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My guest tonight is the creator and star of the Emmy winning HBO series of Black Ladies Sketch Show. She could currently be seen in the new Prime video film Candy Knelane.
Please welcome, Robin Thady. How are you Queen Theti?
You know, just in the Christmas spirit?
That's right.
I never thought I would be three inches tall. But the benefit is I had like a two inch waist.
Okay, so that was fun. Did you get those heels from Rondy Santas?
So baby, I don't want to know what's in his club.
By Linzy Graham.
But listen now, oh.
No, He's like, no, what am I you know? Why?
All right?
Now, this movie seems pretty fantastical. Their l's and magic and black Santa.
Yeah, but now that's facts.
The villain is a white woman. Yes, so is it fiction or not?
Yeah?
Oh my god, who knows?
Right?
It is funny to imagine a black Santa too. That's what's so exciting, right, because you know, I grew up with the typical white Santa and all the and all the books and everything. Oh yeah, but I think now, you know, I think the world's ready for a black Santa, especially David Allen Grear, Why not.
Do you do you think? Do you think the world is ready to tell kids that Santa isn't real? You think that's inappropriate?
You know, when I was growing up, so my parents definitely wanted me to believe in Santa. But my aunt was like, you know, Santa real.
And I was like six, you.
Know, and like, witness no.
But my babysitter was and she told us we was going to hell because we were you know, not wness, which I was like that, don't.
Feel like a tenant of your religion.
But but so my aunt told us, and like as an adult, I was like, now my aunt was sleeping with somebody other than my uncle. So I feel like if she told me Santa.
Wasn't real, I should tell my uncle.
Your white fan real.
But it's too late.
Also, that's a complete lie. She wasn't cheating on him, but I thought that would be funny.
I think it was about to be a rough Christmas dinner for you family.
They never cheated.
They you know, I don't know, here's the thing, may or just a sham And I think everyone should cheat.
And I'm just.
You're clearly in the lying spirit.
They don't know what's happening.
Why do you think Jesus doesn't headline his own birthday though, just like Santa Santa, they grinch, they get more attention.
That's a good point.
Jesus didn't have good marketing exactly. Yeah, and his friends were whacked. They were either trying to beat him or betray him. So Jesus got out early Tupac.
You know, it was just like he was like, I'm good, you know, yeah, be a martyr Die Young bill Marks exactly.
Album slap.
I mean, if Jesus would have made album, that'd have been.
Like top five Jesus. So why jay.
Z for most? For most of them? Will you play at Christmas? Figurrey I do? And Eddie Murphy is basically he had an earpiece to hear what you were saying. Yes, that seems like a lot of pressure.
Well it seems annoying. Do you want this in your ear all the time.
It was funny because the first day we didn't know, we thought their ear so we would go rehearse on set as live people. Because Eddie and Tracy really trace Alice Ross's incredible in the movie Too Wanted.
Yeah, So funny.
They wanted me, Nick Offerman and Chris red who played all the figurines, to be there in person, improvise together, get the feeling of it. Then we would go to these sound boots and they would hear us on the mic in their ears, and we thought they only hurt us when they were rolling, But at the end of the day, Tracy just goes, you know what, you hear
everything you're saying. Right, we were having debates about Drake albums, like we were just like being so annoying while they were trying to work, and they didn't tell us the whole first day, but after that we learned.
So we were tried to chill out.
How many times did like shooting get delayed because you guys were busy making everybody laugh all the time.
Every day every day. And the cool thing.
Was director Reggie Hudlin had us on set for scenes that we weren't even we didn't know if we would be in because they would animate us kind of after all the end of the live action stuff. So we were there for months and so we got to we got to hang out with them and and you know, just go crazy and and Eddie lights up as does Tracy when we go off script, especially me and Chris Redd, we were always trying.
To make them break. So we never made Eddie break, but he definitely made us.
Why did you like that? Because you can't remember his line, So.
Let me tell you how Eddie knows everyone's lines. He is a professional.
This met has done fifty movies. Okay, this is like easy for him. But no, I think he just loves that spirit. I think there's so many comedians in the movie, DC, Young Fly, Angela Johnson, all these great people, so I think he just wanted that spirit.
Now. The last season of A Black Lady Sketch Show this past spring, that's right. The fact that the show was even allowed to exist as a huge accomplisation, that's right. Let alone the fact that you have picked up a lot of awards for it. It's inspiring an entirely new generation of black women. What sketch from the show are you most proud of?
Probably the one way I play a man.
Now, I don't know.
I think one person is like I saw it.
I don't know.
One of my most proud of, you know what, I think, court Room Kiki, which is like the Black Lady corporal.
Okay, Yeah, I think that's fun.
