The Joe Rogan Experience - #1480 - Kevin Hart

Episode Date: May 25, 2020

Kevin Hart is a comedian, actor and producer. His new audiobook "The Decision: Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success" is available now on Audible.

You come in here moving and shaking, man. You come in here making deals. You're on the phone already. Gotta do it, Joe. You're always moving. I mean, is there anything else to do? Is there anything else to do besides move? Now I just want to get ahead.

No, no. Especially not now, man. Hunters hunt. Yes. Those that don't get ate. The last time you were here, man, that was one of the most inspirational podcasts I've ever done. I left that. I literally had a shift in the way I was looking at things.

Like you put an extra gear in my step that day. I was like, oh, I love being around people like you. My guy. People around you, people like you, you're going for shit all the time. And it's infectious. It's like you give off energy. And when people are around you, they want to get shit done too. It's contagious. Yes. It's contagious.

Yes. It's contagious. It's not just me putting it out. I think that the last time I was here, our conversation was such a great conversation because there was – we both had point of views, right? And when we shared the point of views, you elevated the other person's POV. Like when we were talking and I was telling you why I live the way I live, why I am the way I am. You springboarded. Then you said, yeah, because for me, I've been doing this. And we had this yin and yang thing going and it drove the conversation. I told you before we jumped on, one of the best interviews that I've ever done

and from a feedback perspective with people that just loved what the discussion was, loved the tone of the interview, the things that were said, felt inspired, motivated after. It was just great all around for me. Checked all the boxes. It was for me too

and I got a bunch of great responses from my friends. That's when I know it's good when I get friends and my friends are all around for me. Checked all the boxes. It was for me, too. And I got a bunch of great responses from my friends. That's when I know it's good, when I get friends. And my friends are all pretty unanimous. They're like, that is a motivational motherfucker. Wow. Like, that dude gets shit done. When people hear stuff like you, like someone who's excited about life, excited about doing things, you know, there's something about that. It's fuel.

It's fuel for people. We need that. Everyone needs that. You know, i don't even this is this is not a cheesy segue all right this just makes sense from what you just said what you just said is the reason why i did the decision you said people need that it's fuel yeah right i feel that in today's, what people are most selfish with is information. Nobody wants to give information.

You got to ask for it. If you ask for it, then I maybe maybe I'll tell you some stuff, but it's a search and find. I mean, real good information, information, information about how to get to success. That's the that's the one from everybody across the board on some level. Everybody's success is different. This doesn't mean fame and stars. I'm not talking about that level of success for everything. I'm saying whatever your version of success is to get to it, information from someone that's done it or that's partaking in it in some degree will only add to the value of your journey.

It's only going to make it easier. It's not to say that you got to do what they said, but with that information, you're able to process it. Maybe use it, maybe not. But you got it. Right. That's what I wanted to do. I said, yo, I got a fucking, I got a life. that's what I wanted to do. I said, yo, I got a fucking, I got a life.

I got a hell of a life that I've lived full of ups, downs, potholes, cobblestones, speed bumps, flat roll, U-turns, some smack brick walls that I ran into, some revolving doors of

back and forth, and through it all my mental has only gotten better. because I feel like I've been in, I've been in a mental gym, the mental fitness that, that coincides with life. You know, it should get better. It should, you should get wiser. You should get smarter. You should be able to make better decisions. And all of my decisions came from the massive amount of fuck ups and I can now share those fuck ups I can now share the rights and the wrongs and the way that I handle all of the things that I've done and people can just take that information and go wow I never looked at it like

that what gives them a better view of the landscape yeah especially when someone like you you almost seem like an unattainable person like how how, how, how does he do that? How is he doing that? How does this guy go from Philadelphia to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world? How does he become one of the biggest standup comedy stars ever? How the fuck do you do that? You almost seem like an alien, you know, to people on the outside. But then when they hear you talk about your real life and talk about these fuck ups and

talk about these successes and talk about the lessons that you've learned, man, that's fuel for folks in a way that nothing else is because it's there's a lot of people that are bullshitting online There's a lot of these motivational speakers that haven't done shit, and it's a it's a weird thing It's like they're they're trying to give you motivation By like sort of reciting things that they think you're gonna work I think think that they think you want to hear someone who's done something when you say it people are gonna listen they're gonna go oh and you're so honest about everything which is every that's everything to people because when you're pure when you're your words are pure people take them right in they come right in there's no there's no like us

guys kind of fucking selling me something. I got nothing to sell. I had a talk with Chase, like J.P. Morgan Chase, a partner of mine, and we were doing this, well not we were, we are. We're doing this thing called Advancing Black Pathways

where we're trying to cure financial literacy in the black community. We're on like year number two right now. Right. And there was a conversation where, you know, they wanted to have said bankers go and talk to the kids in the inner city. You can't send a white man that works for JPMorgan Chase to the inner city of said community, hood, whatever, to talk to these young black kids that has no idea about the life that the black kids are living. I said, what you need is people that have actually come from these environments. They have made it out of the environment and now understand how money works. Because now when I talk to you, I'm not talking to you with hypotheticals and I'm not preaching to you about what you should do and what you got to do. I said, I'm telling you what I did that didn't work.

I'm telling you how I fucked off money and I'm telling you what I didn't know. Hey, guys, here's a fact. There is no education that comes with money in the black communities. It doesn't. You can go search for it. There isn't one. It does not exist. There is no one that is outright teaching the kids in a black community how to operate financially, how to set up for your future. There is nobody talking to you about ownership, homes, mortgages, investments, stocks. That doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. It's not until you get out of that environment that you meet some people that are planning their life accordingly that you start to ask questions.

It's not until maybe college and on the later side of it that you're with people that are getting jobs in the future that you start to do it there is no prep or education at a young age i said so you need a you need a fucking man that can go there and go hey man let me tell you why y'all gotta stop taking these free credit cards let me tell you why you gotta stop putting a cable in somebody else's name and continuing to fuck it up let me tell you why you got to stop putting a cable in somebody else's name and continuing to fuck it up. Let me tell you why you got to stop being okay with not having a bank account. Let me tell you why you got to stop using the check cash places. There's nobody giving that information.

I said, that's what I am. So if we're going to have a relationship, let's build it off of something authentic. Let's build it off of something that people can go. I get that. authentic. Let's build it off of something that people can go. I get that. Since then, to go back to your point, my relationship has been based on me telling the truth. I told JP Morgan Chase, I want to go to the inner city and I want to have these discussions, but let me have them my way. I don't want to have it in a JP Morgan Chase way. And I got to credit them for backing me because they align me with other people

that share the same stories that have achieved certain levels of success that speak to the same thing. So everything that I've done, everything that I'm trying to do, when I do talk about it, I come proven. I'm only talking about this

because I really got knowledge about it. I don't got knowledge about it because I'm the smartest motherfucking world. That's not where the knowledge is coming from, Joe. My knowledge is coming from, hey, man, yo, don't walk through door number one. I walked through that door. There's a monster in there. Yeah, there's a bunch of shit in that door.

It wasn't until I came out that door that I saw those monsters that I knew the other monsters weren't as bad in door number two. But door number three is finally where you should go. I messed up, man. I went to the first two doors wrong. Why can't I give that to somebody that hasn't experienced those doors yet? Why can't I just get that information and possibly prevent

them from walking into those doors? And that's what's really valuable for people listening. Yeah, man. That's what's really valuable. Someone who's Yeah, man. That's what's really valuable. Someone who's actually done it and done it wrong and done it right. And like, hey, listen, I fucked up. This is how I fucked up. That means so much to people. You're advancing people's possibilities.

I think that's what life should be about. As adults, we have a job to do, whether you want to admit it or not, your job is to set up the next generation. That's our job. Whether you want to fucking admit it or not, it's your kids, it's your friends,

it's whomever. You're supposed to live a certain way, do certain things to set up for the next generation to come and to be able to do better. If you don't, then you're not doing your part. And if the world never fucking grows, you got to raise your hand and be responsible because you're a part of the lag. Yeah, you're part of the lag. You're a part of the delay. If we look up in 15, 20 years and we're in the same spot,

well that means that our fucking groundbreakers that was doing all the shit during that 15, 20 years never shared the information so that these new people come through and break new ground. Somebody gotta do more than what the fuck I did. I don't care who it is. But you gotta do more. Somebody gotta fucking do more. what the fuck I did. I don't care who it is. Right. But you got to do more.

Right. Somebody got to fucking do more. Somebody got to break these records. You already blazed the trail. Yeah. Keep going. All I did was show you, hey, man, hey, they stopped here, but I kept going to the left. And I started haul ass, and look what I found.

Now that I'm over here, that means there's more. Did you have a time in your life where you realized that you were doing the right thing? Like a time in your life where you realized, like in your comedy career in particular, where you realized, like, I'm getting some fucking traction. Like, this is really rolling. Like in the beginning, you probably, like all of us, were not sure what was going to happen. You're trying. You know, you're doing open mics.

You're trying to make it. But was there a time where you're like this approach is This is happening. I got traction. It was when I think I think the the noticing of oh shit of Something's happening right now, and it's it's this is I Think this is success. I think I think I'm I think I'm in it. Was it around the time of your first special? It wasn't. It was when I did the Shaq All-Star Comedy Jam.

I just told somebody this story. I was talking to Gary Owens, actually, a good friend of mine, comedian. And we were talking about the past. And Gary was like, Kev, there was a moment where you just fucking just ran past everyone. And he was like, I don't remember exactly what it was that did it. He said, I just remember looking up and you were gone. And I remember it was the Shaq All-Star Comedy Jam. The lineup was Cedric D'Antonio.

He was hosting. It was D-Ray Davis, Tommy Davison, and myself. comedy jam the lineup was cedric the entertainer he was hosting it was d ray davis tommy davison um and myself it's a hell of a lineup it was d ray davison tommy davison myself cedric the entertainer was the host and i closed out the show and i remember going to do the show was in phoenix it was in the round and i had to do this is when I was about to tape Seriously Funny, my next special after Growing Little Man. So, Seriously Funny, I was taping in like four months. It was already on the books. So this is

supposed to be it. This is my big coming out party. This has to be it, man. You know, I feel like I'm ready. I've been working hard. My jokes are hitting. I'm raw. I'm edgy. This is it. This is the one. I'm fucking funny. Seriously. That's why I titled that. Seriously funny. I was raw. I'm edgy. This is it. This is the one. I'm fucking funny. Seriously. That's why I titled that. Seriously funny.

I was ready. I get the call from Jeff Klannigan. Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam. We're taping it, Kev. Dude, it's like 15, 20 minutes. You know, can you do it for me? And Jeff and I had a relationship. And I was like, Jeff, I'm about to tape my special.

