THE MECCA OF COMEDY is a documentary that explores the rise of African-American comedians and the comedy landscape from the mid 1980s to the present in Washington D.C. and the the DMV area.
www.fox5dc.com
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- DC is the mecca for standup comics, 'cause if you good, you good in this town. - We just breed funny people,
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and I don't know if it's that it's so many of us there. - All these great talents in DC, you know, what's in the water here?
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What happens? - The greats came through there. - Black folks in DC is just straight out funny. - You cannot ask brothers for directions in Washington.
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Sir, 'cause I got lost, and I get lost all the time, especially wearing a lot of gold. I went up to some young brother, I said, "Excuse me.
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My man, can you tell me how to get to Benning Road?" Young boy said, "Oh, Benning Road." (audience laughing)
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(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music)
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(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music) - [Announcer] I wanna hear you cheering, man.
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Like you ain't never cheered before. This brother, you know, started up in the DC area. - [Commentator 1] The comedians that come
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out of DC just be top shelf. - [Commentator 2] Down from DC. - [Commentator 3] From DC. - I'm from Washington, DC, man.
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North, southeast Washington. - Washington, DC incubated a lot of great comedians. It's because there's just a central information stream
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here in DC that's not like other cities. - How you doing? Where you gone, the bathroom? (audience laughing)
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Gonna let one loose, huh? (audience laughing) - I think some of the best storytellers are DC comics.
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- So many people, who are big names now,
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are from out of this area. - This town is kind of a different town, it's the seat of our government,
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stuff that is national news is local news here, and you have a very educated audience.
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And I think a lot of us who came up through the school systems here, and what have you,
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kinda smart. And so that kind of informs the comedy. - Fox fired that bitch ass Tucker Carlson.
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(audience cheering) I was like, yeah, that's a fucking Monday for your ass.
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DC area has the most educated concentration
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of African Americans in the country. - A ton of like live albums will be recorded
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here at Constitution Hall. Dave Chappelle's breakout special. - I mean, I've been scared to talk
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to the police when I'm sleepy - [Joe Clair] Was at the Lincoln Theater. - This is the power center of earth
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right here in DC, but there's still Ben's Chili Bowl. - [Tony] It's a white collar town. And us being Black, we have to maneuver
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through the white collar and through the blue. Even though we are working a white collar job. We living a blue collar life.
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You can see it in Dave's humor. You know? He'll hit you with some high brow shit.
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And then back to the dick jokes. Bang. So, you know what I'm saying? - [Andy] David Chappelle cut his teeth right with us,
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in the Black clubs. Tommy Davidson. Same way. Martin Lawrence the same way. Wanda Sykes the same way.
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And I work with all of them. When they left DC they was ready for mainstream television.
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- If DC being the mecca of comedy is a phrase coined by the great Andy Evans,
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then it must be so. - And he gave Berry Gordy the lifetime achievement award. He said the first place he sent his audience was Washington, DC.
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If he sent Motown to Washington, and if they made it in DC, that act was gonna make it anywhere in the country.
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And he said, the reason why is because DC had the most sophisticated audiences.
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Bar none. - I think the most important person in DC comedy was Andy Evans.
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- Because men don't breathe. We get pissed off. We stop breathing. Women know that look we get.
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See women, you see guys ready fight. (Andy snorting) (audience laughing) (Andy snorting) (audience laughing)
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(Andy snorting) (audience laughing) Women breathe when they're mad, even when they angry they breathe.
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(Andy huffing) (audience laughing) (Andy huffing) (audience laughing) (Andy huffing) (audience laughing)
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Constantly sucking that air. (audience laughing) Men just don't breathe.
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We get upset. That's it. Car loan. (Andy snorting) Taxes. (Andy snorting)
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No sex. (audience laughing) - [Wanda] He means so much to, you know, DC comedy.
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He's mentored so many people. He's mentored me. - I was the first host of Garvin's Comedy Club,
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which was the first professional club. - But we started Garvin's Comedy Club, which a lot of the DC comics
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or the older DC comics started. It was run by a guy, Harry Monocrusos.
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His dad had left him a restaurant called Garvin's. - [Harry] His family had owned Garvin's, that location,
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and another location on 14th Street for, as I said, about 50 years.
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We were the only place in town for a long time that gave people a stage. There was a place prior to Garvin's called El Brookman's.
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A lot of the people that we talk about that came out of DC later on were never at El Brookman's. The people that were
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some of the early one, I think Andy Evans was, Greg Poole. Tomorrow's Comedy, which was a group that Greg Poole was involved in.
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- It was three of us. And we did all sorts of things from, you know, singing parodies.
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One of the guys played guitar. We did Idi Amin and the Dada's.
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One of the few comedy teams working at that time. So we started through the comedy clubs, Never really left the DC area.
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- [Harry] Great character. Tall, lanky, hit that stage with a certain attitude.
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We had Teddy Carpenter. You had Tony Perkins came in 1982. The Fat Doctor. Kevin Lee. Danny Williams.
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Kevin Anthony. Robin Montague. Now Wanda Sykes did Garvin's, but she did not do the original Garvin's
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on Connecticut Avenue. She came in after 1984. - As a featured act, you could put together maybe, you know, $600-700 a week,
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you know, which was decent money. And oddly enough, that's good money today.
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- Caucasians ran comedy and they made you,
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you had to be better in order to excel. - As a young urban comic,
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you know, Black comic. You couldn't...
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The white structure of comedy made you do it in a particular way.
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Because the Black structure was, okay, we don't have no comedy clubs. - Now, Catfish Mayfield had a place called Ibex,
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and they had a room called the Marvin Gaye room. - If you survived the Ibex in the Marvin Gaye room,
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you were ready for anything. - Bitch say catfish. I said, yes.
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She said, take that marble out your pocket. I was embarrassed.
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- He was like, you know, like Robin Harris, and he was before Robin Harris.
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- The last show I did in DC before I moved to New York was at the Ibex. And I took a L.
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I took a L. They booed the shit out of me. And that was night of the send off to go to New York. And I was like, that's all right.
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Y'all gonna remember me. I'm getting outta here. I'm leaving DC, eff y'all. When you doing well, the best thing is to hang out.
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Everybody like, good set you killed it. But the worst is when you bomb. Nobody look at you in your eyes.
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Nobody asked you if you wanna drink. They just like, it go from good set to good seeing you.
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- The reason why I became a, you know, and I didn't know I became a comedian,
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and especially in DC, we had a color thing going. Light-skinned people,
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you know, got all of the glory back then. And if you were dark skinned,
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people just started joning on you. And I used my wit
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as a defense mechanism to push them back. - [Andy] Being Black and being a Black comedian is
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kind of a label. And people would say, is he a Black comic?
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Well, you either had to be Bill Cosby like, or Richard Pryor like.
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- Andy Evans had a concept. Andy Evans was like, why don't you guys,
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why didn't everybody ever think about doing a show together?
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You know, all, you don't do a showcase. Not a showcase, but do a TV show where all of y'all do y'all comedy.
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You know, I'll host it. And y'all go up and y'all do y'all comedy as a TV show. - Today we're not here to do music.
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We're here to do comedy. And we have some outstanding comedians for you. We have the return of Tommy Davidson.
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- You ever notice when you first move into an apartment, the roaches act like they don't live there. I first moved into my apartment,
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I came in the kitchen in the middle of the night, turned on a light. Only one roach in the middle of the floor. He said, ah.
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He said, cut the light out, baby. We belong next door.
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Came back later, roach came out and said, ♪ Well, my friends the time has come ♪
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(audience laughing) ♪ Raise the roof and have some fun ♪ ♪ Come on out ♪
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♪ That skinny guy's gone ♪ ♪ Let the music play on ♪ ♪ All night long ♪
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Yeah, roaches came from everywhere, y'all. - I wrote my own show because I felt Black comics needed to showcase.
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- That was the pre-runner for Def Jam, for one Night Stand, for Comic View and BET.
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He had that idea way before anybody did it. - Here's another one of the hot young comics on the circuit.
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He's been up and down the coast, just left Raleigh, North Carolina. I think you're gonna like him. Let us make some hands for the comedy style
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of Mr. Martin Lawrence. (audience applauding) (audience applauding)
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- All right, thank you. Let's all give a round of applause to Andy Evans. Ladies, gentlemen, Andy. - My relationship with Martin began
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when the Fat Doctor came up to me one day, and he said, you know, there's this new kid
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who's, you know, from Landover who's working out, and he's got some funny few funny things,
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but he's just got, he's developing, and I'm taking him under my wing, and I'm gonna try to help him out. Would you take a look at him
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and see if maybe you could use him on something? Sure. So he said, Martin Lawrence and knew nothing. And I went to see him
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with the Fat Doctor one day, and I went, interesting.
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Material is terrible. He had nothing. I mean, nothing that would, you know,
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but boy does he have a personality. And I remember looking at Doc that day and saying, and I said him more than once,
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but I said, he's got, he's got Eddie Murphy written all over him. - Martin took us to that next level
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with this show. You know, not just a funny comic, but when Martin came on, it was like, DC we made it.
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You know, that was our show. - And you notice guys, you gotta admit, we all adults here.
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I gotta admit guys, we will do anything for women when we wanna make love to 'em, won't we? Right, 'cause we could be laying in the bed,
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butt naked with a lady, she say, baby, I'm thirsty. I know it ain't the right time,
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but I was wondering, I was hoping, I know 7-Eleven's three miles away. (audience laughing)
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But if you running, gimme something to drink, please. Being the man we are we say, baby, what you want?
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Big Gulp, Super Gulp, I got a dollar in my pocket. What you want? We get up, and we run three miles
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and give 'em a Big Gulp, right? We get back and make love to 'em. It ain't nothing like making love. After we make love to 'em, we get lazy as hell, right?
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'Cause they don't ask much. They said, baby, I'm thirsty. I was wondering if you go in the kitchen and get me a drink of water. We said, shoot, you better let that ice
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in that Big Gulp melt. (audience laughing) - Martin Lawrence performed only at the Comedy Connection
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when he came in town is because the other clubs around the area would not let him headline.
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- [Interviewer] The other clubs would not let him headline? - [Raj] No. Other club will not let him headline.
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- [Barbara] It was during a time, a terrible time.
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I have to say racist kind of time. Only white comics could headline,
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but you couldn't headline a Black comic. - Now, I don't know if you've seen this one. It's called Ram.
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Now you've used a few prophylactics in your day, right? (audience laughing) No, yeah? Got any kids, man?
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Got no kids? So you putting them on, right? That's good. (audience laughing) That's good. You ever seen the happy face
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on the rubbers? Yes, you've not, never? Well, I guess you don't roll yours out far enough. (audience laughing)
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- Fat Doctor was another one of those guys that was back in the eighties. It was nobody, nobody as funny as Fat Doctor.
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In fact, Richard Pryor said he was in his top five comedians to ever do it.
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You would learn from other comics about watching him, but Fat Doctor would really sit down
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and tell you how you write a joke, how you structure a joke. He explained to you what a tag was,
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what a callback was when making a transition from one joke to the next. - I got to open for him several times
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because I had a car. Basically, if you had a car
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you got to open for the Fat Doctor because you drive him to the shows. Love weed. (Wanda laughing)
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Loved weed. We driving back from the show, he smoking. I'm like, Doc,
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I said, I'm driving, man. You can't smoke in here. I get high. I'm driving. Come on man.
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- There's a young man by the name of Martin Lawrence, who Fat Doctor took him from kindergarten
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to receiving a PhD in standup comedy. - I've been teaching since early age.
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My first student was Martin Lawrence, but I'm not gonna be up here and going through all of that.
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But I did want to give some of my credentials. - Martin looked up to him like a father figure,
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or maybe a big brother, so to speak. He would often coach Martin and mentor him.
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He helped him write material. He helped him with his stage presence. - [Tommy] Fat Doctor didn't really care about your success
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and how much he was gonna get or whatever. He just loved you, man. Fat Doctor looked at me first time he saw me performing,
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he said, man, guy, damn man, where the fuck you come from, man? Oh my God, you gone kill the game.
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It was like that throughout. I saw you aren't you In Living Color, man? Oh my God, you kill.
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I never asked for nothing, you know? I saw you on the strictly business and move you doing.
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Oh man, oh my God. You know, I come to the clubs, he come out, I say, you gonna do some time?
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Nah, I ain't trying to go up there, man. I say, come on Fat Doctor. Go up there, man. All right, all right.
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And go up there and kill. Go up there and kill. Was a great comedian. - I notice people sitting out there
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right now got bills piled up. Looked at them bills and said, man, fuck them bills.
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I'm good without. I need to have a good God damn time
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'cause me, I don't even pay no bills. All I pay is the cut off notices.
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- For my stepfather, I do believe that he did try to turn his pain into triumph.
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I do believe he had his demons as well. He did deal with addiction for many, many years.
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And I believe that that's what kind of stifled him. Watching him be very big, larger than life,
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and then in the blink of an eye, watch him lose gig after gig after gig
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because he wasn't considered reliable anymore. - If there's a face of DC comedy,
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it's probably his. Dave Chappelle may be the well-known face of DC comedy,
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and deservedly so, but if you really wanted to get to the heart and soul of DC comedy, it was the Fat Doctor.
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- When it comes to the comics of, I think, the eighties and nineties, you have, again, two things:
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one, is a very affluent city and a very large Black population. Because even though the Black middle class is moving out
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of the city into Prince George's County, it's still a contiguous Black community.
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Right? You know, there's this wonderful quote by a gentleman who was interviewed by the Washington Post in the 1990s,
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and he says, look, we just live in PG but like, our lives are in DC. Church, the club, everything, right?
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And so you could be a comic living in DC and have a solid base of people
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that was around 600-to 700,000 folks who could be your potential audience, right?
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And so you could do Black comedy in a Black club for a Black audience
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and be able to hone your craft with a large audience that was able to pay the door price and get a couple drinks along the way,
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pretty much guaranteed, right? Other comics can find that in places like New York
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or Boston or somewhere else. But it's a different dynamic. It's a white audience. It's in white clubs.
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The comedy has to be a little different. And then I think the other thing is that DC just had
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so much wonderful irony in the 1980s and 1990s.
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I mean, easily the smartest elected official in the city was Marion Barry in the late 1980s.
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Period. Right? And he was addicted to drugs, right?
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And one of his primary opponents at the time, a woman by the name of Carol Schwartz,
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had to admit, she was like, look, Marion Barry is a smarter politician high than most of these people
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around here are totally sober, right? She wasn't making a joke. But that's hysterical, right?
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And so you have a situation where, you know, you had the best of Black America and you had the worst of Black America,
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and it all co-mingled. You had the center of American democracy that was consistently having
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that democratic vision violated by the Congress and by the President of the United States. All that irony is just wonderful material
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for any good comic. And so I think all those things together just allow for this wonderful Petri dish
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that gives us all these great Black comics during the Chocolate City years. - Well, you know, they said comedy is a
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kind of intelligence. You gotta be intelligent to be a real good comedian. Even when the schools were segregated,
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the teachers were encouraging us that we could do anything we wanted to do. That was the kind of support
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and the kind of encouragement that we had during the days of segregation in the public schools.
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And those comedians were, many of 'em were products of the public schools. - People who grew up in Washington, DC knew
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that oftentimes humor, or to make someone laugh,
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was a science that could help alleviate a crisis.
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But, you know, as Black folks, you had to adroitly navigate that power.
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Black folks all the time, all the time, have to figure out how to handle
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and how to deal with white folks. White folks don't have to think about that. That's a burden we have that they don't.
