Mick Unplugged - D.L. Hughley on Charlie's Boy and the Conversation He Never Had

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

D.L. Hughley wanted one more conversation with his father. He put it into Charlie's Boy. In this episode of Mick Unplugged, D.L. joins me to talk about his new memoir, the man who raised him and the parts of fatherhood he understands differently now. We get into duty, family silence and why providing for your children can become so consuming that being present gets pushed aside. D.L. shares what he learned about Charlie after his death and why he makes a deliberate effort to let his own children know him. I also tell D.L. how his backstage mentorship changed the way I approached my podcast and my business. We talk about knowing the rules, owning your decisions and understanding why people keep listening. You'll hear: - The conversation behind Charlie's Boy - What showing up does for a father-child relationship - The pressure to keep working, even when it costs you time at home - Why finding his way into comedy also brought survivor's guilt - A reunion 25 years after an act of kindness - D.L.'s take on freedom of speech, consequences and protecting your peace I'm giving a copy of Charlie's Boy to the first 100 people who DM "Charlie's Boy" to @mickunplugged on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ CHAPTERS 00:00 The conversation D.L. never had with his father 00:11 Meet D.L. Hughley 00:55 The Because: Faith, hope and connection 04:12 The Unplugged Truth: The father behind Charlie's Boy 07:12 Duty, love and the words fathers do not say 10:36 Why D.L. wrote Charlie's Boy 11:45 Hot Takes: Hurt, offense and growth 14:30 Free speech and consequences 16:22 Fatherhood and the trust built by showing up 21:56 What D.L. learned about Charlie's work life 26:03 The Room: Finding a way forward through comedy 28:02 Survivor's guilt and appreciating your life 29:05 An act of kindness comes back 25 years later 32:06 The backstage advice that changed Mick's approach to media 34:11 Mick's 100-book offer 35:22 The Unplugged Five: What makes D.L. laugh 36:37 The conversation America avoids 37:45 Human connection and why people keep listening 41:34 D.L.'s go-to drinks 42:35 Other people's opinions and protecting your attention 44:27 Closing conversation CONNECT & DISCOVER D.L. HUGHLEY Book: Charlie's Boy: A Memoir https://a.co/d/0bV9x1UZ Instagram: @realdlhughley https://www.instagram.com/realdlhughley/ Facebook: @RealDLHughley https://www.facebook.com/RealDLHughley/ YouTube: DL Hughley https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6B_HuuSaR-IDsKuJVK0LEw FOLLOW MICK Instagram: @mickunplugged https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Facebook: @mickunplugged YouTube: @MickUnpluggedPodcast https://www.youtube.com/@MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: @mickhunt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website: https://mickhuntofficial.com/ Book: How to Be a Good Leader When You've Never Had One https://howtobeagoodleader.com/ Apple Podcasts: Mick Unplugged https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/id1731755953 Spotify: Mick Unplugged https://open.spotify.com/show/2cUp7JRzkVqunYmD2ENe4g Content note: Explicit language and discussion of grief and family relationships.

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and use code Mick for a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, plus 10% off your order. It's a shame that the best conversation I ever had with my father was when he wasn't here anymore. Because he just never shut up and let it happen anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplud. And today we're having fun with someone who was on my Mount Rushmore of comedy. You can go back a year and a half ago, see the social post that I put out there. we're talking to the dynamic, the legendary Mr. Charlie's boy himself, my guy, Mr. D.L. Hugley. How you doing?

How are you doing it? How are you? How are you? Man, I am honored to be here with you. I've told you right before we got on, man. I've looked up to you for so long. Like, you are my goat of comedy. I tell everybody the greatest dead or alive is D.L. Hugley, bro.

Oh, man. I definitely appreciate that. Thank you very much, man. Yes, sir, yes, sir. So, Dio, man, I love starting my show by asking my guest about their because, that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Like, we've done the start with why, what's your why? I like to go a little bit deeper because if I say, well, why is that your why,

that sentence usually starts off with, well, because. And to me, that tells me who everybody is. So if I were to say today in 2026, D.L. Hughley, what's your because? What's your purpose now? I think because we have, I think because I think we're on the verge of being, running out of faith and hope. And I think that is a very precarious position to be in. And so I think that it's important. I guess faith is like anything else.

