Club Shay Shay - Club Shay Shay - Ryan Davis Part 2

Episode Date: January 14, 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  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/SHAYSHAY. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Ryan Davis steps onto Club Shay Shay calling himself the GOAT of his generation — and explains why. From starring on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Insecure to becoming a true pioneer in digital comedy, Ryan breaks down how reacting to trending videos turned him into “your favorite comic’s favorite comic” and led to sold-out comedy tours across the world. He explains how mastering timing, storytelling, and internet culture helped him turn everyday moments into viral comedy that connects with fans across continents. He reflects on the first reaction video that changed his life, his most-viewed clip, and how celebrities like Odell Beckham Jr. and Kevin Durant responded — including his jokes about KD’s hair and championships, and how athletes secretly love being the subject of great comedy even when they act annoyed online. Ryan opens up about comedy beefs, including public disagreements with Corey Holcomb and Faizon Love, and how Ali Siddiq helped him release his special independently on YouTube after losing monetization — plus whether comedians should still chase Netflix or go fully independent in today’s creator economy. He credits Kountry Wayne for helping him grow his business mindset, reacts to the Tyler Perry lawsuit, names his Mount Rushmore of social media comedians, and explains why DC Young Fly inspired him to start posting online. Ryan also shares his thoughts on the backlash over Druski wearing White face and how Kevin Hart motivated him to take stand-up seriously. The episode takes a deeper turn as Ryan talks about his son being nonverbal, his daughter wanting him just for his money, the terrifying moment the mother of his children went into a coma after childbirth, co-parenting after their breakup, dating, and the toxic relationships he’s experienced while navigating fame.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thank you for coming back. Part two is underway. I read you say you're a pro gatekeeper. What is gatekeeper? Oh, I'm pro gatekeeping. You're pro gatekeeping? Oh, I'm pro gatekeeping. Yeah.

Why you do that? Yeah, because somebody, somebody has to stop the nonsense. Somebody has to stop the nonsense. And I don't mean gatekeeping on some, like, all right, I'll give you a perfect example. me wanting to be a commentator in sports doing sports journalism you know how many athletes

play sports great at sports can't articulate it? Yeah. Tons growing up I had to watch them get jobs that somebody like me who could really articulate it will never get an opportunity that is correct to get

that's where gatekeeping has to happen it's like hey bro I know you ran for two thousand yards in the season, but you can't do this. You can't do this. If we go to showing- Will they at least get a chance? Whether they succeed or fail, it's going to be the own.

But they're definitely getting the chance. But you see what I'm saying? And it's just like, and it really takes away of how special people like you are, how Terry Bradshaw has been able to do it, right? Like, you know what I mean? Because everybody can't talk when that red light comes on. Everybody can't do it. Everybody can't hold a thought.

So that's the only, that's the thing about gatekeeping, right? gatekeeping, right? Where it's just like, hey, man, I get it. So here's a story. How about this? Will Smith did King Richard. I auditioned for King Richard. They sought out for me to audition for it. I'm touring comedy. I ain't been going to acting class, none of that. And I'm getting the same opportunity as a dude who went to school four years doing theater. in college. This dude has done Hamlet. I can't even read a script for real. We get in the same opportunity.

Somebody got to say, no, he can't come in here. It ain't just gatekeeping to my benefit. You need to keep me out of spaces. I ain't got no business in that. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. When I sat there and listened to that man's audition, I was like, why am I here? We had to pretend like it was the part where Richard came back

to the game with the gun and was like, you know, turning the tables. I thought a dude was, I thought they really pulled the gun out on this man on the other side. I'm on the other side of the door. Like, what they doing back there? And he came out smiling. I was like, you were acting? I walked in and they were like, hey, how are you doing? I was like, hey, that's the guy.

I'm a dude. I'm a read. But that's the guy. Don't mess this up, guys. I want to see the version of the movie with that. But I'm Ryan Davis. Let's do it. And they're like, all right, the gun's on you.

I'm like, ooh. And that was my best. Ooh. Where are you on joke stealing, Ryan? Joke stealing is awful. But this is the funny part about joke stealing is people need to understand what joke stealing actually is. Like, people don't dig enough in their writing and they'll, talk about something surface level and they'll believe other people couldn't have thought of this,

which is BS. Okay. Because all you guys got creative mind. You think that out of the thousands of people who are paying attention to this thing, nobody else is thinking of this? But like Erica Baudenu said, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit. the idea of somebody taking something because all of them are like our babies

somebody is taking our baby from us but at the same time if I go yeah man I fell asleep and my girl reached over me while I was sleep to grab my phone and I could feel her breath on my face

that woke me up you think nobody else he's never going through that situation Nobody. Man, you hear him say breath on the face? That was, oh, come on, man. You know that's mine. Breath on the face, that's mine.

Right. And I'm like, and I hate being in those situations because I'll be looking at them like, really, you think breath on the face. That's you. That's you. Nobody else could ever. So when it comes to jokes still

and I challenge comedians to write the thing where you see it. And everybody knows. your joke. Like, if you watch my special, some people will look at my special and be like, man, he's long-winded, man, his setups are long. It's to prevent stealing.

You really got to steal my joke to steal it. That's the work you got to do. And there's nothing wrong with basic observational humor. Just understand at basic observation. You're not the only person with eyes. Yes. You're not the only person with eyes. But I've been accused the joke stealing.

Really? Yeah. Who is you stole? Have I ever stolen? Yes. Subconsciously because I... Well, the accusation was correct. No, no, no.

I've never stolen from anybody I was accused of. I caught myself. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was watching Wanda Sykes. I'm a be me. Mm-hmm. And I was watching it. Yeah, I was watching it.

She was in the middle of a joke. I said, oh, my God, she's not going to say it. She's going to say it. Oh, my God, I didn't think of this. I didn't think of this. It's in the back of my subconscious. And then she said the joke, I was like, yeah. It's not mine.

It's not mine. So that's why a lot of comedians won't watch other comedians. No, I can understand that. Yeah, because it can get. But in my defense, like, it was just on a rant. It wasn't like I wrote it down and thought it was mine. I was talking about something. And then I said this thing and it was really funny at the moment.

And so it wasn't something I was telling over and over and over again. I said it one time in my entire life. And people loved it. And that's why I remembered it in that moment. And I was like, oh, God, it's not even mine. But that's another reason why I don't rift. I don't do crowd work like that because crowdwork, you're talking. you're thinking really quick

so you're grabbing things that's right down the surface level of your brain surface level of your brain how much of that is you not much not much right so that's why I stick to I stick to the pen

because if I'm gonna give you you me I gotta give you me right so but even in my new special my brother Chico Bean we have a simple Miller joke within that special. And he called me straight up.

It was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, nah, this was brought to my attention, blah, blah, blah. He told me not to ever bring it up or whatever, because we handle it. But I need people to understand that there are just people in this world who are solid people and how you handle this situation. Right. In this situation, you make the phone call. Right. And you go, yeah, this is this, this, this, that, hey, this is how my bit went.

This is when I said it. And we released it, blah, blah, zla, blah, he said it. It came out before my thing came out. So he don't like I don't know how long he's been saying it. He don't know how long I've been saying it. But then we talked about it. And he was like, this is where I go with the joke. And I go, when I say it, this is where I go with the joke.

