Black Comedy in America Episode 1
Black Comedy in America Episode 1 - The Original Kings of Comedy
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00:00I see some of y'all ain't laughin', you kiss my ass, that's funny.
00:12Fearless.
00:13They talk to you at work, what are you going to do for excitement today?
00:16I'm going to drive past the police and try not to get my ass whooped.
00:19Groundbreaking.
00:20I see my sister on drugs, I ain't ashamed to tell ya, some of your family members f****d
00:25too, Rhonda.
00:27And their style, their success.
00:30We had a togetherness that I ain't seen since.
00:33We went out there to make you laugh as hard as we could, and we supported each other in
00:37that because at the end of the day, the kings of comedy was the whole.
00:42Completely changes what's possible for the next generation.
00:45I'm a grown ass man, dawg.
00:48And you ain't calling no other dude delicious.
00:53Black comedy has many greats, but only four kings.
01:23In the 90s, black stand-up was colorful, and like, it felt very hip-hop.
01:35It was, you don't get to tell us what to do, you don't get to tell us how to be funny.
01:41I couldn't give him no blowjob.
01:43My big ass lips, his little old dick.
01:45It wouldn't work.
01:4690s comedians were special.
01:48Black comedy was, I think, probably at its all-time high at that point in the 90s.
01:52Definitely was.
01:53I mean, we all gotta admit, the pinnacle of 90s comedy was the kings of comedy.
01:59All of them are major headliners.
02:02Three of them, except for Bernie, were on major TV shows.
02:05I just saw a rat.
02:07A big rat.
02:08A hood rat.
02:09Gold teeth, do-rag.
02:11I think he had a beefle.
02:12So for them to come together and start selling out, you know, theaters and stadiums and arenas.
02:17I mean, it was just, it was a perfect combination, man.
02:20It summed up what 90s comedy was.
02:22I don't think any other combination could have done that.
02:28Cheers, man.
02:29Always great seeing you brothers, man.
02:31Always, brother.
02:32It's good.
02:33A lot of people don't think this is real.
02:34Wait, wait, wait.
02:35Wait for me.
02:36Wait for me.
02:37I'm gonna get a drink.
02:38Oh, man.
02:39Crispincer.
02:40Steve, thank you.
02:41For sure, man.
02:42Anytime.
02:43Some of y'all said yes and didn't even know what I was doing.
02:44I sure didn't know.
02:45Steve gave us a hard little push.
02:46That's a Crispincer move, man.
02:47That's the clout you got, though.
02:49Like, Crisp, hey, man, meet me over here in Winston.
02:53What we doing, Crisp?
02:54I'll tell you.
02:55I'll tell you when you get there.
02:56If you're not late, I'll tell you.
02:57Yeah.
02:58You know what's so funny?
02:59You always hear from some of our cohorts that, you know, black people don't work together
03:04in Hollywood.
03:05I don't know what that is, because I've never called you, I've never called you, and I've
03:09never called you, and you guys didn't say yes or give me a quick no, so I appreciate
03:14that you guys are here tonight.
03:15Yeah.
03:17You know, like, we come from a generation where it's just different anyway.
03:19Like, we definitely had to be in the clubs together.
03:22We was from the era when it was a lot of lions out there.
03:26A lot of lions.
03:27Yeah.
03:28I'm talking about everybody had a cold sex.
03:29That's what had me in the White Rules for so long.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I always think about me and D.L., we heard of each other, and then we saw each other
03:37in the airport in St. Louis.
03:38Airport, coming through St. Louis.
03:39Okay, what year was this?
03:40And it was like, this was, ooh.
03:41Early 90s?
03:42Late 80s?
03:43Maybe late 80s, yeah.
03:44Late 80s.
03:45You know, everybody flying Southwest, you know what I'm saying?
03:48You know, trying not to be in the backward seats when they had the backward seats on
03:52the air.
03:53Right, sure, sure.
03:54Steve was almost the same way for me.
03:55Like, somebody else had mentioned him to me, and so we knew of each other.
03:59Right.
04:00B, at the time, he was just like a big brother and a comrade, all at the same time.
04:04Like, one of these people that, you know, he did a lot of comedy in Chicago, and B was
04:08one of the top ones.
04:10And Bernie was alive today doing what Bernie was doing.
04:13Bro, we, how?
04:14How far could this go?
04:16This the funniest dude I've ever been around in my life, man.
04:20I know the first thing you say, that's a black mother****er that came out here.
04:24I know I'm a black mother****er, I know I'm black.
04:27I started to really shock y'all this evening, you know?
04:29I started with all black, and some blue contact lenses, I'd have ****ed y'all up.
04:35I've already said he was a bad dude out of St. Louis.
04:37I met Steve because I'd heard about him.
04:39He's a bad dude out of Cleveland.
04:42And you would hear, it was mythic.
04:43It was like hearing about Bigfoot, a ****ing unicorn.
04:47They said yachting is America's number one sport.
04:49You don't never see none of us yachting, do you?
04:52Uh-uh.
04:53After that first big boat ride, uh-uh, we kind of lost that taste for sailing.
04:57You were on a different level.
04:58Like, you were, Steve Harvey was, you were R. Richard Pryor.
05:02Right.
05:03Oh, wow.
05:04You know what I mean?
05:05Like, I heard about you because I used to open up for Jeff Foxworth.
05:08So I knew about you in these mainstream rings, destroying.
05:12You ever just get tired of being po'ed?
05:15You ever just wake up sometime in the morning and just go...
05:27Another po'ed ****'s day.
05:29It was just a different level of comedy.
05:31And then I remember when you came to town, there was always this buzz.
05:33Uh-huh.
05:34Cedric the Entertainer.
05:35I'm like, what's his real name?
05:36I'm like, nobody knows.
05:37It was amazing to see you put the house in a frenzy.
05:40Oh, you can't listen to the radio no more.
05:42You can't.
05:43I was riding around with my daughter, six-year-old daughter, out kicking it, you know.
05:46You know, she just singing, you know.
05:48Freak in the morning, freak in the evening.
05:50Oh, hell no.
05:51Uh-uh.
05:52****.
