The Joe Rogan Experience - #1305 - JD & John Witherspoon

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

John Witherspoon is a comedian and actor. JD Witherspoon, John's son, is also a comedian and actor. You can see John on his YouTube cooking show "Cookin' For Poor People" (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJF-73OaZ-Cr0k9_-lpcaXQ). Also check out JD's channel "runJDrun" (https://www.youtube.com/runJDrun).

One third. I do this all the time. We're live, ladies and gentlemen. What's up? It's hilarious seeing the two of you guys together. When your son told me, when he told me he was your son, first of all, he instantly became my friend. And second of all, I was like, what is it like having John Witherspoon as a dad?

That's gotta be crazy. But mind you, I only told you because he was asking me, because I go to the clubs all the time, hanging out and whatnot, and just kicking it with friends. And he said, who's at the club nowadays? He's like, dude, and just kicking it with friends. And he said, who's at the club nowadays? He was telling me, he's like, JD, who is it that, who's the bringer there? Who the funny one? Who the one? And I was like, I mean, there's a bunch of them.

There's like, you know, Brennan, this, that. And I said, Joe's always there. He's got a bunch of people come to his show. He's like, Joe Rogan. I'm like, I know Joe. That's my man. My man, Joe. We worked together when I was at the comic store.

Yeah. And he told me to say hi Years ago Yeah Last time I saw you I think was Caroline's in New York We were doing

I was doing like the 8 You were doing a 10 Or something like that No I was doing two shows But it probably On a Thursday You probably did Something was happening

We were doing it Close to each other It was a long time ago It was a long time ago Maybe 15 years ago Yeah Oh yeah I haven't been there in a while i work i haven't been in new york in a while i stopped going to new york caroline's a weird one have you done have you done caroline it's like a touristy place all tourists and foreigners it feels like right in time square right yeah yeah it doesn't feel like you're doing stand-up in new york feels

it feels weird Oh yeah It feels like What people want New York to be But they're from Somewhere else Like a good percentage Of them are

Guatemala But it's great Look at you like It's a great club Oh yeah But it's just You know it's different Than the cellar

Or you know Dangerfields is my favorite Joey Diaz was just down there And he said he did Dangerfields like Five six nights I never did Dangerfields Nobody does Dangerfields No It's half full. I never did Dangerfields. Nobody does Dangerfields.

No. It's half full all the time. It's amazing. But they're still around. Yeah, they're still around. Somebody's got to be selling coke. Somebody. Somebody, yeah.

Just kidding. Somebody must be on coke all the time to keep that place like that. Well, the name alone probably brings people in, but it's an iconic place, man. Yeah. I like New York.

I haven't been back since Letterman gone. I don't go do his show anymore. I haven't been to Carolinas in about three years, four years. But you do a lot of clubs in the room. We were talking about that before. Oh, I do 40-something clubs. Wow. 40 clubs a year?

You know, my agents come to my house in January, and they tell me all the clubs I got that year. They tell you what date we go over it. We go over every one of them. All right, June 15th, okay, you're going to be in something. Y'all like the money we're going to get? Yeah, okay, that's good. That's a go. That's a go.

So we do 40-something clubs. I said, man, this is too much work. I ain't been 52 weeks in a year. Yeah, that's crazy. I got to have some time off. What about me? Y'all worry about this money. But when you have time off,

all you do is complain about not being on the road. I complain about people telling me what to eat, what to drink. Oh my goodness. I like to get me

a little taste every now and then. Everybody need a little taste. That's what I'm saying. Everybody need a little to keep the what I'm saying Everybody need a little Keep the wolf off your back That's right So I give me

I give me a little taste The real problem is that travel though That's what we're talking about Oh that's too much The air travel Over and over and over again And then we were freaking out About 837s

And you were explaining to us That mostly they use them In overseas And some southwest And in African countries And in Asian countries They use them Well overseas and some southwest. And in African countries. And in Asian countries, they use them. Well, they had like two planes that just got lost, right?

One from Malaysia and all the other ones. I think that's all pilot doing all that. Lex Friedman is a software engineer, and he specializes in AI. He's a professor at MIT. And he was explaining to me basically the software glitch was making it nosedive yeah yeah what that's not that's not something i would want to hear not when i paid 2200 to get my seat well you if you're a software engineer you have to you would have to up the pilot or co-pilot to let them know like hey someone has to obviously they all know what they're doing in the cockpit but does someone know what to do if the computer's

going down like that's a really good question you know do they're doing in the cockpit, but does someone know what to do if the computer's going down? That's a really good question. Do they have any training in how to reboot computers, or is there a bypass or a workaround for the computers? Lex does artificial intelligence. That's mostly what he does. He works on autonomous cars and planes and stuff. As these things get more and more updated, glitches happen. It happens all the time with your phone, right?

You get a new bug and Twitter just crash on you all the time and they release an update. But if you're on a fucking plane. What are you doing? Yeah. And how do you react? How do they practice it? Wow. You'd have to go through a flight simulation of, hey, there's a bug in the plane.

Here we go. How do they run over all that software before they put it on a plane? You know, they had the plane that crashed. What was the last plane that crashed? That was where? In Africa? I don't know. There was two in short success.

Was one Russia? No, it wasn't Russia. I think it was in Africa. Anyway, those pilots are trained to the end, to the hilt. They train those pilots, but they don't know themselves, some of the guys who's training the people, what the heck's going on. It was a pilot that was off work that was on the plane just before this plane crashed. Same plane.

They had trouble before, and he came out of his seat and went up to the cockpit and saved the plane. They had trouble before. And he came out of his seat and went up to the cockpit and saved the plane. Jesus Christ. He knew what to do. Yeah. He's the only one who knew what to do on the plane. Imagine being in that fucking plane, watching that guy, looking down the aisle, watching that guy walk into the cockpit. Yeah, what are you doing?

You don't see no one. They protect that. They put the food cart in front of the... Yeah. Yeah. Is that? Into the cockpit? No, you don't see no one. They protect that. They put the food cart in front of the... Yeah. Yeah. Is that food cart stopping anybody? No, but they got a bolt on the door. Yeah.

All those doors in the cockpit. But the pilot is in the bathroom taking a boo-boo. Yeah. That's what that is. They don't have their own pilot's bathroom? No, they don't have it. No, they can't fit it. Can't fit it on the plane.

They block the area. Yeah, they put that food cart there. See, I've seen that many times. That's a weird move. Don't you have a dedicated thing for it on the plane. They blocked the area. Yeah, they put that food cart there. See, I've seen that many times. That's a weird move. Like, don't you have, like, a dedicated thing for it? Why is the food cart the thing you... Don't you have, like... You should have a gate.

Someone will leap that. Right. They should have another door, just like they got on the cockpit. Yeah, they should have, like, some... Like, you know how they do one of those metal gates in front of glass windows? Yeah. Yeah. Have one of those.

Click, clamp it down. Well, they knew that didn't work, because they had the riot in 66, and they tore all them down. Oh, the gates on the doors. Oh, yeah. Have one of those. Click, clamp it down. Well, they knew that didn't work because they had the riot in 66 and they tore all of them down. Oh, the gates on the doors. Oh, yeah. I remember that. I was watching them guys. It's something to do to the lock.

That fucking flew open. Yeah, what could you do to stop someone from bum rushing the cockpit? Those flight attendants are not going to stop it. No, no. Well, they should probably prepare planes with a flight attendant who has training like that in the future, like a female or a male who's just...

No, that's too much trouble. That's too much money. Too much money. Too much money to hire air flight security. The pilot is locked in the bathroom. The other pilot

and the stewardess is locked in the booth where they fly the plane. So you ain't getting in there anyway. Unless when the pilot comes out the bathroom. Then he's not when he opens the door. The other guy,

the steward has got to come out. He's got to go in. It's too complicated now. The people that sit down are going to know what's happening. They're going to jump up. That's chaos on a plane if you start seeing all that that you're talking about. Well, don't you think turbulence is chaos? I was on a plane once and two dudes almost got into a fight.

The lady stopped serving them. One guy was putting his luggage in a spot above another dude's head. And the guy said, that's for my stuff. And he said, no, whoever gets there first is the one who gets it he's like bullshit and he's like grabbing his arm and like you know got like physical for a second i had i had a you know i took my bag off to get some out of my bag i'm on the plane first some guy walked past me i said okay excuse me and then i'm looking for my stuff he gonna put it hey bro. You see this bag here? That going up there.

He said, well, you should have had it up there. I looked at this sucker. He said, sorry, sir. He got in his seat. Now, he's sitting next to me, too. For the rest of the flight? Whole flight. He ain't saying nothing.

Should have had it up there. Get the hell out of my way. Take that crap out of here. He thought I was a crazy man. Tough guy, huh? I wasn't tough. I just didn't know. The plane is full now.

Yeah. One seat next to me open. He going to put his stuff there. I'm getting myself trying to find my earphones. Punk going to put his stuff up there in front of me. Before you just come in, there's a place for you above my head. I'm in my bag. You don't think that's my bag.

Yeah, yeah. Because you were going through your bag to put this stuff up there. I'm doing like this looking for my thing. Some people just look for an opportunity to be a dick. Yeah. I think planes are the closest that people get to walking that emulates road rage. Yeah, the line. Yeah.

It's the closest thing. Like when people get up and they get up too soon and then like they're pushing forward already. And you're like, come on, man. Let everybody get up in the line. Some people are like, nah, don't push through. I was at the gas station just now. And you know how they have the big oil tankers. They have to bring the gas to the gas station.

They were blocking in where people needed to go to park. And the guy who was there was telling me that some lady was just there and she was mad at him because he pulled in a few minutes after she parked to get gas in her car. And he was saying that she was like, you're blocking me. And he's like, lady, I'm either going to block you in or I'm blocking the street. I can't block the full street with all the traffic. And then by the time she was ready to go, she finally was like nudging her way out of the gas station.

And the guy was trying to help her. And she's like, don't help me. I don't need your help. All right. And he said, I'm sorry. It's going to be a minute. She's like, I don't got a minute. And then I asked him, I was like, what kind of car is she driving?

He was like, a Range Rover. New Range Rover. I'm like, oh, she's got plenty of time. She's got a man. She'll be okay, too. One guy put his seat back before the plane took off. You know how you put it and get comfortable here? And the seat all the way back and something.

He said, hey, buddy. Hey, you cannot put your seat back before the plane get up in the air. He said, what the fuck?

What? Got your knees on somebody's legs. I got the back of the chair on someone's knees. He said, buddy, I've been doing this

for 20, 30 years. He said, I don't give a fuck what you've been doing. You cannot do it today. See, they got into a spat. Oh, my goodness. Two passengers.

Two passengers. That's what, why is one passenger playing cop? Yeah. That's just how it is. Seat cop. Yeah, seat cop. There's videos of that all the time. I remember I saw one of them out here leaving like a, or coming into or leaving Burbank.

And it was like two guys who either the plane just landed or they were just about to take off got into a full fist fight over i mind you it's a southwest flight over a seat that didn't belong to anyone you know because over there at that airport they're probably going from burbank to vegas and the dude was like hey man i'm taking that seat no no that's mine and then next thing you know it's it's a it's a fight in between the aisle it is crazy that they serve you booze on the plane. You can get drunk at the airport. You can get drunk.

Alcohol is a drug, and that drug is everywhere that's flying. Everywhere that's flying. It's 100% set up. But you can't bring any alcohol through security. No. We use our security. We're going to use our alcohol. Yeah, it's hilarious.

And they'll pour that stuff, brother. They all know me on the plane. So they give me a bottle of the gold. You think of that, Mr. Witherspoon. Wrap it up in a towel, big fucking towel. I'm going to sneak out of here with this big-ass bottle in a towel. But I do it. I put it right in that bucket.

