tell you this if anybodyis listening to this, Brough and I'm
telling you now, if you wouldhave relied on me to save your life,
you and everybody in this room wouldhave been in the body bag.
Y'all would have died. Y'all wouldhave died. I would have ducked away

(12:11):
from the bullets. And the reasonwhy I know you would have died because
in the military, you have exercises, Right, you go through your training,
but then they have to simulate awar situation just to see if you're
prepared. My first base, Iwas stationed in Coonsan, Korea. We
had nuclear weapons on that base.Right. It was a serious base.
That's why we were there. Peoplelike, why you in Korea because us

(12:35):
position we got in case we gottapop pop anybody right there. So when
they do the siren, that meansthey're simulating like you being attacked. Right,
every time that siren went off,and the siren lasted like three minutes,
I was dead in the first tenseconds. Really the casualty, damn.

(12:56):
And I'm gonna tell you why,because us when you die in a
similated war, they got to seewhat everybody's functioning at their job. So
the people have to come out.You know, you don't just leave people
dead in the field. People gotto go out there and get them,
right, you got to go pickthe body, right, so you get
no one man left behind, nobodyleft behind. So you got to test
the hospital situation. But so whenyou fake die, they come get you,

(13:20):
right, they take you to thegym for the rest of the fake
war. Right. So, needlessto say, all the black people,
yeah, yeah, what's dead inthe gym? All the white boys said,
paint on their face. They stilllow crawling like mayday I got a

(13:43):
ninety provo didn't strike the black people. It's like just amen, you was
like I'm balling. You know.Earthquake was in the Air Force as well,
and my man was like, man, he said that he had to
get out here. Was like,man, they talking about real war.
Yeah. My man was like,man, I was practicing. But my
man said he dropped the new clearbomb on accident. He did. Yeah,

(14:03):
man, he said he was tryingto get you to Luther Campbell to
live cruise show. Oh my god, and he was rushing and dropped the
new clear bomb and they had toshut down everything. That's why if you
go to war, you need tohave white boys on your team. They
really would die for because I'm likethis, man, if you see me
run, you run exactly. Yeah. Yeah, And that was me.

(14:24):
I died on every exercise. SoI do appreciate you saying thank you for
your service, right, but youcan't get real though. I was honest.
But for me, I was seventeenagain, didn't know what I was
gonna do with my life. AndI'm telling you, in some communities,
the military is the like you said, might as well, the next best
thing, the best transition you canhave. And first time I ever had

(14:45):
a credit card, first time Iwas on an airplane, first time,
I got to see people outside ofthe DC area, get the new people,
so get to meet new people fromdifferent places. So I'm no disrespect
to it. It was good forme at that time, and I appreciate
the opportunity to gave me to besomewhat of a good And you come home
and you were thinking about getting onthe police force. Yeah, I was.

(15:05):
I was close. I was.I was waiting to be I passed.
I took the test. I thinkI was waiting for the psychological exam
from to the a DC police officer. So in the interim, I was
going back to uh, what whatwas I doing? I was head of
security for grocery chain. I heardthat safeway go ahead, now I can

(15:28):
see your safeway. I don't know. I'm looking at you. I can
tell what you're about to laugh safeweightNo man, no, no, no,
no, no man. These peoplebeen working up when you do this,
like I'm just saying, man likethat, You're like, I can't
believe you know. I was.I was over five hundred pounds, man.

(15:48):
I did a lot in safe Wayas well. Man, right,
so shout out to safe Way andI felt secured going in there. You
know what I know my security forcewas protecting yes man, yo, but
I'm telling you I was head ofsecurity for what does that mean? Had
a security ass safeway? It meansprotecting produce, all right. It means

(16:15):
protecting taylanol in our seventeen yes,I remember. It means and these are
the high valued items, right right. It means protecting pampers on the streets,
what about infan mal any of thebaby all of those things. And
I know you're joking, but Itook my job seriously. No, no,
I'm a right. Let me tellyou something from our four to fifteen

(16:37):
lockdown, right, and who wasout our four to fifteen who had that?
I didn't worry about it, butthat you. I focused on the
high valued, high valued aisles.Okay, I was. I was a
general And the reason why I wasa general because I designed the uniforms and
I just made myself a general.Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm like,
hey, man, what you wantto be? I'm like, give

(16:59):
me a Starn't you gonna do toprotect this great to protect this great safeway?
Man? And I'm telling you Iused to and and I look back
and I was like, how wasthat so serious? I used to chase
crack heads out there. You putyour life on the line. There a
safeway dove over sharping, Yo.I was like, you're not gonna get

(17:22):
out of here with that. Itook it serious. But hey, man,
did you ever have anybody to tellyou man? Like, man,
you're taking your job too serious?Yeah? All the fees right, Yo?
You see to be like this,Oh you're protecting the white man's Yeah.
Man, yeah, you ain't gonnaget no money off of that.
I didn't know you was Johnny's safeway. Yeah. But but and this is
how I got into comedy. SoI used to work in this one particular

(17:45):
safe I have five of them.I wasn't just that guy I had,
like I super but I was likefive different stores. But you drive to
each each one of them too.Yeah, and I want I'm gonna tell
people where, Yo. I wassuch the yo. I used to fake
my expense account. Oh oh sooh yeah, so you were out there.
I used to leave, go homeor go smash somebody. Now come

