The Breakfast Club - Eating While Broke - Godfrey the Comedian

Episode Date: January 31, 2026

The Black Effect Presets... Eating While Broke! Join host Coline Witt on this episode of Eating While Broke as she welcomes the brilliant comedian Godfrey for a hilarious and thought-provoking conversation. Godfrey dives into his Nigerian-American upbringing, sharing how he survived on $12 meals and navigated the challenges of breaking into comedy. Discover Godfrey’s early career stories, his encounters with icons like Viola Davis, and a behind-the-scenes look at his upcoming comedy special. The episode explores the realities of the comedy industry, the power of social media, and the importance of staying authentic in entertainment. Plus, watch as Godfrey and Coline cook up a budget-friendly dish that brings culture, laughter, and nostalgia to the table. GODFREY THE COMEDIAN - Duality of Flavor and Journey, Wings up, Roots DownYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Learn how podcasting can help your business. Call 844-844-I-Hart. In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off.

You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband. Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Joel and Matt from How To Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back. Prices that are still high. and the economy is all over the place.

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What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a... car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle,

a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. I'm your host, Colleen Weit, and today we have a very special guest. I pitched him, locked him in myself, comedian Godfrey's in the building. What's up?

How are you? I'm good. I'm good, man. I'm really excited to have you. I thought for a second I wasn't going to get you. Oh, really? Yeah, because I was texting and it went silent, and then it said notification silenced.

I don't know. And I said, oh, gosh. I don't even know it's, I did that. My stuff hits my pocket. I go, oh, you did this to, I don't know. Why is my phone not answering? It's, yeah. But it made my day to see, yo!

And I said, oh, my God. Oh, yeah, I was like, yo. And I got off the plane. I came straight here from the airport. Really? Oh, okay, okay. Straight here. That makes me feel better.

From the airport. You're going to cook a good dish. What are you going to have me eating today? Real simple, poor man's, poor woman's food. Black beans, chicken, rice, plantains. Yeah. That's all. That's poor people's food, man. But being Nigerian, that's, come on, a go-to.

You be a Jamaican, go-to. Rice, beans. We know all that. Rice and peas. Yes. Rice and peas. And it's the full meal. And it's healthy.

It's healthy. The only thing you're missing is some kind of vegetable. Oh, green beans would have been cool. Like green beans or peas or broccoli, I would have had. Okay. Simple. You can boil them. Cool.

But our producer back there, Jared was asking, he was like, how much does a meal like this cost? And I was like, honestly, this is the great thing about this dish. Yeah. Is just for anyone curious out that this dish runs $10. Just about. Or like $12, $12. And depending on the type of chicken you get, if it's quality chicken, you try to get that. But if you're broken, you're struggling, $12.

And you make a bunch of it and you can save it for a couple days. You make a pot of stuff. Like we do it in my house, my parents do it in a house. You make a pot of stuff, put in a refrigerator, takes them out, get it, boom, that's it. Yeah. And it's $12. And I'd say it's at least four to six servings for $12. bucks.

Yeah. If you're out there and you're trying to figure out what to do for dinner, black beans, chicken, plantains, and brown rice. And in your combination, every once in a while, you get a little burger from Wendy's like that, you know what I'm saying, every one's round. You get those little cheap little combos. You got to combine a little something. Little survival tool right there.

Get it. You know what I said? Whatever you got to do, man. So what are you seasoning your chicken with? Oh, man, I just use basic, like salt, garlic. You got garlic salt. That's good. Are you going to put oil in that pot?

And Dr. She told us that you are only olive oil, right? Yes. I tried the olive or avocado. Okay. We have both. Or the grape seed. Yeah, we just discovered grape seed on this show recently. Oh, really?

Yeah. Man, I've been. I thought it had some hidden heat element, the guests like onions. Well, avocado is the best as far as heating. I know olive oil is not bad, but avocados is like the best. But I'll use those three. Now, if you're frying. If you're frying.

Coconut oil, olive oil, avocado. But coconut and grape seed, those are the ones for, like, frying and stuff. That's what I do. Oh, you do? You fry in those. But I don't deep fry. It's like a saute. Now I do a thing where it's fry a little bit boil.

It's like I'll pour water. It's then combined it. And it works. Really? Yeah, man. When you do it over and over, you start frying waves. This is a little better. I don't want to fry it too hard.

Like, in between it, I'll throw some water. Oil and water don't mix. Yeah. You can put a top over. So it is popping. It is popping. It works, yeah. But it pops when you add the water.

A little bit, a little bit. Okay. Yeah. Good to know. Wait, what is this one? Let me make sure I got to turn this on. Turn that on? Yeah, yeah, that's the one.

All right, all right, all right. All right. All right. So is this a childhood dish? Childhood? I'm saying like, is this something that your parents made growing up? My parents made Nigerian. So we had Fufu, we had Agari, we had Ebba.

We had all, we had, Nigerian food was the major thing. Okay. We had Jelloff rice, moi, chint, just all. My mother could burn. All Nigerian, West African. But then we had American food, like spaghetti and regular stuff. But Nigerian food was the main thing. Okay.

Agusi, okra soup, pepper soup. It was all that. Yeah, okra, yeah, it's great. So it's slimy, but it's amazing. Yeah, yeah. That's a very, but now Nigerian food is popular now. Yeah. And people know about okra.

Egoose is my favorite. What's aeguisi? Egoose is like a mixture of spinach and melon seeds. It's like a soup, but it's my favorite. Woo, man. Really? I got to try it. They have a place out here. Aduka, not too far from the airport.

Aduka's Nigerian cuisine? Fantastic. Wait, how do you say it again? Aduka. Aduca. I'm going to try that. I think it's Aduka's Nigerian cuisine. She, her stuff is fantastic.

But what's the name of the soup again? Egusi. E-G-U-S-I. Egousi. And you all know Jeloff because you have Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, they're all battling and who has the best Jeloff rice. I eat all of them. I don't know. Senegal got the, but I think Senegalese food is unreal. Okay. It's Tibujin, Tibu Yap. They got fish and this lamb, Tibugent, Tubuoyap, and their jellif rice is fire. Like, really? Oh, yeah. Ghanaian food is dead. You're making me hungry. Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff. That's, and then, of course. And we couldn't

get you to cook none of that for us. Okay. Shout-outs to God for you again. No. I said you couldn't cook any of this for us today. My, you know what? Nigeria food, it takes a lot. There's a lot of ingredients. My mother would cook all day. And the problem is like, I never, me and my brother never got to go to the kitchen and cook because my father was like, a man doesn't come into the kitchen. Women do. It was very chauvinistic shit. Okay. And then when I got on my own, my father was like, you know how to make stuff. I go, you didn't let us in the kitchen. How am I supposed to know how to make the Nigerian food?

And it's a process. Yeah. It's a process, man. Some stuff, there's a thing called puff puff, right? Like fried dough almost like. Yeah, I think I've seen it online. Puffeuf is Nigerian. Like Zeppelis, Italians have something similar.

That's why we're all so related. When you see cuisine pop up, you go, wow, they eat that too, right? Puff up, but it takes a day. It's like a dough, a yeast. You got to put in a refrigerator and wait a whole 24 hours. So my mother would do all kinds. I've seen it online, like where they like roll it in the soup or whatever. Oh, that's, no, that's, that would be Ebaya.

Have you tried that? Is it good? Yeah, all that food is, that's what I'd cream up with. Really? I'm just wondering about that texture. I grew up on that. Really? Hell yeah. I didn't go to a Nigerian restaurant with you. Oh, yeah, you should.

No word. I feel like it would be fun. Yeah, it's good stuff, man. I love all that stuff. And being a Nigerian first generation, just always eating full. foreign food was just always normal to me. Yeah. Growing up in Chicago, I lived in an area where everybody was immigrants.

Even though Chicago is the most segregated city in the country still, all my friends were like Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Polish, Russian, Yugoslavia, when it was Yugoslavia, Haitian, Jew, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish. So everybody was foreign. Everybody had, that's all we ate. Wow. Wow. My next door was incredible. Cambodia.

Yeah. So I was eating food from Cambodia, layouts, and Vietnam. So these were my friends, fresh off the boat. And then you had American food. Yeah. Hot dogs, hammered and litter. But we had our- Now, did it when you ate the American food, did it even come close to comparing?

It was good. We liked it too. It was just two different types of taste. Yeah. We loved hot dogs. We ate hot dogs and amber. We loved all that. But then we loved our food too.

Yeah, okay. We would throw down on our stews and our ox tails and our fish and our yeah man and tripe and the tripe and it's like Jamaican food you're Jamaican yeah yep I love Caribbean for you're kidding me I like tripe I'm an oxtail what no you can't oxtail jerk chicken jerk but I'm also a snob because I don't think everyone makes it good of course not my mother was so good and we were very snobby about other Nigerian cooking we're like that's not as good as my mom's a little bit too much and I was just about to ask you do you think it's because it's our mom's condition.

No, no. If your mom stinks. I feel like my mom's Jamaican is so good that every restaurant I go to, I'm like, eh. No, I have a friend whose mom couldn't cook for shit and she heard it was trash. My mom was dope because we would taste other people and go, nah, man. And people would come over our house. They knew my mom was making stuff. Like, hell yeah. Yeah, that's how I am with one of my home girls, her aunt cooks like that.

And anytime it's a holiday. Oh, okay. You already know I'm pulling up. Save me a plate. But you got to get there fast because that food run out. Oh, yeah. Whoa. This is popping in shit.

The second it's done, it's gone. Oh, yeah. But take me back to what was going on in the era of beans, rice, and chicken. Beans, rice. What you're making us today? What am I? Oh, when I was coming up? Yeah.

As a comedian or something? So when were you making this dish to survive? Oh, man, when I was doing comedy, man. When you live on your own. Yeah. When I started living on my own in Chicago, after college, I was like getting into comedy and stuff. And then I got, I got a, I booked a commercial, like a McDonald's commercial. And then I got all this money.

I was like, I can move out now. My father's good. You can find your own spot. And then I, of course, they supplied me with silverware and pots and bands and shit. Anything you need, yeah. Yeah. And then I started, okay, what do I think I know I can make? I don't know how to make Nigerian food.

I'll just go get it from my mother and bring it to the Chris. Smart. How far did you move from them? Oh, man, about 20 minutes away. Oh, okay, good, good. That was my, I had a little, I had a little studio. Okay. But it was nice to be on my own.

