The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Arsenio Hall On Capturing Culture, Breaking Boundaries, Life's Lessons + More

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Arsenio Hall On Capturing Culture, Breaking Boundaries, Life's Lessons. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That may have been about. sex. Listen to Roershack, murder at City Hall on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg, a lesbian, Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young.

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on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. You're all finished or y'all's done. Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV. Jets hilarious. Salomey Naga. We are the Breakfast Club.

Lauren LaRose is here with us as well. Now we got a special guest. A legend. A cultural icon. An OG, a legend in this game. Ladies and gentlemen, Arsini O'Hall! Yes, sir. Woo-woo-woo-woo-hoo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo.

How are you feeling, brother? I'm feeling great. I'm thanking God for the day that Chalermain called me. Because I wouldn't have done this without the voice of respect on the other end of the phone. I mean, I'm 70 years old. I could have written a book many times, but that's adult work. It's a really hard thing to do. and he talked me into it, and I'm so glad I did for my son and for my legacy.

Man, I'm so glad you did too because I want to talk about your legacy today, man. You know, I always say that I got four entertainment icons, right? Jay-Z, Clarence, Avon, P.D. Green, and Arsenio Hall. Wow. And I feel like people don't truly understand the risk you took to put black culture at the forefront at a time when nobody was putting black culture in the forefront. Yeah, it was hard. I was coming along at a time when you go to Paramount and say,

let's book Bobby Brown the first Friday night because people won't have to work on Saturday. And to really show him what show this is, he has this song, Don't Be Cruel, and my prerogative. Let's let him break one at the top and one at the bottom of it. Well, Johnny Carson only does three minutes of a song at the end of the show. And I'm like, boy, I'm not fucking Johnny. I'm not Johnny Carson.

So let's try this. But what was crazier is one of the ladies in the room said, and why would we give a model that much time? And I didn't realize that there was a Bobby Brown in the modeling world. Oh, no, the makeup artist. Oh, make-up. Okay, so I didn't know her. And I realized my battle is that they have no idea what I'm about to do.

You know, you say Michael Bivens call me, and he got these four dudes that are called boys to men. or Dr. Dre called him and this kid, Calvin. And he wants him to come on and do this thing. And this is how, you know, I was not hit to it, but he wants to freestyle. You'll just give him a beat, and he'll just come out of his head with whatever is in the environment.

And when his album is ready, then you can have him on to do one, two, three, and to the four with Dre, you know, and I'm like, okay, we call Snoop, and he doesn't want to do the show. And like why he says, you know, he's talking about the streets of Long Beach. I have respect. And I don't want to, you know, I don't want to lose the respect of the streets to do this late night television type of stuff.

You know, I had to go to the studio and talk him into it. This is a guy who Snoop Dog is more popular than Lassie now. You know, the more popular dog ever. Yeah. It was a more popular dog ever. and did not want to be on television. But I'll never forget, he walked in the door with a blue hockey jersey.

I remember. And we gave him a beat. And I don't think we'd ever seen freestyle on television, you know. But those kinds of things. I saw a little kid on a tape do an Elvis impression. And I tell Paramount, I want to put this kid on. They say, well, you need tune in numbers. names, if you put prints, you get a tune-in number,

you can put it in TV guide two weeks ahead of time. That was the game back then. And if you put some unknown, you know, this is not Star Search. You can't put an unknown kid on until you, maybe in the fifth year. And so I would put people on it in a monologue. And I created this little spot where I put people on. But the kid was Bruno Mars. Right.

And stuff like that. They didn't want Eddie Griffin because he's too edgy. So during the monologue, I said, oh, Eddie Griffin, because Ed Sullivan used to point in the audience when I was a kid, there's Diana Ross, stand up, Ms. Ross, you know? And so I'm like, Eddie Griffin, what's up, man? Hey, come here for a minute. And it's not on the booking sheet.

Paramount don't know what's going to happen. Now, that one backfired on me because Eddie Griffin did Michael Jackson snorting cocaine for a while. He does, you know, because he used to be a dancer, so he does that, you know, he does all this little step. and the lawyers had a hard time that next day at Paramount because basically he had done a routine on television about Michael Jackson snoring cocaine

and dancing really well. It was hilarious. Yeah, he was. It was hilarious. We'll never have that kind of monoculture ever again when everybody is tuned in watching one thing at once because I remember all those moments. We had no DVRs back then or no on demand.

You couldn't go back and watch it on YouTube. You had to turn it on. Before we go back to, because I like to go back to the beginning, and so people understand the story. That's why you buy a book. Yeah, but... And that's why you're in this business. But you know what?

One thing I've noticed, I've watched a lot of your interviews in the last week, so... To my, when I look at your face, I see a light that comes on. Like, it's almost either a surprise light. Like, I'm surprised they really fuck with me. Like, you, like, you look amazed

when these guys, like, I'm thinking myself, Arsino, no, no, he's the motherfucking OG, the icon. And then another thing that popped in my head is, I know you retired. Maybe he's ready for that comfort. back because it's just the feeling, the energy. When I watch you come out and just delight and you're pointing at people and you're pointing at the bed, I'm like,

God damn it, bring Arsenio back. So what is going through your mind when you are doing these press runs and you're doing TV? What's going through Arsenio's mind? The light you saw, I mean, that was the light of a fan. The light of a kid from Cleveland who did a talk show in his basement. I had a little record player.

I put the record player on. There was a Temptations, greatest hits album. I'd play Get Ready. I'd come out. I'd do a magic trick. I'd do a joke after taking the needle off the record. And I would entertain the kids in my neighborhood with this talk show. So you see a guy who's dreamed it all his life and can't believe that I've dreamed it into existence. My mother used to say if you get good grades, you can go to Detroit and watch the Motown review with your cousins. For $5, you can see Stevie Wonder. You could see the temptations, and they give you two pips.

Well, sometimes, okay, but for $5 what you want. Right. And that kind of stuff, and you grow up, and then you tour with the temptations when they had to stand in on the top tour. Rick James wrote them that track. Then one day Michael Bivens calls you and says, hey, I got four guys that idolize the temptations. They're from Philly, called Boys to Men.

But their album's not ready yet. When it's ready, I want to come. Oh, I got an idea. If they love the temptations, I got the temptations on Thursday. Let them come and blend in with the temptations. And you can imagine Paramount every night. It was a nightmare because they wanted less black. Now I got 15 niggas days.

