Latest / Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger / W. Kamau Bell on Cosby, Comedy, and Father's Day

Transcript

W. Kamau Bell on Cosby, Comedy, and Father's Day · Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you today?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at home in Oakland in my office.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: 16, 17, 24, 5.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's a good number?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to know what a good number is.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had 600 with Dave Barry.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Me and Dave Barry are mutual friends of Adam Mansbach.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Adam Mansbach, who's the author famously of the book Go the F to Sleep.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just got his college one.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: yeah yeah so I'm good friends with him we actually have a kids book coming out
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: but he works with Dave Barry a lot on books and so we have a sort of
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: a pretend hate nemesis relationship me and Dave Barry and so and
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: so sometimes I'll I'll send Adam screenshots of when I'm rising
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: on Substack getting closer to Dave Barry because he's always at the top
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: of course that's funny
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I hadn't thought about him for a while before we did that,
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: but I was revisiting his stuff.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: He is legitimately funny.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: He's just like a really great generalist humorist that can be edgy
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: without being offensive to, you know, almost anyone.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: He can be edgy but still be in the newspaper.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Such as they are.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hello, everyone.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: 64 and counting.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Five questions.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Paul Ollinger.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a New York-based podcaster and comedian.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I am excited to welcome today's guest,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: who is a Peabody Award winner,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: a four-time Emmy Award-winning comedian, filmmaker, and television host.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps, look at that.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Booyah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I just moved it over here yesterday.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It just happened to be right here.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's so funny.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, where's your Celebrity Jeopardy Championship medal?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: That was the one I had forgotten about.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's the most impressive.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually, I'm very proud to say, it's in my house.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in my office now.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just the way it is, people.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not bragging.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It just happens to be the luck of my career.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I have won four Emmys.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so in my house,
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: the Celebrity Jeopardy trophy is flanked by two Emmys on each side,
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: which I think is the,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: because in my house, the Celebrity Jeopardy trophy is the good one.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty sweet.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty sweet, man.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: He has built a career helping people have difficult conversations
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: without losing their sense of humor.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he's got a new podcast out called Who's With Me?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, W. Kamau Bell.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about that podcast.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Who's with me?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I listened to Ted Danson and Delroy Lindo.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Great conversations with very interesting dudes.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: What do you enjoy most about podcasting?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way to have conversations with people that I want to have
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: that I wouldn't have if I didn't have a work obligation to have them.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: But would you do it for free?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, currently I'm losing money on it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yes.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yes.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: These are like
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I do know Delroy Lindo I could call Delroy Lindo and say let's go out
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: to dinner I guess like I mean I could do that but I just wouldn't do it because of
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: the way life works sometimes you know I got three kids I have so much respect
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: for him to waste his time so I mean I had luckily I met Ted Danson
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: a couple years ago and I could call Ted Danson but can we talk on the phone for
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: an hour he might do it
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the podcast gives you a dedicated reason to do it And it makes it not weird
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: that I'm asking very focused questions Because if I go out to dinner with you
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm like Tell me about that time you did Blackface Ted Danson It's just going
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: to be weird It's just going to be weird But on a podcast you're allowed to sort
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: of go Hey here's focused conversation I want to have a focused conversation with you
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And also I want to say nice things about you Every podcast opens
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: with me giving people their flowers Because I think that's
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: an important thing Especially in this time of America
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me more about that.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't heard anybody say it as explicitly as you said it.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of times you'll read a resume as I just did,