I put it under that bag. I get it. You know, they don't want, like, liquid bombs or some shit. They don't want you bringing something on the plane. Right, it's true. I get it. I get it. It's true.

I wish that wasn't something you ever had to think about. But if it happens once every few years, it's enough that you got to think about it. Think about it. You know, I had, you can't can't have three ounces liquid in your bag. So I had a three-ounce bottle of my expensive cologne, but I used half of it. So I ain't got no three ounces. I got one and a half now. We got to take the whole thing.

I said, you're going to take all the Michael on that clump cost me about $300. Sir, I'm taking $150 this clump. They took my clump. Did you spray it on yourself before getting on?

One more pump for the road. I sprayed this on everybody else too. That was, but they serious about that. Yeah.

Some dudes still rock cologne. I wear cologne. Heavy. Like it? Oh, I get it from bird off good man I get this stuff see I grew up it was a lot of pimps around the neighborhood and they wore the best cologne them dudes with sharp or they have me heavy shiny and hit them say like this so when I got old that's what

I would do I I'd get the cologne like this. You just start smacking yourself with it? The pimps used to crack me up, boy. They would be so sharp, yeah. Shoes would be so shiny. And they'd get that cologne. I'd be smelling, they'd be talking to me. I'd say, boy, you smell good. I'm broke.

I got about three cents in my pocket. And holes on the bottom of my shoes. And the pimps would be up there. Yeah, the fella, yeah, he's going to be all right one day. Just hang out again and keep doing what you're doing. Keep doing what you're doing. Oh, boy. You ever see pimps up, hoes down?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Crazy. The doctor. I know what's his name. The real life. It's like, oh, that's a weird life.

It is some clowns. They like clowns who get together, and that's what they do. And that's the way they live. I used to be around 12th Street. You weren't in Detroit. You were too young. No, I'm not. 12th Street, Black Bottom.

They call one place called Black Bottom. Hastings Street, all pimps and hoes. They had them big old hats on. Back then, they didn't have high-heeled shoes on. You know them, old hats on and they didn't have, back then, they didn't have high-heeled shoes on, you know, them pretty

called them platforms. Back then, Detroit was booming, right? Oh, yeah. Detroit fell off quicker than any city

in the Western world in terms of like, it was the richest city in the world during the height of the car, Motor City. Yeah,

because the people, the factories closed. Yeah. And when the factories closed, people had put their money into the house, the car, factory money. Yeah. They got that loan. See, because you've been here 15 years, you've got a good record, you've got a good thing. They give you a car and give you a home.

But when that's like a fail, boy, them people, oh, my God, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? What caused it? Do you know? I mean, obviously, manufacturing moving to Mexico and other world countries. All that stuff. A little bit of that. Everybody before themselves. Yeah. General Motors, Ford, before themselves.

But a lot of companies are still there. It's just the... Not like it used to be. A lot of car companies, like Ford, right- Not like it used to be. But like a lot of car companies, you know, like Ford, right? Not like it used to be. GM. They're still there, but they're in a much more limited role. But it's a limited role.

Or they're kind of like the base or kind of like the warehouse. Or maybe they moved that too. Maybe they're- You know that show Top Gear? Yeah. They do a new show called The Grand Tour. They do it on Amazon. They did one episode where they went to Detroit.

They were in Detroit. They bought a house for like two grand. Oh, yeah. You get a whole house for $2,000. $6,000 for $2,000. Like a fucking whole house. Like a house house. That's crazy.

You could live in it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It wasn't a bad house. I mean, it needed some work for sure everybody moved but nobody's there everybody's gone everybody's the when we were there when what we drove through was like the amount of giant warehouses that are completely empty with all the shattered windows it's very depressing it's very it's very weird it's coming back and i was there i was i was there

two months ago i my brother had died i went to his funeral And we drove around I couldn't find My grandfather's house They tore that shit down You know They had Somebody burned it down Some stuff like that

But it was It was Just like any other city To me It's coming back for sure But it's also like You know There's a lot of

Young businesses Are starting up And Yeah Craft businesses And you know When there's enough people around People have are starting up and craft businesses. And, you know, when there's enough people around, people have ingenuity. They figure out a way.

It's just not going to be what it used to be. Yeah. And it's a whole new ballgame now. It is a new ballgame. New people. These people are young. My son, what's his name? Alexander.

How old is he? 23. 23. He loved Detroit. He'd never seen this. We were downtown Detroit on Saturday night. Warm, hot night. People walking around. It's beautiful women walking around there. My son

went crazy. He said, let's go back to Detroit. We don't go there and you're from there. We just don't go to where his family's from a lot. It's one of those things where my family gone you got so you got relatives i don't know them yeah i don't know my brothers i don't know my brother's daughter's cousin's brother and neither does alex or me that's why alex was more His nieces, oh, my God, they loved him.

And they walked around. I said, look, I'm going back to the hotel. I was getting too much harassment, so I said, I'm going back to the hotel. I told the driver, take me back. They can jump out. You can pick them up later. And they got a ride. So they got back to the hotel about two, three hours later.

But I was sleeping by the end. Oh, but Detroit is nice. When I was there, I'm telling you, man, Detroit was nice. Yeah, I did the Fox Theater. And it's so old that they have these pillars in the wall that are stained from cigarette smoke, like a darkish, orangish stain just from nicotine. That's crazy. A beautiful theater.

Yeah, beautiful theater Yeah beautiful theater Fox Theater Yeah They had to replace One of the pillars So they had one pillar That was clean And then the other pillars

You go whoa That's cigarette smoke And you get to really see it And everybody Sang there Frank Sinatra Got his Everybody got their

Singing show All over the place Oh really Oh yeah I put my Singing show down About 20 times I was on I've been there About 8 times It's a great place I remember watching Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I put my seat down about 20 times.

I was on. I've been there about eight times. It's a great place. I remember watching Temptations down there. Oh, wow. Temptations. Frankie Lydman and the Teenagers. That was a long time ago.

Wow. But beautiful, beautiful place. All the other places torn down. The Olympia Stadium where they used to play and sing, and the Pistons used to play basketball there. They tore that place down. I saw Elvis Presley there. Elvis Presley.

Wow. A little kid. And I saw Elvis. I always wanted to go to see the Cronk Gym, but I think they tore that down, too. I used to play basketball at the Cronk Gym. Really? You see, it used to be a basketball court there. Then they tore it. Might have torn it down now.

But they built boxing rings around there. Then they tore it. Might have torn it down now. But they built boxing rinks around there. So all the boxing. When we play ball, they've got boxing around there. I went up there one day with my shoes. I said, what the hell happened here? They didn't close the doors and everything. Turned into boxing. Not even great boxers.

What's the name? Tommy Hearns and them people came out of there. Sure. Lennox Lewis. Lennox Lewis. Emmanuel Stewart was the head coach there until he died. Yeah, that was an amazing gym. But it was one of those places, there's a few places where you want to go.

Like when you're in L.A., you want to go to Wild Card. You just want to say you've been there. I want to go to the cage where you commentate. Anytime. Man, I want to see the people knock the crap out of you. That's the deal. Let me know. Anytime you want to go. There's going to be of you. That's what I'm saying. Let me know. Anytime you want to go.

There's going to be some fights in California. I want to look through the screen like this. Get that motherfucker off. Oh, man. We can get you pretty close. Oh, my God. We can get you right up there. We can hear the smacks.

I like to get real close and take a look at this boy. I can't believe that dude. That head do like this. You got to knock the fuck out. That's really serious about that. Have you ever gone to one of them live? No. No, never?

Never. Oh, yeah. Let's hook that up. That'd be funny. Just imagine you should film him. I'll stay ready. I'll stay ready. I'll stay ready. I'll be like, so what are your feelings about the fight?

He's almost set up a tripod in front of him. Oh, my God. Just reacting. Oh, man. Straight. I see it on TV. Like a GoPro or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

A little GoPro aimed at you. I love it when they do a little thing on their background. They do a little piece on the background. I saw one. This guy was woofing, woofing, woofing. Oh, he told me, well, whenever I whoop your ass, I want your wife to come over and clean my house. I want her to come and cook me a meal.

She cooked anything I wanted her to cook me. This guy was Brazilian. The guy, the opponent, he said, oh, man, come on, man. You don't have to be there. Let's play and let's fight. You ain't got to talk

about my wife and stuff. Man, you don't tell me what to do to this Italian or something like that. Chael Sutton is his name. That's weird. Brazilian is Anderson Silva. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. He's old. One guy's old. He's old. One guy's old. He's about 43. Anderson's 40. Chael might be a little older than that. Anderson's greatest middleweight of all time. First round, this boy put his foot up.

The foot did like this. Are you talking about the one where his ankle snapped? Are you talking about that one? No, he's talking about kicking him in the head. It was a fight. I've never seen a foot come up that quick and the toes hitting the motherfucker.

I've never seen nothing like this. And the boy, that boy did like this. Fell asleep. I think you're thinking of a different fight now. You're thinking of Vitor. Vitor Belfort And Anderson Sola He was woofing Woofing

Woofing Yeah And he running his That's the Vitor Belfort one No that's not the guy though That's the That's the front kick To the face one

That's like a legendary kick The other one was Chael Sonnen The Chael Sonnen one He kicked him And then he dropped him And then he kneed him To the body

And took him out With punches Unbelievable How You gotta talk to the body and took him out with punches Unbelievable How Unbelievable how He can work that foot How do you feel about your son's impression of you? It's really good

He doesn't think it sounds like him at all Give me something I only know it because this is how he talks to me all the time He'll always be like JD What you doing today? You got work I only know it because this is how he talks to me all the time. He'll always be like, JD, what you doing today? You got work. You got to go sit back and talk to all them people.

Ha. All the noises. He'd be, hey, you'd be perfect for ASMR. We should just make that type of stuff. Him just breathing. I was in line at the airport coming from, I think I was in St. Louis or something like that.

And so I'm behind this lady, anybody in line, but it was two, three people in front of her, and I'm behind her. So I'm back there making my little noise. She was back. in front of her and I'm behind her so I'm back that way making my little noise she was like an old old Latino woman Spanish woman and she looked back and she went back back to looking forward and then she I said come on but well I don't care whatever she said you make a lot of noise wow she said

you make a lot of noise sir I said I don't remember making any noise that's funny you do when you got in the car today

you got in the car and you I gotta express myself. It's noises and questions. Those are it. The moment you get in the car how far we gotta go to get to Joe?

We're driving 30 miles an hour. He's like I think you're going a little fast. Don't you think? A little quick on the freeway. I'm like we're on the an hour. He's like, I think you're going a little fast. Don't you think? A little quick on the freeway. I'm like, we're on the freeway. It's 60 miles. I'm going slow right now. What is that?

But no, his voice is just one of many I've come across because I do voiceover and all that stuff. So it's one of those things where I'm lucky enough to have that one in my back pocket because sometimes I'll throw it out there. And people will be like, I don't know. A lot of people do a John Witherspoon impression. It's interesting. Yeah, we'll get some practice on it. It's got to be nice, though, seeing him get in the show business.

Getting into stand-up. I guess so. Do you like it? He's funny. I don't, you know, I came from 11 kids. 11 kids. I hope you'll be successful. I'm going to try my best to be successful.

He's too busy counting his coins to worry about my career. God bless us all. You're on your own good luck? I mean, he's supportive, but he's one of those guys where, because I didn't want to do entertainment at all when I was younger. I wanted to do art, and when I was drawing, I used to go to college, and then I didn't know how to turn art into a career. So one of my friends was like, why don't you try acting? You're always wasting time in class making us laugh.