And how old are you at this time? I'm like, 22 or something. Okay, okay. And my father was like, it's good that you live on your own. That's good because your mother wants you to stay forever. Yeah. And because moms always wanted to go with their kids. And my father said, I'm telling you, I mean, you live on your own,

you're going to see the difference. Okay. And he was like, I was like, he was right. He goes, you're going to want to be able to come in and go in as you want. Yeah. You don't want your mother awake. Where are you in this, all this? Yeah.

So it was smart. Okay. But yeah. So Pops was right. Pops was, he ain't never been wrong. He was never wrong. My father was never wrong. Even though it pissed you off when you're telling you like, what?

Uh, then you're like, damn, he was right. Yeah. And he says, I lived the life too. I was a kid, too. You're talking about it. I'm not lying. I'm not going to lie to you. You know what I'm saying?

So, I don't know. So you're in your apartment and you're cooking this chicken, rice and beans. Rice and beans, vegetables, because I want to feel healthy. And where are you calling your mom back? Hey, mom, how do I do this? Not really because I was getting it. And then you start some women you bring over. They ain't know how to do shit.

They go, nah, you do this, that, that. I'm like, cool, yeah, handle that. Oh, you. I'm like, yeah, started the heat. You just take care of the rest of that. Now I mean? And then beans, I'll take kidney beans, black. beans. What was the other bit? Pinto beans. That's always easy. That's feeling. You just get the

starches and the yeah. And then I knew how to do the plantains. When I first asked you, it was looking rough. You were like ramen, some chicken. But ramen, I remember having in college, because I didn't know what period you meant broke, broke in career wise. But yeah, college was ramen. Damn. We end up funny because ramen had three flavors, but it was all taste the same. Yeah. Chicken beef and beef. It was disgusting. That little pack. Do you want to know something I learned on eating while broke? There's different romans. What do you mean?

There's the company we had that was the ramen. That's the top ramen. That's the bullshit. Yeah. But they got the Thai ramen, this Japanese. They got different ones. And let me tell you something. The other ones?

Way better. How's that? How's that? But we weren't exposed to that. No. Wait, there's 10 romans for a dollar? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

And you doctor it up your own way? You doctor it up. You'll put some beans in the money. And then right there, sprinkle some of this. Yep. And then the worst aftertaste, it was the worst aftertaste. You think so? Disgusting.

It was disgusting. But that got us through. We survived with that. And then in college, I went away for college. So we would go to a cafe. There was a cafe we would all hang out in. Yeah. Like different world.

Yeah. We had something like that. It's called the orange. And so we come there and my buddies worked at the cafe. So they'd be like, yo, my shift is at this time. So, yo, all you do is spend like $5, but I'm going to give you more than that. Oh, hell, you know. And make sure you get my stuff and then we'll meet at the dorm later.

So we was, yeah, we was trying to beat the system. I like that. We're getting burgers, mad juices. I like that. Waters, sodas, you know what I like that. Extra fries, extra. So we, it was a combination of ramen at the crib, that nasty ass cafeteria food. Because we survived off of that.

Yeah. The cafeteria food was trash. You're like, in a big university like this, and we would make our rice Krispies, our own little homemade rice Krispy joints. You just get the marshmallows, put it in the microwave, and we all just got eat it up the boy. It's amazing how you survived it.

Now, did you know when you were in college that you wanted to pursue comedy? Third year, Tommy Davidson came to my college, and we showed him around campus and all that. And when he performed, When I was thinking about due, I said, I think I want to do that. I think that's what I want to do. And the girl I was dating at the time, she was like,

yeah, you should do it. You're always holding court in the cafeteria. You're funny as hell. And not funny because just funny, because my friends were funny, too. It was because I was very militant in college. Yeah, I was very pro-black, very African-American studies. We started a group to the chagrin of the president of the university, Stan Eichenberry, that racist bastard.

We started a group where we wanted to. to learn about pre-slavery and post-slavery. We wanted to learn about us. And we started a book club on our own. And we were able to bring in speakers, Native American speakers, and Latin speakers, historians, Africans, to teach us stuff. And so I became that dude, like militant, like school days. Like it was, yeah, militancy, and then at the time,

you're listening to hip-hop, KRS-1, Public Enemy. You're listening to a brand new, but you're listening to a day, like, Listen, the conscious rap. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we was militant.

So I could, I was able to be funny talking about racism. Talking about, oh yeah, I was dope with it. I would talk like that. Imagine Malcolm X as a comedian. Like if he was just, you know how sometimes they could be really funny. But I'm, yeah, I was like that. I wasn't as like serious, but I was like silly with it. But I was talking about real shit.

And that's why she was like, this is definitely lame. Because I remember my friend, she was, The girl I days for her name was she was a rebound chick from my other girl that was on campus. But she was like, she wrote, one day she wrote down everything on our yellow legal pad. I was just talking. And she goes, I wrote down most of the shit that you were so funny. I wrote it down. We woke up.

I say, what the hell is all this? This is all shit you said yesterday. Wow. You keep telling about you want to be a comedian. And on Club Sheshay, I brought her name. Her name is Toya Dixon. Wow. And I brought her name up.

And she was like, yo, everybody's calling me saying you brought my name up on Club shit. Because you, it's the truth. Wow. You wrote that thing and I said, all right, when I get back to Chicago, I went to the University of Illinois. Yeah. So when I get back to Chicago, I'm going to go for open mics and that's how that shit started. Now, did you take the material that she had written down and like-

I don't even remember what it was. Okay. But I said, I'm going to start doing comedy and I started in a comedy team with another guy for a year and then from there I didn't, I wasn't really digging that because he wasn't as passionate as I was. Yeah, and I was going to say, what's a comedy team? A comedy team, you're doing sketches. Okay.

Yeah, I was writing. Oh, this is, this is, but this was before sketches was a thing. No, sketches have been around before. But I'm saying you were doing it stand, but you were doing it in stand-up? On stage, we'd have my sketches like. Oh, okay. And it was cool, man. And we had little costumes and dumb shit like that.

Okay. And then after that, I was like, I was disgruntled about it because he wasn't as passionate as I was. You have to be in sync. Yeah. And I remember talking to Steve Harvey. at this club in Chicago called all jokes aside and I was in the hallway kind of pissed

and Steve was like asking me questions like wow what's up man I was like yo I'm tired of student's not as passionate than I am he seems like and he goes how much you're getting paid for it I said we're getting like a hundred bucks yeah and he goes are you tired of are you tired of splitting that shit

I remember he goes cut his ass and he just walked away that Steve Harvey said cut his ass I remember that shit and he was doing comedy at the time too Steve was yeah Steve was a headliner Steve's going to do a comedy for a long-ass time. Steve was like a big dog.

As far as the comedy scene, not super famous, but he was a big dog. Me, I was just starting. I wasn't even doing solo shit yet. So he told me, cut him. You say you got the skills, man. And so that's when I started doing the solo shit. Wow. Now, did you have to meditate on it for a minute or did you just?

No, the next week I was already, because I was already writing shit on the side. In case this goes no good goes left, I'm going to start doing stuff on my own. Okay, got it. So I started doing open mics by myself. Okay. Now, did you ever have a moment within that window of, I don't know if this is for me? Did you have a bomb or anything? No.

As soon as I hit, I was like, yeah, I'm doing this. I don't care if no bombing comes with it. Yeah. But I know what I want to do. Yeah. You know it. Yeah, yeah. I'm doing this.

Once you got a taste. I was like, oh, yeah. Because I'm like, how I want to be able to talk shit. Now, how do you? your parents perceived this at the time. Yeah. I'm really scared to have some Nigerian parents. They were like, I thought you were going to do psychiatry medical school.

You're a pre-med psych major. I thought you're going to. Pre-med psych to comic. Oh, my goodness. I don't think it's not a big stretch because a lot of comedians were astrophysicists, lawyers, doctors. A lot of people were like real professional. Yeah.

I had another buddy. He's passed, but Greg Gerardo was a fantastic comedian. His son does comedy in New York now. Greg Gerald Jr. but he was a Harvard lawyer. Wow. And then he'd gotten to comedy. So there's film majors.

There's a lot of people have degrees in comedy. But from a parental perspective, their son. My father parents were like, no, make sure you have something to fall back on. I go, I'm falling back on this. I love that. Okay. But my father's, that's cool, but make sure you finish your studies. Did you finish?

Yeah, psychology degree. And I think I've learned more about psychology living in New York. any, you don't need to go to any psych ward or anything. You just live in New York. That is a big psych ward. Yeah. And just doing comedy is so psychological, there's so many psychological things in comedy on why people laugh.

I even had a book about Freud and the jokes in the subconscious, which is a little weird of a read. But I, there's reasons why people laugh. There's nostalgia. There's pain. There's, there's relation. There's all kinds of shit. Run a business and not thinking about podcasts.

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In the middle of the night, Saska awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.

to keep this secret for so many years. He's like a seasoned pro. This is a story about the end of a marriage, but it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark. You're a dangerous person who prays on vulnerable and trusting people. Your creditor might go up and good.

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New year, new goals, and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt. And I'm Joel. We are from the How to Money podcast. And every week, we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to How to Money on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real?

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming, is a blend of

Hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP. It's crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a new age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all, NLP might actually work.

This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the I-Heart. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, I used to always think it was just like if someone can relate, my favorite comics or the comics that I can relate to. So I always say my toxic comics, like your Bill Burr, I call him Bill Burr, Sebastian, like anyone that has the toxic childhood, I'm like, those are my favorites. Yeah, you know.

Yeah, if you can relate to them, it's great. So I just assumed it was relatability. Relative. First of all, you're going to be who you are. Yeah. If someone doesn't get you, they don't get you. Yeah, yeah. I can't just as people, we don't get along with everybody.

Some people we click with, some people, some people we just don't. That's the same thing with comedy. It's like, some people ain't going to fuck with you because you say things they don't like. All right, bye. But that's the thing about comedy. Go find someone else. Check the schedule. There's a whole bunch of other comedians.

Yeah. But if you don't come in my show and they open your mouth because you don't like something, you're going to get smoked. Yeah. I'm going to dust you off real quick. My thing is, you don't have to laugh. You just sit there and go, you don't have to, I don't give a fuck if you don't laugh. Wow.

How long did it take for you to get to that point? About when I got to, I was in New York, in Chicago, three years. Then I moved to New York. That's when I think, yeah, five, six years in, when you go New York is a different attitude. Because it's like you're around really dope. Because I was around Chappelle, Seinfeld, Ray Romano. And Bill, me and Bill, me and Bill, me, Bill, when Bill had hair. Red hair.

