WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1078 - Cedric the Entertainer

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

Before he was a King of Comedy, before he was even an entertainer, he was Cedric the Insurance Claims Adjuster. Cedric and Marc talk about his emergence in the St. Louis-area comedy scene and how the business of Black Comedy took off. Cedric also looks back on his brief but game-changing touring days with Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey and DL Hughley, his roles in movies like Barbershop and First Reformed, and his current CBS series The Neighborhood. This episode is sponsored by WHO by The Who, Zoro.com, American Express, and Stamps.com. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Lock the gates! Get almost almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fucksters? What's happening? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast. All right. Is that right with you? Is that the wrong tone to start out with what day is it monday what's going on is that too much for monday today on the show i talked to cedric the entertainer sort of a long time coming i'd run into him here and there and be like you can do it yeah we can do it and it was good it was uh we got a little little chunk of comedy history that revolves

around st louis that i didn't know a little sort of perspective on uh black comedy and when that kind of became a a sort of a thing unto itself and just you know kind of hanging out in general i like i like cedric and uh it was good to see him so that's gonna happen also let me do these tour dates i told you about that it was gonna to happen but i'm the guy you're like mark why don't you ever come to like places like uh grand rapids michigan or milwaukee wisconsin or uh providence rhode island or new haven connecticut how why has it been so long since you've been to huntington new york because i wanted to wait until it was the coldest

time of the year and possibly fucking snowing, apparently. And why that tone again? Why? It's in me. The tone is in me. This has nothing to do with anything any of you have done. I am talking to myself like this. Thursday, January 30th.

I'm in Cleveland, Ohio at the Agora Theater. And that should be great if it's not snowing or under an avalanche of coldness friday january 31st i'll be in grand rapids michigan at the fountain street church if it's not frozen shut saturday february 1st in milwaukee wisconsin i'll be at the turner hall ballroom if it's not ice pure ice friday february 14th i take a break and go to Orlando, Florida at Hard Rock Live. That makes me nervous. But look, we'll see what happens. As many of you know, I do not do Florida because I don't think Florida does me.

You dig what I'm saying? It's my gut feeling, but we'll see. Maybe I'll bring Dino down there. Tampa, Florida, Saturday, February 15th at the Stras Center is that really what it's called it's not supposed to be Stars Center

Stras it's a good word Stras is it the Stras family I don't know what that is I hope it's right it's got to be right Stras man I'll be where you you playing in tampa the strass what's that is that slang no man the strass center thursday back into the arctic february 20th i'm in portland maine at the state theater on february 21st i'm in providence rhode

island the columbus theater many of you know Providence and my relationship. It goes way back to when my car got stolen there. I was playing periwinkles, and my car got stolen because I left it on the street overnight because I was too drunk to drive home. And I got a ride or something, and it was gone with my bomber jacket, which was sad. Yeah, so maybe I'll get some closure around that.

Maybe I'll find my car. Friday, February 22nd, I'll be in New Haven, Connecticut at College Street Music Hall, which I think I played before. Again, might be frozen. Sunday, February 23rd, Huntington, New York at the Paramount. I enjoy that place. I believe that's where they give you a brick when you perform there i have a brick from there pow look out just shit my pants just coffee.coop classic ad read that was never a read it was always a riff just coffee.coop get the wtf blend i get a

little on the back end not a fortune hardly. Hardly anything, really. But it's nice. They sent me coffee, and I have been dabbling. I have been chipping at the coffee. Pre-sale tickets go on sale Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. where you are. This Wednesday at 10 a.m. where you are for Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Orlando, Tampa, Portland, Maine, Providence, Rhode Island, New Haven, and Huntington, New York. Pre-sale goes on stage at the venues that I mentioned or at WTFpod.com slash tour. And you can use the password Buster. That's the artist's pre-sale for all those dates.

So let's get back to some more let's get back to the present let's deal with some kind of sad news but not it's not not horrible yet i don't know what to tell you man this the lafonda what do i want to call it the journey you know the other day man she was under the bed and i'm like i'm gonna have to do this tomorrow but then all of a sudden she's you know hanging out and i just realized like you know she might not be dying immediately this might just be the older lafonda she's a senior citizen she's a little confused she doesn't have the the the kind of bite that she used to she's lost her edge completely she's very fragile but she's out and about i I mean, right now she spends, I would say, a quarter of the day under the bed and then another quarter like sleeping on the bed.

And then, you know, half the day she's sort of out and about. So it's definitely not time to kill her. And I mean, put her down. Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not time. But I think I'm in a certain amount of denial. Look, I don't, you know, I think that I'm, I can still hike up the mountain every day

and I'm a little beat up, but that's where it's at. I'm just going to wait it out. I kind of thought I would have to do it this week because I have to go out of town for a week and then I'm back for a week and I'm out of town again. So I thought like, let's get this over with before I go, which was, you know, selfish. And so I just want you all to know

that I'm not going to put LaFonda down just because I might not be here to do it. Like I'm not going to do it because I don't want to miss anything, if that makes sense to you. She's definitely ill. I think she might be under the bed right now, but she has been out and about

and she is receiving love and she is eating and she's sort of hanging out and kind of looking wistfully out the window, which I project. And I'm like that she's taking it in. She's just absorbing what she can for her journey. It's like when you know a cat is sick and not doing well. And she was just sitting there looking out the window. I'm like, this is fucking almost too much for me to bear.

That she's just sort of like, Oh, there's a bird. This might be the last bird. I think it's raining. It's wet. Uh, like,

I feel like that, that she's like, soon, this is all going to be over. Me just sitting here looking out the window outside where I can never go. Soon. I will fly away. Fly, fly away in the morning. I'll fly away.

Yeah, that's what I think she's doing. She's singing the Carter family version of Fly Away as she looks out the window, knowing that her time ain ain't long as they say in the blues song la fonda's time ain't long but she's doing okay right now still sad but i'm i like that she's hanging in okay as some of you know i was on on vacation in Ireland and I was away at my mother's for a bit. I guess what happened, I didn't quite realize it, like after the special, after I recorded my special at the end of October, I did not do comedy at all since then, since October 30th. I was just sort of like enjoying my life without the stress and panic and compulsion to go perform comedy three nights a

week and then i did it the other night i got back in i went in and it was like it it fucking spun me out dude but not in a real way look i know i'm professional i know that this is what i do i've done it all my life and i assume it will come back to me but i was tired of all the material in a way i hadn't reinvigorated it i didn't know what i was going to say and i made the mistake of bringing the director lady with me and she got to experience that where you know deep down i'm like fucking horrified at the fact i haven't done comedy so long i don't want to talk to him i don't want to be up there i don't like the audience i know it's going to hurt i know it's going to take time to fucking at least one set to get back on my feet and uh you know i could have just gone through that myself but she chose to come with me so that means i was able to kind of put all that frustration

anger and a touch of fear uh and direct it right at her for no reason which is um it's one of the great reasons uh to to be involved with me is the misdirection of anger. And I realized maybe I don't communicate emotionally that well. I don't, you know, I'm a grown man, but I don't know if I'm a grown up, but I'm trying the patterns are less. And I think there needs to be an app of some kind, you know, created to translate immature kind of a defensive men's statements you know into what they really mean on an emotional level like for instance when i say something like you know fuck you you don't fucking love me what that really means is i love you when i say something like you're fucking with my head and I don't appreciate it.

You're just worming your way in there. You're manipulating me. You're like fucking up in my shit. That means I feel very close to you right now. Right? Go fuck yourself. Fuck you means please don't leave. Then maybe it should translate to to hey i like i'm

sorry about that to uh what that really means is like i'm a hopeless asshole and a complete emotional fuck up i should be grateful every day that you have the patience to even be here. That's what I'm sorry means. But also, it's okay if you have to leave and go fuck yourself. See, then you start over again and then the app has to kind of go back. You know, it's tricky. But if anyone wants to design that app,

you should get on it. I just heard Fonda yelping. She's not in pain. She's all right. She gets excited about water. Don't you wish you could? So I go on stage in the first set. I took a little bit of a hit.

It's just a horrible feeling. And I was talking to, who was I talking to? I was just talking to Ben Schwartz about it. It's a weird feeling of embarrassment and shame that just manifests into self-flagellation and then upsetting the person you're with maybe that last part's just me anyway i did three sets on saturday and i'm back in it man everything's alive again everything's reinvigorated don't worry about me i'm funny

yeah you heard it here first some guy comes up to me after the show like i only know you from uh you know your interviews and i didn't know you did uh the stand-up you're funny i'm like thank you thank you i've been doing it my entire fucking life. And you know, just like, why you gotta be so dismissive? Translate to, I appreciate you listening to my show and I'm glad you got to see me do standup. Fuck that guy. That means I'm jealous of that person.

