Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Howard Alum, Leonard Robinson, speaks on final season of "Insecure," Nick Cannon's Wild N Out, joining Omega Psi Phi and more!

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Howard Alum, Leonard Robinson, speaks on final season of "Insecure," Nick Cannon's Wild N Out, joining Omega Psi Phi and more! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Walkom with
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  Speaker 1: Mind making conversation to your host with Sean McDonald was
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  Speaker 1: time to stop reading other people's success stories. I said
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  Speaker 1: that all the time every episode, and start writing your own.
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  Speaker 1: You have to understand it's about you. It's about your efforts,
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  Speaker 1: about your planning, and people always talking about the gifts
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  Speaker 1: and on purpose. I always tell people, if you have
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  Speaker 1: a gift, lead with it and don't let your age, friends, family,
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  Speaker 1: or coworkers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
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  Speaker 1: On my show, interview celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and people I
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  Speaker 1: like to call industry decision makers. My next guest is
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  Speaker 1: a graduate of an HBCU Howard University, Leonard Robinson. He's
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  Speaker 1: an actor, writer, stand up comedian and has a degree
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  Speaker 1: and Management Information System boor You can be employed anywhere
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  Speaker 1: in this world with a degree like that. This year,
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  Speaker 1: Leonard is currently appearing on the fifth and final season
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  Speaker 1: of HBC Execute HBOS Insecure, where he's required his very
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  Speaker 1: popular character the Emmy winning HBO comedys Insecure Errors. Every
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  Speaker 1: Sunday night, ten pm Eastern Standard time, nine pm Central,
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  Speaker 1: We'll be talking about Leonardar's career pursuing acting, writing and
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  Speaker 1: stand up Lendards the company member of the Ground Lanes,
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  Speaker 1: famed Sketch Comedy and then prol True and also as
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  Speaker 1: a cast member EMPTVS from my board Nick Cannon's Wild
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  Speaker 1: and Out. Please Welcome to money making conversation from Howard
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  Speaker 1: Universe to Hollywood. Letar Robinson, How are you doing? Certain?
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  Speaker 1: How are you doing? Brother? I'm gonna meet you well,
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  Speaker 1: you're up Connecticut and then that's where that's where it
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  Speaker 1: all started, right, Yeah, Originally I'm from Danbury, Connecticut, spent
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  Speaker 1: a little time in Tokyo, and uh went to Howard
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  Speaker 1: and really kind of found myself and found my place
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  Speaker 1: and purpose over at Howard University, and and then moved
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  Speaker 1: to New York, came to Los Angeles and and now
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  Speaker 1: I'm here. Well, you know, literally I gotta slowly? Does
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  Speaker 1: he just ran through your whole life? Man? Your life
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  Speaker 1: is really interesting. You got judo in your background, you
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  Speaker 1: got rastling in your background. You didn't want to get
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  Speaker 1: into that whole aspect until you got to college. So
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  Speaker 1: slow it down, you know, because that's what this show
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  Speaker 1: is all about. Because your your your resume proves to
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  Speaker 1: be that people expect certain people to do certain things
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  Speaker 1: when they are hit in that direction, and you altered
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  Speaker 1: that direction. Why did you alter the direct? H? Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, growing up in a small town like Danburry, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of outlets for people who want
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  Speaker 1: to act and be creative in that space. And also
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  Speaker 1: I had parents, you know where where that that was
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  Speaker 1: unfamiliar to them. So it's hard to encourage your children
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  Speaker 1: to do something you're unfamiliar with, and so I dabbled
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  Speaker 1: in it as much as I could in UM in Danbury.
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  Speaker 1: But I actually got into you know, very active in sports,
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  Speaker 1: very active and wrestling in judo and and for a time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that was that was my focus. Uh. But
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  Speaker 1: when I went to Howard, uh you know, wrestled a
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  Speaker 1: very brief time at Howard UM. When I got to
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  Speaker 1: Howard also you know, majored in business. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's years and years of not necessarily pursuing my
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  Speaker 1: passion and what I wanted to do. However, I think
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  Speaker 1: all those things I did in between, or or the
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  Speaker 1: reason why I'm able to keep doing what I do now,
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  Speaker 1: or reason why they you know, that makes me successful.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the this plan and and focused I learned
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  Speaker 1: training for wrestling and judo. It's the same kind of
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  Speaker 1: discipline and focus that I bring into acting and entertainment. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, some not everybody who wrestler could act, you know,
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  Speaker 1: just like everybody wrapp can sing. So you just talented,
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  Speaker 1: my brother, Let's go, we can throw that focus in there, Leonard.