This is how I got to it. He's like, this is how I got to it. This is where I go with it. His joke is better than mine. Mine is just to get to, I'm actually using it to transition into something else. Yeah. He actually goes in depth with the joke. But we repeated the same words.

So it got brought to his attention. that I may have stolen it and I didn't. It's just this one piece of observation. But we're able to have a conversation and because we're both artists and we both respect each other's craft, we could see and we explain how we both got there and it wasn't that.

Right. You know what I mean? And I think that's important for people to do that and I think so many people don't do that just had a conversation. But joke's still in, but joke still in is a no-no. Big time no-no.

And it can happen to you, but when it's brought to your attention, acknowledge it and coop. I was on a road with a guy and a guy did Lil Rale's whole bit. Did the act outs and everything. Come on, man. Man, I was mind-boggled. Mind you, these dudes ain't even from the same culture.

Little Rale from Chicago, he ain't even from America. Oh, you went to church in the Midwest? Where? He did the same. And I didn't even accuse him of it. it, I pulled him to the side and said, hey, man, you ever seen this bit? And I showed him the whole video. And then he saw it.

He's like, dad, I was like, I don't need to hear the nut. I don't need to know if you stole it, if you lifted it or nothing. I need you to know that somebody else has done this already. And they have claimed it and it is theirs. They do it exactly like this. Don't do it no more. Wow. I didn't run back and tell a little rail.

People out here stealing your stuff or whatever. The best thing I could do is put an end to it right there. Yeah, let him know, bro, that's somebody else's being. Put an end to it right then. So many people try to be messy and go and run. Nah, go have a conversation with the person. Dionne Cole did that. There's another comic who's really smart.

Brian Simpson. He, in my special, I do this play on dog ownership. And Brian Simpson did one similar on a show. I think it was one of Adam Sandler's homeboy. David Spade had a show. And Brian Simpson did it because Dion saw my special before a lot of people. Dion was like, hey, this joke is similar. I called Brian.

Sent it to Brian. Brian was like, but this is the thing amongst writers. Brian saw it. It was like, it is not the same. I was like, I know it's not the same, but I had to hear it from you that if you saw it, you wouldn't go, oh, these are, he stole my joke. He's similar or maybe it was inspired by it because it wasn't. When you write, you know, you're like, nah, I understand. Yeah, the nuances.

It's context and nuance is so important in joke writing. Right. That's the part people don't necessarily get. That's why the joke stealing thing. is so like prevalent because people go to it from an emotional standpoint and not an artistic standpoint. Have you ever been starstruck? Yes.

Kelly Rowland flatlined me. Couldn't do nothing. Boy, let me tell you. Let me tell you. I've been, I've been starstruck, and then I've been accused to be in starstruck by somebody. I wasn't even starstruck by. So you saw Kelly Rowland, you're like, oh, my God, I can't believe. Staring.

Shannon and I was stuck She got an aura It's orange I don't know if you've ever seen her Yeah I've seen I've seen Kelly roller before Listen I always it was But that's a married woman

You can't do that She was not married at the time So this It was the bad boy reunion tour Of all places Okay We were in L.A And I'm just

And this is when Like my career is really taking off I'm backstage I'm talking about in L.A Everybody there Yeah You're talking about feeling like I ain't supposed to be there

And I'm new for famous. The money ain't here yet. Yeah, okay. So I'm famous. Dirty shoes. Yeah. Everybody, the designer, everything. Like, I'm just back there like, I ain't supposed to be back here, but I'm back here. This is crazy. And then somebody, Kelly Rowland was having a conversation and somebody interrupted her conversation. Now, if you've seen Kelly Rowland in other spaces, she don't take too kindly to people being rude. Right. So she checked the person.

And not in no rude way. She just, you know, say, hey. I'm talking about a conversation. And I looked like, yeah, that's how you handle that. And then she looked at me. And I was like, oh, you can see me. I was stuck. She was so radiant.

It just, I had never seen somebody so beautiful in my life. I was stuck. And, dude, like Destiny's child. was that group was some of my first Latoya Luckett was like my first one of my first crushes They were like nah and then I've been accused to be in starstruck Which I never want to do to somebody because of how I felt So Tracy Morgan

I went to go see a friend of mine Couldn't make it the Tracy show gave me their tickets I was like I wouldn't mind going to see Tracy Morgan Went to go see Tracy Morgan A couple of people of his team recognized who I was. We're talking, I'm checking out the show or whatever. It's cool. And Tracy Morgan is Tracy Morgan.

So when I saw him, I was like, wow, it's Tracy Morgan. You know, that was the end of it. Right. You know, I respect everything he's ever done. You know what I mean? He is Tracy Morgan. So, and then they were like, oh, come back to the green room or whatever. I'm like, cool.

We hanging out talking. And everything's great. And then they're like, hey, Ryan, you want a picture with Tracy? And if you ever look at my page, I don't take pictures with nobody. I'm introverted. I don't take pictures with nobody.

Let me guess you said no. No, I didn't even get a chance. They said, Ryan, you want a picture with Tracy? Of course he wants a picture with me. He's been puppy dogging me all night. I'm the reason he do stander. He do comedy because of me. I used to do the same thing with Eddie and Martin.

I get it. I get it. You wouldn't even do comedy if it wasn't for me. Of course he wants a picture with me. I was like, who? Nobody has ever watched my comedy and went, Tracy Borgia. You're not one of my influences, Big Dog. God, Lord of mercy.

To be told that I idolized somebody. You wanted a picture. I wanted a picture. Shannon? Every day you do. Every day I do. You know, Shannon. I didn't know how to respond.

You took the picture and just kept it moving. I left. You didn't take the picture? No. Right, come on, right? You got to take the picture. No. No.

I love to take a picture. I couldn't. No. I said, all right, guys. It's been lovely. I got to get back. back home. I did not take the picture. Nah, you got to keep the piece, right? You just, hey, yeah, bro. Show.

I know, I wasn't disrespectful. I was like, uh... The man said you want to take a picture with him, and then you say no. You don't think that's I didn't say no. I said, woo, look at the times. How long are you going to take a picture? Y'all do it a movie and you're taking a snapshot. Man, I just, oh my God. Shannon, I was so like, yo, it was, I didn't know how to feel in that moment because it's like, one, we're in your space. You ain't have to allow me back here. You don't have to, it is a privilege.

Whether you're an inspiration to me or not, it is a privilege for a young comic trying to make his way in this game to be in your space and somebody of a legend. No matter how I felt in that space, this is not my time to cause a disruption in this. man space when I can just remove myself from this space.

Still sure you should have took the picture. I should have... You want to do more acting? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know acting was fun. I, because like I said, I like to

experience people's gifts. I know how much, and I believe in gatekeeper. And I didn't think of it as fun because I know how hard they work. For sure. I know.

know how hard they worked. So whenever I did, like I worked hard and got to it and you do it, it actually is fun though. You can't have fun doing it. And I didn't know that. I thought it was serious because how serious I take comedy even though it's like I'm looked at it. We're clowns. But for me, it's very serious. So now I take acting very serious. I got an acting coach. We, you know, I love her. She, you know, she, you know, she. She showed me that I had more in me than I knew. And now, because before I wanted to write, I always wanted to write things and not star in them. Because I just didn't view myself in that way.