Right, right. And, but my thing was like, I'd rather do six years my way than 20 years Johnny's way. And Johnny dug the show because I wasn't trying to be him. There was never a competition. I was looking for friends of the show. I remember Alan King, a legendary old comic called me, and he says, your show put out an offer to me. And I just want you to know, I love what you're doing,

but I'm a Johnny guy. And that's when it hit me. You got to get your guys. And so that's when I started trying to go for the audience that didn't have a talk show. And that made it work. You know, because I had been the Ed McMahon figure on a thing called Thick of the Night, where I was like,

Alan Thick. And so I got to watch it go on, and I got to learn from Allen's experience. Don't try to be Johnny, try to come up with an alternative. By the way, when I was working for Alan Thick, there was a little boy. I brought Johnny Gill on Alan Thick's show.

I met Johnny Gill in Cleveland with Gerald Levert. I bring Johnny Gill on the show, and he gets numbers. And that letting me know, hey, it's not that black people don't get numbers, it's that we ain't trying it. He came on with Stacey Ladisaw, and they did perfect combination. On the side, there's a little white boy with a cubs cap on. It's Alan Thick's son who always surfaced when there was R&B on the show.

That was Robin Thick. That's another example of how we know who we are. We know who we want to be. And that kid then knew he was Dwight Marvin Gay. Is this book, is your memoir, a closure for you, or is it correction? A lot of correction. I don't know if I, yeah, a little closure too, because I loved putting that letter of resignation. A lot of people, barbershop journalists would say, well, you know, one night he snuck Farrakhan in there.

Paramount didn't know about it, you know, and interview Faircon. And, you know, when the fact is, Paramount has to green like that. They have to approve that. And so all the barbershop journalism, you get, because basically studios, people think studios are above the fray and the bullshit. And what they don't understand is that studios, just like a relationship, you have a break up with somebody, and then you hear that he said, I left her because I was sick of her bullshit. And so, no, no, no, that that niggas lying. And unfortunately, businesses like that, too. They want to position it sexy their way.

And they say, well, we'll come over Tuesday and we'll talk about crafting a release to the press of what we're going to do from here on. And then Monday, some shit come out. And you're like, you motherfuckers. You know, but I get to correct those kind of things. And, yeah, and have closure, too. Because Arsenio actually quit this show.

And I remember when you first told me that, in my mind, I'm like, yeah, really? And when I heard that little thing, that dental tungular thing, you did, I had my woman go in the garage. And I said, you got to find that letter. And she found it. Because there were so many people that believed that, though, that you didn't quit the show.

If you had never written this book, would you have ever, like, tried to clear it up any other places? Like was that something that was sitting with you for a while? Yeah, and I had a lawyer say, why do you care? Look at your bank account. Why do you care? And I'm like, because truth matters. Yeah.

And, I mean, forget television. We as a people, the Puerto Rican gentleman also. We're talking about our board up, right? We as a people have to be careful not to let truth be buried. Mine is insignificant. How about the history of our people? and the way it's being changed, buried, and hidden from future children. Truth is important.

It's important when it's on y'all's side. So let it be important for us, too. By the way, either way you left is gangster. Walking away because, hey, man, I want to do my black stuff. If it ain't working for y'all, it ain't going to work for me. I'm out. Or, yeah, I bought Farrakhan on one time. Either way it works.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you get a free bean pie for that second version. Brothers be very, very supportive of you. But you know, here's the deal. Here's how you can understand it. At the end of the day, entertainment is cool, but Quincy used to tell me the word business is larger than the word show.

And my ratings and my income were attached. The higher the number, the more money I get. When Letterman gets CBS, because I'm in syndication, now I'm on bullshit stations most places, but my CBS stations help me. succeed. When Letterman comes into the game and all my CBS stations leave at the end of their term, I'm like, what am I going to do now? And so basically, and the money goes down. And now you're like, well, I have to look at a movie every night and read a Jackie Collins book. I'm like, I don't know

if it's worth it for a million a year, you know, and the bottom line is I dashed when the money. Also, I'm from Cleveland. I grew up down the street from Jim Brown, and I watched him leave on top. I watched him start doing movies when they were still calling him to the locker room. I always wanted to leave on top. So the bottom line, when the money changed a little bit, and the numbers changed a little bit, and I didn't see a future for syndication, because I'm like, they're going to put somebody at ABC. I'm going to lose those affiliate, too. So eventually there's a Kimmel, and there's a Letterman, and the bottom line is the money changed. Let's do something else. I've gotten six years out of this. I've been on the cover of Time magazine

I spent two years knowing I was leaving and building a house on the beach. And bottom line is I'm cool with how it all went down. I was always shocked that Fox just didn't get into the late night game. It's funny. I just sat with Conan O'Brien. And he told me a cool story. He says he was in a lunchroom, a cafeteria at Fox. And he says, you were very nice to me.

You won't remember me. But I was getting coffee. and you showed me where other stuff was. What I didn't realize is while I was taking over for Joan Rivers and doing the late show, because she eventually got fired, her husband killed himself. You remember all that stuff. I'm doing the late show.

I'm doing the last 11 weeks of her contract before I go to do coming to America. Conan had been hired to create a show to replace me. So while I was there, they had decided that I wasn't the guy. And they created a thing called the Wilton North Report. I went and did coming to America and Paramount was like

when we finished this if you want a talk show let's try it in syndication now something in syndication will never work again other than Byron Allen no one's going to ever be able to make syndication money

because the networks got it when I came into it CBS and ABC didn't want to be in the late night game so they bought my show you know it was a perfect time life is all about timing

and effort now you mentioned coming to America my favorite movie of all time. Yes, right? Wow. Let's talk about that movie and how it came together

and whose decision it was to play all those parts. What made me think I didn't need water in here? Somebody get you water, some water, please. Any kind of beverage. That we got. And Arsenio's memoirs out right now, Arsenio, okay? I really appreciate you sit. When I walked in and saw the monitor,

and there was a shot from this way, so it was the book with Lauren's beautiful eyes behind. And I'm like, yes, I appreciate that. I thank you because they'll see it and they'll buy it. That's right. I'm sorry. Coming to America. How did that movie come about?

And what was the decision to play so many different characters for both you and Eddie? Wow. The decision for me to play characters was Eddie saying, yeah, him too. That's cool. You know, because he's the king, you know. But the movie, the movie was all hinged on the fact that America missed Eddie doing characters. They wanted that again. And I remember...

Open to F&L. Yeah, yeah. And I remember his manager saying to me, they want Eddie to do characters. So when you guys go to America, he'll be some of the people that you meet. And I'm like, that's really cool. Now, I'm just a straight out stand-up.

