Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Aida Rodriguez talks HBO Max comedy special, "Fighting Words," kidnapping, sexual abuse, the Bronx and more!

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Aida Rodriguez talks HBO Max comedy special, "Fighting Words," kidnapping, sexual abuse, the Bronx and more! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: struggle and recovering elected official. Listen to Hello Somebody every
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  Speaker 1: Thursday on the Heart Radio at Apple Podcast or wherever
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  Speaker 1: you get your podcast. My guest is IDAA Reguez. She's
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a comedian, actress, writer and producer. She starts in the
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  Speaker 1: first hour long stand up comedy special, IDAA Reguz fighting
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  Speaker 1: words and I believe me, she's fighting. She she she's
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: doing it to. She's Muhammad Ali. She's all at Joe
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Mark and Joe Fraser. She's Mike Tyson. It starts uh
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  Speaker 1: November four on HBO Max, which I do have and
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  Speaker 1: I have seen. Her special is very funny. Either's HBO
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  Speaker 1: Comedy Specialist based on her incredible life story, which includes surviving,
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  Speaker 1: surviving to kidnappings, sexual abuse, and a period of homelessness
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  Speaker 1: with her children. It's a comedian, then' gonna slide right
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: back to the world. Comedie is a comedian. No holds
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Balled Exploration, No Identity, d and Family a special conclusive
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  Speaker 1: with the documentary of Eida's travels to Puerto Rico and
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  Speaker 1: the Medical Republic. The comedy special Slash documentary celebrates rodriguez
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  Speaker 1: vibrant Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage as cameras capture her
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  Speaker 1: reuniting with her a strange father and paying it forward
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: for up and coming comedians. Please welcome the money making conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Either Rodriguez, good morning. Well either you know, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I on my background is the stand up comedian. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I've done death comedy, jam b T, have done specials,
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  Speaker 1: all that stand up managed Steve Harvey, uh did share
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  Speaker 1: the State Madison Spear many large venues around this country
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  Speaker 1: with him. So from a stand up comedy perspective, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I always tell people comedy is like a one eight
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  Speaker 1: D look at everything. You know, you might be looking
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  Speaker 1: at this way done. We just flip it and that's
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  Speaker 1: where we can see comedy when you might see sadness.
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  Speaker 1: And so your special is kind of like built out
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  Speaker 1: of that. You know, you talk about your journey as
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  Speaker 1: a stand up comedian coming out of the COVID setting
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  Speaker 1: and you're doing in the Bronx. Why did you do
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  Speaker 1: it in the Bronx? And what inspired you to do
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  Speaker 1: an hour loan special? So well, you know that's the
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  Speaker 1: uh that is the playoffs for a stand up comedian
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  Speaker 1: is to actually get a special, an hour long special.
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  Speaker 1: UM HBO has always been the home of UM amazing comedy. UM.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it is a coveted space for stand up
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  Speaker 1: comedy and HBO Max now, which is you know, the
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  Speaker 1: streaming platform that is creating a way for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people. Um, I've always wanted to to be there
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  Speaker 1: and do the great things in comedy that a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people have done, and my heroes like you know,
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  Speaker 1: Richard Pryor and George Carlin and so on and so forth.
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  Speaker 1: The reason I decided to do my special in the
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  Speaker 1: Bronx is one the Bronx is where I was kidding
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  Speaker 1: out from when I was a little kid. My grandmother
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  Speaker 1: took me from my mother, Um while we were in
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  Speaker 1: the Bronx, and my brother was born in the Bronx.
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  Speaker 1: Um and the Bronxes where I lived before I moved
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  Speaker 1: to Florida. My mom and I you know, moved there.
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  Speaker 1: We were on the run with my mother's partner at
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  Speaker 1: the time. But um, I wanted to go back and
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  Speaker 1: so back into the communities that that have sown into me.