This would be a very helpful app for a lot of insecure, angry people. That guy's not doing anything original. That means I need to write more. That thing is bullshit. I don't want to fucking do that gig. That means I'm scared. And I just need to overcome my fear.

Okay. Okay. Anyway. God, I got to, maybe I should take a break here. Look, folks. So Cedric's here. And if you didn't know, he is currently on the CBS show, The Neighborhood, which airs Monday nights. He's also going to be touring. He's Cedric, man.

He's Cedric the Entertainer. He's out there entertaining. And it was great to see him. He's Cedric, man. He's the Cedric the Entertainer. He's out there entertaining. And it was great to see him. Great to talk to him. So this is me talking to Cedric. because it provides peace of mind. A lot can go wrong. A fire, cyber attack, stolen equipment, or an unhappy customer suing you. That's why you need insurance. Don't let the, I'm too small for this mindset,

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An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series, streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required, T's and C's apply. Cedric, I haven't seen you in a while. Oh, man. Mark, how are you, brother? This is awesome. I'm good, man.'t seen you in a while. Oh, man.

Mark, how are you, brother? This is awesome. I'm good, man. You know, it's weird. I was trying to remember. I'm pretty sure that, like, my memory is pretty clear. It wasn't the first time we met at the fucking Aspen Comedy Festival. It was that one year, the first year they had, like, a black showcase.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. It was you, year, the first year they had like a black showcase. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It was you, Bernie. Bernie Mac. And I can't remember who else. It had to be somebody odd, like maybe even like a John Hinton or somebody like that. Yeah.

I can't. You know, they'll go black, black, and then they'll go, okay, let's do. What? Almost black? Yeah. Let's just. Lighten it up yeah look at guys come on let's not let's not test the waters too deep there but i just remember it was so it was like 95 yeah i think yeah and uh it was to see you know in that environment to see bernie mack and you guys up there it was was crazy. Yeah, and it's in Aspen. It was the first time doing some stuff like that. You're really seeing people vacation in the cold. We're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this choice?

What's this choice? I'm not understanding. So y'all chose to come here. It's super cold. And you can't breathe right and the audiences are weird and he's from chicago i'm from st louis so we we're not like we're running from winter at all times man like that was not a good look i just i just remember i just remember uh the the awkwardness of all of it oh yeah and then yeah the night starts and it's like they're

trying to you know this before they even came up with the term urban, I think. Right. So nobody knew exactly what to call it. Hey, guys, it's our African, can we, are we able to black, do we say? Black night. Oh, do you just say it right out like that? Just go black? They really urban wasn't around yet?

Yeah, urban wasn't here yet. We couldn't do it. We couldn't make it politically correct. I don't know what. That urban thing is kind of odd. So you remember when that happened, when it was just urban? Yeah, you know, it came in because, you know, I mean, black people, for one, we make sure not. Because we go through it.

You know, we'll be like, we African-Americans. There's some people like, I i just rather be called black and then it's some people just like look i'm american don't put no color on me oh really so it's that you know there's conversations within the community yeah that happens all the time on what we are actually going to be calling ourselves in the next you know is it does it come down to a personal level or is there a a generalized sense of it it is a generalized it is like a or is there a generalized sense of it? It is a generalized sense. It is like a caucus. Yeah.

Like a big sense. Where are we at now? We're still an African-American, but really all the black people just go with black. So on paper, like if you fill out anything, it's going to be African-American. Right. If you ask a black person, they're going to be like, yeah, I'm black. So black's okay. Yeah, black is fine.

African-American's good. It's a lot. Yeah. One that's out completely is colored. Yeah, of course. Gone. Been years. Yeah, it's been a long time. But do people have, do you know people that have a problem with African American?

Not really. I mean, it is, you know, it is a subculture like, you know, like the extremely woke, if you will. Right. People that don't like those like kind of, you know, unofficial categories. Yeah. Like, oh, I got to fit in this one group. One, because we got so many people that's like just so multicultural now. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the idea, the identify of how you look to a person would be like, yo, you black. Right. You know, so. And also like not all black people are African based. True. Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Source. That's cold blooded. source from africa well i mean it is the source where we all come from right but not oh well yeah it's so weird it's odd to me that like in talking about like i had this situation just with a guy when you talk about black stuff with black people and you're not you know i'm white but yeah but but and then people go like why you got to bring that up i'm like why why not yeah well we're just supposed to pretend like you know there there's no color lines there's

no gender lines there's no and it's like uh that's pretend and then you get everybody always ends that with yeah you get you know all we gotta do is talk more yeah we gotta do we gotta keep these kind of conversations in the atmosphere guys yeah as soon as you bring it up don't don't you ever say that about me well it's weird because i the news your show what are we going into season three uh season two right now uh of the neighborhood of the neighborhood yeah man well because that's sort of what that's about yeah it's but it's sort of a straight-up CBS, you know, three-camera deal. Yeah. And you got, what is it?

It's a white guy that moved into a black neighborhood? Correct. And clearly it's not, it's before they take it over entirely. Correct. So it is the, it is when it. It's a small window. Yeah, it's that small window. We're going into like a dead tail.

That small window just before. You got about another year. Before the Whole Foods comes. Yeah, it's that small window. We're going into like a dead tail. That small window just before the Whole Foods comes. And we're like, oh, that's how it starts. Do you guys talk about that on the show? What? That's going to happen? Yeah. Oh, you do? Yeah, yeah.

We definitely start to build out into it. And we're going to do it more. We're in season two. And as we build out to the final part of it, we're going to start to show. More white people coming? This move is starting to happen. It won't be necessarily white people, but it'll be like the businesses and the idea of how people are really getting ready. You know, what are you going to do when, you know, do you just complain or do you try to get involved?

Or what do you do what is it is it wrong i guess is the real question because i was part of it you know i moved out of highland park and i got accused of being a sort of a gentrifier a colonialist yes whatever you call it right i showed up and they all followed and then i got out because it got your square shoes and your little yeah exactly well the hipster look you know because i i it got too much for me you know but i saw it happen and i've been in neighborhoods where that happens and you do feel attention after a certain point but then there are some people who have lived there all their lives and they are of the culture

that lived there before the white people came in who were like well it's doing the neighborhood good yeah and but then there's the hardcore people that are like they fucked everything up. No, it's so true. I mean, it's hard because people people have always these, you know, kind of mythical, beautiful ideas of the neighborhoods that they grew up in. Right. But, you know, one when, you know, ideas of services and goods and things are coming, moving in. You want those things. Yeah. But, you know, when it's, you know, all cultural or all one race or something to that nature,

it feels like you can't get those same services to come in. But when they start to come and you live there, yes, you want a great grocery store right around the corner. I don't want to move. Yeah. But I can't afford to stay here. Like, that's what happens. Right.

And you can't afford the grocery store. Yeah, exactly an orange three dollars i need three dollars let me do a little home loan yeah wait so you come from missouri yeah st louis well actually um two two little places it was uh i was all over missouri really born in jeff city my mother was in college at the time. Then Carothersville, Missouri, which is in the Boothill down, it's like in between St. Louis and Memphis that way. Uh-huh. And then St. Louis.

You know, I don't, I've gotten a little shit for talking shit about Missouri recently. Uh-oh. No, I was in St. Louis. I had great shows there. I was nervous to go to Missouri because it is sort of a conservative state. Very. An example of, you know,

we're going to try to make this a theocracy. We're going to make everything illegal and make it Jesus town. But St. Louis, I had a good time there. They're good people. It's a good old city. What was your experience growing up there? But there's, I mean,

well, it's a huge black community in Missouri. Yeah, you know, it's still one of the most polarized. To your point, though, like Missouri is actually, if you live there, you know, you're kind of used to this energy and you can operate in it. But it's still very one of the. Which energy? The energy of like knowing that people want to be. The energy of knowing that people want to be, yeah, like it's a whole sector of people that want to just break away from the union and just kind of be like, yo, we can do things our way.