I don't want to burn that material. He's like, Kev, look, you can use some other stuff 15-20 minutes we tape it but you know these things get some good traction good views it's some good eye candy you should just have it out there all right whatever I wasn't even taking it serious this was not something that was taking serious and this is an example of sometimes you don't know what it's going to be. You don't know what the fuel in a rocket is going to be. You just got to fucking buckle up and be prepared for the takeoff. Now, if it take off and you don't know where the seatbelts are and you don't know where the lights and shit at,

well, now you got a fucked up rocket ride. You're going to crash. It's over. It's over if you're not ready. I do it. This thing airs. And I remember watching it. And at the end of the show,

something so small seems so fucking big. I say goodnight. I put up two fingers. And as I'm walking off the stage, they put it in slow motion. They put me in slow motion walking off the stage they put it in slow motion they put me in slow motion walking off the stage and there was a separation from everything else that was on there it was almost like this guy is the the guy it was it was a it was a small tweak in editing I had nothing to do with

it I just saw it and the slow motion walk off the crowd getting up clapping you see people's faces slow motion pointing screaming and I'm walking off with like a bob and it was almost like a a coined this is it this is going to be the guy I didn't do it I didn't mean for it to happen I didn't know it was going to happen God bless the editors God bless the Shaq All Star Comedy Jam after that aired I remember doing a show at Caroline's

this is a true fucking story shout out to Louis from Caroline's Comedy Club I was just doing a weekend weekend you're supposed to be doing three shows. We sold out 15 shows. We sold out 15 fucking shows. How the fuck did you do that?

We didn't know. Listen. How many days? We was there for like eight days. We were there for like eight days. Lewis can confirm this. Caroline's Comedy Club. That's crazy. Michael days. Lewis can confirm this. Caroline's Comedy Club. That's crazy.

Michael Berkowitz can confirm this. That's my public appearance agent. We just kept getting calls. We're gone. We just put the tickets up for another show. They're gone. What? What do you want to do?

We can add another. You want to try to do a Wednesday night? Yeah, go ahead. It's gone. Kevin, we added the Wednesday. It's gone. What do you want to do? You want to see if we can add a late show Wednesday?

Yeah, fuck it, I guess. It's gone. Tuesday. It went Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We was in that bitch till goddamn Wednesday. Holy shit. 15 shows, Caroline's Comedy Club. was in that bitch till goddamn Wednesday. Holy shit. 15 shows, Caroline's Comedy Club. What'd that feel like when it was happening?

I'm going to say 12 to 15 shows. I remember. Because some of the days we could do one, some we could do two. But you don't know. I'm like, I can't even understand this. Caroline's Comedy Club was a big comedy club. This is New York City. This is the melting pot where you got some of everybody.

After that is when me and Bert said, is this a New York thing? Did the word get out in New York? And we found out the Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam was playing on showtime around the clock. It was just being pumped all day, all night. And we put up some shows outside, and the comedy club started flying. We was adding shows. We said, let's do small theaters.

And then I did small theaters, and right after that moment, I taped Seriously Funny. So Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam hit so hard that by the time I was ready to do Seriously Funny, which was in three to four months, people were so hype and ready to see me do something else that that became a massive attraction. Wow.

Seriously Funny took off and blew as well. That's crazy that it was something that you weren't even really thinking of. Not even thinking about it. Maybe that's why I was so free, you know? The shit that you don't- Yeah. The shit that's- Now, by the way, Seriously Funny, I damn near shitted myself before the show.

I damn near defecated on myself before the show because I'm like, man, these people are here. The theater sold out so fast. I had LeBron, Shaq, the whole Cleveland Cavalier team was there at the time. It was unreal. I was like, this is it. This is my moment. I gotta make this a thing. I gotta make

I can't fuck this up. I cannot fuck this up. The show ended up going great and then from there the fucking star just continued to rise. And that's when the engine within myself started the click of go get.

So there's something you always had the go get. I got always had that. Always had that. I told you before, that's my mom. RIP Nancy Hart. Don't tell me I can't do something because now I'm pissed. Now I'm going to do it.

Don't tell me that. And that's a gift and a curse. Yeah, that's a gift and a curse. Like you saw in a a doc i don't know if you saw but in my documentary i put it all out there that's a curse calf don't put that video up don't do that don't tell me what the fuck not to do i'm gonna do it and sometimes it don't do what you think it was gonna do you don't know everything you don't know everything and you're not that great to think that you do know everything and you can get bit in the ass by thinking that but you got to get bit to go oh let me get better at that yes so my go get comes from me just saying what's my reason not to go after everything that I possibly can. I will stand on a fucking building

and say this, man. It's a game. This thing is serious, but it's got a game-like quality to it. This thing called life. It's got a game-like quality to it. And if you don't fucking see that, you better open your eyes.

You better open your fucking eyes. Because in this life, the moves that we're making allow you to do more, to get more, to see more, travel more, explore, experience. Or some people are dealt a different hand and it's tougher. It's a darker road and it's damn it. It's fuck. I'm, I want to get out of this. I can't, I'm doing, ah, how do I get out? Fuck. I made it. Oh, it looked like I wasn't supposed to get out, but I'm out. Everybody say you can't get out of this shit. I did. I'm out. I'm out. I'm one of the people that got out. It's a fucking, it's got a real game-like quality to it. And that doesn't mean that you play with it. Understand what I'm saying here.

It means that you can do what you put your mind to. And if you continue to put your mind to it, the game opens up new levels. Tell me I'm fucking saying something wrong. You're saying something right. You get a new level and each new level that gets opened up you're able to adapt a different mindset and a different approach. You can stop at that level

or you can go, I want more levels. I want more fucking levels. I don't like seeing shit that I have no idea how to obtain or gain access to. That frustrates me. That frustrates me

when people do things and I don't know how they do it or did it. Whether I'm going to do it or not, I want to know. When you're around people that work in different atmospheres what do you do man oh man i'm the guy that takes these labels right here simple labels right here i have a manufacturing

company company where i do these but i do them uh in bulk so we do a thousand labels every 30 seconds and i built a manufacturing lab and this company here pays me X on a dollar and I got 35 companies doing the same thing. I've built a multi million dollar business based off labels. People don't understand how important labels are. I did at a young age so I started manufacturing labels.

You can manufacture fucking labels? Now I'm intrigued. Even if I didn't want to do that i'm intrigued that that's a thing i'm intrigued i'm intrigued that you found a way to do that this table is a handmade does a company do these is it fucking custom where's the wood from if you really dig into everything it comes from a. It comes from a broken down thought. So you can be a person that's just around a bunch of brilliant thoughts and never ask questions.

Or you can soak some of that shit up. You know what this pandemic showed me, Joe? How our economy really fucking works. Once again, I'm coming from the perspective of a young black man from the hood. I'm from the bottom. I don't know shit about stocks. I don't know nothing about investments. Never have, right? But I know through this pandemic,

now that I'm at a point where I'm actually into stocks and I'm investing and putting a portfolio together, well, I really looked at the way that the world moves. I really looked at how we move as people how are we fucking still going what are we using

what are we fucking using this is what I said to my kids I said what are you still using what do you mean on a day to day what do we have to use tell me the things we have to use toothpaste who makes the toothpaste they told me who made the toothpaste is that a company that you can invest in? Do you feel like? In the mornings? Starbucks?

Is that an investment? Do you feel like everybody drinks Starbucks? We drink it all the time. You feel like everybody else does too? I think so. That's an investment. That's what you put money in because you feel like it's going to last, it's going to grow. What stores do we go to? going to last is going to grow. What stores do we go to? Where are we always at? Target? How many people in Target when we go? A lot. Is that an investment? I guess. Why do you guess? At this point, you should know. We talk about it all the time. Why do you think it's an investment, dad? Why do you think it's not? I'm talking to you about putting money in places where you feel like it's going to grow. where you feel like it's going to grow. Do you feel like targets are going to shut down tomorrow? Or do you feel like they're going

to open more stores? How do you feel? This is a thing that I watch. And this is a thing that I also watch people ignore. This is what's wrong with our world because we don't talk to people enough like this. We don't give them the simplicity behind the way we fucking move and the way the world goes around. If we did get the simplicity, then we could have people taking $20 out their check and creating a portfolio. We could have people taking $40 to $50 out their check and putting it in said thing. have people taking 40 to 50 dollars out their check and putting it in said thing said stock said whatever it is you can be doing it at a younger age you don't have to have the most crazy amount of money it can start off with the smallest amounts of money but you can learn it that can grow i watch it i pay attention that's what gets me fucking going, Joe. I pay attention to everything.

My question is, why don't most of us? Why are we comfortable with letting the world just go by? I think a lot of people don't have the framework. They don't know how to operate in that realm. They don't know how to get going. They don't know how to get started. Yeah. But I love what you said about it being there's a game-like quality to that's such a perfect way to look at it it really is you played the game

yeah you played the game for how many years joe how many years you had your podcast 11 11 years right i'm going to give you a very true story and to my brothers the Cup Boys, we got our radio show, Straight From the Heart, constantly preaching to us about it's not about now. It's about tomorrow. Our radio show is a good radio show, and we have a following, but it's not about now. It's about tomorrow. We got to put the work in today so that when tomorrow comes, we are well-equipped for the conversation that may be. I said, Joe had a fucking long ride of preparing for tomorrow.

And when tomorrow hit, it had to hit correctly because Joe never not did the work on a day-to-day basis to prepare for tomorrow. I got everybody fired up just off of the fact that you continue to do your thing the way that you were, regardless of conversations, regardless of other offers and possibilities. You felt something else was on the horizon for tomorrow. But you knew it would come based off of your energy and effort that you put into the thing that you have. Realistically, I don't look at it that way. How do you look at it? I never look at a destination or a thing or something happening.

I just keep doing it. I'm one of those weird grinders. That's not weird. That's a way for you to go. But I trust the process, but I don't ever look at it like there's a destination, like a success moment, like a big thing, a big thing hits. I just keep doing it. And those things sort of find their own way through management and agents. And I've put very little thinking into that.

I put almost all my thinking into just doing the thing the best way that I can do it. Metaphor for you then. You're an amazing fucking fighter you are I mean I don't know how many black belts you fucking guys just know I wouldn't fuck with you you but you got some shit with you right and if you are practicing a kick or a move if you it, let's say 200,000 times to make sure you get it perfect, are you doing that and figuring that out for the unknown? Or is it for if I ever have to use it, I want it to be so fucking right?

Yeah, that's always there. That's always there. But the thing is always the technique. The thing is always the process. And I think that's where I got this from podcasting and even from stand-up. It's just the grind. The process. It comes from martial arts.

The grind is like you've got to be there every day. If you're there three days a week, it's not as good as five. You've got to be there five days a week. And five might be better than seven because sometimes seven you burn out. You want to keep enthusiasm because that's a fuel. Enthusiasm. There's something about enthusiasm that you you got to balance discipline and enthusiasm discipline is critical you have to be able to show up but you also have to enjoy the shit out of it and so enjoying the shit out of it with discipline is the key but you got to ride those babies out

you know you don't want to fuck every day take a couple days off want it want it you know like people fuck every day you don't even know what fucking feels like take three four days off and smoke a joint and make out with your woman get it get get some energy back into it yes do you do you feel like and this is something that, you know, I never have a good, I have an okay answer, but I don't feel like it's ever the best answer. When people say, well, what do you do when you're not doing what you love? Right. And what I've said in the past and, you know, in the present as well is I think in order to do what you love, you got to get through the obstacles of the things that you don't love. In life, right?

