W. Kamau Bell Returns

Hi, my name is Debbie Comeout-Belt.

That's the way you kick the door down.

I kick the door down. I'm not leaving without being your friend, yeah, and I'll take all these people with me.

Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walk in blues, climb the fence, books and pens. I can tell that we are going to be friends.

This is her fourth microphone. Oh my god.

How do you do that? No, it's true. How do you do that? It's true. Uh, we've got very sophisticated equipment in here.

The Foggy pod.

He's a foggy pod. The other problem, uh, I have to admit, is, um, Blay sits in on these, and, uh, he's a giant bellows. That you'd put next to a fireplace. Uh, you're extremely loud. I always have to turn down my earphones when he brings up to the mic. Just take it easy, don't do your normal thing, Blay.

Oh.

And the guy's like, What?

No, I'm not big rod.

I'm not, I'm on your side. I do feel sad for you. I think it's adorable. I have to say I'm being really honest now, so I don't feel badly for you.

I have sent you emails and you respond to those emails, which is like ahead of a lot of people. So I feel like that's a....

Um, no, I have a very.

Oh so now I'm hearing you just respond to every email.

I just respond to everything.

You respond to Nigerian princes.

Oh my, I'm so tight, I am so tight. With the Nigerian Prince fishing stamps, I didn't just give money, I then visited the Nigerian Prince and we hang a lot.

Subject line is, I want to catfish you.

You're like, Sure, let's talk about this.

How do we get this catfish going?

It was a I remember we had one, we were going back and forth on something. And then you, for some reason, sent me a picture of your apartment and I was like, you need to clean.

Oh yeah.

Remember? And then I felt like I had invaded your space, yeah, but it was very messy. I'm just saying, you gotta get that shit together.

First of all, I live in a house. I don't know why I got put in an apartment. Yeah, I don't know why I got put in an apartment, like I'm a grown man with children.

All I could see was two, all I could see was a, uh, one room.

So let me show you every room in my house. That's what I expected to be a completion. Let me show you the outside, every room. Here's my kid's rooms.

I'm glad I brought it up. I just, uh, you know, demonstrated to everyone. Uh, two things that, uh, we're capable of being very close, and, um, you could be neater. Those are the two things I want to come out of this podcast.

Those two things are true, those two things are true, that is true. Since then, we've moved into a smaller house and now my area is the room is the area of the house, next to my side of the bed. That's the only area I get to do with what I want.

Um, do you have any weapons in the house? That's what I want to know.

Uh, no, we don't have any weapons in the house. I don't, I don't, yeah.

I mean, I have a five-year-old.

Who's very feral?

Okay, I wonder, what are you going to do? A home invasion? Why are you asking? I'm bringing this up for a reason?

One of those knives that does this, you get one of those all kinds of crazy things.

And I always ended up like hiding them and putting them on a high shelf. And then, uh, it was my birthday. Last year. He gave me a crossbow, and, um, a real crossbow, so now I'm announcing this to the world, but what am I going to use? a crossbow?

You don't strike me as a charger.

I'm not a charger. No, you strike me as a target.

No, you strike me as an old school cowerer. Yeah, yes.

I'm sorry I misspoke my wife would charge I would flee fair enough.

The insurance is in her name.

She has more shoes than you think.

As I flee into the underbrush anyway, I just thought, No, that's not something I. I, that's not a yes if I had a handgun lying around. But I don't think that's a legitimate thing to be worried about. I want you to weigh in.

I just like the fact that the person breaks into the house. first of all, you have no security, apparently, which is interesting breaks into the house.

I'd like to get that out there, too. I do not.

There's no alarm.

There's no working crossbow, I don't believe in alarms. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And locks? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They don't really work.

They, so they get to this high shelf, so they're like, So let's say it's like, Uh, Victor Wiminyama breaks into your house, so he just reaches up and grabs it, cause he's seven, four.

It would have to be someone, Uh, yeah.

Who can see it? He just looks and goes, Oh, crossbow right there, pulls it, opens it up. it's a crossbow. probably not expecting a crossbow.

