QLS Classic: Deon Cole

Call sum roll Call roll is here. Yeah, I won't steer you wrong. Yeah. When you cook my right some beans? Yeah, the radio better be on. Frema roll call, Frima Prima roll Call. My name is Fonte. Watch how I kick it? Yeah? Hey, what's up? White girl? Yeah? I got your mere ticket Roma Frema roll my name is Sugar. Yeah with the uncle. Yeah, full disclosure. Yeah, just smoked a big boy rolla roll call. I'm unpaid bill. Yeah, and times is tough. Yeah, what has a big dick? Yeah? And hangs up. Roll Call

Sua Suprema roll Call. It's like with the plan, better watch out, Dion. Yeah, I love me some Diane call. My name is de yeah, and I'm with y'all. Yeah, I don't rhyme much. Yeah, but who knows that? So roll call roll hold it, Ladies and gentlemen, check out unpaid Bill trying to flex on us. Like of all your roll call versus, I thought that was so perfect. It was that I felt like you were doing it despite us, because you know that we always judge you

for not being on subject whoever the guest is. But I was on subject today. That's amazing, Ladies and gentlemen. This is Love Supreme only on Pandora. Welcoming you guys. I'm here with teams Supreme, Sigo, Sugar, Steve Equal. It's gonna fall out this one over here. Let's just finished right now and played through the pain. Okay, but I'm paid Bill with his relevant verses, so relevant, and it's like you name, it's we found it. It's not it's version.

You know, it's like my name. We're saying your new name on the show is n you know what's funny. I wasn't like, I'll take it. It's a upgrade. No, it's like a right, Yeah, I try that once would come on from the roots. It was gonna be It's Jimmy, but then he became fake Muslims, so then you know they were Yeah, that was just name James. Great anyway, ladies and gentlemen, Uh, we are honored today to have our guests. I have to say that full disclosure. Uh, this is this was a surprise. Uh for a lot

of us. Happy is a welcome surprise. But we're very welcome surprise. Because I wanted to let you know that your your your Netflix half hour special on the Stand Ups is one of my favorite things ever. Your your history with Conan. I'm a Conan fan, and you know all the things you you were actually writing on the tonight show. We were in there. But ladies and gentlemen, please from Blackish, from Angie Tribeca. Uh, one of my favorite comedians. This is Dion Cole right now, blown away

right now. We're fans were great man, fans of OD. This is great man. I thought Dean Sanders was coming. I was gonna say, part of me was going to is he gonna do it? Must be the money reference. I gotta I gotta let him know, man school, you know it's yeah, sorry for doing how you doing today. Man, I'm man, I'm good man. Just got off works. Was about to say, you literally came from the set. Yeah, we're shooting Black its man. This is season four, Yeah,

the season four. Yeah, so I just left to say, come on, came on over here, man, you're shooting the first episode of the season. We're actually on episode four. Okay, yeah, studying five. We just got the disclosure were I believe that the roots are involved in the premier episode, slavery. It's us Yeah, to say that with such alacrity clarity, you know, slavery sitting on the porch. You know that makes sense. Okay, yeah, we once words. Thank you. It's

it's drade. Everybody celebrate. Yea. So what is well? I want to know about your your your routine with Black is which you know I feel? Is it almost blasphemous for me to say that I feel that this is the show is just as important? Uh cosby show go ahead? Can I say that? I think you can. I would even say it's more no no, no no, no, no no, that we only got deep with like the joint episode. It was a different no, it was a different time and and cos was important. But I think the thing with Cosby.

The different between Cosby and Blackish, and that I see is that Cosby Show was a show that could have been about any family, you know what I'm saying. They could have been white, they could have been whatever. But Blackish is specifically about a black family, you know what I mean. And to me, that makes a huge difference. And I see it in the characters. I mean, my kids watch the show and they love it, and they

can it's it's very different. It's very different. Well, I love it, you know, and I was afraid to say that. I've felt that it was not only as important, but probably more important, more relevant to this generation than way more relevant y'all say, more free. So that's a great advantage, think, yeah, I mean, I think you know this day and time.

I mean, I think with the Cosby Show, it was the fact that we had a black family with good jobs, whole family like that was important to see that, like I think, and for that to be a pioneer show like that, that's what made that great, I mean important. I guess you could say we're following the same footsteps, but I think we tackle harder issues and more relevant issues that apply to everybody today. Y'all talked to the audience.

I think, yeah, y'all like the whole the scene with Anthony would Um the Obama where he talked about, you know, seeing Obama and everybody was every black person was nervous, Like that was real, this conversation at work. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

But it's important to show both sides too, you know, not just short from my perspective, that's I think that's important with what we do to we also show, you know, a chick who voted for Trump and why she voted for him, you know, in order for people to get clarity on you know why, you know, people feel as though that was the way to go, you know, as far as voting this concern. So how long have you been doing comedy about this? October would be twenty four,

twenty five years. What, Yeah, she started back like nine. Where were you born? Chicago? I'm from Chico. Still stay there, yeah, still yeah. When I ain't filming, I'm always back home. I just left home. I just left home last weekend. We did a big benefit with Chance. He did like thirty thousand backpacks with supplies to kids and you know, right, yeah getting there. So yeah, I'm always there. Man, I

was trying to be as active as posible. So I know that Chicago is, uh, it is a big city for comedy because I know that at least of the SNL alumni or whatnot comes through I guess the Second City out there absolutely, So did you have to get into that fraternity too? Well? Now, because it different for black comedians because I don't hear much of black comedians going through the Groundlings or no they don't. I mean because it's it's a it's a north Side thing in

the south Side thing. That's that's more like north Side. A lot of South Side comics. They come up the ranks just doing bars and whatever clubs that they can or whatever. But we fortunately had the opportunity to go through Second City. But we created our own skets troop call Forgotten City, and we used to perform. Yeah, basically because is there a politic game going on in there?

I mean, I'm well, honestly, to be real with you, I think it's just a lot of cats couldn't afford those classes and they couldn't afford to get in there. So that's a school. Yeah, at the PA, all of those kind of places out of those classes running like, what's I can tell you because I'm broken I paid for Yes, I've done like that's why she's so funny. Yeah, like it like a good three hundred dollars or something like that. You see what's it called out here? You? Yeah? Wait,

this is a muppet newsplash. I'm not saying that studios. So you really fit Philly improv? Really? I mean how long it was? It's a program, so it was like two months. I'm kind of improv theater group too. We performed at Relish out in Philly at the eating place. Yet still to baking. I'm not doing when I'm not doing question Love Sapareme, I'm working on comedy and writing. Yes, I did not know this. It's dope. Yeah, I posted all the time. Well I don't be reading talking at you. Well,

I don't read question. Yeah, I don't be reading. However, this is one of the first shows of our second season, and I'm shocked that you haven't said that to you. Well, no, I haven't really pimped that fact. With all the comedians that we had on Funny, I think what we had we had Gerard Carmichael on it, who was the other comedian that we had Chris Rock. I made a couple of references and y'all shot me down real fast. I didn't.

