The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: KevOnStage Talks 'Clean' Comedy, 20 Yrs Of Marriage, “Life from the Back Pew” Tour + More

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With KevOnStage To Discuss 'Clean' Comedy, 20 Yrs Of Marriage, “Life from the Back Pew” Tour. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Mississippi, Yazoo Clay keeps secrets. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. A forgotten asylum cemetery. It was my family's mystery. Shame, guilt, propriety. Something keeps it all buried deep until it's not. I'm Larisen Campbell and this is Under Yazoo Clay. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart Original Podcast, Science Stuff. Join me or Hitcham as we answer questions about animals, space, our brains,

and our bodies. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to Science Stuff on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pitman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to share my podcast with you, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars, I wanted a career.

I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life. Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's a Martinez. The news can feel like a lot on any given day,

but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen Up First from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up early Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DJ Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.

We are The Breakfast Club. Lone Rose filling in for Jess this morning. And we got a special guest in the building. We have Kev on stage. Yes, sir. What's up, y'all? How you feeling? Good morning.

Good. I've been wanting to hear that for a long time. How are you, my brother? I'm good, man. Thank you guys for having me. You know, there's some people who might know. I got a two-part question. Number one, who is Kev on stage, and who is Kevin Frederick? Oh, that's a good question.

Kev on stage is probably the performative version of Kevin Frederick. Kev on stage is a comedian, entertainer, pretty much do anything to make you laugh. Feel like Kevin Frederick is a father, husband, business person as well. You know, that's it. I think it's two sides.

When I'm at home, I'm Kevin Frederick. So I gotta make my family laugh, but I'm not like, yo, let me see this, boobity boobity boo, you know what I'm saying? But when I leave that house, I'm Kev on stage. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, I think that's the difference. How'd you get into comedy?

Especially coming from the church. Yeah, I think- And you're a clean, quote unquote clean comic, as they say. Yeah, and when I say clean, I just don't cuss. Okay. I was about to say, because- Yeah, because clean has different connotations.

Like, you can be clean where there's no vulgar material at all, you don't touch certain subjects. I really just don't cuss. I talk about everything else in my life, everything else that I think is funny. I just don't cuss. I say nigga too though. Like I just, as a church kid, I could not cuss.

My mom would rather me bring home a child than to cuss. Really? Yes, cussing was so bad. And you know, a lot of church kids. Cussing is premarital sex. Way worse. Really? What's a little baby amongst friends and family?

Baby, but cussing in the house. She was like absolutely Not and I didn't trust myself to cuss at school and not cuss at home like most of church kids did So I pretty much did you know I pretty marital sex I just never cuss but nigga don't practice bad habits No, no, I just never I felt like they would catch me. And it's actually really a tool for me in comedy. I think a lot of times you gotta work a little bit harder if you ain't cussing. Sometimes cuss words are just funny. So you just throw it out there and it's funny.

But to answer your question, my comedy started in church. Like making people laugh in church after church. My grandma would be like, do that thing Sister Daniels did when she fell over, do that person's shower. Do how that person preached and I would get to stay in the living room a little longer around grown folks and stuff like that. So once I realized, oh, this gets me attention, this gets me perks, I started leaning into that.

And you know, black church is where a lot of performers get their first start. So I did a talent show in church at 16, and I was like bitten by the bug then. And then shout out to Nate Jackson, real big comedian. Now he had a comedy club in Tacoma, and he let me do 20, 25 minutes at his club every Thursday for like two years, and that's where I really, really honed my craft. After college I was just going there every week,

and a lot of times we had a lot of regulars there, so I couldn't do the same material. So I'd have to like do new jokes, get better, do new stuff, so I think that's, the church gives me the performance, the club helped me sharpen my tool. Why do you keep saying, like what made you keep saying the N word? Because I'm trying not to say the N word no more.

So what made you not curse but say the N word? You know, that wasn't a cuss word to me. Like there was certain words that my mom- Shalom and Messena for 15 years, he been trying to stop saying the N word. Oh, have you? He calls me that bunch of words all the time. These n and Messina for 15 years, he's been trying to stop saying it anyway. Oh, have you? He calls it a bunch of words all the time. These niggas be niggin'.

It's hard not, you know what I'm saying? These niggas be niggin'. Yeah, it's hard not to use it. I think as a black kid, all my friends were saying nigga. It was in black culture, movies, TV, and it wasn't a cuss word to my mom. It wasn't on the list.

Some people couldn't say lie. Like my wife, she couldn't say lie. My wife, she couldn't say lie in the house. My family pissed off, it wasn't a cuss word. Nigga just didn't really bother me. I didn't say that a lot at home, but it didn't raise no flags. So that was the one cuss word I could say,

so I said it so much. It's always the person telling you not to say lie, that's the biggest lie. That's why I didn't want you to say it. Don't call me out. Yeah, we don't say lie, we don't say fat, and we don't say ugly in the house. Really, all those words?

Yeah, on top of a curse word. You fat, ugly liar. What would I do without those words? I grew up, my mom cussed me out like a, she was like, what? Oh no. She's a sweet, humble lady now, but. What?

You should've led with that part. And then said, she used to cuss you out. Cause they met her and they'd be like, what I'm trying, no, it was, yeah. Oh, she's changed. Oh yeah, she's changed. She's sweet now. And my grandmother.

My grandmother's locked into the church now, so. Yeah. You know? I wanted to ask you about, you know, we had Big Mac here, something about producers. And he was talking about what you did during COVID. He was very impressed of how COVID,

who had everybody locked down, you made it into a business and a successful business. He said he's seen you go from small house to medium house to bigger house to different car to this to this to any other. So tell the people what you did during COVID that was something that was totally different. Yeah, there were some other things in there, but that was the most visible.

Shout out to Spectrum, appreciate y'all. Keep Your Distance Comedy was our COVID comedy relief situation. So what I did in LA, obviously everything was locked down during COVID. And then we got the notification that you could have up to 25 people outside social distance, two people here, six feet, two more people.

And I could never do the Zoom comedy. I could never get into it because comedy is about timing and that short delay from zoom response you it it threw me off some people could do it I just I needed instant reaction know if it's funny or not so once they did that I had the idea of like okay we get people to come outside luckily LA is warm and it doesn't rain that often and we could split them up and get 25 people. I'll bring the comics in, we'll do COVID testing, put them up and we'll live stream the comedy because we didn't have nothing to do.

