ZAINAB JOHNSON

Comedian/Actress, Zainab Johnson, discuss her TV series 'Upload', owning her Amazon comedy special, challenges of having "Black" hair on Caucasian TV/film sets, how she became a stand-up comedian, and more. 

Hosted by @RealLondonBrown, @JustinHires, @BTKingsley

YouTube (Full Episodes): @KillinItPod

YouTube (Clips): @KillinItPodClips

Instagram: @KillinItPod

TikTok: @KillinItPod

Facebook: Killin It

Website: KillinItPod.com

Executive Produced by London Brown, Justin Hires, BT Kingsley

Engineer: Aaron Brungardt 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The special. Yeah, hijabs off. Hijabs off. Is this a partnership with Amazon? Everybody be like, My specials on Amazon. It's like, it's on there. But your issue. Yeah, no, mine was a Amazon producer. They paid for it. Yeah, absolutely. That's a difference.

SPEAKER_07 0:13

Yeah, they were a great partner for my first special. Like most of us, you know, we when you shop a special, you go to all the buyers, you know, because you really want the best deal that you can make. I think because I was already talent on uh on an Amazon show, I asked for specific things that at the time, like I I think Amazon constructed a deal that now is a common deal, but it was a deal that didn't quite exist before I did it. What was it?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Can you talk say what it was?

SPEAKER_07 0:43

Yeah, I wanted to own the special.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

What's up, y'all? Uh, welcome to another episode of Killin' It Man. It's your boy B.T. Kingsley. Lenin Brown. Justin Hyas. And wow. Hey, man. Hey, come on, man. You see us. Look at what we're doing. Today we have uh this amazing, hilarious uh woman with us. She is one of my favorite comics to watch. She is extremely uh accomplished on screen and on stage. Uh we're gonna cover a lot of stuff today. Uh New York song, my girl. Y'all make some noise for Zaynab Johnson.

SPEAKER_07 1:34

Hey, Zaynab. Thank you. That was a very nice introduction. That's the truth. Well, then it's even more nice. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

It's it's very easy to. I love having these conversations with people that I love and respect. It makes it very easy. Man, I love what we're doing.

SPEAKER_07 1:58

BT, though, you seem like I ain't never heard nobody have a problem with you. You seem like you are very likable. Like I I don't know, it seems like you would sit down with most people you I mean, I don't know who all you respect, but you just, I don't know, you seem very um amicable. I don't know. You just seem I don't love everybody. Okay, okay.

unknown 2:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

But everyone loves BT. I was going with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:30

If it makes you feel any way, I have never I've heard things about people.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 2:34

I have never heard anything despair. I've never heard anybody be like, no, I don't f with BT. I've never Oh, is that is language an issue? Oh no, cut somebody on to. I've never heard that.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Oh, that's good. That being said, I don't f with BT. I'm like, somebody gotta say that. Nah, nah, nah. People definitely say that about me, but I was like, oh, come on now. You I'm sure you've heard somebody, you've heard whisper somebody. My barber told me recently, he was like, Yeah, some came in talking about you the other day. I was like, Justin Hyas is like, man, I with Justin. Shout out to Gary. Shout out to the people that was talking about me. I you know that you know what it is about me? I used to call myself the T.I. of comedy. And what I and what this was before before he got into comedy. And what I meant by that was I am the nicest person ever until I feel disrespected.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

And if I feel like you have disrespected me, I'm not go sugarcoat. I'ma check you on that. I checked a big name comedian recently. That's why he ain't did the podcast. I ain't even told y'all. But I checked a top-tier comedian, because he was on some Hollywood.

SPEAKER_07 3:47

I'm so ridiculous, Eddie Murphy.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Almost. He was like, almost. Just missed it. Um But but anyway, so I'm that type of person that's like, you know, because I lead with love and respect. And so if I don't feel it reciprocated, then I'm gonna let you know. Um, so yeah, in-person disrespect, I can't I can't tolerate.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

All the Florida come out at once.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

The Florida come out of me, yo, and uh, it just is what it is. But as long as you respect me, I'm gonna respect you back. But this isn't about me. This is about the queen. We have they nap. Uh what you asked her first?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

So, so there's so much. Okay, um, so let me let me start here. Oh, this should be Oh, does it? Yeah, a little movie. A little joke. Sue the white man if it sue the studio. Don't him. Uh I've asked this question, and they know where I'm going with this, because I've asked it a few times. Okay. Uh I haven't asked everybody. I want y'all to know that there's been women sitting in the seat. I don't want y'all to notice I didn't ask. Oh, I know I know if I asked. You are hilarious. Thank you. You are also beautiful. Oh. Navigating this business as a beautiful, hilarious woman. What has that process been like for you?

SPEAKER_07 5:12

It's so easy to be beautiful. I'm not sexy. Sexy is the issue. I'm beautiful, of course. Sexy is the issue. Oh. Yeah, I'm like beautiful, like like like women are not concerned about me. They s they appreciate me. But I'm not sexy.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

That's a nice twist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:33

I'm not saying that in my life, men haven't found me sexy.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, because I was like, you trying to sell it, and I was like, No, no, no.

SPEAKER_07 5:40

No, no, no. I'm not saying that. You know, I'm saying like I don't lead with like sex.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 5:47

And so it's it's like I I I really can't describe it, but I am I'm I'm more of a woman's beauty than a men's attra. Does that make sense? Like if men might say like she's so beautiful, but I don't think if you look at my comments, men ain't like, yo, I just want to smash. Like it's a very respectful beauty. Yeah. I truly. And I think that that's the reason why it hasn't been like a hindrance, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

You modeled, yes. You had to.

SPEAKER_07 6:21

No, not really. Like sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

They ask you all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:24

Through my life, I have been asked, but yeah, I think, I think even when I came in, like when I started stand-up, I had a shaved head. Oh, yeah. Yeah, remember? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And that that was like, oh, oh, she's beautiful. I think she has something to say. You know, it wasn't like what them titties do. Like, I think, I think my I think like my early material kind of addressed that too.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

Like, but what do the titties don't do nothing? This is this is a question I wanted to ask. Do you want those type of comments though? Would you want men in the comments saying, I want to smash?

SPEAKER_07 7:05

Like, no, that's so scary to me.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 7:08

Yeah. I I I do like um I do like what I offer.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:13

I really like it. It does, I will say sometimes like when I show up places, um, the initial reaction is they're like that's the face I get, like. And they don't know they're doing the face, like they're a little bit stunned.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Because you're striking.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

Yeah, I'll just address it. I'll be like, I know you didn't think I look like this. You're like, yeah, like I think they take into a lot, like, oh wow, she's not wearing that much makeup, her skin. I think they take in uh a lot of things that aren't like, it's not like a manufactured humbly. You know, it's not like a manufactured beauty in that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

And the dudes that that any the men that are going to reveal you like like uh put you in that pedestal, they're probably more of a more astute man.

SPEAKER_07 8:00

It's like you would think so, but let me tell you, the men who talk to me, the men who talk to me, I be like, listen, if we could buy delusion, you know what I'm saying? Like the men, you I wish, I wish that the men should eat those sometimes those types of men, they uh they get a little bit like they try to be too like debonair or too, and that's really whack and corny to me. You hello, Zay Nav. Come on, you gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

You gotta get a lot of grand rising quick.

SPEAKER_07 8:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Good morning.

SPEAKER_07 8:27

Just I don't know, I don't want somebody to be like, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, no. But then, but then there's this other group of men, and it's like, I, you know, you I appreciate your dilute, like, come on.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yeah. But yeah, you know, like you come off uh, you know, very grounded in who you are and really relaxed and comfortable with yourself. Coming from Brooklyn, right?

SPEAKER_07 8:53

Well, I was born in Brooklyn, but I grew up in Harlem. In Harlem. We're about in Harlem. 113th and 7th.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Okay, I used to live on um 131st in Madison. Okay. On that side. But I go to Portal Seafood on 125th. You know what? So we were bonded with all two. We didn't need to say that in that. Being uh, I guess the the fifth, um, the eldest child of 13, how was that growing up in your household?

SPEAKER_07 9:18

Um, I mean, I basically like a middle child, right? And I don't I don't know. It's like my only experience, so I guess it was fine, like it was eventful.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Or do you feel do you feel you got your fair share of attention being in the middle like that? Amongst that that group.

SPEAKER_07 9:36

I think so because I mean, I I think so because my I'm in between a lot of the boys. My sisters, I have like older sisters and then a lot of younger sisters, but I'm like surrounded by boys. And so I think in that aspect I got attention because I was the girl at the time. Um, but also I was a pretty bright kid, you know. Like I think that my mom did a lot. I think she did all that she could to kind of like foster my skills, you know, make sure that I wasn't left behind. Yeah. And and my mom used to take me, you asked about modeling. My mom used to take me on, like, um, like take me to agencies a lot when I was a kid because she used to get stopped in the street. Yes. Oh, I hated it. I used to be looking at her, like, why you got me in this office with these people? And my mom used to be like, if we do this, you know it's gonna be brown rice. And I used to be like, you don't get out my face. If you don't take me on.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Brown rice.

SPEAKER_07 10:32

Just out of my mom, because she's somebody like, if we she, my mom, you gotta understand with so many kids, my mom ain't about to be like, oh, it's Trumpet this week and soccer next. It's like, are we doing this?

SPEAKER_03 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 10:44

If I'm gonna make the investment, I need you to stick with it, you know? And I was like, I don't know why you got me here. I'm not interested.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

How were you as a kid, like growing up? Were you were you good? Were you mischievous?

SPEAKER_07 10:58

Like uh, I I don't I don't know really, to be honest with you. And people ask me this a lot. I think that it's I I don't think I ever really thought about myself. Like people tell me how I was in retrospect. Like people be like, yeah, you was always so funny and you had a good story. I said, that's crazy. I don't remember none of that. I don't remember people coming up to me like, Zaynam, tell them what you told me. I don't remember that. But now that like I'm on TV and being funny, people be like, I remember when, and I be like, that's I don't remember that. Right.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

And I don't remember you.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Well you know I love these humble heads.