I'm not an impressionist and I'm not an actor. I was honored when he asked me to also do some characters. But that movie was supposed to be me as, you know, like a personal assistant or an undersized bodyguard coming to America from Zimunda with Eddie. He saw me do stand-up, and I did this bit about going to church in Chicago and going to the south side. So I do this preacher character, and he's like, that's all it is, man. You know, we do the prosthetics, and you do that, and you're a preacher, you know. And, of course, my dad was a Baptist preacher.

And so at any moment, I'm ready to preach. I was laughing another day because I saw you post the video. He was like, I'm walking like the preaching and come into America, but not because I'm pretending. Life is crazy because, you know, at one point you're in your 20s and you're standing in front of a mirror. Jess, you've been through this, stand in front of a mirror, you're practicing the character, you're looking at how Red Fox walks,

and you're breaking it down, and then one day you turn 70, and you realize, now that's my walk. But if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be like. I was going to ask, coming to America, I read somewhere, I think it was when an interview you did or something, it almost didn't happen, though, a couple of times at first because of the pitch, and then there was an issue with Eddie Murphy and somebody on set. Yeah, well, you know, they wanted him to do characters, and that made the treatment perfection.

And he decided different things I can do when we come. come to America. And the other thing you reference is he had a conflict with Landis. And Landis is a brilliant director. And they work that out. Thank God. Thank God. My business manager, thanks God every day. For me.

Residualties keep coming in. Residuals Royalty. Residuals' royalty? Not as crazy as one might think. Okay, okay. You know, but because you see it all the time on VH1 and on things owned by Skydance. I guess it is now.

By the way, the checks Eddie get are probably what you just described, you know? Yeah. But the bottom line is I was a lucky actor to be involved, and mine sometimes will be 13th. What did you think about, too? Did you let Eddie read it? Not yet. Okay, okay. But in the, and that's another bit of advice you gave me.

I think you said Kevin Hart also agreed with you that in this culture, in this day and age, the book on tape, the audible book, is very, very important. And that's when I was like, well, let me call you back. Because I've talked to George Lopez and different people who have done this and to sit every day for eight hours and keep it consistent in front of the mic

and read this book. I mean, I used to read to my son before bed, but it was like, Good Night Moon. And the book was like eight pages. You have a... And I just did my audio book. Arsenio, I'm so good.

glad you said it because they say I can't read in here all the time because the first day I went to read my book only read like 70 pages and five hours but its voice acting is not just reading like you're reading, Good Night Moon Six weeks to read that book. He's a goddamn He is lying

But I saw you even looking at it right 24 pages and you were struggling But it was it you know It's a co-parenting memoir so on some of the parts I had to be emotional then they had to relive some of the stuff and you know It's not just like regularly reading. Yeah.

You got to sit there. I would sit there for eight hours a day. And you almost want to do it like when you read to your kid. You want to have this intimate moment with the audience on the other side of that speaker. And they think you're actually reading to them and talking to them and telling them this story. So a lot of care and performance. I saw Charlie Sheen talk about, you know, I was just going to read it. You know, and then I realized, wait, let me step up the actor part of this.

And I listened to an interview he did. And so I put great care into it, and I'm glad you told me how important it was because I didn't want to do that shit. No, we want to hear you. Yes. Yeah. Austinio Hall, like that voice is very familiar to us. I literally bought the audiobook just because I wanted to hear how you went in and out of things. Yeah.

Yeah. Because it's you and you nearly bought it, I'm going to send you one. No, I bought it. I bought the audio book. Yeah. I mean, we had this book as well, too, but I went and bought the audiobook because I was like, I want to hear him, like, get into it. And, you know, like, all the emotion and, you know, you know, Just hearing your voice again, just was, you know, great.

You know, emotion, it did take me back. There are interviews, not interviews, there are parts of the book based on interviews on the show, meeting Sammy. You know, Sammy came in three waves in my life. There was a night he invited me to his house. Sammy used to have a gun collection. He showed me all his guns, and I love guns because my dad was a marksman and a former serviceman. Sammy Davis, Union.

Yes, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And so he had a theater in his house, and he would have movie night. And he invited us to movie night, so he'd go see a movie. And it's surreal to knock at somebody's door in here, I'll get it, I'll tell. You know, and Sammy comes to the door. And then I have him on the talk show later. And, of course, he has cancer, but he sings anyway.

And I don't want to give away everything. But that story conjured up so many emotions. Because as a kid, I watched Sam, this versatile man, this person. You know, people like Ali and Sammy was so important to me to see these talented, positive images, to see Ali during an interview after a fight, comb his hair and say, oh, I'm so pretty going, Howard, do it. You know, and those people were so important to me. So to have that moment at the end of his life and him to say, I'm going to sing for you, man, because I would sing for Johnny and gets up and goes over.

spontaneously and says time after time indeed and my band young people start playing Cindy Lopper's song time after time oh man no no no you know it's a time after time I tell myself that and and I realized how sick he was weeks later when he started to transition from this earth yeah and so so that was emotional it was The prior stuff had to be emotional too, right? Oh, yeah, man. The Richard Pryor's stuff, emotional also because he's the first person I learned from, comedy was insignificant. I was going to get there one way or the other.

It's a life that Richard taught me about. And it's watching his life near the end when you realize those lawyers and agents and a lot of hanger-ons aren't around anymore when you're sick, when they can't make money on you anymore. And it taught me to find someone you love, build your own bubble. Because these people who... So this is a podcast about video games. Kind of. It's also about friendship. Definitely.

And chaos. Unavoidably. Welcome to It's Dangerous to Go Alone. A podcast where we talk games, culture, and nostalgia, and immediately go off topic. There is no gatekeeping. There is no skill check. If you win a game on Easy Mode, we support you. If you've never touched a controller, honestly, same energy for some of us.

It's fun. It's chaotic. It's friendship with. a loose gaming theme. And somehow we keep getting away with it. You should listen. Stream it's dangerous to go alone on the free IHeartRadio app. Or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Lori Siegel, a longtime tech journalist. And consider my new podcast, mostly human, your bridge to the future. Anyone can now be an entrepreneur. Anyone can build an app. And it's very empowering. Each week, I'll speak to the people building that future. And we're going to break down what all of this innovation actually means for you. What I come to realize is that when people,

poor thing that they're dating these AI companion. They're actually dating the companies that create this. We're experiencing one of the greatest tech accelerations in human history. And let's be honest, that can be messy. There's no playbook for what to do when an AI model hallucinates a story about you. But it's my belief that we should all benefit from this moment. Mostly human will show you how. My goal is to give you the playbook, so you can benefit.