It has to be exercised. It has to be used. it has to, you know, be, it has to function. And I think we're in, I think it feels like as a community, we're in jeopardy of running out of faith. Man, you are so spot on with that. And that's why I love you, man. Like, yep, you're funny. You're going to give it to us every time.

But when I connected with D.L. Hughley, it's because that's who you are, man. Like, you are, you care about community. you care about people. Like I could tell stories of backstage with D.L. Hugley in between steps, right? Like, you know, you got the 7 o'clock set and then you have the 9 o'clock set. I'm in between shows with D.L. backstage. We are drinking bourbon. We are watching the Lakers play.

But then you were mentoring me on this media game, right? Because my podcast was like a year old then. And now look at you. Look at you now. You gave me the advice. You told me exactly. what to do. But here's what's crazy. We talked the entire time you were offset to when they are announcing you for the next show. Like, I've never seen that in my life where you literally talk

to me until it's like, and coming to the stage, D.A. And you just like, all right, baby, boy, I'll see you next time. And you just walk up to the stage. Like, where do you get that from where most comedians, most people in general are just taking that moment for themselves? You You were like, no, I'm going to mentor you. Like, let's talk through this a little bit. Well, I think it's a, it's like I said, it's like a muscle. You've got to keep working out. I think that there is a synergy.

It's like, it's not too much different than the symbiosis between a tree and humans. Like, they both give each other something. And I think that human interaction is like that too. And I think that that interaction helps me be a better performer, be a more important. born person, a more impassic path of human. I think the whole time, there's no expression that a really good friend of mine says, and I think it's true. Whatever you're looking for is looking for you. And I think sometimes that's connectivity, sometimes that's through lines. So I think you get as good as you get. You get as good as you get.

Amen to that. Amen to that. So I know we are here to talk about Charlie's boy. And your team was awesome enough to send me a little pre-copy. And here's what I'm going to put out there in the universe. This is my unplugged truth. It's already about to be a national bestseller, bro. Oh, well. I hope so. To get that side of you and for you to tell the story the way that you did, man. Like, let's talk about Mr. Charlie. Let's talk about Mr. Charlie. I think he was like a lot of our fathers back then. He was a man, a few words. I think, I don't know that men like that didn't know how to speak

or that they came from the air when nobody really listened to them anyway. And I think that, you know, and like a lot of kids, you find out that one thing that's consistent, and I think it's, and I don't think it's, specific to us, but I think it's pervasive in our communities. There are a lot of family secrets. And I remember when you were growing up, one way to get your ass good and beat was telling your mom and daddy's secrets, let information come outside the house. And I suspect some of that was privacy. But some of it was that there were so many lies out there. They didn't want nobody finding out nothing from somewhere else. And I think, you know what I mean? And so, and I also think that silence to a lot of men in that, generation meant that they'd have to articulate the things that were going on. And I think that

sometimes they didn't want to, saying it out loud was much more, was probably difficult. It added a concrete and a realness to it that I think many of them wouldn't have been able to handle. Absolutely, man. And one of the things, I see so many similarities between Mr. Charlie and my grandfather, because my grandfather pretty much raised me, right? And so one of the things my grandfather taught me was to move in silence. He said, when everybody, knows what you have, you ain't got nothing. And when everybody knows where you're going, you'll never get there. And like, it took me until I was probably like 19, 20 to get what he was saying. It was just like, oh, don't broadcast your stuff. And now in this social media

world, right, like, that's almost the norm. And now you're a broadcaster. Your grandfather would be ashamed of you, me. You didn't listen to him. Don't tell your business. But every day I'll do it. No, I tell DeL's business. I don't tell him. Oh, that's. There you go. Touch.