SPEAKER_07 11:39

But I do remember, I don't know, I've I've I feel like I remember holding my own. Like I remember, I used to have like my friends outside of my siblings, you know. I remember being a bit of a liar. I do remember that as a kid, if I can be honest, you know? And like I looked at it once I became an adult, I tried to figure out like why I was a liar. Like, was I insecure about things? Was I just imaginative? Like, what was it? And I think it was a little bit of both, but I think a lot of it was like me just trying to make myself feel special. So I just told the story that I felt was like more special than my own, you know? Like my mom was like a stay-at-home mom, but all my friends, their parents worked. And or or maybe their parent worked, you know? And so I felt like my my mom stays at home, that's not good enough. So I made this whole lie about how my mom was a teacher. And then the kids in school was like, why you don't go to hust school? And I'm like, damn, I now I gotta come back. Um so yeah, so I was a bit of a liar, but I I definitely grew out of that.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Okay. Do do you think that uh your the discipline of your religion being a Muslim helped with your discipline in business and in the art form that you chose?

SPEAKER_07 12:53

No, I um hmm. I don't want to take anything away from the Muslims. Uh hilarious. I'll say, I'll say this. Like, I do think the thing that has helped me when I moved to LA. LA is such a specific place, you know, and it can be really um disheartening and soul-sucking, and you can find yourself in really desperate places or really like lost places, you know. I moved here right after college, so I feel like I like grew up as a woman here, you know. And you started here or New York? In comedy, I started here.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Okay, keep on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:29

And I just feel like the faith that I had is the thing that grounded me, the thing that kept me out of situations that I saw a lot of my friends get into. You know, the thing that made me like I think LA, you can you can come here and you can uh make people really powerful. And I think because Islam is so specifically rooted in the only thing above you is a lot, the only thing above you is a lot is God. Because that's so like heavily instilled in me, it's the thing that allows me to like kind of see everybody. I'm not, I love Eddie Murphy. I'm not gonna be starstruck around Eddie Murphy.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

I will be acting like a bitch.

SPEAKER_07 14:11

Eddie! Eddie, Eddie! Oh my god. I've been to Eddie Murphy's house, and the first time I was there, I was mad that I was there because I was there with like some groupie girls. I ain't and I didn't know. I was like, You know, my groupie friend was like, come with me to Eddie's house. And in my mind, I'm like, yeah, I'm a comedian. I had just started doing comedy.

SPEAKER_05 14:30

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

And I was like, yeah, I gotta go to Eddie Murphy's house. And then when I got there and realized, like, oh no.

SPEAKER_05 14:38

Not with them.

SPEAKER_07 14:39

Not me. Somebody tell a joke. You know, like truly. And I remember his uncle saw me perform, and as soon as I walked in, he was like, Oh, the comedian! And I was like, Oh God. And then every time that friend invited me to the house again, I was like, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, I can't.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

My friend.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

You you actually said something, speak about your stand-up. You said something, I heard you on Kevin Hart's podcast, and you said something that I always kind of took with me. You said when it comes to your writing process, you write how you feel. Or you write what you feel. Do you remember saying that?

SPEAKER_02 15:20

I have to go back and listen.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Oh shit. I thought that was like just a technique that you use because when I heard you say that, I was like, that's a good point. Like, that's a good way to come about it, like writing what you feel for like the what to tap into for your stand-up.

SPEAKER_07 15:35

Well, yeah, I mean, not to I don't want to take credit for my like past interview, but yeah, I mean, that is. I I I don't see how I would write for somebody else's. And I don't write, like, I'm not gonna be like, I'm gonna write about walls today. Or I'm not like observational in that way, although I'm very observant, which is I think what makes me a really good comedian.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Right.

SPEAKER_07 15:58

But I'm observant as it pertains to my world. Does that make sense? Like, you'll never, you'll never hear me be like buses, right? You'll never hear me say that. It does not, I could probably write a really great joke about a bus. But what you'll hear me say is, this one I don't take buses. And that's why I launch in. And then maybe I'll give you some bus material within that, but it's specific to some shit that got me riled up about a bus ride on this particular day, which is tapping into how I feel. I feel like when I when I first started doing comedy, the easiest way for me to write was if I felt very strongly about something. That was the thing that I was able to tap into, versus like, oh, just something observational. You know, that that comes and goes for me. But things that I feel strong about, they create strong POVs for me. And so if that um, I don't know if that makes sense similar, but yeah, and I realize I'm not a writer, like I don't sit down and just write. I'm a I'm a I'm an on-stage writer.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah, me too. I love that it's you here because there's like um this specific like generation of comics or like this class, and I can see everybody, right? And I remember us uh all in a space trying to figure it out, and how we gonna get some money, and so on and so forth. And and now is headlining the clubs, it's the TV, it's the it's like oh, you did it.

SPEAKER_07 17:32

Like, it's so wonderful to see like all your peers and see like where everybody is at, right? And some people have had tragic stories, some people have had really like triumphant stories. Yeah, so it's it's quite fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, it it's beautiful because it's it's like you're on your journey, but you're also seeing your peers' journey. So it in that same facet, I I have to talk about upload. This the show. Oh let me tell you something about this show. I thought I was gonna, it was it was something that I started specifically because you're on it. I said, Oh, they never's on the show. I'm watching it. Appreciate the support. And I turn on, and uh I'm like, I'm gonna watch uh episode or two, and then I got, you know, some stuff to do.

SPEAKER_07 18:11

And I watched I'm gonna watch one episode so when you see me at the club, you could be like, Oh, that's all right, all right.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

What did it turn into?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Uh I I end up I watched the two and I went to sleep and I was dreaming about the damn show. Really? So I woke back up at two, I was like, well, I could watch one more episode. It's two. Fast forward to his 550, and I was like, Sheesh, I am nine episodes in. And then and then I didn't know more seasons came out. I just recently found that out. I was like, oh Lord, there's more seasons. Oh, so so my first question is when you uh audition or get this show and it's pitched to you, do you understand what is happening? Because it is a super dense show, like conceptually. What up, man? It's your boy B.T. Kings, man. Killing their pod is here. Been a great time, man. Subscribe to the page. You here? I press that button.

SPEAKER_07 19:05

Yeah, I knew exactly, I knew the premise of the show because the um the the scene that I the size that I originally auditioned for is the lead girl side. And it's a pivotal scene where she is um trying to convince her father to her her main goal before she falls in love with this upload is to save enough money to afford to upload her father, but the father does not want to upload because his wife has died pre-upload ability. Gotta gotta get I want to meet my wife in heaven, right? And so that was this that was one of the scenes that the one of the scenes that I had to audition with. And so that's the premise of the show. Basically, but I didn't know once we start once we saw the scripts and things like that, I didn't once we saw the scripts, and then we saw the set, and then the seasons progressed, it's like I obviously I was in it, so it it got big and I got big with it. Like it got complex rather, and and I understood the complexity. But I don't think going in did I know like how how complex or how layered it would be. I I feel like it's a show, like once we started filming the season, once it got picked up, I was like, this is a show you have to watch over and over to really get every single there's not even like a bottle of water placed in the scene that doesn't have a joke on it, or it's not some you know I'm saying like layered super layered, like our oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, and and that's and like I I I I think the reason I asked is because tonality-wise, this show is it uh it it's a beautiful sweet spot. It's uh I I would say a dark comedy. Sure, you can.

SPEAKER_07 20:47

Yeah, because this kind of like takes place in like a dystopic future, like a close dystopic future.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah, but it is comedy and it is hilarious. And but okay, cool, you get the sides. You read, okay, cool, I got the concept. All right, cool. I'm in the show now, I understand the show, and you see the sets, and this is beautiful. Nobody knows that when they do the upload, the hair's gonna explode. Like that, that is outrageous. Like when they do the hair, I was like, well, why they do it like that? There was a bunch of ways to do it that didn't have to have blood splatter on some young lady's face and the butt. I say, oh my god, like this is the greatest show ever. Well, here's two things.

SPEAKER_07 21:23

Here's two things. On my end, that's actually when I went into audition for that, I had just been told, I had just tested for a pilot that I really wanted. And I had just got the news that they went in another direction. And I had did producer sessions, director sessions. I like I thought this show was mine and I thought this show was gonna be like a big deal. I was really in love with the show. Ironically, it was about tech also. And I had got the the um, you know, called like they loved you, but which I hate those calls. I I'd rather they be like, Yeah, you got work to do 'cause then I could there's a solution, go there's a goal for me, you know, like

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Just in the couple of time, Lamor's another room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

It was between me and Lamorne for no girls. We just talked about that yesterday. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_07 22:10

But even that, even that is like, I don't know, when they say we loved you, but it there's nothing you can do with that.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:17

You know, like you, there's nothing you can do with we love. Give me something to give me something to change the result. I mean, you can't kill Lamorne, right?

SPEAKER_04 22:25

So Not this year.

unknown 22:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 22:30

So my mind wasn't even, you know, so like the the the impact of that script, those, it's just, I wasn't there. I was still in the the sort of like the grief of losing something else. And so I probably showed up as like my truest self because I wasn't the the expectation of succeeding or getting something, it didn't matter to me. I was focused on it's like when you can't see like the new guy because you still stuck on the old guy, you know? Um and then now with in terms of like um the head coming off and like blood and stuff like that, you know, Greg Daniels is the creator of Uploads.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Yeah, that's the prolific writer, creator.

SPEAKER_07 23:08

And so this was Greg's next project after like the office, and you know, and so he had been network television and restricted in ways that he felt like now I'm on a streamer, I can do all the stuff visually and you know, that I couldn't do when I was on a network.

SPEAKER_06 23:28

Right.

