Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Zabrina Douglas: Toronto Mike'd #1216

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

In this 1216th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Zabrina Douglas, a comedian, a full time nurse, and a mother of 5 children. Her comedy album Things Black Girls Say: The Album received a Juno... Award nomination for Comedy Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2023. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to episode 1216 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma
Starting point is 00:00:50 Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921 and
Starting point is 00:01:07 Kana Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis guaranteed over 150 stores across the country. Learn more at Kana Cabana.com. Joining me today, making her Toronto mic debut is Zabrina Douglas. Welcome, Zabrina. Thank you so much for having me. I don't know how you found time to make your Toronto Mike debut,
Starting point is 00:01:33 but I'm glad you're here. But, I mean, you are a comedian, which we'll get into. You're a funny person. Yeah, most of the time. You're a full-time nurse. Yes, I am. And you're the mother of five children. Oh, a full-time nurse. Yes, I am. And you're the mother of five children. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:01:48 Or did you forget? I don't know. I mean, I'm just thinking, okay, so you got the five kids. You're a full-time nurse. I'm dying to get the story of how you found time to become a comedian. And let me just preface this by saying a lot of people call themselves comics, okay? That's true. I do like open mics.
Starting point is 00:02:07 I'm on stage or whatever. You, my friend, because you're now an FOTM, friend of Toronto Mic'd. You're now a friend. Oh, nice. You're an Oscar nominated comic. No, but you're a Juno nominated comic. Yes, I am. Congratulations.
Starting point is 00:02:23 Thank you. It's amazing, actually. I actually can't believe it but yeah i'll take it well take any sure you'll take it when are the junos they're coming up right oh yeah they're coming up this uh weekend um starting march 10th it's gonna be all weekend so yeah it's coming soon do you know i'm just curious like how uh like could you run down your competitors like there's five people nominated for this uh again this is the uh juno award for comedy album of the year and your album that's nominated which i've been listening to and it's very good it's called things black girls say the album oh yeah who are your competitors
Starting point is 00:03:02 do you know off the top of your head oh yeah um let's hear it let's curse them out here on the show no i honestly everybody's super talented they're all amazing comedians i'm actually like excited to be in like you know are you reading that is that the pr wrote that for you did eric alper write that for you hold on here you're reading this from a sheet no no honestly like three of them i work with all the time which is actually amazing i think i honestly believe we have the best uh comedy scene in canada toronto has the best comedy scene and three out of the five are toronto comedians so that's pretty cool who are these other uh toronto comedians that besides yourself of course. Yes, there's Jackie Picero. She's so funny. She runs a lot of shows in Toronto.
Starting point is 00:03:53 Oh my gosh, I'm forgetting everybody's names too early in the morning. There is one other name I noted in the list of competitors, and he's now living in Alaska, but John Doerr. Oh yeah, John Doerr. Yeah, very funny. What's he doing in Alaska? Do you know? No, I don't know him closely like that. But yeah, I've been watching his career a lot on TV and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:04:14 He's super, super amazing. And then there's Matt Wright. He's from, oh no, I don't want to say where he is. He's not Toronto, but he's so. Is he from Ontario? Oh, want to say where he is. He's not Toronto, but he's so... Is he from Ontario? Oh, yeah, yeah, he is. But anyways, he's super hilarious. And why am I forgetting
Starting point is 00:04:33 names? Oh no, I feel like I put you on the spot here. I can always Google this, right? I know, I don't... It's so early in the morning. Listen, is it early? It is after 11 a.m. For a night shift nurse. Oh, okay. So I have so many questions for you, Sabrina.
Starting point is 00:04:49 Please clear the rest of your day. Just tell your kids you'll see them later. Okay. So maybe before we get into your life and times and I find out like what made you throw something else on the pile because you got a full-time job as a nurse, which I might need. I don't feel that well. Can you tell me, do I have a fever? Okay. as a nurse, which I might need. I don't feel that well.
Starting point is 00:05:06 Do I have a fever? Okay. Did you see, I'm curious, I don't know how you would have fit this into your schedule, but did you see the Chris Rock live Netflix special on Saturday night? Oh, I didn't get to see it Saturday. I'm going to watch it soon. But like, yeah, one of my idols, obviously. So amazing.
Starting point is 00:05:21 But I, yeah, I didn't get to see it. I'm looking, okay, well, get out of here, Sabrina. I'm looking for somebody to talk to about this. I saw it, I did not see it live on Saturday, but I yeah I didn't get to see it I'm looking okay well get out of here Sabrina I'm looking for somebody to talk to about this I saw it uh I did not see it live on Saturday but I saw it yesterday I wanted to hear obviously I got sucked sucked in because he's like oh for the first time ever Chris Ross is going to talk about the slap the Oscar slap oh yeah so it's like I gotta like you know I'm I'm only human Sabrina I'm like I need to see this and I watched it so I I was uh I guess, you know what? Why don't you come upstairs with me?
Starting point is 00:05:47 We'll watch it and we'll come back down. We'll record this. And start this whole thing over again. Or when you do see it, you got to come back and we can chat about it. Oh, yeah. But he, you know, he waited a year before he made any specific statements about it.
Starting point is 00:06:01 And he was full throttle. He just let it out, man. And I gotta say, it was entertaining as heck. Oh, I don't want to see it so bad now. Man, I was supposed to watch this, but I totally fell asleep. Well, listen, luckily, if you missed it live, it's on demand.
Starting point is 00:06:20 So check it out and then we'll, via email, we'll chat about it. Oh, for sure. Chris Roth's live Netflix special. I thought it was good though. And, you know, some of it was maybe slightly problematic, some things. But I mean, it's comedy. Like, do you ever fear the, well, I don't even want to call them the woke police
Starting point is 00:06:40 because there's nothing wrong with being woke. Like, I think being woke is a good thing. Do you want to be asleep? No, you want to be aware of everything in the world we live in. But do you ever worry about maybe I'm not politically correct enough on stage for people? I mean, it got you a Juno nomination, so don't change anything. But do you ever have that concern when you're up there?
Starting point is 00:06:56 Or you just speak from the heart, shoot from the hip? I'm mostly, like, I'm not even a political comic. Like, that's me. Like, I am not into the the politics at all like i just i just want to get away from it and just talk about me and whatever i go through and then uh sometimes if i'm politically incorrect i mean it just happens i mean uh most of my complaints come from me talking about like people dying okay you know it's funny maybe we start with that i mean there's so many places i can start but could i play this is kind of
Starting point is 00:07:33 awkward i suppose but i uh there's a great album because it's nominated for a juno and we're going to talk about your origin story and the album and everything but racism is alive and dying could i play that like would that would that be awkward for you if i literally played it right now no okay do it here we go so this gives you a couple minutes uh where i can just stare at you and watch you react to your own work just make it more awkward but here is some sabrina douglas and again the name of this album is things black girls say the album just in case you thought it was something else. That's the album.
Starting point is 00:08:06 Okay, it's got to be specific here. But here is a bit called Racism is Alive and Dying. It was weird. It was crazy. I worked in a nursing home for 15 years. One thing I learned about working in the nursing home is that racism is still alive, but dying at the same time.
Starting point is 00:08:33 Just a lot of old white people like, nigger. I'm like, rest in peace. Nah. Nah. It's crazy, though. People are getting older nowadays. Like, I'm taking care of somebody who is 114 years old. Yeah, it's crazy.
