WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1535 - Tiffany Haddish

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Before Tiffany Haddish rocketed to stardom with Girls Trip, she saw Marc at the back entrance of The Comedy Store and told him that she was going to be on his podcast one day. Today is that day. Tiffany and Marc talk about who she was in those days before worldwide fame, how she came up in the foster care system, how she found her voice at comedy camp, and how she wound up navigating the new world of being a major celebrity. 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.

From the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, a new hero arrives. I am ready. Is there anyone stronger? No. Tougher? No. Funnier? I do not make jokes.

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we understand, they mean it. Visit oxxio.ca for internet from a provider that actually gives a damn and use the promo code WTFmark at checkout to get your first month free. That's Oxxio.ca promo code WTFmarc. Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies?

What the fuck, Nicks? What's going on? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast. Welcome to it again. And if you're new here, welcome. Nice to have you. Everything alright with you? I'm a little shattered in certain ways,

but in other ways, completely solid. That's the nature of it, I guess. That's the way life works. I've been doing a lot of thinking and feeling and engaging after that conversation with Neil, and after some of the stuff I've been talking about on stage, it's a very strange thing to be a grown person in the world, but sort of crippled in many ways

that other people don't seem to be. And it's always been like this for me, mostly emotionally. And I know I'm getting heavy right out of the gate here. You know, at certain points in my life, I've done material about everything that I've gone through. Is that for entertainment? I don't know. I don't know what it is, but it was the way,

and is the way, that I make sense of the world and try to become a whole person is through this goddamn talking Through this fucking comedy, which is a little different. There's certain things that I I don't talk about in my life Because i've learned to keep certain things private Just to uh, you know protect others to protect myself and to have a fucking life And then there's some things I only do on stage and don't talk about here

because I want the live exchange. I want to feel the sort of tension and release and also the impact that I feel when there's sort of a one-mindedness in an audience experience. And I don't even know why I'm being so serious right now. Hold on, let me try to shift gears a little bit. I'm talking to Tiffany Haddish today.

I don't know her well, I've met her a few times. I met her years ago before she got really famous. And she was like, I'm gonna do your podcast someday. And this is the day. And that was like, oh my God, it's gotta be so many years ago. I recently did a panel with her at a Jewish event. Her career, as you know, exploded in 2017 with her breakthrough performance in Girls

Trip and since then she's never stopped working. She works a lot. She's here to plug a book. Her second autobiography, this one's called I Curse You With Joy. Tonight, I'm in Montclair, New Jersey at the Wellmont Center. Tomorrow Friday I'm in Glenside, Pennsylvania near Philly at the Keswick Theater and then Washington DC this Saturday May 4th at the Warner Theater. I'll be in Munhall, Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh on May 9th at the Carnegie Library Music Hall. Cleveland, Ohio on May 10th at the Playhouse Square

in Detroit, Michigan on May 11th at the Royal Oak Music Theater. You can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for all of my dates and links to tickets. We will have information probably early next week about the reschedules for a few of the dates that I'm not going to be able to do because I'm shooting. And outside of that, yeah, I've just been thinking about

that conversation I had with Neil. I've been thinking about some of the stuff I'm doing on stage now. I've been thinking about trauma. And I don't want to dismiss that. And I don't know how anybody received some parts of my conversation with Neil. But trauma,

you know, I've gone through a lot of, not self-help, but a lot of different ways to try to understand myself, my behaviors, you know, whatever the hole inside of me is. And I've chosen not to believe it's a God-sized hole, but just a sort of gaping hole of insecurity that kind of through most of my life keeps me somewhat wide open. But also as I got older I learned how to hide that, to hide the wide openness to the best of my ability.

I don't know, it seems that many of you, my audience, seems to see right through that shit. But I've just been thinking about it. Because I spent time with my dad, and as your parents get older, your feelings about them becomes different. I mean, I think in the natural course of things, many people, I think, feel it's their responsibility

to take care of their parents and to accept them for who they are now. in the natural course of things. Many people, I think, feel it's their responsibility to take care of their parents and to accept them for who they are now. And I think I do do that, but where it's coming from is a very conscious sense of responsibility. It's not coming from an emotional need, because as my dad kind of, you know, kind of fades away mentally, a lot of the stuff that I loved about the guy

or that I thought was amazing about him as I was growing up is still sort of there. But then you start thinking about all the other stuff and what impact did that have? I think there's sort of an act of forgetting if you don't focus on your resentment or your anger That as they forget if you're lucky you forget because there's no No one's gonna pay that bill and no one's a no one's gonna change

Whatever was taken away from you when you were a kid You know that that is that is gone that that opportunity is gone. And through whatever you need to do to kind of fix that inside yourself or parent yourself or do whatever or grow that little fucker up, that's sort of on you. And as my mom gets older and she breaks down, this is a very vain, self-centered, hyper-sexualized person. And you know, and she's having a very rough time at aging

and it was destined to happen. And I guess as I look at both of them, I wonder if that's what I'm going to be experiencing, or how am I gonna handle it? But I'm hyper aware of it. I don't experience, I guess I have a certain amount of fear, but what I started to realize, I got obsessed with the word triggered recently.

You know, because there's a lot in the press about, I got obsessed with the word triggered recently, you know, because there's a lot in the press about, you know, what's triggering, you know, what does that do, what we should or shouldn't say in order not to trigger people or, you know, trigger ourselves, but I look up the word and it kind of sent me on this kind of mental rabbit hole in myself.

You know, there's a couple of definitions, right? There's a, the noun is a trigger, but the verb is to cause an event or a situation to happen or exist like being born. I mean, it depends how you look at things or, or a cause to function is another one. Uh, in the, in a, of an event or situation, cause someone to do something, or there's this one, especially of something read, seen or heard, distress someone typically as a result of arousing feelings or memories associated with a particular traumatic experience.

And I realized that like my whole life, you know, was a reaction to being sort of triggered by you know, how I grew up, that it was, you know, I don't know what your life was like, but I had to somehow figure out how to not, you know, be wide open all the time from a very, very early age because my parents were, you know, they just, yeah, they had no emotional boundaries or capacity for nurturing or selflessness or, you know, and there was, you know, that causes trauma because you kind of left on your own.

There's a lot of things that cause trauma. I was sexualized as a young person. I was kind of diminished by my parents' needs and insecurities and chaotic vulnerability. I was not given any sort of supportive or safe space to develop a sense of self, but I was given plenty of space to try to build one on my own without any guidance whatsoever, really, outside of

their example which wasn't great in terms of principles and and consistencies and that just makes you go out into the world with no real way to emotionally protect yourself or feel safe anywhere so eventually you kind of figure out how to kind of you know be on guard how to get laughs, how to sort of insert yourself into situations or be charming if you're capable of it. But usually it's just, you feel like, and you act like a kind of slightly broken-ish person. And I know people don't like that word broken,

but you are a little bit, you can't hide the mark inside, that's what Burroughs says. So then you kind of move into the world, you choose new parents, role models, inspirations. I mean most of mine were troubled, charismatic people but they all had something that as I look at it now, you know, as a guy that's like kind of, uh, you know, kind of trying to reframe some of my past experiences in, in the sort of, under the umbrella of trauma, which I think is real and it's a, it's as good a way as any to try to figure out a portal through which to understand yourself.

Hey, you know, a lot of these people seemed that I could sense were troubled as well, but figured out a way through. You figure out a way through and you press on. I never really saw myself until recently, but not in a deep sense. I can see where I've been a victim. I can see where I've been emotionally abusive or victimized others in terms of my emotional interactions. And all this stuff is now like I'm 60 and it used to be like, well, maybe there's no way I can work through this stuff. Maybe I am what I am, fuck it.

And I think that's what a lot of us do. But then all you're doing is what you're moving through the world with, what your emotional template is, is just some sort of, you know, elaborate shield. And I've been on the edge of this for a while, but you know, when you come from a life, and I'm only speaking to people that I can speak to here,

where you were sort of denied the ability or not given any self-esteem or any way to get self-esteem, your life is just a slow kind of car wreck in a lot of ways. Self-destruction, I've experienced all this stuff, compulsion in all areas, addiction, anger, self-centeredness, an inability to selflessly give or receive love, profound shame that constantly destables any sort of security or sense of self I might have, inability to compartmentalize anything, I have a constant distrust of almost everyone, yet conversely I'm a total sort of emotional mark for any sort of usler

or predator or charismatic person. That's what I had to build from. And so as I've grown aware over time, you know, you have to, it's cognitive fucking approach, man. All right, I know this thing does this, and whatever this feeling is, this is what happens. So like, you know, how do I hold strong?

How do I, you know, how do I make a boundary? It's fucking nuts. It's fucking nuts and it's exhausting. But the truth is, there's some other thing that kind of kept me going and kept me plugging through. And I chose, I think a lot of this has to do with, you know, that email I got from that guy who said that, you know, everything we do, relationships we get in,

is somehow trying to recreate where we come from. You know, and he said that, you know, comedy is probably that. And I realized, and I used to say it a lot when I was growing up that, you know, comedy is probably that. And I realized, and I used to say it a lot when I was growing up, that, you know, you got to put yourself in dangerous situations or frightening situations to see if you get through them. And you know, kind of figure out how to hold steady. You know, that was the way that I decided to try to get some sort of authentic sense of self.

And, you know, looking back on a lot of my comedy, you know, a lot of it is, it's not therapy, but it's me trying to understand life from my point of view. And that was all I set out to do. It is creatively and as funny as possible. But something different is happening because, you know, after my last special, being able to talk about the traumatic experience of my partner dying and figure out how to mine that

or process it in a comedic way. It sort of sent me on this path to figure out how to do that with other stuff in my personal life and heart and it's pretty intense, but it's still what I'm doing. And I'm exhausted. Are you the kind of person who's always worrying about things back home whenever you travel? Did you lock the doors? Did you leave a window open or leave the oven on? I'm that kind of person when I travel down the street, let alone when I travel around the country. But one of the ways you can ease your worry is by having award-winning home

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Funnier? I do not make jokes. I make warriors. Knuckles, now streaming only on Paramount+. Yes! Folks, May 6th through May 12th is Mental Health Week, a time to raise awareness about mental health that's centered on the healing power of compassion.

