Club Shay Shay - REWIND: Earthquake on his favorite comedians and the business of comedy

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

In this special rewind episode of Club Shay Shay, revisit some of Shannon's favorite segments from the show so far. Today, listen to Shannon talk with comedian Earthquake about his favorite comedians, the business of comedy and what he finds funny.We’re nominated for Webby Awards! Vote here:Sports Social Content SeriesBest Mobile User Experience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the price wanna slice got the roll of dice that's why so were you funny were you funny as a kid were you funny in high school? Were you a class clown? No, I was good, but my brothers, them, took all the time. Old hog and ass motherfucker. You gotta come from a big family. Right. We go, and my brother Tyrone, my brother Butterball,

my sister Tawana, Marcel, they was funny. We just had funny stuff, so I didn't get too much stage time. You mentioned that you're every comedian's favorite comedians. Yeah. Who's your Mount Rushmore comedian? Oh. First of all, the Dondada is, without

question, Eddie Murphy. Okay. Most talented person I ever met in my life. I was looking at him like, ooh. This is why I ain't got no TV show. This is what I'm thinking for mom. I love different. I don't watch other

comedians because I don't write physically. I write mentally. And if I watch a comedian, I'm afraid that I might be contaminated with something that they said or thought subconsciously. You know what, Quake? I don't watch sporting events with the sound.

And people say, why you don't watch it with the sound? I say, because when they talk, I don't want to hear what they're saying. I want everything that you hear come out of my mouth, I said it. Exactly. So if I hear somebody say something on a football game or a basketball game, oh man, Sharp, you just repeating what somebody else said.

It could. But subconsciously. Not only subconsciously, it can alter, especially for you, it can alter your perspective of what you was going to say. So to keep it authenticated and keep it pure, I don't listen.

But to answer your question on that- You got Eddie? I got Eddie. I got Dave. I got Chris Rock. I got Corey Holcomb because of his fucking fearlessness. Corey does not have a pro woman set, but he will go to Spelman and do it. And they'll boo the shit out of him and he won't

care. That's fearless. Knowing you're going into the pit and staying strong. He got more nuts than any of our politicians. We'll stand there in front and this is what I believe in. And last but not least. No, you don't get before.

That's fine, man. I need another head, man. I can hell nah. You ain't read that. I need another head, man. I can't believe that you left Pryor off. Pryor was before my time, first of all, and I met him. And second of all, I think a lot of people put Pryor on because you can't dispute it. You know what I mean? I ask people right here, put Pryor's work up movie-wise.

See, the problem I have with it, are we talking about jokes? We ain't talking about it. We talking about movies, TV, the rest of it, yeah. But talk about jokes. And he has work that's sitting there that he has done. I will put raw and Delirious up against any prior stand-up.

Yeah. Period. But you know, he made the stand-up that he did, you know prior. Mm-hmm. Raw came from that.

Well, I mean, somebody had to, just because you first in the grocery store. That don't mean you the best, huh? That don't mean you the best. Just because you got that loaf of bread don't mean my bread fucked up

or I ain't got a better loaf. See, that's the shit y'all kill me about. Since he's gone and don't nobody want to go against and say, nah, he ain't. You know what I'm saying? It's a couple of motherfuckers. It's a couple of times I think Pride did one and, you know, sit there.

They had all the menu on the back of it. Some of his, like even when he did on sunset yes it came to sunset the first one he bombed on because he was nervous coming back from the fire and i could see it and as a comic the second one that he filmed i could see he was getting back in it but he wasn't there yet right but he had to shoot it because it was time right you know you could see those type of things. Certain motherfuckers have flawless shit. Like Eddie Murphy, when he did Raw, every time he took the scarf off at the same fucking point, every time on it.

It's just precisions of it. And you put the weight of what's funny with his funny against Richard Pryor. And I put his special up against anybody's. How would Pryor, how would Murphy, how would Bernie Mac, some of these guys that anything went back then, Quake, you could talk about everybody. If you rode a little bus, you had to hit whatever you wanted to talk about, and it was no big thing. Well, now you can't do that. You can't.

It all depends on what's important to you. They can only cancel you for what they feel is valuable. See, like I told my friend, you can't blackmail me because whatever you have, I refuse to give you value, make it valuable. See, like Dave Chappelle, you can't cancel him because he's already financially sufficient, financially taken care of. And what you try to take away from him, he doesn't value it. He don't want a TV show.

He walked away. He don't want to do movies. value it. He don't want a TV show. He walked away. He don't want to do movies. So you can't take away his stand-up because his fans going to come see him. Right. So you have nothing to leverage against him.

And to answer your question, Pryor, the rest of them, will be the same way. I don't need no fucking movie. I'm Richard Pryor and I'm going to stand up here and whatever offends you, I'm going to even do it more. And my fans will come see. Now what? Then my fucker going to run on here and whatever offends you, I'm going to even do it more. And my fans will come and see. Now what?