Like we watching Versus and you know, me and my wife was like, we was having like fight parties for Versus. I was like, we really, she's making nachos, you know what I'm saying? We like really getting- We all have the best parties. Yeah, like them Versus parties, the early Versus.

That was the only thing to look forward to. Like interesting didn't even care about the the quality was like oh versus coming On so I was like what if we do that for comedy and that's basically where the idea came from So you run it out of alley we it was like the back parking lot of our partners Studio like it was a back parking lot I mean we literally had 25, 30 people max, maybe 35, including the comics. And we needed the comics. We were like, y'all stand here too,

so we have as much audience as possible. We had to COVID test every single person. It was like $200 a test. It was crazy expensive. But yeah, I flew all these comics in and we live streamed their sets. We have like six comedians, probably did over 150 micro specials

over the two year period. Introduced a lot of people to, a lot of comics to a lot of different people, a lot of people to a lot of different comics. A lot of comics, biggest YouTube video is their Keep Your Distance special. And it was like, it was like my proudest moment to create opportunities to see black comedians, put some money in their pockets,

give them some tape to show the comedy clubs. Like I would ask them like, yo, can you send me your tape so I can market it? And they like, bro, I don't have no tape. Because most comedy clubs are drab and dark and you know, it's not quality. So we gave them their specials to do with what they wanted afterwards.

So they put them up on YouTube or chop them up and make reels and it was fantastic. Dave Chappelle actually executed it first. Like I had the idea and then I saw him do it in Ohio. So that was like, oh great, now I can say, just how Dave did that, that's how we're gonna do it. So I was very proud. They said you had no less than 10,000 people on the stream

each, every other week, right? Right, it was every other week. That was early COVID. So as guidelines relaxed, the ticket sales went was early COVID. So as guidelines relaxed, the ticket sales went down. So at the top, at the peak of it was 10,000 tickets, 14,000 tickets, and we were averaging about 10,000 tickets. And that's like just people who purchase, but people were having basically five parties. They'd have 10, 15 people.

So it was like almost closed caption, I mean, a closed circuit TV, um, parties. So, but as each state, once Atlanta was outside, then it was less than Texas was less. But we did it for about two years straight. And it was it was fantastic. And now that's on Amazon, you can go watch those. All those specials on Amazon. First of all, your partnerships go crazy. Yeah. Amazon then I saw I was gonna ask you after that, I know you did something with Patreon with the women in comedy, because you forgot the

women a lot. No, I did it. I didn Patreon with the women in comedy because you forgot the women a lot in the pandemic. No I didn't. I didn't forget the women. I made sure there was at least one black woman and often two or three on every single show. Okay Dee Dee. I don't think I paid attention to that. Because y'all don't see black women. No.

That's not true. Black women don't never see black women but they always want to say men don't see black women. No, that's not true. Black women don't never see black women, but they always wanna say men don't see black women. I know you from All Dev Digital, so I've seen you work with so many women and different people, I didn't think about that, but when I was researching for this, I saw something in Essence where you would talk about one of your homegirls was like,

yo, where the women at? Can we, hello? And then you did the partnership with Patreon. Yeah, so Patreon reached out to me and was like, what do you wanna do? And to continue my efforts to support black women. Because you was already having black women on that. Black women don't see each other.

I understand. I understand. I pray about this all the time. Honestly, the truth is the ratio of comics, it's probably eight to two men to women anyway. So to make sure I had a black woman, I had to like, I was flying them out. At first I was only doing LA comics.

But after I ran out of LA women, I was flying them out, flying women from New York, Atlanta, everywhere. Is there shortage of black women in LA? Black women comics. Black women comics, I'm sorry. Okay. But yeah, when Patreon reached out, they were like, what do you want to do? You want to do a special?

And I was like, I want to produce standout specials for the black women, I think are funny. So that's what we did. We had an amazing time and Mel Mitchell, Ty Davis, Paris, Paris, Asha think grace came from New York. Jerrolyn indescribable did some time. And there's one person I'm forgetting. I said, Ty, OK, Paris. Oh, that might have been it.

That might have been a special do. They did great. OK, shout out to my patron, the stage crew. They support. keep your distance. They support Patreon. They buy a lot. You know why the reason I ask that is because a lot of times we ask for things, but we don't support.

Oh. That's something black people do. We ask for things, we say, oh, we want more black women, but then do you actually watch the black woman, especially when she does it? You watch her sitcom? You watch her cable news show?

That's- I do. And people support you though. Especially online. You've mastered the comedian that comes from the stage, but also is online, but people take you very serious and bring you very serious. It's hard to be in that middle space sometimes. Yeah, I think I totally agree. I think there are two different skills and you need to know how to do both of them. And for me, the internet's always been a tool to get you to come to shows and do other stuff. Like I'm just trying to get your attention, but you have to be funny on the internet, and you have to be funny in real life.

And a lot of times, comedians are on the internet, but they haven't put the time in standup. I actually did the reverse, but I wasn't making videos on the internet so people didn't know I was a standup. So then I was like, okay, I need to remind people. So a lot of times people come to my show, it's their first standup comedy show ever

that they've ever attended. So I think few people have mastered both because they both require immense level of training in that discipline. You know what I'm saying? Even if you're funny, you might not, it might not necessarily translate to the internet because you need to know how to be funny

on that specific platform. Each platform has their own identity. Twitter funny is not the same as Instagram, TikTok. They all have their own identities and comedic abilities. Some stuff translates to all five, but not all of it. And it's all different buckets of money. Like if you're able to do standup, you go do your standup.

If you're able to do stuff on social media, you do social media. If you can do both, get it all. Absolutely, get brand deals. Some platforms pay you brand both, get it all. Absolutely, get brand deals, some platforms pay you, brand deals, live show money, that was the other thing about Keep Your Distance. It was like, I went from touring and selling out

to not being able to tour. So I still got my family, I got employees and stuff, so I'm like, I need a way to generate this income because people are looking for me to pay their bills. So switching to that, Keep Your Distance was also just, that's the Kevin Frederick stuff, that's the business mindset of we gotta pivot. And switching to that, you know, keep your distance was also just, that's the Kevin Frederick's of it. That's the business mindset of like we got to pivot. And also knowing that that business not gonna last long term. Some people can go outside again, they're gonna go outside. You know what I'm saying?