I was very serious, and I was like, oh, I started sweating and getting nervous, like, oh shit, he just shot down my whole dream. I'm out here taking classes doing flappers and ship Okay. So as a person that's that's been in the system. So as a person that's been in the system, and you know, I don't I don't know if you consider it thriving or just a

continuing journey. But I mean you you've been on Conan's writing staff and that sort of thing, so you utilize the education that you got to get to that position. And like, as a person searching, so what is the how does one even get into that world? Okay? First of you gotta pay. Do they accept anyone well me? Well me personally? When it came to us with Second City, that was something that we did. We were on our

own sketches and we did our own shows. So people from Second City came and saw us and gave us a night at their facility to perform our sketches, and then we used to have people come there and we did that for a while after the group broke up. Many people were in the truth, it was like nine of us. Were you the most prominent member? Like, were

there other people there? It was some other Yeah, we were all equally around across the board as far as like writing this concern, as far as perform and we were all equal, I mean the performance wise creatively and all of that themselves down today that were I mean, they're still rocking or whatever, but you know, I don't don't know as far as like mainstream wise, but they're still getting down or whatever. But we broke up on some true Hollywood ship and what happened it was nine

of you. Yeah, yeah, I was what happened. Man. We came out to l A. We showcase for Puffy, and we showcase for brill Stein and Gray. We did what was that? My bad? That was you. I didn't realize that I was actually watching your was just a weird. Sorry. So so yes, came out around here, we showcase and then they signed us and gave us some money. At think of game. It's like eighties Stacks and our manager when the rent limos and had bitches and a kind

of ship. Man. Yeah, it blew our whole fucking thing man and then we all broke up after that. Yeah, it was crazy. So I was already out here at that point. No, we just came out here the showcase and went back to Chicago. But then I had I had went through this other showcase called Aspen and ended up meeting this guy who worked for Conan, and he asked me to come on the show and perform as a guest, and I went on. As soon as I got off stage, Conan asked me to write for him,

like like like two weeks later. I didn't have to submit nothing to nothing And what was the time in between? How much time in between y'all and that l a trip and then the Aspen situation that took him, No, I took about probably about probably about two years after that. Yeah, and then I rock with Corner. Anything I have auditioned for and I never got even to this day, Like with Conan, I've always fun with people, all vibes. People always been like, Yo, you're a cool motherfucker, let's rock,

or you're smart, motherfucker, let's rock. And it's always been like that, and they've never been like audition for something. And I get like with Conan, he just liked me and told me to show up and I ended up writing for him, Like I submitted nothing nothing Blackish. I went over there or right, and the guy that well, actually it was Charlie Murphy was supposed to be playing a character that I play on Blackish, and yeah, he didn't want to do it. That's why my name Charlie

on the show. And he didn't. He didn't want to do it. So I ended up since I was writing for the character, I knew how the character was gonna be and what's and so they had me play that character once and I ended up getting it. Then I got this other show, car and Tribeca with Stephen Correll, and I was supposed to be the lieutenant on there, and Steve didn't want me to be, uh the same, a black, screaming lieutenant, a cliche lieutenant, so he wrote a character for me. I wasn't even in that show

and he just wrote a character for me. So this has been going on and on my whole career, where it's just never Yeah, it's never been like anything because I think when you audition for ship, they're looking for a certain type in their head and you just don't match what they're looking for. I think because you probably saw original so different, they really can't pinpoint you and ship you know, sou but they but that you dope, you know what I mean, And they all remember you

laid on for some other ship. But so how do you make because I mean, of all the the the arts that you can be, be acting, musician, chef, I feel like comedy is one of the hardest things. Like, at what point are you saying to yourself, I want to make it as a comedian or are you even saying that? Well, me, you originally got into comedy. Someone bet you fifty bucks. Yeah, I read that on wiki somewhere.

Do But because I never was like, no, no funny motherfucker, Like I never was like that, Like I never was. I always was quiet and kind of have my own thoughts whatever. I overthought everything though, and I think people thought that was hilarious and my boy bet meeting on stage and I went on there and did it or whatever. But how many minutes you what was your first joke?

Like four minutes I did joke about Sunny Delight. What I just talked about how that motherfucker they was playing soccer and they all rushed his refrigerator and everybody was in his ship, grabbing ship. And I was like that that couldn't been a black household. And yeah, like Nick's had to grout of water holes absolutely, because I said that was my first joke ever, and I did that

ship repeatedly ever ever, for like two years straight. You just like kept it to the point where mother fuckers was saying it with me because everybody said the punchline with me. That's a funny joke when you people know the joke and they still want to be Yeah. Yeah, but but it was hard commercial commercial. Yeah, so is it comedy is high? Yeah? I was gonna say, because

you you have to speak two languages. Yeah, Like now, is it to the point where that you're juggling, uh acting you're no with your black audience and also the white audiences that come in or did you just immediately integrate with Uh? What's what's the what's the comedy spot that's named after the guy Harry? I don't know if it's Harry carry spot in Chicago. Um, Uh, it's not like Danger Fields, it's it's it's a comedy club and

his face, this guy's faces the logos, but it's like glasses. Hilarious, hilarious. In Chicago, there is there's a famous comedy club that in Chicago. Yeah, it's you're talking about all jokes aside. No, it's I was about to say that's back in the day that was closed. I'm trying to chuck Harry, is it not Harry, Harry carry ain't opened up. No, goddamn, all right, this is like bust left breaking news. There's no place like Okay, whatever, I just he'll come to you when it was all over. Yeah, I had a

bolt two days later. Hilarious. So what was your household like? Growing up? Man? Blackest ship only the only child find out how to half sister later on out a place that growing up she had passed. But I grew up in South Southe Chicago, gang infested all that ship. My mother moved me. My mother moved me to the suburbs because she didn't want me to get caught up in the games, because my cousins and ship, they was all affiliated.

So she moved me to the suburbs, which became almost a culture shot because I ended up fighting more in the suburbs than in the city, and I was fighting the one person as the only black person, so I stopped fighting the whole integration. Yeah, I got out there. They used to pull their cars on our lawn, spinning tires, funk out and I was fucked up. And it was this family called the Gabarziks and ship they used to throw like batteries like Gabarziks used to Yeah, it used

to be real mess stuff. But I wouldn't have had it no other way because when I moved out there, I stopped this this dude name Rich and he used to turn me on like Zeppelin and like a whole bunch of cool ass rock ship, like like like like your Floyd and Stones and just and I used to teach him. I used to play hip hop for him. He ain't know ship about hip hop. So me and him became like real tight because I just hang't out with him every day on some cool ship and just

vibe out with him. And you know, I just learned a lot and learned how to be you know, like in a way not biased, but understand. Me and him had to understanding that I wish everyone else had, you know what that Yeah, and it was and he wasn't trying to be black, and I wasn't trying to be right, It was just y'all. We were very much interested into each other's culture. Yeah, so I guess that formed us to who we are. You know today, you know what, I haven't seen Rich and I don't know how long

or whatever. But back then we used to be trying to twitter you like, remember, I don't know where Rich is a bullshit? I wish I did, though, So did that play kind of a role in developing your comedy? Like? Yeah, because when they came to write, and I didn't want to write just black Ship, you know what I mean? I wanted to write that was like for everybody because I felt like I would have to do it anyway, So why would I just why would I bullshit? And

right all black Ship? Now I could just take my time, focus and write for everybody right now, right that joke for everyone. If it don't work, make that motherfucker work. And if it don't leave it alone. Yeah, Well, who's mentoring you by this sport? Like who's teaching you as far as coming after the bet? And you're like, Okay, I could do this for real? George l Borne, Deal Givings, Bernie MacKenny, how Tony Schofield. These are the people that

that I that mentored me coming up. Steve Harvey used to come to Chicago all the time and he used to always be there and you know, take me under this wing or whatever. But it was it was. It was George will Borne and A Dell and like I said, Bernie, Bernie had like tough love, but he used to really look out for us and like he used to be like this used to have this place called the Cotton