The reason I say agency is because, is like if we can give power back to people, then I think that's probably the best thing we can do for your mental health. Listen to mostly human on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story.

This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular type. twice in someone's, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern.

Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faced. as consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at

Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, Roaldol, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a spy? Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been.

Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true.

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's? Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchm. before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids.

The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Get a commission. I'm going to be here when they can no longer get a commission. And I remember near the end of his life, I used to go visit him. And there weren't a lot of people around like there were in the early days at the comedy store. Yeah.

I got gas, excuse me. All right. I thought you were about to cry. You know, it's funny how those two things look alike. A fart and tears kind of manifest themselves on your face in the same way. I wanted to know about coming to America, too. When y'all shot that, the sequel, what were your thoughts on it? Because it's so hard to top America, the first original version.

It feels like some things just shouldn't be touched. What was your thoughts on that? I need this check. Okay. No, no, but my thoughts on it, God, it was going back to this wonderful time in my life, you know, and doing the characters again, hanging with Ed. We didn't get to do it here, like the first one.

The second one, Zamunda, is Atlanta. Here's what's interesting. Zamunda, the palmer. is Rick Ross's house. Oh, wow. And that was kind of interesting. But I enjoyed doing it, but I also knew that it was like trying to write a better song than thriller. You know, it's very complicated.

So winning has its traps too. Yeah, because it's a bar that can't be said again. Yeah, I don't know if for my life, I don't know a higher bar. than coming to America One. Did you feel like that when you came back with your talk show again? Yeah, you know, that was, to do the talk show reboot was an interesting time because I initially wanted to do a show that was scripted about a guy trying to get back in the game at a time because it had changed.

You know, when I was doing research in the 90s, there was no cell phone, no Google, no search. We had a file cabinet. And it's like, see if there's an article on Mel Gibson. I'm trying to find out how old he is. That was a different time. So when I came back, I wanted to do a scripted version of Arsenio Hall coming back to television. And basically, you know, they say no to us a lot because I don't know if that'll work. And then they do hacks.

But because that's what it would have been black hacks. And they talked me into because people don't, people in Hollywood, they're not very imaginative. They go with what's worked before. You know, if you have different strokes. Gary Coleman and it's working and Envy pitches a show about him and his wife

you know you pitch them something they'll say we don't know because that's new to them but what they're looking for in that moment is another little black man that don't grow

you know because they know that works so what do they do they find Webster and that's how this town works they want to be safe no one wants to have I mean, you can say no and not get fired to a pitch.

But if you say yes, it better work. So executives try to keep it safe. And you just made me thinking something. Nobody thinks about what Emmanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman did for midges. Well, that's quite little people now. Nobody talks about that. Yeah. I don't know how we got to get canceled up here.

But Todd Bridges wasn't to mention. What did I got to do with, Amanda Lewis? Not Todd. You don't mean Todd. No, because he said Gary Colvin and Todd Bridges. I did that for the Manuel Lewis. Oh, my man. My baby.

I'm sorry. You know, they don't, basically what they said is, let's just do the talk show again like you. And unfortunately, the reason I left is the reason it can't work. In syndication, now it's even harder because there's Kimmel and all these guys. So you want me to compete against them on Channel 29 in Phoenix, you know. that's not going to work. And you don't have as much budget as the networks.

I remember I wanted to book Will Smith. And they said, well, Will Smith is not going to do it. He's going to do Fallon. And he can't do another show after he does Fallon for two weeks. So there's some kind of work. But basically, I couldn't even compete with the offer because Fallon offered him the opportunity to ride into the Tonight Show on a white horse. Wow. Yeah.

Wow, wow, wow, wow. Gosh, my first time around Prince wanted a purple piano, and it took a week for me to get it approved, you know. So, you know, budget-wise, when I came back and did the re-you, you can't compete against Kimmel and Fallon. And James Corden was riding around in a car singing with fame. And I'm like, you know, I don't have that kind of budget. And you just can't do it now.

You can't do a syndicated show. Now, I snuck in at a time when people didn't have. have product and I could sell them mine. But now everyone, every network has product. And the reason I did syndication the first time around is I knew a brother was never going to get the NBC, ABC, or CBS job. But I was like, I've been doing this in my basement since I was 12. I'm going to get something. That's right. And they said that, you know, at first, it was hard for you to get guests, that you would actually have a security guard call you and be like, so-and-so said. Yeah. I would chase, because thank goodness the show was on the Paramount lot, on a film lot, versus

like Colbert here is at the Ed Sullivan Theater right on the street. I was on a film lot where you could find out what was being shot on the lot. And there was a dude at the gate who would let me know when certain people arrived. And I could be in front of Andy Garcia's trailer when he got there and ask him to come on. You know, I mean, many guests, I would actually get the Paramount executives to let me come over and meet people. It's like, I hear Harrison Ford's having a meeting. Can I just come say hello? And, you know, like me and Shaleman are in business on this book.

Paramount was like, yeah, but just don't act like we invited you. Just pop by. Mr. Ford. Yeah. Your life is very eventful. You've got so much that you've done. You know what I mean? How could you fit all of that into one book?

What are, I know some things that did not make the book? Absolutely. That, oh, man, Jess, it was so hard because I looked at books to, find out what length they were. I looked at Barack Obama's book. I'm like, ooh, that's big, but I'm no Barack Obama. So let me try to give them as much as they can handle of this kid from Cleveland.

Barbara Streisand's book is huge. I got two great Barbara Streisand stories. Didn't put in the book. I had to cut things down. I have a great new kids on the block story where they flew from Australia to come on the show. See, we didn't have Twitter. You couldn't go on Twitter and say what you have to say.

You had to, if there was some shit that jumped off, You, Donnie Wahlberg and the whole group flew back to America because they were being accused of lip syncing. And Donnie was like, Arsenio, we're going to fly home. They may not like how we sound, but it's us. You know, and the millie-vanilly thing it happened. So they wanted to come and defend themselves. I met Tommy Motola in an Ivy. And he had a cassette tape with Vision of Love written on it.

And he gave it to me. And he was with this young lady. You know, I joked with him. I said, who is that the star of the young and the breastless? Who is she's fine, you know? And it was Mariah. And I called him the next morning. I'm like, I couldn't believe that light that Envy talked about.

Dog, when you first hear Mariah Carey and you realize she's not famous and this ain't what Johnny does and you are going to be able to present this woman to the world, that light is shining while you sleep through your eyelids. We might need to do like, you know, Charlie Murphy had the true Hollywood stories. Oh, yeah. We might need to do the Arsenio Hall, True Hollywood. That would be dope. Put that out as a podcast or something, animated or something. That would be dope. Animated would be real cool.

