Jokes, Joy and Laughter | KevOnStage, Scott Evans and Kalen Allen

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Pardon? Could you direct me to the area where the guacs can be found? [00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to Image Unscripted, the official NAACP Image Awards podcast hosted by me, Jemele Hill. Image Unscripted features candid conversations with its brightest black voices, discussing pivotal life moments, giving them their flowers, and how they are advancing the community. Today we've got Kaylin Allen and TV personality and creator whose infectious humor and unapologetic joy took him from social media stardom to television, reminding us of the power of authenticity everywhere he shows up. Joining him on the couch is author, comedian, and creator Kevin Fredericks, also known as Kev onstage, whose journey has helped redefine what success looks like in the digital age. Last but not least, we've got Scott Evans, television personality and host of the YouTube show Houseguests, where he literally invites guests into his home for laid back conversations. I'm excited to get into their journeys and how each of them creates and connects online. Well, thank you guys for joining me here on Image Unscripted. Kev, Scott, Kailyn, you all, when it comes to content creation, you are at the top of your game. And as a result of that, Scott, I feel like we would be remiss if we didn't start by congratulating you on your NAACP nominations for your wonderful show. That's right, Houseguests. Yes, you. [00:01:30] Speaker C: Yes, you. You have bright future. So bright eyes. [00:01:34] Speaker B: You know what I'm saying? [00:01:35] Speaker D: Which we have both been able to be guests on. [00:01:37] Speaker B: Yes. I was gonna say that is the beauty of this synergy here is like, both of you have been a guest on Houseguests. Outstanding host in a talk or news information category, and also outstanding talk series. Now you are up against some heavy weights. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:52] Speaker A: People that like, I've. I've idolized in Tamron Hall, Don Lemon. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Like all these big. And the View, like all these big shows. [00:02:01] Speaker A: So the View. [00:02:02] Speaker B: The View, period. [00:02:03] Speaker D: Yes. [00:02:04] Speaker A: So just end it there. [00:02:05] Speaker B: You can end it there. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Like game changing daytime talk show. [00:02:09] Speaker B: Correct. Jennifer Hudson. So how does it feel? Because it seems like your show has really been able to stand alone and sort of create a new lane that we haven't seen before in the talk format. [00:02:21] Speaker A: First, I want to say thank you and I love you. It is so incredible to be. You know, the statement you always get is that it's so incredible to be nominated, but it really does feel like I went to sleep after the Golden Globes on Sunday night, Monday morning after the Golden Globes, and was like, whew, that was a really good time. Right. And then woke up to the most incredible news of two nominations for an NAACP Image Award. And I just. When it comes to like game changing or carving a path and that kind of thing, I just want to do a good job. Right? Like, I just want to. I didn't set out to shift the industry. I didn't set out to raise awareness of what we are capable of, to remind people of what we were capable of or who we are or how big of an impact we can make when we bet on ourselves. I didn't do any of that. I was just trying to practice taking Jimmy Fallon's job. That's all I was trying to do. I'mma just keep a buck. I'm going to keep it a. Keep it a hundred. That's all I was trying to do. And I called my good friend Kev and I said, man, will you please come do this first show with me so that I can one I wanted. I felt like Kev deserved a real late night experience. You know, I wanted to be able to provide that for our guests and for people that. [00:03:56] Speaker B: Is that why you cook for them? I mean, you cook for a lot of people on there? [00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Okay. [00:03:59] Speaker A: I mean, I made burgers and burgers. [00:04:02] Speaker C: Fire. [00:04:02] Speaker B: They were fire. [00:04:03] Speaker C: Every time you get to eat those. Amber Riley was at one the last time at the Christmas one, she was like, kev, I'm an extra. Just cause I wanted dinner. We had lamb chops. I said, lamb chop. The food is exquisite. I mean, you know, I eat. I'm 270. I go and eat at a place, I'mma sit down and you bring me all the courses over. Scott and them house for me. [00:04:25] Speaker D: Well, you gotta mess for me. No, you gotta. [00:04:27] Speaker C: That's why I'm talking that little black corpus. [00:04:31] Speaker A: The whole time I'm like, kev, Kev. Not too much of a game. [00:04:34] Speaker D: So he cooked me mess. No, because he wanted me to react to it. [00:04:37] Speaker C: No, I didn't play it in your face. Get him over here like you did for me. Yeah, he ordered food. Some real stuff. [00:04:43] Speaker B: Order food. [00:04:44] Speaker A: No, hold on a second. I made the cornbread we just had. [00:04:49] Speaker D: We had. [00:04:49] Speaker A: I had to improvise with some of the ingredients. We was out of stuff. [00:04:52] Speaker D: I didn't eat it. [00:04:53] Speaker C: What was it? [00:04:54] Speaker B: Relish. [00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't hide. I ran out of green pepper, so I used relish. [00:04:57] Speaker C: Okay, listen, you're not being for real. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Yeah, no, you want a moist. You want a moist cornbread. [00:05:02] Speaker B: Let's see. [00:05:02] Speaker A: Neither here nor there. [00:05:03] Speaker B: Right? Don't be out here misleading the people Just misinformation. Ladies and gentlemen, you put relish in your cornbread and somebody is gonna knock you out. So don't do that. [00:05:11] Speaker A: I'm gonna just tell you right now, I ain't never made cornbread quite like that before. [00:05:15] Speaker C: Okay? [00:05:16] Speaker D: But it fed it to me. [00:05:18] Speaker C: I didn't know. [00:05:19] Speaker A: We didn't eat it. We just looked at it real tough. Cause when it came out, it looked like that pumpkin pie. [00:05:24] Speaker D: Then we ate blood sos. [00:05:26] Speaker A: Yes. [00:05:26] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:05:26] Speaker C: That's what we had. Now, blood SOS are right. [00:05:28] Speaker A: It's delicious. It's delicious. If you gonna order something, it's gonna be good. [00:05:31] Speaker C: They got the hot wing ribs. [00:05:34] Speaker B: What? [00:05:35] Speaker C: I never had that hot wing rib tip, y'. All. Ain't nobody done that. [00:05:38] Speaker B: I have not had the hot wing ribs. And I love blood cells. [00:05:40] Speaker C: Rib tips at blood sores that they prepare them like hot wings. Like buffalo wings. They dip them in that sauce. It's like a. That's like they thing like buffalo wings. Like buffalo ribs. [00:05:51] Speaker A: Okay, now you're really gonna have people confusing. [00:05:52] Speaker C: Maybe some plentos in the Valley. Cause I get them ordered to my house much more often than you should order ribs. They be good, see? Yeah, they be good. [00:06:02] Speaker A: And so it was. It is. [00:06:03] Speaker D: It has been. [00:06:04] Speaker A: It's been a pleasure to do this kind of work. I really was trying to practice in semi private, right? To get my hours up, to rehearse what it feels like to open a show, to close a show, to move a show from one block. [00:06:19] Speaker B: This was just a practice interview. [00:06:21] Speaker D: Now, he was wearing oil by then. [00:06:23] Speaker B: Oh, okay. All right. [00:06:25] Speaker A: I'm gonna be honest with you. Don't get me wrong. We have refined as we've gone. For sure. We definitely weren't perfect on that first show out, but we had such a good time. I said this to Kev not too long ago. [00:06:36] Speaker C: If I'm not even being funny. No, no, that's what I went. [00:06:41] Speaker A: As well as it could go 100%. [00:06:45] Speaker C: The guest really brought such humor, levity, virality. Virality in Hailey Bieber pocket. First of all, we done put some money in Haley, baby pocket to the pocket. [00:06:56] Speaker B: When y' all was talking about the Erwine, her shake, her smoothies, let me. [00:07:02] Speaker D: Tell you, it's good. [00:07:04] Speaker B: I really feel like I betray the ancestors every time I order that. Because that damn shake is half of a rent, right? But it's so good, and I can't stop myself. [00:07:14] Speaker A: So here's the thing. And I'm not trying. I swear, I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to be extra, but I do think that that conversation shifted something. Because shortly after they took her name off that smoothie, it started doing so well. They said we don't need her to sell it no more. [00:07:30] Speaker C: They erased that and said just had the ingredients. [00:07:33] Speaker D: Yeah. Which is a problem in itself. And she better be make sure she get her her coin. [00:07:37] Speaker A: You know, she's still getting her money. [00:07:38] Speaker C: They came back and put her name back on. Yeah. [00:07:40] Speaker D: Now you go. The name is on there. [00:07:42] Speaker A: Because they said. She said, excuse me, where's your smoothie? [00:07:47] Speaker B: Whenever I order that, I had to. I had the receipt from my husband. Cuz I don't want him to see what it is. [00:07:51] Speaker A: No. [00:07:51] Speaker B: Cuz if he see that Damn shake, it's $30. I know. [00:07:53] Speaker D: I tried to see my mama there. [00:07:55] Speaker B: Put out my own house. [00:07:56] Speaker D: My mama came for Thanksgiving and I tried to send her there to go get it and she came back without it. Cause she said she wouldn't spend $20 on a smoothie. [00:08:03] Speaker C: You got to experience it. [00:08:04] Speaker A: I said, it was at least one time. You deserve it and you deserve it. You know what I mean? [00:08:09] Speaker B: That's what I deserve. [00:08:10] Speaker C: I was talking to you about Jimmy Fallon. It's so interesting because you set out to take his job and I think you might have changed his whole industry because that whole format, it's late night. That don't feel late night. Right. But you still get. People are always gonna have a project to go promote. But by and large, less and less people are turning on this show at this time at 11:35, Jimmy Fallon and all those guys, we're watching more via their clips and