Between social media and cancel culture, the parameters of the comedy world have changed. Comedian and curator Guy Torry joins Panama Jackson to discuss comedy past, present and future on this episode of Dear Culture.
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Panama Jackson [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, Black Culture Amplified. What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to Dear Culture, the podcast for by and about Black culture. I’m your host, Panama Jackson and we have a special guest here today. I’m excited to talk to because I feel like I’ve been following your career. Probably not the entirety of it. I was a little young. You’ve been in movies. I love you, you’ve been on shows I love, you have a documentary that I really enjoyed that I think everybody needs to check out. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your digital hands together for actor, comedian, documentarian, historian, as far as I’m concerned, legendary host, Guy Torry, what’s going on, brother? How are you doing?
Guy Torry [00:00:45] I’m good, man. I’m good. Thanks for having me, man. Good to be here.
Panama Jackson [00:00:48] Yeah, I appreciate. I’m glad you’re here, too, because, you know, funny enough, you are part of two movies that I really enjoy for very different reasons. One, I don’t think it’s enough credit ‘Trippin’ is one of my favorite movies like ever is you know, it’s there is so much comedy gold in that film and I don’t think enough people have seen it. I’ve been trying to find a more Howard shirt for years and I can’t find one anywhere. But also your American History X, which is very serious, and you play one of the most like important roles in that film because you effectively helped change the perspective of a skinheads white supremacist, right?
Guy Torry [00:01:29] It’s funny because ‘Trippin’ is one that I always laugh at because it was it was such a cult classic. I usually get Life and American History X, but Trippin was a very fun project to do when I was hitting a different girl every night.
Panama Jackson [00:01:43] Yep. Do so much. I love that movie. So I literally I have the DVD, I bought it on streaming. Like I tell everybody to watch this movie if they can, you know, they can find it because it’s such a great movie. Anyway, thank you for your contributions.
Guy Torry [00:01:58] I’m gonna have to sign a poster and send it to you then..
Panama Jackson [00:02:01] Oh, listen, I would love that. You have no idea. It would hang up in my house. My wife would be upset. But listen, it’s got to go up. We’re here to talk today about comedy, past, present, future, and specifically because you have a documentary that you helped produce that you’re a part of. You’re the reason why it exists called Phat Tuesdays. It’s the the era of hip hop comedy. Did I get the full title correct?
Guy Torry [00:02:31] Absolutely. I created executive produced it, basically wrote it. And and Reggie Hudlin, the great Reggie Hudlin and directed it.
Speaker 3 [00:02:40] So Chris Rock, Chris.
Guy Torry [00:02:42] Tucker, Martin.
Panama Jackson [00:02:43] Lawrence, Jamie Foxx.
Speaker 4 [00:02:44] Kevin Hart.
Guy Torry [00:02:45] Every week sold out.
Panama Jackson [00:02:46] It was the neighborhood. For the first time I was able to.
Guy Torry [00:02:50] Do Black humor, man.
Speaker 4 [00:02:52] This was really our space.
Guy Torry [00:02:55] And it’s a good piece. It’s a great piece that needed to be done.
Panama Jackson [00:02:59] I’m so glad you said that, because that’s why I want to start. Why did you feel the need to create this documentary to begin with?
Guy Torry [00:03:06] Well, you know, I created the Phat Tuesday night back in 1995. Right. And it was really just a showcase of Black comedians that we weren’t getting a shot. Once the Rodney King riots hit and once the comic theater kind of lost its luster, it was the first Black comedy club in the country, basically in South Central Los Angeles, but we weren’t getting the looks from Hollywood. So I create this night at the world famous comedy store on Sunset Boulevard to do the showcase. And I did it for like ten years and it went away. And then, you know, I was on a plane, ironically, years later with Michael Blackson and we’re talking about comedy and talk about he said, Man, I miss Phat Tuesdays. These young comics don’t know how important that night was. And I didn’t really realize it either until he said that a light bulb went off. And I said, well, you know, I’m a hoarder like my mom. So when I got back to L.A., I went to, you know, the crates, and I start seeing what materials I had. So I had low VHS tapes and old three quarter inch tapes of shows that I shot. And I had a certain literature on Tuesdays that I had written notes to the years, and I started putting it together, asking people about Phat Tuesdays and the comedians, patrons and even, you know, the fans of Phat Tuesdays and business owners used to come were saying how much they missed it, and there’s nothing like it anymore and that story needs to be told. And so I started getting all the materials and started shooting things on myself, myself. But a friend of mine at the time, a Bishop Moore well, we camera guy become a director and we went and started to interview and that’s how important it was to comedians. I was like, Wow, okay, I have something here. So I kind of worked on an underground for like nine years. And then about three or four years ago, I talked to my agency’s office. After I put the sizzle together, the presentation for those who don’t know what a sizzle is. And they were like, Wow, you’ve been sitting on this and the rest is history. Innovative artists really got behind it, my agency, and we went Ham on it.
Panama Jackson [00:05:07] You know, one thing I really loved about it was how much history that you portrayed. I mean, it’s about Phat Tuesdays, but it’s how you got to Phat Tuesdays in the first place. And so I’m not from L.A. I’m 43 now. So I grew up largely in the Def Comedy Jam era. So but I didn’t know anything about the L.A. comedy scene and how essential it was to creating, I mean, stars out of all these. Like, I’m one of those people who watches all the Black movies stars, much like I watched the three strikes. I watched any anything that has like three Black people as the starring character. I watched all those things, and it seems like a ton of them got their start in the L.A. comedy scene. So what was that like in the early nineties? And I’m assuming L.A. was kind of like the central point for all of this, or I guess the late eighties, actually late eighties and early nineties. Like what was that scene like for you all back then?
