The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: David Alan Grier Talks 'Magical Negroes', Comedy Competition, In Living Color + More

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

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Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Yep, Charlemagne Tha God, Jess Hilarious, we are The Breakfast Club. Envy is not here today, but we got a legend in the building, man. The great David Allen Grizz. What's up, man? Y'all done changed up. Yeah, we elevated a little bit. Thrones and all kind of stuff.

New host. I knew you when you had a chair, sir. That's right. No, it's good to be here, man. How are you this morning? I'm great, man. I woke up. That's right.

You know? That's right. I lit up. I'm here. You look so good still. Thank you. Yes. Now, is that a compliment?

Yeah, it is. You look so good still. Still. No, for real. You always look good. Back in the day to now. I'm trying. I'm trying.

I love it. I'm trying I love it I'm trying the American Society of Magical Negroes yes sir what is this movie about oh well you know

Magical Negro was a trope that Spike Lee coined back in the 90s and a Magical Negro is that character

we all know he's an all knowing all wise black character no back story no family he was just a dude hanging around Magical Negro is that character we all know. He's an all-knowing, all-wise black character. No backstory, no family. He was just a dude hanging around, and he had to answer everything. He was like, I can fix that rocket ship.

Driving Miss Daisy, the Green Mile. We've seen all that stuff. So it's about a society a mythical society of uh these black people all over the world that de-escalate and intercede in conflicts with white folks to save and preserve black lives that's basically what it is yeah it was interesting to watch and and a lot to think about because i feel like black people, we do have that kind of power, right? We do have that kind of magic, but just like in the movie, we don't use it to harm anyone

or take over. Even though we have every reason to. No, it's about survival. Really, and my character is, I'm trying to recruit this young dude played by Justice Smith and get him into the society and i'm a recruiter basically you know and uh of course he doesn't follow the rules as young

people do yes so and the movie takes gone from there is it a movie for white people because the title itself they wouldn't even become people saying saying it. But like, you know what? You'd be surprised the reaction of people, the reaction to the clip. You know, this is the world we live in. Nobody saw the movie. They just reacted to the clip. White people come to me. Can I say that? I was like, say what?

Magical. The N word. I was like, what N word? So it was like Negro is the other N-word. It was like, y'all are more worried about Negro than you are the real N-word. So that was a paradox. I mean, I'm older than you guys. I grew up in a time in which during the civil rights struggle, we aspired to be called Negroes as opposed to, but that was long ago. So it's a satire, it's commentary on all of that whole notion, a little love story, and

all of that mixed together. But it's interesting though, because in the movie, they are trying to make white people comfortable, but it's a movie that will make them uncomfortable, I think. Yes, well that's the subversion. Because you know, some black people are like, well a movie that will make them uncomfortable. I think. Yes. Well, that's the subversion.

Okay. Cause you know, some black people like, well, we'll make nobody comfortable. I think some black people wanted to be like, like, um,

uh, the magical society would be, uh, really a subversive militant group taking out all racist white folks. But that's not really this movie. That's not really this movie, but, um, yeah, man, I i mean that's what we're doing but when you make a movie you wanted to i guess reach a broad audience right or do you care if this one does always all right i mean that is the goal but uh you know kobe our writer and director he's a first time writer, director, black.

And I say that because I've been asked a lot of times, you know, what was your first question after I read the script? Well, my first question is, did a black person write this? Because I will tell you why. If I would have been told, oh, this is a first time white director. I don't know if I would have done it because i didn't want to spend six to eight weeks and believe me i've done this well i have to explain blackness exactly man i can't say this this is offensive you need to rethink this i didn't want that's why yeah no i didn't want to do that so once i found that out i said said, OK. And I like working with young directors of color, young women of color directors, you know, because I call it. It's why my way of mentoring in terms of I want to show you how you should be treated on a set as a young director.

Because I've seen, I've been in situations in which the director is arguing with the cinematographer, with the lighting designer, you can't do that. Oh, I want to shoot. No, man, we're not going to do that. So, you know, I wanted to kind of show through action, this is how it should be run. We didn't have any trouble. It was a great experience. So you play Roger.

Yes. So when you first were presented the role, what about it got you interested in being a sci-fi comedy? Well, you know, I know black men like that. I mean, I was exposed to. When I was young and growing up in Detroit, my dad was a doctor. I grew up around doctors, lawyers, professional black families. But I didn't want that. I wanted to be an artist. I want to be an actor. So I got that. You should go to law school. Yeah.