As you're trying to come up, yeah. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask. Do you agree with that? Yeah. Like getting over those hurdles and then eventually they lead you to the thing where you're like, okay, now I'm ready to pursue said thing that I want to do. Or if you're in a job or, you know, a career and you're like, I fucking hate my job. What I feel is like, you know, even if you hate your job, you, you're supposed to be

using that job for something to get to something. Right. And if you're, if you're not, then that should be the thing that you're figuring out like i don't like being here but now that i'm here i'm going to do all that i can to get said thing so that i can then be comfortable enough to move here yeah if you just go into those things with hate because you were talking about enthusiasm made me think about made me think about it if you just got hate and you're just angry about what you're doing every day, then you're not even allowing yourself to figure out the plan

of how to escape the thing that you hate to get to the thing that you love. Yeah, I think it's important to have those jobs that suck, man. They like cement your foundation. Lifeguard. Because you don't want to go back to those fucking places.

You don't want to go back to those terrible jobs where you had to get up and be uninspired all day long. But if you can get through that, that's this rigid structure of discipline that allows you to apply that discipline to things you love. If you can apply discipline and learn how to apply it to something that sucks and get free, have a game plan and get free. Once you get free, you have that ability to get up and do things that suck. Guess what?

You're going to get up and do things you love easier. Even more. And you're going to remember construction sites and delivering newspapers and all the stupid jobs that I worked. I think about those fucking things when I get up in the morning. When I'm brushing my teeth, I think about them. That's the fucking game, though. That's the game.

That's why you gotta get through it. You have to. I say this, man, it's the story. You're just putting that story together. I don't think, without the stories, what do you talk about?

What do you talk about? What do you talk about? Right. You know, what is the interesting side of conversation about your growth or your journey? If it's just the easiest, I just took the highway and got off at the exit and right there at the exit, I found the gold. Everybody else did. It's no... Right.

Or my dad was rich and I have a trust fund and got off at the exit, and right there at the exit, I found the gold. Everybody else did. It's no— Right. Or my dad was rich, and I have a trust fund, and I never have to work ever. What is the interesting side to that? Like, I don't—there's no bonus in that. Like, I just fucking broke my goddamn back, right? Right. The dopest thing for me about doing that was not being able to walk, but then being told that if I'm patient, I can recover fully. I can get back to myself in me instantly thinking in my head, I can actually be better than what I was. If he's telling me I can get back to 100 percent,'m going to be better. So the game instantly clicked on. All right, tomorrow we start. We play.

New level. I can't fucking walk. God damn, here we go. Can't wipe my ass. I'm not fucking getting it. They say I can't get in the gym. PT is some weird shit. I'm just taking two steps on a fucking busa ball.

And I'm, all right, this is a little discouraging. But I know they said I'm supposed to do it three days. I'm going to listen to them. But on those other four days, is there anything else that I can do to be working on? Kevin, you can strengthen your lungs up, working on your breathing. Here's a breathing machine. Okay. What about my hands?

Is there any way my senses, tennis ball, can I be squeezing? Should I be doing anything? No, we don't have anything like that. We don't recommend it. So if I found something and I researched, if it's just motor skills and working on it, is that fine? Yeah, that's fine.

But, you know, it's okay if that's what you want to do. Okay. I saw that, yeah, I'm not getting the same. The doctors are just telling me the stuff that I need to know. Stay within those lines. I'm going to find other things that I can do because I'm playing the game now. I'm never going to overexert myself.

But the game is to be better. How do I be better than what I was? Because if I do that, ooh, fuck. For me, I just beat me. Yeah. This ain't about nobody else. I don't give a fuck about nobody else. I just beat me.

If I can keep beating myself, pause, if I can keep beating myself pause if I can keep doing that then that means that I'm in a battle with the only person that fucking makes sense I'm in a battle with the only person that I really want to fucking be and that's me I don't care about anybody else. I have no worry or gripe about the next man or woman's journey or their level of success. That's not what I'm up against. If I can continue to outdo me from the day before, then I'm ahead. And I'm ahead. And that's the newfound energy that I got out of life now. I'm on this amazing Rocky story with myself.

It's in my head. Nobody else is watching this movie but me. It's in my head. This is Rocky. This is the comeback. This is exactly what I saw in the movie. And I'm going to come back better than ever. I'm going to be 41. My my body's gonna be ripped up i might be about eight percent body fat and then and then i'm ready

ready for what kevin i don't fucking know ready to be better than you were before i don't know but that's that's what i want i want that day to be like yeah yeah, now what? And then I figure out what. I figure out what that what is then. Yeah. Tell me, when you got injured, you were explaining it to me before the podcast, but I didn't want to talk too much about it because I wanted to hear it now so everybody could hear it. What exactly was the injury?

I fractured my my spine right and it's from my it's either from my t10 to my l1 from my l1 to my t10 whatever order that goes in so I how many fractures I mean that's fucking that shit that's just fine that's about so you fractured basically everything I mean you got like this much space in my back so you gotta think first of all I'm already small got like this much space in my back. So you got to think, first of all, I'm already small, right? So this is practically my whole back. If you look at this right here, if you look at this, this is practically my whole back. So all of this fractured.

And what happens is they had to fuse my spine. So do they have to remove the discs in between? They basically had to fix. So the bones where it's fractured, basically your spine is now out of whack. The things that keep your spine connected and that allow you the flexibility are out of whack. I got pieces of those bone fragments that are out of place out. So they got to fuse that shit back together. So I got eight screws.

Do they take the disc material out and compress it and then screw them all? So is the bone all one piece now? I think I'm one. I don't know about the disc. I don't have that answer. That's a little too technical for me. And I should know that because it was my body.

But what I do know is that this thing that's my spine has eight screws and these eight screws now hold it together. So through this time of healing, because I now have metal in my back, it was about getting your back to be comfortable with the metal, but also back to a normal level of flexibility. with the metal but also back to a normal level of flexibility so where people fuck up when you get this type of energy and you stay still you allow that metal to get stiff you don't you don't you're not moving it so so now your movements become robotic yeah with it so because as soon as i got out the hospital i started i didn't have days off as soon as i got out i started physical therapy i did not wait i didn't i got off medication i said i'm not taking no meds you know my dad was on drugs i was like i'm not fucking around with that so i dealt with the pain but i said i gotta start now because every day that i wait makes it harder to go. So because I was back and forth, side to side, doing all of those things,

I got my body to get accustomed to it, and I got flexibility. So now when you see me working out, it looks as if I'm back, and I'm probably 98% back to myself right now, but the work that I put into my core and my upper body over the years are what saved me outside of god of course in that situation because you know i want to tell those people just for just for you to know this health and wellness shit is so much bigger than what you may think it is taking care of your, you don't know when all of that stuff comes into play and adds up correctly.

You know, the human body is amazing. Recovery, the ability to snap back and go back to what it once was, the body muscle memory, all of that stuff plays a major factor. So my healing was a lot faster because of the years of work that i put into it before now if i had enough and i didn't have that core well i'd be paralyzed i'd be fucking paralyzed i

mean they said you're literally talking about this much doctor look me in the eyes you're lucky to be walking you're this much if your core wasn't in the shape that it was and if you didn't have the the strength to take whatever that impact was and stay you would have been snapped and you would never be walking again so that instantly thank god i go you know what thank god for my trainer who jumped into my life at a certain time and changed my way of thinking. Boss, Ronald Boss Everline. And, you know, we've been rocking for seven years and the consistency of four years before of every day. Every day. So now I'm like, you're not wasting your time ever so when those people

say what are you working out for what are you getting in shape for why are you going every day you don't know when you're gonna need to fucking tap into all of the work that you've done you don't know you don't know if you'll ever need it but to just know that you've taken care of yourself to know that you've given yourself a chance to fucking not only survive but perform you've given yourself a chance to perform at a high level in the day-to-day by taking care of your engine this is this is my machine so i'm taking care of the engine just like any car oil changes just like you know your fucking your brakes your your tires the rotors all of that shit you taking care of that so that it's a great ride every time you gotta do the same with your body don't ignore that shit people you know we we dropping like flies right now heart attacks strokes you know

uh kidney failure you got people with diabetes you got people getting uh legs or arms cut off from bad eating from from bad eating over the course of years take that shit serious don't wait till the end that's serious that serious. That's not a joke. So when I look at people dying around me, we have no control over when the day is going to come, but I'm going to try to help amplify my time here as much as I can. That's the big one, right? Amplify your time.

You have energy. You have a different kind of energy than someone who's unhealthy. You have the ability to push forward. You have the ability to get you done you have more enthusiasm because your body feels good why do you not why I want to be careful the way I say this because I don't want to seem like I'm coming down on anybody that's not but why don't you want to take care of yourself I think they do I think it's just habits are very hard to break there's a lot of comfort in just the

same thing every day. Open up the cabinet, Twinkies, fuck it. I'll start tomorrow. Fuck it. I feel like eating those chips. And you just settle into it. And then there's this disappointment that comes from settling in. And it's comfort and it's disappointment at the same time.

You're like, well, I guess that's me. And you accept it. And I think sometimes people are scared of improvement because they're scared of failure. So if they can just kind of slide into the same bullshit every day, it makes them feel less uneasy. You know what? What I say and what I will say goes back to the decision, goes back to information. It's not bad if you want those things. decision goes back to information it's not bad if you want those things i don't i don't think that people are supposed to live a robotic life and and you know i don't eat this ever and i don't

do this well i always point to the rock and his fucking cheat days i mean this fucking first of all he eats for a village that son of a bitch well he has a village it's unreal what he puts down when he puts down and that's what I'm saying. You should enjoy yourself and enjoy your life. But I think that there should be a give and take. Like, all right, I'm going to eat the way I want to eat. I'm not compromising that because I love food. But let me put a half hour in a day of walking. Let me do something so where I'm active so there's at least a give and take.

That's what I would say to people out there. I'm not saying in no way, shape, or form, don't do this ever and that's wrong and you're going to destroy yourself. No, that's unrealistic. That's unrealistic. I think you should definitely be happy. You should definitely do the things that you enjoy. Because like I said, in my mind, this is a game. You're playing the game.

Be happy while you're playing it. Don't be miserable. One way to play the game is to challenge yourself. Give yourself a month. Write down for a month. For one month, I'm not drinking a single soda. For one month, I'm going to do something, some exercise every day, and I'm going to write down what it is. For one month.

The fucking game. Yeah. Here's how I think. I don't know if that's a book title or not or if it hasn't, has been or hasn't, but God damn it, that could be my next one. The game. Yeah. Now I know you guys are hearing this.

I think it may be, but maybe, you know, the game, the game of life, that's something, but it's something there. It's such a synergy within that. Maybe just call it game. Something. It's there. Your statement of there's a game-like quality to life resonates. As soon as you said that, I was like, ooh, that's it.