That's how long I've known, Bill. Okay. We had red hair. Because me, Bill, it was Robert Kelly, Keith Robinson. It was a lot of us there, just a big group of us. Tracy Morgan, we can keep going. Jimmy Fowler. It was everybody.

I think New York Comics, when I go to L.A., not talking smack about L.A., but New York and L.A. are un-careable. Man, New York is. New York is. I'm sorry. We dust it off. I think it's because you guys get more reps. Of course it is.

And I think... Way more reps. I think that it also helps that New York treats comics better than L.A. does. I think that... I think it's the international thing, too. Because in every... Almost every show, there's... We're from Scotland.

We're from Ireland. We're from the Netherlands. We're from Sweden. We're from Norway. We're from Germany. I had yesterday... The other day, Italian... We're from Italy.

We are... Oh, my God, you have to come to Italy. Oh, it's always international. Canada, Australia. It never fail. And it's always like that. You get foreigners all the time. And they like honesty.

The UK, they go, man, but it's the American ones that be bitching. It's always, and it's mainly white women. They're always fucking up comedy. They fuck comedy up. And this is me not categorizing on it, but white comics, Latin comics, women comic. I go, whenever we have a complaint, I say, who was she white? Yep. It was a white girl.

White girl tears, white girls interrupting. It's usually 90% of the time it's a white woman, bitching about what you're saying, complaining about what you're saying. Do you think that's a part of... The privilege? I was going to say that. Yeah, it's the privilege. A white girl tear bullshit.

Because I had a white girl wanting to fight me the other day. She was like, motherfucker. I go, I don't hit women. So get out of my face. I get a girl to come fuck you up. It'll knock you to fuck out. but I don't hit women. Yeah.

My father didn't hit my mother. My father didn't even raise his voice to my mother. I don't hit women. I never understand the concept of dudes hitting women. Now, I don't get me wrong. I want to smack shit out you, but I'm not going to do it. She heckled me and said, why don't you just move on? I go, no, bitch, you don't tell me to move on.

You shut the fuck up and listen. That's how this goes. Uh-huh. You know, I remember. But don't they kick him out too? Sometimes when you really got it, because the bouncer is there. He can't wait to yoke people up. Yeah, yeah.

Big giant African, French African. He'd be like, he'd be like, you have to go, is you wait, too talk it too much. If you don't listen, and her boyfriend is there letting her talk, because it's like pussy whipped ass dude. I go, yo, tell you girl, like, if I'm with a chick, she's not gonna have class, she's not gonna be yelling shit out. She doesn't have to like.

You don't have to like us. Yeah. It's okay. But it's a show, you're supposed to be quiet. I watch shows, I may not like him, but I'm not gonna go, eh, I'm not gonna say nothing. Yeah. But, and then, and it's like,

I always get a lot of women hecklers all the time. Always women, always yelling at me. They just say stuff. And I go, yo, I get it. My fate is tighter than your boyfriends. I understand. I get it. You're upset.

I know you like me because you're interrupting me. It's too much. Stop. You know what I mean? My fate is tight. My sneakers is way doper than his. I get it. Yeah.

I'm in decent shape. I get it. Yeah. You're in great shape, by the way. But when you talk to me and I, then when I burn you now, you're victim now. Now you're victim. But you, see, first of all, I don't fuck with the audience. I'm not a crowd.

dude, I don't, I have shit to say. And if something naturally happens, I'll address it. But I have no interest in whether you're dating or fuck. I don't give a fuck. I got shit to say. I have material. If they had a fence and the crowd was 50 feet away, I have material. I don't need to go, yo, what's, what, you?

Yeah. You don't need to do crowd work. None of that shit. That's just my style. Yeah. And yeah. So I'm, and I'm not, and my, as a comedian, I love edge. I love the edge.

I like to push the envelope. I like my clan jokes. What would it be like to be a member of the clan? You know, I tried to join. They didn't let me and I said, good, I'm testing you. Yeah. Because if you were to let me in, I'd be like, you're slipping, dog. You're slipping, you're supposed to be about that white supremacy.

How you gonna let me in this bitch? Fuck wrong with you. Yeah. You know what I mean? Diversity and shit. How are you going to be a clan member and not stick with your shit? I love going there. Because to see white people go, the clan?

Because I'll say Ku Klux Klan, I go, people go, wait a minute. I go, we mean awe. Yeah. What's so different about a clan member calling us niggers and say, you niggers get out neighborhood, than you being upset at a black neighbor or being passive aggressive to a black neighbor. What's the difference? Yeah.

You still are the same. You're doing the same thing. It's like instead of pouring acid in your face in India, like some of them that some parts of India, they pour acid in women's faces, foods that get rejected. Wow. And that's like going, that's terrible. All we do is we punch. our women in the face in America.

That's no, it's still abuse. It's no different. It's still abuse. It's still abuse. So I like to talk about those things. Yeah. Yeah. I like to talk about spirituality

and people going on retreats. I go, that's your problem. You're always retreating. Yeah. You always, who the fuck can't go into the mountains and meditate? That ain't shit. Now, when you practice your spirituality,

how about when a dude in New York on the train bumps you by accident? Do you automatically call them a spick or a nigger or a chink or whatever? Or do you go, That's all right. He didn't mean it. That's when you practice your spirituality when you can in front of people. Not in the woods.

You pay ayahuasca. You have some shaman in the wood. No, fuck that. What are you doing New York on the subway when a motherfucker is screaming at you? How do you handle it? So I like to address all those, the idiot. What is it? The idiot shit that goes on with human beings.

And the women are still triggered. You don't forget to turn it on. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Thank you. Thank you. I got to help him cook. Oh, I didn't turn it.

Close on, you're cooking. But yeah, you said women get triggered by me? Yeah, you said they get triggered. They get triggered. They get triggered. Let's see how you cut this plantain. Sorry. It can be on anything, you know.

It can be on anything. Women get triggered by, because I'm not doing my comedy for women to be. I just want you to be a fan of comedy. Yeah. I'm not trying. There's some comics that appease women. Yeah. Because you're saying, I go, I'm just being funny.

I don't, I have jokes that are clean jokes that are, but I don't, I'm not worried about a girl not liking me because I'm doing what the fuck I want. I'm a man. Yeah. You, that means you ain't for me. Yeah. I like,

women fuck with me because I'm a fucking dude. Yeah. And if you can't separate that from jokes to my, me is 11, then fuck you. Yeah. Fuck out of here. Because I've had situations where after a show,

a group of girls, they didn't like what I said. And then the dude that's next to me, the comment next to me, they liked what he said. So they'll be like, we liked you. I go,

that's nice. Bye. I like when I'm not like sometimes. It's okay. That's why I'm doing the right thing because I knew not all everybody's going to this one. Yeah. And if you don't like me, I'm like, what am I in grade school?

I can't come play with you in the sandbox? Fuck out of here. This is comedy. This is freedom. You got 100% New York attitude, by the way. But yeah. I've been to New York for 20-some years. Now, what prompted the move to New York?

Reps and just a better quality of, I wanted to be a damn good community. I would say comedy is going to be. keep me in the game. And to me, stand-up comedy is like a magical power to me. It's magic. Good. To make people laugh, you don't even fucking know. Just come in a room and hand-rolling. That is a level of emotion. It's a level. It's like when I make a baby laugh. To me, it's the greatest shit in the world. To make an infant laugh, babies always look into laugh. They always want to be, to make a baby laugh, to me is just a level of, it's the best shit in the world. A baby's laugh.

I love it. You look at pets. Yeah. When dogs get around babies, they do the thing. Yeah. The cats do crazy shit. That's a whole other spiritual level to me. To make a baby laugh and the pets know.

Yeah. They do silly shit. The babies like cracking up. The dog's running around in a circle. Even the dog knows. Yeah. And you as a human being, you mad, fuck you, dog, for real. So just to backtrack just a little bit.

You said that early on. you had booked a McDonald's commercial. Yeah. Now, this is before you decided that you were going to pursue. No, I was in comedy. Oh, you were? Because the agent I had saw me at a comedy show. Okay.

And say, hey, man, you're really talented. You can do voice stuff and just that. You got it. You should come to my, it was a Phoenix talent, some shit. It was a black agency. And that was the first time I was auditioning for commercials. See how I slice it? My mom would do it like this.

Oh, that's how you do it. Oh, so I definitely butcher your slices. Got it. Sometimes they cut, no, I like it when my mother would do it like this. Okay. Like that. Like flat. Yeah.

Yeah. Even though these are green ones. This would be like the Tostones, like with the Latinos. When it's green, it's Tostone. Then when it's sweet, it's Maduro. Yeah. Blatano. That's how my mom would do it too.

Yeah. And then with the Haitians, it's banana. We call it dood or plantain. Uh-huh. The Caribbean call it plantin. Don't touch yourself. If you're in, no, I'm good. And then if you're in Amsterdam, the Suriname, the Suriname,

the Srinamese people would look like me and you. but they speak Dutch. It's a Dutch colony. Suriname is a Dutch colony. So the Dutch people came and fucked everybody. And it's right. It's by South America. And the Surinamese people are living in Holland.

Because they're slavery and just rape, pillaging. So everybody came out real cool looking. And so Surinamese, they speak Dutch. They're the black people of Holland. And so I went to a Surinamese restaurant, because I was performing in Amsterdam, no, in Holland in. 2018. But I did Dutch comedy for 10 years. So I was like, so we went to a Surinameese restaurant.

The food was banging. And then I see a big ass banana come out. I go, so y'all eat it too, huh? And I said, what's it called? Bacabana. Oh, okay. So all this are all connected with the banana. That's why I went like, Dominicans and Puerto Rican be like, I know black. I know black. I'm like, yeah, you are. Why are we eating fried bananas? Yeah. I know black, Papa. I know black. I'm Dominican. Yeah, my friend, why do you have this in your dish? Why do Nigerians eat this and Ghanaians eat this? Why are Trinidadians and Jamaicans eating this stupid? We're all connected. Maduro, Patano, Tostone, uh, dodo? We call it dodo like that. You actually say this and stuff to them? Yeah, I said, look at the big banana, buddy. Asians don't eat this.

No. Unless they're Chinese Jamaicans. No. The Chinese Jamaicans eat it because of China, Chinese have been there since the 60s. And yeah. They've been in Jamaica since the 60. Now they're in Nigeria now. Chinese are in Nigeria when I was in Nigeria last year. They're there. They're fixing the infrastructure in Nigeria.

They're going to be Chinese Jamaicans. There's Chinese. They're going to be Chinese are Chinese Nigerians. Hey, then Chinese Jamaicans next. And there's going to be Chinese. And you're not burning the chicken. You're positive? I don't think so.