Nothing can compete with being able to go outside, have dinner, go to a show, or do whatever. Did your internet life start like with you figuring out, okay on the stage I also should do internet. Did that begin during the all-dev digital time? And like, what was the first like Internet breakthrough for you? It was prior, prior, prior to even moving to L.A. It was back in the day, had a group called the Playmakers, me and my brother and my friend and we used to actually do physical plays. Like we were trying to be Tyler Perry, but we live in Tacoma, Washington,

and you just not going to be able to stand up a play in Tacoma. There's not enough black people, there's not enough stuff. Tyler started in Atlanta, so his audience was there more. So I remember we were struggling, we had lost this investor, we lost $40,000 of his money. First we put up on our sales, we do them like high schools and churches, that ain't gonna wear. That investor gave us $40,000, we didn't make that man a dime with his money back. So next time we got $20,000

and we flew this Tyler Perry promoter out, he was like, yo, this place is great. Tyler would love to see this. You guys gotta stand it up in Oakland. We're like, okay, what do we gotta do? You gonna help us? He was like, yes. I'm gonna help you set up in Oakland.

All you need is $300,000. Just set it up. All you need is $300,000. I said, brother, I mean, you might as well be 300 million. At that point, I probably had $756 in my account like me and my wife made just enough to pay those bills So I remember watching like Billy Sorrell's at that time. He did um Things black girls say I had already been watching YouTube ESA and dorm attainment Tim trying to wrong sue all those people

But it didn't seem like a viable business for me because I didn't know how that works But Billy Sorrell's is a comedian I knew and his video did like nine million views. So I thought if we can go on the internet and make people laugh, then when we go do our plays, then people will be like, oh I saw them on the internet, I'll come to the plays. Then as we started, first two videos we did,

Things Black Church Girls Say and Things Black Parents Say, both went really viral, a million views. At that time that was a lot of views on YouTube. Still a lot of views. Still a lot, but that happens more often now than it used to. And at that moment, I was like, oh, actually, the internet is a thing of its own.

Like, if we just do that, we should focus on building that. And then churches would bring us out. We would do stand-up all over the United States, doing Me and My Brother in Hand. And then after that, I was like, I need to do my own stuff, pretty much instantly. I was like, I don't wanna get boxed into just doing church stuff,

because then that's all people will let you do. So I started my KevOnStage YouTube page, which is almost at a million followers, which has been a goal of mine from the very beginning, but it's been harder, because the algorithm doesn't encourage you to subscribe like it used to, because it's all just recommended.

But the internet became the goal and since then I probably making a video every single day so to answer your question it was those two videos and then all deaf when I moved to LA I got a job there and actually that was kind of tough because I had to stay but take a step back from being talent because they were like you are here to nurture the other people. You ain't gonna build your channel, you ain't gonna do none of that stuff. You do all that on your own time.

And I got fired from Boeing previously and I was like, I can't get fired from no jobs no more. And it was hard to get a job in LA. So I made sure I focused on those talent. You were from Boeing, the plane company? Boeing, the plane company. I was in there watching you. So when you left, that's when the planes

just started f'ing up. Yeah. You did quality control. I have nothing to do with them flying, you left, that's when the planes just started up and up. Yeah. You did quality control. I have nothing to do with them flying. I have nothing to do with them crashing. Okay, all right. I was doing a little bit of work in there. I didn't do much in there.

But All Def helped me to develop other talent and helped me to develop shows. Like my job, I was the head of talent and head of talent and head of creative at All Def at the same time. So I helped bring talent in, develop them and also help develop in those shows So roast me great taste all those shows were developed underneath me. They were not my ideas like Patrick and Teddy and to hear and all those group, you know Meg they would create the shows but we brainstorm and stuff like that

So you were Russell was Russell at that time? He's the one who hired me I was hired me. He called me I had a meeting with them and I was pitching a movie and he was like we don't want to do this But why don't you come run talent for me called me as I left his house and I started like within two weeks And now we're the guy there too. Like I did a couple episodes of the cooler Yeah, and like I remember like people just the way that they talk about you and just your team in the office I was like okay if you do this like you make it next and then you see like to hear like everybody's everywhere now. Yeah. How impactful was Russell Simmons on your career then and just being at All Dev Digital? Oh I think the opportunity that he gave me was

life-changing. Like skill-wise I should not have had that job. Absolutely lied in my interview about the teams I ran. Oh man, I had 30 tellers here, people at Boeing, I had this many people working under me, nobody reported to me. What do you think God thought of that? You know what I'm saying? He probably was like, he probably was like, you got to give me how you fit in. You know what I'm saying? I think he understood. It might not have been his proudest moment of me, but you know what I'm saying? I got to feed these kids. You know what I'm saying? So, but I was a firm believer, you give me this job, I'll do this job. I might not be prepared, but I went in there and got it together.

But yeah, without that job, it was like digital media college for me. Like I learned how to make six episodes in a day. It's funny, we just went to WrestleMania last night, I mean Raw, wrestling last night, and we were early and I saw them taping other shows ahead of time and I was like, that's, that's efficient. Like, that's how we would have thought of that. You got these people here, you can shoot. They shot, I think, Speed before they shot, Saturday Night at the Main Event, you have all this talent here, cycled them through. We was making great tapes. We were making six, eight episodes a day because

we didn't have a lot of money. So we had to learn how to maximize our time and our budget. Be efficient. Be efficient with content, with ideas, how to make more with less. So that type of thinking is what trained me to be more successful. Eventually start my own app, Patreon. Like that's how I was taught to do that. Also actually before that I was working at Awesomeness TV which is the kid version of All Deaf. My kids were Zay Zay and JoJo, they had a show on Awesomeness called Crazy I Say. So I learned from them, unpaid, I went and sat in their staff meetings.