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  Speaker 1: I think that many of us, you know, we ascend
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  Speaker 1: and then we go do comedy specials and venues that
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  Speaker 1: our people don't have access to. And so um, I
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  Speaker 1: could have done that special anywhere and where my people
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  Speaker 1: gotta get profiled and when I say my people talking
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  Speaker 1: about people of color, black people. UM. So, when I
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  Speaker 1: decided to do it in the Bronx because I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to bring something to the Bronx, the Bronx was devastated
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  Speaker 1: by COVID. Um. We have had a lot of things
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  Speaker 1: happening in that community, lot of black and brown girls
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  Speaker 1: being kidnapped and for human trafficking, just a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things that have been devastating the community in the last
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  Speaker 1: few years. I always been there, but the last few
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  Speaker 1: years have been worse because it was devastated by COVID
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  Speaker 1: and the economy was bad there. And I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: bring money to the Bronx. I wanted to bring um
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  Speaker 1: and I wanted to the people of the Bronx and
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  Speaker 1: then the neighboring communities to have access to something that
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  Speaker 1: would bring them joy. Well, first of all, super talented.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking to either is comedy, special fighting words as
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  Speaker 1: an erin on HBO Max. When I when I look
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  Speaker 1: at you, first of all, you know you look so's
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  Speaker 1: it's just a compliment too. You know you look first
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  Speaker 1: of all your very tractor and but but it also
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  Speaker 1: looked like you could be my fourth grade teacher. You
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  Speaker 1: know you I've always wanted to be a teacher. So
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: so so that's good. That means that, that means that uh,
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  Speaker 1: that means you approachable, That means that you have a
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  Speaker 1: kind heart. That means that when you seek, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's there's a there's a sense of understanding and sharing
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  Speaker 1: the information. And so when I was watching your comedy special,
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  Speaker 1: it felt like I'm laughing, but you were sharing information
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  Speaker 1: and then breaking it down and educating me at the
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: same time. But we get to laugh at the education
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  Speaker 1: is that's just part of your comedy stylings, I believe.
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  Speaker 1: So I think that I work on not being preachy.
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  Speaker 1: You know a lot of comedians can be really preachy
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  Speaker 1: on stage. I like to come from us the perspective
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  Speaker 1: of I have had such a such a life, and
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  Speaker 1: there have been some things that have been traumatic, some
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  Speaker 1: things have been hard, a lot of things have been good.
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  Speaker 1: I had an amazing grandmother that poured strength into me
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  Speaker 1: um and I just think that it's important for us
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  Speaker 1: who are comedians, wherever we stand on that comedy spectrum,
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  Speaker 1: to be true to ourselves. And so for me, it's
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  Speaker 1: about you know, my favorite comedians are George Carlin and
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  Speaker 1: Richard Pryor, and every single time I watched them, even now,
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  Speaker 1: things that I've watched before, I still learned something. So
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to um. I just wanted to be true
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  Speaker 1: to my voice. And I think that this was an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity where I could just be me and just do
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  Speaker 1: what I needed to do without feeling the pressure or
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the censorship or the or anything from anybody else. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you told a good story, a great story, because it's
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  Speaker 1: a story I couldn't tell idam. So I would tell people.
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  Speaker 1: It's important that when I look as a stand up
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  Speaker 1: comedian or a former stand up comedian, I always fel
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a stand up I don't just tell
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  Speaker 1: you that he's singing blood. It so funny, you should
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  Speaker 1: go back on stage. No, no, no, what you do.
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  Speaker 1: See this is a difference between me and you. I
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  Speaker 1: see you are blessing. You know. God just gave me
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  Speaker 1: the gift to be funny. And in my mind was
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  Speaker 1: always weird. You know, I'll be on State. I was
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  Speaker 1: to be on stage telling jokes and white people be laughing,
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  Speaker 1: And are they laughing at me? Are they laughing at Mike?
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  Speaker 1: That's how weird My brain would go and I realized,
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  Speaker 1: you know, some genre stand ups not for you. And
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  Speaker 1: then thank god, you know, deaf comedy jam came out
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  Speaker 1: and I was able to go on stage and make
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  Speaker 1: my audience to look like me laugh, and I realized,
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  Speaker 1: you know something, I want to be behind the camera.