And then comes into the bedroom. And the first thing I would do is I'd be looking at the crossbow and the person wielding it. And probably noticing that they've missed a step in the assembly, what are those ones you have to step on and pull up, or?

Oh my god, yeah. I mean, crossbows were always complicated, they were not. That's why we don't still have them around in general.

There was a rash of drive-by, crossbow firing.

Also, like it didn't last very long, you better stand there for 20 minutes while I get this reloaded. Yeah, that's not. These are not the weapons that empty this powder into this.

Yeah.

But I can guarantee my wife would not let me have any style of crossbow assembled or unassembled in the house, yeah.

Well, so so you're sort of saying, my wife is you? You get it, you get it. Maybe I was wrong, I was, I was having fun with the whole thing as I do.

First mistake as a husband.

Yep, robbing her of, uh, of her agency, and um, and I was wrong. I admit now that I was wrong. But we also have a fully functioning World War II landmine in the. And I just thought someone would go to that first. Of course, it's armed dummy.

Now that I'm with cause that's fully armed, it's ready to go, it's ready to go.

I'm always amazed at, you know, people, that and you. I think it's a big thing. Here in L.A. is people that have a lot of weapons in the house, and I always think that's that just doesn't go well, that never is. It doesn't seem like a good idea.

I mean, people forget that California is basically like Texas with gay people, you know what I mean? Like, it's not. It's not really this sort of like, bright blue, whatever. Most of the state is Texas, so there's a lot of guns here.

Right?

Right?

Yeah, we're just, I mean, uh, but I, I would, Joel would give me. He gave me a, Were you there, Adam? He gave me a mace, like a, like a. But it's like a modern interpretation of a of a knight's mace. So it's not the big spiky ball, but it was this sort of steampunk mace that someone's making in their in their basement and selling them online.

So it's the kind of mace somebody would pitch on a shark tank, exactly, and I have updated the mace.

Right, and two of the sharks would be interested. Yeah, yeah.

Mr. Wonderful's definitely in.

Mr. Wonderful would be like, I'm in, but we're doing it my way. Yeah, yeah.

You licensed the Mace Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks. We don't have a mace in our team store.

I have to say, Mark Cuban is always, always the one saying, for that reason, I'm out. He always says it, almost immediately, almost immediately, he rarely gets involved. And I'd like this to be a deep dive on Shark Tank, I don't watch any, I don't watch Shark Tank.

I did have a period of time where I was like, that was the one show I watched, so I there's. I could have done it, I could do a deep dive on Shark Tank. that was the only show I watched on TV.

Should I quickly explain? Sona showed up today. She has lost her voice. She was at an all night rave, I went to a rave and um, this is her real voice right now.

No, I know, I know, I know, and I and I was also. I'm also mad at you a little bit, too, so.

Oh, we have beef, what we beef?

We beef, we have beef, we have beef.

Because I didn't invite you to the rave.

No, that, yeah, that, that. That's the second beef, we have two beef, we have double beef, double beef.

Two patties.

Two patties of beef. Oh my god, our books came out on the same day. Oh, that's right.

I remember that, but, you know what? I remember that because I saw your name on the New York Times bestseller list right next to mine. Yeah, except yours stayed there longer.

Yeah, that's why the beef is not as hot as it would have been. Yeah, but I did notice I was like, Oh, well, excuse me competing on this weird, obscure list that doesn't make any sense.

I know.

Random assortment of lists written by people who might be celebrities.

MatT There are four people at this table. Uh-huh. Two of them are talking about the day that they were on the New York Times bestseller list. And you and I don't know what's happening, no, but we, we don't experience that.

Same, okay.

Yeah.

So was that a New York Times bestseller rave last night? Then I will be mad. Yeah, it was, Oh, come on.

All their favorite members on the list were invited. The guy who wrote the subtle art of not giving a fuck.

Yep, yep.

He was tearing it up.

He didn't give a fuck.

I just love listening to her like this. Is there any way? And I don't want this to sound in any way insensitive. But can we do something to you surgically? So you always sound like this? This is fantastic. No, no, I don't like this.

I mean, they could, I mean-.

