Here I am, doing everything I can, holding on to what I am, pretending I'm a superman, trying to keep the ground on my feet, with the seams of worlds falling all around me. The nights are long, I'm singing the song, trying to make the answers more than maybe. And I'm so confused about what to do, sometimes I wanna throw it all away. That was a little gold finger, hello, superman.
You remember that from Tony Ox Pro Skater? Yeah, I do, I remember playing that. It's a young chap. Your boy went skateboard in this week.
Yup, that's right. Went back, got out on there, did some board slides, what? Did some rollins, not some droppings, I still have some PTSD from that. Hope you enjoyed that, I'm trying to get my guitar playing sharper and sharper.
That's one of my favorite songs I went on the road, close into with my buddy Joel Jimenez. Goldberg, we're gonna be in Phoenix next weekend, that's exciting. Got a lot of Kill Tony dates coming up. We're going freaking international.
It's gonna be in Europe next month, which is pretty insane. I'm looking very much forward to that. How's your week guys? What is going on, your boy Jeremiah Watkins is here for you on Gerald Maya Wonders.
How's the mood, huh? Well, it's not at 100% yet, okay, we'll get there. I think this is a fun podcast. My buddy J.D.
Weatherspoon is on the program today and we did a lot of impressions and a lot of riff and for y'all and you know your boy likes at the most of the guests. Go ahead and I'll riff with them, you know what I'm saying. I've been doing this thing with my wife lately. We have like comfort shows that we fall asleep too.
We finished, we watched all the Curb Your Enthusiasms with Larry David. What a great show. We're going back there and watching the Lord of the Rings movies. Wow, nostalgia.
Those are just, oh, they just make you feel good even if you break them up. If you do, like them in quarters or halves. Oh, they feel so good. You just are like, these movies are so good.
I'll probably end up doing that with the Harry Potter movies again too. Yeah, there's some movies. I like being put in a good mood or a good place before I go to sleep. And to start the day, hopefully this is helping you star your day on a nice foot.
I want to get into the kindness challenge. We have gotten some more great emails coming into the show. They were kind of a little light for a little bit, but they're coming back in. So email your kindness challenge letters to JeremiahWonders at gmail.com.
If you don't know what the kindness challenge is, this is what it is. I challenge you the listeners and myself every week to do something out of the kindness of your heart for a stranger or somebody that you know. It doesn't matter if it's really small. It could be really small or it could be big.
It could be whatever as long as you're contributing something positive to society. The whole pay it forward mentality. You know what I mean? So go ahead and keep sending me those.
I want to read one from a guy named Tyler Jackson that he sent me. I've never met him before. I don't know what he looks like, but I started wondering what if I read his letter and the voice that I thought he might sound like. So here we go.
I love what you're doing. I listened for my so one of the ones who submit this kind of challenge for a few weeks now. I work at a company that has small team groups that work together to achieve deadlines. One day as I was leaving late on Friday, I noticed that someone was still in the office.
As I entered the queue, I could see a woman was flustered and her eyes showed that she had been crying. I asked her what she was still doing here so late and asked if there was something I could help with. I didn't really think me so much that she became the event about how overwhelming her day had been. I sat in touch with her for about 30 minutes and we split the workload.
We finished all the work in around 30 minutes after that. On the way out, she was so appreciative her whole demeanor had completely changed. It is amazing what offering helping him do sometimes. Keep the podcast going.
Tyler. Tyler, thank you so much for saying that in man. That's freaking awesome. And he actually, he said that I inspired him to start a podcast.
You can check that out at the lion's share podcast on Instagram. So there you go. Give Tyler some love. I love that story of, you know, seeing somebody who clearly needs help that they're crying.
Just checking on them, being a good person. That's what the kind of challenges all about. I feel personally, I have to admit, I feel a little guilty. I feel like I've been slacking myself on the kind of challenge lately.