Club in Chicago. In order for you to follow Bernie, I mean, the only way you can get on stage is if you can follow Bernie, and Bernie would dismantle that motherfucker. You would have to go up at them. And if you couldn't do it, you would never play that motherfucker again or whatever. But they or they just be silent. Now they'll be sometimes booze, sometimes silent, whatever. But if you was horrible, you just had to get

the funk up out of that whatever. But it so great, you know, because he used to have a lot of people that came there and his night was so great. It ended up being a television show called Midnight Mac. It used to be coming on HBO. Remember that it used to be so great. He used to placed a place called Miltreineers where he had the dancers and the mac dancers dances and the band and yeah, he used to have an old show. It came on HBO because of the room that we used to do. Phillis himI

used to come in there. Used to be crazy, She's come on stage and just be like, why are you in the middle of your set? Should just come grab the mic and be like, oh, we need to wait yourselver here? Where's this bitch? And didn't get the mic back back down, like like you'll be like, who the hell are you? Like a lot of people didn't know who she was and should be like she'd come up there like motherfucker's on fire too? Was was? Was Robin

Harris still around that time? Was just trying to get Robin was around at that time too, but he wasn't like at the club out there. He was like more in l A. He was in l A around that time. Did you ever get a chance to see him in the city or see some of his Harris I never even ran in the robbing Harris. I hope never know. So Bernie was the main about it when you came on, Bernie was yeah, Bernie was yeah, that was that was motherfucker forever Bernie. Yeah. I wanted a deal to be

like that. I just wanted her was fired too, man, That's what I'm saying. I always wanted her to be bigger. From Death Comedy Jam three times was fire. Kenny how I was fired too. Kenny was a monster on the road. A lot of people don't didn't want to follow Kenny how To. He was he was a beast. So so back then, I mean, was your aspiration two Eventually, like one day I'll get on Death cham or I mean

Death Death Comedy Jam or um. Like I'm sure earlier you had to choose what circuit you were going to do. And I don't know what the chipling circuit is for black comics versus mainstream comics. You know where It's like in New York. If you start working out at Boston Comedy Club or catch a rising star, chances are you

might hit that mainstream you know lane. But there's also the danger being stuck in the kind of the black lane that doesn't allow you to go outside of Yeah, no, you can get you can get caught on the South side of Chicago doing bar at the bar, at the bar, and then next thing, you know, all your material is is geared towards who's the next bit walking in the door, and that would be your whole set. But also do this. But then you had to take your own initiative and go.

Like I said in the get Go, if you're gonna write a joke and you're thinking about being around for a while, you're gonna write a joke that's for everybody at that time. So it was important for me to hang out up north and do stuff up North and

north side of Chicago. It was predominantly white or whatever, and I mean where it was white and uh, you know, keep your chops up like that or whatever, because yeah, it would be hard to get I mean, it would be easy for you to get caught up into that chipless So for your creative process, um, how do you developed? How do you develop or protect a joke or an idea?

So say like ninety four, what was popping? Okay, it's o J time, and so I'm certain that there's seven of you at your particular spot that are like trying to figure out what your angle it's going to be on O J. R Now, I'm always certain that like Chappelle, for instance, mainly works at like five secret spots that he knows that Hollywood writers won't be at like he won't do no l A spots because he's afraid that. He said that some of his jokes mild le one

Family Guy, Yeah, mine too. I had a joke called balls Date that I used to do that the Cleveland show. Balls Date to have a joke. You can look at it on the internet. While talk about I'll talk about Wesley Pipes the poem. He talk about how he'd be talking when he'd be fucking how he'd just he's a real person, Yeah, he got his but he'd be talking

to women crazy, when he'd be hitting touching me. Yeah, he'd be like, come on, don't make me look bad, bit doing like may He'd be saying outland this ship. And so I was talking about how he was talking a woman to go balls deep or whatever. And next thing I know, I said a few years later, she

was on Family Guy a whole song about it. Yeah, because when Tyre when Tyra Banks came on our show, we did balls Deep as her walk on because Junior sing that's so Then I have a whole skin about balls deep and I used to do that ship all the time. So how do you protect that? How do you There's really no way to protect it. Basically, you you have to I mean, like, that's why I don't

like to cliche ship, you know what I mean? Because I know if I think of something that easy is seventeen million other casts that's gonna be thinking the same thing. So I try to stay away from ship like that unless I have a very unique perspective on it or whatever. Other than that. The way that I think, in the way my delivery is I try to make it where

you can't even you can't even twist that joke. You can't even make it yours in the sense you know, you could probably take it and do a rendition of it, but you will never deliver it with my cadence or whatever. You know, but you can take it and you can get another idea from it, like and make a song. Yes she can so, because I didn't think to write a song. So how do you feel, I mean, do you just like saying well to the to the other

writers who did do that. Basically you just look at it, like you know, you believe in yourself and gold for those who stole you know, I'll make up some more. So, I mean, how do you confront Is there a confrontation method or whatever? Like if you hear your joke, you just have to approach that person if you hear him say it. If you had a situation where it's like yeah, at what time, I was in St. Louis with Kenny How and Kenny had like nine dudes with him and

I ain't know nothing them. I just knew Kenny and we walked in this comedy club and this dude was actually doing my balls deep joke for line for line, and when he got off stage, like confront of them, like why would you do that? Like that's taking money on my pocket. Now about if I come down here and I have to do that joke, everybody gonna think that I instill Joe ship when you're steal in mind and he's sitting up like, yo, man, I ain't still your joke, and I'm like you did, Like I'm like

I'm gready like put hands on this mother. They talked about this on how we'd string all the time, about all the time, and how Bill Man was my man building died the comedian and everybody's like one of them, dude. It's it's a lot of it's a lot of motherfucker's out here. Some of your favorite comedians to be out motherfucker's jokes because they know that the last dream. Yeah, ain't nobody gonna tellt them. Then people don't think that

you're jokes. That's why I member, I did another joke on my special when somebody was telling me somebody it was somebody else joke, and I'm like, no, motherfucker, you don't know who did it first, you know what I mean? I did that ship first, you know. So it's that kind of the danger of working and stuff out in clubs and stuff like that. It is the thing because sometimes you'll show up and there'll be nine comics in the back of the room just sitting there, you know,

and they'll be watching you work out. Some of them will come up to you and be like, yo, I gotta tag for you. Let me help you and give you a bit of something, and that be cool when they do that ship, but the other ones they just be mad quiet, go home and write something similar to that ship or you know whatever, and now they got a hot fucking twenty minutes and ship you ain't never you never see them work out needed. So when you

say attack, what does that mean in comedy terms? I mean like if I if I do a joke and it's okay, but you thought of something clever, you can come up to me and be like, Yo, that was funny, but at this on that and oh yeah great, you know what does Brennan Brennan Brennan is the king of walking up to since, Yo, why don't you and say it like that? And then I'll see that happen. Neil is my dude when it comes to right. And Neil

had a room here on Sunday nights. Man, when we'll go up in there and work out on ship and always constantly having fresh ship, always working our ship. Well, come up to you on a heartbeat. He'll do it before he even go on. Like if you before him and you get all stage and heat next he'll tell your tag on your ship and then go do his ship. You know, like that's wanted to coach, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, Neil is the monster with that. Yeah, shout out to Meil. So how long did you stay

in Chicago before you broke out? I don't know to New York or l A, like we're you and I when I came out here, like in two thousand and seven, it's been like ten years. But when I first came out here, it was I used to like hate it, Like was it like starting over again or no, because everybody knew in the comedy world. They knew as far as black comics. They knew exactly who I was, and they and they gave me, you know, the proper do or whatever. But it just was so lame out here.