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  Speaker 1: But you got talent, Okay, let's go appreciate, let's go,
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  Speaker 1: let's go. I like to separate people and give him
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  Speaker 1: credit because a lot of people want to just slide
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  Speaker 1: that well, you know he's focused. You know, well he
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  Speaker 1: can run for a touchdown. No, now, that guy who
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  Speaker 1: ran for that touchdown, that's his skill. That's just that's
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  Speaker 1: his blessing. That's that's what enables him to be great.
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  Speaker 1: And then in reading your your resume and your bio,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like my degree was in mathematics, my minder
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  Speaker 1: was in sociology. And I went to work for IBM,
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  Speaker 1: and everybody thought I was gonna, you know, live a life.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna live a life and as
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  Speaker 1: a career as an IBM executive. And but then I
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  Speaker 1: realized that wasn't me. It was realized that you know,
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  Speaker 1: it was it was it was it wasn't creative enough
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  Speaker 1: for me. I think that was my turning point. I
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  Speaker 1: really lines that I was going to be boxed in
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  Speaker 1: one day and I was not going to be happy
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  Speaker 1: with my life. Was was that a similar tone with you? Oh?
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  Speaker 1: I mean my father worked for IBM over twenty three years,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, you know that's why we spent a little
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  Speaker 1: time in Tokyo. Was transferred into transferred Tokyo for three
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  Speaker 1: and a half years. So it was it's in my
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  Speaker 1: it was in my blood, just to you know, be
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  Speaker 1: familiar with computers and business. So you know, my undergrad
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  Speaker 1: was in Management Information Systems UM. I ended up programming
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  Speaker 1: and doing systems administration work out of college for a
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  Speaker 1: little bit. And the story I always tell is I
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  Speaker 1: switched to a small boutique consulting firm and I was
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  Speaker 1: doing a lot of back end programming, you know, making
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  Speaker 1: websites basically is the short of it. You know, all
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  Speaker 1: the all the engine that runs a website that you
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  Speaker 1: don't see, and working long, long hours. You know, an
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  Speaker 1: average was fourteen hours a day. And it was one
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  Speaker 1: day where and a project had stopped and we're waiting
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  Speaker 1: for another project and I had we had nothing to
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  Speaker 1: do for weeks, and I was literally banging my head
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  Speaker 1: on the desk saying, what am I doing here? This
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  Speaker 1: is not what I'm supposed to be. What do I
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  Speaker 1: need to do? And about the fourth bang I just
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  Speaker 1: popped up. I was like, I can quit. And it's
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  Speaker 1: much a simple thing. But you know, for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people, you get put on a program, you get
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  Speaker 1: on a put in on a path, and you think well,
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  Speaker 1: this is what I'm supposed to do, you know, I was.
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  Speaker 1: I went to Howard University, I studied business, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a pledge to Mega SCIDE five became the bost lust
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  Speaker 1: of our chapter. I served uh Undergraduate Supreme Council. Like
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  Speaker 1: I was very Everything I was doing was related to business.
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  Speaker 1: It was it was about you know, organization and leadership,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, it was something I had an aptitude for,
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  Speaker 1: but I didn't have a passion for. So even even
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  Speaker 1: through out all that, I was always you know, in
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  Speaker 1: addition to you know, the funny guy, you know, cracking
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  Speaker 1: jokes in the office, or I would take acting classes.