Touch. No, but again, hearing you talk about Mr. Charlie, not just even in the book, but you've always talked about him. And one of the things that I love because my grandfather was the same way when you said, do you love me? Right. Like, break that down. Like, that tough love that we received is. I don't know if it was like to see. Tough love means, I just think they didn't know, I don't want to, it's like a majority,

but I think he didn't know what to say a lot of times. Yeah. I think he, I think he didn't have, you know, love languages. Then you ate, right? Right. You see these lights? Right. That's, I mean, but you could ask him something, but it was never the question, like,

you ate, right? So I think having to say things out loud, I think had, and I think that our generationally, I think those men had, I think duty is stronger than love. I do. I think that people will take a vow, but duty is stronger than love and it's stronger than a vow. Like people will cheat on their wife, but they won't cheat on their oath. They won't do that.

You know, once you're in the military, once you're a Marine, you're always a Marine. There are oaths that you take, that you take and place above everything because you gave you a solemn word. And I think that sometimes that is more resonant than love. And sometimes it is more resonant than the value to. And I think that those men were dutiful. So it never crossed their mind to have to articulate an emotional connectivity. Your mind, I'll take care of you and I got you. that to me is all we need to have.

We don't, all that verbiage is kind of unnecessary. So I think there's a residence and a real solidness in duty. A thousand percent. Like, I don't know if you remember this, but I remember the first time I heard my grandfather laugh. And I was like, wait, you laugh? Like, he was talking to one of his homeboys. And I was like, you laugh?

Like, do you remember those moments for you to? I talk about this. I remember my father laughing five times. And everybody ran in the house to see what it was. And they didn't laugh. They broke in half. It was like everything broke. Like they could not stop snorting, tears coming out of their eyes.

It was like, I think laughing out of them was a frivolity they would never allow themselves. It seemed frivolous to them. Yeah. I think tears seemed useless to them. Yeah. Any outward display of anything other than this was. But laughter is so insidious that it gets you whether you want it to or not. Amen.

I think laughter, there are four, and in my estimation, four universal languages, and they travel everywhere. They don't need interpreter. They're, they're, you can, you, I think there's laughter. I think there's love. I think there's math. and I think there's art. And I think, music, I'm sorry. And I think those are universal languages.

And I think that every human has that, those things. You don't have to like all music, but you like something. You don't have to laugh at everything, but you're going to laugh at something. You don't have to love everything, but you're going to love something. And math is, of course, you know, math is the same all over the world. So I think those things are as human as you can be. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

So Charlie's boy by D.L. Hughley out. Everybody makes sure you get it. I've got links everywhere. But Dio, why now? You could have written this memoir. You could have written this at any time. Why now? It was a cheat code.

It was really the chance under the auspices of talking about my life to talk about my father. It was a chicode. It was the conversation I would have had with him that he never would have left. me have. It's my opus. It's my love letter to him. Remember Marvin Gay had that album, Here My Dear, and he lost it in a, and remember he had to write this album and he gave it to his ex-wife in a divorce settlement and it was his greatest work. This feels like that to me. It's like I'll never see him again. I'll never have an opportunity to have ever said those things. And so where else could I put it? No, I mean, not. You know, so it is the only place it could

have gone. And it's the only conversation I was, it's a shame that the best conversation I ever had with my father was when he wasn't here anymore. Because he just never shut up and let it happen anyway, so. Yes, sir. So I want to move to a segment I call the Hot Takes, and I've been waiting years to make this statement to get your opinion on it, because you are like the source of truth for me, and I'm being very honest with that. So that's very nice, man. I can't tell you how much. minor by that. My first hot take is this. I think people have confused being hurt with being offended, right? Like, I think people are so quick to say that they're hurt, but they're really just offended, right? Like, and we, we confuse that now. And I say that because my boys are in their