Anything we want to do, it's our way. Very, very, you know. It's white fundamentalism. Yeah, fundamentalism, exactly, strong and bold. And so you'll see that in the town. You grew up with it? Yeah, yeah. I i mean it's there with st louis of course in the metropolitan areas it's not as much because of the the density of you know the black culture and people but the city's still very much divided black and white

south south st louis pretty much white north st St. Louis, black. The suburbs, same way. You get west, it's more white. You know, again, people are starting to, you know, economically change and mix in. But it's that. It's still that. When you go, you see it. It's so obvious that, you know, they don't even have to deal with other cultures' issues. It's not a part of their life.

and have to deal with other cultures' issues. It's not a part of their life. And they accept the segregation, but they champion themselves as being integrated. Yeah. You know, well, we all work in the city. It's just when we leave the city a few miles, we go to our separate places. Yeah, exactly how, you know,

and it's really how a thing like Ferguson happened, you know, that was that kind of powder keg of when people don't really work, live in the communities where they work, and they just work it. They just go in there and work it like it's an inanimate object. Like they don't give a shit. They leave and go home. So you treat people like that, and the next thing you know, you got this huge disconnect that leads to violence.

Yep. And when you—was it always the thing—how many people in your family? It's just my sister and I. Your folks? Your folks still around? Yeah, when my mom was passed, my dad's still around now. They were divorced since I was a kid. Oh, really?

Yeah, so it was a single-parent household, my mother and my sister oh yeah yeah and then my dad lives in Memphis and he had remarried yeah yeah that's a pretty good town yeah I was just there yeah they did a show great yeah I got Lakers was there to my dad to the game so you get along with him yeah yeah yeah you know we grew into it like I had to be I got about 20 21 years old and finally like kind of understood relationships well you so it took you that long though were you pissed off at him oh yeah yeah but he was always a part of your life yeah yeah yeah but you just were like you know yeah yeah you're doing the rebellious boy thing like you

don't know shit yeah fuck off and but, man. But he hung in there? He did. He did, man. He had the patience of Joe. And God bless him for that. When you think about it, like, he just, like, dealt with it, man. Yeah, you put your parents through some shit. Yeah.

And then, like, when you get out on the other side of it and you get a little empathy, you're like, wow. Yeah, right. Right. You didn't have to deal with any of that. Especially, like, when it comes down to relationships. Because when you're living with your mom, and they explain it, your dad's just a super piece of shit.

You're like, all right. And she never really did that. Right. But just the inference. She never said it, but she definitely inferred, like, fuck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you get it, and you start to take on those kind of you know things and then pick a team yeah yeah and then you get a you know a grown adult style relationship yourself and go like oh

oh people people were flawed yeah let me call my man and say, bro, I get it. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, there's no way I could have fucking took this shit either. Yeah, it is. Empathy, like, it's not always second nature. It's not always right there, especially for parents,

because there's no distance, you know? Yeah, yeah. But that's good. So you guys get along now? Yeah, man, it's good, you know? And, yeah. But that's good. So you guys get along now? Yeah, man. That's good, you know? And your sister, what does she do? My sister's a professor at Pepperdine.

Oh, wow. Right here? Yeah, right here. She's married. Her husband's the chaplain there. So they got a nice little family. She married a man of the cloth. Yeah, yeah.

He grew into that. He was educated, like a writer. He did plays and stuff. But he was always an orator. He was a guy that wanted to write and say things. Was he a man of faith, though? Yeah, yeah. You have to be a man of faith.

He was definitely a man of faith, though. Yeah. He was definitely a solid dude. You're kind of happy when your sister, you're like, all right, dude's a good dude. Yeah, it is good. It's good when you see people, your siblings, you don't have to be like oh shit yeah when you get that call you gotta go like with sunny we like sunny and the godfather right right yeah get set up yeah no it's always yeah i it's always nice i've made some bad choices in my life

and uh i've been that guy. And, you know, the weird thing about that shit is no one can say anything. Yeah. Like, you know, people, even if they do, they're like, hey, man, we're a little concerned. It's like, what the fuck do you know? Yeah, dude. Mind your own business. I love her.

Okay. Yeah. And then after it fucking blows up, they're like, we tried to tell you. Did you, though, really? Yeah, you're wrong. Why didn't you stop there were signs yeah yeah there's always signs so in hindsight so what was it when did uh when did so did you always want to do the the stand-up thing or were you studying for something else did you know yeah i studied

something else you know i was uh i was always like a funny kid like as a as a kid you know and you know that kind of personality but my mother was school teacher so i had to go to college it was you know that was just her way and that's what we did so yeah so i studied went to school got a degree in um radio television mass communication minor in theater oh you did yeah southeast missouri you knew the area that you wanted to be involved with yeah so. So you did theater in college? Yeah. Yeah?

Yeah. Like, what'd you do? I mean, you know. The college stuff? College stuff. It was a couple of little plays, you know. And we never really did any, like, hardcore Shakespeare stuff. So it would be, like, I don't even remember some of the plays.

A couple of musicals. You sing? Yeah, I sing a bit. Yeah? Yeah. i don't even remember some of the plays a couple of musicals you sing yeah i sing a bit yeah yeah so yeah just try to keep up with the you know with the entertainment i used i used to dance where the whole name came i used to dance like really dance and do all that stuff man but like as a part of your show yeah yeah like yeah before comedy yeah before comedy yeah yeah i would just

be in dance groups i would dance to get into the club. You know, you'd just be like one of the street dancers style. You know, like, yeah. And that's how you got into the club? Yeah, that's how you get in the clubs because you'd be one of the dancers. They'd be like, oh, let the dancers in so that the party looked like it's hot. That was your job? That was my move.

You were the shill. You were the dance shill. The fluffer. Yeah, that guy looks like he's having fun. Let's everybody go. Everybody should go. He's obviously having a great time. Yeah, man.

But you knew, like, early on that you wanted to be involved in the entertainment thing. So what'd you learn in film and broadcasting? Did you do shit? Yeah, I did. I did a lot of cool stuff, though, in school. I had a TV show. We did, like, so I had a show that was kind of like Entertainment Tonight. Oh, yeah.

You know, you just college stuff. Yeah, sure. Then we had a sketch show called Cape – you know, the city was Cape Girardeau. We called it Cape Garage Door. We did it in the garage. Yeah, nice. It was kind of dope. You know, homage to you and me.

And then I had a radio show i had a so i had one of the earlier podcasts oh yeah a college radio show sure yeah earlier podcast yeah yeah but we used i used to get a lot of music from europe which was cool made me uh special i knew these guys that were djs in the city and they would get me like new music. Dance music from Europe? Yeah, like all the cool stuff. So I would have stuff. Like techno and shit? Yeah, craft work and stuff like that before people even heard it.

That's right, we're the same age. So yeah, craft work was like, yeah. Yeah, before people in the States got it. Even like Sade and stuff like that, people hadn't even heard of it. And you're like, yo. You're breaking artists. Check this out. Yeah, yeah, I got something. Yeah, you guys. This is something yeah yeah guys are we the same age what are you 50 55 yeah i'm 56 so

it's about the same time yeah that we grew up in the same time yeah man so you graduate college and then you're doing how how long were you doing the dancing to get in clubs yeah it went for a while i was like, so I graduated college, and then I started, you know, you bouncing around, looking for jobs and stuff. What kind of jobs did you have? I worked for Best Buy when they were new, brand new, selling small electronics,

which means you didn't get a lot of money. Yeah. Just a little tape recorders. Oh, it was a commission thing? Yeah, you get a little base, but then your real money was in commissions, and so- And you got the blue vest? You wanted to be on TV. We had the vest, man.

You know, had the cool, hey, welcome to the spy. Yeah, yeah. Okay, what are you looking for today? You know what? Those are great. You know, if you really want to get some, you need the dual responder. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That one's a good starter, but you look like you're serious.

You look like a real serious guy about this. Yeah, yeah. And you could use a stand to put it on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That one's a good starter, but you look like you're serious. You look like a real serious guy about this. Yeah, yeah. And you could use a stand to put it on. Oh, yeah, of course. These just came in. Yeah, we got to have them. Interested in some headphones? Yeah.

You're just moving small pieces. That was it, the small electronics. How long that lasted? That lasted about, I don't know. I don't even think I worked there a full year. Maybe a little year. I had a bunch of odd jobs then i started working for this company modern business systems they sold rico fax machines right from the rico corporation right yeah and uh in facts were new and exciting new technology oh man, man. It was hot. I was popping off.

So you had the company car. You get to wear the shirt and tie to work. You start feeling like a young executive. Selling fax machines. Selling fax machines, getting a little cash. You know what I'm saying? Because I end up finding this kind of world where auto body shops could use it to go to their, to send stuff back and forth to the

insurance companies and when i got them to and that would became my niche oh really and you figured that out yourself i figured that out i stumbled up on it one day and it was like oh like boom boom boom so you're moving them jones i was the fax machine dope boy. I just did it all wrong. Chain zone, gold teeth, clothes. Everybody like, what are you doing? I'm selling these fax, son. Got pinched. Getting pinched. Looking too much like a dope boy.