Then my fucker going to run on stage and try to kill you. Chappelle. Yeah. He seems to be the gold standard now. When everybody, I talk to a lot of comedians, like you said, I know you and DC and DL and a lot of these guys, Chappelle is the standard. Right. How? I mean, because I remember watching him

in another professor, Reggie. Yeah. Reggie, Reggie. Saw him in Blue Street. Yeah, great. He was tremendous. I got a story to tell! And, you know, should I get him?

You know, he was messing with the professor club. Should I get him? How did he become this? Because since y'all don't understand, and I said this once in another interview, Dave Chappelle is equivalent to Al LeBron James. He's been a phenom forever. When he got in the business at 14, 15, 16 years old,

the industry loved him. I remember we was in Montreal. Montreal Comedy Festival is equivalent to the Next Flicks. Next Flicks ain't a joke festival. And that's where all comedians go to Canada, Montreal, Canada, and all the industry come up there and see the new talent and give out development deals for TV shows for the upcoming season.

Dave went up there. When I tell you, after he got on, he could have been on the Food Channel. He could have been. He had like 19 offers. He has always had development deals. So he has always been our LeBron James, a phenom from the early age. So when it

comes to that, especially such as people myself is, we already knew. And he had the people who the decision makers feel that way about him too. And once you have them on your side and they acknowledge your talent, it's endless what you can do. And that's why the rest of us as comedians have to

give it to them. You're going up there trying to get one deal with ABC. He got ABC, NBC, CBS, TNT. He can go wherever he wants to. He put you on. He said, you know what? I want you to do a show for Netflix, and I want to produce it. Yes. Have anybody in the industry shown you as much love as Dave? Put it this way. Not at this result.

With this result. But Chris Rock is. Yeah. Did for me, put me on Everybody Hate Chris. Yeah, you the uncle. I'm the uncle. Kevin Hart has. He made me the flagship for his radio show.

Heartbeat. DL has. Many has, but none of them had the weight to do it the way Dave did. And he was courageous enough to say, I know this motherfucker's a force.

He's been a force for a while. And I'm going to go ahead and put him out here. If none of the rest of y'all not going to do it. Because all my peers been through this. They seen this. They just didn't feel that they wanted to invest in me at that time. Yeah, that's the thing. Because, I mean, what I think is funny and what somebody else think is funny is totally two different things.

I look at you. I look at said entertainer. He's been in movies. Said too. He had, you know, TV shows. D.L. had a TV show. I mean, there's so many guys. What's funny to Quake?

I mean, because as a football player, I know a good football player. Everybody ain't good. I don't care what the entertainers, what the commentators say. I don't care what's being written. Football players, no good football players. Basketball players, no good basketball players.

So forth and so on. I love honesty. Are you true to it? If you up here talking about, man, weed too high, and you don't smoke, who wrote that? Or will you steal it? Right. Honesty on thinning.

And you don't patronize to the people. That's why I came with Corey Hogan. This is me, and you're going to accept it. I'm going to win you over. This is what it is. That's why I came with Corey Holcomb. This is me and you're going to accept and I'm going to win you over. This is what it is. That's what's funny to me, the courage of it. Because you're up there

by yourself and I done seen many a comedian like two or three minutes that it's on work and you can see they change all the way. How do I succumb to you

so you can like me? But a true comic, like fuck you. This is funny. You're lucky I'm here. You'll never get to see me again. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook,

Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day.

Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had you been in Chappelle's situation, he had the Comedy Central thing, he had the skit. I mean, it was universally,

I mean, people running home because I gotta see the Chappelle show, gotta see the Chappelle show. He walked away from it. Because your mental health in this is the most important part. What I'm learning now that I'm in this transition, and I promise myself, I will not move if I can't take my happiness with me. Right.

That's all he's saying. that's all he's saying. There is no price in return for my mental health of not being happy on it. And he saw them exploiting him and he couldn't live with himself. And if you constantly do it for the money,

next thing you know, you're in a hotel with... Go and put the strap on. Right. Who got it? You know what I'm saying? So he has to bring it with him. And deep in his heart, and it's shown,

that he knew he could get that money back. And he did. And he kept his integrity with it. And he didn't, you know, sell out under his terms on it. Because he felt that they was laughing at him and standing with him. Right. And now that I'm around Dave and know him closer now...

All I know, I always wanted to invite to the party. When he be throwing them legendary parties... Oh, man, I got you, man. I mean, I call you, man. You be asleep

because you got to get up early in the morning. I do. Not as early as I was then. Quay, you be calling at 12. What o'clock in the... I don't know what the hell you want me to do.30, I wasn't there. Quay, you be calling at 12. What o'clock? I don't know what the hell you want me to do. Yeah, I mean, but that's when time starts popping, man.