Because it's like it just shows like black sisterhood in a really fun way that I think we don't get to experience very often. So people always tag me on social media when they have like two black ladies at any one place, and they're like black lady dentists, and I'm like, stop clamping, get your tea figs. But yeah, so I think that's dope. But it and it kind
of lives beyond the show. So I think any of those sketches, like the Bad Bitch support Group with Angela Bassett, like, you know, like we had a lot of fun, like creating these iconic moments that you don't see anywhere else in that you will never see again.
You never gonna see a two two seven.
Remake where we actually have Marla Gibbs and jack A Harriet, you know, just all these amazing as you.
Have to have a black woman run show to do a two two seven? Absolutely sure, and.
A lot of trust from HBO because I'm sure they were like, what are we making? But you know, having as rays and EP doesn't hurt, right?
Did you feel fulfilled? Like did you feel like you got everything you needed to out of that show.
Yeah, I think.
You know, for me, I don't want to like be Jordan playing baseball, you know what I mean, Like I want to like leave the legacy there, and like, first of all, he was great baseball, no shade to Jordan's Michael Jordan's because Michael Jordan's, but I mean it's better at basketball, right, I mean, that's the thing that he spent his life doing. So I just didn't want to be I never in anything that I do want to.
Be like past my prime. So although I'm incredibly young, I think, yeah.
So I feel good about it, but I'm always gonna be a little sad and i still think of sketches.
Wherever I go, which is the problem. But you know, I never say never. You never know what can happen in the future.
It feels like, well, it's not. It feels like it did check off a lot of boxes. The show did because they were black, it was women. It feels like slightly Hollywood may not be on the diversity push that it once was. Do you think they had anything to do with the show?
You know back, No, no, no, not at all.
I think most if you ever noticed, most shows really don't go past like three seasons anymore. I don't think the audiences really want to want that as much.
I don't know. I think there's very few shows that, moving forward in.
This kind of climate in the industry, are going to last like twenty fifty eighty seasons. I just think, you know, I think we're always looking for the new thing, and no one wants to oversay they're welcome. So I have such great partners at HBO, and I'm still making shows with them. I have a new show that I'm working on with them, so they'll be There'll be more to come.
Ilways want to keep it friend.
So we may not have the Black Latest Cat Show, but we still have Robin thet Yes, that's right, I didn't die.
I didn't die just because.
It shows over. Candy Kane Lane is screaming now on Prime Video. Making rob My guest tonight is a Grammy nominated singer songwriter whose latest album is called Witch six Chapel. Please welcome, Jolly Rose, Jemmy, I don't come on.
My God, thank you. That's right.
They all wishing you happy birthday. You celebrated it all day on Monday, right, yes, sir, fast Monday, sir, and you celebrated the number one record would save Me? Yes, sir, Yes, sir. It number one on the country look at me? You know all love saved me?
Man?
You released it what three years ago on YouTube? Yes, sir, three years ago on YouTube and you posted a I know this is a little different from me, but I'm wondering if this should make the album or not? Y'all let me know below. Why didn't you believe the song should make the house?
Oh? Man? Insecurity?
That that that that that voice of the negativity that gets in all of our ears.
Man, that one that we fired every day. I'm glad I followed enough to put it up.
Absolutely did save me. Taking off change your perspective on the type of music you do and how you release it because it just three years ago it came out, but it just went number one on the country sharts this week.
Yeah.
Absolutely, man, I want to show me that sometimes you gotta let a song find people. You know, music meet to us where we are. That's the beauty of a Charlemagne is that music is therapeutic. It's there to help and heal. It's a constant and a life that doesn't have many constants in it, so I'm just glad.
To see the song finally touch people.
I love your story too, Man. Fifteen years ago you were in prison, and now you're a Grammy nominated musician. So I guess my question is not fucking retic. So so my question is should everybody go to prison?
Yeah to find success?
Yeah, exactly. They're giving it away free, y'all. Especially, I promise it's really easy to get there.
In your face.
Three hots and a cop, baby, you got guaranteed bad, three meals a day.
It's all good. Actually, it's come. Might see a high school friend.
And I love your song. She too. Man, When you address the Heroin and fenton All epidemic, why is this song so important to me?
You know, man, I think it's important as an artist for us to talk about the things that people are afraid to talk about, and that art sometimes is an expression of what words are even afraid to say. So I think it's a responsibility as a songwriter to write those kind of songs. And the Fennyl epidemic is sickening. What's happening in America right now is absolutely sickening. I think it's fourteen p thank you. I think it's thank y'all.
So I think I heard it's statistic that it's fourteen people an hour overdose and die in the United States of America every hour on the hour, dam twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year, three sixty six in a leap here. I'm that country, and I think if you think about those numbers alone, it shows me that you heard people here sharing that its effected every household.
Every side of the aisle.
Everybody in America has been affected by this somewhere or the other, and I think it's time we stand up to do something about it.