So I've been trying to up mine throughout the week. I felt like I was able to do a couple of things. And one of the things I did, this was a very small example, but it was raining all week in Los Angeles and I was turning onto my street. I just left the comedy store super late at night.
It's like one something probably, one 130. Anyway, I've turned onto my street and I see the back of somebody who I think I know and I yell out to them and it's a comedian like, Hey, and he turns around. He's like, What's up? I was like, Do you need a ride?
He said, basically he was waiting for lift to lowers, like surgery or whatever. And I just drove him home and it was a buddy who I've known for a long time and we had a great conversation. We had a chance to hang a long time and he was just super appreciative because it was like kind of rainy and it was like not great walking weather and it's late at night in LA. It's not great to walk around on.
Anyway, but that's just a small example of what it could be. It can be that small if it's something, but it didn't take any skin off my back. It's like, it literally took 10 minutes to give him a ride and then go back to my place and go to bed. So there you go.
So keep sending those in at jeremywanders.com. Please keep sending your music submissions there as well. I love featuring music on this podcast. I love, you know, spotlighting artists and trying to help them spread the word on their art like like a big team building community here.
You know what I'm saying? I want to thank the sponsors of the show Speedweed at Speedweed on Twitter. Geno hit him up for that marijuana delivery service. Do you like smoking the reverb?
Do you like it delivered to your house? Well, Geno's your man at Speedweed and you know what pairs really well with Speedweed? Bronx porn pizza from Bendorg and at Bronx porn pizza on social media or if you live in Los Angeles in Santa Monica, they've got gray block pizza. It's the same owner hit up Thomas Shiffer.
Love that guy. Love the guys over at Menshey Music in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Transylvania, Pennsylvania at Menshey Music, Deek, Emmatic and Seth M. M. 10.
They're also going to hook up my buddy Joel Berg with some drum equipment. Those guys are the freaking best. They are menches. They put the menches in Menshey Music.
You know what I'm saying? Guys, if you like to sponsor the show, email Derimyewanders at gmail.com. I'm actually selling some airtime. That's right.
You can buy 30 seconds of airtime on Derimyewanders and I will read whatever copy you'd like me to read that goes for companies or if you really want to get something off your chest personally, you could do that too. Please support the show at jeremywanders.com. There's a PayPal donation button there. If you don't want to contribute monetarily, that's perfectly cool.
I would really appreciate your support by going over to iTunes and leaving a five-star review. Please review the podcast. We just serve around 300 reviews. I'd love to get around 500 reviews in the next couple of months.
It helps the ratings a lot and helps climb the podcast chart and makes people more aware of this thing that's going on. Yes. Also got to thank my pal, Gage Tierina. He's doing the audio and video editing.
I don't know if you've been seeing some of the clips that I've been posting on Instagram and YouTube lately. He's doing a bang out job. Loving the creativity and stuff that and the love that he's putting in those clips and really think that they're funny and that we're on to something. Keep sharing those and give Gage some love on social media at Gage Tierina.
T-I-J-E-R-I-N-A engages JG. So guys, let's get into this episode. J.D. Witherspoon talked.
Man, we talked about how we both auditioned for the reboot of The Living Color back in the day. We talked about how he is the son of a well-known comedian. We talked about our journey over the years with impressions and characters and stuff like that. This dude was super fun to hang out with and I think you guys are really going to join.
Please listen to my pal right now. J.D. Witherspoon on jeremywanders. I'm not like crazy.
I feel like that's what crazy people say. I'm not like crazy. I would say I'm OCD because I am the type to without anyone telling me like moo shit. Like slowly adjust things.
Just like picture frame on the wall as slightly un-those. Are corners. Yeah. This is a 90 degree angle.
There you go. You're welcome. Dude, thanks for coming on the show, man. I appreciate it, man.
Yeah. Been a long time coming. I don't know. I don't know that song.
I don't know. Jane Gauncom. It's just a song. Yeah.
All right. I don't know that song. You don't know that at all? No.
I was gone by the river. Oh, maybe. It's some old black lady singing that. Okay.
