Club Shay Shay - Club Shay Shay - Mike Epps Part 2

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Download the PrizePicks app today and use code SHANNON to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/SHANNON  Get harder, longer-lasting erections with Ro Sparks: $15 off first order of medication to get hard at https://ro.co/shayshay Trust has a price... Who will pay? Find out on January 16. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck star in The Rip, only on Netflix. ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. Go to this exclusive web address to try ZipRecruiter for FREE: http://ZipRecruiter.com/SHAYSHAY  Mike Epps. We Them Ones Comedy Tour. Get Your Tickets Now at http://www.BMNShows.com  Shannon Sharpe sits down with comedy legend Mike Epps for a raw, hilarious, and deeply personal conversation that spans decades in stand-up, film, and survival in Hollywood. The episode opens with Mike promoting the We Them Ones Comedy Tour, then quickly shifts into the tension surrounding the Katt Williams interview, the rift between comedians, and how Mike almost skipped the sit-down altogether. He and Shannon break down their phone call, the Country Kitchen meet-up, and why it mattered that their disagreement didn’t turn violent — emphasizing the responsibility entertainers have to their communities. Mike opens up about his complicated relationships with Katt Williams and Kevin Hart, including how Kevin brushing him off fueled his hunger. He talks about how Katt turned comedy beef into a check by calling out Cedric The Entertainer and Steve Harvey, and how sadness is often the hidden cost of making people laugh. From there, Mike revisits his journey into the Friday franchise, meeting Ice Cube, auditioning for Next Friday, competing for a role Chris Tucker passed on, and the pressure of replacing a legend. He shares how Ice Cube always had a comedian’s soul, paid his actors, pushed ad-libs, and taught him that success is a marathon. Mike reflects on fame, survivor’s remorse, resisting drugs, and trying to buy love from friends and family. He dives into iconic roles like All About the Benjamins, nearly casting Lil’ Kim, filming Whitney Houston’s last movie Sparkle, watching Whitney sing on set, working with Beyoncé on The Fighting Temptations, and why acting is a different hustle than music. He speaks on family ties with Mo’Nique, performing on Netflix vs. network TV, creating The Upshaws with Wanda Sykes, being killed off on shows, forgetting lines, working alongside Denzel Washington, John Goodman, The Rock, Taraji P. Henson, and more — while admitting his desire to take on more serious roles. The conversation turns brutally honest as Mike addresses regretful career decisions, Hollywood gatekeepers, conspiracy thinking, the meaning of “selling out,” the Chris Rock & Will Smith incident, his admiration for Eddie Murphy, and naming his GOAT comedians: Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and Bernie Mac. Mike reveals painful childhood memories of being held back in school, growing up on welfare, buying his mom her first washer and dryer, purchasing the homes his family was evicted from, surviving jail time, bad contracts, and personal demons. He credits Def Comedy Jam, Russell Simmons, Steve Harvey, and Bernie Mac — including the advice Bernie gave him before his passing. He closes by discussing mentorship, taking young comics like Carlos Miller and DC Young Fly on tour, losing money gambling with Charles Oakley and Gerald Levert, receiving Tupac’s jewelry, rumors about being related to 2 Chainz, and why his passion for the art and business has kept him relevant for decades. Mike Epps believes this tour will be his biggest yet!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thank you for coming back. Part 2 is underway. Is there a role you auditioned for that you didn't get? Um. Or a role you turned down you wish you hadn't. Yeah, I turned down the movie called Fools Gold. We had Matthew McConnell in it. Kevin Hart did it.

Yeah. Damn. I should have did it. I don't know if that would have made a difference, but it was roles like that. it's all kind of roles I should I shouldn't have never turned down none I wouldn't in the position to turn down no rose because I was just starting right there was another movie with Eddie Griffin and this other guy damn I forget the name what was the name of that movie TZ

Eddie Griffin and the guy with the big eyes Chris Kitton and they had a dog they was running They were running around the city. That was my role, man. Huh? Oh, double tape. Double tape.

And I turned the road down. I turned the road down. Why do you do that? I was tripping. I was, in my mind, I thought I was, I needed, I was, deserve something better, you know. Sometimes you can get tricked off of success. Like, if you get successful. You trick yourself or you allow other people to trick you?

I trick myself. I trick my, sometimes you can get a little too fancy in your head about your success and start demanding more than what you're supposed to get. Damn. And end up, don't get up what you had in front of you. Shit. What is selling out? We hear that a lot.

He sold out. Yeah. You know, I got the cat interview, I sold out. Yeah. You probably heard that you sold out because. You're a cat sold out on that. You niggas sold out arenas and sold out shows. That niggins sold it.

You sold the sold out. No, you know what, though. Quincy Jones said something. Important. He said, you got to have something to sell. Damn. You can't sell out if you ain't got nothing to sell. You know what I mean?

I like that. It's the real talk because at the end of the day, you know, Who's going to turn down an opportunity to make money to send their kids to college and have a good life? Yes. You know, and I think there's levels of compromising that you have to value. You know, I don't think one should compromise themselves for something to make them uncomfortable for money. I agree. But, hey, who's going to turn down an opportunity to work with white people in order to send their kids to college and have a good life?

I'm not. No. You know what should you? Yeah. And I used to have peer pressure around my own people about being racist. I used to be racist about white people and didn't notice it until I was around. I'm like, I'm only racist around black people. Right.

And when black people ain't around, I'm white. I act white with my white friends. Yeah. So how unfair is that? Like if black people were sitting in the tree and see me. reacting with my neighbor, they'll be like, that's a sellout. Yeah.

But you only seen it because you was in my tree. Stay your ass out of my tree and you won't see me being nice to white people. I would need you to hell. Because you've been, you know, you've been a comedian for 30 years. You've been in Hollywood for damn there as long. Yeah. What's a gatekeeper? A gatekeeper.

And are there such a thing? Yeah, a gatekeeper is a nigger at the gate. That know if you get in there, you might take his job. We talked about this earlier. You might take his job. The people who are the people that are to be might see you and give you better opportunities than the next one. Right. And if I'm a guy, black guy, making him me.

money for a company who's dishing out a lot of money and you bring my name up in an office in a room and I say, eh, you won't be making money. It's just that simple. You believe they are out there? What? Hell yeah. I'm the guy. I make money.

I make money for your company and you're another black guy. and they bring your name up and they say, well, what about Santa Sharman? You sure you want to deal with that? You're not making no money, Shannon. Until they catch this nigga doing something he ain't got to really doing.

And then they go come back. Yeah, they'll come back. Oh, Shannon. Yeah. People really do that? Hell yeah. In every aspect. Not only in the black community,

I'm pretty sure they do it in the white community too. You know, that's just that's what a gatekeeper is. Damn. Somebody that can keep the gate and make sure, you know, he's okay, but I don't know if he'll be okay for this role. That's right. Or you've got to be careful with him. Well, let them decide if they should be careful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you help. Don't you tell the mother's why. That's why people would say, God, you're so nice.

I'm like, what, did you hear something different? Oh, yeah. Damn. You know what I mean? Are you a conspiracy theorist? Hell yeah. Bye damn, Mike. Come on, Mike.

Hell yeah. Because I didn't see shit formulate. That's why I'm a conspiracy there. I've seen shit. I've seen conspiracies come true. So I do believe it too. You manifested it. I manifested.

It's like the roots. You know that people think, oh, they can put root on you. Yeah. Yeah, if you start to believe in it. You got a root on you. Yeah. Yeah. But you're right.

That's how the mind. whatever the mind can see if your mind is strong enough to conceive it it'll come true because like dead man dead people can't hurt you no but they can make you hurt yourself that's right that's right you're bad the pain and the pain itself yeah sitting there crying over somebody that don't even know you're crying I can't believe you believe it I'm ask I always want to ask people that yeah came from a very similar background came from nothing yeah Dealing with fame. What do you learn about fame?

I take your face value. I take it with a grain of salt. I'm never surprised. I'm never shocked. And I'm very rarely mad about any outcome that happens in that business. You know, I'm not shocked no more that there's ass-kissers.

I'm not shocked that people act like they know you and don't know you tomorrow. Not shocked. That happened to you, Mike? Hell yeah. I mean, you know, it happens in show. It happens with success. You know, I got friends and family members and shit that, hey, you know one good thing about me.

I ain't always been famous and rich. Right. I've been broke before. Yeah. And I have been nobody before. And I know how I felt then and how people reacted to me. So can't have I pulled a wool over my head. Yeah.

I'm half and half now. I've been, I've been poor. I've been well off about as long as I've been poor. So it's by 50-50 now. Yeah, you know. So, yeah, you absolutely know. You're fucking, but I hate that. You know what I hate?

Hey, man, hey, man, take my number. Give me a call. Yeah. What I'm going to call you about? And then they change the number. Oh, yeah. Bro, why do you say, why are you saying? Yeah, I didn't have that.

I didn't have that done before. But, like, again, Shannon, to keep my stress levels down and to understand. I understand that's what it is. It's like trying to change a tiger stripes. This business has stripes on it. It's a tiger. You're not changing it. You're not going to change how people are.

That's how people are. People are fake. People are messy. People are up. That's what it is. Go home and go to bed. And understand that's what it is. You know, I want to ask you,

were you always funny? Were you funny as a kid? life. Any situation? So you're a class clown, huh? Class clown like a They used to call it being disruptive. Yes. But it turned into being a comedian for me. So my disruption turned into Spain. So when the teacher would call and say Ms. Epps, it's just hard to get him to focus. Yeah. I mean, he's just disruptive in class. I mean, he's everybody's friends. He's making jokes. He's constantly. I just, I don't really know what to do with him anymore. Yeah. Well, see, they try to put me on riddling when I was a kid. They tried to put me on a pill. They had pills back then? It's called riddling.