Starting point is 00:09:04 But I work a lot of night shifts, you know? And I'm just trying to, like, go on break. Like, like that's my thing now i don't want to do any extra paperwork and i'm always coming into these shifts and these old people are trying to take their last breath during my shift come on man i always try and be a beat you know because i want people to survive for at least eight hours i'm just like hey i'm your nurse and they're just like, hey, I'm your nurse. And they're just like, I just want to die. I'm like, calm down. Not during my shift.
Starting point is 00:09:31 I don't think so. I like turn up the oxygen and shit. I'm like, tonight we live. Tonight, let's live. My shift ends at 7.30. You can die at 7.45. Wait for the next nurse. It's weird, though.
Starting point is 00:09:51 It's weird. But if they're racist, I also don't want them to die. So I'll just walk by and whisper in their ear, Jesus is black. They're like, no, nigga, no. No, nigga, no. They're living for years after that they're walking going back to work
Starting point is 00:10:08 they're like how is grandpa well i'm like racism racism has cured him i remember this one old lady she was so cute she was trying to punch me um she was also racist but it was like it was so hard for me to see because she was like blackie blackie blackie so slow and I'm like are you trying to punch me so I waited for that shit to land
Starting point is 00:10:37 but then it was like the end of my shift I'm like oh my god I have to go then I came back the next day and she was still punching me she's like why is it gonna end you're funny fyi sabrina i've decided you're funny very good and that's from things black girls say right oh yeah okay where did you record that uh a comedy bar on the floor yeah you had a good you had a good crowd uh did you recognize any of the laughs there oh yeah there's uh there's actually some comedians that
Starting point is 00:11:11 came in to watch it and that um bit about um uh racism is still alive but dying there was a lot of comics in there dying at that joke because that joke can be a hit or miss sometimes yeah like it depends like it depends not on not normally on the race like just how um you know how people how ready people are to laugh like some people can get really offensive but why are they at a comedy club it's my thought okay so why are you at the comedy bar if you're not ready to i know there's so much to be offended you know what i mean it's not like you it's not drive by comedy bar if you're not ready to laugh? I know. There's so much people. And if you're ready to be offended. You know what I mean? It's not like you.
Starting point is 00:11:46 It's not drive-by comedy, right? Where you're in a megaphone and you're like, people are coming out of church or whatever and you're doing your bit or whatever. It's like, I wasn't ready. I'm not ready for that. No. These are people who, you know. Paid for a ticket.
Starting point is 00:11:58 Paid to see comedy. Yeah. You'll get a lot of that. And it's like, oh my gosh, these are jokes. Calm down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:04 Super. people will get super offended but i mean like as a comedian you're supposed to push buttons so like whatever no i love it so you you basically you're call me and there's there's other bits and i play another one later but your bits are sort of about what you know it's about yeah great stuff about your growing up with your uh jamaican parents and i mean i should play that clip next but first let's get the origin story here so at what point in your life like were you you did you always want to be in comedy sabrina or was there like an epiphany moment but like like what made you think you were funny enough that you could go on stage and make people like me laugh
Starting point is 00:12:40 well i just i'll never forget when i was a kid i might have been eight years old and i had a dream that i was on stage making people laugh eight years old yeah it was just a dream that i had and i remember i told my dad that i wanted to be a comedian as my job and he got so upset he's like you want to be a clown for a living what is this you want to be poor you want to be broke you're gonna ruin our lives and since he was, either you become a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer. Those only three choices. Three options for you. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:10 So I was like, oh, I'll be a teacher. And then as I got older, I'm like, wait a minute. I don't want to be no teacher. But still, I was like, I went to school in University of Windsor. And I was in a science program. And I'm like, like oh i like people become a nurse so i became a nurse and it wasn't until my 30s that um i suffered with really bad stage fright actually like i can make jokes with my close friends but if i spoke in a small group
Starting point is 00:13:37 of people i would like freak out like my heart rate would increase like i'd be like oh my god i'm an idiot i'm an idiot like could you speak because there's actually a thing i was just this weekend this came up in my family selective mutism it's called where like you you you can be chatty and engaging with your friends yeah and then on stage like almost mute like but you could you could spit it out you were just nervous uh af yeah like um when i first started i was like so nervous like i had to write things down and memorize it right and then i would go on stage but if i messed up a word it would have been over like it wouldn't make any sense but i i had crippling stage fright so i found this um um yuck yucks workshop it was four sundays i paid for it and i was like if i do this i'm pretty sure and i've
Starting point is 00:14:26 always wanted to try stand-up so okay so this is in your 30s yeah and do you remember who who's teaching this uh yuck yucks it was larry horowitz i know this name oh yeah he used to be a humber he he um he's a comedian he used to be a humber instructor for like so many years well i mean i had simon rakoff on a couple of weeks ago and i feel like with john wing and simon rakoff and and this is like the old yuck yuck yeah the old old uh yeah this was this was i think maybe oh i'm saying almost 12 years ago maybe okay yeah something like that and then yeah so i went to his workshop and uh i came up with a five minute set which was the worst set of my whole entire life obviously i was so nervous and then yeah ever since i remember i got upstage for the very first time i was just like oh my god is this what
Starting point is 00:15:19 i'm supposed to do well i'll say this i so again just a comment on the Chris Rock special, which I saw yesterday, the recording, but it was live, right? So there is actually like when he's going into his Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith part, which was the last 10 minutes and which was pretty, pretty great actually. But he does blow a line. Like he blows a punch.
Starting point is 00:15:39 Like this is Chris Rock, okay? One of the greatest standup comics of this generation. And he does blow a line because he's got he talks about two will smith's movies and he accidentally references the name of the second one emancipation when he meant to talk about concussion which does change the punch lines on each but he catches it so he blows the line and then he catches it he goes i fucked up the joke he goes it was concussion not emancipation And he kind of resets so that he can deliver his punchline or whatever. But it did make me think, like, if, you know,
Starting point is 00:16:08 he had no safety net because it was live. Like, that's, right? But if Chris Rock can fuck up a joke, Sabrina Douglas can fuck up a joke. Oh, I do it all the time. But it's like, it's not, like, comics can mess up jokes all the time. But as long as you're honest with the audience,
Starting point is 00:16:23 they'll still laugh. Even if you say it, oh, I screwed that one up, whatever. I fucked up that joke. It's concussion, not emancipation. Exactly. They'll be like, ha, ha, ha. So, and again, I don't know your age now,
Starting point is 00:16:35 but you're not... I'm an old lady now. Very old. Do I get to know, or are you keeping this a carefully guarded secret? Maybe for now. Okay. But in your 30s, we're being very vague here.
Starting point is 00:16:46 In your thirties, you do this yuck yucks thing of Larry Horowitz and it obviously worked. I mean, that was money well spent. Yeah, I guess so. But you're nominated for a Juno. Okay. I'm never going to get nominated for a Juno. People are always laughing at me. They're like, oh, you paid for a workshop?
Starting point is 00:17:01 Like, why don't you just do some open mic? I'm like, whatever. No, I just, I mean. What does it cost for the, what does that cost 12 years ago? Do you remember? I think it was like 300 and something. Honestly, money well spent for you. Yeah, that's true.