And it sounds like something that would be in the back or front of color purple or something or going with the wind. Yeah. Yeah. When it comes on a jukebox and it just says old black.
Yeah. Oh, like a reefer or somebody. Yeah. And friends.
Yeah. A reefer and friends. Maybe Patty. Who knows who knows, man.
Yeah, dude. Dude, I've been following you on social media for a while. And we've been friends through the comedy scene for years now. It's been a long time.
So I'm glad that we can actually hang and kick it. Yeah. I like it. You're the more comicky of us too.
I only say that because I know that I met you at an open mic. Or I think the first time I might even seen you was a it was definitely a laugh factory open mic or a showcase. But you were doing like I think it was one of those things where I enjoyed you because you did impressions as well. Okay.
You were doing like either a really goofy Jason Statham or a Nicolas Cage or something. It was it would have been a Jason Statham. Yeah. And you were just doing your act outs were just so big and it was one of those things where you were like just you were doing it to the extent where like it was like it would be a packed house but it was just like 12 comics.
It was 12 comics who waited out in front of the laugh factory. I went out to swing in for the fences. But you swing man. Yeah.
Yeah. But you hit them man. I love it. I love it.
It's so funny to me. But yeah, that's why I think I remember at least seeing I don't know if we met there or the store. I have no idea. Yeah.
Yeah. I was like seeing you and that's one of the things that I appreciated about you first off was I was like, oh this dude does his good impressions. Thank you. Yeah.
Yeah. It's one of those things where did you start off doing voices a kid because like I whenever I was young I found a knack for mimicking cartoons and stuff like real early on. That's all it is. Yep.
People ask how do you get in the voices? How do you get in the voice? How do you get in the voice? Because I do voice over now.
Yeah. Which I'm so happy and proud of myself for. Heck yeah. And I'm just like, you know that kid who's annoying on the karaoke scene?
That's that's us. That's what it is. Yeah. You grow up.
Oh they're like, I'm like, I'm not sure what this is. Yeah. And man. Yeah.
I don't have an idea. Yeah. Just a bit ago. Yeah.
I know how. I've got an idea about this. No one is asking you to do. Yeah.
You're just there. And it's just like, I think it's just an expressive kid thing. Yeah, I used to imitate Bobby from Bobby's world. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh. Bobby's world. I thought you said Bobby from King of the Hill.
Oh. Okay. So you were getting in in Delong. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. I don't know how he does that because I know him personally because I did a pilot with him what he was like, I mean, don't be touched. And I was like, okay. And then I'm ever meeting Howie in the audition.
It was one of those things where I forgot what the show was. It was like a show where he wanted us to, you know how they have bad lip reading on YouTube or bad dubbing. He did a pilot, I think called Dub Wars. And it was like you as a person on the couch sitting around and trying to voice over Dub, the characters that were on the screen and just make up something funny off top.
Yeah, make up the voices, make up the funny. Yeah. So it was an interesting idea. He loves like pranks.
That's like his thing. Really? Creating like prank related shows. But Howie, I guess, does a ton of voices because like, have you ever seen his old stand up?
I've seen him not old, but I've seen him do stand up recently in the last year or two. Is that your son of a gun? I didn't turn off the freak in them. I got to turn my phone airplane to son of a.
We're going to phone call actually. Who is that? It's Bobby from Bobby's World. Hello, Bobby.
And ask J.D. a question. Oh, what's going on, Bobby? Hey, Michael Ted, or something?
I have not seen your uncle Ted. Where would he be? Let's make a deal. Yeah, he's one of the production managers over there.
He's the one who always goes, oh, Bobo. No, he gave me a lot of new keys. Oh, Bobby. All right, we lost Bobby.
I don't know if that was very awkward. Usually the phone ringing doesn't come through the speakers on the podcast, but I guess Bobby, he probably heard. Sometimes whenever people hear us talking about them out there, they end up calling into the show. It's just one of those awkward situations that, yeah, I had to drop that call.