(18:11):
back to work and clock all likethat's a full day of work. I
heard that, man, But Ilove how you said you used to abuse
your what was it your expensive countexpect Oh yeah, hey, man,
I know one guy that does thattoo. Man. Yeah, I was
awful. I was so awful,and I know law war was wasn't for
me when I left. When Ileft that job, I was getting unemployment
right, unemployment for six months,and that was my cushion. When I

(18:33):
moved to New York, I waslike this, okay, I got and
I was getting the max at thetime. I was like, if I
get unemployment, like I don't haveto worry about I have to work immediately.
And I was like, one timethey sent me a check, my
last unemployment check, right, Ilost it right, And I told him.
I was like, I lost acheck. So they did a reissue
of the check, right, andthen some kind of way the Lord,

(18:56):
the Lord. But when I tellyou, how good God is check that
I lost? I found it right. And what I used to do is
cast my checks at the Safeway becauseeverybody knew me. And I walked in
there, I had a I knewthis check was hot. Yeah, yeah,
I knew. I wasn't supposed tocheck this joy. I didn't even
look at the lady in her facewhen I put it. I was like,
I was like, she gave youthat money. I was like,

(19:21):
see yup, yeah, man,right, And I was dating one of
the investigators of Safeway. I wasdating his daughter at the time, and
he called me here. I washis case he had to find out to
that check right. He was likedone, I don't know what you did,
but you might not want to comearound him. I was like,

(19:42):
you ain't never see me again.I got this money, I spent it,
went to New York and never lookedback. Damn. But this is
I get. So it paid meand it was like hundred dollars. That
was a lot of money for upand coming comment. Hey man, did
you leave d C to New Yorkfor comedy? Yeah? Is that?

(20:03):
And when you look back it looksgenius? But is that scary to you
at this that's the scariest thing.That's a great question because I've been doing
it long enough nowadays when you lookat how people get on with comedy.
Right back in the day, thirtyyears ago, you had to be in
New York, LA to make it. There was nowhere around it. You
wasn't gonna be seen in Toledo,Ohio, Wisconsin. Just work on no

(20:25):
social media, none of that.You had to be in the place.
That's back when producers and directors andthey had showcases. People used to go
out and see and see talent.And that was in DC. That was
the first sign that you were reallyserious. When you say he left,
Wow, Martin left, Tommy Davisonleft. I'm gonna tell you somebody that

(20:45):
didn't left that should have left.Chris Thomas. I don't know if you
remember christ Mayor, the mayor ofRap City. Yeah, And Chris Thomas
was ahead of everybody because Whoopi Goldbergused to do these specials, right,
This is when specials were actually specialand we and we watched them. We
watched them, anticipate them, like, oh, guests, who's coming out?

(21:06):
And Chris, he never made thatjump. And for me, my
jump came from goodfriend. And Ialways thanking for this Royal Watkins, right,
Royal Watkins, good friend of mine. He's heavily into producing and directing.
He's really connected with Mike Epps Brand, Kevin hart Brand, and he's
produced a lot of specials that youmay not know about. But he was

(21:27):
before me a DC guy and heused to always come to DC and flex
like I'm in New York because thatwas a big deal. Yo, you
to New York. And he's alwayssay, Donnie, I'm telling you come
up. If you want to comeup, you can stay with me.
And I know he was saying that, like he know I would never take
come on up. You know peoplesay that the invitation that you never never

(21:48):
use. I think it was ona Monday, I said, Yo,
I'm moving to New York. Hesaid, when I said, Friday,
right, I had my military stillhad my military defo bag. I think
I had like forty five dollars analarm in a handful of clothes. I
went up and I stayed on hiscouch for a while. Wow. And
then we got a bigger place.But he was really the connection. I

(22:10):
really don't know if I would haveever moved here if I didn't have a
place to stay, you know,because scary thing is man to New York.
And like I tell her, backthen, it was like you you
had to leave Dave Chappelle. Heleft. But Dave Chappelle left DC.
I think he was like sixteen,he was, right, yeah, yeah,
yeah. He was already in theclubs and everything. And that was

(22:32):
did you know Dave early on?I knew of it right, because being
a comic from DC, you alwaysask who left and who's the hot person?
Right? And the crazy thing aboutit was I would when I started,
I made death comedy Gym. Iwas on doing comedy for six months.
Damn six months. I had him. So you go from being a

(22:56):
Safeway leaving and you don't have tosecure being ahead of general general man.
No, no, no, no, listen, General do it right,
being in general of Safeway with fivelocations and one star that you put on
your but one star, you don'tmatter how to start. You leave this

(23:21):
security, and then six months lateryou're on television. Yeah, let me
tell you something. I was onfire when I was doing it for three
months. People thought I was doingit for a year. Like I used
to be so serious. I usedto write everything down. I was just
I was just that guy. Asidefrom comedy. Was that always a drive

(23:41):
where you knew, like anything thatI do, I'm gonna I'm gonna do
well. I don't uh somewhat,but particularly to comedy, that was okay.
You knew that. I never likemost people when you talk about and
then start their career, they sayall they talk about I want to be
famous I want to be rich.I didn't want to do any of that.