No, they just had ass whippings. No, back then they had, they had... Mike, you talk about back then. You're two years younger than me. You make it seem like you're 20 years younger than me. I am, nigga. Your mom didn't tell your ass up. I didn't get whoopings like that.

Yeah, that's why. I didn't get whoop. I have gotten some whoopens, but I didn't get ass whoopens like that. And, yeah, I used to take a riddling pill, and I stopped taking that. Why? Because I would act like I took it and spit it out. And they told my mother, we need to go up on the volume.

It ain't working. Damn. And she said, no, he ain't taking shit. Did you notice a change when you took it? Did you notice a change in you? Yeah, made me tired and made me eat. That's why them kids that's on that shit and make them fat. You know, that's some government shit.

Yeah, man. You know what I needed to do and I tell people with their kids all the time. Let them grow, man. You don't know what they're going to grow in to be. You can't really judge a kid when they're young. You think you can. Because a lot of people thought I was going to be something else

that I'm not. I end up being successful. I got people looking at me so shocked. It's people that look at me like, damn, you are really a different... I never thought you would grow up to be who you are. I thought you would be ignorant and slow. and dumb.

I've always been smart, but I was very unorthodox. I learned different from everybody. Never learned the same way nobody learned. So I picked up a brick way different than you pick a brick up. What kind of brick we talking? One of them red ones.

Oh, okay. They're going to look me good. I mean, you know, I understand. You're on today, ain't you, man? That thing is on. That thing is on today. But you've had some criticisms of comedians publicly.

Chris Rock, you say like, you think he ended Chucky Ducky Ducky. I like Chucky Ducky Ducky Quackie. He did. Chuckie Ducky's career up. What little career that it was there? Come on, man.

Don't do Chucky Ducky Ducky like that. But I like Chucky Duggy. That nigga went on one of them shows and said, Shucky Ducky Ducky needs some Jokey Wokies. See, that's why Will Smith popped that nigga upside. Come, come on, man. Are you condoned in that behavior? You can don't condone it, but I can see how a nigger pop him upside his head because he's going to.

But Chris Rock, because Chris Rock, way 132 pounds. They'll be the motherfuckers that know how to get a hold of you. That Chris Rock, he knows how to say. He said some shit to me one time. Huh? Yeah, that motherfucker walked up to me and said, you can't act rich if you ain't rich. I said, what the hell? At the time I wasn't rich

I understood what he said But I'm like But you just said that He said that Yeah Because what he didn't understand Is I came from a drug dealer world So I always like little

Yeah yeah Yeah yeah That's the drug dealer in the He thinking I'm up there Trying to make the people Think I got show business money Yeah And said that shit to me

I said man I'm rich In a whole lot of ways Fairt looking ass I know I know how I feel about being rich But I'm I'm trying to get Chris Rock on the show. You're going to play, but I can't get him.

That's scared. That somebody's going to poppy bell. He's scared. You're going to reach your weird. Not that we're on Chris Rock. When you saw that. Yeah. Did you think it was real?

No. I didn't either. I'm like, damn. That was. I was like, I was like, that's a skit. I thought it was a skit. I knew it was real when I seen Chris, uh, uh, Will Smith's face when he said, down. He said, keep my name.

I was like, whoa, he really... Keep my wife's name, macho. He could have got away with that. I would have just caught him in the back somewhere and, pow. Nobody would have seen it. But let me ask you question. He was just been on stage saying, Chris Rock

hit me in the, I would have said, I ain't hit him. But I don't know a whole lot of comedians that would have let that go. You up there, you ain't letting that go. Nah. No. But Chris, hey, Chris,

Chris took it He made a joke out of it Fighting right there We'd have told that whole Little area Yeah, yeah But see I wouldn't have said Nothing about his wife either

Right You know So you felt that was off limits I mean you know With all them White people in there It gets a little rough All he said was G.I.J.

But I think I think it was a culmination Because remember years before that Jada said She wasn't coming I would have popped that shit upside his head too Come on man

Come on But I wouldn't have did it in front of everybody I'm gonna say, hey, man, Chris, they don't do that again. Yeah. And in the back, nobody would have seen it. You don't do that in front of company? No, not in front of the white people. You know what I'm saying?

That's one thing black people. We can't do certain shit in front of the white people. Yeah. We have to look at each other. I can catch you behind the liquor store. Okay. Chick-fil-A or something. But we ain't doing this in front of the white people.

Because it's going to f*** your money up and my money up. As soon as the white people see your violent, they're done. Yeah. They don't like violence Unless it's a war I'm like Damn I was I was shocked

But I think I thought Chris handled it really really well He might be the only black man That could have handled it like that Yeah I mean you know But I'm not so sure Will would have did that to somebody else

But like you said that's that man's wife No matter what you No matter what somebody else might think of her That's that man's wife and he loves it That's one thing that Coochia do Make you act a fool yeah my wife anybody that's one thing that'll get me too and they call it can i curse on here yeah they call it a tender dick lord when you're tender dick you'll kill somebody over a woman

chris block was tender dicked i mean will yeah he had tender he was tender but i am too my mother better not say nothing about my wife you can do anything in the world nigga don't say nothing about the, because you got to go home to these women. And if you don't stand up in front of a woman, they're going to say that shit. What are they going to say? You ain't say nothing to them one to the, see, now you, now they're looking at your half cop. He's bigger than me, though, baby. I don't want to mess up our money.

Don't you like living here? I mean, in the thrust of it. Let me ask you this. Have you talked to Chris Rock? Have y'all, y'all, y'all. I really had a relationship with him like that. Really? No.

Have you tried? I'm telling you, when I tell you, me and him ain't never ever... And y'all ain't never been cool like that, huh? No. I don't think he gets me and I don't get him. And it's cool. You know what I mean? Damn, I hate that.

That's how it is. I mean, you know, some people I get, some people get me, some people I don't. Do I think he's funny? Yeah. I do too. I think he's funny as hell. Yeah. But personality-wise, I don't, I've never met him enough to know.

know how cool he I really don't know him and he don't know me like that okay which is cool Eddie you with Eddie Murphy with Dr. Doolittle to Dolomite you people what what's it like working with Eddie because I grew up on see I grew up on Eddie I was in I was in the early 80s when Eddie was funny funny all day I mean that's why I was just telling somebody I've been trying to get Eddie Murphy to go do stand every time I work with him in the movie I'm like man go do stand up because he's sitting there telling him You're telling you jokes. Why he's standing with you?

That never could just sit in there funny just in his regular life. He didn't sit, man, some of the stories he told me, boy, I was on the floor laughing. I mean, had me, he told me one time John Amos was at a party. Remember from a good time? Good time of day, yeah.

He said he had a whole suit on with a drink and there was so many girls in there. They said he stepped right off in the water with the whole suit. They said he kept the drink up like that. and got out of the water and just kept drinking like nothing happened

dripped, soaking with it. You think Eddie ever do a stand-up again? He should. He's the king of that shit, man. That's one thing about Eddie Murphy, man.

His timing and the shit that he, you know, I've seen him and Kevin Hart has words. I don't know how real that is, but I've seen him had some words, and I'm like,

Kevin, you can forget it. This dude is the, Eddie Murphy's the king of common. He's king of stand. But he ain't done it in so long. It's like a surgeon. You don't stop, like, surgeon like...

You think you can play football? No. Not with two artificial hips. I got rid off. Oh, I forgot about this. Yeah. If I'd have known that when we got into a, nigga, I would have hurry up and found your hand. Nica, Shannon, what the f*** held you on that motherfucking hip?

Bam! No, no, no, they're good now. They're good. I just can't, I can't, you know, I can't go below 90 degrees or something like that. But my hips are fine. I'm not in pain anymore. Now, you should have called me about four, five years ago when I was in pain. You could have got me there, Mike.

I can get you now, sit. Not a chance. I say you up there playing with Crawford. Yeah. In the box. I ain't want to mess his money up. You think you could have. Oh, I'd have tossed him.

Yeah, I could have. See, you're talking about grabbing them off. Yes. That's why I already, I had it. That's why I said I was getting a pistol. Because that ain't fair. We're supposed to be like this. Then you didn't grab the, man.

What I'm going to do that for? I got, it's got to be quick. I got too much muscle. It's going to be fatigued. You got to get rid of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Give me your goat comedians because you go back a ways.

Yeah. I mean, you get Eddie and then Carlin and all these guys coming forward. So you have a, you know, a guy that's 30 years old, he might like, oh, I'll take this guy because that's all he knows. But you get to go back a ways, Mike. So give me your goat comedians. Give me my Rushmore. Shucky, Ducky, Lou Neal.

No, of course, you know what, I hate saying this shit because everybody say the same guys all the time. But Martin Lawrence, Robin Harris, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Bernie Mac. That's my Rushmore. You do Mushmore, you only got four heads. No, that's fine. Damn, damn. I said, you didn't do good in school, huh? I didn't, I was, I dropped out.

How many recesses y'all had? Nigel, I don't remember. I didn't even, I'm telling you, Shannon, I got, I, this is the honest of God's true, brother. I stopped going to school, like, literally, literally, fifth grade. You just stopped going. I got held back twice. Oh, my goodness. How you get held back in that, at that age?