That's the way to look at it. Don't just look at it like life. Look at it like you're trying to succeed. You're trying to get ahead and win. The game-like quality of life. That's it. Don't just look at it like life. Look at it like you're trying to succeed. You're trying to get ahead and win. The game-like quality of life. That's it. It's a dope thing. I'm going to really harp on that. So you're recovering

from your back injury. How long ago was the injury? How long ago was the crash now? September. So what is that? September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April. What's this, May? Yeah, so only eight months. Almost. It was about to be June, so about to be nine.

About to get into nine. And you said you're like 98% down. 98%. I'm down to probably 10% body fat right now. And as far as like movement, you could basically do everything? I'm doing everything. Wow. Doing everything.

I'm up to running again. I'm probably everything. Wow. Doing everything. I'm up to running again. I'm probably at three. I can go three and a half miles straight before I'm like, oh. The back starts to bother you? Yeah, before I get tight. And what are you doing for the back? Are you doing yoga? Are you doing what kind of exercise?

I got physical therapy. You know, that's random. Shout out to Dr. Pat. You know, I make sure that getting the massages, getting the work done. Because I'm doing so much within working out. I don't want to not take care of that as well. So from heating it from, you know, treatment, uh, just, just literally doing things to, to make sure that I'm, I'm constantly working on those muscles and not forgetting them.

I'm getting older. I don't want to act like that's not the case or that's not a reality. I'm 40 now. So how do I take care of this machine so at 50 I'm not moving as if I'm 70? I'll say that's been a great adjustment, but one that's really made me feel better. Like stretching. a great adjustment but one that's really made me feel better like stretching you know i didn't i didn't understand the importance of stretching of actually resting you know i was gotta get it let's go it's go time weights hit it clanging and banging baby clanging and banging but now you know make sure you get your rest time so that you can come back and give the energy.

Your cardio changes, road machines. I'm on a bike. You know, I'm Pelotoning. I'm Hydroing. I'm running. So the workouts change and you become more consistent with your system, with my new system. So I think by July, July, my goal is for my 41st birthday, that's July 6th, to be around 8, 8.5% body fat at the age 41.

So it's all about looking good with the body fat? For me, the body fat means that I've just been super focused. Like, I eat. I don't want people to think that i don't eat i'm i'm not a foodie though so it doesn't really count but you know i'm not on some strict crazy diet you're not a foodie like you don't enjoy like i'm not a foodie man i don't know i don't eat red meat i need no red meat no no fish no seafood uh i'm a i'm a plant-based eater everything everything's plant uh i'll go chicken every once in a while i'll dabble into my chicken and that's what that's what people don't understand i don't think people really get that or understand that it's like um just because you make the decision to go and try plant-based doesn't mean that you have to engulf in that world learn it understand

it and see if there's benefits that work for you i stopped eating red meat so much because i learned that i didn't have to have it i thought that i needed it to survive that's what i was under the mindset like if i don't eat this i'm things are going to change for me that's what I thought but once I found out there was protein and things and other foods and other resources and then I started to learn more about the plant based food space I was like I'm going to give it a try

and I started trying the Beyond Meat and I fucking fell in love with the Beyond Meat I was like I don't feel the difference let me tell you something right now those Beyond Meat things are not good for you I love them I'm sure you do I'm sure you enjoy them that's fine i love them if you're gonna be plant-based that's not the way to go in terms of like the overall health it's not bad if you want just taste if you enjoy you know just mouth pleasure

but they're not good for you i it's all oils it's all this plant-based oils and it's all processed and weird. Just eat vegetables. What you are is a very smart man. So I would never challenge the information that you may have that I don't have. So now, after being told such a thing, I would look and see for myself. I can say to date, I love the Beyond option because it's not only taking the place of the meat. I like the different versions of it that's available. As long as you're enjoying it. Nothing wrong with something you're enjoying.

You're obviously very healthy. Yeah, I can say I haven't seen, I'll put it this way. Since going plant-based and jumping into that space and choosing that because there was a moment where you had the impossible you had the beyond and you had all this stuff that was out there and you're trying everything i like that one the most so after liking the beyond one the most then i said let me see if i can be more consistent since doing that I've I've seen a significant change and just being more vibrant more up and and at it like you know my days were always long so there used to be a wall that I would hit you know when I was eating and I was red meat whether it be the burger patty without the bun, whether it was steak and eggs for protein, whatever it was. I would always hit a wall a day where, you know, I'm dozing.

I'm dozing and I'm crashing. I don't have those crashes. Maybe you weren't getting enough carbohydrates. Could be. Once again, Joe, you're a very smart man. So I'm not going to challenge your knowledge because I know that this is a space where you're well equipped. You do your research you read you know I've heard you talk about things various times uh in this space I'll just say it's

it's one of those things where I was like okay this is a pattern that I fell into it's been comfortable but I've seen the results that's all that matters and there's bio available bio uh variability that everybody has to take into consideration like your body's going to be different than Jamie's is going to be different than consideration. Your body's going to be different than Jamie's. It's going to be different than mine. Everybody's body's going to respond different to different kind of foods. It's really different. Some people work great off of just fish.

I know people that are on a carnivore diet, and they're in the healthiest shape they've ever been in their life. All they eat is red meat. They just rib eyes all day long. And you go, what the fuck? That doesn't even make any sense. Meanwhile, they look great. And they'll swear to you that they've never felt better.

Psoriasis is gone. Joint pain gone. Healthier than ever. And then I know other people that are all 100% plant-based. And they're like, I got off my meds. I feel great. I think focus on eating properly, whether it's eating properly plant-based or eating properly with a carnivore diet, just cutting out all the bullshit.

Yeah. That's the, and, and, and focusing on the fact that you're eating for health and for vitality. Like that's a big part of it. You just said the key thing. No, the, the key things you just said is people are doing different things that work for them. Yeah. There, there is no right or wrong way.

And I think that's the biggest misconception right the misconception is that you're doing it wrong there's one way there's only one no don't do that no don't eat that there's so many different ways that can work for you don't be afraid to try or just experience what those options are and find your comfort space like that's that's why i say within that plant-based space you know people that why I say within that plant-based space, you know, people that go, yeah, man, I'm plant-based, but I feel bad because I ate certain things. It's like you don't have, like it's not,

there is no rule to what you want to do for you. And you got to be open to making adjustments too. Do you know CT Fletcher? I do know of him. I don't know him, but I know of him. Love that guy to death he's yes it's as motivational as anybody that's ever lived he had a heart attack um had his heart replaced got a new heart and he i don't think he's confirmed it but he believes it's an

asian woman and i don't know if that's this how he feels or like he's had some weird feelings about having this other person's heart inside of his body. And he went 100% plant-based, just changed everything, changed his entire diet and puts all these videos up about it. He thinks his heart came from an Asian woman. He believes his heart came from an Asian woman. I don't think he's confirmed that because I don't think they tell you, but I think he's, he just- Would you want to know?

Do you want to know? Yeah, I'd kind of want to know. Yeah. Maybe he knows now. He didn't. I don't believe he knew last time I saw him in here. But, you know, the first time I met him, I mean, he's a powerful guy. You know, it's still your motherfucking set.

He's that guy. Yeah. And he's just always this, like, booming voice and just gigantic muscles. And he's all drive and go. And then when his heart failed and then he had to have his heart replaced i saw him about a year later and he had this remarkable calm that had come over him he was just like this different person very loving and embracing and had all this happiness and all this joy and all this appreciation and now all he needs is plants i mean he's a And he swears by it.

It's that light. For him, that's the way to go. No, I'm talking about that light. I saw that light. When you come close to that light, and that light that I'm talking about is death. If you come close to that light, when you do, and if you are fortunate enough to come back from that light when you do and if you are fortunate enough to come back from that light you value

life differently there are no bad days for me there are no bad days for me my biggest cry in life came from the first day that I came home from the hospital day that I came home from the hospital.

Because I never had to see that house again. There was an option of me never seeing that home again. There was an option of me never walking on that driveway again. There was an option of me never seeing my wife and my kids again. It wasn't like a buildup cry. It was pull up, get out, feet touch the ground. What the fuck just came over me? Boo hoo.

Like what the fuck? What just happened? By the way, a painful cry because my back was fucked up. So I'm crying hard and I'm in pain. But the realization of none of this has to be. You're not in control. Hey, Kevin, you're not in control, buddy. You thought you were.

You moved for a minute like, nah, I got this. I'm going to do that. Don't worry about it. I got it nah, I got this. I'm going to do that. Don't worry about it. I got it. We'll be good. I'm going to make sure it happens. As if you were in control. That's what it is.

It's literally that. At any decision, at any given time, it can be over. Yeah. And it's not until you get close to that light that you truly respect that. I respect that. There are no bad days. Hey, man, miss me with any bullshit yeah i'm smiling yeah because i have no reason to be angry because i don't have to be here you appreciate that sunshine because you've been in the pouring rain yeah man hey hey that's a fuck yes so So when you talk about C.T. Fletcher and you talk about his calm, you know what, man?

I've been on the other side. He's been, yeah, let's go. And that's great. That doesn't mean that he doesn't still have that. But now there's a different energy and a different level of relaxation that can come because I know how fortunate I am to be taking these steps. Yeah, it's not just a theory. Like every day really truly is a gift. Jeez.

Yeah. And you take it for granted. It's real. You take it for fucking granted, man. I'm going to tell you, not being able to wipe my ass changed everything. Do you got one of them bidets in your house? You press the button and it shoots the water up your ass? I couldn't even do that.

Really? I couldn't even do that. Really? I couldn't do that. I'm talking you. You take it for granted. You take it for granted, man. All of this. All this conversation is clapping. It's easy.

Oh, hey, come here. All this shit here. You just you just think it's OK. You go go through go through a situation where it's compromised how long did it take before you could start walking again normal or semi-normal i lied in a hospital because i didn't want them to know that that i was having pain because i thought that they were going to stop me from letting me continue to try my walks. It was like day seven in the hospital.

And I had the walker. And it was slow walks, but I was dragging. It was upper body. And I was masking it as if I was feet. Right? Because I didn't want to stop trying like that was my that was my that was my fucking my my my go get my drive for anything was those that half hour 40 where I could get up and go walk because I was just laying in the bed all day. And, you know, God bless me and my wife and my kids.

There was, there's times like if this is the remote control and I'm in the bed and I just want to get to the control. Well, I can't get to it. If you didn't position the control down here by my hands so I could get it, this here throws my whole fucking. So now I can't press the button to call the nurse. And every second is, babe, can you can you grab the control for me? Have do. And there was a time where my son, my son was like, fuck it. My son just slept in a bed with me.

My son, he was like, I'm here, Dad. I'm up. My son didn't want to go to school. My daughter didn't want to go to school. They didn't want to leave my side. They stayed there. And middle of the night, if they heard me, you all right, Dad? What you want?