Guy Torry [00:05:58] Why did you start comedy until 92? That’s when I moved to L.A., as a matter of fact, 30 years ago this week is when I packed my little hooptie up from Saint Louis, Missouri, grabbed my college roommate, White, and we drove to L.A. He got me drive to L.A. and he flew back. And that was 30 years ago this week, the last week of August of 1992. So the scene was kind of desolate for Black comedians, you know, the comedy and theater, which was this this kind of a comedy that Robin Harris the great late Robin Harris made famous was not what it used to be because he had passed on and the riots had happened. So it was kind of a ghost town. But at the clubs on sunset on sunset was popping not for Blacks though. It was poppin’ for white comedians and Jewish comedians and they and they were just having a ball and it a way to see, you know, a brother in there or sister in there and every once in a blue moon. So and we weren’t seeing any industry presence, you know, in the hood in South Central coming to see us. So that’s what made me take the hood to Hollywood and showcase us. And at that time, you know, comedians weren’t in L.A. when I heard about Phat Tuesdays, and this is before social media. There was no social media. I didn’t have money for advertising, any of that. So when comics, you know, would come to L.A. that we’re from L.A. They would stay an extra a day, know if they left on Sunday a monday, they say over Tuesday. So and I will let them do Phat Tuesdays. But the comics who lived there, they’ve got kind of carte blanche and go back to their city, to New York or Chicago or Atlanta or Houston or Miami, like, yo, man, Guy got this Black room in L.A. at the Comey Store poppin, when you go out to L.A., you’ve got to get on. And they were talking about who was in the audience. Everybody from John Singleton, rest in peace, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington and Prince, they’ll all come. So it was it was a chance to be seen by your by your peers, by the Hollywood elites, and also all the agents and managers will flock to it as well.
Panama Jackson [00:07:55] Before we started recording, we kind of, you know, I made a comment about like Black comedy or comedy in general. But you made it. You made it. You made sure to point out that there’s a difference between comedy and Black comedy. And I think that kind of plays all into what Phat Tuesdays was about. What what were you even talking about? So what’s the difference between just Black comedy and comedy?
Guy Torry [00:08:16] Black comedy is completely different from regular comedy. Black comedy is, is, is, is loud and not in a bad way. But it’s loud, it’s emotional, it’s expressive, it’s bold, it’s edgy, it’s unfiltered, it’s unapologetic. It’s all of that. And that’s what we need to be be heard, especially back in the nineties and before we had to be boisterous like that because we wanted to be heard. And Def Comedy Jam, which I call Moses, you know, took a lot of brothers to the Promised Land because it put that style of comedy on the map. That’s what inspired Phat Tuesdays. There would be no Phat Tuesdays without Def Comedy Jam. And it’s but that’s what Black comedy is. A Black comedy is different because one of the reasons why had to create back to these two was because because we weren’t allowed in the white clubs, you know, we could do comedy in the hood and but if do comedy, especially in South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood and Long Beach. You got you got gang bangers coming to the show. And when it comes to the show, they’re heckling, they think their funnier than you. So you gotta you gotta stand your ground and not be taken out by any heckler. But then when you invite a heckler who a gangbanger, it’s a slippery slope because you want to kill them. I mean, not literally, but you want to kill them on stage with jokes, but not too much because you get killed in parking lot. So many Black comedians got beat up, stabbed, approached after lightning, two or shot Lightning took a game making a crazy comedy show. So you do a comedy under duress at the Comedy Store on Sunset. A lot of those guys didn’t come, you know, to Beverly Hills or to West Hollywood or to Hollywood because they had warrants. So you could do comedy north of of Wilshire Boulevard was kind of the Mason-Dixon line for, you know, hood and Hollywood, you can come there and not do not need and not have that pressure. But that’s what makes Black comedians so aggressive and funnier, because we had to do it with our life on the line literally a lot of times. So there’s a difference between Black comedy and white comedy and our comedy is just so Black people need to laugh the most. That’s why we come to comedy clubs the most. We’ve been through the most shit. And comedy purifies the air and laughter is healing. You know? And so comedy heals and take your mind off the bullshit America puts us through. Or I was going to own the whole neighborhood. So that’s why Black comedy is so different from white comedy. And no whack on white comedy, it’s just our comedy’s better.
Panama Jackson [00:10:48] I agree completely, you know. What is it like creating I mean, you went back to go check out all of, you know, looking at the footage and realizing everything that that you all had done. That you had done. That you created. I mean, taking us taking a look back on that. Like you created a movement. You created a space that based on what I even seen it, what I saw in the documentary, like everybody came through, I mean, celebrity, regular people, celebrities, like everybody was there. And when you take a look back on that, like, what was that feeling like, realizing what you created and how important it was to the culture, to the future for tons of artists, just for everybody who had an opportunity to experience?
Guy Torry [00:11:30] Well first of all, it was an assignment from above. There’s no way I could have done that on my own. There’s doors that God opened that I had no idea was even there because I had only been doing comedy for three years. That’s not a Phat Tuesday, right? I started in 92 doing standup and started back to that in 1995. I had never ran a business before, never hosted a comedy like my own night before. I was clueless. I was naive. I was young when I was hungry and just wanted to help out. So, you know, someone told me, you know, on one of my posts about Phat Tuesdays, I was given all credit to, you know, the man above. And they said, look, when you do something to heart. You know, and you do it selflessly. God will meet you there. And he definitely did that. So everybody did come to Phat Tuesdays. From icons to excons. From hoes to regular Joes. We had, you know, everybody was at Phat Tuesdays from the from the elite to, you know, people who worked the door at certain places. So it didn’t matter. Everybody came to laugh. And that’s what made Phat Tuesday so special that you could you could be a regular person and sit and be in a booth behind Prince, or Denzel or Magic Johnson or Shaq, or Kobe, they all came to Phat Tuesday and it was like a cookout, a Black family reunion mixed with the BET Awards every Tuesday night. It was poppin man. And it was great to perform in front of your peers but also had these comedians, man who were up and coming and the veterans who came through. You had Cedric, who was new to L.A. from Saint Louis, and he was making a name for itself. He’s come to bless the stage. My brother Joe Torry had made a name for itself already and was blessing the stage. Dave Chappelle. Chris Rock would come through. Eddie Murphy would be sitting in the audience. Richard Pryor would come through. So you had these these giants in the audience, man, you know, and people like Reggie Huliand, who was the director come seeing you and like, Hey, I like your work. So it was it was a blessing of an assignment. And I’m glad God chose me to be able to conduct this this this chaotic, beautiful symphony.
Panama Jackson [00:13:40] So, yeah, that’s actually one of the more one of the things I enjoyed about the doc especially was hearing like I’m watching celebrities, people that I know with love and grew up watching all the I mean, watching Chappelle and and Chris Tucker and all these all these all all of you talk about the other famous people that used to come in there and be present. Like, it’s just amazing. It seemed like the kind of place that everybody would have wanted to be. But interestingly, you mentioned your brother, Joe Torry. And I think that’s one of the really interesting parts of the doc, too, is, for one, I didn’t know anything about you all’s relationship, right? I knew I knew Joe Torry, I’m a huge poetic justice fan and I knew you knew Guy Torry. I learned so much about you all’s relationship both from you all talking from everybody else talking. And I kind of wonder for you like. What was it like delving into that relationship and talking about it in I don’t know how often you all talk about your relationship. You know, your brother seem like he’s like that very much that that that old guard Black man when you really talk about the emotions too much and stuff but I imagine you all are family. I’ve had those conversations like, what’s it like digging into that relationship through the guise of comedy and the things that you all were doing together but separately in the same space?