SPEAKER_07 23:28

And so when you see us go a little bit like, well, that why they do, you know what I'm saying? Like he's just gonna show his whole ass. It's like it's because he now had kind of like the freedom to do that, you know?

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Well, I I have to we have to discuss uh Greg, what is it like working with him? Because at at this point, the the projects that he his legacy is.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Sheesh. So what is it like being on a project with him and and seeing that genius up close?

SPEAKER_07 23:57

Um I think the thing that I most appreciate is he's super collaborative. So he he he's really one of those like creatives, is he he's trying to get the best. So it's like whoever could whoever, whoever it comes from, if that's the best, that's that's what we're going for. And I think that that's I think that that's wonderful. But also he is very he knows exactly, which I think is a great like person to lead when you know exactly what you want. Cause then there's no like people ain't trying to figure it out, you know, like he knows what he wants, but he's very like, I remember being, I don't know if I should say this, but I remember. I remember I remember being in like the hair and makeup trailer, and he was very specific on like when we're in a real world, he wants us to be like really bare, like not because we supposed to be poor. And then when we're in the upload, when we're in the upload world, that's what because those are avatars. We get to create that so we could be a bit fan, we could be a bit more judged, right? And I remember he was trying to do something, maybe with my character's hair or look or something like that. He was trying to uh some character, he was trying to achieve a look. And the the hair person or the makeup person was like walking him through how they're gonna do it. He's like, Can you give me this? Like he don't I you don't need that's your job. Like he he's not gonna like you know, there's no reason for me, I'm not trying to learn the process. I just need to know if you could give me this.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Right, simple.

SPEAKER_07 25:23

And can you give me this on that day of shooting? You know, like that's kind of how he is, which I really I can appreciate that sort of you know that direction. But other than that, he was very like friendly, nice, like he did he he had us over a lot. He was very hospitable, um, really like open to answering questions, and like, how do you feel about this? I they had to, I had a family on the show for one episode, and he's like, Can you come in and help me cast the family? Like, you know, how do you feel about this person? It was so funny, too, because he was trying to make all my sisters, my sister tall, all the actresses was tall.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 26:02

They was all tall. And I was watching the tapes and I was like, oh, well, what did you like about her? And he was like, so hard to find tall actresses. I said, Well, you know, one of my sisters, I said, I'm the tallest girl in my family. I was like, I'm 5'11, but like one of my sisters is 5'4 and a half, one of my sisters is 5'7. I said, so I mean, you know what I'm saying, they ain't all gotta be 5'11.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Thank God. I know, right?

SPEAKER_07 26:27

And he was like, and then the actress we ended up going with was the one that kept making me, every time I watched her tape, it kept making me laugh, you know? And I'm like, I think, I think we should go with her, you know? And then the the thing about that is then once you get on set, you like, girl, don't about to you.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Don't make me look.

SPEAKER_07 26:46

Girl, don't make me look mad. And she did not, she did not disappoint at all, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

I love how black you are on the show. But I mean, I mean, like, literally aesthetically, the the somebody could have went wrong with the hair, somebody could have went wrong with the makeup, and it's like, no, that look like that's why I say that.

SPEAKER_07 27:06

Like, I But you know what part of that is, like, I went I went into the show and audition, and they had already cast the, they cast the part, right? Like, I think you know, sometimes they do these cut and they're like, we don't know, they don't know if they're gonna go with the with a black man, if they go with a black man, and we're gonna go with a white girl, if we go with a white man, we're gonna go with a black girl. And we don't let's test and see what you know what you know when they be making TV shows, so much goes into it that's beyond like just our ability as talent, right? And I remember my agents calling me and saying, Greg really liked you, so he's gonna try to create something. He's gonna create so I'm not surprised that a bit of me is in that part because even like leading up to it, like just with the just in like the table reads and stuff like that, every time he saw me, my hair was different. That's why Alicia always got different hair. Every time he saw me, and it would go drastic. It wouldn't be like straight to curly, it would be like, it looked like you ain't got no hair, and now it looked like you got all the hair. I remember one day, this is the day he talked to me, because I saw this girl online, she had did this hairstyle. I had extra time that day. So I was like, I'm gonna try that hairstyle. It's like, it, it, it's like, how do you take long hair and make it look like it's short? She had like pinc all her hair and put it under these berrts, and it looked like a 50s swimming cat. And I'm like, that's how I get it. I had had a shaved head for so many years. I'm like, that's how I get a short haircut again without cutting my afro, right? So I sit there and I do this whole thing, I order some barrettes from Amazon. You know what I'm saying? And I walk into this table read with just like berrettes all over my head. And when we went to lunch, he said, now how is this happening? Yeah. Is it what's that? What the hell? Explain to me. Like, and not even like in a condescending way, like a really earnest way, you know? Like, please help me understand.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

He didn't want the makeup and hair uh conversation. Now, how did you do that?

SPEAKER_07 29:04

He was really curious, which I really I appreciate. I really like curious people because I'm I'm that way. Like you can't be afraid to ask. You got a black hairstylist on the show? The first season we didn't. Okay, so Yeah, I know about this. So, so he said, he asked me, he was like, How would you feel if we made this a part of the show? And I was like, that'd be wonderful. I I think I'd love, I would love that. And I think that the viewers, the demographic that I would attract, I think they'd probably feel appreciate, you know, that. So here's the thing, Justin. We shot the pilot in LA. So we had, oh, we had all the we had a bomb ass, all black, hair and makeup. It was nothing. When I can't, it was oh, it was nothing. You know, they had us dressed to the nut looking, uh our uh wardrobe team was also great. They weren't black, but they were also very great. And then when it got picked up, they was like, by the way, you're shooting in Vancouver, Canada. It I think it'd have been different if we were shooting in Toronto. But we were shooting here. It's hard, but we were shooting in Vancouver. So it ain't even like you could get the you could get the supplies you need the day of or the same day. You know, so that was, but what I appreciate is somebody who's in a position and knows that they need help with the position. So our first season, head of hair, she said, first of all, because I'm I'm a solution-oriented person. It's I'm a I'm going, and I that may come from like being a middle child, that I don't know, maybe that's the Muslims. I don't know, right? I don't know where it comes from, but I am that type of person. And so the moment they said we're filming in Canada, I bought my first wig. I never had a wig before. I never had a wig before. And I said, let me get one of these wigs.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Just in case. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:44

Just in case, because who knows what's gonna happen. And when I got there, that head of hair was like, I'm so happy you brought this wig.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Kevin Boy. Save their kids.

SPEAKER_07 30:55

I'm so happy you brought this wig. And the funny thing is, after we shot the whole season, whole whole first season, because the first season is in Vancouver, some of the stuff don't match the pilot. But when you stri see, when you releasing an episode every week, people can't make the connection that something is different. But when you get to go from one episode right to the next one in a matter of seconds, you're gonna be able to tell a difference. So we had to reshoot some of the pilot stuff. But the the wig ain't the same as the pilot stuff. So they had to get the hair from for the pilot, right? And they you can't get that hair in Vancouver. You can't get it immediately. You know, it's like they be holding tariffs and stuff, going from the United States to Canada. I'm no, it really, you find out that it's it's a task, right? And I had this crochet hair with me that I just did, you know, just being a black girl, it's like, oh, I got what you about, oh I got some extra hair. It's something about being a black woman. It's like, well, I got some extra hair. I got some lip balm, I got the lip, yeah, but it's like it's like some stuff you just you gotta go away from home for some months. It's like, no, I got some stuff. Yeah. Even if I got to do it myself, I will watch a video and figure it out, right? And so I was like, well, I got this, this hair, and she, we had to shoot the scene the next day. But this is white men for you. Because they came to us like, well, can you get this hair the next thing? And she her she was a white woman, but she knew. She was like, she knew enough about hair to know that what they was asking her for in her location was an impossibility. Right. And so I was like, Well, I have this hair that kind of mimics that hair that I had in the pilot. Uh I was like, but it's like um clip-ins. And she was like, Well, do you mind? She was like, we'll buy that hair from you. And and then she stayed up the entire night and made it into a wig. And I swear you can't tell the difference from. Oh, wow. Yeah, so as much as she wasn't a person a black woman, a a woman, a person of color, she still, I really, really appreciated her because she understood what she didn't have or know or couldn't do.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

And it gotta be right.

SPEAKER_07 32:55

And and and she was honest about she didn't have any ego. That's what it is. She didn't have any ego in it, and therefore it was very easy to get to a solution because she didn't have an ego in it, you know?

SPEAKER_04 33:06

I had a hair lady on MacGyver, she got mad because she was gonna try to do my hair or something. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, that's so like she was gonna try to cut my hair, and I was like, No. I was like, I'll go to somebody else. She was like, he's a racist. I was like, I am. And I didn't say that. But I was like, no, I don't want you cutting my hair. But on rush hour for sure, the producers, white dudes, they came up to me and they was like, So do you need your hair cut like what every three weeks, four weeks? And I was like, I said, bro, I'm gonna need my hair cut. I'm the lead. I said, I'm gonna need my hair cut like twice a week. Like at least at least once a week, and I need a lineup. So I had to go hire my own barber and then they would reimburse me. But they would they wouldn't have a black barber on set to cut my hair.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

And you know what's crazy? We're we're saying black barber in the essence of they could do black people, but they don't, they're missing that black people can do everybody.

SPEAKER_07 34:04

Uh most if you hire a black hairstylist, they can do the all-black hairstylist, but not necessarily a barber that specializes in cutting.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Uh the good barbers? The because when you see white dudes, they can do white dudes. But not women, like the head of hair. Oh, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_07 34:20

Because that does like every also to be a head of the department on the show, you realize there's a lot of administrative stuff.

SPEAKER_05 34:28

Right.

SPEAKER_07 34:28

Like I have been around people who are have the talent of making us look a certain way, and I'm like, why they not that? And then you watch they, you watch what you watch how they operate, and you're like, oh, they can't run a department. That takes that takes a different skill.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

Yeah, that's a fact.

