The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: David Alan Grier

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

David Alan Grier dishes memories from his early days as a Broadway actor to starring in the hit TV show, In Living Color. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else.

If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What up, y'all? It's Laia. And this week's QLS classic, woo-wee, it's a good one. I'm talking about David Allen Gros.

Yo, this episode, he goes all the way back to his days at Yale Drama when he was Angela Bassett's old head and all the greatness that came out of that school to talking about his days on Broadway. Yeah, you forgot about that. And of course, we dish into some in-living color. You don't want to miss this. You think you know David Allen-Grearer? You don't. So listen and find out. This episode was originally released November 14th, 2018.

Enjoy. Suprema. Suprema. Roe Call, Suprema, Suprema, sub, Suprema, Role Call, Supremma, Supraima, Supraima, So, Supremia, So, Supra, Supra, Now, look at here, Role Call. Home Skillet, Quest the Third, yeah, interviewing stars in my jam.

Yeah, I had a verse, I'm fresh out. Yeah. Damn! Oh, ha! Suprema, Subima, Subima, Role Call, Supraima, Supraima,

Supraima Roll Call. My name is Fonte. It's Fonte. Yeah. I stay so fly. Yeah. So I'm in this verse. Yeah.

Uh-huh. Roll call. Suprima. Suprema, sub-s-s-s-sprima roll call. Suprema, sub-supremma roll call. My name is Sugar. Yeah. Now listen here.

Yeah. My favorite comedian. Yeah. Is Amir. Like, Roll-call. Sub-S-S-S-S-S-Sprima role call. Supremma, Submira. Supreme Roll Car.

Boss Bill's favorite. Yeah. Record to listen. Yeah. That classic platter from Don Noso Simmons. Roe Corp. I mean Suprema, Subra, Submima, Roll Call. Supremma, sub, Supremma, Roll Call.

It's Laia. Yeah. And oh my God, yeah. 30 years later, we would've all picked your run. Roll call. Supremma, sub, good, my friends, Supreme.

I'm so proud of you. Suprema Subma Subura Role Call My name is Dave Vee G Y'all know me

I'm up in this motherfucker and we gonna talk till three Subrema roll call Supremma Superma Role Call Supremma Subm

Subrama Roll Call Suprema Subrima Role Call Ladies and gentlemen Oh, man. I might not make it. Listen, cut to the chase. Ladies and gentlemen, we have David Allen Greer.

Yes. That's a fucking thing. That's right. That was probably your best roll call in the last hundred. Thank you. That means a lot to me. I worked on my hat like three alternates. You've done a lot, Mr. Christopher.

I'm off a dome. You know, I didn't write nothing down. Okay, you didn't have to do that to me. He was getting my problem. You're reading from an iPhone. I don't. That's not hip-hop. I'm voting like five seconds ago.

That's nerd pop. You can't be like, can you turn the lights up, please? You want to go on this corner. Can you roll it back? Can you roll it back, please? And I will not return. That's beautiful.

Damn. It's an O to you, you know. Oh, sorry. You try to hug me, but I'm not, I'm not, you know, there's too many hugs. Hugs have been diminished. Hugs are they diminished. Well, because everybody wants a damn hug.

It used to be for your grandma, you know, your sick mama, when you're leaving home. Now it's just every woman, everybody wants a damn hug. And it's too intimate. I don't want to hug strangers. You know, it's got to mean something. How long it takes for me to get one? Months.

Damn. It takes months. The game is trusted. Jesus. I'm the only one? It used to be a handshake. You can't shake. Look person in the eye.

Oh, you're quickest, it's nice to meet you. No, I'm like. See, that's even worse. That's even worse. He's trying to not catch nothing. In the Trump America, though. I need some love. I think that's what it is.

Man, please. I ain't trying to lose my job, man. Right? Kanye apologize today. Yep. Yep. We saw that. I was sorry.

I just tweeted. Apology accepted. Let's move on. So I'm tired to talk about this. Yeah. I'm tired to talk about Kanye. Right? We're going to pray for him.

Anything. Go ahead. Let it out. That's good. What was you? No, just. I was just saying I was saving my prayers. No.

For something, something more important. That's true. That's a ongoing theme. No, I'm not going to say it. No, no, no. It's good times. Him and Tiger Woods and Don King. Shut up.

Shut up. Name some other questionable black folks. It's always like, I know we all got a family member that's like. He's like all the ones and ain't got sisters beside him. Exactly. Exactly. My mother, may she rest in peace. I said, she was like, what?

What? Are you going to say Republican? I mean, if you want to say, were you going to vote it? Why would you even say the word? I was like, Mom, mom, come relax. I'm not even, I just said Republicans. She was like, but what?

No, she, mm-mm. Were your mama from? Well, my mother was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You're from Michigan. She was light-skinned, you know. She said she was Freeman. I'm just telling you the family. She said, we weren't slaves.

We were freedmen. I'm like, okay. The whole time. My father's side. field workers field workers so make no doubt about it that can happen

you know what they did the history of L.O. Cool J.'s family none of his family unversed had to go through slavery when they came to the United States. Were they real immigrants?

They got no they they were African American for some strange reason. They came immediately to Ohio and something luckily, I don't know what the story was, but it's on Finding Your Roots with Skip Gates on PBS. Which you did.

Yeah. You did it? Yeah, I did it. Was there, were the surprise? My great, great, great, grandfather was the last slave. Did you read this book that was recently published? Come on.

You looked at me. Thank you. What's it called? I just got to reading it. I'm foggy right now. They're out of watching guy? Sorry, I had to do that. I'm sorry. Their eyes are watching God, you know. Zora Nealhurst.

There's a new book that they put out for me. Yes. Well, I'm, I mentioned this because this guy in the book, his testimony, he was on one of the last slaves. The Clitilda. Yes. Yeah, my grandfather was born to Clitilda. You know, that's some evil shit right there.

The Clitirilda. That's the person I thought about. Bring some human bondage over in this blasphemous name. Yeah, it was a bet. It was a flip. slavery was over. They flipped the coin, and the bet was whether or not he could get a hookup over in Nigeria to bring something back on the sneak tip.

That's what this book was, basically. It's the same deal. It was technically over, but they snuck this ship in and contraband cargo and all that. Exactly. Like, slaves were, like, having cocaine on you. Like, you know, the British were like, what you got in the trunk? Oh, you got some slaves? Yeah, because they were the biggest culprits.

But then all the, all the, what I'm trying to say, all the European moneyed families, you know, these people who quote unquote built this nation, nobody has slave trader on there because that was a removed long time ago. Right. Because that's not kosher. Nobody wants to be known as that. They're like, well, we sold tobacco. Yeah.

Can't trace those families. That's ill. Yeah, so they got here. And then if they owned a farm in the 1800s, we know. Yeah, exactly. Tractor, I don't think. No. Not yet.

Not yet. So, can we move on? I'm not allowed to laugh at the slavery jokes. Can nobody see you? I'm hearing and laugh. But dig, man, I did 23 and me, and there were no surprises. It was just. Nigerian.

Black, Irish, Scottish. Okay. Western Africa. Well, it's, I know my, I don't know everybody. here in this room has greater or lesser knowledge of their family, I would assume, you know, their lineage. And I have some knowledge. I mean, in, there just was no crazy story. You know, it wasn't like, you know, you're one-third tie. No, it was none of that. It was a straight slave ship, plantation, Detroit, here we are. So, yeah. Well, I did that initially, and they tried to tell me that was

from Sierra Leone. And when Skip Gates got to me, he was like, no, I'm going to do a thorough DNA search. And, you know, he had the receipts and all that stuff. That's what I need, man. Yeah, I'm going to go with the $30, you know. I was about to say, you're not scared. I was all for this until, like, recently,

they really want us to do this real bad and they're doing crazy things with your DNA. They at that moment? What are they doing with the DNA? Listen, they're finding criminals with the DNA, you know? But they're doing that. It's just the beginning. Did you do anything?

criminal? They're finding it in your family, like in your lineage. They're like, so you're related to so-and-so, oh, that's how we can get so-and-so in the system. Yeah, it's kind of, it happened with it. I never even thought about that. No, that's happened. That means a relative of yours did something,

and they can trace it. Also, our DNA information is not secure. 23, and once you do that, once you enter that database, it's not like you can, I don't know where that is. I spit in the test tube, I sent it off in the mail. All right. Did they sell it? Would they do it when they finish?

Exactly. Do something with it, modified it? Yeah, whatever. It's like posting a picture on Instagram. You don't know on that motherfuck on them off. I don't know you don't. But you're good.

You did yours with Skip, seeing. That's right. You're safe. Skip is good for now. My homie did a sketch about that on the show Random Acts of Flatiness on HBO. It's super tribute.

What's it on? It's on HBO. So he is a sketch where it's a reparations. Yeah, Terrence Lance. He did it. It's a reparation sketch where there's an app where you give your DNA and they're able to trace

who are the family, who's the white family that owned you. Wow. And like, this is going. This is where you're getting your reparations from. This is where you get your reparations from. And like, and our app also takes into account things such as redlining and like, it's funny as hell, but it's... Oh, sketch.

Oh, in my mind, I was like, word. Oh, yeah. You thought this was real. True. Okay. That was true. But you know what? We did something. Well, when I did chocolate news, but it was based on the thing where Skip Gates, all of your relatives are always wonderful with Skip. I never seen him say, hey, dog,

your people, I ain't what and shit. You know, it's not... No, when he started doing white people, Harry Connick Jr., that's true. Oh, yeah. Very scandalous. Dr. Phil, got it, Ben Affleck. He saw it of Ben Affleck. He tried to say, let's not...

Let's not... Let's put it. He's like, now, take bust you know. Skip gave him that bottle of Hooch and said, go sit over there, brother. Get your life together. So, Michigan. Sir, Detroit, Michigan.

What part? All right, east side or west side? West side, barely. I grew up in one house. My parents bought this house two days before I was born. I'm the youngest of three. Ninety-six. Sixty-two years old. And that's the one house I grew up in. And I left at 18, and

my mom sold a house when she got remarried and college. But that's it. just one house. But it was, I'm sorry, to answer your question, it was four blocks west of Woodward, which is the dividing line between East and West, so it's barely west. Yeah, because I often hear stories of people

that are from the west side of the Detroit, that will lie and say they're from the east side of Detroit for credibility. Like, it's seeing that the west side is the busy side and the east side supposed to be in the real side. Have you been to Detroit? Yeah, it's all real. It's all.

It's all. all real. Like, just, man, please, Detroit is so black. I hear it's on the come up now, though. It is a different vibe. I mean, once they settle, I met this 25-year-old white girl, and I was performing a club, and she was

there, like, as an intern, because she wanted to go back to Detroit and open a club in downtown Detroit. And, you know, that's what you need. You need the folly of youth. I was like, what? She was like, yeah, it's going to be great, and I'm going to do it, and we're all going to succeed. I was like, Damn, what's happening?

How are you going to? I'm just going to do it, you know? It can happen. So I was like, go, that's what you need. Yeah, not me, bro. Start up capital. You never want to go back to Detroit? I do.

I go back all the time. I mean, I've gone back to my high school. I did a master class with a kids there at Cast Tech. I go back to my university. I went to University of Michigan. So I try to go back. I went for, it's weird. I was like inducted into the Detroit

Hall of Fame. It was me, Ben Carson, that year. He didn't show up. I was there with popcorn. I was like, did he get in yet? He called in sick. So he didn't show up. He's a doctor. He should know this. He's a brain surgeon.

Yes. A knucklehead, too, man. It's like, damn. But yeah, yeah, yeah. So I try to do that. I mean, I try to do it when it's, like I said, applicable and I have time. It's mostly with kids. Like when I went back.

you know, to work with actors, young actors and stuff. Because I know when I was a student, anybody who had any connection to professional art community, we thirsted for that. Because, you know, when you're a kid, you have, like, teachers, you know, they're not really, they're pedagogues, you know. So anybody who could bring that fresh knowledge, and we just ate it up.

So, yeah. Did you always have aspirations to be an actor? first or a comedian first? I wanted to be a musician. What? Yeah. I'm a very marginal guitar player. But I just remember the first time

me and my best friend, we discovered alternative radio and our alternative radio station was WABX. So you figure I was 11 or 12. And the first time we heard Jimmy Hendrix is like our minds exploded, man. And it was like, oh my God, who is this?

So we just ate all of that up, you know, all that hippie music. And our, you know, our parents, it was wild. Yeah, it makes sense because now it just hit me that you were actually playing guitar as Calhoun Tugs. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, Calhoun Tuz was based on a guy. I went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and this guy was a campus mascot, this old black guy named Shaky Jake. He couldn't play.

And he couldn't sing. Yep, shaky Jake. And you just that's basically how he sounded. So that was kind of the impetus. And you know what that? Well, I was 18 then, but you'd always see a blues dude.

There was another dude named one string Sam. And he, I'm not making this up. This sounds like he's making a great. I'm not making it up. But this guy, he recorded too, like in the 50s. But he took two liquor bottles, a two by four and a string. And it was one.

strength and he had a hit. It was like, All I need, boy, I know, it's a hundred dollars, oh, what I need a hundred dollars. So I saw him and, I mean, you know, once I got into the blues, I was like, do you know Robert Johnson, sir? Yeah, I know, yeah, I know. You know, that kind

of stuff. And so I was into it. Yeah. Did you teach yourself out to play guitar or? I did. I mean, it was mostly self-taught. Back in the day, it was you had to just wear the grooves out the record. You could take, we could take a 33 and a third. We'd put it down to 16 RPM, so it would be slower. A whole record, yeah. But then it wasn't in the right tune.

And so it was all about, or when we got little portable cassette recorders and we just tape it and go over and over and over and over. No YouTube cheat sheet. The whole open tuning thing was just you had to look on the back of an album and try and match it to the recording. So that's how we did it. What were you in school for at the time? You mean as a college? Well, I went to college. Yeah.