Yes, they could.

You shouldn't, but yes, that is a thing that could happen.

Well, thank you, doctor.

You could, it's like Jurassic Park, you can do it. should you do it? is the second question.

It's the first time I've seen you kind of vulnerable. It's nice. Yeah, it's nice. I hate it so much. It's like a pirate who's now in a tiny little canoe.

She's screaming right now.

No one's afraid of you, my head's screaming. It was like General Patton took a hit off a helium balloon.

How did you find that out? Yes, I do watch a lot of YouTube.

I did find it out. What do you like to watch on YouTube that you're not getting on television? What's YouTube giving you? That's not challenging because I just want to know, should I be watching more YouTube?

There's a phenomenon called slow radio, which is radio where not much is happening. YouTube is like slow TV. So it doesn't have to be a lot happening, but it just keeps happening in front of you. It can help you settle your brain. I feel like sometimes in an era where every TV show you turn on, it's like, Well, the last episode, we're the sopranification of television, yes.

You need to know this much, yes.

I'm out, I have three kids, I'm busy, I can't do all that. Last night, I watched a guy, Dr.

You missed the rave for that.

Yes, I missed the rave for that. Well, it was a really impacted ear, he couldn't come.

No, he couldn't come.

I started with I used to watch, I still do, Dr. Pimple Popper, everybody knows Dr. Pimple Popper, and then I sort of moved to ears. The gateway, the gateway to ear, yes.

So you're an ear, nose and throat, man.

I'm an ear, nose and throat, man, yes.

I'm a brass guy, and you're an ear, nose and throat man.

And then there's a lot of people. There's a whole generation of young people growing up who don't actually even want to be on TV. So they're actually spending time and effort to make things that are very good. That should be on TV, maybe, but these people didn't grow up in a TV generation, so they're just like, like, I watched a four-hour video about plagiarism on YouTube.

Oh, really.

Yeah, like, four hours just about plagiarism, as it happens on YouTube by a guy named H.

And what about, like, cooking shows? do you ever do cooking shows?

Yeah, who's the guy? Binging with? Babish is good because he takes shit, you'll like this. He takes food that has been on television, like for example on the Simpsons. They make something and he makes it in real life, and so you get to see, like, food. That has been a part of TV shows that he then creates.

I could see that for most any other TV show, but The Simpsons is a cartoon, so I don't know how they're recreating. I mean, like, if someone goes to Moe's and orders something.

Like the sandwich, the famous, like the big sandwich that Homer wore. He makes what he thinks is his version of that, and he does, like Soprano stuff and the goth, like he does a lot of. Yeah. So there's just a variety of things on YouTube, like, for example, like, my daughter wanted to learn how to ride a bike, and I don't know how to teach a kid how to ride a bike. And so we were at the park and she's like, I wanna learn today, she's very insistent. And so I googled Easy way to teach kid to ride bike on YouTube. And up top is this video of this guy who's like, Here's how you teach a kid how to ride a bike in five minutes. And it worked in about seven minutes.

That's fantastic.

So it's a thought I feel like YouTube gets disrespected because we think we know what.

I think there's a certain thing that's perfect, and that's a perfect application for YouTube. The ways that I use YouTube are mostly for guitar. Like, there'll be a song that I hear and I really wanna hear it, and all I have to do is push in. How do I play that song on the guitar? And there are nine people there, two are always from England. I don't know why. And they're in their basement and they're showing me how to do it and they're being very patient. And I really connect with some of these people and I think that's a fantastic use of it. I think when people are going on YouTube to learn how to defend themselves legally in a court of law or remove a cornea, that's where it's a problem.

Well, yeah, that happened to me. I shouldn't have removed that cornea, but fair.

Then you went on YouTube. How to put it back?

How to put a cornea back?

In five minutes, because I don't have a lot of time.

How do I reattach this cornea?

And life is good.

Not really.

Here's the thing I overheard. I'm coming down the stairs because I hear you talking to Andy Richter, who's out there hanging out, taking food from the kitchen.

Yeah, it's like a co-working space.

And selling it online.