To me. I was just like these my lame this ship, lame fuck this ship. This is then like Chicago, and I always be hauling at Chicago ship. And then one day this comedian they Dominique, saw me in front of the Comedy Still and I was like, these lame motherfucker's out here, fun this ship, this they like Chicago. She was like, we'll go home, nigger yeah. And I was like, well, she was like that's all I have here here. You talk about the Chicago this and that in hw l A,

this this. She was like, l A was this way before you came out here, It's gonna be this way when you leave. She was like, you either play the I ain't gonna take you. That's all, motherfucker. I don't know why that stuck with me, but that was that big that my career shifted. I think a month two months after that, I got Coner. Yea, so all right, and I'm glad you're here. I want to have the

l A rabbit hole discussion. I mean, I'm always hearing people like, man, I can't you know Ellie's mad phone email, Eli's you know what? Am I missing the memo? Like? Am I the only one that enjoys Los Angeles? Now? Your experience different than the average? No, but here it is Los Angeles to me. Like I said, now, I enjoyed Los Angeles. At that time, I was comparing apples

to oranges in a sense. And as far as my career is concerned, once I switched, my mind stayed around, understood exactly what I needed to do and to do it. Then after that everything became easy and it became something I was like, Okay, I get it. This is just another planet out here, just like New York is another planet to me. But are you are you judging from a perspective? Okay, so from a musical perspective, like I

know that um. In the jazz world, New York jazz musicians used to always look down on the l A jazz musicians and actually music New York session musicians used to always look down on l A session musicians because it was just a different type. They were more easy going, like a lot of that yacht rocky here, like the

sound of Toto, that's smooth, Michael McDonald's stuff. It's you know, it's like and it represents what l A is about, a breezy, sunshine sort of state of mind, which is less gritty and roll than what what's on the East Coast. So you're saying that is it the level of comedy out here or just but a comedy. I'm from the Midwest, where what we talked about is real blue collar ship, and this is what it is when you're going to the East coast. East Coast comics talk about different stuff,

and I'm talking about the majority. Ain't saying all of them, but they would do more Haitian jokes. So they'll do jokes about doms, Domnicans or some ship you know, each comic or go on stags and they'll have their Dominican or Chinese man or Puerto Rican ship. You come to l A. Everybody had a you know, audition joke, how

the women are the cars of the weed. It's always that, you know, And where I was from, we would look at all of that and we would we had all of that, so we were more well rounded, I think, you know, as far as our experiences and our environment or whatever. So I think that's why, Um, when I came out here, I was more disappointed at the time,

but then I realized that that's what know. They only know what they know, and I started embracing what they knew and started liking what they was doing, and then started incorporating some of these stories in the mind's situation. It's by being a fish out of water, you know what I mean? And how did you know when it was I didn't know it was time you tried. Yeah. Yeah, But it's cool though. I mean, you know, sometimes I put myself in tripped out situations in order to write

because it is such a difference. Like I'm from d C. So it is like a culture coming. I'll go to a dog race and just sit there just the right The only nick is sitting in there, just looking around. The dumb and ship ever, but I got a hot for team when I leave it. So all right, your een a dog right in your mind? In your mind is having a hot twenty? Is there a pressure to refurbish it every month? Oh? Absolutely you have to. I I try to refresh your refreshing every year. But I

tried to move out. And how hard is it to let go of your gym? Oh my god? Because like, and again, I'm not a comedian, but I know that as a DJ, I know that these three songs they're gonna work, like you know, but then it's like yeah, but then it's like one I made like my ninth appearance, and people know, like, oh, he's about to play poison, Like they know what I'm gonna do, and it's and it's so one of the hardest things for me to do.

In December, I always take like my most popular joints and just raise them out to set and I gotta start all over again. So how do you how you know it's the same way, like you you it's so hard to get rid of those gems. But then again, it goes back to trusting yourself. You have to like when people steal your jokes, you have to go all right. Well, you know I'm gonna write another. You know, somebody asked me one time in the interview that was like, what's

your favorite joke? And I was like, I ain't wrote it yet. I really don't figure that. I'd always keep that in mind. I haven't wrote that motherfucker yet. And so I constantly am in mode of being a sponge. I'm not no silly dude like that, but I'm always paying attention to anything and everything that happened in order

for me to constantly have that kind of material. So the times that we live in right now, in two and which um news is constantly changing, we're living we're living in a time period in which you literally won't be all that surprise if you're going to be told

we're about to have a nuclear war. Yes, um, it's now to the point that if a riot breaks out in a certain place, you're not all that surprise if wait, wait, wait it's a riot breaking down, Yes there is right now, and where he pointed to, when let's roll, that's glad we did this practice run. Now we know I'm about to say, like, I don't know what your your partner in case goes down like he's a guy's signal that man,

let's let's go. I grabbed because after your sheat screamed. Anyway, my my point is that, um it's like, my point is that I've been spending like the last month or so observing all the comics that have been coming through um Chappelle's residency at Radio City. Now some of them have been complaining. You know. The thing is like, when you're at Radio City, you want to put your best foot forward, you know, because Dave has hot lineups and you know all the celebrities in there, and so you

want to put your best foot for it. But then like a lot of them are getting mysed because it's like damn Trump changing the news again, making this joke irrelevant. Now, I gotta I gotta scrap my my thirty minutes set and reset it for exactly And it's not so I'm saying that, you know, I know that in bad times, the worst that times are, the better is for comedians at least have subject mattered to to make fun of it.

But because the times we live in so unprecedented, unprecedented with with constantly changing news, how does that affect you as that hot twenty Like I said, before. I can't write a lot of just ship this in your face because it's too easy and it's too easy, and I think everybody else is gonna write something that easy. So I don't have a lot of current topical material. Like, so you don't do much crowd work, That's what I mean. I do sometimes, but I'm not, I'm not. I'm not

based on that. I don't like to get an audience what they want. I'm a type of comic where you have to you have to come into my world, you know, And once you in my world, then I can go wherever with you. But if I keep giving you what you want, then I'm a slave to you, and then you're they're getting fed what you eat and what you expect. The way you describe the r like the kind of way you talk about the comedy is the same way

I think about rhymen. You know what I'm saying. Because it's like you can't almost yeah, Like you can't write like if you try to write about, okay, what happened on love and hip hop this week, and you try to put that and make that a punch line or whatever, that ship is old. So you have to write about like things that are universal, like things that are timeless balls deepest universal balls. So let me ask, because, Um, when I watched the Netflix special, I was so happy

because one of my I hate this moment. It's like, like you ever hate, like when someone wants to tell you who they you remind them of, like no one wanted, no one weren't, Like I mean, is the king of letting you know who you look like and you don't look like her like at all, as long as they

like legendary or something. The reason why I loved your Netflix special was that you kind of you kind of did this this this random, non secretive thing that one of my favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg, was the king of where you just had all these random asides that weren't you know, it weren't. It wasn't of a time p it it was about you. But it's just you just

going through a list of things. And you know, since Mitch Hedberg has has passed away, Stephen what's his name, Stephen right, Stephen Wright was sort of in that lane where like he would just let time go by, yeah and then say something, And I was like, I always wanted to know, Like I cannot wait for a black comedian to take that lean. You took that lean, so

thank you. I think I think I think it's I think the rhythm is no rhythm, you know, And and that's that's the way that I leoked at it as far as approaching and I felt the lack of rhythm, it is groovy, you know what I mean? It was like silence is good too, because a lot of people don't trust silence, and let like, how do you? How do you do? That is just as great as applause because it lets you know that you have them and

unless them, let you know that they're paying attention. And then and then also you can guide them wherever you want. You can make a left of right, you can bag up whatever you want to do at that moment. And you need to test that throughout your sets that you need to be quiet sometime just to see where they're at and then also to get your your thoughts together.