Oh, my gosh. You're about to burn your hands. Oh, yeah. This is great. Cool. You want to turn it off? All right, cool. One dish down, two dishes.

He has bread, beans, and chicken. Yeah, the only thing we're waiting on is the plantains. All right. Cool, cool, cool. Now, uh-huh. Okay, so we're in your story. Yes. You get the advice.

You break up with your partner. My partner? You're, you're, you're my partner. You're, you're, you're partner. I'm solo. Then I moved to New York after about two years, moved to New York driving a U-Haul truck 20 hours, 20-something hours, and you-haul truck pack all my shit.

And with my friend, Bernadette, who was in the, who was in the movie Love Jones. If you ever saw Love Jones, you ever seen Love Jones? Love Jones with Lorenz Tate, who's also from Chicago. Yeah. Lorenz and his brothers, Lamar, were all Chicago people. And my friend Bernadette, who was in Love Jones, who I went to high school with, she drove with me.

She's going, hey, I said, I'm going to New York. I'm driving. She goes, you know what? I'll come with you. She's now a director. She does a lot of really great shit. And so we drove all the way to New York City. And if you know who Wood Harris is,

Wood Harris is from Chicago. For some strange reasons, I've had a crush on him since I was like 10. That's amazing. Is that weird? Since I was a little girl. That's good. An adult.

That's a weird thing, right? Yeah. It's like it is what it is. It's weird though because it's like a sick confession as a little kid. He's a Chicago guy like me. And we used to go to poetry slab in Chicago. And I remember when he got accepted to Tish, NYU. And I remember the street we were on, Kinsey Street, downtown Chicago.

He's outside. He goes, yo God, man. it out. I got accepted to Tish, man. Yeah, man. I just got accepted. I said, damn, that's cool. I said, you know what? I'm moving to New York next year. I plan on doing that. He goes, yeah, man, I'm leaving a few months, man. So I see you over there. Right. Bam, he's over there. So I, long story short, I'm driving 20 hours. I get to New York City. Bam, I'm on 6th Avenue, New York. Yeah, yeah. Sixth Ave and third Ave, where we perform in the village. And it's the daytime. So we tired. And I see Wood Harris walking right in front.

of my truck going to class. This is a year later. Okay. And I honked my horn and wood. I go, yo, he goes, what the fuck? I go, yo, I'm here, bro. I'm here. He's going to class shit.

And so we keep driving because I'm supposed to my managers at the time. I got managers. They're telling me, guiding me where I should go. They got, we got you a place. Oh, that was going to be my next question. Like, how are you, where are you living? I'm living at the 100th in West End, because my friend, this guy, T.K. Kirkland, who's a comment.

who's going to be on Club Shayshay in a couple of KT to the motherfucking K. In July, you'll see him. He got me my manager because I used to open up for him in Chicago. And he said, you need to come to New York. I got some good managers. If anybody knows who Anthony Michael Hall is from Breakfast Club, the original Breakfast Club, the movie. Okay. The little blonde kid.

Yeah. His pops was my manager. His dad, Tom Chastar, David Klingman. They had John Ligizamo, Sandra Bullock. They had Mike Apps, a whole bunch of people. And I was another added addition. Wow. That was like, yeah, late 90s.

And that's fresh when you first get into New York. Yeah, I have managers. So then they take me to this apartment complex. It was a four bedroom place. It was all theater people. They said, you're going to meet somebody. They're going to meet you at the door. Hundreds of West End.

So it's almost, it's like nighttime, eight, nine o'clock, whatever. We get to the place and Viola Davis opens the door. That's nuts. She's at Juilliard at the time. And she goes, hey, you're Godfrey. I go, yes, I'm Viola Davis. My name is Viola. I'm at Juilliard right now doing a play called Seven Guitar.

I said, oh, cool, all right. My friend, Bird, Dad, blah. So he's okay, I'll show you to your room and stuff. And then show me to my room. And then we're unpacking our shit, right? So this dude, I guess he's an actor too. White guy comes out. And I'm thinking he must be the other roommate.

So he's asking me, like, hi, you're the new, I say, yeah, from Chicago. So he comes at me, like, so what are you going to be doing when you're here? Are you going to be like having women? He was just being real crazy with me. I said, and I look at Bernadette, is he talking to me? Yeah. And I said, that's none of your fucking business. How about that?

You know, I'm already militant as fuck. Because in Chicago, I used to go see Minister Farrakhan live. When I was 18, I would go to Savior's Day. So I'm down with this FOI in the nation of Islam. I'm not enjoying them, but I go see Farrakhan live. I could only imagine what that guy was thinking when you said that. I was like, who the fuck are you talking to? I say, you can't say hi to me, none of that.

I said, oh, I'm not in the move for that white dude shit right now. Racism is like, when does it end? Is it all the time? I was like, yeah, I said, yeah, man, I said, man, get the fuck out of my face, man. I just told him, I say, oh, get the fuck out of my face. So he goes, I just want to go, my man, I'm telling you, I don't, I'm not in the move for this. I don't know who the fuck you talk to that, but I will get in your, I will hit you in your jaw. I'm just going to punch you right in the mouth.

Get the fuck out of here. And Viola broke us up. Biola broke us up and then pull me to the room. She closed the door. I can't make this shit up. She closed the door. She closed the door. She goes, you know what it is, right?

Viola's always been pro black. That's what I love about her. She's always been that way. She goes, you know what it is, right? I say, yeah, man. She goes, you come in. He was, it was me, his girlfriend and him. He was the white dude or the room.

And he goes, and here you come, handsome black dude come in there. And now he's being threatened. I go, I know that white dude shit, that threatening bullshit. And he wanted to have everybody. That's what they want. They want the black girls and all that. They're the dudes that be like, why is he with, why are you with him? Yeah.

They actually ask people, why are you with us? Yeah. Want me to give you a fucking list? I said the reason why they're with you is because of systematic shit. That's why they're with you. You ain't got no game. You ain't got no game. Anytime I see one of us go with you, it's because you ain't got no game or they're mad at us.

You ain't got no game. It's all trauma, bra. I was telling them that you said, or they're mad at us. Yeah. When black women get me. Yeah, they're mad at us. Most of the time, 95% of the time. I'm telling you.

I'll give you that. I know it. I'll give you that. Because I've no ones that have admitted it. Yeah. I know it is. They fed up. That's the first thing they say when they get mad.

They'd be like, that's it. I'm going to go to the oppressor. That's what I'm going to do. And then he opens up, then he opens up and says, cause you a nigger. Now you stuck because it happened to Hallie Berry, who I love to death. Happened to her. Her husband called her the N-word.

What now? She was stuck. Now she's paying this motherfucker 18,000 a month. What you're talking about? So I'm just saying, and Hallie's with Van Hunt now, which is dope as fuck. I love it. But I'm saying, though, I'm not saying, listen, I'm not saying you can't love a person because of who they are.

But a lot of times it's agenda. Nobody talks about that part. Yeah. Nobody goes there. They just, oh, no, why can't love be like? I said, yeah, that's a nice hallmark card. But keep it 100 because I know people in relationships that have come to me and told me and said, Mom, boy, wouldn't call me a nigga.

I said, yeah, of course he did. What'd you think? Of course he called you that. And now you stuck now. He called you that because that's how he sees you. He's not seeing you your humanity. If he never used that, that means he really loves you. But yeah, you pissed him off.

That's the true test. That's the true test. Now you come to me telling me he said that to you. I go, what are you going to do? I noticed it. When Trump was running in 2020, you know how many people flipped? They were like, I can't believe my girlfriend. My brother.

Let me tell you. You love white women. And now she's flipping on you. Now she's talking that Trump shit. What do you think was going to happen? That, that dynamic is there. That's why you got to make sure you ask them questions, man. Because a lot of times it's fetishy bullshit.

And they'll play the role just so they can be horizontal with you. But nobody wants to talk about that. No, no, it's all facts. So Viola pulls you into the... She goes, you know what it is. And boom. And from there, I was cool. I stayed there because I had to call my managers at the time, all them.

I said, Dave, Tom, I'm about to smack the shit out this dude. Oh, my goodness. And then little old Jewish guy's like, don't do it, God. Listen, don't do anything. We're coming over there, all right, doubt. And I said, no, man. And Tom is Italian. And I said, Dave, man, Dave was, when I tell you the nicest human being, one of the night,

they're all, they passed away ago. But Dave, little Jewish guy, one of the smartest man I've ever met in my fucking life. He knew about the Nigerian Civil War. He knew everything. He was the kindest man I've ever literally. never said anything crazy out of his mouth, was never, like, racially, none of the side shit. He was very honest.

Yeah. He never whispered when he said the word black. I like that. He was just very honest and just love it. He's just a good dude, man. Seriously, a good guy, man. And he cared about people. And, yeah, man.

So they talked you off the ledge. Yeah, man. Because five minutes in, you're really coming at me. And he. And this is a house that you all got to live. Yeah, and he stayed away after that night. I was like, you got to be there. I'm almost imagining this is like a house like the real world.

Something like that. But we were gone. Like I was- Yeah, everybody was doing their own thing. I was headed to Montreal comedy for that next two days. I was gone. And Viola was gone. She was doing plays.

And when I read her book, when I read her book, which is, by the way, fabulous. She wrote it over COVID, her autobiography. There's a part where she's living in New York and a certain, certain, doing this certain play. And I was there at the time. And I'm reading. I go, I was around. And then I see, like three, four years ago, I saw Viola at the 92 Y.

There's a YMCA where they have a stage. They have, like, interviews with celebrities. So I went and paid my money. My friend told me, Viola's going to be at the thing because she's an EGOT now. She has all the different awards. I said, I'm going to go. And then I'm going to try to meet her see if she remembers me. Yeah.

This is years later. And so I go. And then all the security dudes know me. They're like, yo, man, what's good, man? Yo, if you want to meet her, man, yo, I got you. I was like, yeah, I want to meet her. As soon as I walk in, she goes, what's up, Rumi? Soon as I walk in, her and her husband.

Now, I'm just confused. Why did you think she wouldn't remember? I don't know, man. I know motherfuckers that do a tampon commercial and act like they don't know me. Hold on this is a plate. Oh, you got to get a napkin. No, I'm just going to try and. Oh, you got you.

Use the napkins under the forks. Oh, come on. Because if you got a paper towel. Yeah, just for now. Okay. Just for now. Okay. Make shift it.

Make shift it right here. Okay, yeah, just do that. There. Lay it out so it absorbs the oil. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad-supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHearts twice as large as the next two combined.