(24:03):
I wanted to be good, andI knew that if I'm good,
everything else is going to fall intoplace. Because I never thought about that's
when I started. I never waslike when I was ten, eleven,
twelve, like I want to bea comedian. It just so happened that
I just slid into it. Butyou already had like quite a bit of
life in the rear view mirror,with the military, with working already,

(24:29):
you know. So yeah, andyou do hear people early on that say
I want to be a comedian.I always knew, and nowadays you can
see with social media somebody can getsomething hot viral and then they become that.
Right. I don't know if that'swhat exactly what happened to me.
It was just by It was justan accident. But even the way I
got introduced to the stand up therewas a guy, my friend, Mike

(24:52):
Washington. He used to work forHostess Cupcake company. Right, please,
you can put a laugh at it. Right now, you're like, this
dude's general hanging out with Peter work. But that was a good job.
But you know what, sometimes yougot to walk off your throne and go
down there. Yeah, I knowI did it. I did it.
I demoted myself once. But hewould come. He was he was,
he had this job by day andat night he would do stand up.

(25:15):
So and the reason why I gotintroduced at that club was he would give
our free tickets to the club.So that's why I first started going to.
Me and a whole bunch of peoplethat work with we would just go
just for fun, right, Andthat's what led to me being a heckler
doing it, and thirty years later, never ever ever look back and can't
consider doing anything else. I neverdreamt of this. Never was like if

(25:37):
you asked me, when you askedme when I was younger, when you
want to be my first thing,I would say was an architect, right,
But then I wasn't really good math. That's not a good job,
man, And then I said maybeexactly. I was like, well,
maybe I'll be a carpenter. Butthen I would bust my thumb. It
didn't make sense. I never didn'tknow what I was going to do.
And the point I'm getting to Iwas talking to my son the other day,

(26:00):
right, and I said, Austin, we don't really talk about it.
I said, what do you wantto be when you grow up?
He said, I want to bea comedian and an entertainer. Wow.
The normal reaction would be like happiness, but then I was like I was
a little upset. And the reasonwhy because it's so hard to make it

(26:22):
in this business. And you know, I know the level of rejection,
the evilness, the devil how manytimes people gonna tell you no, the
people are gonna hate it. AndI was like, do you have any
other option? He was like no, that's hit daddy, right. And
I was like, what about you? Ever thought about being a doctor or
lawyer or I was like, okay, be funny in a different profession,

(26:44):
right, Because I'm telling you entertainment, I don't. It's it looks good
when you get to a certain levelof success, but to get to that
point, it's so tough. Andthis is being an old dad and why
I'm so soft. And I said, so why do you want to be
entertainer? Community? He said,because you inspired me, daddy, damn.

(27:06):
And look, I was like,oh all right. I had to
wipe that too off and get backto my gangs. And then I punched
them and it's just right out here. Feel we get And how old is
your son? Stop my service?Man? Not at all? Man.

(27:26):
When I said thank you for yourservice, you told me, don't think
you Yeah, I'm confused. Yourson is what like six seven eight years
of age? Yeah, that's gottabe it. And you know it's not
like we blocking our kids blessing orwe don't believe in them. You just
know the journey and you're like,man, I don't I want you to
get but I don't want you togo through this. I don't want to
go so much. But then whenhe said you inspire me, then I

(27:48):
said to myself, well, ifyou if he's really serious about it,
he's going to be way better thanI am. And the reason why I
said, I mentored so many people. I've helped so many people careers like
take off and and and a lotof times people are ungrateful. They never
say thank you whatever. It's like, okay, thank you for that.
Well it's like all right bye.But I'm like, if I could put
that same energy I put into otherpeople as into my flesh and blood,

(28:12):
he's gonna be a beast. Minusthe Joe Jackson beatings and stuff. You
just nah, I don't be Idon't. I think I would have been
a beater if I would have hada kid in my twenties or whatever.
But later on, like, I'mreally like a granddad and a dad in
the same I don't pull my bell, I pull out like chocolates. And

(28:34):
then you know how when the grandparentsthe child to be like, oh,
they never was like that with me. You're saying that you both of them
both. I could win grandfather andFather of the Year in the same year.
Hey man, did you reshoot youruh the comedy special? I'm doing
it good? You. Oh,that's why you're the best. That's good.
Questions November the ninth through the eleventh. I'm doing the New York Comedy

(28:56):
Festival, and we're gonna shoot itagain because you already had shot the Yeah
Comedy Special. Ye, and thenDave told you he Dave was like and
it was a tough thing for Daveto say, because I put a lot
into it and I went from catchinga standing th chest bumping stand Latham high
five of my Dudes, until twoweeks before it's about to be released,

(29:19):
Dave say he wants to do itagain, And this is like a good
test of being able to accept constructivecriticism and look past what your needs are
and what you think. And Davetold me, he said, Donnelle,
it's not that it wasn't funny.He said, I could put you in
front of any audience and you willdestroy the crowd. He said, but

(29:41):
that doesn't make it a great special. I could be in a moment,
don't make it a great special.And I rewinded I did have a lot
of COVID jokes when I did it. It was stuff that would have dated,
you know. And he told me, out of the four people for
the home team, shout out toLenelle her special, just Drop is very
funn Earthquake Special, Tony Woods hasone. And this is not to slight

(30:03):
anybody on that list, but hesaid, down here, you're special.
Out of everybody, is the mostanticipated. And that's because, yeah,
and because of what my connection waswith him in that show, like I'm
forever directly aligned to him. It'slike Batman and Robin Lunella is a comedy

(30:25):
that's been doing thirty years, thatwas deserving of it years ago. He
gave her the opportunity. Earthquake isa guy that's been doing it over thirty
years. Tony Wood's another guy overthirty years. I got thirty years.
So Dave was like, if Hollywooddoesn't see these people, I want them
to see them, you know.And but my particular special, like when

(30:45):
I do these arenas with Dave,nobody knows I'm on the show. Right
when DJ Trauma does the intro,he's like, you know, when Dave
travels, he likes to bring hisfriends out, people still don't know who
it is. You know, you'veseen this guy Hbo the Wire and they
might get a little collapse. Youseeing them on be a Meth might get
a little bit of claps. Butwhen and it's it's just chilling to me.