05:53Not my daughter.
05:54I'm coming up.
05:57I remember the first time seeing you.
05:59It was the, uh, the Bay Area Comedy Competition.
06:01Right, right.
06:02And I thought me, Sulee, and Sean Wayans were the only black comedians in L.A.
06:06And y'all was on the stage, and I looked at my little joke book.
06:09It was like, I am not a comedian.
06:11I am not, I am not ready for what I'm looking at.
06:13I didn't even know it was a recession.
06:15Black people didn't know, because we've been broke forever.
06:18Black people know how to get around being broke, huh?
06:20Because we'll put some **** on layaway, won't we?
06:22Won't we?
06:24Black comedians keep comedy clubs and venues afloat now.
06:27Absolutely.
06:28But back then, we were nothing.
06:29They do.
06:30They mistreated us.
06:31Yep.
06:32At that time, they charged black people $30 to go.
06:35Because they were trying to make it cost prohibitive.
06:38They didn't want them in there.
06:39Right, right.
06:40But they said, these n****s are going to be in there, and they're going to pick.
06:42I remember playing at a joint in Charlotte, and they made me,
06:45tried to make me sign a paper that said, you can't joke about white people.
06:48White folk never get cold.
06:50They'll go to a football game outside with just paint on.
06:53It's brisk.
06:54White people let their kids make decisions.
06:56Well, you can make decisions when you're older.
06:59Not no black kids.
07:00Like, it was like, and I said, nah, man.
07:02He said, well, we're not going to let you play.
07:04I said, well, you better tell these three sold-out shows they got to go.
07:07Now in the militia, these crazy mother******,
07:09these are a bunch of white dudes who are mad at the government.
07:11Now, maybe they covered this in the 65 days I was absent from history class,
07:15but the government of this country was constructed for white men by white men.
07:21We never worked with each other because in the white clubs,
07:24they didn't hire two black acts ever back together.
07:28And Sad got sent home because he was working with a black dude.
07:32That's how I met him.
07:33At the white club.
07:35If there was a black headliner, there was going to be a white medalist.
07:37You got to go home to be there.
07:39And so I drove 10 hours to Dallas expecting to get this money.
07:43I get down there to do the white club.
07:45There's another black headliner.
07:47It was one of these things, like, I'm stuck, man.
07:49I mean, I'm supposed to make, I got $150 or $120.
07:54I got to stay with a girl.
07:56I took her to Applebee's when that was new.
07:59That was big time.
08:00The salads are cold, but the fajitas are hot.
08:03And everything else is just too cool.
08:05Don't judge me.
08:07Come on, Applebee's when it first came out?
08:09Man, come on, man.
08:10That was big time.
08:11That was before the 200.
08:13That was somebody, you know what I mean?
08:14She was like, let me stay with her for that.
08:16You know, I was like, oh, so that was then.
08:18Can I get a rimless?
08:19I'm going to get it.
08:20That was my move.
08:21But then I was supposed to make $300.
08:23And they canceled it all.
08:25So I go by Steve's club.
08:27And you know, just so happens that the headliner is bombing.
08:31And so Steve's like, man, you think you can go up
08:33and do something with this crowd?
08:35I go up.
08:36I kill.
08:37He said, look, man, I can't promise you nothing.
08:39But come back.
08:40If this dude keep bombing, I'm going to let you go on stage.
08:42And I'm going to figure it out.
08:43You know what I'm saying?
08:44And sure enough, I was working.
08:46So he kept throwing me up as his surprise at the end of the night
08:49and then booked me.
08:50All of it felt like a crush.
08:52And then for somebody to see you and go, I see you.
08:55Like, you know, it was dope.
08:56So but basically, that was one of those things
08:58that we really became really tight friends from there.
09:04I was the first one that was paying black actors.
09:06Because I wanted them to make money like I wanted to make money.
09:11So for you to come to my club and make $1,000 or $1,500 for the weekend,
09:15that's what I paid them.
09:16That was unheard of in 89.
09:19You don't get that kind of money, man.
09:21You would have thought I was in the slave movement
09:24Big boy offered me $1,000.
09:26I was like, Mr. Harvey, sir.
09:29I chose to thank you, sir.
09:32Lord have mercy.
09:33You know what this is going to do for my family.
09:37All you missed was that.
09:38$1,000.
09:40I remember when you paid me, I went in the back and cried.
09:43Because I'd never seen that.
09:45In a plane ticket, in a hotel room.
09:47It was such a different thing.
09:49Because I'd never seen.
09:52I was like, this is all mine?
09:55So it wasn't that many places that black people could work.
09:58But he had this club called Voodoo Rays in Dallas.
10:01South Dallas.
10:02And I remember I was on stage.
10:04And I remember you came in.
10:06And we did until almost 6 o'clock in the morning.
10:10We were on stage until 6 o'clock in the morning.
10:12And nobody would leave.
10:14I mean, really, that night, we didn't know it.
10:16But it was a prelude to what we were going to do eventually.
10:19Well, that's kind of like the beginning of The Kings.
10:22The Kings is here.
10:24So if you're ready for the rest of the show to get started, everybody say yeah!
10:28The Kings of comedy consists of four of the baddest tickets sellingest brothers in the country to date.
10:37How can we classify these guys?
10:39Everybody has their own style.
10:41D.L. Hughley is one of the masters of the quick whip.
10:44It's funny because white people lay out in the sun all day long and look like niggas, which is stupid.
10:48Don't they know if they get a real good tan, look too much like a nigga, they might get laid off.
10:53Cedric is like your uncle at the barbecue.
10:56It was so hot I saw a greyhound bus and a dog was on the inside.
11:04Bernie Mac is that dude.
11:06He was the comic that would say what other comics were afraid to say.
11:10That plane that crashed, excuse me, I got to talk about it.
11:12That was some bullshit.
11:14White folks, y'all better learn how to fight.
11:19He got a butter knife hijacking a goddamn plane.
11:21That's bullshit.
11:23Steve was just the perfect host.
11:24He brought it all together, man.
11:26I'm just out here tripping.
11:27I'm trying to stretch the show out far as it'll go.
11:30I done drove around this raggedy motherfucking town.