And I was like, oh, that's an interesting idea. So I started doing commercial acting and whatnot. But I have friends who are comics. I don't usually bring up he's my dad. It's something that just randomly happens usually. And when that comes across, they're like, oh, that's crazy. So you got like a well of information in the sense of being a good comic and writing and this and that. I'm like, not yet.

Not that I don't, but it's just asking him questions about stuff like that is the funniest stuff because he's just very, like you just said, it's very flat out and just kind of like, yeah, JD, be funny. How much more can you tell a guy, though, really? Yeah, you just got to get your own. We were talking about that last night. People ask me, do you go to the clubs and look at your son and help him write? Hell no.

Hell no. He doesn't... I've featured for him, and he doesn't watch my set. I just go up, and I do my time, and I come into the green room, and I'm like, hey, you ready to go? And he's like, oh, yeah, JD. They sound like they were laughing, so sound like you did all right.

I'm like, yeah, man. What is a father to do? Do you ever give him any criticism or any pointers or anything? Huh? You ever give him any pointers or any Pointers or anything? Huh? You ever give him any pointers? Any tips? Better be funny I'm on I'm usually the one

I'm the one on the opposite spectrum giving him tips About like how he can How he can leverage like his You know his notoriety In this day and age on the internet that's my thing So it's one of those things where like if I have A question about stand-up i'll ask but he doesn't you know yeah you should definitely have a very active social media yeah we've i help him run it so i see um good yeah who's on there all the time kevin hart's always always here's the thing she's always on here's the thing literally

creating his social media was just a fluke because one day, like five or six or seven years ago, someone trended that he passed away. And because of that, we had to create social media for him. So when that happened, he's calling me and I'm getting calls from random people who know him and also my cousins. I got family calling me crying like, is he okay? Is everything okay? And he called me and he's like,d oh you you gotta help me something something wrong on the internet they they think i'm gone he's he's saying my my all my all my family's calling me and i don't want to talk to him so we created him a twitter that day and then through

twitter i told him i'm like well just tell people you're around and we tweeted out like hey y'all this is the real john witherspoon, blah, blah, blah. Don't listen to those phonies making up them rumors. Because it was worldwide trending or whatever. Wow. Like hashtag RIP Pops or something. And then off of that, his Twitter gained like 25K in like an hour.

And then later on down the road, he got into Instagram kind of randomly where he just, he had an instagram didn't really post and then i think one day you did you did just a random thing where he was i talked to i talked to megan and and what's the name oh he was making he was making like a joke about like bill cosby and whatnot and he was like bill can't mess around with them that stuff bill and whatever but other social media platforms randomly found it reposted it and now he's like he went from like 6k to like 120 a lot of people following me i just don't do anything yeah he doesn't understand like how social media you know is like the future but

well it's i try to keep him in a loop it's a great way to avoid doing morning radio you don't like doing oh god i hate doing i get it i get to get, God, I hate doing it. I get to get up Friday morning. I get to Kansas City at 10 o'clock that night, Thursday, tomorrow night. And then I have to get up Friday morning. I don't know the time or anything like that yet. But I probably do three or four radio stations. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. They drive you, and you're so sleepy. You're driving back over here and over here.

You want something to eat? You go take a nap later And then you're still kind of wrecked When the first show rolls around Then you gotta do two shows Yeah So it's It is

It's not fun And I'm I'm You know I'm slowing down But if you build up your social media You can cut that part of it out Really?

Yeah And I'm sure you have like relationships With some of those radio stations Where you like them Oh yeah They like me Like you wanna come in and do it. That's cool if you want to do it. But to have to do it.

To have to do it. It's bad for your sleep. It's just not good for your brain either. And you can post a story on IG or you can post an Instagram video saying, hey, I'm going to be here this weekend. Bill Bellamy does that. Oh, yeah. Cut it in half. Cut the time in half. Yeah, you don't have to do that get up in the morning stuff but

they want to see me yeah these radio djs right they want to see pops they want to see pops oh man this is legend coming in that's i'm i ain't no damn legend i just needed some money that's why i'm a comic i go out and work all the time because I need money. Definitely explain that because I did have a question when I first started doing stand-up. And I was like, hey, Dad, from a motivational standpoint, I was like, hey, Dad, what got you into stand-up? What is it that motivated you to want to do it? He looked at me and said, motivated me? I was broke. He's like, I was broke and someone told me I was funny.

So I went to California and got on stage and just started making dollars. I was like, so then what are you doing here? You don't even like this? He's like, I mean, it someone told me I was funny, so I went to California and got on stage and just started making dollars. I was like, so then what are you doing here? You don't even like this? He's like, I mean, it's all right. I do my thing. I'm not a comic who just loves to make people laugh. What do you love to do? Count that money.

Count that paper. Oh, my God. Let me tell you, sometime on the way home, see if I had a good week. Some of them clubs pay a lot of damn money. They pay over $37,000 for six nights, I mean, for six shows a weekend.

I don't count the money, but when I do one-nighters, they have to pay you half of the money up front and give you money just before you go on stage. So some of them, I have $14,000, $15,000 in my pocket. Brother, I'll be on that plane filling that money. Ah. I'll get me a glass of wine.

I'll get me a tall glass of that. These are his passions. These are his passion projects. And I'm having a good time. Look at that. And I begin to count. I call the Bank of America to These are his passions. These are his passion projects. And I'm having a good time. Look at this. And I begin to count. I call the Bank of America to check out my account. Four o'clock in the morning.

I punch in my thing, punch in this. You have your balance is. I say. That's so ridiculous. We got to get you the app. We got We gotta get you We gotta get you the app We gotta just get you The Bank of America app

You save the phone call I don't mind I'd rather go through the motion You like to hear it tell you Please give us the last phone number Of your social security number Your balance is Oh this is so wonderful

I was broke when I was coming up, man Where'd you start? Huh? Where'd you start doing stand-up? Back in Detroit In Detroit? Yeah I was

My brother used to go to acting class on Thursday He and his wife So I said, boy, that's pretty cool I should try to be an actor So I got into Yellow Pages They had a Yellow Page They don't have them now, though Everybody got to go through their phone And get their number But they be an actor. So I got in the Yellow Pages. They had a Yellow Page. They don't have them now, though. Everybody got to go through their phone and get their number.

But they had the Yellow Pages. I went to the Yellow Pages and went to an acting class, private acting lessons, and I called a guy. He said, $25 an hour. Come on over. We can get started. So this teacher at John Binkerman's acting classes put Put in a comedy show once a year. And he said, I want you to be on the show.

I said, I don't know about no comedy. He said, well, this is very lucrative business. You can make a lot of money. I said, really? I went in there and stole the show. I said, wait a minute. That's funny. I went in there and stole the show.

I used to do impressions of Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, and what's the boy, Joe Cocker and all that stuff. Oh, Mick Jagger. I used to do Mick Jagger. He's so cool. He's so cool. And they had about 500 people out there for the show. I'm bouncing across the stage like Joe Cocker, boy. It was so funny.

And I got a standing ovation. And I said, wait a minute, I could probably make some money doing this. So it really was money. Money was your number one motivation. When you're broke, money is, you know, talking about love and affection. That's some bull. He didn't have that luxury. No luxury.

Get out of my way so I can count this money. Where did you start out in L.A.? What clubs did you start out here? Oh, I drove from Detroit to L.A. I moved to New York. I moved to New York in 1971. I was about 30 years old, 29, 30. And I went to New York to be a fashion model.

I was a fashion model in Detroit. Really? Fashion, commercials. I worked at Cadillac Motor Car. And my job was plating bumpers, these big fucking bumpers. And so the bumpers, I would need the money, so I'm picking this up,

because you don't use, now you're using adrenaline, and you're losing endorphins and everything else you got in your body. The kid can't put that big bump on this fucking line so he can keep going and get into the plating pit. So I have now the bumper go down, and I had about three minutes. I look at this magazine. I saw a guy standing next to a car.

I said, I look better than that dude. Damn. I went to the yellow pages again and got me a, called the acting lady, called the modeling schools. They said, oh sure,

come on in. They gave me a job that weekend. I thought I was hot, so I went to New York. Them dude look 10 times better than me. They talk, they talk. I said,

you a model? They said, you a model? I'm the midget model. So I couldn't do that. So I got the hell out of it. I went back to New York. I stayed in New York three years, back to L.A.

I mean, I went back to Detroit, got a car, and drove to L.A. by myself. And when you went to L.A., you went to do stand-up? Yeah, I went to do acting and cut that modeling out. That shit didn't work. Where did you start out doing stand-up here? At the comedy store. The store. Yeah, I was the first one.

I was there with Mitzi. Wow. I was there when Mitzi first started. Sammy had the place. Sammy and Mitzi breaking up. Mitzi, Sammy used to, Sammy went on the road. Sammy was a big time comic. He working for Sphinx and Nacho and Dean Martin and all that.

He opening for them. Mitzi needed somebody. I needed a place. So I got a job. Mitzi gave me a job as the emcee. Dave Latimer was the emcee the first show, emcee the second show. He didn't have no money then either. He had a wife. He had a red the MC of the first show. I MC'd the second show. He didn't have no money then either. He had a wife.

He had a red truck and a dog named Bob. That's the only thing he came to L.A. with. I just had this blue Mustang I bought for about $150 to drive to L.A. $150 car drove all the way to L.A. Wow. You know, I was determined

to get out there and get me some of that money. That car leaked all the transmission fluid. I had To get out there And get me some of that money That car That car leaked All the transmission fluid I had to get out Every 200 miles To fill the car back up With oil and transmission fluid Every 200 miles?

Every 200 miles I got that night man You hear Oh Oh You hear that shit And the only light you see Is the headlights

On the car I got out there Boy got me a stick I got my stick. I had a stick with me. Had a little funnel, put that oil in that car. Looking around, you know what I'd be doing. And got to California. No, I actually went to Las Vegas first.

You got stuck. I got stuck in Las Vegas. Yeah, he told me about that. What happened? I blew his money. I had a guy tell me. Try to he told me about that. What happened? I blew his money. I had a guy tell me. Try to keep this thing in front of you. Can you grab that?

Oh, here. Yeah, man. Please stand in front of the mic. I had a guy tell me. My friend, he rich boy, he said, look, just go to Las Vegas first. See what the comics are doing. Then you go to LA. Then you know what they're doing in Las Vegas.

That's the comics. They work in Las Vegas all the time. I went there. Them old-ass Jewish jokes they're doing in Las Vegas. That's the comics they work in Las Vegas all the time. I went there. Them old ass jokes, Jewish jokes they're playing, they tell it. But Gabe Kaplan, that's old funny,

big head motherfucker ain't funny. He's a good actor. But he was, I waste all my time. But he told me stay there half an hour. I mean half of 30 days to stay there.

So I paid up my rent for 30 days. And I went that night, got my new Navy suit on, and sharp as I can be, boy. Got modeling clothes, you know what I mean? Standing around, you know, big old afro. Man, I lost every dime I had at that fucking horseshoe casino. I went back home crying. Now I don't know

what the hell I'm going to do. Here I've been, drove two and a half days across the country. And so I, I called people in Detroit to try to get some money. But you know,

when you call, you're a long ways away. Everybody got no money. People don't answer the phone. They say, oh no, I ain't got no money. Click.

So I got some more borrowed money from some of my friends and had to stay there for six months until I got enough money to go to L.A. Well, you said that, didn't you tell me that you hit, you did one of the slot machines and it hit with like three grand or something? I had $150 left. I saw Diana Ross. See, what I would do, I would go at night. During the weekend, during the week, I mean, you can go to the front of the casinos, and the guy in the front there, he'd say, I'm a comic, I just want to sit in the back here

and watch the comic, and I'm gone. They let you do that. You sit there, ain't nobody sitting there. Got 2,000 seats in those places, something like that. So I had a dollar and a half left. I saw Diana Ross, she had a great show. So I'm going to play this fucking money. I'll just be broke. My check is coming from the

unemployment. It'll be here in another day or two. I can go without food for a day. My stomach's like, you better put something down here, nigga. Yes. So My stomach said, you better put something down here, nigga. So I put that money in the machine. It rung up, I think it was 7,000.