When we moved to LA, I was like, hey, can I just come sit in the staff meetings? So for two years, or like a year before I got to even at All Def, I would be at their staff meetings every day, just taking notes, seeing how they thought about stuff, seeing how they did brand deals. So when I went to All-deaf I had all that knowledge from awesomeness so I knew what I was talking about in the interview

and I actually knew how to do the job I just had never done the job. Who was your inspiration as comedians coming up? Stand-up wise? All the way above. Probably my biggest was Arness J's probably my favorite comedian he's just so physical he didn't care whatever he was gonna make you laugh Sinbad was gonna make you laugh. He didn't cuss. He didn't cuss either. But Sinbad doesn't cuss but you don't notice he doesn't cuss which was what my goal was I don't want you to like be like, oh, this is non cussing guys funny You know, I wanted people to leave and be like, I don't think I even heard him cuss and that's how Sinbad was

Bernie Mac probably made me laugh harder than I ever did. His Def Comedy Jam special, and me and my wife saw him in Kings of Comedy, and that set is probably the most flawless stand-up set to me. Eddie Murphy as a goal of how big a comedian could be, and then more recently Kevin Hart, like Kevin Hart is funny in so many disciplines,

so to be funny on stand-up podcasts, TV, movies, like that's how I see myself. Regular conversation, just interviewing. Yeah, like to me his offhand comedy is some of his best work. Cold as balls, he's funny, but you get him in the interview scenario and you realize just how funny he is.

So I think all those people probably, even Jonathan Slocum was probably the first one though. He's a black church comedian. He had a tape called Laugh Yourself to Life that my parents listened to all the time, to and from church. And that's the person who probably made me think that you could even do standup related to church things

and it could be funny. When did you start noticing the comedy in the church? Like, do you remember that first thing that you saw in the church that you found funny? Oh man, absolutely. absolutely. So many things. Sister Lewis was Sister Lewis in our church. She might have been not alive. But you ain't say God bless her soul. God bless her soul. I didn't want to bring it down.

But God bless her soul. You said Sister Lewis. I'm like, she got to be about 105. Sister Lewis, God bless her soul. Sister Lewis went on to be with him. But she went on to be with him. But she went on to be with him. Oh my God, it is so tabernacle. But she worked like two jobs, but she loved church and she could never stay awake.

So to wake herself up, she would yell out. So she fell asleep, God is amazing, like that. And everybody would look at her, it's just Sister Lewis, but she'd do it when you're preaching. In the most inopportune moment, she would wake up and scream out. And and I was like nobody is saying anything about this So when we get home, I'll be like y'all and then we'd be eating dinner

I'll be like y'all remember sister Lewis God is amazing and my grandma and them would bust out laughing and she did that from like my whole childhood like ten years straight Nobody ever stopped her. Nobody ever said hey, it's okay not to come you can you know rest? So that's probably the first thing I noticed that was funny. that's the first thing I copied. Did you do that joke in front of her? Oh yeah and she thought it was hilarious and she could never pronounce my name my name is Kevin she'd be like Calvin and I would always be like Calvin and they my family thought that was hilarious my great grandma was hilarious she had a little you know five o'clock shadow um yeah she was she was

big prickly she had George Clooney same beard. Yo I hadclock shadow. Yeah, she was big prickly. She had George Clooney's same beard. Yo, I had aunts like that. Yeah, she was bearded up. You said you had that too? No, I had aunts like that. I had like a, I don't wanna call them. Well, they're not here no more. I had great, great, when I was younger,

I remember my great, great aunts down in Virginia, they were all very prickly. Yeah. And I was like, ooh, this is not supposed to, I always was a little confused. Yeah, absolutely. So I'd make fun of my grandma like, grandma, you got a beard. And that was my great grandma, my grandma, my mom,

my whole family thought that was funny. We had a family of nine in a three bedroom house. So laughter is what kept us like sane, I guess. And we had a dog too, it was like, man, we don't have enough money to feed us. Why we got the dog? But that was that was not unusual You know I'm saying so we were poor but we didn't know we were poor because we're full of love and laughter And that's kind of how I saw the world

So that was that was my approach now your wife has been with you. Yep. You're been together 20 years over 20 years 20 years, I was gonna add that because when I'm watching you tell you a story She's she's excited like she can feel it. When you said the 40,000 thing, she was like, oh. Y'all are one of my favorite husband and wife content duo. I mean, and I know you got your own line of things that you do, but like y'all together and then separately, it's just like, I bounced back and forth

some times between the two. Thank you, thank you. Has she always believed? Always believed. And God, are you? Both. Okay. Always believed. Always believed. Both. Always believed.

I don't know if she was always believing in my version of how to get to things. Because when I went, for example, when I wanted to move to LA, I was like, I had written this whole plan that I submitted to her. Submitted to her? Yeah, yeah. Listen, we submit to each other, right?

So I was like, I want to move to LA, here's my plan. And and part of the plan was let's give our house up for foreclosure like who cares I'm gonna get to LA. I'm gonna get I'm gonna make it back in cash You know let the house go because this is during the housing crisis. I was like everybody's house is foreclosing I'm gonna get it back. She was like or we could rent it out and I was like oh snap That's that's genius cuz it was upside down at the time I like $40,000. That $40,000 number is just stuck with you.

$40,000 is just hovering. That's a lot of money, bro. We couldn't even sell it, but we rented it out and lo and behold, it's up over its value now. So I think she's helped me to steer those things into a foreseeable thing, but she's never been like no. Now the first time when I got fired from my job, that was the first time I told her.

Which job was this? This is when I got fired from Key Bank back in Washington. Jesus, how many times you got fired? Only got fired once. I quit born. You don't come up here. I got fired from Key Bank and I deserved it. I wasn't a good employee.

I was making color copies of comedy show flyers. I left the original in the glass. I was doing all type of stuff, had my feet on the desk. Told my era retail lead manager, she was like, what are your goals here at the company? And I told this woman who oversaw all the banks in the Puget Sound, I don't plan on working here, I'm just working here till I make it.

And she was like, huh. And I came home and told my wife that, she was like, why would you tell that lady that? I was like, that's the truth. Fired 90 days from that day on the dot. Literally, I got put on a performance improvement plan that next Monday, was fired 90 days from that Monday. Kevin, we're moving in another direction.