You ain't doing, I mean, you're getting stars for grades. doing no work, coming in the room. Would you go to sleep? No. Bit balls, beating on the table. I see why the teacher turned the back. When a teacher turned the back, I say, shut up. How was that dude right there?

Always in the hallway, never had. Yeah, you're definitely in the hallway. I can tell you. I'll stop at your classroom. Get Shannon right there. Shannon, what's had? And the teacher said, keep walking. And I say, shut up.

Now I'm in the principal's office. I mean, literally, school was a playground for me, but I was working on being a comedian. So let me ask you a question. Yeah. When you go, you and the principal's office, at some point in time, they had to call your mom or your dad. Yeah. So when your parents come to school and they said, Mike is being disruptive, and he's... My parents couldn't handle me, Shannon.

No, my parents couldn't handle me. My mom or my dad, I was off the hook. I was off the hook literally I got suspended all the time how you get suspended before you before the fifth grade I made it to the knife

you know how I made it to high school how they just kicked me out of junior high so they just care because they just keep promoting you because they ain't want to deal with you no more I went to junior high soon as I got to a freshman in high school I got kicked out of high school

for what fighting crazy shit showing up late, not going to school. In high school, I just didn't go to school. I was like, I'm just hung in the cafeteria and then they had a little court where the kids was.

And I was wild, man. But I was really a comedian. I had people on the floor. I would mimic all the teachers. If it was a cute girl, it was my job to make her feel not cute. That's how I would get her to like me. I talk about her toes or hair

and they come back to me. why did you say that to me I said no I'm just kidding and then they'd be my friend they know if I came around I was gonna talk about their ass did you have talent shows yes so you were the comedian

you win no we didn't have them talents the only talent show we had was I tried to get in the spelling bee one time and got I think I got to the second stage of that and I think the I think the word was, it really wasn't a big word, but all I remember is I stormed out of that.

I was so mad because my mom and them was there. And I couldn't look at my mother like that. I just seen her hands go like this. It was like, damn, son. But I am so, like, like, I can talk about all of my misfortunes in life because I am, I am so, like, I can talk about all of my misfortunes in life because I I am so successful now. Yeah.

I am so successful off of nothing. No money, no education, no nothing. That's how I know when God creates something, you don't make no mistakes. He don't make no mistakes, brother. Do you ever think about like, man, I could have did this. I could have graduated. I could have gone to college.

No. If I had focused. None of that shit. Yeah. But you focus on these roles. You focus on your stand-up. You focus in this. movie business.

So when you want to lock into something, I can do it. You can do it. But it took me to be an adult and have bills and kids to lock in. I couldn't lock in on just my life. It wasn't enough. I had to see some kids. Yeah.

You had that. Now I got responsibility. You had other responsibilities. Look more for more than just myself. That makes me do the right thing. Right. Yeah. You were going to play, you're going to do a biop with Richard Pryor.

What happened to that? Um, because I talked to Damon, I think Damon Wayans was also talking about the buy-up and, and, and, yeah. I mean, you know, I think, I think over the years, man, um, and I honestly think this about Richard Pryor, I think his spirit was so keen, man. I think that niggas said, I don't want none of them playing me. But he actually chose you in 2000, he chose you to play. Yeah.

I'm pretty sure, but I still think that his spirit and living with this trying to do his role all these years, I think he literally in his spirit, because I don't know why the movie's never been done. It's got to be, though. And I don't care who they picked to do it at this point. I just want to see the movie done. But I don't know if anybody can play it because of you. You get that little semi-fro, you have the complexion, you have the voice. I actually played him before. in a movie called, it was with Zoe Zaldala.

I forget the name. What was the girl lady's name? Nina Simone. Nina Simone. I played it. I played a small part of him and killed it in that movie. And that was enough for me, man. I played him again.

They had a Laker series that was on HBO. Remember that Laker series? I played him in that, killed it. Well, Showtime, I think it was going to showtime. So I actually got a chance to play him a couple times, small roles. But you want to play the big day? You want to do it. Man.

You don't want to do it now? What? I will kill that. I will body that. Why won't his wife? Because, I mean, you know, is that to hold up his wife in kind of the direction of the movie? Well, she definitely owns the rights. Oh, for sure.

Absolutely. But I don't know why she don't want to do it. I don't know if she wants to do it. I don't know if she found the right. person to do it but she's definitely keeping it from going or seeing if it'll go you know but i don't i didn't want nobody to believe nothing my daddy was richer prior to me if you met my daddy that was the funniest nigga to me right in the world hilarious that's how where i got it that's my richer prior before i can get to anybody else my real father who gave me my

It's funny as hell. Just wasn't a comedian. Hilarious. Funny that you mentioned Zoe Saldano because she played Nina Simone and they said she had black face off. Why do you laugh?

I don't know why she did that shit. That was crazy. Listening to white people. See, sometimes you listen to white people sometimes, they'd be meaning well, but they'll send your ass down a dark hole with your culture. Because you could have easily got someone of darker complexion to play that role. That's what I'm saying.

That was somebody that wanted her to play that bad and was thinking, but didn't know that you can't do that. They do that. They should have got somebody like Mary J. Blige, who was really good that could sing. That was a real black girl that could do it. Yes. And I love Zoe. I just don't think that was the right role to play.

Hell, Jay Hood. Get Jennifer Hudson to play it. She would have been good, too. Yeah, I mean, because Drusky caught a little flak. Sexy Red would have did a good plan. No, sexy red. He's made that far. Skee?

Like I seen the menace of Samo's skit. Drewski got in trouble for wearing white face. Yeah. During a skit. Yeah, I seen that shit. What were your thoughts? He ain't made it all the way. They don't get, he's good.

That's what I'm telling you. When you get on the real radar, then you can't do shit. Right. But, you know, I don't think a lot of us are on the real radar to get punished. Because it seemed like skits are the thing. I mean, a lot of guys came up doing the skits. Yeah. But that's not how you guys.

You guys had to get up there. Y'all had to sit on the stool or walk back and forth, and you had to tell jokes. That's right. It was no, it wasn't no ski out. You might have, you know, do a voice inflection, and you make your boy. It sounds like somebody famous, but you weren't doing those skits. Hell no. You have to do joke for joke.

Jokes. Set up punchline, set up premise punchline. How different is... Punchline set up. How different is it now? Is it easier to become a comedian now than it was when you were coming up in the biz? Because they got social media now. It's a million comedians.

Even for the ones who want to just sit there and tell a joke. Yeah. Shit is no joke. I mean, to become a real comic, it takes about 10 years. Really? Yeah. To become a real, to really say, I'm a comic and I've been doing this shit. And you got to go on the stage a lot.

Man, I was doing seven shows a week, sometimes two and three in a day. Damn. Hell yeah. That's why, like right now, I'm on this tour that's coming up. Right. called We the One. I'm headlining. This is our third year doing it.

Okay. These young comics on this tour, these are young brothers that I would say five, ten years, there'll be household names. Yeah, they do pretty good in the culture now. Right. But these guys are going to be some guys that's really, really, you got guys like Mojo Brooks, little young dudes in Chicago. Yeah.

he'd go over to be trying to get with the back with the baby mama yeah with the roaches yeah dc young fly yeah i know yep uh country wane yeah uh uh uh uh carlos miller yeah los i've had a ball on these dudes are these dudes are young comics of today and if i could pick any of the comics these are the guys that are closer to anything that we were to Eddie Murphy, they are speaking on the culture. You know what I'm saying? These dudes are really living in the streets.

They really live this shit. They know it. Only difference is we just got the time on them, man. You know, and that makes a difference. Unfortunately, they came in a time of this business that just wouldn't allow them to run around and tell jokes like we did. Right.

Even if I wanted to do that shit right now, it ain't enough rooms. Yeah. Comedy clubs are just scarce now like that, you know? How different is telling jokes now than it was then? Because there are a lot of stuff you can't say now that you could say back then. It's different. I mean, they got this whole council shit.

Yeah, we are. Which I don't understand that shit because if you've got an audience, you can't be canceled. Right. Like, can't anybody cancel me. I think the cancellation comes in when you're trying to cross over. If you crossed over, I guess you won't get the opportunities that you had on the crossover. But if you have an audience, you can't cancel me. I got people that's going to watch me.

Like, they don't even know the people that's quote unquote canceled you. They're a motherfucker in the hood. People who watch the Shannon Sharp show religious to it. They don't give a fuck about what anybody else said about you. Right. Same with me. Right. These people coming to see me.

These people watching your show. Right. They don't, I don't know the fuck. What time they come on? And that's what we have to understand and realize and remember. You're trying to hold on to some shit that wasn't yours in the first place. It wasn't our business. It's a privilege for us to be able to cross over and get some crossover dollars.

But this ain't your business. Right. That's why I'm on a tour with these guys. This tour right here, this is me with young, hot comics from the hood. that come from the urban life and they are hitting right now and I make sure I surround myself with them and I'm not hanging

with the guys who have already made it right you know even though I can learn from them but man I'm getting the heat off these young dudes these young dudes are making me funny how do you determine who you're going to I've always wondered this how do comedians determine who they're going to tour with

it got to be the guys that's young and hot and who you like. And you got to always have an ear to the streets. The streets are going to tell you who's hot. The street's going to tell you who's funny. The street's going to tell you who you need to be with. And that's what I use, you know, I've always kept my ear to the streets. My kids, I got young kids, I got teenage kids, young adult kids.