All right, there we go. Dude, so this is, I think this is funny. So you just did a, of course, like a spot on impression of your dad. Yeah.
And for whatever, so for, I only found out, I literally want to say very recently that that was your dad. That's funny. That's funny. His dad's a great comedian, John Witherspoon.
Yes, John Witherspoon. And I've always, I grew up watching your dad. And it was one of those things whenever I found out, I'm like, I am an idiot. I like that though.
I never, I never showcased it. No, which I actually appreciate. It's one of those. I've known you for years, and I literally found out like, like, probably four months ago.
Oh, that's bad. That's really bad. That's really bad. I think I saw like an Instagram post or something.
Yeah. And I was just like, I literally, you know, whenever, like, at the end of a movie, like, it was all, it was in front of me though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, full circle. Yeah.
No, yeah, no, my dad's a comic and whatnot. He sees, he's actually one of the founding dudes at the comic store. Like, you know, he was like a, he was a door dude. Oh, gee man.
He's a OG door dude. Yeah. Yeah, he was, he was one of, he was at the, he was at the strike and all that. Yeah.
Yeah, he was a part of their history. Like, you know, the, that building was built on his back, along with a bunch of other comics like him, Driesin, Letterman, Tim Reed, I believe, you know, Mooney, Mooney Twins, Pryor, all those old school dudes. Dude, dude who's doing the doc, the doc for what's it called? Yeah.
What's his name? I'm interested. Binder? Mike Binder.
OK. Yeah. He works in the production office, I guess, there or something like that. Yeah.
I'm very interested to see how that turns out. Yeah. I only know because the other day I went with him. I didn't go with him, but I had an audition.
But he was like, what are you doing today, man? He was like, man, I'm going to take my shit up, dude. And I was like, what do you mean? And I was like, why would you go there?
Remember the last time I asked him, do you want to roll a knee to the club? So he was like, oh, no, dude. He said, I worked so hard. So hard to never have to go back.
And I was like, and I was like, OK, well, whatever. Never mind. And then the other day, he was like, yeah, I'm going over there. He's like, they want to interview me.
Do some little documentary. I was like, did you call him? He's like, yes, I got to go. And I was like, OK.
And I was like, well, if you need a ride, I'll take you. And he was like, I'll probably beat it by him. But you know, he won't come back. And then I went and did audition.
And I'm looking forward to seeing it. I want to see it. I'm curious. Because like, did you go to the funeral?
I did. OK, I missed the funeral. I was trying to tell him to come, which I was like, we should go. But I was busy that day.
And he was like, I ain't going to the funeral. He's like, he ain't going to the funeral. He left me to go. Come up at the ground.
I don't want to go to the eyes. But it was interesting because he would have definitely saw a ton of people from his class and everything. But it was weird because comics, I've been to a handful of comics funerals now, unfortunately. And there's always a couple of comics who use it as a chance to get stage time.
It's very slimy and weird. It's really slim. We're just getting revenge on the ground. No, no, no.
There's people who, they clearly, they don't get up enough. And rather than just doing their thing, talking about the person who passed away, they are trying to slide in like bits. Oh, in the yule? Yeah, man.
It's freaking. It's freaking. It's like they go. And they're like, I thought you meant they go.
And they see Adam or somebody. And they're like, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know this isn't the best guy right now. Hey, kind of awkward.
Well, maybe. I know another spot just opened because. Look, let's be real. You wouldn't be here for us.
It'd be like an older comic. We just haven't got up anymore who wants to get back on stage. So I'm a paid regular. My name's on the thing.
So some old cats. Really? We're running some material. But I was just like, what are you doing right now?
Like they're getting. But you know, for four dudes, or not just dudes with any comedian female male, that's kind of like their coping thing, though. I know. Unfortunately, because my dad doesn't.
It's like, what else? What else? Whatever I get real with my dad, it turns into a set. And I'm like, dude, I'll try to get him to talk about eating healthy, stop drinking wine.
