Blind Plea - Listen Now: Legacy Talk is Back for Season 2!

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

We’re excited to share that Legacy Talk with Lena Waithe is back for Season 2! Hosted by Emmy-winning writer, actor, and producer Lena Waithe, this series continues to honor the brilliance and impact of iconic Black legends in entertainment. This season kicks off with the incomparable Tisha Campbell—actress and singer best known for her role on Martin. You’ll hear a sneak peek of this emotional and wide-ranging conversation, where Tisha opens up about nearly leaving acting before her big break, her unshakable bond with Tichina Arnold, and yes, the Martin Lawrence of it all. Lena also shares her unexpected love for Blossom, and the two connect over the ups and downs of longevity in Hollywood. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts or head to https://lemonada.lnk.to/LegacyTalkWithLenaWaithefdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LEMONADA Hey, it's Lena Waithe. Legacy Talk is my love letter to Black storytellers, artists who shifted culture and opened doors for so many of us. This season, I'm sitting down with legends like Felicia Rashad, Loretta Devine, Ava DuVernay, and more. We're digging into their journeys, their creative process, and the legacies they're building every day.

You're about to hear a preview of our first episode with the incredible Tisha Campbell. When you're done, search for Legacy Talk wherever you're listening or hit the link in the episode notes to hear the full conversation. And if you want to watch, head over to YouTube to see all the fun. Thank you. Thank you for doing this, truly. Oh, my goodness. You know I wanted to do it as soon as they called me.

Oh, okay. No, for real. I had to earn it though. I had to do it as soon as they called me. Oh, okay. No, for real. I had to earn it though, I had to earn it. Not at all. Look, well you know, because you've seen a couple episodes, you've seen the episodes. I did, I watched all the episodes first. Because I gotta know what I'm walking into.

You're just gonna do it. Exactly, no. I love the way you do this. Thank you. Well, this really began because I wanted to honor the people that are the reason why I'm even sitting here, to be honest. And your work has been a constant in my life in a way that in preparing for this, I've been watching your work. My seventies work too. Look, look, look, look. I've been rewatching

things that I watched in real time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some things I was kind of behind on, it's the first thing we'll talk about I'm behind on, but I was able to watch your career flourish and grow and watch you go through different chapters in your career. And it's just been very inspiring and educational for me. So what I like to do is start with sort of the first time I saw the person or saw them in something

that was a flagship project. And here's the interesting thing about this first credit is that by the time I saw it, you were already a known person. You were already a star. So when I saw this, I thought, oh, there goes that person that I know already. Okay.

This credit is Little Shop of Horrors. Ah, yes. Little Shop of Horrors. I think when I was watching it as a young person, I didn't understand the significance of what I was seeing. And... I don't think we did either. Right. That's the thing. I was curious. Were you familiar with the history of the work and the music and how something can work? Well, I come from the theater.

So yes, I did understand and know about this particular musical, but what people don't know is I had just quit the business. But you were like a child. Nobody knows this. You're like a young person. I was 16. Right. Right?

Yes. Here's the thing. I was 16. I had just quit. And I was like, Right. Right? Yes. Here's the thing. I was 16. I had just quit. And I was like, Mom, I'm done. This is, I'm good. I'm going to go to this, the summer arts camp in Jersey at Rutgers that all the high schoolers were going to, all my friends were going to. We were going to do the summer camp where I was going to be studying opera and all this

other stuff. And I was like, I quit. I'm just doing this. She was like, all right. Right. So then I started getting these calls while I'm at summer camp. She was like, Tisha, your agent. I had just gotten them, by the way, but I've been working nonstop without an agent, but I had just gotten them. So I'm like 15, 16 years old.

And and she was like, they keep calling me nonstop about this audition for Little Shopper. I was like, tell them I quit. I'm not coming back. And she was like, no, Tisha, they won't stop bothering me. So I went. And of course, who's there? Tashina Arnold. Tashina Arnold.

Okay. A lot of people should know this by now, but we've known each other since we were 11 and 12 years old. And we met in an audition. So we were used to seeing each other in auditions. We were used to competing. So you knew each other when you saw each other at the Little Shop rehearsal. Oh my God, yeah.

Okay, I'm gonna back that story up. Like when we were kids, I remember walking into this audition, God knows what it was, I don't remember. But nobody would really talk to each other. Everybody was like, you know, they had their, some people had their parents with them. I was going to New York by myself at 12,

because my parents would not get me through the Lincoln tunnel on time and they was making me late. And back then, I don't know how it is now, but Broadway waits for no man. And so they would, they would actually charge you $50 for every five minutes that you're late. So they was, they was fucking up our, our bills. Like that's our bill money. Right. So I was like, I'm going to go by myself. Okay. And she was like, I don't know if that's a good idea. I was like, I got,

I got, I won't talk to none of the holes in the pimps on 42nd Street. I'm just going to get, if you give me $20, I'll eat hot dogs for lunch every single day from the carts. And so she was like, all right. So I started going to New York by myself from Jersey at 12 years old. My first time going. Who do I run into? Tashina or no?