(31:10):
But when they when he says,but you fell in love with him
as as she Larry on The ChappelleShow eighteen thousand, people go crazy.
And I don't take that from Brandonbecause Chris Rock said, yeah, you're
celebrity. To get you a minuteof like yeah, but then you gotta
go to work after that. Yo. Now, even though they really receptive

(31:33):
of me and excited to see me, it's my job now just to keep
smoking. When those applause fade down, they don't then, but I'm talking
about when they stopped for the boom, then you gotta like, I gotta
work even now. I test myselfwith that even though I was singing that
song Nina Simone feeling good. Iwant to be at zero when I go
on, like when they introduce menow it's like ah, and then I

(31:57):
just let it calm down, letthat Nina kick in, where people like,
what's what's going on? Where isit? And I'm feeling when I
come out, man this sweat.I'm on one right now. I am
unstoppable. Do you feel That's allI was gonna ask. Do you feel
like you're the best you've ever been? Yeah? Why? Because last year

(32:17):
I thought the same thing. Theyear before I thought the same thing,
and I keep on adding adding toit, and I think I'm the best,
uh I've ever been. Mentally,I'm at probably most peaceful place I've
been. I'm successful now a hellout of Dodge too. Though. Man,
you showed me your career where youwere living at you were like,
man, I need a country,need to get away from this because going

(32:40):
back to where we were saying earlier, you don't have to be here anymore.
You know what I'm saying, unlessyou're a situation where you have to
actually be in the building like this, you don't have to be Nope,
in Hollywood, they're not nobody's goingin for auditions anymore. It's all center
self tape. You don't have tobe there. Social media people are blowing
up all over the place. Youdon't have to be there. I'm like,
why why should I like deal withthis one. I can just go

(33:02):
somewhere and just be a piece.And I travel enough. My life is
chaotic enough that when I get offthe road, I go to Yellow Springs,
Ohio, I chill. I getin the backyard, I see deers
and stuff. I listen to birds. I take I know it sounds crazy.
I do nature walks like that.Man, I heard that first nick
after I thought you about saying Ido naked pick no no, Because I

(33:27):
heard that name. I was like, oh no, man, no,
no, no, no, thenature. I've never been naked in a
phrase? What is that was thatshow? Yeah? Yeah, I never
been naked in afrase. I've beenready. Let's go ahead. Hey man,
we were talking today about the girlfriend, the fact I don't know what
your relationship is or any dating butthe girlfriend in fact is they have this

(33:50):
thing where girls are showing their guybefore they got with them and now that
they're with them, and saying thatwomen make men better. What do you
feel about the girlfriend? In fact? I think, I really, what's
that song? I'm a forced bymyself neo? That song explains it all
and most men, I'm good,I'm gonna be good, but you make

(34:13):
me better if in that case.But I do think that the right person
in life will help you, becauseyou know, it's tough trying to be
in the streets. It's tough tryingto juggle chicks, it's tough doing all
the times of you got the rightone, everybody and all these women,
it's the right woman. It's notall of them, it's the right one.
I do believe that a woman canmake you better and put you at

(34:37):
peace. But see, that's theattitude I'm not talking about. You know
what I'm saying, that's right,what you're gonna do without us? Really,

(34:58):
she said nothing even had to turnyour head like who I saw that?
She was like, We'll take that, and I'm gonna throw this attitude
with it too, so you betterrespect it and think, hey, man,
there's gonna be so many people inthe comments like donell, thank you,
yeah, thank you for coming amazingto a flip on that this is
the thing nowadays. Women like allthese queens. I'm a queen. I'm

(35:23):
a queen. Treat me like aqueen. All right, you can get
treated like a queen, but itwon't be before you treat me like a
king first. It goes that way. I'm not gonna clean you up before
you king me up first. Ifyou make me feel like that, then
guess what you are, my queen, and I'll do everything for you.
And not to be totally okay anything. Make sure I was making sure I

(35:46):
was nervous when I said, Iwas like right, is that good?
Yeah? Yeah, okay, yes, you know what I'm talking about.
Do you have an NFL team?Are you at any? Are you that
has been three different teams in likethe last six years, the Washington football
team Commander's Skins, yo, everything? Are you a Commander fan? I

(36:12):
said no, I'm a Skins fer. Yeah, and I'm going to be
a skin hey man. They runout in different jerseys like different, it's
been different, like three different jerseysand names like man, what do you
call them the Washington the Washington Commanderfootball team, skins. Everything, you
gotta wear two helmets on. It'spart of the other side of the name.
Hey, man, have you seenTaylor Swift popping up at these Chief

(36:35):
games and Dayton? What's my manname? This guy is Kelsey. You're
not going to understand this, andthe streets might I'm a Swiftie. See
there you go, another validation.It's me, Hi, I'm the problem.
It's me. At tea time,everybody up Peeze. I stared directly

(37:01):
in the sun, but never inthe mirror. It must be exhausting,
always searching for the ant bro beerand bear and parent Pari. It's me.
It's me. But I'm telling youthat that right here I said it

(37:22):
resonates in my show I'm the Problemof Me, and that that I'm gonna
tell you that song I tell peopleabout. They be like, why are
you listening to? But our DJin the row he was like, I
want to play tennis with And Iwas like, I came out to that
song in a in a in ain a in a state arena of eighteen
thousand people, and all of asudden, I had the whole people.