You know, when I went to college, you know, my mother told me, she said, look, I will not pay for an education for acting, you know. And I wasn't really into acting then. No music. You know, and by then, I really still wanted to do music. She would not let me play in a band because that meant you had to go out at night. And she was trying to keep me off the streets, you know. But I had a good friend whose father owned a recording studio on Grand River. And I would hang out there all day and night.

You know, they were not Motown, by the way. They were not Motown. He had a record label. It was called Detroit Sound. Detroit Sound, something like that. They put out some singles. But mostly we just hang out in the studio and just... So who did your mother?

What are her designs for you? I went, I was in Jack and Jill. Okay, thank you. All right. You had Jack and Joe. Yeah, real Jack and Jill. And I'm putting it like this. I went back to Jackson Jill.

Yeah, I didn't think, I didn't remember Jack and Bill being that niggerish, but it was like, hey, what's up, man? I'm saying. We should explain what Jack and Jill is to people outside the community. Yeah. Like Steve. Yeah. Yeah. Who would like to do that?

You can do it. I nominate you. Jack and Jill is basically a nationwide organization for, people who want who want their children to be in like-minded, boozy-ass situations. Doctors, lawyers, dentists. Yes.

Middle class, upper-class, black people who want their kids to be around like-minded, minded, kids and families. So these chapters are in every different city. But the girly version was like a lot of colorism, right? Because I had, I had aunts that were or like people of that age in the 70s that were,

they kind of used the paperback test. If you were lighter than a a paper bagman you got treated a certain ways. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Paper bags. Well, like I said, my father was, you know, deep dark, semi-sweet, chocolatey brown. Moms was kind of, you know, beige, and they

got together. But we were in, that's how I was raised. And so the Huxables, that's pretty much how I was, you know, my doctor was a lawyer. I mean a doctor, he was a, my dad was a doctor. He was a psychiatrist. And as a young kid, in our neighborhood, we lived in this neighborhood

that was kind of like Hancock Park, big old houses in this certain part, Boston Edison area. And most of the kids I played with were, you know, doctors and dentists and that kind of professional folks. Can I ask, did your father, did you know if he had black clientele?

Only because for me, a lot of... Here's the thing. For where I come from, like, black people in therapy, it's like oil and water. They were like, oh, I'd rather go to my preacher, my pastor, you know, like, that's for crazy white people. Pray my depression away. Yeah, take it to God.

My dad, yeah, yeah, he told me a great story. He said this one guy came in. This dude came from the auto plant, you know, and friends brought him in. He was all fucked up. He said, Doc, you got to help me. This woman put a mojo on me. And at first, my father did not know how to deal with it

because he said, I can't help you. Yeah, you do. Stu believed him. He said, I need you to, she put a hand on me and I need you to release this hand. So he said he had to go and get in this dude's mindset. At first he said, I can't, you know, I'm a psychiatrist. So finally he said, okay, you got to talk on that level.

So he said, well, okay, we're going to work with this, get this evil off you. And he worked with him and came up with some bullshit. You got to turn around three times and say, Anamonopoeia backwards. We're going to get this modem. Exactly. He had to make some stuff up. You understand? So, no, he had black clients.

He had black clients. He had a real cute white secretary, though, at one point, which my mom was. I'm about to say, how did the mom tell you? My parents have passed away, so I can tell you all the shit now. But they're right here listening, so be careful. Yeah, yeah. It's funny. You asked that.

I don't, you know, I couldn't tell you if every patient was black or white. I'm sure the vast majority were black. You have to understand Detroit at that time. You know, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s had a lot of money black people. It had a professional upper middle class, large black community. Even, I mean, just working at a car plant, you know, back in the day. You can make a good living doing that. Exactly.

Make a good, very good living, you know. And so there was a large community. Detroit, Chicago, where else? Philly, you know, New York. So, yeah, he was good. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the same, scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing

something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and And the Big Money Players Network, it's Will Farrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day. And I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings.

I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. and he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Did you have any interaction with any other notable figures from Detroit and you're growing up? Like, Ray Parker Jr. and went to my church.

Well, you know, my dad, when my parents broke up, my dad moved to San Francisco in 1967. And it started in 66, 67. So he came out there into the summer of love. And we went to visit him. And he was working on a book. So I met Alex Haley, Claude Brown Jr. He would introduce me to all these people, man. And I'd just be like, hey, what's up, man?

Ted, can I get a mini bike? You know, he was like, no. You know, we marched. I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit in 63. Yeah, our family did. And so. What was he march about?

Was it the union? It was, you know, C.L. Franklin, who was Aretha Franklin's dad. Was a prominent minister in Detroit. So he was instrumental in bringing Dr. King to Detroit. And that was the summer of the march on Washington, you understand. And so in Detroit, he actually did the I Have a Dream speech. It was an earlier version. Practiced it.

Exactly. It's typical of Detroit. We got the last run through. That's a dresser version. Yeah. Yeah. So, and, you know, just a sidebar. You know, Aretha Franklin.

and she reached out to me several times, you know, just as... In what way? Well, I remember Damon and I, Damon Wayans and I, we performed at the Fox Theater, you know, in downtown Detroit, and I came in my dresser, I mean, this big, a big, big huge bouquet of flowers. And it was from Aretha Franklin. She said, David, you've always been one of my favorites.

I have something special for you. Call me. And I was so tripped out by the note, I never called her because I was like, oh. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha And that was game I mean you're trying to holl her I mean she was good

No she was good but I mean I think that she Because I'm from Detroit She always Whenever I came in town or like Because we finally hooked up She came to see Porgy and Bess where their husband They came

And we hung out afterwards There was this thing at I forget at this arm It was like to honor and living color and Radio City Music Hall all in that time. And we talked and she was real cool. I mean, just real friendly and real nice. And reached out meaning here's my number. Let's keep in touch.

You know, let's kick it. I mean, it was nice. She was cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, she was nice to you. Oh, well. Too soon. Oh, too soon.

Anybody have any Lauren Hill stories? It's funny to say that. Actually, our cult leader. Wait, I'm asking because, you know, she clapped back. Oh, she clapped back on the whole way. But the thing is the way she clapped back, like, to me, a clap back. Too much pleak happens.

Right, it's too much. It was a whole bunch of word salad. A lot of words. It wasn't even about what she said. It was about the comments. Yeah. Yes. You know something, though?

You can make it on Twitter on time, but not to your concert. I'm through. That's all I'm saying. Word. I waited two hours, okay? You clap right back on Twitter. I looked at the comments. I looked at the comments.

The comments for one time, they were actually worth reading. Oh, really? It's hilarious. You know, though, I can't say, I can't believe I'm about to say this. Okay, so I read the whole thing. Yeah. Wait, I read it. But part of me was legit proud that she knew what emojis were.

All right. Yeah. Well, see, that right there tells you the message failed. When you're like, look at the emojis. Yeah. You got to use emojis to make your point. I mean, she got kids. You know, she's.

Well, that's, I spent at least 10 minutes trying to analyze, like, imagine Lauren Hill, knowing what that skeptical, the cynic emoji on your chin with the eyebrow. I was legit proud. But it was like, she probably got co-writers on that. Oh, damn. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even bring in the shade.

No sister. I don't want the sisters to come get me. I was like, who wrote this? Because I can't imagine her. I think, I think she actually wrote that. I mean, the opening paragraph was like, it's mighty presumptuous for you to think that I would presume. It should all.

The presumption of your assumptions. Therefore and forthwith. Real Oswald Bakes. Answer this. Is Medium a blog or is it a, it's a site where anybody can post anything? Yeah. Oh, because I was like, why aren't the medium people spell checking and all that stuff? No, it's just you can type that shit on your phone.

They want you real. Oh, I didn't know. Emoges and all. By the way, big fan of Lauren Hills. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love a preface. I'm on punishment, actually. First of all, you know some whoop-ass is coming.

Anybody, Questla, real quick. Big fan, by the way, big fan. Duck, duck. You should run then. Don't wait. Anything besides a big fan, brother. Can I ask you something, please? No.

I was proud that she Not since Okay, when I graduated high school LL's walking with a panther came out And my big surprise was Okay, because again LL's from like the 85 era Okay So I was trying to imagine LL over modern breakbeats

Yeah And to hear him over modern hip hop of 89 Was like a shocker like Oh okay LL's new And that's how I felt about Lauren and like she knew what a hashtag was in an emoji. Like I was legit proud. God.

Because I mean, those shit have been around for like 15 years now. I'm just saying. But imagine Michael Jackson taking a selfie and being on. Right. You remember when Prince took that selfie and posted it? Oh, Prince's selfie was awesome. Yeah.

But I think he did that on purpose. I think the greatest selfie was Reverend Al's selfie. Oh. In the bathroom? Man, listen. A little midget-l. With the pole in his hair. Man's had to show you the whole fit.

Yep. He's like, now, y'all got to see all this. He's a wee man. I just saw him. I was in Brooklyn last week. Oh, yeah. He was at the, Spike Lee has a Michael Jackson party. He does every year.

Yeah, I saw a video. He was on the cat. He was dancing. Yeah, he was dancing. Al. I'm going to rock. I kicked it with Al, man. Yeah, he would kick him.

He was chasing me down for years. Like, Reverend would like to talk to you. I'm like, I'm going. But finally we We touched bass and he was good, man. But the Reverend Lali Love, is that why he wanted to talk to? No, it was back in the 90s when Living Color was on and I was just trying to.

Oh, I'm trying to remember. Fethered out. Remain sterile at that point. You know what I mean? I was trying to. But anyway, are you one of those people that you're leery on meeting your idols or it might scare you? Have you ever had a situation in which you met someone

and they disappointed you because they weren't like, I'll tell you one. But I mean, I didn't hate on him. I'm just telling you how it happened. Like I was doing this award show and Cab Callaway was there. And Cab Calloway as a kid, you know, he wrote his memoir. I forget what it was called. But it was beautiful, man.

I'll tell you a quick story from his memoir. Like when Cab Callow had his band, Dizzy Gillespie played in it. And Dizzy Gillespie and them, when they're on a bandstand, they used to shoot spitballs at each other. And Cab Calloway hated that shit, you know, because she would get wild when they're gigging, and one or two spitballs would hit him.

So he and Dizzy had it out. Now, the story is, you know, he always wore a white tuxedo. And so he got in a fight with Dizzy Gillespie, and they said he went past the room, and he came by the white tuxedo, there was blood on it. And he said,

I guess y'all heard I had the father, nigger. This story was, Cam tried to swing on him and dizzy pulled out a knife and stuck him. Now I got to cut you. He was real black. And forgive me if I get the story slightly wrong because it was many years ago.

But anyway, I see Cap Calloway and I just totally fanned out. I was like, oh my God. You know, he was talking to another dude I knew who was like, you know, stage managing the whole thing. I was like, oh my God. Mr. Calloway, you are my hero. You're my idol.

I've been watching you since my whole life. I've read every anything. I have posters of him. And he just went, that's beautiful. Anyway. But I just stood there. I was like, oh, man, I just got blown off. Right.

I just got blown off by Cab Callag. But it's all good. He didn't know who I was. You know, it was all good. So that's not, you know, it was it. Yeah, I would like to have talked to him longer. But he didn't. I didn't go home like, I hate you, man.

You disappointed me. I never seen. Had a whole game. Cuba Gooding Senior did that. to me once. Like he was sitting Okay. Yeah, he was sitting we were at the movie that Junior was in

with Denzel Washington. The drug, Frank White. American, American, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we were at like an after party and Cuba City and he was sitting alone, like, isolated. And I was just like, yo, like, dude, you're my hero. Main ingredient. I love all your music, yada, yada, yada. And

instantly, like, he shook my hand, but then he saw iced tea and Coco walked in And he just pushed me out the way. I grew up on main ingredients. Oh, my God. How did you feel? How did you feel?

I mean, people are human beings. It was cocoa, so I got curled for cocoa. I guess I kind of got it. I'm sure people would tell you, you know, I curved them. It depends. If you roll up on me at 545 at the airport and want to take a selfie, if you roll up on me in a nightclub with a, you know, cell phone, talk to my nephew, you might

get curbed, okay? I'm not going to FaceTime with your mama. I don't know you. I mean, with your mom, I would, because I know you, but, you know what I mean? Sometimes you have to be like, not now. You have to put up those boundaries, man. Not now, dude, no. I feel like that list is longer, but thank you for the short of it. Yeah, but you know, sometimes, and it's just that way.

So, I give people, I give people latitude. As long as it's not too foul. I mean, you know, nobody's ever like swung on me, I know, or stabbed you. Right. Right. I don't. I don't want to be stabbed. Stab Calaway.

Nobody wants to get stabs. Stab Calloward? Spittles? Rappers name Stab Calloward. Yeah, I kind of... Yeah, I might have to steal that. Write that down.

That advance is going to be my new Twitter name. Stab Callow. You can use it because people, they won't even know. They won't know. They won't know. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Well, I wanted to tell you my Slice Stone.

You guys were talking about the slice stone. Yeah. First of all, Sly Stone, Sly and the Family Stone, were there was a record store on 12th Street. 12th Street in Detroit is the Black Street. We had to walk a few blocks to get to 12th Street. 12th Street. There was a store on there called B&Bobbs,

and that's where me and my friend, we'd go and get our singles. You know, it was like soda, soda shop, records, pomade, you know. Murray's, baby formula, all that shit. Yes. Exactly. Murray's, by the way, Detroit Company.

Murys, look on the 10. Look on the 10. New Nile. New Nile. So we heard dance to the music, again, on the local radio station. Sly's music was so different, so new. I had never heard no kind of shit like that. You know what I mean?

