The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Affion Crockett On New Indie Film 'A Hip Hop Story,' Comedy Skit Vs. Sketch, Comedian Beef +More

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water,

500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zaka Stan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-A-S-T-A-N on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best, and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing.

Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jack B. Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series,

Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry,

we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup,

every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Wake that ass up. It's in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilaress hilarious charlamagne the guy we are

the breakfast club we got a special guest in the building yes indeed if you're on crock welcome back it's been a long time too not that long you know i mean but long enough you here for a good reason though a hip-hop story come on brother comes out this friday independent you know i'm saying independently a hip-hop story um And I wanted to really emphasize, because people are like, when they see a movie, right, they always assume, why ain't they playing near me? How come it ain't at the theater right by my house? Well, because there's no big studio behind it. You know what I mean?

This is me and my boy, Domaine. We just put this thing out. But it just, thank you, brother. It just happens to look great, and it has a great message, and it's for the culture, by the culture. It's amazing that Demaine looks so tall in person as opposed to how he looks in the film. In the movie, right? Because he plays the freeway.

Freeway going to have some hope for you, Demaine. I hope Charlie Mack doesn't put in the car to let him know it's all fun and games. No, we spoke to him on live the other day. Freeway is our brother, man. He loves the energy around it, and he's the main character you need to love the energy around it before you but he's seen us do the impersonation before man so it's all love man it's all love charlotte man you trying to start shit i'm not i was just like damn what i was like why freeway why freeway getting all these shots what if because he

saves the day he's the hero what are you talking about he got to go through a few trials and tribulations and jokes it's a comedy we gotta we gotta make fun of people we all get some strays yeah and when you said this is uh independent it's completely independent um shout out to you for writing and producing it too like yes ma'am that's amazing i love saying that because i love seeing us do things like that you know what i mean i like that i want just to piggyback what you said off of like how he trying to start stuff with the uh the impersonations and people getting people to play them has anybody ever like been offended by you like doing impersonations or just nah i'm i'm the i'm the guy that they i'm friends with all these people first of all and

then you know i'm the guy that i'm the hip-hop weird al where i've become the guy that they know i'm showing love to them and it's like a it's like i'm giving they know i'm giving them flowers you know i'm saying and so it's almost like a badge of honor like naz asked me man why you ain't never did an impression of me so when i I hear a God MC asking me to do an impression, that means I mean something to the culture. So this is a love letter to everybody in the culture. You know what I'm saying? When I was watching the movie, the thing I kept thinking about was

this is the only vehicle Avion could showcase all of these skill sets. In one place. In one place. Because you've been doing all these characters forever. For years. But it's like I don't know if Hollywood would ever understand exactly what it is you do like you would have to do this on your own well that's it's funny you picked up on that because that's why i originally wrote it i wrote this back in 2008 so when i did it that was at a time me and domain was doing all of the uh the youtube parodies and everybody every time i go somewhere

yo do jay-z do this do. Do that. And I was like, I'm tired of doing these goddamn impressions. Why don't I just put them all in one project so y'all can have all the impressions in one sitting and I'm done with them. That's how I thought at the time. But now it's just like, alright,

I'm going to use all my tools to my advantage. How many do you do in a movie? How many impersonations? I still haven't counted, but it's probably 12. Russell, Jay, Luda, Cornel West, Drake, Swizz, Joe Budden. Did we say Cornel West? Cornel West. Yeah, Drake.

Shit. Will Smith Smith Fresh Prince oh yeah yeah and I'm doing Biggie's voice for Cedric on the rap yeah

it's a lot it's a lot man we cooking we cooking but when I say it's independent I mean I literally

paid for this movie with stand up tour money wow right Demayne had all the cameras and the film know how we both know how to edit we both know how to produce so this was really uh an effort so to see that it when i

dropped that trailer to see it spread around the internet as fast as it did within a day and to see all the culture from snoop to exhibit to cedric to deon cole russell simmons like everybody was posting this joint and just rallying behind it. You know what I'm saying? I'm just thankful to the culture for seeing it for what it is. I didn't think it was real at first. You play so many games sometimes that I was like, this ain't real.