(37:43):
It's me right, because that songis I said that. People argue with
me. That song is the equivalentto Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror.
It's me thinking about how yes Igot you, I'm going to make change.
It's me Hi for once in mindHi. If you think about the

(38:06):
storyline of both of that, it'ssomebody saying I have to own up to
it and I have to look atit for tell us what to say in
any relationship, any toxic relationship,whatever. The first step to healing is
under understanding where the problem is.It's so easy for to say that crazy,

(38:27):
that crazy. Men always say that'swhat happened to us. So,
man, that's crazy. Did youever look and say, maybe you helped
her be crazy? And you can'tgrow until you say and that. That's
why I'm not a swifty fan,like I know all her songs, but
for some reason, that song it'sme, Hi, I'm the problem.
It's me that's so dope, andI use that. I use that in

(38:49):
some places. I use it asan intro, which leads me into talking
about toxic relationships. And this islike gonna like the reason why and I'm
going back when you say it aboutthe special. I'm so excited about shooting
this next special because the first oneI did it was jokes, right,
it wasn't reflective of me. Butnow everything's come in my mouth. It's
me. I did this when Iwas young, my son this, you

(39:12):
know, and that's the that's atopic that I cover. This special is
gonna I'm talking about co parenting.I'm talking about being an older guy dating
younger right, And it's like somestuff that's like people can relate to.
And when I'm gonna tell you,when I talk about co parenting, I
realized it's a common Sometimes you thinkyou're the only one to think a certain

(39:34):
way, but then when you reallygo deeper, you realize you're not.
Whatever you're going through, it's somebodyout there is going through the same thing.
I used to be embarrassed to talkabout being an older dad. I
didn't want people to make fun ofme, like oh he but I was
like this, I'm not the onlyone. I'm not the only guy that
had a kid later in life thatthought that he was gonna have kids and
then he got blessed and now he'slike that's the biggest thing in his life.

(39:58):
I'm not by myself with that,and that's why when Dave gave me
that criticism, but my show,I said, I want to talk about
stuff that you can relate to globally. Hey man, when Dave told you
you should reshoot the art that youguys were going to reshoot, did you
and I think I asked you thisbefore, did you understand it at that?

(40:19):
In that second I thought he wasnuts And I was like, the
got here because you had to explainthat as a comic. If you tell
somebody we want to shoot it over, the first thing you think is like,
oh, so what you're saying itwasn't funny. That's the first thing.
Not the particulars that he talked about. And you gotta listen to life

(40:39):
you die on the vine like theclass he said, we want to make
a classic, you know, andyou and you talk about somebody that has
five Grammy's. You know they knowwhat they're talking about. You know what
I'm saying, But we I don'tagree with everything he says. What I'm
saying. I'm not that dude.I'm like, yeah, I get that

(41:00):
part, but that part got you. You know what I'm saying, But
do it but and I told himthe other day, I was like,
you know, thank you for firstoff, give me this opportunity and for
being real with me. You know, in my career, people like with
this on my relationship, and peoplelike if it wasn't for Dave, And
I tell people all the time,they like, if it wasn't for David,

(41:21):
I'm like, well, if itwasn't for Charlie Murphy, if it
wasn't for Neil Brennan, if itwasn't for Donnelle Rowlins, if it wasn't
for Rusty Conduff, if it wasn'tfor Michelle Armor, if if it wasn't
for all of these people that wasthe team that made that show happened to
spell show wouldn't have been in show. Right, That's what people miss.
Again, I have my own identity. I appreciate that platform. Even before

(41:45):
Dave say he wanted to do aspecial with me, the reps at Netflix,
Ted Serrano, Robbie Praut, theycame up to Yell Springs, Ohio,
hell to see one of our Cornfieldshows, right, and I smoked
that show. And on their wayback from Ohio to LA at that moment,

(42:06):
they said, we're going to doa special with Donelle, whether Dave's
involved or not. Wow made mefeel good because you know, I'm like
this, it's on my own merit. You know. Even Robbie Prau years
maybe five years ago, I sawhim at an event, and Robbie Prau

(42:27):
is a guy if you every specially, he's a guy that says you're going
to do it. And I askedRobbie, I said, what do I
need to do for us to havea different conversation? Right? And he
looked at me and he said,Donelle, you're one of my favorite comedians.
He said, you want the funniestguys in the country. He said,
you got to understand. We tellpeople know all day what in particularly

(42:53):
me, I didn't get upset,and I was like this, all right,
well I'm gonna you're not going tokeep telling me no. Yeah,
And I'm grateful that I always hekept seeing me. He kept seeing me.
They kept seeing me, you know. Then they saw me in the
corn fields and it was like,that's what it was. But then I
had to play a more gangster rolebecause even though they wanted to give me