I was like, damn. You know, boom, boom, boom, boom. boom boom boom we're like oh my god I got to get some of this so we went and that's where I got that first single and watching him back then there was no all it was was Ed Sullivan and uh what Hollywood Palace you know uh so you had to just wait American bandstand I'm gonna say yeah yeah yeah but uh watching size see and sly his style was so different and fresh the way he combined gospel. He was an inventor of funk.

I mean, he really was. And his drum patterns. I mean, he had the funkiest drummers I've ever heard. I mean, you know, his bass player, his bass player, man. Barry Graham invented a whole style that changed bass player.

So all that in one group. So I saw him at Olympia, at the Olympia Auditorium. That was the hockey ring in Detroit. I had to be 15. Okay, so this was the first time we talked, me and my crew, we talked one of the moms into dropping us off, then they would pick us up.

What years is? It's got to be 71. Oh, no. 71. Right, yeah, there is. Oh, no. So we get there. Everybody was there.

All the crew from school, you know, we all pile in there. And we take the cheapest tickets and then just bum rush. That's what we did. So as soon as the lights went down, on, Sly came out, and, you know, it was all white on stage. He had those tufted custom amps. And by the way, we're always, you know, equipment heads. We just look, what is he playing?

What is that? What is the gear? What is the chord, the guitars, all that, Farfisha, organ? So he comes out, and he starts jamming. And it was like, as soon as he hit that first note, people turned and started whooping ass. They just, it was a riot immediately. So Sly stopped.

And he said, look, man, he said, look, man, if you all don't stop beating these kids, we're going to go. We're going to go, man. And so it was like, no, no, no, don't go. Everybody's calm down. He started up again. It was like robots. Bam! He just started swinging.

And so that went on and off. So we got about 20 minutes of music. So he got to want to take you. And I'm out. Fuck you. Hey, man. It was quite a interrupt just like a motherfucker. And so then he went on the news and he apologized.

and he said, I'm coming back. You know, he had the knit hat, the big-ass boots. We fucking loved Sly. There was a dude I went to school with who dressed like Sly Stone every single day. Summer went. He had the fuzzy boots. He had those, you know, knit hats, all that stuff. So Sly Stone was, he was huge, huge, huge.

I loved him. I saw him. Then I saw him another time at the Fisher Theater. This has got to be 74 or 5. And again, this was at 12 noon. He had skipped out on another concert, and I just happened to have a ticket. Like, I had been in town, home from school,

and I heard he was there, and I just went. It was a half-full house. But that was, that drummer there, I don't know who this dude was, but he one-handed. Not Gregorico, but... No, it was not Gregorico, because Greg left at that point.

I got to look him out. Yeah, I can't remember me. I know you were talking about. Who was Sugarfoot with somebody else? but I'm just telling you it was still it was just I just loved Sly I mean I would go see him anywhere he wasn't late because I know like he was the original the original Lauren Hill he outlawed Lauren Hill you can't how you out learn well oh play too Slice let me count the ways yeah slide you'd have to go back the slide was notorious but I loved him okay so to tie in not to take

up to Andy Newmark that was his name that's right Yes, Andy Newark. Okay, so I was looking at guitars and stuff, because soon as I got flush, you know, as soon as I got a TV show, I just start buying guitars, you know. They were like, well, play. Plank, plink, plur, pink, quag.

I'll get it. I'll take it. Give me the gold-plated strad, I'll take it. So I met a dude. But I met a dude who is just an equipment guy, and he said that he got a call one day to take up all this equipment had been ordered from their music store here in L.A.

and take it up to this house. And when he took it to deliver it, Sly was there. It was Sly Stone. And I was like, what is going on? So this is in the 90s. He said, man, this young dude, he said, Sly brought him in, and he played him some of the music he was working on.

And he did say, he said he just started crying. Because it was just so beautiful and so amazing. And I was like, oh, my God. Never heard anything. He's the fantasy. Everyone we know has a gazillion. I went to Sly's crib

Yeah, yeah. But wait, he released, I went on iTunes. Yeah, he did a cover, like covered his own stuff and released that a few years back. That was weird. Well, you know, Jesse Johnson that was able to get, you know, get that one tune out.

It's funny. He's been on our show, yeah. Yeah, when you got to, if you ever talk to him, Jesse Johnson, I love his guitar playing, man, love him. He talked to him for a long, yeah. But, dig, so, like, when Lenny Kravix first, like, broke, you know, that was that whole young hit. who were like, oh, we want to sound like dirty, like the 70s.

Like that's something like there's a riot going on. But what really happened, I mean, what I remember back in the day is like, you know, by then the drugs and everything had taken hold, and they were doing so many takes, retakes. It wasn't that they wore the tape out. That's why it sounds so funky. That's what, that's what, like, what's the dude, brown sugar? Come on. DeAngelo.

DeAngelo. You know, that's what they were going for. Whoever that is. Hey, no, man. But you did, you know what I'm saying. But I was there. I remember that shit. That's why.

Because it was like they owed this album. They had done 800 overdubs. And at one point I think Slide was recording on a boat in like Sausalito. That was the story, you know, whatever 16, 32 track and just taping over, taping over, taping over, taping over, it's not good. Boats, RVs. Yeah. It's an interesting concept because they tell you you should not be, you shouldn't print over anything, just in case any remnants remain of the earlier takes.

But maybe you just wear the shit out, you get a certain sound that way too. Listen to it. Listen to it. You can hear like, it's like, damn. You're right. But anyway, love Sly. Love Sly to the end. There's a story of the George Clinton always tells of Sly.

I know the story. The premise starts with Sly, David Ruffin, and George Clinton. Oh, that's, you know where the story's going. In Detroit. This story is great. I love this story. Well, wait, long story short is basically they found a dealer guy to hook him up with stuff. And pretty much Sly knew.

Sly could charm the, I mean, he could tell you the Brooklyn Bridge if he wanted to. That's the kind of charm he had. So Sly told the dealer guy who was such a massive Slyland Family Stone fan, you know, I don't have the money on me. but this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you I'm going to give you the new unreleased slide in the family stone masters. Finesse.

And he had like 10 masters. Everything's drawn out like song titles and the tracking and the DB levels and all the EQs. And he gave it to this guy. And something told George, something told George Clinton to just level with the guy and tell him.

George went up to him. It was like, look, man. what I don't want is to get unnecessarily shot over some bullshit. So I just want you to know that these things are blank. I was going to say, was anything on them or what? He's like, no, these are blank.

So I'm going to pay you your money. Just give me a second. Well, dig, when we did a living color, we did a sketch. It was Kim Wayans and I. It was Cephasen Rees. Go on, man. You said that, like, we didn't know that.

But wait, no, he did. a deal. Don't get on the North Gus. But listen, Slice Sister was one of the gospel, was one of the gospel singer. Cynthia Rose or the younger one. I don't remember. I don't remember, but I don't remember. It was one of them.

Cynthia, one of them. Because I talked to her and I said, oh my God, Slice her face dropped. I went, no, no, no, no. Because I don't have any bad stories to tell about Slite. I love him. I just wanted to say I'm a big fan. I'm honored that you're even here. I was, I couldn't believe it, man. I couldn't believe. Yeah, but she was one of the

gospel singers. Yeah, either Bellstone or Rose Stone. Yeah, I forget now. It was a million years ago, but yeah, so that was a whole big circle. Love slide. So you're like, when you went to college, you went up in Yale, right? I did, but I did. My undergrad was at University of Michigan. Where years ago you go Yale?

I went to Yale from 76 to 81. I went from Well, no, 78, 78 to 81. I went to Michigan from 74 to 78. So. It's all like Angela Bassett years maybe. Oh, Angela was there the whole year. She's one of the first people I met at Yale.

Wow. And when I tell you, like, I was there, Reggie Kathy. He and I were college roommates. Oh, you serious? In Michigan. We were college roommates in Michigan. He was a Detroit guy too? He was from, no, he was from Huntsville, Alabama.

Oh, okay. But I met him as actors, you know, at the University of Michigan. So we were roommates there. I applied to Yale. I told Reggie I was applying. He applied too. We both got in, so that's how we rolled out. He has such an amazing voice.

He always had that voice. He always had that voice. But the problem was, he was real skinny, dorky-looking kid, and he sounded like James Earl Jones. So we all knew, like, yeah, man, come 32 years, brother, you're going to be killing it. Just wait 32 years, though.

We just lost him. Yeah, he died. Well, he smoked. He always smoked like, forever. I mean, all day and night. So, yeah, man. Huge presence.

So from the time you were at Yale, were you involved in any, like, were you doing theater? Like, how did you kind of get your job? I went there. I went to the acting school. Oh, you was in acting school. Yeah.

So, but, you know, Angela was undergraduate. So we would do our little productions. And, like, we did this play, a series of one acts about Lester Young. And Angela, as an undergrad, we tapped her and she would come and act with us. Charles Dutton came. Like when I was in a sophomore, or like my second year, because it's graduate school, he was there.

And so we all worked and stuff. And yeah, Angela, I just saw her, man. We're doing press. She's a 9-1-1, and I'm doing this other show. But, yeah, she's, what I'm saying is Angela was Angela back then. I remember sitting backstage in this little funky theater. And I was like, so what are you going to do? And she's like, I don't know.

And I'm like, you don't know. Like, maybe you should be an actress? But she'd already been at Yale for four years. So for her to stay another three, that's seven years. Did she stay one of an actress? She did, which was great. And then she met Courtney too, so. Well, Courtney was after I left, after she left.

But so I saw her do Antigone as a student. And they could have gave her Oscar then. I mean, she just ripped it up. I was like, damn. What was the Ivy League experience like back then? Because, I mean, now it seems like there's an adjustment, like, I went to Harvard, like, a year and a half ago. And the student seemed well adjusted and, you know, like, felt themselves. It's funny.

It's funny. Yeah. Reggie and I, when we got there, we just, I felt like, and, you know, I felt like just a kid in a candy store. Like, you know, we're going to run this motherfucker. because we just did what we wanted to do. I mean, we were just running out there. But it was different. For me and my class, as an actor, as a black actor,

people, black kids, students who were in the acting program who came to see us told us, you know, when they were there, they played butlers and maids. You know, that's it. That's it. That's it. That was it. And, you know, and by the time we got there,

we were doing everything. I mean, because we were just like, no, give me that. Yeah, but you said it. No, give me that. I'm going to have a piece of your steak. I'm going to take some of your fries. We just did it. So that was a change over.

That's the only thing we knew, and that's how we moved in the world. But those older students who had been there before us came back, and they told us, they're like, oh, man, you all are living good. This place has changed. And we just happened to come in in that new wave and energy, you know, after that, then black kids. It's still not. as diverse, it wasn't as diverse back then as it could have been.

No, I don't remember, they were Asian students, but not really actors, you know, not that I remember of. Brown, Hispanic, none of that, I think, but, you know, a couple of black kids. What was Charles S. Dutton, like, back then? He's always one of my favorite. He was always one of my favorite. Eddun, man. Well, there was a woman that was in my class. Her name was Izzy Monk, and she knew Charles because they went to Towson State.

Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Charles came in, Rock came in, and we just, yeah, we kicked it real hard. And he was just a beautiful dude, man. I mean, he still is. I haven't talked to him in a while. But he came in with such a force of nature, you know, I mean, if you ever got to see him on stage, he would just rip it up. But he really was a great guy. I mean, like, if you befriended him, that's a friend for life.

I mean, he came from some real shit. I'm not really going to tell his stories because that's for him to tell. But I mean, yeah, but I mean, he's written about it. Was this before he went to prison or was that? It was after. It was after. Oh, it was after. It was after.

But see, the story was like when I first met Rock, I was like, that's immediate. Me and Reggie were like, so what's up? Man, what they put you in that for? Now, the story he told us at the time, he said, well, I got buzzed. for possession of bank paraphernalia. And we were like, yeah, so the police caught him. And, you know, that means like bank money. Okay.

And the accoutrements of a robbery, you know, and they put him in jail for that. So that was the story that we got. And, you know, if Rock's talking to you, you will accept that story. I mean, you're not going to be like, I object. I question that story. You know, and later we found out, you know, after he came, out and he did Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The story was, I think,

maybe a tabloid was threatening to expose him, you know, about what he really did. And Rock just gave an interview and just, you know, told his own story. Yeah, got in front of it. So that's when I really heard the other half of it. And I was like, damn. At the time for you, when you were at Yale, what was really floating your boat and moving your passion? Because you're such a multifaceted actor, funny person and music person as well?

It's kind of like... Well, at that point, I mean, I was... My passion was acting. Just whatever dramatic. Yes. It didn't matter. And what I always did from Michigan, again, when I started acting at Michigan, they had the black kids, and we had this one, it was called Black Theater. And, you know, it's very much an extension of the 60s that black arts movement. studying black playwrights and putting on these plays.

But the culture at Michigan was such that they did one black production a year, and all the black kids would wait for that production. Well, as soon as I hit the ground, I was auditioned for everything. Jacobean tragedies, you know, parlor mysteries. I'd be the only nigga in there. Lady Olivia, may I approach thee? You know, they're like, thanks, David. I swear to God.

You're like, thanks for coming in, buddy. But my thing was like, I'm going to keep auditioning, man. You're not going to deny me forever. And I auditioned for everything. So what was the first one you get? It was Othello. It was Othello. And my professor, Vaughn Washington, played Othello.

