Club Random with Bill Maher - Listen Now: The Sage Steele Show | Reggie Watts

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Reggie Watts is a comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician. He improvs music using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. Reggie and Sage discuss, the nuances of living in LA, and Reggie’s positive take on LA traffic, Reggie’s multiple middle names, “salad power”, the impact of a military upbringing on character, Reggie dealing with bullies, the importance of standing up for yourself, Reggie’s mom’s influence, strength, and protective nature, Reggie’s creative process and their shared experiences of being biracial, the importance of embracing both sides of heritage, the role of creativity in his life, using tech to preserve memories, and the life goal of making your parents proud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a time when this guy, whatever, lunged at me and I flinched and he happened to be the kid that was known as one of the hardest hitting kids in school. He was one of the toughest kids in school. So he owed me a hit, but it was too late for him to hit me back because the bell rang or whatever before we were supposed to.

So we left and he's like, he's like, I owe you and I was like. So I was trying everything to avoid him, for like a few days. And then finally I knew he was in the locker room at gym. And one day I just went straight in the locker room and I went straight up to him. I was like, let's just get this over with.

And he- It was like weighing on you. Yeah, I was like, this is too, cause it was just like so much anxiety and stress. Like when am I gonna run into him? When is he gonna, you know, because we're playing in the halls, you know, like they just punched.

Was it like too for flinching? It was something like that. And if you flinched again, you get like another thing. It was like, I can't remember what it was, but I think he owed me, oh no, that's what it was. I don't know. Anyways, whatever it was,

there was finer details that I'm kind of missing out. But the point is like I said, yo, let's just get this over with. And then he was like, all right. Whatever was there was this fighter details that I'm kind of missing out. But the problem the point is like I said yo I Let's just get this over with and then he was like, alright, and then he like I turned my shoulder to him And then he went to hit me and he goes Like that and And he was like he's like have a nice day. No way. Yeah, and I was like That was so cool. Like that was so I think that he respected the fact that I just he knew that I was like, that was so cool. Like that was so cool. I think that he respected the fact that I just, he knew that I was like scared.

I think he respected that I just went straight up to him and I was just like, let's just take care of this. And that was cool and I'll never forget that. I think that that's, cause you never know. That's the thing about bullies. It's like, I'm never gonna be like, that person's ultimate asshole. Like an evil person. Yeah, they're not an evil person gonna be like, that person's ultimate asshole. An evil person.

Yeah, they're not an evil person. They're, you know, whatever. It doesn't excuse their behavior in any way, but there is a reason why they're behaving that way, and I think like we underestimate. Sometimes bullies just want respect. The only way they're getting respect is by being bullies. And so sometimes when you show

that you can see them a little bit, or you're like, hey, I saw you at a wood shop, that thing that you made is really dope. Yeah. Like they're like, what? I saw you at a wood shop, that thing that you made is really dope. Like, they're like, what? Like, you know, they're like, there's more value to me than that? Like, that'll do a lot to a bully. That's deep.

Yeah. I think you're so right. And, you know, even as you're older, if someone's rooted the grocery store to you, the cashier, it doesn't mean that they don't like you or you did something. Totally. But I sometimes take it that way. And I'm like, wait, the cashier, doesn't mean that they don't like you or you did something. But I sometimes take it that way, and I'm like, wait, what did I do to her?

My mother used to tell me, it's actually not about you. There's something in here that also showed you that that bully, that kid, the hardest hitter, has a heart. Has probably, to your point point something else going on. A hundred percent. I think like, I don't know, I try to keep that in mind. I try to, it's like, you know, like remember CDs when it

came out with that skip-proof CD technology. Yes. They would talk about like 30-second buffer, one-minute buffer, whatever. It just means that it's pre-loaded the music in a buffer memory up to about a minute or whatever it is. And so if you hit the device and the laser gets all screwed up and it doesn't know where the music is,

it just immediately goes to the, it's playing off of the buffer. So the music continues and then the laser finds where it lines up. And then when the buffer runs out, it just meets back up with the continuation of the music. So you don't notice the skip. And it's like, that's how I think of like dealing with people in the world, like bullies and things like that. If someone does something, not even a bully, but just someone like you're saying, like

not reacting in a way that you thought would be like, you're supposed to say hi or you're supposed to whatever. If you have a little bit of a buffer, you can kind of stop before you immediately react and go, you know what, that's totally fine. It's like, hey, have a great day. And like mean that and they may not respond to it. But they'll hear it on some level and you just walk away.

And it's hard. But you know, I don't know. But that was a lesson at a young age, probably, right? Obviously one that you remember. Yeah, high school. yeah, freshman year. I love, though, that you said that you could, you knew your ability to either make a situation less tense with your humor or whatever.

I think it feels like quite often it takes people a long time to get there and to realize that skill that you can take with you forever and you obviously have. But at that young of an age to know that you can affect so much with that feeling. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a nice thing to know that you have options. That's all it is. You know, you have options. You don't have to deal.

You don't have to react to something exactly the same way every time.