And he'll be like, yeah, I'll do that. I'm going to do that. You know, you write, you write, I'm going to stop drinking the grapes, the juice from the earth. Oh, my goodness.
It's so bad. And you know, I'm going to stop doing it. As soon as I stop making all this money. I'm like, I'm like, that is, I mean, I know he's your dad.
But that is such a good impression. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, it's one of the ones that I picked up without realizing I had it.
But like, I remember I used it. Do you remember when they were trying to do that in Living Color reboot? Yeah. Did you audition for it?
I did, yeah. I went to producers and stuff for it. Yeah. Yeah, I went in and I did that.
And they were like, ah, how do you do that? When I was like, oh, I got personal experience. Yeah, yeah. But I remember whenever I auditioned for it in Living Color, and I, you know, looking back at like the tape and stuff, I'm actually surprised that I made it.
That I even got as far as I did. But like, I remember being in front of Keenan, Irew Ains, and I was doing these different characters and stuff. And I did a character that went to the floor that was like super physical. And I don't know why I'll never forget this, but he stood up because he was so like, what's happening?
That's dope. Like he stood up out of his seat to see like, what is this crazy dude doing right now? When everybody else, you know how like how chill people are at auditions. It's like, yeah.
Yeah, but it was like, I don't know. I didn't get a call after that, but I was just like, I don't know why. That was just stuck out. It was canceled.
You didn't get a call. Not because you weren't good. No, they did. They shot a pilot that never, I know.
I know James Davis was writing on it. Josh Duvindeck was like the white guy. Do you know? Yeah, he's a funny comic guy.
He's like big in the improv. But he, yeah, he used to do a lot of mics and stuff. But he was cast as like the white guy on the show. See, see, but it's crazy.
But Keenan and Keenan probably wanted you because you were second coming of Jim Carrey. But then the rest of them were like, I don't know. This isn't convention. Yeah.
How was it to play? How was it? 2010? Oh, yeah.
I mean, well, I'm throwing my body around this audition room on the carpet and stuff like that. What was your audition like for that show? Mine was kind of crappy. I did.
I did a bunch of character, but you know what it was? They had like lost the budget on the casting director. Yep, right. Yep.
So they lost the buy because I was later auditions when they were like still looking. And that's when I was two. Yeah. They'd already been through one or two casting director.
Yeah, I just got a call and went in. And basically I went in and there was no casting. Lady. There was just the camera lady, which she's a good friend of mine now, but she was not the nicest thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not going to say her name because I work with her now today. But she was not impressed about anything. She was just like, she was like, yeah, do your characters.
Blah, blah, blah. I did them. And then I was like, she got me. She was like, all right, thanks.
I was like, wait, can I do impressions too? She was like, oh, you do impressions? And I was like, yes. And I'm like, mind you, the callback or the audition room and the waiting room are like right next to each other.
So I'm doing these characters. And then I jump into impressions. The whole room next to me is cracking up. I can hear them through the door.
Like they're on the tape. Like because I went and started doing voices. I started doing impressions. I did like a cat Williams bit.
I did like a Will Smith something bit. I don't know what I did. But it was like the she wasn't phased. But the waiting room was like, ha, ha, ha, ha.
It was too. And I'm just sitting back like, oh, well, I'm crushing for somebody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't even think I got a call after.
I saw I saw Keenan in the lobby on the way out. And I saw I think I saw it. No, it wasn't Sean. I just saw Keenan.
And he was like, oh, man, what you doing? You coming here to do this too? OK, yeah. And I was like, yeah, man.
But me. Like, you know, that's all I could think of. But then I know that the lady who was doing the camera slash casting, because I know she was frustrated because she was doing double work. And she was only meant to do the camera work.
Yeah. So then she ended up pushing her, which is funny. Because now she is a casting lady. Oh, there you go.