That kind of thing. It's funny. My grandmother was born in 1900. So she would tell me stories much like the one I say in the movie about these racist incidents in a segregated America in the South. And as a little boy, I would say, well, grandma, why didn't you fight back? And she would say that was the way it was, you know, and I didn't want that. Yeah. I didn't want that. I'm going to fight back. That's right.

So that's, that's always the way it is. The next generation, they don't want to wait. They don't want to wait. John Lewis was the radical young voice in the movement. And he was the one advocating. We got to yell louder. We have to fight harder. I'm tired of marching and praying so there's always that friction so so a lot of that is um goes on between me and justice where

he's like negroes i mean magical man come on why don't you magical society of black folks i mean do something about the name you know so there's all that playfulness and stuff it felt like justin throughout the whole movie was struggling with belief in himself well absolutely it all leads up to that final um speech where it to me it really hits home i just want to live in a society and you know what you're not trying to kill me i deserve to be here be in this presence uh one of the one of the craziest uh lines when he's talking to his white co-worker and they're talking about on lee who's a love interest and uh justice calls him out about some microaggression and he says well i didn't know she was a person of color. I thought she was white, so

therefore I'm good. You know what it's like? Was she white? She was biracial. Biracial, Asian, and just as is too. I ain't mad no more. You know what I'm saying? No, but I've had situations like that. Right. Or a

black person who is maybe Afro-Caribbean and they're saying some foul stuff. Well, I don't know. I didn't know. So therefore, I'm in the clear. Right. You know, and all those nuances that I really like because it's real, too. I mean, I know I've been through it.

Yeah. And it's funny. You talked about the backlash. And I guess I saw a little bit of it when the trailer first debuted. And it was like, like they making a movie and it's a bunch of black people with magical powers but they trying to make white folks come to black people they cloned Tyrone

they wanted us to come out with guns you know no that's not what it is but you know I was never worried because at that point nobody had seen the movie again you're responding to a 30 second clip but that's the world we live in yeah it's you know social media people gonna say what they gonna say yeah i didn't look at it

as they were trying to make white people comfortable in the movie i looked at it as they were trying to be comfortable like they were trying to just figure life out and survive like that's what they exactly now i'll tell you something this happened when i was in 10th grade in detroit i remember a detroit police officer was brought into a class, my classroom, and he walked us through surviving a stop with the police. Now, I doubt if it happens now. So he basically he gave us the talk and it went like this. He said, you know, when a police officer pulls you over what are you gonna do what we were kids I'm not gonna do nothing I'm gonna say why'd you pull me over and he said well you could say that but what I would suggest is you keep your hands on the steering wheel and you roll down the window well why he can't make me roll down the window absolutely right but keep in mind that gentleman has a firearm you probably don't Now he's upset with a firearm.

I would suggest you roll down the window because if you don't roll it down, he's going to break it. So we went point by point by point by point how to survive. You can fight in court. Now, you could fight at the roadside, but you have a better chance of survival to fight in court. So those are the kinds of things that I experienced as a young person. And I think a lot of that goes into that character. I'm not that character, but I understand that character. Right.

You know, that kind of thing. Why don't, just in your opinion, why don't you think we use our gifts more to I don't want to say take over I don't think take over is the right word but I keep thinking about that sister who once said white people should be lucky black people only want equality and not revenge I was just about to say that

I don't know I mean I can't speak for everyone but I think it's funny what justice says at the end is what most human beings want. I just want my space. I want to be able to live and prosper in peace. I don't want to have to fight for my survival. Imagine you could be killed, maimed, robbed, your loved ones in peril every day. And for some black people, it is that way.

We want what everyone wants. What we want is not extraordinary, not any different. We want the same thing. So all of this stuff that's put on race, culture, and ethnicity, for the most part, is false because we're human beings just like everybody else. So the stuff we're fighting for is freedom, to be free. Maybe we should be more revengeful. I don't know.

Some folks are. Yeah, already. In Hollywood, is there such thing as having to make white people comfortable in order to work? No, but I mean, you know, when I think back, you know, I auditioned for some of the magical Negro roles. I was just too crazy to get them. They never cast me. They said, okay, David, David's reading for Rastis. I'll drive you.