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: but you start with a deeper resume than that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I mean,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think reading the resume is great,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: and I think that obviously there's – and also when somebody reads your resume,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: you find out what they think is important about you,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: which is good because like there's – especially with my resume,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: it's sort of like all over the place.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you've got a long one.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot I could mention,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: but I didn't want to waste all your time by reading you stuff you already know
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: about yourself.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I only have a long resume because I had too many children, just to be clear.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So – but –
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: but the giving the flowers thing,
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: which is an expression I didn't come up with,
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be clear,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: giving someone their flowers is a way to basically,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: it comes to the idea of like people only get their flowers when they're dead.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you die,
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: all the people show up with your flowers, but you don't necessarily get to see them.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to get to the afterlife talk,
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: that's not for this podcast,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: but it's an idea of giving people their credit for what they're doing
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: while they're still around to receive the credit.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Mm hmm
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you're talking to Ted Danson and Delroy Lindo and a whole bunch
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: of other folks too,
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: but these guys have decades-long careers, so you could go anywhere with those guys.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's funny what you end up talking about, what you don't end up talking about.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I could have talked to Ted Danson just about The Good Place,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: and I think it only came up slightly, you know what I mean?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: and you asked him about what were the most meaningful or I think you said sort
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: of what in your career is the thing you look at and go that's me doing what I do
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: and he mentioned a couple of shows I'd forgotten about I'd watched them
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: but you know they're deep on his IMDB you know well that's the thing I said this
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: at one point and I really wish I could have made more big deal about it
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: because I didn't want to insult any of the shows he's been on
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: But he's done a hundred episodes of shows That we've forgotten
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: about That's right Shows that Nope Not that nobody cares about But nobody thinks of
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: as like the great He's done some of the greatest TV in the history of television
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he's If you and me just got his syndication checks From the shows
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: that people have forgotten about We'd be doing five Life changing Life changing
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not No offense to these shows But CSI Becker There's another one
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: in there There's a There's just a bunch of shows that he's That
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: if he just had those shows
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's almost like it's the same thing If you just If an NBA player just had
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: the second half of LeBron James' career They'd be in the Hall
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: of Fame You know what I mean?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that's where he's at Or like when you go see some band
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: That you know That's been around for 30 years And they start playing songs B-sides
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: that you know by heart And you're like Oh my god I haven't thought about this one
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: in 20 years Exactly Exactly All right
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Question number two,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: and you just mentioned having too many kids,
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: but I read on your Wikipedia that you are an only child.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I am one of six kids, but I am married to an only child.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So what advice can you give me?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Only children.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a want to be alone sometimes.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a requirement.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's no different than a person needs to eat, a person needs to sleep,
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Only children need to be left the F alone sometimes.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not weird.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, that's how we were as kids.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if we don't have time, you know the idea of the social battery?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think only children,
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: the social battery is the idea that like all of us have a different size
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: of social battery, which means how much we can be around other people.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and also some people get energized by being around other people.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So their social battery actually gets charged up by being around other people.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Only children tend to be quickly drained by being around too many people for too long.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So our social battery goes down.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: My social battery is like that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've just trained to deal with a low social battery because I'm in show business.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: My middle kid has a very – like it's great to give a kid that kind of way to talk
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: about it because sometimes she'll be out and she'll be like,
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: my social battery is low.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes you know she just means that like I've been around a lot today.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be home.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I go, I get it.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: my wife had,
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: she had 100% of the attention of her parents I'm one of six,