Right. Even in my career, the social media stuff that I did, I never wanted to deliver it. I wanted to write it and then have somebody else to do it. But nobody wanted to work with me. So I had to just suck it up and do it. Do it yourself. And that's how I got popular. I was so uncomfortable in front of the camera all the time.

I read where you said you wouldn't wear a dress for 10 million. Some of the greatest comedians have worn a dress. Yeah. Eddie, Martin, Jamie. Yep. Robin Williams. Killed it. Mrs. Delfire is amazing.

Norbitt is amazing. Nuddy Professor. Big Mama. Big Mama's house. Especially first. Dustin Hoffman. Yeah. Toosy.

What is it? Tutsy. Yeah. Look, at the, uh, Because it's not about the dress. What's about? It's about being uncompromiser. Okay.

If I don't want to do it, then no amount of money is going to make me do it. See, the thought, when I say it, people have these think pieces. What is it about the dress? It ain't about it. I don't want to do it. And the dress to me represents standing my ground. And then when you say 10 million, I'm like, okay, if I'm worth 10 in a dress, I'm worth four without the dress. I got to be at least worth four without the dress.

I'll just take the four. I'll just take the four. And then some people will look at me like, man, you're crazy. I was like, I'm crazy if I pass on four billion. What did four billion? When did we get to a point where $4 billion was like poo-poo? I'm never going to be, and I want to raise my children to be that way. Right.

Where it's like being you is enough and being and standing on whatever you're standing on, long as it's righteous is enough. See, in that particular case, I don't even look at it as a right or wrong. It's just I don't want to do it. Right. And that's enough. And that's enough. That's literally enough.

I don't need you try to make me feel bad, trying to guilt me into it. I said, I don't want to do it. That's the end of it. That's the end. We're not trying to put a number on it. It's just not, I'm not comfortable doing it. You think that I think that Martin is less of a comedian because he did Big Mama and Shannay-Nay. You think that I think Eddie Murphy is less because he played the mom and the grandma and nutty professor.

That is two, those two guys gave two of the greatest performances. And Norbert. I still believe Norbert. People don't get, people, they bag on Norbert, they got all these, Norbert was great. Great. that's some of the best performances in cinematic history. The thing is, I can't even do that. I can't even do that.

So it's not that I'm above it. I can't even do it. That's even beyond my capability. So I would feel like if somebody is asking me to do it, that is not because they recognize a skill set, maybe they just want to see me in a dress. And then I'm like, what is that about? Because it's not about, because I haven't shown you the skill set.

I remember when I used to do, I would do stand-up, and I would, because I storytell. Right. Those people would tell me after the show, they were like, is there ever a time when you're going to make the man and the woman in the story sound different? Because I just would use my voice. Right. That's how little I think about imitating women. I just don't do it. I just don't do it.

It's not a skill set of mine. Right. Yeah. You said you don't believe in political correctness. No. Let me ask you this. Can white people say the N word, route rapid?

That has absolutely nothing to do with political correctness. That has everything to do with how safe you feel in the moment. I tell them to say it all the time. Go to the hood and say it as much as you want to. If you don't feel comfortable saying it there, you shouldn't feel comfortable saying it in your car. Because the way I feel about it is either you stand on what you stand on. Okay.

You know what I mean? I do understand that there's a time and a place for everything, but if it's something that you feel like isn't wrong, you should be able to say it everywhere. Right. And not just when you get upset or just in a rap song. Right. And if it takes that for you to say something,

then you really don't feel like it's okay to say all the time. And that type of context matters. Right. I would never like for me if I do a clean set, right? They'll go, can you do clean? I was like, I can imagine my grandma being in the audience. Easy work. Right.

Because I would never speak like that in front of her. Correct. Never speak like that in front of her. So in my mind, I know that cursing a certain way ain't okay. It's just not okay. It's just not okay. How you don't get that? Wow.

You get it. Yeah. You did say kids would be off limits. So speaking about disability, because it used to be, you know, you can make fun of disabled people. Yep. It's not as, I don't see as many comics doing it now as they once did. Sometimes they might do it, but they're talking about a relative. I know Arnda, Jay still talks about his brother, had Jay on.

Ricky Ricky Smiley still does Bill Darrell But is that a space But you never occupied that space So No I actually do a joke on my special About my son

Believing my son was on the spectrum And then finding out that he was not Because he was non-verbal Until he was four years age Well we just found out Is on the spectrum They were wrong He is on the spectrum

He is on the spectrum He started doing therapy And everything you know, behavioral stuff and we're and I'm not struggling with it at all. I look at it and be like, I can't wait to talk about this.

And whenever, like, you know, everybody has a day. So the autism is, and then when the day came, my set about my son came out and so many parents who have autistic children, people who have autistic siblings or everything was just like grateful for the joke that I told and the way that I went about telling it because they felt seen and they want to be able to laugh at the

thing. That's what I'm saying. The joke has to appeal more to the people that affects than the person that's telling the story. Then the other people. Because if other people are laughing, they're laughing at it. If the people who go through it can't laugh at it, They're going to feel like they're being laughed at. Okay. You have to make sure that they are laughing at it. They're laughing alone. Yes.

And we're bringing everybody into this world, not everybody pointing at it. So that's why I don't believe everything. Anything is off limits. It's how you get to it. Because everything in the world that happens in the world, it's somebody's reality. And everybody should be able to talk about their reality. Everybody. So when you say off limits, I think you're stifling, you're trying too hard to be politically correct.

And you're leaving, you're slamming the door on nuance and you're slamming the door on an opportunity for a conversation and a chance to educate people. When you find out your son, because he obviously, he wasn't communicating, how did that make you feel as a parent? Because I think, and especially as you being a father and a son, I think we all have these. We all have these expectations of what our son is going to be. And how he's going to behave and how he's going to do. He's going to play football. He's going to do this. And he's going to be big and strong.

He'll be muscular. He's going to be a storyteller. He's going to be able to write jokes. We have this. So when you found out that your son was on the spectrum, So his mom isn't going to like it, but I told you I decided to be telling. She's struggling. Really?

She's struggling. Why do you think she's struggling? Guilt. It's like, did we do something wrong? Is it something that? Because he's high functioning. Okay. It's high functioning.

So it's quirks that you can pick up or how he uses his hands, how he speaks. Like, for her, it's like, what are they saying about my baby? I can tell that that's, you know, and it's like, are they saying? And that comes with the lack of exposure to it. You know what I mean? If you've never been around anybody on the spectrum or whatever, you've probably seen the most severe cases and that's it. So you don't know anything.

And I get to watch her go through this. And just luckily for me, that's not my experience. Because it wouldn't surprise me if I am. You know what I mean? If anything, I look at them and I go, boy, you weird like your daddy. Weird. And she don't like when I say that. And I'm just like, you know, I remember.