I was always too nutty to my benefit. But, yeah, man, we all do. I mean, not everybody, but those because, you know, in the 80s, there was Eddie Murphy. This is before Spike Lee and these other voices. He was the black comic lead, you know, who took over

for Richard Pryor. But now we have all these black creatives, black female creatives, Issa Rae, Ava DuVernay, who's a revolutionary. Absolutely. You know, so we have more voices. That makes it healthier. The one question I hate is, you know, Charlamagne, what do all black people think?

Charlamagne, Charlamagne, what do all black people want? Charlemagne, Charlemagne, what do all black people want? Charlemagne, Charlemagne, who are all black people going to vote for? I don't know. I'm not all black people. You know what I mean? That's right. I encourage everyone to vote. I'm not sitting here trying to tell you who or what to vote for, but we have a healthier democracy when more people participate. So that's where I'm at.

Now, speaking of voices, you are the voice of the asker how was that you know it was so much fun man I'm old friends with Jimmy Kimmel and first of all I defy you to tell me who was the voice last year so you ever been offered a job like it was really great but you don't even know what the job is yeah so my first question was well how many tickets do i get because i i was thinking about the party you know i have a 16 year old daughter and when she was a little girl she said daddy take me to the oscars and if you have little kids they think you could do everything i was like okay i mean but you gotta get a movie and you gotta finance the movie and you gotta cast me daddy, Daddy, in the lead in the movie. And then you got to hope Daddy gets nominated for an Oscar.

Then we all going to go to the Oscars. And she was like, you so silly. So it was great to take her to the Oscars. And we had a great evening. And it turned out to be a ball, man. I mean, my job was not to screw up anybody's name and don't mess up the name of the movie. But I didn't really. I wasn't under pressure.

You know, I'm cool. It was really, really fun. What do you think about people supporting this movie like the American Society of Magical Negroes? And you hear that automatically all black people feel like they should go out and support this film. What do you feel if they don't? Listen, I would not be here if I didn't believe in the movie. I would say go watch it.

If you don't want to watch it, that's fine. I ain't going to come to your house and kill you. We all have a choice. It should be an evening of entertainment and a great viewing experience is one that elongates a conversation because you know good and well, if you see a great show or if you see a great movie, what are you going to do?

You're going to text your friends. You're going to tell your loved ones, man, you got to come see this. So if we're successful, that's what should happen. And again, I think the movie is really funny. It's a new voice, a new black voice that I really love to support. And hopefully he will hire me again you know but uh that's why i'm here i feel like it's set up for a sequel yeah i don't know i hope so yeah yeah yeah yeah it was fun man and you know only this young uh the love interest this her first job i think really dang girl she came out so y'all this is her first job i think really like dang girl she came out

so y'all this is quest love 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 sept 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. Flash, slam, another one gone. 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. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know?

I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history history you have to make some noise listen to historical records on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts blazing man i think she's really good i'm just glad she's not white i'm not i don't want to get a movie away but i was a little perturbed at the end I'm like god damn it but if you really listen that is really

kind of where they connect in that basis and also they don't really we do touch on Justus' he's a biracial kid because I think at one point he tells me you know this and that but I'm just like you black enough.

Yeah. To be a magical Negro. Come join our club. You know. It also made me think like the magical Negro trope. And I know Spike Lee made it up. But isn't that something that like white people think in a way? It's like Barack Obama was a magical Negro.

But they created it. We didn't create it. Yeah. We didn't create that. No. No. white people did. And traditionally, to have that character, that is not a whole human. That is like a spirit, a cipher. I mean, this is like an angelic figure.