Well you know, but but in experimenting, how do you what happens if you get turbulence in your set and you knew that didn't work, but you don't want to give it away that there have that joke didn't work you just like for me, personally, anytime I do a joke that don't work, I purposely do it in front of a joke that I know it's gonna work. So I'll do this, but I know I got this fire one coming next, or I'll do a fire one first,

or I'll put it in between two. Yeah, I sound with you, between two in order to give it the legs that it need at just in case it doesn't work. I'm I'm gonna put that right between two great ass jokes, you know. So it's an example for you of a joke that you were unsure of or something that for you that it's something that you had to joke. I had this joke that I and me. Also, another thing that I do is funny. It's funny regardless. And I learned this from Conan that you know, every moment can't

be magical. If it was, then we wouldn't have magical moments. So I would think that I would take jokes that purposely wouldn't work, just to set up the next one. But that would be funny to have a joke that didn't work, Yeah, like a dead moment. Yes, I wouldn't purposely do that. I had a joke, Yeah, Yeah, because I think that that, you know, because that's a that's a moment of honesty, that that that's a moment of vulnerability that I showed the audience that I'm not as

together as you think I am. I had this joke that I used to always do. I used to be like Tiger Woods doesn't want to say he's black, but his father's black and his mother's tie. I'm just gonna call him a formal nigger. No, that would never get a laugh. I don't know why, YO knew. No one laughed, But I would purposely do that joke every time, just just and then I would sit there and would not move until people like it made it funnier because people

were like what, like, what is he talking about? But that that was what I used to do, you know, back in the day. I'll walk on stage this when I first started, I'll walk on stage with like a saxophone. I would never play. I'll do fifteen minutes old and and then just leave. I didn't even play this, they're gonna play. He forgot the play. I'll bring like a flute, uh uh, I mean like hamonica, and would never play that ship just just you know, just twist it up. Dude,

you gotta do that the next special, just wear a sexphone. Right. You remember explained about the whole polarization thing. Yeah. Yeah, So Chappelle does his trick where he polarized his audience by you know, when you see him perform milk take a cigarette and then he'll he won't puffe it. He'll light the cigarette and won't puff it. And he and

he knocks this thing with his knee. Yeah, every time he hits his knee with the after the punch, Like, yeah, like that to me, you know, you with the saxophone and never use it. Used to I used to do that a lot. I first started just to keep people going,

what what so? What was it like? Um in the the Conan camp because I know that his particular brand of of of writers, at least from my perspective, um, you know, I mean it was it seemed like it was part national lampoons, like you know, like college uh ivy League level humor some and you know like there was the master baiting bear like kind of like Conan humor. Um. How first of all, were you quote the only guy in the room? And I think you know what I

mean by quote? Got like the rest. So I was I was the very first and only to this day black rider that Couner has ever had. Yes and yikes, yeah wait, not even what's his name? I thought what's his name? Was on the show for a second um cribe enthusiasm. He was Jooth was not a Coning writer at one point, j did you have any parameters or did he just say go for it? Well? When I first started, I was with all these Emmy Award winning writers that went to Brown University, and I tried to

write like that. When I first started, how do you find your tribe in your I just was trying to write like them, and like none of that was working. No, I was working. And one day they were writing this bit about Andy Rector, uh going to october Fest and I didn't know what that was and I was like, what's that? It was like it's a German drinking day and I was just like, why everybody got drinking day

with black people? And Coning at that day was like once you write that up, and I was like, uh, I was like really He was like yeah, So I wrote it up and he was like, and I want you to come out on the show and explain that, and I was like okay, and I went out and explained it. It blew up. Then I think something else came up where I was like they were they were they were talking about a hunting house or something, and I was like that ship ain't scary to black people.

This scary to black people, and they just like write that up. So it became this thing where it was like my world with Conan's world colliding. It was like yes, So it was this dynamic that we had that well, it's funny. So it led to me writing my way okay that they couldn't right now, Yeah, you needed your voice like became my became my my voice in my perspective that they couldn't write. So then they led me to have my own lane, you know what I mean,

and doing my own thing or whatever. But yeah, and that to just this black dude from the South side of Chicago kicking there with this super white dude Harvard graduated from Boston and US collide and but being like damn, they're best friends, you know. So it worked. So assuming that no NDA was signed, Um, both you and I have something in common. Uh, we both at one point and I still do work for the Tonight show. Yes,

now that was a really weird preference. The thing is is, what what was the writer's room like when word first got out that oh, we might not be on the show anymore. Because the thing is like, once you get Tonight, it's such a legacy that everyone thinks like, oh, it's gonna be a thirty year run, you know, Johnny Carson, thirty years. They years, and that's what we thought. And when you yeah, you guys got to your second year

and it's like, wait a minute, what's going on here? Yeah, like the writer's room was like and you all moved to Los Angeles, but for that, like did you come to New York at all? For any of them? Remember, like they moved from New York and came here for the show. I came on as a guest. I wasn't even a part of the camp when it came. And then after the they were there for like four months, and then that's when then you were and then and

then and then I got hired or whatever. But when we when they wouldn't move that time slot, and Conan was like, yo, I'm leaving it. Just I was still kind of like not knowing that history was be amazed fast television, right sir. And like I was, I was still like, yo, this banking sketches out and whatever. Like everybody else was like, we moved from New York to here. They just sold their houses and York you know, the move that because they think and it was gonna be

a thirty year there. I was. I was there for their last days. It was crushing, right, but we we we went, we went ham We was like, okay, well, let's just spend all of their money. You were never that last episode, Yeah, okay, we had the roll we we had the Rolling Stones song. Yeah play, yes, we played repeatedly during the show, so we had to pay for the licenses for that. I almost got in trouble. Well, yeah, when I watched that last episode, Uh, they had also

played Julia by the Beatles four times. There's five songs by the Beatles are like untouchable and it's near like seven hundred thousand dollars per uth and I had tweeted that out and that was the first time that the Comcast people or you know, like called called my manager like can we control mirrors account? Because I can say like, oh, ship, see about to pay They're like, can you get tweet? We don't want our bosses to know how much money

were wasting. Hilarious. Yeah, but how much did that last episode costs? Because y'all did like y'all destroyed a very expensive card. They destroy they some of the horse we had, like this thorough bred horse that costs like millions, and we was like, oh yeah, we was it, like you know, and they didn't want us to do that. We had these ancient bones flew in, these uh dinosaur bones flew in some contexts into this because yeah, give me some

context to the Late Night Wars or whatever. So Conan, you were writer for Conan and then what happened The show just got canceled, like Jay Leno gave him the show and then we had the show, and then they wanted to move the Tonight Show from eleven thirty to twelve. Conan was like, it's been eleven thirty since the beginning of it Tonight Show, how dare you move the time slides?

And they was like, we want to move it and so Jay can have the So Jay can have the eleven thirty spot, and it was like he was like, he wasn't he wasn't gonna do it. He wasn't gonna, you know, go against the integrity of the show. Connor was like, oh I'm out, and they gave him forty five million to leave and he left. Yeah, it was it was crazy, you know. But we went on tour after that because he couldn't be on TV or radio or nothing like that. So we toured for like three months.

So you were you yeah, I closed. I'd like I went second to last doing stand up. I was doing like ten fifteen minutes to stand up every night. We was doing like between two thousand and fifteen thousand seats. It was like that was like some rolling Stone ship because it was a movement because everybody loved Conan at that time and they knew that they did them wrong.