Kevin, go chase your dreams. Absolutely, that's what they told me. They were like, the lady was like, you don't need to be here. Somebody who needs to be at this job needs to be here. You're not, you're not focused on that. So I forgot where I was going with that. There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay.

It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation. It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything. So things that get buried there tend to stay buried. Until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. All former patients of the old state asylum.

And nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery. But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo Clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think.

The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larisen Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real?

You will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. What's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen?

This is experimental. This means never work for you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue.

We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeartVideo app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I am Bob Pitman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to share my podcast with you, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing.

Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars. I wanted a career. I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life. Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Amartines. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening.

That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. How your wife is your saving grace. Oh yeah, yeah, my wife is my saving grace. Thank you. Uh, so that was when I told my wife, I don't actually want to do a job.

I want to do stand up. So she was like, well, this is the first time I'm hearing of this, like how are we supposed to feed these kids? Because in Tacoma, that wasn't a feasible option to pay bills. How many kids did you have at that time? We had two boys, two under four. I think my son was three and one when I got fired. Or four and two, somewhere around there.

And she did not believe, she just didn't see how that was feasible. So what she said was, let's work on a plan to get there. Part of that work includes you getting a job and show me how you can do standup and how that can be feasible. But until then, let's do it. So that's what we did.

We made a plan. I went and got a job. That's how I got the job at Boeing. Worked at my craft, worked my job at Boeing. Then didn't stand up at night. Nate's became Thursdays and I would do a show on Thursday, and then somebody else on Friday, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

And now I'm like, oh, I'm making some money, not much money, but a couple hundred bucks here and there, which at that time was still a lot of money, still today is a lot of money. Now comedy's paying for a bill here and there. First it was just gum, then gas, then the cellphone bill, then the electric bill. So then when the internet came in,

and Awesomeness TV offered me a contract to write, direct, produce, shoot, and edit my kids' videos, now comedy became income. And she was like, okay, now I can see it. So that's when we moved to LA, worked for Awesomeness, got another job with Tracy Edmonds, eventually led to the job. Moved to Tracy.

Yeah, shout out to Tracy Edmonds. Tracy don't get the credit she deserves. She doesn't. Another black person, she gave us actually the $50,000 we used to move to LA was split between the three of me and Jay, but that's the money that we used to move to LA. She gave us $50,000 to make 10 videos for All Right TV, which was her YouTube, her version of like All Def Digital,

which was like a faith-based thing. But then she also taught us the game, right? She taught us everything she knew. She invited us to the house. I ain't gonna tell your story. I ain't gonna tell your story. As a husband, there was a great funny story there, but that's your story to tell. She put us on the game.

She kept us for as long as she could. The company ran out of money. You want to tell the story? I keep trying to get her to pull up a seat. They're so good together. So yeah, and then Albright TV fell apart, and then she was like, hey guys, I did the best I could and she moved on, which was actually a lesson in of itself. It's like people can help you, but when that money ends, it's every man for themselves.

That's right. Like she, it's no hard feelings. She said, brother, there ain't no more money. She made the investment. She made the investment. She moved on to her other projects. At that point I learned, oh, it's not even no hard feelings. Like brother, I did what I could do, we did business,

I helped you as much as I could, but I'm not gonna reach in my personal pocket to help you. Like we do business together, we shake hands, we go our separate ways. So that was very valuable and also shout out to her, I don't think we would've been able to move to LA without Tracy Edmonds. Because we didn't have the hard cash to move families.

It was three families, me, my family, my brother's family moved and aunt's family all moved. We split that 50,000, shot and edited the videos ourselves, kept that money, paid off this credit card that we had that was $10,000, that was built on stupid mistakes, I could tell you. 29% interest. Oh man.

I'd love to have Tracy on Breakfast Club, but nevermind. No, no, hit her up. She's amazing, and I agree, she doesn't get the credit she deserves for what kind of brilliant producer she is and just like a solid person like she was a solid Individual she did more than she had to for us and I'm eternally grateful still since us sends us Christmas cards To this day like that's how solid a person she is. So yeah, shout out to her, you know And I wanted to oh, you know you were talking about working at Boeing,

and the reason I think that's so powerful is because one thing I always tell people is that there's 168 hours in a week. Yeah. That's more than enough time to chase your dreams and deal with your reality. Yeah, absolutely. So, Boeing, I, by the grace of God,

that job was very easy, didn't take a lot of time, so I studied YouTube at that time. That's when I really learned what makes a good video. I spent my time studying there. And then when I left Boeing, in my first tour, I worked at All Deaf, Monday through Thursday. I worked remote on Friday, did stand up Friday in one city, another city Saturday, another city Sunday,

then flew back to LA on Monday morning and went to work Monday through Thursday again for a whole year Like I worked my job and I tell people like you don't have to rush to quit your job To do this like your you it should be so obvious that you can't keep up with both I think a lot of people stunt their growth because they want content to be their job so bad and content is up and down Like how much money is up and down brand is up and down that nine how much money is up and down, brand is up and down. That nine to five is your first real investment into yourself and into your company. It's allows you to have health insurance, pay your bills and allow your money from your business, content, comedy, whatever to be excess money as opposed to bill

money. Because then people get frustrated, it's not enough money, then you lose creativity because you worried about survival and as a human you got to survive first. So if your stability is rocky Creativity can't flow if you can't think about I'm hungry. Where am I gonna eat? Where am I gonna sleep? Like so once that's taken care of then you can flow creatively in my opinion And I was not afraid to work hard So I Boeing I would go to the break room and find a nondescript wall and make my video or walk all the way To my car on my lunch break make a video shoot it edit edit it post it and then go back to my job never talked about none of my videos I wasn't gonna make the same mistake I made at

KeyBank and I took that money and and built my comedy career on the internet and stand up and work that regular job all at the same time I see that your your YouTube channel is Kevin stage studios yeah I Yeah, I have to I've kept on stage Which was the first one then I have kept on stage to do that as well at what point did you understand why you needed? Kevin stage studios. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely So it was actually there was I don't know if y'all remember this but Logan Paul Went to this suicide forest in Japan. Yeah, and it called what people called the Adpocalypse

on YouTube. Everybody's revenue dropped. All these advertisers pulled their money out of YouTube. So that's the first thing that I realized. I was like, oh, this can go away. And the second thing that happened, there was some sort of like child trafficking pedophile situation on YouTube.