(43:15):
a special, I knew that Iwouldn't get top dollar going into it without
the help of Dave. You givewhat I'm saying, you know how I
was like this. I was like, Okay, we could do it.
But I knew that I knew Iwas going to get a certain amount of

(43:37):
money to which half of that wasgoing to production, to which Okay,
this is the piece that launched meto give more money. But I knew
if I waited to have my guynegotiate and do it, it'll be quite
druple time, not much. Sothat's what I did. It paid off

(43:58):
that you're shooting in November. November. Yeah, I'm excited about it.
As at the Hotel Cafe in Manhattan, uh in in Times Square area,
Caroline's Comedy Club. You know Caroline'sComedy Club. Well they they're not in
business anymore, but the same peoplethat produced those shows for years, they
do this festival every year and I'ma part of it. And I didn't

(44:19):
at first. We wasn't scheduled todo the special, but I was like,
Dave, this makes sense. Weboth have a crazy schedule. I
got a scheduled, You got toschedule, but I'm already scheduled to be
here. Let's just drop them cameras. He made a call to Ricky Hughes.
Shout out to Ricky Hughes, oneof the dopest producers to do it,
and stand Lathan. They made thecall and uh, knock on wood

(44:42):
or whatever. We're gonna go throughwith it. But at the end of
the day, it don't matter becausethe check already, they can do whatever
they want. I'm like, y'allain't get that money back, so craft
first with you. You know what. I'm like, You're not getting the
money back, so you better rollold s. But the crazy thing about
it, big boy, is thatsometimes you know, people need specials for

(45:06):
people to be introduced to who theyare. They don't know them from anything,
you know what I mean. It'sjust like, this is the guy,
this is what's going to break him. And I'm not being COCU when
I said this, I don't reallyneed a special. And the reason why
I say it because I got thirtyyears banging these clubs. You know,
my attendance on these shows are goingcrazy. The special is going to take

(45:30):
me to a next level, butthe consistency and my trajectory is already going.
You've been seeing that for years.Yeah, And I think now.
It's like people are like this,They frustrate, like what is he gonna
get a special? You need one? Bert Chrischer saw me at Montreal Comedy
Festival. Him and his wife stoodup and stood up in the back and

(45:52):
watching me do fifty minutes right Andat the end of that, Bert looked
at Robbie Pratt said, what areyou guys doing? Yeah? Man,
know Bert good friend of mine.He was like, Donnie, I'm not
blowing the shirt when he said it, are you okay? Yeah? But
he just teased he had like whatwhat what whatever? You call me breast?

(46:13):
Yeah, but he was just like, what you're doing and this like
that's just like people that have beenknowing me for yours they're really rooting for
me to have the special and thenpeople really feel like it's deserving. Ay
man, And understand when I askyou this being with Dave Chappelle, is
it a gift and a curse?It's not really because I know how to

(46:37):
handle it, you know what I'msaying, Like some people like, there's
no envy, there's no jealousy.It's a gifted curse when you look at
somebody like that could be right rightspot don't do that. It doesn't I
don't do that because I know I'mnice. You know, I know I'm
nice. Anybody validated by me?Yeah, anybody Like people always like Dave's

(47:00):
like, who's one of your favoritecommunity? I was like, David's one
of my favorite communities, and I'mlike this, asks Dave Chappelle who his
favorite one of his favorite communities?And I guarantee you my name of pop
up. So it's a mutual respect. I know I'm nice, and I'm
going to have my time. Thisis his time, you know, Will
I get to that level? It'svery doubtful. I don't have that many

(47:22):
years left to accomplish what he's doneand what he's done for the culture,
humanity and everything. And I don'tthink that I'll have a situation and I
probably said this is the show beforewhere I have that Muhammad a Lei moment
where Okay, what are you goingto make this judgment on your morals,
your carriats and everything. That's whatmakes that's what really makes them special.

(47:44):
And that's not me now entertaining funnyin your face. I give you all
that, you know what I mean, But for people to follow me to
be a leader and all that typeof stuff, and we kind of hit
this conversation on our last get down. But when walked away from that fifty
million, were you in contact withDave or did he just nobody? Yeah,

(48:06):
nobody was in contact with him otherthan the like really really were if
you were in contact with him,which you had said, man, come
back and get this money, oryou already knew like man, it was
bigger they when I said that,because that's a big decision. But I
will say I knew. I feltlike on set, I felt something was
going on. The last time Isaw him before he took off, we
were doing the Mummy sketch Frankenstein.Charlie Murphy was Frankenstein. I was the

(48:31):
Mummy and Dave was a werewolf.Right. It was so funny because Dave
was dressed up like a werewolf andI could see in his eyes something was
going on, right, And thenme and Charlie up were happy. We
got the rich tour going on,you know what I'm saying, Like,
we got that to her going on, were going into the third season.

(48:51):
We happy, and I saw himhe said he said he was like,
I guess fifty millions not enough,and I was like, now I'm dressed
like a mummy, right, Charlie'slike a frank inside, right. So
we look at it like what hell. Yes, I didn't understand it.