They were up. My son doubled as nurse. My daughter doubled as nurse. Nico doubled as it. You know, they were there my brother came and that's when the that's when the care about what was important really changed the shit that I thought was important the things that you think are important you get to looking around that hospital room was four walls none of that shit that you think is important is in there it's one of these people none of the other shit was in there

none of it none of it was fucking in there it's also gotta make you feel great that there's that much love you know that they cared about you that's what got that's what gets you that's what gets you through it yeah so those little steps that i was taking you know the the discomfort of not being able to do the love and energy made me go it's gonna be all right i'm gonna get there because you definitely feel defeated for a little bit and so how long before you were walking without a walker um i was stubborn man so probably two and a half weeks two So probably two and a half weeks. Wow. Two and a half weeks. I should have had the walker, though.

Wow. I should have had the walker. But I'm giving the perception that it's better than what it is. And I had the back brace on. You faked it till you made it. I definitely was, hey, smiling. smiling what's up y'all right good morning everybody giving this perception bill burr told me he went to visit you yeah and he said and he said he goes see the fucking guy's already walking around yeah it's crazy yeah i had to give

him the perception because you don't i don't want you to worry. It's me. I'm going through it. I'm going to figure it out. I don't want that worry placed on anybody else. I told you, I stopped fucking taking meds. So every night was a horrible night. That's so much better for you, though.

Just accept that pain. Every night. I did that with my knee surgery, and it's obviously a much less painful thing but i was like i took that shit once for one of my knee surgeries one day and i was like this i feel so fucking stupid i slobbered on myself that's when i said no no i was talking a piece of slobber yeah i was by myself alone in my apartment and i was thinking this was you know back when i lived in new york and i was like i am not doing this again this is one day i'd rather i'd rather be in searing pain and have my senses than to be stupid i felt so dumb felt dumb dumb just like uh yeah this is not me i'm not into i'm not into escape i don't want to escape i want to dig deep not that bad yeah i'd

rather just feel the pain i'm not looking for it that bad. It's a sensation. It's a terrible sensation, but I know what it is. It's just letting me know that there's a problem and we'll fix that problem eventually. I don't like the look that comes with being high. Yeah. Like when I see what people look like that

I don't like that look. The pill high? See, I like the weed high. I'm talking about this shit here. Oh, yeah. When you don't know what you... This shit here, you don't know what's going on with your hands. I don't like that.

I don't want to look like that. Yeah, I think that's people that are in so much pain all day just emotionally that they just need some sort of escape from it one thing i'm embracing it i will not knock anybody that is dealing with any type of mental struggle because that is something that's so serious because nobody understands what that is except that person right so i never i never talk as if that's an easy thing I talk as if that's a thing that I don't fully know about. So you can only have some type of remorse and feeling of understanding for people that are battling any type of mental illness or mental health. Because it's a different monster and a different machine.

So whatever the reasons to escape that are for you and from you you know that's that's something that's tbd to be determined between you and whoever's trying to help you people on the outside we got no right we got no right if you're not fucking dealing with the same thing you got no right to judge that ever there's no way we can understand what's going on no way i can understand what's going on in your head other than you telling me about it and me trying to decipher it and trying to put it into words. But that's one of the more

interesting things about talking to people. It's like when you talk to people and you find out how they feel and think about things, it shifts your own ideas of what life is. And I'm trying to look at life

through other people's eyes. And the only way you get that is through them talking. I mean, I'm dealing with it now with my kids. I got two teenagers. So my daughter, you know, my daughter got mad. This is a while ago. She got so mad.

She was like, just forget it. And it was like a little rage. I didn't attack her for it. I said, there's something that made you do that. It's bigger than just this. It's not about what we're dealing with now I said that was that was something else that I've never seen and I said I'm gonna give you a second take some time to yourself I said later if you want to talk about anything your dad is here

so let's let's talk if you want to and we got this thing called free speaking zone in our house free speaking zone means as a parent I can't get mad at you about what you said I got to give you a conversation based off of what you said and I got to act as if you're not my child for that moment you cannot abuse free speaking zone though you can't abuse it that don't mean every time you're in trouble free speaking zone though. You can't abuse it. That don't mean every time you're in trouble, free speaking zone, you're abusing it. And now you risk free speaking zone going away.

I like that idea. So you got to use it correctly. So, you know, my daughter came to me and like the nicest voice, she was like, free speaking zone. And I was like,

yeah. I said, what's up? And she just started talking to me about some things that were bothering her. And when we talk, what I found is I can relate to my daughter because I know for sure that where I come from, it's allowed me to see exactly what she's seeing plus so much more. Plus so much more. And this was a time where the hair

was an issue. My daughter went through a big hair thing. You know, she wanted her hair to be a certain way. And the hair wouldn't, there was no way that her hair was going to be able to look like what she wanted it to. So the discussion

was, honey, as a young black girl your hair is not going to do what your friend's hair does you know my daughter goes to a private school so there's white girls here you got some mixed girls here and you know these girls are out and they can jump in the pool get out and their hair is a certain way. And I'm like, honey, yours isn't going to do that. But if you want a different look, then that means that we can work on ways to obtain it. But, honey, it's not going to happen overnight. And I had to make sure that my daughter understood how beautiful she was. I had to make sure that my daughter understood why it's okay for her hair to be different and be unique and not the same.

I had to go into a full father programming of making you understand your value. And my daughter needed that. But it wasn't something that just came out of nowhere. Like, Dad, I want to talk to you about my hair. It was an anger that she later then came and wanted to discuss but if I didn't have the free speaking

zone that's some shit that just would have been in and never talked about but I gave her something that she used as a reason to say what I don't like and don't judge me dad but this is really making me mad well it seems like you've developed this philosophy

that applies not just to work and and not just to success but also to family and relationships there's a lot of carryover in all of this it's like accepting things for what they are but looking at a positive way to improve them even in terms of just communication with your family uh i mean that's priority. Priority number one. It's so dope to be able to build what we're building because it's not a tradition. This is not, we don't have a family tradition. We're the first.

This is the first. I don't come from mom and dad, same house, kids, dogs, and dinner at night at 6 p.m. I don't come from that. Right. I don't know how to do that. So we are now learning that. You know? Divorced.

Ex-wife. New wife. Stepkids. new kid, brothers and sisters. Coincide with ex-wife, new wife. Make sure that we all understand this is our world. How do we co-parent? Bumps, of course. Figuring it out, of course.

Kids, household. In our household, let's build something. Dinners, let's make this a thing. Conversations, no phones, let's make it a thing. Movie night. Taco Tuesdays. Game night. All this silly shit that you may look past are memories. Family trips. Family walks. night all this silly shit that you may look past are memories family trips family walks walking the dogs together all of this shit we're building yeah so i'm fascinated at giving my kids

stories to hold on to when they get older remember that time when we did sad things sad things sad thing where were we at that summer? Remember when such and such happened and you fell in the thing and dad had to come get you? Oh, my God. You know what, dad? You know what I want to go back to? You know what we want to do? We're building it.

So my hope is that as I grow older, I'm able to look at a new era within the heart, within this heart family name, this heart legacy. I'm looking at generations. I got two sons. I got two sons, man. That's an unbelievable thing because this name goes. I got a daughter that's my oldest i'm about to have another daughter like now it's like fuck kev you really it's bigger than you it's it's about this and it's about what they have but it's about what they remember i'm doing my part in life to go back to what we talked about earlier by making this generation better than what I was. I'm giving you the fucking tools, guys. You don't got to do what I do.

You don't got to be what I am. But I'm giving you the tools to at least want, to aspire to be. Is there a struggle to find time, like to manage the time between work and family, relationships? Not after that accident no not that I fucking accident accident was the the the best eye-opening experience ever you know I mean it's I was married to my career dating my

family right like I'm right I'm all about this work and all about this hustle granted there's nothing wrong with that it's a good thing but after a certain point you got to prioritize accordingly when you when you get to a certain point where the decisions that can be made are a little more controlled and you have the ability to maneuver differently because of the success that you've obtained. Make those adjustments. I didn't make those adjustments. I was still hustle, hustle, hustle. Granted, great dad.

We're doing stuff. I'm home. I'm getting back home. But my in and outs, three days, I'm out. Two days, three days, I'm out. I got to go film the movie movie y'all come down for the weekends all right I see you guys we'll eat dinner we'll do stuff and it's great crammed it all in all right y'all I gotta go I'm working and it's not bad but now all right I'll film a movie

after I'm done filming a movie well I, I need to take 30 days off. I need to take 40 days off. That's just with me and the fam. Now, hey, you go tour. It was just, bow, year and a half. We out. Four days out the fucking week. I'm out year and a half.

I got to get it. Well, now, let's go a month and a half. Let's stop for three weeks. I'm with the fam. So I still have my three days a week that I was here but then I'm going to stop for three weeks this is dedicated to fam time don't nobody do anything with me or talk to me

I'm home now my office I was in that office when we fucking opened office opened at 9 I'm there at 8 you know there's a chance that I may be in that office when we fucking open, office open at nine, I'm there at eight. You know, there's a chance that I may be in that office till fucking six. Now, yo, no matter what, guys, that day in the office has to end at like three. I got to be home for dinner.

I got dinner with the fam. My priorities have changed but it brings me back to the decisions that you're now able to make based off of life's circumstances life's lessons so because of all the shit that i went through because of the things that i now got to see because of that hospital room and those four walls and me seeing my family and what that love did for me and to me well i'll be damned if i fucking look past that i'll be damned if i not do what i'm supposed to do and give that the same amount of attention in return because my eyes got open fuck is that why that happened what are you saying to me? Was I supposed to? What? OK, I'm going to assume. I'm going to assume and I'm going to look at the signs that are clearly being given. I'm going to try my best to do my part. I'm going to try my best to grow. now is so valuable but the priority

within my time are making sure that the people that I love and that love me have some time. When it's all said and done, I want to know that I made those adjustments. I want to know that I did my part. You achieved that balance. Absolutely.

But it was learned. It was learned. Now this is information. Yes. It's fucking information. And there's one side of information that I had, which was go get it. I'm out. I'm out. I got to go get it.

I don't got time to be fucking standing here, man. It's shit to do, which I still do do. I don't want to make it seem like that isn't in me, but there's a balance. There's now a balance. That's the trickiest shit in life yeah it's to find that balance find a balance not just be a fucking savage out there grinding and attacking all day

but to have that balance and appreciate especially appreciate family right it's something that I've had to learn and that I'm still learning it's not something that I've knocked out the park completely yet because it's a growing fucking. It's a living thing. Yeah. You got to just keep being a sponge and being willing to fucking grow.

Tell me about this Audible thing. Audible is an amazing partner of mine now. So Audible is an amazing partner of mine now. My first book, I can't make this up, Life Lessons, was a New York Times number one bestseller. And I got bit. I got bit by the bug. Wow. As an author, I wanted to write a book.