11:33Trust me, we need to stay in here as long as we can.
11:36I don't think he's hosting Family Feud if they didn't see Kings of Comedy.
11:41If that's up there, I'm going to shoot myself.
11:47In the teeth.
11:50On national TV.
11:52And I'm going to send a tape to TMZ.
11:55They were all A-lists in the black community comics.
11:59So putting all four of those together was just an incredible sight to see.
12:03I definitely want to go back to the actual beginnings of the Kings.
12:07The tour, how you guys went from theater to arenas and stadiums.
12:11What is that first year?
12:13I remember Walter, he did a couple of years with Jess.
12:16Yeah, with Jess, Steve, and Bernie before the idea grew into a big idea.
12:22And then the real first Kings of Comedy was me, Steve, and Bernie with Guy as the emcee.
12:28So he would do the night.
12:30Would you sit next to a white person and say, welcome?
12:33He says, hug a white person day to day. Hug your local white person.
12:37My man with the dreadlock, hug him.
12:39Did Guy know he was not a King, he was just the emcee?
12:42Yeah, yeah, we reminded him of that all the time.
12:45He definitely knew when the paychecks came out.
12:48He definitely realized, like, oh, okay.
12:51Because I've seen a few interviews, it was like in the beginning of the Kings, it was me, Steve.
12:55But he definitely did his job, which was great.
12:58Anybody knows, you're doing an arena tour, you've got 16,000 people out there, you go first.
13:04You've got a job to do.
13:06And listen, he's very brilliant, we all know that.
13:08So he set it up great.
13:10And then the next year we had a DL, and that's when it became the King Kings.
13:15The King Kings.
13:17Get all my shit done, I'm going to see the Kings.
13:21Not the Kings, the Kings.
13:25Well, God damn it, Charlotte, I've got news for you.
13:28The Kings is here.
13:32We all had individual fame.
13:34It took a degree of self-downgrading, if you will, to go with everybody.
13:39Because we were all individually guys that were selling out 5,000 scenes together on our own.
13:45And that's enough.
13:46If you're a comedian, you're like, ah, I'm killing it, baby.
13:49So see, man, we come from an era when we did comedy the way it was supposed to go.
13:54Our objective on stage was to make you laugh.
13:57It wasn't to shock you.
13:59We went out there to make you laugh as hard as we could.
14:02It's like that big movie that came out, The Titanic.
14:05The band was playing as the ship went down.
14:11Kool and the gang would have been unplugged and shit.
14:14Man, let's get the f*** out of here.
14:18And we supported each other in that.
14:20Because at the end of the day, the Kings of comedy was the whole.
14:24It wasn't the individual.
14:26If the King tour did good, we did good.
14:28Man, we got bonuses some nights.
14:30We would go home and we'd be on the plane with the money.
14:33We'd be going, is this shit for real, man?
14:36And then what happened was we went to D.C. and we sold out a Friday, Saturday at the MCI.
14:42And then Walter came to us Sunday night, Monday morning, gave us a call and said,
14:47Hey man, what y'all doing next weekend?
14:49We turned away too many people.
14:51I think we could sell out next Friday, next Saturday.
14:54Bro, these tickets ain't even been on sale.
14:56How many seats?
14:57It's 16,000.
14:58So that's $32,000 we just did.
15:01Gone. Friday, Saturday in D.C.
15:03Well, this light-skinned brother came to the show that worked for USA Today and said,
15:08Hey man, how many newspaper articles y'all got out about y'all?
15:13And we looked at each other and went, Nah, man, we never done that.
15:17He said, How many interviews have you done?
15:19No, we've never done an interview.
15:21They said, How long y'all been touring?
15:23We said, A couple of years.
15:24He said, Do you know you just sold out the MCI?
15:26Yeah. We done sold out every place we've ever been.
15:28He said, How?
15:30I said, Tell them on the radio we coming.
15:33I'm also getting ready for the 5 o'clock traffic jam.
15:35What, what?
15:36Man, no limit in here.
15:37Lord, we're the kings of comedy.
15:39Dog, we had no other way of promoting it.
15:41We'd just do radio and that was it.
15:43Wasn't no social media.
15:45And next thing you know, we were on the front cover of Life Section in USA Today.
15:50And after that, as soon as you put them on, it was like Jay-Z.
15:54We wasn't selling out in two hours or nothing.
15:56But what difference did it make?
15:57If you can't get in, you can't get in.
15:59Right.
16:00We just sold out everything.
16:01Sold out everything.
16:02And that audience was predominantly black?
16:03Predominantly.
16:04Yeah.
16:05Yeah, at first.
16:06I'm saying that.
16:07And when did it start to slightly?
16:09Was it after the article?
16:10After the article.
16:11You saw it mainstream.
16:12After the article, you start seeing white people.
16:14A lot of white people in the house.
16:15They got their seesaw all up front.
16:16How y'all doing?
16:17Nice and early.
16:18Y'all charge y'all shit, do you?
16:22White people can charge tickets.
16:23We got to wait.
16:24We got to wait on our check to get ours.
16:27We were selling so many tickets.
16:29Nobody had ever did a tour where you kind of got to see all of your favorites in one night.
16:34Right.
16:35And then that thing became...
16:36It was like Wu-Tang Clan.
16:37Yeah, yeah.
16:38It became a phenomenon.
16:39It just felt totally different.
16:40I mean, they would laugh so much.
16:41Have you ever been standing next to a speaker and it hurts your ears?
16:44Yes.
16:45Like, it's something about the way it hurts your teeth.
16:48Right.
16:49Like, I was like this.
16:50And I told a joke that was so loud, I'm not closing my mouth.
16:53I'll blow my head off on stage.
16:54They didn't have to describe Jesus to me for me to know he was black.
16:57Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding.
17:00Now, if that ain't black folk shit, I don't know what is.
17:03Lord, we done ran out of wine.
17:05Well, y'all know normally I don't do this, but go ahead, keep the party going.
17:14We didn't know how big it was going to be.
17:16And it turned out to be a monster.
17:27All right, what you got for me, girl?
17:33Now, you know it's important.
17:35It's a big show.