(49:13):
Wow, I didn't understand it.And then the next day it was gone.
So he said that to you,I guess fifty. So he didn't
say I think it was just talkingout loud. You know, it was
just like and I was just like, I don't understand what's going on because
I'm not thinking about I'm not dealingwith the behind the scenes. I'm not
dealing with the contract stuff. I'mnot dealing with you know what, Our

(49:36):
ratings are blowing up. We deservemore anything. I'm just in the moment,
and I know every chance that Igive for people to see him in
the show is gonna put more peoplein the seat. I wasn't gonna get
rich off the Chapelle show. Iknew it off the actual show. No.
But if I build the right thingand from that I take the popularity
of that show and bring it backto my brand and my style of commune,

(49:57):
I can't get my money in there. But I never looked at Chappelle's
are like I need this money,I ain't care. They could have paid,
they could have I would have workedfor free, just for the exposure
and just for people to see whatI've been doing for you. Yeah,
because people thought you were making agrip over there, but you said that
you weren't. Yeah, but butthat's but that's the illusion on television.
Yeah. Man, people see onTV. They're like, oh, I
see you break me on something.You know, usually what's up, Hollywood?

(50:22):
Somebody was telling me the other day. I was just talking about when
I was frustrated with the with theunion during the pandemic. When you know
and and and and the union,you have to get a certain amount of
work to qualify for health insurance andstuff, right, And I thought it
was unfortunate during the pandemic where nobodycould work. They was kicking people off
their plans. Wow, you Ijust couldn't. I didn't have an opportunity

(50:44):
to work. You got to makea certain amount before you qualify, and
it's really good health coverage. Ithought that. I thought that that was
like, like really really foul.But you know, hey, man,
when you go from I guess fiftymins is not enough, you said,
Dave, pretty much the next daywas gone and you said you didn't see

(51:05):
him. I remember, man,when the world I told you, when
the world was looking for Dave Chappelle, everybody was. I walked into a
taco stand in Whittier, California,and at three in the morning and I
saw Dave and you probably for me. It was a couple of years after
that, I had that same situationat a comedy club, right, and
it was almost like a ghost becauseI know you've been in this field.

(51:30):
I know you had a lot ofquestions. Right you turned around. He
was like what, Wow? What? And people said when I when I
saw him, people say, howdo you feel? I said, I
wanted to to smack him and hughim at the same time, like it's
mighty been the same time, areyou right? And you know, to
be quite The crazy thing is meand Dave have never had a conversation on

(51:52):
while he left. Wow. Neverbecause to me it wasn't important. When
I saw him, I was like, I see my friend. Ye are
you in spirit mentally physically because whatpeople don't know is that, like he's
one of my closest friends. It'snot somebody that I just worked with.
I mean talking about We've been toweddings together, been to we buried people

(52:14):
together. You know what I'm saying, Like, that's really my brother.
And that's why when I hear likethese groups and everything, when they try
to say the person that he's not, I can really offend it right because
I really know who the person is. I know the person that would do
anything for anybody. I know theperson even though they were people are being

(52:35):
harsh on us during the pandemic,we was doing shows and stuff. But
I know the person that tested anentire time town before people could get tested.
You know what I'm saying. Iknow a person that did everything for
us to be as normal as possible, as safe as possible. I know
a person that's probably spent a halfa million dollars to a million dollars just

(52:57):
on testing people for safety. Sowhen people talk crazy about him, I
always get upset because I know that'snot the person. What keeps you on
the stage. Uh, that isreally like me going to see a psychologist
and I'm just like, there's nobetter feeling than looking to an audience and

(53:19):
knowing and you catch some eyes andyou know somebody just like really needed to
laugh. I like flipping people.People that wanted to have showed resistance like
whatever. I like those people thatstart laughing the hater laugh. I call
it this pert and so you can'tdo it, and it just feels good.
Man, I'm free. And thefact that you know, I've been

(53:43):
able to build a nice career offof my god given talent. Everybody has
a god given talent, but itdepends on what you're gonna put in to
get it to that next level.Hey, once you got into comedy,
you never did anything else. Inever gave myself people like you got.
I never gave myself a plan,bab never never thought about now one time
did I have to go find ajob to support it. But when I

(54:05):
when I first moved from DC toNew York, when the comics didn't really
show me a lot of love andregard to getting on stage for me made
money, what I would do isI would go to like a little lounge
or a restaurant. Right this onespot, particularly in Brooklyn, I went
to They had an open mic andI went there for three weeks. No,
it was hardy, nobody there andI went to them. I was

(54:29):
like, I think I could flipthis and I was like, oh yeah.
I was like, I could turnthis around. So what I would
do for my muscle, I wouldproduce my own comedy nights. I didn't
rely on the comics. I waslike, this, I can get a
night. They could cover my bills, you know. And that was I
used to have. I had thisone room in Brooklyn called Polk Knockers,

(54:49):
and some of the biggest names incomedy at the time we used to come
through. This place. Was sucha spectacle we did on a Monday night.
At that time, we were doinglike, uh, three thou thousand
dollars at the door and food anddrinks was making seven to ten thousand a
night. So the comics they hatedme. And I was getting my bills

(55:10):
paid off of White Night. Iwas like, good. And this is
the thing they didn't understand. Theyknew that I was getting money right.
And it's so crazy that people thatdon't want to put the work in always
want to get broke off. Theywas like, just, oh, you
could pay a lot more. I'mlike, for my work, my hard
work, I got to pay youtop dollar. It ain't gonna happen.