Really? Yeah. I thought I fucked up something. Oh, shit, now what have I done? The guy came over. He said, I just got on job. Just hold on, sir. I just got here.

You have struck the jackpot today i said what jackpot he gave he came and just put them hundred dollars in my hand it was like a miracle it was like like moses came down and handed me some money or something it was so damn that money felt so good. I went home and packed my stuff. I had about two more days on my rent. I got in that car. I got me some gas. I drove. You know

how they have in Vegas. They got to the island in the middle of the street. Drove over that damn thing going back, going the other opposite direction. I said, hell with this'm And when you go over Island Cross it Boom boom boom boom boom

Combs come out Dust come out Old combs Old stuff come out All on All on your seat On your hands Your feet be dirty

Dust be all over I drove all the way from Three o'clock in the morning Four o'clock in the morning Whatever time it was I drove all the way back to LA Ohclock in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning, whatever time it was, I drove all the way back to L.A. Oh, man. And my friend let me stay at her house for about a month. Candy.

She was a good friend of mine. I'm glad she let me do that because that was amazing. She lived in Beverly Hills from apartment, motel, I mean, and no money eating a potato. I know what time it is for me to get some money. I'm eating a baked potato, a white potato now, with a white potato and some old bread and some syrup.

And I said, I got to get the fuck out of here. This ain't going to happen. This is not good for the kid. I come out here with big plans. I went straight to her house, and I got a job at Gucci, and I went to the comedy store and everything. I just stayed there. If you didn't go to Vegas, would you have even got stuck?

No, I wouldn't have gotten stuck. So that's a six-month waiting game that you had to play because you lost your money on accident. The worst. I was counting airplanes coming in and taking off. Because you can see them from my door. You see the plane come in to Le Caron, I think the name of the hotel, the plane terminal. You come in, you see them take off.

That's all I did all day long. A plane coming in. That's wild. A plane taking off. A plane coming in, a plane taking off. And you just stuck there. Stuck in Las Vegas. It was wild. Plane taking off. Plane coming in, plane taking off. And you just stuck there. Stuck in Las Vegas.

I learned. I deserve my money. So people tell me, you love money? Yes, I deserve every dime. Because I went through the shits. Oh, my God. And that car lasted another four or five years. Really?

65 Mustang, that's a great car. It is a great car. Regular gas. I got me some new tires. Like I told you, I got me some new tires. A case of oil and a case of transmission. And I got, I never forgot, I got my old Color TV And a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken Back then when you Were trying to get up

In the store How did the auditions go What did they do No you had to go through The potluck You had to go through that Yeah oh yeah Open mic

Same as today But there wasn't that many Comics they had to close At about 11 o'clock Because there's no comics That go on anymore How many comics were there Oh it must have been

About 10, 15. Really? And what year is this? Huh? What year is this? 74. So it was at the beginning, the very beginning. As soon as Mitzi just started.

I was there in the beginning. She liked me. She would get me. Johnny, come out here and work the door. You can do anything you want. I said, I need a job, Mitzi. And so I hustled the door. Mitzi, she said, y'all better watch Johnny.

He can make some money at that damn door. What I would do, I was the, what do you call it, Maitre D or something, what do you call it? Yeah, Maitre D. So I would put reserve signs in the front seats up there. Reserve for the owner's grandmother. Reserve for the mother's grant missy's father and so now the main room i mean the main room and the other room be crowded packed people i said

we sold out sir he said what are the tables up there for i said that's the owner's grandmother be here soon he said well five hundred? Put me in that seat. I said, right now? So I would make $200, $300 a night, sometimes $500,000 just at the door. Then she had me go emcee and all that stuff. Wait, you said $500,000? You meant $500,000. $500,000. Oh, no, it wasn't that kind of money. That picture's her.

That's Mitzi. I know I recognize that picture. That's when she was younger, though. Yeah, there's a photo that was from the comedy store that was sitting around the back room. Taylor Boss, he painted it. That's when I knew her, when she was like that. Yeah, that's the picture. There she is right there. Yeah, that's the picture he used. She she was like that. She was... Yeah, that's the picture. There she is right there.

Yeah, that's the picture he used. She was a smart lady. Sure was. Let me tell you something, brother. She was a whip. She was... She had her ways. Yeah, she was definitely eccentric, but she's one of the most important people ever in comedy.

In comedy. And people don't realize that. A lot of people don't realize it. Mitzi was the shits. She and little Pauly was crazy running around that little baby. I know them all. I know Pauly since he was a baby. I know them all.

Mitzi, Mitzi Hammond, Johnny ain't got to come back. We don't have nobody to work the door. I can get up and go over there. So I'm at the door. I got 8 o'clock. You know 8 o'clock. So I'm emceeing and working the door and everything and hosting the room and all that. So I'm up there on stage.

You've got a little rope you put across the door and close the curtain. And, you know, people come up in the original room. They come up the steps there. You know the original room? Yeah. So she's in the booth taking money and selling tickets. She and I are the only one there working. And the bar is in the booth taking money Taking money and selling tickets She and I are the only one there Working

And the bar is in the back So Mitzi I'm going to stay Now I've got ten people in the room So she said just go ahead And get me the cover And you go ahead and put the rope back So now

I'm up there about I got 15 minutes. She said about 3 minutes, 4 minutes into my act. Johnny! There are people that lie! Come down here and let them in. You cannot do no more material. Come on, Johnny. I said, Mitzi, I'm trying to finish my act.

Johnny, come on. I want to get this money. That's what I learned there from her too. I want to get this money before they turn I learned from her too I want to get this money before they turn around and go home oh god that was the funniest she's the funniest lady

she's the funniest lady let me tell you she was hot she was tough Mitzi was tough she told me you stick with me I'll make you a rich man

I said Mitzi I come here to be a comic I ain't come here to be no rich man I come here to be a comic but she's too much trouble too much eccentric I say eccentric too eccentric I didn't want to hang around too long. Argus is still there out of his mind. Argus is still there. Argus is still there. He was there last night. Yeah, I know it. I go

there and see him. I see him all the time. When I go by there, I want to go once a year or so. But I see Argus. I like Argus. He's talented. He is. Genius, but he didn't want to leave the comic store. He's got a radio station downstairs, he told me. They have a podcast. Oh, it's a podcast. Yeah, they have a podcast studio. You ever heard of that? Yeah, yeah.

It's a good studio. Yeah. But Mitzi, I've been knowing Mitzi. Let me tell you, I knew her in 1974 when I went over there. when I went over there. And I noticed when I got on Open Might Night for people who want to try to become on the regular show, Mitzi used to love impressionists. She loved people who could do voices.

And I just realized that after about three weeks of being there and trying to be funny, I'm doing old Red Fox jokes. I'm doing a bunch. The horse race was going and the jockey was riding on my dick. The horse name was my dick. This fucking Red Fox used to be.

He would come by and he would be so fucking funny. Then the person come by and sing. She loved people that sang. Tina Turner. Women that sang Tina Turner. She put two or three of them right behind each other. funny um so then the person come by and sing she loved people to sing uh tina turner women they're saying tina turner she put two or three of them right behind each other they do the same song jesus that's a missy going crazy why do you think she did that she loved impressionists but

she loved the women because you know the women all of them got the same impressions but she put two or three of them on the same show. Wow. Same impressions. I went up there. I started doing impressions. Because I did them in Detroit on the show there with Nat King Cole and them. She said, oh, Johnny, this is so wonderful.

I want you to work Friday night. She put me on early. She put me on some nice times and shit. But she wanted me to stay with her on that door and emceeing. Help her out. She had me close the place one day. I shouldn't be responsible for this. Close the door.

Lock the fucking door. She's always had comics work there. All the time. I wanted to work there. Most of them comics live in her house Up there On Crest Hill Yeah Yeah they lived

On the hill there She bought all the property Around there Yeah Mitzi owned so much She owned so much money When she died Oh my god

The house up on This house The house that You know the house She had up on the hill there Crest Hill Yeah That's what the name

Of the house So sweet That was the one Where a lot of comics Lived in it Right No no no The comics lived Behind the name of the house was? Yeah. That was the one where a lot of comics lived in it, right? No, no, no, no. The comics lived

behind the comics store up the hill. She got about three or four of those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She owned about three or four. I went over there

to have a party over there. The fucking party was fabulous. Oh, look at California. And these dudes got the house all dirty. They'd see what and try to make the bed

and the covers thrown on to make the bed. The covers thrown on top of the bed, just thrown, nothing tucked in or nothing. But Mitzi owned all that back up in there. I almost bought that Crest Hill house. It was for sale back in the day. I went to look at it. But I had a dog. I was pretty sure he was going to get out of that backyard.

I had a crazy dog. I was like, this is not a good yard. It's the one right behind the store, right? I think, does Pauly have it, I think? Pauly's got the one that's up and to the right. Oh, okay. He's got one that's at the top of the driveway. He owns it, I think. Yeah.

I saw him the other night at the store in the parking lot, and he was telling me how he used to watch him. Oh, my God, I knew this little sucker. I didn't watch his ass. I watched him run to the wall and stuff. Yeah, Kennison babysitting him, man. Kennison used to babysit him, too. That's crazy.

Oh, my God. Can you imagine leaving your fucking child with Kennison? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Kennison was. I told David Letterman, I said, Spoon, anybody new at the comedy store that's real funny? I said, man, you got to see this crazy dude named Sam Kennison. that's really funny.

I said, man, you got to see this crazy dude named Sam Kenison. And so he said, have him send me the tape or something or give us a call on the show. I said, Dave, you're going to love him. Man, Sam went on that show and Dave just fell on the floor. Sam was so funny. And Sam, I said, Sam,

Dave Letteman want to see you on the show. He said, oh, really? It's the first time he ever got on TV. Wow. And he was always been my friend. Sam? Sam Kenison always was my friend. So I used to work.

Mitzi, after a while, she would get these young cats like David Letterman to be the emcee of the first show. So I worked at the 12 o'clock show, all the crazy people on the show. Me, Paul Mooney, Sam Kennison, all the, what's the boy's name? He talked like this. He do Elvis and he did... Andy Kaufman?

Andy Kaufman. I remember introducing him. I introduced all of them. He said, my name is Andy Kaufman. Yeah, I know. Just say, come to me and tell me how they want me to introduce them.

Right. Just say, Andy Cookman. I'm looking at the dude like he's out of his fucking mind. Andy Cookman. Lenny Schultz. You ever seen him? Sure, Crazy Lenny. Crazy Lenny with the pigs. ever seen him Sure Crazy Lenny

Crazy Lenny With the pigs Yeah He used to bring dolls on stage And punched them Oh wow Yeah It was so great

He had a baby He used to do about Like Remember the only The bear Smokey the bear Only you could prevent He would pull out the bear

Only you could prevent Forrest Reilly Fuck you And he punched the bear It was so ridiculous And people people would come down just to see him he would go nuts he was like really like crazy expressions yeah just an unbelievably funny guy like a naturally funny guy he was an east coast legend oh yeah he's one of those guys then he got uh i forget his lady broke up or something.

And they got a divorce, so she moved out or something. Oh, my God. Then it was crazy then, boy. He was, he was, bears and all that shit that he would beat up. Oh, he was whipping their ass. What did the lady pull? Did you know Bob Woods? Bob Woods is another legend.