Remember Chris Rock talked about him might have in Asburgers. You know, they say that Jerry Seinfeld may be on the spectrum and things of that nature. I see it as a superpower. I look at the stuff my son does well and I go, oh, that's what that is. Right. Yeah, his ability to lock in onto these things that he care about. In the same way, I have tunnel vision about the things that I care about. and people with ADHD can tell you this,

you know, the lock-in and then the aloofness and all of this stuff. Like, for me, it's fun to watch because I've gone through this stuff mentally, it's fun to watch. Because now, like, the way I see it is, I go, thank God. I knew it was something.

I knew it was something. I know I wasn't crazy. Right. That's how I see it. So, and I can't speak for every parent. Every parent goes through everything, but for me, I'm super introverted. I consider myself to be a weirdo. My son being weird is I?

And some parents are going to- He chip off the old block. Yeah. Hey, like father like son. Yeah. So there are going to be some parents who watch this and go, why he keeps saying weird, why can't he use another word? Well, weird is an insult to you. Weird is not an insult to me.

I embrace that I'm weird. I love being a weirdo. You've taken ownership of that. I've taken ownership of it. It's a blessing to pass that on to my son. You go deal with that, how you go deal with that. But me and my son, we're going to be weird, and that's okay, because that's our superpower. And you can tell your child, don't ever let anybody call them weird or whatever.

And y'all accept whatever word, y'all gifted, special, however you want. Me and Ryan going to be weird. That's how we're going to get down. Your co-parent almost died giving birth. Yes. Ooh, she's not going to like this. Go ahead. That would have to be a very scary experience.

It is. It is. And she don't think it's funny. Really? Yeah. You tell that in your set? I do. She don't think it's funny.

Well, she appreciates how I handled it in the set. The problem is, once you put it out, everybody. Because everybody didn't know, only her family and closest friends knew. Now the world knows. was the world and I still tell nobody know you when you walk through the street don't nobody know that joke is about you

right but uh she's not a fan of the commentary that surrounds it but she knows that I care enough and I to handle the it would care but what I also try to explain

is you didn't go through this alone right I went through it too I went through it too no I didn't almost die, but you don't know what it's like to see somebody you love who's carrying your child almost die. And think about whether you're going to lose her and the child. Or are you going to have the child and not her? And then what your future looks like, all of these things.

And the place that I put this is in by art. So let me have this. Let me have this Because it wasn't easy for you to go through it But it also wasn't easy for me It wasn't easy for me And this is how I get That's how you're dealing with it

This is how I'm dealing with it I'm dealing with it I'm dealing with And in that moment And I found the humor Is the fear of me I was afraid to raise the children alone Which was a silly thought

Because she's fighting for her life That's the humor to me. Is that how ridiculous of me to think about that in a moment like this because for her raising the children alone is a lot easier than what she's currently going

through. And it also points at the the I had I was blessed enough to be selfish in the moment is also how I see that. It's all the emotions that come into creating this. That's what I want people to see when I create

my comedy. You You guys do have a special bond because when you were an up-and-coming comedian, she allowed you to quit your job and support you financially. Yes. So there is a special bond that you guys share. It wasn't like, you know, she didn't support you. You made it. She's not around.

Like, when you were trying to become what you become, she was there. Yeah. Yeah. And she know it. She knows. Yeah, I got her forever. I got her forever. And it's so funny.

Even when she knows, like, where at odds at the most, I mean, I can't stand her. I just hate the way of her. And then somebody like, yeah, and she, watch your mouth. Watch your mouth. I can say that.

You can't say. Watch your mouth. That lady has held me down. Yeah. From the, I'm not even a parent without her. I don't have, like, I have a video. I just watched it the other day of the first time I ever did comedy.

Right? It's the day after. I'm reading off of a plaque that she made to commemorate the first time I've ever been on stage. Wow. And how proud she was of me and all that. That's the type of, I remember that person. I still know that person is in that person. I can't get along with sometimes.

Given all of that. the commemorative plaque, birth of your kids. How difficult was it for you to end that relationship or you guys to go, you're going to say, we're going to be co-parents. Co. One, two, we're not one. It was easy for me, hard for her, and then it became hard for me, easy for her.

Why was it easy for you and hard for her? All I could see was the world that I was about to go. I'm about to be a star. I'm about to do all the things. My career is taking off. I see all the... And this is the funny part. I don't even feel like providing context for people

because people are going to be like, oh, what, he made it big. Oh, he left. No, we were already... We were already... It just happened after. Yeah. So that's the thing, too,

I feel some type of guilt about because she was this close to the bubble burn, like it happening. And while we were locked in, but we weren't locked in whenever it happened. And so for me, like, there's this, there was guilt. So that's hard for me, but it was easy for me because I really didn't want the relationship. And it was hard for her because she did.

Right. And. Break it up is easy as long as you're not the one being broken up with. And this is the thing. she didn't want children I wanted children so you don't force the kids she had children

for me and now I'm not here yeah like my grandie used to say you ought to be beaten made to stay but you see what the funny part about this is I'm in my 20s the world is my oyster

I ain't even realizing what I'm putting her through because I'm like Because we tried. Yes. You know what I mean? It ain't like I didn't try. Right.

But so like I'm not seeing things from her perspective because I'm sending money back. I'm getting joint accounts putting like giving you access to all the money. Anytime you wanted like I never played with her like that. I've never played her. And like she's always had access. So whenever. But that's when it was eating meat. What was eating me up was like, I always wanted the family unit.

That's what I wanted. She knew I wanted that. And she was willing to give. Give you that even though she didn't want that. For herself necessarily. And by the time I came around the understanding that I really, all I have to do is come here and make this hole. When I came back, she ain't want you. She didn't want nothing to do with.

And I gave her a pretty good deal. I came back. I was like, look, we're gonna live together. We're gonna raise the children together. You ain't gotta work. I'm gonna pay for everything. I'll get you a personal trainer. I'll get you a personal chef that teach you how to, you know, cook.

And she thought I want my personal space. Yeah, and she was like, she was more or less like, that's it. I was like, God, this lady don't want no parts with me. No. She don't want the parts of me. Was that hard for you? Because you said in the beginning, you wanted that she didn't. Now that you wanted it and she didn't was that hard.

Now you, did you see the flips that? Now did you see what she was going through? Nope, still didn't see it. All I can think about is I lost my family. That's all I can think about. Damn. That's all I can say. I was, that's why I give people the space for growth.

I was not always a good person. Right. And the funny part is, wasn't that I was being a bad person. Right. I just couldn't, I lacked empathy. I could not see somebody else's perspective. Right. So like then like so it took some growing up for me to be like because I know all I can see was what I was going through. It wasn't a walk in the park from my end either. She was not making everything easy for me on my end. And I had to sit there and go, Ryan, what is it like being her? What is it like being her? You're doing these things that you feel like make life easier for her because you, because you, because you, these are the things you would appreciate.

But what would she appreciate? What could you have done to make these 10, 11 years that much easier for her? Because it wasn't always money that would have done it for her.

There were so many things. There was a certain level of you know, just showing up that she need. Like, she don't need split custody. She needs whenever the children when it feels like it's too much. Somebody come get them. You need to come get the kids.