What do you mean? You always play. I didn't think it was real. It's a funny trailer. I was like, he's playing. So you thought it was like a sketch trailer. I did. I can see that. Because you always play. a funny trailer. Yeah, I did too. I was like, he's playing. A funny trailer? So you thought it was like a sketch trailer. Yeah. I did. I can see that. Because you always playing. Rightfully so.

I do play a lot. But, you know, I'm also very serious. I didn't realize it was a real movie until about two weeks ago. Until like... Because I saw the trailer and I was like, oh, that's a funny trailer. Right. But then as I saw people like Charlie Mack and everybody keep posting it, then I saw the post, I'm like, oh, this is really a movie.

Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, because everybody's so used to his parodies but like nah but we see certain people posting it's like oh it gotta be it's gotta be some people don't play like that exactly all the time so yeah you see snoop is one of the biggest fans man he he's like really championing the movie right now too um but again this is my love letter to the culture but we put some production value into it too like it ain't it ain't like some bootleg kind of cheesy movie we got lighting we got cameras we got the whole situation and it's a it's a great story what gave

you the idea for the film because you said you started in 2008 but it feels so timely because last year was the 50th year yeah of hip-hop yeah so i wrote it in 2008 and because i incorporated so much of hip-hop history and the nostalgia, that doesn't change, right? So the only thing I had to change reference-wise was some of the newer references. Like in the original script, when they were trying to go around and get the message of hip-hop back out to the culture, we went to places like 106 and Park and Tavis' Smiley Show. So I just swapped that out for, you know what I mean? Like joe button and all that so you know i mean did you ever consider not playing all those roles in the movie uh not the ones that i knew that i could play i never

considered like switching them out the only one that i i wasn't supposed to play was ghost the ghost face uh character um but you know you know, we had a situation, and I had to step in at the last minute and just do what I had to do. But, no, I always wanted to showcase myself and my friends. Like, the main plays, three characters, Puff, Freeway.

Who else? Moe D. Yeah, Moe. Oh, my God. Body's cool, Moe D. In the flashback scene, we showcase um some really historic moments so the the battle between kumo d and busy b which was the the time when

lyricism was now like the showcase you know even though we had grandmaster kaz and those guys doing it um that was the battle that made people say okay i want to go away from party emceeing to lyricism and so we wanted to just showcase real moments in hip-hop history interlaced with comedy how much homework did you have to do or did a lot of this stuff you grew up on you knew already i knew a lot of it a lot of it was already living in my brain uh what i did do was research on like dates times um people's ages so it could be realistic to our portrayals of them you know i mean why theaters why theaters yeah um we have a a deal with um amc we have a close friend over there that was like presented the idea to us and i'm like the the streaming game is is amazing um but a movie like this

you need to see in theaters it's a the difference between looking at or listening to an album on your phone versus listening to it in the studio or in your car. Like this is a hip hop movie. It's a musical. Right. So the beats and the rhymes, if you listen to it in the theater, like when we had our premieres, the two screenings that we've had, you see people in the theater like doing this. They nodding their head and they rocking and they're cheering after the finale song. I won't say what it is, but after that finale song, they are cheering in the theater. So we wanted to have that movie going experience.

And because we have a connection over there with AMC, it just felt like a good look for us. You know, most movies have a thousand to four thousand. Those big budget movies, those superhero movies, they have a thousand to four thousand those big budget movies those superhero movies they have four thousand locations we were like all right give us 150 and let us just work with that and that's plenty for us because again we're we don't have big marketing dollars behind us it's my stand-up money you understand me no let them know come on that money so you call you call it in a lot of favors too then of course man this game is all about relationships absolutely i mean even me being here with y'all like i just put out the call eddie and and you know y'all show love to me all the time so i was like yeah i want to promote

this indie movie and that's why i'm here so same with the movie i called cedric little rel it was all text messages charlie mack he he put in calls um little Mama came out. She played the MC Lyte role. But everybody was perfectly cast. It was everyone that I had in my mind that I wanted to play these roles. They all showed up for me. Give us a sense of the budget. Nope. 25 million.

