Latest / The Breakfast Club / Jasmine Guy & Kadeem Hardison On A Different World's Impact, Character Chemistry, Black Love + More

Transcript

Jasmine Guy & Kadeem Hardison On A Different World's Impact, Character Chemistry, Black Love + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that airs up in the morning. Breakfast Club Morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Everybody is DJ Envy and Ngula Yee, Charlomagne the guy.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We are the Breakfast Club. We got some special guests
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in the best. You gotta do better than that. You
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: come on now, come on, come on now, come on now,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: come on now, come on now. Your husband got I
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: gotta start like this. Okay, this is a fun fact. Okay.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: The reason I went to Hampton University was because of
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: me watching a different world. How many times do y'all
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: hear that? At least half a dozen dozen a week?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Did you graduate? You can got. My first celebrity picture
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I ever took with was with Kde Madison Tomorrow. We
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: were in the airport and you had the flip up
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: glasses and everything. My mom took a picture in the airport.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Was hunt a thousand pounds old you? I was young.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: We was coming back from Florida. He must have just
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: gotten the job. Yeah, not real, a matter of fact,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: they were the flip they were just round. Okay, yeah,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: picture tomorrow, remember I remember. Sure that wasn't Jeff Man
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: gonna send me the picture? I'm posted, Thank you, thank you,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: glad to be I know this might be an odd question,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: but do y'all know what y'all mean to just people?
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: It's black people becoming more and more apparent as we
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: get older. As Yeah, like at first, no, in nineteen
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: ninety six when we were done, and probably the next
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: ten years not as much. But then after twenty years
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: and you think that's dead. You go somewhere and you
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: see somebody and their eyes jump out of their head
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and they almost like the Kingdoms of the Moon that
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: they got, and they're like, Wow, it's you. I wanted
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: to be engineered because you went to Hampton. I went
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to I wanted to go to him, and I was
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: trying to find out where the school was. So it's
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: becoming clearer and clearer as we get older. But um,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: but no, at the time, it's it's very moving to
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: me now. But at the time, um, both of us
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: were you know, we were from New York where you
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: used to hustling. We had just done school days. We
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: were kind of like, okay, now what now? What? Now what?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And um, I don't know that we knew how the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: show was resonating with our people because we were not.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I wasn't around my people. I was in La and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I went from Melrose to the Valley and back to Melrose,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and the only people I hung out with with them,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: you know, so I wasn't hearing it. I wasn't seeing it.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: And coming from theater, you know, you know when you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: when you hit, when you land, you know when when
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you are having a communication and Um, what has been
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: amazing to me is that, you know, we were always
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: trying to make things better, make things more believable, have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: more depth or content, so we weren't really looking at
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: what was landing. I wasn't, you know, because when we talked, um,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: you know, actor to actor, Kadeem and I really worked
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: hard on that relationship because if you look at the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: first season. In the second season, I was like, I
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: don't know why why Whitley were like Dwayne based on
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: what I was older, I was upper classroom to him,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: he was you know, they had him playing the goofy
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: guy and now she's dreaming about him. I would have
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: been dreaming about some seniors that I would like to cast.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: But you know how much input did you both have
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: in some of the topics and themes that were on
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a different world, because you guys did cover a lot
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of real life things that you didn't see anywhere else.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: They pretty much. Uh, Debbie came and she had a plan.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: But do you remember that she made us right our
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: what we saw ourselves in five years or something like that.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: We had we had homework and we had to all
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: go home and just write up a page or two
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: of what we saw ourselves for our characters, what we
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: should do. So that was as much the first season
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we were there. I was there to be the snotty
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: bitch and he was there to be the goofy dude.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: We were very clear, you know. The the what Debbie
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: did was she made our characters deeper and more realistic.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: She snatched all the weaves out of my hand, even
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: though I have one on. She was like she came
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: into the pitch, She's like, oh, darling, where's the hot sauce. Yeah,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: she made it because she went to Howard and and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: what is the difference of going to a black college
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: or you know, a big university. Because you are loved,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: you are nurtured, you are part of a neighborhood. They
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: don't want you to fail. They're not gonna let you fail.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: And that came through in the way she worked with us.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: You know, and um, she gave us a voice. We
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: couldn't give notes that first year. We were just worried
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: about it. Are they gonna call us? But they were
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: firing people. But also also the show also also the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: show shifted though because what wasn't the show sitting around
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Lisa Bonney the first season? But then she didn't come
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: back with a second season. I'm sure that had that
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: made all of y'all have to be the stars now basically, yeah,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: well I thought that the show just wasn't going to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: come back because she is and was the star of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: that show, you know, and our characters, at least mine
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: was based on her, revolved around her. You know, who
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: am I going to contrast? Or or you know how
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: how was Whitley gonna be funny by herself? There was?