I can't tell a motherfucker, let's do a 7.30. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I'll be like, let me look at you. How different is touring today than what it was when you first started touring? The money is... These motherfuckers getting NBA contracts.

Come on. I'm trying to get something of that. The money is ridiculous. I mean, think about us. We're a self-entity. We produce, write, star. Right.

Everything. You know, I was telling a promoter the other day who booked New Edition. It's just one of me. You got to do Ronnie, Ricky, Mike, Bobby, Johnny. You know what I'm saying? That's why you don't see the band anymore.

Exactly. Let me get that $100,000. I can't split some $100,000 separate ways. Separate ways. So we need $200,000. Exactly. And my point, you ain't a $200,000. But the money is just something out of it.

It's just... Did you ever think the money would get to where it got? I never knew. I knew Steve Harvey showed me how much you can get when I booked him in my club and we paid him like $49,000. I was like, is this kind of money in this club?

I think I'm going to stay here. But now, you know, you do the math. We had 18,000 people in Hollywood Bowl. Average ticket, $175, $200. Right. 200,000.

Eight, 18,000 people. For all the shit you utter. As a comedian, no band, no drugs, just you and the mic. It's a beautiful thing. After day, after day, after day? Day after day. You can go down there and do two on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday. And if you got enough,

you can get a private jet to have you back in your house Sunday night. You can pick up about a million dollars. Wow. Money is stupid. Social media. Yes. I see a lot of guys on social media. A lot of guys are getting their start with the social media. Yes. I see a lot of guys on social media. A lot of guys are getting their start with the social media

and then they blow up and then they're able to go and like you said, book a set. Mm-hmm. Did, as social media, you're on social media

but you don't be, really be telling jokes. You be putting real life issues out there. The cop shot, shot Ray Ray. Man, it's effed up.

Somebody did something. Some, some Karen said something. On your page, you're different than a lot of comedians. You're talking about real life issues. Yeah, because I sell my jokes. It's motherfuckers cost. I can't.

We can talk about my mother getting shot. But these jokes, I'm going to need a cover charge. So, you know, my people be on there, just talk about this and that. Like I can't, you know what I mean? I'm from the old school and on a point, and I have nothing against social media comedian, but I tell them just like you are,

you stand, you still, because you have this platform and you have people coming. If you're going to name yourself or claim to be a comedian, you're going to have to do the work. It does not substitute being on the stage by making people funny on there. Ain't no edit, paste, take another

shot, I mean, another shot. There's only so many skits you can do. Well, not only that, you don't get to do it two or three times when you're on stage. The joke got to come out the first time. Right. And if you're going to sit here and put yourself in this lane, as I'm saying, and proclaim yourself a comedian, then you must understand that it ain't how many followers you have,

it's how many comedians you can follow. And until you're able to get on that stage and go behind heavy hitters and still take it to a next level, you'll never be a part of this crew. You on obviously. So you on a show and you got heavy hitters. Yeah.

How different? Because you were, hey, it's just like Snoop said, if I'm on the track with all these guys, I got to bring it. They're going to make me step my game up. Of course. Because I'm not about to be the weak link. Of course. How much pressure is that, Quake?

It's a lot of pressure and a lot of people. We call them the anchor. You got to have an anchor. That's the person that can bring the whole show. That's the ankle leg. Yeah, on the relay team. The ankle leg. He the dog.

But see, some of the dudes, what they do is they ask for the money as the headliner. But they go ahead and take the slot of the emcee as the host. Right. Because they know they can't take that five. Right. Because that stage don't give a hell about your credits. Yes. And the crowd going to give you love the first five minutes because they recognize, they see you.

Then they're going to sit back, especially black crowd, okay? Give you a high five. And I don't care what show you've been on. If you don't bring it, they're going to boo your ass. So you must know right then and there. And some comedians, most comedians,

they see who's on the show and they'll talk to the promoter, say, hey, man, you should let him go second because you want the show to gradually you wanted to build yeah and you don't just because he's making more money you know it's really the promoter's responsibility to make sure that he don't as many times they come to me like quake we know we're not paying you all the money like we're but you're the strongest comic god we need you to close i well, you better give me his money.

Yeah. You better give me some more. If I'm closing the show, I can't make the less money. At the minimum, it got to be favorite nation. Well, I stay at my little third spot because it all pays the same. Are there certain topics

that you just won't talk about? No. If it comes to me, I will talk about it. That's who we are. We're comics. I'm not your politician. I'm not your pastor. I'm not your father.

I'm not your mother. I'm a comedian. And that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to make things funny. I'm a comedian. And that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to make things funny. And the best thing is funny.

And something somebody thought about or wouldn't say it or didn't think about it. And once I say it, now they saw it. You know what to do. Hit the subscribe button to become an official member of Club Shea Shea, where we always do something for two something. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered

by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.