Another East Coast legend. He's East Coast? Big giant guy. He was like a Long Island legend. So he didn't play comics that much? I don't think he ever made it out here. Oh, he didn't make it out. Okay. I don't know.

There's a few of them. If he did, he didn't stay. What time did he have to go? I'm hanging. That's Bob Woods. Yeah. Oh, where? Oh, no, I didn't know him. Yeah, stay. He got to go. I'm hanging. There's Bob Woods. Yeah. Oh, where? Oh, no, I didn't know him.

Yeah, he was a Long Island legend. Really? Yeah. Yeah, it was like back in those days, like he was a legend in Long Island around the same time, like those Boston guys, like Lenny Clark. They were all big time in Boston back then. It was a weird place. I knew all the Boston guys.

They were tough. They don't have a club there anymore. Well, they have Laugh Boston. They do local headliners. They have Nick's

Comedy Stop. Laugh Boston does guys that tour there go there too. But I mean, they still have some good local talent. And then they do

like the Wilbur. But it used to be there was like 10 fucking clubs. I don't like the Wilbur. The seat's too fucking close. Really? That's what I like. Oh, but it used to be there was like 10 fucking clubs. I don't like the Wilbur. The seat's too fucking close, people. Really? That's what I like. Oh, but they

got people coming in late. They come in late and they're trying to get to the front when they got to see that. Take 30 minutes. Bring your ass on up here. Jump over somebody. Jump over the divider. I filmed my last special at the Wilbur. At the Wilbur? Yeah, I loved it.

I like the club In Chickapee Oh that place Way out there Yeah yeah About an hour and a half You gotta drive An hour and a half And the club

At the What is the mall Right there They call it The other club Used to be What was the name Of that club

In Andover Is that what you're Thinking of No it's right there At the mall You know where all The stores and things Oh Fannu Hall Fannu Hall Yeah the comedy that club. In Andover? Is that what you're thinking of? No, it's right there at the mall, you know, where all the stores and things.

Oh, Fannu Hall? Fannu Hall, yeah. Yeah, the Comedy Connection Fannu Hall. That's gone. Yeah, that's gone. It's been gone. That was amazing.

That was a great club. That was a good club. Yeah. It went to hold about 400, 500. It was a big place, yeah. And you go, you do a show there and then

drive all the way to Chick-fil-A, hour and a half. Then an hour and a half back and do another show on Friday. Oh, man. I can't do this.

And then you go out to Chickapee. It's a Hawaiian, Chinese Hawaiian restaurant. Yeah. And they try to give you enough to last a whole month. What? You eat. Then they try to give you enough to take with you. To go box you To go box

To go box That's bulging with food Yeah They gotta get rid of it Oh my god Excellent And the food was excellent Yeah

It's gone I'm told Is it gone? The kids The kids didn't want to Stay there I think that's what it was The mother and father died They were

Oh and the kids didn't want to Keep running the restaurant They didn't want to keep the place. Beautiful place. And then near Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford. Chickpeas and Massachusetts. Western Massachusetts.

Massachusetts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But those were the days, boy. Long-ass flight. But I love the fact that the airport was 10 minutes from the hotel

get you in get you out get me in get out there was a lot of clubs back then oh my god a lot of clubs

it's interesting there's more comics now than ever but I don't know if there's more clubs it doesn't seem like well they got a lot of clubs around

but they only book they don't have they don't have showcase nights. Like, you have 15, 20 comics. They don't have that. They have three comics, and that's all they have. So they make their money. It's a whole different ballgame.

There's, like, independent shows now. That's how it is nowadays. Like, the club circuit's pretty kind of the same. There's some new clubs, but, you know, I hear like most clubs on the road, like they're not like the ones out here or New York. No, they're not. Because you don't get a chance to really showcase. You have to either already be somebody or –

They book you in January. Yeah, be on your way type of thing. Yeah. I've been booked – Kansas City, I've been booked January 2nd or 3rd in Kansas City. When is it? This week is 20. It'll be December 1st, December. June.

I mean, June will be, what, Friday or Saturday? This weekend. Yeah. Yeah, Saturday. I've been booked six months on this babble already. Jesus Christ. Six months solid. I'm talking about a book in this club six months ago.

I'm booked all year for this year. I got dates. I wish I brought my stuff. I have dates that I know I'm going to do in December 12th to the 15th. I think I'm going to be in Arlington, Texas. But I know that you... I do get with Chris Smith and them, but they want 10%.

But they book your ass. If you want to get to a club, you can get that. They have you book your butt. You be to get to a club, you can get that. They have you book your butt. You've been big talking about book. I'm booked. I'm booked. I'm booked. I'm booked too much.

Do you still enjoy the shows, though? No. I had enough. I had enough. I've had enough. You know your fans may or may not Watch or listen to this Right They know

That you know It's hard work It's hard work You're there performing Yeah Whenever Whenever I've done Whenever I've done shows with him

The moment Cause you know I'll hang out Cause after every show He'll try to sell merch And take pictures But uh As soon as he gets in the green room

He's like Jay do you see how hard I work You see this? You see all this I'm doing right here? You don't know nothing. You don't know nothing about this hard work. I'm like, okay. Show business is tough.

Yeah, it's a grind. You do five, six weeks in a row. That's what I hate. I'm on my second of five weeks. It's the second week now. So I got to go next week. I got to go to Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford Springfield.

That's where you actually fly to. Then I go to Memphis. So wait, you said you hate it, but why don't you just stop? Paper. You set him up. He's lobbing his way. Yeah, the only time I've ever seen him

do anything outside, you know he's old school so it's one of those things where he's so used to like you know he's so used to you got his agents his managers and he's so used to someone giving him work so it's one of those things where i'm you know on the road you're given the spots you're giving the clubs and i was like what do you like doing because you asked that earlier and like the one thing that we've made between like him doing comedy and now is we created a youtube channel for him where he does like a cooking show right so he has he has his own youtube channel because i do youtube and all this stuff i do like gaming videos and a bunch of

other random stuff sketches and vlogs but uh he was like well he's like well i guess i got a little time off we can do something he's like maybe we can do this cooking idea i got and i said sure let's do it we create the the channel, we make it, and it's called Cooking for Poor People. Cooking for Poor People, because when you're hungry, everything tastes good. Yes, and his channel is D. John Wood. So I eat a bunch of crap.

I cook a bunch of crap. Like what kind of food? Chicken feet and rice. Chicken feet? Chicken, we did chicken feet, pig feet, oxtail. I've had chicken feet. What is chicken feet like? Tough.

You got to be. But you know what? Asian people eat it. Chinese people eat it every day. He tried to feed it to our dog, and our dog ran away from him. So that's like a clip from the video. He don't know what a delicacy it was. That's what that was.

Yeah. And then I recommend wine. I have wine and a tall glass of Mad Dog 2020 with the chicken feet. With them chicken feet. And Thunderbird. Thunderbird wine. Thunderbird wine. Yeah.

Cisco. Where do you get Mad Dog 2020? He's good at finding these. That's a place right there on Van Nuys. Really? Some Mexicans sell it. Yeah. And they're hanging out in the front. You know, just like in old. And they're hanging out

in the, you know, just like in old school, they're hanging out in the front with their bottles, they bring it down here and hide it behind the crate

and they bring it up and hit that thing. Yeah. Then they go buy some more and I'm shocked that they had it. There you go. Hey,

look at that. So I helped them produce and create, help them work on this thing. But you know, it gets good. You get that pig fever there. Shelly threw my shit away.

I can't believe she threw all that. She threw the old pig feet away? Ain't old. I like the kitchen, too. Yeah, that's old school. Whose kitchen is that? It's his. It's our house.

We bought the house next to us. Oh, nice. So I got the house next to me, and I tore the whole fence down. Guess house kitchen. And I got all that old kitchen. So I said'm gonna leave that i'm gonna leave that that's a perfect kitchen for like a show on cooking yeah it's tight and old school it reminds you of like growing up yeah and it works well you know we we produce we i don't know well i think we made maybe 12 15 of these things but people watch them it's just one of those things where he works on

the road so i whenever free time comes around, we used to sit back and knock them out and try to shoot them, and I would edit them and whatnot. But now I'm busy, so he has an editor. But I try to help him market it when it's finished. I'm like, alright, post it on the social platforms, get it out there and whatnot.

What about a comedy special? I've done that. Showtime. You think about doing one now? I did one. I paid for it myself, but my stomach's too big. I looked at that damn stomach of mine. I said, oh, man, what the fuck? I spent $10,000 on it with a $15,000 stomach.

It was horrible. How long ago was this that you filmed it? Oh,000 stomach. Horrible. How long ago was this that you filmed it? Oh, I did it, though. It must have been, let's see, about four years ago, four or five years ago.

Did you release it? No, I got it in my safe. Oh, you're talking about that one. I thought you were talking about the one that's already done and out there. No, that's called You Gotta Coordinate.

Yeah, that one was from Showtime. So you made one, you didn't release it because you didn't like your stomach? I didn't like my stomach. But you didn't release it because you didn't like your stomach? I didn't like my stomach. But you didn't get anybody to finish editing it, right? Yeah, the guys I made. Did they finish it?

It's all finished. It's finished? I didn't know that. What's your friend's name that does animation and stuff? Gabe. Gabe did the album album he did the artwork the artwork on it oh that's random i didn't know you finished i thought you you always shelved that because you watched it and you didn't like the way it came out and then you never finished editing

and posts putting it my stomach came out you better you better take you better take that right now take that right now and sell that bad boy i I got to look at it. I hate to see myself, my stomach being. Why don't you get somebody else to look at it? I'm going to do that. Just plug your ears. Just walk away from it. Why don't you cut that wine and bring that stomach down and do your thing? Everybody needs a little taste.

No, it never makes any sense. Never makes any sense. I hate a little taste. Joe should have some wine here for me right now. I'll get some if you like some Joe don't get him We have wine in the back Oh my gosh

A bunch of liquor on that He's just going to shame himself later in the mirror Just leave it Oh look at that Joe got wine That big bottle is probably wine But you don't want to lose weight, right? You're not interested. I want to lose weight, but they say you got to stop drinking.

He wants to lose it while drinking alcohol. They want you to stop drinking. Yeah. Or take it in increments. Do it. Break, dude. I do. I get a bottle a day.

A bottle. All right. You drink a whole bottle a day? Oh, yeah. You can't. You can't. You should get together with Ron White. Dude. No, he drank that hard shit.

I don't want that shit he drank. That shit key. He drinks his own tequila. Oh, my God. Yeah, I saw that last night. He was in the back bar. Yeah, we were hanging out. We had some of his tequila.

Yeah. He drank too much. I know that shit'sets him fucked up on stage I see him up there He can act like He's not drunk That motherfucker Drunk as he can be

You know Ron White goes hard Yeah He goes very hard He goes hard He goes hard Every fucking night of the week too Yeah

That's tough That's tough Yeah But it's working out I drink I drink White wine Chardonnay. Oh, nice and light.

Then I drink a little Cabernet Sauvignon. Mmm. Nice red. Yeah, red wine. Then you get another one and then maybe one more. Mmm. Then you get the bottle and put it up to your mouth and drink your swig and then put it away and go to bed. That ain't nothing bad.

Until the next day. Until the next bottle. Until I get a beer, give me another swig. There's some evidence that wine's good for you. A little bit of wine. A little bit of wine's not bad for you. A little bit. Two glasses of wine a day for longevity and health.

Yeah, there you go. How much wine's in the glass and how big is the glass? Glass, glass. I said, well, what about 10? It'd be so good. What about 10 glasses? That's even better. Man.