Starting point is 00:17:15 And how many kids did you have at that time? I had two, two small ones. Okay, got to track all these children here. Yeah. So I do a show with Brad Jones, who's a funeral director at Ridley Funeral Home. This is an excuse for me to shout out Ridley Funeral Home because they're a proud sponsor of the program but Brad and I we actually he's got a podcast
Starting point is 00:17:30 called Life's Undertaking and I always remember because I have four kids and more than most people I encounter in a day okay but when Brad comes over I'm like I only got four kids because Brad Jones has six kids but Sabrina Douglas you got four kids because brad jones has six kids oh shoot but sabrina douglas
Starting point is 00:17:46 you got five kids yeah i do you never thought uh like i'm done now you're like no i'm gonna keep going this is great yeah well that's a personal question yeah it is let me let me get to like let me talk to you okay so uh again very personal question but you seem so open you're a stand-up but these are all from the same dude no like i and i got remarried like a few years ago probably like seven eight years ago explains it because you had a couple of kids from some from a guy yeah we were married to this guy yeah very personal question now you're remarried now remarried are the three from him this is three two two from him and then one for both of us right yeah so that's why there's i see now yeah kind of cheating there i'm not i'm not here to call you out and it makes it but you have okay i have to go back to the
Starting point is 00:18:39 board and we have to talk about this does sabrina douglas really have five children but you are the mother to five children i am the i am the mom if i have to pay for something for you you are now in our family like that's how it works no and you're right and it makes for good comedy too but my wife always says she has two kids and two step kids but she never says she has four kids or something so sabrina we're gonna have to talk about this offline we'll talk about it but regardless uh you're you're busy mothering four children like you said there and you're you're busy mothering for children like you said there and you're a full-time nurse so after this yuck yucks uh what's the next step like do you start doing open mics like what's next for you in the comedy world uh after your yuck
Starting point is 00:19:14 yucks uh course oh man i just yeah i was doing so many open mics and the open mics back then were like they were the worst open mic. Like now the comedy scene is so different. There's a lot more paid gigs. There's a lot more shows filled with audience. When I started stand-up, I did a lot of music open mics because there wasn't a lot of really good open mics that I could do when I first started so I did a lot of mics
Starting point is 00:19:48 like I was so crazy you're putting your reps in because how are you going to get better yeah exactly and then for me I was also battling the stage fright it was still there like I didn't get like totally over it until two years later
Starting point is 00:20:03 I had to keep on going and going and just be comfortable i was just trying to be comfortable yeah yeah like you sound so comfortable on the mic right now and uh you know listening to your uh juno award nominated things black girls say which was the original title of this podcast and then i thought it might be a bad idea. So I abandoned that. See, I'm, this is me trying an open mic here to see if I have an opportunity. I don't have a chance here, but yeah,
Starting point is 00:20:30 again, on your journey here, there's a gentleman. I will, we can spend some time talking about because he's also an FOTM. He's been in this basement, even though my first words were to him were, I'm sorry about the passing of your mother at the age of 100. This was my first words
Starting point is 00:20:46 to the man, a guy I've looked up to forever. He's sitting right where you are right now. And I said, I'm so sorry your mom passed away at 100. And he says, my mom died years ago, like several years ago and was not 100. And that was my first intro. I had him mixed up with a different Kenny Robinson on Facebook. Oh, shoot. Had lost his mother at 100. And I thought it was the Kenny Robinson. Oh, no. So that's my introduction to Kenny Robinson.
Starting point is 00:21:14 Tell me about your introduction to Kenny Robinson and particularly his Nubian Disciples Nights for Black Canadian Comics. Oh, wow. Kenny Robinson is literally the godfather of comedy he's our like meant a lot of um black canadians he's our mentor pretty much to like the um urban comedy scene like or to comedy in general like when i first started like I think I was introduced to his stage maybe a couple years in, I'm thinking. Like I didn't go there right away. But when I had like a pretty good set, like I started there and I did my set.
Starting point is 00:21:56 I did pretty good, but he would like actually critique us like honestly. He'd be like, oh, when you go on stage, you make sure you get the laughs every, you know, few seconds. You should be getting a laugh like it shouldn't be like it was. It felt like he was our coach. That's what that's what it felt like. And he was like, yeah, like just so much. Everyone has so much respect for Kenny because he's been in the scene for so long. He's that Nubian show is like, yeah, historic, pretty much like you get on that show everybody in the comedy scene knows how you did knows like that you've been on it and it's like wow you've done
Starting point is 00:22:34 the newbie and show and then like even the show just being there it's like yeah it's like i don't know wow how often would you do a stand-up comedy set at one of Kenny Robinson's Nubian Disciples nights? Oh man, when I first started doing it, I probably, maybe like every couple months I would probably be. I was pretty regular on there. And then it wasn't until a few years later I did my first headlining there. And when I first started there, it was a way different crowd like they used to boo bad comedians and even kenny would say if you don't like a motherfucker make sure you let him know and i'd be freaking out i'm like oh my god like i would think about performing like if i knew
Starting point is 00:23:20 i was performing that end of that month i'd be thinking about it the whole month. I'm like, Oh my God. Did they ever boo you? I've never been booed, but like, I don't think that's a good thing. Cause it's like, I was so afraid of getting booed. I would never try new jokes there. That sucks.
Starting point is 00:23:37 But I know comics who got booed and they're like the best comedians. Right. It doesn't matter, man. There's no shame in that game. No, I know. It sounds whatever you'd
Starting point is 00:23:45 workshop your bits in front of uh different yeah i would go to open mics and make sure that everybody laughed at it if everyone laughed at that joke and it never got a bad response then i would bring it to the newbie show yo i would test it i'm like yo i'm not getting because i see people get booed and i'm like i can't i can't it's too painful like i seen really i seen a guy drive all the way from detroit he had a suit on a cowboy hat on i remember and he went on stage he was so nervous he was like praying he's like god please let these people in the microphone which i've never i'm like oh my god what's he doing and this guy gets booed so bad and then kenny brings him back on he's like come on he drove hours to be here let's give the man a chance and he went back on stage again and
Starting point is 00:24:29 got booed i'm like how traumatic is that yeah so i don't know i still kind of have ptsd from that show still but like yeah but but but it sounds like uh it paved the way for you to get a juno nominated album did i mention that okay so kenny robinson who again maximum respect for this guy i'm so glad i could finally get him over here i always feel like kenny i'm not sure he got his deserved flowers like i mean yeah yeah true like and i don't know what that's about it kind of segues nicely into a question of like is it more difficult you're you're a black woman is that make does that make it more difficult to be a comedy star than if you were a white woman is there any difference at all i mean i just feel like it's just the how like how it is in the world
Starting point is 00:25:17 like i mean no like if i want to tour around canada yeah I feel like a lot of the comedy bookers, they're all white men. So I, to give me like, are they going to give me a chance? I don't like, I don't even know. Like sometimes I'm just like, okay, well, if I want to go to Calgary or Vancouver or like say where Kenny's from Nova Scot. Like, there's going to be so much racism. Well, that leads to, so obviously you're comfortable dropping the N-word in your act. Chris Rock, too, by the way. It depends. It depends.