tiktoks. So if I can click your thing, I'm watching and like Cynthia Erivo going there for the wicked press tour for her book. Like, somebody was pitching me a late night show. And I was like, man, that's Scott's thing now. [00:08:52] Speaker A: What? [00:08:52] Speaker C: That's what I told him. I thought I was telling you. Maybe I was telling Katie. [00:08:55] Speaker D: No, no, no, you told us all. [00:08:56] Speaker C: Yeah. It was like. [00:08:58] Speaker A: No, I didn't. I think I misunderstood. No, I misunderstood. [00:09:01] Speaker C: Somebody was pitching me like, yo, we want to hire you for a late. [00:09:03] Speaker A: Night show to do a late night show. I thought you were talking about you were going to be going on a late night show. Negro, if you don't go get that them people's money and we can do this together. I'll be Jimmy. [00:09:16] Speaker C: You be Jimmy. [00:09:17] Speaker D: All right. [00:09:18] Speaker C: They both is Jimmy. [00:09:19] Speaker A: Come on. Yes, they both Jimmy. [00:09:22] Speaker C: You became. [00:09:22] Speaker A: I be Scott. [00:09:24] Speaker C: No. And Then Kaylin got the daytime on live. [00:09:26] Speaker D: I got daytime. [00:09:27] Speaker B: There you go, man. Y' all done came together. Hold on. Let's go. [00:09:30] Speaker A: We after this, let's call them together. [00:09:32] Speaker D: You see the vision? [00:09:33] Speaker B: I do. I see the vision. Well, look, let me ask you guys this. You all are successes, you know, beyond maybe what you even thought that you would be. Now that you're in this position, does success feel like you thought it would? [00:09:47] Speaker C: Hmm. [00:09:50] Speaker A: While Kaylin is thinking. While Kaylin is thinking about it. While Kaylin thinking about it, I'm gonna tell you what. Kaylin goes skiing every year now. [00:09:59] Speaker B: How we get there now, what the. [00:10:01] Speaker D: Hell that gotta do. [00:10:02] Speaker A: Success. Success. [00:10:03] Speaker D: Oh, you say skiing is something that successful people do. [00:10:07] Speaker A: You can't do it if you unsuccessful. You think somebody unsuccessful trying to coordinate a ski lift rental foot. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Points were made. Points were made. [00:10:18] Speaker A: I just said. [00:10:19] Speaker D: Now, I will say. I will say, if you have gone on a ski trip or you go up in the mountain, them is the most bougie people I done ever seen in my life. [00:10:27] Speaker C: I'm just gonna say it truly is. [00:10:29] Speaker D: But to your question, yes and no. For me, the life that I have or the life that I have built, I always knew that it was possible. I always saw it. I think maybe. Maybe the different hurdles or the way that I've had to navigate or try to, like, always have to reinvent myself, or maybe the race. And I'm sure everybody can, you know, agree with this. It's like, I don't know if I thought. I thought that maybe after I had done one thing, that would be enough and I wouldn't have to still prove myself. I think that's the hard part about it. I think sometimes I'm in the space of being like, well, what more do you want me to do? I done been on Broadway. I done done the movie, I done the TV show. What more do you want from me? You know? So I think maybe, but I think it changes because for me, it was never about fame or popularity. It was just that I love to entertain people. I just love to get up and do my job. That's all that I care about. I don't care about all the other fluff. I don't need all the extra stuff. I am okay just knowing that I was able to add a little bit more joy or a little bit more light to one more person in their life. [00:11:47] Speaker B: Ashley Blaine Featherson. [00:11:48] Speaker C: I love that. I think for me, I love that you said, I kind of always thought it was possible. I don't know if I Thought it was possible, but I think I always envisioned just being able to do what I wanted to do for a living and that would be success to me, I don't think. I definitely didn't attach a monetary value to it. I just hated my jobs before and I was like, if I could just not hate my job every day, I would be happy. Yeah, I just was like, I hated to get up and go to work in the cold and dark and rain to a place I didn't want to be. Like, you got to drive an hour to a place you already don't want to be at. Like, so being able to do what I want to do for a living is great. And I never want to sound ungrateful, but I think I want to do more and create opportunities for more people. But I feel successful now because I get to enjoy more things. I don't think everything is not fun, right? Every, every part of it's not. Every part of it's not fun. But I don't think that's true for anybody, right? I think if you're in the NBA, I want to be in the NBA or the NFL. Like, I'm sure they love playing football or basketball, but they don't probably love talking to the media after a loss, having to answer a question, you know, they don't want to answer. Right. They don't love rehab or meetings or traveling, but actually playing basketball, they probably enjoy that. And some of them said they don't even love that. They just are good at it and they get paid. Right. I feel, you feel that some people be in the NBA and be like, and they've said this like, I don't want, this is just my job. But for me, I think that is success is I, I, I often think when I'm like in New York on a Tuesday for press or something, I'm like, I'm just in New York on a Tuesday. People is at work. I would have, years ago, I would have been at work waiting for my lunch break to go sneak and make a video and. And now my job is I get to go to a. Or do this. Like, this is Tuesday. Tuesday. This is a Tuesday. I would be at work getting ready to be like, hope traffic ain't bad. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:36] Speaker C: Like, that would have been my life at Boeing. Like, I hope it's not an accident. And my 45 minute drive don't become an hour and a half. [00:13:43] Speaker A: And what's nuts to think about that to add to that, Kev, is that like, there's also the idea or the understanding that even the Boeing job was. Is a job that most people would consider. That's a good job. [00:13:55] Speaker C: For sure. [00:13:55] Speaker A: You got a good job. [00:13:57] Speaker C: My parents was like, quitting the plane. You know, why don't you quit the plane? People you got, you get discounts to. [00:14:03] Speaker A: Go shoot some videos on your phone. [00:14:06] Speaker C: Hold on now. They thought I got a job at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Like, what you mean you quitting the play? And I also didn't get discounts to Southwest. Mom, I told you that. Them is two separate companies. They buy the plane. Southwest don't say, who made this. Give a discount. [00:14:20] Speaker A: She said, my son work here. [00:14:21] Speaker B: She like, where my companions at she. [00:14:24] Speaker C: Want to pass for today. This plane ain't even built yet. I'm looking at a empty fuselage. [00:14:29] Speaker D: That's funny. [00:14:30] Speaker C: I can't help you. [00:14:30] Speaker D: That's funny. [00:14:31] Speaker C: But you're right. And that was also hard. Like your family is telling you, why would you move to la? It's so expensive. You got your house, you got your kids, you got your good job. It's safe. And you're like, but I want more out of my life. It's not safe for me, right? Like, this isn't what I wanted. [00:14:46] Speaker A: It's actually unsafe. [00:14:47] Speaker C: I'm going to go crazy if I have to live here. And you feel crazy for not feeling grateful for something, but it isn't what I wanted out of my life. [00:14:57] Speaker A: Tabitha Brown came on the show and said something that people have, like, repeated to me and even in the comment section that it sounds crazy until it ain't. And so, like, when you ask the question about, does success feel like we thought it would or different in some sort of way, it felt and feels crazy until it doesn't. Right? Like to call back to the ski trips, they feel crazy until they don't. Right? To be able to do what you want every day and make that your living for you and your family and your family's family. Sounds crazy until it ain't. Can I hurt you? Absolutely. [00:15:34] Speaker C: Sitting with you, Jamel. [00:15:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:15:36] Speaker C: I watched you on ESPN daily. I remember seeing you at LA Live. I told you a million times. And I fanned out. And when I saw you today, I said, oh, it was homegirl Jamel. And then I went to the bathroom, I said, I approached Jamel like, that's my homegirl. And she was like, what? I'm kidding. But wait, that sounds crazy till it ain't. [00:15:55] Speaker A: And so when I saw her, though, I said, may I approach? [00:15:57] Speaker B: And I was looking at him like. [00:15:59] Speaker C: I said, well, she done come on my podcast and talk about the Dirty D so that we became friends instantly. When we were watching the Dirty D. [00:16:05] Speaker A: Together, I said, may I approach? [00:16:08] Speaker B: She said, boy, better get on over here. [00:16:10] Speaker A: But, like, yeah, it all feels crazy until it doesn't. And much of, much of the success, by whatever barometer or definition that is, feels foreign to you until it becomes useful. Right? And so, yeah, I think that the idea now is that, and I think I see it for all of us, all of us in this room is that what do you do with that success? How do you pay into that for more than just yourself? I think Jay Z said it right, like, if you're the only one in your group that's making money, you still broke. [00:16:49] Speaker B: Moving on here a little bit now. You guys have built such a strong online community, strong online fan base. Tell me about a time where you posted something. It could be something that there was a positive reaction or a negative reaction where the reaction was so much more outsized than you thought that it would be. [00:17:09] Speaker A: I mean, all the time, you know what I mean? Especially now that I'm in this space sharing much more of my perspective. Like, you know, even entertainment journalism, you're, you are not the story. And so you don't interject your perspective, your, your opinion, any of that. You just get, you get the story. So, you know, yeah, I, I, I am learning a lot about food and things and, like, guacamole. [00:17:35] Speaker C: Guacs from avocados? Not guacs, guacs. [00:17:39] Speaker B: So you thought it came from what. [00:17:41] Speaker A: I thought I went to the grocery store. Okay, looking. I first moved to LA years and years and years and years ago. Over 20 years ago now. And I went to the grocery store trying to be fancy, and I wanted to invite people over to my first LA apartment and make guacamole as one does in Southern California. And I went to the grocery store in the produce section looking for fresh guacs. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Is that how you asked for it? [00:18:03] Speaker A: I actually looked for quite some time, didn't see them. And I tapped the lady in the section. [00:18:08] Speaker C: The guacs? [00:18:10] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:18:11] Speaker A: So I, so I asked the lady in the working. The produce section. Pardon? Could you direct me to the area where the guacs can be found? [00:18:23] Speaker D: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Did you not look at a recipe first like you just went to the grocery store? [00:18:30] Speaker A: No, I knew, I knew my cousin made guacamole. I knew that guacs were in there. Tomatoes were in there. The guacs were the green stuff. Oh, and the tomatoes and some onions. I was going to do onion powder instead of real onions. And I was going up a, you know, a little recipe. And so she looked at me, you know, that face of like you heard very clearly what someone said. But it sounds so crazy. You gotta hear him say it again. She said, what? [00:18:56] Speaker B: Did she give you the blessed? Bless your heart. [00:18:58] Speaker A: No, she just. She. She did grab her. She said, what? [00:19:00] Speaker B: Oh, she. She was like. [00:19:02] Speaker A: And then I got a little indignant and was like, oh, you mad at her? I was like. Cause I know you can hear me. I said, the guacs. Can you show me where the guacs are? [00:19:11] Speaker D: Loud and strong. [00:19:12] Speaker C: She said. [00:19:13] Speaker A: She grabbed me by the hand. She took me over to where these nice little pumpkin looking things were. Pumpkin and like little apple things like hairless kiwis. And she put this thing in my hand and she said, son, this is an avocado and this is what you make. She said, whatever you're gonna do with the guac, do it with this. [00:19:39] Speaker C: He was dead serious about that. [00:19:42] Speaker A: Oh, I was dead dead serious. [00:19:43] Speaker C: Oh, God. [00:19:44] Speaker A: And so when I got to my home and real what I had done, also there was a linguistic study in the comment section that day, because what in Spanish. Aguacate, guacamole is. Mole is sauce, guac is. [00:19:58] Speaker B: So now you found the whole etymology. [00:20:00] Speaker A: What I'm telling you is that sometimes I get ahead of myself, see, and. But I be right. Okay, and so a guacate, guacamole. Where are the guacs? [00:20:15] Speaker C: That's what he took from it. [00:20:16] Speaker D: Help him, Lord. [00:20:17] Speaker A: So help him. [00:20:19] Speaker B: So that was father. [00:20:20] Speaker A: I got him Shamba. [00:20:22] Speaker D: Well, okay, great, great. [00:20:25] Speaker C: I don't know if you can type that right. [00:20:27] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm like, I don't know about that one, honey. Yeah, yeah. I think for me, one. I think very early on I learned that I need to have discernment and understanding, like the power of my voice. Because people, if I said anything, they would take it and run with it, you know. But I think as far as virality and stuff, what I always enjoy is when I go on somebody else's thing and it becomes a thing. Like I can be walking down the street and somebody be like, girls. Because I was on. [00:20:59] Speaker C: That was a great video, though. It was a great video because the. [00:21:02] Speaker D: Creator, his name is Jihadi, he has the hopeless romantics. And we had done this interview in the street and he was talking about how it was kissing all these people up in the club, you know, he was clearly gay. And so he brought up that, you know, he was kissing girls. And I was like, girls. [00:21:14] Speaker C: I was like, you are confused. [00:21:16] Speaker D: You know, so, you know, and then everybody found that to be hilarious. And so now everybody will mention that to me. So I enjoy those kind of things because I think that the fact that that laughter can reach so many people from so many different places, I think that's what excites me about the power of what we do. And the fact that for us, And I think this also happens to us, is that we're so used to being in our own little silos, especially if you live in a Los Angeles. And then to be able to go different places and see how it has brought a little bit of sunshine. Like, people always talk about the original food videos. And I get people that come to me all the time. They'll say, while I was going through chemo, I watched your videos, or something like that. And to me, that is how I am always able to remember to keep doing the work, because that's why it matters. [00:22:05] Speaker B: But the other side of it, too, is that I know that it can sometimes get exhaustive to always constantly be in this mode of having to produce something or having to, you know, create something. And I think, Kalen, you recently said that you were going on, like, a social media sabbatical. So what prompted you to do that? [00:22:22] Speaker D: Well, a little bit of that. And this is where. Cause I love doing what I do. However, when you do work in social media, you are always chasing, like, a trend, and you always are having, like, comparing yourself to other people. And one thing that I realized is that, you know, when I started, I was 21 when I started at the Ellen DeGeneres Show. And I came straight from college. Like, I finished school while I was doing Ellen at the same time. And so the fact is, is that I had created, like, a Persona to kind of feed the beast, to keep it going. But then I was like, well, I just turned 30 years old, and I'm like, I need time. Sorry. [00:23:02] Speaker A: We just gotta. Just wanna. We're trying really hard, so, so hard over here. [00:23:06] Speaker C: Kaylin, you are 46 years old. What do you mean? [00:23:09] Speaker D: Yeah, I was in college. [00:23:11] Speaker C: How old are you right now? [00:23:12] Speaker D: I'm 30. [00:23:13] Speaker C: God, Kalen, there's no way you were 30 years old. [00:23:16] Speaker B: I am. [00:23:16] Speaker C: Can we cut to commercial right now? Today you're 30 years old. [00:23:19] Speaker D: I turned 30 last week. [00:23:21] Speaker C: You were 29 last week? [00:23:22] Speaker D: Yes. [00:23:23] Speaker B: You were 29? [00:23:24] Speaker C: Yes. [00:23:25] Speaker A: How? I want to write a letter that's. [00:23:29] Speaker D: Just the way the cards play. [00:23:31] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:23:31] Speaker D: It was my senior year of college when Ellen discovered me and moved me to la. [00:23:35] Speaker A: If you say it one more time. [00:23:36] Speaker D: I'm just saying, like, that's the truth. [00:23:39] Speaker C: You were born in 1996. [00:23:40] Speaker D: Correct? [00:23:42] Speaker A: Tupac Shakur. [00:23:44] Speaker D: Correct. 1996, baby Shakur. [00:23:46] Speaker B: I don't even want to tell y'. [00:23:47] Speaker A: All what was in 1996. [00:23:50] Speaker D: Y' all are funny to me. [00:23:51] Speaker B: Cause, first of all, I'm the oldest person here. I'm pretty sure. [00:23:53] Speaker C: But that's different, Jamel. Cause you don't have a storied career. We have watched you. [00:23:58] Speaker D: We are well aware. [00:24:00] Speaker C: We seen you rise and go to the top. [00:24:03] Speaker A: He done done all this in three months. [00:24:06] Speaker D: Three months. [00:24:09] Speaker A: In 17 months. [00:24:11] Speaker B: Nine years. [00:24:11] Speaker D: Nine years. [00:24:12] Speaker A: In 17 months, this. [00:24:14] Speaker C: Wow. [00:24:15] Speaker A: I'm ready to go. [00:24:16] Speaker C: I had no idea. I'm talking about. None. [00:24:20] Speaker A: I'm so excited for you. [00:24:22] Speaker C: The future's bright. [00:24:23] Speaker D: Well, thank you. [00:24:24] Speaker C: Wow. [00:24:25] Speaker B: I mean, he's the person you don't ask. What would you tell your younger self? [00:24:27] Speaker A: Because you still. Younger. [00:24:29] Speaker C: Younger self. You are the younger self. He rode a tricycle over to this podcast studio after he left Ellen. When I did Ellen in college, you know, when Ellen moved me to LA after college, you know what I did after college? Starved. I starved. I had a child. How much peanut butter can we eat, Father? [00:24:51] Speaker A: Enough. [00:24:52] Speaker C: This is all we got. [00:24:54] Speaker B: After college, I was eating barbecue chips and fried pork chops. That was my two food groups. Cause I was broke, living in a. [00:25:01] Speaker C: Studio Ellen show, and then went back. [00:25:04] Speaker A: To school and went to Broadway and. [00:25:06] Speaker C: Did all that before he turned 30. [00:25:08] Speaker A: I just. I don't. I. Wow. [00:25:10] Speaker D: But that's a Capricorn in me. I'm a work. I like to work, you know? So even when you say, like, you're talking about, like, it can be exhausting. It never feels exhausting to me. [00:25:19] Speaker C: That's what I was going to say. [00:25:20] Speaker D: It never does. [00:25:20] Speaker C: People always get on me like, kev, you need to take a break. You need to take a break. You don't understand how badly I wanted this. I'm like a fish swimming. Like, you never get tired of swimming. That is how they get, like. I get tired, but I never get tired of what I do. I just get tired because I'm a human being. Get tired at the end of the day, a long shoot, you get tired. But, you know, there's certain aspects that are more draining. But I dreamt of this. It is still like, I'm still here. Like, man, this is crazy. I'M talking on the Image award podcast. Like, this is still big to me. These are still amazing moments that I look forward to, and I hope to never lose that feeling of, like, enjoying what I do. And I think, honestly, because I worked a regular job for so much longer after college, Ellen didn't call, so I had to go to work at a daycare. Let's be clear. [00:26:09] Speaker D: Because on my first episode of Ellen, I worked five jobs, so I have had a regular job. I was a supervisor at the AMC theaters. [00:26:18] Speaker A: Come on. Okay. [00:26:21] Speaker C: Were you for real? [00:26:22] Speaker D: I was, but the way that I aligned myself, even in college was that I always knew that I wanted to be the boss, so I only applied for the boss role, and I got it. [00:26:35] Speaker C: How'd you get the boss? So you got the boss