It'd get you ready to go to work. You could go back. I'm in no rush. I'd say something if I had somewhere to be. I don't want you rushing down that freeway. No, no. He's working with his feet. He's being a dad.

Good for you. You're stepping up to him. I'm being a dad, too, guy. stepping up to being a dad i got money at home i got a couch what it always comes full circle no i host this show was he always like this always oh no people no i've got friends who ask me so your dad just that's who he is or does is that a character i'm like oh no no no he got on for being himself. Yeah. He's professionally himself. Yeah, I told him that jokingly back in the day. I was like, you know you're lucky, right? He's like, what you mean? I was like, you are where you are because you are who you are.

You don't have to fake it. You just go. You're supposed to. When you're acting, you should be yourself. Yeah. You're funny enough. Definitely be yourself. You should be yourself.

Yeah. I'm on the cartoon. What is it? The Boondocks? Uh-huh. I on the cartoon What is it The Boondocks Uh huh I didn't change my voice For the Boondocks No

I did all I did that And they coming back They coming But Boondocks is coming back That's a great show Yeah It's one of the best cartoons

I've ever been on I met the dude who created it He was friends with my friend Todd Yeah I am a reader Uh huh Yeah We've been over

Smart dude Yeah Very smart He did But like Jesus also. He wrote that too. Black Jesus. Yeah.

That's another one that you're on. That he like fell into. That's the funny part. Because remember, the thing is, I went in for that show to play one of the leads or whatever. It didn't happen. But I remember, because he's friends with Aaron and whatnot. Aaron just called him in to do like a one day role. Remember?

Yeah. Because he's friends with Aaron and whatnot. Aaron just called him in to do a one-day role. Remember? Yeah, he wanted me to. He said, John, we need your character to just do the pilot. I said, I'll try it, man. I don't feel like doing no. Jesus, I'm a homeless man. I got into it. I thought it was cool. He said, you want the job? It's yours.

I said, well, good. So he went in to do a guest star role. And then they were like, dang, he's funnier than what we were thinking. So they gave him a role. He was a series writer. You did three seasons. You did two that aired, and then did a third one that hasn't aired yet. And I used, see, when I did Hollywood Shuffle, I played a man who had lost everything.

He was homeless. So I'm sitting out there, and Robert Townsend didn't have any money for a wardrobe. So I went to the secondhand store in Goodwill and bought coveralls and an old shirt. And I had a T-shirt that I tore and put a pin to put it back up. So that was, I thought that was clever. So this happened 20 years ago. I kept that outfit in my garage for 20 years, and I used it on Black Jesus. Same thing I wore on the Hollywood Shuffle.

Wow. Not Hollywood Shuffle. What was it? Whole Cake. What's the name of that? Hollywood Shuffle. That's it. That was Hollywood Shuffle.

Yeah, yeah. There it is. Yeah. What's the name of that? Hollywood Shuffle. That's it. That was Hollywood Shuffle. Yeah, yeah. There it is. Yeah. He got all this. But then they, so yeah, so then they took, so then he wore it. They did their thing and then they were like, well, this thing stinks, so we'll just recreate it for you. They did everything over.

He got the same outfit that I had. Look at that. I got Thunderbird wine. I got my little wine. Look at that. Wholecake. Whatever happened to Robert Townsend? What is he up to? He's a director now. Look at that. I got Thunderbird wine. I got my little wine. Look at that. Full case. Whatever happened to Robert Townsend? What is he up to?

He's a director now. Just directing different movies? Not a different movie. And commercials and things. He used to do stand-up, too. Oh, yeah. We used to go on tour with him. We worked all the big places.

I remember his specials. He always had those HBO comedy specials. Yeah. Damon Wayans did them a bunch of people did them yeah Robert Towns he's still around I saw a picture

on my phone I don't know how where's my phone I don't know it's probably in your jacket man I don't want to lose my phone he does that at home

he'll say hey I don't live with him I'm grown I'm married and all that stuff I live on my own with my wife he'll call me home he'll say hey i don't live with him i'm grown i'm married and all that stuff i live on my own with my wife he'll call me and say uh jd you seen my uh my cameras i i moved my camera and i don't know where it is i was like i don't live with you i have no idea where your things are he's like well you you know and my brother lives with him still so it's one of

those things i'm like why don't you ask alex He's around. Or someone who maybe is at the house more often. He's like, I feel like you might be the one who might know what his thing is. Because I've seen you around here. I know you come around. You come take my things. They take my stuff. That's what gets me. They take your stuff?

I get, I buy cameras. I buy a camera and put it over there. Because I know where it's at because it's over there. I come back, it ain't over there. I have no idea where it's at now because I put it over there. Because I know where it's at because it's over there. I come back, it ain't over there. I have no idea where it's at now because I put it over there. That's because you and mom and Alex and whoever else roams through the house will move things around all the time.

I'm not there to move things. But I know where I put things and when I come back, it's not there. But the thing is why do you call me when I'm never there? You know what they are mom will take his stuff mom will go shoot her little her stuff because she she like produces does a little independent movie so she'll when she grabs your cameras that's where they move to

but did you feel pressure doing stand-up because this is your dad no actually i didn't want to do it never really because i got into acting and i thought that was far enough i was like i'm a dad or he does that i don't want to i don't want to jump in on the rest of that stuff and acting was just kind of like on a whim and then stand-up was like a dare a friend of mine was like we should because we back in the day uh not too long ago maybe early 2011 or 12 uh it's not back in the day but me and my boys were hanging out one night in our 20s, and we just went. We had come from a club, and we drove past a Laugh Factory. And I was like, you guys want to go watch comedy?

I don't know. I was like 24 or something. I was like, I used to know that. I was like, the owner knows me from when I was a baby. If he's there, maybe. He's a babysitter. Yeah, yeah. Jamie Masada.

Buddy, I want your baby, buddy. Take care of baby for you. That's his introduction to every time I'm there. Whenever I do shows, that's his introduction for me. He'll be like, hey, buddy, I want you to meet Johnny Witherspoon, son. I used to carry him when he was a baby. Buddy, I used to carry him around like a baby. Bring him on stage. stage yeah we went there

we went there randomly one night and um so fucking funny that's good that's a good impression we went there randomly one night and i remember uh the door guy i was like hey is uh jamie here and he's like jamie who like as if i didn't know him i was back there i was like uh you know the owner and he's like tell him uh jd witherspoon's here I didn't think anything I don't use my name like that but then he like comes down he's like buddy what are you doing here this and that you're doing comedy I'm like no no no me and my friends just we just want to watch a show he's like yeah come come in let's get him get him a bottle of wine all that stuff and we're just hanging out uh but then later like you know through the night he was talking he was like he was like so you're trying to do comedy like your dad i was like no i'm good

i don't want to i don't care to do that i'm fine and my friends were with me he's like come on he's like he's like you should try it you're probably funny maybe even funnier than him buddy and i and i was like i don't know but then later on that same week he was like well if you ever want to come by he said swing by do the open mic or whatever. And my boy Henry, whatever. Yeah, Henry was like, hey, we should do that, man. That'd be kind of funny. You know, maybe we be comedians. I was like, nah, I don't think so.

And then one night we just said, I think I had someone's email from the Laugh Factory and hit him up. It was like, hey, me and my buddy are going to come by. Maybe we can do the mic. And then they were like, yeah, sure, we'll throw you up, this and that. And my buddy Henry, he's the one who pressured me into it we practiced our jokes on camera at home to see how that would look it was the weirdest thing it was so weird we we because i was i was like getting into like uh creating content and i was going to film school and i was making like my youtube videos i was doing like sketch comedy on youtube and then i like we shot like a little thing.

We watched it back. I was like, I guess. And then we went to the mic that night and we went, I did it. I was at the back end of the lineup. So I actually had a decent crowd. It was like, cause you know, it starts off, there's nobody there, it's just comics.

And then by the time it was my turn, it was like close to the eight o'clock show. So it was like 35, 40 people. I had three jokes for my three minute set set, clean, and I did it. They did all right. People laughed, and I was like, okay, that's cool. Random. I didn't think much of it.

Henry bombed. I know you've done shit. Yeah. No, but it was just one of those things where after that. Go ahead. Which way is it? Right up there past the werewolf. Where did the camera at? No, the camera. Which way is it? Right up there past the werewolf. Where the camera at?

No, the camera's up here. The camera's over there. If you got to go piss, say it to the camera. He just said it. He just said it. Oh, man. But yeah, no, so we... I got an old bladder.

Bladder. Dude, your dad is a trip. He's so funny. I got a bit about how when you just get old you just don't care you just don't care about what you say he doesn't give a fuck no not at all but also like that's part of who he is like yeah his part of his business is not giving a fuck yeah pretty much yeah how funny is he though man that it's i mean he's he's the funniest dude i personally know that's that's how that's how i categorize it you know oh that's it's i would think that like if that was my dad i would i would feel a lot of pressure i think it's pressure if i

if i uh from the beginning always want to do stand-up you know kind of like a michael jordan thing i never like it was it was all a majority of the stuff i do now is very like just happenstance it's like oh i just fell into this and i'm all right at it so i'll just keep doing it why not you know when it comes to things like youtube and like i know you do unboxing videos and game related videos yeah you can kind of do that now if you're a if you're an interesting person yeah you don't really need much no no definitely not with the internet no if dad if he came along today if he just didn't exist and all of a sudden he existed didn't have this this giant body of work, and you just put a camera on your dad like, this is my dad, your dad could be fucking famous today.

Blow up, yeah. If he was like a guy that works at the post office, just a regular guy. Film this guy at the post office. And you were telling your friends, like, my dad is the funniest fucking guy alive. And then you put a camera on him, he would blow up. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting and whatnot. I never really think of it because people always ask me when I was growing up, they'd be like, how is it that your dad, how do you feel? you put a camera on him he would blow up yeah yeah it's it's it's interesting and whatnot i never

really think of because people always ask me when i was growing up they'd be like how is it that your dad how do you feel i used to get the whole time like kids would be like your dad's whoever blah blah blah famous this and that friday the waynes brothers and i'm just like yeah but you know to me he's just my dad like he's just he's just a goofball it's normal like to you i get it to you guys you see somebody who's an entertainer and whatnot i'm like he's just he's always like that dude how fun is he shelved his special because he doesn't like his stuff oh he does funnier stuff he does he does weirder stuff you gotta find that special and get it out oh i mean we we could post it it's definitely or he could sell it and nowadays he could hit up i'm sure his people could hit up netflix like we have a we have a body of work

yeah people would watch it that's the thing yeah could you talk him into doing a new special i gotta get that stomach i gotta get gotta gotta tell you guys i'll have to talk him into coming back here and hitting the gym does he exercise he does but he the thing the main thing is the the consumption i told you know it's all right let's cut back on drinking and then continue exercising you'll see the change i told i tried to tell him do a drink every other day. It doesn't sound like he's interested in that. No, it doesn't, does it? It sounds like he's 100%

interested in drinking. Or just he's 100% enjoying that money and drinking my wine. Yeah, that's... He's having a good time. He's back. He's living his life, enjoying it. Yeah, but that's having a good time he's back yeah man but uh he's living his life enjoying it yeah but that's that's how i got into comedy and then i just kept doing it and my friend was like yeah

now i'm good how many years you doing it now i would say i started in 2012 but i i want to say i haven't i didn't continue in the beginning so consistently i did like mics for the first uh two years and then i started getting booked on shows. And then I kind of got lazy. It was one of those things where everything I was doing, I would weigh my options. If something was more of an opportunity, I would do that over trying to get better at stand-up.

But now I've been consistent for like three years, three to four years just grinding at it because I've made strides doing things and acting and creating content on the internet. So now I kind of have, I guess, a little bit of a cushion to just go and get good now because I've been working. You're doing other stuff. Yeah. You don't have to totally rely on it.