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Many turn to humor. In order to be a good comedian,
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you gotta be willing to take a risk. And all around the DMV, Washington, DC
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there were examples of people taking the risk. And so I think somewhere in the psyche of a Wanda Sykes,
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somewhere in the psyche of a Martin Lawrence, somewhere in the psyche of a Dave Chappelle,
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it was like, they are seeing these examples of people willing to take a risk.
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- Comedians are line steppers. ♪ Think twice ♪
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♪ Before you answer ♪ ♪ Think twice ♪
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- Think twice ♪ Before you say yes ♪ - Think twice before you answer.
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- Petey Green, one of the funniest comics in DC for much of the Chocolate City period.
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- You know, it makes me feel so bad sometime when I see my Black brothers and sisters,
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and they'll see me eating a piece of watermelon like here.
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And they'll go, when they go to frown their faces. I mean, that's despicable.
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- Petey Green did something where he always encouraged Black citizens
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of Washington, DC and the DMV to be authentic. - I ain't gonna waste no time cutting no watermelon up
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and mix it up with no fruit cocktail. All I'm saying to you, be yourself. 'Cause I went to a party night with some white folk.
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They didn't have anything like that. They had slices. Walking around, Petey Green, you wanna slice? I said, yeah, gimme a slice.
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- [Rock] He became an unmistakable, beloved figure
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of Washington, DC. At the time of his death, there was the largest funeral procession
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and attendance in the history of Washington, DC. It didn't matter if Presidents had died or whatever.
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Petey Green was the epitome of Washington, DC. He had such an incredible impact.
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- Petey Green could MC anything. See the MCing part,
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I got from him. The way you could just, you ain't have to do nothing. Just talk, have (indistinct) and look neat now.
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(audience applauding) - Fellow's name is Greg Cooper.
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I saw him at Howard University in Washington, DC. I thought enough of him to ask him to come out.
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- Man, he came up later on, and he said, you know, I'm from Philadelphia, and I've never heard anybody do Joe Frazier.
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Man, you got to come on. I'm on Carson next week.
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We're going to talk to some of the greatest professional heavyweight fighters around today.
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They're going to give you their unbiased and unconstructive criticism.
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The exposure was good. And it was ego thrusting for me and my presentation.
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And Johnny called in the next day. One of my, you know, associates said,
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Johnny Carson was impressed with you. And he said, Bill,
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young man you had on... 'Cause he saw me getting warmed up, and it went to a commercial and the time ran out.
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But he was impressed with it too. He said, Ed, and Ed McMahon said, yeah, Greg Cooper's his name.
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Man, that was like, whoa, you know. - We got a hell of a mayor in DC, don't we?
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That man bad. Some people call him Crackula. I don't know why.
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I was the first Black comedian out of DC
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that had a comedy special, a national comedy special. And it blew up too.
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The best advice I ever got for comedy was my first manager told me,
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and I ain't like it, you know, he said, if you ain't working hard, and you ain't doing the best that you can do,
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the next man gonna take your job. You know, I ain't really listen to that. I was like, man, I might really do that.
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You know, until later on, I watched people do it, you know. I started treating comedy like boxing or something.
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It was every night at the comedy clubs dissecting my material
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down to the T, rehearsing it on a stopwatch, knowing how much time I had.
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Because this is my 100% focus,
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there's virtually nothing I can't do 'cause I learned a little from everybody.
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It became my everyday. So within a couple of seconds, you know, I can be Obama.
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And it happens fast, you know, I don't even have to think about it or, or anything. You think about all the objectives that America has
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and the objective that African Americans have. They're two totally polar opposites. You see what I'm saying?
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So I gotta be able to get, you know, get there. You know what I mean? What's wrong with my house, Mick?
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My house stink. You want me to fight the fight, I'll fight the fight. You want me to be there, Mick?
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I'll fight the fight. You know, it's gotta be instantaneous. ♪ And I don't think that everyone should stay here ♪
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♪ Everyone should dance ♪ ♪ Everyone has class ♪ - You know, you gotta just be like, you know,
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you gotta be able to call it up, you know? And that's what it did for me. - Tommy Davidson is probably
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one of the most underrated comedians in America. And if anyone's looking for somebody
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to play the Sammy Davis Jr. biopic, I would say Tommy Davidson.
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Real talk. I mean, he's that talented. He's multi-talented. You only saw a piece of him on In Living Color.
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- And another one of the things that, it didn't really separate me from the other DC comics,
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nothing will, but made me different, was I did music. I did music impressions.
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And they developed at the I-Racks because DC is a music city. So I would do, you know, singers that aren't popular now
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but back then, they had, they were on the charts. You know, Lou Rawls, Al Green, Anita Baker,
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Lionel Richie, Rick James, I mean, Stevie Wonder. I mean, who was doing that?
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But you know who was doing that before me? Sylvia Traymore.
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♪ I love you ♪ (audience laughing)
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♪ I love you ♪ - People kept saying, you remind us of Sylvia Traymore.
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And I never even met her. I was at the Ibex one night and people said, Sylvia's here, you know, I've never met her.
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I wasn't on TV yet, but I was like the staple of Ibex, you know. I said, who is this Sylvia Traymore, man?
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And I met her. She's beautiful too. She went on, she did Diana Ross.
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♪ Reach out and touch somebody's hand ♪ ♪ Make this world a better land ♪
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- She did Patti LaBelle. She had all these glowing gowns and stuff. I was like, yeah, all right, okay.
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All right. Okay, so I have some more, I got a little more work to do. I got some more work to do.
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- [Sylvia] What does being the first Black female impressionists in the history of this country
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really started making me realize, hey, you got some things going on here.
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Because there were no other African American female impressionists or women of color that I knew of.
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- I always tell Sylvia, I've told Sylvia this, I said, 'cause I think when Def Jam came around, Sylvia was kind of outta the business at the time.
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I think that was bad. I think if Sylvia Traymore did Def Comedy Jam,
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she'd be a huge star right now. Huge star. - Whenever they ask me who's my favorite impression
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that I do, Whoopi's up there in the top three. So if Whoopi was here, if she was here right now,
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this is what she'd say. Hey, let, let me, lemme just say this.
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Lemme just say this because I haven't been on a comedy show in quite a while,
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and I'd love to go on one. If you're gonna do a comedy show, make sure you call me up and I'll be there.
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- You knew these comics had to have something going for themselves. 'Cause she played in the hardcore clubs like Ibex,
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right up Georgia Avenue. But then next week she'd be at the Kennedy Center. - I've seen a couple of ladies
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on Instagram and Facebook, and they're doing impressions.
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And I almost cry whenever I see them because I remember the days when I couldn't get any stage time,
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even though I was considered brilliant on today... Now that's them. That's not me.
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I didn't say I was brilliant. They said it. But the fact that people thought that, and I couldn't even get three minutes on stage, baffled me.
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- There weren't people in that genre. So she was going out and doing, you know, everything from when she, you know,
29:33
MCed the roast of Muhammad Ali. (audience laughing) (audience laughing)
29:49
- Uh-uh, honey, this is outta sight here. (audience laughing) Just this.
29:56
Muhammad Ali was being roasted at the Apollo Theater.
30:01
Dick Gregory was upset because Richard Pryor canceled hosting the roast,
30:07
and they couldn't get, the roast was that day. Now I'm in Texas, and they can't find nobody to host the roast.
30:16
So the girl who I was in Europe with told Mr. Gregory, you need to hire Sylvia Traymore.
30:24
I wasn't using Morrison then. He said, well, who is she? And she explained to him how, he said, well, get her in here.
30:30
Get her in here. So she called me up, she says, guess what? I said, what? She said, you don't have to crash the roast.
30:36
I said, oh, yes I do. I will be at that roast tonight. And she said, no, Sylvia, you don't have to crash the roast.
30:44
You are hosting the roast.
30:51
Richard, she said, Richard Pryor's not coming. He's not coming. They don't have anybody else. And I told Mr. Gregory, you could handle the job.
30:58
I said to myself as I was walking to the front of the Apollo Theater, I said to myself, I said, Sylvia, you gotta pull this off
31:06
'cause this can make you or break you. And I proceeded to do my impression of Muhammad Ali,
31:15
and it worked. And I said, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the champ, Muhammad Ali.
31:22
And he came straight to me, he grabbed my hand, took me to the front of the stage. I just could not believe this.
31:28
And he held my hand up in the air, and he said, you doing me, a woman doing me?
31:35
That's awesome. I mean, I just pulled that out. I haven't done Ali in I don't know how long. But anyway, I almost couldn't move.
31:44
It was like Muhammad Ali just told me I was awesome.
31:50
- Take a lady to the hotel and you try to play big shot. You just got finished having some intimate, romantic love,
31:57
and now you're lying in bed. And both of you hungry, and you look at her, you hungry? Yeah, I'm starving.
32:04
Well, babe, I'm gonna order. Hey, room service. Yeah, gimme two cokes.
32:09
Welcome to Rap City. I'm Howard Jo. As the host of Rap City in the beginning,
32:17
it was mind boggling because everything that I learned touring with the rappers,
32:26
they were trying to change it to, they think that, they thought that all of,
32:31
that the rappers always say, what's up, homies and homettes. So they actually had a teleprompter
32:37
that I was reading saying, what's up, homies and homettes. And I remember Will Smith was on the show,
32:46
and I was interviewing him, and during the commercial break he said, hold up, hold up.
32:51
What are, what in the hell are they doing to you, Chris? And I was like, what you mean, Will?
32:58
So he looked to my producer and he told her, he said, what are you doing to Chris?
33:04
She was like, what are you saying? He said, he don't need no teleprompter. He knows hip hop.
33:11
So from that day, they said, what do you want to do?
33:16
Now I had an opportunity to do Rap City my way.
33:22
And my way was, I wanted to make it funny. I didn't really want to be in the studio.
33:27
I wanted to take it on the road. I wanted to go to places that hip hop artists go to.
33:32
Let's go to a restaurant. Let's interview them there, but let's make it funny. So that's when our Rap City really revolved
33:40
through Will Smith telling them to let me do it my way. - Chris being the original hip hop comedian,
33:49
standup comedian, you know, I mean he was rolling on the Fresh Fest tour, you know what I mean?
33:55
All of the Def Jam tours, the Rush tours with the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL,
34:00
you know, Run DMC, I mean, Chris was all part of that world when there was no one else.
34:06
- My job was to stop the young people from fighting.
34:12
My job was to make them laugh until the next group could get on.
34:18
- See that night, hey, dealing with my hair. Oh man, you know what I'm saying?
34:24
- Bad breath, Harry. - I was paralyzed for a week. My face stuck sorta like this.
34:29
- Oh no, what about grandpa? - Who? - Who? - Grandpa. Black Buck would surely kill him
34:36
or something worse. - What could be worse? - What could be worse? - Have you smelled his breath?
34:42
Oh my God, it smells like creek water. Wow.
34:47
(Wanda laughing) Oh my God, that was so bad.
34:55
But I remember shooting those. I remember that. - I love Wanda Sykes.
35:00
I love the way she writes. I mean, it's just brilliant writing. I like the way she tells stories.
35:08
I like her inflections. I like her voice. - Wanda was funnier off stage than she was on stage.
35:15
I hate to say that about her, but she just was funny. She seemed to relax. - 1987, the Coors Light Super Talent Showcase.
35:25
I entered this contest, this talent show I should say, because I was tired of my job.
35:32
I was working at NSA at the time, National Security Agency. And I, yeah, I just knew that there was something else
35:39
that I was supposed to be doing with my life. I get there, and Andy Evans is the host and introduce myself.
35:49
And he was like, where are you from? Like, I haven't seen you around at the club or anything. I was like, no, I haven't been to a club.
35:55
I said, this is my first time on stage. He's like, what? I said, it's my first time on stage. And he started laughing like, okay, yeah.
36:03
Okay, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Just go out there. So I go on stage and I tell my jokes.
36:09
I kill. Had a great set. And Tony Woods was also on the show,
36:14
and Tony, of course, killed. And Tony ended up winning, rightfully so.
36:22
But Andy Evans, he was like, okay, he said, you have something.
36:28
He said, you're funny. He said, you're just a natural. He said, for that to be your first time on stage.
36:33
I'm gonna be me. When I was ready to shoot, I'm gonna be me. Once you get across that 40 mark stuff just starts relaxing.
36:41
(audience laughing) And I thought about it, and you know, different cities kept popping up.
36:48
They were like, my agent was like, hey, you know, we doin' San Francisco, we can go to New York. And I was like, nah.
36:56
This is, you know, like I wanna, I need to go to ground zero. I need to go to where I started.
37:05
And you know, DC was it. And I said, you know, this is,
37:10
if this special kills in DC then I, this, that's gonna be like my happiest moment.
37:17
I'm gonna be okay, cool. Now I can do anything. I'm good.
37:23
(move reel spinning) (dog barking)
37:30
- I love Max too. - Yeah. - Just like a brother, a uncle, a friend, a cousin.
37:36
- [Off-Camera Actor] Alicia. - Me and Max share everything. We just like, man, you what's his is mine.
37:41
What's mine is his. What yours could be ours. You know what I'm saying? - No.
37:46
- Rest in peace, Greg Giraldo. Greg Giraldo said that one time. He says all the other Black comedians is talking about,
37:53
I'm keeping it real, I'm keeping it real. He said Tony Woods is keeping it serial. - Comedians, as well as audiences,
38:02
but comedians, know the brilliance of Tony Woods.
38:10
It's like brilliance that's on fire.
38:17
Like it's raging brilliance. Like you cannot, it's a wildfire.
38:22
You cannot contain his brilliance. - He is one of the
38:28
only comics I know personally myself, you know, that can go to London.
38:33
And I'm talking about actually knock somebody door and stay there if he needs to. - Tony Woods has a way of, he'll tell stories about his travels
38:41
and if you listen, you like, all right, that shit ain't happening.
38:46
But if you think about it, you'd be like, well it could have, you know what I'm saying? - And people in America think,
38:53
'cause I tell them, then I come down here and I like ride kangaroos. Shit. (audience laughing)
39:00
I know you guys like, we hate kangaroos. That's all right. I like them. (audience laughing)
39:07
- Tony Woods is the epitome of DC style.
39:13
I would say. Just his mannerism, that he's just so fucking suave on stage.
39:22
And then he could be goofy, and then he, you know, he could be silly, but he's just always cool, man.
39:30
It's all right, man, you know? - Tony Woods is so effortless. You think he's really bullshitting.
39:37
You think he's phoning it in, but he has it down to such a craft.
39:44
Tell me that, oh, Tony Woods the drunk one. Tony, he not drunk. I'm like, nah man.
39:50
Nah, he was, why was he talking that way? He was reeling you in and then whipping you into a frenzy.
39:55
You know what I'm saying? And I've seen him. I've seen Tony Woods be Tony Woods in an arena, and I've seen him in an open mic with five people,
40:04
three of them being comedians. And I've seen him absolutely destroyed. - When I was in the Navy,
40:09
and I was a medic, right? A corpsman, whatever you wanna call it.
40:14
And one of the guys there, and I, to me he was an old wise man.
40:19
'cause he was 30, and I was like 18.
40:25
And I remember one time Eddie Murphy was on the cover of Time Magazine. He had a red baseball cap on backwards,
40:32
and he was like this on the cover, right? And then I remember he said, you know, you could do this.
40:39
He said, the five funniest people I've ever come across was Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby,
40:48
what's the other guy's name? George Carlin. And you.
40:53
That's what he said to me. I'm like, get outta here man. And he says, I said, I'm not like them.
41:01
He said, I know you not like them. He says, 'cause you ain't started yet.
41:07
He said, you can't. You ain't gonna be like them unless you start - Dave Chappelle told you himself
41:14
when he got his Mark Twain award. If it wasn't for Tony Woods, it wouldn't be no Dave Chappelle. - Tony Woods was my Dizzy and Bird.