I did it. Look at the success that it had. The opportunity came up for me to voice that book on Audible. And the Audible success was just as good, if not greater, than my hardcover. And people loved the fact that the stories were real, but hearing my voice and hearing me be personable while being real was a bonus from other things than they've ever had the privilege of listening

to so i said i want to do another one man but i'm big on this motivation self-help inspiration thing i'm i'm really big on trying to do my part so as i was telling you earlier, I said in my life, man, I got so, so many stories of all of my twists and turns and right moves and wrong moves and decision making that enhance those moves or that devalue them and made them incorrect. made them incorrect. Ultimately, if I were to give information, it's just to open up people's eyes, to open up your eyes to the reality of you competing with you. I want people to understand that we lose because we are okay with ignoring our faults, right? It's not until you can accept your faults, your bullshit,

that you can grow and do better. We point the finger a lot by we, myself included. I'm an example of it. Yo, I didn't do that because nobody told me. I didn't get up. I didn't hear the alarm. Why didn't you call me and get me up? Yo, I didn't know he was going to go eat.

Didn't nobody tell me he was going to go eat? I would have came to eat, but y'all didn't tell me. I didn't know we had a test today. Why didn't you tell me we had a test today? I didn't study because ain't nobody reach out and tell me. There's so many things that we place the blame on others for that are truly our responsibility. And it becomes a habit. It's a force of habit.

So it's not until you break that habit that you can do bigger and better shit. So this audible original of mine called The Decision is about making you look at shit differently. decision is about making you look at shit differently making you realize the tone of today and making you understand how much you're a part of it I got a big thing on social media in there where I'm like social media is mind fuck people and to people now thinking that it's what the world thinks social media has mind fuck people into thinking that the comments below a post are what the world must be feeling and thinking about you. The insecurity levels have raised to an all-time high because my belief is now I posted something.

People are saying these things underneath. I don't want to go outside because this is how they feel. So I've now put this shit in my head that as soon as i walk outside if you look at me you're talking about my post ain't you i don't what post what the fuck are you talking about right you saw my post didn't you that's why you're looking at me like that i don't what are you what we now think that this is the way of the world. And we're so engulfed into it that the negative is so loud that you don't even see the positive.

Even if it's overwhelmingly positive, just a few negatives. You don't see it. You concentrate on those negatives. You don't see it. Yeah. There was a black billionaire that paid off student loans.

It was a story for about a day and a half. Another story popped up of reality star sucked somebody's in the bathroom it went on for three weeks it was fucking crazy news it's breaking fucking news what that's all over the place the reason why is because we spread the negative as people we've fallen in love with bad information and bad conversation yeah we're intrigued by it well it's a natural human instinct because those are the things that can kill you like from though the days when we were you know? Living in small villages worried about animals attacking us You had to be always worried about negative negative is the thing you had to concentrate on because I could take your life Positive was something that's great. That's good and all but really got to concentrate on negative and

that's great. That's good and all, but really got to concentrate on negative. And unfortunately, that human instinct is carried over into this time where we don't really have the same fear of danger that we had before for the most part. But we still concentrate on these negative things. We still concentrate on negative comments, negative stories. These negative things carry more weight because we have a natural inclination to keep an eye out for danger it's a it's like our human reward system's been hijacked it's been hijacked by social media this new thing that we're not prepared for reading anonymous written things that are negative and in fact and you know there's a book called the coddling of the american mind by Jonathan Haidt and he wrote about this with children about how many especially girls so many girls are experiencing

super high levels of self-harm suicide depression all because of social media because they're writing things and their friends are commenting on them and people are anonymous is saying you stupid fat bitch and like fucks with their head in a way that other generations before didn't have to deal with. Before social media, there was nothing that could affect them in this way.

And, you know, it's tough because there's gifts and there's curses to it, of course. Like there's an amazing benefit behind it. And of course now we're seeing the, you know, the bad within it. So what I encourage any and everybody to do

is just understand who you are truly understand who you are learn yourself yeah learn yourself learn your pros and your cons get your flaws get them out the way. But with you, not nobody else. This is a you and you thing. The shit that you know you need to work on. I'm telling you people, when you really look yourself in the mirror and you start to pick yourself apart by yourself, there's only room for improvement. It's easy to ignore your bullshit. Also, other people can't tell you things you don't already know fuck yeah you're a thousand percent right yeah you're a thousand percent right

and it's that's what this is my my audio book is not a live like me tutorial it's not a do what I did tutorial. I would never do that because I don't have all the answers. All I have is stories and information that you can now be privy to that can allow you to make different fucking turns on this road of life.

What was the motivation to do this? Was there a one thing or was it a buildup? Me being one of the only black guys in our entertainment space because there's a handful of us that get to look behind the curtain. There's a curtain. There's another room and there's a curtain. And in that room is some shit. You're like, God damn, I didn't know y'all was fucking doing this back here.

I didn't know y'all was getting this type of money back here. Y'all been doing this for how long? This is how it happens? There's a room that you get in and the information and understanding that comes in it, it's unreal, the stuff that you start to discover, but it's a discovery.

It's a discovery. You got to stumble upon this treasure of information and discovery. And if you don't, maybe you're in the right environment and you hear some stuff and you can ask some questions. But nine times out of ten, it's not offered. It's a search and find. times out of 10 it's not offered it's a search and find and when i was constantly in those situations and i find myself saying so how but why well then what did you do right damn after that then what what the fuck did you what how did that even work i was in a room with jeff bezos and uh robert craft this was the the Patriots that won the Super Bowl

and we're we're in like the this little private room after and Tom Brady is like giving a speech thanking Robert uh for all Robert thanks Tom and I'm with my wife and a friend and Jeff Bezos walks in my friend go to go Jeff Bezos I said oh shit friend go, there go Jeff Bezos. I said, oh shit. I said, I'm gonna go say what's up. I said, that's a motherfucker. I would love to pick his brain. That's an interesting individual.

No, don't do that. What do you mean don't do that? Who said don't do that? My friend. No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Why? What are you talking about?

Why are you gonna do that, Kev? There's a room full of people that don't look like the dude that's thirsty. Thirsty for what? For do that, Kev? There's a room full of people that don't look like the dude that's thirsty. Thirsty for what? For fucking information, dickface? We got into like a little

fucking spat. For what? For fucking information? I wanna fucking say, hey, I wanna see my face. I wanna ask him some questions. I ain't gonna see this man no more. I don't know him. We're not on a phone number to phone number basis. I'm gonna say what's up to him. Alright, Kev, do you? I'm just saying see this man no more I don't know him we're not on a phone number to phone number basis I'm gonna say what's up to him

alright I'm just saying this environment is just chill it's relaxed and that shit start to click to me that's the problem everybody's too cool everybody's too fucking cool everybody wants you to think that they know you don't know

you don't know shit we don't know shit there We don't know shit. There's one Jeff Bezos. There's fucking one almost trillionaire. Hey, Jeff. Come here, man. Hey, man. First of all, explain a trillion to me. What is that? How many zeros?

What is that? First of all, do you know how excited he must be to talk to you, too? Who knows? I'm going to fucking find out. I'm going to fucking find out.'m gonna fucking find out you know what i did joe what hey man i'll be right back babe come on took my wife with me hey jeff i'm kevin hart how you doing man hey kevin how are you jeff this is my wifey nico hey hey man i admire you i don't fucking know anything about that world and death, but I admire you. I admire you for being a guy that fucking created and accomplished some shit. That is a phenomenon. I want to shake your hand. I would love to talk one day. Kev, amen. Good meeting you.

Quite sure we'll bump past one day. Hey, if we do or don't, you gonna remember this. I just want to tell you I admire you. I don't need shit. I'm not asking for anything. But what I did, I set myself up for another conversation for when I got the opportunity. You're talking here, but I'm going to come over, man. I admire you. I want to fucking ask you a bunch of questions about this Amazon shit and ask you how you came up with it.

I don't think this is the time or place, but I want you to see my face. Have you ever seen the photo of him sitting at his desk and there's a banner behind him, a plastic nylon hanging banner that says Amazon.com? Jesus Christ. It's in the 1990s when people were like, what the fuck are you doing? Selling books on the internet? And this is a shitty looking Ikea desk. Look at this.

Look at him. This is him here. Look at this.com and marker yeah it looks like spray paint spray paint look at this shit here look at that shitty bullshit desk that dorky looking dude look at the cords yeah now he's off buff and jacked and shit jesus now he's a savage that's basically conquering the business world richest man well richest man publicly I think

there's a bunch of them oil billionaire trillionaire dudes that's got some shit too they don't have to they just yeah they shut up they don't want to say anything

yeah either way I was in a room with that man yeah I didn't there wasn't a level of cool that I had that that would keep me from just going and saying hello or asking a question for that matter.

And it's being in those spaces that intrigued the thought. I was like, dude, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do my part. I'm going to do my part and say it. I'm going to say, hey, when it comes to producing and production, here's what I've done. Here's the walls that I've hit and here's where it's comes to producing and production here's what i've done here's the walls that i've hit and here's where it's really hurt me but here's what i've learned and here's why i do it this way my ambition is fueled from possibility i'm giving you all this shit i'm giving you all this shit what i'm gonna do i'm gonna die and take it with me

yeah i'm gonna keep it in the coffin with me i'm gonna what i'm gonna do let me do it yeah i'm gonna fucking give it well also the possibility that some young kid could listen to this audio thing listen to you talk about these things and then one day succeed and run into you the same way you ran into jeff bezos oh my god run into kevin hart oh my god i gotta tell you I got where I am because I listened I listened to you talk about your life I listened to you talk about your fuck-ups and that you made me feel like you were human like I thought you were just Kevin Hart like when people see you you're Kevin Hart you're walking the red carpet you're you're you're in Jumanji you're all over the place fucking comedy specials for 50,000 people in arenas and shit.

People don't know that you're a human. You don't seem like a human because you're not like a human that they know. But when you talk and you talk about your life and some kid might just get a spark off of that and blow that spark, make that ember flame up and take over. And next thing you know, you're running into that person at some other Super Bowl party. I can't even tell you. For me for me that's that's what it's about yes yeah that's what it's about you're offering fuel that's that's yeah that's as strong as anything else yeah and it's gonna it's gonna impact some people you know there's gonna be people that don't have room for it. They're all closed up. Like a cup.

There's no room in their cup. They're full of their own shit. It's not going to get in there. There's other people. They're going to have a spot for you. They're going to have a spot, and you're going to make that engine better. You're going to make the whole engine of their life better. There's things that I think about all the time when I'm working out or when

I'm tired, or I think about inspirational things that people have said and they, they get me through the shift shifts. My mind steals me up, makes me, makes me think about things in a different way and I can accomplish more because of those thoughts. I can accomplish more because of that energy that some person,

and you did that to me, man, you did that to me the last time we had a conversation. I remember leaving our conversation going, that motherfucker is motivational. that some person, and you did that to me, man. You did that to me the last time we had a conversation. I remember leaving our conversation going, that motherfucker is motivational. And I got a lot of text messages from a lot of friends and a lot of people, that was a great one. But it was, there was a shift.