Well, would you, right, what would you tell people who were struggling with that addiction.
I would tell them that there is hope. That my biggest message as actually had. I had my first viral clip Charlemagne. I don't know if you know it.
Come on, I know you did. You helped it go viral, and uh it was.
I was talking about how it's so important for us to recognize that our windshield is bigger than our rear view mirror for a reason, because what's in front of us is more important than what's behind us.
That who we were is not who we are right, you know that you know a lot of people may not know. But I read Juicy Jay's book, so I know you was down with three six my.
Field, yes, sir from day one.
Yeah. They performed just hard out there for a pimp at.
Uh yes, sir, at Bonnarue, and I actually had the privilege of them going on tour with me and doing five shows, and we did hard out here for a pimp every night.
Y'ah was a group though, right, It was you, a Little White.
Me, Little White and our guy, our guy BPS from Indianapolis who sadly passed away Rest in peace, BPsy.
Yes, sir, What did you learn from your time with three six oh.
Man Everything, Little White and three six Juicy j and Paul The importance of ownership, the importance of independent music, the importance of making the music for your community, and that all that matters representing your people in music because they didn't care about representing nothing but Memphis. And the fact that the sound went worldwide just shows that how much the problems are common everywhere. So write what you know, don't write what you think you know, Write what you know.
And they taught me a lot through that. But most importantly, the independence and ownership.
Hip hop has more in common with country music than people realize. Like they're both great storytellers. They both talk about their vehicles a lot, you know, yeah.
Right, yeah, they both talk about bitches.
It in twenty twenty three, say women, but no, I'm at dogs.
Oh may, I brought a bunch of songs about my dog.
Run. Let me get my mind out to go.
That's wrong with I got my dog with me on the bus, right down.
The bus dog.
Speaking of that, Speaking of that, though, you know, it feels to me and I'm only getting this from what I see you post on social The more you blow up, the more it seems like you want to be around your family and your dog and your loved ones. Am I reading that correctly, sir?
Man Uh, I want to anchor myself and family. I think it's the root of everything we do. Plus, I'm gonna be honest to we're a little we're a little tribe, and they're my best friends.
My favorite human on earth is my wife. You know what I mean? Like, I love my daughter, I love my relationships. And I was joking, but I love my dogs, man, I love my dog.
They're all with us now. My wife's got one. I got two in the bus right now. I got a basket hound. She's got a bully, and we got a French. We got a French bulldog. Okay, yeah, we're dog people that We had a cat.
I had a hairless cat, of bald cat, one of them.
Listen.
It was so ugly, it was cute, it was awesome.
And this cat this to say about me when I was younger. Yeah, they kind of still say that.
Now.
It's better what they said about me. He's cute, but he's fat.
But all you got to do is lose wing, unlock that.
Oh yeah, I told you then i'd be a president.
You know what I'm saying. God, that's why God didn't make me skinny. He knew had abuse the power.
You know, that's all you supposed to pick a You meeting Dolly part in this past month as a country artist in Tennessee, is that like your version of meeting the pope?
Oh dude, Yes, it was like meeting Jay Z. It was that big. It couldn't have gotten no bigger for me.
Dude.
She's the queen. She I've never seen. I don't know what you know. You're from the South, but I don't know what y'all know about a little town called Severeville, Tennessee. It's where Dolly Parton's from, and before Dolly Parton was from there and then went back to create the biggest economical shift in the history of East Tennessee. You wouldn't have cared to know Severeville, Tennessee. I mean, it was a map dots what we call it was a dot on the map.
Dude. It made Monk's Corner look big. Really know what I mean?
The population, yeah, I mean, god, back then, nothing I mean probably in the early thousands. But she went back to build Dolly Wood and has made it one of the best places to travel in America. So everything she's done, from music to her stance, the way she carried herself, Dolly Parton is her philanthropy.
She is who I aspire to be. Man, that's dope.
That's dope. I was. I was reading an interview that the Black Kid the Black Keys did recently, and they.
Said, worried this is gonna happen.
I had to bring it up and they said, Uh, in twenty and ten, you twenty ten, you thought they were making jokes on you. So you approached them and asked them, did they want to go? They want to fight?
Is that true? It is? I'm not It's the truth story why I was.
I was fresh out of jail and I was battling those you know. I mean, I was still had those habits with me, and I was just a very very insecure human.
Man.
You know what I love to talk about the most about this part of the story of Charlemagne is the who I was and who I don't think again? Right, It's like, man, God softened my heart looking back at that kid. I kind of laugh. I got blushing when you brought it up because I was embarrassed a little bit. But I just took you know. I was so entitled and so angry and everything was about me, and I thought they were joking and laughing at us because I was used to being.
In that kind of a situation.