Starting point is 00:25:55 I won't do it like maybe at a 12. Oh, no. Yeah, no. No, you're because you're smart. If you're doing a corporate event for Craft Canada or something, you probably leave that material aside. Yeah, no, no,
Starting point is 00:26:07 no, no. It's like, oh guys, here I just want to play more of your bits. Like, it's great. But,
Starting point is 00:26:12 does that play differently when you leave Toronto? Like, can you go to Calgary and do, do the N-word comedy? Like, comedy with N-words
Starting point is 00:26:23 sprinkled liberally throughout. I mean, normally, like, I have some jokes with the N-word comedy like comedy with n-words sprinkled liberally throughout i mean normally like i have some jokes with the n-word but 99 of my tier uh 99 of my material doesn't so like i leave stuff out like just because i don't know how they respond it depends like it depends what kind of set if i'm headlining then i can set it up properly well if you're headlining that means you know people are there to see you yeah it's different so they're there to see sabrina douglas so don't give me any sanitized weak ass version no no no people are just like yeah so like it depends what kind of set i'm doing where i'm doing it you know it depends it depends um if I were gonna play you can choose here's your material but uh swim class of DMX oh shoot so well that's why I want to clear it with you
Starting point is 00:27:15 first uh or five kids in the tooth fairy or period okay uh which one if I were gonna play one right now uh and then i'm gonna come back give you some gifts and ask you some more questions about your journey which of those three would you want to hear right now um you can do the period one all right by request my youngest one she's four um i sent her to school i'm like pandemic or no pandemic you are leaving me alone i need i need a break she's like mommy how do you put on a mask and i'm like survival of the fittest you know what i mean like get out of the house i need to go to the mall without looking for children you know what i mean yes oh my goodness yes so funny you know but like when you send them to school, they meet a lot of people.
Starting point is 00:28:05 They come home with crazy questions. Stuff I'm not prepared to answer, you know? Like, she came home and asked me a crazy question. She asked me what a period was. It's too soon for that. Plus, I'm traumatized. I got crazy Jamaican parents, okay? And I, one time I asked my dad what a period was
Starting point is 00:28:26 he was just like oh my god go ask your mother i don't want to hear it that's too disgusting i need to shower now have you read the bible have you read the bible revelation said don't talk to man about human things don't talk to your mother. She is a woman. I am a man. Leave me alone. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You know? I know the two white people here have no clue what I just said.
Starting point is 00:29:03 They're like, Siri, what is that, patois? What is that patois? You know what I mean? So I wanted to tell her a cute little story. Didn't want to freak her out, but I also didn't want to lie to her. I was like, no, no, no, let me tell you the story about the period. As the days go on, your body fills up with so much stuff then at the end of the month everything comes out right she was so happy but then she's like what comes out mommy i'm like oh no when i panicked
Starting point is 00:29:36 and i told her butterflies and fairies but now she won't stop leaving me alone she keeps on asking me about these damn butterflies and fairies. She's like, Mommy, what color are they? I'm like, I don't know, they're red. Like, I'm trying to help her out at the same time. She's like, Mommy, what are their names? I'm like Grumpy and Chocolate. Like, I'm giving her little clues into the future.
Starting point is 00:29:58 You know what I mean? She's like, what kind of games do they like to play? Why am I happy, crying, and mad at the same time? Ugh, You know? But I'm freaking out like every day. This lie is getting bigger and bigger. And then one day she could be in the bathroom. And she's all upset at me now looking at me with all this disgust and hate.
Starting point is 00:30:17 She's going to be like, mommy, I thought you told me there were butterflies and fairies. I'd have to be like, you killed them all. What did you do? You're not supposed to keep them in that long. Calm down, it's a joke. It's a Jamaican joke. A blood clot. Jamaican show a blood clot Jamaican show oh
Starting point is 00:30:51 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
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Starting point is 00:30:52 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Starting point is 00:30:52 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Starting point is 00:30:53 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh girls say the album so if somebody wants to hear this album in its entirety uh how would you like them to get this album oh like it's available on all the platforms so but you have a preference like would you be like oh you know it's better if you get it through this my website thing here rather than just go to youtube or whatever like like is there a preference like is there a way that'll put more money in your pocket i think it's i think um for a comedy
Starting point is 00:31:26 albums the best is just uh serious xm like if it's if it gets played on oh can i ask you about this can i ask you about this okay so simon rakoff i mentioned was on a couple of weeks ago yeah simon and i'm just gonna speak for simon and you can you can always tap out or you can comment if you wish i don't want to get you in any trouble with anybody but simon simon says that's a game remember we used to play that simon says simon says since just for laughs took over the canada laughs channel on sirius xm that they haven't been playing the zabrina douglases or the simon radkovs but they've been playing stuff they already own and there was a way to like get around paying this royalty. I guess they would,
Starting point is 00:32:07 you would be compensated if your material was played on Sirius XM. And in Simon Rakoff's opinion, Just for Laughs is not playing the independent comics unless they, they're, they're playing stuff that they already have the rights to. Like, and they're Just for Laughs bucket of stuff where they don't have to pay the royalties on. You have any comment on this? have you heard anything about this are you still getting played
Starting point is 00:32:28 on Sirius XM um I am getting played I mean there's other like channels too it's not just the Canada laughs there's other uh stations that I'm being played on and um yeah so like honestly I can't really comment because I don't 100 know for sure like i probably should be following up but i'm just like so busy with all these kids you got the five kids you got the uh being a registered nurse full-time here but do you receive royalty checks and i don't know if they're actually going to be the direct deposit or if they're checks we always talk about checks in the yeah they're checks you can do direct deposit but i prefer the checks because it's just like american so you'll get these checks because your comedy is played on
Starting point is 00:33:12 xm radio yeah that's that's cool yeah it is i think that's a good thing okay good so so good i just wondered since i brought up simon rakoff I would ask about that. Yeah, I don't know anything. I heard there's like changes, but I'm not, I wouldn't even be a good person to like comment on that. I got to get Howie Mandel on this show and we can talk about it. Oh yeah, for sure. I'm working on it. You'd have to talk to him. I'm working on it.
Starting point is 00:33:36 My daughter, my oldest daughter did see Howie Mandel this past summer. He was, I guess he was in town for something or other but he was at the toronto the island my daughter works there and he was on the she was on the ferry with him coming back to the the mainland here so i think they were doing canada's got talent okay in niagara i feel like well something brought him here i mean he is from yeah yeah amazing what is the Tim Sims Award? Oh, Tim Sims. It used to be years ago. They used to have, I think, nominate like there would be a group of comedians that would nominate five new comics. And then you would get featured like in your own like special on TV. And the winner of the tim sins award would get like
Starting point is 00:34:25 five thousand dollars or something like that and then like okay they get to do something i can't remember but you were nominated for this award which is uh which is the main thing here i feel like it was in 2008 okay okay good for you now uh i'm gonna ask you about a late great comic that I always found rather funny. Did you ever work with the late great Gilbert Gottfried? Oh, yeah. I worked with him my first time performing at Massey Hall, which was amazing. He was hosting. So, yeah, I definitely got to perform with him there, which I was so excited because everybody knows him, Gilbert Gottfried.
Starting point is 00:35:04 And then I just use him in my bio. you well you should use him in your bio it's like oh it worked for me yeah but did you have any one-on-one conversation with gilbert godfrey um i just remember he was there with his wife and i was there with my now husband and we were we were talking and his wife was like yeah i'm a manager and my husband's like yeah i'm her manager too and i'm like yeah that's what you think but like nothing like super super serious but yeah such a nice person such a talented and when he but when he spoke to you he was doing full gilbert godfrey like he did the full voice right uh no he was he was talking normal he wasn't like, hey, what do you want on stage?