job without working? Correct. [00:26:38] Speaker B: You ain't had to start with tear tickets. [00:26:41] Speaker C: Imagine tear tickets when he got out of college. Or Nash Fandango. [00:26:45] Speaker A: No, imagine being. Imagine being the second boss walking into the office at the theater. And it's me and it's Kalen. Do I want to introduce you to everybody. This is your new boss, who's 20 years old. Kaylyn got a book bag? [00:27:01] Speaker D: I ain't had no book bag. I had a briefcase. Let's be very clear. [00:27:04] Speaker C: He said he was 25 years old. That's exactly clear. Cause he had a briefcase. Baby had to be. [00:27:11] Speaker D: Today is the Kalen that has always been here. I didn't need the money to prove. [00:27:16] Speaker C: That I was who I was. Let's go first. Okay. I knew who I was no matter. [00:27:20] Speaker D: What room that I entered into. You know what I mean? [00:27:23] Speaker A: I am the boss. [00:27:25] Speaker D: Yeah. But to return back to your original. [00:27:26] Speaker B: Question, I love the pivot. Go ahead. Make my job. [00:27:29] Speaker D: The sabbatical was done because I was in New York for work, and someone came up to me, and they asked me how I was, and everything that I listed was work related. And then they said, well, how's your personal life? And I had no answer. [00:27:45] Speaker C: Yep. [00:27:45] Speaker D: And I said, oh, my gosh, this thing has taken my entire life. And I said, I need to take some time off to go live, because I was that. The reason why I've done so much in so little time is because I'm always working. I'm always focused. I'm like, nope, I got to accomplish this. I got to do that. I got to do that. But it was a little bit of the thing that we talked about a little bit earlier. You know, as a queer, black, feminine man in this industry, I am always having to prove Myself, I am. It's never enough. And I always have to, like, even the masters, I tell people I went and got my master's in journalism at nyu. I didn't do that because I needed the paper. I did it because every room, everybody underestimates me. And as long as I had the paper, I could be like, well, I got. I did the work. So you can't say that I didn't earn my spot here. You know what I mean? So I think I got into a place of being like, oh, it's never gonna be enough for you. [00:28:36] Speaker C: Well, internally, yeah. [00:28:38] Speaker D: Yeah. I was just like, you know what? I need to take a step back and take care of that child in there that needs to live too, and not just trying to escape or prove that he is worth being able to do this. [00:28:52] Speaker C: That's so interesting, because obviously to us here who have had success in our industry, you have had equal success at a much younger age. So to hear you say you felt like you needed to prove more. Cause to me, it's like, man, Caitlin is out here killing it. [00:29:09] Speaker A: Killing it. [00:29:09] Speaker C: I thought you just did the journalism thing just cause you were bored with how, like, I'm not even being funny. Like, sometimes, yeah, like, man, I wanna just do this to do this. But that reasoning makes more sense to be like, I'm here and you can't tell me no. Especially as black people in this industry, you know, it feels like we are in a very much, what have you done for me lately? No matter how big the thing was, you know, I remember Ryan Coogler. I was just watching this today. He was on the set of the first Black Panther, saying, telling Chadwick, like, I hope they don't fire me. I hope they don't fire me. He was like, yo, stop saying that. Like, you're here. But we. This industry is very. You're done, you're out, you're old, you missed it, you missed your moment. So I feel like we always feel like we gotta. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Is that that built in sort of black ptsd, that we think it can all go away at any moment? [00:29:57] Speaker A: I think so. I think it is. I think because we are black, it is our ptsd. But I think that there are many creators, many entrepreneurs who fear life without or what happens if could this all go away? Right? I think anyone who is birthing anything, you know, I think parents with children, where every time they leave the house, it's like, what could happen when they leave this house? And whether it's the prevailing thought or something, that's Operating in the background that's in communication with your spirit in some sort of way. And I think that we train ourselves, we teach ourselves, we learn from our community and others leaders how to better be in better communication with that or better conversation with that. But I think that we're constantly. Everyone is, is, is dealing with that in some, in some way. [00:30:49] Speaker B: I know you said that you created Houseguests because you were just practicing to take over Jimmy Fallon's job, but was a part of you also thinking that given the volatility of this business, that you need to create something that is just yours? [00:31:02] Speaker A: Correct. [00:31:03] Speaker B: That you own. That is for you? [00:31:04] Speaker A: Yeah, but I, I honestly, I. To be honest with you, I thought, I thought that Houseguests was a precursor. I did not know that that houseguests would become the right. Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so it was definitely created out of the what can we control? What can I produce? My. [00:31:26] Speaker D: If. [00:31:26] Speaker A: If all this other stuff goes away, I still got the house. Cause we paid that mug up to at least six months from now. Cause who know, who know. And hello, listen. Cause who baby. [00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:31:42] Speaker A: And could pull it right back out. Cause you, you know, you never listen. It's an auto debit from the account, but I can take it out the account. You know what I'm saying? So I, and I say that to. [00:31:51] Speaker C: Say, I suppose love to move some money around. [00:31:53] Speaker D: Yeah, you got to. [00:31:53] Speaker C: I got to. If I, if things go bad, I could go here, take me over to the first. Hello. [00:31:59] Speaker A: Cause you got to have a plan. [00:32:00] Speaker C: To be able to move some stuff around. Yeah. [00:32:02] Speaker A: And the way cash is going, you need to have some Twix and some gold bars and some. And some drink tokens too. Hell, I say all that to say yeah, yeah. [00:32:15] Speaker D: What? [00:32:17] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, you know, we, I mean an overall deal first look deal with NBC Universal. And so it comes with, fortunately for me, in an iteration of the deal. It came with some development fund. And so we were developing shows show ideas to sell to market, to sell to networks and got a doc, a sports doc, sold money to shoot elements of it. And literally the head of the network, Susan Rovener, bought the show in an elevator on the way to introduce press to elevator pitch, quite literally. [00:32:58] Speaker C: Wow. I had never heard of actual elevator pitch. I've heard the term, but it's never been in the actual elevator pitch. [00:33:03] Speaker A: Actually, when people talk about an elevator pitch, you need to be able to sell your show, sell your idea, communicate your idea idea in seconds. And in that conversation, she Was like, oh, we need to do that. And I was like, you don't have to. If you like it, you can just say you like it. You don't have to, like, gas me up. Like, I don't, like, automatically quality. And the lesson for me, even in telling you this story right now, is I'm picking up a lesson for me is you. We sell ourselves short while we're selling it. [00:33:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:27] Speaker A: Like, we. We count ourselves out after we've already sold it. I hope they don't fire me. I hope they don't fire me. I hope they don't fire me. [00:33:33] Speaker C: House guests. To me, that was the. I thought you saw the future. So when you asked me to do it, I was like, oh, this is genius. I can. So when it, like, did what I thought, I was like, man, he had it all along. [00:33:48] Speaker A: That's so funny. [00:33:49] Speaker C: But to me, watching it blow up, which felt, like, almost instantaneously, was, like, perfect. Like, Scott got it. He nailed it. But for you, it was not the thing. [00:34:01] Speaker A: No, it was a effort toward the thing. Because, like, for you, I would imagine you talk about getting the master's in journalism. It's like, this is a part of showing you, you cannot deny me. And so when I walk into this room and I say, he's out. Here you go. You're not like, let's take a chance on this guy. Or, you know, our DEI programs. We don't really. No, I'm not a DEI program. I am. This is what it is. And the confusion that somehow the DEI was unqualified. Folks getting opportunities is already the issue. Right. And so I wanted to be able to above any of the. What would be considered a comp? What would be considered a comp? I wanted to be able to say, I already did it. [00:34:52] Speaker D: Your proof of concept. [00:34:54] Speaker A: We did that. Does the audience care? Yeah. And they're ready. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. [00:34:59] Speaker B: Like Kev said, it was like, you went into it. Well, I'll say this. It's like you were thinking you were going into it getting proof of concept, but to your point, it was the concept changing the whole game. [00:35:10] Speaker D: It's the first season, but I also wonder if that's because we come from, like, that traditional kind of way that Hollywood is supposed to be done. And so that's what we're always told, is that, well, we need a proof of concept. You need to prove that there's an audience for this, so there's a way of doing things. And we don't always think of, like, just Creating it. But another thing that I've been trying to do, and I hope that you realize this as well is like a word for me, this year is enough of being enough. Because it's like you're talking about like you were practicing for Jimmy. But, sweetheart, you had VP Kamala Harris on the show and you booked that yourself. You've done it in your backyard. In your backyard. You ain't got nothing else to prove. You don't need Jimmy. You are Jimmy. Damn. [00:35:54] Speaker B: Jimmy catching. [00:35:55] Speaker A: You the better. Jimmy. [00:35:55] Speaker B: Jimmy catching. [00:35:57] Speaker C: We ain't gonna say which Jimmy it is. Oh, I'm sorry. Jimmy could be Jimmy Early. You don't know. [00:36:01] Speaker D: Judy probably ain't watching this anyway, but yes, you are. You have already done it. You know what I mean? And I think what was inspiring for me, watching and being asked to be on Houseguests, like, even if you look at the Houseguests catalog, I'm probably the least famous person in that. But the fact that you called and asked me to do it meant the world to me. Because it is a race of always feeling like you gotta be more popular or people only gonna call the people that they think gonna get the views, but not necess, you know? And it inspired me to be like, oh, you don't have to rely on a network. You don't have to rely on somebody giving you the yes, you can find people. I mean, I don't know what the team is like now, but when we was there, it was four people there. Yeah. It was like an assistant, a pa. [00:36:50] Speaker A: We got another camera. But yeah, yeah. [00:36:52] Speaker D: And so I was like, but look at the quality of this. [00:36:55] Speaker B: No one would ever know watching. [00:36:57] Speaker D: Exactly. Impact. [00:36:59] Speaker B: That makes the difference, makes it good. But you, since you were talking about, you know, hey, having this organic thing that. That's just yours, that winds up becoming something bigger, you know, Kev, the one thing I think that anybody can say about you is that I have never seen somebody bet on theyself so hard. [00:37:15] Speaker C: Absolutely hard. [00:37:17] Speaker B: Like most of us, a mogul, right. Are trying to acquire that skill because we all go through self doubt. But when I think about how you were able to. To put Churchy into existence, I mean, you self finance this, it winds up. Of course, now we can all see it on bet. Just. Why don't you just speak to that process? Because that had to be scary as hell. You putting your chips to the table. [00:37:42] Speaker C: Putting your own money in my own money. I'm going to tell you what it felt like. It felt like I was betting my life savings. Although it wasn't actually, but it felt like I was betting my life savings and like my family's well being. And to be honest, there was no return for a long time. Like, people, a lot of people don't know Churchill was on my app, my streaming service. Rest in Peace, Kevin Stage Studios. [00:38:07] Speaker A: Coming back. [00:38:08] Speaker C: You did good. [00:38:08] Speaker A: Coming back in a new way ain't. [00:38:09] Speaker C: Coming back in a new way. No, no. Okay. Get rid of the studio, they rip, then it's gone. [00:38:15] Speaker D: Well, damn. There's a lesson in that. [00:38:18] Speaker C: There's a lesson. But I was like. Like I couldn't live with regret. I could live with not making, but I couldn't live with, like, not trying. So I saved a lot of brand deals, a lot of commercial money. Shout out to Spectrum Internet man. Hello, boy, I sat up on them. [00:38:31] Speaker B: People'S things, you know, I've been waiting on my car. Like, one day he gonna get to me. I'm gonna get in the Spectrum. [00:38:35] Speaker A: Can I tell you as an extra? [00:38:38] Speaker B: Can I just be waving in the background, right? [00:38:40] Speaker D: You the customer. [00:38:41] Speaker A: Can I tell you something? I ain't never said this out loud to nobody. I got Spectrum cause of you. [00:38:46] Speaker C: Did you really? [00:38:47] Speaker A: I'm not even playing. [00:38:48] Speaker D: Did you get commission? [00:38:49] Speaker A: Listen, I got AT&T everything. But my Internet is Spectrum. Cause I said, you know, let me break this off real quick and let me just see, Let me just see. [00:38:59] Speaker C: Contract renegotiation. [00:39:01] Speaker A: For real. [00:39:02] Speaker C: I'll show you the bill. [00:39:03] Speaker D: You need an affiliate link. [00:39:04] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:39:05] Speaker A: And I'll cancel it right now and redo it. [00:39:08] Speaker D: Well, well. [00:39:10] Speaker C: But to answer you, I feel like. So it's interesting. Cause Kalen was like, he came in through traditional media, like from college here. I know, I was joking. But you really did come through traditional things. And you as well. And you as well. Honestly, I think what I would say shaped me is I was in Washington living, working at the bank and working at Boeing. And it was not viable for me to come to LA and audition or do really anything. So what was viable to me was the Internet. Like, I saw people building their content on YouTube. I was watching Dormtainment and Spoken Reasons and Issa Rae and all these people. And it was like, okay. Not only are some people making it like, you know, Tim Chandarongsu is like, I'm a YouTuber now. So I'm like, okay, I can build to that. Because honestly, to what you were saying. And you saying, if you build your audience funny enough. I did all the Internet stuff just to build my audience enough to where I could do Plays. That was my original goal. I was trying to be like Tyler Perry and David E. Tower and Harriet Johnson. And I was like, I need to get fans all over the United States because it's not sustainable to do plays in Tacoma. There's not enough black people to put a play up for three weeks, which is how long you gotta do it to make some money, or three or four thousand seats. And I couldn't do either in Seattle. And we didn't have enough money to even go to Portland, much less Oakland. So I was like, if I build an Internet presence, I could do that. And then kind of like Houseguests, the Internet became the thing. Like, well, maybe I'm tripping. It was supposed to be a means to an end. It might be the thing that might be the end. But with Churchy, I was pitching it. I pitched that show everywhere to every network. I got told no by everyone. I am talking about I don't mind no, but it's really hard to hear. The no that I hated specifically is like, we don't know how this is gonna do in middle America, because we all know this is coded language for, like, will white people like it? Like, black people? Detroit is Middle America. St. Louis is Middle America, literally. Kansas City is middle America. There's black people everywhere. You're from Kansas City all up and through. The middle part of America is black people. So they're really saying, will this group of people like it? And if not, then we're not gonna make it. So part of making Churchy was to prove there's enough people who like that, even though it's very specific. Like, black church is very specific to black people. And then black church people. But having that work and get picked up was like, we can't. I don't. I wanna say. Told y'. All. Yeah, everybody knows what word goes there. [00:41:31] Speaker A: It starts with a N. It starts with the N.ACP. [00:41:35] Speaker C: Yeah. What is wrong with you? [00:41:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Okay. [00:41:39] Speaker C: But I felt like that, and then I repeated that, and then it's become like. I kind of felt like, okay, I think you have the formula versus I need to make this. I need to make myself big enough to be able to take it to this network. Like, I'm giving it directly to the people who want to have it. That's what I. That's the goal. [00:41:56] Speaker A: When we started Houseguests and Recognized, and I'll say this, when we got Houseguests in the can ready to edit, we agreed that we had something special. Before we even put it out, we knew we had Something special. The way that we felt when you left, I knew we had something special to the point where I was sending Kev screenshots of. I want you to know this is what our color grade is gonna look like. These are what your shots were. He was like, oh, I know you. I know you invested in this because you are like me. You want to show the proof of like, we not just doing this for nothing. And we agreed that what instead of chasing, we were at that point going to stop the idea of this is going to be something we're going to take back and re pitch to networks because we had done that and we were going to try to done the whole, like the traditional route of you develop something, your pitch materials, you go in for a meeting. For people who don't know, you go in for a meeting and then they decide, maybe we can put this here. We're really excited about working with you, but maybe this isn't that whole deal. Right? The worst kind of feedback. And so what we decided was we're going to do the gra. We're going to subscribe to the Gravity strategy. We're going to make what we're doing so undeniably relevant, relatable, hilarious, heartwarming, that people come to us wanting to figure out how they can fit, how they can add, what they can do, how they can partner, how they can further the work that we're doing. You know, I have this thing that I'm saying to myself, literally, as you talk about a kind of a mantra, an idea of interrupting the doubt, the personal or the self talk, people are tripping themselves over. People are tripping themselves trying to get to me, to show me new ways of doing what it is. I mean, to accomplish. People are using their resource, their knowledge, their intellect and their influence to further the dreams that we have created and the dreams of people who are connected to what we're creating. [00:44:06] Speaker C: Because when I went there, Scott was making burgers. [00:44:08] Speaker B: Yes. [00:44:08] Speaker C: The first time. Now last time, Red Bull. Hold on, we have to say Red Bull. [00:44:11] Speaker D: I said, oh, right. Oh, now we got the partnership or article or something. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Our house. Our house. [00:44:18] Speaker C: That's the furniture people, ain't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:44:20] Speaker A: And, and, and, and some, in some ways, some of that was like a long shot. You send an email, you're like, ah, let's see what happens. And then sometimes you hear a response from them. And then in literally as you're sending it, I'm saying, and I hope this is something that some people can subscribe to as you're sending it out. I'm saying people are tripping themselves, tripping over themselves, trying to find new ways to get done what it is we mean to get done. [00:44:42] Speaker B: See, I thought this was about to be a rising tide, lifts all boats situation. [00:44:45] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Boy, he can't get that thing right for. [00:44:48] Speaker B: Okay, now, you see, I just said. [00:44:50] Speaker C: She just said it, Scott. She said it right? [00:44:56] Speaker A: Rising boat, rising. No, no, no. The rising tides. Boats. No rides. [00:45:04] Speaker C: Just get in there. All mixed match. [00:45:06] Speaker A: It all sounds too similar. [00:45:09] Speaker C: Is the word. Similar. [00:45:11] Speaker A: Similar, similar, similar. You got the. You had the three degrees. [00:45:16] Speaker B: It's a rising tide. [00:45:18] Speaker A: I left early. [00:45:19] Speaker B: All boats. [00:45:20] Speaker A: That's it. I'm gonna write it down. [00:45:22] Speaker B: You gonna write it down? [00:45:23] Speaker C: Put in a tattoo. Tattoo it so you can. Crazy. You know what's crazy? Real quick. [00:45:27] Speaker A: You know what's crazy? I got it. [00:45:29] Speaker B: No, you don't. [00:45:30] Speaker C: He gotta. [00:45:31] Speaker A: He got a wave, a water tattoo. [00:45:34] Speaker C: Put a boat on the top of there and put a tie point up so you'll know how that thing goes. [00:45:39] Speaker B: I understand. I can't spell the word conscience to save my life. It's. [00:45:43] Speaker C: Oh, my God. [00:45:44] Speaker B: I have to say conscience. [00:45:45] Speaker C: So do I. I do. Conscience. Professor. [00:45:47] Speaker D: Oh, you can. [00:45:48] Speaker C: Professor. Been messing me up. [00:45:50] Speaker D: Spell it right now. [00:45:51] Speaker C: No, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. [00:45:52] Speaker A: It's back in your shima. It's back in your shama. [00:45:53] Speaker D: Spell it. [00:45:54] Speaker C: Is it two Fs or two Ss? Both. [00:45:57] Speaker D: Help us, Lord. [00:45:58] Speaker C: Initiate both of them. Definitely. [00:46:00] Speaker B: You can't spell definitely two I's? [00:46:02] Speaker C: I don't know. [00:46:03] Speaker A: He goes for show instead. [00:46:06] Speaker C: For show for show. Effects versus effects. I just say impact. [00:46:10] Speaker B: It's all right. [00:46:12] Speaker C: Impact. Go for either one. [00:46:13] Speaker A: Fair. [00:46:13] Speaker C: Impact. Go for either one. [00:46:15] Speaker D: That's fair. [00:46:16] Speaker A: That's fair. [00:46:17] Speaker C: Impact works either way. [00:46:19] Speaker D: That's fair. [00:46:19] Speaker C: I don't gotta be wrong or right. [00:46:22] Speaker B: You know, Make Scott. [00:46:23] Speaker C: I like that. Scott's gone. [00:46:25] Speaker A: Scott. [00:46:25] Speaker B: And we done lost Scott. [00:46:26] Speaker D: I like that. That's good. [00:46:31] Speaker C: Impact work either way. [00:46:32] Speaker A: Impact. [00:46:34] Speaker D: Impact. [00:46:34] Speaker C: Impact. Gonna go in there and be right. [00:46:36] Speaker D: Either way, listen. [00:46:39] Speaker B: Their struggle, it got us all. Listen. It got a lot of people out there in a chokehold. It's okay. Let me ask you this. You know, there's a lot of people, obviously, that watch you and want to be you and want to emulate you, your success. Roland Martin once said to me, you want to do what I do, but do you want to do what I did? Right? And so hopefully I got that right. And it wasn't a Rising task situation. But anyway. But nevertheless, people watch you and they see your careers and they want to emulate your success. If you are someone watching you all right now, and you are starting from zero, where you guys have all been starting from scratch, what would be some pieces of advice or some things that they should know if they want to get into this game of entertainment content creation and building a digital empire? [00:47:29] Speaker D: Delusion, man. Delusion. You have to be delusional. You have to dream the impossible. You and you cannot depend on other people to validate those dreams. You have to believe in the unthinkable and fully believe it in your heart and your spirit. And you also have to realize this is a 24. 7 job. There is no 9 to 5. There is no balance. You have to work your tail off, and you have to be willing. I always tell people, you have to be willing to give everything in order to get anything. And I think that's what people don't understand. People don't understand what that sacrifice looks like and what that compromise looks like and what that means to actually give everything that you have because you believe. Like I told somebody the other day, I said, I don't have dreams. I have missions. [00:48:24] Speaker C: Ooh. [00:48:25] Speaker D: Ooh. You know what I mean? [00:48:26] Speaker C: It's okay to put them gloves on and went to work. You hear me tell y' all today? Let me tell you, you know. Cause it goes here. [00:48:33] Speaker D: Oh, this is a body suit, sweetheart. [00:48:35] Speaker C: Oh, the gloves is in the clothes. [00:48:36] Speaker D: Yes. This is a whole thing. [00:48:39] Speaker C: How you put the hands in. [00:48:40] Speaker D: It's a whole. Well, I mean, I slipped it over my head and then put the hands in. [00:48:43] Speaker C: The hands go with the arm. [00:48:45] Speaker A: We gonna do a class after. [00:48:46] Speaker D: Yes. [00:48:47] Speaker C: How you gonna go to the bathroom? You gotta take the whole thing off. [00:48:49] Speaker D: No, you just lift it up. [00:48:51] Speaker C: Oh, it's a shirt. [00:48:51] Speaker A: Okay. [00:48:52] Speaker D: It's a shirt. But yes. [00:48:53] Speaker C: Yes. Sorry. I'm sorry. [00:48:55] Speaker D: That's the type of. [00:48:55] Speaker C: I thought it was y' all are bodysuit. I thought it could have been a romper. [00:49:00] Speaker D: They do make those, but it does. It takes a different level of dedication. Like right now, I am actually creating my own consulting and coaching firm because of that. Because I have watched so many people get into this business, and not. People don't teach artists how to be entrepreneurs. [00:49:19] Speaker C: No. And that's why the business people get to take advantage of the artists. [00:49:22] Speaker D: Exactly. And I said, I am tired of watching people be taken advantage of and lose when they have so much talent. And talent is not enough in this business. It's not enough. And it's. [00:49:33] Speaker A: It's interesting because you say, especially with, like, the idea of the coaching and consulting firm, because you're a creator doesn't mean that you're an owner. And so you need to be able to own what it is you're creating. And so because you put it out, you know, because especially online, you put it out, and now someone else who's a little bit more popping statistically takes that idea or that. That. That mood, that voice, that tone, they'll. [00:49:57] Speaker B: Develop it with them in a minute and. And leave you out of it. [00:50:00] Speaker A: And leave you out of it. [00:50:00] Speaker D: That's why my name is on every show. Even when I was at Ellen, when we were coming up with names for my digital show, I said, I want my name in it, because then you can never replace me, omklyn, because that's my name. You can't put just anybody. It would be the same. [00:50:15] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. I would say what works for me is being addicted to the work, not the results. I think a lot of times people just want the views, the whatever. When you're addicted to the work, you do the work every day, two or three times a day, and you're not. Like, one video does great. You don't stop and relish in that. And one video flops, you don't stop. If my goal, when I worked at Boeing, I said, I'm gonna do three videos a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And then eventually I was like, that's not enough. I need to do one every single day. And I basically have done that for the last, I don't know, 20, 26, 13 years, at least. A video a day. And it's very helpful because I can have a video go crazy and be everywhere. And the next day I gotta figure out something else to say. And today I could throw up three stinkers. All right, well, tomorrow I still gotta do something. And I think that will keep you, because this industry's gonna beat you up, kick you down. You also gonna be the man. Everybody loves you. Then you cool off a little bit, and then people aren't calling as much. But if you're doing it every single day, the work, regardless, then it'll keep you going. Cause otherwise it is a very. I mean, Ben Affleck once said he was like, I don't have three bad movies in a row now. I'm not getting invited to no parties now. Nobody. I had to switch to directing for a while just to get work. And then he's been in the industry for a long time and had I think he had an Oscar for Good Will Hunting. This is after that. He couldn't get nothing. [00:51:36] Speaker A: So with J. Lo twice. [00:51:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:38] Speaker D: Well, now, why did you bring that up? [00:51:40] Speaker A: Cause I'm just saying, like, he done a lot. No, think about it. [00:51:45] Speaker B: He spun the block. [00:51:46] Speaker D: Okay. [00:51:47] Speaker A: No, think about it. Okay. [00:51:48] Speaker D: Next time you on the carpet, she's gonna bring this up. [00:51:50] Speaker A: No, she know it's all love. That's love. You with J. Lo two times. That's an accomplishment. Like you. [00:51:57] Speaker C: We. [00:51:57] Speaker B: That's like double the infinity Stone. [00:51:59] Speaker C: You know what I'm saying? [00:52:00] Speaker A: That's like. You got two gloves. [00:52:01] Speaker B: You got two gloves. [00:52:02] Speaker A: That's a bodysuit with hands in it. [00:52:04] Speaker B: Right? With hands in it. [00:52:05] Speaker A: See how that's called a callback? [00:52:07] Speaker B: Bring it on back. [00:52:07] Speaker A: It's a callback. [00:52:09] Speaker C: I knew this would be fun. When I saw the callback, I said. [00:52:12] Speaker B: All this is probably exceeded what I even thought would happen in my mind, may I add. Yes, go ahead, Scott. [00:52:17] Speaker A: Because I think it kind of plays into what they have said, but it's like a. Like a. I've Say. I say it to my. My little sister all the time. You want the role without the responsibility, man. And so it's like, you gotta. You're very clear on what the role is and what happens for that person who has the role. You're super clear on. On. On the makeup and the look and all of that, but the responsibility to that you aren't as clear on. [00:52:45] Speaker C: Let me. Can I jump in and say this? People want to be a boss. They want to write the check and all that type of stuff. And I agree. People want to be like, oh, I'm the boss. You know what the boss was for me a lot of times? The weight of making sure these people have a salary during the pandemic, I got to figure out how to make people sure are paid. [00:53:02] Speaker B: Kev, we can have a whole nother episode. [00:53:04] Speaker C: Okay? [00:53:05] Speaker D: I'm like, we could talk all the time. [00:53:06] Speaker C: The boss is. [00:53:06] Speaker D: People don't understand. [00:53:07] Speaker C: Yeah. I have a studio, a soundstage, and sometimes we have an event, and the person who I hired to lock up can't figure out the alarm. So now I gotta wake up out of my bed, drive 30 minutes at 12:30, and lock the door. There ain't no Instagram post to be like, we locking doors, y'. All. Midnight. Like, there ain't no fun in that. [00:53:25] Speaker A: Quinta Brunson. [00:53:26] Speaker C: The toilet's messed up. You gotta pay for that. The audio engineer made a mistake on this show that you gotta deliver. You're about to be over, and you gotta come out of your pocket to make it right. That ain't private jet. I don't got private jet. [00:53:39] Speaker A: I just. [00:53:39] Speaker C: Delta first class. All I got. I'm out there with y'. All. [00:53:42] Speaker A: That's good. [00:53:42] Speaker C: That's real good. [00:53:43] Speaker A: Delta 1. [00:53:43] Speaker C: Yeah, Delta 1. [00:53:45] Speaker B: I'm Delta 3C. Don't look me in the eye. [00:53:46] Speaker C: I'm 360 too. Oh, I can look you in the eye. [00:53:48] Speaker B: Come on now. [00:53:49] Speaker C: I look you right there and I just got my. I just got my email. [00:53:54] Speaker A: Okay. [00:53:54] Speaker C: All right. I'm trying to be like y'. [00:53:56] Speaker D: All. [00:53:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I gotta. That's a goal, though, you know, 2020. [00:53:59] Speaker C: Gotta be admission, still working. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Gotta be a mission, a rise and tide. Look at. [00:54:04] Speaker A: Hello. [00:54:05] Speaker C: We can go with you. [00:54:06] Speaker A: That's. That mean? [00:54:06] Speaker C: No, it's just for me, really, dad. It's a personal thing. [00:54:09] Speaker A: But, I mean, it's interesting, right? Because you're talking about, like, no one sees that part. [00:54:16] Speaker C: You know what I mean? [00:54:17] Speaker A: And the thirst for delivering and. Or the thirst for being the star is what supersedes most. I was having this conversation with Quinta Brunson. I was inviting her to be on Houseguests, and she was like, oh, my God, I love what you're doing. Had just had Janelle James on who Will Be Our next Episode. And she was saying, I have to be. So I don't want you to take what I'm going to say as a. As a. Or the. The potential of the delay as a. Any. A disinterest. But I have to be so protective of what we're creating at Abbott, because one interview where someone or someone takes it wrong in one way, it's spun in some strange commentary about some other group of people or whatever people are mad about. It could potentially jeopardize what it is we are working day in and day out to create for so many people. Yeah. And so she was like, I love you and. And respect what you're creating. I don't know that I'm in the place right now where I can wrap my mind around releasing the control. You know what I mean? [00:55:25] Speaker C: Because you got a way about letting people say stuff they didn't plan on saying. When you go on Housegate, you forget the cameras are there. [00:55:31] Speaker A: I'm sure. [00:55:32] Speaker C: And then he gets you to drink it. [00:55:33] Speaker B: I was like, and now you loose. [00:55:35] Speaker C: Then he gets you to drink loose. Ships sink ships. That's another boat. We get you with the boat stuff. There's a lot of boat stuff. [00:55:41] Speaker B: It is it is a lot of boat. [00:55:42] Speaker A: Anything that's inherent to us, I think. [00:55:44] Speaker C: You don't know about. [00:55:47] Speaker A: Do you think that's, like. No. Do you think that that's like, is it. Is that. [00:55:50] Speaker C: Everybody knows these. These are like spirit. These are. Everybody knows these. These are the most basic colloquials. [00:55:55] Speaker A: Like, I don't. I'm the only one in blue. I'm nautical. [00:55:57] Speaker C: I like. [00:55:58] Speaker A: I like. [00:55:59] Speaker D: I like. I'm nautical. [00:56:00] Speaker A: I like the ocean. I can't get this right. I'm gonna write it. [00:56:04] Speaker B: We gonna get you there one day. [00:56:05] Speaker D: Sky hell. [00:56:07] Speaker B: All right. Before we have to end this amazing conversation. [00:56:10] Speaker A: We ain't got to end it. We good. [00:56:11] Speaker B: We listen. [00:56:13] Speaker A: I'm just playing. [00:56:14] Speaker B: See, I can tell you in charge of your own show. You're like, what? We good? Like, okay, now, bills to pay around here. [00:56:21] Speaker A: I said cut to commercial. [00:56:24] Speaker C: Get Jamel on Houseguests, man. [00:56:26] Speaker A: We working on it. Yes. [00:56:28] Speaker C: Jamel a good guest. [00:56:29] Speaker B: First of all, the answer is always yes. Okay. You said food. I listen. I will show up and be an extra just so I can get a lamb chop. Cause, like, I'm a good lamb. [00:56:39] Speaker C: Jamel really do be pulling up on the strip. [00:56:40] Speaker B: I will pull up. [00:56:41] Speaker C: She will pull up. [00:56:43] Speaker A: Done. [00:56:43] Speaker B: Listen, Absolutely. Okay. We'll talk after the show. But before I let you guys go naturally, we have to play a game with you all. You have such amazing personalities, and you all know having your own shows that this is where the controversy happens. When you stop playing the game. [00:56:57] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:56:58] Speaker B: Asking people to make tough choices. [00:56:59] Speaker C: Yes. [00:57:00] Speaker B: So the game is simply called this or that. Let me give you two choices. Pick one. Ain't no third. Ain't no negotiating. Don't be like, I need context. And what about. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Two choices. [00:57:10] Speaker C: A or B. [00:57:11] Speaker B: Okay. [00:57:11] Speaker A: Looking at you, Kev. Right? [00:57:13] Speaker B: Cause I feel like, what are y' all doing? [00:57:14] Speaker C: When you said that, I was like, no, ain't no. [00:57:15] Speaker B: What about. [00:57:16] Speaker C: You're gonna say, what about Kevin? I love a clarification. All right. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Read receipts. On or off? [00:57:26] Speaker A: Easy. [00:57:26] Speaker C: I wish I could turn. I will never want you to know. I seen that. [00:57:29] Speaker B: You know what I'm saying? [00:57:30] Speaker C: Leave me al. On email, on phone, on Instagram, dm. [00:57:34] Speaker A: I wish I could turn yours off. That's. [00:57:36] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. [00:57:38] Speaker A: I'm just saying I wish. Listen, is it wrong? [00:57:41] Speaker C: No. [00:57:41] Speaker D: And then two months later, I'm gonna say, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry I missed it. [00:57:44] Speaker C: I missed 1,000%. [00:57:45] Speaker B: Right. I don't need you to know. [00:57:46] Speaker A: But I will say that the New iPhone. This messed me up real bad this year. [00:57:50] Speaker C: Why? [00:57:51] Speaker A: Cause the new iPhone. First of all, Apple, it's messed up. What they doing it lookin like they targeting us. [00:57:58] Speaker B: They targeted. [00:57:59] Speaker A: They split up the inbox for the text. I had a whole group of people I didn't know and it created a whole separate group. [00:58:08] Speaker C: Are you talking about Instagram or your. [00:58:09] Speaker A: Actual text on actual. On the phone. [00:58:11] Speaker B: On the phone. [00:58:12] Speaker D: What you mean like in your favorites? [00:58:13] Speaker C: I ain't got no text. [00:58:14] Speaker A: No, like on imessage. [00:58:16] Speaker D: Really? [00:58:17] Speaker A: It split up the box so people were texting me and I didn't see it for weeks. Okay, texting, texting, texting, texting. And I went to say happy New Year and I done missed seven. What is your address? [00:58:29] Speaker B: Well, shoot, now I'm on the way. I'm outside. [00:58:33] Speaker C: I'm getting arrested because of you. [00:58:34] Speaker D: Wait, where did the text go? [00:58:36] Speaker A: It went to a separate inbox to a point where I had to send people flowers. [00:58:40] Speaker C: I'd be like, what you're talking about? [00:58:42] Speaker B: I guess. So I'm paranoid now. I got the text. [00:58:45] Speaker C: I got. [00:58:45] Speaker A: I'm gonna show it to you on your phone. [00:58:46] Speaker C: Okay. I'm gonna see if they took our phone afterwards. We can look at it. [00:58:49] Speaker D: Show me this. [00:58:50] Speaker A: I'm gonna hurt my feelings. Have to take you to the genius bar. [00:58:54] Speaker B: Onion powder or garlic powder? [00:58:57] Speaker D: Both. [00:58:57] Speaker C: Okay, see, now that is onion powder. Now that is crazy. Jamel. Wait, wait. [00:59:02] Speaker A: Onion powder stay or onion powder go. [00:59:04] Speaker B: Which one is better? Onion powder. Garlic powder. [00:59:06] Speaker C: Onion powder and garlic powder go together. [00:59:08] Speaker A: That's PB and J. I'm gonna say garlic powder. Cause you can always throw a little bit of onions in there. Garlic. You gotta do a lot more stuff, huh? [00:59:15] Speaker D: You could throw garlic in there too. [00:59:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, yeah, you can. You can. Cause you're a chef. I'm talking about me. Like I'm not. [00:59:21] Speaker D: You rather just use the powder for onions. Yeah. That's why you didn't want that. When you went to get the guacs, you said you was gonna put in the garlic powder and the onion powder. Cause you didn't eat the onions. [00:59:31] Speaker C: I knew he didn't let it go. I knew when he heard it, he said he gonna bring it back. [00:59:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause as you saw his eye, he. [00:59:36] Speaker C: Looked at the way he looked. [00:59:37] Speaker A: He went down in the back pocket. He went down with a drop of the frame of the glass. He was like, I know this one. [00:59:42] Speaker D: Yeah, that's it. That's the correlation. [00:59:44] Speaker C: I'm gonna go onion powder. [00:59:45] Speaker B: You gonna go onion powder? [00:59:46] Speaker C: I'm keeping that onion powder better. [00:59:48] Speaker B: Sequel. Sister Act 2 or Bad Boys 2? [00:59:50] Speaker D: Sister Act. [00:59:51] Speaker C: Sister Act 2. Oh, not even close. I don't care what you say. Joy. [00:59:53] Speaker D: Joyful, Joyful. [00:59:55] Speaker C: Yes. [00:59:56] Speaker A: That's the one with Lauryn Hill, right? [00:59:58] Speaker B: What you say? [00:59:58] Speaker A: That's the one with Lauryn Hill, right? [00:59:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:59:59] Speaker A: That's the one with them bad Boys two, right? [01:00:01] Speaker C: No. [01:00:01] Speaker A: Okay, there you go. [01:00:02] Speaker C: I think Gabrielle Union was in Bad Boys too, though. [01:00:03] Speaker B: She was. [01:00:04] Speaker C: But that opening scene with Gabrielle Union was amazing. But she didn't do this. [01:00:09] Speaker B: She went like, come to our tourists. [01:00:12] Speaker C: They didn't turn. Yeah. They had no competition. [01:00:15] Speaker B: Right, right, right. Shirley rocking his eyes on the sparrow. [01:00:18] Speaker C: Right. [01:00:18] Speaker A: None of that. [01:00:19] Speaker B: Okay, staying on the topic of movies, life, or Harlem Night. [01:00:24] Speaker A: Why would you do this? [01:00:25] Speaker D: I give it a Harlem night. [01:00:27] Speaker B: Want to punish you, clearly. [01:00:29] Speaker C: That's tough. [01:00:30] Speaker A: Your toe. I don't know. [01:00:32] Speaker C: Ah, man, that's tough. [01:00:33] Speaker D: But I'm gonna go live. [01:00:34] Speaker B: He didn't answer. He just was like, how much life. [01:00:39] Speaker C: That's the part I say. That's how I say that. I don't know why you say that, man. They ain't got no recipe for that, man. Martin be like, how much? How much you can read so good? Why you ain't read that sign? So about three miles down the road. Three miles. [01:00:54] Speaker B: Three miles. [01:00:55] Speaker A: Okay. [01:00:55] Speaker D: About three miles. [01:00:56] Speaker C: Love. [01:00:57] Speaker A: 22 minutes. 