Ego tell yeah, Ego, it was all about ego, man, And I'm an up. By the way, I love y'all black kids. It's all peaceful. I won't try to fight you again. All we're all good. It's all peace. I think the music's incredible. I wish y'all will.
You know Patrick Connie recognized it and you know, he said that you seemed angry and you've admitted that like you just did. Just now, you said you are a broken man. So what made Jelly roll hoole?
Taking the time to love myself, learning to listen to myself, working, You do the work. I do the work. You know, we know I go to therapy. I'll take it very serious. My relationship with God. I'm an old I'm an old school Southern man. I'm just really rooted in my faith and that by belief, that and more than anything, my search for purpose. I quit searching to be happy and I started searching to be useful. And that's when everything changed for me. Because to me, I want to be
a man of service. I want to help people. I want to lead people in the right direction. And I know that when this is all said and done, the jokes we make will come and go. The two things that will stand in Charlemagne is how me and you made people feel sure what music was made? And that's what's important. So I just want to make I want to lift people up. I tore people down for decades.
Want to listen. Yeah, you know it's interesting what you said though, So it's like you said, you're an old school sovereign man. I feel the same way, but we got new school resources. So I believe in God and.
Therapy absolutely, for sure. I believe in God and therapy. I believe in the universe.
That's right.
Hey, listen, if you convinced me that because you're an Aquarius, we get along.
I'm in. I am extremely open minded at my old age.
You know, I loved the video you referenced earlier. You know, when you gave the acceptance speech you recently. It was for new Artists of the year at to see am ads right? Was that pre written? Did your hip hop kick in? And that was just a freestyle off the time?
What was that? It was?
It was the old school freestyle half half and half right. I didn't think I was gonna win. I thought Jack Bryan had it by Landslide. I think he is one of the most incredible artists on earth and he deserved it. And I was prepared to clap for him, was my spirit. And in fact I put my hand on his shoulder and said be sure to shout me out and winked at him. But when I walked up there, I held this up and I looked up.
And it said fifty seven fifty six fifty five, And.
I said that, boy, you better say something that matters. And I just kind of if you ever come to a jelly Roll show and I encourage all to buy a ticket, you ever, do you ever come to a jelly Roll show, you'll see that. I call it the back row Baptism torchs. It's like an old Southern tent revival a little bit too, So I do something like that every night on stage.
You had some black past.
Then you when you get speech, man, I'm from Antiock, Tennessee, Bubba, there's there.
It was.
It wasn't you know.
We went to one hundred person churches and it was you know, seventy percent black, thirty percent white, poor people. So just I just saved different and Baptist stuff exactly. Yeah, that line is raisor thin? Right?
Do you feel pressure to deliver another great except the speech after that one went viral?
Well, no, because I don't expect to win anything.
So you say that I'm nominated for a Grammy, and I'm just like, dude, I don't. I'm afraid that if I actually want a Grammy, Charlemagne, I would just snot rocket the whole time. That would definitely have to turn in the music on and I'm just weeping like a child.
That could be you could be the new Michael Jo and me right, yeah, I was worried that's gonna happen.
Anyways, that's my aspiration.
But you got two Grammy nominations, yes, sir, but you said you don't feel like you deserve either one. Why why is that you still dealing with like in pasta.
Syndrome a little bit.
I'm working on I'm working through that too, because it's like and also I just I'm really struggling with I've been killing the ego is a big part of me becoming a better person. And then you're in a situation where it's a lot of me, I, I me, me ME, So I'm always trying to fight that battle too of just like just ground myself and humility and also respect people's art. Dude, Noah, Noah Khan is unbelievable, you know
what I mean, Like, he's unbelievable, right clearly. I know y'all didn't vote for me, but but if I would have voted for him too, you know, if I get a vote.
So it's just I'm also respecting the other people's art.
I'm gonna get you a book called an Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holliday.
It's a great read.
You should read it absolutely.
Is it the red covered book.
It's a red cover and a green cove.
If on that, stay yeah, hook me up though. You know I'm I have a reader.
So let me ask you this question. I surprise people with my ability to read, not me.
I can listen to you talk well, rad they want of gods that grew up on a dead road.
I'm telling you, baby, we may not can't pronounce. We'll say it wrong every time, that's right, but we know what it means.
Right.
So what does Jelly Roll feel like he deserves? You know, I'm starting to feel better. I start to feel like I deserve this ability to be able to work this hard and to be able to influence this many people.
And I take that very serious.
And that's why I'm very, very very direct about the message I'm trying to permit, present and promote because I feel like I'm a voice for the voiceless, and I speak for a group of people that haven't never been properly spoken for. Yes, And I take that very serious and it gives me a lot of purpose.
Man. I'm finding purpose in life and it's really cool. Man.
Jelly Real, you deserve it all, my brother.
I love you, baby absolutely.
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