So everywhere we went it was like crazy. And like every city we went to, whoever the celebrity was, I was known in that city, they would come out on stage with Conan. So we was with like Neil Diamond and Eddie Vetter and like all these people that I like, beyond my comprehensiveive meeting, like hanging out with him. It was crazy. Like I remember when we finished the tour, I got to my apartment and called my Renos plays asking for chicken fingers and ship fadus rand I was gone, boy,

we did Bonaru. We did like because you know, Cone is a musical guy too. You know. They played the guitar and ship, you know, so we caught it. Cut an album with Jack White was in Nashville. It was crazy y'all album, Like it was crazy. Are you and Cony y'all still cool? Now? Y'all still work? How many years did you do on the TBS show before you left my show? No No for Cony? Did you go with Conan into TV? Yeah? Yeah, I went over there.

I was over there like six years, six years. Then I had my own show called black Box, and then at the Black Box. That's when I left and went to black That was a sleeper black. They didn't they didn't get behind me at all. They was trying to promote it like it was some kicking the nuts that show and ship, you know, but we was doing We was doing topical ship, were talking about what was in the news. But they was promoting us as if we were showing yeah, like some toss ship and it went't

like that. We were talking about a Manda Binds and all kinds of ship that anything that was in the news, you know, but it was it was a great show, but it was all white network at the time. And you know, TBS used to be a network for baseball, and so all these shows used to cater to the white American baseball guy. And then I come along. They're like, what those two guys, I know, you'll talk about them all the time on Vice. They're like a kind of

like they might have been inspired by. Yeah, how did you come across Kenya? Uh? It was agent by the name of tam Are going. She was talking to Kenya. Kenya was talking to her about some writers that she needed, and she was like, yo, Dion just finished up on Conan,

you should go. You should have them come over. And he was like all right, But Kenya had knew my work and I knew a Kenya too, and so I went over there for an interview and talked to him, like I said, that's when we met about talking about this Charlie character and all of that, and then um man, it just at the uh Charlie didn't want to do it. It just what it did. So did I hear you? Right? You right for yourself for that character? No, I don't

now at that time, No, I never did. I was just writing for I was I was going to write for that character. But the way that I envisioned the character of being me and Kenya only knew how that character should be. So when Charlie didn't want to do it, Keny was like, well, I want to find nobody else and try to show them how to do. Want you to just be that character from me? And how did he describe that character to you? Like, what was he

to be? Well, he just told me that it was this guy that works with Anthony and he uh, he's just a friend that that comes that came into the office and that you know, just chops it up with Anthony. And I was more and you know, actually the character is mainly based off of Kenya. Kenya. Is that guy he Anthony? Your characters Kenya Kenya, Yeah, Kenya. It's like it's like a split personality thing with Kenya. Kenya. Kenya

is that awkward guy in the office. Yeah, Kenya was that guy with his family situation, you know, And that's what irresponsible. That's the great thing about Anthony's character on the show for those that watch it. When Anthony is at home, he's an idiot. When he's in the office, he's brilliant. Yeah, and he just he he plays this. He played he flip flops. This character that's you know,

crazy to see him. So is that typical to have one person right for one character, because I know that in the case the thirty Rock um, Donald Glover's job was to write and be the voice of Tracy Morgan's character on thirty Rocks and just right for him. So you know, like when you're getting this job, before you were on the show, your job wasn't to contribute an ideal line for the for the story, for the plot or anything. It was like, what would this character said? Well,

I don't know, because I didn't. I didn't get that far. All the furthest I got was, hey, it's this guy, ain't childie. And I never wrote on a sick I never only wrote for late night and yeah, yeah, it's totally late late night, it's current. Late night is fast paced. Next thing you know, twelve hours is gone buy and you're like, god damn, yeah, yeah, you gotta do it all over again. The next day you're in the news, you're getting premises sent that you you gotta write descript.

It's like that with television. You know, you got months to prep beforehand, and then you get the skirts easier. I mean yeah, because yeah, yeah, yeah, because you got you got to be funny, funny within minutes, Like every second has got to be funny. On late night a monologue, set up punchline, set up punch line, and you got it. And then after that you got like just a few minutes and before you know, the guests come out, you

know what I mean. So you gotta you gotta hit it, like like tonight show now that y'all want, like it's gotta be snappy, you know. But television, yeah, you got time to prep and write, you know, get it together, did you? Was it a transition for you going from writing to like now having to add you know what I'm saying, Like now, like but I was always like loving acting, you know what I'm saying? Writing writing was writing was more stressful to me than acting, because yeah,

because you have to be funny. You have to like constantly come up with stuff, will constantly be funny and not be funny to yourself. You gotta be funny to the world, like it's gotta it's gotta old, young black white man women. So are you trying to pander to the room knowing that culturally their brand of humor is a little bit different than yours, Like, do you have to skewer the degrees a little bit so that you're like, okay, if it hits these I'm assuming you have ten, eleven,

twelve writers in Conan's room. Are you in your mind saying, okay, I got just okay, that's good. I have to adjust to them or they don't know what funny is. Let me just know it's No, it's you think can demographically and you also thinking about Conan. You're thinking about how his humor is, and then you're thinking about your demographic that's listening to this, and you have to make sure that your material. So if he thinks it's funny, then you're like, I'm cool because I care about the writers

or your head writer and that sort of thing. No, because you're already thinking what Conan might think. You're thinking what the head writer would think too. But your your

your main purpose is what Conan thinks. It's not even the demographic, because you can have something edgy and Conan might let it slide through and go oh, yeah, yeah, I like that, but you you ain't even thinking about because it's been many times where I hadn't wrote sketches and I thought they were brilliant and Conan like nope. You know, like one time I had this thing where I had like fifty suit coats come in where Conan had to try on fifty Steve Harvey suit coats that

I was that I want him to do. Yeah, yeah, like Steve never been just like it. He got it. He just was like nah, And then I had to get all fifty in them suits sent back. Because when when you first think of it, when when you get to work at like nine in the morning, you're looking at two D premises and then at the premises you write up a couple of jokes to pitch it to

the head right, and he go, that's funny. At that moment, you gotta write a script and send her heads up to the whole department which is casting props, uh, electrical whatever, and they look at your script. Everybody's building casting everything, shopping all wire. You writing the script, lunch, come, you go downstairs and you rehearse that ship. Everything got to be in order. And that's just one bite bite and don't want me tell you something? Can it come out?

And he looked at that ship and if it ain't funny,

send all that ship back. Let me tell you something, all right, Steve, And I can relate to this what he just described, because nothing is more painful then when a sketch, especially when music is involved on the Tonight Show and the writer makes you slave over a mix and you put four or five hours behind this ship and then you realize, like by the fifth hour that you're just doing a demo that's going to be submitted to Jimmy to see to see and it doesn't make

And then just like they struggle, like, Okay, it's fine, and I'm like that, I know that, I know that payment arranging melodies. But it's weird though that because even as you say that, I'm like, yo, doesn't cone and realized the viral gold of seeing him in the Steve Harvey suit that that will last on the internet forever, all the memes and all the jifts that will be made.