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  Speaker 1: I want to be a writer. And so when I
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  Speaker 1: look at you, a comedian, actress, writer, producer. So you're
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  Speaker 1: sharing a lot of hats, which also you share on
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  Speaker 1: this special as well. What do you enjoy the most?
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  Speaker 1: I know you have a great comedy special. I'm telling
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  Speaker 1: you right now, I enjoyed your comedy special. You know
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  Speaker 1: you did you more I could not do, which is
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  Speaker 1: a testament to your comedy comedy seals because you have
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  Speaker 1: an eye out there that I will that will Why
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  Speaker 1: did you see that? Okay? But then how does he
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  Speaker 1: have the courage I mean use their work right there,
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  Speaker 1: courage to go on stage in front of strangers you know,
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  Speaker 1: you know special You know in the front row you
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  Speaker 1: got you know, that's your people, but the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the room you don't really know. Okay, so you're going
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  Speaker 1: on the stage doing your thing. Talk about your approach
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  Speaker 1: to comedy item so funny for my special we sat
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  Speaker 1: the people that I knew in the back and put
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  Speaker 1: the strange. We did the reverse because the people that
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  Speaker 1: I'm closest to make me a little bit nervous sometimes
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  Speaker 1: because they know me, they know me so well, So
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  Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to look and see a
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  Speaker 1: weird reaction from someone that I know, because then I
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  Speaker 1: gotta I gotta live with you for the rest of
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  Speaker 1: my life. Um, you know, I've decided. I grew up
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  Speaker 1: in uh in the inner city of Miami. I grew
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  Speaker 1: up in the hood, and part of what we used
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  Speaker 1: to do when we were kids, we used to do
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  Speaker 1: your mama jokes. We used to do roast, you know.
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  Speaker 1: We used to call it uh you know, we used
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: to crack on each other. People call it joning, they
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: call it roasting, they call it all the other stuff.
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  Speaker 1: But that's what we used to do. And when I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: realized that what we were doing was processing our pain
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  Speaker 1: through laughter, that I decided that when I was when
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  Speaker 1: I started writing comedy, I would just channel that and say,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: you know, how do I approach talking about sexual abuse.
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  Speaker 1: It's such an uncomfortable topic. It's taboo. People don't want
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to talk about this stuff, but if it happens so
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  Speaker 1: much in our communities, and I wanted to release people
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  Speaker 1: of guilt and shame. So I sat I sat down
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  Speaker 1: early in my stand up career, and I just made
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  Speaker 1: a decision that I was going to talk about the
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  Speaker 1: things that were uncomfortable because it helped me also heal.
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  Speaker 1: And So my writing process is I write first, and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: then I incorporate the jokes because I think about the
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  Speaker 1: things that I want to talk about. Because I watched
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: other comedians and I appreciate their comedy and I love
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: their stylings, and I watched what they're doing. Um, but
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  Speaker 1: I know that my journey is different. And Tiffany how
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: is just a really good friend of mine. What she
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: does in comedy, she also does processing pain. She's also
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: very physical. She's got a lot of physicality in her comedy.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: She likes to be really silly sometimes, and that is
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  Speaker 1: just not my personality. You just told me I look
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: like a fourth grade teacher, because that's just who I am,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and you know I am. Had I not encountered Chris
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  Speaker 1: Rock behind the scenes, had I not encountered Dave Chappelle
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes, I would feel like I'm not a comedian,
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  Speaker 1: I would feel like I'm not cut out for this.
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  Speaker 1: But the people who I really like respect and then
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: whose style of comedy I like, like Bill Burr, they're
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: just like me. When they're behind the scenes, they're just chilling.
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  Speaker 1: They're not like cracking jokes. They're not on all the time.