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: so I had 16% of the attention of my parents So I became a comedian probably
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: because I have a desperate need for attention And she was like,
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: you were so lucky that you weren't the focus of your parents' obsession all the time
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny I guess that is a different way of being an only child I felt like me
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: and my mom were roommates It's just she paid all the bills Oh funny Like
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: so like I didn't feel like she was like hyper focused on me I think it's also
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: a difference between a single parent
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: and two parents I felt like we were like best friends who chose to live together
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: But she really did the bulk of the paying the bulk of the bills
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Although now I'm paying the bulk of the bills So it worked out
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah okay Laura says my social battery is never fully charged Charlene says 100
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: apparently on the conversation about how many kids and that kind of thing
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: and we're 123 come out we're doing great Yeah we're doing good we're not we might
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: have hit Dave Barry numbers but we'll get there Yeah but you know he wrote a column
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: for 50 years so you and me we got another decade or two
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the Charles Barkley
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: to Dave Barry's Michael Jordan There you go How do you know How does having been
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: an only child affect the way you orient towards the amount of attention each
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: of your kids needs?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think it really means my wife is one of four which to me four and six are
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: the same it's just too many people I have two and that's why I think that like
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a good there's so the great thing about being one being from
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: a big family is you understand that sometimes the group needs to move there needs
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: to be a company move and it doesn't matter what
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: the feeling is we gotta go like we gotta and also you sort of understand
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: that like it's like
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Meeting the needs of the many means the few may not always get what they need,
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: but everybody will generally be fine.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really big on looking at a kid and being like, huh, something's wrong with you right now.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go over here and talk about it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: How can I make some tweaks to your experience that it'll make it better for all of us?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: My wife, I think, thinks of the group.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: As long as the group is generally okay, we're fine, which is nothing wrong with that.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like,
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want to focus on the individuals because if all the individuals are fine,
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: then the group is fine.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody said they're one of 15.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: How big is the farm?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is my question.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Gene, my condolences to you and your 14 siblings.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Although that to me, that now you're running a corporation.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Catholic.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, six kids at our Catholic high school was about average.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: the Callahans were 10 and the Murphys were 9 and then Mrs.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Murphy got pregnant again and had twins.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we were amateurs.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: And where was it?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: This was somewhere in the middle of the country, I'm guessing.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Where was this?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was Atlanta.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: We were in the...
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The South?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's the...
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Not a lot of Catholics in Atlanta in the 70s and 80s,
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: but that number has grown No,
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: because my joke is that having three kids in the Bay Area is like having nine kids
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: in Nebraska People act like you should have a reality show
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: because you have three kids because you live in the Bay Area
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, your cost per square foot per kid out there is pretty significant.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: In Atlanta, you can get a 10,000 square foot house for $47.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right, question number three.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: You self-identified,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: this is according to your Wikipedia,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: which also shared the important information about your vasectomy,
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: but we'll hold off on that for a second.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: You, I self-identify as a blurred or a black nerd.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have trouble finding your people in high school?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I,
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: as you can see from the color of my hair, grew up at a time before the internet.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought I was the only,
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: like the things I was interested in,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: there weren't a lot of people around me interested in those things.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't like I thought I was the only person who like there's this idea now of
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: a comedy nerd somebody who likes comedy I was a comedy nerd
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: but there was no other comedy nerds around me I was like hey everybody let's talk
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: about Saturday Night Live did that
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: on Saturday it was pretty good right like there was not that thing I also was
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: a huge Bruce Lee fan at a time when there wasn't like