Guy Torry [00:14:52] Well we don’t talk about our relationship to each other. You know, we talk about it with our siblings and, you know, mutual friends and things like that. But, you know, it was tough. I knew I had to have him in the documentary. He’s part of Black comedy history. He’s one of the pioneers of the Def Jam era. You know, he’s the host after Martin. But he was in that first season, the first couple of seasons as a performer. And you can’t talk the history of Black comedy, especially the early nineties, without talking Joe Torry.
Joe Torry [00:15:24] Roaches in a hotel. Bullshit. I came in late one night. Roach sitting on my bed in the bathroom. Smoking a cigaret. Talking about you got some messages?
Guy Torry [00:15:37] I had to put on my producer hat and as a filmmaker. I had to do it. Personally, I didn’t have to do a damn thing, but as I had to take my personal feelings and put them to the side and I had to put on my producer hat and and my filmmaker hat and say, hey, he’s important to this story. And, and it would be a crime not to have him in this documentary in regards to how I feel about it personally. And he was great at it and I know would get emotional as it did. But it did. And and Reggie was like, Reggie Hudlin, who directed it, did a great job. A lot of Bond films. I mean, they both were just like, Wow, that was gold. And it wasn’t like, I am a great actor, you know? But that was an acting that was just real raw emotion that, you know, that came out. Seaking of, because that you could I bury it so deep, you know? And then at that at that time, it the suppression just it just came out at that time. And it’s always tough to talk about because when someone starts off as you’re your mentor and you’re you’re, you know, you have them on a pedestal and, you know, you’re the reason why they’re doing it, because they inspired you. And then that relationship turned sour. It’s painful to talk about. It’s painful to relive, is painful to think about. But, you know, Reggie Hudlin being the great, you know, director he is, I was I wasn’t. Don’t tell him to leave it in or take it out because he’s a director. Who am I to tell the great Reggie Hudlin what to do?
Panama Jackson [00:17:14] Yeah, I got to say, it was compelling, man. Like watching it. It was really I don’t know, it was something to see. Like, if there’s there’s a lot to take out of the documentary. Obviously, the history of Black comics in L.A. history, Black comics in general are, you know, the third the third episode is largely about like even women, like, understanding the role that women were able to play it and how much ensuring that women had a space to to perform. Right. Because obviously sexism is everywhere. Right. Sexism is everywhere, especially in comedy, too. But seeing you all’s relationship, having a space, it was I’m just saying it was as somebody who grew up on both, ya know, we all are and not knowing anything about it, it was really I learned a lot and I’m appreciative of what I learned a lot.
Guy Torry [00:18:00] A lot of times, you know, it’s taboo in the Black community that we don’t air our dirty laundry, you know, that, you know, Black people are real. Let me tell you, a family business man, I give a damn about those rules. I’m a I’m a speak and and I want to be transparent and and and I want to show people that that them family fight. Family fight. If this is just what happens when you’ve got to, you know, brothers, brothers, brothers, and they broke into personalities and it was older ones, younger and and, you know, the both alpha males, you’re going to believe it. It’s going to happen. You know, and and is it you deal with it?
Panama Jackson [00:18:42] Absolutely. We’re going to take a real quick break here, dear coach. And when we come back, we’re going to continue more with Guy Torry talking about Phat Tuesdays documentary. I want to talk about the culture of comedy in L.A. now and standup comedy in general. And we’re going to talk about social media and how that impacts comedy. So stay tuned right here on Dear Culture.
Speaker 3 [00:19:01] theGrio. Black Podcast Network is here. Everything you’ve been waiting for. Black Culture Amplified. Find your voice on the Black Podcast Network. Listen today on theGrio Mobile App and tune in everywhere. Great podcast are heard.
Panama Jackson [00:19:20] All right. We’re back here on Dear Culture. We’re talking to Guy Torry, who has a documentary called Phat Tuesdays that’s about Black comedians in L.A. but in the culture in general, because if there’s one thing that you learn watching this doc, it’s how much this that that that era, how much this event, how much this weekly night spawned so many careers. And at least that’s my take. That’s one of my takeaways from it. How many people that I saw there went on to do amazing things and how many people showed up for this documentary, which speaks volumes about how important it was. What is the. We’re the ok so Phat Tuesdays ends in 2005. Were there any sibling or offspring of Phat Tuesdays after that? Did people try to build up new comedy shows or weeks or days or anything like that? What happened after?
Guy Torry [00:20:07] I mean, the people who showed up for Phat Tuesday was amazing because we shot during COVID. We shot doing that when everything else was shut down comedy clubs weren’t even open and everybody had to get COVID tested every day that we had to do on site we only had a limited amount of people to have on set at one time and a lot of people just afraid to come out. You know, we lost some people who we really want to interview because they were just too scared to come out because of COVID. And and but it was the perfect time, too, because a lot of comedians were home. Normally they’d be traveling on a movie set, on a TV set, and we wouldn’t have access. So because we shot during COVID, the comedy store was closed. So it was easy to get in the Comedy Store and shoot there because they were open. And then it was easy to have access to a lot of comedians because they were home, they were grounded because of COVID. But, you know, the people, we didn’t get, there’s a lot of people I really want it. But, you know, I’m in I’m a God fearing man. My mom is a prayer worrier. Her candales see lights are amazing. So I was like, Look, Ma, light them candles and whoever or whoever you want in this documentary, you put in it because I wanted everybody. But of course, you can have everybody, you know, you have people, you know, you have list. When somebody else writing a check, you kind of got, you know, a bunch of things. You got to, you know, hurdles and hoops you got to jump through. So I just said, Lord whoever you want in this documentary you put in it. Well, we don’t you don’t want the. No, put it in. And I’m not I didn’t take anything personal from people who passed it just it wasn’t their thing. And I mad at them at all. I passed some things sometimes, so I appreciative that they even got back to me and is appreciative, very appreciative to everybody who came through. It was like, Hey, I hope you tell this story. So that was just an amazing thing to have that that love come back. I forgot the question you ask me.
Panama Jackson [00:22:02] Yeah, well. Well, I’m curious what happened after after Phat Tuesdays in L.A. comedy scene or, you know, are there a bunch of other show nights and things like that that people did in other places, like what happened after?