Were you able to save some money on that one? I did. I did. I saved a little dough. But then I ended up going to work for State Farm. i got a job at state farm as a claims adjuster oh and that was cool man that was like another uh so that's where you go out to the accident yeah that's when you go and look at the car look at the car you know see the meeting sad people yeah well you know you know you mainly kind of do it where in the is at the shop you know you

don't actually go to the accident right right you know you go when the car's at the shop you go and take a look at it and be like all right cool boom boom yeah yeah you know we're gonna need a whole new car everybody everybody wanted a new car everybody wanted their car total they total things now more than they used to yeah because things are cheaper and they're just like fuck it exactly total like total that shit but not then not back then oh no no you would have to get that job fixed yeah but you know the big scam was people getting rental cars for their kids around prom time yeah so it would be these little fakes fake accidents oh super fake accidents where people would come in and be like yo i need to know, this has to go in the shop for two weeks.

Just to rent a car? Yeah, I would love to. But, you know, because you get your rental insurance from your insurance. So they're paying for your rental car. And they're fixing the fake accident. Fake accident for two weeks. You know, your kid shows up in the Cadillac or whatever they rent. And you saw that as a pattern?

Oh, that was a straight hustle. That was a hustle. I would never think to do that. Really? I can't afford a rental car, but if we fuck this car up, we'll get it. We'd get a rental car for two weeks. Yeah, for two weeks. It was a real thing.

It was a scam. Oh, man, it was a scam, man. So did you fix their cars? Did you fix their cars? I knew what it was, man. You got to take care of the hood, man, it was a scam, man. So did you fix their cards? Did you fix their cards? I knew what it was, man. You got to take care of the hood, man. You knew what it was, man. He was like, yo, got you, doc.

Oh, so this her senior year? Oh, they got it, dude. The last prom. The last prom. And my man on the honor roll? Oh, that's dope, man. That's great. Yeah, come on, put it in the shop, man. It's cool. Y'all go and honor roll. Oh, that's dope, man. That's great. Yeah, go and put it in the shop, man.

It's cool. Y'all go and get a Cadillac, man. It's all good. Oh, man. Great. Good for you, man. Yeah, man. Helping out.

Yeah, that's it. The end of the day. And then where did that lead you? So then I left State Farm to do comedy. When I left State Farm, I was doing comedy. Well, what was that moment? I mean, when did you go do the thing? When did you first do the thing?

The thing, man, it was kind of cool. It was like one of those, you know, in a way it was one of those stories that people always kind of tell. Sure. But it was another guy that did comedy, you know. At State Farm? No, he was just a friend of a friend of mine. Is he still doing it? Yeah, Percy Cruz III, you know, Percy Cruz.

Yeah. The second or is he the third? Is he still at it, though? He's still at it, man. He's still doing it, man. He's out there and he does a lot of corporate gigs, a lot of cruise ships. Isn't that funny when you get to our age

and the guys that we knew who, you know, who never broke out here, but they kept with it. That's always where it goes. A lot of corporates doing the boats. Yeah. Doing whatever we got to do. Staying busy got a good life, though. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. I like it. If you can stay on the boats and you can deal with the boats, you can do all right. Yeah. So, but yeah, he signed me up. It was the Johnny Walker. Remember the Johnny Walker comedy? I do remember that. It was big. Yeah, it was big. Big, and you would me up. It was a cut. It was the Johnny Walker. Remember the Johnny Walker comedy remember that like a big Yeah, it was big big and you would end up the nationwide nationwide

Yeah, like it was start local all around right and then they were golden these big regions and then the person would win and go on Carson Right. And really it was Carson. Yeah, Carson. What year was that? Cuz I feel like I was already going yeah that point. Yeah, you may have been, but it was like late, I'm going to go early, late 80s. Yeah, late 80s, late early, early 90s. Right, early 90s, I feel like. Late 80s, I think, for sure. Because I started in 87, 88, so it had to be super late.

I started working in 88. So it might have been 88 because this was one, the first thing I ever did was the dude signed me up to be in the local version of that. Without ever having done comedy? No, yeah, exactly. But he used to like stuff that I would say and basically showed me how to do my show. He was like, yo, do that joke. Do this right here. Do that.

And we put my set together. And he was like i gotta be gone i signed you up you're not you know go up if you rock this what this was an audit the first time you get on stage to do stand up it's an audition it's an audition holy shit to be in the competition that night right this later thing so you got to go and do five minutes yeah then they pick people this is like in the daytime then they they pick people, and they're going to pick 10 people to come up that night to be featured. Who were the judges? I can't remember.

It was local stuff. It was local because this was local. St. Louis? Yeah, it was all St. Louis at this time, like the level that I entered on. It was only St. Louis comics. Then you would compete with guys from maybe somewhere in Illinois and then somewhere in Kentucky. Just a small group. So I made that initial cut.

The second set was a competition set. Yeah, so you broke. I won. The first time I ever did, I won $500 that night. That night after you did your first set, you did your second set and you won $500. Killed it. With five minutes. Murdered. No fear? That night after you did your first set, you did your second set, and you won 500 bucks. Killed it. Yeah.

With five minutes. Murdered. No fear? No fear? No, because I used to, like I said, when I was in college, I was in groups. I did plays. So you lived on stage. Yeah.

There was part of you that was ready to go. Exactly. Was ready to go. And then after that, then you just started doing stand-up? Yeah. And then I just started to try to find to do it all the time. Like that competition stopped because they went to like the next round and it was professionals showed up.

So like I was in the round with like all rookies and probably new guys. And then the next round, pros showed up. They knocked you out. Oh, what? Yeah. You realize like. Who was it? Remember who came in? Remember like a,

who came in? Buzz Sumberland or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great names like that. Yeah. Those feature acts.

Yeah. Yeah. From the late eighties. Dak. Dak. Yeah. Dak Wall. Yeah.

Dak Wall. There was some real guys from that time. I don't remember. It was like a Buzz Sunderland. I remember that. And it was, uh, there was like,

uh, people like Chaz Elsner. Chaz. Like Chaz was. He used to be a clown. Oh, that's hilarious. But. All right. So.

All right. So you didn't make the big cut. So how do you start doing comedy in Missouri? Was there a club? Yeah. So, you know, you know, this was also right around the time of the, you know, the assurgence of, like, all-black comedy. So it did happen, like, in the early 90s. Yeah, early, late 80s. Late 80s.

Yeah, so, like, comedy act theater, like, people like Robin Harris started doing. Robin Harris. Yeah, they were doing clubs out here. Was he a Chicago guy? Chicago guy. Bay Bay's kids, yeah. Bay Bay kids. Did you know that guy?

I had a chance to meet him one time. He was the one that inspired me the most because his comedy was like an uncle, like a cousin. Storytelling. Yeah, it was like somebody you knew already. When I saw that style, I was like, okay,

yeah, I can do that. That's what you want to do. He became my guy. I did get a chance to meet him one time out you know in la and then he died shortly after that young man yeah man so all right so well that's interesting because i don't know if i ever had a timeline on that where i guess it was because the the sort of black comedy scene kind of coalesced it sort of happened yeah you know those know, it was things like. What was the Playhouse place you talked about? That was the Comedy Act Theater.

Yeah, where was that? That was in the Leimert Park area. In Missouri. In LA. In LA. That was LA. Oh, really? Yeah.

So that was, those places, and they had one in Atlanta. Uh-huh. And so those places started to pop around. And so this black comedy thing was happening so people like in places like missouri yeah i just would do one so i was it like a produced show wasn't it every week kind of thing every week oh every week so they have it at a place yeah and i had a made a deal and you know this was me young entrepreneur ideas met it had a dude had a nightclub yeah went to his slow night told him

like a tuesday tuesday night baby come on yeah i got i got the i get the uh i get the door he get the bar yeah he was like all right and he didn't believe that it was gonna work yeah i packed that place the first week and the second week was lines out the door we had to do two shows who were the acts it was uh it was guys local guys local guys like it was guys they were all again that wanted to do comedy like locally they got like 10 minutes 15 minutes each in 1015 people just tried it he had a couple of people that you know like you get lucky like guys like Joe Torre was already doing comedy and if he came home he would do it his brother was young and emerging.

