Book of Dad - Rodney Johnson

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Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Hey, welcome back to the bookof that radio show. I'm doctor Robert
Benson. As always, before weget started, we're gonna say thank you
Jehovah, thank you for sun,Jesus Christ, thank you for our family
is taking for work and our abilityto do that things were able to do.
Iceberg, Slim, Egendeer extraordinary.What's up now? What's up brother?
How you feel man? Yeah,I'm feeling great. We're gonna have

(00:39):
some fun today, have some fun. I'm ready. Man. Hey,
hey, we got a guy withus that's been with us before and without
any for more introduction, I'm justgonna say, what's up? Righting they
talk to us? Man, howyou doing? Man? First of all,
I got that Iceberg Slim reference.I read all those books. I'm

(01:00):
accomplished. Rodney Johnson is the bestcomedian I have ever seen. I actually
saw him lie before. He spentsome time with us. He had us
laughing and stuff. But we're gonnatry to get serious with him a little
bit if he allows us. ButRodney, Man, what you been up
to? Talk to us? Man? What's up? Well? You know,

(01:21):
man, I've been listen. Youknow, I passed this church and
I've been volunteering a couple of daysa week at the Boys and Girls Club
in Hostelle. And I'm here totell you the teachers are to get paid
to teach PTSD and other some otherbenefits. Man, I think they need
to have a vacation. I thinkthey should have a four day work week.

(01:42):
Man, dealing with these youth ofAmerica. But besides that, Man,
I'm good. So you're a pastorand a comedian. How do those
two things? Mestion? Where's yourbalancing act as far as you know,
not crossing the line into being toofunny, maybe inappropriate? Sometimes talk to
us how you manage that? Well? The first thing is my commedy has

(02:06):
always been clean. I used totour with Sindbags or if you're a Sindbad
fan, you'll be a fan ofmine. The difference is is that I
do have a message in both.The message in the church is to really
navigate people lives to connect with God, and in comedy it's to make you
forget about some of the things thatwe deal with on a constant basis and

(02:29):
what society has deemed acceptable because ourabnormality has become abnormal and what's normal has
become abnormal, and so I justtry to bridge the two together. I
try to give you something to thinkabout. I try to give you something
to at least have a discussion about, and still laugh at the same time.
You know Man's centerest and you mentionedthat because I find some of the

(02:50):
things in the Bible very funny.One of the Exodus scriptures starts out your
ball and your ass, what's arrested? So if you look, you read
exit alone enough, there's a lotof human in there. Here's the thing
I think it's funny about Exodus.God sent the man who did miracles to
help people leave four hundred years ofcaptivity. They left with fan fare,

(03:15):
got to the first obstacle, complainedand told the dude who led them out
of captivity, we were better offwhere we were. How can you be
better off if you were in captivity? But but but but but you know,
And then they go across the RedSea. God brings them the man
of God, say watch what Godwould do for you today. You don't

(03:36):
even have to fight. And theyget across and the next thing they do,
they develop a golden calf. Comeon, man's that's humid. That's
when I realized people was crazy.It didn't make no sense with me saying
to them what they want to doanyway. Hey, they were like,
hey, take us back, likeyo. So I mean when it comes

(03:57):
to human Yeah, that's that's that'shuman in everything. You know. The
thing I find interested in that wewere talking about humor and talking about the
sanity or I should say the cleanlinessof it, if I can use that
word, and how on a numberof levels, I think humor has crossed
over into just being simply vulgar.Uh, talk to about talk to us

(04:18):
about how you keep that line thickin the sand and you don't cross it
because I know you you're very hilarious. Well, this is what I need.
I believe when you come out toa show, you you want to
be entertained. I want to perform. There's a lot of comics, Dave
Chappelle said it, they look attheir comedy as their art the artistry.

(04:43):
I'm not going to knock any ofthat. What I'm going to say is
I'm going to try to make surethat everybody can come to the show.
You can bring your grandmother, yourchildren. Because I want to entertain,
I want to perform. I thinkthat when i'm off the stage. If
you want to ask me my personalopinion about something, I can share that

(05:06):
with you. But when I'm performingand you don't have a microphone, in
my opinion, it's just my opinion. To refute the things that I say,
then I want to keep my routineto a performance where you just want
to laugh. And what I meanby that is is Chris Rock that's artistry,
Dave Chappelle, that's artistry. KevinHard, Eddie Murphy, Delirious was