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Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came. off. You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.

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You're a dangerous person who prays on vulnerable and trusting people. Your creditor, Michael Levingood. Listen to Petrieve. Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New Year, new goals, and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt, and I'm Joel. We are from the How to Money podcast, and every week we help you to spend smarter, save more,

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I just want to do it. There. So what are you going to say? So you didn't think for, it's just interesting because when you talk about roomies and stuff, it's like such a unique. It's like a kindred sister brotherhood, right? Yeah, but our business, this business is full of phonies. And people, when they do, when they get a little bit, like, let's say they do a little better than you. All of a sudden, they don't know you.

Yeah, yeah. All of a sudden, they're not calling you anymore. And you've been through the trenches with people. Yeah. And I didn't even know Viola like that. I didn't stay that long there. Okay. I was there a good half of you.

I was there for a little bit. Okay. And it's not like we hung out and ate together. No. Yeah. We're roommates. Yeah. And the fact that when I walked in, she goes, what's up, Rumi?

And we start laughing. I got photos with it, man. It's amazing. I'll show you after. I love it. She's, she, and I go, do you remember that fight? She goes, ah, hell, yeah, I remember that shit. I broke it up.

She goes, I ended up fighting that motherfucker too. No way. That's funny. Because he was, like his girlfriend, the girl, he was dating at the, there were four, she was an alcoholic, I think she had passed away. It was just a lot of real raggedy shit. So I was just running into a, he was having problems with his chick. He was taking it on on.

It was just, I didn't know, but I was just like, who's this guy talking to? I was like, fuck are you. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like one of those dudes and I was like milton too. I'm like, and I'm still like that. But I'm not, even my white friends go, I understand. I said pro black don't mean anti-white, brother.

Pro-white means anti-black. Yeah. I said, I'm not anti-white, bro. I'm just proud of what I am. I'm proud of what the fuck I look like. I'm proud of our shit because we're dope. You know how I know because you copy us. You copy us every step.

You can't live without black people. Every TikTok is copying us. You either pop lock and you're DJing, you're fucking dance, everything. The lexicon changes because of us. Oh, that was lit. That's us. That was this. That was dope.

That's us. Your handshakes as us. We bring you in and go, well, what up, man? What's good, man? You do the same shit as we do. You copy us and then you get mad when we ask you where the origin is. The origin is us. Now you go, why does it got to be about?

What do you mean? What does it got to be about? It is about that. Because you don't see us as. human beings. You see us at some fucking amusement park. You were like a niggaville to you. And we get on a ride because we're like a ride to you. I'm being you're like, you're like fun to you. Hey, but then when we ask for humanity now, oh no, now you guys just want to. So we, you just want product from us and we can't receive humanity? Yeah. We're asking for humanity. You're making

billions off of black culture. Yeah. You want to talk about basketball, football? You want to talk about all that shit? We're the ones changing the culture. Not you. 100%. So do you think by any chance that you being quote unquote pro-black, the reputation of militant, sorry about these mics. No, it's all good. It's the way we design the table. It's not a... Me being pro-black, what? Do you think at times that that has hindered you? I guess so. But I just think me being black has hindered me because... Beans and rice. I think being black has hindered me because there's just racist. Because there's black people. I think they chew.

We're like action figures. They choose what they want to play with. Yeah, I was going to say that to me, there's a such thing as the quote unquote safe black. There's the safe black. One day I did a whole thing where I watched a whole day, like a couple hours of safe black people on TV. There was a thing.

A safe Negro day. It was my safe Negro day. Is that a thing for real? No, I just, for myself, I said, I want to watch these black people that work all the time. I want to see what the difference was. I go, wow, man. Chicken.

You guys are fucking safe. Who, God damn. Like Denzel, I relate to. Fishmer and I relate to. Samuel Jackson, I relate to, because they talk their shit. Yeah. I relate to them because they balance it out. They'll say stuff, but in a certain way.

Yeah. But I don't fuck with the people that just never say anything about anything. But have you seen it on the behind the scenes? It hinder you? I don't think, no, because I don't go around doing that. You want to? Yeah, hook it up. I don't go around doing that every.

You're asking me a question, and I'm just, but I don't go around. I don't treat people wrong. I'm very nice to people. I'm very, because I love myself. Yeah. When you have knowledge of self, when you love yourself, you treat people, you emanate the same thing. Hurt people, hurt people, man. I don't treat people.

My friends that are white, but I treat them, I care about them. Yeah. I've had my friends drunk, one of my best buddies Chad, white dude, drank a lot, all kinds of shit. Got him out of all his stupor, man. I got him to exercise, boo-boo-boo, because I care about them, man. I don't care. But the problem is the people who cause the oppression get mad when you're just trying to find a little dignity in yourself. They find it as a threat.

That's weird. I think just to eat the mere acknowledgement of it because my swamink goes through it. Now, let's judge your food. Let's judge it. Okay. Rice and beans. Rice and beans. Let's see.

Did you flavor the beans at all? I'll put garlic and salt on it. Not bad. It's good, right? That's it. I like. Good job. Not bad.

Not bad for a brokenness. I know, broke. Okay, now let's test your wings. Broke cuisine. Crunchy and good. That's right. I didn't go crazy with the season, but... If you not go crazy with the season,

I like it crunchy. Impressed with the crunch, though. I love the crunches. Yeah, but I don't know how you did it. You did a really good job. How did you do that? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha.

Do you like the sauce? soft inside, that's the boiling. I like that's good. That's how muscle it is, man. I'm impressed with the crust. Yeah, I love the crunch. How don't you do that? High heat?

Tell me. There's some listener out there like, just tell her! I know it was olive oil, but how did you get the crunch? Is it the cover? Yeah. Yeah, the cover, you leave it there for longer than you expect.

Oh, you know, and you watch it. Great crust. Good. You dip it in the sauce, boy. Woo! I'm not going to lie, the crust is thoroughly impressive because I've never had a crust. I've never been able to do that. Yep.

Okay. Good, good job. Thank you. And it's something you can eat. Now, you don't eat like this now. Sure, sometimes, yeah. Okay. I don't eat like that.

Hell yeah. Bryce and meat, they're never going out of style. Eat it. That's a good combination, too. Oh, yeah. Just in general. Just so you know, this is a great lunch. Did you have lunch yet?

Nope. Sweatling. Right off the plane, in the kitchen. In the kitchen. Sweatting. Now, when you see all these people that you were, basically were in the trenches with. Yeah.

Some of them hit the moon. How does that, how do you deal with knowing that these people were your running mates and some of them have surpassed? Some of them may not have. I'm happy for a lot of people, especially when they've worked hard. There's some people I go, how, but you could just be friends with the right person. It's all kinds of factors. So you, but you do have that moment of, because I deal with that sometimes like, how?

No, I'm like, shit, how do you get that? Yeah. That's normal. Okay. But there's healthy competition, there's inspiration, but then there's people that get to a level and there are pieces of shit. George of people that came up and then I go, oh, fuck you. Yeah. I don't play that shit.

Yeah. I get anywhere. I don't even let it get to me like that because it's, okay, that's great. But this is transient. It comes up and goes up and down. Yeah. I always wanted to be able, if I get in a position, I want to bring my friends with me. Man, get that guy or that girl.

She's been working. I want that. But a lot of people will pull the ladder up and not want anybody to come up, which is insane to me. Because you got up there through the help of others. Yeah. You come off that way. When I first met you, of course, everyone knows who you are. you walk in the room, we know who you are.

But the fact that you're so approachable and, oh, yeah, sure, here's my number. Let's set it up. I just want everyone out there to know that, okay, without cameras, without anything, completely who you say you are. Yeah, it's just easier. I'm going to be two people. It's hard enough being yourself. You're going to be another motherfucker?

Yeah. That's, like, corny. And I've seen it. Like, unless something tragic happens to you, and then all of a sudden you found your huge. humanity like why did that what it took it took it took a brick to hit you in the head from a building like yeah i'm almost that but now it's so funny because i met someone that did that they like went through i don't know can's or scare or something and then they were like and then everywhere they went they had the

preach of jesus who's this before yeah and i'm not perfect don't get me wrong someone approached me crazy i go what fuck you're you talking to i'm norm i'm like you're a typical new yorker in my book yeah i'm like yo why you talking to me like that. Why are you talking disrespect to me? I don't come in disrespectful. I don't, I'm very nice to people because my parents saw me that. You'd be nice to be able, but you don't let anybody push you over either. Yeah. You stand your ground. I balance it out. Yo, you talk to me crazy and but fuck you back. Yeah. Now all of a sudden, I'm the asshole. Yeah. You'll go, yo, that guy, got who's asshole, but you didn't tell your part of the story. You forgot, you left that out.

You were a piece of shit and I answered you back. What you want me to do? You know what I mean? So I, but I, but most of the time, everything is good, man. Keep my environment. I like to work. Like I just did my, grace of God, did my, my comedy central, my comedy special. My comedy special at the Apollo Theater. I just had really wonderful people. Rachel Frazier, Amanda Diaz, Kimberly got just a whole crew of women that just got it done.

I got, I shot it last Thursday. I shot it on June 12th. I shot two shows sold out and we shot it and we're, and I cannot, I'm looking so forward. It was so great because I've been seven years overdue to shoot my next special because some of these networks have ignored a lot of comedians for some reason because you don't notice they always pick the same old people.

Well, I was gonna say they're, the way they're selecting some of these comics. I just go. I just go. Yeah, I'm like. But backtrack, just a little bit. Because there's a question you let it there. What was that point in your career where you were like,

okay, this is, I'm picking up a pace or I'm arriving. Well, when I book Seven Up, after Orlando Jones, he was a spokesperson for Seven Up. It was the second guy after him. I was like, okay, shit. I got, I'm a spokesperson for an American product. I always wanted to that. You got the progressive lady. You got Jake, Jake from Stateball.

And the checks are consistent. I was like, this is all right. I'm doing stuff on MTV because Seven Up is sponsoring MTV. I'm doing spring break. I was like, hell yeah, I was in the culture, the pop culture. Like, I'm on MTV with Carson Daly. What the fuck? And that's when you were like, I said, I didn't think, oh, this is it.

I just thought this is a stepping stone. This is great. I didn't think he's going to last forever that this is. But this guy named Ah, Rod Asa, who was running MTV, I would never forget him. He looked out for me. He said, I, well, you are talented. I want you part of MTV. I'm looking for that guy.

He was so good to me. He got me on two seasons. I hosted spring break. Then I did stuff, talking head stuff on MTV. I love the 80s. I loved it. And it just merged.