And they were like doing these playlists and finding kids, like basically kids doing innocuous things, going swimming and they would put like numbers in the comments. So basically everybody who had children on their channel, all their comments got blocked, right? And that kills the engagement, kills the views. So in order to get comments back, I started Kev on Stage Studios just to keep the engagement back, right?

And also to get rid of that Logan Paul situation, I was like, maybe if I start a new channel, it'll be getting different ads. And then I realized I'll just do long form content, Kev on Stage Studios and things that are not just me and Kev on Stage will just be my personal point of view. So Kev on Stage Studios actually is much more of a healthy channel, even with less subscribers

because that's where I put my podcast, Here's the Thing. Shout out to Thatchick Angel and Joshi, they's where I put my podcast, Here's the Thing. Shout out to Thatchic Angel and Joshi. They're my co-hosts on Here's the Thing. When we were doing bigger shows, I would put them on Kev On Stage Studios and things like that. So that was really the difference. So people know if you just want me, it's Kev On Stage.

If you want me or other people or things that don't have me, then that would be Kev On Stage Studios, which is my goal eventually to be able to produce content for other people, not just for myself or not featuring myself. So that's where Kemp on Stage Studios came in. Don't look like him and Druski could be like brothers or cousins or something. I get that a lot.

Yeah. Absolutely. People say that- You've never done a skit about that? No. No, I feel like you would easily do that. Like if Druski didn't do a dye in his hair or nothing. People say that all the time. Yeah. If Druski was bald, and you know, we're both heavier set individuals,

so I do get that a lot. I also get that I look like a lot of people. People are like, look, this person looks like you, Kev. If you light-skinned and bald with a beard, nobody famous, you know what I'm saying? Just a lot of, there's a lot of light-skinned, bald men with beards, and pretty much anybody who looks like that, they be like, you look like Kev.

You and Juski definitely got a something. Yeah, shout out to Juski, man. He's an amazing, amazing talent. Just cultural anthropologist through comedy. Absolutely, I say that all the time. He has a way of capturing culture through his sketches. 1000%, and it's not just black culture. I first saw him when he was doing

the Kyle Roger frat videos. And I went to a PWI, yeah, I went to University of Washington and I was like, them white boys be just like that. And you almost forget he's acting. He is the black dude in that white fraternity. We knew those guys, but the YN videos, the London videos. The Roll Tide.

Roll Tide, like he, Low-key could be a really good comedic actor. He will be. I think he has the the ability and creatively, it's just genius to me. Like what he's done with the internet is is amazing. Very impressive. The Life from the Back Pew. Yeah.

Why'd you call it the Back Pew? The Back Pew Tour. I called it that because like I wanted to differentiate my style of humor versus like just church humor. Because there's a lot of reverence and you know, there's a lot of sacrilege in church. I was a kid who was in church every, not just Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

We literally were in Bible study, evangelistical service, prayer, choir, so then church. And we always had to sit on the Black Pew. And the Black Pew was like, we in church, but we also playing, you know what I'm saying? So the way we saw stuff, that's like the vision I had of church was from the back pew. You had to go, you didn't have to sit in the front,

you didn't always have to participate in every service, but you had to go. And so my mom actually made me participate, but I had to play drums or sing in the choir, do all that type of stuff. But the back pew was so people know like, I'm gonna be in church, but it's not gonna be, every joke's not gonna be about church.

I have a whole set segment where I just talk about regular stuff. I wanted people to know it's for church kids, but black people, even if you didn't grow up in church, you have a concept of black church. But if you've never been to church, you can still come to this show, because if you only been once,

you might probably sat on the back pew. So I wanted people to have an idea of what show they were coming to, they would know like it's not going to be every joke about God but it's also not going to be so ridiculous that you're like I should even be in a church so I kind of walked that line so that's why I call it life in the back of you. Are you trying to get people into the church with your comedy? I believe that is probably one of my subconscious goals. I don't think that's the intent but I feel like it is my way where I feel like there's a lot of different types of ministries. There's music, there's preaching, there's pastoring, and I think comedy is one

because a lot of black people are hurt by the church. They have negative feelings about the church and like, man this takes only 50 bucks and it's Kev. Maybe I'll give it one more shot and then if they just come in and don't have a negative experience, maybe they'll be interested in coming back. So I think that's probably one of my sub goals is to just do my part, you know what I'm saying? Cause black church number, church in general, numbers are dwindling, especially post COVID.

And I don't want the black church to not exist anymore. So I think absolutely that's probably part of my goal. I think it's cause of the internet too though. Like I do bedside Baptist every Sunday. I'm at Potter house on Sunday morning. Okay. Yeah. I don't think it's all negative. I think the pandemic made people realize, Oh, I can actually watch church from me and a lot of them, listen, Potter's house transformation church, they have top tier production.

Like you feel like you're watching TV. It's not just like one guy at the back with an iPhone. Like they have, they're watching TV. It's not just like one guy at the back with an iPhone. Like they have, they have the whole team, hundreds of thousand dollars in sound equipment, video equipment, top of the line production staff and services. Their internet Instagram, social media is up to par, like any NFL team as well. So I do agree. Like I don't think you have to physically go in the church anymore. I think there's so many different ways to engage with people.

The Bible app, YouTube, Pastor YPJ is one of my favorite preachers, and I engaged with him on Instagram in two to three minute bits. Sarah Jakes Roberts, who I know you're a fan of. She's great online, on digital. I think she's actually so important to the black church because especially how her journey started

and where it is now, a lot of people need to see the Sarah Jakes Roberts at the pulpit, person who wasn't perfect and who was outcast. Like I was growing up remembering how people were talking about her. So to see where she is now and the fact that she doesn't, you know, shy away from her past and how good she is

at speaking and communicating, you know, God's word, I think she's super important voice, but also B. Simone's an important voice, right? Like her turning to God, my niece is a hood little sweet baby, hood baby. You started to say booger. No, it was right there, booger was right there. Hood baby.