Starting point is 00:35:46 It was different. Well, that's what I was. I'm trying to find this. I'm trying to figure it out. Now, I watched his doc. It's a great documentary about Gilbert Godfrey. I just recently watched it on Canopy, by the way, which is free if you have a library card. So I watched this documentary on Gilbert Godfrey.
Starting point is 00:35:59 And I already knew from the Howard Stern show that like when he left a voicemail for Bubba Bowie, he talked differently, like like he talked like a regular person. Yeah, exactly. And this is sort of a persona he puts on for stage. I won't do it. OK, I know I can't do it either. I'm not going to. But I was wondering, like when he's talking one on one with a fellow comic, like backstage
Starting point is 00:36:22 or whatever, is he Gilbert Godfrey or is he gilbert godfrey oh see you did it good there that's the best i got i mean i'm no sabrina douglas but i'm doing my best no he's he's a he's like a almost like a quiet person when you're talking to him it's like totally different shy almost right yeah yeah exactly but like it's it's um weird there's a lot of comics who will put like a persona on stage like i know i guess i don't want to name any names but there's one comic who will put on like a completely different accent for his uh really yeah like he'll sound like a french guy no oh a french guy oh you can do that i feel like that's okay when you're not a french guy i don't know but it not a french guy i don't know
Starting point is 00:37:05 but it's just like yeah i don't know i guess you have to be a super good actor but it worked for him he's killing it but when mike myers does um well so i married an axe murderer but more recently a shrek he's doing a full-blown scottish accent uh so i think you know yeah you can uh you can do that i think i guess but how you feel, since we're on the topic, how do you feel like, for example, when Rob Ford, who's no longer with us, but when he goes viral for doing his patois, like, is it okay if Snow does his patois when he gets a number one hit with Informer?
Starting point is 00:37:39 Like, I'm asking for a friend here. Oh, my God. I used to love that song. I tried to sing it. I'm like, I don here. Oh, my God. I used to love that song. I tried to sing it. I'm like, I don't know what he's saying. Boom, boom, boom, damn. That's where I come in. Lickety, boom, boom, boom, damn.
Starting point is 00:37:54 I don't know what accent he's trying to portray. Oh, I do. I know. It's the Canadian version of the Jamaican accent. At the time, they asked him about and he said well he grew up with jamaicans and he talks like his friends he grew up with and then i'm just wondering because it gives you know that was many years ago but yeah i i can't just break into patois right now i mean i can you're not i'm not gonna be arrested but it's not cool is it cool
Starting point is 00:38:21 i mean i don't know would you punch me if I broke into Petois right now? No, I mean, I wouldn't. I'd be like, oh my God, why is this happening so early in the day? Did you work last night? No, I didn't. Oh, Sabrina. Fooled me again. Fooled me again.
Starting point is 00:38:41 Things Black Girls Say, that was a regular show at Toronto's Comedy Bar, right? Do you have a regular show? If someone wants to see Sabrina Douglas at a show and they're listening to this episode of Toronto Mic'd, where would they see you? Well, they can follow me on Instagram at Sabrina Douglas and I always have my
Starting point is 00:38:59 updates of what shows I'm on next. So that's how they'll see me. What is your next show? Well, I'm going to be performing in Edmonton at the Junos comedy show. Wow, you're going to Edmonton. What a beautiful time of year for Edmonton. Yeah, oh God.
Starting point is 00:39:18 But the shows are already sold out, so I guess nobody can see me. Okay. I think I just did that. I can't, no. It was on, I think I just did that. I can't, no, I can't. It was on, actually I produced Humble and Fred show and we put on somebody to talk about
Starting point is 00:39:30 their, their big event, but it was all sold out. I guess it was booked before it was sold out and then it sold out and it was like, Oh yeah, this show we just talked about, you can't see it.
Starting point is 00:39:39 But I'm going to be, it was Colin Mochrie. It was Colin Mochrie. Oh, and he had like a ventriloquist. He had a ventriloquist who would do a show with him or something. Not ventriloquist. Hypnotist.
Starting point is 00:39:49 Ventriloquist. I'm like. What am I talking about? Hypnotist. Okay. They're very different occupations. Okay. So anyways, it was all sold out, but it was just funny timing here.
Starting point is 00:39:59 Okay. So I need to fill in some gaps here. First, let me give you some gifts. And I need to fill in some gaps between you doing you did the yuck yucks course and then you got you cut your teeth doing open nights and and and then you were at kenny robinson's nubian show and then i need to know like between then and things black girls say which is nominated for a juno holy smoke but you have the five kids yeah you have a husband at home yes i. Are any of those kids legal drinking age? Um, not yet.
Starting point is 00:40:27 Okay. Well, is the husband legal drinking age? Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. He better be. All right. You're bringing home some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Ew.
Starting point is 00:40:38 So make sure he's thirsty here tonight. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Great Lakes, for your support. All FOTMs know the freshest, most delicious, and fiercely independent craft beer comes from Great Lakes Brewery. You got to feed. That's a family of doing the math in my head. Seven people need to eat. I bet you you can get a full meal out of a large frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta.
Starting point is 00:41:03 Of course. I eat lasagna like every week it is one of the greatest foods in the history of this planet and no one makes it like palm pasta in fact i promise you sabrina you're gonna send an email to mike at toronto mike.com to say mike that was the best lasagna that's ever come from a store and it was delicious and all seven of you loved it so you are leaving you're leaving here with a frozen meat lasagna and it's going home with you today what is it right here it's and that's an empty box so don't run away after this recording because i have to get it from my freezer but i do have one in the freezer for you oh nice i'm gonna make it tonight
Starting point is 00:41:39 okay frozen solid you're gonna know i always put in the fridge for 24 hours before I make it. 24 hours. I'm not trying to mansplain how to make the lasagna. Okay, I once had a young lady here, and it was new in the palm of pasta thing. So I gave her the lasagna, and it was new in their sponsorship, and I said something to the effect of, yeah, just throw it in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes. Like I said that sentence.
Starting point is 00:42:04 And she looked at me, and she told me I was mansplaining to her how to make lasagna. Oh, no. She said that to me. This is a true story. Young sports media person. Oh, how long ago was that? I would say that was about five years ago. Oh, five years ago.
Starting point is 00:42:20 Five years ago. And then ever since then, I'm scared to tell women. Men will do it. I don't care. But women, I'm afraid to give you advice because it's frozen solid. So I do put it in the fridge for 24 hours before I put it in the oven. Okay. I don't know if you can put it straight, like completely frozen and have it tonight.
Starting point is 00:42:39 I'm thinking maybe this is your meal for tomorrow night. But then as I'm saying the words, I'm actually… Mansplaining? Right. your meal for tomorrow night this is so but then as i'm saying the words i'm actually mansplaining like i hope she doesn't think i'm mansplaining how to make the lasagna but all i'm trying to do is be helpful but also i'm a comedian so i don't take it everything always goes over my head i'm like what okay where's the joke in this let's do it well you know what five kids here one more thing for your kids here you got to measure their height right like you're probably like oh are you growing or whatever i'm giving you a measuring tape from ridley funeral home what oh my god what the funeral home what do they do with the measuring tape and it's more like
Starting point is 00:43:15 just a nice thing to make your life better i don't think it actually makes you live longer or anything like that maybe they measure like the suits that they put on all the loved ones that are gone. Into the casket. Ew. I didn't know. Thanks for this measuring tape. I will say that's a new measuring tape. It's never been used on a body.