But me, Reggie was in it. And so we were in there. I'll tell you a funny story. So every night, you know, at the very end of Othello, you know, the whole company comes in. It's Othello's death scene. But soft you. A word before you go. I've done the state some service

You know, it goes on and on Now usually we'd be standing on the stairs Because me and Reggie, we had like three lines I didn't remember my lines A messenger from the galleys You know Here's more news That was terrible

Reggie had some shit So we would be fucking around And we'd be like Where we gonna hang out tonight, man We're going to pizza hut Or blotty blotty blue So every night we'd be kicking it like Yeah what we're gonna do man

Whatever And so I look over and see Reggie And I'm like I'm asking him man What's up? What we're going to? going to do tonight and he wouldn't answer and I look at him and he's just blubbering crying I'm like

what the fuck is going on man he looked to me and he said the motherfucker got to me man I'm like going I know all of you you know you know I know you you know he gives this big monologue it cracked me to fuck up I can't help you man

some of my fucking words all in my dome and shit You're fucking me up, man. I was dying. I was dying. So from the time that you, after Othello and your time at Yale, how did you, what was kind of one of your first breaks? Or, you know, what did you do in between that? Well, my first job, I played Jackie Robinson on Broadway. It was in a musical called The First.

That was my first professional job. I started auditioning while I was still in my final year at Yale because the casting, uh, for the first were the same people who cast the repertory theater there. And they said, they came to me and they said, well, do you mind if we submit you? I was like, fuck it. Go ahead. So it was over months and months. And as a matter of fact, the guy who wrote the lyrics and directed Annie, the musical, Martin Sharnon,

was directing and co-writing the first with Joel Siegel. Martin Sharton, he's 85. I just did Daddy Warbucks at the Hollywood Bowl. Martin came to see me. And, you know, Alan Johnson passed away. These people are dropping like flies. So here's what I did. I got Martin in my dressing with my clothes door.

I said, listen, man, I'm not going to post on Facebook. Okay? I'm not going to wait to you dead. I just want to tell you now, I love you. You started my career. He really pulled me out of school. And you gave me my first break. You know, and I appreciate you and I love you.

Let's get this pound in now while we're alive and breathe it. So that was fun. That was good to know. Yeah. So that was my first job. We ran like three weeks. What year was this? 1981.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I remember sitting in a, we used to hang out this place called Carumbas and these three fine-ass black girls come in. They're like, they and dream girls. That's going to be a hit. And there was Loretta Devine.

Shirley Ralph, Jennifer, all of them. Jennifer Lewis. Jennifer Lewis was in it too, right? Not when I was in there, but Jennifer Lewis was, again, Jennifer Lewis was Jennifer Lewis back in 81. She's one of the first people back. Yeah, yeah. She workshopped the world of Effie and then they...

Oh, yeah, that's right, that's right. And they worked out for like three years. I mean, it was long. And so by the time I came in and took over for Cleveveve-Arener, Derricks while he was on vacation and then I stayed and stood by and you know making that money man that Broway money but that's how I meant. Broadway money is good money to me back then and 81. Straight out of college like when I college.

Yeah it was a couple grand a week man please. I was big I thought I was rich. I had a 19 inch Sony Triniton. How dare you? Not for nothing. You all yell people looking up and down. Looking up and down man. I had this jay I had this green and blue.

Nike track suit that I bought on 125th street this shit was fly baby I wore the stank out that motherfucker I'd be like ooh it was hell yeah I thought I was flushing it

where were you living in the city where do you say? I lived in like a little apartment up on 103rd 107th in Broadway and then I moved to my own joint and like this is duplex

but it really was an apartment they cut a hole in it and yeah, I was right next to the furnace. You know, like it used to be coal. Yeah. So I actually, my bedroom was the old coal bend, whatever you call that. But again, I was like, Upper East Side, Nicket's sleeves.

A duplex, man. What fuck with me? The thing is, is that, I've heard in past interviews where you're like, you know, started out of a series actor and everything. Yeah. But where do you, is it your theory that, that comedy really depends on how good your timing is. Because I would have, had I not known your serious background

and acting, I would have thought that you were in a, like a groundlings or a, like the stage in a living. You know, I started doing, I mean, we did a stand-up show at Yale. And clearly, I was enamored with comedy. When we were doing Porgy and Bess, a woman came and gave me the play bill from the first. And when I looked at my bio, I had no credits.

This is my first professional job. But what I put down there is David has appeared in comedy clubs across the nation. And, you know, so clearly, that was the sexy spot. Because you got to figure, Eddie Murphy had just

it was just about to come on. All the energy was in comedy. I snuck down and performed like open mics a couple times at the improv in Manhattan. And I met Keenan there. That's actually the first place I met him. What year was this?

This got to be 80. Wow. Seventy-nine or 80. Yeah. And I waited in line and he was the only regular that would talk to me. And I was like, dude, what should I do? And he said, okay, well, I watch you. You know, I went on like two in the morning.

Basically, you get three minutes. So I just yelled and screamed, did some cartwheels. and I was like, okay, well, you have energy. Hey, Keena, he was a company. He would go up then. He was working stuff out at that time. Yeah, man. He was already, I mean, he was, when I say he was a regular, that means, you know, you passed.

Well, you pass this audition. Oh, wow. And so you were able to do spots. That's how the old system was. I thought he meant he was just a regular, just going to watch. No, no, no, no. A regular means he stood in line until the owner goes, okay, you are passed. That means you get spots.

and all that. The rest of us were just out there. So yeah, man. So clearly, to answer your question, I've always been a class clown. I've always been this dude, but I was just trying to be like, you know, because back then I wanted to be

like the black doctor or lawyer. So when Denzel got St. Elsewhere, we all auditioned. I auditioned everybody. Word. Yeah. You're riffing it. Nurse man for scopalple please.

She needs to have her appendix taken out. You know, he, got it, but we all auditioned. And then, you know, I did soldiers play at the Negro Ensemble. This was after the first. And that's where I met, Adolf Caesar, Sam Jackson. Oh, man, listen. Sam, let me tell you about Sam. Oh, my God. We had all the dudes, we shared one big room. And there was this 12-inch TV, black and white TV that was in the corner. And they watched Family Feud every day. And Sam Jackson ruled that dressing room. Talk about comedy.

I will save this actor's name. One time an understudy went on, and Sam was just real, he's like, motherfucker, what was you doing? Nicker, what the fuck was that? And, you know, he kept going out of, and the dude said, fuck you, Sam. And Sam, we're not missing a bee.

He said, before you put your dick in me, you need to put your dick in this second act. Man, listen to me. I ran out there. The building. I ran out the building. Adolf Caesar. He was put, he was putting his makeup with Sam

was in the corner. He's like, man, what the fuck is you doing with this old kabuki makeup? Only motherfucker in here. Yeah, the rest of us were sweaty, funky. We just be like, I'm ready. Let's go. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist.

I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. Oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch.

them one day and I was like and dad I think I want to really give this a shot I don't know what that means but I just know the groundlings I'm working my way up through and I know it's a place they come look for up and coming talent he said if it was based solely on talent I wouldn't worry about you which is really sweet yeah he goes but there's so much luck involved and he's like just give it a shot he goes but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore it's okay to quit if you saw it written down it It would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat.

Just hang in there. Yeah. It would not be. Right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What was Adolf like as an actor, man?

Oh, my God. We loved Adolf. Adolf. Caesar, man, please. He was, first of all, a little short, light-skinned dude grew up in Harlem, name Adolf Caesar. What parent would name Adolf Caesar?

In the early 1900? Yeah, man. But Adolf had great stories. I mean, I talked to him. I remember he said, you know, he was caught in a trick bag, whereas he was not black enough in hue.

Because when, you know, black consciousness, the 60s, all that big ass afros, chocolate brown skin, he didn't fit in that mold. Yet he wasn't white enough. He described going to the Guthrie as a young actor. And Tyrone Guthrie and the White, they sent him home. They said, Adolf, we really, we don't have anything for you.

So you need to go back to New York, you know, because we can't really help you. And so that was really a poignant story. And when he came in, he had been on a role, but Sergeant Waters. Listen, man. Okay, so who was, because a soldier story, like, that's one of my favorite movies. I used to watch that coming home, like, from school. Like, that was like my babysitter into my mom at home home. get into her. Sam didn't get in.

Oh, yeah, what was I say? Because, yeah, who was Sam? Well, Sam, but, you know, Sam, I think they, as I remember, they wrote his character out. Like, he was good, because his character would always read all his love letters, you know, from all his girlfriends. That wasn't in the movie. But to watch it,

okay, so Reggie Kathy, he called me up. He said, look, man, there's a part for you in Soldier's Story, because Soldier's play. Yeah, Larry Riley, who played the piano. Jay Memphis. He played guitar, played slide. Everybody knew I played guitar

and he's like, man, you could kill this. So I went over there and I got the part immediately. And this is in the play. Which one came first? The play. The play came first. The play. The play came first. The play came first. So people would come. But you know, at that time, I didn't think any of us

would get in to the movie because I just thought they would use Hollywood actors. But Norman Jewison auditioned all of us and he put us in there. man. Wow. Man.

Yeah. So what was that experience like, man? Like working with Howard Rollins. I mean, that was. Yeah. It was wild, man. You know, Howard, most of it was, you know, that was a $6 million movie. And the vibe around it, you know, everybody was like, don't fuck up.

You know, this is your big shot. Not since Bingle Long and the traveling all stars. You know, this is going to be Black Panther, you know, 1980. 81 version. That's how my parents saw it. Yeah. Watch it. But it was just...

Like, you're going to watch this movie. No, we hung out. I mean, it was a brotherhood, man. Denzel, everybody was putting in work. But the story I wanted to tell you is when I finally met Eddie Murphy, Eddie said the first time he ever saw

me was in a soldier's story. And he didn't know me. He didn't know who I was. He said, dude, when you came on, he said, who the fuck is this Country ass. Dude, where the fuck did they get him from?

You know, because we're all doing the southern accents, which was a great compliment. But it was funny, yeah, C.J., don't talk, man. Quick talking, crazy. Yep. No, we had big fun. And Norman Juison was beautiful, man. Yeah, man.

It was nice. I showed that movie to my sons. Like, I mean, I used to watch it as a kid, but it didn't really resonate until, you know, I got older and really understood. But, yeah, that just a couple of. class. That's one of my favorite. It was big fun, man. Big fun. We went

fishing. We did everything, man. And that little ass funky fucking Arkansas, man. Ah, damn. I didn't you know Arkansas. Fort Smith, Arkansas. One location. Fort Smith, Arkansas. You have three months. So was the... Oh, I was going to ask, what

was the first television thing that you did as far as? The first television thing I did is I did a presentation a pilot presentation. That's like a 15-minute presentation. And it was me and two white guys. David Steinberg directed it.

And it was for CBS. And, you know, it was just some innocuous comedy. But I remember I would call CBS every day. And there was this cute Puerto Rican chick who worked at the reception. I'd be like, because I wanted to know if a show got picked up. I had a pad and pencil. I was at calculating.

And I said, shit of this bad way gets picked up. You know, 15,000 a week, I'll be a thousandaires. Yeah, it didn't get picked up. So that was the first thing I did, you know. But the first show I did was called All This Forgiven. That was in 1986. And it was the Charles brothers who did Cheers. That was their first show after that.

So again, I was like, I was at the Ferrari dealership. I was just counting your tickets before the L. Well, yeah, notoriously. Man's was ready. I had a calculator. I'm like, in two and a half years. You know, so that's what we did. And we got an order for 13.

And Dick, I was telling people when I was on the Carmichael show, talk about ratings. And we looked it up. We followed Cheers. So our premier week, we pulled in 20 million viewers. And at that time, the network was like, what? Word. Yeah, because Cheers. And at that time, it was like, you held it.

But yeah, and when they canceled us, we were pulling in like 18 million. Yeah. We had an order for 13. We did nine episodes. And, you know, then they took us. They had a big meeting and they said, listen, we're so good. We're not going to do the rest of our order because we don't need it. And I was like, Nick, I was on the phone immediately.

The ship is sinking. Yeah, come on, man. That's like going, hey, we're going to record this album. We're not going to release it because it's so good. People will find it. You're like, no, man, can do it. Like a Farrell remix album. Exactly.

We talked. Box it. Okay. All right. Everything. How did you, so from the time from a soldier story. No, I was just laughing at your fast react. It was just fast.

Oh, no, from the time of a soldier's story to, you know, you're doing the positive. How are you supporting yourself? Were you still just doing theater? I always work. I mean, I never, I only did theater. I mean, I only did acting. So I was doing everything. You never did like weighted tables, no that shit.

In my whole career. That's right, you were the hostibles. In my, but my parents never helped me. It was just money. Wow. Well, I was single. So you consistently just worked. That gig, that gig, that gig, that gig.

I mean, that was my reality. Awesome. You know, older, like, you know, there people would mentor me. I remember Anna Marie Horstford had a sister who was like, like at Columbia and Columbia did Soldier's Story and I remember I was eating you know at her house she had this really nice

apartment West End Avenue and they were asking me back then they were like you know well you'll know when you're out of work and I was like I've never been out of work and they're like oh my god this motherfucker I'm not saying I was doing like you know I just was working we were doing everything

we do voiceovers commercial you know anything that How did you get hooked up with Hollywood Shuffle? How did you get the... Well, Robert Townsend, I met Robert Townsend on soldiers' place. So it stole soldiers' stores. Oh, that's right. He was.

Yeah. He was driving. We shared a honey wagon. We shared a honey wagon. Oh, wow. So I would tell you, like, I thought Robert was the funniest dude I ever in the world. Like, he was doing everybody's material. You know, like he was doing...

He said, yeah, I miss my boy, Damon. And he did all the more money shit. And I'd be like crying. Like who the fuck? Me, him and Denzel were already tight and just crying. I'm talking about 15 hours a day. You know, when you're young, we couldn't get enough. We would make each other laugh until we just passed out sleep.

I remember sitting on the bed in, I think it was Denzel's room and watching Keenan on Soul Train, you know, and on the Tonight Show when he did his first spot. He was in the center fold of a write-on magazine. Right on. But Robert broke it down to me in our little trail. He said, look, man, we're going to have a film company, him and Kenan. We're doing these movies. We're doing, so he broke it all down then.