So she can't remember it. But I remember just like her not being into it at all. But now she literally calls me for projects like all the time, which is full circle. But yeah, that was fun.
You know what's weird? I said, sometimes this happens on the show. And it's crazy. I'm actually seeing on my color ID that Cat Williams is actually calling into the show right now.
Hello? Is this Mr. Cat Williams? Yes, it is.
But now wait a minute. I hear this little pimp talking about he's so funny. He's doing this. He's doing voices.
I don't even understand it. But how you doing, Jeremiah? How is your day? I'm doing pretty good.
I don't know if you remember this, but you actually tried to fight my friend, your marnamer's one. Oh, jump, jump. Now that little, that little chocolate biscuit came after me first. I seen him in his timberlands sounding like Dave Chappelle.
And I told myself, I've got to tell his brother, right off what is happening. But no, I did not mean to fight him. He was just he was speaking to the inner demons within my beanie. OK, I got to ask, how are you right now?
Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. If I was hot, then I wouldn't be flying on cloud nine. I would be soaring across this guy's with my toupee.
I am very high right now. OK, this is really weird. I didn't even know that you had a brother. He's actually calling in the show right now.
It says that Rat Williams is calling into the show right now. Hello? That says that's how I wait a while. I just called to say, are you going to be at the next family reunion?
Now you know, mess with our family, right? Because my family is always trying to take my money. So no, I will not be at that family reunion. It ain't nothing but a congregation of people trying to take my coin.
Well, you still owe me $42 rat. It seems I'll care. Here you wreck. Rat.
What is that? I'm cutting out. I think we lost rat. I don't know what happened.
I tell you boo boo now that is what I'm still on the line. OK, Rat. That's the good. Bye bye bye.
All right, we lost Cat and Rat. Man, man, brothers, money got involved. The phone conversation. You can't do it, man.
You can't do it, man. Dude, family, man. Money. Money.
Everyone's all I know, right? It's the only thing we're searching for. That's I like it, right? I got to get it.
I got to get that. That would be funnier. Or that's funnier to me when I see a comedian or an entertainer who's like, why do you do this? Yeah.
Why else? Got to get paid. Like no, I got into comedy for the paper. The paper trail.
No, my dad told me that one time. Because this is probably the funniest, not even the funniest story. But this is just one of the stories that he told me. I was like, hey, man, he's from Detroit, Michigan.
He had 11 brothers and sisters growing up. So it's time's were tough. And I was like, dad, why did you? What is it that I asked him when I first started doing a stand up as an aspiring comic?
Because he's a wealth of knowledge right there. Of course. People are listening to that, man. People are always like, oh, you must be able to get so much information from him.
This and that. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like, no, not really. Me and my dad.
We don't know. Not that we're not close. Because he's not like, my dad has no Will Smith. He's not just going to give me the keys to all of success, like Will does for Jaden.
Sure. You know, like Will Smith is very much like, I want my family to succeed. I want this. I want that.
Like my dad's just like, I got to give my money. But I remember I asked him, I was like, Dad, what made you want to do stand up? I was like, what was the defining moment that made you want to become a comic? And he was like, what?
He was like, defining moment. I was broke. I was like, I was like, OK, yeah. So you broke and funny.
I was like, OK, so you broke. I don't even think he thought he was funny. He literally just went for it. He was like in Detroit.
And I think he said he worked at a factory when he was younger. And then he also did modeling ads in a cigarette magazines and like little little magazines back in Detroit. And he has now his baby boys doing vape ads. Right?
He's like, pops. Guess what happened? I'm the new face of Jewel. Yeah, right?
I'm the new Jewel guy. Yeah, yeah. But no, he literally was just doing that back in Detroit. And then eventually he was like, I guess he just sat back and said, I don't know why he pursued entertainment.
I don't even have that information. But I just said, what made you want to stand up? And he was like, he's like, he made me want to do it. I was broke and I want to money.
And I was like, so you just wanted to be a comic? He's like, who people told me I was funny? So I just went to California. I just thought that was a watchable.