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  Speaker 1: They don't need all the attention in the room like
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I have a comic exactly. But you know, the interesting
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: thing about it is that, um, as a comedian, we
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: always trying to get to the next laugh real fast.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: You know, you gotta I gotta hear that joke, otherwise
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: I'm a freak out on stage. You it's more important
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to get your story out in the laugh will be
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: associated with it, but it's really more important to you
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to get your it's a message in your stand up commenting.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I was just telling everybody, you know, I never heard
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of either. It's not a not a negative thing when
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I said, I they you know, but she's just stand up.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I heard about her work that she had done. I'm
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: talking when I say heard seeing her, and so so
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: when I sit down and do I do my due diligence.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: If I'm gonna interview someone as talented as you. I'm
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: not just gonna halfway go through the process and go
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: care you're funny. You're funny. You're funny because I think
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it's because you have you have a craft, and it's
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: a very it's a very key craft, because you can't
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: sing your way out of U bad joke, you know
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You know, if joke ain't going you,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: you just can't suddenly just start singing, you know, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: start tap dance, not what we do with stand ups.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: You know, when that ship started going down, you know
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, that ship start going down, you
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: all suck. And so watching your journey, how did you
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: we talk about that what you decided? But how did
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: you get into stand up comedy? And then when you
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: realize that you know something, I can do this? Those
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: are two questions right there. So I tell you the truth.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I love stand up comedy since I was a little kid.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: My uncle, my uncle David, who's my the youngest of
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: my uncle's. My mother had me really young, so I
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: grew up in the house with my grandmother and my
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: uncle's and my uncle's were you know, very My uncle's
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: gave me hip hop. They gave me comedy. They gave
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: me Bruce Lee, and they gave me most importantly, more
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: important than every anything else, and you mentioned them earlier.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: They gave me Muhammed Ali. So um, you know, I
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: always was fascinated with comedy. I used to grab the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: broomstick to entertain my mom. She said, I used to
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: put a towel over my head and I used to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: make her laugh. Um. I used to sing singing to her.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I used to read, but she's like, I always made
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: her laugh. I always was fascinated with comedy and it
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: was something that I wanted to do, but I wasn't
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: encouraged to do that because women, especially in my culture,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: are never encouraged to do stuff that feels masculine. So, um,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I was doing a My friend had a birthday party
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: and she invited me to come do a roast because
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: she always thought I was funny. And she was like,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: I don't want anybody who's not thoughtful to roast me,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: because I don't want somebody to just, you know, just
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: degradate me, or if I wanted to be thoughtful, and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: so she was like, I know that if you do it,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: it's going to come from a place of love. But
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: She also invited Chris Spencer to do that because Chris
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Spencer and her, um, we're classmates. So after the roast,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Chris Spencer comes up to me and says, write this down.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: He was like the Westwood Brewing Company. And I was like,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: what's that? He said, that's on the open mic. He said, you,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: my friend, are a stand up comedian and you need
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: to because my career just was not taken off as
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: an actress. I'm tall, I'm five ten, and that's just
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: it's really hard and you're tall and not white in
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and let's just keep it real, you know, in this business. Um,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: you know there he got Charlie's there and Sabernie Weaver.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: But it's just been really hard for tall women who
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: are not already famous because of course Tyra Banks can
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: get a role. And so he was like, you should
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: be you should do stand up. You should at least
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: try it, he said. I I could be wrong. He
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: was like, but I know what I know, and when
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I see a stand up I know what it is.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: And I started doing it. Um. I was on the
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: radio some I was talking somewhere and Speedy that invited
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: me to come to Speedy's comedy corner on the on
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the Foxhole, and he also was like, girl, you need
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: to start doing stand up. You you are a stand
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: up comedian. So they had this comedy show that they
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: were doing with the Foxhole in Arizona that was hosted
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: by Bernadette Stanis, who is Thelma from Good Times, the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Queen that I love this woman and she was like
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the epitome of beauty to me when I was going out,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: and so she they I go and do this show.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: And as you would know, when you first do stand up,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: your first show, you always do well right because it's
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: all adrenaline and it's all that energy and all the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: funny you have stored up from your whole life and
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: you just give it to that that first five minutes
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and you think when you walk off there that you
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Richard Pryor absolutely then so you know. So then um,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I go do First Impressions at Chocolate Sundays. Um Pookie
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And my friend who's who had the birthday roast is
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: really good friends with Pooky too, and she said, Pooky,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: you gotta put her on stage. She's a comedie. She's