SPEAKER_07 34:44

But I wonder if, because another thing that I liked about our production is so this is the thing that happens, and this is racism. A lot of people that we use and we need the they're not in the union. They make it very hard to get in the union. And so, like you are the lead, but they it's still a it was a sag show, I of course. And so d there they have to hire sag people. And so, but there's ways around that, but people have to care. You you know people have to care, and so for for us, I remember our last two seasons. Um, we there was one girl, they made sure that they sort of act they gave her the the like whatever it's called, where you can kind of circumvent that and get her into the union faster and stuff like that. They did that because it's like the lead girl is also a woman of color, regardless if she's light skinned and her hair is a bit looser than mine. She's still a woman of color. Right. And then I was, you know, I was number four on the call sheet. And so I'm a and so they really, our second season, we had a wonderful black hairstyler. She wasn't head of the department, but we had personals. Yeah. You know? And then and the same for seasons three and four, and they made sure that the girl who was not in the union, they made sure to make it so that, you know, and I think that that's something, I think that's something that production has to care, you know, has to care about and and value.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Do do uh I have to ask you this too. You got uh a very unique space also because you got to be on a show, you're on network TV, but you also get to be funny. Um, which is a blessing all in its own, because I've heard uh London talk about this, it's like I've uh uh in ballers, I feel like you you was able to get uh looser, but Uncle Marvin is a very specific role, and uh comedy chops, it's like this nigga's hilarious, and it's like I don't always get to the drama.

SPEAKER_07 36:37

Yeah, I feel like you always do drama for the most important.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

I I I actually prefer drama. I need I need comedy for to support stand-up. But drama is really fun for me because that's the that's the that's where I feel the growth and as far as being pulled for that sort of thing. But to I think where you're going with that was wait, let me you finish with that.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Well no, I'm I'm I'm just like the the how do you feel about the blessing in that and in the the bro that you are, we four seasons in, and it's you get to be funny. Like, I mean, because I see you doing stuff. Uh there's a random take, and it's like when you're dancing at the party in season one, and it's like you dance into the party, and then you dance, I was like, that wasn't necessary. It was like that. So I was like, she did not have to, you was making the dude name it. I was like, this is all unnecessary.

SPEAKER_07 37:30

Uh I think that that's like a blessing, right? Because it directly serves, services the thing that I do, which is stand-up. And so it like it services tickets because when people find out that I'm a stand-up, they're like, yeah, we trust. She was funny on this show, and like, oh, she's stand-up, we're gonna buy tickets to the live show, right? Um, but I think it's also like um, I don't know, in moments where I was probably being very funny, I was probably also having a lot of fun on set, you know, and I think that's part of like a set that allows you to like take sort of certain creative license. I think I think Greg specifically hired performers that he trusts to do what they do. You know what I'm saying? He he hired me to like do what he saw me do. Yeah, you know, he there's everybody has a position. Andy, which is the lead actress, she plays Nora, you know. There were a lot of times where she's funny, you know? And there were a lot of times where she wants to be funny in the show, and they be like, you know, that you're you're the you're tender. Yeah, and we need you to nail the tender part of this scene.

SPEAKER_05 38:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:35

And I get to come in and kind of be right. You know, I get to kind of be, I get to say the shit. Yeah. But she's the heart, you know. And so she they let her get a funny take. But it's like, we need this tender take, too.

SPEAKER_04 38:50

People don't realize being number four on the call sheet. It's the best. It's the best, it's the best.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

I was gonna take it back. I was gonna next. Go for it, go for it. No, no, no, no, I'll I'll jump not to cut, yeah. But I got that same word. Um, shout out to uh me and Joseph from Power, Tommy. And we went one when he directed one of the episodes in our last season, and um we talked about that. He's like, Yeah, man, number four is it, and he said, What number are you? I said, Yeah, I'm number four. And there's a sweet spot about not having the burden of carrying the show, and but it's in a nice sweet spot to of there's some freedom there to do what you do.

SPEAKER_07 39:32

Yeah, it's the feel it's like it's like in stand-up, it's the feature act.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

It's the feature act.

SPEAKER_07 39:37

You don't realize how much how easy it is to be a feature until you until you're ahead of it.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Okay, wait, uh, because we gotta stay here for a little bit. So obviously number one is the the lead. I'm gonna tell you why. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna tell you why. Because I don't know. Rush hours.

SPEAKER_07 39:56

Sorry to stop you. Were you in the documentary that they did number one on the call sheet?

SPEAKER_04 40:01

No, no, no. I've not big it up yet.

SPEAKER_07 40:03

Oh wow. Because I just realized, like, wow, you were number one on that show. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 40:09

So this is this is why I'm telling you, number four is the sweet spot. The workload of hours. So it's not just the burden of carrying the show for me. I was on set 13 to 15 hours every day for six months, sometimes on Saturdays too. So that's six, so we did 13 episodes. So the human species only works eight hour days. Like just on a general. Now, if you're a hard worker, you gonna do 12 hours. To do when you get to that 13 to 15 hour, you like nigga. So on the workload, it started to affect your mental, your physical. So then I realized Paige Kennedy, he played my cousin on Rush Hour. He was number four on the call sheet. Uh have a big floor. Oh, big floor. He was show up. See, here's the other thing. When you're number one on the call sheet, people don't realize this. It takes like, let's say it takes seven days to shoot a one-hour episode. People think, oh, I just thought you just shot it in one hour. Like, no, it took seven days to film this, all right. He would only have to show up three to four days out of the seven of the work week. So imagine if you work, you only got to work three or four days out of the week or whatever. He show up happy, telling jokes, rest it, and I'm sitting there like, nigga, getting hair and makeup done.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

So I realized, I said, if I ever do a one-hour show again, I just want to be the best friend on the show. Because I realize you still get a nice check. You still on the show. You get a lot of camera time. You get a lot of camera time, and the work hours isn't crazy. You still have a life outside to do other stuff. So when McGuyber came around and they said, Yeah, we want you to play the best friend on the show, I said, nigga, sign me up. I'm like, I'm there because I already knew it was gonna be a sweet spot. But then you got to be more hilarious on there, too. Yeah, and you and you get to be funny. You get to be like a comic relief. But forget about me. This is about you.

SPEAKER_07 42:03

No, it's it's uh it's not a song.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Let me say this to you. Um right now, people were when they watch this or when they see you, you uh read very uh full of life, very vivacious.

SPEAKER_07 42:20

Full of life sounds like a golden girl. You sing No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

No, no, no, no. Full of life meaning uh enjoying living. How about that? Enjoying living, and but I know that does come with some some downs. Um going back to when you were in high school and you having to take that drive to Atlanta with your friend and having that accident, you know?

SPEAKER_07 42:48

And um look at y'all doing research.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

I know. You know, have having this accident and being down, I think about a year and a half and stuff like that, and just how traumatic that could have been and so forth, how did that change you? Coming out of that? Because I know you're a you're an athlete as well, and uh, how did that whole thing um unfold?

SPEAKER_07 43:07

I it's it's so interesting that you asked that because the last oh this year. Uh this past summer I went to the um Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I did a I ran a one-hour show um which hopefully is my next hour. But um it was called Toxically Optimistic, and I think that is the perspective that that particular situation gave me. So it's tragic. Um and it still has like like I am re I have scar I have like severe scarring on my leg, so it I'm reminded of it every day. And and I'm like low-key handicap. People don't know, but I'm like low-key handicap.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

You wear it well when nobody's gonna get it.

SPEAKER_07 43:45

Yeah, no, I I really am, to the point where I like had a uh a placard, and I would get out the car and people would be looking and I'm like, I'm gonna give it back. Like, but I you know that not every handicap is visible, you know, but um and uh Uh but the there was another person who was also hit. And I just remember thinking, because I was 17, like I you you've when you when you're younger, you just feel so invincible and the your world is very small, you know, and you think that everything is about you. Even if you're not having like what people consider an ideal life, you know, you still feel like your world is still so specific to you, if that makes sense. Um, and I I remember thinking like my life was over, right? Dramatic. And then I remember the this other girl, I just remember her hopping in without a leg and had a like a uh um metal like sort of rod or something like kind of holding her skull together. And I just remember my thought being like dang, it's worse, you know? And then I remember uh, you know, just thinking about like all the people that surrounded me during that time. Not to speak bad about her, because I imagine she may see this, but versus the people that surrounded her. And it just gave me perspective of like, yeah, all things considered, you got a lot going on. You know what I'm saying? Like there's so much to be grateful for. And that is the that leads me. So now everything, I just be like, everything is good, like everything is good, you know? Like it's just made me super optimistic because I always know that somewhere somebody is m in a much worse situation, you know.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Blessingly, you are here and you have survived. If after that event you had transitioned and had to be a guardian angel to someone, who would you choose?

SPEAKER_07 45:55

I know where this question was going. If I was dead, I was dead. Uh I had to be a guardian angel for someone.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Either at from that time or even now. Like in the upload, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_07 46:12

Um probably one of my siblings. I can't choose them all. I can't watch them all like I only choose one.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

We can go with that. We we can make we can make it a family thing if that's what I think.

SPEAKER_07 46:24

If I could, if I that's what's more that's the they the first people I pray for and the last people I pray. They the first people I think about and last, you know, like uh I I imagine maybe I if I, you know, am blessed to have like a husband and kids, maybe that'll change. But right now, like my siblings, you know, my my mom, my parents, my nieces and nephews, like they are the begin all and end all for me. They are the people who I most enjoy, they are the people who I most care about, even in their flaws. And so specifically, like I can think of, I don't want to say it because I don't want to put their business out in the street, but yeah, I have certain siblings that I feel like they need some, you know what I'm saying? They I mean, who knows? The angels might be working hard right now because they're not gonna stop your brother from telling people it's trash. He's fine. He's but that that brother, he he got blessings on blessings on blessings. You know what I'm saying? Even in his like hood epics, you know, he he he's he's blessed. You know what I'm saying? He he one of them people, he be like, you know, I'm on a lot three. Like he's one of them people, it's it it always works out for him, you know. But I have some siblings who I'm like, wow, if I had like the amount of talent or like beauty that you have, what I would do with it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

Yeah, but I would be. You definitely, well, I think we we all can feel the love that you have for your family. What was it that your mom what did she teach you about love?

SPEAKER_07 47:52

Uh I always say like we were so poor monetarily um at certain points in my life, but I never felt like like I always just felt loved as a kid, you know? Like I ne I never felt like I couldn't do anything. Like I obviously couldn't do um like I couldn't go to the party. My parents never let me go to a sleepover. Um, we might not have the money for me to go on like that field trip. But in terms of like being capable of doing something, like I never thought my parents never made me feel like I I was not capable of doing something. They almost made me feel like too capable, and not in a sense of like, and we're gonna put you out there, like, oh, we got this talented kid and we're gonna try to make money, you know. You you ain't about we ain't about to make the Jackson five, but yeah, Zane Ab, if you want to do it, we believe you can do it. So girl, go figure it out. If you want to do it, you know, I got these other kids here. I can't. So you gotta figure it out. You know what I'm saying? And and I think because of that, it's like it's made me really tenacious. I think it's made me like believe in myself. But also I I saw it was not perfect, but I saw um two people, like I saw my father and mother really love each other. I don't think I recognized the beauty of that until I got like older, but I I really saw them not just like love each other, but like be attracted to one another and like enjoy one another. You know? That's a blessing. Yeah, and that and I think that that for me that did a lot, you know what I'm saying? But again, it's it's 13 of us, and we all a lot different. You would think some of us had different parents. But you know what I'm saying? Like it's it's really a fascinating thing, but yeah, I think I I think I I never once it don't matter what happened, I never felt unloved.

SPEAKER_04 49:54

I want to go to the journey of your stand-up and like how did that begin? Was there a moment? Like, what what's the beginning of you doing stand-up comedy?

SPEAKER_07 50:05

Uh everybody here knows Jerou Tillman.

SPEAKER_04 50:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:09

Gareo Tillman used to do Trippin on Tuesdays.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:12

And me and Gareo was friends. I don't know how me and Girou became friends. I was always a fan of comedy. I used to go to comedy when I was in college. I was never like a drinker or anything like that. So you know how people before they go to like nightclubs and stuff like that, they pregame at bars and stuff. I would always be at a comedy show. So I found like even as a young, even as like a young person, 19, 20 years old, I was in comedy clubs making friends. You know, one thing male comedians like is a cute young girl. Even if it's just for friendship. Right. You know? Um, and so I became friends with like a lot of comedians. You know, I remember I was visiting here on like spring break, and Chris Spencer, like I don't know, maybe I was like a sophomore in college or something like that, and Chris Spencer was my friend had an audition, and Chris Spencer was at the audition as well, and he had just had his son, but he had the son. All the people at the audition was white, and he needed to go in, he needed somebody to watch his son. So he I was the only black girl in the room. He said, Could you watch my wow? And then I remember I came back out, like maybe the next year for spring break. Me and my friend used to come here for spring break. Wow. And he was hosting Chocolate Sundays. And they was like, Oh, do you are you want to list? I said, Tell him his babysitter is outside. And that's how I became friends with Chris Vincent. That's great. Great story.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

You know, Chris a legend.

SPEAKER_07 51:24

Yeah, and and um, so it's wild now to see like his son is like in college. I'm like, I'm old. Um, but so I became friends with Jeroo. I don't know how, but I Geroo called me one day, and he Jeroo was like had a management company and a production company, and he was producing the show at the comedy store. And he called me one day, yeah, fired his assistant for whatever reason. He was like, hey, what you do? He knew I was like an unemployed person, you know? Uh-uh. And he was like, Yeah, unemployed person. And he was like, Hey, Z, can you come? But he knew I was like capable and smart, right? And he was like, Can you um come fill in for the week? And at the time, I wanted these boots. I always had expensive tape. I wanted these goddamn what brand, you know the price? Okay. Yeah, it's cloudy.$1,500 boots. I had to get them too. I had to get them. So they cover my scars. I had to get them.

SPEAKER_05 52:18

Okay, that's inspiration.

SPEAKER_07 52:19

Yeah, I had to get them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I resold those boots because they they're phenomenal boots. So after wearing them, I re-10 years later, I resold those boots as vintage for damn near the same price. And a girl hit me and she was like, I've been, you don't know, I've been searching high and low. I was like, girl, I know you've been searching, because they only made one in our size, and I got the one pair. So I know you've been searching high and low. Did you use Facebook Marketplace? I think I sold them in part on Poshmark. Okay. All right. But continue. Um, and he could he was like, I needed those boots. So that's the reason why I say yes. If I didn't need those boots, I would not have said yes.

unknown 52:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 52:50

And and and working with Jeru, I started uh like helping produce that show. Not so I don't want to take his, you know, but like I had to be at that show every week and I would be watching, and it'd be just a bunch of guys performing in it every so often, like Tiffany Haddish. And and I think one day my friend at the time, she was like, Let's go to a showcase. And it was like Tori, Tori Hart was friends with her, and they did a show, and it was all women, you know, and I I was rewriting stuff in my head. Like I was editing things in my head. I saw like the flaws, you know. I saw what could have been changed to help every performer that I saw.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

No, you know, yeah. I'm just using the reference points.

SPEAKER_07 53:37

And I found myself doing that at the show on Tuesday, too. Like, oh, I understand why that he didn't actually say a joke, but he said it in a funny way. Oh, only he could say that. I've just started doing that naturally, you know. And then I realized you just wake up one day and you kind of realize, like, I didn't move to, I went to school for like, I thought I was gonna be a math teacher. So it's like if I'm gonna just be stuck in a room or an office, I'm then I'll go to the thing that I worked on for four years, you know? And so when I had that sort of like revelation, like I'm not here for this, as fun as this is, working with my friend and you know, whatever. Um, and Giroux gave me health insurance, everything, you know? Like, yeah, yeah. Um, and I was just like, I just I had to quit because I didn't move to LA for this. Right. And so I when I quit, I just Googled like open mics, and I have remember I had seen, I seen y'all at open mics. Yeah, you know, and so I kind of knew the open mic scene, and I was like, I'm gonna go to that one that's near my house. I lived in Noho at the time.

SPEAKER_05 54:34

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_07 54:35

Yeah, it was that hookah, Amsterdam Cafe. Amsterdam, you were here, right? Yeah, and I just went there. I had kind of looked up the rules because when you go watch, you don't kind of I was I loved comedy. I loved watching comedy that much that I would watch open mics, you know? And and then I was like, oh, okay, I gotta buy a coffee or something. Yeah. First come, first 20 people, you get five minutes.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Yeah. All right, we go pre-game at the house. All right, I'm gonna stop by this comedy club and it's a good one.

SPEAKER_07 55:00

Oh, I love I I Yo, I used to go to the best club, my nightclubs, like parties in New York City when I was in college. My favorite thing was being able to go to a comedy club and like see, you know, Mike Epps and Bill Burr. That was my favorite. That was better than dancing. I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna hear that, I'm gonna hear one, you know, one Beyonce song, and then I'm gonna get up out of there. You know what I'm saying? But I just was never really interested in that. But it's like, it feels so good to let when people be like, You change my life, when they be coming up to us, like you don't understand you got me through this thing, there, that's for real.

SPEAKER_05 55:35

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 55:35

You know, it seemed because we just up there being ourselves, right? But it's like to relate to, you know, some people ain't comfortable laughing.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 55:44

Some people ain't my okay, I don't want to say this specifically because they be watching, but someone close to me told me that a person that they're around that they have to be, that they have in their life now, she said, I never seen them laugh before.

unknown 55:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 55:59

I see my mom laugh all the time. Really? My mom, she be laughing, even when we don't be laughing, she thinks she's hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 56:06

You know?

SPEAKER_07 56:07

And then my sister was like, Yeah, I was like, well, you know what you could do? Ask her. Like, what do you find? What makes you laugh? I'm like, ask her.

SPEAKER_06 56:13

You know?

SPEAKER_07 56:14

So so I got on stage because I just I think I think one day it just clicked to me like maybe I could do it, but I didn't think I didn't think that I would be successful.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

Why would you are?

SPEAKER_07 56:27

I understood that comedy looked easy, but it was not. I understood that. And then I went up that first time in Amsterdam, and two things happened. Okay. I had succeeded at an open mic, which I had previously saw was very hard to do. Um, like you know, people, I don't know, I can't remember who was there, but I remember people was in a back smoking hookah, and they came like inside. You only up there for a little while. Yeah, five minutes. And I was like, y'all are laughing. They was like, keep going. I had I seen that open mic before. I ain't never seen that. So I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_05 57:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 57:06

And and then, and also it felt, I've done a a couple of things in life, I've been good at things in my life, but nothing had felt like that. And it just felt, it felt right in a way I had never felt before. And so I just kind of followed that instinct. And it's working out. Did you say the second one? Did you say the second thing? That it just felt right.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and okay, so then so now, fast forward, uh the special.

SPEAKER_07 57:34

Yeah, hijabs off.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

Hijabs off. Uh the special looks amazing. Thank you. Two things. One, what made you do it in the round? And two, what uh is this a partnership with Amazon? Because it it everything seems you're everybody be like, my special is on Amazon. It's like, it's on there. But your issue is a Yeah, no, mine's was a Amazon producer, they pay for it. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, that's a different thing. Yeah, and it's like coming off of Upload, this is this is seamless. I saw you here, and I'm seeing you here. It's like and that always feels like a beautiful relationship to have because Amazon, uh, I feel like all the streamers are looking for their hits, but upload is clearly one of their hits.

SPEAKER_07 58:14

Yeah, we're their number one comedy.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 58:16

I mean, we're done now, but um uh I think that they were a great partner for my first special. And I think that like most of us, you know, we when you shop a special, you go to all the the the buyers, you know, um, because you really want the best deal that you can, you know, make. Um and I think because I was already talent on uh on an Amazon show, they really worked. I asked for specific things at the time like I I think Amazon constructed a deal that it now is a common deal, but it was a deal that didn't quite exist before I did it. And so it it it incentivized them to sort of what was it?

SPEAKER_03 59:05

Can you talk say what it was?

SPEAKER_07 59:06

Yeah, I wanted to own the special. I wanted to own the special. A lot of times when they pay for the special, it's like, why you gonna own it? We pay for it.

SPEAKER_03 59:14

Right.

SPEAKER_07 59:15

Um and so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:18

As you should. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 59:19

Well, I just, you know what I think about? Cause it's like I, you know, I think about just the locks. If you ever hear an interview with the with the rap group, the locks, right? They be like, we ain't know nothing about ringtones at the time. And locks are legendary. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, you know, it's like we don't know. It's like at the that it's it's like people, I think when I was discussing that, it was like the um, what's the what's the tokens, fungi, non-fungible token? Um whatever it's called.

SPEAKER_04 59:48

ETFs.

SPEAKER_07 59:48

Yeah. Um NFT.

SPEAKER_04 59:50

NFTs. Yeah. In my mind, I was like non-fungible.

SPEAKER_07 59:55

I don't sound like stat benefits. Okay. Um, but yeah, it's like it was a lot of things changing with technology, and I just felt like, I don't know. I don't really like that you could take something I did, pay me once for it, and then you could just keep selling it in purpose too. I don't like that. So it's like if anybody's gonna be selling it or reselling it, it's gonna be me, you know, like I just don't like that. And so I was I was learning as I was going, and it's it's a bit difficult to advocate for for yourself. And I feel like I'm in a position where like I'm a, you know, I'm a black woman. You know, we we've heard the quote over and over and over, like the least protected person is the is the in America's. And so it that applies when negotiating. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like the the the lack of value for you. And so it's it's a lot to ask people, like, this is what I want. This is important to me, you know? Just because I couldn't, I could not, I care so much about that special. Every single part of it was my vision, my idea, my you know what I'm saying? And so I just couldn't stand to like give that up for somebody to do whatever they wanted with it forever. It just didn't feel right to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:05

Did you own it immediately or is it after a certain amount of time? After a certain time. Okay. Yeah. And what made you do it in the round? You gonna say at the time? The time just came up. Okay. I be asking them questions. I be getting everything that many minutes.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:21

The audio came to me after six months after the release and the full thing. Oh, um, uh, have ownership after three years.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:28

That's great. Ooh, that's a blessing. Hold on, but uh you the other part the other part of the round.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:32

Yeah, why you do it in the round? I love the reason I'm asking because I love the round. Like uh I did uh arena with Matt and 14,000 people backstage. Cool, like when you were stage and then it's out. It's like this is fine. And then we did the round, and I was like, I want to do every show for the show. You like the round? Oh, it's the best. So what made you do it in the round?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:57

Um I watch a lot of stand-up specials, and I think part of, I think like with like Eddie Murphy and Kevin Hart, everybody wanna do, everybody want, you want to show your success in a special, right? So you that's the whole reason why Kevin did a stadium, right? He can't like I gotta go bigger than what I did last time, right? And for me, I always wanted people to watch me at home the same way they watch me in the club. In the club, you could, you know what I'm saying, you could be behind a pillar, you can't really see, you know, like some people, they get them side seats, they behind you. You know, I wanted it to feel like I wanted it to feel intimate and like you was a fly on the wall. So it's like everybody got the perfect seat and the worst seat all at the same time. I just I just wanted it, I was trying my best to replicate what it feels like to watch a comedian live in person. You know what I'm saying? Like in that vibe, like the comedy, but I still needed to elevate it because it's like it's a special. And so that's why we got the you know what I'm saying? I still needed it to feel a bit whimsical, because it was. Um, but I just wanted it to, and that's why it's handheld. It's he f he with me the whole time. You know what I'm saying? Even it's produced by All Things Comedy. I don't know if that, you know, y'all want to plug. All things good. Yeah, but I but I met with a lot of product not a lot, but I met with a good amount of production companies, and I told them like what I wanted to do, and they was like, why? You're making it hard for yourself. You don't need to make it hard. And and then All Things Comedy was like, I got the perfect director. I got a new director that could I think could help you do this thing you're trying to do. Like, that's really cool. And that's what I was looking for in the meeting. Somebody to not tell me like no, but somebody to be like, fuck it, let's try it.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:47

Isn't it great when people get it?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:49

Yeah, it's like it's like even if they don't get it, it's like fuck it, let's try, let's try and fail. Let's fucking try. You know?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:56

It's gonna look beautiful in for it's gonna look y'all gonna give me what I want, and because I asked you to do something differently, if executed correctly, this looks you did all the you could do 40,000 specials and not gonna look like this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

What the biggest lesson I just learned is it looks like all things comedy will be producing the killing it comedy special. Congratulations to y'all. This one I want to know. Where do you see your next special? Do you see it YouTube? Would you want it on Amazon again, Netflix? Where's the ideal place?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:32

I think any comedian that sits here and says the ideal place is not Netflix is kind of just lying, and it's only because of numbers. It's because of numbers and it's because Netflix does not really care about your your um preferences. I tell Netflix, don't show me stuff all the time, and they be like, here's this new thing we got. I don't care if you don't want to see it. You know what I'm saying? We are we we trying to make our money back from this. So you're gonna see it. Um so I think like everybody wants their their special to be on Netflix. I'm not gonna my special right now is in the hands of buyers. It's being like this out, and so I don't want to say who is ideal because I don't want to I want everybody to feel like they're ideal because I would like people to give me money. Straight up so you can get your boots, you know?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:21

You gotta get them boots, yeah. Yeah, you know in that same vein, uh Hunter Humans. Uh how does how does Hunter Humans happen in conjunction with with Netflix?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:32

That was just something that they called me into audition for. Um Hunter Humans is a remake of a Dutch, I believe, a Dutch show.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:39

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:40

Um, which was quite interesting. They sent me the show, like, watch this. They were looking for people who specifically had math and science backgrounds.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:47

Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:48

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:49

Math Major came on through. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:52

Um like I was you know, I thought I would be a teacher, but Sammy Obaid, he is uh uh math like

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

My God.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:01

And then the other host, she has this like award-winning, like this Emmy Award-winning science podcast. I think callogies or something like that. And so yeah, we just auditioned and we tested. I tested with a bunch of people. And then they cast us. You know, they ended up going with the three that they went with and they cast us and we and we filmed the show. And I think it would have been a good show. I thought it would be a show that we would go to different cities with. I think maybe COVID sort of um, you know, maybe that that's what I'd be telling myself. Well, maybe that's not the case. Maybe it was things that are uh beyond my scope of awareness. You know, but it was it was an interesting show to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:41

You have some uh yeah, just and if I say I got them, but I I'll be going in London to get in there.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:48

It's so crazy because like comedy podcasts, I be expecting to be like, ha ha, you know, like how it is when we like in a green room. Yeah, absolutely. You know, but then but these podcasts get so deep. Yeah, I know. Comedians were quite serious when we're not being a good idea. What I said before.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:01

It's so funny you say before we started today. I said, let's not forget that we're comedians. So let's make sure we find the moments where we still, but I mean, comedians are serious. We're very serious. In the business, it's very technical. And I mean, you know, when you see your favorite comedians, just know a lot of work and thought and intention went behind everything that they're doing for them to get to where they at.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

So I mean And and and I mean, even in the basis of the show, there's like so many things that are happening. Okay, boom, we're killing it. You are literally killing it. You are literally, you went through this journey to become a really strong stand-up comic and hopefully get things that bolster people buying tickets. Yeah. Right? And then you get those things, and then there's all this nuanced stuff. We ain't never had no conversation about being number four on our call sheet. Yeah. We ain't never had no conversation about the technical things that happened with hair and makeup to make the show look aesthetically right. We definitely had no conversation about no ownership after the special drop. So it's like it's like, you know, I wanna laugh, but she is. That's good shit.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:04

People I tell people, and I think Clayton Thomas can attest to this because he is the one person that always be asking me questions that nobody I remember before I was killing it, I remember he came to me and was like, How you making money? Like he'll ask, he'll just ask the question, you know, and I have no problem like divulging information because I think information is power, but I do have a question for you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:31

In your seasons where you're killing it, do you feel like you're killing it? Like it's so interesting. People be like, yo, you killing it, but I just kind of feel like I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:44

Do you I'm gonna be real with you. When I was doing rush hour of, yeah, I mean, I'm the star of a CBS Network TV show. I'm number one, is I'm like on CBS every Friday night. Like, so yeah. I was like, nigga, I'm killing it. Okay. However, it wasn't until McGu, I remember the moment everything that I'm doing now is by choice because I've made money, I invested in real estate, I got money coming in, I'm kind of cool. And so I remember the moment I was walking to set on MacGyver, like from my trailer to the soundstage, and I said, I made it. I was like, I had that thought, like, I said I was gonna move to LA, I said I was gonna do stand-up, I said I was gonna be the star of a TV show. Now, I still got all these other lofty dreams and ambitions. So I have not accomplished all the things I want to do, but I'm well enough to know, like, I did for the most part what I set out to do. So when I was doing Rush Hour, I was like, I'm killing it. When I did MacGyver, I said, I made it. Um, but I still got a lot of shit. But anyway, but right now, I do not feel that way. Right now, I'm like, I'm cool. We was talking about the difference between people be wanting to be on the podcast, and we like, hey yo, everybody doing shit, everybody ain't killing it. Okay. And so, you know, there's a difference between doing shit and killing it. You know, so anyways, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:14

You know, I'll ask you this. Yeah. When you were on Rush Hour and MacGyver, were were like your peers and stuff like that coming up to you, like, yo, you killing it, you killing it, you killing it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:24

Yeah, in private, but not publicly.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:28

Okay. You know, so they'll come up to me in the clubs, but I wasn't seeing that love, let's say, on social media. So if I say, watch my show, I didn't see nobody hitting the like button. Ain't nobody, yeah, except my mama and a couple of my friends. So that made me start to feel a certain type of way towards my peers because of that. You know what I'm saying? But probably, yeah, but you don't feel like people come up to you and say you're killing it?

SPEAKER_07 1:10:54

I do, I do. People, people come up to me and say that all the time. Yeah. But I don't feel like I'm killing it, and I don't feel like that's not an insecure thing. I don't feel like I am, what's the opposite of killing?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:09

Oh, it's a bullshit. That's another program we're gonna die.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:15

Yeah, I don't feel like I'm dying either. Yeah. Um, I just feel like I'm doing the work. And so when people say like, oh, you killing it, or even like if he says, like, oh, you're one of my favorite comics to watch, I just don't see myself as I I would never be like, yeah, I'm one of if they said write your bio, I wouldn't be like, people's favorite comics to watch. I just, I don't know. I my my my head is kind of down, and I'm just trying to take a step forward every opportunity that I get to take a step forward.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:50

I think that's the healthiest way to go about it though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

I mean, but no, no, no, no, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:56

Because I I think it's hard for us to see how much progress we we're making when we're in it. Um, and I think that's probably where you're at because I'm looking at you. For instance, I'm looking at you, I'm like, I wasn't, I didn't know you had 500,000 followers on Instagram. No, I didn't know you had so many followers on YouTube. So for me, I'm like, shit, I wish I had 500 followers on Instagram. You see what I'm saying? I would so to me, I always say this too, it's like, and I'm I'm not saying this is you, but me personally, I I usually feel everybody wants what somebody else has. Like we're always kind of looking to like, oh dang it.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:32

Yeah, like compared comparing. Comparing.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:34

Comparison is the thief of joy, you know, and so but when I'm looking at you and people saying you're killing it, we looking at it like, yo, you are headlining clubs every weekend. I ain't headlining clubs every weekend. You know what I'm saying? I've I but I had a TV show. I'm in syndication, you know, but I but I wish I was headlining clubs every weekend. And so we kind of look at those types of factors and things like that. But I mean, for us, when we looking at your social media followers, if anybody that wants to be on the show, too, because I know BT, you be he'd be like, stop asking him. But when we looking at your social media following, we'll call you, don't call it. Uh but that was that was more asshole than what I was saying. I told you this is niggas off. But we're looking at your social media following, um, being on a TV show, uh, created by Greg Daniels, you know, and I'm sure you're having a comedy special. Like, no, you you killing it.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:30

You want to know what's so crazy?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:32

When BT reached out to me, I didn't even think, like, yeah, I just thought he's my friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Well, thank you. We appreciate it. We're a bit.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:40

Like, I thought like he's my friend and like he knows that I'm in a bit, so he like that's why he's inviting me on the show. But I didn't think like, yeah, I've done enough to. I didn't think I just I don't know. My brain doesn't like my brain goes to that when I'm like negotiating like contract stuff. You know, if I'm if I'm asking for money and they seem like they don't want to give up money, then I start looking at everybody else. Like, well, what money did they get for this?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:05

Because that's sometimes you that ammo that you have to go into negotiations with. Like, and I really appreciate some of the comedians, like truly, you know, and some sometimes I go to state, ask me to come to a city, the club will send me an offer, and it'll be such a shitty offer. And I'll look at the calendar and I'll be like, well, let me see if there's anybody that I know that's doing this club, and I'll reach out to them and be like, hey, I don't need to know like specifically what they, but I'm asking for a door deal. Did they give you a door deal? And it's like, here's my one comedian, and I will forever be grateful to him for this. He sent me his whole contract.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:38

Yeah, and it that that that empowered me to negotiate in the way that I needed to negotiate, you know?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

Okay, and this is this might be a healthy place to have this conversation because so just for clarity, you are absolutely killing it. And yes, you are my friend, but I also I revere uh our class and and my peers a very specific way. I don't have no filters on our legacies right now. I don't have it like, oh, Zay Nab's gonna be one of the best when she does this. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Across all past, present, and future, you're one of the best right now, period, point blank. Like you are one of the best to ever do it. I'm I and I'm looking at everything that's happened. When for me, it's like, oh, I'm sitting down at a show, I'm listening, I really don't care nothing about the show, and I was like, oh shit, Zaynap on stage. And I'll pivot. I do that for the people that I that I love and respect and want to hear actually what's gonna happen on stage, and and that counts, right? So it's like then you're the there's only about I've I've counted about seven or eight ways to make LA money. To make LA livable, this why I moved here money. Yeah, it's so expensive. It's not it's not that many, yeah. And headline and comedy clubs is one and TV is one, and then there's socials, right? Because even outside of that, you have a podcast that's doing very well. You know what I'm saying? It's like as some people we just start a podcast, we're like, oh shit, this is shit. We could be all right. You 80, 80 something episodes in. I was like, no, it it's moving. It was like, and when that happens, it's like, oh no, you're in the upper echelon of how you're gonna move things around. So it's like I I on that same note, let me ask this question. How are you managing both? How are you managing headlining clubs and you were doing and doing TV and you know, negotiating and and uh doing stuff for your your own self and creating your own projects? Okay, you gotta pick up the books, pick up the booth.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:41

Okay, how she manages to be. Uh I saw this TikTok the other day. This girl was like, um people who don't have kids don't know how much time they have. And everybody that didn't have kids, it's like, no, we we know we're we're using the time. Using the day. Like, I think that's one I only have to focus on myself, right? So I have enough time in the day. Um, but also um I think sometimes you do have to compartmentalize. I try, I I know that in this business, consistency is key. I know that. Like, people, you gotta stay, people, even if they they're that's the reason why I do my podcast. I can't be in St. Louis every week, but I know you want to see me every week. So that's the reason why I do a podcast. Now I really don't like talking that much. But I know to sustain you in St. Louis until I get there in a year, I gotta talk to you every week. And I can't wait for them to put me on TV. You know what I'm saying? I so I gotta talk to you. You know, I I I understand that. Um, but but then I have to be able to do it. So it's like, well, I don't want to get into it with a studio because I don't want to have to have to drive every time. You know what I'm saying? What if I'm away from her? There's times where I go on a road for stretches of time. So it's like, what do I not do the show if I can't? So I have to make this where I can always be able to do it. You know? Um, and then like, and then some things like it's like all about like burners on a stove. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes you on high heat, sometimes you on low heat, and you just kind of move it around. But it's like people ask me the every when I put in my veils for the week, I never put in the veils for Tuesday. Because that's when I be up editing my podcast, because it go out on Wednesday, I'll be dead to I can't. I learned, I can't. You know what I'm saying? I can't do it. It's just like, and and the people who watch my podcast, they know we learn in together.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:40

Cause because I realized that if you tr keep trying to wait for it to be perfect, it's never gonna happen. You I'll never do anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:48

Right.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:48

You know, so in the same way that I just gotta go out there and when the first time I featured, I did not know I had 20 minutes. No, you just find out. I started featuring after Last Comic Standing, which I only had to do two five-minute sets. I don't know what I got. I never did 20 minutes in my life. But I found out, so you know, a comedian felt like I he felt, he felt like I could. And he felt like if I couldn't, I would figure it out, which I did. And then the first time I headlined, it was because a comedian, Alonzo Bowden, he got into a motorcycle accident. Oh, wow. And we, I think we had the same agents. And so my agent was like, she's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:28

Alonzo too old to be riding a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:30

This was a couple of years ago, but so I think that's his thing. He got a big dog and a motorcycle. Oh, really? I ain't gonna be a big dog. That's his thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He got like a huge dog in a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:40

Yeah, and a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:41

You know, and I didn't know when they today they sent me to Mall of America for five days. Yeah, to do six hours. I didn't know. And I just had to figure it out. And that teaches me stuff for other areas. I never knew how to be number four on the call sheet. And then I and I learned. Now I know how to be number four on the call sheet, and one day I'm gonna be number one, and I have no experience at that yet. And I'll learn in in the moment, and I'll accept like I'll I'll I'll accept like where where I succeed and where I fail. And where I fail does not, it's not a bad thing. It just means I'm gonna learn something. And that's the way like I I look at stuff, you know, stand-up included.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:22

So right now. I see you setting it up. We got a game. You see you setting it up. We got it.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:28

I I almost hold on. I do want to say this because this is for your fans, London, because I kind of took over the answer, but did you ever feel like you was killing it? Have you ever had that moment?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:39

I remember um I forgot who was interviewing Issa Rae. But she kind of had this thought where, you know, they like, yo, you got this stuff going, you got she got her businesses, she got them show. And sometimes, especially when you're on TV, if there's that period when uh when you don't see yourself on the screen, sometimes there's a moment where you be like, What's that what's next? Now, granted, there's a there's another season and everything that's on the way, but there is a period where you just be like, man, it's hard, you know what it is, it's just hard for me to relax right now. I'm like, man, that's why the pocket, pocket, yeah, podcast, yeah, stand up. Yeah, yeah. And you just want to keep you want to keep going and because uh as far as being consistent and just keeping your foot on the gas so that and I think it's always I think it's it's one of those things where too you need to well for me, I just want to make sure that I'm not wasting time. Yeah. So I'm like, you know, during the hiatus of of of the show and you know, to pick up again, all that kind of stuff, it's like what what else can I be doing to uh uh am I doing something that I my theory is this try to do something every day that puts you closer to where you want to be. Because sometimes it may not be in the clubs, it might be watching raw, it might be just reading and just uh talking these kinds of things. I'm like, what am I doing every day? At least I know I'm trying to step take one step forward. So there are these pockets, because I I also have a I set a high bar too. I'm like, man, because when people say you was on ballers or raise the can, I'm like, it's still Dwayne Johnson's show. It's not mine. It's a great space, but I also see myself as the guy. Yeah. But I don't mind uh learning what I need to learn in the number four spot and getting chops and everything ready so that when it's time to carry that stuff, yeah, I'm like ready. See, that's what's where I'm at.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:40

I don't I don't I feel like I'm working. Uh because it's been mostly commercials, and then the other things that I'm doing that from the outside in look great, it's not my it's like I'm touring with my boy and it's 4,000 C Tier, and I'm touring with my other homie and it's 18,000 C Tier. This ain't my tour. And when I'm headlining, you get humble quick because I show up like, ha! You know what I mean? Like, like the club is like, no, listen, the times we've had to comp some tickets or give some tickets away, we can't give tickets to some people. Everybody knows you. So whatever the disconnect is on them buying tickets and what's the name, you gotta figure that part out. No, but it's it's 180 people in here. Like they they they were very excited that you were coming, they just didn't buy them tickets or I don't I don't feel the killing it yet.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:28

I I will say too, with like the different things that I'm doing, because I just thought about it while you while you were um speaking, the everything is a bit different for me. So like stand up is very personal. I feel like I'm I'm it it's uh like I know that in an hour I'm trying to tell a story. I'm trying to construct a story that is as meaningful as it is funny. I know that that's what I'm trying to do, right? And it's the thing that sort of like that's like the thing that everything services, right? But then when I'm on set, um you know, it's like, oh, there's this now I have to figure out, I'm able to be so authentic when I'm on stage. How do I portray a character authentically? That's very difficult for me because it's like it ain't me. I'm not a trained actor. I'm not, you know. And so that that's a whole different part of like my brain and my being. And and in the podcast, I'm talking about stuff that I don't that really doesn't mean anything to me. Like I'm talking about like news and topic, to things that are um, you know what I'm saying, like topical things. Yeah, the high school. Yeah, you're never gonna see a special where I talk about topical things because I understand the time it takes to create a special, shop a special, put out a special. Yeah, you'd be crazy to put something topical in there. You know what I'm saying? And so the podcast service is that. Y'all wanna know how I feel about the Diddy Doc year? You're not me, that ain't gonna be in my special. So when I go headline, I'm working on this the special.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:58

I ain't just going there to like key key about what's happening in the world. I'll do that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:03

Right.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:03

You know what I'm saying? I'll do that for the sake of a clip, but that's not the goal, is not I have a very specific goal when I go to cities. You know? Yeah. So they all service a they all do something different. The service is like, I just want to, I just want to be, you know, like an undeniable comedian.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:22

That's right. Okay. Now it's time to get for the game.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:25

We are we all thought you was about to be like to give you socials. Hold on, we're about to wrap it up. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:32

We got a game. We like the call. Kill it or let live. Kill it or let live. I'm gonna throw out a topic, and you basically say we should kill it, like you don't mess with it or let it live. It's all good. Kill it or let live. Dating a Muslim that eats pork.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:51

Yeah, I know. But wait, what? You heard what I said. I will be dating a Muslim that does eat pork. Kill it or let live. Let live.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:01

Oh they exist. Do they got Muslims that eat pork?

SPEAKER_07 1:26:04

You in the same way that they have Muslims that have sex before marriage, in the same way that they have Muslims that here's the biggest thing, is it you know, it's a lot of Muslims in jail, right? But but is it worse to murder or eat pork? You know? So will I try to change that? Will I hopefully be the example in a person's life that moves them closer to their dean? Hope, inshallah. Oh, okay. You know, but yeah, we gotta let it live.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:31

Okay. Kill it or let live. People constantly sending you reels in your DMs. To kill it.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:41

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:42

Kill it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

All right, let me go to the case. Let me tell you something.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:47

It's very few people. I think because I make people laugh, people think they can make me laugh.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:53

That's probably what it is. Yeah. That's probably what it is.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:55

They think they think we share the same sense of humor. It's very, it actually blows my mind, respectfully. It blows my mind because like the amount of like strangers, like I know that they're strangers to me. I'm not a stranger to them, right? But the amount of strangers that send me DMs every single day. And like in my mind, the only way I can like equate it is like, I'm not waking up and sending Kerry Washington no reels.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:23

Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_07 1:27:25

I mean, no, like that's just the same for me. Like, I'm not sending my favorite actor or comedian. You know what I'm saying? I there's no way I'm just in Dave Chappelle's DMs, like, right? So, yeah, we gotta, yeah, I just won't do it, but people do it, so kill it.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:41

Kill it or let live. Dating a man shorter than you.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:50

As the short rip on the top. Uh uh, let live. I have a very funny joke about it, actually. Let live. Your height, but here's the thing. That's all you could be. What you mean? Oh, you can't have nothing else wrong with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:08

You know what I'm saying? That's all you can be.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:11

I'm for real shit. I used to tell my wife I can't be short and bald.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:15

Yeah, you got to pick. You got to pick something.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:17

That's all. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_07 1:28:18

Don't be short and lack confidence. Don't be short and unsuccessful. Don't be short and not go to therapy. You short? That's your thing. That's the thing we're gonna forget. That's what you get.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:29

Yeah, that's what you get. That's great. Kill it or let live. Dropping a deuce at the airport bathroom.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:37

Is it in the lounge or it's just at the airport?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:40

No, we public. We the regular bathroom. This ain't the lounge.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:44

I'm sorry, let live. I'm so sorry. Like, that's a bodily function. Like, I'm past the days of being backed up. You know what? Being backed up for who? For who? It's a reason that my skin is good because I don't have toxins in my body. I'm drinking water, I'm eating fiber, I'm going to have to poop place it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:10

You go to go to the family. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:12

It's not ideal. It's better to use it the bathroom at the airport than to wait until you get on a plane.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:18

No, that's a fact. I can't do that. That's a fact. I'll let it go.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:21

Okay. This is my last one. Kill it or let live black men dating white women.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:27

With the least.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:31

This one is difficult. This one is difficult. What would y'all think I would say?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:42

I don't know. That's what I thought. We don't know. This is news to us.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:49

He's a chunk value.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:51

I feel like there's some black men that you're like, you go on over there. But I can't, but then I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:59

I am a believer in people. Um I'm a b okay. Here's here's the reason why this is a complicated question, right? Because this is a question that is layered. It's a nuanced question because there's so much, there's so much that has there's so much in like the black community and our um survival and our pre like there's just so much laced in that. Like if all things were equal, then it's like, yeah, date who you want to date and just let's look let's exist in like love, which is an energy, right? That's not a that's not a race, it's an energy. And so you should be able to do that. But I do I do think that it it can feel a bit disheartening, you know, to um it can it can feel a bit disheartening if the narrative out there is that a group of women aren't supremely valued by the men that reflect them.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:55

That's beautiful. That's deep. Is that a so that's a killer?

SPEAKER_07 1:31:03

That's a killer. And then and then, like, there's just something that black women we have to just be honest with ourselves about. There are some black men there. We be like, nobody's gonna like him.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:12

That's true.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:13

He has to find the others.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:15

Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I just do we there do we just have to be honest about that in the same way that, you know, you see, listen, I be sitting in places talking, and you that would make a lot of men who be like, hello, Zayn. They think I'ma like them.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:28

Right. But, you know, I just like Successful black men date black women, everybody else, do your thing.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:36

You know, it's like that's a killer. Okay, okay, here's the thing. Here's the thing, right? Dr. Umar would definitely say kill it, and I would love for him to say that. But I think that I would not say, I think the only reason that would make me say kill it is if the attached narrative with that wasn't um like you don't like us. Does that make sense? It's not, it's not just the action, it's the attached, like there's so many, there's there's intermingling of a lot of different groups, right? That's the that's how we have all the different people we have in all these different worlds, you know, uh in these different places. But nobody, it's like, no, it don't matter how many, I know so many white guys who only date black women. Only date black women. But they don't never be like white women are terrible. They don't, they just don't never see that. Do you get what I'm saying? And I think that I think that that attachment is what makes it so sort of like offensive and abusive. It's like, yeah, you that I don't think we actually mind you loving her. She's a human being, but damn, why you gotta disparage me to love her? That doesn't, if it just feels like you don't really love her, it feels like you hate yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:57

Facto.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:58

So if you hate yourself, then kill it.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:02

Oh, got it.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:03

You know?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:04

Got it. My only last question is uh career-wise, you have it exactly how you want it. What does it look like?

SPEAKER_07 1:33:15

Um if I have it exactly how I want it, killing it, killing it. I want to have the power to do what I want, to tell the stories that I want in the ways that I want. And I can't really give you what that looks like because I don't want to limit myself. You know, I don't know if that if I gain that power through a show or movie, or I don't know how that happened, but I do know that the platform and the power is key, the power to do things, you know. I think that's why certain people have problems with certain creatives, really large creatives like, wow, you have the power to tell these stories, but you continue to tell these stories.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:03

Right.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:03

And so I just I ultimately want the power.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:10

Uh I'll be hey, like, comment, subscribe, make sure you subscribe. Make sure you tell your friends about us. We out here, man. Follow on social media, Instagram. What's your socials?

SPEAKER_07 1:34:20

Uh on Instagram, it's Zaynab Johnson, Z-A-I-N-A-B Johnson. On TikTok, it's the Zaynab Johnson. Um, and then I have a podcast on YouTube called I'm Reasonable. There you have it. Yeah, please watch it. It comes out every Wednesday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:34

I'm Justin Hollers. London Brown. Petrick Kingsman. And this has been ZayNab Johnson.