I did the thing where you answered, honestly, which you're not supposed to do. I just sort of I forget sometimes that you're supposed to be like, Ah, it's great and it's not bad, but you know?

Not in that voice, it's great.

Everything's fine, thanks for asking.

I feel really great about all my life choices and the state of the world. It's really growing great. I have no issues.

I have nothing, I have three kids, that's a perfect number of kids to have.

Life.

And I picked the right business to be in show business.

I get the sense, correct me if I'm wrong. You like some chaos?

Oh, no, no.

No, no, no, you like, I feel like, because you always have it, always feels to me like you have a bunch of things.

Too many things.

Too many things going on at the same time and you must be drawn to that. I get very phobic, you know? People want me to be thinking about more than one thing at a time, and I visibly tense up because I just want to think about one thing at a time. And I feel like you like to put yourself in a position where, Okay, I'm doing this show for ABC, but I'm doing this special for CNN. But I'm also doing this, and I'm also doing that, and then I'm building a kiln to make some pot.

Yeah, well, and then I've got to finish that ear impact video. I mean, I think my problem is that I'm just curious about a lot of things. So I definitely do tend to overload myself with like, Oh, I can do this and I can do that. And then also again, you know, show business. You can't be like, I'm going to do one project because that's going to be the one that is going to pay my bills. So you're like, I've got to probably just start all four of these things and see what happens. And then I look up and be like, Oh my God, like, there's too many things.

It used to.

You know, I was like, as being a stand-up comic and who's doing it? I have to make my own gravy, like the dog food commercial. Like, I can't wait for somebody else to go. You're the guy, you know. I sort of know where I exist in this business, thankfully, so I'm not going to get the call. Where it's like, we figured out who the next Marvel hero is, it's you. It's not going to happen.

Also the training involved and the dieting. That's why I haven't done it. Oh, really, that's the reason, only reason.

Yeah, every day they call, Are you ready? are you ready?

What are they offering you? What role?

Let him pick, you can have your pick, yeah.

Well, apparently Captain Marvel had a. Is there a Captain Marvel? Yeah, but it's a woman, It's a woman. Yeah, well, she has a great-grandmother.

Is this kick-ass shape? Yeah, I just didn't know, I just don't know, I don't know.

Clearly, you took your glasses off, you can't see you're sitting opposite an incredible male specimen, I'm sure.

I just didn't know.

You didn't know.

I was just making sure that I could judge what you think kick-ass shape is.

There's waves of testosterone coming off my body right now, right? SONA No, there isn't at all.

She's like, there's not a wave.

I think it's your body deflecting testosterone. Oh, that's it, it's testosterone grinding.

Testosterone is passing through your body.

If there's any testosterone in the air, my body repels it immediately. It makes a cloud. Yeah, I'm just Sona, I'm enjoying this, I'm so glad you like it, yeah.

I like when you ooh burn, that was really satisfying.

Yeah, yeah, that was good, that was really good. What do you sound like? Move on, move on.

Oh, that actually worked with, like, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say it, I hate it. It is Chaz Palminteri from Like a Bronx Tale.

No, it's not. Yeah, no, it's not, it is.

It's a Bronx tale.

It's Bronx tale. Chaz Palminteri is it? And by the way, when you leaned in and said, I'm getting a little Chaz Palminteri, I thought, in a different context, that could mean something very different. You know what I mean?

Say, now yous can't leave, that's from.

Now yous can't leave.

That's, yeah, it's Chaz, yeah, you know what?

Tac says I sound like the pervert from the family guy, Oh, you don't know who he's talking about? No, I don't. That's why I went, Oh.

That's your fake.

Oh, I do that when I and I don't know what's going on. Yeah, when people say, like, Yeah, well. The Environmental Protection Agency made that ruling in 1974, and I go, Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, they did.

I mean, yeah, this show, what would you do? It's been on the air, it's for like, 15 seasons. It's one of those shows that, like, a lot of people don't think about. But if you describe it to them, they're like, Oh, yeah, I've seen that show.

So you said, I want to film this. Did you choose mobile or was it just a nice coincidence?