I need to come get the kids. I had them to last weekend. That ain't got nothing to do with her being overwhelmed right now. So I see all the stuff I do. She see all the time she's overwhelmed. And she's like, yeah, I see the stuff you do, but you don't, but you don't see how much I do. And the thing is, I do, but I didn't give her her flowers ever. At that time. And the funny part is I didn't give her her flowers because I was being an asshole Why you been why you why were you that way? I just didn't want to give it a satisfaction Hurt people hurt people true I couldn't have my family you know get you know no no No you don't get no

I'm sorry I heard it he said he's sorry I'm sorry like Would you if if if But if she calls, when she sees this and she said, that's the first time that you said you're sorry, Ryan. I want my family back. Nah. Nah. Nah, we good. But, uh, too much.

Too much. Well, it's too much of everything. Yeah. Too much of everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We, we, we, we do. Yeah. Yeah. I saw a stat that says 72% of the people find ghosting more pain for the being dumped. because the lack of closure, keep the brain, keep searching for answers. You agree with that?

Yeah. I'm a goster. And when I got- You just up and leave. You just, no question of that. So, so I,

the growth of any person happens where discomfort is. Yes. That's where any growth happens of any kind. I'm non-confrontational. I'll take my ball and go home. I don't.

We ain't got to work on it Damn Yeah It's immaturity But it's also just You protect it I'm protecting myself I'm hurting people by protecting myself

So for a long time I didn't see it as me hurting people I was trying not to allow myself To get hurt Yes That's how I'm viewing That's your coping mechanism That's why I tell people like

I'll say in this That's why I'll say in the same breath I wasn't a good person But I'll say I wasn't intentionally a bad person You know intent only matters to the individual. It only matters to me. Yeah.

Because the person is still. They only experience you. So that was the thing. So no, I'm very much non-confrontational. And the reason being is because I get to the finish line. Like, if me and you are cool and you cuss me out, I don't like being disrespected. Before I respond to you, I go, is this friendship going to continue after this? Because if the friendship is going to continue after this, let's just go ahead and not, you know, make this worse than what it already is.

Damn! But if the friendship is over, let's go on and get it out. Let's go ahead and get it out of the way. Let's go ahead and I'm cool with just going my way. So for me, I never get emotionally disregulated enough to just throw everything out the window. But in that composure, I just walk away with relative ease. But I don't think of, I'd never thought about how much that hurt the other person. So I had been ghosted, right?

And when I got ghosted, it left me without answers. But it only hurt my ego. Yeah. It didn't, I didn't feel like. She changed the number on you? No, probably blocked me. Oh. So.

All, everything, phone number, social media. Yeah, it was like, so. So, because I was like, and this is how toxic I was, I wanted to know why she ghosted me so I could tell her why she was wrong about why she ghosted me. And then you're going to ghost her? And then I was going to ghost her. See, I do it. You see.

You want to get back. Yeah, that's when I, when I thought about it, I was like, why do you want closure? So you could just do it. I was like, you're not a good person. It's just, so I had some growing to do. That's what I'm like, you got to grow. So now I always like in any situation I sit with Ryan if you feel this way why do you feel this way if this is your response why do you want that to be your response? What is it? That's the part of maturing and and then also seeing things from other people's points of view. Yeah. And that's how you work toward being a better person and and when you do this work understand you're the only person that know you're doing this one. Yes. And whenever you're you speak, people still hear you through their lens.

Correct. Right. So, like, I love women. Love black women especially. So when I talk about my love for them, people get on the internet and go, I'm, he pandering. He pandering to him. He's just trying to get them. Because that person who says, I'm pandering, has seen men on the internet pandered

to them to make money or to do anything or throw men under the bus or whatever. And then I'll see something that I don't particularly care for or whatever and I'll criticize it within women You know, especially in black women because that's the people women I see right and they'll be like oh he has a problem with black women I was like I got a problem with black women and I'm a sim and and and that's the that's the thing with being fair yeah when you're being fair the extremes are always going to yeah Going to the extreme they're going to extreme so I just focus on being righteous right and And when I'm wrong, hope Naim Lynn calls me. That. And T. Springs called me and tell me better.

Paul Pierce was trending. He said, if you want to see if a woman really loves you, treat on her and see how she reacts. So if a woman, let's just say you dating, she's like, hey, all right, let me see you phone right quick. Yeah. I'm starting to think that Paul Pierce might have mother issues. And I don't know your situation, Paul. I'm just saying, I'm going to tell you why I think it, because it's something I went through. I had mommy issues.

Oh, did you? And I used to be this person. A lot of stuff he'd say, I was like, I remember being that dude. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird hearing it from somebody his age, but yeah, because you got to work through that, Paul. But so this is where I used to be. I used to think in order to see.

And it probably now that I'm thinking about it, probably comes from watching my mother to never leave my father. No matter how bad the situation. No matter how bad it got. My dad just got remarried. Shout out to my pop. My step-momma Sheila. Love y'all.

But no matter how bad it got, she didn't leave. So to me, that's love. That's the lens I saw love through. But you know what happened? I would put women through stuff and they would stay. And then I would want to leave because how could you not respect yourself? How do you allow me to do you like this? You put them in a situation and then you wonder why they stayed in the situation.

then use the situation. Because I would never stay with somebody who treats me like this. Damn, right? But this is the thing. I was, are we talking about teenager? Yeah, early 20s. I don't know how messed up I am.

I don't know how bad. That's the funny part. Whenever, like, my peers speak highly of me, my OG speak highly of me, people in general who know me speak highly of me. So I don't ever like get, like, if the internet, any, like rumors or anything come out on the internet

and say anything negative about me. I don't care. I know it's a lie. I've been good. I keep it moving. I mean, they were like, Ryan don't never respond because it's true. No, I'll never respond because it's ridiculous.

But there are some women in this world who do not remember me fondly. Now, if they come out and say something, I'll take that bullet straight to the chest. I did not do right by these women. Okay. And it's because of the relationship with my mother. But my mother is not to blame for how. how I treated these women.

It was my responsibility. Yes. To grow past that. To grow past that and see what I was doing. I couldn't, even when I love these women, I could not see what I was doing to them. Yeah. And, man, I remember one time my girlfriend at the time confronted me about cheating. We both crying.

Crying. And some people would be like, oh, you was crying to manipulate her? No, I was really hurt because I couldn't stop hurting her. I broke up with her and she didn't even want to break up. I broke up with her and she was like, what? And I was like, I can't keep doing this to you. Something is wrong with me. The funny part is I'm not a good person for cheating.

I'm not a good person for breaking up with her. or anything, because really I'm breaking up with her because of the discomfort. It's causing me. Nothing about this. I'm not trying to sound like a good person. Everything about this is me being a bad person. But that's when I understood, you got some deep-seated stuff that you got to work out, bro. It's bad.

Yeah. It is bad. You saw therapy? I have gone to therapy. Yeah, I'm going to therapy. I've been in relationships. I did couples therapy. And you know what the messed up part is?

The better you get, the more easy it is for you to see how messed up everybody else is. But now I have empathy on my side. When I see people's stuff show up, I go, ah, that's what that is. It's not me. I don't take it personal. And it helps because once you don't take stuff personal, you see the comments on social media and you go, I get it. Right. This ain't got nothing to do with me.

That's them. That's them. Yeah. Have you found how to find happiness? Happiness, no. You got this great career. You got kids. No.