Like when someone is really getting after it in their life and you're around them, there's a shift in your own life. And it's a tangible thing. It's like, if you could see it on a meter, you know, it's almost like your meter goes up and you feel it, but you don't quantify. It's not something you put on a scale. It's not something you'd see on a meter, but it's real. And you got to believe it's real and know it's real. And when you're doing this, when you're putting out this audio book and even these conversations that you put out, when people know what you've accomplished and you put these conversations out, it resonates, man.

It's so valuable. Did you watch the Jordan doc? No, I didn't. You didn't watch the Jordan doc? No. You've got to watch the Jordan doc. I know. Everybody's been telling me that.

No, you have to. I know I have to. You have to watch the Jordan doc. Okay, I'll watch it. Listen, because he's, he's an alien. He's one of us. He's one of,

he's one of those aliens that other aliens identify with. And for people listening, when I say aliens, you know it's a metaphor, people. That doesn't mean it, but we're fucking embracing aliens here. I'm just kidding

i get so much shit for everything okay this is a metaphor okay but he he's different he's fucking different and what this shows you is how different mj was that man was a fucking winner. He was a winner. And that's it. Like that's it. MJ won. There is no other conversation. When you watch this doc and you watch how he approached his days and why he approached it and the things that he did and his reason for doing them and ultimately what he wanted and what his priority and what his goals were you go fuck he did it we know why he did it. It's not a coincidence that he's a champion. It's destiny. There was no other option. It was champion or bus.

There was no six-time MVPs, all-star, and defensive player of the year, and most likable player in the league and most marketable. No, no. If it's not a champion attached to my name with several fucking trophies attached, there is no other conversation. And you motherfuckers around me, if you do not understand why I am the way I am, then this is not the place for you. Do your job. I've never heard Michael Jordan talk the way the documentary showed him talk.

Do your fucking job. When I pass you the ball, hit the fucking shot. That person now has to get better because I'm so nervous that if mike passed me the ball and i missed this fucking shot i'm never going to get a shot again yeah do your fucking job when mike is talking to you like that i thought we was just playing basketball i thought i was out here having a good time oh wait this wait, this is my job. This is my profession. I'm supposed to do this, this, and this. If I don't do this, I'm failing at my job.

You see these players today, and you see the way that they are. I promise you, man, rest in peace, Kobe Bryant, every bit of the same. They give my guy LJ Flack and shit. I promise you LeBron James is nothing short of that. I promise you these people that are winning fucking win because there is no other option. You have to watch this doc and Joe, you got to text me after. Okay. Text me after and just go, holy fucking shit.

Holy shit, man. I get it, Kev. And the fuel that you're talking about in that meter, I promise you your meter fucking, I got it after the doc. I got up. I was with my laptop. I got it. Shit, I'm over here watching the doc. Let me think of what the next thing is.

It instantly. Yeah. Instantly fuel. Fuel. Instant fuel. Last time I felt that was the Tyson documentary. That was strong. That was strong.

Dude, there's a time when he's talking about walking into the ring, that as he steps in the ring, like all the nervousness, all the things he's going through, and that is his confidence builds as he gets towards the ring and he steps through the ropes i'm a god when he says that i'm like holy shit my goosebumps were popping up i was like oh my god that's that's that's the dosekis man to me yeah that's the dosekis man to me it's crazy he's fighting again that's that is the dosekis man to me. The most interesting man in America. That Mike Tyson is that. There are so many different levels and pieces of death to Mike Tyson and his story.

One of the, I mean, it's one of the strongest docs I've ever seen. Well, he's one of those guys one of those super winners that just I mean when he was young I mean everyone knows the story but if you don't he was basically had no love in his life until he met custom auto and custom auto became a father figure but also custom auto was a hypnotist and a psychologist in a lot of ways and a fantastic boxing coach as well, and took this young kid and showed him that you're going to get love from accomplishment

and you're going to conquer and you're going to become the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. And through his tutelage up until the moment that he died, Mike Tyson was just a phenom, a thing that we had never seen before. He was the pit bull with no leash that respected one person. Yes. And anybody else at any given time

feared the fuck out of this pit bull because nobody else knew hey man who's what is hey somebody gotta get this what is this with until this day

if I see Mike there's a little nervousness for no reason for sure it's not like he's coming in with this thing like I'm killing everybody. No. No, he's gentle. He's the most loving man in the world. You talk to him, you saw him spoken, but there's still a little thing like,

is Mike going to hit me? My friend Kevin Lee said it best. Kevin Lee fights for the UFC. He said that when he's sitting next to him, he goes, that's a lion. He goes, I'm sitting next to him. I'm like, is that Mike Tyson? He goes, that's a lion. He's like, he's sitting next to him like is that my ties that's a lion he's like he's sitting next to like okay oh i hope everything's cool oh my god and you know this this fight man i just you

know wish him the best i know he's back to training and stuff you know you just want him to be safe and and and healthy in his time but you know that's the man i don't ever count out but goddamn seeing him just put up those little displays of terrifying fight it's it's what it's terrifying heat seeking missiles coming from his shoulders well not only that he wasn't doing anything like a year ago when i had him in here for the podcast he said he didn't want to stoke his ego he didn't want to work out he goes because if i work out my ego fires up there he is look at this look at this look at this shit here but you know like that's that's interesting but that's just shadow boxing what's crazy is he's training with uh hafeel cordero who's one of the best uh mma trainers one of the best striking trainers in the world he he came from a legendary camp

out of brazil curitiba, Brazil, called Shoot the Box. It's like the legendary team of marauders from Brazil. They were like the golden glory days of pride. Pride was a competitor to the UFC, was defined in a lot of ways. The glory days were defined by this one team from Brazil that Rafael Cordeiro was a part of. the glory days are defined by this one team from Brazil that Rafael Codera was a part of. And then that guy training Mike Tyson now, and he's been super successful training mixed martial arts fighters too. But I found it very interesting that Mike chose to train with that guy and to see the way they're going at it.

I mean, he's not boxing. He's trying to destroy motherfuckers. Listen, you, you, I respect the trainer. I respect the trainer for standing in that standing in the way of that shit. Like that's one accidental, oops, oops. Missiles. Just missiles are coming right in your head. Boom. Listen.

Boom. Boom. You got to just bow down. Yeah. And you know what, man? We're still in the presence of greatness. And as people, I don't think we should ever forget that. Well, what's crazy is he's 53 years old.

He's doing this, and he's only been doing this again for like less than a year. So it's only been like four or five months that he's really been training hard, and everything's just coming back. I mean, I wonder. I wonder what it is. I wonder if he just was bored. I mean, I wonder. I wonder what it is. I wonder if it just was bored. I mean, I really wonder. This is the crazy shit.

Jesus Christ. I mean, that's. Jesus Christ. If you saw that guy. If you saw that guy training and he was a 22-year-old kid, you're like, man, this motherfucker's going to be something. Because he's just got an intensity that you rarely see from any fighter. There's a fury that burns inside of him. because he's just got an intensity that you rarely see from any fighter. There's a fury that burns inside of him.

You can't manufacture that. You either have that or you don't, and he found a way to reignite it. I swear you beat me to it. You beat me to it. But isn't that what we hope for or we hope that we get? we hope for or we hope that we get. I think at that age 50, that's a very pivotal, pivotal, how do you say that word, Gus? Pivotal.

Pivotal, right? That's a very pivotal word, pivotal word, pivotal point in your life. Because from when you're born to 50, that's okay. All my years of fun are out the way. My craziness, my growth, my maturity. And now I'm supposed to start to be a little complacent. And I'm now at that hill where I'm looking on the other side of life.

Like now it's time to go on that other side. And when you're on the other side, you know, even if you're still on a high about living and about career and everything, you're on the other side. It's a different thing when you're on the other side. I made it here. Now, how many more years? It's a blessing to get more time after this because i made it to the top and now you know on this other side is it relaxing is it not am i comfortable am i am i a little depressed that i'm getting old am i not what whatever those emotions and feelings are they're

real and and a lot of people experience and have them so to find something else to make you go, I'm ready again. Will Smith did it. Will Smith kicked in. Yeah. Will Smith, something clicked. Something clicked on Will Smith. For years, Will Smith wasn't around and Will would talk to you. Will would talk to you, Will would tell you.

But something clicked and he said at this age, at 50, I'm gonna go get it again. I'm going to go after it again because I can. Like it's something in there that Will Smith realizes that he has. And at any given moment, I can. And that's what Will Smith showed us. Will Smith wasn't on social media Will Smith wasn't in this

you know in the generation X you know he wasn't in our face he wasn't up in the fucking vlogs and shit and YouTube on a day to day he didn't have more movies coming out it was very far fueling in between and then

he said I'll do it when the fuck i want and he turned it on 30 something million followers 40 something million followers whatever vlogs on youtube i'm on snapchat i'm on it all twitter tiktok i'm gonna show you how to do it i got my own team we showed you guys a new way to do this shit i'm producing it different than it was i'm back to doing movies here's my new movies we're using a new way to do this shit. I'm producing it different than it was. I'm back to doing movies. Here's my new movies. We're using a new technology. Gemini Man. Young me. Old me. He's fucking doing

what he wants. Because he said he can. Everybody doesn't have that. Everybody can't do that. You got a lot of people that try. But they don't do that. got a lot of people that try yeah but they don't do that you don't go

from being number one and saying I'm not gonna do it and I had some failures or whatever in here and it fall off fuck it

I'm ready to be number one again that's some of our favorite stories though or someone who comes back like Dave Chappelle is a perfect example of that I can do

what the fuck I want not only that Dave did it in a legendary way they offer him all this money to do this comedy central show in a different way they want him to change it and tone it down they want to make it more suitable for advertisers too many voices and he's like you know what i'm just gonna go to africa i'm out he just went to africa i'm out just took off and then came back and said, I quit.

I don't do it. And then stopped doing stand-up. He was doing, I don't know if you know, he was doing stand-up in a park in Seattle. He'd show up with a fucking box

and just plug a microphone into it and just start doing stand-up and people would gather around like, what the fuck is happening here? No,

he didn't want any money. He would just show up at shows. If he wanted to do a show, he would show up at a comedy club. No money. Just show up. Do a show after the show at shows. If he wanted to do a show, he would show up at a comedy club. No money. Just show up. Do a show after the show is over.

Are you ready to laugh? It's a great Dave Chappelle story. I'm in Seattle. I think I was in Seattle. Sold out. Got like some arena fucking thing I'm doing in Seattle. And we got two shows, same night. We do about

30,000 people. fucking great day in Seattle I get word that Dave Chappelle is in Seattle and Dave Chappelle randomly put up a theater show He's performing Tonight Yeah, he's performing tonight Called Dave Dave. Are you fucking in Seattle? Yeah, he's performing tonight. Call Dave. Dave, are you fucking in Seattle?

Yeah. When'd you book a show here? I would have fucking came. Dude, I'm here. I'm at the theater. Oh, I didn't even know, man. What do you mean? Dave, I'm at the fucking arena. I'm going to see if I can get down there to you. All right, man, I just put them up.