Well, it's one of those things where because I don't have to rely on it, it's that much more of something I want to approach. I'm like, oh, well, now I can have fun. I don't feel pressured, not with anything about that, but more like I don't feel pressured to get booked, get booked, get a special this and that. Get that money. I just feel like, oh, I can just take time and get good now. Thumbs up. Get that money.

You were around when Pryor was in his heyday oh yeah that must have been something oh yeah we uh so you were you were just kind of that was in 74 when you were just getting there prior that was he was he was already uh he was in the peak right big time oh yeah he was big time and um what was that like it was he would, you know, when I was around the Comedy Store, I was basically the host of the Comedy Store. When I emceed, you know, and I go to the door, if they have a problem, I go to the door and settle the problem and all that stuff. Just Missy won. She knew I'd do all that stuff, and there wasn't no fighting in them,

just being polite and stuff. And Richard would come in. I'd look in the back, and Richard Pryor's in the back. I said, what the hell are you doing here, Richard? How you doing? He knew Paul Mooney. Mooney was in David Banks, all these. Anytime you got all these guys at the comic store,

Richard want to do another album. So what happened is Richard, first time I saw Richard in the back, I said, Richard, how you doing? Spoon, I just come by to see how you doing. I said, fine, I'm doing, Richard., I just come by to see how you doing. I said, fine, I'm doing, Richard. He never come by to see how I'm doing. He's just saying this to set it up for he want to work on his act for a new album.

So I said, Richard, everything fine? You want a drink? No, no, Spoon. I'll be fine. You want to go to the state? No, no, no. Just come by and see how you doing. I said, how you doing, Richard?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I know to go away and come back. And so Richard, anything you want to drink, then he want to drink now. So he want to drink. He get some of the red drink he like with olive, what do you call that, cherry in it, that kind of stuff.

And so I know to go away. I go away. They told me, Richard going to drive you crazy. Richard come back. Richard going to drive you crazy. So I go away come back richie everything. I'll find you know anything else You want it someone goes days and now spoon. I don't go just come I say don't Oh, yeah, we play with you. Hey, boom. Hey, don't be hollering spoon real loud and shit And so when I go away and come back to Richard do two minutes some people said Richard pride came by the company So he said sure I go up and do to me. He said when do I go away and come back and say Richard do two minutes some people said Richard Pryor came by the conference so he said sure I'll go up there and do two minutes

he said when do I go on I said you're going on right after this guy get off I'll put you on right now and he go up there and do two hours then he'll send he'll call

he'll have his secretary call me the next day and say thanks for helping me get on stage helping me get on stage he had to be pushed on stage that's so weird yeah that's amazing isn't it Robin Williams bloop go on stage he he had to be pushed on stage that's so weird yeah that's

amazing ain't it but robert williams but richard would do like two hours was that a regular thing huh it was album you know he got yeah he'd do his whole album then he had his writers in the back mooney would bet they're writing him giving coaching him on stuff to say, all that stuff. He had all that. And then he would have three weeks in the original room where he would work every night. He'd come by every night. Wow. It ain't like some comics

get too high, they can't come by. He'll be by there every night. And so Mitzi put me on the show with him. So I would open the show and do 45 minutes and then Rich would come on and do an hour and a half.

And then we moved to the main room after about three or four, about a month in the original room. We moved to the main room. That's when,

and he would draw, so Mitchell would make so much money. He would draw so many fucking people. Old hoes ain't been out on the street

in a long time. With fur collars, fur coat on. Fake fur coat on. Pink and yellow and shit. Yeah. He would have, in the main room, he would have, oh my God, he had Mick Jagger. What's his name?

The boy that, what's his name? Willie Nelson. I had, I thought Willie Nelson go up on the stage And sing a song In the original room Really Yeah

I said really You got your guitar Yeah I got it Could you go up there And sing a song I love Willie Nelson He was so good He's still around though

I'm scared Dude I'm so nervous Don't be nervous With these fucking people He went up there And sang one of his songs Boy That was That was a thrill for me.

So then we moved to the main room. But I would kill every night in an audience like that. I would get a standing ovation because I would do Mathis, that I learned from Detroit and Nat King Cole and them. I would do Johnny Mathis at my last bit, and I would do Al Green just before that. And I would – I saw Al Green throw roses out to the ladies one time. I was at – what is it?

This theater down. Anyway, he would throw roses. He handed roses to the ladies. So I – when I was working at the comedy store and I'm in front of – I would get dandelions and hand it in front of ladies and some lady did

exactly what I wanted her to say she said Al Green give us roses I said well you lucky these ain't plastic

cause I ain't got no damn money I go home and watch these so I can give them back to you tomorrow night and

I did that and doing D&J Johnny Matthews this is just impressions that I added to my act cause there's a lot of ladies out there and they love that shit.

And I got the women through the roses back at my feet. I said, damn, this shit is cool in the mother fucker. And Richard told me, I said, Richard, everybody said, Richard, you should take Spoon on the road with you. You're going on a tour. He said, I love you, Spoon, but you're too funny. I can't have you out there on the road with me. He said I was too funny for him. Wow.

And he took Finest. You know Finest Henderson? Sure. Finest would do impressions. He did all the impressions. So he took him on the road. He told you you were too funny? Spoon, you're too funny.

I love you, but you're too damn funny. You're open for me. I don't want to be had to work that damn hard. Them women would throw the roses back at my feet, boy, them dandelions. That's hilarious. That was a great compliment. But I have the billboard of the Comedy Store at Richard Pryor and John Bliss. Wow.

I had it somewhere in my phone. Yeah, I think Mom posted it. Oh, yeah, she did. And then I think I helped you repost it on your IG story, and then the Comedy Store screenshotted it and posted it. Oh, did they? Yeah, they did that like a month or two ago. But oh, the day. Richard Pratt had his own TV show.

You know, he's on NBC at 8 o'clock. And he was so fucking high, boy. Richard, Richard. I knew we weren't going to last. I knew that shit. We only did four shows. We had schedule 22. Richard was too fucking high.

And, oh, man. What was he high on? Cocaine and vodka and stuff, you know. But I didn't have no money. I probably would have got me something if I had some money. I didn't have no money. I probably would have got me something if I had some money. I ain't got no damn money. I'm making this little $400, $400 that they giving me for this week. He said, y'all ain't making no money, but I'm making $250,000 a show.

I said, damn. Wow, he's making that much? See, there you go. Look at that. Richard Pryor and John Witherspoon. Wow. In the name. I wish I had the year up there.

Probably 77. God, That's amazing 77 But I know Richard We used to go over his house Every Sunday We used to be over his house Every Sunday

And he had He had Barbecue He had people He had little He got a gym Boxing gym Where you box

Tennis court Swimming pool He had He got a gym, boxing gym where you box. Tennis court, swimming pool. He had about four acres over there. Where was it? Where was it? It was on Parthenia. That house there was for sale recently for about $4 million. But I don't think people realize that Rich is probably living there.

They don't want to do that because he'd be caught on fire over there. Whoa. Remember the time he got caught on fire? Yeah. That was that house? It live in that they don't want to do that because he'd be caught on fire over there whoa remember the time he got caught on fire yeah yeah it was that house it was in the house there yeah i would love to own that that's something like northridge or something part three yeah it's it's on parthenia we when i'm doing black hills it's right down the street dorf hills yeah yeah yeah we just go over every sunday Imagine owning Richard Pryor's old house. It's kind of cool. Fuck. I don't want to go in there. That spirit might hit me. I'll burn.

He on fire going to run past the swimming pool. You know what I mean? Those cocaine days must have been crazy there. Oh, man. And what's amazing about this is so cold, boy. When stuff got on radio that Richard Pryor is in hospital in critical condition from burns from a pipe that blew up,

his family went there and stole all of his people that he probably never seen in years, jumped over that damn huge fence and stole all his watches and everything. All this stuff was taken out of his house. Then they said he's going to survive. They jumped back over the fence and put all his watches and everything. All this stuff was taken out of his house.

Then they say he's going to survive. They jump back on the fence and put it back. No. What? They jump back on the fence with his stuff. They put it back? Yeah, they put it back. Richard Price, you're going to steal his stuff?

You've been borrowed from him for 20 years. Now, all of a sudden, you're going to steal his watch? That's crazy. Yeah. It's hard to be at the top. We had so much fun over there. And Sammy Davis Jr. would come there every Sunday

in a limousine and a tuxedo on. Really? We got shorts on. You know, the raggedest shorts you can find. Old t-shirt. We playing basketball. Sammy come at the high mine. High mine. Sammy, go put some fucking shorts on. How old was he back then?

Sammy? Yeah. Oh, I bet he weaved. This was 76. So he must have been, wow, he was young then. Because he died about 60. He was 62, 63. He must have been in his 50s, 40s, and 50s.

Tuxedo, huh? Tuxedo. In a limousine. Imagine being the fly on the wall. Sammy Davis Jr. pulls up in a tuxedo. Oh, man. Steps out In a limousine Imagine being a fly On the wall Sammy Davis Jr. Pulls up in a tuxedo Oh man Steps out of a limousine

We also Yeah while they're playing basketball We also fucking We also fucking Raggedy Stinking We done played ball All day long

Sammy walk past Hi man Sammy Wrong house Wrong there Come on play some ball with us, Sammy. But we... There he is. Look at that.

It was... Hey. Look how sharp he is. Wow. Look at the bell bottoms. Oh, yeah. That's the day. That's the day, brother. Wow. That's crazy. Richard played tennis. Did he? Yeah, he played tennis. And basketball. We playing ball, Richard.

He checking me and grabbing my dick. Richard, this ain't no basketball. I can check the only way I know. Richard, back off me, brother. Oh, God. He was a funny man. So when you were around when Kennison came by, when he first started working there, he was a funny man So when you were around When Kennison came by When he first

Oh yeah When he first started working there That was Yeah He was a big shift right That was a No one had seen Anybody like him before

Oh no Not even since Yeah He was a Very unusual dude He was so funny One time he He

He bought some Chinese food With a hat on his head with a long coat on and some big sunglasses and ate it in front of this Korean store just standing the way he's outside standing the one who do my good fucking Sam Fucking Sam Fucking Sam Why was he doing that? They're just crazy He had the same thing He had the same thing He had the same thing On the stage At the comedy store

He would be up there With his sunglasses on And he would have Chinese food Or Korean food And he'd sit there And eat And tell some jokes

And he'd go about Eating On stage? In the original room. I've seen them crazy. I've seen some crazy ass people in the original room, but they were funny. The Comedy Store has a lot of history.

Oh my God. And Mitzi let him do it. Mitzi was so nice to people. She was brilliant, let me tell you something. She knew to let the comedians run the place. She was smart. She would joke around about it. Yeah.

The island of misfit toys. That's what she called it. But you know what, I tried to tell her, I said, Mitzi, give the comics five dollars

to buy some eggs and bacon on the way home. She didn't want to do that. And they don't deserve nothing. This is college. This is their college, Missy. Anybody paid to get in here, you better go on and get these people.

They're going to mess up your... And then when she went to a big stink with the strike. Big stink. And then you had some people that were... You can tell some people are crazy. What's his name? Jumped off the roof of the Hyatt house. What was his name?

I knew his name. I knew the kid. I used to introduce him all the time. Shit, I don't have his name right now. But I said, Mitch, just give them something. They think that they've done something since they, most of them drove right here. And they all want to,

they want to, like they succeeded something. She's paying us. She paying us for for eggs but she didn't want to do it yeah now i don't know how much they get today how much you get you don't know do you how much you get i'm not a regular so you get paid it you get a percentage of what the the take is for the door in the main room so if the main room sold If the main room's sold out, you can make money. Yeah, they used to do that before. I think the OR, you get like 50 bucks. They've been doing that for a long time.