20s, and I hear some of these conversations that they're having with their friends, and somebody's real quick to say, oh, well, that hurt? I'm like, wait, are you hurt or you just offended? Because if you're offended, you can get over it. I think that's really, it's the difference. There's no discernible difference. Like, do you know, if you were getting ready to, if you took a graph of your body when it was sneezing

or when it was having an orgasm, your body wouldn't know the difference. The same physalibaba there's the build up the climates and a resolution. It feels exactly the same thing. And I think, I think those are kind of, there's not enough. differences to make a distinction without a difference. And I would say that it depends on your vantage point. But I think that they're all kind of the same thing. And I think that we live in a climate where as uncomfortable as those things are,

there is a corrective you learned, most likely learn how to comport yourself in public or around people you learned you know the dudes and don'ts the societal dudes and don'ts but I'd say one of those things right either you were hurt or you're embarrassed

you were hurt so I think those things have a corrective question that is absolutely necessary like you can't make a chocolate cake without salt and I don't think you can be a well-rounded human being without

being hurt or embarrassed agree. I don't think so. I think that you can't be in good shape without hurting a little bit. Yeah. You can't be erudite and well-read without reading things that don't interest you. You can't. It's impossible.

And so I think you can't be a fully formed human being unless you go through some of the things that you just talked about. I just don't think it's possible. I love that. I love that, man. That's why I want to have these conversations with you. I love that. My other hot take is this, and I've heard you kind of say it in a different way, but everybody wants freedom of speech till it's a person they don't want to talk that has it.

Yeah. Right? But that's the ultimate freedom. That's when it's free. It can't be freedom only if I like what you're saying. The test of that, the test of character, is believing what you believe in what you believe when it's inconvenient for you to believe it. That's character.

And so I think that we confuse, you know, people say it all the time with freedom of speech, with freedom from consequences, that's not true. Are we oftentimes confusing with the government in prison of your right for freedom?

That obviously is enshrined in the Constitution. But freedom from consequences, freedom from, man. I just think that we have a, we have a convoluted perspective when it comes to deeply held beliefs and our definitions of things. And I think because now we have fractured truth to just a slogan as opposed to being an unassailable thing.

Like I could literally say it's light outside. and somebody will tell me how it's not and have a reasoned argument. And the truth doesn't matter that I can't prove a negative. Yeah. You can't argue and prove a negative. And I think that, and that's how

we've gotten the minutiae of truth instead of accepting it as what it is. And I think that it becomes easier to do that when you, when you fragment the very, we can't even have a conversation that's rooted in what either. We both agree is happening.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that too. You know, I, again, a huge fan of you with your comedic genius, but also a huge fan of the human being that you are, and I've said that several times.

I need people to understand when I'm giving you your flowers. I'm also going to say this about D.L. Hughley. And I wonder if some of Mr. Charlie plays into this, but you are a great father, bro. And I say that because I see what, you do with your children, your children are a part of what you do, right? Like, you talk about your son

all the time and your son has been there with you on the show, your daughter, like, I love the fact that you make a priority to make your children a priority, if that makes sense. And as I got older, as my children got older, I understood that from you, right? Like, I make sure that I make my kids a priority because you showed me how. Oh, man. I think I hadn't always done that. I think that I was very scared. And I think a lot of black parents and the black fathers, I would say, because I can't, I won't even pretend to know what women think.

But the minute I became a father, I, there was a probable sense of fear that I don't, it. It never went away, but it abated a lot. That you wouldn't be enough, that something would happen, that it's just you're afraid of everything. And because fear can be exhausting, you kind of have blinders on and try to get through a lot of things. And the dynamic I had with my children at first was just trying to make sure they had and they were okay

and all that kind of stuff. The dynamic I have now is, When you show up enough as a father or a parent, there's a level of trust just in showing up, just in being there, right? Just in, like to fill out a test, no matter how good or bad you're doing, you've got to put your name on. And you've got to show up to take it. And I think it's like that. And I think I'm interested in having a closer relationship. at a very close relationship with them because a lot of the fear is gone,

and now we're just people that made it through something, and there's something we can all enjoy. And my daughters said something, and I think they think I was going to be offended, but I wasn't. They said, we want a man who's just like you and a man who's nothing like you. And one married a Puerto Rican and one married a woman. They were right. They were right.

But it didn't offend me because that's 50%. Hey man, if you're in baseball and you bet 500, you're a Hall of Fame. Yes, sir. I don't need, I think, you know, even in the book, there were things I found out about my father after he died that I really wish I had known, not in a judgmental way, but it would have given me insight.