17:39The jokes are hot.
17:40The soup got to be hot.
17:41Ding dong.
17:43What up, Quake?
17:44What up, man?
17:45I heard you was getting fly for the show.
17:48This brother coming to you is the owner of the Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta, GA.
17:53My party.
17:54Y'all give it up for Earthquake.
17:56I don't give a shit if you laugh or not, nigga.
17:58This shit is funny.
17:59What do we have on here?
18:01You know, got my name.
18:02Custom.
18:03Yes, it is.
18:04Custom.
18:05Which is what brings me here to talk to you about the fashion of the brothers on the Kings of Comedy.
18:10Oh, yeah.
18:11They was hot.
18:14I think with Kings of Comedy, what made that special is these dudes were all suited and booted and ready to go.
18:20They were all looking their best.
18:21These guys had on custom suits.
18:23They got stylists.
18:25Like, oh, okay.
18:26This is how we do it.
18:27This is how you become a star doing stand-up comedy.
18:30They were dressed to the nine, dressed to the tee.
18:36They wanted to give the audience their money's worth, and the audience, by even looking at them, knew they were going to get their money's worth.
18:42It was a vent.
18:43It was something that you would get dressed up for.
18:45Boy, y'all been at the barbershops and beauty salons.
18:49Girl, I'm going to see the Kings.
18:53It was a luxurious night out.
18:55You're going to drop some bread.
18:57You might take a limo.
18:58Man, you know, as black people, we're not a monolithic society, and that's exactly what you saw in the Kings audience.
19:05You saw doctors.
19:06You saw lawyers.
19:07My man Boogie was in the audience.
19:09They told me backstage, your name Boogie.
19:11All right, Boogie.
19:13You know, I said, sit back down.
19:15No, no.
19:16Oh, the thug's coat.
19:18Oh, yeah, I got your coat, though.
19:21Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:22Anybody that enjoyed comedy was in the Kings of Comedy audience, and it's always going to be something that's going to be memorable for the rest of our lives.
19:33Were people dressing up like that before, or did the Kings of Comedy kind of take it to another level?
19:37Few people were.
19:39Right.
19:40About one or two.
19:41Right.
19:42Maybe Hamburger.
19:43Well, Hamburger had the cowboy hat.
19:45He was running from the white people in Texas.
19:48Let me hear everybody say Hamburger.
19:49Hamburger!
19:50No, no.
19:51You say it with feel.
19:52Say Hamburger.
19:53But they changed the whole dynamic of it all.
19:56You know what I mean?
19:57They made it that everybody had to get a suit, because success brings duplication.
20:02Right.
20:03Now, were you wearing suits then?
20:04No.
20:05I was sagging jeans.
20:07Looked like I sold dope.
20:08Right, right.
20:09Baggy jeans.
20:10Right.
20:11That type of thing.
20:12I started in Atlanta.
20:13To uptown, yes.
20:14To uptown, my own club.
20:15But white people, if you're going to blame some shit on these young brothers, do your homework.
20:19Blame some shit on them that they would do.
20:21Just like that white lady talking about.
20:23She got carjacked, and a brother took her kids.
20:26I was like, a brother taking kids?
20:31Would the kings come through there?
20:32Yes, they came through.
20:34Bernie wore suits.
20:35D.L. did.
20:36Steve came out the room with a suit on.
20:39You know.
20:40Yeah, Steve had 12-button, double-breasted suits.
20:43Oh, the long ones.
20:45Right.
20:46The ruffles.
20:47And then Cedric.
20:48Right.
20:49Also accompanied with a dope-ass hat.
20:51Who had more of kind of your style, or who did you emulate?
20:54Well, Steve made you wear a suit to work in his club.
20:58He bought me a suit.
20:59Wait, wait.
21:00You're talking about you came in the headline.
21:02You couldn't wear what you wanted?
21:03No.
21:04Steve would tell you, get on my stage.
21:06You need to dress.
21:08Tie?
21:09Tie and everything.
21:10Steve, I don't like nothing around my neck.
21:12I'm black.
21:13You know what I mean?
21:14He let me get away with that.
21:15No tie.
21:18All of them contributed to my career.
21:20Right.
21:21You know, Steve was the first one who gave me confidence
21:23that I can actually do this.
21:25He's the reason why I'm the comedian I am,
21:27and the reason why I have my own radio show,
21:30Mr. Steve Harvey.
21:32Yeah.
21:33You ought to know that, man.
21:34Ced put me on his show, The Neighborhood.
21:36Did you just shush me?
21:37Calvin, let the man talk.
21:40Hold on, did you just shush me?
21:42Bernie gave me the best advice.
21:44What was that?
21:45Don't be afraid to fail.
21:47Be yourself.
21:48Exactly.
21:49And Bernie pulled me to the side, told me that,
21:51and God rest his soul.
21:53Did you ever see them live?
21:54All four of them together as the Kings?
21:56No.
21:57I never went to none of the shows.
21:59I was always working.
22:01And usually you hate it when they came in town
22:04because you was there.
22:06That's when you sit down and say,
22:07well, there's going to be only 50 people at my show.
22:09Right.
22:10Let me go on and bust up some liquor
22:12and have a good time.
22:13And you'd be upset because when they came through there,
22:16they was the show.
22:17Right.
22:18It was like Michael Jackson of comedy.
22:20Right.
22:21It was nothing.
22:22Nobody want to go see nobody else.
22:23The King's in town.
22:25Why are you here?
22:26Right.
22:27You know what I mean?
22:28And I got mad at my agent and the club.
22:30You knew they was coming.
22:31You know what I mean?
22:32Why would you do this to me?
22:33It's 52 other weeks, or ones, or whatever.
22:36You could have picked me another week.
22:38You going to put me up here with that type of situation.
22:40Earthquake, thank you.
22:42You know how I feel about you.
22:43You know I love you, man.
22:44You're a mentor, a brother.
22:46Thank you, man.
22:47And I'm glad you're going to let me take one of these
22:49because I don't have a straight suit like this.
22:51Come on, see?
22:52L.A. dude's always stealing.
23:03So I'm so glad you met me here at Miss B's M&M's.