25 bucks, 50 bucks. I think you get $400 or $500 in the main room. In the main room, you can make some money. But for guys like us, it's more important as a place to exercise. It's like a gym. Oh, yeah. I did two shows there last night. I used to love to work the uh

and the uh with richard prior boy wow what a wonderful the audience is on every note everything you say they're right there oh i'd imagine oh they must have realized too because before when you think about like real giant famous comedians before. There's like a tiny handful of them. Nobody like him. So he was just one of one back then. I remember Red Fox used to come through there and he'd say, I want to get me a double of a cabase and a Coke. And I ain't paying for none of this shit. Red was so funny, boy, Red.

My man, Red. I was at a gas station stop one day in the little stores, and they had cassette tapes of Richard Pryor performing live at Red Fox's club. Red Fox had a club. They just had a recorder, and he's just fucking around. You could tell he's ranting and raving. He's just high, just laughing and talking shit on stage. It's not prepared material, half of it.

It was amazing. What a character, Red Fox, that boy. He wouldn't pay his taxes. So the government came there one night when all the people in the room just took everything, everything. Went to his house, took everything. They took a ring off his finger. They took his shoes. They took him and left him a chicken raw to cook

in the oven. They shut him down. It's the place he had. I think it was on La Cienega somewhere. It was in L.A., yeah. In L.A., yeah. He cried and he called Sammy Davis. Sammy called Frank Sinatra and he took everything

on. I worked so hard to be who I am. I owe the taxes. It ain't that bad. They took everything they owned. I worked so hard to be who I am. I didn't do them. I just owe the taxes. It ain't that bad. They took everything. So Frank Sinatra and Samuel Davis Jr. and some other friends went to his club and worked two or three weeks every night, two shows, sold them out to get enough money to get his taxes and get his club back. He was. Sold them out. To get enough money to pay.

Get his taxes and get his club back. He was so happy to everybody. He said, oh my God, I want to thank you for doing this for me. Oh, please, just take my hug. Let me just hug you. Hugging everybody. So they all went on their separate ways. Red Fox still didn't pay his fucking taxes.

No! Come again and lean on his ass. You son of a bitch. Red Fox still didn't pay his fucking taxes no come again and lean on his ass you son of a bitch they weren't coming Frankston after they were not coming back now see

so oh my god wouldn't pay his taxes again he ain't paying no taxes was this before or after Sanford and Son it was before and I don't think he paid

after Sanford and Son he didn't believe in paying no taxes it's my money I paid my taxes uh uh uh uh I don't think he paid after San Francisco. He didn't believe in paying no taxes. It's my money. I paid my taxes. Uh-uh, uh-uh. Damn. Yeah.

You got to pay them. I had a tax problem. We had an apartment building in Beverly Hills, our own apartment building in Beverly Hills. I said, boy, I'm doing good. I just ride my car past there and say, hmm, that's my place. And I swear, the taxes got bad. If something happened to me and they took that fucking place, I had to sell it.

They didn't take it, I had to sell it. I hate that. Today, I hate that. You hate all that money you missed, don't you? Oh, God. Well, just a ride past and look at the place. You paid all that money you missed, don't you?

Oh, God. Well, it's just a ride past. And look at the place. And some lady called. We had a person that cleaned up the place all the time, see? A manager of the hotel. And so my wife was out there watering the grass and stuff. And she called the police. Called him and said, there's a black lady out here watering the grass.

And we don't recognize her. Somebody who was a tenant or are you talking about the manager? Yeah, a tenant. Called the manager. And he said, well, it's probably the owner. And it was Angela. That's funny. I used to go back there and sit because they had the washing machine and dryer outside in the back near the parking lot.

So it was outside, but it was enclosed. I sat down there, boy, it would be so quiet back there. I said, boy, this beat Detroit. Them dogs chasing my ass down the street. This is much better. I got a pocket full of money. I ain't want to leave. I got a pocket full of money

I ain't wanna leave I ain't wanna leave They got my ass Out that damn place You need to You need to make a podcast Call it the pocket full of money podcast That's a bad idea

Have you ever thought about doing one? Huh? Have you thought about doing a podcast? A podcast What is that? That's what we're doing right now I don't want this thing to be on air You can't

he's in a he's in a different realm Joe but you can sell out everywhere if you did that I guarantee you you can make money off of it

first of all comedy clubs somebody told me oh I don't want to do comedy club I sell out anywhere I sell out comedy clubs

I don't have trouble with Comic club I sell out anywhere I sell out Comic club I don't have trouble With those Theaters If I'm on They don't pay enough money You mean sell out I go up there and do How many hours

You have to do For a podcast Yeah You just do whatever you want You could do Like you could do it Every time you're on a plane Just talking to your phone

Were you talking about How much time you're doing With the podcast Or the theater What are you talking about Podcast As much time as you want Say if I podcast or the theater? What are you talking about? Podcast. As much time as you want.

Say if I was in the theater and I'm doing a podcast. You got to sit at a thing like this and talk to people. You're not in a... See, I knew he crossed it. I was like, what? You know. No, no, no. That's the son. I heard it.

That's the son you're in. No, no. He's saying, can you sell out theaters by yourself? That's what he asked you. I doubt that. Okay. So we established that. You sell out clubs. But then he was saying, if you were doing a podcast, kind of like what we're doing right now, that's what he asked you i doubt that okay so we established that you sell out clubs

but then he was saying if you were doing a podcast kind of like what we're doing right now that's what this is uh you could as you you know build up the podcast you could be promoting it and recording it you wouldn't have to do it in theater you do it at that comfort of your own home you could do it yeah you could set it up just like this just like this yeah and then you you become popular sure i mean you've got popularity behind you so I'm sure people want to hear it. 100%. Yeah. Just people listening to this are going to want to hear it.

Yeah. I have a podcast with Paul. Me and my buddy Paul. What's it called? The JD and Paul cast. It's just me and my buddy, and we talk video games and video games technology, current events, and also movie. We'll do little mini movie reviews on it.

What kind of setup do you have? Do you have permanent microphones? I'm like a tech dude, so I have everything. My office at my house, it's decked out with a bunch of stuff. I brought him over there recently to help me. I get him to do videos with me just because they're funny and I don't care. Let's just make something random because the other day we played mortal kombat and i had him i had him react to the fatalities so i was like that's a funny video my dad reacts to mortal kombat fatalities and

literally we're watching it literally he's just like oh my look at the head go left and right no this so amazing yeah that stuff is and that that's on my gaming channel which is run jd run on youtube which that stuff is too serious for me but like our our podcast but we've also we've i've also had him play vr so i because he wanted to play vr real bad he's like yeah i've seen you doing the virtual reality let me see you try that so we did the one with the shark attack oh god that's another one this one wasn't even a game it was just like a tutorial like you just put it on and live through the thing and like a deep ocean dive and he was tripping out it's like this shark i saw the shark yeah the shark's in his face and he's screaming about it he's like he's like and mind you there

was a point in the video uh where he's he's not talking but he's shaking and i thought something bad was that i thought something was happening i'm like dad are you good he was trying to he was like trying to kick and or strangle the shark which was virtually in front of him he was like he was like he was like this and i'm like dad you good and he just yells out at the shark he's like fuck out of here what's your name what shelly was standing in the cage the cage take you you down in the water. Yeah, I then bought him a PlayStation 4 to play the game at his house. And I don't know what happened to any of that stuff. Your son took it. My

brother took it because my brother uses it for Netflix. He just watches the play. There we go. That's us. Look at him going crazy. Look. Look at my neck. He's bugging. And that's me and my brother. We're like dying laughing about it. That damn thing's over my neck. Yeah. He's bugging. And that's me and my brother. We're going, we're like dying laughing about it. That damn thing's over my head.

Oh, Jesus. Look at his face. Yeah. Look at my neck. Look at my neck. My eyeballs are down to my neck. Oh, my God. Oh, man.

Oh, my God. This is the show. Yeah, no. The show is you and him. We, we've, I mean, we, I try to create stuff with him all the time just because it's random and funny. Back in the day, I probably didn't do it because it's one of those things where it wasn't a huge deal.

What is the video title, Jamie, for people? My Dad Freaks Out Playing VR. Look at that. The YouTube channel is on my channel which is YouTube.com

My face hurts Run JD Run is the name of the channel My face is cramping from laughing Shelly ran out You gotta see it in its entirety

It's so goofy This is a show You two together You do it once a week Get together with your dad Just go pick him up Grab him Make it real easy

Bring him to your place You do a show with him once a week Boom That together with your dad. Just go pick him up. Grab him. Make it real easy. Bring him to your place. You do a show with him once a week. Boom. That's it. Might have to do an audio thing. Oh, my God. Yeah. Do an audio thing.

Yeah. What's an audio thing? Easy. Audio this. Podcast. Like this here. Or podcast. We got to find a name.

We got to find a name. I'm going to go finish packing. I got to get out of here. All right. Let's wrap this up. Get to my wife. Joe. He's the king of complaining, man.

I'm trying to tell you. I was trying to tell him on the way over here. I'm like, hey, man, don't be weird. Let's just hang out and enjoy it. I'm going to do my thing, JD. But if I got to do my thing,

I'm going to do my thing. I got to pee. I'm going to pee. If I got to take a shit, I'm going to take a shit. Oh, my God. My face to pee. I'm going to pee. If I got to take a shit, I'm going to take a shit. Oh, my God. My face hurts right here. It hurts.

It's like these muscles are cramped up. You a goofball, man. Anyway. You ain't got no couth. Where your couth at? John, I appreciate you. There ain't no couth. What is couth?

It's nonsense. It's lesser mortals. Yeah, he's a clown, bro. I appreciate you, sir. Thank you very much for being here, man. Where we at Where we at Jamin's place

When you were Yeah sure Yeah that's probably When we first met You must have been young You were a little kid then Yeah I was a little kid I was in my 20s

Yeah that's what I'm saying Yeah Yeah Back in the day man I was about 60 Wow That was about 15 years ago 14 years ago

Probably somewhere out there Maybe more than that even Maybe more than that Yeah more. Maybe more than that? Yeah, more than that when I met you. Yeah. Yeah. More like 20-something. Maybe late 50s or something.

Yeah. I probably was doing the Wayne Brothers or something back then. Yeah, you were. Yeah, that's probably what it was. You were in your 40s. Friday. Yeah. Probably doing Friday.

Doing Friday, the Wayne Brothers. Yeah, all that. Yeah. It's been a long time, my friend. Oh, man, it's amazing. Thank you. You're hilarious. It was a pleasure having you on here. Yep, what we're doing yes a podcast you guys are gonna do it too just we gotta come up with a name let me know i'll have you back on we could just talk

about your dad we'll figure it out oh my goodness give your your twitter handle your instagram all that jazz oh yeah uh at jd witherspoon everywhere and if you want to see those gaming videos it's run JD run on YouTube that's me and then you got your joints at John Witherspoon

I have something like that oh man this is so hard you understand I don't have nothing like that Joe he thinks he's in a simulation I can't

he might be he thinks he's in the matrix he might be correct the internet is the internet is crazy to him but yeah thank you gentlemen what's that at John Witherspoon John Witherspoon the John Witherspoon is the where your cooking show He thinks he's in the Matrix. He might be correct. The internet is crazy to him. But yeah. Thank you, gentlemen. What's that at John?

The John Witherspoon is where your cooking show is at on YouTube. Just type in John Witherspoon on the internet. J.D. Witherspoon if you want to see some goofy stuff. We're here. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thanks for having us, John. All right.

That's it. That's it!