I mean, they knew I was from mobile, they chose it for me. Yeah, okay, I think, also because John was like, I'm not going to Alabama.

Are no laws? Yeah, the times I've seen the show, I think I saw one where there was a either a pregnant woman or a woman pretending to be pregnant and her husband's or her partner's berating her for. Like, you got to lose weight. And they're just trying to see if anyone is going to do anything.

I think it's early, you know, we live in this time of like, I mean, it's been overstated, it's the most divided, it's the most polarized. And it just sort of shows that. Like, people will generally step up if they, if they, if they can help in some small way. You know, it's not a similar crossbow level of help. But if there's some sort of like, I can tell you to, like, I see you being taken advantage of, let me help you out. So, yeah, it's a. It's heartwarming at a time of heart coldening this country.

Are you a Uh? This gets tricky, but I always lean slightly optimistic, even during these times, and sometimes I get shit for that. But I do read a lot of history, and I'm reading a book now about, uh, 19th century. And an election where the country's completely divided and one side thinks the other side cheated, and there's a lot of misinformation. And Samuel Tilden thinks that he won the presidency, and but there's this massive fight between Hayes and Tilden. And I'm reading it and going, Oh, we've been here before, like, I keep reading things and thinking, we've been here before, the difference being now that we have the internet. But I try to always maintain some calm, but unfortunately, my rallying cry is, Hey, everybody, things have always been kind of shitty.

Take it easy.

It was re, you know, there was a lot of misinformation, cruelty, you know, and just overall cruddiness for hundreds of years. And, uh, that doesn't seem to cheer people up.

No country can overcome Samuel Tilden. You all remember how hard that was during the it was a big deal, it was a big deal.

If people were bringing, uh, you know, weapons to Congress, and I can't even imagine. And I was reading about it and I was thinking, Wait a minute, this is madness, this is, you know, we've done this before.

I mean, I, I, I. I always feel like optimist. Optimism only means something if people are doing the work to make the optimism make sense. So I think that, like, I think, some people like to use optimism as a way to sort of go. It's going to be fine anyway. Back to a love at first sight or whatever that shows, you know, like, anyway, back to this video, this guy getting this crud out of this ear.

Might be like, you know, over all the time we have for today, wrap things up now, how come? That makes me wait a minute, how come, how come?

I mean, I, I, you know, I think that I don't know exactly how it plays out, but I do think that. There's like, when people go to see Rome, what are you going to see when you're? What are the things that the tourists want to see? Like the ruins of what used to be? So I think you might be like, this used to be a restaurant.

I went to they have the Coliseum and you're saying that we're going to be Sofi Stadium, well, that's it. Okay, all right. I was picturing like a cheesecake factory that has got vines growing all over.

It was a food court.

You don't imagine they had Italian food, but also Greek food, but also.

It's called Seven 11, but it was open 24 hours.

But go ahead, you were making a serious point.

No, I don't have to do that.

No, no, I want to hear it, no.

I think that, like, even think about this, like with immigration, this country was whatever it was. Because we had the best publicist going. Who said, If you're smart somewhere in the world, go to America, and you can then make, you can then be the best version of yourself. And so we got credit for a lot of people coming here to then give us their talents and then be American, you know? And now I think, if you're, if you're some smart kid growing up somewhere on the other side of the planet, you're like, Is America the place I want to go? So then some other place becomes that place?

Yeah, where are they going? Yeah, cause I I still think when I travel around, I do think people are still interested in coming to the United States.

No, I think, I just think, but yeah.

But I just think you're just looking ahead.

You're saying, I'm looking post November, that's all.

Oh, I thought you meant the near future. Oh, we're okay. Yeah, we got till November, actually.

I get this question, a lot like, Are you hopeful? Come out? And people want me to be helpful, cause I think that means they don't have to do anything.

Yeah, I want you to be, that's why I asked you.

Yeah, yeah.

You were like, I want you to say it's fine. So then I can go yogurt shopping. Yeah, exactly, and then, and that's why I'm looking for a gated community.

It has three gates, one inside the other, and then you can say I don't have an alarm system, I just have three gates.

I have nine gates.