They keep me up on what's new and what ain't right. Daddy, that ain't, ah, daddy, daddy, daddy. So, you know, I get a lot of game from now. But like when you were, like when you were younger, let's say you're in your 20, mid 20, mid, late 20s, 30s, 40s, how do you determine who you're going to want a tour with? Or is there a promoter that says, okay, okay, Mike, I've got this tour together. I got a comic, yeah, I got, I got an agent named Chris Smith. Okay. That's been my agent, particularly my, almost my whole career.

Okay. And what he particularly does, he takes a comic like me who already made it. and he'll go get a young comic and put the young comic on my shows. Right. Because he's an agent for both of us.

Okay. And that's how a young comic gets his name. Okay. I opened up for Steve Harvey. I opened up for all of these guys. Earthquake. I've been on tour with Bruce Bruce.

Yeah. This is when I was young. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me and Bruce Bruce was on tour, we rode all over America, man. Yeah. Nobody knew who I was, but that's how young comics get on.

You've got to open up for somebody that's on. for somebody to see you right yeah so i like say i've seen bruce bruce and earthquake yeah i used to go to comedy shows all the time yeah get back going to that did you yeah but that i the ones i want to go see they in big play i like the i like the i like comedy it ain't the same yeah yeah i like the small intimate like a hundred people it ain't the same it's different now it's different now so you come from the old school you remember when it was real comedy i do i do yeah i do yeah um entertainment business

What have you learned about the entertainment business? The entertainment business is it's going to give you as much as you put in it, you know. And you can't take it personal. You know, one thing, Queen Latifah's manager, Shaq Kim, would he always say? I learned from him one time.

He said, man, it ain't that serious, man. You know, it really ain't. I mean, you know, when it comes to you driving yourself crazy and trying to force it and make it be what it is, it is what it is, man. It's entertainment business. It's show business. And you just can't take it to heart, man.

You get what you can get out of it, last as long as you can last, and make people happy and, you know, pass the patine, man. It ain't yours to keep. A lot of people, it's hard to pass that baton, though. They just want to keep running, bro. You got four people on here, bad past them, but no, bro,

I've got to keep this thing going. Because they think it's their shit. They think entertainment. This shit was here before we got here and it's going to be here when we're gone. After we're going. Get as much as you can get out of it and keep going.

Mike, what's the broke as you've been? So I grew up on welfare. I grew up on welfare. I got six, seven brothers by three different women. My mother had three, four different women. daddies in our family. We grew up poor. I grew up with a single mother in the house with seven brothers and no money. So I tell a person all the time, if you ain't never felt

a miss meal cramp, you don't know what hungry is. I'm talking about where it felt like somebody just punched you in your stomach. Yeah. That's because you was hungry. Every time you swallow your stomach, say, thank you. There ain't nothing come down. I mean, people don't understand. Like, when you grow up like yeah I grew up in the South and we had to eat some things but there's a time we miss me um my grandma just didn't have the money that's right but it makes you appreciate everything that you get now I remember what I or rob something do one of the two you know when you when you when you grow up I remember we had like dirt floor we had cement flooring so it wouldn't you know how it is in a mechanic

shop it gets dusty yeah and I we spray water down to try to keep the dust down I remember my grandma's to say all the time son it ain't much but let's try to keep the pizza house clean and I always I always remember that and now that I got a little piece of house yeah I mean you got cement floors you ain't got no indoor plumbing you got no paneling but that's all we had we had we had you know you have to you have to you have to take care of what I got stuff and I was like bro can we like I tell my kids and I tell you know can we just like I heard your poor story I seen that place y'all lived in yeah that was that's that's that's our real house

You might have been a little poorer. I'm sitting up here telling you little star and shit. But it makes you appreciate everything. I appreciate everything. I don't think that will ever leave. I don't care if I got $200 million, $300 million. That'll never leave. Well, that's why you're able to survive.

That's why you're able to survive a lot of things. That's why you were able to survive. Backlask. You were able to, you know, you was built for this shit. Yeah. You was built for it mentally. You was built for it physically. You was built for these boulders to come at you

and not to kill you, though. They just bounce off of you, bro. It makes you, it definitely, you understand having gone through what you're going through as a kid. You know, that shit would have broke another, right? Oh, yeah. You wouldn't be sitting there.

Yeah, for sure. Somewhere in the same style. Yeah. But you didn't already seen the worst. Yeah. I've been in the storm a long time. So you know. When you got money, what was the first thing you did when you got money?

I bought my mother a washing dry. You were messing that better kid, huh? My mother was on assistance and I bought her a washing dry and she was so happy to get that washing dry. My mother, we grew up watching Price's writing. Oh, yeah. My mother dreamed of having things for us. And I'll never forget, Reader Digest sent us a fake check in the mail.

I'm able to read. And my mother's got the screaming, and we tried to cash that. We got the car and went up to the bank, and my mother came out the bank saying, we said, what's wrong, Mom? She said, this wasn't real. It was a, yeah, it was a reader's digest check. I'm saying to myself, Mama, first of all, it was too much money. People could have like $5 million or something. They sent it up that ball.

The way that shit was written on the check, they looked like it. They held a name with everything yet. What? We thought we had that money. Man, I used to take and take scissors and cut, she cut Bickwills out and paste them on the wall. Shit I wanted.

I said, boy, I just want that shit. And we grew up Jehovah Witness. Oh, man. That didn't make it easy. So we wouldn't, I think my mother made us Jehovah Witness because she knew we couldn't afford shit. So she's, I'm going to give you a religion. You don't need anything.

You ain't supposed to do it. You're going to feel bad about getting this shit. You real estate. You really involved in real estate. What made you, how did you like learn how to invest? Like, okay, I got this money. Ain't no guarantee if I don't do something with it to make sure I'm going to be able to keep it. Yeah.

Well, you know, growing up as a kid, I, we rented houses all the time. We ain't never owned no house. My mom didn't. So I always promised myself, if I ever got. some money, I was going to go back and buy all the houses that we got evicted out of. And I did. Damn. I made an, I made, I made an address list in my hometown. I rolled around and I made an address list of all the houses we got kicked out of. And I went and bought every last one of the you bought every house. Every one of them that we got kicked out of out back. And you allow family

that you rent them out. Yep. I rent them out. You know what I mean? And my family stay in them and You know, I went back and got them house. I told my mother that, too. I'd never forget, man, we used to get kicked out of them houses. My mother, we sitting in the back of the cab. She had a big-ass bag of clothes, and my mother crying, and we'd go to my grandmother's house to stay with my grand. Because every time we got kicked out, we went to my grandmother's house.

And I said, my mama, I'm going to buy all these motherfuck houses back one day. I thought I was going to do it with some dope money, but you're going to get them houses. I was going to get them houses back, and I did. I went back and got them houses. I went and knocked on. People's door and bought their ass up out of them houses. Yeah, I sure did. Me and my wife, we went and we fixed them houses up.

We actually had a show on HGTV called Buying Back the Block. Damn. Yeah, went and bought them houses. And I revitalized my whole neighborhood, man. You know, and the white people walk down the street, man. They don't know the history in them houses. Right. I told him, man, you know a little dude Nantoneo got killed in that house you live in.

Oh, my house. Yeah. You better come up out of me. Mike, Mike, did you know your father? Yeah. I knew my dad, man. Hardworking man.

Tommy Epps, worked at a plant, worked at a harvester for 40 years. You know, yeah, good, good dude. My father was a hardworking dude. And I'll never forget, man. My father did not, he didn't like no street people. And when I became a street dude I was selling drugs

He had a car wash I went to his car wash In my Cadillac And he told the people Don't wash that bitch Damn Because I sold I was selling dogs

Yeah He called me a dog He said you're a dog I said huh He said yeah you're a dog He said you ain't worth shit Because I was selling dope Yeah

And I got caught And I never forget I was in prison And I met a dude from Miami That got caught Selling kilos and shit And I'm sitting in the cell with him He was showing me pictures of his houses and boats. I said, damn, I called my father on, because I said, I was talking to my father in jail.

I said, Daddy, I'm in here with a dude that is smart as hell. He said, well, son, if he's so smart, why is he in there with you? He's sitting in here bragging about some of my fucking jail with you, talking about he's smart. Damn. Yeah, my dad always said crazy shit that, you know, and that shit still, I'd never forget what time, too. I told my dad, I said, this is how I learned how to deal with my dad. kids. I used to cuss my dad out. I said, man, you ain't no real because he wouldn't buy me the shit I wanted. Because I thought I was, because it was

kids that had the go-carts and mobile. Yeah. I said, why come I can't have that? I said, man, you ain't no real father. You know what he told me one time to came back, smack me in the face? He said, wait till you had some kids. And boy, if I'd be damn, my kids didn't say the same, brother. That's crazy how that shit just doubled back. Yeah, absolutely. So it's just teach you to always honor your parents and listen to him. They know what they're doing, and most kids be upset with their parents and not realizing their parents be kids, too. Yes. Your mother and father were too young, too, to be who the fuck you thought they was young, too.

They were still trying to figure it out. So now I'm growing and I got kids, and she just all came clear to me, you know. You mentioned your wife. How has your wife helped you? Because then you hear a lot of stories like, okay, I got married, and she helped me. She helped me find my purpose. You know, Steve speak glorily about his wife, I forget his wife's name. But Margie, and he speaks about, like, I started to elevate when Margie got in my life.