So Guy Torre, so he had the name, and you can throw it out there. Rodney Winfield, legend, old school. But he was big. He would only show up every now and then. But then it was a lot of little guys in there that was like all of us were trying to rock it. And it was enough comics. It was plenty to fill up a show. So that rock it. Get the act together. And it was enough comics. Like, it was plenty to fill up a show. So that was it.

So you didn't even have to fuck with the mainstream comedy club circuit. No. But where I started that night where I did that thing, that was at the Funny Bones, which was, they were headquartered in St. Louis. So I did do that because I did so well that night. Oh, so you moved it over there? No, no.

I would just go there when I could because they had more of a system, more of a traditional system, and you can't. You got to do this kind of time. You got to set your jokes up. And the black comedy was different. It was just like, yo, just walk up, and you start talking about somebody's outfit. You can just do whatever you want to and build your set. Sin bat style.

Yeah. You can just do whatever you want to, like, you know, and build your set. Sinbad style. Yeah. And, you know, the more traditional comic clubs was definitely joke punchline set up, you know. Yeah, you had to look like an act. Yeah. The whole thing, all these things were rules.

Yeah. It's just like, I think you could get away with it if it looked like an act. You know what I mean? It seems like if you're just riffing, though, to find shit and doing crowd work and stuff crowd work and stuff you got more freedom but yeah when you get into a meeting yeah they're like what are you doing up there especially if they don't get you it's a weird thing because you could have an act and they might not get it just because of your style and then they're going to accuse you of being you know like you know not professional yeah it's kind of fucked up no that's so true because i know a lot of dudes you know those dudes that had a certain pace and it wasn't that quick and they weren't going to change gears, but eventually they got funny?

But when they started, people were like, what the fuck is that guy doing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was several guys like that that was their kind of thing. Yeah, and they get funny. Yeah. Yeah, it was this dude I used to love, this dude named Big Stan the Comic Man. Yeah.

Big Stan was tall, but he. Big Stan was tall. Yeah. But he was like, he was like different like that. Right. His style was extremely funny because he just would walk up and be like, what's up, y'all? Yeah. Yeah.

Go real slow. He'd do that. Yeah, yeah. You ever just don't like your grandmother, man? You know, and he'd just be like, oh,

it'd just be so funny like the way he would do it. Like a slow bill. Yeah, like it'd be like, And he'd just be like, oh. It'd just be so funny, like the way he would do it. It's like a slow bill. Yeah, and it'd be like, he'd want to say something, and then he'd just step away from it, and then he'd go back. That's funny. What happened to that guy? He passed.

He got ill, like some young dude had a kidney or liver or something. Oh, fuck. Yeah, man. So, all right, so you're doing that, and then when do you start to do the bigger shows? I mean, how does it all happen? How does it unfold? You know, it kind of unfolds in this weird way,

like, you know, the deaf. So, you know, that comedy is happening, and, you know, things are kind of bubbling off, and I meet Steve Harvey. Oh, yeah. So what happens is I end up, like, I'm doing the local shows, and then I decide, like, oh, I meet the guy that runs the Funny Bone.

They had 22 clubs, and if you got booked by them, you can do them twice a year. So that was 44 dates. Yeah. And that's how I quit State Farm, when they booked me for those 44 dates. Right. And that was it. But it was the same time that black comedy was popping off. But those weren't black rooms.

No, no, it was just regular rooms. But this was, this was me being able to take my savings and then be able to know that I had a base salary. Yeah. Right. Right.

So I'm not going to leave my job for nothing. You're making that run twice a year. I'm making that. No, I got dates. I got this amount of money on the books and I'm just going to for my passion you don't have a family yet no yeah no i'm just me um my mom i had a at the house that i grew up in my mom had um remarried and so i was living in the house i grew up in who had a car and That stuff, man. That trappings. Driving the gigs.

Yeah, drove, man. Yeah. Driving, like all the way driving, like for real. Yeah. Whatever, 15, 20, 30 hours, go get it. Yeah, and those were like Wednesday through Sunday kind of gigs? Yeah. Yeah, I'm staying in the condo.

Oh, yeah, the worst. It keeps getting worse every year you go back. Oh, right, the condo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's happened on this couch? What was so great, because when you hear it in your, right, the condo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's happened on this couch? Well, it was so great because when you hear it in your mind, it sounds so amazing.

Like, oh, guys. The comedy condo. Oh, we got a condo, guys. You're going to stay in. And you're thinking, oh, cool. Well, you know what was always funny is that when a new club would open and they'd get the new condo

and you'd get in there in the first couple months, you're like, this is fucking nice. Yeah. And then you go back a couple years later and you're like, ugh, what happened to it? Look what they did. Yeah, this is wacky.

Look what the monsters did to this place. But it was always good if you went there with a big act and they don't stay there so then you get the big room. Oh, yeah, got both rooms. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was the best. It was always a drag when you're featuring and you got to stay with the big act.

And then you got to, like, he's like, come on, we're going to hang out. I'm like, I don't even like you. Yeah, man, you're wack. I'm not going to learn anything from you by going to the mall with you i saw something about that you you i was thinking about uh was one of my in that experience one of my big nights was opening for sam kinnison one night on the humbug where in st louis in des moines really des moines iowa at a club at the club so before he was a funny before he was big? He was a funny bone. He was like a big deal, but he wasn't

doing, yeah. He wasn't doing Madison Square Garden. So this is either he was going to write for Madison Square Garden or just, you know, like when guys just like go out on the road and just sell it out real quick. How was that? Was it weird? It was crazy, dog, because, you know, I'm a new guy. I'm in Des Moines. It's very much

like St. Louis on steroids. You know what I'm a new guy. I'm in Des Moines. It's very much like this St. Louis on steroids. Like, you know what I mean? Like separation. The weird white thing. Yeah. And then it's Sam Kidderson. So, you know, his audience is like fucking. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just angry white people. Oh, whoa. So I'm like the young opening act. Like, go up. And, you know, I got a good show.

It's working. Boom, boom. I don't have a lot of material yet. Right. What do you five to eight when you're the opmc man like right there's a feature he probably brought carl or somebody yeah yeah and so he didn't even have his regular feature at that point because the feature goes up and panics yeah because he he does i do good the feature doesn't do well at all. Oh, and that's the sweet spot. Right.

If you can't do that 25, 20 to 25. So he comes off stage early. Uh-oh. The owner sends me back up. Sam's in the car, fucked up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dog fucked up. Yeah.

And this dude is telling me to stretch. Right. And I'm new man Wetting shaking in my boots like I'm just doing the audience work crowd war Oh, he's just trying that and then you know and they were being patient with me for a while Yeah, and then it was like Sam Sam really Sam, you know I'm just going going I'm looking at the manager like, what you want me to do? I'm like, yo, guys, he'll be here any minute, you know.

Like, look at this lady. Like, what's that outfit you got on? And the manager telling you, don't do that. Don't do that type of shit. Okay, so now you can't do that. He's trying to come up. Yeah, new material, riffing. All of a sudden, he walks in from the front of the club.

His partners are just walking him to the fucking stage. Oh, no. He gets up there and turns into fucking Sam Kinison. He kills it? About fucking just like- Like magic? Like magic, dog. I'd never seen that.

They was dragging this dude into the club. Right, yeah, I know. He walks on stage, and he's like, what's up, fuckers? And boom, and next thing you know, hour, gone. Wow. You're like,

what the fuck is that? It was kind of a frightening electric event when you saw it. When he's doing it. He was a new dude and he was like, and then of course,

you know, everybody like, you did good, man. You did good. You want to open for Sam? No. No. No. No.

That was not a great experience for me. Not for me at all, bro. Who else did you get to open for that kind of like that at least was inspirational? I mean, who were you looking up to? At that time, it was, you know, Damon Wayans. Oh, he was so good, man. Damon Wayans, Tommy Davidson. So Tommy Davidson, he hosted an event that I was a part of,

and it was great to be there. Where was that? That was in St. Louis. It was another like a comedy challenge thing. But he was just young. He was on Living Color, so he was famous. We knew who he was. So that was like special.

And then he used to be a guy, St. Louis dude local dude ron ramey he was dope yeah yeah what happened to that guy i think he passed recently too like i don't know exactly but he never really got to the heights but he was like super he was the pro from st louis like the black dude that was the pro right everybody like yo local hero wouldn't be like ron raymond yeah yeah was he was one of those guys it was like a comics comic or just not really like a lot he was kind of arrogant like people didn't really like him that much like overall like i don't remember like but he was he was good though you could not argue like give me like oh let's do a good like you know but he was you know he had an area he was good. He had an arrogance about him that was hard to be close.