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  Speaker 1: Uh and you know, after work, I'd go take an
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  Speaker 1: acting class. And that's where I felt more alive, That's
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  Speaker 1: where I felt more in line. But I had already
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  Speaker 1: invested so much time into doing something else. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: think that there was an alternative until side I can
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  Speaker 1: make that choice and say, no, I'm gonna make this
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  Speaker 1: choice today, and I'm gonna you know, I'd rather put
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen fourteen hours for myself and figure this out,
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  Speaker 1: then put in another fourteen eighteen hours for some other
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  Speaker 1: company to you know, to make them successful. You know,
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  Speaker 1: It's really interesting because then when I was reading your bio,
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  Speaker 1: because a lot of your qualities with similar to eyes.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when I was a freshman in college, I
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  Speaker 1: looked at managing information system as an option. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's a degree option that eventually just wound up in
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  Speaker 1: mathematic I went through civil engineering and then chemical engineer
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  Speaker 1: and didn't wound up in mathematics and minded out of sociology.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, when you're doing these things, he's a man,
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  Speaker 1: that's an African American. You know, you're just trying to
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  Speaker 1: get out. You're trying to just deal. You're trying to
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  Speaker 1: fit in. You're trying to fit in the white community
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  Speaker 1: as well, because you're trying to get that nice house,
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  Speaker 1: that nice car, and this is the way we've been
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  Speaker 1: told you can get there. And so when you start
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  Speaker 1: altering that, like you said early in the interview, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people don't understand Leonard that, Okay, you know
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  Speaker 1: what a stand up comedy does to make money. They
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  Speaker 1: understand what the engineer does. They understand what a bank
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  Speaker 1: teller does. But with all what I told my family
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  Speaker 1: and friends, I was gonna leave to pursue a career
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  Speaker 1: as a stand up comedian. I couldn't even tell him
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  Speaker 1: how it's gonna make money, Okay, but I do that's
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  Speaker 1: what I wanted to do. You know what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about learning. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: just know that's what you wanna do. You're gonna throw
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  Speaker 1: you have a plan of action, you have a passion
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  Speaker 1: that you're driven to. But then again, you know we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about insecure, But you've been on n C I S,
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  Speaker 1: n C I S, you know, Los Angeles, You've been
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  Speaker 1: on Young Shelton. So your resume is not just tied
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  Speaker 1: to the interview that I'm bringing you on the shore
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  Speaker 1: about that success allows you to go back to your family.
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  Speaker 1: Your friends really under stood why you made that decision.
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  Speaker 1: How did that How did it look at you? Now? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's it's funny because for years, my mother would
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  Speaker 1: always say something like, well, you know you can when
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  Speaker 1: time's got when times got hard, and I would tell her, like,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you know, it's a little rough out here right now.
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  Speaker 1: You would always say, you know, you can go back
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  Speaker 1: to grad school, and I was like, for what like
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  Speaker 1: and it would just be years and years of that
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and but now you know, people you know, I think
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: jay Z said something like when you first come in
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the game, they try to play you, then you drop
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: a couple of hits. Look how the wave to you? Right,
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  Speaker 1: That's kind of where it is right now. Like now
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  Speaker 1: it's you know, there's no way I can go get
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: a job and anybody's corporation doing I T work. I've
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: been out the business. I've been out that business too long.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I have no idea how they do things. Um, you
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: know today it's it's something that I would you know,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: maybe have a thirty minute conversation with somebody about them,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: like oh that's interesting, cool, and then go boun go
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  Speaker 1: about my business. Um so yeah. I mean when you
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: when you make when you do things that seem impossible
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: or try to do things that seem impossible to people,
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  Speaker 1: the first instinct, I think is to call them crazy.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what I experienced. You know, when I quit
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  Speaker 1: my job and I laughed, a lot of people called
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  Speaker 1: me crazy. Well, a lot of people have thought you
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  Speaker 1: crazy when you played to make Its Out Fire. You
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  Speaker 1: know a lot of people thought I was crazy, you know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: because they were going, why why, why? What was the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: rational there guying that? But I would tell you this.
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  Speaker 1: It changed my life. You know, I'm gonna get to
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  Speaker 1: be just on this conversation. I was just flowing through
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  Speaker 1: college with no direction, uh, Leonard and and and I
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  Speaker 1: just I saw a goal. I saw I needed to go.
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  Speaker 1: I needed a platform where I could um start start
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  Speaker 1: moving my life forward. And when I played Still make
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  Speaker 1: its out of fire and moved my life forward and
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  Speaker 1: got me into the community. And it changed my whole
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: perspective and the values that I have by pleasures in retern.