Thank you. Like. Mind your own goddamn business. The sense of the budget is mind your god damn business for those who may want to do their own independent films nah

there's a ballpark range they be shooting it on they phones you shooting it too be joint let them keep shooting on they phones we got other things

we doing over here Charlemagne I'ma come to you next time you gonna invest he got it he got it we know he got it

don't ask him to be in it charlamagne gonna be an actor i'm gonna turn him into a morpheus nigga you get tired of perfect eyebrows already got those no he does not you get you get tired of doing impersonations is it one of those things like it's like look i'm tired of doing a goddamn impersonation at the time when i when i wrote the movie that's when i was tired of it because i was like i want the world to see me for whatever nah i don't give a love me for how you love me you know what i'm saying however you recognize me have you whatever you you take on if you just know me from an instagram post it's all love what's

your favorite one to do i don't have a favorite impression to do i just i just do them but my my my favorite new one because it's been so well received in these screenings is Cornel West I didn't I never seen you do corner I don't see anybody going out that was hilarious I've seen a couple people do it but I just did my own take on them but that was my first time doing I didn't even know I could really do it so I just told my makeup artist I said just give me the wig give me the gap in the teeth and once i had the whole garb on charlie mack almost passed out laughing he just couldn't contain himself it was just so funny to him so that's when i knew the look was right on and then when the cameras came on you know i want to get down here

to the breakfast club even though they don't have no eggs, bacon, avocado toast. You see? You see? You see? Charlamagne here. Charlamagne understands what the eyebrows mean to the black people.

You see? You see you see you see now why do they have jess sitting in a gender reveal chair you see i don't know because she's the queen of the gender people you see she's the queen of the gender people yes you better tell him there you go does this immortalize those characters forever like do you even do of course do you do jay-z anymore do you do russell anymore after that yeah okay yeah you have to i mean they those the two that you just named jay and russell they're fans of my impression of them. Yeah, Russell love it. So it's like, and this movie is one of those movies that's going to live on forever.

Even though we set out to do it with our hopes and, you know, let's see what it does. Let's see if we can make a movie. Now that we have it done and you can see it, it's going to live on forever. What is hip-hop culture to you, Avion? Because I always thought about this because even back in the day when y'all used to do the sketches you and nick it always kind of felt like y'all was making fun of down south music nah what we make fun of is lazy music okay because that's that's the distinction in the movie the the barbershop scene shows you

that this conversation between old heads and young heads and old music versus young it's always been a conversation you know that barbershop scene was about blues versus soul so that's me pointing out saying look as old heads we gotta stop saying that the young generation is trash or that they we just don't understand them we we're older we're not supposed to understand them but all of them are some of them are great the same way there's some garbage old niggas everybody in the 90s was not fired you know what i mean so we can't sit back and be like yo hip-hop always been fired there was some garbage niggas in the 80s and the 90s

right yeah so there's some lazy young rappers and then we got Simba and we got LaRussell. We got some dope, dope guys out here. Uzi Vert is a B-boy. You know what I mean? He chooses to do songs like I Just Wanna Rock. And that's him having fun. He has the creative, artistic freedom to do that. But that dude's really a B-boy. He will windmill on your ass.