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: She was the Mary Tyler Moore, you know what I mean?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And I didn't understand that structural change in putting us
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: together when we really didn't have even that much to do.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: But we knew each other, and I said, you know,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: first of all like his big sister. So it felt
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: a little incestuous crush on you that first mention. You
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: don't have to you know, I was young I was
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: mel But the thing was we were friends and we
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: did have good communication. We could talk. I had better
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: communication with him than most of my relationships. There's no pressure.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: We've I'll tell you the bad, he tell you the good.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Tell you what a lot. I was gonna ask was
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it difficult to stay on TV? Because at the time,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: there was nothing like this on television, nothing about HBCU,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: nothing about colleges. Was it difficult to stay on television?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I thought the first season was difficult. I really took
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: the job expecting maybe we'd get six or eight episodes
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: dud and go back to New York, New York. It
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: was shot in La. Yeah, they shot in La. Yeah,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: y'all made me feel like y'all shot in Virginia on campus,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Like I'm never in a millionars with a thought. Now
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: all the exteriors were in Atlanta and then spellming in
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: more House. Yeah, but yeah, we were just in the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: studio in LA and we weren't near The Cosby Show,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: which was filming in Silver Cup. So um, that was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: a disconnection too, because Californians they never heard of HBCUs. Now,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I grew up across the street from Morehouse. I'm from Atlanta,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: So it was as right as rain to me. I didn't.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize that black people nobody knew about black colleges,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: not on that side of it. I didn't. Ye, I
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: never heard of it. And then he's one of us
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: have gone to college, right, all going after these of
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: y'all actually attended an HC. In real life, I barely
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: got out of high school. I had to do summer
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: school and all of that school. Yeah, I had to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: go to summer school on fourteen Street, Like there was
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: not a fourteen seventeen Street. There was a little school
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: that when you was messing up in your high school,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: they sent you out someone. Why did the show? And
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I remember that and the ninety three yall went on
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: hiatus and it just never came back, Like yeah, yeah,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I think it was. I think once once we had Jesse,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: we were doing a lot of controversial stuff and I think,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you know, the Riot Show, and yeah, there was some
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: stuff that maybe the network wasn't as thrilled about. It
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was a lot of battles back and forth with Debbie
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and trying to, you know, make it current and relevant,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and it was like, yeah, it's just have the you know,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the Romans and The Chase and every every deep show
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: that we did. She fought for. It was a battle
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: with the network. Then white boys did not care about date, rape, apartheid, riot,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: HIV okay. They were like, just put Whitley and Dwayne
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and be funny. Wow, I did haze into haz Yes,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: So y'all didn't even see it coming in I saw
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it coming. We saw it coming because you know, you're
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: treating us like monkeys and we're not monkeys. We're not
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: doing your word, We're doing our word. And the power
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: that we had they diminished. I felt diminished because they
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: always said, but you come between Cosby and Cheers. I said,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: but people can change the channel, right, they don't have
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to watch this show. Yeah. Yeah. I just felt like
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: we were always on our own. I never felt a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: part of that Hollywood system. Like I would watch Roseanne
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Bar getting was like, I was like, is this cable whatever?
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: You want to go stupid? You know. I would see
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: people that were like the way we were an ensemble
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: company with with actors that and we would never get nothing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: You know that. I have Roseanne bar singing the anthem
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: at a at a Padre game. We got five singers
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: in our casto and we number two. Wow, that's crazy.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: So I always felt the exclusion. I always felt it,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: and I never felt a part of that whole. You
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: get emmies and never even got nominated, never invited to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the show. Wow, Like never like come on and present
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a joint or just be in the crowd and let
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: us shoot the cast. That's okay. You can't put too
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: much cloud up into that shit, ain'tyway. I agree with
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you that fact. We all can't put too much time.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: So you can't put too much in the criticism. You
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: gotta know who you are and where you belong. And
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: that was my family, that was my company. But you know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: they used to ask me to do stuff for NBC
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: like parades and shit and say happy birthday to cheers.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I say, why am I seeing happy birthday to day
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: black people on the I'm getting paid for what stage? Yeah,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: we have a stuff that you're scared that you're gonna
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: be stuck in character like that. Everybody always looked at
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: you as doing or you know, always looked at you
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: is you know Whitley. You know when you're ever scared
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: of that type getting type cast. I knew that as
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: soon as it was over. Well, I thought that I
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: should have did four years and graduated and maybe a
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: fifth year to transition into new cast members, new freshmen,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: and then and then they should have did four five
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: in transit. So in my eyes, the show should have
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: never ended. It should still be on now not reruns.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because it could be yeah, like how it
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: could be like grown, It could have been different world. Yeah,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: it could just always go on because they'll always be
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: kids in college and they'll always be something to talk about, right,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Like Whitley graduates, but you're still there, and then people
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: are coming in underneathy, and then you graduate and then
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the people you introduce. It just seemed like a perfect
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: vehicle to create young to showcase black talent. You know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: what didn't be said about typecasting is true, but also
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: man that that late eighties early nineties fame was so
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: big that we know y'all real names. Yea, Like I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: don't just know y'all characters. I know that Jackman guy
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and could Deem Hardeston's I think that means something too.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: What about Marissa till May right, that's the one white
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: character on the show. Was that something that you feel
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: like they said we got to put a white person,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: you know, on the show, or well we came on
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: after that, and I never understood it not being addressed.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: And I actually wrote an episode. This is how naive
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I was. I thought I could be on a show
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: and just write an episode. I was like, well, I
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: didn't write this, And I brought it to Susan and
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: it was addressing the fact that, um, well, she goes
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to a dance and she asked us boy that you
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: know danced with her and he was like, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I ain't dancing with no white girl. Are you trying
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to you know? And she it blew her away. She
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: comes back and she says, I never thought about it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: She said, well, why did you? Why did you come
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: to Helmet because they have the best journalism department in
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Virginia and they told me they're not addressing the white
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: person at the black school issue. Yeah, wow, why? I
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: don't know why because it was so obvious. The weirdest
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: thing to this day when I when I was in
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and it was white kids walking around camp. It was
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: just weird, like, you know, I wanted to be like why,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: but they got scholarships so they went. It was just
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: always weird it would be interesting to see what that
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: experience for them was like, they're like you said, yeah,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: point way more, especially when we carrying eggs eggs around
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: like babies. I'm like, we get ready to drink. Yeah,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: we listen, we are celebrating, y'all. You see we got
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the balloons on the back of that same helm. I'm sorry,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I'm embarifed by the champagne they got, but we not.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Don't know, damn budget, you should go opened the really,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: that's what really with the gradual we got we got
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: helm up there there you go. Thank you got to
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: give people their flowers, right, why not? Why not give
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: them to them literally my flowers. I'm very embrassed by
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the champagne. I'm sorry. I can't believe they would do that. Well,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: let me try it. I'll let you know. Back to you,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: though you said you wrote that episode, you also directed
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: some episodes, right, did you direct episodes too? Because I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: directed the fall Out my Chair, the two part episode, wow, um,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I directed to I directed another one too. I remember
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: one um, it was violent Captain the Cradle. No, that
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: was I can't remember his name. Thank you, sir. It's okay.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: It's been a while. Okay, so did they come to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: you or were you? Did you guys wanted because I
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: brushed my tea. I'm gonna drink it though, would y'all
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: do that? It doesn't need to be called sure, need
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: to be cold. He's trying to about Champagne. Had me
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: nervous about being on this show. I was like, is he? Like?