You know, that's not what we wanted. What we wanted is to be included as whole people, whole human beings. But ultimately, you can't depend on someone else to tell your story. You have to tell it yourself. Now, the way it used to be, we weren't allowed to tell it ourselves. And I still got, up until a few years ago david we like your idea but it's not us it's the international market you know black movies are very hard to sell this and that so there's still all of that out there but in fact um mixed race casts of big movies are the biggest sellers in the world market. The Fast and Furious franchise, say what you want, has the most diverse cast probably of

any franchise, and it is the biggest selling. Yeah. And one of the reasons is that. Okay. Yeah. So for a long time, we were sold a story that was not true and we're changing i say we the industry they whatever you want to call it not enough but we're changing you know i think hollywood lies and the reason i say hollywood lies i just told you they do they do

because they'll say they'll say oh you know it's it's about the money. But I know I think your bias is Trump, the money a lot of times. Well, also power. You know, I remember when Barack Obama was first elected and I was watching, I think it was in MSNBC and the reporters were just giddy because it's a fact that the electorate is changing and becoming blacker and browner every day. And yay, we're going to be in power. And I sat at home going, you don't think white people can hear you? You don't think they're listening? Because to expect someone to relinquish power gracefully is a fantasy. To expect the old power structure to say well it's our turn and um give us the keys okay it doesn't go like that and i think that really is at the root of what we're seeing now because if the electorate is changing now all of a sudden you hear the manga crowd going well maybe a dictator is not that bad

because the numbers are not working in their favor so you know that's what it is i knew this was coming because you know it's just it through history it never gone like that being an og in comedy and i'm a comedian myself so i would like to know this um what are your thoughts on all like the beef with with the comics and everything that's going on right now first of all what i was gonna say when i walked in here as i said y'all need some brown lick up in here it's common sense over there no no you need it right here now it's common sense. Excuse me. Watch Club Shay Shay. I love Shannon. Yeah, I do too.

We do too. It's the ratio of sips, ma'am. He takes one sip while the guest is taking five or six. That's right. I saw Monique about at the hour end. She was licking up. She was lubricated. I don't think Shannon drinking at all. No, man.

Watch it again. He's real slick. He goes, Charlemagne, who you want to kill? You're like, everybody? I want to kill everybody. He said, here, have some more. He's like,

Charlemagne, who you want to slap? Everybody? You can get me up in there. My advice is bring your own cup bring your own cup man stop drinking what is in that bottle damn y'all man that's not really my thing man i don't do all that and at this point if somebody goes on club shea shea they're loaded i mean they packed you go in there for a purpose you're not going there to talk about your big

new novel you wrote you trying to settle some scores it's crazy man it is crazy uh i'm just a spectator i don't think i've seen one interview in its entirety because they go like two three hours yeah i've seen clips it's bizarre i'm like y'all i'm drinking coffee going damn i guess they don't like each other yes yeah man it does make me wonder what happened to the game though because you know when i think about the 90s it feel like at least from my viewpoint it looked like everybody was working together right it looked like there was you know black there's always been that we're human beings there's always been petty jealousy envy i want your spot um you mad about some stuff that happened in Club Ding-a-ling back in

you know 20 years ago and now it's just coming to the fore it's human nature but it's just not my vibe it's not my vibe you know we can talk outside man I ain't gonna blow you up on the air but it is wild I don't know where it's going to

lead you know it's funny. When Cat was on there, everybody was, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. Yeah. Now they're like, no, this is a lot. Club. Club. Yeah. Now everybody's mad. Meanwhile, Santa's like, have another sip. Have another sip, man. Cat ain't drink. Cat wasn't drinking like that.

He was sipping. He was sipping. No, he was sipping. He was sipping. But Cat wasn't drinking. He wasn't drinking like everybody else would be drinking usually. Cat was. Hey, man, Cat is a unique individual. Yeah. This brother has sprint speed.

Sprint speed. Yeah. And, you know, when I look at him, I think about what he did on Atlanta. That was so brilliant when he won the Emmy. I would really love to see him in a more expanded, dramatic role. I really don't think anyone's tapped that part of him because he was so good, so real. He reminds me of that aspect of Richard Pryor. Like when you see Richard Pryor in Blue Collar, it was one of my favorites where it was funny,

but it was also about class and the auto industry and all this stuff. So that's what I would hope for. I'm sure if I dug around, I could find some like psychological studies on why comedians are able to go between drama and comedy so easily. Like it's a really a thin line between comedy. Absolutely. You know, in, in,

in times of like Tartuffe back in, uh, ancient times, comedians were the most dangerous figures because they tell the most truth through laughter. Yeah. And that's subversive, man.