He will do some flares. He will top rock on you. So will do some flares he will top rock on you so you can't say he's not of the culture so it's just to point out to say look we got to stop bickering we use the young people as a device to get the the backpack character jay bum to have something to be like yo man hip-hop is fucked up and when he goes to the russell character that gives him the incentive to point russell around to say hip-hop is fucked up and when he goes to the roscoe russell character that gives him the incentive to point russell around to say hip-hop is fucked up but as we start going down is your country falling apart feeling tired depressed a little bit revolutionary consider this start your own country i planted the flag i just kind of looked out of like this is mine i own this it's surprisingly easy there's

55 gallons of water 500 pounds of of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Kaperburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. The Waikana tried my country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong?

No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go.

Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together.

You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself, and leaning into her dreams.

I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, it was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Like grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in

the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian.

Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well.

Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families

called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the journey, black culture starts to be put on the spotlight. the elites of the black culture start to be, you know, so we all are responsible for where we are as a culture. Yeah, because it wasn't about, you know, just hip hop being bad. It was what the negative impact is having on people. More so about that. Yeah. More so about, you know, the deaths and, you know, the drug overdoses. It's been a lot more of that in the last 15 years than it than we've ever seen in hip-hop chris rock that's another character you played oh craig rock i thought about that with the crime and he did the whole i love hip-hop but i hate rap okay fuck out of here man okay yeah do a whole a whole i wanted to do a whole stand-up special in the movie of Chris Rock just talking about hip-hop in the brilliant way that he breaks down everything.

You know what I'm saying? I see you comedians are crazier than these rappers right now. Oh, my God. Yeah, I used to always say this in interviews. I was like, man, comedians, we're not rappers, man. Let's not beef with each other and do all that. But it's really there now. It's getting worse why though i don't know this i have nothing to do with it i i've never been the guy that that uh brings his personal beefs into the public um if i say anything about somebody's gonna be positive i have positive things to say about

all these guys but you know that that's not a popular message you know what i'm saying um so i just stay out of it it has nothing to do with me i don't i don't ever get involved in that kind of stuff if i got a problem with you me you could talk about it it's as simple as that like we grown as fuck like why why am i on a microphone talking about anybody yeah i'm gonna just call you and if we could work it out we could work it out if not i just don't mess with you you feel like it hurts or helps comedy I think it divides the audience definitely it makes the audience have to choose and we're in such a

we're in a dick riding society so people who want to choose they want to rally behind whoever they think is whatever and so yeah it definitely can divide the audience and I think we're more we're just more of a beautiful creative people that that shit, we don't, I don't, it's not me.

It's just not me. I agree. There's a dick riding society and the best dick changes from moment to moment. Pause. Oh, what? What? What did you say? Wait, wait, kid.

Run that back. Wow. But over there. Keep it over there. That's why you can't even impersonate gay people like say that yeah that's a new movie that's what i'm trying to say is whoever people think why do you try to say that yeah why are you trying to explain whoever said people think it's hot they hop from dick to dick based on the moment whoa look like it was captain january and it was monique you know i'm saying it's like when

i said it's a dick riding society we could have left the analogy we got it we understood it dick that was that was something different you could have came through with your own new addition to the state possible to be a consistent dick rider is what i'm saying god damn it charlemagne god yo he wants to talk about who Dick with. Wow. We just went leapfrog with the Dick. Oh, man. It was very awkward.

It was. Oh, my God. It got weird. It just got weird. How involved is Charlie Mack in the making of this? You're going to go from that to Charlie Mack? Why? Nah, don't bring that brand to my ass.

Charlie ain't going to follow them dicks. Nah. Charlie ain't going to follow them dicks. How dare you? Don't make Charlie follow them dicks. How dare you, Charlamagne? You could come up with another question. Did it go Charlie back?

Damn. He's first out the limo. Not first out the porno, nigga. He first out the porno. It don't matter where you go after that. So we can leave dicks now? Can we leave the dicks? Yeah, we go. We're done with dicks. All right, we're done with d So we can leave dicks now? Can we leave dicks? Yeah, we're done with dicks.

All right, we're done with dicks. We delivered. But look, I have a dick. It's all good. No, Charlie's a big bro. He's hip hop. He's the connector. There's not a call that he will not make.