Guy Torry [00:22:15] So Phat Tuesdays started a ripple effect. Phat Tuesdays was really the first successful urban night Black night in a in a room, a white comedy club, a mainstream comedy club. So when those comedians I spoke of earlier would come from Miami and Cincinnati and Chicago and Dallas and New York and D.C. when they would come to L.A., Phat Tuesday and saw what I was doing there at the comedy store which was a white club. Basically, they go back to their season start. They’re own urban nights because the Phat Tuesdays first and then the improv started, you know, I mean, Freaky Mondays that was another white club in Hollywood and improv the chain for those you know, have some of your have improv in your city or a funny bone.
Panama Jackson [00:22:58] You know I’m in D.C. We have one.
Guy Torry [00:23:00] Of my favorite clubs, the D.C. Improv. Oh, I love that club. But but they started urban nights because the improv saw how much money they were making after modeling their night after Phat Tuesdays. And then the Laugh Factory started Chocolate Sundaes Chris Spencer, Corey Zoo Miller started at the at the Improv the freaky Monday spot and and then it just started a ripple effect. So you start seeing these you start seeing these urban nights popping up in white clubs all over the country. And I was happy because I’m like, now Black comedians have in a room to go work out because sometimes, you know, people if you’re not in the main club, especially white people, they don’t they don’t consider you a real comedian. And that’s what I got when I got to L.A.. Oh, you know, when I got see at the Comedy Store, Laugh Factory, improv like I that and they look at you like, oh, when you ain’t doing comedy then, if you just in the hood and we ain’t coming there. So it was it was cool that these other these other nights started there and it was a competition. I would promote the other nights, you know, chocolate sundaes. You know, I will promote Mo Better Mondays, they never promoted me. But I didn’t care. It was about the culture. It wasn’t about a competition. It was about the culture. So I made sure that if people want to see comedy on a Sunday night, they go down the street to the Laugh Factory with Chocolate Sundaes. I don’t see comedy on a monday night. They go two miles over to the Improv for Freaky Monday. Now Mo better Mondays, now D Ray Mondays. So every week, you know, every night, almost had night. Kim Whitley and Bobby Lewis start it Wednesdays called Whacked Out Wednesdays on a Wednesday night. So now you have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, for comedy in a room because the week is they were putting up, you know, the white headliners and everything like that. But yeah, it started a whole revolution now, the Comedy Store, there’s no Phat Tuesdays, but there’s a Trippin on Thursdays now, which is an urba night, which is in their smaller room, the belly room where Phat Tuesday started. But there are other nights that came out. The Phat Tuesday is at the Comedy Store Trippin On Tuesday, Jeru Tillman, who was the executive producer of Are There Comedy started to. To a good friend of mine who had broken Phat Tuesday, a good chance to have a good rest in peace. He started tripping on Tuesdays at the Comedy Store on Tuesday night, and that ran for a while. So, yeah, there were there were kids and grandkids of Phat Tuesdays.
Panama Jackson [00:25:32] That’s amazing. And it’s amazing to have created something that has such a strong legacy that you have to tie things back to where it came from. And and I do think that without this documentary, maybe people wouldn’t even realize that, right? Because, again, I’m I’m 43, grew up on a lot of these people. But I didn’t I didn’t even know about it. I wasn’t in L.A. then. I never got to L.A. until the 2000. I didn’t even know anything about this, and I just didn’t know anything about the scene. So, you know, from a historical standpoint, I learned so much. And it’s going to it gives me a perspective on all the things I do know now. All the all the places I have been, the comedians I have seen, because they’re all they’re all in the documentary talking about being there and their own futures and things like that.
Guy Torry [00:26:11] So and so many more. We didn’t get a chance to talk to that, wanted to talk to, but we had limited time, limited, you know, budget and and only a limited amount of spots. But there’s more Phat Tuesdays is is a franchise and it’s not stopping just have the documentaries all those comedians who didn’t get a chance to be in this first season of Phat Tuesdays would definitely coming to get you for the others and what what what I love about what the that would affect was a documentary did was it inspired this new generation when I go to New York and I go to other cities and a young comic, I saw your doc I had no idea OG. I didn’t know. Thank you, man. You inspired me. I’m a start, my own comedy night. And so I’m getting that a lot. And for these new generations to see where, you know, comedy was and where it is today, which leads us to our next topic is what comedy is today and where is going on in the future.
Panama Jackson [00:27:12] Yeah, perfect segway because I have a couple you can’t talk comedy nowadays without talking cancel culture and social media the way this new like new. A new crop of comedy. And I’m curious, I mean, as somebody who grew up watching the the old comedy specials of the nineties and stuff like that, I remember I still remember where I was and I saw Chris Rock’s Bring the pain. The first time I was there with my parents was very awkward by the way. Do you think this kind of cancel culture? I guess. Do you think that’s a real thing? Like, is it impacting the way comics do business nowadays, do you think?
Guy Torry [00:27:50] Fuck Cancel Culture. Cancel these nuts, all right cancel that. God can cancel me, I can cancel me. My fan base is strong enough to like if y’all a’int rocking with me not my fan base but those who don’t like something I may have said off color. Then my fan base will support me. And here’s the thing, preferably my fan base to support me. Here’s the thing about cancel culture. Somebody can have a whole career. You can be a fan of somebody their whole career. Right. And they’ve done great things in the space. They’ve got great things for the community. Done great things are charity work and everything. And they say one thing that you don’t like. You like everything else they did for years. And the one thing that they don’t is you don’t like that one joke or one comic that may have offended you. You wanna cancel everything they’ve done their whole career, the sacrifices they make, the food they put on the table for the kids. No one’s perfect. We’re going to say some things off color. Remember, comedians are dark, twisted fucked up individuals. All right. We come from dark places. Our comedy is our mask. That’s our way of coping with the dark and the pain we have on the inside. But sometimes, guess what? That darkness is going to come out. We’re going to we’re going to say something of color that we may have misspoke or misstep or whatever, but it happens. You’ve done that in your own life this period. People that you’ve got, you people period. So to cancel my whole career off of that is ridiculous. Especially when they’re doing such great work in the community. So you stop that. You stop that flow. When they have kids to feed, you stop that flow. And pretty much we police ourselves a lot. But every once in a while, even the police fuck up, Well, I take it back all the time police fuck up. So? So. So. The whole cancel culture need to stop. It needs to stop.