What is happiness to you? Because happiness is not something you find. It's something you create. Yes. So I experienced it one time. It was wonderful. I ain't going to say one time, but I remember one time in particular. Okay.

My friend Danielle had, it was her brother. And we went to Panama, South America, rented a private island, no electricity, no nothing. That what happened is for you? I'll tell you. No, no nothing. Okay. For food, they just had traps in the water and lobsters crawl into it, can't get out, you eat lobster.

Like all the stuff that you, is market price over here. have on a day-to-day at your at your leisure. Wow. And, you know, we congregated. There was a bunch of us. It was like through the day we spent time together. We congregated. We talked about everything.

They had massage therapists there. We all, we did everything together, mushrooms. And it was just nothing but like water and peace. And, you know, right then. And I was happy, but also I never felt closer to God ever in my life. Wow. And I realized what I was experiencing is the life that he gave us. Everything that we experience outside of that is man-made and manufactured.

Most of the stress that we deal with on a day-to-day is created. It's created for us to live there. So in order to find your happiness, get further away. That's the funny part. They put us in this rat race so we can make enough money to not be in it. So now the goal for me is to find a way to not be in it without like needing money to do it. Right.

I want to get into gardening. I want to be able to work with my hands and build things and create a life where I don't have to be in the rat race so much. Because that was the time I witnessed happiness where it was I didn't care like there was no electricity I didn't care about the lights I didn't care about I didn't care of my phone phones that work I can care about phone I didn't need to be connected to the world I was connected to the world I was with the people I loved it was great I was so happy I was heartbroken when I had to fly back home Are you a great communicator? Am I a great communicator? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Unfortunately, with the women that's been in your life, would they agree with that? See, so I'm going to break it down for me. Okay. So there's two levels of being a great communicator. Yes. Have I always been great with words? Yes. Have I been able to explain things throughout my life?

Yes. But one of the things that comes with being smart would be being very intelligent but not emotionally intelligent is now because you're scared to lean in to deal with your emotions. You can communicate things, but you become manipulative. Right? Because you don't want to deal with that part of it. So I can communicate everything I feel until I'm uncomfortable and then I can make you feel this way about this because I feel more comfortable over here and that's the problem that I had in the past and now I because I know discomfort is where the growth is I I try my best that when I feel uncomfortable to stop just stay in there We got to stay in it. We got to stay in it. So I always had the skill to communicate well, but now I have the emotional intelligence to do it, you know, to really touch the problem, to really communicate about the problem. Because one of my biggest things was I was sensitive. I cared about what people thought of me. Right. So if you told me, like, let's say I made a joke about you. And you're like, Ryan, I got a good sense of humor, but when you said this, you took it too far.

Right. I hear, I attacked you. That is not what you said. Right. And I need, in that moment, in my discomfort, I need you to say you don't feel attacked. Right. But you never said you felt attacked. Right.

You wanted to tell me where the line is. Right. And what you find funny or what's acceptable to talk about about you. That's where the disconnect was for me for a long time and now whenever someone says something, I go, Ryan, what did he say? What did he say? He said this was too far. Apologized to that man. Apologize to that ban because you, how he experienced you was you took it too far and this is somebody with a sense of humor. It's not that they're oversensitive. This is where they draw the line. tell them that you respect the line. Make sure they understand that you know that you respect the line.

And also the course of correction, I'll never do that again. Now I can express how I feel. Now I can tell you I never meant to do that to you. Instead of keeping going, I ain't mean it that way. I ain't do that. No, no, no. You see. That's the way you took it.

That's the way you took it. See, now you're not handling, you're causing a bigger problem. Right. Because now it's an argument. when you was trying to get some understanding. Now I've taken it to a place that didn't even have to go. So I'm always working on now.

Ryan, what did this person say to you? Not what did you feel about what they said. What did they say? Yeah, what did they actually say? And if you need them to clarify, go, when you say this, are you saying this? Not you said this about me, so that's why I'm not. Did you mean it this way?

Did you mean? Okay. All right. Let me sit with that. And enough people don't do that. And you know where they really don't do it? The internet? No. Ever. They see, they consume it and it's right out immediately. And then a lot of people believe that's the world that we live in. Yes. Because they're seeing people's reactions and that's not the world we live in. So that's why I need people to go out and start living. We live in that phone too much. Is it true you contemplate the suicide? Have I ever contemplated suicide? I deal with depression, for sure. What do you think brings it on?

I mean, you're successful. You've got money. You're living the dream that you envision. I mean, when you map this, obviously you want to do, you know, you want to be Stuart Scott. But when you, like, man, I can tell jokes. I can be a comedian. I can stand on stage. I'm a great writer.

What brings on the depression that you feel that you? So for me, I'm. I believe depression comes from multiple places for me. Let's see, because I want to answer you properly. I want to make sure that I don't answer in a way that's comfortable for me, but it's like honest. You know, because I'm glad you're the person that's asking me this. It means because you talk about your upbringing.

to be the person in your family to turn it around heavy is the head right the crow yeah yeah so I grew up in a home I'm the middle of seven kids now eight I have a seven brother, but in the middle of seven kids from two high school dropouts in Canapolis, Concord, North Carolina. Whenever aunts, cousins, anybody fell on hard times. Our house, they came to our house, my parents never turned anybody away. Friends, family, every, there would be 13, 14 people living in a house, in a three-bedroom house at one time. You take care of your people. Mm-hmm. That has been ingrained in me.

And I take on fights that's not mine all the time. And then when I feel it, I don't know how to go to other people to... Everybody comes to you and dump their problems on Ryan. But Ryan doesn't have the ability to go somewhere else and dump what's going on with him. And it ain't even like they don't offer it. I just don't know how. because they would show up. If I asked them, they would show up.

But there's something in me that goes, you know. You can figure it, you can do this. Yeah, you can do it. You can do it all on your own. And then when it starts breaking. That's the man in us. Yeah. So it's that or everything can be going great

and I ain't seen my kids in a while. Or my daughter ain't talking to me. Or it's just like, you know what I'm saying? Does she have a phone that you can call her? I definitely, definitely, definitely, she's had a phone for a minute. When she's not answering, it kills me. But, you know, the funny part about it is I make it sound so rough because that's how I feel when it happens. But if you were to see me and her together, she's fine with you.

She don't hate me. She's just afraid to give. Let go again. Let go again. That's all. But, um, so Like, when I deal with depression Like everything could

Anything can see it could be seasonal Sun ain't came out in three days Ha Now that I've been sitting in the dark Not eating and not doing anything It's just like And then as a creative Like my brain goes

It don't never turn off It don't ever turn. People do not know what that's like for your brain to never turn off. It never ends. Like, I'm always up here. And so I'll do, like, friends laugh at me because I'll be in the club playing Tetris. And I'll be like, what is that? Overstimulated.

I need to separate myself from every. It's too much going on. There's too much. I need mindless. I need these times of mindless. I need to put my mind in the shutdown mode. So at times I don't do well with eye contact things of that nature all this stuff That's what I'm saying like when I say my son's a little weird I'm glad that he's a little weirder like his dad

He's gonna have somebody to come to me like that I be doing stuff don't nobody else do I know I know Yeah, I did that still do still do yeah So for me it's like So when the depression kicks in it has nothing to do with success But you know, the funny part is I never got into this for success. Wow. Not for money. Right.