Good-looking comics is tricky. Yeah, I don't trust them. Yeah, you can't. What are they up to? Isn't there something else they can do? Why you got to have charm, too? What's that all about? Charm and good looks.

You're not a comic. Come on, get out of here. Get out of here. Go model some clothes or something. Exactly. So when do you meet Steve? So I meet Steve like at the second part of that first run. I'm out on that big run.

That Funny Bones run? Yeah, Funny Bones run. Yeah, I meet him in Dallas. Yeah. I get stuck. I get down there, Dallas Club. They go under new management, and they don't need me as opening act. I drove 10 hours down to Dallas.

To open for Steve? To open for, no, Steve's got his own thing going. So he's got like a black comedy night happening somewhere. But does he live in Dallas? Yeah, he's living there at the time. I guess, you know, it makes sense. Was he doing radio and shit? Yeah, he had a little light radio show going.

It was new. He had a girl, you know, he was living down there and i think you know of course at in the like in the late 80s dallas was like this it town to be in like it was the economically strong yeah the basketball team was new the football team was hot deon sanders them dallas was like popping like it was just a dope city to be in and so steve was living there and he was on the radio and then he had a black comedy club called Vucu Rays. And I remember they told me they didn't need me at the Funny Bones, and they're not going to pay me.

And the guy who set me up to do comedy, the guy who told me to be in the competition, told me about Steve. He kind of introduced us through each other through just word of mouth. So when I went there, I told Steve, I'm the guy that Perchy Cruz knows. And he was like, oh, yeah. And it just so happens his headliner act was bombing. He was like, this dude was bombing.

He was like, you think you can go up and do a few minutes? I was like, yep. Went up, killed, five minutes. So then I told him what my situation was. He said, let me talk to the owner. And then basically he said, just come back every night. This dude don't do well. I'm putting you up.

And then at the end of it, we're going to see what we can do. And they basically, I did that, hoped for this dude to bomb every night. Yeah, and did he? And then he gave me $250, and I was able to get home. And that was it. Then he brought me back as a headliner like two months later. So that was, that worked out.

That was, Hey, that was my man. Then we went on to infamy TV shows and the Kings of comedy. Isn't that crazy? So how long did that take? What was that process? How long were you out there headlining before,

you know, some, whose idea was the Kings of comedy? Cause that was a big deal. Cause that was a big sort of crossover. Big deal. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was uh i mean i've been doing comedy for a while you know we were you know we were on the steve harvey show i'd you know you already hosted shit yeah yeah i did some shit i'd hosted uh bt's comic view i was uh yeah yeah i'd been on

i've probably been on Deaf Comedy Jam twice. I'd made a little name for myself just with little splashes. Was that whole Deaf Comedy Jam and Comic View, that all came up in the late 80s, early 90s? That all started to happen? Yeah, yep, exactly. Both of those. They were both early 90s, I'm going to say.

Yeah. Yeah, because I think, yeah. And you did the Apollo too. Yeah, I did think, yeah. And you did the Apollo too. Yeah, I did Apollo first. That was one of the first things. Actually, I did this other show called Uptown, but Apollo aired first. And so I did. And when I did Apollo, you know, it was so intimidating, but I did well.

And like you say, I never went back. I was like, I called it 1-0 and oh baby i got the standard ovation i left like okay i'm out of there was it is it a good experience did you feel like you just had it was something like a right of passage yeah you had to do it it was not something you wanted to do twice no well i didn't at the time but i've been back since you know and done things there but but at the time i didn't want to take no chances on going back like it was cuz it was good Yeah, like yeah, it's like scary man like New York is a tough You know you that's where they boo you that's like They'll light you up like before was hosting when you were there

Show time it seemed like it was Rick Avila. Maybe Rick Av Avila? Yeah. No shit. I think that's right. Hey, Rick Avila. How you doing, man? How you doing? Exactly. I think it was Rick Avila. I remember Rick Avila. Junkie pigeons.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I knew him pretty well. Are you from New York? I started in LA, but then I moved to New York. I was in New York, 89, on and off through 95 so i knew rick you know i knew his girlfriend i knew you know i i didn't know you know he did the for years he was the guy in ghost yeah you know and then he got sick you know yeah you know the drugs they do

you in but it's like that's a big time that's a long time you were doing it before the original kings of comedy i mean you're if you're kicking around the early 90s and that doesn't you don't But it's like that's a long time you were doing it before the original Kings of Comedy. I mean, if you're kicking around the early 90s, you don't do that tour until what, 99? 99. Yeah, we started in 99. Who put you? I love Hughley. Yeah. Yeah, he is my guy, too.

He's a great guy. I saw his first HBO half hour, and I thought, that angry motherfucker. Look at that guy. Yeah. Just fuming. Yeah. And he's being funny, but like I could see, he was full of rage. Yeah, so much.

He's always so ready to let people have it. Yeah, and I was like, that guy's great. I finally got to interview him. He's a great guy. So it was you, Steve Harvey, Bernie, and DL? Yeah. And that was it? That was it. That was it.

So was that a tour before Spike decided to get involved? Yeah, for sure. We had toured, you know, this guy Walter Latham, he used to tour all of us individually. So back then. He was your, like, booking agent? He was a promoter. Promoter, like a guy that does shows.

Yeah. And he was a guy that has been successful, but he would, you know, it was all about theater shows at the wild. So he would do, so he could take Bernie out on a theater show and make money. He'd take Steve out on a theater show, he'd take me out, and he would take D.L. out. It's so funny because at that time, like all you do, especially Bernie, I mean, you didn't have any crossover audience.

No, it was all black audiences. But when Deaf Comedy Jam blew up and Comic View, that little niche where that was the entertainment to happen. Yeah. It was all you needed to do. You can say anybody was coming to town and all of us can sell out a 2 000 seats theater easy wow like that money was crazy back then it was like so easy it was not a lot of direct for if you if you showcase on any of those shows it meant that you could sell you guys so everybody's watching everybody watching that show and if you were good and if they put you on a

package so like it was a lot of package shows where it'd be four or five comics. But on that small level, nobody had did it for an arena. And that guy thought of that idea. With you guys. Yeah. So he was like, nobody did like all the big guys at once and put it in an arena. But you were already doing theaters and stuff. Yeah, we would do theaters.

I would go and do the Fox Theater or somewhere. All black audience. All black audience, packed. Yeah. Might even do the Fox Theater somewhere. All black audience. All black audience, packed. Yeah. Might even do two shows, packed. So when you guys do the original Kings of Comedy, I don't know what the years are with that. It was 99 to like-

But was like, did Bernie have a show yet? No, no. So it was like still all black audience. Yeah, Bernie was the king. Bernie was like, he had already yeah Bernie was the king Bernie was like he had this most famous eight minutes of comedy from his deaf comedy yes that I ain't scared of you motherfuckers right made him them huge he was big yeah like Chappelle is now like I was like the dog comic yeah yeah

and so he that was it even Bernie, you say Bernie Mac, come in, it's gone. Chick is gone. Powerful. Yeah. And so, and then. And now, how did Spike get involved? That must have been exciting. Yeah, well, Spike got involved because we were going to shoot the movie. Yeah. And then we were just trying to give the movie this splash, give it this identity again.

And Walter, he thought of that idea. To do the movie. Well, we all thought about doing the movie, but he thought of the idea of bringing somebody like Spike Lee in to make it a splash. And he was into it? And then Spike just, he saw us in New York. It was a big deal.

We went to New York and he came, saw the show. He was like, he was in. So that was that. And, you know, he wanted to be able to make it like this cultural experience, which is what his kind of, you know, niche is. And I think that's why the movie still has legs to this day. Right. And the name, all of that, like all these things.

Like we never were able to capitalize on it again, which was so unfortunate. In what sense? Well, we never did two. We never did. You could have. Yeah, but, you know. You guys never toured again after that together? Never toured again.