And I was in the mix. I wasn't getting paid a gang of loop, but I was just happy to be in the culture. And you were, and you were, but at this point. And doing comedy. And you're, there's no side jobs.

No side jobs. But the whole New York journey, I haven't heard any side jobs. No, I never had one. I had jobs in Chicago out of college. I was at the grocery store with me and my, brother and my sister were all groceries to our kids. My sister did the register when she was in

college. My brother did inventory. He stayed in grocery business for 20 years. I did produce. I worked in produce, inventory, bagging groceries since I was 15. I worked at furniture stores in college when I was playing football and everything. They got a summer jobs. I was doing construction shit. I was doing telemarketing shit. I did jobs, man. I had jobs. But in New York, I never had a job again. Now, but you- Busted my ass and did gigs and slept down couches, yeah. Oh, that's what you did.

I was going to say, did you say before coming, though? Not really. I had gigs, though, wind up. And to go back with your parents, to go back to the conversations with your parents, are you calling bluff? Are you lying? Are you like, oh, everything's great?

No, I said, I'm making it. And they were like, yeah, I don't have all the money in the world, but I'm on the couch, but I'm getting gigs. Yeah. Doing the urban circuit. I was getting money, cash in my pocket. And were they in, sorry, were they in support of it? Yeah, as long as it was a survival thing.

Are you surviving? Okay. And then when they see I was getting things here and there. Yeah. They start seeing you on TV as well. Oh, man. When I was talking about my dad on TV, that was one of my most famous jokes. Like, everybody was calling my father.

My father was like, I like this comedy thing. This is really good because he loved Eddie. Eddie Murphy is very rich. I go, he's a comedian. I said, Dad, Cosby's not Dr. Bill Cosby is a comedian. Yeah. Jerry Tarnepold's a comedian.

They're comedians. He was like, oh, this is good. He goes, I was surviving. He said, yeah, if you were like in psychiatry, no one would know you. This is good. He loved that shit. Now, did your parents, did anyone catch on early on of your impersonations and all that? Not, yeah.

I used to do Mahaliyahili when I was little. Nobody really thought about it. I didn't really do the impersonations a lot until later on in my career, because my manager told me the guy that did a little Jewish guy. did a little Jewish guy, David Klingman, he told me, don't do your impersonations right away. Make sure you build your material. And then when you bring in your impersonations,

it'll add to the arsenal. He was right. He was right on point. He said, don't do it too much because you look corny. But they knew about it. Oh, yeah, because I could do accents that. I can hear languages quickly. I can just spit it back at you.

And I was good at in mimicking people. So I was like, okay, I'll save it. So then when I got, I don't even have to, do impersonation. Some guys have to do an impersonation. I don't need to do it. So you built up your talent in this other area because he, they already knew you were strong in this other area. And did during COVID is where everybody was like. Yeah. I didn't know you could do all the voice. I said, I was never on a TV show. S&L rejected me. I didn't get on mad TV. So all the sketch shows never picked me for yeah. So it was what it was. Yeah. But yeah. So I said,

now we got this thing called a phone and social media has changed the game. Ain't nobody fucking with TV, really? Yeah, no one knows that. Yeah. There are more phones than people. And I was watching Dame Dash on a live during COVID. And his friend is, you know how you have the box.

And his friend's talking. He was like, yo, so what you're going to do, man, during COVID? He said, man, what you think I'm going to do? Man, we got to create, man. Fuck that, man. Everybody is sitting at home doing nothing. He said, if you're an artist and you ain't creating you stupid. And I said, okay, got it.

And I just said, let me turn this phone on. Wow. So I'm doing Steve. Hey, I'm going to tell you this right now. Steve Harvey. Top five answers on the board. Here's the question. I was on it.

And they just went nuts. Trump, I was like, this is a very good show. It's so great. Can you believe it? We're here cooking because I'm broke. I've never been broke. So she's broke, but I'm not broke. But it's a good show.

I'm very proud to be about this show. A lot of people that are broke because of my presidency. I'm all about money. That's it. You got to do one J though. Jay Z? Everyone does Jay Z. No, but I love it.

Yo, it's over. Yo, it's over. Because I'm eating while I'm broke because I ain't no joke. Oh shit. Yo, making the chicken. Oh, the shit is finger licking. Got the plato and knowing the rice.

Everything nice. Yeah. So you did that and now you're killing social media too. How does that make you feel though to be able to dominate? To just literally pick up on a platform and annihilate. And I want to give a shout out to King Batch, Rennie, D. Storm and his crew. The Storm's a good friend of mine, by the way. Oh, yeah.

On the social media people that I did sketches with that went viral as shit, thank you for letting me into your world. Showing me how you guys can share and everybody can win. Yeah. That's not my era. My era was everybody hog up everything, insecurity and all that. I'm just keeping it in 100.

But they were like, yo, this is what we do. Get in a sketch. Get in with us. They're all eaten. Now, how did you meet that group? Through Reni, who looks like me, and he's a Haitian kid out of Queens, We started doing stepfather son shit, and that went viral.

And then I said, hey man, I want to link up with King Batch. He called Batch came to New York. We did a sketch. Safari was there. We was in the hotel room, Hotel Knickerbocker. Batch goes, yo, I'm in New York. I said, yo, I'm coming over there. So one of the most famous sketches I did with them

was the noisy neighbor joint. Where I come in, I go, yo, could you keep it down? I come back, yo, who's showering, man? Turn your shower down and then I come in again. I go, yo, who's do-doodoo? You know, your doodles is mad loud, man. They're splashing, man. Yo, let the doodles hit the side of the bowl, man.

I'm trying to sleep, man. Your doodles is mad heavy. Yo, when I did that sketch, I made it up. 10 minutes, we shot it, bong, bong, bong. The next day. This is one thing about New York. When city workers stop you, that's when you know you're doing well. Okay.

They don't give a fuck about nobody. Yeah. These things are in a garbage truck like, yo, my man, your doodles is mad loud, baby. And I was like, what? And I didn't think about it. I was like, what you talking about? He goes, Nick, you don't know?

Your shit's viral on Facebook, son. We're crying right now. Yeah. And then bus driver's like, you want to ride. Yo, you doodles is mad loud, baby. And that's when I knew, God damn, I'm reaching everybody. Yeah. This is international, too.

Yeah. And when I was doing another sketch with King Batch and his crew, we were in Times Square. There were people from all over the world going, King Batch, I watch all your stuff. Yeah. And I knew, I said, oh, this is it. So King Batch is good. That's one of my little brother. Being Batch is my little bro, Rennie's my little bro.

So I fuck with them. They really, really guided me. They guided me very well. They guided me to the utmost. I always thank them for that too, and I, and I, and it's my, it's a new point of relevance now. Yeah. It's like I'm in the mix.

That's what I'm saying, like for you to dominate on the stage, for you to dominate and get- In social media and podcasting and, yeah, man, Joe Rogan changed the game. Joe Budden's changing the game. Charlemagne's changing the game. Yeah. Andrews, a lot of these guys changing the game. Yeah.

And Bill Burr with his podcast. It's just, it's, and Mark Marin. Yeah. I did Maron's twice. I did his podcast. I love Mark Marin. He's sweet. And I know Mark, I started out knowing Mark

when I first got to New York, I was always on the same lineup as Mark Meron. Yeah. But all his sarcasm is, yeah. I started out with Mark Merrin. I shot a pilot with Mark Merrin. Yeah, man. His interviews on this show is one of my favorites.

Oh, that's very vulnerable. Like, very vulnerable. He's been through some stuff. Oh, he was, he's been through stuff. But to take the time and really opened up. It was one of my favorites. Even though his fans are brutal. They're brutal, shit.

Mark's brutal. Very critical, very smart, intellectual. Yeah, well, his fans, they was not holding back. They were going off on them? They're going off more on me. Why? I don't know. People find a reason to complain sometimes.

Welcome. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's, yeah. So I've been through just being at Bernie Max Club. I started at Birdie Match Club, also a soloist. I lived on the, I lived on the north side of Chicago. You know the different sides of Chicago. side, south side.

I was on the north side and I would go to this Bernie Mac's club. Bernie Mac had an open mic on Monday's a variety show and I would go there with my boy, Evan Lionel, who actually changed Bernie Mac's life. He's the reason why Bernie became who he was because of Evan Lionel, my big brother. So it was me, Dionne Cole, all of us, D. Ray Day, all of us would go to this Cotton Club. That's how I met Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer and all. Bernie Mac. Bernie, I knew Bernie, man.

New Bernie, knew him. You know what I'm saying? So before he got. when he was deaf jam. I ain't afraid of you motherfuckers. That wasn't when I was around. Yeah, man. You've had an incredible journey.

Yeah, man. Crazy. Simbad. I knew Simbad. Too bad what happened to Simbad. I like to see him. I liked that he was in the Straw movie recently. Yeah, and that's good.

Did you see Straw, by the way? No, I didn't see it. You liked it? I loved it. I'm not. I'm not. I have so much respect for Tyler Perry, but the way that was,

I knew this. When I saw the promos, it rarely is. airmark a date mentally for anything television. But I was like June 6, June 6, June 6. Taraji is great, but the writing on it, when I said I didn't see the ending coming, I said, oh, hell, right it. I got to watch it because I did a Tyler Perry film last year with Tika Sumter.

It's called Sisters in Italy. It's coming out at some point. Netflix or whatever. It's a rom-com. So I play boyfriend at dumps her. I'm dark-skinned. I'm the villain. Yeah.

Shout out to Tyler. He was great. He was fantastic. He was treated me great. Yeah. I asked everybody, I was on his studio, that massive studio. I asked everybody, what's it like work for you? Like he's amazing.

Yeah. Like the makeup from him. I've heard stories, yeah. I heard he's great. It's fun. We had fun. We had fun with the guys. And the pays good too.

Man, he paid me nice. I was like, when am I, when do I need to show up? I was, it was fun. It's a comedy. Yeah, I did what I did. My comedy, he, and he was like, you know how it work. I go, yeah. Because he goes,

How does it work? Oh, fast. Huh, hook, hook. We're moving on. Dude, they told me they shot Strawn seven days. I'm sure. I said seven days. They said-

Yo, he'd be like this. Thank you. All right. For real. Because the beautiful thing is, with comedy, I can do that shit in my sleep. So he would be like, because the first scene was, we're going to her funeral.

And Tika, I'm in the car with Tika, and I'm like, she's like a real straight-laced and her sister's emotional. She's not. And I'm her boyfriend and I go, so we're going to this funeral. And Tyler's driving the car. and directing us and the cameras, you're going to feel, so you're not going to cry?