23:06Yeah, me too.
23:07Your dad is Bernie Mays.
23:09Yes, he is.
23:10I'm hungry for stories.
23:11Well, let's get into it.
23:15The thing about Kings of Comedy that was crazy to me,
23:17it was my introduction to black stardom.
23:21Eddie Murphy kind of belonged to everybody.
23:23Chris Rock kind of belonged to everybody.
23:25Right.
23:26But Kings of Comedy was ours.
23:28That was ours.
23:29Unapologetically ours.
23:30You could fill out arenas with just us.
23:33Right.
23:34I had never seen that before.
23:36There would be sprinkles of other cultures,
23:38but they usually were married to somebody black.
23:40Yeah.
23:42Because if you went to that black-ass show,
23:44you weren't just some innocent bystander going,
23:47you know, I have tickets to the Hollywood Bowl,
23:49I guess I'll go see these Kings of Comedy.
23:51No.
23:52No.
23:53You knew of the culture.
23:54You knew Steve Harvey.
23:55You knew Cedric.
23:56You knew D.L.
23:57And Bernie was the underground black comedy king.
24:01I never got to meet him, but I did watch him on Oprah.
24:04And he talked about not worrying about the money
24:07because it comes if you do what you're supposed to do.
24:09Exactly.
24:10I think if you focus on being the best within yourself,
24:14all that stuff will come.
24:16I hear people say, get your money on, get your money on.
24:18I hate that.
24:19If you do well, the money will come.
24:21Exactly.
24:22That stuck with me.
24:23And he taught me that too.
24:24I was an extra on his show, so I was like,
24:27okay, I'm going to make my way over there
24:28and talk to him about comedy.
24:29And I was like, I'm in this Geo Metro,
24:31I'm just trying to figure out how I can get paid
24:33more than $15 a show.
24:34He said, be funny.
24:36Be funny, period.
24:38That's the only way you're going to get paid more.
24:40And I was like, yeah, because I'm ready.
24:42I'm ready, she ready.
24:43He was like, man, I don't know if you're getting
24:44only $15 a show.
24:46You're not ready.
24:50Bernie Mac.
24:51So his big break was what?
24:53I don't know if I can say that there was like a big break.
24:56To me, it was like all of these stair-step moments.
24:59He does the first season of Def Jam in the yellow sweater,
25:03you know, stir it like coffee.
25:05Man, when I first got married,
25:06my wife used to give me pussy by the pile.
25:09Now I got the steel pussy.
25:11If you don't know how to steal pussy,
25:13I'm fixing to teach you.
25:16But when you get it in, stir it like coffee.
25:19Stir it like mother-fucking coffee.
25:23Season two, he does the, I ain't scared of you, mother-fucking.
25:28You don't understand.
25:30I ain't scared of you, mother-fucking.
25:33And that just, from there, it was like,
25:40now he's getting called to audition for these movies
25:44and he's getting, you know, these roles.
25:46Look, she bending over.
25:47Claude Emerson, the Lord is my shepherd.
25:50He know what I want.
25:51Excuse me, brother.
25:52Miss Parker, Miss Parker.
25:54In between, they're doing the Kings of Comedy tour
25:56and each moment, it was just something bigger
25:58that would happen, that it was just like,
26:02that blows it up even more.
26:04Yeah.
26:05Did you get to go with him to, like, the movie sets
26:07and go on the road with him to do comedy?
26:09Some of them I did.
26:11When he does Def Jam, the first time,
26:13I'm in the seventh grade.
26:16Yeah, so I'm in school.
26:17You're not even allowed to watch it?
26:18No.
26:19Actually, yes, I could.
26:20You could?
26:21So listen, this is how weird he was.
26:23Uh-huh.
26:24I got in trouble listening to Public Enemy's
26:26Fear of a Black Planet tape.
26:28He took it from me, and his logic was
26:31because it was too much cussing in it.
26:33And he looks at me and goes,
26:35how the f*** you listening to all this goddamn cussing?
26:38Like, I'm thinking it's a joke.
26:40I'm doing like you.
26:41Like, you can't be serious.
26:43Like, you know who you are, right?
26:45Ain't nobody f***ing with y'all.
26:47Ain't nobody f***ing with y'all.
26:49Ain't nobody f***ing with y'all.
26:51You cuss all the time.
26:53No the f*** I do.
26:56I wish you...
26:57How you gonna tell that bullsh** ass not on me?
27:01I'm like, is he serious?
27:03He was dead serious.
27:05Couldn't watch that.
27:06But I could watch all of his stand-up routine.
27:08But did he do jokes about you in particular?
27:10Yes, he did.
27:11My daughter getting married, man.
27:12And women, y'all love marriage.
27:14F*** is up with marriage?
27:16Be happy than a motherf***er on somebody else's expense.
27:20Did that make you feel some type of way?
27:22Not when I was younger.
27:24When I was younger, I enjoyed it.
27:26It was like, oh, look, my daddy's on stage.
27:28Say, yay, go daddy.
27:30And then as I got older and the jokes got more personal,
27:32I was like, wait a minute, hold on, hold on.
27:35Sorry.
27:36My daughter's boyfriend had a fight.
27:38I told him, you know, I don't get nobody's business, right?
27:41I came home.
27:42My wife said, it was Argan downstairs.
27:44I said, Argan?
27:45She said, I think he hit her.
27:47Y'all can fuss and fight.
27:48Don't hit my motherf***ing daughter.
27:50Son of a b***h, you.
27:52I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you, man.
27:56Okay, so this is what I got to ask about King's comedy.
27:58When he was talking about him upstairs.
28:00I'm going upstairs, he coming down,
28:02he gonna walk past me like I'm a visitor.
28:04Those kids, those real people,
28:06they all made up people.
28:08Oh, that's not funny.
28:10I told him, I said, man, it's too goddamn late
28:12for some damn cookies and milk, man.
28:14Take your punk ass upstairs.
28:16One more thing.
28:18What is Bernie Mac's legacy?
28:20You looking at her.
28:22Hello.
28:23Me and my baby.
28:24For him, family was everything.