The money, sometimes I get handed a check and be like, really? Y'all really pay this for me to do this thing I love. I appreciate that. That's appreciated. He's not my God. But at the same time, like, I think I would be depressed. Like, if I put my all into this game and people were like he was mediocre. Yeah. That would kill me, but that didn't happen.

Right. So I don't, I get, I got the respect from the people I respect, you know, I even get like, shout out the little Duval. Me and Lil Duval have, don't have a relationship whatsoever. And somebody messaged him complaining about me. They came to my show, they didn't like it. They didn't like the show because they didn't understand what I'm. I was doing.

Which is fine. My comedy is not for everybody. It's a little difficult for people of a certain IQ. I get it. So he didn't understand the nuance. And he went to complain to Duvall. Me and Duval don't have a relationship or anything. Duval screenshot of it, marked out all the stuff that would let anybody

know it was me and everything, posted it and was just correcting him about you don't know what space this comedian is in. He could be working on something. He could get, you don't know where he is in the process. Right. Of working through this material or whatever, you just might didn't get it that day or he might just have missed the mark that day. But it's not representative of who that. That man had no reason to defend me.

And he had no reason to share it to get other people to understand that perspective. It spoke to the type of person that he is, which also goes back to the whole beefing thing. Comedians defend the comedians all the time. Right. And whenever I go through these fits of depression, I always have these moments of brotherhood and everything. Ron G, a comedian out here in California, out in California, he's from South Carolina, Carolina boy. He'll call a check on me. Sidney Castillo, call a check on me out of nowhere. Because, you know, that's just who they are as people. And, you know, Clint Coleywood,

my girl Paris Sashay, my girl, Ty Davis, they would check on me in the roughest of times. So I have a community in those times. But when it comes to suicide, I could never do that. There's a certain level of a, I think I love myself too much. Yeah. That I can't even stump on my own foot hard. I can't, I just, I love myself too much. Like the suicidal thoughts is,

maybe I don't want to be here thinking about what it would be like if I'm not here or maybe you know what I mean? Yeah. Maybe this would be easier if I wasn't here. But to actually try it, I'll never be, because there's no way I could do it where it makes sense for me.

You've lost some weight. You mentioned that, you know, how much weight you lost? How much weight you lost? I had lost 100 pounds at one point. A hundred? Yeah. I've gained so much of it back, but yeah. You're going to lose it again? Yeah, yeah, I've already started the process of losing it again. What made you want to lose weight?

Health. Health. Shout out to AD. He owns this company called D. Earbs. He helped Steve Harvey lose weight, all this. Like, he's AD the real deal. And he does his weight loss show called I Can. Okay.

And we went to do the show, and we were supposed to shoot it. But me and AD at Friends said, AD, I got high blue. pressure. I'm pre-diabetic. I got sleep apnea. I went to go get a checkup. Doctor said, it's bad. It's all bad. He said, forget the show. Come early. So people don't know I lost 30 pounds before I lost the 60 pounds that they saw on the show. Damn. Like, man, blood pressure was the lowest had ever been. Didn't have sleep. apnea no more didn't wasn't pre-diabetic anymore I it cured every single ailment that I had David Banner hit me up it was like put me on I put him on

he sent me a screenshot blood pressure was the lowest had ever been in his life wow I was able to help my friends Nate Jackson came to me shout up to Nate Jackson amazing comedian by the way You know, he asked what he was like, I can't do, I'm not going to do exactly what you did, but I do want to know whatever. And he was letting me know his progress and he was doing well with it. Health is wealth, man. Absolutely. And to be able to do something for myself and then be able to give that to people I care about is such a big thing.

And the one thing that I didn't care for in that experience is everything was going to. going so well for me. And at times my partner on the show, Kim Kim, things wouldn't go as well for her because she was working more than I was. And I would see comments

where people were like, she's not taking it serious. She going, you know, to work and all of this, she should dig in like Ryan digging in. Kim Kim Campbell was doing Beyonce's hair for the cowboy Carter. Everything.

like the promo shoots to everything. Listen, let me tell y'all something. If you got a chance to do Beyonce's hair and get paid to do that, you're doing it. Skip the push-ups. Come back to it. Come back to it.

She was working with Beyonce's and Daya and all of this stuff. People act like she was like, she was, y'all are talking about her missing out on some of the biggest opportunities in the world. The fact that she was able to lose almost 40 pounds and start to get her health in check while accomplishing some of the biggest things

that a hair stylist could ever dream of, like people looked at it like I was like doing way better than her, but she was like my hero in that through that process. Kim Kim Kimber is an amazing person. You're from North Carolina. and you catch a lot of criticism because you don't believe Michael Jordan is to go.

Yes. You say LeBron. How do you go back home? Easy. Easy. I go in my Jordans. Because Jordan is from Wilmington. Yeah.

I wear my Jordans. I'll be like, yeah, man, you like these? Hard. They are amazing. Number two. Number two players. Have you ever met LeBron? Nope.

Nope. never met LeBron. You ever met Jordan? Nope. The funny part is neither one of them my favorite players. Who are your favorite player?

Alan Iverson. Okay. That's why you see these big stud earrings in my... Alan Iverson was a superhero to me. Yeah.

Love Alan Iverson. My love for Alan Ivorson that stands beyond basketball. Right. He ain't even in my top 10 all time. Might not even be in my top 15, 20.

But he had the bigger influence on the culture. You can't tell me nothing about Alan Arverson. You can't tell me nothing about Alan Arsson. You can't tell me nothing about Kyrie Irvin. We can move some furniture. You can't tell me nothing about

these guys and these guys ain't in my top. Because my view of the craft is just an objective view. I'm talking about what I'm seeing. And what I've learned is whenever you try to have these

conversations, it's so emotional for people. There's an attachment to Michael Jordan that people that's unbreakable. That people who aren't Michael Jordan fans can never understand because you had to be there. You had to be there and you had to experience it. And I get it more than they understand. People, and it's so funny because I might get laughed at for the comparison, because we're like,

how can you compare those two? Chris Rock to me is larger than life. One of my first exposures to stand-up comedy was bring the pain. My mom and dad sat us down because they didn't want to miss it.

And when you were young, you watch whatever your parents watch. Absolutely. Bring the pain. Chris Rock was he's everything stand up to me. Everything stand up to me. I've met him, I've talked to him, I've never told him

because I'm terrified every time I talk to him. He's everything stand up to me. There's people who really don't believe he's as great as he is. True. I don't care nothing about what they're talking about. He is arguably to me the best person to ever step on state.

and touch a microphone. Wow. That's who he is to me. So I understand what these Jordan fans are dealing with and what they go through. But I also, in the craft,

know that Patrice O'Neill might have been better than Chris Rock. Dave Chappelle might be better than Chris Rock. Bill Burr might be better. Richard Pryor might be better. You see what I'm saying?

Yes. I leave room for the idea that someone could say that and I'll have a conversation. Jordan fans don't even leave room for the idea that someone could see it differently. So it's hard to have a conversation with them because there's an assumption that whenever you think somebody is the greatest, that you must be a fan. I think Barry Sanders is the greatest running back of all time. Marshall Falk is my favorite running back. My favorites are rarely ever. The best.