It would be really cool because then you can imagine Bobby Brown performing my prerogative as an animated character. Yes. Do you use me for one of the voices? I'm real good at voice acting. I hear you. I did Ghostbusters when I was young. I paid the rent. as because the Winston-Zemore character,

there's one black ghostbuster. It's like back in the day, they hired comics. Yeah. Voice acting. Me and Dave Coo-Yea was a comic and... Full House. Yeah, absolutely.

So, you know, I used to make my living doing that kind of. That's what's up. Did you mind the spoof when people used to spoof you? I remember like the super long finger. Oh, yeah. Did you mind the spoofing back then? By the way, all that's in the book, Arsenio, the memoir,

which is available everywhere you buy books now. Yes, sir. You know, here's the deal. First of all, if you're a comic, and I think Jess would agree with this, if you're a comic, you can't be sensitive to jokes about you. Most comics are sensitive, though.

Yeah, I mean, as humans, I think we're sensitive. But, dude, there's an upside and a downside to every punchline. It's like, I have extremely long fingers. But I remember as a little boy, as the pastor's son, I'd be standing next to my dad, and old sisters in the church would shake my hand, and they would hold on a little long.

And it's like, you say, these fingers are going to have an upside, too, people are responding to these long-ass fingers. The fingers are the one thing, though, but what about the ass, pause? What? Remember when Kenan did dad? Keen had him with a long finger with a big ass.

You got to sound like you just hit me out. No context. Forget your fingers. What about your ass? That's another book for another time. Same niz. Scared me. But crazy.

You ain't going to ass? Yes, I have a predominant dairy air. And, you know, A, if you're going to do jokes, you got to be able to listen to jokes. And sometimes say, well, first, sometimes you just say, that's funny. That's a funny. Then other times, like Dana Carvey, it was a sign of the times that I was going through. This guy created a character at SNL called Carcinio. And the essence of the sketch was that Johnny was going to get a high top fade

and start wearing bright, double-breasted suits. And so for me, you can always flip something into a positive. Now, they're making fun of me. But at the same time, what they're really saying is Johnny's going to have to find a, younger audience somehow because that's what's up. Yeah. And so there's an up and a down to punchlines, but yeah, you've got to be able to take it. You can't be too sensitive. How are you going to be sensitive and then go to the comedy store and do five minutes on Tiger Woods? That's true. You know, it's interesting when you talk about

Dana Carvey, right? When you were at your peak, do you think people were loving Arsenio Hall or the idea of what you represented, the youthfulness, the hip-hop, the black? my ego won't let me think that it was me. I think it was what I was doing and what it represented. But, you know, it's like when I talk about talking Alan Thick into putting on Johnny Gill, my thing in the meeting was, I think it'll get numbers.

Why not try it? Third guest, I'll try it. And what I loved that relates to that question is I was showing that there was a value that you all haven't looked at. You know, I know you think it won't get numbers, but that proved for thick of the night

in a syndicated situation, there are people checking for black people. And being from Cleveland, when I met Johnny and Gerald LaVert, then Gerald calls me a certain point when the show is on the air and he has this track, Casanova.

He plays over the phone. Can't send it to me on a link. He plays it on the phone. I'm like, that shit sounds good, even through the telephone. And he flies out with his cousin and his brother, and Lavert does Casanova. And that was the late show. You know, L.L. Cool J.

That's another reason why I'm shocked that Fox didn't want to do a show because it was apparent there that something was going on, that the viewing audience was fucking with us. And because they're a few. L.L. Cool J was the first rapper. L.L. Kooljee and Houdini, first hip-hop things I ever did. Way back on the late show when I took over for Joan Rivers. And L.L. got big numbers, you know, and he did, I'm bad.

And Houdini did the freaks come out at night, and they did numbers. But at that point, Paramount was sneaking around Fox coming to my dressing room. You know, you would think it was fans, but it was guys that taken off their suits and put on and come over to say, do this at Paramount. If they don't get it, do this at Paramount, because they were seeing the numbers on a show where they had fired the host, and now they're getting these numbers.

You know, people watched me to see me talk to Mike Tyson. That's right. Yeah. Man, there was a debate on the Bagfield podcast, Luke the Bagfield, and they were saying there's Arsenio Hall hip-hop. I'm like, not only was Arsenio Hall hip-hip-hop, Arsenio was black culture.

From 89 to 94, I don't even know if black culture entertainment-wise, and especially hip-hop, could grow as much as it did without the Arsenal Hall show. Where else would we have seen it to that level? You know, we would have found a way, just like now, the problem with a late-night talk show is what you all are doing for a cheaper budget,

podcasts, radio shows. It's like you can't do those giant shows anymore with all that staff and a band. and the light. Now you put Theo Vaughn in front of a fake plant, you know, and it's really inexpensive to do. And so that's what's happened to late night.

You know, it's hard to do it the other way. But I'm telling hip-hop and black culture. Yeah, yeah. There was no platform for that. Right. From 89 to 94, we ran. It was Arsenio, your MTV Raps. And we all grew up waking up on Saturday.

to watch Soul Train. South Train. Ralph McDaniels had the thing locally. That was New York. We didn't have Ralph McDaniels all around the country. Soul Train was what I had. Soul Train. You know, even when I saw a white person, it was Soul Train.

I remember seeing Elton John play an acrylic, clear piano and do Benny and the Jets for Don Cornel. So Trane had no rappers, though. Don wasn't crazy about hip-hop, and neither was Oprah. And that's a good point. That also was part of the history of this. I saw a vacancy.

I saw a void. And the best way to make money, whether you're creating a product or scope and show business is to find the void and fit into it. You know, what Lauren does. You know, she saw a void. You know, they need a competent black journalist

to jump into this infotainment, Hollywood news. And she filled it, you know, with an accuracy. and a hard work effort that she found herself a place. Yeah. Hard work, I agree with accuracy and she got accuracy too. Who taught you the business? Wait, wait, wait, wait. Who taught you, I was gonna ask you,

who taught you the business? You just knew so much, like the syndication, like that's nothing that you can read about. Yeah. So how did you learn and understand the business in depth? Well, whether it's sitting, like, I would, if Don Cornelius, if Don Cornelius would go to lunch with me, I would take that lunch, you know, I'll buy.

You know, he took me to lunch one day. I've sat with Quincy in front of a board and listened to all the off-the-wall stuff before anybody heard it. And he said, you're from Ohio, right? He said, let me play this for you and put it up on big reels, you know. And he played a song called Just Once. He said, this kid is from Ohio. And it was James Ingram. I would sit and talk to legends and try to learn everything.