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: gonna be good, you know. He's like, she's not ready
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: yet and and Leah's like, it's my birthday. It was
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: it was Memorial weekend. She was like, you gotta put
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: her on stage. Three minutes set right. I get on stage.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I my first joke, hits, I get cocky. I see
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Pookie in the audience. I look at Pookie and I said,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: you said I wasn't ready mother, you know what? And
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: then I went back to my set and our bomb
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the I know when you bombed
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: two minutes feels like two minutes is ten minutes. It's like,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: you know, it's like I just melted onto the stage.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more money making conversation with
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: comedian and creator of the new HBO Max comedy special
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: fighty Words Either Rodriguez. It's finally here, the season of celebration,
• 17:36
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  Speaker 1: this season give with all your heart with great gifts
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  Speaker 1: be you and you could be me for just one hour,
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  Speaker 1: for some that feeling lasts more than a moment. We
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  Speaker 1: dot org. Brought to you by the Act Council. Welcome
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: out in machines. This is what Sean McDonald. Welcome back
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: to money making conversations as I continue my conversation with
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: comedian and created the new HBO Max comedy special Fighting
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Words outa Rodriguez, Let me tell me about Chocolate Sunday.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Chocolate Sunday is deep premiere comedy night in Los Angeles.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So she wasn't like at a little side hole and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and this whole comedy club is tied to the whole
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Kevin Hard which is tied to Jeff Clan again, so
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: she was like at the Who's Who Club and on
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Sunday that they call it Chocolate Sundays and sold out.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: You go down there in Hollywood is a line out
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the door every time. So her good friend put her
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: on the spot in the top venue. It used to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: be comed Stories who was right down the street, but
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: just not anymore. It's just the laugh factory. And so
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: she was walking on stage and she directed her little
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: cute little phrase, and my man Pooky, who was a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: nice guy, he shot you by the way, just like
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Kevin Hardy like. And she walked off that stage amidst silads.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I remember one time either I walked off stage to silence,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and then the people started to clap right there go
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: no no, no, no, no, no no. Please give me
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the same reaction y'all gave me for the time I
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: was on stage. So don't suddenly give me energy like
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: you really. If it's to get me on stage the applause,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: give it to them. But if it's just the applaud applause,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: give me that same silence I've experienced. So I know
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: when you walked on stage it was not a good
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: moment for you. How did people People were like, it's
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: gonna be all good good, I love it, And that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: at the moment that led you to acting, still led
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you to writing. But do you like that was the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: moment though when I'm bombed though, And I'm sorry to
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: cut you off, but that was the moment because I
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: did really well in Arizona, that very first show that
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I was on stage. I got enough, I got a
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: standing ovation and I realized I wasn't talking about nothing
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I was. I didn't have a set. I was just
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: on stage talking and they were laughing at what I
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: was saying. And I thought that was stand up. When
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I went to Chocolate Sundays and I actually wrote some
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: jokes and bombed, is when I realized that comedy stand
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: up comedy is an art and a science, and it's
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: not just people talking. There is structure behind it. And
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: that was when I bombed. Was when I said to myself,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I want to do this. I want to figure this out.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: I want to get on that stage and get the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: laughs from beginning to end, and I'm gonna sit down
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna figure out how to do that. Well.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Ricks does not bomb in her special HBO Max Special
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Caricus Fighting Words. No, she's historical and by the way,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: she's five ten, but I gotta complimentar. She has beautiful
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: leg y'all. She wears an outfit when she reminds everybody
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: that she's five ten, it's white, and she is like, now,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: how did you pick out that? If I gotta go there,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: because I looked as I appreciate you asking about that
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: because that often means a lot to me. So the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: designer who made that outfit is a lot Latino designer
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that was on Project Runway who reached out to me
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: on on Instagram and said, hey, I don't know how,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: but he's like, I love you, I love what you
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: stand for, and I want to His name is Celestino.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: He said, I want to make something for you. How
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: do I show up for you? So we talked about it.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: He actually made all the outfits that I wore in
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the special, the ones I wore in the Dominican Republic
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Puerto Rico, and the one I wanted stage. But those
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: cutouts that you see at the top are the cutouts
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of the Taino people and um which you are, the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: indigenous people of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that's my grandfather's tribe. So that's what inspired that outfit. Beautiful.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Now let's go to the documentary side. You know, I
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: don't know if I got sad. You know, your your dad.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: You got to meet him that uncomfortable moment. It was
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable for me watching it all right, when you finally
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: made him, it was do I tug him. Do I
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: opened the door? Do I say, Daddy, what the heck is?