Panama Jackson [00:29:48] So do you think it’s actually negatively impacted? So I ask this question because so for instance, you know, Aires Spears stuff did recently with the whole his Lizzo comments and things like that. But and there’s always this discussion, kind of it’s like a cloud is always present. But I always wonder if the people like is this impacting comedians or I guess artists in general in a way like your fan base, for instance, you have a you have a fan base and they’ve been rocking with you for however long. They, you know, they attend the shows that come to the shows. Do you think people aren’t coming to your shows now that because of maybe something you may have said or do you think people aren’t coming to folks shows? Because it seems like a lot of the people that speak about it the most are still doing fine, and maybe it’s because they have a big enough fan base where it’s okay. But, you know, I guess I just wonder and this is a conversation we always have about cancel culture. Is it a real thing or is it something we’re creating by talking about it more like, do you see it having an impact at shows that are being done and stuff like that?
Guy Torry [00:30:48] Well, if I say something off color. Which I have and which I robably will do. You know, I’m an emotional guy and a sensitive guy any comedian that tells you they’re not emotional or not sensitive is a liar or not a little bit narcissistic. They’re a liar. We’re all kind of narcissistic, all kind of emotional, all sensitive. A lot of us can take it and we can’t dish it. I mean, we can get it, but we can’t take it, you know, and we hide it. We mask it. But inside we hurt, too. You know, is this how well you can mask it or, you know, if you can only pretend for so long, you know, in a lot of situations, so is cancel culture, man. In my humble opinion, I could be wrong on people who. Jealous. Maybe you didn’t follow your dream. Maybe I figured out the gift God gave you and you’re not winning. It’s your gift, you know? And. And. And now you just want to make someone else’s life miserable. A lot of times, when we say some off color, most of the times there’s no ill intent behind it. There’s no malice behind it. We just have a weird way of looking at the world. We have a twisted sense of humor, and sometimes most times you love it, but you’re not going to love it. Every time I start my show off with like, Look, I’m unfiltered. If you sensitive, this a’int the show for you. That’s those are my first words out of my mouth. Everybody’s not going to make me it was not gonna be a fan of Guy Torry and that’s cool and you’re not a hater. You just don’t like my brand of comedy and I’m not mad at you for that. Comedy is subjective. If everybody liked my brand of comedy. I would sell out stadiums, but I get that it’s a it’s a certain amount a certain niece and if you ever see my live. You know come see live and see my live. Don’t go online and watch me. Most of that stuff I didn’t put out there anyway, but come see me live and make a determination, you know, at that point. So cancel culture just needs to stop. But look, none of us are perfect. Only perfect. And it this earth was Jesus. And if he disobeyed his dad and his mom and went to the temple, you know, and ran off. So let’s just stop with, this cancel culture crap, man. And I haven’t given it any thoughts at all. I’m I’m the same comedian that was were the same vile, potty, filthy, unfiltered, unapologetic mouth I had in 1992. And I’m not stopping.
Panama Jackson [00:33:19] Fair enough. What is your take on the current social media has created what seems to be like an entire new crop of of content creators. And I’m not even sure that I’ll call themselves comedians, but there’s a ton of funny content online, right? It’s I mean, everybody people find ways to be funny in 3 seconds and 2 minutes. I mean, it’s amazing. It’s like everybody’s a sketch comedy artist nowadays on on on social media. Like, what do you think that says about the future of comedy? Like, there’s clearly a different line between standup comics and content creators, right? And people who are doing this stuff online, which, you know, maybe lead to the same place in different ways. I mean, opportunities and TVs and movies and things like that. But like, how do you feel about social media content creators in that lane of comedy in and where that’s taking the comedy, the comedy?
Guy Torry [00:34:10] Every era in standup comedy has its portal its way in. You know, it used to be the late night talk shows back in the sixties and seventies. And, you know, and then the eighties came and you had the comedy specials and things like that. I had Def Comedy BET’s Comic View that was our portal. And now this new portal. It’s social media and a lot of the old heads in my generation, generation before me. A lot of them don’t. They kind of look down on, you know, this new generation, which I embrace it. I’m like, look, this is their new portal. This is where comedy has gone. And you’ve got to respect it because that’s a different skill in itself to be what these millennials and and people in my generation do who adapt or adopting it and adapting to the new system. And some of the Generation Y and all the other generations, X’s and R’s and all that other stuff, what they’re what they are doing to me is incredible that to do a funny sketch, I don’t care if it takes 300 takes or whatever to do it right. They’re still creating their own opportunities, which is great. They’ve been able to to find another way in and, and I think it’s great. I’m still trying to figure it out. You know, so I applaud, I applaud this new generation of comedians. And if you and Bob Sumner, I will say that name Bob Sumner, who booked every comedian you ever seen on Def Jam, basically called them social medians. And if you ever hear that term anywhere else, it came from Bob Sumner. But but that’s correct. Term for social media, because all them don’t do stand up. Some are just social medians. They are on social media. Doing comedy doing is not stand up, but a sketch comedy or it’s whatever it is, confessionals, whatever. It’s funny. I laugh at a lot of it and I applaud it. I applaud it now. The ones who do cross over into standup. What my generation and before this wants you to do is get the reps that get on stage and master the art of stand up. Then you have the best of both worlds because a lot of these social medians are crossovering into stand up, which is cool. Come on. You know I a’int mad at you’re not taking any dates away from me. So, come on. But. But, but be be true to the game and study the craft and get those reps in those states. Even when you’re not getting paid, put the work in, put the time in. Because what happens is every time I’m on stage, I feel like I’m carrying the torch for live stand up comedy. So I’m trying to make sure my show is a thousand percent, that I’m a go all in balls to the wall because I want the experience to be great. And because you never know who’s coming to a comedy show for the first time in your life. And I want to convert them into a regular stand up audience, a live comedy audience, so they can come next week and see my man Tony Roth, or the next week see Joe Torry or the next week and see Miss Pretty Ricky or next week to see Carlos Miller, Cederic the Entertainer, DL. I want to keep coming to see live comedy. So what’s happening is some of the social medians aren’t ready for that stage and someone and they’re headlining and they’re coming and someone’s coming to a comedy show for the first time. And their first impression of live standup is somebody that a’int ready somebody supposed to do 45 to 50 minutes to an hour and after five or 6 minutes. They shot their load, they’re done. Now they’ve got another 45 minutes of bullshit. And that’s somebody’s first impression of what live standup is. And that’s not that’s not a good impression. So we just want them to get the reps in so that they can keep the club open for us when we come in and show ’em. And that’s why I try to I try to talk to this young generation. I’m on the road, man, a lot. I see a lot of young Black talent out across the country, man, that I talk to the Black ones, I talk to the Black comedians and tell them what they’re doing wrong. If they’re welcoming to it some, I’m like, Oh, you know, I’m old. OG This is, this is a new school. But the ones who embrace it, you know, DC Young Fly years ago was one of those young guys who used to ask questions. Hey OG, what, what’s the premise? OG What’s this? OG And somebody like that who, who studies the game and want to learn the game, then you’re like, Okay, okay, yeah. I’ve got these jewels for you because Chris Rock and Joe Torry and Martin Lawerson and TK Kirland and Yvette Wilson and Adele Givens and Ricky have they did it for me when I was coming up. So I have to pay it forward and I have to and I have to put the jewels out there. So Jews will say and they’ll make sure I pronounce my ls jewels. And so for the young comedians, so I can preserve the future of Black standup comedy, I want to do my part.