I could. And I would take jobs. We've all taken jobs just to get education. We go to college and we pay to go. So I would do things just to learn like the thick of the night job. It probably looked real corny. Me sitting next to Allen Thick and saying,

we'll be right back. Oh, you know, I was that guy. But I was learning syndication in late night. And a couple of the people in that show, when it failed, I hired them. But I did everything I could to learn. Any place I could go. Richard Pryor invited me to the set of Jojo Dancer once.

And I wanted to be in the movie. But Richard said, just stand around and learn because I'm going to direct. And cool. And go everywhere you can. Do everything you can because knowledge is king. Clarence Avon as well? Clarence Avon. Rest and peace.

Yeah. I mean, I could say rest of peace a million times during this interview. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. He said, other than Donnie Walberg, ain't nobody alive. Clarence, he was the man. He was special.

And the thing about Clarence, there was a stealth element of his business. That's right. Where I wouldn't even know how something happened. And later on, they would say, well, Clarence got him to talk to him, and that's how it happened. I loved the way he did business. He wasn't messy, and he wasn't always there. but you knew it happened because of him. You know, good day, good times.

I was going to ask, did you ever feel alone in your fight? Like I heard this story about NWA and trying to push for that. And I don't know, I guess with the Clarence Avat thing, though, you had the support. But it just feels like you were always, like, fighting. And I wondered if you ever felt like internally more support. Externally, it was divided. But internally, who was there? Did you feel lonely?

Yeah. And you know what was hard? Even the situation where the queer nation came after me. First of all, you fight hard when you know you're right. And the bottom line is to say I don't, I'm homophobic and I don't put on enough gay guess that's bullshit. And we're at a time when everybody ain't going to tell you they're gay. Ellen would come on and do jokes and Rosie would come on and do jokes,

but they weren't going to talk about their dates with women. They would probably make their dating bit about a man. everybody on my staff was gay except me that's an exaggeration but the bottom line is it was a time when you just didn't know who was gay and they were in a trap

of you know there were people who were gay and they knew if I say I'm gay and women know I'm not singing to them it could ruin my career you know thank God times have changed and people can be themselves and still survive. But, yeah, there were some very lonely times. And when you have this battle with the queer nation

and no one defends you and say, oh, no, that's wrong about him. You know, you feel alone. Or the NWA situation, I had to wait. And that's a, patience was the lesson there. Because at first, they fought me, you can't do NWA. was mad because eventually the group broke up. And I had to do Dre and Ice Cube and Easy separately. And that's what God meant for it to be, I guess.

But initially, I wanted to do NWA and Paramount. I wasn't big enough, successful enough yet to say, I'm doing it. And later I was. But what you have to go through is you're fighting for NWA. And then you hear a track where Ice Cube is rhyming your name with the word bicentennial and dog in you and you're like

fuck does brother know I'm in here fighting for him but sometimes why was he so mad? Because I couldn't get them on the show then. Oh yeah yeah yeah because he wanted me to

get them on to do fuck the police and I wanted to get them on but Paramount didn't wasn't ready yet you know and down the road I got to call more shots

and in life that's the way it is. The more successful you get, then you get to take some chances and do what you want to do. But initially, you've got to do what Paramount says. So caught between a rock and a hard place often. I was going to ask, what chance did you try that didn't work? Chances I took that didn't work. Well, Paramount was right about what they were saying.

If you want to maybe be in the position to be considered the king when Johnny leaves. Do this show. So when Johnny leaves, people know, you know, the show I was doing, I could have been a lot more successful and made a lot more money if I was a little more commercial

and if I listened a little more. But I was hard-headed. And I had a love for hip-hop and black music. And my thing was, I've said this many times, I did the show I loved, and I knew that I needed to do more Steve and Edy, you know, but I wanted to get Q-tips sitting in with Depossi. And the bottom line is I wouldn't change a thing. I loved being in that position and being that guy.

And unfortunately, they were right if I wanted bigger numbers. You know, you can get a huge number if you do share. but I wanted Tony Braxton. But the problem with that is there's no reward for that. There ain't no reward for being real, right? So you do all of that, but then when the rent do, you know what I'm saying? With everybody that loves you when they see you in the screen,

say, boy, you can be keeping it real, you kept it real, Alciniio. Yeah. That's why when you look in the mirror and you're happy and satisfied with who you are, that has to be your, that has to be your barometer of success. failure and happiness, I was loving what I was doing. Two Bobby Brown numbers that night made me happy.

That's a jewel, though, man. And that's the thing, like, even with you and Eddie, right, I always felt like y'all never let fame confuse your sense of self-worth. You know what I mean? Like, in regards of how famous y'all were, y'all didn't run to the cameras, you know, y'all, y'all come in and out the spotlight when y'all want to, and it feels like y'all know exactly who y'all are. regardless of if all of this goes away tomorrow.

Yeah, you know, I think sometimes if you have that, you have to thank God and thank your parents, because that's usually based on your foundation and how you're raised and how you're taught. And maybe like I talked about seeing certain heroes when you're young and how they carry themselves, you know. Before we had the term cancel culture, we all remember Sammy Davis Jr.

hugging Richard Nixon. That's right. And you're like, oh, okay. So you learn about PR, marketing, and positioning, and things like that. I was a student of show business. You know, if you want to play basketball, you're watching somebody cross over in the science of putting your weight here and shifting it back this way.

And, you know, if you're Chris Mullin, you go to the ghetto and play basketball. where the best are. All my life, I've wanted this, and I've watched the people who were successful at it and studied. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are at them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on I Heart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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give power back to people, then I think that's probably the best thing we can do for your mental health. Listen to mostly human on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular tests twice in so much. I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfectant. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.

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And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids. The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. So that one day I could apply all those things. I knew who I was. I would go see Al Green because my mother loved Al Green and I would take her. but I was there early when the house lights were still on and everybody was filing in

and there was a stand-up comic on the stage I knew who I was and I was a magician as a kid so I had birds and doves and when I go do a bar mitzvah or a birthday party to make money I had all this shit my mother would have to rent a station wagon to take me I was a musician I was a drummer so I had tom-toms and cymbals that night I watched Al Green and the stand-up

open for him. The dude just walked out with a juice, little glass, put it on the stool, and everything was from the neck up. And I'm like, that's what I want to do. And be careful what you say in your life, what you manifest verbally because my house burned down. And I lost the boxes, the doves, the cymbals, the drums. And then it was like, I graduated and I'm like, I'm going to be a stand-up. Because I have nothing else. And by the way, in my junior year, I'm playing ball every day after classes with Steve Harvey. So we're dreaming. We're talking about it.