28:27And so his last couple of projects,
28:30and I remember distinctly,
28:33he did Madagascar 2 and Soul Man.
28:37And everybody on set can tell you,
28:39he was like, this was my grandbaby.
28:41His health was failing for years
28:43before he finally got sick.
28:45So those last four years of his life,
28:47he was on oxygen.
28:49It had gotten so bad that his doctor was like,
28:52we don't have to do it now,
28:53but we're gonna have to consider a lung transplant.
28:56Because the sarcoidosis had ravaged his lungs so badly
29:00that he really was operating with the capacity of one lung.
29:03Wow.
29:04I feel really grateful for my dad.
29:07I truly feel like he is one of those human beings
29:10that had the opportunity to
29:13do exactly what he was purposed to do.
29:16And for him, comedy was life.
29:20He fully believed that laughter was healing.
29:23And so for him,
29:25I think he would be really humbled and proud
29:28to know that all these years later,
29:30people are still laughing at him.
29:34What made this man so special?
29:36I just remember meeting him.
29:38I was going to do Deaf Comedy Jam in New York,
29:40and we went out in New York,
29:42we went to lunch to talk,
29:43and I say that like it was a really dope place,
29:45but it was Sbarro's, and so...
29:48But I always say, like, he took me to lunch,
29:51and it sounds like we were at, you know...
29:53Yeah, but back then...
29:54Like Cipriani's.
29:55Was it Cipriani's?
29:56No, no, it was Sbarro's, and we grabbed a slice.
29:59But he was just explaining to me, like,
30:01not to be scared of New York, which is, in your mind,
30:04the first time you go to New York,
30:06it's just a place that intimidates you as another comedian.
30:10Thank you, goddammit.
30:13It was one of these things where he had that kind of energy.
30:16He was like, yo, grab you, hey, man, blah, blah, blah,
30:19we'll give you the game.
30:20And then he was always himself.
30:22He had them sayings like, walk alone.
30:24I'm on the 50-yard line, but it's first and goal.
30:27You'd be like, what?
30:29Yeah, somehow that makes sense.
30:31Quit believing everything you goddamn hear, shit.
30:33Believe in yourself.
30:35I don't believe shit until shit happens.
30:38Bernie would go on stage,
30:40and we'd all pull up a chair backstage
30:43where the monitors were to watch Bernie,
30:45because we used to call it, let's go see the train race.
30:48Because Bernie never did the same set twice.
30:51He was going to do something.
30:53Like, he would do stuff like, he would make the minister stand up.
30:56All the ministers in the crowd, and they'd stand up,
30:59and then he'd go, turn to your neighbor,
31:01tell him you love him, the whole hands, repeat after me.
31:04The Lord will hear this shit.
31:06Stop making us do this.
31:08I went like, whoa, and he'd be going, Bernie, they're pastors.
31:11And Bernie didn't care, man.
31:13We would sit there and go...
31:15And he would have the rest of the kings
31:17with their mouth hanging open backstage.
31:19He's small, but he's stutter real bad.
31:21He kind of slow.
31:23He stutter real, he want no...
31:26Have you ever seen somebody who has a lazy eye,
31:29and you pretend like they don't,
31:31so you line up to their vision?
31:33That's what Bernie was.
31:35He made the world line up to the way he saw things,
31:38and I had never seen anything like it.
31:41Let me tell you something.
31:43Let me tell you a secret about the kings.
31:45The audience would get a hell of a show,
31:48but I knew back in the dressing room...
31:50We're going to have some fun.
31:52I was dealing with some minds, man, that were so twisted.
31:55Give me the definition of what that means.
31:59D.L. would go out there first, then Sad would go out.
32:02Then there was a little intermission,
32:04and then Sad's team would go out in the lobby
32:07and pass out backstage passes.
32:10So after the show was over and I come offstage,
32:14I would open the door to the dressing room.
32:17It was a lounge.
32:19Sad had a... It was a tavern.
32:22It was a full-blown tavern.
32:24And there were just in there, 30 of them,
32:27with free backstage passes.
32:29We didn't have to go anywhere
32:31because Sad had taken care of that.
32:33It was going on, you know, and I'm preparing,
32:36getting into my zone, trying to do things.
32:39You know, I go through a lot of different things.
32:42See, on the spectrum of...
32:44Like, Bernie did the least.
32:46Yeah.
32:47Then it was me.
32:48Yeah.
32:49The least?
32:50And then it was them two.
32:52Them two was a whole separate mechanism.
32:55Who was the worst?
32:56Them two was the worst.
32:58Between the two of you, who was the worst?
33:00At that time, at that time,
33:02I can hand it.
33:03Look at me.
33:04I'm telling you right now.
33:06I would actually be ashamed.
33:08I would actually open the dressing room door and go,
33:11uh, I'm sorry.
33:12My bad.
33:14But it was so corrupting.
33:16See, the beauty of the tour was
33:19there was no phone cameras.
33:20No.
33:21There was no social media.
33:22No, no.
33:23That was some party.
33:24Oh, my God.
33:25After the show,
33:26you had your pick of what you wanted to do.
33:29Right.
33:30And then D.L. would come over,
33:31and then we'd exchange cigars.
33:34All the time, we smoked cigars.
33:36We was smoking so many cigars,
33:37they was fining us.
33:38Yeah!
33:39Three card maximum draw.
33:41Don't get sinning.
33:42The fine had gotten so big,
33:43we was sitting the fine in
33:44before we came to town
33:46and just pay the fine off
33:47because we smoked cigars every weekend.
33:49It's on me?
33:50It's on you.
33:51Come on with that, pal.
33:54I ain't got nothing.
33:57What was going on in Bernie's room?
34:00Bernie drank beer and...
34:02A milligram.
34:03A milligram of draft.
34:04And he...
34:05And smoked cigars.
34:06And he walked alone.
34:07Yep.
34:08As soon as we got to,
34:09we had to go to the after party
34:10every night.
34:11Right.
34:12As soon as the crown roll,
34:13people came in,
34:14and Bernie saw him,
34:15Bernie was gone.
34:16Yep.
34:17Yeah, it was a whole different thing.
34:18Bernie didn't do none of this, man.