Like, crazy. Like, it just, you know, just like a great, you know, band. Everybody severed due to their own powers. Yeah, I guess so. It's weird, though, because you would think that. But you would think now if you wanted to. Well, I mean, you could probably get D.L. to go, right? D.L. would go. D you but you would think now if you wanted to well I mean you can you could probably get DL to go right DL ago DL DL I'm gonna get ready to see DL after this like

we see each other all the time like DL to do it like he just Steve won't do it Steve won't do it Steve got you know Steve he's the one I like I'll try to convince Steven to do it now he would do probably like if it would if we shows if we could you know get him to understand like it's a special short-lived run he'd do it yeah it'd take some maneuvering but right and what do you think he could pull still like everybody get it get the people in yeah yeah that would work you know uh you know i wouldn't you know everybody goes what do you do about the bernie of it all right i don't think there's a replacement you don't really right do you do with the three do you do like a little video homage of bernie and do you do like um and try to find a new new guy and say who's that new guy that's what everybody goes who's the new king i guess that's i well so

that's what you think the expectation is and that's kind of what happens is like everybody who's hot enough to really do it and fit in they got their own lane like yo i'm doing my own thing that's right that's that's what happens everybody gets old and yeah and everyone's doing okay yeah exactly but the so the comedy thing but you still do it yeah man and and but acting like you turned out to be you're very good actor you can do all the stuff yeah man you can do comedy you can do the serious you show you know you you you got an emotional range yeah you do a lot of different shit yeah and it's it's pretty it's pretty great like i mean you were in that that that dark fucking movie what was that first performance i mean that's like did pa Paul Schrader direct it?

Yeah. Wrote it, directed it. Well, I know. And he's a trip. Yeah. And that movie's wild. But, you know, you're almost like, you're like the happy part of it. Yeah.

A bad movie. Yeah. Yeah. But how do you, did you just audition for that? You know, it was weird because, you know, Paul Schrader was looking for, he actually wanted Steve for that you know it was weird because uh you know paul schrader was looking for he actually wanted steve for that role he wanted he wanted someone that he believed the the black community would believe this person is that person like right away yeah and then i thought you were believable yeah and i think that's you know, that kind of authenticity where you believe like, okay, if you say these things, I believe that you would really say that.

And then as this kind of big, powerful black leader, I could believe you would also be that. Yeah. Right. And so without it being jokey. Right. You know, that was a big thing he said when he spoke to me on the phone. He's like, you know, there's no comedy. I don't want you to bring any jokes. I was like got you man i can do that bro i can turn it off yeah

man yeah but like you did a lot like there's so many movies the barbershop movies were huge yeah and that ice cube producers yeah and he's in those were fun those were great yeah that was a great comedy showcase right yeah yeah another one another one where, you know, it was an opportunity to show us trying to do something creative. Yeah. Because I wanted to play the old man. So that was like a wild choice at the time. You know, I asked to play that old man. He was like, why you want to play the old man?

I said, I know this old man. Yeah. Like, I know him. Like, I got him. He was like, all right. And I went in and I did it in a read. Yeah. And he killed me. I was like, all right. And I went in and I did it in a reed. Yeah. And he killed him.

I was like, all right, cool. And then you were involved with the Honeymooners. Yeah, produced that. Now, how did you get involved with that? Did it work out? How did that thing do? You know, that was one of those Hollywood tales that you go like, you know, when everybody gets a bright idea and think, all right, cool, let's do the black version of this big white iconic show.

And, you know, it was like, say, you can pull it off. And I really believe that one. I love Jackie Gleason. My grandmother was like when, you know, she loved that whole Jackie Gleason variety show and just grew up on him. Yeah. Back then. And so I love the idea of it. And when we first started it, that's the thing about doing any kind of movies.

When we first started it, it was an executive who got me. We hired Mike Epps. So he got like what we were trying to do. We were breaking the movie out. And I was like, look, man, this episode, if we're going to do this, we should do something that feels authentic so we could tell the story. Let's break out into a heightened version of the episode where the guy leaves the bus the money on the bus in the briefcase yeah yeah and then we can have this story that'll feel

authentic to it being black because we can make it far more you know hyper into this new world and it'll feel real right loved it cool he gets fired so the movie's going it's greenlit you know which guy that for the producer the big like head of the studio dude yeah so he's our guy like when we first started he's my guy yeah he's now this is the first time i'm coming off like uh i'm coming off another movie so this is my first time getting paid like a lot of money to be the lead dude so and you get a producer credit and it sets my movie, so this is my first time getting paid a lot of money to be the lead dude. And you get a producer credit. And it's set to my quote, right? So this is getting ready to be like, yo, I don't know, like $5 million or something. And if I do this movie, then I get this number from here on out.

So I got to do this movie. So I'm not going to walk away from it. So then the new guy comes in. He wants to put dogs in the movie, and he feels like it should be a lot more of a universal idea. That's just right there. That's one of the suggestions. We need dogs.

Dogs are big now. Yeah, and you're trying to fight it, and he's the new guy, and he needs to make his mark. We need to put dogs. And we're doing this dog, and we're doing dogs guys and then we're gonna and then they cut them they cut the budget and we end up shooting the movie in ireland like so not so now we're doing i dublin for new york i don't know what's this and the dog racing so it's a dog racing dog racing greyhounds dog like people don't even know what it's like a part of the of american nostalgia that people don't even know what this like a part of American nostalgia

that people like what is that what are the conversations on set I can't I can't imagine that Mike Epps is easy to deal with

in this situation oh man he's like you know he's like a young young comic being Mike Epps all crazy

we in Ireland he all I don't even know I think he had to get some kind of special permit to even go man like Mike Epps used to be a whole thing man so Ireland, he all, I don't even know. I think he had to get some kind of special permit to even go, man. Mike Epps used to be a whole thing, man.

So that was that disaster. Yeah. And so, you know, when the movie comes out, that guy's fired, and a new executive is in charge by the time the movie comes out. So they just don't care about it at all. Right. So the movie actually is a good film, in my opinion. It could have been a better film,

but it just got lost in the minutia of what is, what is it, you know, to put a movie out in Hollywood, it's not like as simple as what people think. Oh, of course not.

It's a fucking disaster sometimes. But then you did a lot of voice work, and you did, how do you choose movies? I never saw Cadillac Records. Oh, it's awesome. But it looks like it's great. Oh, it's awesome. But it looks like it's great.

Yeah, it's awesome. Because I love all the people that are, you were Willie Dixon. Yeah. And it was great. Did you do a lot of research to do that? Yeah, I did some research, learned how to play the upright bass a little bit. Because he was something else, that guy. Yeah, he was pretty wild. Chess records and great actors.

Jeffrey Wright, amazing in there. Who did he play? Jeffrey Wright played Muddy Waters. Holy shit, I've got to watch that movie. records and then uh and great actors jeffrey wright amazing in there most jeffrey wright played muddy waters holy shit i gotta watch that movie oh yeah i don't know how i missed it it's a great movie it's a small film so but you know adrian uh brody yeah adrian brody he plays the uh uh chess the big chess one of the chess guys leonard yeah and then uh beyonce plays uh One of the chess guys, Leonard? Yeah. And then Beyonce plays...

At last... Etta James. Etta James, yeah. Oh, that's good. So she plays Etta James. Mos Def plays Chuck Berry. Oh, Kill's dope. Oh, I got it.

Yeah, it's dope. And what's this one that you directed? What's the one that you put together, the Dance Fu movie? Dance Fu. So Dance Fu's my first time directing. It's a small movie, fun. You know, I was inspired by this kind of whole, like, Napoleon Dynamite was kind of popping off in all these quirky movies. Kind of weird movie.

Yeah. So the guy Kel Mitchell, you know, he just was on Dancing with the Stars. You know, Kenan and Kel fame. He had this idea. He came to us. We liked it. We kind of helped him beat the movie out, write it out and, uh, just shot it man for like 200,000 or something like that. And so

it was fun, man. It was crazy, quirky movie about him as a kid who, uh, comes from Chicago to try to make it his uncle, who's a big, like kind of club owner out here gets murdered and by this villain and then yeah it's like it's like this dude pretty eye willy he's got like pretty hair and and he wears makeup on one eye and he wears a patch on the other eye okay and it's just like and he has to dance battle this guy yeah to save you know the the family and the legacy of his uncle's club is hilarious. Wild. So wait, what, now when you do something like that, obviously you get some people to throw some money in, right?

Yeah, yeah. But what were your expectations out of that? Did it meet your expectations? Well, probably not. I think, you know, at the, you know, at the end, you know, we, you know, like in all those kind of things, you didn't really, you know, you don't understand the whole process of, you know, kind of getting your distribution right before you go in and you're expecting the movie to, you know, to do this or do that.

And, you know, we, you know, you had some flaws. This is my first time directing. You had some flaws in the storytelling. You miss a few things and you're like, you know. We made a good movie, though. It's a movie that I love. My kids love it. It's funny, weird.

It's a good, bad movie. That's what you say. Like, it's a bad movie, but it's good, though. How many kids you got? Three kids total. I got a daughter that's 30. You know, previous relationship. Lives in St. Louis with a little granddaughter that's three.