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health week. Donate at camh.ca slash wtf to help CAMH treat addiction and build hope. That's camh.ca slash wtf. That's camh.ca slash WTF. Microphone Checker. Oh my God. It's finally happening. Finally after all these years. Do you remember when that was?

When you were on the back porch of the comedy store, you're like, You don't know me. Yeah, but you're gonna know. But I'm gonna do your podcast one day. Man, that was like 20. Come on, no way. 16. Oh, okay, yeah, that might be right.

Yeah, 2016, maybe 2014. Was that like before everything? No, I mean, I had already been on The Carmichael Show. Right. Yeah. But you weren't a movie star. No, but I had. Yet? Not yet, but I had already been on the Carmichael show right yeah, but you weren't a movie star No, but I yet and not yet, but I had did a couple movies But but not the big one like a big one, and then it took this long this is like that's a long time

Yeah, what was that about that was I mean was it my fault. I think it was some of your fault You weren't mad at me though. No, I was not mad at you, no. You weren't like, well fuck that guy. Never. Well that's nice. Never, never. So what was the book fair? What'd you do over there?

So I was at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair and I did two stages there. One was a children's stage and I read my book, Layla, The Last Black Unicorn to the Kids. And- You have a children's book. I have a children's book called Layila, the Last Black Unicorn to the kids and- You have a children's book. I have a children's book called Leila, the Last Black Unicorn. And you read the whole book?

The whole book. How long did that take? About 10 minutes. Oh, that's good. Yeah, and I was talking to the kids in between and stuff. Now what is the angle on the last black unicorn? The last, well, okay, so which one? Tiffany Haddish, the last black unicorn?

No, the children's book. Layla, the last black unicorn. The angle on that is, it's a story from when I was a kid and how I was getting like kind of bullied and picked on a little, not too extensively in the book, but just a little bit to show like, you know, you go to school to figure out who you are, to figure out you're special.

There's something unique and awesome about you. You just gotta figure out what that is. Layla's thing was, they went on a field trip in the Overlook Woods, where she's from, which is South Central LA, and they got a little lost, and she knew her way around there because that's where she's from. And they were calling her Woodsy,

which is my way of saying ghetto. But she knew her way around there, and she could help them find their way. And that's what made her special. And she was the only black unicorn. And then all the other kids liked her? And then all the other kids liked her. And thought she was special.

And thought she was special. You know, I've never really talked to you, and I know you've told your story, and now your story's in a book. Yes. But I want to know, what I want to know about, the one thing I noticed when I was looking around is I need to know about your, is it, how do you say it, attrition? Eritrea? Eritrea. Yeah, and an Erit Eritrea? Eritrea. Yeah, Eritrean. Eritrean. Yeah, Eritrean. Eritrean. Now I'm not dumb, but I don't know anything about it.

You don't know anything about Eritrea? No. So it is right next to Ethiopia. And it was part of Ethiopia? At one point in time, it was a part of Ethiopia. It was all Ethiopia, named by the colonizers. Yes. And they fought for their independence. It took 30 years. Yeah. And now they're Eritrea. And you're a citizen.

Yes, I am. So like, and you've been there many times? Well, three or four. Yeah. And it's because your dad's from there? Yes. What was it? I don't mean to start with this experience,

but I don't know anything about that part of the world. Well, it is feels like California, weather-wise. Does? Yes. Weather-wise, it feels like California. It is very beautiful. It feels like, well, when I first got there, I felt like I was walking into a time capsule,

because it's kind of paused in time. What made you go? To bury my father. That's it. And had you guys been getting along? Yeah, we have been getting along for the most part. I mean, the last few months of his life, he was kind of mean to me and kind of pushing me away.

And I guess he didn't want me to see him the way he was. And so, yeah. But like, was he always part of your life, he was kind of mean to me, and kind of pushing me away. And I guess he didn't want me to see him the way he was. And so, yeah. But like, was he always part of your life? No, he was not always a part of my life, no. He came into my life when I was 27. Well, he was in my life till I was three, and then he went away. And then-

Where'd he go? All over America. He was like on the run. He was selling green cards illegally, and my mom told him she was gonna tell on him and all this stuff, and so he went on the run. And this was the Jewish guy? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

But he was an African Jew? African Jew. That must go way back. What do you know about it? Did you ever do Finding Your Roots? No, I didn't do Finding My Roots. Oh, you should do it. I did 23 and Me.

Yeah, I know. And I know all my aunties and stuff, all his relatives and everything over there. How'd the Jews get there? The Jews have been there in Ethiopia. Isn't that wild? You know, they have been there. For like, since the Bible.

Yeah, since the Bible. And you know, there was that great exodus in the late 90s, early, no, early 90s, late 80s. Yeah. Of African Jews? Yeah. I'm so unfamiliar with it, but was he a religious guy? No, he wasn't very religious guy. But he was Jewish? But he was very religious, I guess, when he first got to America and then wasn't that religious, and then got on some drugs and stuff

and alcohol real bad and then the Christians help him get cleaned up so he would call himself a Christian Jew. Really? But were there like rituals? I mean, are there African Jewish rituals? They're the same as the regular Jewish rituals. The same? The same as the regular Jewish rituals. Well, sometimes like there's a little... There's like a little something, little different here, maybe with the bun,

you know, with the bunah, with the coffee and whatnot. But yeah, frankincense maybe. But you weren't brought up Jewish? No, I was brought up Jehovah witness and they like just baptized. I lived with a lot of different people for a while. Where did you grow up mostly? In South Central LA.

Yeah. How many brothers and sisters? I got two sisters and two brothers. How many brothers and sisters you got? One. One? Younger. Brother?

Yeah. He's all right. I get along with him. Is he married? Yeah. Why? No reason. Just being nosy.

He's actually not married. He's with somebody though. He's been married a couple times. Oh, okay. So you just brought up by your mom mostly? Mostly by my mom and my grandma. Mm-hmm. And I had a stepdad for a little while.

And- But it wasn't good. Things weren't good? Things weren't necessarily great. Yeah. And he was a veteran. The stepdad? Yeah, the stepdad was a veteran in the Vietnam War,

so he wasn't really, you know. Yeah, and your mom? And my mom was not in the Vietnam War. She's a veteran of South Central LA. Yeah. And she worked at the post office. She met him when she was working at the post office. Yeah, and then it was just happily ever after?

No, it was not happily ever after. Then the show ended. And then the long, drowned out Saga over there, boy. And it was just happily ever after? No, it was not happily ever after. Then the show ended. And then the long, drowned out saga over there, boy. What was it? It was, I guess, a relationship that went bad. Yeah. Yeah, it was not the best.

My mom had a really bad car accident and had went through a windshield. Oh my god. She had to learn how to walk and talk and all that stuff all over again. And everything that she had taught me up to that point, I was like teaching her and helping her. But she still, you know, she loved her husband and they ended up having-

Even after all that? Even after all of that. Was he there for her? No. Oh. No. Isn't relationships crazy? Yeah, relationships suck.

I mean, I don't understand sometimes. I don't understand either. I mean, I would love to have a partner to share my success with, my ups and my downs with, and I'd like to share their ups and downs as well. Yeah, but it's hard, right? It's really hard. What's it?

You don't know what people's real intentions are and stuff. Is that what it is? That and it's like, you know. I guess when you get to a certain level, you think that, I mean, I don't know, I don't trust people in general. I mean, I was always pretty trusting. I mean, I'm trusting you now, I'm here all by myself.

And you're a white man, an older white man. And I'm in your garage. It's not quite a garage, it's a studio. It's a studio. And you kind of know me, we have friends in common. I mean, I do know you, I do know you. And people know that I'm here. Oh, would you stop?

I've been watching some Netflix documentaries, I'm sorry. Which ones? I'd rather not say. I just watched that Locked Up, was it Locked In or something like that? Let Them Out of Theirselves? You should watch that, uh, Baby Reindeer. I just was talking with someone about this today. Did you watch it? No, I haven't watched it.

They were telling me I need to watch it. It's pretty, it's pretty heavy, man. Yeah, there's like very little comedy in it, but it's... The guy's a comedian, yeah. And I guess it's based on a show he did in Edinburgh. Yeah. Yeah, and it's like gnarly, dude. I mean, it's... The guy's a comedian, yeah. And I guess it's based on a show he did in Edinburgh. Yeah. Yeah, and it's like gnarly, dude. I mean, it's like fucking...

Yeah, they were saying he was like drugged and raped by the guy he was doing the script with and like... Something like that. Like, yeah, it's a big, long, you know, very courageous fucking thing, man, to like reveal that part of yourself as a story. Yeah. And then to be a comic.

No, it's not funny. It's definitely not funny, but it's intense. The lady that was telling me about it, she's like, he's a comedian, but it just, it's not really, you know, it's not in the comedy realm, but you have to watch, you just have to see it. Because it's just, he's really revealing so much. Just revealing so much, and this kind of reminds me

of your book, how you're just revealing so much. Like, so much. And this kind of reminds me of your book, how you're just revealing so much. Like, you don't have to tell people these things. And I'm like, but I wanna share these things so that people don't make the same mistakes that I did. That they have made those mistakes, that they understand they're not alone. You're not the only person that's stupid.

Do you feel uncomfortable with any of it? Like, now that you've written it, do you feel like, oh, I don't know? Yeah, not really. No? Not really. I mean, I'm down to talk about it, but like a lot of it, it's funny

because the first book I wrote, the intention of the book was to like put it in a book and never have to talk about it again. Which book was that? Tiffany Haddish, The Last Black Unicorn. But then you have to talk about all that stuff again when you do the press. Yeah. What was that one again when you do the press. Yeah.

What was that one about? That was about me. But this is about you. In this next book is more about me. You know, you're supposed to write about what you know about. Yeah, I know. But so was the other one mostly earlier life?