41:21
If I was a Miles, I was trying to play like you, you were the first person I ever saw do it absolutely right.
41:27
- Everybody thinks that I gave Dave Chappelle some kind of box. I just opened it up.
41:32
(Tony singing) Take this David, and you will be the man. No, that fucking shit didn't happen.
41:38
I hate when people say to me, oh, he stole your style.
41:44
Nah, he's influenced by me. We may have the same mechanics,
41:50
but you can clearly see he uses different fuel than I do. - We all were watching Tony.
41:55
We all were watching Tony. So I don't, I'm not gonna say we, I don't think it's intentional,
42:01
but yeah, I mean, kind of pick up some of those mannerisms.
42:06
- We are all the product of our influences.
42:11
People that we respect, that we admire, that we, you know, people that we don't take material from them.
42:21
But you can easily be influenced by the greats. - It's another guy from here, his name is Chris Paul.
42:28
And he described me once and he says, this guy is not a student of comedy.
42:33
He just kind of walked out there and did it. And I think I did just kind of, no particular school of thought.
42:39
And then, so when everybody was talking about me and Dave, the similarities and all this other stuff,
42:45
and Chris Paul to me broke it. It was kind of hurtful, but I understood what he said. He said, man,
42:52
Dave Chappelle is like Tony Woods read a book. I'm like, what you trying to say, dog?
42:58
Like see, but I understand. He said, Tony, look. 'Cause we was, we was at the Green Belt Comedy Connection
43:05
and it's a strip mall. Some nasty motherfucker had let they dog shit
43:11
on the sidewalk. And he said, you see that right there? He said, you could tell Dave about that,
43:17
and Dave's gonna tell you where the came from. What kind of breed a dog it was, how long ago he did it, blah, blah, blah.
43:23
He said with you, you have nothing unless you step in it. He said, after you step in it,
43:29
he said, your joke going to be funny as shit. He says, but without, you know,
43:35
without stepping in it, you ain't got shit. He said, that's why I say he's you, but he read a book.
43:44
(hip hop music) (hip hop music) - [Chris] What's the deal, Pickles?
43:51
Is everything kosher? - Chris bought me on the radio, and he created the name Huggy Lowdown.
43:57
- I was trying to create a character, someone who could do gossip but not be a slave
44:03
to the gossip of the day. So trying to create somebody who gave the image of a real street snitch.
44:11
- You know, like Huggy, Antonio Fargas character on Starsky & Hutch.
44:16
- I heard on the TV news that there's a guy running around thinking he's a blood sucking vampire. - So he was like a cat that knew everything
44:25
that was going on in the streets, right? So got Huggy and then he was giving you the lowdown.
44:32
The character blew up so much that Sam I Am kind of like,
44:39
had to take a step to the background because before people even knew it was me
44:45
for years, like maybe two, three years, that it was me. You know what I mean?
44:50
They never knew who it was. They just thought it was a, they didn't know who the character was 'cause of course the voice was different, you know?
44:58
You know, what's the deal, Pickle? That was shit different. It was higher. You know, people like, it's the dude.
45:04
They didn't know who the dude was for two years. They didn't know. - I can't tell you what it was like for me to come in every morning knowing I had this thing
45:13
in my holster. Wait 'til I pull this out and shoot it. - I got the recipe, you know?
45:20
Nobody gonna serve it to you like I'm serving. Imma make my segment be a benchmark.
45:25
- The biggest name in radio in the DC market was Huggy Lowdown. It was a ratings bonanza for PGC.
45:33
- When Huggy left me to go to Tom Joyner's show, I tried to get the station to come up
45:38
with enough money to keep him 'cause I certainly wanted to keep him, you know?
45:43
But it is difficult, man, when you have people that don't understand
45:49
that side of the aisle, you know, who don't understand talent, when you try and explain stuff to suits, you know.
45:56
I mean, I actually had the general manager tell me,
46:02
well, can't we just get Chris Thomas to do it?
46:07
That's so freaking insulting to me. I was so mad, man. It's like, you know,
46:14
and nothing against Chris Thomas. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying. You know, these are not widgets. You don't just put another one in
46:20
and think you can get the same results. You know, but that's the way they think.
46:26
- Did you see this in the newspaper? There's a new thing out for Christmas. It's the Black Family Bible.
46:32
It's the Bible for Black folks. The Black Bible. It just came out. I bought it. It's called the King James Brown version of the Bible.
46:38
(audience laughing) The front of the book it says in the beginning,
46:43
good God. (audience applauding)
46:49
James Brown is a popular Black soul star.
46:54
I never really thought I would be a comedian 'cause I never, in fact, someone wrote in my high school yearbook, you should be a comedian.
46:59
And I remember thinking, no one's a comedian. I mean, okay, I've seen people on TV doing it. But in real life, people don't do that.
47:06
- Comedy is what led to everything else that I've done in my career, including TV news.
47:13
Whether it's a local morning show here in DC or Good Morning America,
47:18
which I was on for almost seven years, everything that I've done has been personality based
47:25
and humor based. So when I've been hired for different jobs,
47:31
frequently that's been because the person doing the hiring, the general manager, the program director, whatever,
47:38
knew that I was a very personable guy, a likable guy, could think fast on my feet,
47:44
which I, you know, got that doing comedy. Was smart. They knew that from the type of comedy I was doing.
47:50
So that's what led to a lot of these things. He approached the stage, not like a Black comedian,
47:57
but like Johnny Carson. Tony's entire delivery was that. He was the perfect monologist.
48:07
(jazz bass music) (jazz bass music)
48:13
- I was sitting in my club, the Soul of Comedy at Howard. One of the things that I think I kind of felt
48:20
when I saw it was kind of proud that, wow, all the comics they picked,
48:26
they picked the DC comic. My role at Def Comedy Jam was basically the gatekeeper.
48:34
One of the things that I used to do was venture down to the DC area to Greenbelt, Maryland by the,
48:42
and it was a place called the Comedy Connection. And Chris Thomas had the room on Sunday nights.
48:49
And when I tell you it was incredible. But then came to Tacoma Station.
48:54
- The crowd there, you can come, if you walk on stage with your shoes untied, you getting booed.
49:00
Joe Clair, Dominique, Red Grant, Donnell Rawlings. They were the staple of Tacoma Station.
49:07
- That line up everywhere we went, Dominique would go on, she would destroy the room. Red Grant would grow on.
49:13
He would crush the room. Joe Clair would go on. He would demolish the room. And with those three people, you thought the show was over.
49:20
And every night that we worked together, Dominique, Red Grant, Joe Clair, and I would come up
49:25
and we was like this. (Donnell imitating shooting sounds) If you look at it now, every one of those people I named is a national headline
49:32
right now. - My squad, we gone tear your ass up. We going to light your ass up.
49:38
- DC was definitely one of my main spots. And I look at even like Royale Watkins right now,
49:44
who's outta DC. Royale's doing big things. Then you had David Edwards who made, you know,
49:49
he became famous on MTV with the real world. - Def Comedy Jam gave me a platform.
49:57
- Lemme ride your bike, I ain't going anywhere. Remember hearing that shit? (audience laughing) I ain't going anywhere but to the fucking corner.
50:03
There wasn't a lot of outlets for Black comedy
50:08
and to work clubs throughout the country, they wanted some type of television credit.
50:15
- I feel like Def Jam gave me courage. Oh man, when you get hurt by love,
50:21
love make you do shit like hide in the bushes. And gave me a sense of understanding
50:29
that you can get through the tough times in comedy too. - [Joe] Here were Black voices
50:35
that were coming from background similar to mine. I seen Forrest Gump.
50:40
Man, who was your favorite? Who was your favorite person. Bubba. - That were funnier,
50:50
funnier than anything you had out there. - And that set that you saw. That's who I am.
50:57
I was talking about the Jacksons. Wait a minute. Speaking of White House, y'all see Michael Jackson? Ooh. (audience laughing)
51:03
When I was growing up, everybody did impressions of Barbara Streisand, you know, different icon singers that they had.
51:11
The comedians, legendary white comedians did in their acts all the time.
51:16
- Def Comedy Jam. I can't think of anything greater. I remember when Def,
51:24
the night it was aired, I was at the gas station with my cousin.
51:30
But women biggest problem with us is the orgasm. 'cause they'll tell you, you come too quick. Shit, you come too late. (audience laughing)
51:38
And I didn't see it the night it was there 'cause I was out with him clowning.
51:44
And we stopped at the gas station, and people just came outta nowhere, and they just converged on the car.
51:53
- I remember being on a airplane flying outta Philadelphia to St. Croix, and a white kid on there, a teenager,
52:00
comes up to me and said, I loved you on Def Jam. I gotta show you a quick impression. What I used to do for a living
52:05
before I became a standup comedian. (audience laughing)
52:12
It was on an airplane flying to St. Croix. A white kid recognized me from Def Jam. That's how powerful that show was.
52:18
- I didn't know I wasn't always clean, you know, I had a transformation. - Oh shit. We at the Def Jam.
52:25
He was like, I was the Richard Pryor of ventriloquists. - I mean, at one time I, no,
52:31
I did a lot, I used a lot of language starting out early on because I thought that's what comedy was really all about.
52:38
And you know, I know I didn't know that I didn't have to use that language in order to get my point across.
52:45
I just went through a spiritual transformation. I moved out to LA you know, seeking fame and fortune.
52:50
And I got with some agencies and you know, they said you gotta be clean all the time. We represent... Jesus.
52:56
- That's right. And then so I straightened up my act, man. And from that point forward,
53:02
I just I toed the line, and it actually changed my life. I thought I was cleaning up my comedy for the comedy clubs,
53:09
but found out that know God was cleaning me up- - For the Church. Come on, somebody oughta shout right there.
53:15
- The high point in my career was when I got the call for Def Comedy Jam.
53:21
Girl, who the hell you talking about? That bitch right there keep looking over here. Like, girl, that's a mirror. Fuck, what wrong with you?
53:27
Damn. (audience cheering) It made the people out in LA, in New York, in Chicago, Atlanta know who I was.
53:33
Martin was the blueprint. Knowing he was from here, he was from DC, and I was like, oh man,
53:39
if he could do it, I know I could do it. And it just so happened on the first episode was another DC legend, Teddy Carpenter.
53:46
He headlined Def Comedy Jam. - Teddy Carpenter. For us at Def Jam is the all time greatest to me.
53:53
Best three comedy shows up there. His first one, hands down, set the tone. - Fellas, you ever found that don't hurt me spot?
54:00
Little women will tell you, don't hurt me. Know damn well our mission will change to seek and destroy. (audience laughing)
54:07
- At one time I was the elite.
54:12
Period. Not just not because of Def Jam, but because of Def Jam.
54:18
- When Def Jam was going on was going on tour, Teddy Carpenter was the headliner.
54:24
I got flyers where probably, where Teddy Carpenter was the headliner, and D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer were opening
54:30
for him. - Give it up for Ted Carpenter. - Like Martin was a star.
54:35
You know, early. And I saw it. I just knew he had it. Like whatever it was, this dude had it.
54:43
- Ted ripped Def Jam, and he was ripping all of these shows. And so while we were doing shows,
54:50
Ted would come out on the air and be like, you know, Martin Lawrence don't wanna do a show with me
54:58
'cause he's scared of me. And so, you know, Martin Lawrence was one of the hottest comedians
55:03
in the world at that time. And so nobody wanted to hear that. - I absolutely adore Martin to this day.
55:09
He was the guy who came in. Everybody respected him. He had a standup comedy presence.
55:15
He had a TV presence. But if you asked me to get on stage with him, and you pay me 10,
55:22
and you pay him whatever you pay him, I'm gonna try to put a beat down on his ass.
55:30
That's just a competitive standup comic that I am. That doesn't always work in your favor
55:36
because everybody will help you until you become a threat.
55:42
And when you become a threat, the dance changes. - One of the baddest comedians to come out of this area
55:51
in our lifetime. And I told everything I'm saying,
55:56
I already told him. He was his own worst enemy. He was his own worst enemy.
56:01
- Everybody knew Ted was good. And I think sometimes Ted wanted to prove that he was better.
56:07
- When I performed on Def Jam, all the Def Jam performances was to get a 30 minute special.
56:15
Like I thought I had to prove it again. And then even the third time I was like, this is it.
56:20
Like, I think I laid down two hell of a tracks for y'all. It's like, 'cause remember Def Jam was a record company,
56:28
you know, and what a record company's known to do? Pimp the shit outta you. I mean, I knew that.
56:33
I even knew why they was doing all of this stuff. I knew a lot about what was going on,
56:39
and so I didn't have a favorite one. It was just me doing them trying to get to another space,
56:49
you know, to separate myself from Def Jam. I didn't mind coming from Def Jam. But it's almost like you shoot a commercial for Disney,
56:59
but now you wanna run Disney or you wanted your own movie from Disney. That's what I was trying to do.
57:05
What happened after Def Jam? I think it was a combination of the perfect storm.
57:14
Was I blackballed? Yeah. Yeah.
57:19
My Black ass was blackballed. I'd never been a company guy.
57:24
So as Def Jam was trying to put tours and different things together,
57:30
they were offering a $1000 a show. But you would play something like Constitution Hall
57:35
that holds 4,000 people. Ticket price is $60.
57:40
Two shows. Do the math. So when you do the math and you say, wait a minute, two shows, 60,000...
57:48
Somebody making a damn near half a million dollars, and y'all paying us a thousand dollars?
57:54
The fuck wrong with this picture? So me, I ain't the smartest camper in the world,
58:00
but I ain't never been known to be the dumbest either. I was like, oh, I'm going out.
58:05
I'm going out myself. And Def Jam at the time would tell certain people, you go out, y'all can't work here.
58:11
And you know, Bob Sumner was, you know, he was leading the charge on that. And some of the things I was like, man, you crazy as shit.
58:18
You know, Russell would never say nothing. But Russell was the head. You know, he was the head.
58:23
He was the snake head. You know, so whoever was saying it, it was coming from that camp.
58:29
I ain't pay that shit no attention. I went out and worked and did things.
58:35
It's funny because I equate us to New Edition.
58:40
They were New Edition. I was Bobby Brown. I didn't have the greatest relationship after Def Jam.
58:47
With Def Jam. You know, a lot of people told, you know, Russell was upset. Russell was upset because you say he don't like
58:53
to pay people and such and such. He didn't.
58:58
We got $717 to do Def Jam. Def Jam 30 years later is still selling.
59:05
We got $717. Period.
59:10
Now did you make money off of it? Yeah, but it's the same thing as the record company. You see all of these record,
59:16
you know, back in the day, blues singers and different people that go in and record,
59:21
and they don't own their masters. It was no different.
59:27
So people, you know, me, I'm frontline. I'm saying this shit in real time.
59:34
I'm saying remember it's no social medias, no whatever. But I'm barking as loud as I can in real time thinking
59:41
that some of these guys that's around me, you know, the D.L.'s the Bernie Mac's,
59:49
the Steve Harvey's, you know, whoever, Cedric the Entertainer whoever they got me,
59:56
something happened to me. They roll it. I never had to always be the man. I just jump on they ship, ride with them
1:00:03
until, you know, I can get to, you know, open water. That didn't happen.
1:00:10
That didn't happen. So as I was taking these ass whoopings, my team of guys were thriving.
1:00:18
And so to me, I felt like,
1:00:24
like in a movie when the door shuts and everybody's trying to get through that door and run through that door, you know,
1:00:31
like a garage door, you know, that door start coming, come on let's go. And they getting through that door and they, you know,
1:00:37
and that door. And I'm the last motherfucker. And that door shut, and I couldn't get through it.