Like, there are things we can do to make this, to make this country, uh, better than it is. But we have to be invested in outcomes that are outside of just if it's better for us in particular. And Americans have a hard time with that, you know? So, like you drive through cities and you see sites of things that go. This didn't use to look like this, or these people didn't use to live like this in this way. And we drive past and you go well, good luck to those people. But, you know, I think that like, we have to be invested in the success of the community. And I think one thing that's happened politically in this country is a lot of people in this country are really uninvested in community.

Right, yeah, it's very easy for people to just surf online and be made enraged.

Because if you let the algorithm run you, the algorithm will always push you towards anger. Yes, so the algorithm runs on us all. Big like you're, you're more likely to be like, I hate that guy and click to the next thing, they're like, isn't that nice?

Isn't this terrible, yeah.

Or at least, or, you know, or laugh like, Isn't this funny? I think isn't this funny? is way better than isn't this.

Well, I think, uh, I mean, that brings it back to comedians. I think comedians are the real heroes.

I think, if there's any, if there's any superheroes in this world.

True, I don't need that gig.

There's anybody who really, I mean, the true Purple Heart winners are the comedians in basements and nightclubs around this country.

No, no, no, no, no, just specific ones with podcasts.

Oh well, we got really zero. That's the real hero. First of all, just even getting a podcast shows that you've really decided to become a hero.

And The Heroes used to be late night hosts. And then, about two and a half years ago, I feel like it's switched over. It's weird. Yeah, who can say why?

Yeah.

So on this show, do you, uh, did you get to be in on what these scenarios would be?

Uh, I got to sort of like, guide them and sort of like, put my two cents in and and. And it's funny when you watch the show because John Kenyotis is really like managing the show over his like on a like a device. Like, tell them to say this, though. And I'm watching like, I'm watching the show in real time, like, Ooh, don't do that. Ah, that's like, I'm really like, I'm watching it like a viewer.

Cause Alabama, really, that's on the license plate.

Yeah, yeah, Alabama goes way out of its way, and I've been texting people in Alabama like, Can I still come home? can I still walk around?

How old were you when you left Alabama?

I mean, I never I, I've been going my whole life, so I never like was I would, I just like I used to go every summer. Uh, I used to like. And I lived there for two and a half years, but I've never, like, lived there for a whole period of time.

Am I wrong? I would feel like summer would be the time to take a break from Alabama. Well, that's gotta be brutal.

Uh, my mom felt summer was the time to ship her son off to Alabama so she could enjoy her summer. Oh, that was how my mom was like, go go visit your dad so you can connect with your dad. And so I grew up thinking that my mom never....

You should be very close to the equator, yeah.

I grew up thinking my mom never had a social life, but she's like, No, I did that in the summers, that's when I was out. Uh, doing fun things is when I would send you to your dad's in Alabama, so yeah.

Were you an only child?

I'm an only child.

Oh my god.

Yeah, okay, yeah.

I can't I? I? I don't know. I can only imagine and, trust me, as a child, I spent a lot of time imagining.

I whenever I find these sad only children who are like I wish I had, I'm like, I had none of that. I was so happy to be an only child. I feel like you get to have your own thoughts, you get to be, you get to think your own things, you get to do your own thing.

Uh, explain your fascination. I know you need to explain it because it makes sense to me. But I want to talk to you about Denzel Washington because you've devoted a chunk of your life to Denzel Washington. Yes, an incredible actor. A very, uh, very good.

Yes, an incredible actor. Like, Yes, yeah, Michael Jordan pretty good at basketball.

I didn't say pretty good.

I said, incredible, you said, like, Yes, an incredible actor.

Well, yes, I am just saying, but there are, uh, what is it about Denzel Washington specifically?

Well, me and my friend Kevin Avery, who's also a comedy writer and actor, had a podcast for years called Denzel. Washington is the greatest Actor of all time period because we felt we needed to declare that he was the greatest actor of all time period. Because he clearly is, and he did not get the respect at the time. So I just think that, like, you know, I feel it's real, it's weird, like, why is chocolate delicious?