What time do you think you're going to get here? I don't know. After my show. I'll push. All right, man, y'all just put them up. What time you think you're going to get here? I don't know. After my show, I'll push the time back, man. Dave, push the time back? What did you put on set? I don't know, man.

I just tell them I'll do it and I'll show up, man. I just call them, tell them we're going to push it back, man. I get to the fucking theater. I rush after our show. Dave has a trailer,

and there's like a little motor thing on the back of the trailer. It's like a little bus, a fucking motor trend-like bus, and then there's like a little, the things that you pull shit in attached to it. I said, what are you doing here he's i don't know man we've been doing cross country taking our bikes man we ride cross country so i just

when i need money i just book a show and just tell him what what what what the fuck he's so different he's so different and he's so him. But the freedom. Yeah. Dave has a level of freedom. Me and Chris Rock talk about it, man. No one's like him. His level of freedom. I put myself in his place. I got the corporate relationships and the CEO hat and the companies.

So I can't do certain things because the consequences aren't just for me. It's for the people that are underneath this umbrella if something were to happen. I have to be responsible. I have to understand that it's not just about me. And I'm envious and jealous of Dave's ability to go and be free as a comic in the times where we desperately need to be. We desperately need to be. And Dave can be. And I bow down to him.

I don't give a fuck about these numbers or anything I got. Dave, in my opinion, you're the GOAT. In my opinion, your last special has allowed you to surpass the Richard Pryor, in my opinion. witness do groundbreaking, controversial movement as a comedian in the times where comedy was being frowned upon. Comedians were being held accountable for doing what we thought we would never be ridiculed for. Right. The one person that stood on a pedestal that got the attention that no others can get outside of myself, a rock, a Seinfeld. He said, in the time where the fucking fire is the hottest, I'm going to do what nobody else will. You got to fucking applaud that.

He stood up for comedy. He stood up for comedy. Whether you want to see that or not. Right. He did that. Yes. He did it when there's the most pressure. When it was the most fucking pressure. And when the times of of we can cancel you, by the way, which is the stupidest shit that I've ever fucking witnessed in my 40 years of life.

The whole idea of I can kill you today with the goddamn click of a button. I can end your life. By the way, this is a real feeling that people have. Yes. I'm in control of your life. If I want your life to stop and be over, I'll cancel you. Yeah. And that means you can't live no more. This is how ridiculous it is. Think about the control of your life. If I want your life to stop and be over, I'll cancel you. Yeah. And that means you can't live no more.

This is how ridiculous it is. Think about the meaning of cancel culture. So you're saying that my life is over. I can no longer survive or provide for myself. Cancel. I don't know. Figure it out. You're canceled.

Dave Chappelle said, fuck all that. Do what you want to do. I'm going to do me. That is epic. That is epic. That is groundbreaking. That is goat like behavior. So I bow down to Mr. Chappelle.

He's very important. He's one of the most important figures in the history of comedy. Absolutely. Because of the fact that he's willing to do this when the scrutiny is the highest, you know, and, and also just his,

his, just his story, the back, the way he did it, the way he walked away for 10 years and then came back and immediately went right to the top, you know? That is my, that is my, that is my brother from another mother. I love him. Chris Rock, Chris Rock. I'll give you one more. Me and Chris Rock were at the the comedy cellar I call Chris hey Chris

come down to the cellar man I'm working on some jokes tonight I'll see what you think alright Kev I'll come down Chris comes down he says yeah I'm gonna get up too I got some shit I'm working on too

so tell me what you think bet I go on stage Chris Rock sits in the back of the cellar get off stage Chris like funny shit Kev dope

I say yeah you like it right got some stuff got some notes he says yeah I'm about to go out I'm done, I'm sitting here, I'm watching Chris goes up, Chris got some funny shit fuck Chris, funny, I like it me and Chris have a nice conversation, go upstairs, we about to eat Dave comes in

what up Dave, what you doing, I was gonna go up oh fuck man, Chris went up we gonna come down and watch you, alright Dave goes on stage Dave does about an hour there's a moment Chris, what up? We're going to come down and watch you. All right. Dave goes on stage. Dave does about an hour. There's a moment where Dave is probably at about 40, 45 minutes in. Me and Chris both look at each other.

And at the same time, without saying a word, balled up the material that we just worked on. We fucking, without saying it, without saying it, I ripped the page that I had in my little book and chris just balled up his little fucking thing and we were like he's unbelievable we came in crafted we got some shit that we wanted to fucking work on dave just went up there and talked it's like he's living like a legend you know what i mean like if you if you wanted to have a legend of a comedian you talk about a guy who created the greatest sketch show of all time I mean it only went for two seasons but when you talk about like sketches like Clayton Bigsby when you talk about the Rick James shit these are so classic they're unstoppable and then he goes away he goes away like a fucking mountain man. He vanishes. He's in a farm in Ohio.

You hear, where is he? He's on a farm. He got a fucking farm. He's on a farm in Ohio. What? Is he doing comedy? Sometimes randomly, he just shows up. He's at his barn.

He does this for 10 years. I was in Denver, right? And this was before his comeback. I was in Denver, and I'm doing stand-up, and I get off stage. And I open the green room, and Dave's there. I go, Dave, what are you doing? And he goes, oh, hey, Joe. I just decided to fly into Denver.

I go, you don't have a show scheduled? No, man, I heard you were here. I decided to fly in. I go, do you want to go up? He goes, oh, should I? I go, fuck yeah. Hold on a second. I run back. People are leaving. People are getting up. I go, do you want to go up? He goes, oh, should I? I go, fuck yeah. Hold on a second. I run back.

People are leaving. People are getting up. I go, come back. Come back. Tell everybody to come back. I go, Dave Chappelle's here. They're like, what? They all come back, sit down, and he does 40 minutes and destroys.

I love the best part of that story is you want to go up? Should I? Dave. Dave, you just took a flight to Denver. Yeah, Dave, why not? I guess. So then he takes me out. We go out on the town to all these fucking spots I didn't even know existed in Denver.

He knows where all these after hours places are. You go behind an alley. You knock on a door. They open it up. Everything's velvet lined. There's a small private bar. He's one of one one of one one of one one of one this is what the fuck it should be like you see this is this is us embracing this is us embracing we're embracing someone yes embracing god there's nothing wrong with that, world. It's important. There's nothing wrong with embracing someone

as doing fucking what you can deem as great shit. You're supposed to. You're supposed to. You have to. It's part of the thing. You have to sing praise, shower praise on people that are doing it the right way. No one's ever done it better than Dave.

He's doing it the right way. No. And even, like I said, even the legendary story, he's like a character in a book. You know what I'm saying? A mountain man. He's like a mountain man. He goes off to a farm outside of Dayton, Ohio.

Who the fuck does that? By the way, it tells me. Kev, you got to come down to the farm. Dave, I don't. No one has that kind of time. Dave, I don't want to. What do you want me to do down there don't wanna what do you want me to do down there Dave what do you

want me to do you gotta come down man it's a good time we're gonna have a good time man it's a barn fires music Dave it's a farm you gotta promise me alright I'm coming Dave I fucking I like literally I can only hope

to be remotely close to as creative as he is at that point in my career and find this Jell-O. Like he's in an amazing Jell-O right now. He knows who he is. Right. And he's not compromising. And no one can tell him any different. He is who he is. I mean, he just he's unapologetically himself and he gets it

his part of his brilliance is not just being in a brilliant observer and a brilliant orator and a describer of life but also in being who he is perfectly like he doesn't have any conflict in being who he is he He knows who he is. He knows how to do it. He knows how to do it right. And he's okay with not having. And when he walks on stage, man, he strolls on that stage like he belongs there. He's okay with not having.

He doesn't give a fuck. You know Eddie Murphy? I've met Eddie Murphy. I don't know him very well, but I knew his brother Charlie very well. Listen, Eddie, we had a dinner one night and it was eddie murphy dave chappelle me chris rock chris tucker holy shit and uh duane wade gabriel union and usher head came wow right so we're we're at this dinner and me and chris was like yo we should get let's just put a dinner together where we all just come out because me and chris love to just

hear eddie go like eddie is pound for pound the funniest person you can ever be around like effortlessly not trying just in story this dinner goes down in history is the funniest the funniest night of my life in conversation and you got to see comics be in awe of one another you got to see us appreciate each other like like everybody talked in it this wasn't a one-up story yeah each other this was a conversation but you saw the you saw why the goats were the goats yes you saw why the goats were the goats you clearly saw that i was young in class and i'm the the guy that's coming up in the rear and i'm like i'm happy to be there and i must be ecstatic man i'm fucking smiling air to air picture there's a picture of it that's it right there holy shit i'm smiling air to air damn jamie skills i'm smiling air to fucking air and i remember wow there was a moment where we were talking and Eddie would say something.

And then Chris was like, come on, man. You know damn well. Eddie, ain't nobody doing that. And then you would fucking hear Dave, shut up. Damn it, Chris. Would you? And rock. And then I'm just there quiet.

I'm just fucking quiet. Wow. And then I would have moments where I would tune in. But literally, you saw why the goats were the goats. Wow. I'm telling you, one of the most epic things, I have this picture framed in my house. That's amazing. That's an amazing picture.

Framed in my fucking house. God, I hope Eddie comes back. I know he's been talking about it. He's been talking about it. Did you see that one thing that he did? There was some sort of an award show where he came up and talked on the podium and he was doing material and he was talking about them taking away bill cosby's uh degrees no you never seen it no jamie find it find it recent is recent it's like within the last couple of years bro his timing is on point he has it he would just get up there right now and murder well

you saw it you saw it also in his SNL sketch. He did the one SNL sketch where he did the, it was like the holiday family. And it was like the black family. And his daughter brought the white guy home. And it was the black family's reaction to it because he was staying there over the weekend. So Eddie was the dad. But you saw his timing. His timing was amazing.

He's still there man he's still fucking Eddie Murphy we'll play this and we'll wrap this up we'll just end it on this your shit is available on audible yes sir now yes sir right now right now go get it you're a brilliant person I really appreciate you I really appreciate you being here I fuck with

you Joe I'm serious man I want to say this I couldn't be happier for you. And for all of your listeners, all of your supporters, I want to thank y'all for staying with this man and riding with this man through the years.

Because, you know, to build something and have that something mean something, that's valuable. Dude, you serve a very strong purpose in today's time. I'm a fan and I'm happy to call myself a friend. I fuck with you, Joe. I appreciate you.

I mean that, man. Eddie Murphy, ladies and gentlemen. Bill has one of these. Did y'all make Bill give his back? No, because I know there was a big outcry from people. They was trying to get Bill to give his trophies back. You know you up when they want you to give your trophies back. He said, I'm not talking to you. You want me to give this trophy back to you?

He should do one show where he just come out and just talk crazy now i would like to talk to some of the people who feel that i should give back my zombies Oh, it's only a piece of it, huh? The whole thing's on there, but it's the Mark Twain speech. Okay. Wow. Well, if we play more, they'll probably pull it down anyway. That's good enough.

Oh, my God. It was brilliant. Strong. Thank you so much, man. Thank you, brother. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody.