Club Shay Shay - Damon Wayans Part 1

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What happens is the more money you make, the less black people you see. So I love about like LeBron, He got Mav and he got Randy and he got Rich.
Yeah. He kept that group.

Yes. you make, the less black people you see.
That's what I love about LeBron.

He got Mav and he got Randy and he got Rich.

He kept that group

around him.

And it's divide and conquer.

At a certain point, they sit you down.

Beyonce's father.

Alright, we got her from here. life, I been grinding all my life.
Hello, welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay.

I am your host, Shannon Sharp.

I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay. And today we're at Spotlight LA.
Stopping by for conversation today. He's royalty, a true legend, a living icon, a comedic genius.
He's been making us laugh for over 40 years. A pioneer, an innovator, a trailblazer in the film and television industry.
He's appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

He's ranked as one of the greatest TV dads of all time.

A New York Times bestselling author, a fearless artist, gifted writer, veteran actor, expert executive producer, seasoned standup comedian and a great storyteller.

He's mastered the art of creating characters, a member of the royal family,

talented Wayans family dynasty,

the entertainment empire.

They were just inducted

until the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.

Marlon calls him the funniest Wayans.

His influence has spanned generations.

He changed the industry,

kicked down doors,

and built a blueprint that's sustainable.

A creative visionary,

a versatile entertainer, powerhouse performer, Hollywood heavyweight, a game changer. Beloved father, sometimes he goes by Papa or Papa, Damon Wayans.
What's up? Can you see that? That's a hell of a resume. It is.
When I don't know how many times you had an opportunity to sit and listen to people explain what you've been able to do in this industry. When you hear people talking about you've been at this for 40 plus years.
What do you think? I think it's wonderful that, you know, I had some longevity and, you know, I always think about what's next. Because if you sit back and think about what you've done, like I can go on social media and I don't have to leave the house.

Everybody love me. You hold me the clown for life.
But it's like that.

That doesn't like satisfy me. So I'm driven and my whole family is driven, you know, hopefully for greatness.

And, you know, it's it's an honor that people like what I did.

You know what? I know you don't drink anymore, but, bro, we got to toast you. We celebrate people here on this platform.
Well, I don't like toast, toast, clink the glass, but I will. Salute.
Thank you. Salute.
Man, how you doing? I'm good. I'm 65 and loving life.
65 and loving life? Mm-hmm. When you were 10, did you project out here like, you know what? I'm going to do this, X, Y, and Z? Because I'm interested because I had Marlon on, and Marlon always had an idea.
He's like, man, this is kind of what I want to do. Did you always know you wanted to be in this? No.
I had teachers tell me you're going to be either dead or in jail. So that's guidance counselor right telling me that you know so like for me it was just like i at a young age started looking to keenan because keenan just did everything right he was just like my role model and i knew if i could do what he's doing i'll be all right right you know my mother used to tell me you need to be more like Kenan.
I get bad grades. I was getting arrested.
I was doing all the wrong things. Right.
And then in 82, I got caught stealing credit cards and they released me into Kenan's custody. So I came out to California.
Damn. So you have a mom and dad, but they released you to to the older brother i didn't want to go to my dad i'd rather stay in jail than go to my dad my dad would beat you like he didn't know you right i love him and and we needed it i needed it but um you know back then now they call child abuse.
Yes. Yeah then it was just you know i'm teaching this a lesson you have 10 brothers and sisters nine nine brothers and sisters under one roof bro and i read that your father made like twelve thousand dollars a year sometimes sometimes.
Sometimes. OK.
To feed that many kids, put a roof over your head to make sure everything's OK. Did you realize like, damn, I wonder if everybody else living like we live in or we just the exception.
We they were living like we were living. I mean, you know, probably less people.
But, you know, I had a friend, Rob Nett, and they would so poor the oven door was off i swear the oven door would be off and when they cooked dinner one of them would have to put their feet up on there until it got too hot and then the other one would come in until the meat was done so you know i looked at the project. There wasn't no rich people in the projects.
How many bedrooms did the home have? Four. My mother got one, and then there was three of us to a room.
Damn. So there was a lot of feet in people's face, huh? But.
My brothers tortured me. My oldest brother, Dwayne, used to hang me on the door door on the hook where your coat is that's how he babysit me right and i had to like put my foot on the doorknob so i didn't choke at that so and then every once in a while he come check on me and punch me on my chest you know what damon you guys are like your mom them had a stretch there where for like an eight year period they were they were they were 10 year period they were good they had like eight 56 58 60 61 63 64 65 66 i was like so were you all close did i mean did you have sibling rivals you fought like normal kids do or were you always like because it seemed like keenan was always the the overseer he was the peacemaker and with everybody looked to for guidance, even though he wasn't.
Well, my oldest brother was crazy. The one who used to hang me under the door.
Like, no, no, listen, he got diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Oh, OK.
So where we come from, everybody crazy. Everybody, there's a crazy, you know, everybody go Ronald Walker.
Everybody know he crazy off, but we didn't know there was medication for it. It was just he was off.
And my brother was that guy. But he was so crazy that he kept people from messing with our family.
Oh, OK. Because nobody wanted Dwayne.
Dwayne told a guy one time, he said, he said, we're going to fight every day until I beat you. White boy living in the building.
He's just like bullied. Bobby Boyd.
And every day, Dwayne would just walk up and punch this dude in his face. He'd get beat up every day.
But he was relentless. He'd be riding on his bike.
He'd see Bobby. And they'd scrap him.
To the point where Bobby had him with his... He was sitting his chest right and punch him in the face going

all right you won you won yeah and he didn't want no parts of him because he had to like he'd be outside with his back against the wall because he didn't know where this was coming from but that told everybody else don't mess with my family right what's one of your proudest childhood memories that you can like share uh keenan getting his first gig on um you know he did the tonight show first and then he did a pilot with irene cara who was like this she was beautiful yeah she passed but she's last dance right yeah yeah she She was and we just thought, man, this is great.

He he he dreamed it.

And then he did it. OK.
And that was like one of my favorite childhood moments because I didn't even think about I wasn't even thinking about doing stand up back then. You know what? I think you and I are similar in this way, because my brother, I felt whatever I saw, I feel I could do.
So if I saw him do it, I could do it. If I saw him go someplace, I felt I could do it.
So that's seemingly how you looked at Kenny. You're like, well, damn, he doing all that.
He out in California, he doing this. He could do it.
He lived in the project just like I did. He ate what we ate.
He got his ass tore from dad just like I got mine. Well, he didn't get as many.
He didn't really. He was really.
He was a good kid. The good kid.
Got straight A's. And yeah, he Keenan.
The one thing he did that we got him for is like he got in trouble with school. And then this the teacher called home and Keenan said, I get it.
He ran and got the phone. He's like, yeah.
And he hung up. And my mother came.
My mother's like, who the hell was that? Because we're not supposed to answer her phone. And Keenan was like, it was Sammy Williams.
And they knew he was lying. He got Sammy Williams call.
And then he called back. They called the number back.
And he's like, I get it. And it was the teacher.
My mother said, no, I'll get it. And that was the only time Keeney

really got his ass beat by my father.

Wow. And then the jokes went on

forever. Sammy Williams, anytime

the phone rings, Keeney, go get Sammy.

But I read that when

you guys would fight, your

mom would make you guys kiss.

In the mouth. Huh?

I learned how to tongue kiss with Marlon. No.
But, like, once you kiss your brother in the mouth, you don't want to do that. You don't want to fight.
You don't want to fight. Yeah, we'll take this.
We'll go outside. We'll find a place to finish this.
But, like, we didn't like kissing each other. But to finish the kissing yeah like to this day we all kiss i noticed that hello and goodbye i noticed that because you never know what's gonna happen when they walk out the door even if i get into an argument and we yelling and screaming all right and they got you and we i wonder you know what because i saw i noticed it when you guys won't live in color right and i noticed that I was like, well, you know, they can't do this all the time.
Yeah, all the time. And I saw you guys when you are at the NAA, the image awards.
Mm hmm. Have you guys always been that close? Yes.
Yeah, we are our best friends. Like the funny thing about being a WANs is we don't you know that Kim is very social.
She has a lot of friends. Marlon has a friend.
Yeah. I would never guess that.
But Kim has like old school friends. She's not out and about.
Her friends are from Westland and from the project. OK.
You know, so she has still a lot of those friends. Marlon still has, you know, Omar and Mitchell, you know, all his like childhood friends.
And my friends are my brothers and they're friends. You know, I'm cool with Omar.
I'm cool because as long as they love them, they vet them for me. As long as they love me, you cool with him.
I'm cool with you. Yeah.
But so were you guys because it's a lot of you brothers. So you guys kind of ran the neighborhood, huh?

They didn't run the neighborhood because we were lived in.

We moved into the projects and it was predominantly white.

And then it slowly got blacker and blacker and more dangerous.

OK, you know, but we were respected.

And because of Dwayne, we were kind of protected.

Nobody wanted to fight this fool. Right.
Every're gonna bully me your brain like I'm tired today um and then you know so but my mother would always tell us listen if you get into a fight it's 10 against one wow so y'all should never lose a fight and my mother make you go back down there wow and And fight. So there wasn't no losing.
No losing. And my mother would fight for her kids.
Damn. Yeah, this woman slapped Kim once in the laundry.
My mother went downstairs, hair all over her head, and the lady, she was pregnant. She beat the pregnant? Your mama was pregnant or the lady was pregnant? My mother.
Oh. My mother was always pregnant.
I said, she had a had a tear to your stretch. She was on her own.
You was on her own. Damn.
Every childhood memory of her, she got a baby here and a bump here. That didn't stop.
My mother chased this woman from the laundromat to her house and then was going to fight her husband. Damn.
For her kids. So nobody, you know, she would send a message.
You don't mess with my kids. Right.
They don't want that crazy pregnant woman. Tell me about this game that you guys used to play.
Make me laugh. Or die.
Yeah. That was a great game.
Because that was like commando comedy. Okay.
So what happens is we'd be sitting in, because we had to be upstairs at six o'clock. Okay.
Unless you had a full-time job that demanded you to be out later. Right.
Six o'clock. Okay.
Not six or one, six o'clock. Unless you had a full-time job that demanded you to be out later, six o'clock.
Not six or one, six o'clock. My dad is going to put hands on you.
So what we would do is we would all sit around in the living room and then one would get up and have to make everybody laugh in unison. It couldn't be one.
No, you have to make everybody laugh. And if you didn't, then you had to die.
And the die would be something like go grab daddy's beer and drink it in front of him. Oh, no.
And we could wait for you to not to be funny. So we had incentive not to.

We'd just sit there and just.

Even if it was funny, you weren't laughing.

Farted out.

You wouldn't know.

So did anybody actually drink his beer?

Oh, yeah.

You had to do the diet or we beat you up.

Yeah.

There was diet or, you know, sometimes it was just like, nah, I ain't doing that. And then you got and then you got to take punches right from duane the one that used to hang my brother hit you and make this sound that made it hurt even more you don't want that and then i read that you guys have to pass gas in front of your mom yeah Yeah.
Come on, Damon. That's whatever we chose, you had to do.
Go sit on my lap. I ain't playing.
Go sit on my lap. I don't want to play.
I don't want to play. I don't want to play.
I don't want to play no more. But it made us funny.
It helped make us funny. Right.
You know what I mean? It's like there's this. Like you can kind of trace why, one, we were like we are still best friends.

And two, why we're funny.

Right.

Because we made each other laugh and we weren't easy laughers.

You know what I mean?

Where did that – was your dad funny?

Was your mom funny?

Where do you think that came from?

My mother.

Your mom.

My mother was hands down the funniest woman.

That's one of my only regrets in life, that I never got my mom on stage.

I wanted to have her go on stage.

Really?

Mm-hmm.

And there's this little room in Burbank called the Yoo-hoo Rooms, like 30 people.

Have all of us in there, give my mom the mic, and then tell her, talk about Marlon.

And my mother got not only stories, but she got punchlines. She know where all the bodies are.
Wow. Do you think, had she not had a family, all these kids, because she had to raise a family, do you think that would be something that she would have been interested in? My mother used to sing at the at the, what is that, in Harlem, Apollo.

You know, the Green Sisters.

They're beautiful. They won contests.

They won, you know, prizes and stuff like that.

So her dream

was to be a singer.

And then, you know, kid after kid

after kid. Put that old hole in there

before you know it.

Ah!

Get out! Ah! Ah when you got it's 12 people in a home. Your mom, dad, and the siblings.
What are you guys eating? My mother was a miracle worker. She'd feed all of us with $10 a day.
Ten? Three meals.

We get a bag of knuckles, pig knuckles.

We get a box

of rice.

They used to make this cereal

called

Puffer Week, but this had no

sugar on it. This was just like a big

styrofoam. We used to get that.

We'd eat that.

If we had sugar, we'd put sugar on it. But that was it.
We didn't. There was nothing special.
You know, I mean, about our meals. Did you ever complain like, man, I don't want to eat this? No, because my father didn't play about food.
One time I hated peas and I hated lima beans. And whenever I get it, we would try to like spit them out

and my father would

make you eat it out the trash.

What?

Mm-hmm.

I did one time.

We would be in there and what we would do is like

sit around the table and we're eating this and we'd

fill up our cheeks and then we'd get up

and excuse ourselves and go to the bathroom

and we would try to make you choke on the mean before you come. Yeah, my father didn't play with food.
It seemed like your father was very, very disciplined, very strict. Do you think he was like that way because he had boys and he knew what was going on because this is the 60s and the way it was back then is a lot different than it is now, but some things change and some things remain the same.
You think he was the way you guys because he knew what you guys were going to face? Yeah, but it was that. And he didn't really have a dad, so he didn't really know.
Okay. And then he read in the Bible that you should spare the rod.
Spoil the child. Spoil the child.
But the rod of discipline ain't always your hand. Yeah.
You can have a conversation. Yeah.
The old school, the old guys wasn't like that. Yeah.
And then, you know, I think we got extra spankings because he would go to work and come home and be unhappy and, you know, and it's just, it was just a lot. Right.
So I guess at a certain point we were, you know, his little punching bag. And plus, it's always noise in the house.
Yeah. But my mother hit him at the door.
So what we had to do, if you got in trouble, you have to sit in front of the door when my dad come in. Uh-oh.
He saw y'all sitting there. He knows something was up.
Yeah. Yeah.
I was so scared of my father. When I heard his keys jingle, I'd pee on myself.
Damn. I ain't lying.
That's because I knew my dad would beat you with stuff, like the slap from under the bed. Did he ever say, I got a belt.
Wait, hold on. Here, take my belt.
Did he ever say, did he? Damn. Damn.
You take your belt off. Yeah off to keep him from finding something else.

Yeah, whatever he gets, you know, the thing from the iron, the iron cord.

Yeah, my dad.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, I love him today because I knew he was protecting.

He taught us lessons.

And, you know, you got 10 kids.

So, you know, you're going to be the example.

I'm going to beat you so he don't do what you did. Did he ever have a conversation with you guys? When he got older.
And you got older. Yeah.
You know, you don't understand it till you have your own kids. Right.
You know what I mean? Like I have my sons. Right.
And then I go, oh, wow. Because my son, we grew up, they was up in Beverly Hills and they would hang out in the hood.
Right. Got jumped into gangs.
I got a crip and a blood living in my house. I didn't even know.
I didn't know. But that's like you have to watch your kids.
You know what I mean? It's like you just have to just know that boys are different. Very.
And they need you to, hey! You know? But was it a situation? Given how you was raised, your dad was very strict, very hands-on, literally. Did it make you take a step back and not be that way towards your own kids? I chose the comedic route with my kids.
I was like my son up his school he's like oh you're a clown so if you're going to be a clown you're going to look like one and I shave all of this out of his head and he just have this size now you go to school and you'd be a funny clown so you have a. And they, you know, I would make up because they went to a private school, Crossroads, where they could dress how they want.

No, you're going to put on a suit.

You're going to be a well-dressed clown.

That's how you want to be.

They go to school and they would have, you know, they think they can get slick and have, you know, some clothes in their locker.

Locker.

I show up at school.

Put your suit on, clown.

I know the game. Why you ain't dressed up, clown? As a child, what would you say your favorite meal was? Beans, franks, sauerkraut, mustard, rolls.
Beans, franks, sauerkraut, mustard, and rolls. Sourkraut? Oh, man.
When you pour sauerkraut, it's just something different. It's good.
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So you eating beanie weenie?

Yeah.

Yeah, pork and beans with sugar on it.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

I mean, your dad worked three jobs.

Mm-hmm.

He still wasn't making enough.

But he dog tired when he get home. David, how he had time to whip ass? He found a way.
He worked overtime. Yeah, he had some sauce.
He had a look up with drinks. Although you got in trouble for stealing from your dad.
Mm hmm. I stole 15 cent from my father and he missed it.
I'm like, I don't ever want. Y it.
Y'all that poor? He missed 15 cents? 15 cents. Came downstairs and followed me down the stairs.
And like a school bully threw me against the wall with my money. And I'm like, I know.
I didn't take no dollars. So I'm just like, what? And I had it separated in my pocket.
Right. Right.
Because, you know, he had to change. And my father searched me.
I ain't bad, you down. He's stopping frisk.
That's my nickel. 1964.
That's my nickel. And he beat me right down the stairs like a dude off the street.
Damn. And like I said, I don't ever want to be that poor that I miss 15 cents.

But that's with me today.

That's part of my motivation.

Damn.

Did your siblings see it? When y'all got whippings, did they make fun of y'all?

All the time.

We mock you as soon as you go.

Yes, daddy.

Yes.

That make it worse.'d make it worse.

That'd make it worse.

It was worse than the whooping.

But how important do you think

having your dad in your household,

given what you know now,

how important do you think that is

to have a black man in the household?

The greatest gift my father ever gave us was coming home damn that's deep because my mother didn't make it easy he was a dumb mfa and all kind of stuff because he didn't he did you know she wanted stuff in life like new underwear like stuff she couldn't just little Makeup and get a hair and couldn't do it. But he came home humble.
Sometimes he had to tell her there ain't no food. What? Mr.
Provider, you ain't got no food. And you trying to tell me what to do? Yeah.
But that was the gift. That's like you you come home it doesn't feel good but so he's working three jobs he has to provide for this family and when he gets home your mother your mom doesn't make it easy and i think marlon said he could have he could have easily understood if pop would have checked out because it wasn easy.
We used to say, hit her or something.

Damn, damn, damn.

I ain't lying.

My father, he would

never, he never would like

cuss at her. Really? Yeah, my

father, when she died,

he was ready to go.

I miss her. I miss my gal.

What? The one that used to cuss you

out? Yeah! You got peace now. You ain't got nobody cursing you.
I miss my gal. What? The one that used to cut you out? You miss her? Yeah! Every day.
You got peace now. You ain't got nobody cursing you.
I miss my gal. Damn.
He was just ready to go. Check, please.
But that's like he taught us love, like unconditional love. You know, he always saw her as the 16 year old he fell in love with.
You know, that's beautiful. You mentioned your mom has sisters and they would sing occasionally at the Apollo.
Did your mom sing around the house? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Music was like, you know, that's one thing we always had in the house. And to this day, I listen to music all the time because those are some of the happiest times in our life.
You know, when you when Al Green was on, you know, there was going to be peace in the house.

I remember I took my mother and father

to see Motown Review on Broadway.

And we're watching the play

and my mother and father sitting together.

And my father, he just,

my mother, nigga, shut up.

And he just started sobbing the subject of my life. He just, well, nigga, shut up.

He just started sobbing as the subject of my life.

I was like, wow, it's powerful.

I guess all the memories of what they went through is just beautiful.

But there's always music in the house.

What are some of the best things your mom and dad taught you, and what would you want their legacy to be?

Thank you. There's always music in the house.
What are some of the best things your mom and dad taught you and what would you want their legacy to be? My dad taught us stick to it. And that you have to.
You do whatever you have to do to feed your family, you know, and you do what you can do until you can do what you want to do. Because my dad always had dreams of like being something.
My dad, he was he was Amazon before Amazon. My dad.
So we lived in the projects. There was three buildings with 20 that was 25 stories tall, 10 families on each floor.

So my dad would go to warehouses and get like Afro pics and then he would put them on.

We put them on cardboards and he'd send us door to door.

That's 750 families.

Somebody need an Afro pic.

We go door to door.

We have a pitch.

Sometimes we get them beads that Serena Williams and them used to wear.

Yes.

Who is it?

You want to buy some beads?

Nigga, what beads?

I ain't got no beads.

We just hold them up.

Beads.

You want some beads?

Get out of here with them beads.

But you meet people who appreciate it. You get to know everybody in the neighborhood.
Some people just give you money just because. Just because.
Yeah, and then some people throw the beads. Get your ass out of his side.
I ain't got no money. Or just take your beads and close the door.
You see him outside. He got my beads on his head.
You were, your family was raised Jehovah Witness.

And there are a lot of the Jacksons, Prince, Biggie, Terrence Howard, Ja Rule, Naomi Campbell.

What is, explain to me, because I don't really hold, all I know is that we close the door in a lot of them faces.

Yes.

Because when they come right out, I did with them.

I was one of them faces.

Yeah.

So what do you think your mom and dad was drawn to about this religion? Well, my dad was drawn to it. My mother was not.
Okay. My dad just knew it was the truth.
Okay. You know? And so the kingdom we pray for, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
What is the name? It's not God. It's Jehovah.
Right. Let your kingdom come.
What is that kingdom who's the king right Jesus let your will be done what's the will as it is in heaven on earth that's the will is that we live in unity and be God so man has plans God has a purpose so you know we I believe that and you look at all you got to do is read the news and then read

second timothy three one through five and you see it's what it says how people will be in these days

the you know um critical times hard to deal with lovers of money self-assuming hearty blasphemous

having a form of godly devotion proof and false to his power this is where we are today right

Thank you. of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemous, having a form of godly devotion, proven false to his power.
This is where we are today. Right.
Are you still a practicing gentleman? Yes. Yes.
And I love it. You know, I think it, the greatest feeling you'll have is to be at peace with God and peace with man because that puts you at peace with yourself because my prayers aren't God forgive me no thank you thank you for my family thank you for this journey it's nothing but like gratitude because I ain't living a life that I gotta apologize for there was There was a time I was wild.
Couldn't even pray.

Never mind.

You don't want to hear this.

Do you do the Jehovah's Witness?

Do they celebrate holidays?

Do they celebrate things?

Because I'm trying to figure out like birthdays were birthdays big in your family? No, my mother celebrated everything. My mother would celebrate Christmas, birthdays, you know.
But how did that work? He does. She does.
I mean, my father was just going around. Are you serious? My mother would save money up all year to get us something.
And one of the greatest Christmases we ever had was my father. Took the money and tried to open a business that she was saving.
So we didn't have no Christmas. My mother sat us down.
There ain't going to be no Christmas this year, y'all. What? No Christmas? That asshole in the room.
And she would just told us what happened my father wanted to have a business right and so we decided that we're gonna write Santa Claus a letter oh and all of us wrote Santa Claus a letter and then we mailed it off to the North Pole. Nothing.
Nothing.

Until Christmas morning.

A U-Haul truck pulls up to our house.

Bikes.

All kinds of toys.

It was just like, wow.

That felt like Christmas.

Wow.

And then the next year, we tried to do it again.

Seriously, it was like, stop, niggas.

No.

Tell your daddy.

But it's okay because most of the stuff

is

based in paganism.

I said I'm toast because that's

some old Greek pagan thing where they clink it and chase the demons away. Well, if they hear from when I'm drinking, you know what I mean? It's like people don't know what they do.
They're celebrating stuff they don't know. Easter.
Just tradition that's been handed down. Right.
It's once with with knowledge comes power. Right.
Right.

Once you know that Jesus death is more important than his birth.

Right. Right.
Christmas. That's that's something that corporate America figured out how to get rid of all the inventory.

Let's clean this out. We'll have a sale.
Call it Christmas. Right.
Because Jesus didn't celebrate his own birthday. Don't you think he would have threw a party if it was important? Right.
Yeah. Change everything to wine.
Everything's wine. True.
Right. So it's like once you know, then it makes it easier to go, oh, okay, I get why I don't celebrate this.
You mentioned something earlier about. I never talked about my mother.
You didn't. What she because I poked jokes.
Right. But you asked, what did she give us? Love.
My mother was the heartbeat of this family. That's what Marlon said.
And taught us how to love and how to, you know, even though she sometimes didn't practice what she preached, but how to get past grudges. That's your brother.
That is your sister. You love them.
They're going for the rest of your life. They're going to be your brother and sister.
That's what my mother gave us, love. Did your mom ever discipline y'all? Yeah, my mom.
My mom would do this thing. She was like, come here, let me slap your face.
She wouldn't even taste it. Come here, let me say.
You're doing this. No, I think I stay over here.
And then the trick was she'd get you like this and then, bam, ears ringing. You You'd be like, what the hell? Yeah, my mom but she had to be really, really mad at you to hit you.
To pop your eardrums. That's when old people, they believed in slapping.
My grandmother slapped fire at your mouth. I mean, I'm like, what is that about? Because it's better than a punch.
A slap is more of a humiliation. It is.
Ask Chris Rock. Oh, Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy. No, I didn't.
Marlon told us a story about the foot. So you had a club foot.
It looked normal. I have a club foot.
It looked normal. I mean, what, you got a size 11 1⁄2 and a 9? No, no.
Well, no. Here's the thing.
A club foot now, I don't have the same flexibility. I was born with my foot twisted all the way around.
Okay. Right? So you had to wear the iron braces at the bottom? Yep.
Yep. Orthopedic shoe.
Came up to here. You know, it was...
It was high on one side, huh? Mm-hmm. Thick.
The Herman Munster. Yeah.
Yeah. I walked with a limp.
Yeah. But people thought it was cool because I perfected the limp.
Rather smooth. Because I wanted you to look up.
Right. You know what I mean? That was my whole thing in life when we played the dozen, get you to look up and look at the shoe.
Because I'm vulnerable down here. So I hit you before you even...
Did you... Were you insecure about it? Were you self-confident about it? No.
Self-conscious? Very. Super.
Because it was your family. Your brother and sister killed you about that, didn't it? I never felt like they had jokes, but there was so much love in my house, I never felt like them attacking me.
I know they talk about my little foot, but it's okay because I'm in on the joke. I'm laughing.
They see me with my pants off. And it's on a little baby foot.
But it's okay. It was in love.
You put anything in love it takes the sting out. When you go outside, they were trying to hurt you.
Oh my God. I got them.
Is it true? Kim would fight if people make fun of your foot. All the time.
I'm a baby brother. I'm her older brother.
Older brother. And you got a little sister? Kick they ass.
Like an alley cat fight. Kim is demure and, you know.
Yeah, she seemed real. And that's what, when you told me she was social, she doesn't come off as social.
She seems very quiet, very subdued.

I'm here for a purpose.

I'm going to talk.

When people need to talk to me, I'll talk to them.

But I'm not, you know.

She's shy.

None of my family like the line like that Marlon.

Marlon.

Marlon loves it.

Me, Keenan, Sean.

If we don't have to be seen, we'd rather Kim rather not be seen. Even juniors like that.
I don't need that. Hold on.
The doctors thought you were going to be a little person. We can't use the M word.
They thought you was going to be a little person because of the foot. No, they put me in the special ed class.
You? Yeah, because I'm in there with them. And my mother was like, no.
It's like, there's nothing wrong with him. But I got to know all the kids.
Right. You know.
So they figure any abnormality and deformity that you had, there had to be something wrong with you mentally or emotionally? I think it's just because I was black. Oh.

And they just like, here, let's have some fun. True, because I remember those classes.

I don't remember seeing a whole lot of white people

in those classes.

Yeah, and they put me in there with the,

back then you'd call them retarded people.

And like I said, I made friends with some of them

until I got with my other friends.

Then I disowned them.

Get out of here, Corky.

Get on, man, Corky.

Get on, man.

Crabbing my style.

David, I know when the regular kids saw you going to those classrooms, bro.

Oh, they would come by and tease me.

They'd be pointing at me and doing that.

I'm like, oh, man.

I mean, did they give you homework? Did you have homework? Um, yeah easy homework fullness paper that was the homework, yeah fullness paper in half, ooh you did good I was the smartest kid in class finally but you do realize David, like when you in those classes, you stayed in that class the whole day. You don't change classes.
No, my mother got me out. It was a quick stay.
Okay. Probably for like a week.
But, you know. Yeah, it was about a week.
Marlon said you were terrible in school.

I mean, really bad.

No, I was funny.

So you went to school to tell jokes?

Yeah.

You ain't go to learn.

This is how my mind thought.

Okay.

When I went to high school, I took Chinese, Mandarin Chinese.

Just because I knew it was so hard, I fail it I'm telling you I get to the class and it's me and everybody else is Asian because there's a proper way to speak Chinese Mandarin is not like it's not an easy language each word has it's this each word has four different meanings. So I like I'm like, it's Chinese.
I can't do it. But I was always like I had one teacher, Mr.
Freeman, who believed in me in his seventh grade. I used to call him Mike.
He would I would get under his skin, but I would make him laugh. Right.
He science teacher, and he told me one day. So I would do stuff to try to stump him.
So we were talking about inertia, right? He's teaching about inertia. And I said, Mr.
Freeman, yo, Mike, why is it that when you get on the train and the fly flies in and the train starts to move, the fly doesn't smash against the wall.

He said, well, the fly goes to the same.

I said, no, the fly never touched the wall

to go the same speed as the train.

Right.

Why doesn't the fly?

When you take off, because if you take off

and you're not holding on, you fall back.

Why doesn't the fly move?

That part.

And he was like, he said, that's critical thinking.

He said, and the thing about you is that you're brilliant. He said, you have a gift.
He said, the problem is I need to control the room. Right now, you are controlling my classroom, and that's not good for me.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you five minutes on Friday to say or do whatever you want to do.
Wow. If you just be quiet.
It was a trade off. It was a trade off.
And I would, you know, sometimes I would blurt out stuff. But, you know, for the most part, I honored that and he honored that.
Right. And I couldn't wait for my five minutes every Friday.

But he was the only teacher that ever told me that what I do is special. He's the only one that really believed in you.
Everybody else thought you was an F up. Yeah.
Class clown. Yeah.
You dropped out. I got thrown out.
I was. I got thrown out of I went to thrown out of, I went to Murray-Burcham High School for Business Careers.
This is the first school, high school to teach computer science. Okay.
And they had like, like computers as big as this room. Wow.
And that's like the cobalt, and they're teaching us this.

And my dumb behind, I had a teacher who I didn't like,

and somebody gave me some mace.

And I'm in the class, and I'm spraying mace.

She made me sit right like this because I was such a, you know. Yeah.

Right?

So I'm spraying mace the whole time.

She's talking.

Well, I didn't know mace was going to affect me, too.

Everybody in the class is, by the way.

And I got expelled from that school.

Then I went to go, I had to go to another school.

Charles Evan Hughes got thrown out of that one for turning off all the lights in the school.

Damn.

Yeah.

And then I went to one of those schools where all you got to do is show up. You went to an alternative school? Yeah.
All you got to do is show up. I got thrown out of there.
Damn. So you realized school wasn't for you? Yeah.
Yeah. I was, I just, I don't know.
I was thinking funny. So let me.
I got thrown out of one school because I threw a chair off the roof. I didn't want to hurt nobody.
But in my mind, I thought like a cartoon. I wanted to see them go and their eyes bow down their head and run.
So you could have killed. I didn't.
I like I had no concept of killing. This is in like fifth grade.
I didn't. I didn't.
I wasn't trying to kill nobody. But when you come home.
OK, this you get thrown out of school. How do you go home and tell or do the school call and tell your mom and dad that we're expelling Damon or do you have to tell them? No, I get on the train and just ride it all day long.
That's what I do. Oh, so they didn't know you got expelled.

They didn't know.

No.

When did you realize,

so you know what,

school ain't for me.

The hell with this.

Once I started doing stand-up.

Well, like,

no, I don't think it was stand-up.

It was just,

I had to go to job court.

Okay.

Because it was that or jail.

And so I went down to Breckenridge, Kentucky. And it was the first time I ever saw a horse.
Like, like. A real horse that wasn't on TV.
You could actually touch it. Yeah.
One of them Central Park horses. Just foamed out the mouth all day long.
It was like a real horse. And it was the first time I flew on a plane.
The time I smelled fresh air you know and I got my GED down there I got my driver's license right and I went for um what did I go for I ended up taking accounting so I learned how to do you're good with numbers the numbers right And then I came back home and that was like the first time I went. OK, I did something.
I achieved something. You felt a sensible accomplishment.
Yes. G.D.
meant something. My parents are so proud.
And then I got a job at American Express. Oh, Lord.
I did. I got a job at American.
I was in the mailroom and then they promoted me to mailroom supervisor because i had a way of making people laugh okay you know building like a um you know like morale rest right so i had the late shift i worked from seven o'clock to seven in the morning okay and we had to um i always found a way and i thank my dad for this of making a job fun so we had to like open up the mail you get 550 uh envelopes you got to take them out open it up then you have to decide is this a change of address is this a return of a credit card is this um you know um what whatever it is you had like So you had to had to manually do it. Right.
And the quota was to do five boxes. I used to do 15.
Wow. And I'd have my music on and I'd have my basket here and I would just go.
And because they had a machine that would open it for you. Right.
But I was that fast. And I remember the controller walked in one day that was his position, like the manager.
And he said, I've never seen nothing like this. And I would make the other people in the mailroom would say, man, slow down.
You may look bad. Yeah.
But they made me the supervisor. And then I had everybody giving them 10 boxes a night.
Wow. Now, stand up.
How do you go from being at American Express to the stand up? I always admired Kenan. And then so with Kenan, he would I would go to the improv and watch him perform.
and at sometimes I get Keenan, you should try this joke, try this. And he would do it and they would get laughs.
And so that was the first time I ever thought, well, I thought about that. He said it and got a laugh.
Maybe if I used it for myself. Yeah, maybe.
Right. And then Robert Townsend one day I was still working at Smilers and the Delicatessen.
And Robert Townsend and Kenan were in like a little improv group. Right.
It was like Reggie Van Johnson and Melvin George. It's like like four people.
And they brought me in because Kenan told him damon could do characters so i'm just

there and i'm just like doing all this stuff that me and keenan would do all the time right and i remember robert's face like this and he said you got it and i didn't i i had to go you know do the sandwiches. So I didn't really like think about what he said.

Right. And then in 1982, I was so proud.
This Kenan got his little sitcom. And I was telling my wife, you know, Lisa, I'm like, man, Kenan, Kenan, Kenan.
You know what? You need to go do stand up. Otherwise, I'm going to go sleep with Kenan because you make him sound wonderful.
So I started doing stand-up, and the first time I went on stage, I fell in love with it. Right.
And I didn't do good. I actually bombed, but I got one laugh.
And comedy is like golf. All you remember is a good shot.
Yeah. You know what I mean? That's what everybody says.
Everybody say you you get it's not the boo that you remember it's that one it's that one laugh that gets you hooked and you're like yeah this is my calling yeah i knew it i knew it like as as as i was doing it like this feels good is it a high yeah it's it's it's like a runner's high come off stage. You know, the thing is, when you're first starting out and you're doing it, you come off stage, you can enjoy the high.
When you become, you know, famous or whatever you you know, people want it. And it just ruins the high, you know, I mean, like you interact because you want to like enjoy that moment.
You have like-of-body experiences wow you know when you do stand when you have a great show right it's like you just sit back going watch this nigga work go go you know and you forget about the pain in your back and you know just everything it just feels right so yeah it's definitely a runner's high. Wow.
And so now you're doing stand up. You're like, OK, now you don't want to do anything else but that.
Or do you have did you have another job? No, I had other jobs because I had to have, you know, I had kids. Yeah.
Stand up. They wasn't paying like it is.
They were paying back then. Right.
Well, you, you know, stand-up would pay you a burger. That's what you got.
You got a free burger, maybe some fries, and a soda. That was your pay.
But, you know, then they had a strike, and they started giving you money for cabs, or gas money, you know, so you can make $20 here. But, you know, any real comedian that's really about it.
Yeah. Hits the stage five times a night.
So you're not just making, you know, $20. You're making $120.
You're making. Right.
Right. So you can live off of.
Back then, that was that was that was good money. Yeah.
Yeah. How did you and Eddie meet? Through Kenan.
Okay. So Eddie would come see me do stand-up.
He would bring Prince, Rick James. He just thought, like, the stuff I was doing was really innovative.
Right. You know, and then I started hanging out with him and Kenan.
You know, the first thing Eddie would do when he came out during, like Saturday Night Live and he would call Kenan and go man watch this buckwheat tonight watch buckwheat buckwheat got shot what and I'm just like so at the time I was doing stand-up before I met Eddie I'm like who is this Eddie Murphy everybody right because as far as I was concerned I was the next right right and then I watched him do James Brown getting in a hot tub, and I was like, this dude is amazing. Amazing.
Right. And I became, you know, in awe of Eddie.
And the fact that him and Kenan were, like, friends. Right.
As soon as he came out, Kenan, come on. And they hang out to the wee hours of the morning.
You'd tagging along. Eddie would actually bring me, my wife, and my sons on boat rides.
Like he would rent a yacht and go around the marina and it'd be, I was the only family of just all these pretty women and Eddie and his boys.

You were like, yeah. And Eddie would come over, always make time to come over and sit down with us and go, y'all got something special.
This is what I want. And now I'm going to go get some.
But, you know, that was so for for me and to to see that life right you know i mean because i i never had it on that level you know i mean i was married from you know since 19 what 84 or something like that so i i didn't damn you ain't get a chance to enjoy the single life of your stand-up. I did.
I broke up my marriage. Don't worry.
Don't worry. I broke up my marriage.
Man sick. I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it. Oh, yeah.
And I regret it. Really? Yeah, because, you know, in show business, you think that this chemistry you got with this person, this actress is like special and pure.
And then what you don't realize is she going to go do that on the next role with somebody else. And you'd be like, but I left my wife for you.
You know what? Tell her the stuff you told my character. She'll take you back.
You'll be like, what? Yeah. So we all made mistakes, right? But on and up to them, it's the right thing to do.
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Meds are prescribed at provider's discretion. You got an opportunity to do Eddie up close and personal.
What is something about Eddie that you could share that people wouldn't realize about him, that wouldn't know about him? The funniest guy of my generation, for sure. His mind is like a Rubik's Cube, the way he processes comedy.
And he's one of the most giving people. Like, you know, Eddie can steal scenes.
He doesn't have to steal scenes because he's the star. Right.
Right? But the thing I from eddie was letting other people shine you bring somebody in when i did um uh the banana man i was still working in the mail room and he's like he told marty breast director you gotta let him do it you gotta he wanted me to play um the the brunson pinchock character right um who did a wonderful job i don't but the director was like nah he's unseasoned if he said all right then let him do this one little scene and eddie was like laughing in the scene you know i'm i'm with the biggest star in the world and he's making me feel funny and encourage me go no no no serious he said and the director was like we got to move on eddie's gonna know we're gonna do this and we he said, and the director was like, we got to move on. And he's going to know we're going to do this.
And we got that take. And it was just like, just the fact that he cared enough, you know, to, to make sure that I shine was beautiful.
And then, you know, Eddie put on Robert Townsend, my brother, you know, all the people that he put on in this business.

I don't think people really give him

the credit he did. Arsenio,

he would on Arsenio's show

multiple times to support

his friend. You know what I mean?

Paul Mooney. Eddie put everybody

on.

How did Beverly Hills

cause happen?

Eddie would see me do stand-up and he saw that character. He's like, you got to do this.
And he made them put me in the movie. Eddie, SNL.
A lot of people have gotten—nobody's been bigger than Eddie. SNL and Blew Up.
I mean, there have been other guys, but nobody like Eddie. You was on SNL for a minute.
Half a season. What did you think SNL was going to be as opposed to what you got once you got on SNL? Well, I grew up, you know, when we watched Richard Pryor on SNL, you know, the famous sketch with chevy chase and you know him with um uh lily tomblin playing the drunk and you know it's like wow he's bringing our flavor to this show right because before it was white it was funny you know john belusi brilliant and all those guys were brilliant but it wasn't us and then i was like i was born to do this eddie had just left eddie actually came to my you know celebration party before i went to new york because i was living out here and he told me said look man learn to write your own sketches because they're gonna put you in it and you're gonna hate it they're black stuff to do.
You're going to hate it. And so when I went there, he was writing.
And I was writing sketches. Right.
But they would shoot it down. This dude would like sit there, read my sketches in front of me and go, yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah. I just don't get it.
I just got tired of getting shot down. And I kept getting told, well, we're trying to protect you from the Eddie's aura.
It's like, Eddie's gone. And I knew that the characters that I wanted to do were nothing like Eddie.

There would be no comparison, you know, because I didn't really do impressions. I didn't do the kind of stuff Eddie did.
These are, you know, the funny thing is I did an interview for SNL and they showed me my audition tape. In the audition, it's a 12 minute tape of me doing Homie the Clown, Men On, Handyman.

The seven characters that I did ultimately in Living Color that I showed them what I could do.

And I was writing stuff for these characters.

Kept getting shot down. So I just, I didn't care.
I just, I just changed characters on them during a live show. And I was like, yeah, give me the ball or let me go.
Let me ask you this. Were you becoming frustrated because you're like, I'm doing this.
And every time I try to do something, every turn you shoot it down. It's that.
And then the stuff they were giving me, there was one sketch. They wanted me to stand in a loincloth with a spear.
With no lines. So what the hell are you going to be doing? Just standing there? I'm going to be stabbing somebody with this spear.
If you think I'm doing this and I told him, I said, I can't do this. My mother is going to watch this show.
I can't do this. And they're like, yeah, got it.
You know, you got to service the peace. That's what I was told.
Service the peace. I didn't do it.
And then it was. How do you say, how did you, how do you tell, how did you respectfully tell them no? It wasn't respectful.
I didn't. I just said, no, I don't care who you call.

I'm not doing this.

I didn't do it.

Then we had this woman, Denitra Vance, who is this.

She's very talented, but she did it.

And I was like, Denitra, don't if we stand together, it means something.

You make me look crazy.

She wanted that role. She wanted to be on Saturday Night Live that day.
Yeah, she is. And with this beer.
I'm trying to improvise. I'm trying to improvise.
So what's the pay like on SNL? Nothing. I'm paying me $1,500 a week.
So let me, because I'm always interested. So how does,

explain to people at home,

how does SNL work?

So how,

do you come in there like,

okay, the show is going to air

Saturday night.

Are you guys rehearsing

during the course of the week?

You come in Monday.

Okay.

It's a writer's night.

Okay.

So you come in

and you pitch ideas.

Okay.

Right?

And then they say,

yeah,

go off and write them. So you start writing.
Tuesday, you write into Tuesday morning. And then we do the table read.
All the collection of sketches you read. That's on a Wednesday.
45 sketches. Like on a, I forget if it was Tuesday or Wednesday.
And then you start rehearsing. You start picking the sketches.
And then you start rehearsing Friday and then till Saturday. And you're writing sketches kind of like what's funny in today? What's funny today? Because I remember I saw that when I had the Cat Williams, they ended up doing a spoof of Cat.
So you guys are writing things or trying to like what's happening in the real world and make them funny. I was writing character driven stuff.
I wasn't writing like, cause here's the problem when you do kind of social political stuff. Yeah.
There are no good Nixon jokes. Right.
Right. It's dated.
You date yourself because events happen and then something else happens. Right.
And then people forget. What was that? Right.
So when you do characters, characters, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger is always going to be funny. He can have a real firm.
You know, all the stuff Eddie did. You know, pump you up.
You know, there's a bunch of catchphrases that they that that are in the, you know, the zygote because of, you know, character driven comedy. That's what people relate to.
Right. Let me ask you this.
You say you lasted half a season, but you were fired after one season. I did.
I got fired after, no, in the middle of the season. Are you the only one that's ever happened to? Has anybody that you know of? I got fired live.
I didn't even make the good nights. Damn! They didn't let the curtain come down.
I didn't say good night. He said, get the hell out of here.
Who told you that? Lorne Michaels. He was red in the face.
John Belushi never did this to me. You ad lib, didn't you? I did more than that.
I said, get me out of here. Everything I did was to go.
But see, God has plans. Right.
Right. So in living color was my vindication.
Did you know? Hold on. You said you did everything you could to get fired.
Did you know Keenan was in the process of doing it? No, because this was in 1986, and Living Color wasn't until 1990. Yeah.

Right?

So I was like I was so angry when I was there. I was walking around.
I had these shades on like black, like I guess they're Ray Bans. And they go, why are you wearing glasses? It's too white in here.
It hurts my eyes. Damn.
What you thought they were? I didn't want. Well, you know, you get shot down.
The thing is, like, now

I was young. I didn't know.

I didn't understand producing a show.

You was militant, huh? Very.

Very. Because I felt like,

you know, they

were trying to Garrett Morris me. Okay.

And Garrett Morris is a wonderful man.

Love him. But back then, you know, they used him like a prop.

Right.

You know what I mean?

And that's not why I did stand up.

I'm ready, guys.

I'm locked and loaded.

You've seen the tape.

You know what I can do.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Right.

What did Kenan say when you told him, like, man, I I ain't gonna be on SNL no more, bro. Good.
If they, if they're not gonna let you do what you do, right, then, you know, it doesn't make no sense to be there. Something else will happen.
And the great thing about doing standup is, you know, after I did Saturday Night Live, I could get booked in comedy clubs and make good money because I'm, you know, featuring the guy who got fired from Saturday Night Live. I can use that.
Right. Right.
And so I was making, you know, stand-up allows you back then $10,000 a weekend. Damn.
That's good money. Yeah, yeah, good money.
What you mean was good money is. Right.

More than I was making on SNL.

Right.

So it's like, yeah, okay.

So I started doing stand-up.

And it's been a very...

Lucrative?

Lucrative.

Fulfilling?

It's always good to know that you don't have to do something.

Right.

Because I can make money.

I can feed my family. Right.
My dad ringing in my ear. As long as I can feed my family, you can't touch me.
Do you felt of the situation because you came on so soon after Eddie left and many people believe Eddie had gotten too big for SNL and they didn't want to run that same risk with you. That might've been some of it, you know, but I, I mean, whatever it was, don't hire me.
If you don't want me. Right.
You know what I mean? Don't hire me if you're not going to let me do because I can I can do what Eddie did. I can.
Do you know how many people watch the show when Eddie was doing it? Yes. Why don't you want them? Because they negate our audience, audience that eddie brought there i was coming in

thinking i would service them you know i mean black people give me a shot to be funny right

before they start comparing me then uh he trying to be eddie because i got a different flavor right

robber down the junior was also in your cast he got fired after a year too damn yeah y'all were

homeboys huh yeah so so robert downey and um and Michael Anthony Hall, we called them the kids and they were the ones that thought I was funny. So we would connect and they knew that it wasn't funny.
What we were doing. So we had all these inside jokes about that sketch is not going to work.
And they knew how bad it was so yeah we became

good friends i love robert yeah tracy morgan said he felt culturally isolated on snl's called it the whitest show in america it is it is because you know i mean i love lauren michaels to do anything for 50 years.

That's a long time.

You deserve your flowers, you know?

But when you go up and look at the people who run the show, the writer's room, it's all white and it's not like, you know. It's not diverse like the people in.
Right. It's not.
You know, Neil Brennan is funny. the guy who wrote with um chappelle you know that he's funny but you got all these guys that come out of harvard who write for like magazine magazine funny ain't funny yeah they would do sketches like tornadoville yeah so you go to this town where there's a tornado and people walk around with hangers in their head.

All right. But I'm like, well, who are the people and what's the character with the hanger in his head?

What does he do? What's funny about him? You know, they didn't want to hear that. Right.

Have you have you talked to Tracy? I know he had an incident a couple of last week on the sideline.

He had food poisoning at the Knicks game. I want to talk to him with a sick stomach.
I can give him some Pepto-Bismol. Now, I love Tracy.
I met Tracy in New York in a club in the middle of the winter. And I remember this because he didn't have no shirt on and he was sweating I'm like it is four degrees outside where did you go I'm going to get these girls pregnant I'm here to get somebody pregnant and he had a little big belly I'm like you look pregnant Chris Rock damn everybody getting fired from SN And then he then he tried out for in living color.
I think Martin also tried out for in living color. Probably.
But we were gone. You go there.
Yeah, we weren't there. How did.
So when Kenan pitches in living color to you, what are you thinking? And you like, this is it. This is our chance.
this is my chance to show my comedic genius um i'm whatever keenan want to do you know i mean we did um before we did in living color he had done i'm gonna get you suck yes so and then we had done the robert townsend partner in crimes he had written you know sketches for that and you know the funny thing is they told keenan asked robert if he could direct some sketches and robert's like nah man you too lazy all you want to do is chase girls and he said you got to be disciplined to do this and keenan was hurt he's like what bro we done hung out we were chasing girls, and now you. Right.
And so Kenan locked himself in his room for two weeks and wrote, I'm going to get you, sucker. Wow.
And then he directed. But that was his fuel.
Right. You know what I mean? That's exactly what he needed to hear.
Right. And then when we did, I'm going to get you, sucker, it was so much fun.
There's nothing like showing up to a set where it's a party and then you're filming. You know what I mean? You're filming too, but the environment is just so fun and creative.
And that's what In Living Color was. That's what I'm going to get you, Sucka, and the Robert Townsend partner.
And then they paid you too. But it was just the fun that we had is what you take away from it.
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You know how heavy that mic stands? I'm busting it to the white meat. No, I've not.
You know, you get into situations where people heckle. Right.
You know, but a man ain't going to try you.

If you think he can get you.

Exactly.

If you stand your ground and and, you know, I learned this from my brother.

It's like not everybody.

A lot of people talk, but I'm going to hit you first.

If I feel threatened.

Tension, you got to get off.

Chopped right in the throat. You ever been chopped in your throat? I wish you would try to fight.
It's quick. I don't want to fight.
I'm 65 years old. I ain't got that kind of wind.
Yeah. I ain't rustling.
You ain't going to build your rep off me. But you were in Bamboozle with jada yeah love jada yeah um we had a great time spike lee who was um so generous and just like this awesome this awesome experience because this is the first time he actually used 10 cameras at one time and spike would go all right damon you come in you all i need you to do is not put your hand down because there's a camera camera here so that's the kind of direction he would give but because he believed in what i was doing in the rehearsal and so it was really about wow we were doing like 200 setups in a day that's like ridiculous yes.
You know, but he was like really brilliant with that. And Jada, we had so much fun on that and just taking chances.
And, you know, what happens is show business changes you. Really? Yeah, because, you know, you and I don't I'm not speaking on Jada.
I'm talking about in general. Only God should be famous.
And you see how he do it. He stay invisible because, you know, people stupid.
You know, because it's it's a psychological. This guy's all messed up and they're out there partying and it's never enough.
Because it's not what, you don't deserve this. You don't deserve to have a threesome.
Go back to the ghetto where you came from. Did you what? And then you deserve it.
Ain't never happened. and and the thing, when you look yourself in the mirror, you know, you ain't you put you got to put on these airs and pretend that you deserve it because you don't.

Wow. I'm looking at some of the people that was only living color.

You became even bigger. David Allen Greer, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey.

And I had Marlon and Marlon said, J-Lo. What did you call him? J-Lo.
J-Lo. Yeah.
And he said he knew. Did you know Jim Carrey was going to be that? Yeah, I'm the one that brought Jim to Kenan.
So me and Jim used to be in the comedy club. Jim Carrey is a master impressionist.

He does

like Sean Penn.

Like Michael

Landon.

He would get standing ovations

in the comedy club

doing a 20 minute set.

Now, any comedian will tell you that's

damn near impossible. There's few and far between that can do that.
That's how good he was. But he hated doing the impressions because people thought that's all he did.
So me and him, after Sam Kennison made it, we made a pact that we're going to push each other. So he would go on stage, he couldn't do his impressions.
And we just yell out stuff to him. And he would do the same thing for me.
And we would just challenge each other on stage. We had nothing to lose.
Right. You know.
But Jim, I truly knew he was special. Special.
And it didn't take Keenan long to go, he's the guy. Because they saw every white boy in Hollywood for that role.
Right. And when he came in with fire marks.
Yeah. He did that on stage.
The comic store. He's messing around with a match on stage.
Let me tell you something. But he but the one thing he's always he's given your family and Kenan and yourself your flowers.
He says when Hollywood turned their back on me and didn't believe in me, this black family did. And they gave me a platform.
He's Eminem. Y'all did for him what Dr.
Dre did for him. Yeah, But listen, when I still when I see Jim, it's all love.

It's it's like that's how, you know, your family is like when you see your old teammates.

You just pick up like it was yesterday. You don't see me.
Man, why are you?

It's none of that. It's just like instant, instant connection.

Right. And we just talk about, you know, anything without resentment, without it's just love.
David Alan Greer, Tommy, you know, Tommy. I forgot about Tommy.
Yeah. Yeah.
We it's all love, Jamie. And because we we we fought a fine fight and we won.
how did the hell the Kenan convince Fox well it's not so convinced now

because you know

they kind of do

they kind of go

against the grain over there. But how did he convince them at that time to put in living color what you guys were doing on the air? Well, the funny thing is they came to him after they saw I'm gonna get you sucker, the reaction, they didn't, they were like, what the hell? Like people would get up and run out the theater.
You know, we laugh. We.
Teeth falling out. Yeah.
Yeah. And they didn't understand it.
Right. And they wanted to meet with him immediately.
And they was like, look. And so Keenan took this meeting thinking that they wanted to do a film deal.
A movie. Yeah.
Right. So he's in there and they're telling him about you know how great it is and we want that kind of edge and they say we got a network we're going we're going to do a new network coming up and Keenan was like okay uh the meeting is over and he went to walk out the door and he goes wait wait wait you can do anything you want to do anything that.
And that's actually a lyric in the Living Color song. You can do what you want to do.
The thing is, we did do anything we want. And then so we were a midseason replacement.
Right. Supposed to come out in February or something.
Right. And they got it.
they were so scared of it that they went to the JDL they went to the NAACP push yeah you know you everybody to try to get them to sign off and they would like give us money we'll sign off for it and then you know it's like they they was like they didn't know what to do. So we missed that window.
We missed the fall season because they still didn't want to know what to do. And then Barry Dill just went, you know what? Put it on.
Let's see if it's people having this kind of reaction to it. Let's put it on.
That's what we wanted. And then the rest is history.
Wow. Ooh now you go from did you feel vindication going from SNL to Living Color? Because everything that you did on Living Color, you had tried to do on SNL and it's a nodding on go.
And now you're getting rave reviews. Everybody's talking about how many clowns.
They still talk about how many clowns, how many clowns on T-shirt? No, I ain't getting no money for that thank you for telling me you should have copyrighted homie well the thing is it's all good it's you know it's love and and you know um everybody gotta eat it's okay um um vindication no i think it validation yeah but in Living Color was the validation. It has nothing to do with SNL that I buried that as soon as I left.
It was like I never looked back. What did they call you to come back? You to wait back? I would host it and I would host it.
I did host one. And he brought me back to do stand up at the left.
You know, Lauren is very forgiving, you know, but he had to show me who's boss and that's fine. Right.
You know, but in the end, he know and I know that it was the best thing for me to be off the show. Right.
I saw Jerry Seinfeld explaining the importance of failing at doing your way because a lot of people and I've said this about sports. A lot of times people would rather lose their way than win someone else's way because they lose themselves.
That's not who they are. Right.
And it seems to me that she was like, look, if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down doing things my way. I'm not going to go down doing it your way because I'm not being authentic to myself.
Right. But I had already gotten the warning from Eddie.
Right. So when I walked in, I knew it wasn't a team we weren't playing team ball oh i was the on the team so i just knew that i you know this thing and what he was saying was playing itself out in front of me so i you know when you talk about sports sports is a team it's a team game game right you know and you can be the best person in the in the game.
Right. But it's the team.
The team don't play well around you. You lose.
Right. But if you and if you try to take all the glory, then people are praying for your downfall and they may not block the next time.
True. Right.
Yes. So you got it.
You have to you know, these are your brothers that you are out there trying to, you know, compete in this war. It is the football's a war.
Basketball's a war. Right.
I read that some celebrities would get upset with you when you would make fun of them and use them in your sketches. Did they ever approach you? I saw Mike Tyson, Whitney Houston, MC Hammer.
Did they ever come to you say, bro, come on now. Yeah, Mike Tyson rolled up on me in a jewelry store.
You talking about scared? I wanted to show him my foot. I got a club foot, Mike.
Please, Mike. But it was like he was playing, but he's so strong.
He grabbed me and he bit me on my neck. So that was a thing that was before Evander.
And I just felt I'd still remember his high. I could feel his heart.
I was like, oh, and he was he but he was playing. Right.
Right. But Mike.
Here's an interesting thing. Mike Tyson loves my family family and it's not because of me.
He was at some event with my mother and my mother said introduced herself to him. And she said, I'm, you know, Mrs.
Wayne's. He said, oh, your kids, they make it.
I don't like they they mock-orize me. They're always making jokes.
And my mother said, oh, shut up. If they didn't love you, they wouldn't do you.
Wow. And Mike Tyson was like, I fell in love with your family right there.
If anything ever happened with you and your family, I'm going to eat through people. But he just I guess that's it felt like a mother to him.
You know she just he said I could have knocked your mom out. But she just she reprimanded me.
It was like beautiful. Because he did want to be keen enough.
And Eddie was trying to instigateigate it he's gonna kick his door down and beat him up this concludes the first half of my conversation part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on just simply go back to club shea shea profile and i'll see you there okay have you heard about this last year degree changed formula for their Cool Rush deodorant. The fans rebelled and wanted the old scent back.
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