(05:30):
there for performance, meaning they weren'treally trying to make a point. They
weren't trying to push you into adirection of you know what is socially conscious.
They just wanted you to laugh.And when you look at Delirious even
today, you still laugh. GoodyGoogle, That's a good point, man.
Because the other thing is I findit interesting to see how a person

(05:54):
can turn off or turn on theirbehavior. You know, if, like,
for instance, we did this conversationsurrounding Bill Cosby's going to beat to
death, the guy was he liveda certain way or he had this image
that was out there, then loand behold, we find out in his
personal life that he was something completelydifferent. I'm wondering what you think about

(06:15):
how much of a correlation there isbetween what a person does in their everyday
life and what it is they're tryingto perform or entertainment. You got to
understand, Hollywood, Bill Cosby ispower. It's power and privilege, and
a lot of people will allow youto take whatever privilege on them to get
next to that power Bill Cosby,Well not even Bill Cosby. Very successful

(06:42):
people with a lot of money getto in act or act out the very
thoughts that are in their mind.And there are people willing to participate to
get to the position that they believeif they act out was going to get
them. Meaning if you look atall these people who are accused of stuff,
they were always in positionable power towhat we call green light, meaning

(07:03):
I can put you on this show, I can make this movie happen.
A lot of people, they don'tget to that position until they have gone
through some type of hazing at thediscretion of the one who has the ability
to take their level, take theirlife to the next level. Well hazeing
that is a great, great wordto use. But the coach to where

(07:25):
we can take a break when wecome back, I want to have you
think a little bit about some ofthe great comedy comedians of the past,
or who you thought was great,who didn't get that reputation or didn't get
that notoriety. If you will reachthe Book of Dad Radio Show, I'm
Doctor Robert Benson with Iceberg Slim andwe'll pick it up when we come back
with Rodney. We'll be right back. See why. Listeners from over one

(07:46):
hundred and fifty countries around the worldfollow the Book of Dad Radio Show joined
Doctor Robert Benson and Eddie g asthey chat with special guests who share their
stories and information that will change yourlife. Watch and listen one and Spirit
online dot com, or subscribe tothe Book of Dad Radio Show on Apple,
Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, orwherever you get your podcast. Brought

(08:09):
to you by the NASCA Network.Hey, welcome back to the Book at
the Radio Show with me Adig andDoctor Robert Benson. Our special guest today
is Rodney Johnson, the Doctor ofComedy. Thank you for being here,
sir. I know you had mentionedthat you're on tour with Sindbad and things

(08:33):
like that. Give us some insightin the background of a comedian on tour
you know, the traveling, thedifferent shows. Have you ever got on
stage and just bombed? Give ussome of those stories. All right,
now, that's a lot happening,so let me try to let me try
to ask all of that. Firstof all, have you have a bomb?

(08:58):
Yes? I bomb? And whenyou bomb, it is a lonely
place. You are isolated because itis just you and them. But I
would attribute my bombing to the promoterA ten o'clock show in the hood.
I'm opening it for Michael Cooper,who was the lead singer for Compunction.
Show's gonna start ten o'clock show,doesn't get started to eleven thirty, and

(09:20):
then the host goes out saying,y'all ready for the show. Of course
it's an hour and a half late. And then they start naming all the
hits of Michael Cooper in compunction.He said, y'all ready to head,
y'all ready to head, y'all readyto head. But first, here's a
comedian ain't nobody ever heard of.Take a more time, please, mother,
just stay. What's the name again? Yeah, Rodney Johnson. That's

(09:43):
a hole right there. I didthe first joke. They said, boom,
I said, all one thing aboutme. Even when I started they
started boring, I knew my moneywas on the line. I wasn't leaving.
I stayed. I did that thirtyminutes. I got that jet.
So that's the ball in the story. What's behind the scenes. I tell

(10:05):
people that we get paid to getthere. That's what we get paid to
do. We get paid to getthere. It's like like NFL players or
any major athlete, all that workingyou got to do behind the scenes.
The game is fun. This isthe other stuff. So you know,
if I got a show and havea show in Cleveland, and then the
next night I'm in Detroit and thenext night I'm in Salt Lake City,

(10:28):
I don't know who put that together. But behind the scenes, there's a
lot of travel. I tell peoplethis all the time. They never really
understand it. I've been everywhere.I've seen nothing. I've seen nothing.
People say, you've been I've beento all these places. I've been to
Niagara Falls five times. I didn'tsee Niagara Falls until I went on vacation.
Because you got to realize. Youfly into a city, you get