I hear you talk about the same thing, that how she calmed you down, that you're like, it's not that serious, Mike. Yeah. I mean, what you try, hey, I got, you got me, I got you, we good. Yeah. How is that when a man finds a wife he finds, the Bible says when a man finds a wife he finds a good thing? Most of us get married so we don't screw everybody. Let's be honest. Okay.

But I can honestly say that my wife is much younger than me, 20 years younger than me. Is she? Yeah. I don't want to date nobody my age because that's 100 years in the bed. So I had to cut the margin down, man. But she's a grown-ass woman. Right. She's 38 years old.

Right. You know what I'm saying? So she taught me a lot, you know, she taught me a lot. And sometimes, sometimes most of the time, your wife is going to see things that you don't see about yourself all the time. And you need that. Right. Because we're very, very slow when it comes to women, man.

We think we're smart, but they're. They're the coldest when they come to holding them and know them when to fold them. When to walk away, when to be quiet, we'll never be able to figure women out. So I guess we got to listen, you know what I mean? We got to listen to them. And that's what God put them there for. He gave them that extra sense to protect us. I always say women are caretakers for men.

You know, I don't care how much money we make or how much the king we are. There ain't none of it no good if a woman can't take care of you. Right. You, this is your second marriage, right? Yeah. After your first marriage, did you think you'd ever get married again? Yeah. You did.

Yeah. As soon as I met my second wife, I wanted to marry her. Because that's, that was, it was like, God sent you to me, you know. I could tell some time when women are come through God for me, And I can tell when it's not that. And, you know, being young and famous and being in the business, it can, you know, having money meet a bunch of women. Yes. So you know when it's that one.

She was that one. What did you do different in the second marriage that you didn't do in the first marriage that probably caused the split? I didn't do coke in the second marriage. Are you serious? Yeah. I was, my first marriage, I was a fool. I'm not going to lie. Wild, crazy.

And again, I just needed to grow up. I couldn't even wait to get to 55. Now that I'm 55, I am so comfortable in my skin, man. I love who I am right now. Right. You know what I'm saying? I love how I think. I love how I feel.

I love that I don't give a I cared all the years now and I don't give them like everything and I love it you know but that's what helps me with myself that's what helps me in my sanity are you and your wife still good

first wife still on good terms? Yeah I like that yeah we don't talk like friends but you don't have kids together we ain't arguing yeah we ain't arguing and fighting you know because you're like like the rock and his first wife they went the business together

i see uh uh dave portnoy like his his ex-wife have access well you gotta understand i got multiple women kids with women but i'm saying marriage yeah marriage no how many you only been married twice though i've been married twice yeah but i got a bunch of kids yeah but i ain't talking about that no no that's that's different yeah marriage marriage and and yeah yeah my co-parenting Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, you know, like I said, all my kids' mothers done great jobs with my, I didn't pick bad women. Right. Okay? They picked the bad men, huh?

Yeah, pretty much. It just didn't work out. Right. And it's okay. How many kids you have? I got seven kids. Damn. You're trying to catch Nick Cannon?

No, I ain't trying to catch that nigger. That nigga needs to wear a condom. Nick Cannon is on a moxicillin at this point So how old is the oldest 36 The youngest Four You done?

Yeah I'm done now I think I am I need to go You do realize like when the kid is a senior in high school What's his name? Mike Mike they're going to say

Mikey Your grandfather out there That's my daddy fool you do realize how old you're going to be right that's why I'm teaching him to say you don't get out of my face don't worry about

I'm teaching him all this shit because he's going to need it yeah don't worry about what the I'm doing that's the one I've been teaching yeah don't worry about what the I'm doing he's going to need that one but that's why I still try to go to the gym

because I mean I see man I see guys right now in their 70s that look really really good black man we don't all have to grow and be old brittle. You know what I mean? I can be a 75 year old still walking around here. Like, like, I'm 55 right now and I will run outrun a young, boxes, I do all that shit right now.

Mike. You ain't fit to be playing catch with no eight year old at 60. Why I'm not? What kind of is you, man? I can't do that as an old ass. At least say I can't, say I can't, sand. I don't say the fuck I can't do that, bro. You can do that. You're being negative now. Hey, you throw it to him and having to bring it back to you while you sitting in the chair.

Hey, man, don't do that, shit. Don't do that, bro. But you went all out on this marriage though. Yeah. It was star studied. Was that her or you? That was me. That was me and her.

Shit, we both. You know what? She always loved the whispers. Okay. And I went and got the whispers. Damn. And I flew my mother out here. Man, I flew my whole family out there, man.

family out there, man. Yeah, you had T.I. Snoop Dog? T.I. Snoop Dog. And my mother, my mother never got on an airplane. And my mother came out, rest her, God rest her soul. She's not with us now. But there was one thing that I did get to say. I said, boy, I got my mother on that airplane.

She came to California, man. And she's seen that ocean. And, oh, man. You know, that was... He was like, my baby. My baby did this. My baby did. She got on that plane.

She came to L.A. and seen me. Right. Yeah. So what type of dad are you? Because like you said, you know, you say you're cool with your dad, but are you raising your kids kind of like how your dad raised your mom and dad raised you? Or are you like, yeah. Well, I've been a different dad through the years. Okay.

Unfortunately, my oldest daughter didn't get the best of me because I was too young and I didn't know what I knew. And I feel so bad about that. And I see my baby sometime and I wish I could pay her back, but I can't. Okay. Because I just wasn't in that place in my life. But my newer kids, I'm able to do the things that I wish I could have done with my oldest child, you know. You didn't know, man.

I didn't know, man. I really didn't. And if I could go back and repatch that, I would do it a hundred times, you know. You said you had a lot of daughters because that's karma paying you back for all the canyven, bulljive stuff that you done. Yeah. I wasn't that great with women, man, but I didn't have no examples, man. Was it the money? Was it the fame or was it the...

No, I didn't have examples of... I didn't know a lot of married people as kids. I'd seen my mom get married once, but, you know, her relationships with men wasn't that great. that great. So I just didn't know what that looked like. Right. My dad wasn't in the house, so I didn't know how that felt. I became my own person young. Right. You know what I mean? So I became grown really, really too quick. Right. So I didn't get a chance to see what the real dad do. So I had to learn as an adult. Right. You had to learn on the job. You had nobody teach you the job, but you learn on the job. Yeah. Unfortunately, my daughter didn't get the, you know what I mean? So what's the relationship with them like now?

Are they resentful? Do they look at you as like, well, we didn't get, we didn't get this dad, but they get the best of dad while we got... I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure, man. I'm pretty sure that my daughter... Have you talked to them about it? Yeah, I try. You know, I try it.

It's hard. It's hard. It really is. It's hard to patch that kind of stuff. It is. Because it's time. It's locked time. But you're not trying to patch it up, Mike.

You got to move forward. You can't move back. You can't get what's gone. Yeah. Do they understand that? Yeah, they do. And again, I still applaud their mothers. Yes.

Thank God that my kids had great mothers because they were able to take up the slack for what I did do and where I wasn't there. Not being there, yeah. Thank God that they had good mothers, grandmothers. They all had good extended family. Like, if you see my kids and met my kids, you don't see no pain on them and none of that. shit. Whatever their personal preferences is about me it is what it is. Right. I got

a daughter at USC. I got a daughter to go to NYU. I got another daughter about to go to family. Yeah, that's their mom. Not in mom. You said, hold on. You said, I'm paying for that shit. Get the fuck out of here. But they, but... No, get the out of here. I'm paying for that shit.

Mike. Your grade, you couldn't have got in prison. Get your ass out of you. Oh, you did get it. But I'm saying, but I'm USA, NYU, those are not easy places to get into. Whether you got, I know people that got money and they still couldn't get the kids in because the kid didn't meet the academic. Well, you know what? You saying, I'm not good explaining myself to that shit, man. Ain't no way, ain't no way they put you down there.

Hey, bro, I had a little something to do with it in there on the smart side. I just couldn't never see it through myself. You know what I'm saying? I'm smart as hell, but it's a different kind of smart, Shannie. You know what I mean? I'm sitting here with you. Yeah, but I'm saying, NFL and all kinds of shit. How did I get here with you?

But books. See, you're smart that doesn't, it had like, you're not books, you're street smart. And you understand how to parlay that into a business. But you've got to be smart, smart to go to NYU and USC. You do. You do. And they, and, yeah. Maybe their mothers did.

Yeah. Yeah. But I... Co-parenting. Yeah. I tell people like, look, when you're young, you argue about silly stuff. Because I look back at it like, we argue about stuff that really wasn't that important. Yeah.

And how difficult was it to, look, you're on the road. You're a comedian. You got to travel. You got to go to work. Yeah. And you're not there. And the kids are growing up. I mean, you might leave and come back.

They're like, damn, the kid walking? Without left it, the kid was barely, it could crawl. Now it's walking, I can talk, can eat, can ask for this. It's the unfortunate part about being famous. You got to give up something, man. You're going to sacrifice. You're going to sacrifice something for being who you are. If you are, you know, a factor in this world, you're going to give up something.

This shit ain't free, Shannon. It ain't. You know it. I absolutely know it. We had to pay for a lot in a lot of different ways for this shit. What are the goals you're trying to get? I tell people as simple as this, Mike, and I want to know what you. The greater the goal, the greater the sacrifice that must be to meet said goal.