1:00:43
So all my guys are millionaires. You know, this is my brother's crib. I have 7,000 square foot,
1:00:50
it was about 7,000 square foot house right around the corner. I almost drop a tear every time I go past it.
1:01:00
Government say I gotta come get it. You know, those cars outside, gotta come get it.
1:01:07
You know, all the stuff, whatever. So being the legend is great,
1:01:13
but one thing I never had, and I tell dudes to this day because when dudes come and talk to me and they, you know man and such and such,
1:01:20
you heard me earlier on one of these cameras told my nephew don't be me.
1:01:26
And it's people ask me, would I do it any other way?
1:01:35
Can't answer that right now. - [Interviewer] You wouldn't change anything from the past?
1:01:47
- Hard head, make a sore ass.
1:01:53
Not a lot. I wouldn't change a lot. - [Interviewer] Even if it meant
1:01:58
you would have a different place, a different type of lifestyle, come on.
1:02:06
- Let me tell you why I wouldn't change a lot. 'cause it forced me to come home and be a father to my kids.
1:02:15
And that was the best reward.
1:02:21
- Marsha Warfield had a joke years ago. She was talking about Magic Johnson,
1:02:27
and it was so witty and clever and I was like, oh man.
1:02:34
She said, she was talking about, you know, Magic Johnson when he was playing basketball, good looking man.
1:02:39
You know, women, we feel like he's attractive. And she said, yeah, I met Magic Johnson.
1:02:46
I just looked at him and I said, boy, I love to climb up Magic Johnson and sit there.
1:02:54
She had this like, no nonsense kind of humor to me, just straightforward humor.
1:03:00
And I was also able to see that in my family. And I never even got bullied in school
1:03:05
because I had wit, even though I was a chunky kid, I'd tear you up with that wit.
1:03:11
Crush you out. They be like, you fat, okay, here we go. Yeah, I know that much.
1:03:17
- The first time I saw Dominique was at Monique's Comedy Club in Baltimore and I said to Mo, who is this?
1:03:25
And she said, that's Dominique. Like I was supposed to know her. - Once I left DC
1:03:30
and I moved to New York, it bought something completely different out me, my relationships build.
1:03:36
I was able to meet Tracy Morgan. I would work clubs on Broadway.
1:03:41
And in New York they have a whole different kind of comedy energy, you know, they got a rapid fire kind of energy.
1:03:47
Then I went to LA after that. So I'm working, you know, I've been blessed. I have great friends.
1:03:53
I went on the road with Lavell Crawford. I've been on the road with Mike Epps.
1:03:58
That opened me up to arenas. So I'm doing shows now in front of 3,000 and 4,000 people.
1:04:07
And then I think in this business, every time you get to a place, I call it, you need to turn a corner.
1:04:13
Then I got on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. When I got on the Tom Joyner Morning Show
1:04:18
and I was able to do comedy segments on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. It really, really changed the trajectory of my career.
1:04:27
So there, it's a lot of different places where you have breaks.
1:04:34
- You know, you make decisions in your life and they affect the rest of your life, right?
1:04:39
I made a decision when I was in my twenties to become a comedian,
1:04:46
and that's what I do. I'm a (beep) comedian, like, for real.
1:04:53
Let's get it in. My highest moment in comedy was the night that I quit my job
1:05:02
as a social worker. It was 1993. It was the Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull Comedy Competition.
1:05:10
Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley were the headliners. The first guy goes out, and he is shirt and tie.
1:05:18
Set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline. Goodnight.
1:05:23
(Joe clapping) He had a great set. He had a great set. I'm not set up, punchline.
1:05:30
I'm, hey, let me show y'all this shit, and this shit, and this shit over here,
1:05:36
and some other shit, and some more shit, and I got some more shit to say, and thank you, goodnight. Suck my dick.
1:05:41
Right? They stood up.
1:05:47
The people stood up. I had never seen that before, and it sold out. It's packed.
1:05:52
I never seen, you know, I had seen it happen from the audience perspective.
1:05:58
I never seen it happen from standing. I'm the guy. Y'all climbing for me?
1:06:07
- The most iconic guy of our era outside of Snoop maybe,
1:06:12
you know, I get to sit and talk to.
1:06:18
It's three days before he would die. I felt like his death and Tupac's death
1:06:25
were the biggest pieces of, the biggest display of nigga shit ever.
1:06:34
Here we are. We have everything we've ever wanted. We rule the world right now.
1:06:41
And we still- (Joe imitating shooting sounds) If I may,
1:06:47
and I've never said this before,
1:06:52
for me a lot of the fighting that we have in our community is bitch shit.
1:06:59
Like you that emotional?
1:07:05
You like a little bitch. You got that fucking emotional?
1:07:10
You can't find another solution to this shit?
1:07:15
- I remember I went on stage at the Apollo one night, and I tell the people
1:07:21
the first thing I said outta my mouth, I said, I see y'all booing out here. Y'all can boo me, you know,
1:07:29
and before I can get the next word out, it was like a RAF pace of boo's coming down
1:07:36
from the back of the wall, and I had to fight through it. I said, no, what y'all? I said...
1:07:41
I can see Steve on the side. And I was,
1:07:47
he was like wrap it up. And I got off stage, and I walked, no bull,
1:07:53
from 125th Street to West Village,
1:08:00
West Side Village. I walked 125 blocks thinking about
1:08:07
I will never ever ask the Apollo to boo me again.
1:08:12
And I came back a year later and destroyed that joint. I think you guys should be very proud of yourself.
1:08:17
Y'all had, all of you guys did something different. Don't leave here and get unfocused.
1:08:23
That's what all of us, like, you know, what I'm saying? We be focused for a second and then certain things unfocus us.
1:08:29
- Don't Shoot Guns, Shoot Cameras is a SEL program that teaches young kids filmmaking
1:08:37
from beginning to end. Yeah, we out here in this heat canvassing like we always do.
1:08:44
Grant for mayor all day. Make sure you sign the petition. Make sure you go to Grant4MayorDC.com.
1:08:51
We're in Northeast today. If you want us to come to your area, we'll come to your area too. Let's go.
1:08:57
Grant for mayor. - Grant for mayor. - Team rep. - Team rep. - Let's go.
1:09:02
- Running for mayor, why? Well, God gave me a vision three years ago,
1:09:08
a real, clear vision to come back to my city and delve
1:09:14
into the issues that affect my people. It was so clear to the point
1:09:20
that I saw it all the way to the end. He showed me everything. People say, you know, they ask me all the time.
1:09:26
He is like, you a comedian. You don't know nothing about politics. Well, I'm not a politician.
1:09:34
I'm a humanitarian. I think sometimes people, they don't feel like nobody cares, but you know, it's a lot of people
1:09:40
who do care. So we that's gotta continue to care about our communities.
1:09:46
Man, feed 'em not only food but feed 'em knowledge. I think I'm gonna be one of the best mayors
1:09:51
that DC has ever had.
1:09:57
- That man is drier than Kunta Kinte himself. - The character Ashy Larry,
1:10:02
people, they always ask me, how did that character come about? Or do I get offended when people call me Ashy?
1:10:08
But I have been Ashy my entire life. And when we were doing that character for Chappelle's show,
1:10:14
we came up with the character. He wasn't Ashy. He was just Larry.
1:10:20
But I said, I want to be so Ashy that I could write how much money people owe me on the side of my legs.
1:10:27
And I went to costume. I mean, I went to makeup. I was like, I need some baby powder. It was like, for what?
1:10:32
I said, I can't tell nobody 'cause they gonna probably reject the idea. And I was like, I put that baby powder in my hand.
1:10:40
I shook it like it was dice. And when I blew it out, Ashy Larry was born.
1:10:46
When I was younger I was skinny dude, ashy elbows, ashy knees, big head, hand-me-down clothes.
1:10:56
And when you growing up like that, you have to be able to defend yourself. And I was so smart. I never really defended myself with my hands,
1:11:02
but the verbal assault- (Donnell whistling) I used to tear 'em up. It was like having an assault rifle.
1:11:07
Foul, you get one. Foul. I was giving away free shots before Oprah even thought about giving away.
1:11:13
You get a shot, you get a shot, everybody get a shot. - Donnell Rawlings, and he don't mind me telling you this,
1:11:19
was a security officer at the Hecking Jamal Safeway.
1:11:25
Now I know that for a fact because I used to serve hostess cakes to the Hecking Jamal Safeway.
1:11:31
Donnell looking like somebody from Martin Lawrence show. He got his whole get up on,
1:11:37
you know, he come down, hey man, ain't you hosting that at the comedy club? I said, yeah. He said, man, you think you'll put me on stage?
1:11:44
I said, yeah, you just gotta come put your name on the list. - Mike Washington was the MC that night. When I went up there, I didn't know anything about the rules of a comedy room.
1:11:51
Like I didn't know what the red light meant or anything. - It was time for him to get off stage. I said, wrap it up.
1:11:57
I didn't say cut. I said, next week he gonna know what wrap it up mean. - So they gave me the red light,
1:12:02
and I just thought it was like when you get the red light you get off the stage right then. And I was like, oh man, they give me the light.
1:12:07
I gotta get outta here, y'all. And everybody went crazy. Boo. We want Donnell.
1:12:12
We want Donnell. And Mike had to come back to calm the audience. He was like, Donnell, listen. Donnell don't know the rules of the room.
1:12:19
It was that night where it was birth of Donnell Rawlings, the comedian.
1:12:25
I think what I learned from being in this business that in the business of entertainment, you have to know how to be happy being broke.
1:12:34
'Cause for the most part, 95% of your career is gonna be as a starving artist.
1:12:40
You gotta, I think you gotta understand that at the end of the day,
1:12:45
it's just you. Your family will let you down.
1:12:52
Your friends will let you down. The business will let you down, but you can't let yourself down.
1:12:58
And I also learned that you have to be able
1:13:03
to do what the next person won't do. There's always something extra you can do to put yourself
1:13:09
in position for greatness or give yourself another opportunity. Well, we met through our reputations.
1:13:16
Like Dave was probably four years my senior in comedy.
1:13:23
And on the circuit when anybody comes up and they're smoke, they leave New York, you talk about it like, yo, who left?
1:13:28
Who's popping? Who's getting it in? And everybody would be like, Mike Washington particular like,
1:13:34
oh, this guy, Dave Chappelle. He's like 16, he moved to New York, he's on, he's popping.
1:13:39
Everybody was talking about Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle. And I thought I was funny. I was like, man, fuck Dave Chappelle. I'm funny too.
1:13:46
And Dave has said this story also. He said, when he used to come home,
1:13:53
when you come home you wanna know like who's popping. He said it was always the usual suspects. Andy Evans, Tony Woods, Fat Doctor.
1:14:02
And then he said, but this one dude
1:14:07
that's on fire. His name is Donnell Rawlings. And Dave said the same thing I said, he said, man, fuck that motherfucker.
1:14:13
I'm funny too. I think both of us being DC Comics, it's a special feeling for us knowing we're
1:14:20
from the same hometown. But I don't think that people on the road really care too much where we from,
1:14:28
they care about if we tearing that stage up. And I don't know if it's another dynamic duo combo
1:14:36
that eat stages up the way we do. Yeah, yeah. We fuck it up. Be undeniable.
1:14:44
Nobody gonna stop funny. You might get all he's up and down. Be undeniable and rip everywhere you go.
1:14:53
When every time somebody see, they say, this dude smokes the stage every time, and you watch how them doors open up.
1:14:59
I think Dave Chappelle and the closer, it was so good
1:15:06
for comedy and his stance on it is so good for the integrity of comedy.
1:15:12
You know, a lot of people were, oh, I can't say this, you can't do this. You can do whatever you want, but who has the balls to be able to do it?
1:15:18
- Dave Chappelle, he can pretty much say anything.
1:15:23
A, he's Dave Chappelle, and B, people trust what he's saying.
1:15:31
- The only time it makes an impact on how you deliver a joke or you say a joke, if you are afraid.
1:15:37
If you afraid of the repercussions. And what, for the most part, what people, what are people afraid of?
1:15:43
They're afraid that, oh, I might not be able to make this money. So what? - We are in a different atmosphere today
1:15:50
because people have become overly sensitive. - Their life has always been living on the edge.
1:15:58
Their job is to make you squirm. To make you uncomfortable, to make you think. - There's nobody who's off limits.
1:16:06
Everybody's now, in today's world, they're sensitive about the little, small things.
1:16:14
A big person can be big, and they're the ones that's eating.
1:16:19
- I think that that, you know, sort of cancel culture at large without giving an ideological definition.
1:16:25
So from the right, from the left, from the center really has made dialogue difficult,
1:16:30
and comedy is a form of dialogue. - When I was in the writer's room of the Parkers for 26 weeks, one thing I realized was this was writing by committee.
1:16:39
So you could say a joke and a joke is funny, and it could still give vetoes and veto to never make it into the script.
1:16:46
That part of the process I didn't enjoy. So what I did was I became a standup comic
1:16:52
so nobody could veto the words that come outta my mouth. I don't perform by committee.
1:16:58
So if you start canceling comics, we now are, we're losing the reason we do this
1:17:07
♪ DC where you at ♪ ♪ I'm talking about the Mecca ♪ ♪ I'm talking about the first city, the real city ♪
1:17:13
♪ Chocolate City ♪ ♪ DC stand up ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ I want thank you for everything ♪
1:17:20
♪ And all you gave to me ♪ ♪ I wanna thank you for the love you share ♪
1:17:25
♪ And everything you reap ♪ ♪ I wanna share your hand and grab my arm around you ♪
1:17:32
- I'm so DC I still eat fried bologna with the red ring around it. Y'all remember what that is?
1:17:37
You hit the shrimp boat. You walk down the shrimp boat. Get you some chicken wings with the mumbo sauce. Y'all know what mumbo sauce?
1:17:43
If you from DC, you know what it is. - I'm so DC, I still listen to Rare Essence.
1:17:49
- Come on DC, man, you know me. Ben's Chili Bowl. You know, man, hot dogs cost about a $1000 now.
1:17:55
Go to Little Tavern. You know the Blue Dolphin? I mean the Blue Mirror next to the Mark IV Supper Club.
1:18:03
These are landmarks, baby. You is DC, bam. The old Rand, Tinley Theater.
1:18:10
Man, we was doing our thing. - I'm so DC I know everybody 'err like it. I'm so DC nobody get married, they get 'murried.'
1:18:18
I'm so DC I hang in 'Murryland.' 'Urrbody' feel as though simple fact being huh man aint youngin.
1:18:26
We gonna be up the way. ♪ Living life ♪ ♪ Who with me ♪
1:18:32
(scatting) ♪ Yeah we got a big old ♪
1:18:37
♪ Shut your mouth ♪
- DC is the mecca for standup comics, 'cause if you good, you good in this town. - We just breed funny people,
0:16
and I don't know if it's that it's so many of us there. - All these great talents in DC, you know, what's in the water here?
0:23
What happens? - The greats came through there. - Black folks in DC is just straight out funny. - You cannot ask brothers for directions in Washington.
0:30
Sir, 'cause I got lost, and I get lost all the time, especially wearing a lot of gold. I went up to some young brother, I said, "Excuse me.
0:36
My man, can you tell me how to get to Benning Road?" Young boy said, "Oh, Benning Road." (audience laughing)
0:44
(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music)
0:50
(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music) - [Announcer] I wanna hear you cheering, man.
0:56
Like you ain't never cheered before. This brother, you know, started up in the DC area. - [Commentator 1] The comedians that come
1:01
out of DC just be top shelf. - [Commentator 2] Down from DC. - [Commentator 3] From DC. - I'm from Washington, DC, man.