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Howard sterned like what is it? I have seen you,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I've seen you interviewed, but I haven't seen you. I
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: hadn't seen the show. So i go on YouTube and
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I'm watching it and I'm friends with Amanda Seal. Yes
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: you know, And I was like, okay, what's the problem, Like,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: what can we talk about that's going to be so horrible? Nothing? Nothing.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: So continued talking about directing and Debbie Allen so directing.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: When it came to directing and writing, Debbie made us
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: put it in our contracts that we had we got
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: to direct that's episode or two wow, write wow season
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: after with the second or third season the other third season?
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: How did she know that? Like? How did she know that?
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Something that you all want to do. The more you do,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the less they can tell you you can't do. Wow?
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: That was the word she said to me, because I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: was like, I don't wondering. I didn't want to go,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: and she said to me, We'll never have this opportunity again,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: so you will do whatever you can while we're in
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: this position of power and choice. You know, I wrote, like,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know, three three or four episodes he's directed,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Glenn Terman directed. You know. She was an advocate for
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: use this opportunity, so the next time, we're not behoven,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: you know. Um. And it was great crossing that barrier
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: of from actor to the writer's room and hearing how
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: they really talked about. I was like, oh, my good.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: You have to check people to check you have to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: check people in the writer's room. Oh. I didn't say.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I didn't say anything in the writer's room. I just
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: lessened because it was twelve of them. But I didn't
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I hadn't seen that process, because that all happened before
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: we get our notes, you know. And um, and well
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: it was it was my script that I had written,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: so I had to be in the writer's room. And
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: that was the first time I saw them imitate imitate
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: us woe yeah and say, oh no, you know, don't
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: don't give her that that's a waste. I was like, Oh,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: but it was good, you know. And it was good
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: that I was in there because, um, everybody, every artist
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: has to understand what the other artists do. You have
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: to have respect for what he does, what she does.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: You know, just because you're in front of the camera
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that's it, you know. And I knew that
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't create this character. I didn't write these words.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know how to speak French. You know, whatever
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: was going on. I didn't dress myself. I didn't do
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: my hair and makeup. So I was always aware of
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: delusion that's created by a team of people. But I
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: also come from theater, right when you know that, you
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: know that when you're on stage, you're not the only
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: one making all that happen. Um, I didn't have I
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: know what wasn't me because of the way I was raised.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I know politically I had I had a lot of
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: issues with what I had to say, but I knew
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: that there was somebody on this show that was going
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: to say the right thing. When you're the only black
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: person in a white cast, you have to say all
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the right things. But when when I was Whitley and
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I have him and Charlie and Cree if there are
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you know. I was like, well, somebody, because this is
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: what I'm about to say. When when I said to
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Um Charnel Kimberly Reese it was apartheid show and she
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: was gonna give up her scholarship because they were divesting,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I said, but I only know you. I don't even
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: know those tape because you know my first scene with
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Lisa Bona in the in the room, um, she's She's like,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: are you saying you you you parked in the handicap?
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I said, why should I be punished because I can
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: walk this bit as long as it's funny. But no,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the balance was that in the show, you know, i'd
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: have it out with him. I'd have it out with
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: somebody that would challenge that thought. So I had the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: freedom to really go there with her wrong, which usually
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: with acting I'm always like, ooh, I'm not gonna you know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: But with Whitley, I said, we're gonna, We're just gonna
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: let her go. You have money for wardrobe too. I
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: was gonna say that because your wardrobes is always fly. Yeah,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: so they gave you invested some money in your wardrobe.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Second season, you watch what I won the first season. No,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the wardrobe went to Lisa bone Nag as they should. Yeah,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: but I think the wardrobe spoke to those characters too,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: because Cecy did a great job knowing who these people were.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: So it's one person doing all seven of us, you know,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: from the bright colors to the um you know, I don't.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Do you wear suits when you go
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to class? I always felt like Whitley was overdressed the business.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: You had to business to tire. If you're in the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: business department, you have to wear a jacket. Oh and
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: what about those infamous glasses. The infamous glasses came from
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: our first year executive producer and beats passed away. Um. Yeah,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: she went to two nights before we shot my first episode.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: She went to a Bowie concert and I think his
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: bassis or his drummer had them on. And she came
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to me two days before and she was like, hey,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I saw these look kind of cool. Would you want
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: to wear them? And at the time I thought this
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: ship is so corny. Give me some glasses and a
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: hat and a hood anyway that I can hide myself
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and not be so recognized. I'll take it. Anything, so
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: so yeah, I donned him quick. I was like yeah, yeah, yeah, sure,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: bang got any hats. I was in charge of the sneakers,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I made sure that the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: foot I chose the footwear, but I let the wardrobe
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: people the wardrobe until it got down to the feet
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and then I was like, nah, I'll bring up some stuff.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: And the ages was really bright. I just remember shoulder
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: pads and bright. Those glasses I remember, and now they're
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: known as d Wayne Wayne glasses. Even when you see
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Jaffie Jeffer them on those Dwayne Wayne glasses no matter
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: who wear them, even to the day those dayne Win Glass,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Wade Wade wearing them. And yeah, now, what are your
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: thoughts on shows that represent black coach on on TV today?