Or how was it? Yeah, more earlier life. And like this one is like some earlier life stuff, but like just picking up where the last one left off. And like putting, I put things in this next book and I curse you with joy. I put the stuff of you know that I didn't put in the first book that I took out of the first book because I felt like it was too long. Yeah. And the through line of the book is like what's really great about it is it is a series of essays and you could open up to any chapter and it's

easier to write that way isn't it? Yeah, it's so much easier to write that way. And it's a series where you can open up any chapter and be like, okay, yeah, I get it. Beginning, middle, end. Yeah. And as opposed to the first book, it's kind of chronological. Yeah.

But this book is more like, oh, I can get in here, get in there. And it's basically talking about everything that's happened. A lot of the things, not everything, but a lot of the things that's happened since Girl Strip came out. Yeah, yeah. So the first book was all the childhood? Childhood, adult life, you know.

Yeah. Leading up to Girl Strip. Yeah. And like, when did you start? You have to do it for me because like, I don't really know the story totally. I think the only part of the story is, I remember hearing several times that you swept in your car. Yeah, yeah, I was homeless for a while.

That was the part I heard. And then like I just built my own imagination around that. What did you build around that? I'm like, I wanna hear. Well, it was like, well, that's sad. She was living in her car and she had family in Los Angeles. It must've been terrible. And I don't know how she got to in Los Angeles, it must've been terrible. And I don't know how she got to her car,

but she must've loved doing comedy. I did, I loved doing comedy. But how'd you end up in the car? Well, okay, so I was staying at my grandma's house and my mom got, okay, so the first time I turned 18, the state stopped paying for me. I didn't go to college like I was supposed to. Okay, so the first time I turned 18, the state stopped paying for me. I didn't go to college like I was supposed to. I got accepted into NYU and all this,

and I didn't go because I didn't want to leave my sisters and brothers behind. And my grandma was like, I'm not getting paid for you no more, you gotta get out. And all your siblings are younger? And all of them are younger than me. And your mom's what, she's not in the picture? She's in the picture, but not in the picture.

Like, we were still in foster care. Because of the car accident? Yeah, well, she's schizophrenic. So she's not capable. But, like, that's what they diagnosed her with. I think it's more like CT or something like that. What's that? You know, the football player thing.

Oh, right. The hemorrhaging the brain. Did she hallucinate and stuff? Mm-hmm. She hears voices, hallucinates, gets very violent. And that all happened because of the car accident? Yeah. God damn. Yeah.

So it wasn't safe? No, it was not safe. And you were just left to take care of all the other kids? Yeah, well, I looked out for them as best I could. Yeah, did what I could. Because you were a kid. Yeah, I was a kid. And then your grandma took you in.

And then my grandma, well, we went into foster care and we moved around, I moved around a lot. I don't know about my sister, I don't think they moved around too much. To other foster care places? So you had families that took you in? And then I had a group home and a facility. Yeah, facility first, then a couple of homes

and then a group home. Was it, then a couple of homes, and then group home. And then. Was it, were any of the families good people? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. But it must be odd, right? It was weird.

Like, it was like an uncomfortable slumber party. Like, kinda like getting an Airbnb and then people don't leave. And you're like already a teenager. Yeah, so trying to figure that out. And then by the time I was 15, my grandma got me. so that people don't leave. And you're like already a teenager. Yeah, so trying to figure that out. And then by the time I was 15, my grandma got me. And I was with her, oh, 14, 15, somewhere in there.

Were you performing at all? Doing anything? Just drama in school. And then once my social worker was like, you got two choices this summer. You can either do the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp or you can do psychiatric therapy because something's wrong with your child.

And- But they think what's wrong with you. Well, I had these imaginary friends that I would talk to. I would get in trouble a lot for doing, you know, talking in class. Do you remember the imaginary friends? Yes, Carbolita and Polly. I mean, Polly's, it was actually Cracker.

It was a bird named Cracker. And did you, you know why you created them? Yeah, to make everybody laugh. So it wasn't a real thing? I mean, I couldn't see them. I made it seem like that. But you knew they weren't real. I knew they weren't real. It was, it was, it was a shtick to get attention. Did it work?

Yeah, it did work. I would be like, because I went to a predominantly white junior high and high school in Woodland Hills. I got bussed out to Woodland Hills. Bust out. Yeah. That was the way it worked?

Yeah, my mom had put me in a choices program. Yeah. And so they sent me to Hale Middle School in El Camino Real High School. Okay. And that was good. That's a good thing? Yeah, that was a great thing.

It's funny, cause once we went into foster care, I kept going to the school and the police kept showing up and stuff cause I was considered AWOL, cause I was supposed to go to a school in the community. But I chose to keep going to my school, so I would catch the RTD all the way to the school. It'd be like three hours from South Central on the RTD. And it was kind of a great experience

because I got to see all the different communities. You would see the bus change, the demographic change on the bus every few miles. So I'm like, oh, this is where all the Asian people live. Oh, this is where all the white people live. Oh, this is where the Mexican people live. This is where the black people live. This is where, oh, this is where all the Asian people live. This is where all the white people live. This is where the Mexican people live. This is where the black people live. This is where, like, oh, it's a lot of white people

on Ventura, like, you know, it's like, on Ventura Boulevard, it's like, whoa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of older people here, a lot of this there. So I got to learn the demographic of Los Angeles and got to learn my way around. And I still would get to school on time. I'd get up at like four in the morning.

That's fucking crazy. And then finally I had to go in front of the judge and like ask permission to go to my school. The judge did? Yeah, I had to ask permission from the judge to go to the school. And the judge was like, why are you keep doing it? Like, you know, you should be going to this school.

Why are you going to that school? And I was like, well, I feel safest at this school. I like it there. I really want to go to this school. This is the school I want to go to. I don't want to go to these other schools." And he was like, well, shucks. You know, like most kids don't even want to go to school.

So the fact that you want to go, you can go to that school. Oh, that's nice. Because, you know, I was state property at that point. Because of the foster system? Mm-hmm. You were state property at that point. And the courts determined a lot of everything, like for me to get a driver's license, I had

the judge sign off on my driver's license for me to... And that's not no fault of your own. And to be on the news, like once I got into the Laugh Factory comedy camp, to be on the news, I had to ask the judge permission to do that. And I had to plead like, plead why I should be on the news and everything and he was like well if you're half as funny as you are in this classroom if you're just a little bit as entertaining as you are in this courtroom then you know yeah you can go ahead and be on the news. And the only reason was because you were

under 18. Well yeah and I was ward of the state, state property so and they didn't want you know they don't really let kids be on TV like that, that are in the foster care system, because you might get kidnapped, you might give up your location, you know, stuff like that. And I'm like. But in looking back on it, do you feel like the foster care system served you?

I do, I do feel like it served me. I mean, I think it would have been better just to be like with my grandma the whole time. Yeah. But I got to see how other people lived. I got to know what it's like to like have to pack up and get on really quick. Yeah. Uh, adapt to different environments.

Uh, I think it prepared me for comedy in many ways. Yeah. How did that work? Prepared me for the road anyways. Yeah. Right, to travel. But I mean, but how did it work? Like families would just say, you know, they'd only take you for a certain amount of time? Well, the courts determine how long you get to stay

in a place. Oh my God. The social worker would, you know, find a home for you, whatever. Yeah. You get to a certain age, you can't be there no more. And you move. So you couldn't get many-

And then I come home from school and my stuff would be in the trash bag at the front door. Maybe, you know, it could be something with the family. For me, I thought that nobody wanted me, you know, and that's not necessarily the case. It could be just, you know, you've aged out of this type of home, or, you know, or the courts don't,

they're not letting them do that. Or maybe the foster parents only want babies now, or it just, you never know. Do you keep in touch with any of the foster people? No. No. Wasn't that good an experience? Hell no.

Yeah. But so when your grandma finally takes you, you can still go to Woodland Hills to the school? Yeah. And that's where you what that's where you started to be entertaining? Yeah, I was entertaining for sure junior high high school Yeah for sure entertaining as a Class clown both both junior high and high school. Did you do all right in school? It wasn't that the best I mean I did I did what I could though I did what I could yeah

Well, how'd you end up getting into NYU for drama? I was gifted of dramatic arts. I was winning all these drama festivals for monologues. And that started out in Woodland Hills? Mm-hmm. And it was like for all of Southern California, all the schools in Southern California. And I would beat, like, I remember I won a monologue competition, and I beat like 500 and something students. And it was crazy, because it was not easy.

But, and I got to perform at Paramount Pictures. That was like the prize. You get to perform in front of all these agents and managers and stuff at Paramount. And people wanted to represent me then, but you know, because I was in foster care, my grandma was like, nah, nah, you can't do that. And, by the way.

So they wanted, they were ready to go. Yeah, they were ready to go with me. I mean, I had some skills. Yeah. Did you, like, did you take classes or was it all just instinctual? I was in the drama class. So that's. I was in the drama class

and, you know, I paid attention in there because it was like, ooh. And the only reason I got into drama class is because there was this boy named Adi in there and I thought, oh, he black, I'm black. The school was only 3% black. I'm like, we're gonna have to kiss. They're gonna have to put us together.

Adi gonna be my boyfriend, but my drama teacher at that school was very open-minded and liberal. Liberal. And so she did the interracial couple thing. I was very upset. I'm like, when racism doesn't work in your favor. Did you like this teacher? I mean, do you? I did, interracial couple thing. I was very upset. I'm like, when racism doesn't work in your favor. Um, but- Did you like this teacher? I mean, do you-

I did, and that was Miss Young. I did like her. Yeah? Mm-hmm, I did. Do you give them credit? I give her credit for, you know, that was junior high. In high school, my teacher, Miss Grebe, I think I called her Miss Gear or something like that

in the book, trying to protect her. But she realized I couldn't read that well. And so she had me come into her class and like reading to her every day. She helped me like. Like before class kind of thing? Like during like lunchtime nutrition. Like I would come in there and read to her

for like a whole semester. And it worked? It helped. It helped a lot. It helped a lot. Yeah. And she was an acting teacher? Yeah. And what and she was an acting teacher?

Yeah. And what did she show you? Just, you know, she helped me with the sounding out of the words and stuff, like I knew letters, but I didn't understand like how they went together. The English language, so fucking complicated, doesn't make sense. Yeah, but in acting terms, how did she help you?