1:07
North, southeast Washington. - Washington, DC incubated a lot of great comedians. It's because there's just a central information stream
1:19
here in DC that's not like other cities. - How you doing? Where you gone, the bathroom? (audience laughing)
1:26
Gonna let one loose, huh? (audience laughing) - I think some of the best storytellers are DC comics.
1:31
- So many people, who are big names now,
1:36
are from out of this area. - This town is kind of a different town, it's the seat of our government,
1:42
stuff that is national news is local news here, and you have a very educated audience.
1:49
And I think a lot of us who came up through the school systems here, and what have you,
1:56
kinda smart. And so that kind of informs the comedy. - Fox fired that bitch ass Tucker Carlson.
2:02
(audience cheering) I was like, yeah, that's a fucking Monday for your ass.
2:07
DC area has the most educated concentration
2:12
of African Americans in the country. - A ton of like live albums will be recorded
2:18
here at Constitution Hall. Dave Chappelle's breakout special. - I mean, I've been scared to talk
2:23
to the police when I'm sleepy - [Joe Clair] Was at the Lincoln Theater. - This is the power center of earth
2:31
right here in DC, but there's still Ben's Chili Bowl. - [Tony] It's a white collar town. And us being Black, we have to maneuver
2:39
through the white collar and through the blue. Even though we are working a white collar job. We living a blue collar life.
2:45
You can see it in Dave's humor. You know? He'll hit you with some high brow shit.
2:51
And then back to the dick jokes. Bang. So, you know what I'm saying? - [Andy] David Chappelle cut his teeth right with us,
2:58
in the Black clubs. Tommy Davidson. Same way. Martin Lawrence the same way. Wanda Sykes the same way.
3:04
And I work with all of them. When they left DC they was ready for mainstream television.
3:10
- If DC being the mecca of comedy is a phrase coined by the great Andy Evans,
3:16
then it must be so. - And he gave Berry Gordy the lifetime achievement award. He said the first place he sent his audience was Washington, DC.
3:24
If he sent Motown to Washington, and if they made it in DC, that act was gonna make it anywhere in the country.
3:30
And he said, the reason why is because DC had the most sophisticated audiences.
3:36
Bar none. - I think the most important person in DC comedy was Andy Evans.
3:42
- Because men don't breathe. We get pissed off. We stop breathing. Women know that look we get.
3:47
See women, you see guys ready fight. (Andy snorting) (audience laughing) (Andy snorting) (audience laughing)
3:53
(Andy snorting) (audience laughing) Women breathe when they're mad, even when they angry they breathe.
3:58
(Andy huffing) (audience laughing) (Andy huffing) (audience laughing) (Andy huffing) (audience laughing)
4:05
Constantly sucking that air. (audience laughing) Men just don't breathe.
4:11
We get upset. That's it. Car loan. (Andy snorting) Taxes. (Andy snorting)
4:20
No sex. (audience laughing) - [Wanda] He means so much to, you know, DC comedy.
4:28
He's mentored so many people. He's mentored me. - I was the first host of Garvin's Comedy Club,
4:35
which was the first professional club. - But we started Garvin's Comedy Club, which a lot of the DC comics
4:40
or the older DC comics started. It was run by a guy, Harry Monocrusos.
4:45
His dad had left him a restaurant called Garvin's. - [Harry] His family had owned Garvin's, that location,
4:51
and another location on 14th Street for, as I said, about 50 years.
4:56
We were the only place in town for a long time that gave people a stage. There was a place prior to Garvin's called El Brookman's.
5:04
A lot of the people that we talk about that came out of DC later on were never at El Brookman's. The people that were
5:10
some of the early one, I think Andy Evans was, Greg Poole. Tomorrow's Comedy, which was a group that Greg Poole was involved in.
5:16
- It was three of us. And we did all sorts of things from, you know, singing parodies.
5:22
One of the guys played guitar. We did Idi Amin and the Dada's.
5:27
One of the few comedy teams working at that time. So we started through the comedy clubs, Never really left the DC area.
5:33
- [Harry] Great character. Tall, lanky, hit that stage with a certain attitude.
5:39
We had Teddy Carpenter. You had Tony Perkins came in 1982. The Fat Doctor. Kevin Lee. Danny Williams.
5:48
Kevin Anthony. Robin Montague. Now Wanda Sykes did Garvin's, but she did not do the original Garvin's
5:54
on Connecticut Avenue. She came in after 1984. - As a featured act, you could put together maybe, you know, $600-700 a week,
6:01
you know, which was decent money. And oddly enough, that's good money today.
6:07
- Caucasians ran comedy and they made you,
6:12
you had to be better in order to excel. - As a young urban comic,
6:20
you know, Black comic. You couldn't...
6:25
The white structure of comedy made you do it in a particular way.
6:30
Because the Black structure was, okay, we don't have no comedy clubs. - Now, Catfish Mayfield had a place called Ibex,
6:39
and they had a room called the Marvin Gaye room. - If you survived the Ibex in the Marvin Gaye room,
6:47
you were ready for anything. - Bitch say catfish. I said, yes.
6:54
She said, take that marble out your pocket. I was embarrassed.
6:59
- He was like, you know, like Robin Harris, and he was before Robin Harris.
7:06
- The last show I did in DC before I moved to New York was at the Ibex. And I took a L.
7:13
I took a L. They booed the shit out of me. And that was night of the send off to go to New York. And I was like, that's all right.
7:19
Y'all gonna remember me. I'm getting outta here. I'm leaving DC, eff y'all. When you doing well, the best thing is to hang out.
7:25
Everybody like, good set you killed it. But the worst is when you bomb. Nobody look at you in your eyes.
7:31
Nobody asked you if you wanna drink. They just like, it go from good set to good seeing you.
7:37
- The reason why I became a, you know, and I didn't know I became a comedian,
7:42
and especially in DC, we had a color thing going. Light-skinned people,
7:47
you know, got all of the glory back then. And if you were dark skinned,
7:53
people just started joning on you. And I used my wit
7:58
as a defense mechanism to push them back. - [Andy] Being Black and being a Black comedian is
8:06
kind of a label. And people would say, is he a Black comic?
8:12
Well, you either had to be Bill Cosby like, or Richard Pryor like.
8:17
- Andy Evans had a concept. Andy Evans was like, why don't you guys,
8:23
why didn't everybody ever think about doing a show together?
8:28
You know, all, you don't do a showcase. Not a showcase, but do a TV show where all of y'all do y'all comedy.
8:34
You know, I'll host it. And y'all go up and y'all do y'all comedy as a TV show. - Today we're not here to do music.
8:39
We're here to do comedy. And we have some outstanding comedians for you. We have the return of Tommy Davidson.
8:45
- You ever notice when you first move into an apartment, the roaches act like they don't live there. I first moved into my apartment,
8:51
I came in the kitchen in the middle of the night, turned on a light. Only one roach in the middle of the floor. He said, ah.
8:57
He said, cut the light out, baby. We belong next door.
9:02
Came back later, roach came out and said, ♪ Well, my friends the time has come ♪
9:07
(audience laughing) ♪ Raise the roof and have some fun ♪ ♪ Come on out ♪
9:13
♪ That skinny guy's gone ♪ ♪ Let the music play on ♪ ♪ All night long ♪
9:19
Yeah, roaches came from everywhere, y'all. - I wrote my own show because I felt Black comics needed to showcase.
9:26
- That was the pre-runner for Def Jam, for one Night Stand, for Comic View and BET.
9:35
He had that idea way before anybody did it. - Here's another one of the hot young comics on the circuit.
9:41
He's been up and down the coast, just left Raleigh, North Carolina. I think you're gonna like him. Let us make some hands for the comedy style
9:46
of Mr. Martin Lawrence. (audience applauding) (audience applauding)
9:55
- All right, thank you. Let's all give a round of applause to Andy Evans. Ladies, gentlemen, Andy. - My relationship with Martin began
10:02
when the Fat Doctor came up to me one day, and he said, you know, there's this new kid
10:07
who's, you know, from Landover who's working out, and he's got some funny few funny things,
10:14
but he's just got, he's developing, and I'm taking him under my wing, and I'm gonna try to help him out. Would you take a look at him
10:20
and see if maybe you could use him on something? Sure. So he said, Martin Lawrence and knew nothing. And I went to see him
10:27
with the Fat Doctor one day, and I went, interesting.
10:32
Material is terrible. He had nothing. I mean, nothing that would, you know,
10:38
but boy does he have a personality. And I remember looking at Doc that day and saying, and I said him more than once,
10:45
but I said, he's got, he's got Eddie Murphy written all over him. - Martin took us to that next level
10:54
with this show. You know, not just a funny comic, but when Martin came on, it was like, DC we made it.
11:02
You know, that was our show. - And you notice guys, you gotta admit, we all adults here.
11:07
I gotta admit guys, we will do anything for women when we wanna make love to 'em, won't we? Right, 'cause we could be laying in the bed,
11:13
butt naked with a lady, she say, baby, I'm thirsty. I know it ain't the right time,
11:19
but I was wondering, I was hoping, I know 7-Eleven's three miles away. (audience laughing)
11:25
But if you running, gimme something to drink, please. Being the man we are we say, baby, what you want?
11:30
Big Gulp, Super Gulp, I got a dollar in my pocket. What you want? We get up, and we run three miles
11:36
and give 'em a Big Gulp, right? We get back and make love to 'em. It ain't nothing like making love. After we make love to 'em, we get lazy as hell, right?
11:42
'Cause they don't ask much. They said, baby, I'm thirsty. I was wondering if you go in the kitchen and get me a drink of water. We said, shoot, you better let that ice
11:48
in that Big Gulp melt. (audience laughing) - Martin Lawrence performed only at the Comedy Connection
11:55
when he came in town is because the other clubs around the area would not let him headline.
12:02
- [Interviewer] The other clubs would not let him headline? - [Raj] No. Other club will not let him headline.
12:07
- [Barbara] It was during a time, a terrible time.
12:13
I have to say racist kind of time. Only white comics could headline,
12:18
but you couldn't headline a Black comic. - Now, I don't know if you've seen this one. It's called Ram.
12:23
Now you've used a few prophylactics in your day, right? (audience laughing) No, yeah? Got any kids, man?
12:29
Got no kids? So you putting them on, right? That's good. (audience laughing) That's good. You ever seen the happy face
12:35
on the rubbers? Yes, you've not, never? Well, I guess you don't roll yours out far enough. (audience laughing)
12:42
- Fat Doctor was another one of those guys that was back in the eighties. It was nobody, nobody as funny as Fat Doctor.
12:49
In fact, Richard Pryor said he was in his top five comedians to ever do it.
12:54
You would learn from other comics about watching him, but Fat Doctor would really sit down
12:59
and tell you how you write a joke, how you structure a joke. He explained to you what a tag was,
13:05
what a callback was when making a transition from one joke to the next. - I got to open for him several times
13:12
because I had a car. Basically, if you had a car
13:18
you got to open for the Fat Doctor because you drive him to the shows. Love weed. (Wanda laughing)
13:23
Loved weed. We driving back from the show, he smoking. I'm like, Doc,
13:29
I said, I'm driving, man. You can't smoke in here. I get high. I'm driving. Come on man.
13:34
- There's a young man by the name of Martin Lawrence, who Fat Doctor took him from kindergarten
13:45
to receiving a PhD in standup comedy. - I've been teaching since early age.
13:52
My first student was Martin Lawrence, but I'm not gonna be up here and going through all of that.
13:58
But I did want to give some of my credentials. - Martin looked up to him like a father figure,
14:05
or maybe a big brother, so to speak. He would often coach Martin and mentor him.
14:11
He helped him write material. He helped him with his stage presence. - [Tommy] Fat Doctor didn't really care about your success
14:19
and how much he was gonna get or whatever. He just loved you, man. Fat Doctor looked at me first time he saw me performing,
14:26
he said, man, guy, damn man, where the fuck you come from, man? Oh my God, you gone kill the game.
14:35
It was like that throughout. I saw you aren't you In Living Color, man? Oh my God, you kill.
14:42
I never asked for nothing, you know? I saw you on the strictly business and move you doing.
14:47
Oh man, oh my God. You know, I come to the clubs, he come out, I say, you gonna do some time?
14:52
Nah, I ain't trying to go up there, man. I say, come on Fat Doctor. Go up there, man. All right, all right.
14:58
And go up there and kill. Go up there and kill. Was a great comedian. - I notice people sitting out there
15:05
right now got bills piled up. Looked at them bills and said, man, fuck them bills.
15:11
I'm good without. I need to have a good God damn time
15:18
'cause me, I don't even pay no bills. All I pay is the cut off notices.
15:25
- For my stepfather, I do believe that he did try to turn his pain into triumph.
15:31
I do believe he had his demons as well. He did deal with addiction for many, many years.
15:37
And I believe that that's what kind of stifled him. Watching him be very big, larger than life,
15:47
and then in the blink of an eye, watch him lose gig after gig after gig
15:54
because he wasn't considered reliable anymore. - If there's a face of DC comedy,
16:00
it's probably his. Dave Chappelle may be the well-known face of DC comedy,
16:05
and deservedly so, but if you really wanted to get to the heart and soul of DC comedy, it was the Fat Doctor.
16:20
- When it comes to the comics of, I think, the eighties and nineties, you have, again, two things:
16:26
one, is a very affluent city and a very large Black population. Because even though the Black middle class is moving out
16:33
of the city into Prince George's County, it's still a contiguous Black community.
16:39
Right? You know, there's this wonderful quote by a gentleman who was interviewed by the Washington Post in the 1990s,
16:45
and he says, look, we just live in PG but like, our lives are in DC. Church, the club, everything, right?
16:52
And so you could be a comic living in DC and have a solid base of people
16:58
that was around 600-to 700,000 folks who could be your potential audience, right?
17:06
And so you could do Black comedy in a Black club for a Black audience
17:12
and be able to hone your craft with a large audience that was able to pay the door price and get a couple drinks along the way,
17:17
pretty much guaranteed, right? Other comics can find that in places like New York
17:22
or Boston or somewhere else. But it's a different dynamic. It's a white audience. It's in white clubs.
17:27
The comedy has to be a little different. And then I think the other thing is that DC just had
17:33
so much wonderful irony in the 1980s and 1990s.
17:38
I mean, easily the smartest elected official in the city was Marion Barry in the late 1980s.
17:44
Period. Right? And he was addicted to drugs, right?
17:50
And one of his primary opponents at the time, a woman by the name of Carol Schwartz,
17:55
had to admit, she was like, look, Marion Barry is a smarter politician high than most of these people
18:01
around here are totally sober, right? She wasn't making a joke. But that's hysterical, right?
18:08
And so you have a situation where, you know, you had the best of Black America and you had the worst of Black America,
18:13
and it all co-mingled. You had the center of American democracy that was consistently having
18:20
that democratic vision violated by the Congress and by the President of the United States. All that irony is just wonderful material
18:28
for any good comic. And so I think all those things together just allow for this wonderful Petri dish
18:34
that gives us all these great Black comics during the Chocolate City years. - Well, you know, they said comedy is a
18:40
kind of intelligence. You gotta be intelligent to be a real good comedian. Even when the schools were segregated,
18:46
the teachers were encouraging us that we could do anything we wanted to do. That was the kind of support
18:53
and the kind of encouragement that we had during the days of segregation in the public schools.
19:00
And those comedians were, many of 'em were products of the public schools. - People who grew up in Washington, DC knew
19:08
that oftentimes humor, or to make someone laugh,
19:16
was a science that could help alleviate a crisis.
19:25
But, you know, as Black folks, you had to adroitly navigate that power.
19:34
Black folks all the time, all the time, have to figure out how to handle
19:41
and how to deal with white folks. White folks don't have to think about that. That's a burden we have that they don't.