And I'm gonna tell you something else. Uh, Donald Trump, Putin, all these leaders, they don't like to be laughed at. And that is the easiest and most potent way to bring a tyrant down. You make fun of them. me and comics are the most damaged ones they done been through everything and a lot of times you deflect I know I did as a kid deflect a minion ass woman through laughter

so you know that's just the way that is you know what I want to see this last question I know you gotta go listen I would like to see a living color reboot I know you asked me last time we can't do that why even if you write for it then you cast me what i do think i think in the next generation has to do their version of it yeah uh you know you guys say that it was like remember coming to america everybody

goes oh man you should bring that back oh they should reboot that they rebooted and everybody said well y'all didn't do it right. Yeah. I mean, it's like the original movie was a comedy. It was not a history of ancient African royalty. So, you know, you wanted to bring it back and then you want it to be what it should be today. We just can't do it. We were buck wild.

And even when we put in living color on, there was no social media. You could call the station, you could write a letter, or you could fax. You didn't have a voice that you could immediately counter and protest what you're watching. So I remember the Headleys, which was the Jamaican family. We were saying so many Jamaican curse words. Fox didn't know what we were saying. The Jamaican viewers did. By the time they wrote in and told Fox, we were on to the next thing. So that's how we got ahead of the censors, but it's more media now.

I guess what it is about all of us, younger comics, we just, we look at that. That's the stuff we look up to. And that's the stuff that we wish we could do. That's the stuff we want to see. And it's not coming to fruition these days.

It's different, man. Cause as soon as you utter there on it, why'd you say that? You're wrong. You're bad. Apologize. Take it back.

Take it, take it down. And, um, it was gorilla televisionilla television when we did the Super Bowl halftime go back and think about it before in living color did that the Super Bowl halftime entertainment were like you know Christian young people up with people you know square dancing there was no

competition and what happened was after we got that audience, people did not turn back to the Super Bowl. That's why the next year you saw Michael Jackson. You saw all kind of stuff because of us. And I think more people know it now. But for a long time, it wasn't really talked about. I mean, that that shows you the power, know there you can still get wild and plus now maybe you don't have to be on network television you remember when Prince he put I think it was musicology straight out digital and I'm like this dude is crazy ain't nobody gonna download the

album no it's not gonna work he was ahead of his time he's ahead of his time so I would probably say that if you're gonna do something really crazy go that route release it yourself um do a podcast yourself then you're uncensored your voice is pure i don't know how many people watch but and i am very uncensored and i think i'm in the wrong job like you know because wait wait slow down listen no I've been working here for six weeks cut her mic cut her mic

and I've already been slapped with like eight phobias stuff I never even heard of they told me the other day you bibliophobic I say I love the bible and they like that ain't the bible but that's how she knows she's doing it right to her point I think what she's saying shows I can live living color y'all represented a sense of freedom yeah my thing is if you getting if everybody coming at you and saying

you said this and you said that you shouldn't have said this you shouldn't said that you're doing it right you are absolutely right everything is not for everybody and if you perform and uh tell your jokes your humor and everybody's happy then that's homogenized uh that's diluted just bland stuff and we don't like i don't like that give me a little something pull a stink in it something but just stay safe stay dangerous you know what i wanted to ask you before you go in the 90s too like you know there's all these conversations about oh you shouldn't wear the dress and you shouldn't do this y'all did men on film men wore dresses we just laughed i didn't think nothing of it back then what when did that change hilarious to me um i think i understand our history i understand black people's history i.e black

men's history in this country uh but we weren't the only ones. Every major comic of any race has cross-dressed. I don't do it in real life. If I did, that's another thing. But I did it like 30 years ago. But there is this thing of

black men being emasculated and all that stuff. I don't look at it as that deep. It was a comic device. So I don't really hang too much on it. But there does seem to be this almost fetish about it, about us. There's some truth in it, but there's also an over fascination in just that. Let me just put it like this.

There are a lot of black people and black people in power who are being compromised and manipulated that never put on a dress. OK, so don't get flack for how you speak about the electorate and who you want to support. We need that voice. We need that voice because at the end of the day, I trust people are smart enough to decide for themselves. That's right. So speak your mind. That's all I'm saying. Absolutely. Thank you, brother. Yeah, man. Love seeing you guys. Same, man. David Allen Gray,

the American Society of Magical Negroes is out. It's out now, right? Yeah, it's out now. Today. Today. Okay, so make sure y'all go check that out. Don't make me put a dress on again. Please.

I don't want to do it. Wake that ass up. In the morning. The Breakfast Club.