And I was like, that is such a long shot. But I was like, great, you did it. But I was like, that is just irresponsible. I would not recommend that to anyone.
Yeah, wow. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, I literally grew up watching him on Wayne's Brothers. And yeah, he was genuinely one of my favorite parts of that show.
Yeah, no, he's a killer. Oh, no, no, he's a scenes dealer, bro. That's his thing. Right?
Oh, he is. Something else would be going on in the show. He's like, this dude. Yeah, no, he will preach that proudly.
He'll be like, they can't hire me. Because when he put me on the show, I'm too damn funny. I'm too damn funny. And next thing you know, because that literally happened for him in Black Jesus.
That show that Aaron McGruder, who created the Boondocks, also created a show called Black Jesus, which I think season one and two were on Adult Swim. I'm not sure. They did a season three, but I don't know if it's coming out on Adult Swim, or if they maybe got picked up by Hulu or Netflix or something. You never know nowadays.
But he was telling me that literally, because I remember I went out for that. I went out to play like one of the younger guys in the crew and didn't book it. And mind you, I was telling my dad, I was like, oh, you don't go out for Aaron's new project. I knew Aaron over the years because he had done Boondocks on my dad.
And I was like, oh, that's Nike. He's going out for a new show with Aaron. That's great. Good for you.
Have fun. And then three weeks later, he was like, I was like, he was like, he was like, hey, JD, how is that show that Aaron's creating? Because they want me to come in and want me to play a homeless man. And he's just about two, three lines for one episode, but whatever.
And I was like, oh, I was like, look, like being a fun show. I was like, you know, have fun on the show. Because obviously, he doesn't have to audition. They just offer.
Because he's been doing working with that guy for hour long. And then he said that they went and shot the episode. And like, within like minutes of them finishing the day, Aaron was like, hey, John, do you just want to like, eat this character? And we can just write him into the show.
And he calls me up and says, my dad tells me, like, hey, I guess I'm going to be doing that show with Aaron. I was like, what do you mean? More than one episode? He's like, I guess I'm just a series record now.
I was like, I was starting a series regular. I was like, well, congratulations, man. Not like I didn't audition and want to book something. But literally, that's what happens.
He went in. And like, the original cast of that show was like not really a bunch of comics. It was the character who's supposed to be centered around it is the homie, Slink Johnson, Tall, Tall, Black dude. And he's funny, but he's not really a traditional stand-up or anything.
He's just like a funny dude who worked, I think, on a production back on the Boondocks. He was just a funny dude in the room. And Aaron, I think he might have been a writer on the Boondocks or something like that. And Aaron wanted to make a show around this.
And then they used to make skits around it back when the Boondocks had a YouTube channel. Because I remember watching these things. And they made skits around him. And he was really funny dude.
But then he was like, well, let's turn those skits into a show. The show turns into that. And then after it turns into that, yeah, I think they realized, oh, we can't really do a whole show around him and a bunch of not necessarily no-name actors. But I know that Batch was on it.
And this other girl who I think her name is like, Kiki something. I don't know. But it was a bunch of characters who didn't really make you want to tune in. It was like they were more story-driven.
So then out of nowhere, Charlie Murphy auditions for it. hilarious, crushes whatever character. Not even a character who I don't think was supposed to be in it. But then crushes it.
He's part of the cast. My dad goes into play a one-episode role. Next thing you know, they're like, let's just book John, because he's funny. And then they got Corey Holcomb, who's also hilarious.
So you have three comics who aren't supposed to be the center or focal point of the show, who immediately become the main characters of the show. This happens on some shows. Sometimes the supporting cast is sometimes more interesting than the main character. Wait a minute.
A lot of times. Yeah, that happens. So yeah, I don't know. Is it intimidating for you ever, because your dad is like revered as like this staple in the scene, is that intimidating for you as a stand-up to try to break into some of these clubs and stuff and like the road and all this stuff?