And then Steve left Kent in his junior year. And we didn't have cell phones. So I'm like, if you don't get Steve Mama's number, where's Steve? You know, he didn't come back. But in our junior year, we did a lot of dreaming. We went to see Franklin Ajai perform. We went to see Dick Gregory perform. And that's my biggest message.

dream because you can manifest a dream into reality. I know this. It's not a coincidence. It's not just me. I was on the campus of Kent State with Steve Harvey. We were dreaming. And right now, Steve is fine on cloud nine. Oh, man, boy, fine.

Was there a moment where fame ever did confuse your sense of self-worth? How do you mean that? Like when you were at the height of everything, You know, senior hall, cultural, everywhere. Like, in just... The cover of Time magazine. Yeah. Was that, did you walk in the Paramount and say,

I need $10 million a seat? God damn it. Yeah, damn it. The bottom line is, envy, and I have to keep repreasing his thought about that light. Dude, I was just always, maybe I had low self-esteem as a black man,

but I was glad to be in the game. I was glad to have an opportunity. I felt blessed every day. prayed before that screen flew every night because I thanked God every night before when that motherfucker was holding the oh Arsenio and you see the silhouette behind that screen that screen flew right before you saw that silhouette light go on I was praying and thanking God for all these moments for these things because I'm a kid from Cleveland the closest I got to fame was my uncle used to run numbers with Don King that's the first time I saw Rose Royce Don King was

in town with Ali. And, you know, I was a dreamer. And now I was living my dream. So I was always grateful and it sometimes can keep you from becoming arrogant. You know, they say gratitude turns what we have into enough. So that's what you had. You had extreme gratitude. So what you had was enough.

Yeah, when I got to Hollywood, man, I used to go to the supermarket. And there's days when I would walk around the supermarket and pretend to shock. putting stuff in my cart, but the stuff in the little baby part of the cart, the little baby seat, I had stuff in there. That stuff was what I was eating. You know, so I was eating in the supermarket

and pushing it around. And when I got full, left the cart and run out the store. Or walk fast, out the store. I would go there on, I knew a day when the Jimmy Dean's lady would cook sausages in a little electric friar and she put toothpicks in them on a plate, I would go in there and talk to her and eat 10 sausages and make her laugh.

And that was breakfast. You know, so when things took off for me, I was just grateful to have a meal. Yeah. What about? In your show, right, has there ever been anybody that would talk shit about you, but then won't come on your show and you let it happen? Yeah, once. Okay.

Yeah. One time, but for the most part, you know what? Who? Oh, I forgot her name. But it was somebody who, you know, now that I think, maybe there are jokes that were too much. But I forgot it, but she was a comic. Okay. Oh, another comedian.

Yeah, it was a young comic. And I was like, no, not, no. Keep that same energy. Yeah. When you was calling me the F word on. on stage, you know. But, the gaysler from the 90s.

Yeah, yeah. Which is rough on a black man because, you know, that whole history. I was one of those guys that would put the business before my personal feelings. I've had Spike Lee call me an Uncle Tom. But when it's time for Spike Lee to promote his shit, I'm like, dude, I'm here. Come on. As a matter of fact, Spike was mad at me because I probably didn't give him the date.

I think he wanted a certain date and it sweeps and, oh, that date's taken. That Friday night, and he got mad at me and, you know, call me and Uncle Tom and it's like you would think that we would never speak, but I walked up to him at a Laker game, a Laker Knicks game, grabbed him. Dude, come on through sometime, next price.

I never understood that, though. Like, how could Spike Lee call Arsenio Hall Uncle Tom. Like you was doing do the right thing every night, the way you was fighting for black. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. And, you know, like I said, people,

you make mistakes, you say stuff. A lot of times we, by the fact that when I hugged him, we talked and it was over, you realize in the moment, he said that because he didn't get the date he wanted to promote, you know, whatever the movie. Uncle Tom is strong, though, man. Yeah. Especially when you already had people that were feeling like that about

So for him to echo it made it, you know, bigger. Yeah, and that's probably why he went for that Achilles heel or that spot. You know, but I think sometimes to hold a grudge, you have to keep that ugly thing with you. Sometimes it's easier for you to let it go. I see you guys too. Okay, wait, I was trying to, I've been trying to get this in. You got really personal just about like a dating life as well, too, in this book.

You talk about Pamela Anderson. Paula Abdul. And by the way, one of the reasons I wanted to tell the Pamela Anderson story is because I don't know if it's changed, but the older comics, that was the kind of advice. It's like, yo, Johnny Witherspoon in this book,

stay away from white women. You know, and you're a young country, you're like, okay, you know, because there were no white women in my neighborhood and I didn't know why. And of course, the night I walked into the comedy store Pamela Anderson, Donnie Witherspoon looked at me

and did that tunular thing that you'd What I tell you? You know? And just, I wanted to take people through that growth process of what the OGs told you. You just had to dip in. You were talking about like family family. Damn.

Me and Tupac had an argument because Tupac in an article said something about Quincy and Arsenio and some of these brothers and these white women you see him with white. You know, it's like back then. that was a no-no to the older brothers

who were talking to you and they were trying to tell you that's a problem you know that you know and it was some people in your demo will not like you

if they see you in Jet Magazine with a playmate you know so he was trying to protect me was she the first white celebrity that you had dated or that just the one that we know about now

before her I think I talk about this in the book. I was at an ABC function and met Emma Sams, who was about, they were about to replace Luke and Laura on the soap opera with Luke and Holly. And I met her the day she got the role. And we went out for a minute. And was that why it ended?

Because it in the book, but also just whenever you have mentioned it, you always make it like, it just was like a quick thing. But what did it end because you were like, all right, I can't do this? Like, career-wise, it's not going to. Well, everything ended. it back then because I was young and I was busy. The woman in your life at that time in your career, I don't know if it's like this for everybody,

but she's always going to be the chick on the side. Show business has to be your woman. Or you have to be a man who's probably not doing the right thing in your relationship because I was on the road. That's all that was important to me. So relationships weren't going to work. Thank God. Actually, thank God my life worked out the way it did

because my woman, who I've been with for 20 years, I can't imagine my life without her. That's the only thing that's important to me. She's my best friend. The only reason I want to get on a plane and go homeless because she's there. Oh, wow. You know, and to eventually become famous,

get your paper and find a successful relationship of that nature, you're like, God knew what he was doing. Because, you know, I could have had somebody pregnant or been married, you know, when I was a guest on Merv Griffin. You know, and I never would have been in the situation I'm in now. And I have an incredible woman in my life. Hold on, go ahead. I was just going to say you've always protected that.