Say it again. The greater the goal, the greater the sacrifice to reach the goal. Real shit. Real shit. People like, oh, oh, work-life balance. Okay, you have work-life balance. You're doing a nine-to-five, but if you want to be. great, great. There is no

work-life balance to be great-great, because it's continuous. And people don't understand that. People think that you can like, well, look at Jeff Bezos. Okay, ask Jeff Bezos when he was starting Amazon, did he have a work-life balance? As Bill Gates when he was starting Microsoft.

Ask all these people in the Walton family when their dad was starting, did he have a work-life balance? They got that now because they got $3,400 billion. But in the beginning, There is no work-life balance. It's all sacrifice. It is.

And you have to have a partner that understands the sacrifice. I had a coach to ask me one time, Mike. He said, Shannon, you know why movie stars married other movie stars? I like, I guess because they like each other. He said, that's a part of it. He said, because the other know what is like to live that life. Yeah. See, they know how to jump in and out of character.

They know they're going to be gone. My partner knows I'm going to be gone for six months. Her partner knows or his partner knows. or his partner knows, she knows her partner is going to be gone for six months at a year. Yeah. You have to understand what it's like. And everybody says that, oh, I understand sacrifice. I can be number two until you ask to be number two.

And then it's a problem. Yeah. And I think my wife understand that. That's why I think she's so important in my life because she understands, you know, and she say it all the time. Can't know any person be with you. Exactly. You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? But you know that. It takes a special woman to be with a guy like you, you know. And I respect her for that. You know, I do, I really do. I respect her for having the, the, the, I can't say balls. Having the guts, the guts, the gut, yes, yes. With a person like me, so, you know.

Are you OCD? Yeah. See, I am too. I got to clean, I can't stand dirt. See? Do something to me. Don't Who, Mike

Do something to me Man, you man, look here I need everything hung accordingly I need long sleeves hung a cordially Short sleeves The darker jeans

The lighter jeans Your brain up right It do, man I need all the labels The face out I need everything turned I need the trap I can't see dishes

In the sink Yeah It ain't that hard Yeah Is your life gonna end If the dishes in the sink Is your life going to end pretty much

now you got flies and gnats and shit I don't know if my life going in but this relationship go in nasty hold on you got

it's eight boys your mom had eight boys seven boys seven boys I got my dad had another son so it's eight of y'all yeah y'all fight all the time

ain't it we used to fight we used to fight all the time and that's what I'm saying that sibling comp That was another thing that got me ready for a show business. Living in the house with a bunch of competition. We was all competing to get my mama's attention.

Where are you falling to picket order? You're the oldest, the middle? Three up, three down. Damn. My mother used to introduce all her kids with a talent. And they used to say, who was that? And she said, oh, that's just Michael. Imagine that shit right now.

You just Michael. Yeah, because she could. They couldn't identify my talent was being a comedian. Because back then, people didn't sought out to be comedians. No. So if you seen a kid being funny, he was like, he's disruptive. They didn't look at him and say, oh, he's going to be a big comedian star. They like put a paddle on his ass.

See what I'm saying? So nobody could recognize my talent, you know. and now I'm, hey man, I'm who I am. Mike. You got hell back in kindergarten? I think so. Mike, all you got to do is come to class. You sleep.

I did. Mike, how you get hell back in kindergarten? I wiped the booger on a kid, Shannon. I wiped the booger on a kid, Shannon. on a kid and they from there it just never stopped Mike but they say you in the

slow classes too though Mike I was in special ed I was in special ed I was in a regular room up to about the fourth grade and then you stayed in the same classroom the whole day they came and got me out of there and took me to a do we got to do this I just

I got to all right they took me out of a regular room and put me in special ed and I stayed in special ed for the rest of them up until the ninth grade and I stopped going to school so you're going to be a special ed in the ninth grade too what you think nigga

I just kindergarten up so you were about to get your own fucking question so you're about to get a certificate I don't know if they give certificates yeah they do who they say you attended for what the high school you went to

they said psychosatic no no that's what they were to gave you a certificate for what Because you don't get a diploma Because I don't get a diploma No, I didn't get a diploma No, you weren't going to get one in special ed either No Damn, my

Oh, I would have got a certificate if I graduated They had to say participation, you came to class That's why I dropped it up Niggas You ain't gonna put that on your wall Just in case you knew that You taught yourself How to read and write of an adult

So, so Was it hard for you in school or you just didn't apply yourself in school? No, it was hard. So, you know, when you weak in one area, you compensate, overcompensate another area. So that's where the comedy came. Yeah, yeah. So you'd have to read, you'd make jokes. Yeah, kept people from seeing that I could read, couldn't read, you know.

I love telling these stories. You know why? Because there are some kids out there. Right now watching, that's going to watch. just going to say, I feel good about who I am now and I ain't different. And you're not alone.

There's a bunch of people around here that got all kind of something about them. They appear to be okay, but something's wrong with everybody. Take ownership of your imperfections. Then people can't make you feel inferior about

them. So why are you making me inferior about it? If you crack four or five jokes. No, I don't. didn't. Yes, she did. No, I'm just asking, I'm like, I was just asking how he got all the great slogan I think it was just laughing about me being

retarded. No, man. You were slow. But I was just saying, I was just trying to figure how you get love back and kid. I don't think that I was slow. I think that my interest wasn't there. I was not interested in school. Right. I watched TV. I could tell you

about every episode of happy that i i watched good times and all they get oh yeah i was all to the family the jefferson so when it was time for me to do tv my timing was perfect yeah that's why i told wanda i'm like this for like old school sitcom because that's what i grew up watching right old school sitcom damn yeah so because you struggled early on yeah do you think someone took advantage of you like when you first got into the business as far as money wise or putting you in bad contracts Alex? Yeah.

Well, you know what always saved me is I always had a street edge. So whoever dealt with me and dealing with shit, like if I was dealing with somebody who was dealing with my money and I was unsure, I would drop a pistol out of my pocket. On an accident. Oh, sorry about that. That didn't mean to do it. So in my head, I was like, this mother can't fin to steal for me because he already know I'm capping your ass.

I would do all kind of weird shit like that. You know what I mean? It was like, let me send a subliminal message to save him from stealing from me. Yeah, because I don't want to have the key of you. I wouldn't have did that either,

but you see the best. But he don't know that, though. Yeah, you don't know. You see a guy with a, you don't know. Don't take my money. Don't take advantage of me. So I had tactics to survive, man. Right.

Yeah. With the situation, you were a pimp and you end up, how are you a pimp and you end up owing the lady money? Because I tried to. to be a pimp one time. I tried to pimp some girls. And I've always been a nice guy, man. And I don't know.

One of the girls said I owed her some money. But, you know, she got to make the money, and then you take the money, and then you give her a cut of the money. I borrowed some money from her. You borrowed some money. How are you a pimp her you borrowed money from the girls? One of them was my cousin.

One of the girls was my cousin. How you pimped your cousin out? I really wasn't pimping them. I was like, I'm going to play like the pimp so we can get the money. And they was like, we ain't giving you shit. I don't know if they turned a trick or not, but I didn't get nothing out of it. Then you tried to rock. That was a bunch of shit that I tried.

This is a run of shit that I tried as a kid. Try to go to the military. I tried to be a... So what happened in the military? I flunked the ass bad. So you didn't actually go to the military? You flunked the test in the military. Yes, and two of my friends went.

My buddy Ryan Bimery and another guy went and left me. And I was showing people the brochures. I was like, look, I'm going to the Army. And I didn't press. Oh, you got to be really bad because the Army take anything. They didn't take me. Damn, right. And I'm glad they didn't, because I probably would have got a discharge.

I guess they were... Soon as one of them dudes would have jumped in my face, I said, get the fuck out of my face. my face, motherfucker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need to read. Yeah, yeah. That shit wouldn't work.

I said, what the fuck you're talking to? It's like, that's what we're supposed to do, the Army men in the air. It's talk shit to him. You ain't supposed to talk shit back. Damn, my. Soldier, do you hear what I was? I'd say, no. I don't hear what.

It's been over with. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're just all to be discharged. Yeah. What about the robbery when you call your homeboy's name? Oh, yeah. My buddy Ray. I went on a robbery.

How do you call your partner's name, Mike? I wasn't a good robber. You ain't supposed to say nothing. You ain't got to call no name. Well, I was so in the moment. I was in the moment and I was... Get the money. And I was...

Get the jewelry. I was saying, Ray Bob, I was saying... And my buddy had a mask coat right here's eyes. He kept doing it. of a kid. I didn't know what he was saying. You call him my name. Call him my name.

He said the next morning it was 200 diggers in front of his house. Till the day, that's bad to be right now. I swear to God. He should be. He's mad to be right now. Diggins like you almost got me killed. What happened when you got put in the trunk of the car? I was at a club called The Bottom Line

on 38th Street in my hometown And I was sitting there I was in one of my buddy Jeffs He had a convertible He had a Bonnieville with switches on and shit I'm sitting up in the car And I'm in the parking lot talking to I'm supposed to be taking the car

Taking the car and some money somewhere I'm in the car riding And why I'm riding It's a girl on the side of the car And I'm talking to her And I'm like damn I don't know how I didn't realize it but the

excuse me the girl walked me to the back of the club I'm like damn all of a sudden we're in the dark then I heard I heard the dude jump up in the car and the dude had been robbing so much

he had all kind of people shit on his neck chains and damn yeah he had been robbing all that day and he had lick on his breath and he was hitting me with the pencil going like turn that way, turn that way. I'm in the car, turn the car like this. So we get on one street, he said, cut my lights off, cut the lights off, so I cut the lights off.