Is it daunting ever? I wouldn't say it's daunting. I would say if anything, if anything, it's kind of like, what do you call that? Not a get-out jail free card, but it's kind of like a pass, honestly.
If I wanted to use his name, I probably could be a regular at a bunch of these places. I don't want to though, because I don't think it's like, not necessarily. I wouldn't do it just because I'm like, I don't think I'm even regular ready. I'd rather be like, I'd rather people want me on the show, because I want me on the other show.
But no, I never thought of it as daunting, because I never considered myself somewhat. I never thought to myself, oh, I remind myself of my dad. Well, you guys, we're so different. We're so different.
That's what is hard about some of the other comics. Who follow them? Who want to be their dad? Well, they're stylistically.
Literally, they are their dad. Oh, no, I think that's the worst thing you could ever do. Yeah. You very much should just like, that should be just a reference.
Is that Michael Jordan's son syndrome? Or is it like, oh, your son plays basketball? Maybe that's why I don't want to do it. I think I was no Michael Jordan.
But no, he's definitely a legend, but it's one of those things where I remember I jokingly called him a de-list. I was like, who do you think you are? You old de-list ass dude? He was like, I was like, you ain't no one of the best comics ever out here.
But I was like you ain't getting you ain't in the same breath is like Eddie Murphy. No one's saying that no one even knows you do stand Them consistently still he's like she you like I still get all these people on the road So I somebody knows so but um no I mean I think I think though It's like it's not necessarily daunting as much as much as this one of those things were like I watch Tim And I've opened for him before and done the road with him and hosted on shows One of them and it's one of those things where I like sit back and say well I wish I hope I can be as funny as him yeah eventually yeah I'm but I know I'm capable because I've already like done the done the some of the road gigs with him and crushed just as hard You know sure not necessary, but you know he crushes for other reasons he crushes cuz we came to see him You know we came to see pops we came to see the dad from Friday that whatever granted on the boondocks Yeah, so his jokes are like the icing on the cake It's like I came to just enjoy you and you're this funny cuz he could just be like older dude just be telling stories Yeah, people get away with that on the road. It's like oh this is an S and P or just like yeah I'm happy to be here. Yeah, they're a man an amored So I think it's one of those things where he has the chops to like do all that stuff And I know that I'm capable so I think it's never been daunting because I never wanted to follow it was never like me in its shadow I always felt like he's and he's been supportive like of like whatever you're like that.
I want to do comedy. Yeah, I think yeah You know he I mean he's he's how do I explain he's very hands-off? He's a hands-off approach very like yeah, you do you know he's very much like I can't make you famous I'm not like he's like people always ask me like growing up like oh man We must be easy for you like not if you want to be an entertainer must be easy I'll take right just get you rolls. I'm like what roles are my dad getting that could transfer over to me right?
Like I'm not gonna be able to fill that slot. No, I'm not pushing the 60 to 80 market in my material But like I do like I will be realistic be like well if he does a show and maybe he sees a character that's in my age range He could tell producers. Yeah, he doesn't do that He's just a dad He doesn't you know and like I kind of respect him for that because like it teaches me to not want to like leech off of him or anybody else you just got to make your own way makes you work harder as a performer and like yeah appreciate like Oh, this is like yes, because you get way more validation. I would not feel well That's why I appreciate you have never that's what's crazy me as I've known you for years And you've never brought that up and I didn't I didn't know about it I only mentioned it if someone says what your parents do right and then I awkwardly I'm like come here and I walk you to the front of the store and show you pictures because he's in there Yeah, and that's it's cool.
I like it. I think it's very cool and I you know, I'm proud of him for it But it's one of those things where like yeah, the only time I've the only time that conversation gets awkward is if someone who you can see like like is Like a secretive leech and like yeah, that's the only time it's awkward or if like in high school or in college I had friends who would introduce me like that because they thought it was impressive. I was like don't do that People that's weird. Yeah, people will not they would like use it for them to pick up chicks of course.