3:30. Okay. [01:00:59] Speaker B: I don't know how, but life remains a little underrated to me. In his movie collection of Eddie Murphy movies, it should be probably mentioned more. [01:01:06] Speaker C: It is perfect. [01:01:07] Speaker B: Yes. Though maybe my second favorite. [01:01:09] Speaker C: I didn't know that was Rick James. [01:01:11] Speaker B: Oh, you didn't? Oh, that was the gangster. Yeah, you really. [01:01:13] Speaker D: I've never seen, like. [01:01:18] Speaker C: Cause he born in 1996. [01:01:20] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:01:20] Speaker C: You was probably, what, five when he came out. [01:01:22] Speaker D: Michelle Williams also has never seen Life. I think she just. [01:01:25] Speaker B: I love how he threw somebody else in it. He was like, I ain't the only one. [01:01:31] Speaker C: Michelle Williams. [01:01:33] Speaker B: Sorry, my intro. [01:01:34] Speaker A: Are you talking about the white Michelle Williams or the black Michelle Williams? [01:01:37] Speaker D: No, I'm talking about Destiny's Child. Michelle. [01:01:39] Speaker A: She's seen it by now. [01:01:40] Speaker D: Yeah, she's seen it now. She saw it for the first time, I think, over Thanksgiving. [01:01:43] Speaker A: And so where was you at? [01:01:44] Speaker D: I said, oh, I'm gonna put it on my list. I'm gonna watch. [01:01:48] Speaker B: Needs to be on. [01:01:49] Speaker C: Watch it tonight, Kayla. And I'm gonna touch you tomorrow. [01:01:51] Speaker B: That's right. [01:01:52] Speaker A: And you better tell us two lines from the movie that you never forget. [01:01:56] Speaker C: Homework. [01:01:56] Speaker D: I got you. [01:01:57] Speaker C: But I have seen Harlem Nights. [01:01:58] Speaker D: I Have seen Harlem Knights. [01:01:59] Speaker C: Okay. [01:02:00] Speaker B: That's why you quickly answered Harlem Nights. [01:02:02] Speaker C: He was like. Harlem Knights. [01:02:02] Speaker B: Was like. [01:02:03] Speaker D: Yeah. I didn't feel like I should admit that here. [01:02:05] Speaker C: You should have. Not on the. [01:02:06] Speaker D: But I went ahead. I'm in my honest era. [01:02:09] Speaker C: For you, it's just the aacp. Until you see life. Until you see life. You don't say that in. [01:02:14] Speaker B: He can't have the N. You can't. [01:02:15] Speaker C: Have an N. No N. No naacp. [01:02:17] Speaker B: The aacp. [01:02:18] Speaker D: All right. [01:02:18] Speaker C: No way. [01:02:19] Speaker D: They noted. [01:02:19] Speaker C: No. The N is for national. Yes. Okay. You can keep the National Association. You take the cp. You can't do the colored people box. Fun fact. [01:02:26] Speaker D: I used to be the president of my NAACP Youth Council. [01:02:30] Speaker C: I bet you did. [01:02:31] Speaker D: I went to the convention every year. [01:02:33] Speaker B: What was your. When you was 14 then? [01:02:35] Speaker D: I was 12. [01:02:36] Speaker C: He was 12. [01:02:36] Speaker B: I was 12. [01:02:37] Speaker D: I was 12 when I was the president. [01:02:39] Speaker C: They weren't messing around with. No, I was not playing with them, child. [01:02:42] Speaker A: You was the president of what at. [01:02:43] Speaker D: 12 of the end of a. They told me. I have to say naacp. [01:02:47] Speaker B: It's naacp. [01:02:48] Speaker D: Yes. I was president of the NAACP Youth Council in Johnson county in Kansas City. [01:02:53] Speaker B: Wow. [01:02:55] Speaker C: That's around your whole life. [01:02:56] Speaker D: I did axo, which a lot of people don't know about. Axo. [01:03:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:00] Speaker D: Them are some of the most talented kids I have ever met in my life. [01:03:04] Speaker B: Okay. Overachieving. All right. And finally. [01:03:06] Speaker A: Cause I still ain't seen life. [01:03:07] Speaker B: I still wanna choose ultimate. Cause I wanna choose ultimate violence. [01:03:11] Speaker C: Okay. Sugar on grits Sugar on grits and you can't whoop me Sugar on grits and you can't whoop me. [01:03:18] Speaker A: I got a belt, though. [01:03:19] Speaker B: You right. [01:03:19] Speaker C: Sugar on grits, you right. Sugar on grits. Less than stripping grits. [01:03:24] Speaker A: You see how you gotta keep saying it? [01:03:25] Speaker C: I do. [01:03:26] Speaker B: Cause who you trying to convince? [01:03:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Himself. [01:03:28] Speaker C: I just want people to accept me as I am. [01:03:31] Speaker A: Well, we wanna bring you up, we wanna bring you out we wanna bring you out of that bondage. [01:03:37] Speaker D: Uh. [01:03:37] Speaker A: Oh. [01:03:37] Speaker B: Why do I. What you about to say? [01:03:38] Speaker D: I don't like grits. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Oh, God. [01:03:40] Speaker C: Cut it off, man. [01:03:41] Speaker D: I don't like grits. [01:03:42] Speaker C: Get out of all the grits tonight and watch life. [01:03:46] Speaker A: And love it. [01:03:47] Speaker C: And you like both of them things and you have the time of your life. Grits for dinner for you tonight? Yeah. [01:03:52] Speaker D: I never wanted. [01:03:52] Speaker C: Is it a texture thing? [01:03:53] Speaker D: Yes, the texture. [01:03:54] Speaker C: People who don't like it's always the texture. [01:03:56] Speaker A: See, I like it with cheese and I like salt and pepper because that you are. [01:04:01] Speaker B: You understand what a grid is? That communism is bad. This one I don't know. [01:04:04] Speaker A: Because what I'm saying is, if you want sugar in the grits, why don't you get cream? [01:04:08] Speaker C: That's what I say. That's a creamy weed. That's what they always say. Because I don't like cream. [01:04:13] Speaker A: Turns out you do. Like, you love cream. [01:04:15] Speaker C: Actually hate cream. [01:04:16] Speaker B: You must. Because you put sugar in your grits. [01:04:17] Speaker A: But you make cream of weed always in the microwave. [01:04:19] Speaker C: No. My aunt had an adult daycare, and she fed old people Cream of Wheat. And their mouth was open and the cream of Wheat was open. [01:04:25] Speaker A: Oh, so it's a core memory thing. [01:04:27] Speaker C: Got a dark ass with me. [01:04:29] Speaker A: Okay, I get it. [01:04:30] Speaker C: And people was like. I was like, they don't want that, Auntie. They don't like it. It's not going in. [01:04:35] Speaker B: You know what? See, Kev? [01:04:36] Speaker C: It's not going in their mouth. [01:04:37] Speaker A: Cause they don't. [01:04:38] Speaker C: Give it to them. Give them something else. [01:04:41] Speaker D: Well, they could. [01:04:42] Speaker A: They couldn't eat the buffalo wing tips. [01:04:44] Speaker C: I'm saying try something else. It's not going in. It's not going in. They don't want it. [01:04:52] Speaker B: This is unhinged. [01:04:54] Speaker C: This is unhing. [01:04:54] Speaker A: They are never gonna let us be in a room together. [01:04:57] Speaker D: I like a little oatmeal. [01:04:59] Speaker C: I like oatmeal. [01:05:00] Speaker B: Okay. I want to thank you guys so much for joining me here on Image Unscripted. I feel like it should be called Image Unhinged. [01:05:09] Speaker C: Yes. For sure. [01:05:10] Speaker B: At this point. Because how it's all the same. [01:05:12] Speaker D: It is. [01:05:13] Speaker B: You guys are wonderful. Much success. You know, I don't even want to think about what you might be doing at 40. [01:05:19] Speaker A: Good Lord. [01:05:19] Speaker D: I mean, you better buckle up, baby. [01:05:21] Speaker B: You know when. But you hiring. That's what I'm saying. Like, let me make sure I slide you my resume before now. [01:05:29] Speaker A: A resume is a thing that people used to. [01:05:32] Speaker D: I have a resume. [01:05:33] Speaker A: Okay. I didn't know if it's all electronic. [01:05:35] Speaker C: Cause you didn't go. Did you walk around and ask, are y' all hiring? [01:05:39] Speaker B: Did you walk around. [01:05:40] Speaker C: It was always online. [01:05:42] Speaker A: Did you ever. Do you know what MapQuest is? [01:05:44] Speaker D: Yes. I use MapQuest. And I had career builder Monster.com. [01:05:48] Speaker C: But did you carry your eBay? [01:05:50] Speaker D: But I never had. [01:05:50] Speaker B: I had to do that. [01:05:51] Speaker C: Oh, because of who you were? [01:05:52] Speaker D: Well, no. Cause I immediately went from college to Ellen. So, like, I never was. [01:05:56] Speaker B: Did you guys forget that? [01:05:57] Speaker D: Yes. [01:05:58] Speaker B: Okay. [01:05:58] Speaker A: Did you know where your car keys are? [01:06:00] Speaker B: I think this is officially. That is called putting a bow on it. [01:06:03] Speaker C: Wow. [01:06:04] Speaker B: Gentlemen, wrap it up. Thank you so much. Cam Scott, Kailyn, thank you guys for joining me and much success with everything that you're doing. Thank you for watching this episode of Image Unscripted, presented by the NHS aacp. Huge thanks to Kevin Fredericks, Kailyn Allen and Scott Evans for pulling up and making me laugh, but also keeping it real with me. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with a friend, subscribe and watch on YouTube. And if you're listening, set your alerts on your podcast platform so you don't miss the next episode. Until next time, keep it black, keep it brilliant, keep it unscripted. [01:06:41] Speaker C: Sam.