34:19Nope.
34:20Bernie didn't do none of this.
34:21I didn't either.
34:22I was home.
34:23He'd be at the bar,
34:24at the hotel,
34:25yeah.
34:26Bernie was a special dude, man.
34:28So, you know,
34:29when I hear stuff about us,
34:31and I hear stuff about
34:32the dissension...
34:34I've heard you kind of allude
34:35to what happened
34:36between him and Steve.
34:37All I can say is
34:38what Bernie told me.
34:39Mm-hmm.
34:40And he was upset with Steve
34:42because he said Steve
34:43tried to get him
34:45taken off of Oceans,
34:46the Oceans movie he did.
34:47Oceans 11?
34:48Yeah, and tried to
34:49file for his part
34:50after he already got hired.
34:51Steve had differences with him
34:52when they went on the scene.
34:53Steve was obsessed
34:54with Steve.
34:55Steve was scared of him.
34:56I don't really know
34:57what they're talking about
34:58because the thing
34:59about Bernie was,
35:00Bernie was a man's man.
35:02So when somebody say,
35:04you know,
35:05they treated Bernie like shit,
35:06that was impossible.
35:08Right, right.
35:09Bruh, that was impossible.
35:11This dude right here
35:13was Chicago Southside
35:15to his core and blood.
35:18You mistreat this dude
35:19right here,
35:20you know the problem
35:21you're gonna have?
35:22Bruh, that was
35:23an impossibility.
35:25This was a man's man.
35:27And he liked everybody.
35:28He just did his own thing.
35:30People really don't believe
35:32me and Steve friends.
35:33Some people think
35:34that is fair.
35:35I'm like, no dog.
35:36I said, I literally
35:37just talked to him.
35:38And then of course,
35:39they see me and D.L. together
35:41quite a bit, you know.
35:42But it is that kind of thing,
35:44that yokeness that happens
35:46that people would love
35:48for it to be false.
35:49Right, right.
35:50These 2 dudes right here
35:51matter to me in a way
35:52where like, you know,
35:53like he said,
35:54like if we're going
35:55through something,
35:56we'll call each other
35:57because we feel for each other
35:58because we know
35:59the real person.
36:00No one has meant more to me
36:02in my entertainment career
36:04than this man right here.
36:06Yeah, man.
36:07I know they lying
36:08about you online.
36:10I know that podcast
36:11is bullshit.
36:12Hang in there, dog.
36:13Don't pay no attention
36:14to that.
36:15Because you know,
36:16look man, regardless
36:17of what anybody
36:18has ever said,
36:19after Bernie passed,
36:21there was no discussion
36:23of replacing Bernie.
36:25Right.
36:26There was never discussion
36:27of anybody except us.
36:29We were the only kings ever.
36:32I don't even know
36:33where that came from.
36:34Yeah, people would say that.
36:35People would always ask,
36:36who do you think?
36:37But you know, like for us,
36:38it was definitely
36:39a different space
36:40in our time,
36:41in our life,
36:42and you know,
36:43that kind of unity,
36:44you just,
36:45it's like you can't,
36:46you know.
36:47You haven't seen black
36:48unity like that
36:49since the Negro League.
36:50African proverb,
36:51if you want to go fast,
36:52go alone.
36:53If you want to go far,
36:54go together.
36:59We was on tour
37:00for like two years.
37:01It was like Rolling Stones,
37:02Janet Jackson,
37:03Kings of Comedy.
37:04Like right now,
37:05it would be the equivalent
37:06of when Beyoncรฉ
37:07and them out, right?
37:08And how the world
37:09goes crazy over their tours.
37:11You know,
37:12like just the tour itself.
37:14And then one year,
37:15it was just Rolling Stones
37:16and the Kings.
37:17So you guys are doing arenas.
37:19Yeah.
37:20Selling out all over the world,
37:21and you guys decide
37:22to do a movie
37:23called Spike Lee.
37:27Over one million
37:29screaming fans.
37:31113 electrifying minutes.
37:36And the four kings.
37:39The original
37:40Kings of Comedy.
37:44I think the Kings of Comedy,
37:46in terms of where does it fit
37:48within the whole diaspora
37:50of black comedy,
37:51is in the top five
37:53most miraculous things
37:54that's probably happened
37:55for minimum stand-up.
37:57And then definitely
37:58a stand-up movie.
37:59Yeah.
38:00You know, I saw it
38:01when it came out.
38:03And it was like,
38:04yo, this is something special.
38:07So to see these four icons,
38:09because I knew of them
38:10because I'm almost
38:11the same age as them.
38:13They got me
38:14by about 20 years.
38:15It was such a big deal.
38:16And even to this day,
38:17if you're talking about comedy
38:19and you're in the room
38:20with somebody who was
38:21in the building that day,
38:22they can't wait to tell you
38:23they were there.
38:24There was no real opener.
38:26Everybody walked out
38:27to a standing ovation.
38:29Everybody walked out
38:30to a standing ovation.
38:32And left with one.
38:33Yeah, and left with one.
38:35I don't even think
38:36we can duplicate it.
38:38We had the opportunity
38:39to do the movie,
38:40and then the idea came up
38:42to who could direct,
38:43and we wanted the movie
38:44to have more significance.
38:46Mm-hmm.
38:47Why him, though?
38:48Spike Lee.
38:49Our next guest
38:50is a talented filmmaker.
38:51Here he is, Spike Lee.
38:53Will you welcome, please,
38:54Spike Lee,
38:55one of the most well-known
38:56and outspoken filmmakers
38:57of our time.
38:58He had never done
38:59a comedy concept like this
39:00before.
39:01He was culture.
39:02He was doing
39:03the Michael Jordan commercials.
39:04Right, right.
39:05Yo, this is Morris Blackman,
39:07and this is my main man,
39:08Michael Jordan.
39:09And this is a pair
39:10of tights from
39:11Ed Jordan's Nike.
39:12Ed did his movies.
39:14You know what the
39:15**** that means?
39:16Yeah, it means
39:17pay me my mother******
39:18money.
39:19That's what it means.