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I enjoy particularly Atlanta. It's probably, you know, my favorite
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: show because it's it's just so weird and it's so different,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: it's so um out there that it was. It's one
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: of the regrets now is that and can get the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: chance to do an episode of Atlanta. Like m I
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: called my agent as soon as I heard Don was
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: doing a show on facts and was like, a bro,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: get me in, Like I'll pull cables, whatever they need
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: over there. I'll run camera whatever. I just want to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: be a partist because I think it's going to be
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: special and uh and damn at the ending and I
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: didn't get on it. So that's my favorite one. I
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: enjoyed Blackish and their run um and I've I've done
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a few episodes of Grownish, um and I like. I
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: like what they're doing. Although it's not an HBCU, it's not,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: it's not the same, but it's still focusing on some
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: black kids in college, you know, moding education, which I
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: think is you know, can't be done enough. That whole formula,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: that whole blueprint was called being in a different world.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Absolutely Blackish, Grownish Guaranteed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Shy
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and I like Insecure and I um, I am so
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: excited when I watched these shows because we would always
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: have ideas, but it was not the time I pitched
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of ideas. I had a production company, and
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: just to be able to see our voice and the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: textures of our culture, and um, that the producers are
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: black and that they are women, is that makes me
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: feel good. Absolutely. So Luthina Wave too, she you know,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: she loves, loves, y'all. Her whole production company is called
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Human Human Productions. Yep, yeah, I was gonna as you
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: mentioned a tuopoc episode. I know both of you guys
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: were close with Tupoca, cool with Tupacs, So how did
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: those relationships happen? For me? I was just directing them
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: that week, the better one, Okay, cool, all right, cold up.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know what come out with me. I'm not
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: really Yeah, yeah, I just got to direct him. I
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: was fortunate, you know. Uh Jada said he wanted to
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: do this show, and he was excited. And I know
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: friends with many MCS rappers, and I know how they
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: get fuck off some time. So I was real nervous,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: like my first week direct and I was like, is
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: he gonna show? Like because I I've messed around trying
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to do a video with Dirty and he never showed. Yeah,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I got your money. Yes, I remember that because yes.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And then actually, because I was working with them at
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the time, he actually came and did a video that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: he was on for Jess and they wouldn't let it
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: come out. The label weren't clear Dirty because he didn't
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: show up to his own video. Yes, I was down
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: there waiting six to seven hours they asked me. I
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: was like, of course, I love Yeah. When you see
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: that video, they don't really show his face, it's just like,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: yeah a big wig and yeah so um so yeah.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So I was just nervous as my first directing gig,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: just like, okay, I just hope he's and once he came,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: he was. I always thought it's not not a hot take,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: but I always thought he was probably going to be
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: a better actor than rapper. Yeah, I didn't. You know,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: music is subjective like blah blah blah. You like it
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: or you don't know, or it fits what you where
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: you are in the time of your life. I just
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: he scared me. As an actor. I was like, this
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: dude can reach places that I can't even imagine because eyes,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you know how they always talk about actors. You can
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: see what they can do by looking in their eyes,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: like podcast in mine. Look at him, go, Jamine, aren't
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you working on a documentary? Yes, they're doing a movie
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: about his mother. And I wrote the book Evolution of
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: a Revolutionary about a fanny. Um, it's just interesting. If
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: you stay here long enough, you'll see how interesting life is.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Because when I wrote that book, like you know, twenty
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: years ago. Whatever. It was really to empower a Faeney
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: because I felt like, you know, how would somebody do
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: good in your family? And then they bring the whole
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: family with him And I just saw this BOYD twenty one,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: like with all these people, like, what are you doing?
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: How come you ain't working? Wait? You in school? I
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: was just so middle class. Okay when I met the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Shaker Cox family, and I would I would just talk
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: to them one on one and just try to find
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: out where they were because I didn't I mean, if
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I had gotten a different world and my whole family
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: was depending on me too, you know what I mean.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I never knew that pressure. And when I talked to
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: a Faeny First of all, I always wanted to tell
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: the story of a email panther because I feel like
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: all the movies that I've seen have been biased, I
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: mean because they don't tell the truth about the I
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: know you were in one, you know, yeah, but how
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: macho and how you know sexist? Yeah, the misogyny was rampant.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: That was the era too, though, Like that's that whole era.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying it hasn't been told that, you know,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: And I thought, well, can we tell aside of shakur story?