(10:50):
picked up, you go to thehotel, you check in, you go
do radio, you go back andget something to eat, you get ready
for the show. You maybe youhave to do a sound check. Then
you do the show, shows overthe clock, everything closed, and then
you're on the seven o'clock flight outof that the next day because you got
to get to the next city todo the same thing. So there's a
lot of things that happened. Butat the end of the day, I

(11:11):
can tell you right now, there'snot a performer that would not uh,
that would would never give it upbased upon what it affords you in life.
You know, I'm a comic.I'm a comedian, thirty six years
in the game. But just likethe day when I left out of my
subdivision, made that left, Isaw them brothers with that hard hat on,
laying those the concrete blocks. Sothey building a grocery store in my

(11:33):
neighborhood. And that son was beatingdown and this said one O two,
no, bro, I'll take thetravel and I take everything that comes along.
I didn't even take getting booed.You know, it's interesting you mentioned
that, because with all that that'sgoing on, you got to have some,

(11:54):
you know, some pretty good intelligence. I always say the funniest people
have to be the most people andin presenting these uh, these these shows,
I'm wondering if you do you getcaught up in a certain sequence you
try to do, or are youreading the crowd? Is it all right?
What are you using to determine whatthe what is funny next? Or

(12:16):
are you trying to follow some scriptas it were? No, I'm gonna
tell you. I'm gonna tell you. In the beginning, I used to
follow a script. I would notlie. I used to have all my
jokes written down on a piece ofpaper, from one to hoilfver many I
was going to do that night.It was not until I worked with Sitting
Bad that I was following the script. And I had a joke and it
didn't fly, and I was pushingit in there. And when the show

(12:39):
was over, somebody I said,hey, man, why did you do
that joke? I said, whichjoke? So he told me the joke.
I looked at my list. Isaid, that was number five.
He said, what do you meannumber five? He said, They wasn't
feeling it, So why would youstay there? I said, because that's
number five. You gotta do numberfive, because then you got to do
number six. Man, that jokerlooked at me and said, you you
perform in the moment. You listento them. You have all that in
your head and you saw it together. And that's why if you ever go

(13:01):
see Sinbad, you can watch Sinbaddo four different one hour shows because he
has a multitude of things in hishead, but he's listening to you.
And if if y'all are really goingwith the mother and father material, he'll
go deeper. If you just kindof chuckle at it, he'll seguey into
the children whatever. So basically hecarried me of the list, and basically

(13:24):
I perform in the moment, andwhen you come through the ranks, you
perform based upon how you come throughthe ranks. What I mean by that
is since I started off with Sinbadand he taught me to perform in a
moment, that's what I do.So if you go back and look at
somebody like Robin Harris who used todog people out, the guys that came

(13:45):
up under him did the same thing. Joe Tory, DL Hughley, all
of them came under so that wastheir training ground. So it's a lot
of times you can go watch JoeTory. He might do ten minutes of
material but he might Jones the audienceman for fifty minutes, and you might
not be able to come up forair because that's how they came through through
the training process. So for me, it's kind of like it's in my

(14:07):
head and things in my head.I'm thinking about it, and then all
of a sudden it comes out andthen that they laugh, And every comic
who works will tell you once weget a laugh, oh we hold free.
Bro ain't nobody looking back? Youknow, Cinimation nurtion that man,
because I thought that very thing.I mean, I've watched Kings of Comedy

(14:28):
and some other like collab of comedianscoming together, and I always see what
they all tend to talk about orallude to the same thing. Is that
that's intentional or is it again?Is it a sense that's something you pick
up on while you are observing yourfellow is performed before you get a staged.
So basically it's like public domain.We all got a beating my mother.

(14:52):
Listen, every every just about everybody I know in my age bracket
had to be home before the streetlightscame on. So everybody has a street
light story, you know what I'msaying. So basically, we all just
when you're dealing when you're dealing withan African American community, the performance is
as if you are shooting shooting thebreeze, and that's how we go with

(15:16):
it. You know, it's notreally a set up, premise punch as
in a comedy club. It's basicallylike, yo, we all had that
particular uncle, we all got thatbeating. We all if somebody said I'm
gonna call your daddy, we allstraightened up. So basically we all have
those experiences. And that's what comedyis. Bringing those experiences to the masters
and people identifying because they go,yeah, I remember that, I remember

(15:37):
that. All right, we're gonnatake a break and we're gonna come back
and continue that context and we'll beright back with the book. At that
radio show. You have something special, you have greatness in you. Hello,
I'm Less Brown, missus, MamieBrown's baby boy. I want you
to spread the word to your familymembers and friends to listen to Less Brown