And she got a face tattoo and she loves B. Simone's comedy. So when B. Simone says, I'm giving my life to Christ, my niece sees herself in more B. Simone than Sarah Jakes or Titi Jakes. So I think everybody's journey is important. It's not just the pastors, it's everybody has a role to play. So I just wanna play my role and do my part. Now I love it because I feel like we gotta bring,

I know this sounds crazy, but you gotta bring God, you gotta meet people where they are basically. Yes, absolutely. You know what I'm saying? Like you can't just think people are gonna come into the church, or go on YouTube, and there's certain people like yourself, like Sarah Jakes, who know how to connect with culture. You know, like I got Sarah Jakes headlining

the Black Effect Podcast Festival that I do every year in Atlanta on April 26th, and it's for that reason, because I know she knows how to connect with culture. Absolutely, I think you need people who speak that language. I believe, I'm gonna tell you what really messed me up as a young Christian. I thought we were all playing by the same rules.

They said we're not drinking. We're really not drinking and nobody's drinking. Right? So I'm thinking that's the truth. And then I'm not even talking about the church. I'm talking about my actual family. I remember I was 18, came back, went to visit my grandma's and there was some Zemas in the refrigerator.

I was like, yo, what's Zemas? We don't drink. And my aunt was like, you don't drink. I was like, what? Nah, my whole life it was this. She was like, well, we don't talk about it, but Kev, come on, we drink. And then when I started working in the church, I realized pastors are like, well, this is how I live my life, but I don't want to mess up the flock, so I do this.

And I think most people's problem, a lot of problems with Christianity is people have one life they live as a Christian and one life they actually live. So I refuse to live two separate lives. So I got in trouble with the Christian community because I went to the reunion concert, which was at the Forum, and I was drinking and I made a video about it. What reunion concert? Kirk Franklin, Milan and the Adults, they were at the Forum, and I was drinking. I made a video, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm drinking at the gospel concert.

This is incongruent. And I thought it was funny. And they were so mad, how dare you drink, how dare you? I was like, this is at the forum. I saw Bruno Mars here two weeks ago, the line was long at the bar. She said, oh my God, it was water 30 seconds ago, but now it's wine, Jesus, Jesus.

That would have been a good joke. Oh, I'm so bad, I didn't think of that. I was water, y'all, I don't know, I don't know, it's wine. Jesus, Jesus. That would have been a good joke. Oh, I'm so bad I didn't think of that. I was water, y'all. I don't know. I don't know what happened. But I'm like, I'm not going to act like I don't drink. You know, like I'm not going to present one way and then be a different person. I'm not going to act like I don't say nigga. Because the people be like that behind the scenes, behind the pulpit, but they think

people can't take it. So they present one way. So now you have two different versions of people that are there. And I was a kid, when I was young and saved, my whole Christianity was trying to be more saved than everybody else. That's how I found my Christianity.

That's what I was taught. Even forget sinners, more saved than other saved people. So I've let all that go. This is how I live my life. I'm a Christian who's also a comedian, not a Christian comedian. And the difference there is like, every joke's not gonna be about God, church,

and all that type of stuff. Because what I've learned is, even if you do that, it's still not gonna be enough. Because some people don't think you should make jokes about God at all. So you'll never be saved enough, you'll never be good enough. So forget it, I'm just gonna live my life, do my thing.

If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. You know, man, the reason I love that, and I just thought about this for whatever reason, I often wonder like how much can faith stifle somebody's creativity, because God gave you these gifts. Yeah. But then if you look at the structure of religion,

the structure of religion will make you think like you're not supposed to express those gifts. But what if I express those gifts for God? 1000%, that's why PJ Morton was so instrumental in me as a comedian, because he had that exact problem He had he wrote a book called why can't I sing about love because he's played the keyboard His dad's a big bishop Paul Morton senior So he's supposed to be a preacher but he was like I don't want to be nor do I think that's my gift

I want to sing R&B. I want to sing about love. So he wrote a book. He sang about R&B he got a lot of flack from the church, but he still went and did his thing, ended up being in Room 5 and still did his thing. And he also wrote gospel. And when I was getting fired, he wrote this song called Let Go and Let God that Dwayne Wood sang, and I listened to it every single day, because I'm about to lose,

I make jokes about it now, but in the real time I was like, bro, I don't know how to pay my mortgage. Like our life was built off two incomes. So I realized that everybody's gift isn't necessarily used in the church, the church building, but that doesn't mean it's not used for God.

Right? Jasmine Sullivan was almost signed to a gospel label. I think that would have been a waste of her talents. I think she belongs in R&B and the story she tells, Hotels album is one of my favorite albums. That album needs to be heard the way it is. I think it would have been, I don't want to say waste, I don't want to be too harsh. But I think she's doing what she should be doing. It's a better fit for her gifts.

And I think God expresses himself in creativity in all disciplines, scientists, chefs, painters, like it doesn't all have to be in the church. Artists, like there's so many different ways. I don't think you need to force it into the building of the church. You can still give back your gift to God by expressing it, however, however it comes out. So I think that's what I do. And I think it's dope that I can go from the church to a comedy club, to a theater. My goal still to perform in Madison square garden.

Like I don't want to perform at churches only, but I want to perform at churches because that's how I grew up and it's a good time. And I can also charge less for tickets because it's not as expensive as working with, you know, the big three promoters. Like I could just charge you direct. There's no parking issues. So there's also benefits to the consumer, but I think, yeah, the whole goal is to create and express yourself creatively, but that doesn't always have to end up being in a church. Because you're going actually into churches,

are you asking wifey, like, hey, is this joke gonna offend? Are you more careful? Because I've never really seen you getting too much trouble for your jokes. I know you had one little incident with the, what was her name, the cosplay girl? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that, and you apologized for that. For sure.

But what's that process? Because the church, people about church get real touchy. the cosplay girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah that and you apologize for that for sure. But like what is like what's that process? Because the church people about church get real touchy. So they're not allowed to cancel. Yeah, they believe in forgiveness. That will cancel. They will cancel. They will cancel and shut. The right church is your forgiveness. But I think because I grew up in church, I tell this joke, but it's actually not a joke. The first 30 years of my life, I only missed Sunday service three times. One was like Y2K, one because we were moving, and probably the other one was because I was born that week.