He said, man, if you're down, I want you to do this, you know, Hollywood Shuffle and all that stuff. So I heard about it. And when I came out to do my pilot season that following year, I stayed with Robert. And he introduced me to Keenan, Damon, who, Damon was the size of like Marlon, like 140 pounds. But Damon always had kids. Like, he had kids from the first time I met him. I was like, damn.

Always holding a baby. Yeah, that's my son. Holding a baby. Amen. That's my son. So, Dick, so that led to, I'm going to show you how I got to living color. So Keenan, all those guys knew me just from hanging out. So I would hang out with them every night and go to these comedy clubs.

I didn't do comedy until Robert and those guys just shamed me into it. They were like, look, man, you can't be just rolling with this. You got to do spots. So I started doing spots just for fun. And so through that, Keenan knew me, you know. So when we did, I'm going to get you sucker. And that broke. Keenan was like, look, I know how funny you are.

Wait, what did you do? I'm trying to remember. I played the news. He's the news guy. He was the news guy. He was a good. Which, again, that was basically He interviewed

He interviewed Bernie Casey. He was the one that was in the Springsteen. Right. I was in the Springsteen. Which I was in the Springsteen. I was. I was like Bruce Springsteen's amazing.

You guys heard him? Because he's really good. Yeah. So they basically Kina just said, do your thing. So he goes, look, man, I'm doing this show. You know, this sketch show, black sketch show.

I want you to be on it. Now, Robert already, we had been talking about the five heartbeats. Now, the original cast was supposed to be me, Denzel, I think Damon. No. Wow. Keenan and Robert. So I got in, long story short, I got in in Living Color, and then Robert called and he said, man, I got the money.

We're doing the five heartbecks. I'm like, what? I was like, shit, I got to get out this deal. He said, man, what the fuck? Why did you sign the deal? You know, and I called King. And I was like, Keenan, I need to talk to you because I'm very unhappy about this contract. I need to be let go to do this movie.

He was like, dude, I can't. I mean, you signed a contract. It's not me. I mean, Fox will sue you. And I was like, I don't think you want me in your show if I'm going to be very angry. Dave, look, shake it off. I mean, I wish I could help you. But I could.

I mean, it was one of those things. So I didn't do it. Keenan couldn't do it. Damon didn't do it. Who were you supposed to be? I forget. I honestly forget which part. He probably addressed him.

Maybe one of those dudes. But yeah, man. Wait, wait, wait, who's the original lineup again? Me, Bob, you know, Robert Townsend, Damon, Keenan, Denzel. Who would have been in a game? Yeah, who would have been in a game. I think that was Denzel.

Tenzel would have been king. Well, there's a documentary that I haven't seen yet. We tried to see it. We were working. Yeah. Maybe it's in there. But yeah, so all that. And like, yeah, it was wild, man.

So when y'all, oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say it's deep because you worked with so many, like, dope ensemble cast that I just, I was going to ask you, like, who has challenged you the most in the best ways? Is that an obvious? It was in Living Color. Because, you know, coming into a living color, I did not have a comedy background. I mean, you know, Keenan, Damon, all those guys were in the trenches.

They came in with their pockets full. I didn't have any characters. Damon actually came to me. That's how Calhoun Tubbs was written. He said, look, man, you've got to have some characters. Think of something. You know, I was like, well, there's this blues dude. And he said, well, let's write it down.

So we came up with that. Then we did Men on. Right, so it just kind of built. Yeah, it kind of built. I forgot about Ben on film. Man, man on film. But originally that was Kenan and Damon. Yeah, I don't know.

And they were supposed to be Dickie and somebody. They're brothers, you know, and they're going to be. And then Cephas and Risi was, man, wait a minute, who is it? It was the dudes from Motown, the writers. Asford and Simpson. Asford and Simpson. Oh, yeah.

That was what it was based on, but a ghetto-ass version of it. What was Chappelle and Howard Tibbs, the third based on? Real people, because when Little Color first popped, I mean, dudes would just hang out. And I remember sitting in the makeup room and dudes would just roll in. Be like, oh, look here, brother. Can you give this kind of? to Damien and then, you know, you know our black foods do. So we, a lot of it, there was a table that was in our rehearsal studio and we would have breakfast

and then we start our day. And most of those characters started, we were just ragging on each other, you know, and that was one of those things where me, everybody would do it because we all saw those guys until finally, after a few days, you'd be like, yo, man, that shit is funny. You need to put that on the show. So that's kind of how it evolved. And then it was me and Tommy. Man, how often did y'all crack up?

Because some of my funniest times watching Living Color was watching y'all about to laugh and fuck up. Dude. That shit was so funny. There's a sketch where I saw a while ago. Because I remember we were doing it, and I was tired. It was late. I'm like, man, they ain't going to tape this shit.

And Terry, the director, goes, got it. And I'm like, what? Told you we were taping it. So I was watching what the sketch. You see me in there like, because I thought we were rehearsing, man. I was like, oh shit, she was right. Where did prison tiny come from?

Is that a woman with big breasts? That was, you know what? I did. I wrote that with, like, I went to college with this guy Fax Bar, and he was a white dude, and he was in our theater company, like way back. We did short eyes and stuff. So I brought him and his writing partner onto the show,

and me and him and Adam Small, we all wrote the Prison Cable Channel Network. And the reason why it was so much fun is because if you look back at the first one, especially, everybody was in it. He didn't really didn't. He would do stuff. But he was in it.

Jim was in it. Everybody all together. And that's what made it so fun. Because usually it would be like, you know, this is your sketch, you know, I don't know, microphone man, and we do smaller stuff and support you and go on. But to get everybody down. And that was what was fun about it.

How did, because of the, the kind of the rapid level of how that show just exploded across America. How different was your life after season one? Well, I'll give an example. I auditioned for In Living Color with Chris Rock. We did our final, like this improv. Me and Him and Susie Esman. Susie didn't really want to do this show.

She was like, you guys. do it. I don't really want to do it. Really? No, she wanted to stay. She was, I'm not moving to L.A. She's so New York. Who else auditioned for the show? Martin, Martin, Martin, Martin Lawrence. I auditioned with Martin. Me and him were friends from way back, and he

didn't get it. So he would come in. What? No, he didn't get it. So wait, other people auditioned for the, I felt like you 11 were specifically chosen. Well, we were, but still there was an audition process. Martin auditioned. And. So everybody from the comedy.

Act theory. No, not everybody. Robin Harris? He was on at one point. I feel like he was. I don't think he was. No, no, no, no. I don't think it was. But I went to the Comedy Act Theater a million times. I performed there a million times. I saw Robin, you know, a trillion times. No, as I remember, he was not on it. But I just, I'm telling you, I auditioned with Martin. I auditioned with Chris Rock. Chris did Saturday Night Live. So I went to visit. visit Chris. And that's when I really thought, well, damn, shit, I guess I'm doing something. Because, you know, everybody at Saturday night treated me like I was famous.

You know, Lauren, Michaels, they were like, oh, my God. You know, the whole cast, they were like, dude, well, you know, they treated me like I was about some shit. And I was like, damn, man. Because, you know, when we did in living color, we would, you know, we would do our work. Then we would go have Thai food or go hang out at Cape Mantellini. That was the big joint on Wilshire. It's closed now. And then we go home.

It wasn't, you know, when you go to Saturday night live, they got limos, after party, paparazzi. Nah, man, I got my little, I forget what I had. My father gave me a chocolate brown 1981 Coup DeVille. Oh, wow. And you could outrun that motherfucker. Yeah, it was not like that. You know, so coming to Ville.

visit Chris and I was like Chris is it like this all the time he said yeah man yeah so Chris came on after that he came later season five yeah yeah he came later but Chris I knew Chris since probably 19 fuck I don't know 80 something where did y'all come up with the little miss magic yeah that was a picture I remember walking in little miss magic little magic it was at the back of a it was him and Kim right it was you and yeah it was him and Kim yeah it was him and the back of the jet magazine, we found this picture of this little black girl. It was so obnoxious because she was like, we just start riffing. We just, I forget who named her little magic, but it was Kim immediately. And I didn't want to play the mom because I was like, why aren't

putting on this drag shit? And then Damon goes, listen, motherfucker, I have the dress on, okay? Are you doing it or not? It's like, well, shit, let me just go on to do it. Because we would play around and stuff, so that's how that happened. I mean, it just, a lot of it's very organic, you know. If we made each other laugh, then it was obvious. You got to do that. You got to make a sketch out of that. So, all right, so here's something I always wanted to know.

That's what I was trying to find out who happened to her. Who? Kelly Coffield. I was trying to. She got married. She acted. Kelly Coffield. She was like the first, how many seasons? Like, she was the, wasn't she the whole show? I mean, she made. No, because there was a point with our first four seasons. Alexandra Wentworth.

Alexander Wentworth. Oh, that's right. Well, Kelly was there from the beginning, though. She was, she was O.G. Fucking hilarious. Well, she won't, I mean, it's like anything. I mean, Keenan said something really funny. Like, when it first popped off, he said, look, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. Somebody's going to cheat on their wife.

Somebody's going to fuck somebody's girlfriend. Somebody's going to have a drug problem. Somebody's going to come out the closet. You know, all that stuff. It's what happens in every group, basically. And basically, that's what happened. I mean, you know, you get a groove going. It's really famous.

And then, you know, people want more. You have more. lines of me, you know, that's the kind of stuff. So that's basically what happened. And it just, once Kenan left. What year did he leave? He left after the second year. That's crazy.

Yeah, he left. Yeah. I always felt like he was there longer, but no, you're right. No, but we all stayed. And then the wayans gradual, I think Damon left. And then, so it was Kim and Sean and, you know, so, and it just kind of

dissipated after that. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, Follow at Clifford

and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends,

oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all done. dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ego Woodham.

My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers, Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo! Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really

give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. and he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What I want to know is, okay, so when you were in your bag and in your zone with doing like Broadway and occasional movies or whatever, and you had, you said like you weren't super broken, you didn't have to get a regular job, you made a modest living. But, okay, so when you're on a cultural phenomenon like living color and you're in L.A. and you make that decision to jump into the river, which is like, okay, you're making good money and the show looks like it's going to be a hit, so you're probably saying yourself,

okay, there should be no reason why we're not on the air for at least seven years or whatever. So how risky is it to really lay down roots in Los Angeles, as in I'm on a hit show. Do I get the ball out car? Do I get the, you know, I'm giving this. I'm giving the example I'm giving is that, okay, when ugly Betty was on the air. Mm-hmm.

And it was such a hit and all that stuff. America purchased this house and everything. And then like it got canceled in three years. Right. And she couldn't sell that house for shit. It took like nine years to give her. That never happened to me. But, well, just in general, like once you decide to not

be meager and... Well, I'll tell you what that happened. That happened. Like, I was doing... I started auditioning for this Bob Fosse musical. And I went to England to visit my friend of my Matthew Modine, who is doing full metal jacket. He's full metal jacket. Yeah, yeah.

And I remember my agents called and they said, David, if you come back, we know you're going to get this musical. And at that point, you know, I had done Dream Girls on and off. I was really getting tired of New York, that scene. I really wanted to buy a car. I wanted to buy a drop top Mustang, G.T. 5.0. That was my dream car. And I said, I'm not going to get this, man, in New York. That's when I really emotionally said, I'm going to L.A.

Okay? So I didn't go back. I didn't go back to do that final call for the Bob Fossey musical. I went out to L.A. for that pilot season, and I booked my first pilot. So basically from that, I would move back. I came back once after we did the pilot of In Living Color because once we did the pilot,

it took over a year for them to pick it up. You know, when I would go and do guest spots, I did this guest spot on Alf. But wherever I would go, right, wherever I would go, all the crew had seen, we did an hour pilot of In Living Color. It became like a bootleg. And these dudes on the crew would be like,

yo, man, that was the funniest shit. What are they going to do with it? I was like, I don't know. It got so bad that Vanity Fair printed an article about In Living Color. You know, something like this is the hottest underground tape. You know, it's like a black Saturday Night Live. Everybody had seen it. Yeah, it was over here.

What took so long to iron it? Well, see, you know, the concept of Un Living Color, Eddie Murphy had it, that idea, to do a black SNL, a black sketch show. Everybody had that idea, but Keenan is the one who actually did it. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it was Barry Diller was running Fox. They didn't see this as, yo, this is going to be instant hit. I'm just telling you, man, it took a while.

Finally, we got picked up, and that's what I went. And I said no three times, you know. I said no, because like I told you, I'm not, that's a, not my thing. You know, I don't really, I don't have a bunch of characters. I'm not deep in this improv thing, but Kim Wayans, I moved back to New York. And when I moved back, after being in L.A., I realized that was the wrong thing because the next day I was back at the same call, same two dudes. Hey, man, what's up? Where you been, man? I was like, oh my God. Yeah, and she said, David, trust me, this is the right decision. So I trusted her. And because out of all the shit,

I auditioned for, it was at a time where I must audition for 30 pilots. I was the dude. It was like, well, I don't know, maybe we'll go black. David, you want to read? Yeah. You know, so I would read. I didn't get it. But I always knew that living color would be the most fun.

It wasn't the most money. But finally, I just told my agents, I was like, I'm just going to do this because I'm tired of, you know, auditioning for stuff I didn't really care about. Because you wanted to the very end, right? Yeah, yeah, I was. You saw it all over what you did in. Yeah, I was. And so once I got it.

got in there. Dude, when we did the pilot, we did men on. I remember my agent called the next day, and she said, they're doing snaps over at MGM. David, they're doing snaps at Columbia. People are snapping all over the city. I was like, damn. Lane Edwards.

And this was for the first time, for the first time in my life, everybody was in, like, our green room. Everybody, all the biggest stars, you know, everybody wanted to come and hang out with us. And I was like, damn, for one, for once in my life, I was on the coolest show. I got my burglar alarm installed. And the white dude, he said, he was like, he just went crazy.