Oh, well, she helped me find my confidence in stage, you know, I know the difference between stage left, stage right, you know, all those different things. And just, you know, performing, willing to be silly. Yeah. You know, it's OK to be silly and goofy. Were you serious at first? No.

I was goofy as hell. But show me how. It was the comedy camp, though, that really showed me when to be funny, when not to be funny, how to put a joke together, the who, what, when, where, why. Were you watching comedy already? Yeah, I was already watching comedy. I was already watching like Def Jam and Comic View

and stuff like that. Who's Line Is It Anyways, the Improv, we used to have comedy sports at my school, so we would do, like I was on the comedy sports team and we would do stuff. In high school? Yeah. They went away to competitions and stuff,

I didn't go to the competitions. Because you couldn't? I don't know why I didn't, but I just didn't go to the competitions. Because you couldn't? I don't know why I didn't, but I just didn't. Were you pretty good at the improv? Yeah, I was very good at it. Yeah. Very good. So once you moved in with your grandmother,

then she said it was OK to do the comedy camp? Yeah, she said it was OK. Well, the social worker got me in a comedy camp. How about that social worker? You like them? Yeah, I do like her. Yeah, yes, I do. I like her a lot. And she was with you the whole time? Not the whole entire time, but I'm at a camp. How about that social worker, you like them? Yeah, I do like her. Yeah, yes I do, I like her a lot.

And she was with you the whole time? Not the whole entire time, but I'm majority. When you got older? Yeah, majority of the time. Yeah. Yeah. And you felt like she gave a shit? Yeah, I definitely felt like she cared,

and like, she wasn't perfect, but who is, nobody. Right, tough job. Yeah, not an easy job at all. Yeah, they don't get as much attention as they should. No. I don't know why there's, I tried to pitch a TV show about social workers and it didn't go,

but it seems like that's the most intense, important job in the world. I did too. Yeah. I did too. I don't know why it didn't go either. Yeah, I don't, because I don't think people know what they really do,

but they're like, they're the ones on the ground dealing with this shit. Yeah. Taking care of fucking kids and people and families. Yeah. It's crazy. Dealing with all kind of like violence and abuse and so much hard shit. Yeah.

Yeah. But she was, she was all right, huh? She was all right. Did you thank her when you got successful? I did. What would you do? I did. I called her and said, thank you. It's funny thank her when you got successful? I did. What would you do? I did. I called her and said thank you.

It's funny, because when I got emancipated and I finally got an apartment, I moved into this really cool apartment complex in Culver City. I was working at the airlines and I moved in and she was staying in the same complex and I was like, oh my gosh, hey girl, hey. She thought I was like coming to like do something to her.

Stalking her? No, I live here. She was like, what, you live hey girl, hey. She thought I was like coming to like do something to her. Stalking her. No, I live here. She was like, what, you live here? You can afford to live here? And I'm like, yeah, I work at the airlines. I got a roommate. What airlines you work at? I worked at Alaska Airlines.

Really? Yeah, I worked at a few airlines, actually. I started at American, then I went to Air New Zealand, and then I went to Alaska. Doing what? Customer service. It's the best customer service agent you ever met. Did you get to fly for free and shit?

Yeah, like discounted rate, and the tax. But this is when you're doing comedy already? Yeah, I was doing standup, but not like hardcore. Yeah, once I turned 21, I really got into it. So I started at the airlines at like 19. So tell me about like, but this is after the car, obviously. Like how do you end up in your car at a comedy camp?

Not at comedy camp. I ended up in my car once I was emancipated. So yeah, my grandma puts me out. I didn't have a car yet. And then- But tell me about comedy camp. Oh, comedy camp was great. So I remember the first day Charles Fleischer showed up.

That's why, out of all the people. Charles Fleischer, who was like my favorite because I loved who Frameraj Rabbit, I still love that movie. And he's such a weird act. Man, like you know, nobody knows his real voice. He's always talking in a different character. And he's like hunched over.

And by that point he was kind of older and he had. He wasn't that much older. He was probably like maybe a few years younger than you. He wasn't younger than me then. What year we talking? We talking 1996? No, he was, yeah, okay. Maybe he was 60, I don't know.

60? I thought he was like 60 something now. No. How old is he now? You really wanna know? Yeah. Cause he's like a, you know, science genius, mathematical genius.

I know, mathematical genius. He just won some awards and stuff. Like, awesome artwork he does. He's 73. Yeah, so he was like in his 40s then. Wow. Yeah, he had to be in his 40s because that was almost 30 years ago.

Was it? Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, 96. So like, because I was a doorman at the Comedy Store in 87 and I used to see him around. So I guess, yeah, I thought I always, he always felt older to me.

Because probably because he talked with older voices. Yeah, he's all hunched over. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, and he always heard these things that he was, yeah, some sort of genius. He invented some sort of crayon, I remember that. Yeah, protractor kind of a thing. I don't know, he had this multicolored thing

he'd draw with. So that's your first exposure? Yeah, him and the Wayans brothers came in there, David Allen Greer, Tom Dreeson, who else came in there? Dane Cook showed up. Who else came in there? Dane Cook showed up. But Dane Cook was a little bit after Comedy Camp because I was still going up there and doing stuff. So what was the structure of the thing?

It was you come in there, everybody sits down. It's just kids? Yeah, it's just kids ages eight to 18. And you would go on stage, you would do like three minutes, tell a story or some funny jokes. Yeah. And then the comedians that mentored the class would like give you advice.

I remember one class, Richard Pryor came into the class. Come on. And I'm on stage and he's in his wheelchair. So I'm like, you know, hey, I gotta get a wheelchair That's what rich people got wheelchairs. Like that's what I was thinking so stupid and I was on stage telling my jokes and he goes stop stop. What are you doing? I'm telling a joke goes No, you're not I said, yes, I am because no you're not yes I am because no you're not yes, I am what you think I'm doing

He said getting on with goddamn nerves That's what you do now look people don't come to comedy shows because they want to hear about your problems or politics or religion, they come to have fun. So when you on stage, you need to be having fun. If you're having fun, they're having fun. Richard Pryor said that. Mm-hmm, so you need to be having fun. And I kind of took that, I didn't understand it in that moment, but it's been my philosophy in life,

try to have fun at everything I do. If I have fun at everything, then life will be like not as hard. Do you think that, were you, did you feel like you were being too serious or that you were just working too hard? Or what do you think you was responding to? I mean, I was being really hacky in like trying to,

I don't know what the heck I was trying to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was definitely, I was the funniest kid in class. I mean, everybody laughed at my stuff. And I would like to, I remember the first day, Charles Fleischer told me, don't do bathroom humor. Cause I was doing jokes about, I was doing jokes about like older women

using the bathroom and how like gross they sound when they use the bathroom. Like when I go to public restrooms, it's so gross. I think the joke was like, you ever go to a public restroom and you in there trying to use the bathroom and some old Lady walk in and you know, it's an old lady cuz she in there talking about some Making all those noises and stuff gross old lady and you try not to laugh but you can't help but to laugh cuz she just

Like passing gas and stuff. You nasty old lady. And he was telling me, don't do that. I'm a pretty girl. You shouldn't talk about toilet stuff. You shouldn't talk about the toilet because you're pretty.

I like how you were able to walk right back into that bit. Because now I do it. And I'm like, you ever realize you old when you go to the public bathroom and you just making all kind of noises, try to take your clothes off. You do it now.

Now I'm that old lady. Now I'm the old gross lady. So now it's okay to do it because it's from your point of view. Yeah, but it was from my point of view then too. Yeah, but you weren't the old lady. No, I wasn't the old lady. You're just making fun of an old lady. Making fun of the old lady. Now you're making fun of yourself.

Cause I'm like, why she passing gas in the bathroom? Gross. Why she think she taking a deuce? Gross. What she thinks, pull your panties back up. You gotta do it somewhere. Now I know better. I mean, I was like 15, 16 years old then.

Like I didn't know nothing. You learned your lesson. You became that lady. I became that lady. Thank God. I've lived long enough to become that lady. How long was the comedy camp? The comedy camp was all summer.

So like eight weeks. Like eight weeks. And that was enough to give you the bug for real? That was enough. I mean, it was the first time like a man ever ever gave me a hug and I didn't feel like, ugh. It was the first time a man told me I was beautiful and that I was smart and I was talented. I felt seen. I really didn't have that kind of attention for men where I felt safe.

I actually felt safe and I felt safest on stage. And I was like, oh, this might be something I do for the rest of my life, I don't know. And then I would keep coming up there every summer and I would come do certain Tuesday nights through the open mic or something like that. That is interesting though, that feeling of that the stage is the safest place.

I've been thinking a lot about that lately. Just in terms of like, how am I able to talk like this to these people? I don't fucking know these people. And I don't have any fear about it. And I know that you are being seen, it is your space. And no one can fuck with you. Yeah, well, cause you got witnesses.

I felt like, cause I have witnesses. Like if something happens, I have people to witness it. That I'm like, say, hey, yeah, that man, he tried to hurt her up there, this happened to her. Did that ever happen? No, well, a guy did pull a gun out on me one time on stage.

Really? Yeah. Where? At the live factory. Holy shit. That was a long time ago, he was really drunk. Yeah, he was. But he had the gun. But he had the gun. Not a good combination.

No, and they put him out. Yeah. They put him out. Well, that's good. Yeah. They must've been nervous about kicking them out. Didn't seem like it. Yeah? Just they got it.

They converged on them. They got them, they got them, they got them out of there. So you went to the comedy camp a few years in a row? Yeah, well, no. Well, I just popped up to the comedy camp like a mentor, you know? Right, right.

And I'm like, yeah, I'm a kid and I came from here and like Amanda Bynes graduated from it. And like, you know, so it was cool. Yeah. So when do you, so after you graduate high school? So after I graduated high school, I stopped doing the comedy cause I was homeless and I was like, kind of couch surfing.

Your grandma just put you out? Put me out. Put me out, she wasn swinging and pay for me no more so I got the job at the airlines and I got a car like right away and And then I was there for a while. I was doing pretty good. And then by the time I was 21 Well, yeah right before I turned 21 like BAM homeless again Because the place where I was staying, they were selling it. We had to leave.