And I think the one thing I don't ever want is my children to say they never knew me. Yeah. Because I make a concerted effort, good, bad, or indifferent for them to know exactly why. And again, I'm giving you your flowers, man, because seeing you do those things gave me a blueprint of how to be that father. Because I talk about my grandfather raising me because my dad was physically in the household. but my dad was never emotionally there. Right. I saw my dad every day,

but I don't think he ever saw me, if that makes sense, right? It makes absolute, well, first of all I don't think, I think that that sounds like most men I know. Mm-hmm. Of a certain age.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because I wouldn't say that my father was emotionally there. I would say that he left breadcrumbs of the potential of being emotionally there. But I think that, that wasn't the game. I think, you know, like people always talk about, well, how come, you know, black people don't play baseball anymore? Is it because they don't have many baseball diamonds? Baseball you learn from your father.

It's a very intricate game. It's math, statistics. You play catch. Everything you learn about baseball, you learn because your father taught you. And I think there is probably less of that than we would like. But the reason that is, for instance, bigger in the Latin community, because there is a more communal aspect to that, that is where. And so it isn't about baseball fields.

It isn't about, you know, access. It's not even about, I don't think, the S-Pen, I think that the dynamic that you learn things from your father has, and I don't think it's because, I don't buy it to the notion that black men are the absent fathers that society has tried to make us out to be. I believe that things have gotten so crucial that maybe we've dropped the ball on something, and sometimes that was a baseball. You ever opened the fridge and think, what's for dinner? After a full day, that decision ought to be easy. That's where Butcher Box comes in. Butcher Box delivers 100% grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild-caught seafood, and more. All sourced to standards they can actually tell you about.

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No, totally agree. You just brought up that there's things after your father's death that you wish you would have known. What's one thing that's in the book that you want to elaborate on? My father, I work every day. I never take vacations. And it's because I saw my father do that. I always wanted him

to be proud of my work ethic or whether I did anything and this is even before I was an entertainer I always worked hard and whatever it was I was doing I wanted to be a hardworking man and I think it's more of an obsession and then

anything else but when my father died all of his friends came to the funeral. And they started talking, and they worked with him, right? And they started talking about what it was like to work with him. And I found out my daddy didn't work at all. Like, he didn't work at all. He showed up to work.

He played cards. He made, you know, younger dudes get the bags. They barbecued and shit. And then he went home. And he went home and played tired. Like he was always dragging it or like he was tired And he didn't do shit I was irritated when I found out

Here I am Wanted to make you proud of my work ethic And you didn't have one Like he didn't work Like I'm sure That to get to the point when you ain't got to work But my father And when I remember me and George Lopez

About my father's funeral And he went, what are you gonna do? Like George looked at me like What are you going to do? Like it was like I would brag about my father's work ethic like everybody who knew me knew and he didn't do shit

like literally and they sat up there and they were having these conversations while I'm at my father's funeral and I was like what and that's just I mean obviously you know

it's something what it did for me is I felt like I was disappointing him in some way because already he thought what I did for a living was frivolous but I didn't want him to think I didn't work hard at it but but in some ways I think it would help me be a more present father and I think it right because here's the template and I got at least do that to be like him yeah and he wasn't even like that there was so I you know it would have helped me to, you know, to understand that you can not go all out all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's, that's, that's wild. So, so Mr. Charlie, pretending. Mr. Charlie, I didn't have a whole tire one that. Pretend to work. He was, he was, he was, he was, he didn't, like, how could they ever fire him? Yeah. He never, my father, my father got a watch, a gold watch, because, you know, that's how he did. He got a gold watch from Delta Airlines for never missing a day and never being late. And he throws the watch on the dresser,

and he never wore it, just kept it in the case. He never went. So one time, why did I think, oh, this ain't a big deal to him, and I wore that watch. And when I came on with that watch, It was one of, like, a handful of times he actually was physical with me. And I thought he didn't care about that watch, but he did.

I was messing with his life. Right. His life, to him, that was a symbol of his life's work. And I was frivolous with it. Yeah. Yeah. So you talked about him in what he thought of your career again early on. Yes.