Panama Jackson [00:38:59] That’s appreciated because there is definitely. You notice like I watch a lot of social medians and as as as as you say. And then I have gone to comedy shows where those same people are on stage. And I’m always impressed by those who can transition from doing a five minute video. That’s hilarious that you can tell they put a work in and then go stand on stage and perform and give you, you know, some real quality material in there. Like, I’m I’m always I’m always appreciative of that.
Guy Torry [00:39:27] My agent, Tamara Gomez, is a comedy goddess, the innovative artist. You know, she said it’s funny because when I when the whole YouTube thing started, they did some test runs with the YouTube comedians. They said it’s easy to take a comic and make them a YouTube star, but it’s hard to take a YouTube star and make them a comic.
Panama Jackson [00:39:50] All right. Well, we’re going to take a one last break here and we’re going to come back with two of my favorite segments here on Dear Culture, which is our Blackfessions and our Blackemdations we’re still here with Guy Torry. Stay tuned. All right. We’re back here on Dear Culture with Guy Torry, and we’re going to do some of my favorite segments. Before we get that, I do have one last question for you. As somebody who’s been in the game for a long time, who’ve seen a lot, who’s responsible for a lot of things happening, I’ll be curious if you can give me, let’s say, five of your top Black comedy cultural moments.
Guy Torry [00:40:33] I knew that I had had to start with Flip Wilson because he was one of the one’s first Black guy comedians who had his sketch show, you know, The Flip Wilson Show. So that was very important and very impactful because it it showed the world that we can do sketch comedy as well as standup comedy. And that era where he was doing it was groundbreaking. And that’s what inspired Richard Pryor when he had his variety show, The Richard Pryor Show, which, of course, went on to inspire, you know, In Living Color, The Chappelle’s Show and all of that. So and Flip Wilson, I would have to say I was I would have to say Eddie Murphy, you know what he did on Saturday Night Live and your starting and stand up and then going to Saturday night, SNL, you know, making that groundbreaking. He wasn’t the first Black to be on there, but what he did with it as a standup comic, you know, Garrett Morris was on there as well, was also a standup. But Eddie Murphy took that to a whole nother level. And then he took comedy to a rock star.
Unidentified [00:41:35] Let get going again.
Guy Torry [00:41:44] He made standup comedy, you know, in arenas and big theaters with the leather on. And he made it. He made it sexy. He made it fashionable. So I say this Eddie Murphy alone and then transferring over into film is just incredible. And then a producer and it’s just crazy. Def Comedy Jam groundbreaking. It inspired. Like I said earlier in this program, it was a moses took a lot of brothers to the Promised Land. It took Black comedy and put it in white people’s living room because it was on HBO, if you remember. And a lot of Black who didn’t have cable, a lot of Black areas didn’t have cable television. So the ratings were high because white people were watching. So it gave you it. It took Black comedy with Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan and Bob Sumner standing weren’t what they did was were they? They put it right front and center in white living rooms and and that was groundbreaking to me. Phat Tuesdays. I got I got to, you know, give Phat Tuesdays that should out because it it brought the hood to Hollywood and it’s this it was an extension of everything I named before because we started doing sketches at Phat Tuesdays as well. So so that that’s when the Flip Wilson era and and, you know, the Def Jam era. And then I got say the Kings of comedy. Kings of Comedy took comedy to back to that rock star level that Eddie Murphy had started. You know, I was the first host of The Kings of Comedy tour. It was me, Cedric, Bernie, Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, may he rest in peace. And I was I was young. I was doing comedy five years. I’m like the prince of The Kings of Comedy tour I wasn’t a king but it was just a great ride and that was groundbreaking you know and I had that those a couple of our honorable mentions I know you said 5. I got to do Queens of Comedy Queens of Comedy showed that women are funny, too. And they can and they can hold and sustain, you know, a tour on their own. So that was great.
Mo’Nique [00:43:48] A sister will get the last word on your ass baby. We can be in a goddamn coma. We gonna say our shit. LIke bitch don’t you say nothing else. HmmmHmm.
Guy Torry [00:43:58] And then I have to say Comic View. You know, comic view was Def Jam, but for the family. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 5 [00:44:07] I let my girlfriend set me up with a man. She said he was a sugar daddy ogre. He’ll sugar daddy. He a sugar man and had no money to swee n low daddy.
Guy Torry [00:44:16] You know, you sit down with your kids and watch these comedians because this is wholesome entertainment. So Comic View gets an honorable mention, which is inspired by Def Jam and the queens of comedy, which was inspired by the Kings of Comedy. So those two are more mentions, but those are my top. If I say top seven, my top seven greatest moments or impactful moments in standup comedy, for me, in my humble opinion,
Panama Jackson [00:44:38] I ust thought of this last question I’m going to ask you before we get into the other segments. While you were talking, what’s the thing that you’re most proud of that you’ve been able to do in your career? Because you’ve been you’ve seen so much and you’ve been around for so long. You’ve been a part of so much like is there is there something that stands out above everything else that you’re most proud of that you were able to accomplish through your career or through the things that you’ve done?
Guy Torry [00:45:03] 30 years I’ve been in this business, all the movies I’ve done, all the tours I’ve done, all the TV shows, I’ve done all the standup shows I’ve done. Even Phat Tuesdays and all the legendary people I’ve met in this business. The most thing I’m most happy about and glad I was able to do was my brother and I buy our parents a house. Was move them out of the hood and say, y’all need to retire, Joe and I will buy you a house. And to be able to return that that gift. Hands down, beats anything that in Hollywood has ever done for me. So people if you are in that position. To take care of your parents as they thank you parents who never ask for a thing. My parents never asked for anything but just don’t embarrass us. Don’t embarrass them and keep God first. There’s only two things they’ve ever access.
Panama Jackson [00:46:02] That’s a very Black thing for parents to say don’t embarass me.
Guy Torry [00:46:07] But. But, yeah, but that was it. So if you’re able to be in that position to take care of your parents, man, it’s the most fulfilling thing you’ve ever you will ever do in your life.