Got a granddaughter? Yeah, man. And then my oldest turned 16 yes i mean my youngest she turned 16 yesterday uh and then my son is 19 he's at university of arizona oh that's a big school yeah good school big school yeah he's enjoying it he's having a good time are they gonna be in show business i don't know he probably will be oh yeah yeah he's he Yeah, he likes to animate and draw. He likes to act. So he's got a big personality, but, you know, I think he'll probably find it as he goes along.

But, yeah, he's a strong actor. He's done a few plays, and, you know, I had him on my show a couple of times. Oh, yeah? Yeah, he's strong, though. I didn't see the—how did that run of American Buffalo do that you were in? It was short? Yeah, he's strong, though. You did, like, I didn't see the, how did that run of American Buffalo do that you were in? It was short-lived.

It was great, though, man. Did you play teach? Who'd you play? Played, yeah, teachers. Yeah. Who owns the podcast? Yeah, yeah. It's been something.

I own the podcast. Yeah. And so, you know, it was great, man. And, you know, me, John Leguizamo. Yeah. Haley Jo Osment. Oh, yeah know, it was great, man. And, you know, John Leguizamo, Haley Jo Osment. Oh, yeah. And it was.

And it was like a big, it got a big push, right? Yeah, it got a big deal. And then the economic crisis happened. The big. Oh, the bank thing? Yeah, the big fall happened, man. And that was it. And our big investor dude ran for the hills and that was it.

Like we opened, we had a mixed review in the New York Times and then, but yeah, it was short run, man. We didn't even, I think we ran maybe,

we opened and then we probably ran maybe four more weeks. Oh, that was it? It was tough. Oh, man. But it was a great experience for me

like, you know, because all my reviews were amazing. So I just, I just. weeks oh that was it it was tough oh man but it was a great experience for me like you know because all my reviews were amazing so i just cedric surprises yeah in this piece of theater that nobody else was good yeah like yeah and what's your relationship with wrestling uh you know that was coming up in st louis it used to be a whole big thing back in then uh called wrestling with the chase and there was a version of a wrestling show that It used to be a whole big thing back in the day called Wrestling with the Chase. And there was a version of a wrestling show

that they used to do and that was a big part of like our whole neighborhood. So when I was asked to be a part of the whole wrestling stuff, I was like, oh, hell yeah.

You like it? Yeah. You grew up with it? Yeah, I just grew up with it. Because you like, you wrestled Chavo, right? Yeah, exactly. Because he's like,

I'm on GLOW, you know, and he's the trainer. Like, he's the guy that teaches all the chicks on my show to wrestle. He's like the in-house wrestling coach. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, so I see him all the time. He's a great guy.

Yeah, yeah. He's got a real wrestling family. That's hilarious. Yeah. I grew up with a family of wrestlers. Yeah, man. I mean, it's a family business. So what's the plan now? You're going to run

this? Are you shooting other things now? Yeah, well, I'm going to run this neighborhood thing for as long as it goes. We're doing great. And so that goes until March. You're shooting more now? Yeah, second season. This is network television, so we get

23. 23? Yeah, man. So you're doing all right. Yeah, man. 23, and you've been around as long as you've been around? Yeah, man. I'm not. That's what I told somebody. I'm not.

Hey, dude, I'm quiet over here. You're covered, man. You're not hearing me complain about a thing. I'm like, I'm over here. At this stage of my career, I feel like I'm stealing money. I'm like, okay, cool. That's great. And so that's pretty much it for now?

No dates? Yeah, no, I still do dates. I got a big run right after the holidays. So I did, like I said, I did Memphis last week. That was great. Then I just kind of chilled for Thanksgiving and my daughter's birthday this whole weekend. And then I do a big run right after Christmas. So 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st.

So starting Detroit. Where do you play there? Detroit, I do the sound board at the casino, Motor City Casino. Great room. I love that room. That's a great room. Chicago, we're going to do. This is one of these big kind of shows with

a lot of comics dl and i dl hewley oh yeah a few other guys a lot of great guys will be on these shows it'll be it's usually about four comics oh yeah shows and we'll do like uh chicago you know poly pavilion or something i don't know uh and then um then at Atlanta. What do you do there? Atlanta we'll do. This is probably another arena show. Oh, yeah? Wow. Big places, huh? Probably Phillips Arena.

And then we'll do, yeah, because we're doing New Orleans, the Smoothie King. Oh, wow. That's a hard market for a comic sometimes. With New Orleans? Yeah. Yeah, but. You do good there? Yeah. And you go there with a group of people, too. But we comic sometimes. With New Orleans? Yeah. Yeah, but. You do good there? Yeah, but you go there with a group of people too,

but we do pretty good in New Orleans, yeah. And then it is a slower market though for sure, but they come out though. Yeah, yeah, good. And then Houston for New Year's Eve. Wow, you do the New Year's Eve show. Yeah, man. I just don't do them anymore.

I used to, you know, I stopped for a couple years, but, you know, because it did get a little dragging. But then it became this cool thing where I would take my family and my kids, and then we would go do the New Year's Eve show and then take off and go somewhere. Oh, yeah. That's nice. It became our little thing. Yeah, yeah.

So you go like, all right, well, cool. You just get this big chunk of money, and then you go like, oh, going to the new year with my family. Is that what you're going to do? But I got to be right back at work on the TV show on the 2nd this year. So last year we did Houston, and we went to Cabo and stayed at a friend's house. And this year we're just going to stay in Houston for a day

and just kind of hang out. It's all right, city. It's an okay city. Yeah, it's all right. Just kind of hang out. It's all right, city. It's an okay city. It's all right. We got good friends there. All right. Well, it's great talking to you,

man. Yeah, man. Appreciate this brother. I know it's been a long time. We were trying to get this happen, but that's good. I appreciate your pay.

You're one of the Kings of this podcast thing. Well, I think so. I think now it's, I don't know if I'm a King, but I'm certainly in an OG. I'm certainly one of the originals. I like it.

Like, you know, like I don't know if my King ship king, but I'm certainly in an OG. I'm certainly one of the originals. Okay, an OG, I like it, I like it. You know, like, I don't know if my kingship holds as much as it used to, but I'm definitely one of the guys that was there at the beginning. Yeah, that's dope, man. I mean, you know, of course, everybody's trying to talk me into getting one. Of course. What, your agent? Yeah, no, just my business managers and people.

Why don't you do it? They're recommending everybody. It's important. Just people they're recommending everybody it's important just do it oh it's important it's important yeah you know this is where you get your audience yeah keep the brand going yeah you gotta do it man man they're telling everybody you know there were podcasts before me and before most of the popular but i was there the timing was right it was at the beginning of this new wave of of the medium But now, like, everybody, everyone's being recommended to do a podcast. If you've got any kind of name value, go do one. Yeah.

See what happens. Well, are you going to do it? I don't know. All right. It's a lot of work. I mean, you make it look cool, man. Well, you can do it from your house, you know. You don't do the cameras or anything either.

I don't. You know, I don't. You've had a classic Oh, it's audio man. You know and then we had there was a reason for yeah, and I love the tape the 8-track reel That's rolling yes, sir. Yeah, we got the reel to reel going and you can look at those People don't see what's going on here. Yeah, it's all analog in here. It looks like we're in NASA Yes, you know Tom Hanks movie. Big control board. We're both in our own booth.

You look great over there. Thank you, buddy. That's smooth. In my chair with the joystick. Your chair joystick. You look really cool like that. I like it. You're a little higher than me.

Well, you know, I got to feel like I'm important. Thanks, man. All right, brother. That was Cedric the Entertainer talking to me right here the show is the neighborhoods on cbs monday nights and go to wtfpod.com slash tour for all them dates for all of them dates cleveland grand rapids milwaukee orlando tampa portland maine providence new haven huntington Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Orlando, Tampa, Portland, Maine, Providence, New Haven, Huntington, New York. There's the pre-sale starts on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. wherever you are. And the password is Buster. Dig it.

All right. Now I will play guitar for you like I do all the time. You don't have to make comments about my fucking guitar playing. You don't have to listen to it. fucking guitar playing. You don't have to listen to it. This is the wrong tone. What am I responding to? What just happened, Mark? Let's go through it. Wait, let's use the app. Why was Mark yelling

as if somebody specific? Why was Mark making a general angry statement to everybody about not commenting on his guitar? What does that mean, app? That means one guy commented on Twitter about his guitar playing and didn't even at him. So the entire world is critical of my guitar playing.

Fuck that guy. In this case, that means fuck that guy. All right. I'll talk to you later. Enjoy these three chords. Thank you. Boomer lives. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls?

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