I want to go to what I call the room. Was there a room a moment in time when you were like comedy? That's what I'm going to do. What was that first moment like for you when you said? When I first picked up a microphone, then this is the weirdest thing. I grew up on 135 in Avalon. And everybody who everybody feared loved or respected was either they were a gangster, they were a dog dealer, they were a good athlete, there was something,

everything I wasn't, right? But I always felt so sad for them. And I could never articulate why. And the first time I picked up a microphone, I knew why. I knew that I had found a way out. I knew it instantly, and I knew they never would. And it made me so profoundly sad. but the very thing that I was feeling all that time was empathy.

Empathy for a life that they would never, it could never be as fool. Already I was thinking of the things I would see that they never would. And it instantly made me so sad. And it made me sad for a very long time. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. See, it's those things that I'm learning about you now,

and I thought I knew everything about D.L. That empathy, empathy is a motherfucker sometimes, right? Like sometimes when we reflect back, and I never do the why me or the how come, but sometimes just like you looking back, I have friends like you that aren't here, right? I have people that were my partners that aren't here,

and it's just like, how did I get out? Or not even get out, but how did that get in the point? Right. It's survivors' guilt, survivor's remorse. Yeah. And I think, I think, I think that that's how bad, that's at some level feeling like, why did you deserve it and they didn't. That some kind of way you feel that you aren't worthy or that even more to the point that other people were more worthy. And why did you get this grace in this favor?

and I think it's a very pervasive thing because it manifests itself and something like people trying to pretend like they're not as far as long as they are or playing down their blessing

when you are blessed with something if you don't appreciate it if you don't lift it up if it doesn't if you don't amplify it then whatever powers it be think you don't appreciate it and take it from you. Yeah I think it's just such a, that's, that's, it's, it's, what we do, what we do is very rare anybody to achieve anything at all.

And I'm not talking about, in a heartbeat, lofty goals. I never forget, like three weeks ago, I was in Atlanta. I was going to see my granddaughter and I was going to have dinner with Killer Mike. And I landed at the Atlanta airport. And this dude came up to me in the middle of the airport. and he was walking up to me and kept one to talk to me. I'm like, man, I got to go. And he pulls out a picture.

He said, no, man, just take a minute. He pulls out a picture and he says, you remember this. And it was him. And it was 25 years ago, and I met him. He was a homeless dude. He was homeless. He was dirty and homeless. And I met him at the varsity, or J.R. Crickets in front of J.R. Crickets.

And I talked to him, and I gave him some money. And now I never forget, I gave him some money. And I let him come. to the show. And when I left, I had two days on the room, so I let him stay in my suite. And that nigga drank the bar dry. He drank the bar dry. And I hadn't heard from him. You know, it was 25 years ago. That guy is now a homeowner. He's married. He has children. And he took a picture of that day. And he was that picture because he said he knew he would be different after that. I can't tell you what that meant to me. I can't tell you it's two dudes and I

just, I could not believe that he had the wherewithal to take the picture and that he would be there when I landed. Like how, like, I mean, they would happen to be there. We just happened to be there. And I'm telling you, man, he looked tall and strong and had a wife and he owned a home. And he said, nobody can ever tell me nothing about you because I know you and I just I think that that level

of humanity not just from me to him but him to listen to it I think there's nothing as beautiful as as loving mankind or loving humans and I think

that now it is seen as something weak or something obscene or something to be ashamed of. And I think I just, I was, it is one of the joys of my life to have a story like that that someone told me about something I did. Yep. And there's a ton of those stories from you, brother. And I am one of those stories. And I'm going to find out to get emotional right here.

No, because don't start. This book is all right. There's only so much of this. second take. This book tier should be sponsored by Kleenex. So again, Charlie's boy, make sure you go get it. I've got links everywhere. But here's how you helped change my adult life in the last two years. So we're at your comedy show, backstage. I'm with you for whatever duration. And you're coaching me. You're mentoring me. You're saying, hey, McMahon, like this. this media business is different.