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: the Bruce Lee industrial complex that there is now and then I was a fan of like
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Black rock and roll bands at a time that the internet would have helped.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I was going to Living Color concerts and Fishbone concerts,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: 24-7 Spies concerts,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: and Urban Dance Squad concerts,
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: and seeing the Black people there,
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: but not knowing how to stay in touch with them after we left.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you talked to Delroy Lindo about that,
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: where you felt that it was weird when you saw another Black guy at
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: a Living Color concert, in Living Color Concert,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: You're right the first time Living Color In Living Color was the show Right
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: The show Okay right Sorry Yeah Have you seen that Key and Peele skit About the
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: The barbershop quartet Yes Yeah yeah no Basically like 40% of the Key
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: and Peele sketches Are about my life Yeah like it's Me and my friend Black guy in
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: a white world Are sort of like We should We should have done that
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: If we were funny like them Yeah
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: okay so comedy nerd also were you were you into like Monty Python and that kind
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: of stuff or what was the non-mainstream comedy when I was
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: a kid it's funny I had friends my best friend Jason was a Monty Python guy I was
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: an SNL guy and we would fight about it that's how that's how we did it like I
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: so I was Monty Python when I was a kid came
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: on PBS like that's yeah yeah no yeah it did that was the only place you saw it
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I was like a,
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: he was like a Monty Python,
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: uh, yeah, I was like a, I was like a Saturday Night Live SCTV guy.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was my, and then I was also like a, you know, like my mom had Richard Pryor albums.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was also an Eddie Murphy guy.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: If I was any guy, actually, I was an Eddie Murphy guy.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, who was, uh, who's your, who's the dream cast of SNL for you?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: What, which one resonated with you most prominently?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: it's funny my joke is that I've said the show has fallen down
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: since Garrett Morris left that's how old school I am
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: with SNL right I don't know I was talking about like if you had the dream cast
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: if you assembled it through the years that's always fun but I'm trying
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: to say I mean I think there's
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: SNL's been better than people give it credit for it is like it is
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit like it's just throwing spaghetti against the wall
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: but I think they have a pretty good hit rate through the years if you look at
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: the overall I mean I also say
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: that SNL is probably America's most celebrated toxic work environment because
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: when you hear the stories of that show it's like yeah actually Leslie Jones is
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: an upcoming guest on my podcast and she talks about that in a good bit
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: about how hard SNL was on her but I would say that like
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know man there's some there's some early cast that people forget
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: about there was a Billy Crystal cast
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: that nobody remembers like Billy Crystal Christopher Guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus was
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: an SNL cast member people have Brad Hall yeah Brad yeah her
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: and Brad Hall Brad Hall used to do weekend updates I go old school I'm yeah
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: yeah Susan says Garrett in all caps she she was she's
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: a big Garrett fan yeah um Laura says I once bought a kid in my neighborhood a poster
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: of Wanda in Living Color yeah see it's so funny here's something you don't know
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: the band Living Color had to sue the group the TV show Living Color because of
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: for trademark infringement which is a story
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: yeah man that was it was it was crazy I remember I was in college when it came out
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: and I mean the first time you know we'd seen so many of those people on that cast
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: and it was it was wild laughing my head off at Fire Marshal Bill and Damon Wayans
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: and the you know doing that I mean and think about that the most sort
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: of commercially successful person out of that show is Jim Carrey who I can sort
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: of find out there
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of nerds, did you watch Scooby-Doo when you were a kid?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did watch Scooby-Doo.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you had no choice.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: There were only four cartoons when I was a kid, so you had to deal with Scooby-Doo.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was that and Bugs Bunny and... Tom and Jerry.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Tom and Jerry.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is a leading question, obviously.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: When you called out Cosby,
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: and we need to talk about Cosby Man,
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect to go to Scooby-Doo to Cosby,
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: but here we go But hey,
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: hear me out Did you feel,
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: this is what I kind of felt like Did you feel like you were the guy at the end
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: of Scooby-Doo episode exposing the crook who was hiding in plain sight?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's the guy who's been It's Dr. Huntsable!