And so I had to leave and I didn't have anywhere to go. And so I was like sitting up at the social workers office because it's still like part of the system. I'm an independent living program. And so they had to find a place for me. I was like washing my ass in their bathroom and like sitting in their office. So I had to go to work and everything. And then then they got find a place for me. I was like washing my ass in their bathroom and like sitting in their office. So I had to go to work and everything. And then they got me a place.

They found me a place and I was good. And then I left from there. Then I moved into my grandma, like one of my grandma's properties, was paying her rent. Then my mom got in the hospital again. And my grandma was like, I'm gonna choose my daughter over you.

You got friends, you're gonna be all right. And so I was shooting my very first movie then too. And- Where'd you go when she said, when your mom went? She put me out again, she put my stuff on the porch and stuff and so got all my stuff, packed it up in the car, got a, like a storage bin or a storage place, got most of my stuff in the storage.

And then I was like in my car, and when we were filming the movie, it's so funny, when we were filming the movie. Which movie? I don't, I'd rather you not say. And so I was filming the movie. I was filming the movie. Okay.

I was like sleeping wherever the next day, you know, where we were gonna be shooting, I was sleeping in that parking lot, you know, outside and just wait till, you know, the crew got there. And then I go in and like wash up in the bathroom or whatever and like do the movie. Did they know? They did not know.

Did you have a trailer? I didn't have a trailer. This was a very low budget film. They were supposed to pay me $1,200. They never did pay me. They never paid you? No, no, they never paid me my money. The one of the producers gave me a bunch of DVDs

and was like, sell these. Oh my God. It's so messed up. It ended up being in the African Film Festival or whatever at the Massey Johnson Theater. And I remember like, I invited all my friends to the premiere and like barely anybody came. And I was like,

I got myself all dressed up and stuff like my movie premiere. Yeah, yeah. And then the movie was horrible. And like- Really bad? It was really bad. How were you?

I was okay. Yeah. But the movie was really bad. Yeah. I was definitely, you could tell I was new and it was my very first bad. Definitely you could tell I was new and it was my very first movie. But you got one under your belt. Got one under my belt, got one under my belt

and then finally got a place. Were you doing comedy? I was doing stand-up then too. Because I kinda had a breakdown, like a nervous breakdown because I had stopped doing comedy when I was like 18, 18, 19, I stopped, and then had a breakdown, and then- How'd that go? It was bad, it was kind of bad.

She ended up in the hospital? I ended up in therapy. Oh, in therapy. I ended up in psychiatric therapy, and a therapist was like, what makes you happy? And I'm like, hearing people laugh makes me happy. Like, seeing, hearing like a group of people laugh is like really dope.

And she's like, why don't you get back to doing comedy as just as a hobby. So I go do an open mic and this comedian sees me and he's like, yo, I'd love for you to do one of my shows. I'm doing this show. It's like a women's conference thing. You should do it. It pays $50.

You just gotta do 15 minutes. I was like, what? Hell yeah, I'm there. And I went and did it. I bombed terribly. Like I bombed hard. And I was like, so, cause it ended up being like a lesbian show, whatever.

And all I had was like jokes about my boyfriend and stuff and they were like heckling me and I didn't know how to handle it. And I struggled, but I stayed up there the whole 15 minutes cause I wanted my money, right? And then they gave me the light, I came off the stage and the guy's like. Here's some DVDs.

Yeah, no. He gave me my $50 and I was like, whoa, you paying me? He was like, yeah, he was like, it was, you know, you struggled up there, but keep at it. And he gave me my $50, I was like, what? And I was like, I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life. And I still got paid.

And then, where you living then? Then I was living in my, I was in an independent living program. And then I got, I had to leave that program. And then, yep, homeless again. And... Were you living in your car when you were doing spots at the factory?

Uh-huh. And you just park what doing spots at the factory? Uh-huh. And you just park, what, over in that parking lot? Uh-huh, park in the parking lot over there. Did you sleep over there? Sometimes. Not too often, because I didn't want nobody to really know. I didn't want people to think like, oh, damn, she's, you know... When did they figure it out?

When I started telling... Like, you know, you tell one comedian something, they tell every motherfucking body. Can't tell them shit. And did they start taking care of you at least? When I started telling, like you tell one comedian something, they tell every motherfucking body. Can't tell them shit. And did they start taking care of you at least? Not really, not really, no, not really. No, Kevin looked out for me though, he saw the stuff in my car.

It's funny, because some comics will be like, you can stay at my place, you can stay, but I've heard stories about them and the energy wasn't cool. Kevin Hart? No, not Kevin Hart, the energy wasn't cool. Kevin Hart? No, not Kevin Hart's energy wasn't cool. No, no, but he saw you?

Yeah, he saw all the stuff in my car and he was like, what's going on here, Tiffany? What's up? What's going on with this? You look like you're homeless or something. I'm like, I'm in between places right now. He was like, we're going to have to talk about this. I'm like, no, I don't need to talk about it.

Did you talk about it? Yeah, we talked about it. He caught me before I jumped in the? Yeah, we talked about it. He caught me before I jumped in the car, and we talked about it, and he gave me like 300 bucks and said, like, get yourself a place to stay for the month, which I don't know where you could get a place for a month and for 300 bucks, nowhere. And I had a couple hundred dollars already,

and I went and got a room at like the Snooty Fox, and he told me to write out a list of goals, like, and start doing like and start like doing something every day to know he's already being a motivational guy already already and so I wrote out my list of goals and Yeah, I went to the new Fox I stayed it for like three hours and took like a nap or whatever left from there got a call like hey There's this guy against this place. You want to check it out. I'm like, oh shoot Yeah, like well, how did you know I need a place? Like, and I'm like, oh wait, Kevin, I told Kevin.

Okay, whatever, no shut up. And when I looked at the place, it was like, looked like a total crack house. Like it looked really fucked up. There was roaches, the walls was yellow, it looked like, it was bad, the carpet was dirty, it was nasty. And I just looked around and was just like,

oh my goodness. It's perfect, I'll take it. Like, and the rent was like $500 a month, and I worked out a deal with the landlord, like hey, if I fix it up, I'd not pay a security deposit, and he's like sure, and so I fixed it up, like got the carpet changed and all this stuff, whatever. And I still have that place. I still have it.

It is since like 2005. You live there? I don't live there, but I do spend a lot of time there. I do go there. Huh, why is that? Because I turned it into a closet. Oh. Because it was not big. So you're paying rent for a closet? Paying rent into a closet. Oh. Because it was not big.

So you're paying rent for a closet? Paying rent for a closet. I had read somewhere that, like I was letting like families stay there, friends would stay there, whatever. But I had read that Beyonce, every time she wears something, she like archives it and puts it in storage, right?

And like this airtight storage place. And when I tried to look into something like that and I was like, oh no, that costs too much money. I can't see myself doing that. So. You kept that place. I kept that place. But do you think you keep it as a reminder?

It does feel like when I go in there, it does remind me of where I come from. Right. And that I've come a long way. Yeah, it sounds like it. A long, long, long way. Where is it, in Hollywood? No, it's in South Central LA.

Well, in West Adams District. Oh, that's kind of nice sometimes, right? Yes, well, not that street, but now that street is nice now. Yeah. Yeah, now it is. Well, that's interesting that you keep it, but you have a house. Yeah, I got a house. And you still keep it.

House is. House is. So, but you still want to keep that place for the clothes? I do. Houses. Houses. Houses, so but you still wanna keep that place for the clothes? I do. I do. Because it's like my own storage facility. It seems deeper than that.

It is. I'm a hoarder. It's hoarding memories. And so when you put the hoarding in some other place, it doesn't seem real? I mean, it's not cluttered or nothing. I mean, it's nice. Yeah. So when do you get the hoarding in some other place, it doesn't seem real? I mean, it's not cluttered or nothing. I mean, it's nice. Yeah.

So when do you get the big break? I get the big break, I guess, to me, my big break was in 2014 when I did the Arsenio Hall Show and they rebooted that. To me, that was my big break. To the world, my big break is when Girl's Trip came out. Yeah. But I felt like I was doing it big when...

Were you just mostly doing the factory? Or were you touring at all? I was doing the factory, I was doing the comedy store occasionally. Tommy was there, so it wasn't really like... I think that's when we first met. That was like 2013, 2014. And I toured, I did some stuff.

I would ask comics to take me on tour and they would tell me no Really or what comic is like you open your legs you can open up for me. I'm cool. I don't need that Yeah, like I rather not like I'm gonna subject myself to two possible bombs. No, thank you. Yeah So you didn't go on tour with anybody? No, I never toured with anybody like that Yeah, I mean did like a spot show here, maybe this thing there or whatever. But. Was the first TV shot the Arsenio one?

No, the very first time I did stand up on TV was a Michael, I think it was Michael Basin show. Yeah. I don't even know what that is. I know, cause he's black. And it was on TV one, I think. Yeah. And then I did Who's Got Jokes.

Before that, no, no, the very first time doing. And then I did Who's Got Jokes. Before that, no, no, no. The very first time to stand up on TV was Who's Got Jokes. Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes. And then I did, that was my first like- Were there black rooms then? Yeah, there was black rooms, yeah. Were you playing those?

Not really. Not really, occasionally, like, but it was hard to get in there. It was hard to get a spot, period. I ended up creating my own room at this restaurant called The Palms that was like off of Overland. And I created my own room and I called it Comedy-okey. And I did it with this karaoke guys.

So the comics would do like five to 10 minutes of jokes, and then they would sing a song. Oh, well that's good. Comedy-okey. Did people come? Yeah, people came. I did that for like a year and a half. So after you, when do people start to know you?

People knew me. Like, I was, people knew me, but people wasn't really trying to give me a chance. Like, just few comics. Were you getting mad? Yeah, I would get mad sometimes and be like, dang, maybe I should stop this. And like comics like Cory Hogan would be like, you should just get pregnant by a rich man and just give up, just, you're a pretty girl.