The best. So I'm really looking at it from an objective view. And it's hard to combat the way people feel about things. So I have these conversations, and I keep that in mind, and I do my best with just giving people the information and different points of views. but it's only so far you can take people. True. To see a guy make 20 plus all MBAs.

Be in the league 20 years. And half of those years, he was in the finals. With the skills that you see, the skills that people like Kevin Durant exist. They didn't exist in Jordan's time. I won't argue. You ain't have to deal with that. You ain't have to deal with, like, Steph Curry, that didn't exist.

No. In Jordan's time, he ain't had to deal with that. And some people were like, well, he ain't have to deal. He ain't have to deal with Elijah. Well, Jordan didn't either. He retired when he had to deal with him. You see what I'm saying?

A Nicola Yolkin. Yeah, Nicola Yolkid. A Yonis. Yeah. Yon think Carl, Belize. with something. Imagine if Carl Malone and John Stockton was running

the pick and roll from the top of the key and he could move like Yannis going down hill. It's, the game evolves. It evolves. And it's like, Jordan is everything that y'all say he is. That's a thing too.

When you say he's second, they go, oh, you just don't understand. No, he's everything that y'all say he is. I believe you. And I believe with all of that, he's number two. I saved this part for last because I think I read where you said you haven't talked to your mom in four years.

Yes. Have that changed? I hosted Thanksgiving last year and I invited her. She didn't come. She came. We speak. Do you have a conversation? We do.

And I'll answer when she calls sometimes. She still. What do you mean you asked when she called sometimes, right? I don't intentionally miss calls. I miss calls a lot. Okay. I'm just not. Do you call back?

When you missed her call, do you call back? If I see it. How are you not going to see it, Ryan? I don't check my miss calls like that. I wish I had my phones on you. I'll show you. You'll laugh. Being an introvert is a real like, I'm introverted in a way that it's...

You blame your mom for the trauma that you feel some time of your life. Your mom had four kids by the time she was 19. Yes. Yeah. You still blame your mom? I blame my dad. You blame your dad, but you blame your dad for how he treated your mom, but you blame your mom for staying. He did that to her. Now, how you respond to how you treated is yours. Right.

Like, she treated us the way she treat us because of what she went through with him. I have to understand, because I had my first job. at 27. I was her third at 17. I wasn't ready at 27. I can only imagine. Three at 17? At 17?

That's what I'm saying. She'd have been a senior in high school. You'd say she dropped down. Yeah. And the thing is, I get my intelligence from my mother. My mother is very smart. My mother could have accomplished everything that y'all think. Like, when people who appreciate my mental capacity,

double that. That's my mama. She was a child. Her life got derailed. And sometimes I wonder if she looks at me and she see the derailment and not the thing she created that she could be proud of. Because your parents were married for 40 years.

40. 40 years, 40. Man, at 40 years, you might just go on and stick it out. That's what I thought, too. They were like, we're getting divorced. Yeah, we heard that. And then they really did it. I was like, oh, shoot, it was crazy.

Hold on. You help your mom get on dating out. That's one part of my joke that's not true. So my mom doesn't date because she was a wife her whole life. Yeah. She don't even know what it's like to date. She's never dated as an adult ever. She doesn't know what that is.

You know what I mean? And I use that joke to really put into perspective how close we are in age. If I was to go on the dating app, I could very well see my mother on there. Because we're that close in age, and I would not, my filter

wouldn't be, I wouldn't filter her age out of my date now. Your dad now has a child at 60, he's remarried. Yeah. Yeah. He'd be having me laughing. He was like, well, you know? When you find out

like, damn, I got a brother. That's younger than my kids. That I was going to say I'm old enough to be. So my kid's uncle is younger than they. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't even introduce him as that. Hey, this is my brother.

I was like, this is your uncle Keith, Uncle Adrian, Uncle Ty. This is Demetri's. Yeah, so like, it's not, yeah, I don't even want them to even wrap their mind around the, like, the way I want them to respect my older siblings. This is your peer. Just because he has the same parent as me, don't view him like you view them.

That's not the same thing. Because y'all are more mature than this. Right. If anything, he need to be learning from y'all. Right. Yeah, I'm not doing that. Yeah. So, but my dad, my dad, see, this is my mother and my father's relationship.

You know what's the craziest part about it? What's that? I can go back because I talk, because when something doesn't work, you think about how bad it is and how it ended. Man, you know how hard it was to beat my parents and like taboos, spades, anything. They could read each other's bites. 40 years? Yeah, for sure. A lot of love there.

I've never seen. They could finish each other's sentences. They were locked in. I remember how it ended, but I don't forget about all the love and all the good. I had a great. I'm not me without them. But I want, I talk about the bad because I want people. who are going through it to understand how this affects children.

And I want my mom. I want my mother. Even if she watches this and she gets upset and she's like, see, he's talking about it again. Come get me. I need you. I want you in my life. I have not given up on us having a relationship, but I'm not him. what he did to you and how he's made you feel.

I know I look just like him. But it's just, just come be my mother. Just come be my mother and it'll, and I promise I'll put everything behind us. I really don't hold no ill will. I understand your circumstances. But in order for you to have the relationship with your children and your grandchildren that I know you want,

and you deserve to have and we all the relationship all of us deserve to have you got to let it go you got to let it go so we can have each other are you all of your are you and your brothers close yeah very very because you're like you smack dab in the middle so i'm assuming there's not a whole lot of it's not like there's 15 20 years age grab between you guys but listen the first First five, here's the ages. So it is, let me see, I'm 38, so Keith, 42, 39, 39, 38, 38, 37. So your mom probably had the first kid at like 13, 14. 13, yeah.

By, no, I know. I get it. I'm past all of it. Just come, just come be my mama. That's all I, just come be my. Have you had that conversation with her? It's hard. Have you ever said down and had a conversation when your mom's mom?

It's hard. It's hard. Because it's hard to accept how your pain affected your children. You know what I mean? Because she was a child of self, right? Exactly. It's hard to. So when I talk about, it's the defensiveness.

You know, you have to hear, what did I say? I said that our relationship is estranged, and it's because of the things she dealt with. And I understand she was just a kid and everything, and you have to let it go. And a lot of times her response to that is, so I was a bad mom. I didn't say you were a bad mom.

That's why it's hard to have the conversation. conversation because there's a place she has to get to within conflict resolution that she just ain't got there because her mind is what it was they say that you stop some parts of your development once you had children so sometimes I'm talking to the 13-year-old version of my mom and in order to fix it I'm gonna have to get her past that but it It breaks my heart sometimes when I'm trying and it's not working. So I ghost when it gets hard, you know. Ooh, I can't stand you, bro.

Fix that. Yeah. There's going to be a day you're not going to have her. I know. And you're going to wish you had. I know. Don't, tomorrow ain't promised. Ain't nobody he did not, hey, because.

We all got an appointment that we can't reschedule. We just don't know what it is. Yeah. Don't make that mistake, man. Go make things right with your mom. Ryan Davis. What you said you, brother? On my life.

Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. Got the roll of dice. That's why all my life. I be grinding on my life. Yeah. All my life.

They're grinding on my life. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. All the guys, that's why.