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Can we of, you know, doing Angela Davis? Can we
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: do Kathleen Clever? And when I met Tupac, I didn't
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: want to say, oh, I can't wait to meet your mom,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: So I didn't um But and I didn't really realize
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: her story because it was all the newspaper. It was.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: There wasn't any Lenny your story about her. Anyway, I
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: started talking to her about telling her story and doing
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: speaking engagements on her own. Right. She's highly intelligent, and
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know that's how it started. And I ended
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: up writing the book because she didn't want to talk
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: to nobody else. I mean, after we had done all
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: those interviews and stuff. She was like then. And then
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: there was a lot going on with Tupac. And when
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: I met him, I met him four months before he
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: was shot. Then he healed, then he went to jail,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: then he came out, then he had shot again, you
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: know what I mean. And so I just put it
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: on the back burner. But a Pheney's story is incredible,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and she wanted to talk more about her life than
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the Panther movement, because that's like from nineteen to twenty one,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: she wanted to talk about crack, she wanted to talk
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: about her recovery, she wanted to talk about, um, you know,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: raising her two kids. And you know, I don't know,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: so I wanted to ask y'all man, you know, I
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: often feel spoiled because I'm forty four. So you know,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: like in the mid eighties, we saw black sitcoms like
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: The Jeffersons and Different Strokes, but then you know, the
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Cosby's came in two, two sevens in Different Worlds. But
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like all of that just came to a
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: abrupt end, like towards the end of the nineties. Number one.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Do you think that was the renaissance for black TV?
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: And do you think there was something bigger at play
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: to stop all of those positive images of black people
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: on TV? It only seems that like if it walks
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: like a duck and it quacks like a duck. Um,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I don't have any evidence to support it except for
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: the optics. So yeah, I do think it was our
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: last season number two, number one. Sometimes Colby in a
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: different world for five, six, seven years. Okay, why would
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: you put why would you change our time slot? And
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: why would you put us again against Martin? Wow? Yeah,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: I definitely took that personally. You ain't got but two
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: black shows on the networks, and you put us at
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the same time against each other, And what have we done?
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: What have we done to deserve this kind of disservice?
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: You know, we're not competing with Martin. We come under
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: eight thirty, they come on at eight. Why did you
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: move us? That was detriment? That because Cosby show ended,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: and didn't they put y'all up at eight because Cobby
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: was deleting. Okay, so that could have been it just
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: strong enough. We weren't strong enough to hold another time
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: slot and not against Martin. Yeah, my fact. I feel
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: like we have the same audience, and so what do
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: white people do divide? That's right, that's right, that's right.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: You and you. You got two hit shows, Let's put
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: them on at this same time. They don't do that
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: to their own shows. So, yes, I do feel like
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: it was deliberate. I feel like it was racist. I
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: know who was running NBC at the time, and I
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: don't feel we were respected m because I feel like
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I feel like they always said y'all came between Cosby
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and Cheers, and that's why you're number two. They said
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: that to my face. I did, Dennis, um, Yes, so
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: what was chips? Was chips three? I don't know? Yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: all right, he was they were three. So they thought
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: it was because of the network that these shows were
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: having all the success because as a time slot between
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: one and three, we gotta be between one and three. Yeah,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: which is fine, right, I really don't care, you know,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: but that you make that a point that I come
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: on a nighttime talk show with Joan Rivers or Dennis
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Miller and that's the first thing after your mouth, well
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: how does it feel to be between Cosby and Cheers?
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: And and sometimes I didn't I didn't know how to
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: answer it. And Dennis Miller even said to me that
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: was that was a horrible lead, Yes, because you fucking
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: insulted me and you acting like I'm the ship, which
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: one of mine, you know, because people would have turned
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: off right after the Cosby Show and not watch that
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: or Cheers? Did they pay y'all like y'all wanted to didy,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: I'll get paid? Or did you have to fight for that?
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: We had to fight for that. I went and did
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: I went, And the White Man can't jump can I
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: have another champion something good stuff. I went and did
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: White Man Can't Jump and met Body Harrelson and and
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: he was doing cheers and they had a way bigger ensemble,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: and you know, he kind of let me in on
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: what he was making. I was like, y'all, number three,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: what I know. That's when it hurts. It's when we
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: go when we talked word up. We went out into
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: the field and found out the cheers they were. I
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: was like, how he had an assistant all kind of
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: chick going on. I was like, where you get, Like
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: you just came off the bike in New York. But
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: I'm confused about that because you had Bill Cosby, who
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: already had so much success. Why wouldn't he give that
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: game to the spinoff show the He purposely had us
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: shoot in California away from him. I don't think he
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: wanted to have to shoulder. He was running. He was
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: running this this was it boom, y'all go over here
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: and work that out. And then when it wasn't working
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: to the way I think we all wanted called the
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Debbian said miss then getting in with your broom and
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: clean that shit up. It seemed like she was a
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: blessing though. Absolutely, no, No, she was the best thing
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: that could have happened to us. That show was Dad. Yeah,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: that show was on that show and Susan fails. I mean,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: we had brilliant women running that show, turning out around,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: fighting against the network, fighting for you know, she said,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: where's the dark skinned people at this school? Where's the
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: brown people? You can't it? I don't know. I just
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: thought that first season, I already had called my parents.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I was like, well, I've made um, I've made thirty
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars and I paid off Greg and I'm paying
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: off my Amax and I'm going back to my apartment
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: because I thought that ship was Booty got paid during
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: the table, y'all was number one and number two. Can
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: we say thirty years ago? I thought you I thought
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: I saw you say that somewhere. I thought I saw
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: I think he was with Ryan Cameron or I saw
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: you said somewhere miss guy. You know Ryan, Yeah, radio legion,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: of course, I like you radio people. I saw you
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: say that somewhere. How much y'all made? It was the
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: first season. I made thousand dollars a week. I mean
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: that was I was like, that was what dollars at
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: the Village Game. I didn't have any compny games. Yeah,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: you know, I had done. When I did Broadway as
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: an ensemble member, I made eight hundred dollars a week.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: That was a lot of money. When I did Fame
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the TV show, I was making seven hundred and fifty
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: dollars a week. And when I worked when they Danced
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: with Ali's, I made seventy five dollars a week. This year,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: I just thought, he but we only had contracts for
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: seven episode. You didn't know how lot it was gonna last. No,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: and they were firing people to sign years before you that.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah no. But I went into the producers and I