(15:58):
Greatness Radio dot Absolutely, and letme share with you why we're going to
be focusing on positive things. Becausewhatever you focus on the longest becomes the
strongest. And now more than ever, when the suicide rate has increased over
thirty three percent. When the suiciderate of young children between five and eleven

(16:21):
has doubled, people feeling hopeless andstressed out and powerless. We need programming
that can bring out the greatness inthem and that's what we will be focused
on. When you listen, itwill be an experience that will transform your
life. Let's Brown Greatness Radio dotcom. That's my story and I'm sticking

(16:41):
to it. Hey, welcome backto the book at that radio show with
doctor Robert Benson and me at EGtoday we have again the doctor of comedy,
Rodney Johnson and Ronnie. You broughtup a good point on that last
segment. I wanted to talk aboutwhen you think about a fan American comedy,

(17:02):
what I like to call it isrelationship comedy because, as you said,
it's a discussion of relative facts andeverybody understands what you're talking about because
they've been through it. And Ithink that's what makes it so funny.
And when you think back to someof the older comedians, you know,
guys like Rodney Dangerfield who told jokesright, So it was a joke with

(17:26):
a punchline. But what I likeabout the relationship. Comedy is that there's
a story. It's usually a storythat's funny. So how do you feel
about the differences in that type ofcomedy and who are some of your favorites
to do that well. I reallyhave a problem with the excessive profanity because

(17:52):
the profanity should never be the punch. It doesn't add anything to it.
The language is language. I havea problem with entertainers or comedians that use
the N word because you use it, or if they use it on you,
you won't have a problem. SoI feel that you won't have a
problem they use it on you,they don't use it that This is just

(18:14):
my personal thing. This is mypersonal thing I want. I want my
comedy to be heard on every mediumthat is available without it being bleep.
I remember when I did Comic View. Before you do Comic View, they
had what they call a pre productionmeeting. So the guy comes in.
It's about twenty African American comedians inthere, and the guy said, on

(18:37):
the board, he put a chalkboard, he said, these are all the
words you can't say, and theseare all the words you can say.
And so the first show starts atyou know, and then He says,
there's a traffic light in the back, and if you see green, that
means gold, you see yellow thatmeans wrap it up, and if you
see red, you've gone too far. These are the instructions that they give
all of us. And the firstcomic goes out. He says, every

(18:57):
word on the list you're not supposedto say, which now opens up the
door for the next guy. Andnow when the first guy comes off,
everybody go, yo, man,you riped, you ripped, you rip
you ripped. Second guy goes out, does the same thing. The first
guy does, you rip you ripped? You ripped? Third guy, same
thing, fourth god, fifth guy. Now I'm the first comic on the
second show. I had a dad. I followed instructions. I heard what

(19:22):
they say you can't say and youcan't say, but I wasn't gonna do
none of the words you couldn't sayanyway, So I go out, I
do my set. While I'm upthere, the light starts flashing yellow.
I don't know what it means becausethe guy did not cover that in the
pre production meeting. So I finishedmy set on time because I had to
do ten minutes. And I walkoff and go in the back. Nobody
says a word to me. Theyjust say you ripped it. They just

(19:44):
say nothing. About two minutes later, the producer who had that meeting comes
into the room saying, Hey,who was that comedy just got off the
stage. I said that was me. He said, did y'all see him?
That's what we need to be doing. That's a comedian right there.
We don't have to beep boom.We don't have to bleep boom. We
don't have to And he said,y'all need to pay attention. Man.
He didn't say none of those words, and he was funny at all of

(20:06):
y'all. And then I said,can you answer this one question? He
said, what's that? I said, I saw the yellow light flashing.
You never covered that. He said, yeah, we was trying to send
a signal to you to go longerso we can edit some of this other
nonsense. So I said all thatto say this, it's what you want
to be known for. Your comedyshould embellish who you are. You know,

(20:27):
what you bring to the table andwhat you want to live long past
you. And I just want itto be considered good funny and that everybody
can enjoy it. Well, youknow then, speaking of you mentioned a
couple of comics ed you mentioned theRidney danger Field me. I think a
couple of my all time favorites wereRobin Harris and George Carlin, who you

(20:52):
very rarely hear about. But Ithought those guys were absolutely hilarious. Who
do you think is probably the bestif you were to try to categorize someone
as that, you know, youknow every man, Listen, I know
I've man, I've been in someshows. Man, why I've seen some
great guys. I'm gonna tell youright now. I put at you like