CONAN I don't like chocolate. Yeah, very awkward.

You're the weird one, you're the weird one.

Someone tried to gasp and it just sounded like you were one of those people that has a hole in their throat. Yeah, it just sounded like a tea kettle that had no water in it. I'm like Debbie from the smoking commercial with the hole in her throat, that's what you are.

Has Denzel ever been on the podcast?

He has not. I don't think I've ever met.

That's one of the things I like about him. He doesn't do any of that, yeah.

And it doesn't need to.

I mean, no, he's the he's at that last era of actor who doesn't have to have social media. It doesn't have to. He, he doesn't. Even when he wins awards, he's not that impressed with it.

He does a lot of game shows.

He's the new host of Family for you. He's taking over for Steve Harvey.

He has so much class and dignity, I'm just picturing him. Like doing stuff on Nickelodeon, getting slimed and being like, this is what you got to do. Got to get the word out on my on, on the enforcer or whatever, you know, I don't know. Equalizer.

No, I just think he's. I think me and my friend Kevin would realize that we were talking about Denzel a lot and we realized that. Like, we didn't hear other people talking about him as much. And we just felt like nobody ever thinks of him as being one of the. I mean, maybe he's not the greatest, but nobody thinks of him as really as being among the greatest actors of all time period.

He gets respect, I'm thinking, just, I feel like Denzel Washington gets a lot of respect.

But whenever you talk about the greatest actors, there's like a sort of a crew of like De Niro and Pacino, and like, and, and, uh, you know, DiCaprio, all the O actors.

Well, yeah.

Yes, and has been a box, and he's still a box office draw. Even though he's like, Get, he's getting up there, but he's like, and I think the issue that he has had is because of Hollywood and the racism of Hollywood. Like, he's just not, he's not seen as being in that same lane. And so I feel like we were just like. We need to claim him and also give him his flowers before he passes cause.

Oh, he did hear about it.

Yeah, well, so first Kevin met him at some event in L.A. and at that point I had my first TV show. So Kevin was like, Oh yeah, me and my friend Debbie, my bell, I have a podcast about you, he goes, That was my bell.

Oh.

I was going to say, Yeah, not since the Harrison Ford episode.

Yeah, I don't know why it was said so often on that podcast.

No, it was so weird. I, Yeah, that's why I started paying attention and like, Vin stands up and said, like, he actually said. And I don't know if you still feel the same way, but in that moment, he said, it's like, I love you. Cause at that point I was doing United Shades of America.

That's, I like, that story.

It's a great, it's a great. Yeah, it's sort of when I tell it, I feel a little embarrassed, even telling.

Oh well, I no. I mean, I think it's except for the nigger part.

I was really excited to say that in front of this room full of people.

That's two times now.

Well, you said I could say it, and I'm going to say it all the time, and now I'm going to invite everybody to say it.

One never seen a room clear out that fast.

So I was like, my voice is coming back.

Sona might've said it a couple of times today and we wouldn't have heard it. It just sounded like a little burp.

Just to be clear for everybody listening on YouTube, that's what the a the soft a, not the hard, it's the rap version.

Um, you brought up something that I've thought about recently, which is these people who are just amazing. Pass away and then everybody talks about them and says things that they'll never hear. Comedy icons pass on. And then everybody says, Oh my god, weren't they absolutely amazing? And I think, isn't there a way?

So maybe let's pretend I'm dying a little bit of a no, no, no, no.

Please, please, no. But what I'm saying is I did feel that I felt that way a couple of times. For example, with like Norm Macdonald, who I thought was such a brave and unusual comedian. And he was not being discussed at all and wasn't being talked about and wasn't part of the conversation. Then he dies and everybody comes out and says, What a remarkable, remarkably a unique comedic voice. That that was, we'll never see again. And I thought, Well, I don't like this system.

I agree with that anyway. It just happened with Carl Weathers. Like, you know, I think that that for the certain generation of people, whether it's from the Rocky Movies or from, you know, Happy Gilmore, Carl Weather or Arrested Development. He really sort of there's something he does specifically that really sheds, that is joyful and exciting, and you sort of then he passes.