He was like, oh, my God. The cab driver, I was like, damn, this must be what it feels like. No, it's funny you say that characters were your thing because you created some of my favorite characters. Like, Sevis and Recy, like. I mean, I got into it. I'm just saying that as an act. actor as an artist, we all are apprehensive. I mean, I just

everybody has insecurity. I mean, I just heard a story that, like, Quincy Jones talked about it. He talked about, like, he was supposed to jam with Hendricks a bunch of times, but he said Hendricks never showed up because he said he, he felt like he knew he was intimidated

by these jazz musicians. You know, he didn't have, his knowledge was different. You know, him and Miles Davis kicked it. They were supposed to record a bunch of shit, but it just never got together. Everybody has an insecurity. Even the most brilliant people. They do. Every artist, you know,

shit where they, I'm not ready. You know, this kind of thing. But, you know, I jumped in. I said, fuck it. So it all worked out. After in Living Color, what were your where did you go from there? I'll tell you, you know, after in Living Color, I figured because I was doing stand-up and stuff, I said, I probably can

headline for about 18 months. You know, there's no YouTube, there's no nothing. How long did they announce to you that This season five is our last one. Was it just like last damn word? Here's the cake. I was in New York.

I was doing Shakespeare in the park. And now after that, you know, Jim Carrey had already blown up with... Ace Venture. Yes. Was that the first one? What was his first movie? The Mask was it?

No, Ace Ventura. Ace Ventura was one. Which was the movie? No, no, Ace Ventura. I turned that down. Everybody was a script that was passed around. But Jim took it because he said, look, I'll take this,

but you got to let me do my thing. So they gave him all the power and he said, fuck it. So. That shit blew. Now, I can tell you another story. So we went to the opening of Ace Ventura and so the press chick goes, oh, I got an excitement. You know, I have exciting news. I've sat you next to Jim.

And, you know, yeah, Jim Carrey. And Jim was so nervous. He literally was climbing out of his skin. So I'm sitting right there and I want to, I'm going to laugh because it's my boy, whatever. I'm going to laugh. And I laughed myself dizzy. Sick. Now I'm watching it and I'm like, Jim is too crazy

man. Jim, Jim, he did that movie like they gave him six months to live. So he was just telling every joke, every joke, he just worked it. And so I come out in the lobby and I see Chris and I was like, Chris, what's up? He goes, nobody's going to see this movie. And I was like, no, because it was too crazy. I just

thought America's not ready. We used to joke with Jim. I said, look, man, if I won the lottery, I wanted to give Jim $5 million just to do his movie. He used to do this thing called colon man. Talk with his ass? No, he would whip out, you know, his 25 feet of colon,

and he would lassoot people and suck him in his ass. And that's how, you know, this is the kind of shit we would do. This is the kind of shit we're comedians. We just do, dude, I was crying. I was like, Jim, please, please, I'm going to give you some money. I want you to do colon man. He was like, yeah, so he would just be messing around, making each other laugh. But what I'm saying is, I didn't think,

I just thought, you know, in a couple of years, people forget about the show. I go back to, you know, I do what I really want to do, which is I want to do like a sitcom, like the Black Seinfeld, you know. And I just, that's where my head was at. I did not see the legacy of in living color. And I'll tell you who did was Jim Carrey. I mean, from the very beginning, we'd be sitting in the dressing

and we said, man, this is history. This is history. This is, I was like, man, please. Really? You didn't do that? No, because I just didn't. I just did not see. You didn't read your own press and you guys were in Time magazine.

I know, but I didn't. Man, my son's watching Living Color. Yeah, but I also didn't. I'm going to put it like this. What I did, I remember I did this play. And they had the men's dressing room and the women's dressing room at this point. You know, this is like 2006. So everybody had their laptop all laid up.

And all these dudes had cataloged their favorite in living color sketches. They could press a button, dial it in. that technology wasn't there when we did in Living Color in 91 to 94. I didn't anticipate that longevity. As I toured the country, I started performing for guys who were kids, say 10 or 11 or 12, who snuck and watched the show. Now they're teenagers. You know what I mean?

Now they're teenagers. And from there, the people who saw the next generation under them who saw it on BET or whatever, you know, on, I forget what... It's on a bunch of channels. Yeah, there was a point where it was on every day. I mean, it was somewhere.

Oh, it is on every day. Right. I mean, I just, I didn't see all that. I didn't see all that. Come on, man, I didn't see all that. Man, go ahead. I was just going to ask, was boom. I felt like boomerang was closer

than living color than that. Well, boomerang was during and living color. Okay. And what I didn't know is, so I get boomerang. And Keenan said, go ahead and do it. And I figured he, I was cleared by Fox. But Keenan never told Fox.

He just told me, he went to the Hudlin brothers and he said, make sure you have David back on tape day. Was that the makeup of Robert Townsend, Joe? No, but I'm talking about, you talk about doing someone a solid. Right, that's what I mean. Putting himself out there. And I didn't find out to him many years later. I was like, what?

And he goes, yeah. What was that scene, dude, the table scene? with John Willisprone. Oh, man. Well, here's what happened. We were doing the scene, and I'm sitting there, and I go, what is the most embarrassing thing

that could happen? Your parents fucking in the bathroom. So we're at the table, and I'm sitting next to Eddie. So I whispered to Eddie, and Eddie fell out laughing. So I see him get up and go around, because we were sitting in this big loft.

He goes around, and he tells Warrington, who is a producer, and it's all in Parenthood. pantomime. I see Warrington just fall out laughing. He goes and tells Reggie the director, who's on the other side behind the monitor. He falls out laughing. So at the very end of the day, Eddie says, we're going to film it. So every time we tried to do the scene, you know, where John and them come out and Eddie's looking at me, Eddie never kept a straight face. So I always thought, well, we can't use it because we didn't get a good take. So that's why I

went away from it. The brilliance of Eddie Murphy, again, is that he allowed that in the moment, we got to put this on film. And it became one of the funniest. You know, my character was just the best friend. Yeah. You know, when I read the script, I kind of was like, well, I'm in an Eddie Murphy movie, but what fuck am I doing?

But the brilliant thing is we rehearsed for three weeks. And rehearsed? Well, we actually improvised. It was controlled improvisation. So all of like the scenes with me, Martin, and Eddie, mostly. Like we improvved it. You know, so Reggie would go, look, you know,

you guys are working out, just go. And we would start improvising. There was a guy with the- Well, there was a woman there taking notes. And when I say guided, he would go, okay, stop, stay in that area. Stay in that area. So he would guide it.

All the best bits, they wrote them down, and that's how the script was rewritten. That's how it really became ours. The handicap sign on his balls. So those are. That's funny, that's funny. That's funny. I mean, that was guise. Wow. So, so, yeah. So that was rehearsed. Well, it was.

I'm thinking like rehearses like a table read and then you just go there and shoot it. No, we would shoot it. Eddie was living Eddie life. Like he was in Washington, then they would fly as to Washington. I think it was for, I don't know, something. No, he was just there hanging out in D.C. And we hung out at the four seasons for a few days and we rehearsed there. There was improvisation that happened on the set, but it was already formed and for us to succeed. And also what that did, I didn't know Eddie at all. I kind of knew Martin, you know, like I said, me and him were boys,

but it bonded us because we were supposed to be best friends. So it was really, that's the only time I've ever done that on a film. And I think that's the only time I heard Eddie did it, worked like that. But that's what made that film so good. So that's not standard, right? I'm telling you, I've been acting for 35 years. I've never had a month-long rehearsal period before we start filming. What if something was so magical and there was no camera to capture it?

Just it was lost. I mean, because I don't, as I remember. Were the things that happened in rehearsal that was like, damn, that shit is, you know, we'll never, we'll never get that magic again. You got the good shit. Trust me. Okay, I'll give you one thing that happened. When I left the loft, you know, after. my parents fucked. Right.

We did an improv all the way down the stairs all the way out in the street. So they said cut, but me and John we kept going, how could you do this? Say, man, fuck you. I'm trying to do my thing. I was like, man, what, daddy, why? And we kept going.

We kept going. All that was lost, but we were so in it. It was so much fun because it was with mom. Mom, why could you do? You know, we kept going back and forth. So that kind of stuff was lost. But it just, but we I don't, you know, they didn't videotape it. Okay.

They may have recorded it, but I don't think so. So in contrast with the Hallie Berry scenes, that was completely like on book. No. Because I'll tell you what, because I'll give you an example, when Hallie Berry goes, when Hallie goes. That was me. That was the improv I did. But it didn't make sense that I would do that, you know, in the kind of the scene. So I gave that to her.

But we just, and that was in the moment. That was in the moment. So they encouraged that. how did the shooting go on Martin for Reverend Leon the Holy Ghost Dun told me He just said

He let me go He just let me go But me and Martin I love Martin man I met him like From way back You know And Martin was always Martin

Like he told me from way back When this white lady Who owned a club He's like sit down You can't do what you're doing it's foul you know you can't be talking like that

Martin was always like this is what I'm gonna do fuck it you know so yeah yeah so when Martin did his show he brought me on and the only thing I remember there's a guy named John Bowman

who used to be on in Living Color then he went over and was work with Martin and I just said I want to play a preacher I just want to play a bootleg priest. They were saying, okay, because they were saying, we want you to come on. Martin wants you to come on. What do you want to play?

And I said, let me play a preacher. And from there, it just, and I did it a bunch of times. That's one of my favorite characters of yours. Dude, and the way, he scoop back,

the scoop that we went back. The most, the first of these laughing. Whats pop. Oh, shh. Don't let the death fire here. He's here.

There's a evil spirit in there. That's where it's pop. Get your Bibles. Man. Tell us about Blank Man. Oh, man. Yeah. Damon. You know, here's a story.

Before you start, when everybody was out watching Black Panther, when that came out, I was at home watching Blank Man. You're the only one, because I saw Black Panther on a film going to England. I was like, woo! I was crying. I would not want to jump the bandwagon. You still haven't seen it? I haven't seen it yet.

I haven't seen it. You are out of the club until you, come on. I'm not a Marvel person. This is a for real black nerd. He's like, I'm not a Marvel person. Like it matters. We don't be to do all clothed at the orgy. I don't like open-toed shoes.

You guys go ahead. What? Well, wait, man, Black Panther. That's not true. Wait, I went to the movies with this girl, and this was when the first weekend of Black Panther open, I saw this one brother. It was at the, what was it, at the Arklight?

He had his Dashigian, but it was too small. And he was waiting around, and he got stood up, and they were like, sir, the movie's starting. And he was like, I didn't want to be that dude. So I was like, I'm going to wait till people stop dressing up, that I can just go see it. Arclight was turned up. Everybody was.

Let me tell you something. And the wrong Black Panther. You know, Cali, they get it wrong. It was a lot of leather jackets and berets. Well, we try. We try. But no, Black Panther is beautiful, man. I love this shit.

I'll see it eventually. Go on. Angela. So, Blake, man, like, what were y'all? What was that like? You and Damon told me he was doing this thing. You know, again, we were on the living color. And he said, you know, I want you to do this.

I'll say, cool, man, let's do it. Robin Givens. I don't think I had met her. Everybody heard about her. You know, she was just that. girl. You didn't meet her on the boomerang either? They didn't do any... Yeah, I don't think they had any scenes together.

No, I met her. I met her. Oh, no, at the Strong J party. I met her. I met her. I mean, we, I knew her as a friend, you know, like that and loved her. She's cool. We just did it. I mean, it was great. It was a beautiful thing. And, um, uh, but I, you know, when we were doing Blank Man, like, I don't know if Meteor Man came out first. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I know they're kind of of competing, but you know, back then

there were two things, there were a couple scenarios for black comedians reformers. Wouldn't it be great if they were a black superhero? Every black comedian talked about the possibility of a black president. That wasn't everybody's,

we all did. We all taught, we all had some riff on that. You know, those kinds of things. And to live and see all this shit, that's what makes it amazing. But I never got to meet Obama, because I always wanted to meet him in the White House, but I didn't want to have to, like, donate money. I just wanted to be like, no, I wanted it to be organic.

I wanted it to be like, David, this is Brock and Michelle not like you to come to the house, you know, like that. I know, you met him, right? Yeah, you met him. Two times. But then at the end, when it was like, they started throwing parties and it was like DJ Scribble, you know. We and them, everybody was, I was like, man, I'm good, I'm good. I met Michelle. I met Michelle.

You didn't meet him eventually. But I did want to meet him while he was in office. You know, I've been there. Trust me, he's still present. He's still black American president. Would you ever do a, or have you done a special? Yeah, I did one. I did a stand-up special a while ago.

Would I do another one? It's a Netflix world, so, yeah. It's beyond that now. I mean, Gerard just directed a special where there's no laughter. I'm like, that's a lecture. A third one? It's a third special? No, he directed this white dude where there is no audience.

It's just him talking to the king. I didn't understand what it was, but I saw his name and I saw a white dude. Yeah, he directed it. Like I said, okay, now y'all are giving lectures. Okay. No audience. Call me old school. Tell us about chocolate news and like, well, chocolate news.

You know, this was happening. After the Chappelle show, everybody, I heard everybody was pitching. to Comedy Central. They wanted to be the next Chappelle. So I just looked at that. And from what I heard was all of the next Chappelle stuff was a trap. Nobody could be the next Dave Chappelle. So I avoided that. And then it was the, like I wanted to do like the Black Daily show kind of, but in a, in a sketch scenario, meaning everything was written. It wasn't based on real news. It was all fake. So I just, you went in there and I talked to them and use the template of real sports. Because if you mentioned Chappelle,

they'd be like, no, we've done that, it's always failed. Oh, I want to do the daily. As soon as you say the Daily Show, that's John Stewart's territory. You've got to go through him. No, we won't do that. So I purposely never said that. And they were like, wow, okay.