Starting point is 00:43:37 Okay, good. I promise you that, Sabrina. Okay. And I don't know if your kids are listening or if you'll be honest, but do you smoke weed? No, I don't. Do you consume are listening or if you'll be honest, but do you smoke weed? No, I don't. Do you consume cannabis in any of its other formats,
Starting point is 00:43:49 like drinking or you can eat? Oh, eating. If it tastes good, yeah, sure, I'm in. You're in, okay. So if you're consuming cannabis, Canna Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. And they have so many locations across this fine province of Ontario.
Starting point is 00:44:10 So go to cannacabana.com to find out where you're going to get your cannabis, whether you smoke it or drink it or eat it. It's there for you. That's your order, Sabrina. Nice. So give me some of the highlights maybe. So between, you know, you're working on Kenny Robinson's Fine Stage there.
Starting point is 00:44:33 And now you've got, you recorded this in 2022. In fact, I even had the, it doesn't matter, April 15th and 16th, 2022. You recorded your sets and you made the album Things Black Girls Say. And that's what's nominated for the Juno we talked about. But between these events, any highlights? Obviously, that Gilbert Gottfried show would be a highlight, right? Oh, yeah. My first time performing at Massey Hall.
Starting point is 00:44:59 That was amazing. Yeah, I'll never forget that stage and working with gilbert godfrey and then yeah just touring all over um doing shows i got to open for godfrey that comedian oh not to be confused yeah do you only work with people named godfrey yeah just the two oh no okay oh no are they both gone how's that going how's he doing no he's oh yeah he's he's a la comic so yeah whatever well that's funny i wonder how many if they could have like a whole like show of godfrey's i mean now you know gilbert's gone but uh you could just have all the godfrey's on the same show i think it's i don't know if that's the only one i feel like that's the only one. I feel like that's the only one.
Starting point is 00:45:46 So tell me, there's gotta be more out there. Tell me about this, uh, solo show that you produced and performed called a nurse's worst nightmare. Oh shoot. Yeah. That was a few years ago.
Starting point is 00:45:59 Um, 2015, I think. That's not, you know what? Maybe I'm, I feel like that's like yesterday you know what, maybe I'm, I feel like that's like yesterday. Am I off base here?
Starting point is 00:46:09 That's eight years ago, right? It's funny because if you say this happened in 2015 or 2016, I think it's super recent history. I know. That just happened. But the pandemic sort of messed us up a bit, I think. It took like a three-year block and kind of blurred everything. So now I always have to think it was a pre pandemic or post pandemic.
Starting point is 00:46:27 Like everything's kind of like, Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah. So worse is worse is nursed nightmare here. A nurse's worst nightmare that was played at the Toronto fringe festival, right? Oh yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:38 That was my first time getting into the Toronto fringe festival and I wanted to do a solo show. Like I was just getting over a divorce and I'm like, that's pretty much what it was about. Like what happened for my, cause I had a pretty crazy story for my divorce and I wanted to include some material jokes and stuff and just talk about it.
Starting point is 00:47:03 So that's pretty much what I did. Can you share with us now any like tidbits there? jokes and stuff and just talk about it. So that's pretty much what I did. Can you share with us now any tidbits there? I mean, all divorces kind of suck, I suppose. I'm also a divorce guy. I know, but you have to laugh about it. That's what I believe. I believe that you should be laughing at your pain. That's the only way I'll get rid of it.
Starting point is 00:47:21 So this is really just a cheap form of therapy for you, Sabrina, is you can go on stage. I don't know if it was actually therapy. I still felt the same, but it was like I made people laugh. I made people think. I had people coming up to me being like, oh, I'm going through the same thing. That's amazing.
Starting point is 00:47:36 And it was just like a typical bad divorce or was it just a run-of-the-mill divorce? Oh, it was insane. I guess I'm fishing for any spicy details here, Sabrina. Oh, I don't know if you want details if you have another three hours. I would make time for that.
Starting point is 00:47:53 I just need to know if somebody had it worse than me. Let's go. Yeah, exactly. That's pretty much what comedy is, like laughing at something worse that's been happening to somebody else. Yeah, yeah. People love that.
Starting point is 00:48:05 People hate it when you go on stage and you're like, oh, my life is great. I have a giant house. I've been happily married for years. They will not laugh at that. They're like, get off the stage. You want a depressed person right now. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:18 It's so true. It's absolutely so true. So I watched this movie called The Whale. This is not this week. In the last weekend, I watched The Whale with my wife. And Brendan Fraser is amazing in this. And it's about a guy who overeats. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:32 And I watched the movie. And I actually, my wife hated the movie. I loved the movie. I was ready. I stood up at the end to give it a standing ovation. I'm like, it's on my fucking TV. Like, who am I doing this ovation in front of? Did I think I was at TIFF or what happened there?
Starting point is 00:48:46 But I was really impressed with this movie. Anyway, one of the things in the post-movie chatter is how you think, like, I'm carrying an extra, like, 10 pounds from, like, maybe too much Palma Pasta this winter or whatever, okay? Too much Great Lakes, too much Palma Pasta. And you don't move as much in the winter. Even though I try to bike every day, it's not the same distance and not the same speed or whatever so you're carrying in a little bit of extra right in the paunch here or whatever and you're feeling like oh you know i
Starting point is 00:49:11 need to i should lose this or whatever but then you see the whale and you know what you think shit could be worse yeah exactly i go oh well i'm not that bad like this is really what we why we love these stories of people's shit storms because it tells you oh it could be worse oh yeah so make me feel better isabrina just give me a couple of you don't have to do i don't want you to recreate a nurse's worst nightmare but can you give me one or two little anecdotes about your divorce from hell oh my divorce from hell first of all, dealing with somebody who has mental health issues is insane. Yeah. And it was just a lot of, oh my gosh, he had mental health issues. And the worst part was he joined one of those churches that literally was feeding him things that were like making him believe things.
Starting point is 00:50:06 And he spent a lot of money and he thought I was trying to kill him according to this profit. So, yeah. So how do you make that funny? Because it's so not funny. Exactly. It's so not funny. So just basically I had to like set it up.
Starting point is 00:50:23 Like I had an hour. I set it up like, oh, I'm a nurse. This is what I do. I got kids, blah, blah, blah. And you have to be like, oh, yeah, everything's fine now. Because people are like, are you okay? Pretty much. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:35 But on the serious tip, I'm sorry that you had to go through that because, yeah, that's difficult. Oh, yeah. I don't even have a joke here, which is not the first time I didn't have a joke. And that's par for the course. But that's awful oh yeah it is but i was like i need to tell this story i think that's i think it would be cathartic for you like i know we joked earlier you said it didn't really help but i think it dude talking about these things is absolutely cathartic oh yeah it will help your mental health and then even even kenny robinson's like you have to bring that that story back because there's a lot of people who probably are like going through the same thing
Starting point is 00:51:09 like the story is bad as they well yeah it's you can you know just that's why uh when people are going through something they'll attend you know group discussions with people going through the same thing because there's there's a good feeling to know you're not alone oh yeah you're not alone even like the stories like i talk a lot about um death and patients dying i always think like oh my god people are gonna be so offended but people come to me and be like yeah my mom died uh a few months ago and i'm like oh no are they gonna punch me in the face they're just like oh my god like i totally understand all that stuff it's so funny like how it's so real and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, okay, cool. That's right.