Away and you're like, Oh, we never, we never. I have a nice memory, which is a couple of years ago. I got invited to something, uh, Adam Sandler was having, and it was a bunch of people that he knew. Party event I go over to, like the the line, to get food and standing in line, I realized it's Carl. Weathers is right next to me. And I was awestruck because I was 13 or 12 when Rocky came out.

And you've heard the story that that's sort of the all you can. You can turn that into a soup or whatever, you can get a stew going. That was like, he, it was his idea to play the broke, uh, the broke version of Carl Weathers.

Yes, he'd beat Carl Weathers, and he's just very. He's been an actor all his life and he's very economical. About these sandwiches, and you know what, you can put them in your pocket, and, uh, are you finished with that?

I feel like it's important to put that stuff out there because you just never know, you know. It's like Tracy Chapman coming back recently and suddenly being like, It's this great moment. I've heard the Grammys and we're all like, we love you.

We haven't seen you.

We just want to say, like, we get to, sort of like, flutter with love. She's like, great, I'm going back to the supermarket and home, you know what I mean like?

It almost feels like it's it's for us more than it's for them, sometimes in a weird way.

Yeah, well, sometimes you get reminded of how important a person is when you, when you like. For example, Tracy Chapman, and that's in fast car. It's like a lot of people like, I forgot how much this meant to me. And so I'm glad that this song and this opportunity reminded me of it. But often that doesn't happen until they pass away, yeah.

Well, I'm going to want you to really step up when I go, I'm going to write some stuff for you, okay?

Please do, please do. I'd rather have it pre-written so I don't mess it up.

And also, so you have something to say.

No one, no one influenced my life more than Conan O'Brien. As a child, I looked up to him, even though we're close in age.

He was the Denzel Washington of very white Irish Catholic.

He was the Michael Jordan of Denzel, Washington.

Well, you know what, I love having you on the podcast because you are a force for good, you have such positivity. And um, I just, I always feel better after I talk to you, um, even when you give me tons of shit which I deserve.

It's funny when busy people tell me I take on too much. I'm like, man, I'm in trouble. Conan O'Brien thinks I take on too much. I think I need to settle down.

I have a line of jeans that I'm coming out with and they're terrible, anyway. God bless you.

Thank you.

Go clean up your house, not your apartment, to get your shit together.

And before I go one, two, three, let's all say the N word.

Okay, um, so far, I think Sona is doing the best she can. Uh, with the voice uh issue. And when I say doing the best you can, I'm not saying it's good, because it's, uh, it's really, but it's. I don't know. What did you? what do you do? How do you do the best you can without a voice?

I'm going to carry it.

Is David here? Yes, backpack David, get David in here, hobble in here, David.

I got out of bed fine, I like, spent most of the day fine, and then I got off the couch later that night and that was it, that was it.

I was dead.

No, it's just my. My ankle just gave out I had gone out the night before.

Okay, this is where it gets interesting. And what were you doing the night before?

I went to a friend's birthday party, there was a DJ there, so I did dance for probably four hours. Oh, for God's sake, David.

I went well the night before I went to the Old Boulder toss.

Because, like then the next day, it was fine until the night. So like, I feel like if I had done something dancing when I have noticed.

Like, right away, there's the high that you get when you're at a rave and you're dancing and you're having a lot of fun. And then, uh, it takes a while, yeah.

I went to have, you know, one rave you've been to, please.

I went to one in 74.

We don't say that.

Well, please read the trades.

Everything's fine.

And then, um, well, then you, I don't know what's going to happen with you if you, if your voice doesn't get better very soon, you're fired. Um, I think I'm right, I'm allowed to say that this is your, your lifeblood.

A karate chop.

Thank you, tack.

Yeah, Gorley's next.

No, Gorley's immune.

GORLEY Uh, this is what I sound like today.

I hope that's okay. Uh, my voice is completely gone yesterday and this is what it is now. I still planning to come to work, I'm ready to work. Passive aggressive.

I just sound real stupid.

Here we go, whenever you get a chain, here's the here's the chain. You texted you were losing your voice. You're worried about it.