Just get pregnant by somebody rich and just do that. You seem like you'd be a good mom, just do that. And I was working at a youth center teaching dance and I was the activities coordinator and I would take the kids to like TV show tapings and stuff like all the things I wanted to do, that's what I would take them to do. Like, and we would go the kids to like TV show tapings and stuff like all the things I wanted to do. That's what I would take them to do. Like, and we would go snowboarding and surfing

and to like all these cool things, horseback riding. You working for the city? No, I was working for a youth center, a place called home. Where was that? South Central LA. Yeah. On the East side.

Well, that must have been a rewarding gig. It was, it was fun and it was sometimes stressful and sometimes you'd be like, ooh, it was good birth control. I think Well, at least you could entertain the kids Yeah, if you can make kids laugh you can do anything Yeah, like, you know, cuz they're very honest and like brutal and I would run jokes by them and stuff and they'd be like Oh, that's funny. You know, that's not funny. Yeah, that C. Were they right? Yeah, they were right, they were always right. So when does the comedy start taking off?

The comedy started taking off, I would say, by 2008. In 2008, it really started taking off then, things really started moving. I got best new comic in LA by Los Angeles Magazine, and I had done the Who's Got Jokes, and I did Deaf Comedy Jam by then. In the Arsenio thing? And Arsenio was in 2014.

Oh, so that's still a long ways away. But I was getting gigs around the country and stuff, booking those stuff, and I was still doing Bar and Bot Mitzvahs. So I was doing comedy. That was a gig you did? Yeah, from the time I was like 16 till I was 27. What would you do? I was an energy producer.

An energy producer? Yeah, my job was to produce great energy, like get people dancing, bring joy, have a good time. I would do activities. Was that your own business? No. Or was there an energy production business? I was with this company called Enterprise Entertainment. That, I've never even heard of that.

You're like a warmup guy. Yeah, I warmed up the whole room. Get the whole room dancing, DJ plays music, I get them dancing and stuff. I would do comedy sometimes, I would MC them sometimes, MC the whole party, say drop little jokes here and there. Get tips. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes, yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, yeah.

That's a whole other racket. I make good money. By the end, I was making like $2,500 a party. I think that's great racket. That's great. Yeah, I was getting requested, and like, you know, doing all the sisters and brothers, all the like, you know, do whole families and stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you just get everyone dancing and get, and that's the same time you're doing comedy? Same time doing comedy. So I have to do comedy like Monday through Thursday. And then go energy produce. Yeah, go energy produce. Sometimes we do like a day party on a Sunday,

and then like I could do a chocolate sundae or something like that at the live factory. Yeah, and then like when, how do you get cast in that movie? Which movie? The one that made you huge. Oh, Girls Trip? Yeah, you did a few movies before that.

Yeah, I did a few movies before that. And when I did that movie, well, I did a Lifetime movie in New Orleans, and I worked with some people, and then I did another movie, Keanu, in New Orleans, the year before, in like 2015. Well, what were most of these movies, small parts? Yeah, small parts are major parts.

Like in Keanu, I had a major role. Right before that, but like some of these, I don't know what they are, Boosters, Christmas Wedding, Four Points. Okay, Boosters was like a movie, you know Melanie Camacho? Yeah. She's a comedian, she wanted to do a movie, and so I helped her with her movie.

I did a little part in it. I'd already did Girl's Trip, but I was like, I, and Girl's Trip hadn't come out yet. So I was helping my friend out. I did a lot of stuff like that, helping my friends out. Oh, so some of these are shorts. I see some of the videos. Yeah, Christmas Wedding is like a skit

that I did with Natasha Ligero. Oh yeah. So you're kind of in the mix with all the people. Yeah, I did a lot of sketches, a lot, a lot of sketches. And I remember, I wanna say that it was- For like Funny or Die and shit? Yeah, a lot of stuff for Funny or Die. So many sketches.

I said, it's funny, none of them are up anymore. Anyways- Is that site still up? I think the site is still up. Last time I checked, well, last time I looked at it was like last year and the site was still up and it was only just a few of the sketches that I did were still up.

Cause it was a different time back then, you know? Oh, in terms of the subject matter. Yeah, it's a different time. But it's funny, what's that comic? I wanna say his name and I can't think of his name right now and I know you know him very well cause he gives weed and sometimes... Tripoli?

Yep, Sam Tripoli. You knew who I was talking about. So Sam Tripoli was saying to me, and I met him when I was really young, like 22 or something. And 23 and Sam was like, you know, if you want to make it in this business, you're going to have to develop relationships with comics and Elon Gold too. Both of them were talking to me and they're like, you got to develop relationship with comics. They're both ends of the spectrum. Right. Tripoli and Gold. Yeah. And Elon and they're like, you gotta develop a relationship with comics. Cause that's like. The both ends of the spectrum. Right.

Triple E and Gold. Yeah. And Elon was like, yeah, you know, most of your work is gonna come from comedians. So get to know them, especially the ones that write. That's where most of your work's gonna come from. And he was correct. A lot of my standup shows and stuff that I ended up doing,

it was through other comics. And like I auditioned for that Keanu movie. I got that. And then I made friends with a lot of the, like, crew. Right? And I hung out with them and did comedy shows while I was in New Orleans and invite them to the comedy shows.

We would go out and stuff. And then... And did you meet those guys too? Well, Kean Peel, right? Yeah, I met them. Yeah. And it was so funny because the crew from the Keanu movie, a lot of them got hired to do Girls Trip, and they were like,

yo, they're looking for a girl to fill this part in. You would be perfect. You should check this out. And eight different crew members sent me this script. I'm like, don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody. I don't wanna get in trouble, but this should be you. And I was reading reading this script, I'm like, yo, who was with us last summer?

Who wrote this? Like, you know, like who was with us? Who knows me? And I auditioned, like I had to get on my agent, like give me an audition for this movie. And they're like, oh no, they're not, they only want names. I said, well, I've had a name since 1979

and it's Tiffany motherfucking Haddish, get me in there. So I get in there and I had to like pre-read with like the assistant, assistant to the casting director, then the casting director's actual assistant, then the actual casting director. And then I did a producer's audition and then finally they had me go to directors

and then I got the part. I didn't know I got the part till like, you know, three days before it was time to shoot. Really? Yeah, I had like three days to get my, everything in order and get to New Orleans. Oh my God. Do you still have that agent? No.

Yeah. But we are still friends. It's funny, all the things that I've ever fought for have been worth fighting for. Yeah. So it's made a change, a difference. But I feel like I'm still the same person, just living a little better lifestyle like I'm still the same person

just living a little better lifestyle. I'm not ever gonna be homeless again. That's good. Yeah, but you're gonna keep that apartment for your clothes. Yeah, cause I'll never be homeless, neither will my clothes. So after Girlstrip, the whole fucking world changes. Yeah, everybody's attitude changes.

I mean, not that much, cause I already had a lot of people love me and care for me, you know. But I just mean in terms of your public profile, right? Public profile like explodes. Could you handle it? Yeah, yeah. It felt like high school times 10. Right.

And it is high school times 10, the way they talk about you and all this stuff. Now they just, they think they talking about you behind your back, but it's on social media and it's like, as soon as I Google my name, I see what you said, bro. How the fuck can you handle that? Like that one set where you bombed

and it just became this viral shit show. Yeah, I was like, yo, every comedian bombs. What the hell is going on? It's funny, cause Sinbad called me and said, you made it. You made it, Tiffany. You're a star. That means you're a star.

I'm like, really? One bad day at work, and this is what happens. You made it. Where was that? It was in Miami. Oh, that's the worst. It was the worst. And I'm just like, wow.

Someone just taped it? They had got little bits and pieces of it. It was not a horrible show the whole time. But I was not my regular self. I was definitely very sick. Alcohol poisoning, part of me wants to say somebody drugged me, but who's the somebody? It's probably me.

I mean, but I had never, I've never felt that horrible. The day after drinking, I've never felt like that in my whole life. Oh, so you're sweaty and fucked up. I was so sick, like so sick. Like just like, I thought my organs had fell out my ass. Like my kidneys, liver, everything felt like it was just, I was feeling so, like I was dead.

Yeah, yeah. You know? And the set was just the fucking worst. It was the worst. I was like on autopilot, not really giving much energy. Like I tried at first, like tried it, and it was like my soul was like, bye bitch, I can't do this.

That's the worst, when the soul leaves you. Yeah, my soul left and I was just like. Just watching you from the side of the room. Yeah, and then I was just like, people had been telling me all day like, oh just drink a little bit of vodka today, like you'll feel better if you just, hair of the dog, hair of the dog. And I was just like, oh, just drink a little bit of vodka today. Like, you'll feel better if you just, hair of the dog, hair of the dog.

And I was just like, oh my god, I cannot, I cannot. And then by the end of the set, I'm like, somebody bring me that bottle of Ciroc. Like, bring me that vodka. And it was New Year's Eve, so I'm like, anybody want some alcohol? And I was like, giving people pouring in their cups. And then the last little bit, I drank.

And then it was funny, everybody took pictures of that, like yeah, she's getting drunk on stage, but I wasn't though. I had water the whole time. But I was- That's how it went down on public, on the social media. In the eye of the public,

on the social media, on the internet, she's a alky. So whatever. Yeah. But that never happened again. I mean, I've bombed before, but I've never bombed like that again. But you're able to deal with the,

you don't go, do you not look at the social media anymore? I still, look, I done put a bunch of filters on my stuff, so I don't see everything people say. But I see some things. And like, people call me, it's so funny, you can tell who your real friends are, because your real friends will be like, hey girl, you wanna go out? You want to do something? I know you're probably feeling down. funny, you can tell who your real friends are, cause your real friends will be like, hey girl, you wanna go out?

You wanna do something? I know you're probably feeling down, like you wanna go out? I'm like, what's going on? Like what happened? What did I miss? And they're like, well they saying this, whatever. But some people just call it gossip and be like,

oh they said this about, they don't even try to ask you if you wanna go out, if you want anything, it's just like, they never call you unless something is a headline. Like, oh, I heard you not with this person, oh, I heard this, you good? Like, what happened? Oh, was you at this party?

And it's just like, man, get the fuck off my line. Like, I end up like blocking them or like, you know, don't answer their calls anymore. But some days I just sit like, mostly on my cycle, I will read the comments. And that's when I, and on my cycle. I will read the comments. And that's when I, and on my cycle, I fire back. You know, because I become evil. But I fire back with kindness.