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I definitely thought like this is a I mean so much of
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: the Cosby thing is this was a some of this was known behind closed doors
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: but openly known as people talk about the thing but it hadn't been sort of talked
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: about publicly and I thought because he had gone to jail that it was a
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: that we could finally talk about it publicly I had no idea he would be get out
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: of jail in the middle of us in the middle of our production and at
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: that point I went huh
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I may have to never leave my house again because nobody's good
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: because this thing is not going to be popular among and there and there was a run of
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: that in the wake of that it's the most it's probably the best it's no it's
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: the best review thing I've ever done but it also caused me the most sort
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: of like personal like but every time I thought about the that I was dealing
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: with I thought about the women who spoke out and I was like if I
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: if they can speak out I can take the I can take the hits
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: what was the inflection point where you said you had to go public with that
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: that you had the platform and you were uniquely positioned to be the person
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: that took it to the next level I mean it was really here's the thing about being
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: an only child my curiosity gets sort of leads my common sense
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: so I didn't think like I'm the person I just was like I'd be curious to have
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: a public conversation I would be it would be interesting basically here's what it
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: was it was like
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I saw O.J.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Simpson Made in America by Ezra Edelman which is one of the greatest pieces
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: of anything of all time I mean like Sistine Chapel O.J.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Simpson Made in America I feel like they're on the same level
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: and I thought you could do a similar thing like that
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: about Bill Cosby is what I thought and then I started to think
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: about how you would do it and then my curiosity starts digging into it and
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: then I met these people at this production boardwalk who had like oh yeah
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: that would be a good idea and next thing I knew we were
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Were you a Cosby fan when you were a kid?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: oh yeah no for sure I mean it's funny I didn't mention him earlier but no I was not
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: as much as I talk about SNL I was really a stand-up comedy fan and you and so I was
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: when the Cosby show premiered in 84 I was 11 so I was basically the same age
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: as Vanessa uh so like I was like a part of the fan like
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: the Cosby show was like appointment viewing before I knew what
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: that phrase was it was must see TV it was so yeah I was a
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Bill Cosby himself,
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: and I talk about this in the series,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: is one of the greatest stand-up comedy specials of all time.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, but you can only,
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: but it took me like that,
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: we talk about that as one of the greatest stand-up comedy specials of all time in
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: the Cosby series at the end of episode two.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you had to, because we had to like go through, look, here's the things that's going on.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: We had to sort of build the context around it and also be like,
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I can't talk about this being the greatest stand-up special of all time
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: if I don't actually talk about the truth.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right I think it was in that Seinfeld comedian documentary where
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: and I might have this wrong Chris Rock is talking to Jerry
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: about having seen Cosby Yeah and just being like he did two hours and he was like
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: and he was just conversational the whole time and from
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: a craft perspective you're like this guy is a legend I mean he's as good
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: as anybody that's ever done it Yeah and I think that just in the same way that like
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: if you're going to talk about there's so many great artists
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: could be Picasso could be Miles Davis could be Bill Cosby and not
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: that they all are guilty of the same things but I'm just talking about like you know
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: that there's so many people whose talent is great
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean they haven't impacted people negatively And I think it's fine
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: to have the craft conversation First of all,
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: you can have that conversation behind closed doors anytime you want to But
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: if you're going to have it publicly,
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: you have to also still recognize these people were not
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: the heroes we may have turned them into Do you think there's a narcissism that leads
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: to both great art and just atrocious behavior?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think there is great art from great people but I also think that nobody's a hero
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: so I think if we just sort of accept it the problem with showbiz and the problem
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: with art is that if you make great art we then think you're a hero and
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: if we just took away the think you're a hero part then we could just focus on
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: the art instead of being surprised when we find out that you're not a great person
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: and the other part is in show business specifically is that if you make money
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and also when the world rewards you with fame and money,
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: the opportunity to do horrible things continue to present themselves to you.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That, as a friend of mine,
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Dwayne Kennedy says,
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: and this is not just about crime,
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: but just generally he's like,
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: once you open up the freaky door, it never gets less freaky.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So once you get the access to sort of the thing
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: that might have been like this just grows the more you get access to fame and power.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And at one point,
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: you know, we all know this, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And at one point, Bill Cosby was absolutely powerful in show business.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: No baby oil in Kamau Bell's closet.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am so happy there's not a picture of me at a Diddy party