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: tried to give my two week notice, right she. I said,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I'm very grateful for this. And because that that first season,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you it was whack. And I didn't like
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the way they were treat treating Lisa bon name. And
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: they said, well have they said, had so and so
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: said anything to you? I said, you disrespect her in
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: front of the audience in front of me. You disrespected
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: me too. Just do it just all up in her face.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: And you know, I'm like, that's a sweet girl, because
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: you're not getting up on me like that, and you
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: know we've that with bitches. I mean we from New
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: York as far as choreographers and directors and whatnot. But
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I didn't interfere on set,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: but I was like, oh no, oh no, you're not
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: treating her like that. She had dire security really, so
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: that's why she quit. Probably no because wanted her to
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: be on because you didn't want to show black girl
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: pregnant in college that I thought it would have been
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: a great UM tool and something to it could inspire,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: because it was all inspiring, So why not, you know,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: because that's the real thing. Still get your education. As
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I've heard so many rumors that I don't know where
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: what comes from. I've heard that he wanted to incorporate
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: it on the show on our show. I've also heard
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: that Jesse wanted to um have a single mom because
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: he's from a single mom that went through school. And
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: then I've also heard that UM that was a network
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: that didn't want to incorporate her wholesome whatever. But first
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: of all, it was have given her something to play, absolutely,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: because I felt like they were always looking for Denise huckstaball,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: you're not using the meat that she comes from. You
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: don't know what you're looking at because you haven't seen
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: a little black girl like this before. And to give
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: her a baby, you go something to do and it
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: would have helped the jalsaccount ye, and then your ass
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: would have been human have been messing with you. You
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: you gotta go back to when you quit, so you
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: quite They didn't tell me. They didn't tell me that
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: I couldn't quit, but you know, come back to mo
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: No see you in the morning. I had grievances, so
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: as I was quitting, I was also expressing my grievances
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: and they listened to those, and then he asked me
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: if I had any insight to such and such. I
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: said no, no, not really, Like I just want to
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: go back to New York and get another job. Is
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: what's such story up to? Yaw, y'all got more money too, though,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: How do you end up getting the more money after
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the conversation with Woody Housing? Uh? Yeah, it was it
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: was hold out time for me. It was we held
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: out yeah as a team. Boy. No, we should have
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: done it together, but we did it separately. Sometimes I
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: was the last one and it was like the reading
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: and all this drama, and I'm like, why do I
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: have to do this? It is very degrading. It's very degrading.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: And then you know other actors that aren't going to
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: that bullshit. I'm like, yeah, I remember, I remember sitting
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: at home playing sick, like, I'm sorry, Debbie, I can't
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: get I'm not gonna make it. He was taking COVID
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: all those years ago. I'm not gonna be able to come. Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: I was like, I said, and I think I think
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Jasmine is sick too, And she said, Darling, Jasmine is here.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: And I was like, damn it, yeah codate and had
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: to get on and get in my car and drive
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the work late like yeah, I'm better now. But y'all
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: oventually got the money though, Yeah yeah, okay, yeah, I
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: mean got some we got the money I got. I
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: got what wood he was making when I talked to
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: him up. There was your mom in the business at
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: this point. She was my manager. She was okay, so
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: all the time she was managing Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: I taught her. She says, not me, power of no.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: You know. She was like, I think you should go
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: back in. I was like, no, not for that, not
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: for this. Okay because fierce. Okay, yeah that's yeah. Yeah.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: I was yeah, she'll say that right there. I learned
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: about the power of no, and you knew your worth
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and wouldn't go in and take less than this. And
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I was kind of like, we got a contract. I
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: don't know how we're gonna get out. We notice you
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: have to get fired. I guess yeah, right, that's the
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: only way you know, they can fire you, right, Yeah?
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that set someone breaking up with you, right,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: you have to make them break up. Yeah, you gotta
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: be bad guys. But y'all, I have a callback and
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: they give me a paper like a contract like this, right,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: I'm just signing it. I look at how much I'm
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: gonna make that six thousands, right, I was like, oh,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: you know, and I haven't gotten the job yet, right right.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: This is the other thing. Yeah, it's my car back.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: So they put me in one room and the other
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: girl in another room. They said, one of you are
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: going home and one of you going to the reading. Yes,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: the table read who's the other girl? I am not.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: I am not calling that girl's name. Of course I
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: remember her. She's still around. I don't know anything big
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: in the movie world. TV World. I don't know. Okay,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I want to ask y'all about I'm blind. I want
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: to ask about Black Love, right because Dwayne and Whitley
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: set the tone for black love for what seemed like
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: that whole generation show. Seen the show, yes, he was, Okay,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna see it. Yeah, I love that show. Oh,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: I wish I had seen that show before I got married.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: But I want to ask about that though playing those
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: roles of Dwayne and Willy teach y'all anything about your
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: own relationships outside of the show. Wow, really good question,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Charlotte Mayne. There was some crossover because I was having
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: a better sometimes I was having a better relationship that
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: was scripted than in my real life, and other times
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: I didn't know how to negotiate real life. Like it
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: was one thing to be able to play something that
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: someone tells you to do and you know, and he's
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: easy to love and easy to work with. But um,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: I kind of I don't know. I feel like I
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: was a bit of a mess in my real relationship.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: But I been taught to him because I didn't understand
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: the language. I didn't understand um ultimatums and um men speak,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: and I don't know. And you know, I got famous
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: during during the relationship too, and I felt like he
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: was good with me as a dancer in the ensemble,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: but not so good with me and star. And then
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: and then that I again was like, well, you weren't
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: listening to me. You didn't know who I was. You know,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: you don't know if somebody gets famous or not, but
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: certainly you knew that I was talented. Certainly there's a
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: possibility and you can't handle that. What am I? What
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: am I supposed to do with that? First of all,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I have a daddy and I have friends, male friends.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: You're not the only You're not, you know, the only
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: male figure in my life. And if you're not happy,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: you should lead physic insecurities. So and then I'm playing Whitley,
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: who's younger than me. I mean, her her age is
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: in her twenties and I'm in my thirties, you know.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: And Okay, for example, I'll just say this, when we
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: got married, When Joyn and Whitley got married, I was
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: breaking up with my boyfriend of five years. Wow. Wow.