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: What was running through your mind? Meeting your father and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: meeting your father being taped simultaneously? You know? It was
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: it was a chance that I took um. A couple
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of reasons. One, I wanted to have that moment forever,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: because my father is older, and I don't know. I
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: didn't because of COVID and all of the stuff that
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: was happening with his uh you know, him being deported
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and not being able to come here and all of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that stuff. I was like, I don't know what I'm
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: gonna see him again, if I'm gonna see him again,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: but I definitely want to hold that moment because you
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: can't see it when it's happening. You can only feel it.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to go back and see it um,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: which I saw for the you know, it was. It
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: was really painful to watch UM. The other thing is
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that there are a lot of us who have not
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: grown up with our parents, with a parent, a mother
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: or a father, and we have this idea about what
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be, you know, like we had like, oh,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: when I meet my father, we're gonna hug we wanna
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: make up for lost time, and I just wanted to
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: just I wanted to give a nod to a lot
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: of people who have experienced this and just to let
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: them know it's okay. Um. You know, sometimes somebody is
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: not in your life and you know the most high
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: knows the most. And so for me, it was, um,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I wanted to just free a lot of little girls
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: and little boys like me who haven't been around their
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: parents and to let them know that they're not alone,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: that a lot of people go through that and it's
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: okay to feel what you feel. Because we saw I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: didn't look excited and like I'm like I said, when
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I say the word comfortable, it's good, it's good. Uncomfortable
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: because you know she is. This is a sincere moment.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: This is a moment that you know, two ways she
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: could have. She could be dreading this moment and she
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: could be wishing for this moment simultaneously, which is what
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: you leads to like a lot of doubt, a lot
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: of questions. You feel it all in that one moment
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: right there. And even when he sits down, he doesn't
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: know what to do either, you know. And so so
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: you have two people coming into a space. They know
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: their names, but they don't know who they are. They
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: don't know what to say. And that's why it's this
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: special is so good because it takes you on all
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: these journeys. Oh you're gonna laugh a lot at the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Special fighting words. I laughed a lot. I enjoyed it.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: You know, I didn't pause at one time when when
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: when she walked out on stage in the Bronx and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: and announced herself and standing there's five all five for
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: ten of her and the crowd so a lot they
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: standing up for her. The DJ announces her, she come
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: out on stage doing her little dance and all that
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: good stuff, and she dances away and to the Puerto Rico.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: She dances away to the Dominican Republic. And then you know,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: I'm a foodie. Now I kind of got mad because
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: you see them to all that great food, talk about
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the food, talk about the experience that you're going back
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to Puerto Rico. And plus, I'll be remissed she pays
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: it forward, y'all because she has other young comedians on
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the show and just recognize them. They're not doing full sets.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But the fact that she allowed that to happen was
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: a blessing for their careers because a lot of people
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: are gonna watch this special and just being able to
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: tag that because people have to our tifty Hannitch just
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: have to out want the psychists have shaquilled Nilans he
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: to out. You know, even Pooky helt Out her best
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: friend helt Out, so she's always had Chris Special health
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to Speedy healt So she's always had this mindset that
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: if I've been here, I'm gonna help somebody else. That
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: is really the nature of your personality. And I just
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: wanted to say you are good. I'm a fan now.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I may not I know who i Riquez was, but
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I know who she is now and I will always
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: support you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And as you