Panama Jackson [00:46:18] All right. Well, we’re coming to a close in this show, but we have two last segments that I want to ask you. We ask every guest that we have. We’re going to start with our Black session, which is a confession about your Blackness, typically something people wouldn’t expect. Some people don’t. Some Black folks don’t like chicken. Amazingly, a ton of people have not seen The Color Purple or Friday. It blows my mind. But do you have a Black question?
Guy Torry [00:46:39] I call it guys got a gripe. Guy’s got a gripe. Blackfession and it’s with. We we cry about white privilege all the time. And yes, a lot of white people have white privilege, but we don’t speak about Black privilege. And my gripe is the Black people about Black privilege.
Panama Jackson [00:46:58] Okay?
Guy Torry [00:46:58] Privilege and Black privilege is because as a Black owned business, you expect a free handout or a discount. Negro, please. Just because you’re Black and I’m Black, why does I have to give you a discount? Why can’t you support the Black business? Support it with a lot of business that we could given out of somewhere for free. I would support you and my comedy shows. I don’t mind giving out free tickets. It’s okay sometimes. But when you’ve got the same people every time asking for free tickets, I’m a support to you. I’m only for ticket. I’m supporting you. You want to pay for the ticket? I support you. I don’t mind sometimes, but every time if I offered us one thing. If it offers them one thing, a Black business owner. A lot of times I get offers. I’m afraid that. No, no, no. I want to pay. I want to support. Because you got to stay in business. I can afford to. God has blessed me with enough income to be able to support your Black business. Now I’m going to support every Black business. No, because from your answer, I am going to be honest with you, some of you back with us a little bit as well. But if you’re doing Black business well. I’m a support period, but it got to be something my life. I’m not going to adjust the course. But my problem is my gripe is my my Black passion is look. Support Black people may quit looking for handout hook up because we both Black you know the struggle yeah I’m struggling because you’re Black and so guys got to drive each other’s equipment for a god damn handout.
Panama Jackson [00:48:39] Fair enough. I do the same thing. I have a friend who has a restaurant, and every time I go in, a good friend of mine, he’s always like, I’m gonna give you this because, like, brother, I want to pay the full price. Because if I don’t pay the full price, then you’re gonna go out of business, right? So stop giving people. I tell them all the time, stop giving people discounts. If we love you, we go pay it. Because that’s the price you put on the menu item. I paid off several.
Guy Torry [00:48:58] Some of these Black busineese, Black restaurants some of yall need to be giving your food away for free because, talking bout momma’s recipe, well momma couldn’t cook.
Panama Jackson [00:49:09] Don’t get yourself in no trouble. We just talk about cancel culture. We just talked about it. All right. Well, the last thing we’re going to do is a Black commendation, which is a recommendation about something for buying about Black people, Black culture. Do you have a Black commendation for people?
Guy Torry [00:49:26] A hip hop comedy than seen it yet. You’ve got to see it. It’s a part of history. It’s a part of our culture. And not only that, though, is this not some people have told me, man, I watched it three times. I’ve watched it two times, man. I tell other people about it. And that’s what we need to do, man, is is start watching each other’s projects and films and documentaries about Phat Tuesday. I recommend it highly, not just because I’ve done it, but some of your favorite comedians that you grew up on or you enjoy today are in this documentary. They’re in this documentary, so it’s on Amazon Prime. And when you watch it, make sure you rate it. If you liked it, send it out and then say you like it. Three stars. Four stars. Five stars. Thumbs up, thumbs down, whatever. But just go rate it. And that’s how it stays on the platform. It stays on prime. And so just watch it over again, promote it, tell people about it and tell me what you like about it. Follow me on Instagram Tory G-A-Y to our our way and tell me what you thought about the documentary and what you think about this interview. And if you’re in a city where I’m coming to come to my show, come see it live. All right, come see it live. There’s nothing like live stand up comedy. Got to show the best damn comedy show, period. And I’m the only comic that travels with a guarantee when you come to the Got to a Comedy Show. If you don’t have a good time. I’m always in the lobby after the show. Come up to me with your ticket stub and say, God did not laugh. I would take you back to the box for myself. And I was told astonished. There’s no referral. Ditto as artists.
Panama Jackson [00:51:05] And I can appreciate that, brother. I genuinely do. And I got an echo what you said about the documentary. Like genuinely I enjoyed it. I watched it multiple times because I’m a I’m a Black history person and I love Black storytelling, hence dear culture. Hence being here at theGrio, having a podcast that’s about Black culture, like I genuinely enjoyed it and more people, everybody needs to see it, especially if you’re into Black comedy. But even if you’re not, it’s about Blackness and it’s about a Black era, it’s about Black culture. And everybody needs to take a.
Guy Torry [00:51:37] Look and stay tuned for the book because there’s so many rich stories that we didn’t get to or had to cut out. And stay tuned for the Phat Tuesdays podcast. A lot of comedians you didn’t hear from that want to be heard from, and we’re going to address that. So the Phat Tuesday podcast coming soon and the Phat Tuesdays book comes off.
Panama Jackson [00:52:02] That’s awesome. Well, thank you, Guy Tory, for taking some time out of your busy day to tell us about your documentary. Give us your opinions about some things. Give us some Black fashion, Black Monday for your contributions to the culture. Like genuinely you’re appreciated. Plus, like I said, you’re part of one of my favorite movies of all time trippin that everybody also needs to see. You got quotables on quotables. So thank you so much for for your time, for your gifts.
Guy Torry [00:52:28] For your patience as well.
Panama Jackson [00:52:30] You are appreciated, sir. And before we get out of here, I have my AC here, who is the host of writing Black with Mr. Chi, one of the other shows in theGrio Black Podcast Network. One of my favorite people, you know, we just got finished talking to Guy, Tory, noted comedian, somebody who’s been around forever, kind of. We talked about the past, the present and the future of comedy. And I know you recently had Sam Jay on your show, who was a name on TV and comedy and everything. What was that like?
Maiysha Kai [00:53:01] You know, I would definitely say Sam Jay is really giving us an authentic glimpse at the current state of comedy. And I would say that she’s the future. I really you know, she’s she’s such a character. I think, you know, we’re so used to seeing her be such a character. She’s such a big presence on her show. Pause with Sam. Jay, if you’ve seen Bust Down as well, she’s just like her. Her sense of humor is just I mean, it’s out of control. She actually, you know, I found her to be really transparent, really grounded, really, really. One of the things that was really cool about talking to her, she was so introspective. I mean, we always talk about, you know, obviously there’s two sides of comedy, always, you know, these deep interior lives that really feed this this sense of humor. And she really gave us a lot of that. So it was a really cool conversation to have. By the way, you’re one of my favorite people, too, so thank you for that.