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: And the irony of that was like people were coming
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: up to me talking about congratulate. How do you feel
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: how you nervous. I'm not any more nervous than I
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: have been for less six years on this. Get a
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: lot of nervous today you get married. You do understand
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: its acting that I'm not really getting married, that this
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: ain't the drash right the producer something, Oh my god,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: are you nervous? You're like, no, let's go already. And
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: you never tried to really highlight her when when she
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: lost her Man and y'all were so close and so tight.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: You never never cross the line that I was in
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: love with that's right, Yeah, yeah, and they were best friends.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: That would look now, guy, how did the impact you
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: off the air? Like having that that that? Yeah, it was.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: It was strange. It was like it was too much
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: fun to pretend to be in love with. Yeah, it
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: was just it was too much of a joy. Um
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: the relationships off screen, it was Cree pretty much most
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: of the time we worked, and then then we broke up,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: and and and as um as she was breaking up
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: with me giving me the ring back and was getting
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: ready to run off and messed with Joe Morton's character,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: Cree and I had kind of broke up. Damn, what
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: if they had written to the script that now you
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: increase characters gotta be together after y'all she was with
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Gary Dordan. Yeah yeah, I was like, I was like
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: one of the first yeah yeah yeah. So so the
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: only difficulty and the whole thing for me was was,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: you know, having to go to work and having your
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: ex kind of be there. And I think people think
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: that we bleed in and out of reality and truth,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: you know, it's because I never thought about none of that, right,
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: I never thought about dumb draftsman. I mean, I don't
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: even think about that. Okay, who I need to be
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: right now? Boom, and my real life is more important
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: to me than any of these bitches I play. Okay,
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: So when people feed into this fantasy like oh, he's
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: with Cree, So I'm not kind of talk it. That
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: don't happen when we off camera. We off camera, when
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: we on camera. Let me tell you, everybody on that
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: show was good. Good. That's the key too, That's right,
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: Daryl Bell, Lou Myers, Glenn Turman, Peddla Bell, Sean now
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. We were not passing the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: ball to other amateurs, That's right, y'all. The nineties bulls
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: talk and I don't think actors, you know, sometimes they're
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: so uptight that they don't want to talk and they
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: don't want to get notes from other people or whatever.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: But okay, let me tell you one thing that Cadeen
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: told me. I was in makeup and then I was
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: in the middle of doing this scene with Joe Morton.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: First of all, he was pissed because I had a
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: rule with him that we don't kiss until it's time
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: to film. Time to take. You don't need to kiss
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: him all week. I mean, you don't have to pack
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: the snow kiss, right, And so to Morting comes on
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: and he kisses me for real and rehearsal. But I
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: was taking a back, you know, because he said, I know,
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: I know, you just Joe Morton taking his tongue down.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: You're I said, I didn't know what to say. You
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: don't used to yes, right, And then then we're filming.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: We're filming just like a Thursday, and you you pop in.
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: I'm in makeup and I say, um, something's wrong with
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: the scene. You know, there's it just it just I
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: don't know it wasn't He said, y'all need to go
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: to the life the laboratory gets some chemistry. Wow, I
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: looked at him like yeah, yeah, it was like good luck.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: He was like, yeah, work on it. You ain't got
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: no chemistry, that's what's wrong. I thought it was gonna
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: give me a note like if you sit on his lap,
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: you know. No, he was like, y'all need to go
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: to the laboratory and get some chemistry. Y'all have in
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: chemistry or did y'all have to like spend time together
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: offset to build that up? Um? I think I think
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: the chemistry act the actor was instant, but to really,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: um make the love story true, it was work because
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: I was ultra respectful of Dominic her relationship and create
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: my relationship, so I wasn't really trying to, you know,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: go for it. Yeah. She came one day after rehearsal
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: kind of like she could have with Joe but didn't,
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: and said, this scene isn't working, Honey. When I come
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: in the room, you have to act like you like me.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: And I was being ultra respectful, trying to keep everything
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: out in front, and I didn't understand, and she said, okay,
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: hold on, you beat me and I'm gonna beat you.
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: So then I played with Lee for that little scene
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: and she played Duayne and she came in the room
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: with a whole different energy. I was like, okay, so
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: go for it. It was like, if you're gonna be
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: my man, if I'm gonna be your girl, and then
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: it's got to be that way. It's the only way
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: it's gonna work. And I'm like, you can't. Gotta tell
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: me twice And that was it. And then from there,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: I think the relationship just got more real, more authentic,
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: and connected to people on a whole other way. I
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: was able to touch it anyway, getting her face anyway,
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: get mad at her and pointer anyway, and I love it. Yeah, yeah, right,
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I know y'all gotta go, But I gotta ask this.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: Speaking of that, when you crashed away, you looked very sincere,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: like like like that's why people feel like what who
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: we was watching was real real, you know what I mean?