And what you said to me, I'll never forget because it changed my outlook on the whole thing. You said, you need to understand, this is a game. And if you don't know the rules, then you're the one being played. And I was like, God, damn. And so I said, well, what are the rules? And you started breaking down, understand how money is made,

understand your percentages, understand the control that you actually have. like don't let anyone dictate things to you. You can say no. Like you told me no is a complete sentence. You don't have to justify it. If you don't want to do something, don't do it. Right.

Brother, you don't understand that moment. I needed that guidance. I needed that mentorship. And it changed everything I started doing with my podcast. And then thinking of not just the podcast, but the brand of who I am and all of that. And I owe you so much, bro. So much. Well, shit.

Thank you, young man. I appreciate it. That's very nice. Thank you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I'm going to get you out of here with my Rapid Five because I don't want to start getting emotional. I need a bourbon.

Right. It's like three, four, I need a burden right now. Right, right. So here we go. I'm going to do this because. God damn it. Stop it. Stop it.

I want to do this. I usually do 20 copies of a book that I love. but because of who you are to me and what you mean to me. And I've got, you know your team and I've got their info. I'm getting 100 copies of this book. And the first 100 people on Instagram that message me Charlie's boy, I'm going to get your information and I'm sending you this book because to know DL is to know Charlie.

It's no Charlie is to know my mentor. And my mentor's D.L. He, like, I need people to understand who D.L. Hughley is. The core values that he has, the reason he drives so hard, the, the reason that he does what he does, you're going to get in this book. And it's going to teach you

life lessons. Like, you're going to see moments of you in D.L. story. So I'll have a vet and the rest of the team, 100 copies. I'm ordering them now. But the first 100 people that message me on Instagram, Charlie's boy, giving you that book because my guide D.L means that much to me. On Mick Unplugged, we talk about showing up with purpose. For me, that includes taking care of myself without overcomplicating my day.

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All right. Rapid file. Let's change some of this momentum. All now is rapid. Oh, great. Let's change this momentum. Great. This bourbon.

about to get me choked up. So I knew. Who makes D.L. Hughley laugh. You make so many people laugh. Who makes you laugh? You know what makes me laugh? I see the funniest shit on Instagram. But kids really make me laugh.

My granddaughters make me laugh. You know it's so funny. if my daughters or my kids acting like my grandkids, I'd literally thought they were retarded out of thought. But because of my grandkids, it's funny and charming. And they make me laugh so hard. I can't believe that I have never laughed at children this hard, ever. They make me laugh just.

And I think part of it is because I don't, on old him anything. So no matter how bad they turn out, they ain't got shit to do with me. But they make me laugh very hard. There you go. There you go. What's one conversation that you think America keeps avoiding?

The conversation about who we are. Like, you know, the thing about this country is, I think that it's almost like when you hear a recording of yourself on audio, version of yourself. And you go, that doesn't sound like me. And it's because you hear yourself from the inside out, but everybody else hears you from the outside end. You'll say it don't sound nothing like me and that sounds

and everybody else thinks it sounds exactly like you. That is how off we are as a country. We do not see how we are to everybody else. We refuse to set reality. We're a case study in contradictions. But full-throat

we cannot be that uptoos. We have to, we have to at some point understand exactly who we are, but we're pretending like we don't. That's why I love you, bro. Make me think every time, every time, every time.

If you had to give up comedy, the radio show commentary, what you're giving up first? I think they're not And it's like this is like The water that comes into your house is a source Now you could use it for comedy I mean you could use to take a shower

You can use it to cook You could use to wash clothes You could use it It's the source And I think It's just the apparatus I access is from So they all are the same thing to me And they really are the same thing to me

And they really are the same thing to me. See, here is what you are getting right now. There is a level of intimacy to take a microphone and to speak for people and for them to stay because they have to invite you in. Movies are different because movies, you go see a thing. You go with all these strangers, a concert, you go through a, and you see a thing, right?

You go, it's an event. It doesn't, it's not in your space. But this thing, people got to invite you in their proximity. They put you on when they are trying to distract themselves from things. Like, I'm driving. I'm put on a podcast. I want to relax. I'm going to put on a podcast. I'm running.