So they bought it. And I was only on for one year or one season. It was 10 episodes, but that's the purest, me, unfiltered, from my own hand, written, performed, that you're going to get. So I just did everything

I wanted to do. I mean, they gave me pretty much free reign. Probably the one idea we wanted to do a Kwanza special, and they said no. And we wanted to do the origin story of Kwanza, but inclamation. My people, there's a whole

we don't get it. So they wouldn't let us do that. Short of that, I did everything I wanted to do, man. They just let it go. So that was cool, even if it was just one year. Yeah, I think a couple, we have our homies, was it, I think Diallo. Was he a right now? Bajir.

That was their first job. Yeah. What were they like back then working with them? They were hungry, man. I mean, I dug them because they were intelligent and just smart. I mean, I was in there every day writing with the writers. and I just wanted people who were as excited as me to be there. I mean, what I didn't want is, you know, like as a musician, you know that I said.

You want people that have a passion for your project, okay? There's a lot of really great musicians or great artists, but, you know, if you're not down with what I'm doing, that's good, but it's not going to help me. You know what I mean? So I was just trying to find people that were hungry and saw the vision, and we did. did. We had fun, man. I remember we were talking about, I talked about the other day, I was talking to facts when we were

planning the inauguration festivities that Lunell came in. I had been watching, binge watching, my Super 16, you know, because that was really popular. So we just did the ghetto version. It was like, she was the party planner. It's going to be real classy. Barack is going to be carried in on the throne.

And Michelle will be his lady awaiting. So we just It's a super sweet 16. So it was funny. I mean, it was really fun. I mean, it was fun to plan all that stuff. It was exhausting. At the end, I was just whoa to fuck out.

But the night that Barack Obama was elected, I went and I was to host the Democratic election party in Century City. So by the time I got there, after working at the studio, it was like 7 o'clock. And the party was almost, it was at capacity. Okay, the police were going to shut it down. So I go on stage and I'm watching as it's official. You know, it says like Barack Obama is a president. I remember standing there because I wanted to make sure.

Right. So I kept watching. I kept watching. Dude, the emotion that night, I remember this white lady fell out on the stage. Her dress just went over her head, just crying. This grown-ass photographer who was on stage. He's just weeping. And I started crying.

I started, you know, my grandmother was born in 1900. And I was like, oh, my God, if my grandmother could see this, you know. And I remember as a kid listening to all these stories, I could tell you stories, man. My aunt, my aunt Ethel in Alabama, she was traveling to see her friend on a trailways bus. And they didn't have enough seats for the white folks. And the bus driver, she said they're in the middle of the country. He said, look, nigga, you can either get off the bus or you get under the bus and ride with the baggage.

And she said, you know, she had her best dress on, her hair was all done because she was going to see her friend. She got under that bus. And she had to ride the rest of the way under the bus with the baggage. And she said, when they got to where she was going, they left her there. And she said she's freak because she had claustrophobia. And she's banging.

And she said, but, you know, as a little child, when she told me this, we would laugh. Because she told it and laughed. He said, oh, my hair was all messed up. I was all sweating. My dress was all made. We would laugh. And I would tell her, but as I grew older,

and she would retell that story because I would make her, and it was no longer funny. And I realized all that. I thought about all that stuff. Man, and this is where we're at. You know, this is what I'm witnessing. That's how big that moment was. That was for not just me.

This is my point of view. But for everybody, in this room, man. Come on. And now, I can't even deal. Yeah, but you know what? Let me tell you something. Even when people, to this day when they go, you know, well,

Barack didn't do enough for Black people? I'm like, didn't do, do you know what he was going through? They'd say to everything but call him a nigger. Every day. He went through this. What we're going through now. Every day. Every day. They cock blocked everything he wanted to do. Said it loud and proud.

We ain't supporting shit. Now what? Fuck you. This is it. So I'm not. for it. I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear. You know, and you see what's happening? Anything but a nigga. Anything. You got the village idiot. They got the opposite. Yeah, man. So I'm just, do we talk in politics? I don't know what's going to happen. I really don't. I want to know, like, were you guys fine with the Carmichael show just being three seasons? No.

It was such a revolutionary show. I thought it was just fine and y'all strives. No, no, no, no. Listen, first of all, it wasn't even a season because, you know, we came on around with Blackish. I think we did about 30 episodes, and they had done like 60, 70, because, you know, they would pick the Carmichael's up for like six shows, 10 shows. And, you know, when we got there, you know, after we're on the air and I'd sign the contract, there, you know, Jeff Greenblatt, Robert, Bob Greenblatt, rather, The head of NBC was going, well, we want to do this like a specialty show. I didn't know nothing about that. They didn't tell me when I auditioned, we may only pick you up for six episodes, 10 episodes, have you locked down for five years because that's the contract. You know, I thought we were doing a regular show, you know, 20 episodes of season.

We never got that. They only put us on in the summer. That's a summer dump. We were never on the fall schedule, you know. But the flip side is you trade that. with Gerard got to do the show he wanted to do. So I would rather do 30 good episodes than 70 bullshit episodes. So that is it.

But no, we were never down with that. I was, no, we always, and I can speak for Gerard on this, we all wanted to be not the stepchild, but the child. You know, put us on in the fall. Give us a full order. You know, but were they too afraid to say, that we were afraid of the show and what it really is? No, yes, they were because they were like, you know.

Because on surface, they seemed like, hey, we support it. But you could not go back and read what the critics said. There's no other show at that, at the network that was getting the criticism, the critics fucking loved us. No, they would say, you're hard to program around. You know, that's stupid. You know the shit they always tell you. You're unique.

You're, um, well, you're an acquired taste. You know, we got all that bullshit. I was just, man. I love that show. I really like the episode where the mom kills herself. Yeah, I was going to just bring that one up. Dude, like, that shit was, I mean, that's never been done on television. You should have been there, man.

Black folks in the audience. I didn't mean to cut you off, but we got to it, like, that part. And I was like, telling Gerard, you know, my character, yeah, your grandma wants to kill herself. In the audience, I'm like, don't do him. No, no, no. No. Oh, man. Yeah, I was like, me and Jerrett.

We were like trying not to. Oh, those good time audience. Well, not good time. These were Christian people. First of all. It just been like in good times in the audience. Like they would have those outbursts. You hear them.

Quest? Quest, catch your drums. You know what they were just like? Oh, yeah. They were like, ooh. So wait then the Bill Cosby episode. Oh, yeah. Because that was, I mean, not for nothing.

That was, it was brave. It was on NBC. Yeah. It was on NBC. It was on NBC gave you both. It was perfection, to be honest. You know, a lot of times it was an experiment. Like, when I say that, like, we would read the stuff, but frankly, I didn't know how we were going to do it until we actually did it.

Like that, you know, this was from Drod's mind. I don't, I didn't know, you know, how are we going to get out of this, you know. And people get it confused. I mean, you know, my character voted for Trump. I mean, and, you know, the whole thing about Bill Cosby and stuff, these are characters. It's not me. But how are we going to get out of it? You know, until that very last thing,

you know, that last line when Gerard goes, it's shame what he did to those women. It was fun to play with that. But what became exhausting is, for white journalists, that's all they wanted to talk about. You know, because it's, I call it the niggit litmus test, you know. Quest, what do you think about Kanye? I was like, love all your albums.

Can we talk more about Kanye? You know, it's like, you know, it's like, okay, you know. Can I say that when I found out that you were playing opposite This is a person who didn't see Black Panther. Go ahead. Yes. Your current has been. Role-Cathed.

Revoked. I want to say that when I found out that you were playing opposite Loretta Devine, I was like, I'm in. I'm in. That was just perfect casting, though. Like, I wanted to see the way you two played against each other, and you guys did not disappoint. Sexy, too.

Yeah, yeah. Like the appearance, you know they were still getting it in. When I auditioned, you know, I met Gerard and Rel. I met Rel on, like, Twitter. And, you know, we go back and forth to say, yeah, I'm a big fan. I hope we get to work together. I'm like, yeah, cool, whatever. So then I saw Gerard, and I was hosting this evening of stand-up as part of the Montreal

Comedy Festival. It was in 2010, I think. And if you've ever seen Gerard's comedy, well, immediately, he has an original voice. different from everybody else. So I always dug him as a comedian. And so that year, when I heard he was doing a show, I was like, yeah, let me do this.

So I went in and I saw Loretta coming out of the building. I was like, hey, what's up? Loretta, what's going on? We've known each other for over 30 years. And she said, oh, they're like you, David. They probably like you. All right, good luck. Bye. It's good seeing you, baby. Oh, man. So I went in there, and

it was just butter, man. Did you do any kind of, I don't know, like research or whatever? Because me and Gerard grew up for like 30 minutes. He grew up in Winston-Salem. I grew up in Greensboro. And I'm telling you, man, your character, the way you played, like, dude, that's like my uncles. That was my family too, though. The thing I loved about the Carmichael's, it was very much any real black family.

Everybody got a head, they say. Like, they could have been talking about the Canadian trade agreement. agreement. Everybody's going to have their sight. Most of people didn't read. They didn't know what the fuck it was about. It didn't have to be informed. They're going to say what they're going to say. So yeah, I like that. I mean, I really, I knew that character. I knew that black man. You understand? His kingdom was that Barker Loungeer and that changer and that was about it. But he ruled it right there. So yeah, yeah, man. I really felt like, also I felt like I had earned the right to play it in terms of age and experience. and just I didn't really have to act. I mean, I knew that. And the thing I loved about the Carmichael's is from comedy to tears.

I mean, I feel like out of all the roles I've done, that encompassed everything. I mean, I was able to go, you know, places emotionally. Yeah, the scene where the episode where he has to confess to the wife that he had a kid, like before they got met. Yeah. I'll tell you this. Every scene, like with the porno episode, I would take Diro, I'd go like, look, man, come on. And Dari would go, oh, actually, David,

I did find my parents' pornostas. Okay, whatever. And then when he said, you know, with the kid, he said this happened in his family. So after that, I just stopped questioning him. I mean, whatever the script was, D'Rae would be like, hey, man, I'm trying to tell you. And his parents, everybody, his family would come

and hang out and watch. Yeah, I would. really felt blessed, man. I remember, I'll tell you a good story. So Tiffany, I saw the trailer for a girls' trip. I had not seen the movie, just saw the trailer in the theater, and I came back. Tiffany was begging me at that, but it was, David, can I open for you? I was like, can you wait?

Like a month? I'm going to be opening for you. She was like, yeah, but I was like, Tiffany, do you realize what is about to happen? Well, I don't know. I was like, you have to listen to me. And everything, it was right there, man, please. Her shit blew all the fuck the way up. And it was, again, she was ready.

I mean, all the crazy stories that you hear her say, I heard this shit every day. And she has a cure for cancer. She has a cure. Tiffany Haddish has a cure for cancer. I'm not bullshitting you, man. Can you share? I don't, I went to, at that point,

I would just go to my dressing room. Why did they disappear? I was like, Tiffany, I just got to go lay down. Are you allowed to talk about what your character on Little Rail shows is going to be? I'm not on Little Rail Show. I'm on the Cool Kids, but somehow online they think I'm in his show, but I'm not. Yeah, it is. I did see so good.

You're advertised in everything. I thought Cool Kids was the movie. No, Cool Kids is my show that I'm doing. with Vicki Lawrence and Martin Mall and... Vicki Lawrence from Calabinetcho? Yeah. Oh, my name.

And the last person. Who else? It's the fourth. Leslie Jordan. He's like a four-foot he's the gayest man I've ever met all in a senior citizen facility. But I saw this thing on Instagram

where I don't... I think someone had to put that together, honestly, because it's not a show. The root was advertising? Yeah, it's not the show. And again, just go to the comment. comments. I'm in. The tri-factor.

This is the superstars. I didn't have the heart because, you know, you know, in the comments, they don't care. No, accuracy doesn't care. No, they don't care. They were like going all, I mean, you know, them people, they got an alternate universe. Oh, oh, I see what's going on. They're trying to keep it on the double down low

to make us a super surprise. You know, so I didn't even get involved. But no, I was looking for it. Like, you, Simbed and. No. I'm looking for it with the Biggie Lawrence, because I ain't seen her in a... Nicky Lawrence.

She's cool, man. She's putting it down. But that's my show. I'm doing cool kids on Fox. Rella's on Fox. Okay. And as a matter of fact, we're right next door to each other, our soundstage. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I

ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends. either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of

the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Everyone, I'm Ago Vodam.

My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent.

He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar. of, you know, the cat, just hang in there.

Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. But wait, before I go, we got to talk music. Okay. I need to tell you about... Wait, we didn't even talk Wiz.

Oh, the Wiz. Anyway, we could talk about... Are we out of time? We did the Whiz, and he did the Christmas story, though, right? No, the Wiz was the one. The Wiz was the one. Thank you for saying that. I just wanted to be fair. I mean, again,

okay, when me and Reggie Kathy, we drove with a bunch of friends across country to come to New York for the first time during spring break and we to go see some Broadway shows and we went to see the whiz. We bought second to the last row, Majestic Theater, $6 tickets, half price.

And after the matinee, I went in with my 8 by 10 to the stage door. and I wanted to give my picture. And the door guy goes, you want to what? I said, I want to be on Broadway. He busted out laughing. So he got on the PA. He said, hey, man, come up in here.

Please, any cast. They came up, tell him what you just told me. And I was like, I'm going to act. I'm from Michigan. And here's my 8 by 10, I want to be on Broadway. They laughed in my face. Wow. And I was like, can I leave?

Yeah, leave it. Oh, they clowned me. so hard. They probably put it up I know, but they clown me. So, I'm telling you, so to do the Whiz, I mean, and I had done this crazy version of the Wiz, Des McEnough directed it at the La Jolla Playhouse. And I was in it, Nikki James,

Titus, Titus from, Kimmer-Smith. First of all, you all don't even know. Titus has the voice of God. We know. I believe it. So he did the lion, And they raised the keys. I mean, he would do just crazy stuff.