You're not crying or nothing? Because whoopi Goldberg is in it? Your mother, you're not going to nothing? She goes, what do you mean? Cry? Has it? Nothing? Just try.

Just go squeeze your, like, try. Just squeeze your, like, try. I'm trying to tell her how to cry. I'm like, do it. She's like, I'm like this. You got to be like, and Tyler's, keep going. So we're in her. While he's driving a car, he's going like this?

Hell yeah, there you go. Keep going. Now do that. Now stop that, do that. Do that. He's driving. And directing. at the same time.

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Think IHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcast. Let us show you at iHeartadvertising.com. That's iHeartadvertising.com. In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. you're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband. So keep this secret for so many years. He's like a seasoned pro. This is a story about the end of a marriage.

But it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark. You're a dangerous person who prays on vulnerable and trusting people. You're a creditor, Michael Levin Good. Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New Year, new goals, and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt. And I'm Joel. We are from the How to Money podcast.

And every week, we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help. you make it happen. Listen to How to Money on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult. NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming,

is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind games is the story of NLP. It's crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a new age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all, NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to mind games on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There was no pressure under that type of...

I didn't. It's one of those things where you just, you're here. Okay. Action. Fuck you're going to do it. Sometimes the fear is there. You've been doing it long enough. You go, bam.

And he was so just chill, man. He was just like a... Yo, ready? You know how I do this. He was fun and shit. And I'm like, this dude's cool as shit. And then the scene I do where I'm breaking up with her, there's a funeral scene that's funny as hell.

And I think he works fast. And he paid me, treated me well, gift baskets. We're all, everybody was chilling. I, hey. You was like, sign me up for the next one. And I said, hey, man, hope to work with you again. He goes, oh, no, you will. That was fantastic.

I said, thank you, man. Hey, man. Yeah. It was cool, man. You paid me, shit. Yeah, yeah. I heard an amazing story. And I was doing.

And what I love to do, comedy. I was having fun. It wasn't no weird shit. It was just me being a quirky-ass boy, but he even said, it was funny as they go, hey man, we're going to have to take out the line in your head. We don't want you to look too cool. You look too cool. You got to be a little bit quirky. Uh-huh.

They were like, you look too. Yeah. They just did the little make, and then took the line. I like the line. They say, you look too fly. I go, what kind of you look too fly? You look too fly. I go, okay.

So I was like, I have to break up meat. I just can't. This is, I just can't. I can't go. That was one of those. She goes, you're bringing up with me? I was like, yeah. I got, I get, I think that.

But you know what? Now that you do the roll, I could see why the line had to be removed. The second you said, it makes sense. All right. Yeah. That's nothing. That's nothing. Yeah, man.

Like I said, I just, like when I'm talking about my militants, I'm not doing anything to rule. I want to put food on a table. Yeah. Who doesn't want to pay a room? I want to be successful, be successful, being treated. like a human being. I want to, why can't I like myself? Yeah.

Why is it a threat to you that I like myself? Yeah. That's weird. You're a savage. Why can't a woman be like, I don't want to be over-sexualized? Why can I make it without you touching me? Yeah. What's wrong with that?

Now you're mad because you don't want her to, she don't want to take her pants in front of people? Yeah. That's insane to me. That's insanity to me. Yeah. Why can't you have a sex scene where we know they had sex? Close the door and then we go to the next scene.

Why do they got to be. They're kissing little normal little shit But why does it got to be right? Why? Yeah I don't understand that I 100% agree with that I'm just saying I don't understand I'm like yo

I watch born hell But I know what it's for but why in a I'm just you know why if a woman is asking for a humanity What is wrong with that? Why are you upset that she don't want you to treat her like shit? I just Huh? You shouldn't be but let's talk specials

Yes Let's get into the lane of specials Yes First special to the specials now. My first special was, I did a half hour special. I did, it started off with Comedy Central, Premium Blend. That was a really good series where you do seven to ten minutes and Tommy Davidson was my host, which is, I saw him in college. And I didn't know he was going to be my host.

And when he saw him, he goes, yo, I was on your college camp. I said, yeah, I'm doing comedy. He said, he was so supportive. So then there was that. Then I did a half hour special. Comedy Central was treating me really well. And then there was a lady producer that was really really, liked me and got me in. I was great. And then I did, my first hour special was Comedy Central.

It was called Black by accident. That was 2012. Then it was 2017. I did one called regular black because that's what they called me when my friends found out I was Nigerian. It's like, we thought you were regular black. So I did that. Sounds like such a thing black people would say. I thought you was like regular black. You know, like, you're like, you're like nigger, right? Nigerian. It's only one G in that, but and it's soft. So yeah, that. And then I just shot my, like my third one, finally, seven years later, which was a long wait. But I did Tiffany Haddish's A Ready second season.

She got me in on the little Netflix thing. Shout out to my little sister, Tiffany Hadish. And I just shot at the Apollo through donations through Will I Am. Will I Am is one of the major donators that gave me money, who was a big fan from Black IP. Jack is the one that kicked me, called me and said, It's time for you to do a show, man. He's been waiting too long, but you need to do your special. Right?

Shaq kicked me off my butt and said, you got to start go and do it. Also, how did you end up raising the money to do it? I raised the money from fans, like another fan. Like you were just open about it. I just said, hey, man, and my fans said, why don't you start to go fund me? They told me.

So I raised them up 50 grand. Wow. And from there, they said, we're going to send you money. All right, I don't ask people for shit. Then through my cash app from, just doing stuff online. From that, I have friends, they were, and Will I am a big donation.

I was like, what? He don't even remember giving me the money. That's how much money he has. He goes, I did. Need more? No, I'm good. Damn. Will I am rich.

So now that you tape it, what's the next process? And I had another guy, Rodrigo big time. He was a capital, eventually capitalist paid me a boatload of money. And we got it done. And I chose the Apollo and did two shows and it was fantastic. I saw it online. The support was and all of the cheering was real.

It wasn't fake. Wow, I love that. And the jokes were hitting. It was awesome. It was the standing ovation. Everything was just not forced. It was, and I felt how happy they were for me. That's what I felt.

They were like, it's about fucking time. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Man, it felt good. So where do people watch it? I don't know yet. Now we got to edit it down and prepare it.

So the good thing is I got it. And I will definitely be letting, I'll be on outlets. But now, do you at least know a timeline? I would say it in, I don't know. I don't. I really don't. I will definitely be announcing it, though, because I don't want to say some. And, you know, man, you said it'll probably be with the next time.

Man, you ain't get no line and move, boy, dog. I was like, you were there. I saw that you were taping it, yeah. But now, but I'm guessing that it would be within the next six months. I would think so. Okay, cool, cool. So this episode will drop. We're going to try and drop.

it alongside so the promo is heavy. That's great. Cool. Yeah. But yeah. And what can people expect when checking out this mess? What's the name of it? Have you come up with the name of it? No, that's what's crazy.

Oh my goodness. Yeah. I mean, it's all about lie we've been lied to. It's all about being lied to and about capitalism. And we lied to make money. It's all money and lies. It's called. That's what this theme is that I stopped believing in a lot of shit.

And it's an hour? The first show was hour 10. The second was hour for. 40, so I well. Yeah, yeah, it depends what you cut. Maybe I'll do part one, five, two, you know. Okay, I like that. And then just while we're talking about this stuff,

how do you feel about the state of some of these specials on Netflix? I think a lot of them are trash. Yeah, too. Because, not because there's a hater thing, but as a critic, a critique, a lot of people are on there that are not ready. Yeah. You can see it. They're not prepared for that.

But I do think that. Not like the Chappelle's who know what they're doing. Bill Burr knows he's doing. But those are real comics that have been like, Yeah, the George Wallace. They all know what they're doing. Loonel, all earthquake. They know what they're doing.

They have the time. They have the hours. Yeah. They have the stage time. But there's a lot that I go, what am I watching? Yeah. This is insane. Dude, I've had somewhere.

I can't even make it past the first. But I will say this. There's one in particular that really stands out. Not going to say the person's name. It was so bad that when I say was forcing myself and still couldn't make it till a minute 30. And then, but the hype around them, because of the world we live in was like still hype. I was very confused, but I think that the more Netflix does these wax specials, the less

I'm, me personally, I'm not clicking on it anymore. Even when I hear, especially if I hear the buzz online. And I've done it again, and I, another comic, not saying names, who is really huge right now. People love them. And I'm just like, no. And that's why I'm like, maybe it's me, but I just don't see it. Yeah. But I think it's also TV.

Sorry to cut you off. When you have a machine behind you. you. They can get anybody to believe. I forgot what the name is called. It's not called Sophistry. There's a name where you can talk and where you can lot and make it believable. If you keep talking about something enough, they go, I believe it. It's a name for it. Damn, there's a name. I know what it's called. I don't know if it's softestry. Or it's just if they have a show or some pickup on social media automatically. If you have something behind you, you can get anybody, you can sell, what is it? You can sell water to a fish. Yeah. You do it the right way.

Yeah, but I go and. I go and. I watch and I go as a purist, as a comedic purist and people that I know that deserve, I go, what, what the fuck are we watching? Yeah. What are we watching? That's me. I know it's numbers. I get that.

Of course. I know it's the numbers. Yeah, it's a business. But you put up somebody that's whack. Why don't you put up somebody that's funny? Because people will go, oh, did you see this? It'll be, because comedy, I believe, has to be done properly for people to want to see it. That's what I think.

Well, I think personally that the real comics are going to have to start staying away from Netflix. And I'm going to say why. Why? Because I feel like Netflix companies like Netflix are starting to produce really whack specials. And it's almost going to become unless you, like I know now, unless I know that comic, I'm not trying them out. Because I'm not going to try them out first on Netflix, only because Netflix has delivered so many bad specials. And there are. And this is a non-comic saying like a regular person saying, I've seen too many out of 10, 10,

10 specials, two of them are decent. Decent. You're giving Ted to them. Yeah. And there's some comics that, for whatever reason, are, to me, better in person than they are on specials. But here's another thing. I give people a little bit of a pass when it comes to specials. I give people a little bit of a pass because the anxiety when you're trying to shoot one is.

And I'm glad that because people, like, the buildup to my special was it's just a lot of stress. but because people are so much more excited than you are, they're like, yo, man, we're coming. My sister flew in, my brother flew and my cousin's fluent. And people are getting dressed in a nine. They're coming and hyped. And I got to go, this is just a set. This is the same set I've been doing,

but I got decorations out of stage now. Now there's a thing behind me. Yeah. But it's the same shit I've been doing. So I had to take it like, this is just another set. But it was a lot, though. It was, yo, and I was doing hot 97. I was doing all the radio shows.