Oh, yeah. So, but now you're talking more about. Is it just because of the book or are you at a place where you just want people to see that love that you have? Well, when Charlemagne and I talked, I knew that was, that's why I wanted to think, think about it, you know, because I've always been a very private person. I'm a loner and I'm very private because I know the more you give people, the more they have to hurt you with. So I'm very private about my life. And I knew this book would make me talk about, you know, I also protect the one I love. I don't put my woman out there because you put your woman out there.

You put your child out there. I remember as far back as Kathy Lee Gifford and she put Cody out there. And we do jokes about Cody. We talk about Cody. Everything that's ever gone on in my life, I've learned something from it. So I get to this point where I'm famous and I'm like, I'm not going to give them the stuff they can hurt me with. I'm going to give them show business. That's all I'm giving them.

And if that, because a lot of times there are people. famous for their personal life. We know people, we don't know what their art is, or we don't, we haven't heard a record, but we're talking about their girlfriend or their boyfriend. And I've always said, if show business ain't enough, if my performance ain't enough, fuck y'all. I'm not giving y'all the personal stuff.

Right. I got two quick questions for you go. Did writing this book force you to confront any lies? You might have been telling yourself? Hmm. Any lies that I might have been telling you. that I might have been telling myself. No, because

part of who I am is dealing with the fact, you know, my ass is big, my fingers are long. And I'm from Cleveland. You know, I've heard people call my hometown the mistake on the lake. So, yeah, so the bottom line is, I'm pretty real.

I know it's weird, but it can help you to look in the mirror and tell yourself the truth first. What do you want people to unlearn about you after reading this? You know what? I'm not trying to educate or teach people anything. I see the book as another form of entertainment. It's a story that can motivate you. it's about a kid who dream, you can manifest success, I think.

And like I told you about Robin Thick, I think we know inside, if we look at our kids and we listen to them, there's a dream in there, and we can help them make that dream come true. You know, I remember one of my last images of Kobe Bryant was him taking Gigi to a Connecticut game or something. I watched him seeing what she loved, seeing what she did,

and trying to nurture that and help with that. And that's what we always want to do with our kids. And so I don't know, this book is just another project for me. And it's entertainment, you know, in a sense. And sharing my story. And hopefully somebody will say, I'm not going to give up. Because the day you give up, your blessing might be tomorrow. It's definitely the real story of Arsenio Hall.

It's not just about a guy with a late-night show, man. Go get Arsenio a memoir available everywhere you buy books now. And just salute to you, my brother. Word. Absolutely. I don't even know how you got my number. We had just come out of the pandemic. And I didn't know what.

You stand up. You go to clubs and people were wearing masks. And we were in the parking lot of the venues performing. and it was a depressing time and I think you and I have the same lawyer maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I think so.

I don't remember. I remember I was trying to get you to do the podcast. Do you know Nina Shaw? Yeah, okay. Yeah, salute to Nina. Yeah, so I was thinking that's how you got my number. Probably. I don't remember.

Maybe on a bathroom wall somewhere here. But I think we exchanged numbers when I did your show when you bought the show back. Oh, yes. Yep. Oh, yeah, yeah. I forgot about the reboot. Yes, but thank you for the call because you

gave me something to do for a couple years. Man. And it was a lot of fun, and I think I did it well. I'm glad you did. No, this is one of the best entertainment memoirs I've ever read in my life. That is said with no bias, not just bias for publishing it, not biased because I look at you as an inspiration, but this is actually one of the best entertainment memoirs I ever read in my life, man.

Could I just add one more thing when you talk about dreaming and teaching and what the book does and all that kind of stuff? what you just said is important. A black man saying to me on the phone, I want to do this because I want more black offers. I want more books in the hands of Nubian people. What you did calling me was so important. And to do it with you, because that's what I told Nina.

And that's what I told my publicity. I got to do it because he's trying to do something. and I believe in what he's trying to do. And I knew your history and your parents being educators. It's so important for us. Sometimes we don't work together. We will work with anybody but our own. I don't know why.

And you know how you're fucking with them niggas. And there's a lot of that in us, even when we don't say it. But I fucks with this niggie. We got a good book out of it. Arsenio freed me a long time ago, because I used to want to do late night television because I was in your house. You know, you do radio,

then you get a talk show, and you think, like, I got to make it as a late night host, got to make it as a late night host. And when you was on press for coming to America, too, somebody asked you, they said, you know, who do you think is like the closest to you in this generation? And you said, I would say somebody like Charlemagne, but he does radio and you watch it on YouTube.

And, you know, that's like where people go to get, I guess that so-called late-night fix. I remember you said that. I was like, yo, hey, that song, everything must change. Yeah. The business is that way, too. That late-night format that Johnny created, he was the king.

But for budget reasons and for the advancement of technology, this shit has to change. And what you're doing now, when Tupac would call me on the landline and say, I need to come on the show, man, because they're trying to make me take an AIDS test before I do poetic justice. And I ain't going to really fuck, Janet, right? okay so why should I have to take an AIDS test and back then we didn't have the word Twitter we didn't have that it wasn't a bluebird it was a blackbird I was the guy you called

and came and talked about your problems or the business of what you were going through iced tea coming on and explaining cop killer explaining you know I'm not really killing cops Arnold Schwarzenegger ain't really determinator this is a piece of art trying to give a message And so what I was doing when I watch you, when I listen to you, I'm like, he's doing it. And the medium has come to a different place.

You know, there's no curtain. There's no Ed McMahon. There's no Doc Severnson. But what Charlemagne is doing is what I did for this time, for this culture. And look how it's evolved. Yeah. You know, you got the two ladies now and, of course, envy. It was a frame for me because it just teaches you, you don't always have to be chasing something.

And it goes back to gratitude. gratitude turns what we have into enough. Hello. There you have it. Arsenio Hall, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us. Their memoir is out right now.

Make sure you pick it up. And we appreciate you, OG, so much. Thank you. Thank you, man. I appreciate y'all. And I'm glad to finally meet the other three of the foursome in person. And the point we can do with the Boston City of America.

That's right. I'm glad to meet you, right? The breakfast club is our senior hall, ladies gentlemen. Every day I wake up Wake your ass up The breakfast club You're all finished or y'all done I'm Lori Siegel

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