19:48
Many turn to humor. In order to be a good comedian,
19:55
you gotta be willing to take a risk. And all around the DMV, Washington, DC
20:05
there were examples of people taking the risk. And so I think somewhere in the psyche of a Wanda Sykes,
20:13
somewhere in the psyche of a Martin Lawrence, somewhere in the psyche of a Dave Chappelle,
20:20
it was like, they are seeing these examples of people willing to take a risk.
20:27
- Comedians are line steppers. ♪ Think twice ♪
20:33
♪ Before you answer ♪ ♪ Think twice ♪
20:40
- Think twice ♪ Before you say yes ♪ - Think twice before you answer.
20:45
- Petey Green, one of the funniest comics in DC for much of the Chocolate City period.
20:53
- You know, it makes me feel so bad sometime when I see my Black brothers and sisters,
21:01
and they'll see me eating a piece of watermelon like here.
21:07
And they'll go, when they go to frown their faces. I mean, that's despicable.
21:12
- Petey Green did something where he always encouraged Black citizens
21:23
of Washington, DC and the DMV to be authentic. - I ain't gonna waste no time cutting no watermelon up
21:30
and mix it up with no fruit cocktail. All I'm saying to you, be yourself. 'Cause I went to a party night with some white folk.
21:35
They didn't have anything like that. They had slices. Walking around, Petey Green, you wanna slice? I said, yeah, gimme a slice.
21:41
- [Rock] He became an unmistakable, beloved figure
21:48
of Washington, DC. At the time of his death, there was the largest funeral procession
21:56
and attendance in the history of Washington, DC. It didn't matter if Presidents had died or whatever.
22:01
Petey Green was the epitome of Washington, DC. He had such an incredible impact.
22:09
- Petey Green could MC anything. See the MCing part,
22:15
I got from him. The way you could just, you ain't have to do nothing. Just talk, have (indistinct) and look neat now.
22:21
(audience applauding) - Fellow's name is Greg Cooper.
22:27
I saw him at Howard University in Washington, DC. I thought enough of him to ask him to come out.
22:36
- Man, he came up later on, and he said, you know, I'm from Philadelphia, and I've never heard anybody do Joe Frazier.
22:46
Man, you got to come on. I'm on Carson next week.
22:52
We're going to talk to some of the greatest professional heavyweight fighters around today.
22:58
They're going to give you their unbiased and unconstructive criticism.
23:04
The exposure was good. And it was ego thrusting for me and my presentation.
23:10
And Johnny called in the next day. One of my, you know, associates said,
23:17
Johnny Carson was impressed with you. And he said, Bill,
23:24
young man you had on... 'Cause he saw me getting warmed up, and it went to a commercial and the time ran out.
23:31
But he was impressed with it too. He said, Ed, and Ed McMahon said, yeah, Greg Cooper's his name.
23:37
Man, that was like, whoa, you know. - We got a hell of a mayor in DC, don't we?
23:42
That man bad. Some people call him Crackula. I don't know why.
23:48
I was the first Black comedian out of DC
23:54
that had a comedy special, a national comedy special. And it blew up too.
24:00
The best advice I ever got for comedy was my first manager told me,
24:05
and I ain't like it, you know, he said, if you ain't working hard, and you ain't doing the best that you can do,
24:11
the next man gonna take your job. You know, I ain't really listen to that. I was like, man, I might really do that.
24:17
You know, until later on, I watched people do it, you know. I started treating comedy like boxing or something.
24:23
It was every night at the comedy clubs dissecting my material
24:31
down to the T, rehearsing it on a stopwatch, knowing how much time I had.
24:36
Because this is my 100% focus,
24:41
there's virtually nothing I can't do 'cause I learned a little from everybody.
24:47
It became my everyday. So within a couple of seconds, you know, I can be Obama.
24:54
And it happens fast, you know, I don't even have to think about it or, or anything. You think about all the objectives that America has
25:02
and the objective that African Americans have. They're two totally polar opposites. You see what I'm saying?
25:07
So I gotta be able to get, you know, get there. You know what I mean? What's wrong with my house, Mick?
25:13
My house stink. You want me to fight the fight, I'll fight the fight. You want me to be there, Mick?
25:19
I'll fight the fight. You know, it's gotta be instantaneous. ♪ And I don't think that everyone should stay here ♪
25:27
♪ Everyone should dance ♪ ♪ Everyone has class ♪ - You know, you gotta just be like, you know,
25:33
you gotta be able to call it up, you know? And that's what it did for me. - Tommy Davidson is probably
25:38
one of the most underrated comedians in America. And if anyone's looking for somebody
25:43
to play the Sammy Davis Jr. biopic, I would say Tommy Davidson.
25:50
Real talk. I mean, he's that talented. He's multi-talented. You only saw a piece of him on In Living Color.
25:58
- And another one of the things that, it didn't really separate me from the other DC comics,
26:03
nothing will, but made me different, was I did music. I did music impressions.
26:10
And they developed at the I-Racks because DC is a music city. So I would do, you know, singers that aren't popular now
26:19
but back then, they had, they were on the charts. You know, Lou Rawls, Al Green, Anita Baker,
26:29
Lionel Richie, Rick James, I mean, Stevie Wonder. I mean, who was doing that?
26:35
But you know who was doing that before me? Sylvia Traymore.
26:43
♪ I love you ♪ (audience laughing)
26:53
♪ I love you ♪ - People kept saying, you remind us of Sylvia Traymore.
26:59
And I never even met her. I was at the Ibex one night and people said, Sylvia's here, you know, I've never met her.
27:05
I wasn't on TV yet, but I was like the staple of Ibex, you know. I said, who is this Sylvia Traymore, man?
27:11
And I met her. She's beautiful too. She went on, she did Diana Ross.
27:16
♪ Reach out and touch somebody's hand ♪ ♪ Make this world a better land ♪
27:23
- She did Patti LaBelle. She had all these glowing gowns and stuff. I was like, yeah, all right, okay.
27:29
All right. Okay, so I have some more, I got a little more work to do. I got some more work to do.
27:36
- [Sylvia] What does being the first Black female impressionists in the history of this country
27:43
really started making me realize, hey, you got some things going on here.
27:51
Because there were no other African American female impressionists or women of color that I knew of.
27:59
- I always tell Sylvia, I've told Sylvia this, I said, 'cause I think when Def Jam came around, Sylvia was kind of outta the business at the time.
28:07
I think that was bad. I think if Sylvia Traymore did Def Comedy Jam,
28:12
she'd be a huge star right now. Huge star. - Whenever they ask me who's my favorite impression
28:18
that I do, Whoopi's up there in the top three. So if Whoopi was here, if she was here right now,
28:24
this is what she'd say. Hey, let, let me, lemme just say this.
28:32
Lemme just say this because I haven't been on a comedy show in quite a while,
28:41
and I'd love to go on one. If you're gonna do a comedy show, make sure you call me up and I'll be there.
28:46
- You knew these comics had to have something going for themselves. 'Cause she played in the hardcore clubs like Ibex,
28:53
right up Georgia Avenue. But then next week she'd be at the Kennedy Center. - I've seen a couple of ladies
28:59
on Instagram and Facebook, and they're doing impressions.
29:05
And I almost cry whenever I see them because I remember the days when I couldn't get any stage time,
29:11
even though I was considered brilliant on today... Now that's them. That's not me.
29:16
I didn't say I was brilliant. They said it. But the fact that people thought that, and I couldn't even get three minutes on stage, baffled me.
29:26
- There weren't people in that genre. So she was going out and doing, you know, everything from when she, you know,
29:33
MCed the roast of Muhammad Ali. (audience laughing) (audience laughing)
29:49
- Uh-uh, honey, this is outta sight here. (audience laughing) Just this.
29:56
Muhammad Ali was being roasted at the Apollo Theater.
30:01
Dick Gregory was upset because Richard Pryor canceled hosting the roast,
30:07
and they couldn't get, the roast was that day. Now I'm in Texas, and they can't find nobody to host the roast.
30:16
So the girl who I was in Europe with told Mr. Gregory, you need to hire Sylvia Traymore.
30:24
I wasn't using Morrison then. He said, well, who is she? And she explained to him how, he said, well, get her in here.
30:30
Get her in here. So she called me up, she says, guess what? I said, what? She said, you don't have to crash the roast.
30:36
I said, oh, yes I do. I will be at that roast tonight. And she said, no, Sylvia, you don't have to crash the roast.
30:44
You are hosting the roast.
30:51
Richard, she said, Richard Pryor's not coming. He's not coming. They don't have anybody else. And I told Mr. Gregory, you could handle the job.
30:58
I said to myself as I was walking to the front of the Apollo Theater, I said to myself, I said, Sylvia, you gotta pull this off
31:06
'cause this can make you or break you. And I proceeded to do my impression of Muhammad Ali,
31:15
and it worked. And I said, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the champ, Muhammad Ali.
31:22
And he came straight to me, he grabbed my hand, took me to the front of the stage. I just could not believe this.
31:28
And he held my hand up in the air, and he said, you doing me, a woman doing me?
31:35
That's awesome. I mean, I just pulled that out. I haven't done Ali in I don't know how long. But anyway, I almost couldn't move.
31:44
It was like Muhammad Ali just told me I was awesome.
31:50
- Take a lady to the hotel and you try to play big shot. You just got finished having some intimate, romantic love,
31:57
and now you're lying in bed. And both of you hungry, and you look at her, you hungry? Yeah, I'm starving.
32:04
Well, babe, I'm gonna order. Hey, room service. Yeah, gimme two cokes.
32:09
Welcome to Rap City. I'm Howard Jo. As the host of Rap City in the beginning,
32:17
it was mind boggling because everything that I learned touring with the rappers,
32:26
they were trying to change it to, they think that, they thought that all of,
32:31
that the rappers always say, what's up, homies and homettes. So they actually had a teleprompter
32:37
that I was reading saying, what's up, homies and homettes. And I remember Will Smith was on the show,
32:46
and I was interviewing him, and during the commercial break he said, hold up, hold up.
32:51
What are, what in the hell are they doing to you, Chris? And I was like, what you mean, Will?
32:58
So he looked to my producer and he told her, he said, what are you doing to Chris?
33:04
She was like, what are you saying? He said, he don't need no teleprompter. He knows hip hop.
33:11
So from that day, they said, what do you want to do?
33:16
Now I had an opportunity to do Rap City my way.
33:22
And my way was, I wanted to make it funny. I didn't really want to be in the studio.
33:27
I wanted to take it on the road. I wanted to go to places that hip hop artists go to.
33:32
Let's go to a restaurant. Let's interview them there, but let's make it funny. So that's when our Rap City really revolved
33:40
through Will Smith telling them to let me do it my way. - Chris being the original hip hop comedian,
33:49
standup comedian, you know, I mean he was rolling on the Fresh Fest tour, you know what I mean?
33:55
All of the Def Jam tours, the Rush tours with the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL,
34:00
you know, Run DMC, I mean, Chris was all part of that world when there was no one else.
34:06
- My job was to stop the young people from fighting.
34:12
My job was to make them laugh until the next group could get on.
34:18
- See that night, hey, dealing with my hair. Oh man, you know what I'm saying?
34:24
- Bad breath, Harry. - I was paralyzed for a week. My face stuck sorta like this.
34:29
- Oh no, what about grandpa? - Who? - Who? - Grandpa. Black Buck would surely kill him
34:36
or something worse. - What could be worse? - What could be worse? - Have you smelled his breath?
34:42
Oh my God, it smells like creek water. Wow.
34:47
(Wanda laughing) Oh my God, that was so bad.
34:55
But I remember shooting those. I remember that. - I love Wanda Sykes.
35:00
I love the way she writes. I mean, it's just brilliant writing. I like the way she tells stories.
35:08
I like her inflections. I like her voice. - Wanda was funnier off stage than she was on stage.
35:15
I hate to say that about her, but she just was funny. She seemed to relax. - 1987, the Coors Light Super Talent Showcase.
35:25
I entered this contest, this talent show I should say, because I was tired of my job.
35:32
I was working at NSA at the time, National Security Agency. And I, yeah, I just knew that there was something else
35:39
that I was supposed to be doing with my life. I get there, and Andy Evans is the host and introduce myself.
35:49
And he was like, where are you from? Like, I haven't seen you around at the club or anything. I was like, no, I haven't been to a club.
35:55
I said, this is my first time on stage. He's like, what? I said, it's my first time on stage. And he started laughing like, okay, yeah.
36:03
Okay, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Just go out there. So I go on stage and I tell my jokes.
36:09
I kill. Had a great set. And Tony Woods was also on the show,
36:14
and Tony, of course, killed. And Tony ended up winning, rightfully so.
36:22
But Andy Evans, he was like, okay, he said, you have something.
36:28
He said, you're funny. He said, you're just a natural. He said, for that to be your first time on stage.
36:33
I'm gonna be me. When I was ready to shoot, I'm gonna be me. Once you get across that 40 mark stuff just starts relaxing.
36:41
(audience laughing) And I thought about it, and you know, different cities kept popping up.
36:48
They were like, my agent was like, hey, you know, we doin' San Francisco, we can go to New York. And I was like, nah.
36:56
This is, you know, like I wanna, I need to go to ground zero. I need to go to where I started.
37:05
And you know, DC was it. And I said, you know, this is,
37:10
if this special kills in DC then I, this, that's gonna be like my happiest moment.
37:17
I'm gonna be okay, cool. Now I can do anything. I'm good.
37:23
(move reel spinning) (dog barking)
37:30
- I love Max too. - Yeah. - Just like a brother, a uncle, a friend, a cousin.
37:36
- [Off-Camera Actor] Alicia. - Me and Max share everything. We just like, man, you what's his is mine.
37:41
What's mine is his. What yours could be ours. You know what I'm saying? - No.
37:46
- Rest in peace, Greg Giraldo. Greg Giraldo said that one time. He says all the other Black comedians is talking about,
37:53
I'm keeping it real, I'm keeping it real. He said Tony Woods is keeping it serial. - Comedians, as well as audiences,
38:02
but comedians, know the brilliance of Tony Woods.
38:10
It's like brilliance that's on fire.
38:17
Like it's raging brilliance. Like you cannot, it's a wildfire.
38:22
You cannot contain his brilliance. - He is one of the
38:28
only comics I know personally myself, you know, that can go to London.
38:33
And I'm talking about actually knock somebody door and stay there if he needs to. - Tony Woods has a way of, he'll tell stories about his travels
38:41
and if you listen, you like, all right, that shit ain't happening.
38:46
But if you think about it, you'd be like, well it could have, you know what I'm saying? - And people in America think,
38:53
'cause I tell them, then I come down here and I like ride kangaroos. Shit. (audience laughing)
39:00
I know you guys like, we hate kangaroos. That's all right. I like them. (audience laughing)
39:07
- Tony Woods is the epitome of DC style.
39:13
I would say. Just his mannerism, that he's just so fucking suave on stage.
39:22
And then he could be goofy, and then he, you know, he could be silly, but he's just always cool, man.
39:30
It's all right, man, you know? - Tony Woods is so effortless. You think he's really bullshitting.
39:37
You think he's phoning it in, but he has it down to such a craft.
39:44
Tell me that, oh, Tony Woods the drunk one. Tony, he not drunk. I'm like, nah man.
39:50
Nah, he was, why was he talking that way? He was reeling you in and then whipping you into a frenzy.
39:55
You know what I'm saying? And I've seen him. I've seen Tony Woods be Tony Woods in an arena, and I've seen him in an open mic with five people,
40:04
three of them being comedians. And I've seen him absolutely destroyed. - When I was in the Navy,
40:09
and I was a medic, right? A corpsman, whatever you wanna call it.