39:20He was that director,
39:21like that,
39:22that he came to see the show,
39:23love the show,
39:25and then we had
39:26to make the deal.
39:27You know, he cut
39:28into the money,
39:29so it was a thing.
39:30It was a thing
39:31to bring Spike Lee on,
39:32but we knew that it was
39:33a smart thing to do.
39:36Yeah!
39:37These are my homeboys.
39:38I'm proud of them,
39:39and you know,
39:40I'm here tonight
39:41to support this project,
39:42and I'm wishing
39:43them most success.
40:06The only thing
40:07that I'm sad about,
40:08about our experience,
40:09is I never felt
40:11like we finished.
40:12Yeah, man.
40:13I felt like we left
40:15too much on the table,
40:17and I felt like...
40:18In terms of doing
40:19more TV, film?
40:20No, no,
40:21just everything
40:23that could have happened,
40:24I don't think
40:25we maximized it.
40:26Because, you know,
40:27it shot Bernie to the moon.
40:29Right.
40:30You know,
40:31the King shot Bernie
40:32to the moon,
40:33and Bernie became,
40:34like, really hot.
40:35Right.
40:36You know,
40:37we had TV shows before,
40:38but Bernie got TV shows,
40:39movie offers,
40:40and we lost a lot, man,
40:42because they came to us
40:44to redo a Blazing Saddle
40:46version for the Kings.
40:47They wanted us to do
40:48the Kings going to Vegas.
40:51Oh, wow.
40:52Man, it was so many
40:53movies came to us,
40:54but then scheduling, man,
40:55we couldn't put it together.
40:57Is that how it ended?
40:58It more petered away
40:59than ended.
41:00Like, it was no,
41:01it was sold.
41:02Yeah.
41:03It was not a...
41:04It was more like,
41:05there's no big
41:06one traumatic event.
41:07No, it's just,
41:08it's like a...
41:09Ticket sales
41:10were still at all times.
41:11It was always
41:12many different events
41:13that, you know,
41:14that kind of like,
41:15because it was always
41:16opportunity where we tried,
41:17right?
41:18It's the what ifs.
41:19Like, if we would have
41:20finished,
41:21it would have had,
41:22you know,
41:23a seismic effect
41:24on the culture
41:25and comics
41:26and venues.
41:27It seemed incomplete.
41:30Let me tell you something, man.
41:32We had a togetherness
41:34that I ain't seen since.
41:36Yep.
41:37Because we was committed
41:38to making this money.
41:39Yep.
41:40And we was committed
41:41to each other looking good.
41:42Yep.
41:43Like, we all had jokes
41:44with the same premise.
41:45Right.
41:46People kill me
41:47with this joke stealing stuff.
41:48There are no new premises.
41:50So we would hear
41:51each other set.
41:52We might go,
41:53hey, man,
41:54you doing that tonight?
41:55Because I'm going to do mine.
41:56All right, go ahead.
41:57I'm going to skip.
41:58You do yours tomorrow night.
41:59I'll do this one tonight.
42:00A black president?
42:01Come on, y'all.
42:02Now, you know,
42:03I mean, you know,
42:04we got Clinton that's close.
42:05Bill Clinton
42:06was my favorite
42:07f----- president.
42:08That's my goddamn president.
42:10He the closest
42:11to a black president
42:12we're going to ever get.
42:13I'm going to do a joke
42:14about parking lots.
42:15You do your parking lot joke
42:16tomorrow.
42:17We work like that.
42:18Camaraderie.
42:19And that was, bro.
42:20It was not camaraderie.
42:21It's love.
42:22Would you think
42:23you would be where you are today
42:25without the Kings of Comedy?
42:26No.
42:27No.
42:28No.
42:29No.
42:30It's so epic.
42:31And, you know, man,
42:32I look at the landscape
42:33of comedy today.
42:35I see the footprint
42:37that we had in this thing, man.
42:40And it's undeniable.
42:42I mean, really,
42:43it's really not.
42:44Everybody after that
42:46owes a debt of gratitude
42:47to the Kings.
42:48Absolutely.
42:49Because, bro,
42:50what we created with the Kings
42:52spawned a whole generation
42:54of comedy.
42:55And people don't
42:56understand this.
42:57See, these cats
42:58are selling out arenas
42:59because they got
43:00more power to them.
43:01Like Kevin Hart
43:02is a real giant.
43:03And I appreciate
43:04Kevin Hart
43:05when he come on interviews
43:06because Kevin say,
43:07Hey, man,
43:08the Kings gave me
43:09the inspiration.
43:10The Kings gave me
43:11the forethought.
43:12The Kings,
43:13but we laid it out there
43:14like it had never done before.
43:16The fact that we all
43:17still have relevancy,
43:19we still, like,
43:20are in this business
43:21loving what we do.
43:23You wake up every day
43:24excited to do it.
43:25And then we all
43:26still do it at these
43:28very high levels
43:29as individuals
43:30and collectively.
43:31Like, coming here
43:32to hang out
43:33is a very special thing
43:34because, you know,
43:36we all wanted to do it
43:37mainly to see each other.
43:38Right?
43:39Like, you know what I'm saying?
43:40And to get free drinks.
43:41Yeah.
43:42But, I mean,
43:43it's like seeing
43:44a new edition,
43:45if you will, right?
43:46It's a thing
43:47to see them individually
43:48and know that everybody
43:49got their own
43:50kind of recognition.
43:51But when you see them
43:52all together,
43:53that's also
43:54a very special thing.
43:55And that's what's unique
43:56about it.
43:57And that's what's special.
43:58And that's what's special.
43:59And that's what's special.
44:00And that's what's special.
44:01And that's what's special.
44:02And that's what's special.
44:03And that's what's special.
44:04And that's what's special.
44:05And that's what's special.
44:06And that's what's special.
44:07And that's what's special.
44:08And that's what's special.
44:09And that's what's special.
44:10And that's what's special.
44:11And that's what's special.
44:12And that's what's special.
44:13And that's what's special.
44:14And that's what's special.
44:15And that's what's special.
44:16And that's what's special.
44:17And that's what's special.
44:18And that's what's special.
44:19And that's what's special.
44:20And that's what's special.