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  Speaker 1: That's why always recommend people whatever turns you played or
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: whatever sarder you pledge, it could be a blessing if
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you understand why you did it. Why did you budge
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: fraternity and that paternity of churche was'll make us out fire? Well,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I I come from a long line of black Greeks.
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  Speaker 1: You know. My my great grandmother, Um Jesse Halfcock, founded
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  Speaker 1: a chapter in in Dayton, Ohio. She's a building named
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: after her at the University of Dayton. So there's a
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  Speaker 1: long history a k s on that side of the family.
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  Speaker 1: My father was a Kappa, my my my uncle is
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  Speaker 1: is an Omega from Fisk And Um that was just
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: kind of not really a question for me to be honest.
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  Speaker 1: As a kid, I saw always saw my uncle's brand
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: on his arm, and I just I was just like, yeah,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I want to get one of those. I don't even
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: know what it was. You didn't have the diamond, he
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: didn't have the diamond. Yeah, I mean yeah, I had
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: my dad been branded, I might have been a capital.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know now, but you were something you weren't right.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: But look, there was something about about the Omega's that,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: you know. My first week on Hampus, I went to
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: a I went to a mega party at Alpha chapter
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and at our at the frat house, and I stayed
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: all night. I partied like I was one of the brothers,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: and I said, I don't know what this is, but
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I need to be part of this. And then, as
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you know, you do more research and you get more
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: into it, You're like, oh, well this is way more
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in line with you know, what I think my values are,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: what I think my principles are, and so I'm gonna
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: strive to that. And some of my best friends you
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: know still to this day, you know, are from that era,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: my line brothers and and other frat brothers and and
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: just aside on you know, my path into entertainment. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I credit one of my chapter brothers, Buddy Lewis UM
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  Speaker 1: eighty four Alpha chapter. Yeah, well you no, Buddy then
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  Speaker 1: Buddy Buddy, when I was in undergrad, UM kind of
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: set me up and gave me my game plan because
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I came out to Los Angeles to visit the Conclay
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and stayed with him for a day and he took
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: me around and showed me how, you know, what his
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: life was like as a stand up And when I
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: went back to Howard, I still had about a year
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: and a half left, but I knew I wanted to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: be an actor, and He's though, he was the only
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: person I knew and that was in an entertainment business,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and he gave me basically the foundation UM that I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: needed to to create my own blueprint on how to proceed.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: And without his mentorship early on, UM, I don't you know,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I probably still I probably would be an actor. Today,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: we'll be right back with more money making conversations with writers,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: stand up comedian and actor and HBO's Insecure Leonard Robertson,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: It's finally here, the season of celebration, and no matter
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  Speaker 1: This is what Sean McDonald. Welcome back to money making conversations.
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  Speaker 1: As I continue my conversation with writer, stand up comedian,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: and actor and HBO's Insecure Leonard Robertson, when I think
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: about what you're doing, you know, I thought about when
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I was looking at your resume, not just so stand
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: up comedian, and I realized was I did death comedy?