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: because he never would have invited me because I was not cool enough.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Diddy.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Question Number 5
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not on the road right now, but I do have dates coming up in the fall.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be at Stanford University.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be in Bellingham, Washington.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be at the New York Comedy Club, which is weirdly in Connecticut.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you're subscribing on Substack, you'll know when all those things are happening.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's coming up in September, October, and November.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Cool, and I've got some great guests coming up on Reasonably Happy Podcast.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is an offshoot of Reasonably Happy, a wholly owned subsidiary.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Dave Winfield's coming up in a couple of months,
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: and Jane Whedland from the Go-Go's is coming up.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to have those conversations.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: And also my podcast, Who's With Me, is out every Wednesday.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Who's coming up on that?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this week we have Nava Mao, who's the actress from Baby Reindeer and has a new short film.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, far out.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: We got Robert Rice who's one of the kings
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: of Substack We'll be coming up next week Good friend
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: of mine Like I said Leslie Jones Maria Bamford Margaret Cho We got a lot
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: of good ones Maria Bamford is one of the funniest people Ever invented
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah Okay Question number five We just had Father's Day I can Mike took credit for
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: that Well it's good booking It's a good booking So is Leslie So is Mark Leslie
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Leslie conversation Was like It was her podcast I was really just A guest
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: on her podcast It's one of the great And we'd never met before So it was also One of
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: the things It's not with Kristen Kish People I sort of know A little bit But
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: then we You get to see us Form friendship Over the course of the podcast
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, she's a force of nature, so I can see that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can't stop her.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can only contain her.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can't contain her.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's literally Michael Jordan.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to be like, hope she gets tired of scoring.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we just had Father's Day.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: What's the best part of being a dad?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the best part of being the dad actually happened this Father's Day.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Toy Story 5 had premiered on Friday and,
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: you know, Toy Story 5 is, the Toy Story franchise is older than all of my kids.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I got a 15-year-old, 11-year-old and an 8-year-old and we all went
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Toy Story 5 because we all wanted to see it and the fact
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: that like my 15 year old wanted to go and my 11 and 8 year old they all wanted
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: to go there was no like don't want to and they didn't do it
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: because it was Father's Day they did it because they wanted to be with me and then
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: after that I took my 8 year old to a Juneteenth celebration in Berkeley, California
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Justin Trudeau
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've got one too I've got one too Yeah That my kids Like same way as
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: with my mom I felt like me and my mom were friends She was just paying
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: the rent I feel like I've replicated that
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: with my kids Yes they Yes we're friends I'm paying
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: the rent Yes they respect me Yes they Yes we can have serious conversations
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I love hanging out I love the fact that I'm like hanging out
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: with my kids Do your girls think you're funny?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah yeah people say they don't think I'm cool
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: but they do think I'm funny I think there's a difference they don't think I'm like
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: a cool hip guy but they definitely think I am funny and they definitely think
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: that they definitely understand why dad makes a living do this
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: and also I think they're funny so we
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: and my 8 year old will do things I'll be like oh can I do that
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: in my stand up act she'll be like okay so yeah they know they're funny too
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so your eight-year-old gives you permission to make jokes about what happens at home?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have to give permission.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I have to bribe because I'll be like, I really need that story.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do to get that story?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, there's a candy store in Montclair Village in Oakland.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Clinton and she'll be like we need to go to the candy store
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm like all right we'll go to the candy store and then I'll uh and
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: then I'll yeah and then I'll and then I'll get the bit oh yes
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: and my 11 year old somebody said Sue said I saw your daughter open a show
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: for you yeah so my 50 year old sings and plays guitar
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: so sometimes she opens shows singing playing guitar for me
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: and my 11 year old will sometimes sit on stage with me
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: and count how many times I swear and do a couple bits
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: with me how does she have any does does she want to be a comic
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean they all want to be performers and like they're like one of them's
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: at dance camp right now one of them's your wife is also a performer right
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: so yeah she's a she's a PhD in dance a modern dancer so yeah so it's it's
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: a we can't really be mad at them for wanting to be in the arts
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I wish you all the best with your family,
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: most importantly, but also with who's with me and all your creative pursuits.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Kamau Bell, thank you so much for doing this.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: 231.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: We almost got there.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: We did.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're coming for you, Dave Barry.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get you.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Clip this.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm coming for you, Dave Barry.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm coming for you.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't subscribe to Kamau, please subscribe to him.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't subscribe to me, check me out.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody have a great day.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next time.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.