40:14
And one of the guys there, and I, to me he was an old wise man.
40:19
'cause he was 30, and I was like 18.
40:25
And I remember one time Eddie Murphy was on the cover of Time Magazine. He had a red baseball cap on backwards,
40:32
and he was like this on the cover, right? And then I remember he said, you know, you could do this.
40:39
He said, the five funniest people I've ever come across was Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby,
40:48
what's the other guy's name? George Carlin. And you.
40:53
That's what he said to me. I'm like, get outta here man. And he says, I said, I'm not like them.
41:01
He said, I know you not like them. He says, 'cause you ain't started yet.
41:07
He said, you can't. You ain't gonna be like them unless you start - Dave Chappelle told you himself
41:14
when he got his Mark Twain award. If it wasn't for Tony Woods, it wouldn't be no Dave Chappelle. - Tony Woods was my Dizzy and Bird.
41:21
If I was a Miles, I was trying to play like you, you were the first person I ever saw do it absolutely right.
41:27
- Everybody thinks that I gave Dave Chappelle some kind of box. I just opened it up.
41:32
(Tony singing) Take this David, and you will be the man. No, that fucking shit didn't happen.
41:38
I hate when people say to me, oh, he stole your style.
41:44
Nah, he's influenced by me. We may have the same mechanics,
41:50
but you can clearly see he uses different fuel than I do. - We all were watching Tony.
41:55
We all were watching Tony. So I don't, I'm not gonna say we, I don't think it's intentional,
42:01
but yeah, I mean, kind of pick up some of those mannerisms.
42:06
- We are all the product of our influences.
42:11
People that we respect, that we admire, that we, you know, people that we don't take material from them.
42:21
But you can easily be influenced by the greats. - It's another guy from here, his name is Chris Paul.
42:28
And he described me once and he says, this guy is not a student of comedy.
42:33
He just kind of walked out there and did it. And I think I did just kind of, no particular school of thought.
42:39
And then, so when everybody was talking about me and Dave, the similarities and all this other stuff,
42:45
and Chris Paul to me broke it. It was kind of hurtful, but I understood what he said. He said, man,
42:52
Dave Chappelle is like Tony Woods read a book. I'm like, what you trying to say, dog?
42:58
Like see, but I understand. He said, Tony, look. 'Cause we was, we was at the Green Belt Comedy Connection
43:05
and it's a strip mall. Some nasty motherfucker had let they dog shit
43:11
on the sidewalk. And he said, you see that right there? He said, you could tell Dave about that,
43:17
and Dave's gonna tell you where the came from. What kind of breed a dog it was, how long ago he did it, blah, blah, blah.
43:23
He said with you, you have nothing unless you step in it. He said, after you step in it,
43:29
he said, your joke going to be funny as shit. He says, but without, you know,
43:35
without stepping in it, you ain't got shit. He said, that's why I say he's you, but he read a book.
43:44
(hip hop music) (hip hop music) - [Chris] What's the deal, Pickles?
43:51
Is everything kosher? - Chris bought me on the radio, and he created the name Huggy Lowdown.
43:57
- I was trying to create a character, someone who could do gossip but not be a slave
44:03
to the gossip of the day. So trying to create somebody who gave the image of a real street snitch.
44:11
- You know, like Huggy, Antonio Fargas character on Starsky & Hutch.
44:16
- I heard on the TV news that there's a guy running around thinking he's a blood sucking vampire. - So he was like a cat that knew everything
44:25
that was going on in the streets, right? So got Huggy and then he was giving you the lowdown.
44:32
The character blew up so much that Sam I Am kind of like,
44:39
had to take a step to the background because before people even knew it was me
44:45
for years, like maybe two, three years, that it was me. You know what I mean?
44:50
They never knew who it was. They just thought it was a, they didn't know who the character was 'cause of course the voice was different, you know?
44:58
You know, what's the deal, Pickle? That was shit different. It was higher. You know, people like, it's the dude.
45:04
They didn't know who the dude was for two years. They didn't know. - I can't tell you what it was like for me to come in every morning knowing I had this thing
45:13
in my holster. Wait 'til I pull this out and shoot it. - I got the recipe, you know?
45:20
Nobody gonna serve it to you like I'm serving. Imma make my segment be a benchmark.
45:25
- The biggest name in radio in the DC market was Huggy Lowdown. It was a ratings bonanza for PGC.
45:33
- When Huggy left me to go to Tom Joyner's show, I tried to get the station to come up
45:38
with enough money to keep him 'cause I certainly wanted to keep him, you know?
45:43
But it is difficult, man, when you have people that don't understand
45:49
that side of the aisle, you know, who don't understand talent, when you try and explain stuff to suits, you know.
45:56
I mean, I actually had the general manager tell me,
46:02
well, can't we just get Chris Thomas to do it?
46:07
That's so freaking insulting to me. I was so mad, man. It's like, you know,
46:14
and nothing against Chris Thomas. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying. You know, these are not widgets. You don't just put another one in
46:20
and think you can get the same results. You know, but that's the way they think.
46:26
- Did you see this in the newspaper? There's a new thing out for Christmas. It's the Black Family Bible.
46:32
It's the Bible for Black folks. The Black Bible. It just came out. I bought it. It's called the King James Brown version of the Bible.
46:38
(audience laughing) The front of the book it says in the beginning,
46:43
good God. (audience applauding)
46:49
James Brown is a popular Black soul star.
46:54
I never really thought I would be a comedian 'cause I never, in fact, someone wrote in my high school yearbook, you should be a comedian.
46:59
And I remember thinking, no one's a comedian. I mean, okay, I've seen people on TV doing it. But in real life, people don't do that.
47:06
- Comedy is what led to everything else that I've done in my career, including TV news.
47:13
Whether it's a local morning show here in DC or Good Morning America,
47:18
which I was on for almost seven years, everything that I've done has been personality based
47:25
and humor based. So when I've been hired for different jobs,
47:31
frequently that's been because the person doing the hiring, the general manager, the program director, whatever,
47:38
knew that I was a very personable guy, a likable guy, could think fast on my feet,
47:44
which I, you know, got that doing comedy. Was smart. They knew that from the type of comedy I was doing.
47:50
So that's what led to a lot of these things. He approached the stage, not like a Black comedian,
47:57
but like Johnny Carson. Tony's entire delivery was that. He was the perfect monologist.
48:07
(jazz bass music) (jazz bass music)
48:13
- I was sitting in my club, the Soul of Comedy at Howard. One of the things that I think I kind of felt
48:20
when I saw it was kind of proud that, wow, all the comics they picked,
48:26
they picked the DC comic. My role at Def Comedy Jam was basically the gatekeeper.
48:34
One of the things that I used to do was venture down to the DC area to Greenbelt, Maryland by the,
48:42
and it was a place called the Comedy Connection. And Chris Thomas had the room on Sunday nights.
48:49
And when I tell you it was incredible. But then came to Tacoma Station.
48:54
- The crowd there, you can come, if you walk on stage with your shoes untied, you getting booed.
49:00
Joe Clair, Dominique, Red Grant, Donnell Rawlings. They were the staple of Tacoma Station.
49:07
- That line up everywhere we went, Dominique would go on, she would destroy the room. Red Grant would grow on.
49:13
He would crush the room. Joe Clair would go on. He would demolish the room. And with those three people, you thought the show was over.
49:20
And every night that we worked together, Dominique, Red Grant, Joe Clair, and I would come up
49:25
and we was like this. (Donnell imitating shooting sounds) If you look at it now, every one of those people I named is a national headline
49:32
right now. - My squad, we gone tear your ass up. We going to light your ass up.
49:38
- DC was definitely one of my main spots. And I look at even like Royale Watkins right now,
49:44
who's outta DC. Royale's doing big things. Then you had David Edwards who made, you know,
49:49
he became famous on MTV with the real world. - Def Comedy Jam gave me a platform.
49:57
- Lemme ride your bike, I ain't going anywhere. Remember hearing that shit? (audience laughing) I ain't going anywhere but to the fucking corner.
50:03
There wasn't a lot of outlets for Black comedy
50:08
and to work clubs throughout the country, they wanted some type of television credit.
50:15
- I feel like Def Jam gave me courage. Oh man, when you get hurt by love,
50:21
love make you do shit like hide in the bushes. And gave me a sense of understanding
50:29
that you can get through the tough times in comedy too. - [Joe] Here were Black voices
50:35
that were coming from background similar to mine. I seen Forrest Gump.
50:40
Man, who was your favorite? Who was your favorite person. Bubba. - That were funnier,
50:50
funnier than anything you had out there. - And that set that you saw. That's who I am.
50:57
I was talking about the Jacksons. Wait a minute. Speaking of White House, y'all see Michael Jackson? Ooh. (audience laughing)
51:03
When I was growing up, everybody did impressions of Barbara Streisand, you know, different icon singers that they had.
51:11
The comedians, legendary white comedians did in their acts all the time.
51:16
- Def Comedy Jam. I can't think of anything greater. I remember when Def,
51:24
the night it was aired, I was at the gas station with my cousin.
51:30
But women biggest problem with us is the orgasm. 'cause they'll tell you, you come too quick. Shit, you come too late. (audience laughing)
51:38
And I didn't see it the night it was there 'cause I was out with him clowning.
51:44
And we stopped at the gas station, and people just came outta nowhere, and they just converged on the car.
51:53
- I remember being on a airplane flying outta Philadelphia to St. Croix, and a white kid on there, a teenager,
52:00
comes up to me and said, I loved you on Def Jam. I gotta show you a quick impression. What I used to do for a living
52:05
before I became a standup comedian. (audience laughing)
52:12
It was on an airplane flying to St. Croix. A white kid recognized me from Def Jam. That's how powerful that show was.
52:18
- I didn't know I wasn't always clean, you know, I had a transformation. - Oh shit. We at the Def Jam.
52:25
He was like, I was the Richard Pryor of ventriloquists. - I mean, at one time I, no,
52:31
I did a lot, I used a lot of language starting out early on because I thought that's what comedy was really all about.
52:38
And you know, I know I didn't know that I didn't have to use that language in order to get my point across.
52:45
I just went through a spiritual transformation. I moved out to LA you know, seeking fame and fortune.
52:50
And I got with some agencies and you know, they said you gotta be clean all the time. We represent... Jesus.
52:56
- That's right. And then so I straightened up my act, man. And from that point forward,
53:02
I just I toed the line, and it actually changed my life. I thought I was cleaning up my comedy for the comedy clubs,
53:09
but found out that know God was cleaning me up- - For the Church. Come on, somebody oughta shout right there.
53:15
- The high point in my career was when I got the call for Def Comedy Jam.
53:21
Girl, who the hell you talking about? That bitch right there keep looking over here. Like, girl, that's a mirror. Fuck, what wrong with you?
53:27
Damn. (audience cheering) It made the people out in LA, in New York, in Chicago, Atlanta know who I was.
53:33
Martin was the blueprint. Knowing he was from here, he was from DC, and I was like, oh man,
53:39
if he could do it, I know I could do it. And it just so happened on the first episode was another DC legend, Teddy Carpenter.
53:46
He headlined Def Comedy Jam. - Teddy Carpenter. For us at Def Jam is the all time greatest to me.
53:53
Best three comedy shows up there. His first one, hands down, set the tone. - Fellas, you ever found that don't hurt me spot?
54:00
Little women will tell you, don't hurt me. Know damn well our mission will change to seek and destroy. (audience laughing)
54:07
- At one time I was the elite.
54:12
Period. Not just not because of Def Jam, but because of Def Jam.
54:18
- When Def Jam was going on was going on tour, Teddy Carpenter was the headliner.
54:24
I got flyers where probably, where Teddy Carpenter was the headliner, and D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer were opening
54:30
for him. - Give it up for Ted Carpenter. - Like Martin was a star.
54:35
You know, early. And I saw it. I just knew he had it. Like whatever it was, this dude had it.
54:43
- Ted ripped Def Jam, and he was ripping all of these shows. And so while we were doing shows,
54:50
Ted would come out on the air and be like, you know, Martin Lawrence don't wanna do a show with me
54:58
'cause he's scared of me. And so, you know, Martin Lawrence was one of the hottest comedians
55:03
in the world at that time. And so nobody wanted to hear that. - I absolutely adore Martin to this day.
55:09
He was the guy who came in. Everybody respected him. He had a standup comedy presence.
55:15
He had a TV presence. But if you asked me to get on stage with him, and you pay me 10,
55:22
and you pay him whatever you pay him, I'm gonna try to put a beat down on his ass.
55:30
That's just a competitive standup comic that I am. That doesn't always work in your favor
55:36
because everybody will help you until you become a threat.
55:42
And when you become a threat, the dance changes. - One of the baddest comedians to come out of this area
55:51
in our lifetime. And I told everything I'm saying,
55:56
I already told him. He was his own worst enemy. He was his own worst enemy.
56:01
- Everybody knew Ted was good. And I think sometimes Ted wanted to prove that he was better.
56:07
- When I performed on Def Jam, all the Def Jam performances was to get a 30 minute special.
56:15
Like I thought I had to prove it again. And then even the third time I was like, this is it.
56:20
Like, I think I laid down two hell of a tracks for y'all. It's like, 'cause remember Def Jam was a record company,
56:28
you know, and what a record company's known to do? Pimp the shit outta you. I mean, I knew that.
56:33
I even knew why they was doing all of this stuff. I knew a lot about what was going on,
56:39
and so I didn't have a favorite one. It was just me doing them trying to get to another space,
56:49
you know, to separate myself from Def Jam. I didn't mind coming from Def Jam. But it's almost like you shoot a commercial for Disney,
56:59
but now you wanna run Disney or you wanted your own movie from Disney. That's what I was trying to do.
57:05
What happened after Def Jam? I think it was a combination of the perfect storm.
57:14
Was I blackballed? Yeah. Yeah.
57:19
My Black ass was blackballed. I'd never been a company guy.
57:24
So as Def Jam was trying to put tours and different things together,
57:30
they were offering a $1000 a show. But you would play something like Constitution Hall
57:35
that holds 4,000 people. Ticket price is $60.
57:40
Two shows. Do the math. So when you do the math and you say, wait a minute, two shows, 60,000...
57:48
Somebody making a damn near half a million dollars, and y'all paying us a thousand dollars?
57:54
The fuck wrong with this picture? So me, I ain't the smartest camper in the world,
58:00
but I ain't never been known to be the dumbest either. I was like, oh, I'm going out.
58:05
I'm going out myself. And Def Jam at the time would tell certain people, you go out, y'all can't work here.
58:11
And you know, Bob Sumner was, you know, he was leading the charge on that. And some of the things I was like, man, you crazy as shit.
58:18
You know, Russell would never say nothing. But Russell was the head. You know, he was the head.
58:23
He was the snake head. You know, so whoever was saying it, it was coming from that camp.
58:29
I ain't pay that shit no attention. I went out and worked and did things.
58:35
It's funny because I equate us to New Edition.
58:40
They were New Edition. I was Bobby Brown. I didn't have the greatest relationship after Def Jam.
58:47
With Def Jam. You know, a lot of people told, you know, Russell was upset. Russell was upset because you say he don't like
58:53
to pay people and such and such. He didn't.
58:58
We got $717 to do Def Jam. Def Jam 30 years later is still selling.
59:05
We got $717. Period.
59:10
Now did you make money off of it? Yeah, but it's the same thing as the record company. You see all of these record,
59:16
you know, back in the day, blues singers and different people that go in and record,
59:21
and they don't own their masters. It was no different.
59:27
So people, you know, me, I'm frontline. I'm saying this shit in real time.