Starting point is 00:51:48 Everyone dies, you know. Yeah, exactly. And if you dwell on it too long, it can really bum you out. But you have to kind of like adjust your attitude on it. But, and I also noticed that like now I'm, what am I? I'm pushing 50. So I'm pushing close to 50. But like when you're thinking as a 25 year old,
Starting point is 00:52:05 everybody dies. You're like, I got lots of time. And then you're turning 50 and you're like, I hope I have lots of time. But then at some point it's all a blur, right? At some point I'm going to be,
Starting point is 00:52:14 hopefully if I make it that long, like I'll be 75 years old and I'll be like, Oh shit. Like how many trips around the sun are left? And suddenly that whole notion of like everyone dies is it's a, it's, more real like it's like the older you get the more real it is that's also a hilarious bit you can steal from me right there okay tell me about the let's lighten things up by learning about the winnipeg comedy festival um oh no i want to hear about the winnipeg comedy festival but black women in comedy what's black women in comedy oh that's um a festival that
Starting point is 00:52:47 i did in new york last year um it was just the woman um who ran it she was complaining about how it there would not be a lot of um black female representation like in any of the festivals around the states which i think there was some that they were complaining and then they would add like black women afterwards which i think is so insane but like anyways the states is a whole different ball game forget about it like it's just crazy but like yeah so it was just a lot of black female comedians um in new york for one week doing shows so i went there just uh i just wanted to check it out. I'm like,
Starting point is 00:53:26 yeah, let's see. So it was fun. Okay, good. Good. Uh, laugh fest.
Starting point is 00:53:32 And that's, is that part of laugh fest in New York city or is that a different, uh, that's the same one. Yeah. Same one. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:53:36 Okay. And the world series of comedy competition in Las Vegas. Oh yeah. Um, I actually, I did it last year and I just came back from it. It's just um uh these comics that pretty much go around all the states and then you're supposed to do like a week of
Starting point is 00:53:53 competition and then you make it to the world series and it's just mainly to help comedians get like exposure get work but yeah you just compete and then whatever do sets i just do it because like i want to go to las vegas because just for a vacation i'm like oh that was fun whatever next and it's a business expense right you can tell to get your taxes or whatever you yeah business smart look very smart all right so you're uh still a full-time nurse is the goal like is there ever any hope that one day you don't need to be a full-time nurse because you can make enough money being a comic or like like what is it just that it's a passion for you so you just want to be on stage making people laugh no i wanted to less nursing i think it's so much easier like and more fun yeah exactly like i i don't mind like at
Starting point is 00:54:48 work now people know i do stand-up i don't normally tell people because then they're like tell us jokes they're like sabrina's here everybody we're gonna have an amazing shift i'm like oh leave me alone like right nothing's worse than that be funny comic be funny but you so you did you consider maybe a different stage name for your comedy life so that uh you didn't have the same name name when you're at a i don't know work in an old age home or something uh no i just like because of my my comedy is pretty real like i like to just you know be real like just to have a nickname no i don't know i just because what's gonna happen is people are going to google you oh people google me all the time i had a patient one time called me in the room and they're like
Starting point is 00:55:30 you're i saw your set online can you um do a set for me right now i'm like no i will not but like yeah like oh man it's it's just um i don't know i mean i that i get a lot of my material from work anyway so it's fine it's not well we heard racism is alive and dying okay so can i play uh here just before we wrap up can i play swim swim class of dmx or you're okay with that yeah sure play it let's do it gotta be careful though when even i used to listen to a lot of dmx yeah no the first album was amazing crazy i remember the kids were small and i was still listening to dmx i'm like oh just a little bit more in the car you know yeah they didn't uh you know they were talking that much then so i'm like they're not gonna repeat any of this nigga what nigga what they're not gonna absorb but oh my god they were barely speaking
Starting point is 00:56:36 and then this is what happened to me kids always know when to say things at the wrong times to embarrass you they always look i'll never forget we are YMCA, and my son's in the shower. We just finished swim practice, and there happened to be an abnormal amount of white people in the change room. I'm like, something's going to go down. Why are these white people here? You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:56:58 And then my son, and you know those change rooms. They're so echoey. He just looks at me. He's like nigga nigga nigga nigga nigga nigga i'm like oh my god what are you doing he's like what mommy what does nigga mean come on mommy what does nigga mean i don't know what to do all these white people are staring at me and shit i just had to roll with my son i'm like come on little nigga hurry up let's go swimming we gotta show all these white people that niggas can swim.
Starting point is 00:57:26 You can show them that niggas can swim. That's right. Just walking out of there like, nigga, yeah. Nigga what? Come on, little nigga. Nigga what? It's crazy. Crazy. We made a crazy pizza that day.
Starting point is 00:57:41 It was crazy. There you go. Very good. Now I, uh, I've alluded to it a hundred times, but now I want to know just the nuts and bolts of how the heck does it like a, an independent comic like Sabrina Douglas get nominated for a Juno. So obviously you put the album together. We talk about like the recording of the album and then you, you, you have the album but do
Starting point is 00:58:05 you have to actually like apply like is there like do you submit it yeah yeah there's a submission um process that um all the comics submit their album to like anybody who's made a comedy album and then i think and they all must submit right everyone who puts out a comedy album probably submits. Yeah, and I think this year, I don't know if it's 100%, but there was about 30 they had to look through to narrow it down to five. So they're probably going to, I don't know, this committee or whatever, is going to listen to all the content, and then everyone might come up with their five or whatever, and then everything gets weighted,
Starting point is 00:58:41 and there's some algorithm spits out the top five. I don't even know. Like they said said it's not even just the the content it's like how the album was cut like all these different components into making like a good album which i was like i don't know whatever but it's i mean your album does sound good uh was so you had a like professional production oh yeah yeah yeah yeah you went big go big or go home okay exactly oh you'd always come over here and i'll record you doing like uh 45 minutes or something and then we'll put that out and see if we get a juno okay that's what i'm putting that on the table for you just i just want to tell people i was i had a role in a juno nomination that That's all I'm looking for here. Okay.
Starting point is 00:59:27 So you got the album, you put it out. And by the way, what does that mean, put it out? Like back in the day, right, it meant like, oh, you can go buy the CD at Sam the Record Man or something. Yeah. But today, is it just, oh, it's now streaming on Spotify. Yeah, it's like on all the platforms pretty much. All the streaming platforms. Yeah, and then you send it to SiriusXM
Starting point is 00:59:45 and they review it and play it or whatever. And they're playing it because we talked about that earlier, which is awesome. And then checks arrive in the mailbox. Okay. So when the big day came that they were going to announce
Starting point is 00:59:57 the albums that are nominated, I guess there's five of them, were you well aware, oh, they're going to announce it at 10 a.m. or whatever. Like, were you well aware that that announcement was coming down or did somebody like text you and say congrats? And you're like, what? No, actually, the Juno, I don't know who it is, but they called and they're like, oh, we're going to a juno nominee um or like something where they're gonna announce all the nominees did you want to come and i'm like they're like doesn't mean you're
Starting point is 01:00:31 nominated or anything and i'm like what why would i come and i was like fine but is it local is it here it was in toronto okay okay so i was like oh i don't want to go and i'm like what if i go with i'm not even nominated we're like what a waste of my life like i have to it was like i think it was like 11 o'clock in the morning and i and i had to work the night before right so i went with my husband i'm like let's just see so it was like a big thing in the cbc building and then they had all the nominees there and then they had comedy album of the year and then they announced everyone and they didn't they were gonna say my name i'm like oh my god but then they said my album of the year. And then they announced everyone. And they were going to say my name. I'm like, oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:01:06 But then they said my name last. And I was like, okay, fine. That makes sense. Amazing. Because you must have felt like the odds were stacked against you. Like, what are the odds you're going to be one of the five nominees? No, I didn't think so. I was, like, talking to another comedian.