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: What did you do to motivate yourself to get into
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: that space to do that? Um? I didn't agree with
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: the whole like we had done so many real things
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: on the show, so many things that were that were
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: that felt real. That that from the Age and the
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: Apotheid and all of that for me to cray actually
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: this wedding, like this felt like a complete leap, didn't
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: make any sense. So and I read it two weeks before.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: It was a two part episode, so I knew for
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: two weeks that I was gonna have to get to
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: that place where I had to break up this wedding.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: And it was really hard. And one thing I gave
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: I gave myself was as I'm coming down the aisle,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: there's a dude on my left I told him, I said,
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: when you grabbed me, make sure you get a good
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: grip on my left arm because I want to struggle
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: and try to get away. Wow. And as soon as
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: I felt him go to grab me, I gave him
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: a swim move and got out of it and that
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: propelled me forward. So it just kind of and then
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: he had to regrab I made him look silly, but
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: he had to regrab me and then pull me out,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: and I lost the lyrics. Like I was so um,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: I was so no, no no, I was so nervous
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: about if I don't get it right the first time,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: it's going to degrade, it's gonna get worse, and it's
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: gonna get worse because I'm really having a hard time
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: committing to all of these words. Wow, I'm really I
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: don't believe it. Kadeem doesn't believe it. Dwayne has to
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: believe it. So I have to kind of put myself there.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: And that had never been a problem before. I could
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: always just put myself there and go for it. And
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, I didn't buy it. So um.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Once I, you know, was getting dragged out and lost
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: the lyric, I panicked and I and I knew that
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: her cue was will you. I'm supposed to run down
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: all the valves and say will you, which is what
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: the preacher has and then she said I do, but
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: I got lost in the lyric and uh and just
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: yelled out, baby please, just because I was drowning. I
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: was like, fuck, I'm just like, we're gonna have to
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: do this again and again and again, and it's gonna
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: get worse every time and it will never be like that.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: That was the first and only take in front of
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: that audience. That audience lost it. Were you were aware
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: that he was drowning in the time? How did you
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: know I was standing there because the audience was screaming too,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: you know, And I was like, hold it, hold it,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: I said, baby please. And then the second please it
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: was like jazz. Yeah. I knew that. I knew that
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: was jazz because please, baby, please, from from school day. Yeah.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: So I was like, wow, okay, I got you help
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: me and we are not doing this shit again. Okay,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: it was like that first day. Yeah nothing magic, Yeah, yeah,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: became over you said you said that became over the
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: loudspeaker because the director is up in the booth and
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: so we can't see her directly. We can only hear
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: her when she gives notes or she'd give him to
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: the stage manager and he'll come a whisper something to us.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: But she came over after everybody they calmed down, she said,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: got it moving on? Wow. Yeah, I think what a relief. Wow.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: So you don't want to do that again because of
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the the emotional bill that was in there. But both
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: of us thought that ship was corny. No, no, well,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: he complained, I didn't even know you had all that
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: that you said to them before, because I complained, I said,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: please don't do the graduate Are we doing the graduate
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: up in the year? I don't know all I felt
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: it was disrespectful, you know, and and and I've I've
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: spoken that Spellman and those girls were like you know
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: that's that wasn't a compliment for him to come up
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: there at the last minute the night before you at
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: your mama's house. And if it had been me in
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: my real life and you came up in my mama's house,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: you know, and then the next day you object no
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: too late. When they asked the question at the way,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: and they do say if anybody disagrees with just yea
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: and coming to her coming to her mama's house was
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: my idea. I told the writers. They were like, well,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: how can't we make it better for you? How can
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: you make it for better for you? And I said,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: here's what I would do. Yeah, I would go the
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: night before and say, hey, if you really feel this, like,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: we could jump this fence and get out of here
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: and then I'll never see us and I ain't gotta
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: do all of this wildness, you know, tomorrow. So that
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: was me saying to the writers, give me, you know,
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: this is what I would rather do, and they was like,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: you can do that, but you still gotta go and
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: do this. Yeah. And that's why that part one it's
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: more real to me than that opened the door. I know.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: I was like it was like yeah, because I was
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: like really, yeah, really, they gotta go guys. Okay, see
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: one I tested on Saturday on Saturday four, Yes, marathon,
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: We'll be there yapping away in between joints. However, they
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: cut it up. We went and did a little sit
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: down with them and uh and just talked. Oh and
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: I'm on Amazon. Did you go um harlem? Yeah, I
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: played Grace fires Mom okay um, And I'm a Jamaican
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: bitch so it's funny. And then yeah, I've been I
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: played Jamaican many times. Okay, okay, okay, I've been a
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: dance girl. Okay, Hey, I can't make my booty do
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: one at the time. And then I have a movie
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: called The Lady Makers. It's on Amazon too, The Lady
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: Makers Demon. We love y'all, and we value y'all, and
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: we appreciate no hip hop. I know next time time,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: let me come back. Absolutely, you got the mf dom
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: joining you got trying to try. It was like we
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: got the same watching we got hip hop. I have
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: no idea what those things. Okay, well it's the breakfast class. Hey.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: We love, we love y'all, we value y'all, we appreciate y'all,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: we celebrate y'all always man. Thank you for every contribution
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: to the culture that y'all have ever made, and it
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: was a pleasure to meet both. For you, it's the
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: breakfast