You know what I'm saying? The first person that saw this movie in full was Will Smith because of Charlie Mack. Me and Charlie went to Will's theater and screened it for him will gave me 45 minutes of filmmaking gems after that just wisdom he loved the movie and and um we saw him at the uh the 50th celebration of hip-hop where he the first time he performed again um and he was telling people back to yo yo afion has this movie hey hey he plays like 40 people right great but yeah that's why i was trying to move away from the dick did you ever think about having the real characters in

because there's a moment where Fredro's in there we wanted to have a mix of that just to make it grounded to make it feel valid to make it really feel like they were sitting next to a Russell and then when you see Jay you really want to feel like it's Jay so yeah we did purposely sprinkle in

some real OG's just to yeah give it that real hip-hop grounded feeling is there any character that you tried to catch that you just couldn't catch it was like i tried but it's just it's not fitting right impression wise no everything that we that was on the page the movie is pretty much what was on the page so we were able to cast it or play the roles that we wanted and shout out to my boy jevin smith man jevin smith he played uh 50 cent or 45 cent um too short e40 that dude man we we all been rocking together for like 20 years youtube doing all of the spoofs but yeah he's one of those guys that

transforms also you know there's a lot of people that do impersonations but to be able to transform your face enough to where it looks like you really believe that that's the person you know he's one of them dudes so that one scene when it's uh as you playing cornell and joe button at the same time is that difficult to pull off no so my body double is my my security uh carlos that's my guy we just happen to be the same size he's more muscle than me but for the for the characters that we were playing he was able to play roscoe when i needed him to he was the the second joe budden when i'm cornell so it just all blended the right way were you concerned about portraying russell because of like the controversy surrounding him i wrote it in 2008 so you know i mean before all of that stuff happened i just i i made the movie about the

culture you know i mean i was it wasn't a a thing to emphasize anybody's cases i don't i'm not in that world so i don't i don't know so i just i just made it funny enough and universal enough to where it's about the culture and we're just telling a story about hip-hop and you if you tell a story about hip-hop you can't tell it without talking about facts i mean you can't tell it without talking about diddy you have to he contributed and then we also wanted to do characters that we could convincingly portray you know i'm saying and he's somebody that i've been doing impressions of for so long and then the whole yoga thing like me and my tighty whiteys I just thought it was a funny device to use

and then to have a narration of him with a lisp the whole movie why not? you think you want to offend the lisp community? you mean like yourself? yes were you offended? were you offended watching the movie?

no don't be trying to call out no other Lispers like the Lispers. No, don't. No. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't.

Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't.

Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Shannon Sharp. No, don't do that. The Lispers.

The Lispers. The Lispers. Yeah, they get mad. They be spitting all over the place. Don't be doing all that. I'll start protesting this. Yes. He go to the club.

He be like, am I on the list? So where can we find this movie off-rider? AMC. All AMCs? Not all. No, no, it's very limited. It's only 159. Okay.

159. Go to amctheaters.com, search A Hip Hop Story, and just see where it pops up in your area. It's 159 locations. And yeah, the people will determine how successful this movie is in theaters. And then we'll figure out the streaming deal or the streaming platform that we want to go to after that. But right now, if you want to enjoy the movie,

you'll see it this weekend. What's considered a success? What would you need to make your money back in profit? This is him going back to the budget situation. 80 million! 80 to 100 million!'d be fantastic that would be great period that'd be um that'd be great 80 million charlamagne bob marley just did 70 we love that yeah worldwide yeah salute to salute to the marley film man for sure i'm

about to ask you what you doing sketches so early did you get your necessary i should say profit or check from youtube because you were doing it before it was cool yeah no i wasn't i wasn't they didn't even have the partner program when i was doing it you know i mean the only thing that i got at the time we would get like some brands i'd be like hey man we'll give you a couple dollars to throw this brand in here or whatever but for the most part no we just got clout props and i i learned the social media game before a lot of people were on it which is what makes me still relevant to this day because i'm not the old head i was never the old head i was like man fuck these young niggas