Yeah. How do you feel? like, oh, I'm good, man. I'm good. I was just like in my head. Aw, I love that. Because you want to make sure all the technical shit is right, because you do the rehearsals. I got to do rehearsal for these jokes I've been telling for the best. So you got to do to make sure the cameras are right. You got to make sure nothing goes wrong, please, nothing go wrong. And everything went pretty goddamn smooth. And it was all in popping. I can't wait to see it.

Yeah, I'm proud of it, man. And my camera dudes, oh, my photography, oh, just everybody was just killing it, man. I love that for you. And Ralph Carter from Good Times, we played Michael. You remember good times? Yeah, barely. Mike, but there's Michael, the little kid, he came by. He's a Brooklyn guy. He came backstage, and it was just so cool that he came by. I go, we grew up on you, man.

You were a kid performer. You were in Raisin' in the Sun as a kid. Yeah. Like, they don't understand you're a fucking icon. Yeah. Fuck what you heard. You are a supreme icon. And you came to see me.

And he says, hey, can I say? Steve for the second show, I go, what? You don't even fucking want. Yeah. We're having good times right now. But he went to high school, went to grade school with Larry Fishburn. Oh, wow.

They're all both from Brooklyn. He went to fucking, he goes, I knew Larry before he started acting. And Larry acted at around 9, 10 years old. Wow. Now, how long have you been your whole career as a comic now? How many years? 25?

25 years. What kind of advice would you give to people pursuing comedy? and just because I say Why you laugh? I didn't know if he was laughing crying. Just because what? Just because what?

I was going to say, because you did dominate social too a little bit too. But what advice would you give to people getting into this game? 25 years. I say, let me, and consistent.

And how long was your struggle period for that 25? Struggle period? I always tell people it's easy 10 but for the law of averages. What was my struggle? What was it? Was it a struggle?

I don't know. Because I was, I've been having fun, man. I'm talking about a financial struggle. Like where you were like still, yo, I'm still trying to clear. I think when I first got to New York, when I first six months, living in the... But I was on stage, but getting money. But I was sleeping on couch.

Because you had to go through all the clubs in New York. You have to pass at every club. Hell yeah. And then they have that, is it the Chitlin circuit or whatever? circuit or whatever that and the main show i did both okay yeah but what was great is like chill circuit page well but then added to the mainstream because i could go both it was like oh man i got money money man this is great per week in cash about 15 or two thousand dollars in care i damn what's going on is i was surviving like and most cities don't pay like that yeah so i was having money in

my pocket like stacks is there any club in new york that was hard to pass so it depends Man, it was comedy seller. Comedy seller at one time. But then I got in. The comic strip, I got in. There was a lot. They were much more strict back then. But then they've been a little more,

because there's so many comedians now. And a lot of clubs are opening, so they need, it's like they need content. And a lot of people who are comics because of clips and shit. Yeah. But I tell them, man, if you're in this, I hope you love it, man. You better love this shit.

Because, oh, wait. What's the downside? Are forgiving. Do you think the traveling can be considered a downside? Yeah, it can be tiring, but you got to get to places. People in Iowa like you. No, I'm talking about for family and stuff like that. Does that ever get like hard?

Family, for me? I don't have no kids or no. Yeah. I have no kids. It can be, but at this point. Do you think that's hindered the kid thing? I think, maybe. Or unless you don't want to.

I had a girl that for like years that she didn't know on kids, so I didn't think about it. Oh, okay. I don't, you have kids? I have one. Oh, okay. Yeah. But I was just wondering if you have kids. It's tough to even have one. Yeah.

It's not either. I never, I just never had, yeah. You never had baby. I pullout game was nasty. Like an inside fastball. Bull one. Then next year I get a text like, oh, I got one. If it happens, cool.

I'm not either here nor there. Okay. I'm trying to get that fuck you money right now. Okay. I feel like I'm on that verge. Like, okay. You are, yeah. I'm finding it.

I go, I think there's a way to get to it. And I'm around people go, no, we can get to it. Just strategizing. We can get to it. And so if I get that, I'll be like, I wouldn't mind a kid or two. Okay. But I don't know who with because it's cycles.

Yeah. This pool is disgusting. I think it's hard. To me, it's who you have the kid with that matters the most. Yes. But go back all the way back. Before we close out, what advice would you give to someone coming up in this game after 25 years? Love it.

Countless specials. I'm saying love it. Oh, love it. Don't be up there taking up space because you think you're going to get famous in a day because you see some media. because a lot of mediocrity makes it, but comedy doesn't is unforgiving. If you ain't ready, it's going to show because comedy gives you results right away. You have to work their way up. Work at it.

I'm saying take it as serious. Denzel, I love Denzel. Denzel said something to the ladies. She goes, is there any advice you can give to? If you see that one, he goes, learn, shut up, turn off your phone, study, go to class. Do you ever see what I say that? No. You just, yeah, practice your craft.

Yeah. hone your craft, really work your craft. It's a real craft because even me at my level, I still see the difficulty in it. I still see if I don't get this right. I'm finished. They're going to fucking, they're not going to laugh at this shit.

And for guys like Jerry Seinfeld who still does comedy, a billionaire, that's how heavy the heart is. Fuck the money. But it's a love. That's where you see the love. It's the love because you go, oh, I'm going to craft another joke.

I got to get that. I got to get that laughter. I wanted to see my genius again. It's like musicians play till they're fucking, you're not going to stop. Yeah. Do it for the love. Who's going to stop doing that?

Yeah. And I just tell people, just love it. Don't just take up space. Get the fuck off the stage if you're just taking up space. Have some humility about the fucking craft, all right? Just because you did two cool shows. Don't mean you equal to like these vets over here. Yeah.

Don't stick. And for the same for the social, because there's a lot of social media influencers that are stepping in the arena. And also, you people are on social. media, sketch is not the same as stand-up. You're going to find out real quick. Just because you do funny sketches has nothing to do with stand-up. Now that, speaking of that, just, and I meant to cut us short, we got it, we were over time, but Badge is now doing stand-up. Have you seen that? Actually, yeah, I've seen him. I've worked with him. He's with Joe Coy. Okay. And so he's

actually learning. Oh, he's doing it with. He's on row with him. And he's doing it with, he asked me questions all the time. Okay, good. So he actually cares about it. Okay. But he's still amazed because you'll see me. I'll be in New York. He goes, yo, what you doing? I said, I just got off stage. I'm about to go on another stage.

Wait, how many you got tonight? Four? All in one day, I go, yeah. So you get good at it. You got to do it all the time. He goes, damn. Yeah. I go, yeah, you got to do the in-betweens, man.

You got to show tonight. I remember Eagle, when Eagle first got into a band, he'd be out all night. And then I'd come to town and he would, I'd be like, just wake me up and bring me a job. cheese and a snap on. He was so sweet. He would always bring me a chop cheese and a snap on. I knew he would be out all night. Uh-huh. He's doing his ass. That's right. I've been on shows with him. It's true. I worked his ass on. I got him on while and out. Yeah. Because I said he's

really funny. He's smart. He's quick. And then he did it. And my thing is didn't mean he was going to get on. He had to prove himself. He definitely had to prove himself. And then Nick was like, your man, God told us about you. And then I said, but I said, Nick, Eagle, you got to do it. You got to do the work. And he did it. And he got it. Let me tell you something. Now, so I There was a part where... I was to kick you off. There was a part where Eagle was a little nervous. Yeah, I know.

He was like, just temperature check now. And I was like, no. And Nile had told me he said he waited the whole camp for my phone call to come through just so he could reject it. He said, he said, I knew you was going to call. And I did it. And he was like, I was impressed that you didn't. But I wanted your brother to know that he did it on his own.

And he said, so nobody, you can never be like, we're a big sister or whoever. Because he called, he said, man, I'm going to, I think I'm going to go to, go for Wile and Out. He's, oh, you are? He said, yeah, man, I don't know. It was his third time, third or fourth time. Like, Nick had, yeah. And then I went, I said, Nick personally, I called him.

I said, I got a guy in Eaglewick. He's coming in. And then when he went into the room, Nick said, Godfrey told me about you. I love that. Yeah. And I said, and he goes, I fuck with his opinion. Because Nick had begged me to come on Wowling out. Yeah.

He was like, you had done a couple spots, though. Yeah, I was on, I was at Nick's house in Jersey. And I was like, he was like, because I was doing his Dr. Seby documentary. And he goes, yo, man, so what's up, man? You're going to do wild another what, man? I said, it's because it's popular. Don't mean I need to do it. Did he lock you in a room to get you to his kitchen?

No, he was like in his kitchen like, man, come on, man. Come on, man. I said, okay, how are you going to cater? I want you to do voices. We're going to cater for you to do what you do best. I said, all right, motherfucker. So I did three. seasons. I love it. And I got a lot of great shit off of that. So yeah, I did it. And then I ended up

writing on his daytime talk show for seven months. That was cool. I never written for anything before. But yeah, Nick has always looked out. Now he has a he has a spade show playing. I like that show. Is it good? Is it good? Is it really good? Yeah. I just like the idea that he did something that creative. I like it. Because he, I know they called me for it, but I don't know how to play spades. I don't know how to play spades. I was never, I should have learned all my friends play. You should tell him that and just ask him if he'd be willing to switch it up for you. But You should totally do the show. No, I'm going to, because I did.

I did his council culture show, too. I did that with Neo. Yeah. So I did that one. And then, yeah, because they sent me a thing to do it. We overtime. Yeah. What you?

Damn, that's for. I know. I'm sorry. I know. And I said an hour. Thank you all for tuning in. How can everybody keep up with everything Godfrey? You can keep up with me on my Instagram is Godfrey comic.

And my horrible TikTok is Godfrey funny because they shut down my other account. like they always do, and I have to start it all over. So I have 8,000 wonderful followers. Yes, and tune in to the special that's coming out. My special will be coming out. It's me live at the Apollo. You'll be looking out for that. And yeah, my website is godfrey live.com.

Find out where I'm going to be around the damn country in the world. All righty. All right. Thanks for tuning in, y'all. Peace out. Peace. For more eating while broke from IHeartRadio and the Black Effect, Visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Joel and Matt from HowTo Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back. Prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference.

Kick off the year with confidence, listen to How to Money on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car,

you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your car? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. This is an IHeart podcast.

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