So he was in it. And Michael Benjamin Washington, Michael Washington, Michael, Michael, Michael, he's going to kill me, but whatever. Anyway, so that never made it. That never made it to Broadway. I knew Kenny Leon. And when it was announced, I texted Kenny. I said, hey, man, I want to do the Whiz.

And I played The Whiz in this production. It was a point I was trying to make. And Kenny kind of hit me back and said, man, I don't even know what I'm doing. I mean, let me just hit you when I, you know, when I meet with the network and figure out what we're going to do. So I was performing at Caroline's, a few, like, a couple weeks later,

he came with his assistant, but I was pushing the Wiz, because that's what I played before. I figured, you know, from the movie, that's kind of like Richard Pryor did it, so maybe I could get in here. And he goes, so what other character,

what character do you want to play? I said, The Wiz, and he goes, okay. Anything else? I mean, would you do another part? And I'm like inside, I'm like, shit. Yeah, sure, I just want to be a part of it. So he said, what about the lion? I was like, oh, fuck.

I was like, yeah, yeah. So from there. You thought he was going to give you uncle. Yeah. You know, you know, but the whiz was the stuff. So, long story short, we do this thing. And Kenny, all along was like, the way he directs us, now listen, motherfuckers.

You all got one shot. Yeah, live TV. You didn't go fuck this up. You know, he kept going and kept going. And so I turned my phone off. And I could feel, you know, people online, black folks were like, you know, they better not fuck this up. We were. And they got real hot.

So I was like, damn, well, let me just do my long lines. So I went to my trailer. They gave these big-ass buses. After it was all done, it was good. I mean, you guys got the best version. Yes. Okay? So I turned my phone on.

and I was not expecting the response. I got emails. I got texts, messages, letters. I mean, from people I hadn't heard from in 20 years. A lot of them would start, David, is this still your email? Wow. Black women. And they were saying, I'm sitting on my bed with my daughter.

I'm watching with my nieces and nephews. I'm crying. I'm dancing. It was just such a flood of love. Because I was like, I'm sure we're going to get some bullshit. No, it was so good. But no, it was, the response was so great, was so amazing that that's what was humbling about it. It was really great.

It was such a great experience, man, to be involved in that. I brought it back. Shoot, that should always be a part of a black child's life. Like, you should always know about the world. It was such a joy to watch that. I'll tell you real quick because I know I'm talking about. No, he didn't, man. You counterfeit, man.

Stop. My daughter's 10. So when the wish, she was about seven And her mom showed her the movie first Oh, she was scared Horrible. No, when I came, when Lulu came to visit me, I showed her The Wizard of Oz.

So she was about five then, and she kept looking at it. She saw it like seven times in one weekend. Because for me, we only got to see it once a year. So I had the DVD, I was like, you can watch this shit all day. So she would get up watching it. She was going, Daddy, I think they took this from

Michael Jackson's movie. I said, you think so? Yeah, because, you know, kids at that age, whatever they see first is the one that came first. I said, but you know, this is an older movie and she goes, Mm-mm, Michael Jackson did this movie because it's real similar, don't you think?

And I was like, yeah, I was just that her vibe, she was like going, I said, which one do you like? She goes, I think I like the Michael Jackson one day. Yeah, so it was, so it was fun. It was fun, but people didn't know that we did the Broadway version. We'd never had the rights to the film.

Because that was a whole different thing. That was a whole different money. And it was beautiful. It was a beautiful experience. It was really fun. I've never done anything where you do one performance. You know, we rehearsed for two months. Man.

Yeah, man. Then you did it again. But that lion outfit, the lion outfit, oh, my God, this thing, when we started, when we did our text, the dancers were like, there's water on the stage. You know, this is at the very end. this after, uh, uh, what's, Eveleen comes in and it's, you know, everybody rejoiced. And finally I put my hand up. I said, that's me sweating.

And everybody's, oh, David, he's so crazy. That lion outfit, because it was TV, it had no ventilation. So by the time I got to that point, all the water, my sweat were puddled in my hands, in my feet. And it just started dripping out. And it would be on the stage and they were slipping. It was, on a brand new day. Yeah, it was wild.

We survived. We survived. Wow. But wait, quick, can I give you my music and shit? Yeah, man. Okay, now these are the greatest concerts I went to. Yes. In 1972, I saw the Rolling Stones in Cobo Hall in Detroit.

The opening act was Stevie Wonder. Now, 72, this is inner visions. This is when Stevie had changed. His background singers were Martha and the Vandellas. Oh, wow. So, dude, they rocked the house. the stones come on they played and then they brought the entire motown band Stevie Wonder Martha and the Van Dells and they all did uptight

yeah they did uptight and something else I can't get no satisfaction satisfaction it was just that was probably probably one of the greatest conscious of course I saw the Motown review as a kid and back in the day you go they had an early show where they showed a movie then the band would be behind the screen and they pulled the screen up and then you do the Motown review so I remember that. What were they, okay, I'm glad you're eyewitness to this because I always wanted to know because they would do at the Apollo like five of those a day. And people tell me like, you know, you go there, what they would show a cartoon first, then a movie, then a comedian, then.

Well, as I remember, they showed the movie and this was early because we were kids and it was wintertime. So we went and Willie Tyler and Lester were there. Oh, wow. And then they had, what was the name of this group? It was, you know, they did, it was an all-white group, and they did Cloud 9. Oh, Rare Earth. Rare Earth. Willie Tyne and Lester were really big. But, you know, Stevie Wonder played.

The Supremes were gone by then. So this has got to be 66. Okay. 60s, probably 1966 because after the riot, everything was fucked up. So I'm pretty sure it's probably 66. Were you there in Detroit for those rights? Of course. As a matter of fact, the movie Detroit, that's five blocks from my house.

That's five blocks from my house. And so to watch that movie and that Algiers Motel, we used to drive past there all the time. That movie, it's just, no. Uh-uh. It's like a stuff, Phil. It was so big. It was so much bigger.

That city never recovered. It never. ever, Detroit never came back. It was so much bigger. It was funny. I talked to Eric Dyson about Detroit. He loved it. I didn't. Just because most black people,

okay, I worked on the film. I scored, but most black people I know told me that it was hard for them to watch it because it literally was a snuff feel. Yeah. And, you know, it was

in 2016. When we were watching actual stuff, yeah, fucking Twitter, Facebook. I'm just telling you, man, it was much bigger than that movie. I mean, you know, the acting was awesome.

I like the director's words. Well, she told me that she just wanted to tell one story. And, you know, the story of the Dramatic really just... Yeah. Yeah, I understand. There is a website that I found that someone put up

and this person researched a, much as they could, each fatality that happened during the riot. And so they tried to do a background of the person and how they actually were killed. It's really creepy and spooky and weird. There is a film there. It's just also, that's like the movie Ali. You know, living through Ali, the real person as a kid to see it fictionalized.

I was too close to that material. So that's what I'm saying. Being born and raised in Detroit, a few blocks from the, I'm just too close to get some distance and really talk about it. We're just starting to experience that now, Genrescent, like, people said that,

but like Biggie movies and Tupac movies. Yeah, when they make the- Bobby Brown, New Edition movies. Tupac used to hang out at the set when we did In Living Color. One time I wake up. His beat down was the limit driver. dig. So the story was when I woke up

I see all these policemen, you know I've been sleeping in my dressing. I'm like they got to fucking corral these extras, man. They're all over the place and they were real policemen. So Tupac was there and the story was he claimed that the limo driver

had a gun. Now the limo driver called a police. This is the story I heard and they claimed Tupac had the gun so they came and they took Tupac. But the next day they found a gun in the bushes like Tupac wasn't lying

motherfucker had a gun that was regular day that was regular day a little day living color man Tupac was little too he was a little guy physically all that voice

all that shit man it was deep man anyways that's about it I'll tell you one last music story the craziest lineup I saw Santana

Leonard Skinner and Bobby Womack. What? It was all in the same bill. It was Bobby Womack first. And it was, Santana was headlining. Leonard Skinner came on second, and they gave us the finger and spit at the crowd, you know, because it was like,

people weren't there to see them. And it was during Caravan Sorai. So this is after Santana had gotten knowledge, you know. Right, right. Coal train and all that stuff. But that, you know, as a kid, because that's all we did is go to concert. For me, I wasn't into sports.

All we did is get high and go to concerts. Yes. Do you miss that feeling now? Like, what do you attend now that's still exciting? Maybe basketball is exciting to see LeBron. I mean, someone genuine performing their craft. I would go see Moses Sumney. Okay.

Yeah, he's a cat. I really like. I like him. But to get me out to house to see music, it's been a while. I went to see Charles Lloyd one time with my girlfriend here in L.A. And it was back in the 90s when he did, you know, notes from Big Sur and stuff. And he's playing. And listen to me, man.

It was so deep. It's like he levitated from the stage. He was hovering in space. He took me there, you know, and I'm sitting there going, oh, my God, this is killing me. So I get in the car and I'm driving home. And I ask my girlfriend, I go, if I tell you something, we promise not to laugh? She goes, yeah, what's up? Okay, I was listening to Charles Lloyd.

And all of a sudden, he just was floating in space right in front of me. It was like, we weren't even in that, I think it was the Catalina Bar and Grill. We weren't even in that space. We were just in the universe. And she went, yeah, I saw that too. We just got home. That's what I'm talking about, man. Take me out.

It was like so amazing. Like, oh, my God. yeah, I want to be taken away. And that's sober, right? Yeah. Now, it sounds crazy. I'm not, I'm just, do you, can somebody in your back me? No, no.

I'll get you. I just want to make sure. When you get in the zone, come on now. You're going to back me up or no? I don't know. There's some moment. I mean, you know, it's as far and few between. Of course.

I mean, there's some rock shows. I mean, like, I still, when I see radio head, I'm still, I still feel that way. But it's like you really got a wide in your palate. But, I mean, just for the day. days were like, it's weird, like, watching Bilau, like, I have to play with Bilau in order to get that joy.

So sometimes I have an out-of-buy experience when he has a good night and improvising. It's rare. This was over 10 years ago. I mean, yeah, I had great experiences. I saw David Bowie, the Ziggy Starters tour, that changed everything. I mean, I was like 16. I'd never seen no shit like that.

I was like, damn, you know, What the fuck is this? Prince? I met Prince. But it was too much. We actually in the studio where Prince recorded. Oh, yeah. I forgot to note that we are literally, and we finally, ladies and gentlemen, we made it to Studio 3. As many times we tried, this is Studio 3 where most of 1999 was created.

Purple Rain, all the B-Sides of Purple Rain around the world in the day and the parade album. and parts of sign at the time. I'll tell you a quick Prince story. Then I'll shut up. But I went to, I performed at the All-Star game when it was in Minneapolis. And I performed at the Avenue,

Avenue Club or what, the first Avenue. And I took the whole gig. Comedy? Yeah, because they booked me to do comedy. But the only reason I went is to meet Prince. So I go all the way there and he said, well, Prince isn't here.

But his road manager took me to Paisley Park. You know, and at that time, this has got to be 95 or 96. Paisley Park, that was farm. land out there. Like we drove out, but it was all there. You could have done in living color at Paisley Park. I mean, they took me all through it, everything. And so he told me this story. He said when they were on tour, it was about three in the morning. He gets a call from Prince. And he picks up the phone. A prince says, motherfucker, these motherfuckers call, I hear motherfucking voices

coming from the motherfucking walls. And he's like, Princess three said, motherfucker. I'm hearing motherfucking voices coming from the motherfucking walls. And so he goes to Prince's room. Knacks on the door, Prince answers, and he has white satin pajamas perm tight. White satin, du rag, full

makeup, and white satin high heel boots. And he says, dude, what's going on? He said, motherfucker, I told you, I'm hearing motherfucking voices coming from the motherfucking walls. So they come in like Prince you tripping, and they go in there and they hear this voice. So they call the

hotel security. They come in, they do a whole sweep of the floor and they find a crawl space behind his bed. And they go in the crawl space and they find this girl in there with a flashlight, listen to me. With a flashlight and

a Bible who has been reading verses. And the dude said as they took the woman out, the police, Prince sat at his coffee table with his legs crossed like this. He went, I told you all, motherfuckers. I said, coming from the motherfucking walls. But your motherfuckers didn't believe me.

I fell out laugh. It was just like that. I was like, wow. Thank you, man. Yeah, yeah, so much. Absolutely. Oh, my God. I appreciate it.

God, thank you, yeah, man. We love, we appreciate you so much. So much. Yes, I know Dave Chappelle. He was, I think he was 18 when he middle for me. It was the first time I met him in New York. Really? Yeah, Caroline's.

People will come in and go, Great set, Dave. Who was that kid that went on before you? He was amazing. It was like, yeah, those Dave Chappelle, man. Should get him to stop by. You won't sign the release, though. One for the records.

Anyway, on behalf of Team Supreme, Laia and Fonticillo and Boss Bill, and Unpaid Bill and Sugar Steve, you cool, Sugar Steve? Yeah, man, I'm just excited about the Sugar Network. and continuing my work there. Is it sweet?

See what I did? Because I say Shababat. I mean, y'all say sweet. Holy ghost. Anyway, David, thank you very much for doing our show. Yeah, man, I love it. I can't wait to see you.

Tell your mom I said hi. Because remember, we met at the Tony party. Damn. Yes. Your memory is awesome. Your mom was right there. Yeah, yeah. You gave me, you gave me,

you said, hey, what's up? Man, moms was like, I'm a very big fan. She was eating. Oh, yeah. He remembers everything. Yo, this is Questlove with Quest Love Supreme. Only on Pandora. We will see you on the next go-round.

Thank you. Quest Love Supreme is a production of I-Heart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from I-Hart Radio, visit the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the Fourth. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw unfilts of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.