But other than that, I was in church. So being in church all that much, I understand the rules, the politics, where the line is, how to navigate it. Like what you can say on Sunday morning isn't what you can say on Wednesday, isn't what you can say on a comedy show, isn't what you can say if it's a't what you can say on a comedy show, isn't what you can say if it's a marriage enrichment.

If it's just married couples, you can get away with almost anything if it's in the church because we marry, marriage bed is undefiled. So living in that world and being a part of that world has taught me what the line is more than anything else. I think if you didn't grow up there, you won't know what the line is and what you can and can't say

because like in comedy, that line is ever-changing. So I think that my upbringing is what allows me to navigate it so well Congratulations church. You got picked up. Yeah Church he got picked up for season 2 BT plus shout out to Spring Hill Jamal Henderson Leslie they were very instrumental in getting that picked up on season one and season two so we just finished production on that in January we're editing it now and it'll be out I believe in June or July and similar to you know keep your distance my goal there is to not only tell my churchy story right because to me there wasn't an authentic story about church from a

person who grew up in church you can always tell because they always have in Hollywood, they always have pipe organs and pipe organs do not, no black church has a pipe organ. It's a Hammond B3 organ. If there's an organ, they don't even really make them anymore like they used to. So if you hear that pipe organ and they have the choir robes on them, like y'all not paying attention to church anymore. People don't even wear choir robes like that. But same thing I did with stand up is what I did with Churchy giving actors opportunities that they hadn't got. Marc JP Hood, brilliant actor, hadn't had a chance to lead. In this season we got Quinn Walters who's been acting

but she always gets cast as like the sultry seductress but she's hilarious. So in this role she's playing funny. To hear more, comedian friend of mine who went on tour with me for two years, three years. I love him, two years, my God. He's a brilliant actor. He's been like four episodes of Abbott Elementary.

Takes acting very seriously. So he's a good actor, better actor than I am by a lot. He's in there, love J.J.P., Jasmine, love. Another actor who started off as an influencer and Hollywood hasn't given her her role where she could be an actor in a series regular. So because of Churchy, she's got that. Lexi, who's a brilliant gospel artist, Melissa,

her first car we used to play Lexi's music, but she's actually a brilliant actress as well. She's in there, Tabitha Brown pulled up for four or five episodes this season. Tony Baker, a comedian friend of mine. All these people can act. Tony, a real good friend of yours, right? Tony Baker, comedian friend of mine. All these people can act. You know, Anthony. Tony, a real good friend of yours, right?

Oh yeah, that's my brother. That is my dog. Anthony Alfonsi, a brilliant actor. So all these people are getting an opportunity through me. And that's just in front of the camera. Behind the camera, Jared is our director. This is his first time directing a TV series. He's got this incubator with Jordan Peele

that he's a part of. Rich Washington, who works for me now, used to work for CAA. He was on an agent's desk working in TV department, reading movie scripts all day for years. He was like, called me one day, he was on my team when I was with CAA. He was like, I think I want to quit my job

and come work for you and help you build Kev on stage studios. And he was instrumental in season two. He helped write season two. Sidney Castillo, a comedian friend of mine, wrote season one with me. But black women behind the camera, black women in sound, black women costume designers,

makeup artists, hair, all, I hired as many black people as I possibly could. Because to me, as big of a problem in Hollywood, racism is a huge problem, nepotism is much more dangerous. Because nepotism, they're not even thinking, I'm gonna exclude you. It's who am I gonna hire, it's who I know, and who's in my network.

If I need a podcast person, I hit Charlamagne, he's more than likely gonna hit a black podcaster. If I hit you for a DJ, you're more like it because that's just who you know. You're not thinking, let me exclude white people. You're thinking of who do I know? And that's how Hollywood works. The people go to A.F.I. and you get in there and they hire the people they went to school with.

So at all, deaf, I realize I can hire black people because that's my network. And that's my goal is to hire can hire black people because that's my network and that's my goal is to hire as many black people as humanly possible and give as many opportunities as possible and then let people go and be amazing. That's probably the best thing I learned from Russell Simmons was don't try to hold on to people's talent.

Don't like, oh, I gave you this opportunity so I'm gonna hold you here. Like he let Will Smith go from managing him and he blossomed. So I learned like however long we can work together, let's work together. But if you blow up, blow up. I'm not gonna take credit for your work because I didn't create you.

Trevor Wallace is a huge white comedian, huge. He was my intern at All Def. He ran social media, he blew past me and I'm like brother, go ahead, do your thing. Josh was my intern as well. He didn't give me a turkey sandwich when I asked him on the first day. So many people came from that All Def Digital space though.

It was like our- Doughboy. Doughboy. Yeah, when I first moved to LA, that was like, you have to work with All Def Digital if you're going anywhere. Yeah. Smoking Reasons was over there.

Yeah, Smoking Reasons. He did Dr. Reasons there. He actually, shout out to him, he was in my boy's first skit, Where's My Milk on Awesomeness TV, which was huge for us. But yeah, that was like our version of In Living Color. Obviously very different, but digital media-wise,

that was like where the black culture was for that period of time. People still run up to me and talk about Roast Me. I've been on Roast Me in five, six years. But people watch YouTube, like I watch old episodes of The Office or A Different World. People watch old episodes of Roast Me and Great Taste like they just came out.

So that continues to help those people even today. Well, congratulations, man. I always say if what you build only benefits you, it's not big enough. Yeah. So you're building some big things, my brother. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Absolutely. Cabin on stage, ladies, man. I always say if what you build only benefits you, it's not big enough. Yeah. So you're building some big things, my brother. Thank you. Thank you.

Absolutely. Kev On Stage, ladies and gentlemen, and how can they follow you? Kev On Stage everywhere, whatever platform you're on. Search Kev On Stage. I should pull up. All right. Well, appreciate you. It's Kev On Stage.

Appreciate y'all. Thank y'all. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. In Mississippi, Yazoo Clay keeps secrets. Seven thousand bodies out there or more.

A forgotten asylum cemetery. It was my family's mystery. Shame, guilt, propriety, something keeps it all buried deep until it's not. I'm Larisen Campbell, and this is Under Yazoo Clay. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch.

Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, or Hitcham, as we answer questions about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I am Bob Pitman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to share my podcast with you, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars. I wanted a career. I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life.

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.