Starting point is 01:01:20 I'm like, I'm not going to go, man. This is going to be a waste of my time. And then he's like, go, go. They always say that. Like, you're going to be nominated waste of my time and then he's like go go they always say that like you're gonna be nominated don't worry and i'm like oh fine but yeah i'm super glad i went but it was so funny when they did the announcement they're like oh and one of your nominees um is uh never been nominated before zebrina and she's also a full-time nurse. And all those musicians were like, what? You work? And I'm like, must be nice not to work.
Starting point is 01:01:49 I will vouch. Most of your Canadian musical stars are also working another job. Yeah. It's very rare. I have a Canadian music, and I'm talking about guys or gals who have had multiple radio hits
Starting point is 01:02:04 and much music hits and stuff. Very, very rare that they can live off their music in this country. I don't know if that's the Canadian star system or what. I think it's the Canadian star system. And the only exception of course, or when you get the U S hit, like,
Starting point is 01:02:15 so, um, for example, um, Oh, there's many, many examples, but bare naked ladies,
Starting point is 01:02:22 for example, like once you get the, the U S hit, Tom Cochran's a good example. So Tom Cochran had a big hit in the states um uh life is a highway and uh he can just be a musician and tour around but they're few and far between nice so in the canadian in the canadian comic system is like i'm trying to get realistic here because we want to nurse less, like more comedy, less nurse. Like, do you need a show built around you? Does the CBC need to build it? The Sabrina Douglas show? Like, like what is the, tell me a bit about your aspirations and dreams now that you have this Juno award nomination. Oh man. I just, I just want to do more shows. Like that
Starting point is 01:03:02 would be great if that would be the ultimate goal if they can uh have a show about my life i think my life uh is so interesting being a nurse like i literally what i do in a day is like i take the kids home from school and then i'll literally go do like two shows maybe and then I go and do a nice shift. I know you're so busy. I don't know how you, how you find the time to, to, to hone your craft of comedy,
Starting point is 01:03:30 but I'm glad you do. Like, it's amazing. You can pursue this dream that you had when you literal dream you had at eight years old. Yeah. Literal dream. You can pursue it now that you're 30 something.
Starting point is 01:03:40 Yeah, exactly. 30 something. And, uh, meanwhile, of course, cause you need to pay the bills because you've got five kids you've got this full-time nursing job which will help you pay
Starting point is 01:03:51 these bills and now you can build the comedy thing on the side hustle even though you must be exhausted yeah sleep is a no but even when you're a parent you don't get to sleep so like it's either a little bit of sleep or no sleep. Right. What's the difference at that point? Yeah, exactly. But I do like visualize this CBC Gem show about a black woman in Toronto who is a full-time nurse, has five kids, and is a stand-up comic on the side. Like it writes itself.
Starting point is 01:04:23 It's like we have her, right? I'm looking at her right now. You play this. It'll be like a fictionalized version, sort of like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm, a fictionalized version of yourself. But you're going to play Sabrina Douglas, the fictionalized version
Starting point is 01:04:37 of her, but the nuts and bolts are the same. I can see the show in my mind's eye. Maybe it's on Netflix. Maybe it's on CBC Gem. I don't know. But if mind's eye maybe it's on Netflix maybe it's on CBC Gem I don't know but if anyone's listening let's do this
Starting point is 01:04:49 yeah exactly let's do it I'll do it I'll only take 20% it'll be a Sabrina it's a deal congratulations
Starting point is 01:04:56 this was amazing is there anything else that we should have addressed here I know I promised I'd take an hour and I took a little more because I really enjoyed
Starting point is 01:05:04 this conversation but I'm going to be watching the Junos. Do they televise the comedy award or do they do that like off camera? I feel like they probably off camera. Yeah. They like to do the music stuff. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 01:05:17 On the show. Okay. Oh, yeah. So when I, I'll be following the Juno Twitter account and when they tweet out the, I hope it's you not John Doerr. I'm just going to puto Twitter account. And when they tweet out the, I hope it's you, not John Doerr. I'm just going to put that out there. John's great.
Starting point is 01:05:30 He's actually in my calendar. He's going to come on Toronto Mic'd. But he's in Alaska. So I don't get to like have him at the table. Oh, yeah. He's in Alaska. But he'll probably make his way to Edmonton. And I hope you win.
Starting point is 01:05:42 I hope that this FOTM Sabrina Douglas album, Things Black Girls Say, the album is the Juno Award winner when this happens next weekend. Yay, me too. Does it come with a big check or is it just like a trophy? I think it's a trophy.
Starting point is 01:05:58 It's Canada. It should give you a few bucks. I know. It should be like a trophy and like a money order or whatever for $5,000. I know, right? Anyways, we can only hope. Who pays you way to Edmonton?
Starting point is 01:06:10 Is that just the price of doing business? Sirius XM, thank God. They're like funding it. So they're funding our flight and our hotel. So that's amazing. Can I come? You'll get back to me. You'll get back to me.
Starting point is 01:06:24 I've been to Edmonton my wife's from Edmonton but I've only been there once but I'm waiting for someone to pay for my return I know thanks for doing that I want to just quickly tell people that if they have any
Starting point is 01:06:40 old tech, old electronics they need to recycle, don't throw that in the garbage go to recyclemylectronics.ca. Find out somewhere close where you can safely drop it off and they'll take care of it in a sensible, safe, Mother Earth hugging way. Okay, so recyclemyelectronics.ca.
Starting point is 01:06:57 Remind everybody, do you have a website, like a one-stop shopping for all things Zabrina Douglas? Right now, it's my Instagram. That'll work. Okay, so what's the handle again? Zabrina Douglas. Right now, it's my Instagram. That'll work. Okay, so what's the handle again? Sabrina Douglas.
Starting point is 01:07:07 So convenient, everybody. Sabrina with a Z. That's your nickname, Sabrina with a Z. And that brings us to the end of our 1,216th show.
Starting point is 01:07:18 You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Sabrina's on Instagram. She's at Sabrina Douglas. Our friends at Great on Instagram. She's at Zabrina Douglas. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada.
Starting point is 01:07:34 Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all checking the calendar in real time Sabrina's witness to this tomorrow this is exciting in the studio
Starting point is 01:07:50 will be the oldest guest to ever make an in-person appearance on Toronto Mike his name is Richard Flohill what a career bringing great music to the city he's got great stories and he's 89 years young I gotta make sure he doesn't fall
Starting point is 01:08:05 down these stairs. Honestly. I might need a nurse here. Would you be available tomorrow at 2pm? Oh, probably not. See you all then. I've been told that there's Thank you. There's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you?
Starting point is 01:08:54 I've been picking up trash and then putting down ropes And they're broken in stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar, the class struggle explodes. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am. But who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow
Starting point is 01:09:27 warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain and I've kissed you in Spain
Starting point is 01:09:45 And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true. Because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine. And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now
Starting point is 01:10:27 Everything is rosy Yeah, everything is rosy and gray Yeah, yeah, yeah Thank you.

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