fuck just hilarious she using her phone that's cheating i embraced it from day one because i if you can use any platform why wouldn't you use it yeah why would you be that nigga yeah i always say like that's the that's as dumb as when they put power windows in cars you the old niggas i'm i'm damn i need to roll that shit down don't i don't want to push no buttons i need to roll shit down it made me more comfortable with how i feel about things you're not a real nigga if you're not rolling that dime you ain't real right what use every platform and just adjust to the times old nigga other than stand-up sketch is the hardest comedy to me though why it just it's very difficult he's not good at it i don't think many are though that's right i don't think many people are in the history of

comedy i don't think there's been too many people who are funny at sketch well there's a difference between skits and sketches absolutely okay online is where you see a lot of skits okay and a lot of it is you know rehash people are borrowing from this person that person and it's all good like there's nothing new under the sun so somebody's going to think about the same idea right but long form sketch that's why in living color was so impactful. Absolutely. That's why Saturday Night Live is an institution. Chappelle. Right. Chappelle show long. Listen, Chappelle was so unorthodox with sketch. He did. He broke the mold. Right. Some some episodes he did traditional sketch. Three minutes. Let's go to commercial break then come back to

another whole new sketch the rick james and the prince charlie murphy story was the entire episode so he broke the mold he told a long form sketch in 30 minutes and it was funny every time they came back and it just kept upping the ante so sketch is a whole different art form and you have to know how to write you have to understand story and it takes you to a different level skits that's that's what people do on the internet and and it's great like it's making them money but if you want to entertain people and be able to hold their attention and do a film or long form sketch you have to know how to write you have to know some old school principles i never thought about the difference between sketch and skit.

That makes sense. Why do you think, you know, early on, you didn't take off with sketch the way you should have, I think? How do you mean? I remember Short Circuit back in the day. That was like, what, 07? That was before Key and Peele and all that stuff. Yeah, that was Nick's show. I don't know.

I think at some point, sketch was oversaturated. You know what I mean? And networks didn't want to take the chance on it. I mean, Fox gave me a chance to do it, but they put me with all the wrong executives. When I had to explain to them who Manny Pacquiao and Drake were, I was just like, wow, this is the journey that we're on. So, you know, it's just the wrong people doing this so that's why i'm i went to youtube and just started doing my own ideas because it's like why am i waiting around for somebody to give me anything right we've always been like let's just do it let's just go shoot it so you know i feel like sketch has gotten me everywhere absolutely i mean how you might judge it because you're mr

numbers and want to know budgets it might be a different you've always been one of the best doing sketch oh thank you thank you charlamagne that just shows me that you know hollywood don't what the fuck they be talking about 95 no they don't they don't that's why we do our own independent movies yeah because you know you can't audition for the same cast and directors all the time because they want to a lot of them like to hire their friends and you know it's that thing too but uh when you show them what it is you want to do it changes the conversation for you you know i mean it's the same thing that uh ryan coogler michael b did with fruitvale station like they made a movie about a very serious, real-life event,

but they presented themselves as, we are those guys. We really know how to make these stories come to life, and that's what me and Demayne did with the hip-hop story. And you've been building that base online for so long that those same people will show up this Friday. That's right. Man, come on.

Say it again, Charlamagne. I forgot what I said. No, say it again. You said the same people. Yes, you've been building your base online for so long that those same people are going to show up this Friday. There you go. You got a real base. Yes, indeed. Hip Hop Story is out this Friday and we appreciate

you for joining us, brother. Yes, indeed. Thank you, Charlamagne, for bringing up dicks. Dicks and budgets. It's the Breakfast Club. Wake that and budgets. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. It's in the morning.

The Breakfast Club. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete.

Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh, my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself.

You're trying your best, and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature.

Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Blacklit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, this is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal,

and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.