And I got my hands like this on my eyes. So I hear a bunch of other cars pull up, they're getting out the car. Why I was the next fighting over the shit in the car? Why I'm in the car like this. I hear them, no, motherfucker, that's my speech. I'm getting this this time. I'm ju-joo-j-j-so.

So they get me out, put me in the Trump. He ride me around. Man, I'm in the back of the trunk. There's some dirty clothes back here, a kicker box. And when they stopped. Not even. Not even spread time. I'm still in the bug fucking.

And they're playing DJ quick, black pussy. I swear to God. And when they got to the stop sign and stopped the light, start the music on, I beat on the seat. The bullfook said, what? I said, play that again. They bust out laughing and let me out of the truck. The dude slapped me upside by head.

I was running through the field like this. I said, boy, I better get out of this shit, man. That's when you realize that that life of crime ain't for you, huh? Yeah. It has to be a certain type of dude to be in the streets. I mean, I was in the streets enough. But, yeah, I didn't want to. But you realize you were willing to die for that foolishness?

No, I wasn't really, I wasn't ready to go out of that day. I was really meddling. I was really being nosy. I really didn't have no business in the streets. My mother and father wasn't street people. Right. You know, living in the neighborhood, you're going to learn some shit. Yeah.

You pick shit up. You know, your buddy down the street, he's a criminal. You're going to hang with him. You're going to get in trouble. You ended up going to do some time in some jail. Yeah. I did two years in the county jail. And if you Google Mike Epps mugshots, you'll see it.

You'll see when I got caught, 1990. 91, 90. 89, one of them years. You had drug, they caught you with drugs? I sold some drugs to a do. Undercar. To an informant. To an informant.

Okay. And he was a drug addict, so we couldn't get him back in court. The judge I had, I mean, the lawyer that I had, his name Jeff Baldwin. I put him on my second special. I did my special in my hometown. He was sitting in the, I said, give it up for Jeff Baldwin. Because I almost got 20 years with that shit. And he got me down.

and filed an affidavit for the dude to come in. He never showed up. It was a drug addict. And I ended up getting just possession. Great. So they gave me eight years and suspended five. And I did, I had two years served in the county. I did two years in the county jail.

You were one year on probation. I ended up going to halfway house after that. I went to halfway house. Then I was on probation. But that's when I got out. When I got out, I was sleeping on my sister's couch. and he had a comedy competition on the radio

Dion Cole was the host He was driving from Chicago to Indiana The host to show Because he was on Comic View They thought it was this big-ass star And two of my buddies Otis Brown And Gary Bates

They both got murdered They both Us three went to the club Seveils to get in the competition I signed up for it They said you're funny at the barbershop But are you funny in front of people I signed up for it, went up there and blew the club of everybody laughing.

Next week I came, but my name was on the radio. I didn't invite my mama, my friends, all that man. Man, I go back to the, go back up there to the comedy club. They booed me off stage. Damn! What happened? I seen two of my old money when I walked in and they threw me off because I was one of them run off with the plug type of duff.

Because drug users catch me and say, boy, you better be glad I like you, Mike. I'll fuck you up because I was one of them dudes and I ran off with the money but I seen them and them

motherfooks threw me off I got booed I came back to next week and won that competition and he looked back ain't look back and I've been

I've been in the business you think that was a sign of God that you had like you went dead that time you're like I get out I ain't coming back here oh yeah

that was that was it I got tired of that shit And plus people was telling me I was funny And I was watching Comic View And I was watching Def Jam And they had people I was like oh hell no I'm funnier than them

Yeah I just didn't know how to get to it Because I was living in Indiana Right And you ain't no comedians from Indiana No I would call Def Jam up in New York And say my name is Mike Evans And I'm trying to get in touch with Russellston

But I didn't know I couldn't get in touch With him through calling the office You know what I mean? Yeah I was just green man Right. Yeah. When you, those demons, and you beat them.

Not really. You have to fight them every day? Every day. Every day. You understand that, that you've got to fight these demons every day. This is a fight you've got to fight every day for the rest of your life. The rest of my life. But, you know, the older I get, I learn how to cope a little better.

You know, that's why I'm, that's why. That's why my care factor is too, it's so low. Because the more I care, the more they come around. Really? Yeah. The . It's like, you know, it's like demons only come around when you care. When you don't give a fuck they gone, then you can move, maneuver how you want to.

Yeah. As soon as they catch you celebrating and having a good time, doing good in life, here they come. As long as you don't care, you're fucked up, you can't find them, you know. Is it an hereditary in your family? Yeah. Whole family. Really? Yeah.

All kind of shit in our family. Damn. It's in black people, period. Schizophrenia, bipolar, criminal, all of that shit. It's just run in our history, but I learned how to... I learned how to deal with it, man. You know? And I remember my mother used to make me go take naps.

I never forget that. And I never understood what it was. She said, go take a nap. And I go lay down. And when I wake up, I was a different person. So I still do that. I go take naps. I let it all go.

I don't care what's on my family, wife, kid. Ah! I go to bed. You decompressed. Whatever's fucking wrong with me, I go to bed. and when I wake up I can deal with it but I got to go lay down

and I shut that shit off I don't want to think about the world what is it that you wish you knew being that you know now that everything was going to be okay if I knew everything was going to be all right I wouldn't damage myself

or hurt myself you know because I was unsure about the future. So when you're unsure about the future, you have tendencies to giving up, not giving a f***. Because you don't know if it's going to be okay. So you make bad decisions. Yes. Because you're unsure and you, the unsureity makes you not give a f***. You don't give a you hurt yourself. And when you survive hurting yourself, you have to live with you hurting yourself. You know. Bam. Yeah.

Help me understand this. Is it okay for comedians to have writers? Or do you look down on guys that have other people write material for them? I don't think people can write for a real comedian. Really? Yeah. I think you can only advance it. You can only nurture it.

You can't really write for a comedian. Nobody can write a joke for me. It's got to be something. They got to write some shit that would really come from me. If it don't come from, if it's something that came from them that they think I should do, I can't do the joke. Really? No.

It's got to. It's funny because I see this a lot of rappers, like when you ain't a real MC if you don't write. But singers don't look at it. Beyonce had people write for her. Whitney had people write for her. Yeah, that's a song. But I'm saying. That's a joke.

Yeah. But it's, but again. But you have to be, it has to be personal. Does it have to be personal? No, I don't have to be personal, but, but, I'll just take a premise. Just give me the premise. I don't want to hear your punchline. Don't give me a punchline.

Oh, okay, okay, okay. Because I can't do anything with that. Because I need to make it up myself. Okay. I need to make my own punchline. I need my own set up. Just tell me. So you just need the shell.

That's it. That's it. Just give me the shell. Because I get, people write for me all the time, regular people that don't even know they're writing for me. Sitting at the bar and say some shit.

I'm saying, I got to have that. I'm taking that. And he can't deliver it. Don't nobody know who the fuck he is. He'll never see me again. I'll never see him again. That's somebody saying, man, I told him that joke at the bar.

They just stole my is. Ain't nobody going to believe in her. Gone. In the bar. You mentioned a deaf comedy jam, you're on those. How did those shows advance Mike Elp's career? Those platforms were my start. That's what got my confidence going.

Russell Simmons' Deaf Comedy Jam was a platform for young urban comics to do seven minutes and get their shit off and shocked the world. You know, as back then it was just Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. It was always one comic. When Deaf Comedy Jam came along, it was able to profile all these comics from different cities that were funny. That was you're right, because that was the only comedians that you knew. That was it. I mean, you know, you know obviously read Fox, but like it is now, I mean, it was Deaf Comedy

Jam and Comic View that you, Earthquake and the Bruce Bruce is, and, you know, you know, and and the Bernie Max and all those that you saw, you know, you saw the hope floods and the, and there's some more than the Cheryl Underwoods. Like, damn, man, there's that many of comedians out there? Yes, I mean, a slew of them. And when you think about it, you talk about Ice Cube,

Russell Simmons. Oh, yeah. Adele Gibbons. Gave everybody a career. Yes. Everybody came from that guy. From music to stand. of comedy.

You can't take that from them. Right. You mentioned something very interesting. You said that you open up for Steve Harvey. I've had a lot of guys sitting in that chair right there and say, man, Steve did from from said the entertainer to Quake to so many Ricky Smiley, Carlos Miller, who's going to be on tour with you, Lowe's about what he did. So many guys have said what that man did for them in their career.

What is some of the best advice? Because I believe in giving people their flowers. Hey, somebody might have, just because somebody has a bad experience, it doesn't take away what he's done for other people. Right. What is some of the best advice Steve gave you? You know what?

I don't think Steve Harvey ever personally gave me an advice out of his mouth. But he definitely showed by example. Okay. You know what I mean? He's one of the example guys that if you were smart enough, you would watch him in line. Right. You know, I don't think he was a personal guy like that would come up to you.

Yeah, man, he just one of those kind of guys. Sederick and them, they'll do it. Dio Hugley. But Steve, not that kind of guy. Bernie. What? I did his last movie. Did you?

Soul man. That was the last movie he was in. He had an oxygen tank. He was dying. And him and Sam Jackson was on the... Did you realize he was that sick then? Yeah. Yeah, he was messed up.

And I said, Bernie Mac, man, give a young comedian some advice. He said, don't do nothing for money. And I was like, wait a minute. What we do it for? He's rich as hell, tell me. He's money. That's the only reason I'm just for money. I'm doing this.