I'm exercising and put on the podcast. There is a level of intimacy that cannot be approximated. And I think that's where AI will fail because it can write all of these things. But the human connected, to be able to reach. through an apparatus and demand people. That's why they spend so much time ascertaining, you know how you're... It isn't the amount of people that listen to you.

You know what to make you make money. How long they listen? Yeah. How long they listen? Yeah. Not the amount. Right. Two million people listen for a minute,

but 100,000 people listen for 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Yep. And the ability to make people wait and lean into what you, you have to say and to not have to ask permission to do it is, is I think the greatest thing technology's done for creatives ever. And that's the lesson you gave me backstage, because we were talking about, you know, 1.5 million listeners and downloads, and you said, great, what are your stats on how long

people are listening? And are they re-listening? And I was like, I don't know. And you said, you need to go figure that out. Well, you can. You can know. Right. Analytics will tell you.

You can know. And then the thing is, the funniest thing about this is, this is, you know, Alexander Graham Bell in order to invent the telephone, he had to want to talk to people that weren't even there. Imagine going, you know what? I think I want to, that's exactly what you're doing. Yeah. I want to talk to people that aren't there. It isn't hard to get somebody. to sign up with something they're not paying for.

Yeah. It's hard to make them keep doing it. It's hard to make them actually look at the free gift they got with proof of purchase. It's hard for them to access it. Yep. Yep. Fourth question, I promise we're getting out of here. Two more.

Fourth one. Well, you know about 100 books. You can take all the time. You won't, goddamn. Hang on. No, no. I'm doing that because you're my guy, man. No, man, thank you.

And I can't check you how much. I appreciate that. Thank you. So, long day from work, you want to come home and have a nice D.L. Hugley beverage. Yeah, come on, baby, boy. What you said on? Come on, baby boy. It's going to be, it's only one or two things.

Okay. It's going to be a gin martini or a little, well, three things. It depends. Like if I, well, you know, like if I'm getting ready to perform, I have a half of martini and it's half a cigar. You got to go on stage. If I'm talking shit to somebody that I really dig, I'm going to have a little bourbon. Or maybe rumble is going to be a dark liquor. And if I just want to talk a woman in doing something, it's a tequila.

There's a, there's a method to my spirit, my spirit consumption. I love it. I love it. I love it. Last question. When the story of D.L. Hughley is being told, the last paragraph, the last sentence, what's one thing that's going to be there? What's one word, one phrase you want to make sure is there? I can tell you the phrase that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that I, that it is from me. It ain't none of my business. what people think of me is none of my business. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, you know, I just, I don't have any allegiance or any interest in, and generally, in what people think of me. And that's good or bad.

I also have learned that from you because I have a cutoff button. And this is like, all right, I'm out. Like, you might still be talking. Like, why would I, like, people think that the people think access to you is, is mandatory. It's not. We live in a, this is Al-a-Card. The only reason you hear me is because you choose to. Yeah.

You don't have to hear me. But I don't got to hear you either. Yep. I ain't got it. Like, like, I don't cut my comments off because I'm not, I'm, I'm, I. I think that people have the right to say what they want to say. And I don't want to ever feel like my feelings are so sacrosan that I can't let people express themselves.

I'm not going to read them, but they have the right to post them. And I think it's it is the price you pay for someone giving you their ear. And so that is not an expensive price to pay for me. But reading it, I can't invite you into my mind. I can't invite the most expensive real estate in the world is what's between your age. There you go. There you go. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been my goat, my greatest of all times. Mr. D.L. Hugley. Amen, good to see you. Now, what you're sipping on the night, young man? Oh, I'm about to have a double-oat woodford as soon as I press in.

Come on, youngster. You don't know nothing about that. Come on now. Look, the next time you're in Greenville, I got some bourbons for you. I got some for them. Okay, okay, for sure. Have you had, uh, It's really, it's like wild turkey decade. I know that, I mean, I know it seems. Okay. It seems. Yeah.

So let me, let me show you something. So we're here. So this is my apartment in New York, right? So you see all that right. All right. All right, baby boy. I love it. I love you back.

And I will see you very soon. Like we say, when I'm going to say, see you on the other side. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. baby boy. All love. For sure, for sure.