You know, I try to cast them with joy. Because I can't, because I'm evil at that point. You know, I can't help myself. Can't help myself. I'm like, these people don't fucking know me. And you gotta remember, I'm from the 1900s. Back in the 1900s, if somebody talks shit about you, you fucking cuss they ass out,

or you talk shit about them. You wanna roast me, let me roast you back. But then you give them air. Yeah, but no real air if it's from an anonymous page. Oh, so that is an anonymous page. From a bogus page. Hey, doesn't mean you can't. How dare you talk about Tiffany Haddish like that?

And you fat as fuck. You fat sloppy bitch. I Googled you, I researched you, you got your kids, all your light bill and everything's in your kids name. You fucking abuser. Using your kids. That's what you do? Sometimes.

It makes me feel better. I don't do it that much anymore, but I used to. I used to respond all the time. And it was funny, I would respond and people would, that would be a headline. Tiffany claps back, like, are y'all sitting like this? It took me a long time to realize how fucking famous I am. Right. Like, I didn't realize how-

When the next day is quick bait when you do anything Yeah, I'm just like what like this crazy. This is crazy Whatever, and I didn't realize it like to that second arrest and I was like, oh shit. I'm the shit Oh there for the yeah the DUI, but really I was sleeping a car but Were you sweeping the car both times? Yeah Cuz I used to sleep in my car. Swear I'm comfortable sleeping, but apparently that's illegal.

But would you pull over or did you just wake up? Yeah, I pulled over. I pulled over. Like in the Beverly Hills one, I parked perpendicular to the sidewalk as opposed to parallel. I should have parked parallel. Oh, and you're just getting a little shut eye?

Just a little shut eye. I'm tired. I done a lot. I mean, and you're just getting a little shut eye? Just a little shut eye, I'm tired. I done done a lot. I mean, wake up at five in the morning, work out for two hours, then go home, pull collard greens and onions and bell peppers and stuff from my garden. Do you?

And yeah, this is what I did on that day. It was Thanksgiving Day. I made a pot of greens, had that simmer in, then I go to the lab factory, serve food to the homeless, over 2,000 people for hours on end, leave from there, go back to my house, get the collard greens. I had two turkeys, go over to my family's house, feed them, spend time with them for a few hours.

Then I get a call from somebody saying, we don't have no food, they fired their chef, we need some food, do you have any leftovers? I know you cooked, and I'm like, yeah, I do. I'll bring it to you. And then I brought the food, and I should've just Do you have any leftovers? I know you cooked. And I'm like, yeah, I do. I'll bring it to you. And then I brought the food and I should have just dropped it off and left, but I like to talk to my friends and chit chat.

I fall asleep on the couch and I wake up and weird shit's going on. I'm like, okay, I gotta leave. Oh, really? And then I dropped people off. It's a big day. It's crazy. But did you ever- I realized at that moment, like, you know, after, when I got home from jail or whatever,

a few hours later, I got home, I realized how famous I actually am. That's what did it. That's recently. That's recently. That's when I realized, yo, I am inter- it was on like some Korean news, it was on Spanish news. It was like, news, it was like, all over, I'm like, oh, they can't say that I'm not international anymore.

Yeah, see, you could use that in your press package. Yeah, international. I'm all over. Matter of fact, if you Google famous black women, Google this, Google famous black women with DUIs, arrested, just famous black women arrested for DUIs. Okay, famous black women arrested for DUIs. Okay. Famous black women arrested DUI. Who pops up? You.

And who else? It's a lot of you. I have to scroll down a bit. Oh yeah, it's a blank, oh no, that's you. A black, oh, someone mocking you. I don't know, oh, Glorilla, do you know her? Yeah. She got arrested for a DUI?

Yeah, in Georgia, yeah. It probably wasn't even alcohol, it was probably- Pooch Hall, Pooch Hall. I don't know who that is. That's a man. Yeah. Yeah. Glorilla is the only one that comes down. Now when I had-

Oh, Danni Lee. Danni Lee arrested for DUI in Miami, hit and run. Singer. I don't know who that is. Yeah, that's somebody back in- And then we get to Reese Witherspoon somehow. Right. She's a black woman. When I had looked it up, I had gotten an argument with somebody

and I told them to Google it and it was just me and Josephine Baker. So. Whoa, I didn't get Josephine. Legendary, legendary. Pretty good company. But they was like, you ruined your whole career. I was like, did I ruin my whole career

or did I just find out how much people care about me? Yeah. How relevant I am. Yeah. Because I don't ever remember hearing about Glorilla. I don't remember hearing about no Deadly. Nobody, like, how much do they care? And there's other black actresses

that are been famous longer than me and have had DUIs. And you can't find them nowhere on there. Either they got some excellent people that know how to clean up the internet or nobody cares. Yeah, but did you feel like it impacted anything? No, not really. I mean, I started seeing who really cared about me

on my team, who really cares about me as far as my friends go. And everybody's like, you're famous now, you should never drive, you should never drive. You're famous. You're too famous to drive. I'm like, OK, well, you get famous to buy nice cars and stuff. And then who's supposed to drive?

I'm supposed to let somebody else drive the car I want to drive? Like, that don't make no sense. And I got a car that drives itself. Well, I had a car that drives itself, a Tesla. What happened to that? Somebody just T-boned me like last week. Oh, shit. T-boned hit my car.

So I got to get a new car and I'm gonna get, I think I'm gonna get that. Right now I'm driving my Hoopty from 2012. I know, I was like, is that her? Yeah, my little Hoopty from 2012. I like driving that car though, cause it's like, I can't go wherever I want, nobody bothers me, nobody's like,

tell me that, like, cause they don't think it's me. Do you park that at the apartment with the closet? Yeah. Yeah, I drive that over there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, keep it, keep it good, baby.

It's your old house. It's your old life. You can just check back in. Yeah. And the old life sometimes leads into the new life. It helps. So you just, you found out who your friends are and you found out who your people are and like, you know.

Yeah, and who really cares? And like, inside stop drinking completely. I don't drink. How's that going? Easy. And like, and so I stopped drinking completely. I don't drink. How's that going? Easy. Yeah. I wasn't really a big drinker anyways. So it was like, and I was only doing it in social settings. Yeah. And so I stopped drinking completely. I realized I had, I was cleaning out my garage. I had like four years worth of alcohol. Like people send you all these bottles of alcohol to give you all that stuff. So I had so much alcohol in my garage. I was like, oh, if I clear this out,

I'll have like so much space. I could put a podcast studio in my garage. Clear all the alcohol. Now that the booze is gone. Yeah, so I went ahead and instead of like throwing it away or whatever, I started doing these like at one of my other houses. I do now like a monthly game night.

I'm calling it a game night, but really it's like a Shabbat dinner. And I invite like all my black friends and my Jewish friends, and I cook food and we play games, say a little prayer over the food, people bring some stuff. And I tell everybody, don't bring any alcohol because there's plenty of alcohol here to drink. And now I'm down to probably,

it's probably like one more game night left worth of alcohol. And there you go. And then that's how you get rid of it. All of it. You're not drinking at the game nights? No, I'm not drinking at the game nights. Is it hard? No, it's easy.

People always say it too. Isn't it hard to be around people that are drinking? Don't you feel like drinking when you're around them? Well, they assume that you had a problem. Yeah. Yeah, they do, I guess. And I'm like, no, it's not hard. It's actually more fun.

I stopped smoking weed too. That's like, that was my thing. It really helped like my endometriosis and all that stuff. Do you know what endometriosis is? Yeah, isn't it cysts in your ovaries? Inflammation of the uterus. Yeah, close, that was close. Yeah, it can cause cysts.

It can cause cysts on your ovaries and it's like inflammation, extra lining grows outside in the room and it causes a lot of problems. And great pain, great, great pain. And I think I was drinking to like mask that pain, not to like feel that pain. And I had to sit through it for a little while and then I found like different teas that I can take

and the doctor gave me some hormones to take and that's been like kinda helping, but my chin hairs are getting a little crazy and I'm losing hair on the side of my head, but whatever. You know, I'm pretty sure it's birth control, because birth control makes you ugly. So nobody wants to have sex with you,

I'm like getting these crazy pimples and shit. And I'm like. You look good. Well, I got rid of this, there was a big pimple here, and it was like my hair. I got on some makeup, don't worry. Oh, so the Jewish thing, you kind of locked in, huh? Yeah, I locked in. I love it. It's funny because my grandma used to always tell me,

you know you're Jewish, your daddy's Jewish, you know you're Jewish, you're getting Jewish. Wow. And I didn't believe her unless she's just saying that, trying to say I was different. I didn't even know what Jewish was really. I think she was just trying to say I was different. Yeah. And then I learned more about it, and I was doing a bar and bat mitzvahs and stuff. And I would hear the prayers.

It would make my soul feel good. I would hear them reading the Torah. It would make my heart feel full. Those melodies. Yeah. Everything in the, all the prayers, and the way to read the Torah, the Bible, it's all musical.

And it just felt right. Yeah. And then finally I meet my dad and I had been studying, when I tell you all kinds of religions and different things, trying to figure out like what is good for me. How locked in were Jehovah's Witnesses were you? I mean, I used to go to the theocratic ministry school and go knock on the doors and stuff like that

when I was a kid. And then when I was married for a while, I went to study with the Jehovah Witnesses and all of that. My husband was like, you'd be a better wife if you was a Jehovah Witness. But he didn't want to be a Jehovah Witness, but he just knew it.

How long ago was that? That was a long time ago. Yeah. Anyways. You tried a lot of things. I've tried a lot of things. I mean, yeah, I went to Scientology for a little bit. How was that for you?

That was... Hey, I don't do bunk beds. What do you mean? When did you do that? When did you try Scientology? That was when I was homeless the second time. Oh, so you're like, maybe I could live here, but you weren't going to do a bunk bed? Well, they wanted me to live there.