Panama Jackson [00:53:55] Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that warms my heart. And speaking of warm heart. No, not at all. I know you also recently had a superstar from My World. I’m a Black movie that.
Maiysha Kai [00:54:09] Yes, you. It’s a.
Panama Jackson [00:54:10] Movie. Cinema. Cinema, Celeste. What I specialize in in Black cinema. And Omar Epps I just recently talked to is a superstar in that world by by all accounts. So what was that like?
Maiysha Kai [00:54:22] Yes, I did. And, you know. Yes, Omar Epps has been on our screens. I mean, you had Guy Torry. This is, you know, been on our screens at least as long as guy story. Right. You know, we’re talking juice. We’re talking The Wood, Love and Basketball list goes on. You know, I was just watching him on Power Raising Kanan last week, so, you know, he’s he’s doing the thing. But I did not know that he’s also an author. I mean, or he is now. So, yeah, he’s he’s doing kind of this like Afro futurist Y-A fantasy called Nubia. That is I mean, just I really didn’t expect this is kind of this multilayered kind of utopian or dystopian fantasy, which, you know, is really something we’re seeing a lot of these days. We’re seeing so many people walking in these footsteps that had been laid so long ago by like Octavia Butler and, you know, people like that, you know, you’ve got an Amazon, you’ve got, you know, just so many folks in this space right now doing really dope stuff and really kind of placing us in these landscapes that we have not traditionally seen ourselves.
Omar Epps [00:55:36] We were at this book convention at the Jacob Javits Center, and there’s like hundreds of kids lined up, you know, on this one line. And I was like, Well, what’s that for? And they were like, Oh, that’s the young adult sci fi. I forget the author’s name, forgive me, but they’re like huge in the space. And the people I was with were like, Explain it to me. Like, you know, they’re a rock star, these kids. And I was like blown away and like, wow, kids still read books. And so when I went to the hotel that night. It was the light bulb moment. You know, of Nubia, the Awakening. And like I said, it’s been sitting in my head and it. Was just something a voice was tapping me on the shoulder, say, Hey, it’s time to unearth this and figure it out, because there is an audience for it. And they they are rabid, they’re dedicated. They’re they’re loyal. You know, I didn’t I didn’t know that, you know, in this particular form.
Maiysha Kai [00:56:31] So that was exciting that it was really it was really dope to talk to him. He’s a very, very thoughtful he’s a lot of ideas. You know, he’s kind of like you have got a lot of ideas. And yeah, I really I if folks have a tuned in to that episode. Yet. I highly recommend it because you really get this total different perspective on Omar Epps.
Panama Jackson [00:56:56] I was going to ask you, but I guess we have to we need to tune in to the episodes to find out because I’m so he’s right and why books in and.
Maiysha Kai [00:57:03] I mean yeah he’s a collaborator. Well, you know it could be it could be for all you know. I mean, you know, this is Omar Epps, so we could just see this come to the screen soon, because that seems to be the trend these days as well. A lot of a lot more books making it to screen these days. You know, he didn’t give me too much on that. But I do think that this is intended to be the first of many if he can kind of get this thing going. So, you know, I’m excited. I love you know, I love a multifaceted talent. So very cool to see that he’s doing that.
Panama Jackson [00:57:38] I’m sure you do as a multifaceted talent yourself. I’m sure you do. You can see that other people, you know. So that’s one. He wrote a book about Phatherhood, right? If I’m not.
Maiysha Kai [00:57:47] Mistaken. Now he did. You’re right. You’re right. So I guess you’re right. He was already an author. He had written a memoir on fatherhood. And I think it was actually called From Fatherless to Fattherhood, kind of chronicling his own experiences growing up without his Father in his life and how, you know, that is informed his entire life and now his life as a father. So, yes, my dad on that. Yes, he was already an author. But we all know there’s a world of difference between talking about your own world and creating a new world. So I did not expect this turn from him. I mean, I would have expected, like, you know, a true Hollywood story or, you know, something along those lines. But this is dope. I mean, you know, I think I like to see more of this. I love seeing us kind of stretch into these new I can’t say it’s new for us. Afrofuturism, you know, has been longer around as long as Black folks have. But seeing us be visible in those spaces. I’m here for.
Panama Jackson [00:58:46] It. I agree. Completely. Completely. And I love that. I love that. Artists that you wouldn’t typically see in these spaces, showing up in new places and hopefully being successful and, you know, brilliant in those spaces as well. So that’s really like I’m looking forward to checking out the episode and what he’s got going.
Maiysha Kai [00:59:05] Yeah, I think the book is really a manifestation of a lot of like spiritual beliefs that he holds. So again, if you are an Omar Epps fan, I highly recommend the episode, highly recommend the book, because you will see a totally different side of this much beloved actor.
Panama Jackson [00:59:20] Where can the people find this episode with Omar Epps now?
Maiysha Kai [00:59:24] You know where they can find it. They can find it where they can find all of our amazing podcast talent at theGrio on theGrio, Black Podcast Network, or anywhere else you find your podcast.
Panama Jackson [00:59:36] Absolutely. So that’s writing Black with My Sky. One of the wonderful podcasts that we have here on theGrio Black Podcast Network, along with my So Dear Culture. That’s right. And theGrio Daily with Michael Harriot and a bunch of other podcasts like Acting up with Cortney Wills. Like we have a bunch of podcasts here that are dope that I can’t wait for everybody to fully experience because we’re doing some amazing Black work here. It’s amazing work. That’s very Black. How about we put it that way?
Maiysha Kai [01:00:05] I think that’s exactly how so many podcasts, so many personalities.
Panama Jackson [01:00:09] Absolutely. Well, thank you, Mysore, for sharing a little bit about what you have coming up a little bit about the conversation you have with Omar Epps. You’re much appreciated. Everybody listening is much appreciated. Thank you so much for for tuning in, for sleep, walking with the kid, for listening and hopefully enjoying some of these podcasts we have here. You know, please send all criticisms, suggestions, emails, scams, lottery scams, anything that you have to podcast at theGrio. Rt.com Dear Culture is a is an original podcast of the Real Black Podcast Network and is produced by Sasha Armstrong. It is edited by Cameron Blackwell, the logistic associate producer. I’m going to get that right. One of these days is Tassie senior and Regina Griffin is our managing editor podcast. So thanks for tuning in. Thanks for checking us out. Stay Black.
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