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: called that list of names, if you make uh, there's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: one distinct commonality in all of them is that they're
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: all Black American people. And I say black American because
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: there are black Latinos to Latin the people, and I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: want to I want to bring to light that. But
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: I just want to say that, haw, did it not
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: been for the Black American community, my career would not
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: have taken off. And the thing is that I'm always
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: going to be thankful for that, and I hope that
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: we can spill that into our my community to learn
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: how to support each other that way and to pay
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: it forward and not to just blow each other up,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: because it's always been I mean, Tama Goings and Valerie
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Bending are the ones that that put me on the
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: shock All Star was the first Latin person to ever
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: do that. Wanda Sykes and Page her With put me
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: all Last Comic Standing. Tiffany gave me my first half
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: hour special, and that has always been something very important
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and meaningful. I grew up in a in a predominantly
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: black and brown community. My high school had two white kids.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Everybody was Latin or black and we and we rocked
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: with each other because it was us against the world.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: You know. We had our beefs internally. Of course, to
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: say that that that didn't happen is a lie, But
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, when we were gonna
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: do speech and debate, it would be us against the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: white boys because we are all we had. And I'm
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: always going to be eternally grateful for the people who
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: showed up for me. Kenna Hart also put me on
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: l O L. He's the first person to bring to
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: put me up on a stage in Montreal for the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Just for Last a couple of years ago. Absolutely, so
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, we can't just you know, exploit
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the black community and then you know, forget about them
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: when we win, because a lot of people do that.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: And I'm always I'm always gonna rock with my people.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: And when I say my people, I say black and
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: brown people because that's really who my people, that's who,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: that's my people. My dear. She's a comedian, she's an actress, writer, producer,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: executive producer. Ida Rodriguez. Fighting Words is aeron now on
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: HBO Max. Uh. It's a comedy special slash documentary. It's travels.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: It's an inside look at a brilliant stand up comedy
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: mind and guess what, she's funny. Thank you all right
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: for coming on my show. Thank you for how with
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: me on my show. And keep doing the good work.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it, We need you and um that's part
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: of my work. My war work is bringing financial literacy
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: to the communities that are like mine and and we
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: gotta keep doing it. So keep doing the good work.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. If you want to hear or
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: see any of my interviews, and Money Make a Conversations.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Please go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I wis
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I am the host. In this season of giving,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Coals has gifts for all your loved ones. For those
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: who like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: blankets and throws. Or support minority owned or founded brands
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: by giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame Moisture. And
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating eight
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: heart this season with great gifts from Coals or coals
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: dot com. Once the last time you took a time out.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: I'm Ev Rodsky, author of the New York Times bestseller
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  Speaker 1: Affair Play and Find Your Acorn Space activists on the
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: gender division of labor, attorney and family mediator. And I'm
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: doctor Addina Rukar, a Harvard physician and medical correspondent with
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: an expertise in the science of stress, resilience, mental health,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and burnout. We're so excited to share our podcast Time Out,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Podcasts and Hello Sunshine, repealing
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  Speaker 1: back the layers around why society makes it so easy
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: to guard men's time like it's diamonds and treat women's
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• 31:32
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  Speaker 1: out with us to learn, get inspired, and most importantly,
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  Speaker 1: reclaim your time. Listen to Time Out a fair Play
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  Speaker 1: podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. We've all felt left out,
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  Speaker 1: and for people who moved to this country, that feeling
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: how it Belonging begins with us dot org. Brought to
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: you by the AD Council