They wanted to open up some places in South Central and like, in Inglewood. Oh, they wanted... They need a missionary. Yeah. Oh, shit. And they wanted to have me on. They would pay me like $50 a month at the time, but they would cover like food, clothing, room, board, all this stuff. And I was kind of down with that,

and especially I'm homeless, and I had took a few courses there, and I kind of liked the people. And then when they had took me to where I had to sleep, I was like, oh no, no, no, I can't, the bunk beds, I can't do, I can't do this. This is what I want like the people. And then when they had took me to where I had to sleep, I was like, oh no, no, no, I can't, the bunk beds, I can't do, I can't do this. This is what I wanna be doing. The ideas, they made sense?

For the most part. Yeah, but you didn't wanna go all in. I didn't wanna go all in if I had to sleep in a bunk bed. I had signed a billion year contract too. They ended up tearing that up in my face cause I was not having it, maybe. I was like, I'll sleep on the floor. They said, you can't sleep on the floor.

You know, cause they kind of run it like a military. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't having it. Well, I think you dodged a bullet on that one. Probably. So the Jewish thing, you became, are you religious you think? Yeah, I'm pretty religious.

I'll be at Passover tomorrow. Yeah? Yeah. At your house, where are you going? Yeah, I'm pretty religious. I'll be at Passover tomorrow. Yeah? Yeah. At your house, where are you going? To my rabbi's house. Yeah, yeah. I hang out with my rabbi a lot. I go to the Stephen S. Weiss temple, yeah.

And you got Bob Mitzvah? Mm-hmm, I got Bob Mitzvah, Sarah Silverman's sister. I went to college with her, Suzy. With Suzy? You went to college with Suzy? I did, yes. See? Look at the small world.

She's so dope. Yeah. And her daughters are so dope. They came over from Israel to do it? Mm-hmm, yep. I flew a man. Yeah? Yep. And how was it?

She helped me study. Her daughter helped me study. You did a Haftarah and everything? Mm-hmm, I did everything. That's wild. Yeah, I did it all. And that's to honor my father, you know? Cause before he passed, he was like, you know,

no matter what you do, make sure you honor our ancestors, honor our people, make sure people know about Eritrea, make sure people, you know, you honor our ancestors, and honor me. So that was my way of doing that. It's interesting, even after like him being out of your life for so long that you were able to kind of get closure somehow.

Yeah. You never had a resentment or anger? I did have resentment at first. like him being out of your life for so long that you were able to kind of get closure somehow. You never had a resentment or anger? I did have resentment at first. At first I was like so mad at him and hated him so much. Like it just wanted, I used to always say, when I'm me, I'm gonna kick him in the dick. But kick him in the nuts and be like, why'd you do this?

Like you gave birth to me, you know, you brought me here and then you didn't even look out for me. Like what the fuck? Like I was so mad about it. And this is like when I'm 16, 17, 18, 19. And then as I got older, I just realized like life is hard. You know, and I cannot be holding a grudge on somebody. I don't even really know him like that.

Even though I remember what he smelled like, I remember his voice, I remember his hair, like all these things, like, and I was missing him. I remember his hair, like all these things. And I was missing him, right? And I was mad, because I was missing him so bad. And then when I finally met him, I wanted to be mean and mad at him, but as soon as I looked in his eyes,

it was like the three-year-old Tiffany was like, this is my daddy. And I'm like, and he was hugging me and holding me, I felt safe. It's like, it's my dad. You know, like, it's my daddy. And I couldn't be mad at him. I asked him a lot of questions though, like why? And as I'm talking to him and getting to know him,

I'm just realizing like, he had a lot of guilt. He didn't know what to do. He had PTSD. He watched people be killed. Like, he came over here as a refugee. People were being slaughtered in this country. Like he watched his friends die. All his brothers died. Like he had a lot of issues. You know, I can't be mad at him. Like, although I wanted to be, and I know like it was some days I would get drunk and I would

call him and like cry to him and be like, do you know how many men I slept with looking for a dad? Do you know what I did? Like, just confessing all these things that I did and like telling him and he would, you could tell he was like feeling like bad about it, but at the same time, like, I guess happy that I was calling him. Yeah. And then, like, once I got all that off my chest, I kinda stopped doing that shit.

Yeah. Like. Yeah. But I wanted to fight him so bad. You were putting it together. And were you doing a lot of therapy? Yeah, a lot of therapy. And that helped?

Some therapists, how some therapists was a waste of time. You know, I felt like at one point in time, I was going to therapy just to make the therapist laugh. Like it wasn't even, I was performing. Like I was doing it to get the laugh, not to like really heal. It took a lot for me to get to a place where I'm like, okay, I wanna heal. I wanna get over this shit.

And you're putting that stuff together about your old man too, right? Yeah, I wanted to get over it. I wanted to learn, like I'm still learning how to be, I think when I was married I learned a lot about how to live with a man and be with a man and how to treat a man. And I think maybe that wasn't the right man for me.

He's a good man, but not good for me. And just trying to find that, I'm not even trying to find it no more. I was for a minute, but I'm like, whatever. Whoever guy put in my lap, you know. I'm gonna make sure I'm cute and I'm nice and somebody show up. And I'm gonna go out on dates. I definitely go out on dates and stuff,

but I'm not searching like I was. And what do you get from your rabbi? Good counseling, knowledge. I can ask him any kind of question, any question. He'll answer it. If you don't got the answer, he'll find the answer, bring me back something, can argue with him a little bit. Like, so helpful.

I think, you know, I wish I had a rabbi sooner, you know? Sometimes I call Suzy, I ask her all kinds of crazy questions too, like, yeah, I call Suzy and ask her stuff too. Like, it's refreshing to feel like, oh, I can ask these questions and not feel judged. And not feel like a weirdo, you know? All kinds of questions. All kinds of questions I be asking.

And not even related to, is it in relation to God? Yeah, in relation to God. Like, you know, why do you think God put me in this situation, like in all this shit? Right. Like, why did I have to suffer so long? Why did I have to learn how to be a mom at such a young age and I've lost so many babies now?

Why would God do that to me? And then I'm wondering, was it God that did it to me or was it me that did it to me? You've lost babies? Oh, a lot of babies. Yeah, that you wanted. I don't know if I wanted them, but I was pregnant, so I was out here in no condoms. I was pregnant, so I was out here in no condoms. I was taking chances. And what do they usually say?

You have no real reason, but just listening to me. They would listen to me and then they would be like, well, why do you feel like that? And why do you think this? Like they ask me questions, I answer them, and they answer some questions, let's go to the Torah and see, let's go to this and see. Like maybe there's an answer here. Interesting.

Do you read the Torah? I do. Yeah? I do, I think it's so pretty. Yeah, can you read the Hebrew? Yeah, not very well though. I think I'll be making up stuff. No, no, like let me go to the English translation.

Yeah. I thought you did a great job in the card counter. Thank you. That was an interesting part. Oh man, it was really cool to work with Paul Schrader. I guess, right? Oh man, that's an interesting dude. Yeah.

Like deep in like a little creepy, but not creepy creepy, but just like creepy because I didn't understand him at first. And then once I got to understanding him, I'm like, Oh, this is so fucking cool. Like, he made Cat People, you know, I love Cat People. I love that movie. That's the part where I was just saying yes.

Like, I was saying yes before I even read the script. I'm like, yes! It's an interesting big part, and kind of like, you know, different part, you know? Right? Yeah. I love to be able to show like other sides of me. I'm like an onion, man. That's many layers to the haddish.

Yeah, and outside of the book, what are you working on now? Now I'm working on this movie called The Deputy, and I'm working on music, I'm making music. Oh yeah? And I got some stuff that's gonna be coming out as far as movies go, little cameos and things. How big's the part in the new Bad Boys movie?

It's small, it's cameo. Oh, was it fun being with Nicolas Cage in that movie? Yes, that was great. That's a funny movie. That guy was so, he's so awesome. Yeah. I think he's super cool. Some of the other cast members,

like he's turned off, and she's this. I'm like, well, I bonded with him. Yeah, he's just, he's Nicolas Cage. He's Nicolas Cage, man. Well, it's good to see you. It's good to see you too. I'm glad we did it. I'm glad we did this too.

["I Curse You With Joy"] Okay, that was me in Haddish and it was pretty great. It really, it turned out okay. Her book, I Curse You With Joy comes out next week on Tuesday, May 7th, and hang out for a minute, folks. Folks, May 6th through May 12th is Mental Health Week, a time to raise awareness about mental health that's centered on the healing power of compassion.

And during Mental Health Week, CAMH needs your support to build a future where no one is left behind. CAMH is the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and they're hard at work creating better treatments and interventions for anyone experiencing addiction. Part of that work is about the understanding of the brain, and CAMH is transforming patient care

by knocking down the barriers that keep people from getting help. Imagine how lonely it can feel to be facing mental illness or addiction on your own. You don't have to surrender to hopelessness because CAMH is conducting groundbreaking research to fight addiction and get people the help they need. In Canada, we lose 20 people to drug overdose every single day. Right now, you can partner with CAMH to help send those numbers in the other direction.

Help change mental health care forever during Mental Health Week. Donate at camh.ca slash wtf to help CAMH treat addiction and build hope. That's camh.ca slash wtf. From the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, a new hero arrives. I am ready. Is there anyone stronger? No. I am ready. Is there anyone stronger? No. Tougher? No. Funnier?

I do not make jokes. I make warriors. Knuckles now streaming only on Paramount+. Yes! Hey, let me tell you something. This week, Full Mehr and subscribers got a new batch of unheard outtakes and moments that didn't make it into the WTF episodes proper. Like this part from my talk with Ben Mendelsohn.

Denzel. Unbridled. It's joyous. It's joyous. It's joyous. You want to know what else? Kurt Russell in Death Proof when he's in the car and getting smashed up. It's the most joyous, overperformed, just having fun schlock moment.

That's one of the great moments in cinema in the last 30 years for me is once he gets crashed up and smashed up and he's bashing around everywhere and you can just tell how much he's loving, they're just taking the piss and it's fucking awesome. To get bonus episodes twice a week, sign up for the full Marin by going to the link in the episode description or go to WTFpod.com and click on WTF+. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by A-Cast. Guitar time. So Yeah. So So So I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man So So So Boomer lives, Monkey and Lafond the cat angels everywhere.