But like, were they even thinking that far ahead into the future, because like the stuff we do now, it's it's you're you're thinking in so many compartments of like Okay, is the sketch genuinely funny? Well? This will they change the channel after this thing? But then it's beyond. That's beyond. Are they going to watch it in the morning on their iPhone in the gym? Is it? Is there something visually funny that we can freeze it and then it will be made a jeft into you know, there's so

many levels of marketing. Yeah, yeah, making the way people consume it's so different now, like it you know what I mean, Like I was, I want to ask you, like, does that how does that inform comedy? Because I mean it's like I was saying, it's it's no longer comedy now is no longer I go to one spot and I see a guy on stage, or I'll sit at home and I watched body. It can be a snapchat everybody.

Everybody's funny Right now, there's like a little tension with comics and a lot of Instagram people who come out, they do a video and then all of a sudden it's viral. On Now this person is booked in the club and people coming to see them do what like I don't know, And it's like taking it takes it takes food out of I guess comics who can honestly do stand up and really deserve to be there. It takes food out their pocket. I guess it's similar to

models versus Instagram models. What were your feelings like four like those buying stars like because there's at least eight or nine or ten of them that could if there's one in particular that's like extremely popular that uh, when this particular person took a meeting with developing our own show,

like I guess like HBO had called them into develop something. Um, it was like a fish out of water situation because it's like this person is hilarious and a seven seven second vine scenario, but I couldn't adjust at all in the real world of the half hour. That's a different thing. That's a different Yeah, that's that's two different skills, two different things. But they just think, Hey, he's got followers, he's got this, then y'all, let's let's throw him some money.

Let's get his followers. And we can't get his followers, then you know, we can add those followers follow us to what we got going on, you know. And I think that's what it basically is. I think they just get them for that, I think, you know, but when that vine ship was popping off, I ain't even I wasn't. I didn't even realize how big that was when it was going on because I wasn't like on it like that because I didn't know. I didn't know the magnitude

that we're doing real comedy out on stage. But you take advantage of like social because I follow you on yeah around that. Yeah, definitely I messed around. But that's just my world and ship, you know what I mean, Like, I don't be like you know, and people that I like, I followed them and look at the stuff that they did or whatever, but put real jokes up in there. No,

I would not do that. A good buddy of mine in Chicago, Um, I have a lot of I don't know what it is, like a lot of my comedy homies in Chicago Dave ellum, uh yeah Dave and shout out the nefertory to she put shout out, um, how do you know? They wanted me to ask, how do you know as a comedian winning time to move from another city? Move leave Chicago and maybe go l A or New York, Like, how did you know in your

journey it's like okay, now signed for me to move. Well, I wasn't one of them, my fingers that believed in myself. I waited till it came to me to it made me go, yo, let's go. You know what I mean. I wasn't gonna just go. You know what, I believe in myself, let me pack up me and my dreams. And now that now that, I was like, yo, it has to like come get me and go yo, come out here and come do this. Which yes, and that's

exactly what happened. You know. It came and got me and was like okay, you need to come out here and do this. And I was like all right, and so that's what I did. But as far as just jumping up myself now and and and I ain't knocking nobody who do that, but I just I wasn't that secure with my with myself like that, you know, because it wasn't like this was something that I had, you know, from a kid. I was like, I want to be

a kind like someone better me I did. It was like whoa yeh, so what did your what did your folks do? Like what was their uh what they supported? Yeah? I was on television, jumping out of limos, walking right in my mama house and taking the garbage out, mopping the floor. She had no idea what was going on. My mother a Christian, you know, she went the church three times a week. She had no idea what was going on? Like nothing. All she knew was her baby

boy didn't work. He woke up at one o'clock every day, but he had money to put on the rent in the bills. And she was just like, yo, you better not be selling drugs. And I don't know how you getting your money. And I used telling I was doing comedy. She like, you can call it whatever. Parents never believe, right, I mean, yeah, talk, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't

keep off the phone. So when during the period in which you took your last quote last day on black Is, because Andrew Tribeca was around the corner um, then you came back to thank God black Is, Like how did that work out? So? Black Ish was always in second position. Andrew Tribeca was the show I had first. The only reason why I went over the blackest two rights because I was waiting on a yes. So I allowed that they allowed you to sow the character I play on

Blackest wasn't even supposed to be like always. It was supposed to be like a one time or dale. But the character blew up that they kept I kept going back. I left was like a one or two. Yeah, I left for about eight episodes kids. Yeah, but when I when I when I left, I had to go do ant try back, and it kind of like went went crazy a little bit. And so it got to the point where they had to like work with each other where they didn't have to. They just made it work.

TVs was kind enough to go, Okay, we'll let y'all use him for this long and so that's just what happened, you know. And they went back and forth every season with how many episodes I can do and can't do, and then it just balanced itself out at the world. I don't seem like it's any a lot of actors in Hollywood that have that privilege. No, it was unheard of a lot of I think a lot of cats. Now I started to get it or whatever. I remember I was talking to uh uh, Tiffany Hattis, I see.

It was like, you know, I'm trying to get that d white hot, right since we want black is joke can I ask you, like, so, as far as shooting scenes, do you have like a favorite actor that you like to shoot scenes? But of course people love the Diane moments. Yeah, but is there like somebody who you really like this man, my my office buddies, Peter mackenzie and stuff like Yo

and Nelson We and Anthony. Those office scenes, man, they're so crazy because those guys are just as racist as funny as Yeah, but it'd be real ship that will be you know what I'm saying. And so man working with them guys, man, it's fun to say I love playing playing that character as far as like with those guys. Man, Yeah, how much stuff gets made up on setting? How much stuff is written? Stuff like that, and be honest with you, all of its written. Like the scrip. The writers are

like incredible. They're so brilliant, man, And like after certain takes they'll go, Yo, you can freestyle a little bit now, let us go. I mean they really open to us freestyle or whatever. They'll give us all moments where we can add live and throw some stuff in there. Definitely, but the scrubby so tight sometime that we don't even literally have to you know, because sometimes you can kill a joke with a joke. What's the episode you're most proud of. I love the Lemonade episode, which is the

one about Trump being voted on. And another episode I really like is the one where I had to babysit. Yeah. I was like, I would have loved that was killing Anthony. I remember my showed up to work. That's seen her. I was like, yeah, you'd be on time over that month, showed up and seen how I just I was like, can you kind of talk to you? I was like, what is she doing? It? Like that's gonna be I was like, what, So you didn't know until you got on se No, I did that Kenya. They do that ship.

They're surprised you ship like he wanted your genuine reactions. Man, I don't know. I was so nervous too. I was nervous. She was fine. I tell you, I'm like, man, TV TV. She looked nice on TV and then that, but seeing personal life, like you can look you look at her and go I get it. Yeah, I get it. I get why. I get it. I get it. I get why all these niggas is doing and she nicest ship man, finest fun. Yeah, you're from cal You ain't from Philly? What? No,

I'm from DC. I can't get called. Yeah, who do you like? Who? Don't want to ask you? Who do you like? Down? Like? Who's your like? Cats? Did you come out of the house? Yeah? You have comedians that you like that that that I go see or I mean we'll just cats that you did? Man, Man, it's so man. I like Harlan Williams. You ever go see Harlan Williams. Like I know who Harlan Williams is hilarious? Man? I like J J from Mississippi. Uh, he's hilarious. Um My, man,

Tony Scofield it's funny and Tony is It's hilarious. And yeah, those are get like comics that I look at and get inspired by watching. Chris Specter it's funny as hell. Is he still doing Is he going out and still doing? Clear? He still do shows and stuff. Yeah, he's actually now writing on um my other show, Grownish, that we start shooting in September. Grownish, it's spin off from Black It's too hold because this is it's not called college, It's

called Grownish. It's gonna be your different world. Yeah, Charlie's gonna be on it. Yeah, he played as a JUX professor at night and man, yeah it's crazy. He got like a prostitutes nothing fetterman trying to get their life together. But black does that mean you double up again? Are you tripling? Na? Now I do both the studios right next to each other, are all right? So what's your like, who's your lawyer? What is it? What is your itinerary?