I can't take that advice, shit. But he was basically saying, you know, make sure that it's something that you want to do. Right. And don't do it because it's just money there. Right. If you had this pinpoint, one, the person that do what you do, who's helped Mike Yelps the most in his career? I mean, it's so hard to say because it's so many. There's so many people.

I think it's a conglomerate of a lot of people, you know? Mm-hmm. I got a friend of mine named T.C. that's been with me. He's seen the whole movie, my brother T.C. Mm-hmm. He's seen me come to me. come to New York before anybody met me

he's seen me before any of the wives that I met so I would say my brother T.C. man, my manager you know, I always tell young black men you got to have a soul brother man, you got to have somebody with you, man, a brother

that's going to ride with you man and that's what T.C. He's been a great friend of mine and been with me in some dark times and some great times you know so I would say my I would say my role manager TC has been one of the most pinnacle brothers in my people in my life you know when my parents died all kind of stuff you know you think about the

moments man you know but of course my wife man my wife I can't take anything from her man she's been a solid person for me and helped me become who I remember one time I came the first time I met my wife I came in house high and she said if you ever do that again we'll never be together and I never did it again and that's been some years ago oh I thought I was going to be able to be that person with her like let me show her this other because she didn't know I said let me show her this other side of me hi come in the house we do that shit it's over And I respected that, and I wanted to be with her back back.

Is that the type of person you that you needed? Hell yeah. If I would have been with somebody who would thought that was cool what I did, I probably would be sitting here. You'd have been back, that's square one. Yeah, probably would have anything could have happened. So sometimes you have to have people threatened you with not being in your life. That's right, to make you, it's either this or that.

So I picked that. I picked a good wife. She's a beautiful mother. to my kids, great wife, very smart, you know, she's a producer herself. Okay. Yonavansant, different shows like that. So she understands the business, which I've got blessed with that. Joke stealing.

Mm-hmm. I hear a lot of, some say, look, that's the best joke you ever going to tell? Okay, I guess you can get upset about it. Or somebody will say, write a better joke. Where are you on joke stealing? I don't know. I'll be honest. I don't know how you could steal a joke. I don't know. I don't know what that is. The problem with that is is we all think alike. You know, all the way down to telling a joke the same sometimes. Just a million jokes in the world, man. Red Fox used to do whole sets of stock jokes I don't know where the

he got them jokes but he was telling them and he was loving him Richard Pryor did all the jokes that Paul Mooney wrote for him I don't know how you can still a joke you know I hear people say shit

I say all the time and I just I recognize it but I don't never go to nobody and tell him hey man you can't say that right you don't draw no attention to it you're just like you keep it moving Yeah, because the reality of that is, is that I can take a joke and tell it, and a little young guy can tell the joke and tell it.

And if no one of anybody knows who the fuck he is, it ain't his joke no way. Right. It's not. You know, people stole all kind of shit from me coming up, but I don't. Can't still a joke, man. They all jokes, they all ideas. Is it true that you were, you was gambling one time with Oak and you lost 40 grand?

With Charles Oaklin? Yeah. Hell yeah, fucking around with him. Remember Charles, Gerald Verk? Yeah. Man, them NBA niggas was in a hotel gambling and shit and I thought I could jump in there. You pay Oak?

Because I was going to call Oak, say, Oak, I got him here for you. I know that, that nigga know me too. I know that nigga, hell yeah. I was talking to him on the way, No, I didn't lose no money to him. I mean, I didn't owe him. I just lost some money gambling. Damn.

That was the thing about with the NBA players. They had way more money to me. Yeah. I thought I could jump in there. No, you can't weather them storm. It's like the casino. Got f***ed up. Quick.

I got that money and got my ass up out of there. I'm out of there. This nigga Charles Oakley. Let me ask you there. Why is it important for you to take these young comedians on the road? You know, I remember when I was young and I remember how it felt to go on tour with the OGs and I knew how important it was for them to learn and for me to learn too.

You know, like I said, I learned from them and they learned from me. We all learn from each other, man, you know, and unfortunately we all got to start somewhere. Right. I like being on the road with these guys. We the ones tour, you know. Has the tour started yet? No, the tour is starting up. What's the date on the tour?

February, huh? So it's in 26. You kick it off in 26. 26. February 6th, we're doing a worldwide tour. Like I said, Shannon, this is our third year doing it. How many cities? Oh, man, we're doing all the major cities.

40 cities. 40 cities. And I posted it. It's on BMN shows.com. BMN shows.com. You want to go on there and check out all. all the dates. I'm headlining this year. Last year, I was just hosting bringing up the young comics. But this year, I'm coming out OG after everybody. And we got T.K. Kirkland on

the show. Okay. You know what I mean? We got a, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Jay Ski. Man, we got some of the, some of the youngest, hottest comics. It's going to be the hottest comedy tour out, you know, you ain't going to see no way, nowhere where you're going to see a better tour than this. Wow. Young, hot, black comics. And that's important. That's important to you You feel this is, this is, this is Mike Yelps giving back. Hell yeah. And Mike Yel's staying in the loop. Right.

Because I got to stay in the loop with these young guys to be funny too as well. Teaching and learning. Will you give the Tupac Jury from All Eyes on Be Cover? Yeah. How do you get that? Moutar, one of the outlaws. Yeah. Gave me that bracelet.

And I gave it to, Tupac's sister because I kept saying to myself, I can't It ain't right for you. You ain't right for you to have it. Can you hold this man's bracelet? I met his sister set

and I said, I got something for you. And I gave her that and somebody gave me the original picture of him and Shug sitting in that car. The photographer did. And I gave them to her and I said, if I would have

passed, I would have loved that somebody was real and gave my sister my bracelet, you know? Wow. That was the realest thing I could have did, man. You know what I mean? Yeah. It blew her mind, too. She was like, oh, my God.

Wow. Yeah. I got to give you that bracelet. I'm going to get you out of here on this one. I had, uh, we had two chains on. Two chains that you were him cousins and Omar Epps. Y'all can't. I ain't kidding to them,

you know. Black ass Big dreadlocks shit Two chains sat there And you Yeah you baited them Into that too

What I baited him I said y'all cousins He said yeah See Shannon Everything that you No Yeah no You

That's what I'm saying See I'm glad I finally Did this show With you Because You will bring my name Up all the time

To different people Trying to bait To say That shit No I mean I mean saying that's your cousin Yes you did

Yes, you did. How'd that after me is that's your cousin? Because every time you ask people about me, they end up saying something up. They said that's your cousin, that's my cousin. No, two chains sat right on this, on one of these chairs and said, he must be a cousin by marriage. What kind of shit is that? That means somebody, I married somebody that was last thing else.

Two kid to chains. Let me tell you something, two chains and Omar Epps. Y'all can have that slave name. I sit there arguing about a damn slave name. My name is Mike X. Fucking Tuchay said I was married by I'm F by married. Y'all could.

Y'all related by married. Ramia Omar asked, see, we was all supposed to do a TV show going to find out who. Oh, y'all who are hearing Lewis Gates show? Yeah, because we were all F. Yeah. And I started thinking about it. I'm like, I don't.

I don't want to meet my master. Whoever the emcee is. Because I did that, that DNA, that ancestry. 23 of me? Yes, like a dummy. Where are you from? I'm white. I'm white.

That's where I'm from. I thought I was black. I am black, but. Yeah, you are. But get pulled over. It's some white people. Yeah. My nose ain't as big as yours.

I'm like, I'm like, I'm 90% Nigerian. Yeah, I know he's Nigerian. See, I called you out. I knew he was Nigerian. It takes a while for me to get to the Africans on my shit. All European popped up. So I'm, I got a lot of white in me, but I got problems. We'll get you out of this, Mike.

Is there anything that you haven't accomplished that you hope to accomplish? before you're done with this business. Yeah. I just want to make sure I leave a great name for myself in this business so that my children can hear and live off of my legacy. That's all I want to do.

I want to make sure I leave out of this business unscathed and alive so that my kids can take what I did and flourish off of it. If I can do that, I'm good. I just want my name to be good. Everybody, when they hear my name and they hear Mike else, they said, man, your dad was, he was all right. All right, guy. Hell of a hell of an actor, comedian, shit starter sometime, but for the most part, all the way around guy. What do you credit,

credit, credit your longevity to? How have you been able to stay in this business, stay relevant for so long? My passion for the business. My passion for the art. I'm, my passion for the art. I really love, I protect what I have, I protect my art, I protect my comedy, I protect it in my spirit, like, it's all I got, and I protect it, and I love it, and I honor it. And that's why I have, I've had longevity as I'm very passionate about the gift that was given to me, and I protect it. What can they expect from the tour, We Them Ons? We Them Ons tour, this tour is going to be the biggest one that we ever did. I'm headlining and these guys are hilarious, some of the greatest black young comics in the game right now. Make sure you go get them tickets. We're going

to be in all the great cities. If you went last year, you've seen how fun it was. It's going to be even bigger this year. And I'm headlining. Make sure you go get the tickets. We the ones. kicks off February 6th. What's the first state you hit? What's the first city you hit? Indianapolis, right? Indianapolis. My hometown. Make sure you go get them tickets, man. We're the ones. Make sure y'all check out the Upshars coming out January 8th, our last season on only on Netflix. Shannon Sharp, I appreciate you, boy.

Mike Yelps. Respect, mine. Appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you, bro. All my life. I be grinding all my life. All my life Sacrifice hustle paid the price want a slice got the roll of dice That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life