(21:12):
this. This is how I answerthat question. Who would I pay to
go see? I pay to gosee earthquake. Earthquake is funny to me.
Earthquake is funny, and man,he just he just naturally, he
just naturally brings it. I likeCorey Holcomb, I like Corey Hookom.
But then there's a whole bunch ofcats you may have never heard. I

(21:33):
like Damon Williams, I like TonyRoberts, I like this guy named Benji
Brown. I remember some young catsthat were doing really well, Darryl Heath
in La. So I just likepeople who are funny, man, and
it's a lot of funny, funny, funny, funny, funny people who
have made a living like myself.For I'm at three deckcase plus six more

(21:53):
and so so there's a lot ofpeople, man, I tell you,
Shirley hemp Hill. I used tolove Shirley Hemphill because was just naturally funny.
And there's another year there. There'ssome people who are naturally funny and
some people who are written funny.Jerry Seinfelt is written funny. Tim Allen
is written funny. But the peoplelike Red Fox, they just Eddie Murphy.

(22:15):
They can just be trying to checkinto a flight to get on a
plane and everybody be laughing just becausethat's a natural Assemblad's another one, naturally
funny, Bernie matt Man, BernieBruh Bruh. So let me just say
that there's a lot of great peopleout there, you know. Man,

(22:36):
One thing I want to ask youkeep talking about your tenure and how long
you've been doing it. How longdoes it take for a person to be
in the in the comedian business beforethey realize that they're just not funny?
You know? The Carabets Carabinette madethis statement many years ago. She said,
if you can support yourself in fiveyears, then that's the business for

(22:56):
you. And I remember it likeyesterday. It was actually almost five years
to today. I was at SteveHarvey's comedy club. He had a club
called Vooker Raise back in Dallas beforehe had the comedy He had two different
comedy clubs, and I was atVoker Raise, and I never forget it.
Every time I would get paid,I would get my money, and
then I would have my little billlists and then I would go get these
money orders and then I would mailthem out from whichever city I was in.

(23:18):
And I was. I finished SteveHarvey's Comedy Club. I got paid,
and I went to the hotel andI didn't have to pay nobody.
And I remember sitting in that roomtalking about I made it. I made
it, and it was five yearsit almost five years to the day.
And that's it. So you giveyourself some time, and if you can
feed yourself, if you can takecare of yourself, and if it's all

(23:38):
that you do, then that's that'swhat you do. And that's all I've
ever done. I fed my familyand raised them and put my kids through
college, telling jokes well, well, well the Great Carol Vernette woll Hey,
well we're at the point where wegot to wrap things up with you
ritingy, tell us what you're doingright now, and then Eddie Jill close
us out and I'll give you guysa go and we'll go from there.

(24:00):
Okay, yeah, you got going. You know, you know I got
I passed the church on Saturday nightsout here in Villa Ricka, Georgia called
asaw asa w Community Church. SoI'm there every Saturday night when I'm not
on the road. I have acouple of guest preachers that feel in for
me when I'm gone. Like Isaid, I'm trying to mentor these kids
at the Boys and Girls Club ofAmerica, trying to give back. I'm

(24:22):
fifty eight now, I'm trying togive back and I'm just trying to be
positive man. And I see allthe things that society is thrown into our
families, and I'm just trying tobe that example I'm trying to be.
I call it the James Evans effects. I'm trying to be the James Evans
when people meet me. I wantto have that same presence and respect the
James Evans commanded the George Jefferson meeting. I'm going to make sure I take
care of my family. I'm goingto make sure I try my best to

(24:45):
look out for you and give yousomething to make your tomorrow better today.
So that's basically what I have myhands full of doing. That's great,
excellent. We appreciate you coming onand your great intellect and your insight into
the comedic world. We appreciate thatwe have to get you back because time
goes by so quickly. You definitelyhave to it does it does. It's

(25:10):
like I was just warming up orderto get the faster time goes well.
Thank you, Rodney. Were definitelygonna see you again. It ain't the
first time you've been with us anyway, so we'll see you some no doubt.
But I appreciated today. We're goingto close out the quote the show
what a quote has always do withsimple this, simply this, and Bridney

(25:30):
can attest to this. People handlebad news better with a little humor.
It's been booking at that radio showon Doctor Rappert Benson. Thank you my
main man, Iceberg Slum Ridney.We'll see you soon, man, Thanks,
thank you you next time