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Jam I did Dame Chappelle, Very spears of course it
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: was hosted by Martin Lawrence, and there were there were
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: were not when we were on stage, and when I
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: went on stage, I didn't have any restrictions in my
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: mind set, you know. And I see how stand up
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: has been shaped by a culture and some of its rights.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Some of we should be much more sensitive about how
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: we what we say in the ramifications of how people
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: perceive it, because people can take what you say and
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: shape it to their own personal narrative. How as as
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: as a as a as a working and acting stand
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: up comedian, how has that affected you as far as
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: stand up or maybe maybe not it has affected you
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: as a stand up? Um, you know, it really hasn't
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: affected me that much because most of my comedy is
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: is very personal. It's it's really just I'm really just
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: talking about me and things that affect me. I think
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: that I think that oftentimes we can stand ups want
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: to step into somebody else's conversation, right because we see
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: something that's funny or we see an angle. But you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you don't need to pick up every every fight, every conversation.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: You know, you can just let's let somebody else carry that, right,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: That's that's all I'm gonna say about that. You know,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I don't well, you know, I want to get into uh,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: you know, being a comedy police or whatever. But just
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: just know that sometimes you can talk about some topics
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in some areas that affect other people deeply and it's
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: not your fight. Well you know something, I'm not don't
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: even guiding you into this conversation learning about being a
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: comedy police. It is about certain things of having a
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: certain amount of freedom that I had in ninty two
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: that today I would have to think about that joke,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that is that joke worth? It is that joke worthy,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the consequences that might come out of it, you know,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and uh and and and so now you know, we
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: see it's impacting various comics over the last five to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: ten years who have been who have done jokes in
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: that nature that affected their careers as well as how
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: people perceive them as a talent moving forward. And my
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: whole thing, it didn't affect me because, like you, I
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: was always talking about my lifestyle journey, my personal I
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: never went into social areas of concern and nature is
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: like that. But it is different though, but doing stand
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: up comedy is different today. Would you would you would
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you agree, Well, outside of just stand up, I mean,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the world is different right now. You know, people are
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: becoming more educated and and more informed on a lot
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: more issues than they had to be in the past.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And with that requires a certain amount of growth on
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: your part as the artist and new creative. Two. Understand
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: where the world is right now, the temperature of the world,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and decide are you gonna grow with it or are
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: you gonna draw a line in the sand and say
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I want to stay right here and keep saying these things.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: You know, you see it politically, Uh, you know for
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the last couple of years, the whole America first, bring back,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: bring back the good old days, what it's like. Well
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: when you say things like that, well good for who?
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: But you know, um because because because the words that
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: you're using don't sound like it's gonna be good for me. Yes, yes, yes,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I know. The interesting thing about this whole world we
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: live in is that you know the opportunity to come
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: into your life that make a game changing role play
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: in your life. And I'm gonna says insecure Leonard. You
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: know your your appearance and because you did wild and out,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: and I want to talk about that with Nick Cannon
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and Nick cannad's a very good friend of mine as well.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: But but Insecure is a is a groundbreaking series. You know,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: it airs on HBO. I saw that. I saw the
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: new season that aired, uh last night, let's just say
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: last night, the first of the fifth and final season.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: How did you get cast on that? And how did
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to come you away? It's far as an audition, Well,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I was really fortunate in that respect. And then I
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: started auditioning way back in the you know, at the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: pilot level. And I auditioned, uh and tested for the pilot,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: and then that didn't work out, and then they brought
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: me back in for another role when the when the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: show got picked up, and that didn't work out, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: it brought me back in for two three more roles
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: after that before I landed the Royal Torre and Jackson.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: So I really credit his is IRAEI apprentice um for
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: just having the determination, I want to say, on their
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: part to work me into the show some kind of way.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: You know, often as actors we always say, like, you know,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: don't worry about trying to book the job, try to
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: work the you know, book the room so that they
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: know who you are and they'll find something for you
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: or you know, just do your best. But I think
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: in short, it's you know what, it's for you. It's
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: for you, and you don't have to worry about anything
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: else other than that. Well you know what, you know
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: what makes that show work for me is that. And
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I think that's why you know, the Kip bringing you back,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you know, and they said, well, well he doesn't fit
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: this character. We'd be like like shoving mentor a role
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: that really doesn't blend because the characters makes sense on
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: that show. You know when you look at that person,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: that that person should be that person, you know, and
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: so your character was the same way as a character
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: that made sense for that whole thing. And on when
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: you got the opportunity to get on the set and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: started seeing people react to your character, what was the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: biggest thing that you felt excited about? And being um,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: you know, featured on Insecure and then being recognized as