59:34
I'm saying remember it's no social medias, no whatever. But I'm barking as loud as I can in real time thinking
59:41
that some of these guys that's around me, you know, the D.L.'s the Bernie Mac's,
59:49
the Steve Harvey's, you know, whoever, Cedric the Entertainer whoever they got me,
59:56
something happened to me. They roll it. I never had to always be the man. I just jump on they ship, ride with them
1:00:03
until, you know, I can get to, you know, open water. That didn't happen.
1:00:10
That didn't happen. So as I was taking these ass whoopings, my team of guys were thriving.
1:00:18
And so to me, I felt like,
1:00:24
like in a movie when the door shuts and everybody's trying to get through that door and run through that door, you know,
1:00:31
like a garage door, you know, that door start coming, come on let's go. And they getting through that door and they, you know,
1:00:37
and that door. And I'm the last motherfucker. And that door shut, and I couldn't get through it.
1:00:43
So all my guys are millionaires. You know, this is my brother's crib. I have 7,000 square foot,
1:00:50
it was about 7,000 square foot house right around the corner. I almost drop a tear every time I go past it.
1:01:00
Government say I gotta come get it. You know, those cars outside, gotta come get it.
1:01:07
You know, all the stuff, whatever. So being the legend is great,
1:01:13
but one thing I never had, and I tell dudes to this day because when dudes come and talk to me and they, you know man and such and such,
1:01:20
you heard me earlier on one of these cameras told my nephew don't be me.
1:01:26
And it's people ask me, would I do it any other way?
1:01:35
Can't answer that right now. - [Interviewer] You wouldn't change anything from the past?
1:01:47
- Hard head, make a sore ass.
1:01:53
Not a lot. I wouldn't change a lot. - [Interviewer] Even if it meant
1:01:58
you would have a different place, a different type of lifestyle, come on.
1:02:06
- Let me tell you why I wouldn't change a lot. 'cause it forced me to come home and be a father to my kids.
1:02:15
And that was the best reward.
1:02:21
- Marsha Warfield had a joke years ago. She was talking about Magic Johnson,
1:02:27
and it was so witty and clever and I was like, oh man.
1:02:34
She said, she was talking about, you know, Magic Johnson when he was playing basketball, good looking man.
1:02:39
You know, women, we feel like he's attractive. And she said, yeah, I met Magic Johnson.
1:02:46
I just looked at him and I said, boy, I love to climb up Magic Johnson and sit there.
1:02:54
She had this like, no nonsense kind of humor to me, just straightforward humor.
1:03:00
And I was also able to see that in my family. And I never even got bullied in school
1:03:05
because I had wit, even though I was a chunky kid, I'd tear you up with that wit.
1:03:11
Crush you out. They be like, you fat, okay, here we go. Yeah, I know that much.
1:03:17
- The first time I saw Dominique was at Monique's Comedy Club in Baltimore and I said to Mo, who is this?
1:03:25
And she said, that's Dominique. Like I was supposed to know her. - Once I left DC
1:03:30
and I moved to New York, it bought something completely different out me, my relationships build.
1:03:36
I was able to meet Tracy Morgan. I would work clubs on Broadway.
1:03:41
And in New York they have a whole different kind of comedy energy, you know, they got a rapid fire kind of energy.
1:03:47
Then I went to LA after that. So I'm working, you know, I've been blessed. I have great friends.
1:03:53
I went on the road with Lavell Crawford. I've been on the road with Mike Epps.
1:03:58
That opened me up to arenas. So I'm doing shows now in front of 3,000 and 4,000 people.
1:04:07
And then I think in this business, every time you get to a place, I call it, you need to turn a corner.
1:04:13
Then I got on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. When I got on the Tom Joyner Morning Show
1:04:18
and I was able to do comedy segments on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. It really, really changed the trajectory of my career.
1:04:27
So there, it's a lot of different places where you have breaks.
1:04:34
- You know, you make decisions in your life and they affect the rest of your life, right?
1:04:39
I made a decision when I was in my twenties to become a comedian,
1:04:46
and that's what I do. I'm a (beep) comedian, like, for real.
1:04:53
Let's get it in. My highest moment in comedy was the night that I quit my job
1:05:02
as a social worker. It was 1993. It was the Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull Comedy Competition.
1:05:10
Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley were the headliners. The first guy goes out, and he is shirt and tie.
1:05:18
Set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline. Goodnight.
1:05:23
(Joe clapping) He had a great set. He had a great set. I'm not set up, punchline.
1:05:30
I'm, hey, let me show y'all this shit, and this shit, and this shit over here,
1:05:36
and some other shit, and some more shit, and I got some more shit to say, and thank you, goodnight. Suck my dick.
1:05:41
Right? They stood up.
1:05:47
The people stood up. I had never seen that before, and it sold out. It's packed.
1:05:52
I never seen, you know, I had seen it happen from the audience perspective.
1:05:58
I never seen it happen from standing. I'm the guy. Y'all climbing for me?
1:06:07
- The most iconic guy of our era outside of Snoop maybe,
1:06:12
you know, I get to sit and talk to.
1:06:18
It's three days before he would die. I felt like his death and Tupac's death
1:06:25
were the biggest pieces of, the biggest display of nigga shit ever.
1:06:34
Here we are. We have everything we've ever wanted. We rule the world right now.
1:06:41
And we still- (Joe imitating shooting sounds) If I may,
1:06:47
and I've never said this before,
1:06:52
for me a lot of the fighting that we have in our community is bitch shit.
1:06:59
Like you that emotional?
1:07:05
You like a little bitch. You got that fucking emotional?
1:07:10
You can't find another solution to this shit?
1:07:15
- I remember I went on stage at the Apollo one night, and I tell the people
1:07:21
the first thing I said outta my mouth, I said, I see y'all booing out here. Y'all can boo me, you know,
1:07:29
and before I can get the next word out, it was like a RAF pace of boo's coming down
1:07:36
from the back of the wall, and I had to fight through it. I said, no, what y'all? I said...
1:07:41
I can see Steve on the side. And I was,
1:07:47
he was like wrap it up. And I got off stage, and I walked, no bull,
1:07:53
from 125th Street to West Village,
1:08:00
West Side Village. I walked 125 blocks thinking about
1:08:07
I will never ever ask the Apollo to boo me again.
1:08:12
And I came back a year later and destroyed that joint. I think you guys should be very proud of yourself.
1:08:17
Y'all had, all of you guys did something different. Don't leave here and get unfocused.
1:08:23
That's what all of us, like, you know, what I'm saying? We be focused for a second and then certain things unfocus us.
1:08:29
- Don't Shoot Guns, Shoot Cameras is a SEL program that teaches young kids filmmaking
1:08:37
from beginning to end. Yeah, we out here in this heat canvassing like we always do.
1:08:44
Grant for mayor all day. Make sure you sign the petition. Make sure you go to Grant4MayorDC.com.
1:08:51
We're in Northeast today. If you want us to come to your area, we'll come to your area too. Let's go.
1:08:57
Grant for mayor. - Grant for mayor. - Team rep. - Team rep. - Let's go.
1:09:02
- Running for mayor, why? Well, God gave me a vision three years ago,
1:09:08
a real, clear vision to come back to my city and delve
1:09:14
into the issues that affect my people. It was so clear to the point
1:09:20
that I saw it all the way to the end. He showed me everything. People say, you know, they ask me all the time.
1:09:26
He is like, you a comedian. You don't know nothing about politics. Well, I'm not a politician.
1:09:34
I'm a humanitarian. I think sometimes people, they don't feel like nobody cares, but you know, it's a lot of people
1:09:40
who do care. So we that's gotta continue to care about our communities.
1:09:46
Man, feed 'em not only food but feed 'em knowledge. I think I'm gonna be one of the best mayors
1:09:51
that DC has ever had.
1:09:57
- That man is drier than Kunta Kinte himself. - The character Ashy Larry,
1:10:02
people, they always ask me, how did that character come about? Or do I get offended when people call me Ashy?
1:10:08
But I have been Ashy my entire life. And when we were doing that character for Chappelle's show,
1:10:14
we came up with the character. He wasn't Ashy. He was just Larry.
1:10:20
But I said, I want to be so Ashy that I could write how much money people owe me on the side of my legs.
1:10:27
And I went to costume. I mean, I went to makeup. I was like, I need some baby powder. It was like, for what?
1:10:32
I said, I can't tell nobody 'cause they gonna probably reject the idea. And I was like, I put that baby powder in my hand.
1:10:40
I shook it like it was dice. And when I blew it out, Ashy Larry was born.
1:10:46
When I was younger I was skinny dude, ashy elbows, ashy knees, big head, hand-me-down clothes.
1:10:56
And when you growing up like that, you have to be able to defend yourself. And I was so smart. I never really defended myself with my hands,
1:11:02
but the verbal assault- (Donnell whistling) I used to tear 'em up. It was like having an assault rifle.
1:11:07
Foul, you get one. Foul. I was giving away free shots before Oprah even thought about giving away.
1:11:13
You get a shot, you get a shot, everybody get a shot. - Donnell Rawlings, and he don't mind me telling you this,
1:11:19
was a security officer at the Hecking Jamal Safeway.
1:11:25
Now I know that for a fact because I used to serve hostess cakes to the Hecking Jamal Safeway.
1:11:31
Donnell looking like somebody from Martin Lawrence show. He got his whole get up on,
1:11:37
you know, he come down, hey man, ain't you hosting that at the comedy club? I said, yeah. He said, man, you think you'll put me on stage?
1:11:44
I said, yeah, you just gotta come put your name on the list. - Mike Washington was the MC that night. When I went up there, I didn't know anything about the rules of a comedy room.
1:11:51
Like I didn't know what the red light meant or anything. - It was time for him to get off stage. I said, wrap it up.
1:11:57
I didn't say cut. I said, next week he gonna know what wrap it up mean. - So they gave me the red light,
1:12:02
and I just thought it was like when you get the red light you get off the stage right then. And I was like, oh man, they give me the light.
1:12:07
I gotta get outta here, y'all. And everybody went crazy. Boo. We want Donnell.
1:12:12
We want Donnell. And Mike had to come back to calm the audience. He was like, Donnell, listen. Donnell don't know the rules of the room.
1:12:19
It was that night where it was birth of Donnell Rawlings, the comedian.
1:12:25
I think what I learned from being in this business that in the business of entertainment, you have to know how to be happy being broke.
1:12:34
'Cause for the most part, 95% of your career is gonna be as a starving artist.
1:12:40
You gotta, I think you gotta understand that at the end of the day,
1:12:45
it's just you. Your family will let you down.
1:12:52
Your friends will let you down. The business will let you down, but you can't let yourself down.
1:12:58
And I also learned that you have to be able
1:13:03
to do what the next person won't do. There's always something extra you can do to put yourself
1:13:09
in position for greatness or give yourself another opportunity. Well, we met through our reputations.
1:13:16
Like Dave was probably four years my senior in comedy.
1:13:23
And on the circuit when anybody comes up and they're smoke, they leave New York, you talk about it like, yo, who left?
1:13:28
Who's popping? Who's getting it in? And everybody would be like, Mike Washington particular like,
1:13:34
oh, this guy, Dave Chappelle. He's like 16, he moved to New York, he's on, he's popping.
1:13:39
Everybody was talking about Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle. And I thought I was funny. I was like, man, fuck Dave Chappelle. I'm funny too.
1:13:46
And Dave has said this story also. He said, when he used to come home,
1:13:53
when you come home you wanna know like who's popping. He said it was always the usual suspects. Andy Evans, Tony Woods, Fat Doctor.
1:14:02
And then he said, but this one dude
1:14:07
that's on fire. His name is Donnell Rawlings. And Dave said the same thing I said, he said, man, fuck that motherfucker.
1:14:13
I'm funny too. I think both of us being DC Comics, it's a special feeling for us knowing we're
1:14:20
from the same hometown. But I don't think that people on the road really care too much where we from,
1:14:28
they care about if we tearing that stage up. And I don't know if it's another dynamic duo combo
1:14:36
that eat stages up the way we do. Yeah, yeah. We fuck it up. Be undeniable.
1:14:44
Nobody gonna stop funny. You might get all he's up and down. Be undeniable and rip everywhere you go.
1:14:53
When every time somebody see, they say, this dude smokes the stage every time, and you watch how them doors open up.
1:14:59
I think Dave Chappelle and the closer, it was so good
1:15:06
for comedy and his stance on it is so good for the integrity of comedy.
1:15:12
You know, a lot of people were, oh, I can't say this, you can't do this. You can do whatever you want, but who has the balls to be able to do it?
1:15:18
- Dave Chappelle, he can pretty much say anything.
1:15:23
A, he's Dave Chappelle, and B, people trust what he's saying.
1:15:31
- The only time it makes an impact on how you deliver a joke or you say a joke, if you are afraid.
1:15:37
If you afraid of the repercussions. And what, for the most part, what people, what are people afraid of?
1:15:43
They're afraid that, oh, I might not be able to make this money. So what? - We are in a different atmosphere today
1:15:50
because people have become overly sensitive. - Their life has always been living on the edge.
1:15:58
Their job is to make you squirm. To make you uncomfortable, to make you think. - There's nobody who's off limits.
1:16:06
Everybody's now, in today's world, they're sensitive about the little, small things.
1:16:14
A big person can be big, and they're the ones that's eating.
1:16:19
- I think that that, you know, sort of cancel culture at large without giving an ideological definition.
1:16:25
So from the right, from the left, from the center really has made dialogue difficult,
1:16:30
and comedy is a form of dialogue. - When I was in the writer's room of the Parkers for 26 weeks, one thing I realized was this was writing by committee.
1:16:39
So you could say a joke and a joke is funny, and it could still give vetoes and veto to never make it into the script.
1:16:46
That part of the process I didn't enjoy. So what I did was I became a standup comic
1:16:52
so nobody could veto the words that come outta my mouth. I don't perform by committee.
1:16:58
So if you start canceling comics, we now are, we're losing the reason we do this
1:17:07
♪ DC where you at ♪ ♪ I'm talking about the Mecca ♪ ♪ I'm talking about the first city, the real city ♪
1:17:13
♪ Chocolate City ♪ ♪ DC stand up ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ I want thank you for everything ♪
1:17:20
♪ And all you gave to me ♪ ♪ I wanna thank you for the love you share ♪
1:17:25
♪ And everything you reap ♪ ♪ I wanna share your hand and grab my arm around you ♪
1:17:32
- I'm so DC I still eat fried bologna with the red ring around it. Y'all remember what that is?
1:17:37
You hit the shrimp boat. You walk down the shrimp boat. Get you some chicken wings with the mumbo sauce. Y'all know what mumbo sauce?
1:17:43
If you from DC, you know what it is. - I'm so DC, I still listen to Rare Essence.
1:17:49
- Come on DC, man, you know me. Ben's Chili Bowl. You know, man, hot dogs cost about a $1000 now.
1:17:55
Go to Little Tavern. You know the Blue Dolphin? I mean the Blue Mirror next to the Mark IV Supper Club.
1:18:03
These are landmarks, baby. You is DC, bam. The old Rand, Tinley Theater.
1:18:10
Man, we was doing our thing. - I'm so DC I know everybody 'err like it. I'm so DC nobody get married, they get 'murried.'
1:18:18
I'm so DC I hang in 'Murryland.' 'Urrbody' feel as though simple fact being huh man aint youngin.
1:18:26
We gonna be up the way. ♪ Living life ♪ ♪ Who with me ♪
1:18:32
(scatting) ♪ Yeah we got a big old ♪
1:18:37
♪ Shut your mouth ♪
'The Mecca of Comedy' documentary
'The Mecca of Comedy' is exploring The District's contribution to comedy. Director and producer Parrish Smith joined Good Day DC alongside Sylvia Traymore Morrison to share more about the new film.
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