(55:34):
And half the times when I didmy show, it wasn't nobody that was
funny to me on the show anyway, Like the guys used to go up
there. It was like a bathroom. Break the bathroom and smoke a joint
and come back. And I'm notI know people if you don't know me,
people are like, oh, yeah, he's full of anybody if you
check my resume or any thing I'vetold you, if it's anybody was around

(55:54):
that time, everybody was saying hewas. He's not lying about anything.
Man. Well, thank you forcoming into the neighborhood. Man, thanks
to finally answer my text there.It is no. I just had to
that. Man. I just wantto say right now, this is a
man's world. But Joe, shedidn't even listen. Then she's gonna come

(56:17):
back and say, who run theworld? If you say that this is
a man. But but it wouldn'tbe nothing nothing without a woman. You
didn't let it. I know.See, I'm come see this is what
going back to Taylor Swift, it'sme him the problem. I'm the problem

(56:39):
is I'm rich, is you yes, go ahead, I'm rich? Amen?
So where did that come from?It was originally on one of Dave's
stand up jokes years and years ago. I think the special was called Trick
Whitey or something, right, butwhen we were doing that sketch, it
was a reparation sketch a sketch.I'm driving the truck full of cigarettes right.

(57:02):
First off, I gotta hit thismark. I didn't have a driver's
light, so they didn't ask me. I'm just like, I'm not gonna
be like I'm gonna drive. Igotta hit this mark. I can't run
this light. It's a real light. The ladies right there on the apple
box. I gotta take the keysout because you can't hear the engine.
They will mess up to Sam.I gotta lean over and I gotta deliver
this line right. And I didit about six or seven times. I

(57:24):
could not get it right right,and then Neil Brennan said down there,
we don't got all day for this. Either you get it or we're gonna
cut it. And out of frustration, I was like, I read and
that it. Dave saw it andhe put it what really blew it up,
and he put it in the callin the van they cart or whatever
at the end of every show.That's what That's what really stamped it.

(57:45):
But that's probably one of the mosticonic phrases in sketch television. Oh yeah,
when I do when I do thearenas and shows with Dave, we'll
we'll do the show and he'll killit and then he'll bring by everybody up
for curtain call or whatever and deal. He'll be like, Donielle do it
like we did back in the oldday. And I just start taking a

(58:06):
breath and people like, you knowwhat I'm saying. Hey man, we
were talking about how you you woulddo eighteen thousand sedars and then we look
at you know, Irvine improv.Is there a difference, like, because
can you look into a person's eyesbetter when you're in a smaller club intimate?

(58:27):
Yeah, it's more intimate. Ifeel more of a connection when I
do arenas. It feels like I'mdoing it for a TV show. But
in regard to what I put intoit, there's no difference. And I'll
give you an example. It wasjust very popular celebrity chef and I won't
say any names that when my son, when we were having a babysit shower
for stephaniey, I was like,oh, you should it would be nice

(58:50):
people know you, I know you, it would be such a nice surprise
if you coming get a little foodfor And they was like, oh I
got you d no problem. Ohmy god, I'm so happy for you.
And as it got closer, itwent from happy for you too,
talk to my assistant too, itwas and I was like, whoa,
what happened? Right? Like Isaid, and I really want you there.

(59:13):
Don't cook, just show up right, And she got real stink about
it, right, And then shesaid, she said, Donelle, I
don't do open mics. I guessbecause she's at a certain level. She
said, I don't do open mics. Do you do open mics? I
said, do I do open mics? I said, I did a show

(59:36):
at Radio City Musical with Day.I stood up sixty five hundred people standing,
ovation left that stage, got inthe car, went to Brownsville,
Brooklyn, and did a show fortwenty five people. I heard that I
do do open mics, and I'malways gonna do open mics. That's why
these shows when I do the improvirvine, these these are the shows that
have been supporting these these give methe opportunity to comfortable and we want to

(01:00:00):
see you, you know what,And then like and then I'll say this
anybody that, and people start followingme over the years. One thing they
can say is when I do ashow, it's never the same show.
It's so you mean I gotta goto all five? No, Okay,
okay, I have to say no. No. What I'm saying is it's
it's always a surprise there. It'salways me working on something different, you

(01:00:23):
know what I'm saying. And thenit's just the presentation. Even if you
get like if I drop a classicbit, you won't get tired of hearing
it because it just it's just different. Ladies and gentlemen once again in the
neighborhood. Down there rollings, BigBoys neighborhood, neighborhood Eadies. You're plinying
a big boy from Big Boys Neighborhoodon iHeart Radio. We have the most

(01:00:45):
fun on your radio, Big Boyneighborhood. In the neighborhood, Ladies and
gentlemen back in the neighborhood. Welcomeback, Michael Blaxon. You might I
suck. I came to America.You know, kids made fun of me.
It's different. I was a littledarker than everybody else, had an
accent. You know a lot ofthings I didn't know before I came to
America it or not. I didn'tknow it was dark skins. I got

(01:01:07):
here, I'm hanging out some kids. It's like I've just got here.
I'm like fourteen years old. Theysaid you're black. I said, of
course, we're all black. You'reblack. I know what you mean my
dad and I'm like, you likeunder the bed right, that's dark.
This one told me that I looklike I have no bright ideas. They
told me I looked like I smokedcigarette backwards. They told me I was

(01:01:30):
baptized on a skillet. Thank youfor listening. It is you found a
big boy, big boys neighborhood.You could catch more of us right here
on iHeartRadio. You might have suckus