Then like what time you to be up? So right now, like right now, I'm doing Blackish, and then like the days that I have off, if I can, I go over the coning and might do it better or whatever. And then in September still I do bits. I do bits. Ye, I do bits, like if something in the news or if they call me and be like, yo, can you do this, I'd be like, yeah, I come through and do it. Or if it's something that I think it's funny, I'd be like, man, I think we should do this

real quick. And then when they go all right, find cool. So I'll go over there if I can, if I got the time going, then do a bit. But I'll do Blackish now, and then September I start Grownish and I'll be doing Blackish and Grownish at the same time until December, and then December and you try back to start, and then I do Angie and Blackish all the way into the spring, and then I got my other show face Value BT with Want of the Sykes and Tiffany

hat this that starts September. We shot. We shot twenty four episodes already at that. It's it's a it's a game show man, It's it's funny. It's it's just we're paying people to profile people. That's it pretty much. What's like what it is man, it's it's it's it's funny, though, it's like you We get these people and Tiffany interviews them off the Vegas strip and before they can answer the question that she asked them, we asked people on

the audience. I mean, these contestants whether they think and if they guess what they think they might say. Then they get okay, yeah, I've saw I've seen the yeas, what would you do? Yeah, it's like and then we break well. The whole shows you getting to know these characters, and then the next act we will say something that somebody did and you gotta guess who. And then the

third act it's like you know who said this. And then at the end, whoever wins those three rounds they go to the bonus round and then they get to choose who they think they know the best and answer as many questions possible. Then they win ten thousands. It's a derivative of Black White. It's a radio game where you play us and you tell somebody scenario and you have to guess what they are. Well, it's it's Indians.

And she said, we all feel that that form. Come on, I can't even I can't even ask what's in your future because you have six jobs. While you wait a minute, I'm the only one who telling job. Yeah, you know, I'm just chilling. You know, okay, you're dating. I'm just chilling, just chilling me like I know what it means, trying to figure It's like we just figure out the world. I got my dreams in the suitcase. I asked no questions. You got babies. I have a son, Okay, you don't

treat them like you treat them. He'll be fifteen and September. You just started high schools the first year. I just took him to school last Wednesday started you know how? So yes, I want to ask, so how do you go because you still I mean Chicago still? Yeah, So how do you balance it between here? Like how long you out here? Come he come out here? I go there? Or like my mother, I'm booking a flight soon as

I leave here and bring her out here. And and you know when we had these moments where like they can come out here during the week or I'll go there, you know, just you know, just it's spurred a moment all the time. You know, it's nothing like you know, we're playing months in advance because we can't do that. So how often what's your timeline? Like uh, in terms of your shooting schedule being out here and then you say, okay, well I gotta break, I can go home, Like how

long are you out here for? Well, no, I'm I stay out here until like I'm done, like right now.

I'll be out here until like the spring, but I'll go home like like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then whatever little moments that I can't get home, then I'll do it like a weekend or a couple of days during the week if if that can happen, but that that win, dude to happen, for that to happen, is right, now until like September, until when September here and I started doing like both shows and yeah it's gonna be really toughugh and then still doing stand up on Saturday. You know, alright,

I take that. Yeah, I know, I'm like I'm predicting me. Uh uh, Dion, Little Real, Antiffany Hattish are all going to simultaneously host the BT words. That would be great. That would be yo, man, that would be crazy. You literally, yeah, dog, I that exhausted me. Just just a dollar shot your sons starting high school with in Chicago in the burbs. Yeah, how do you feel? Because I have Chicago Tribune updates

and it's almost like their method of informing you. Usually on Sundays they take a grand It's almost like Jerry's kids. It's almost a fetish level. Sixty three people shots this weekend, Like how do you do you sleep easy at night? Like knowing that damn, I don't know. I don't never sleep easy, you know, knowing that I got a kid that's out that way, you know, But I stayed in his life, you know. Fully, I'm always into everything that he does. Talk to him every day. You know. His

mother is the same way. She keep keep keep her foot on him, which is great, keep his keep his mind, keep his mind, you know, involved in great things. He's a great kid, you know. And just keeping busy, you know, and and and showing them the proper love, because I think that's the problem nowadays with all the gangs in Chicago and all around I mean around the country period. I mean they're bringing in all the National Guards and all these people to protect people in Chicago from all

the gangs. But I've said it before, Uh, there will always be gangs as long as there's no love in the household, because they would they're gonna find that love within the gang. So if we don't provide them with proper love, then you can bring in as many National Guards as you want to. You know, they're gonna love in that gang. Don't make a difference. So you know, we're provide them with that. And so you know, I arrest, I arrest, okay with that, you know. But still it's

always a job being the dad man. You ain't never leave about you know what I mean? Or I guess last stuff like or do you have any movies in the future that you're going to work? Just finished the movie with h Nicole Parker and Kimberly Lee and Loretta Divine called hair Shot. We just shot that. And I did a movie with uh Whitney Cummings called um the

Female Brain. Yeah, so we're waiting on that to come out too, so yeah cool, yeah we shoot those, shout those and just then and Cannon waiting to come out cool a podcast and uh no podcast? What do you want? When did your mixtape coming out? Like, I mean, we need the whole package. Let's go all the way with it. I am sports, I am on vix album. Shout out to vic Man. Yeah go check it out your face. You got me man, Dion, thank you for making me feel lazy. No, I need more jobs in my life.

Thank out for having men. Shout out enough now so I'm paid built. What What have we learned today? That Dion do a lot of ship, do not do a lot of dudes. Don't claiming all your seven thousand jobs job. He stays stayed doing. What did you learn today? He does? I know, you know, you know. And if you watch the way that the Netflix special is lit is so f funny, but way about the same way that I feel that if Leslie Jones makes a move in four years to play Nina, right. I believe that he and

he got a story. Everybody maybe thinking that. I mean, one time I was checking in this hotel. This is the white girl Rana. To me, it's like, oh my god. Hoograph was like alright, cool signing autograph and she goes, I love your daughter, and I was like, ship, like three different shades different. Watch the Netflix special, it's a little bit different. I'm sure there was powder. He looks like Richie, no joke, I'll see it, but everybody else do. I damn so much. I learned that Dion cos problem

my hero. Especially that Late Night Ship just amazed me because I always had like a hidden thing of like writing more questions and ship like that. So you got a mentee, a mental That's what I just think. I know what that was. You know, it's not a hold up. You got the it's a whole fucking word, you know what I mean, just the way that it's a whole word. I want the job word. We can say that after the show. Shoot, thank you, thank you. Learned that we

want to hold you back all the time. I learned that Dion is actually different than the character Charlie because it's like you play it so well. I'm like, yo, is this really how to do this? But if you're lighting day from him and like you're like really a spark cat like this, I mean this is the first time we've met, but like you played just like you played idiot so well. Well. Thank you brother, a lot of experience, a lot of I'm a super fan brother,

Thank you man. This has been an honor man. Thank you all so much. Man, this is great. Thank you well. On behalf of Unpaid Bill, Uh Boss? What's the other bill name? Vacation Bill German, German Bill, October Bill Sugar, Steve Tilo and it's La need a job trying to get off. Okay, I've learned that I need more jobs in my life. This Quest Love on behalf of Quest Love Supreme in Team Supreme. Thank you very much. We'll talk to you in the nets. Go Around Only on Course.

Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.