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a talent that's also building the cash of Insecure. Yeah,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I mean I came on season three and uh, you know,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: waiting for the reaction and uh, I'm just going you know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the way the way I feel about it. You know,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: these roles. Whatever you take on, try to do your best,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: just to play it to the to the best of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: your ability. And then the audience reaction is whatever. People
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: can feel any kind of way about whatever the character is.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: As long as you feel something, I'm I'm happy. So
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I don't mind if it's polarizing for some people. But
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: it just you know, as long as I'm part of
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the conversation, I'm glad. But outside of that, I'm just
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: you know, and I've said this many many times, I'm
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: just blessed and feel fortunate to be included in this world,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in this universe because this show is so game changing
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: and impactful for so many different reasons, um, largely off
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the screen. Um. And it's just to being part of
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that thing, that movement if I feel blessed like they
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: they've they've launched the careers of so many different people
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: behind the camera, and that's just gonna further. You know,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: they planted these seeds all all across the industry right now,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and just it's it's gonna take a little bit more time,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: but a lot of them are already started to grow
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and read. But you know, five ten years, fifteen years
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: from now, when you see all these executives and producers
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and directors, and they talk about how they got their start.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: A lot of them. It's going to come back to insecure, absolutely,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and that's a beautiful thing, you know that they that
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: when they had a show, they didn't just didn't keep
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: it to themselves. They opened the door for as many
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: people as they could and and not only let them in,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: but gave them the room to learn and gave them
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to thrive. You know, it really interesting and
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and just to bring it back to Nick Cannon, you know,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of parallels between that and what he does.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: He's been doing so well. You know, I was going
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: to go to a couple of things that I can't
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: do that you do very well. That's improv and act.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I can't act. I am very I was amazingly funny
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: on stage. You know I noticed near bio you you're writer.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I was a sitcom right, very successful, was a sitcom writer.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: But the whole aspect of improving, which Steve Harvey, who managed,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: was a brilliant improv person. And what what just separates
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the improvisational side, Lenard Robinson from the acting side. Um,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you know they're closely related. I think, you know, the
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the improv aspect of it. I do a lot of
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: improv shows at the Groundlings Theater and in Los Angeles,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and did a lot of improv before that. Um, you know,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: it's just on the fly. You know, we're trying to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: we're trying to make the scenes happen, you know, based
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: off of suggestion yes and uh, and hope it all
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: works out. So it's a little bit more like you know,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: acting on the edge of a cliff, I want to say,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: then just being on a on a set with the script. Yeah,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I I admire that. And then he was on the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: early years of Wild and Out, you know, which is
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the ultimate, which also is a groundbreaking seure as well.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: And you know, so you have to feel blessed about
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: your life, you know, Wild and Out, I feel it's
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the way we have to says the longest running black
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and proversational show in television history. I think we can
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: say that. And then the groundbreaking HBO series Insecure, uh,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: telling the life of to African American female as they
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: interact between life social dynamics, which is groundbreaking as well.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: So you've you've had a fortunate career so far, and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: with that being said, the whole how did it being
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: in the early years of the of the of Wild
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and out to what has become now? Talk about that
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: transition and watching that brand grew out because you're part
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of two huge brands in your resume. Yeah, um, yeah,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I was really blessed. Uh you know, it's like that
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: you've seen the internet me, I'm sure like you know
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: how it started versus how it's going, you know. Uh,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: for me, it's like Wild and I was like how
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: it started Insecure is now how it's going. And I,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: you know, I have a lot of love and respect
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: you know, for Nicking and that show and everybody involved
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: in it, because that was for the most part. Yeah,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that was my biggest job that really kind of put
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: me in in Hollywood when I hadn't been in the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: l a maybe but six months when I got cast
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: on that show. And you know, before that, excuse me,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: before that, I was just focused on honing my craft.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I was just staying in acting classes, taking a lot
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of improv classes and performing and and doing as much
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: stand up as I could. And I wasn't even really
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: aggressively trying to get on television. I was just kind
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of building up my skills because when I when an
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: opportunity came around, I wanted to be ready for it,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and that opportunity came around. So being part of the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: original cast the first four seasons of Wild and I
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: was a was a real big experience and in a
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: big lesson for me. What interesting thing about it is
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that one thing we do share in common is the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: writing aspect. You know, you will be part of the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy showcase and you were in the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: first writer's room. Why writing? You know why? That that's
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: that goes back to that logic. I think that's in
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: your life, that focus is in your life. That be
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: ably to understand too. Pless two is four? Is that? What?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: What that would excites you about the writing aspect of
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: sitcom writing and especially the comedic side of it. You
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: know what's funny is again? And it probably all leads
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: back to Buddy Lewis again because when I went when
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I met him in Los Angeles, he was writing. Absolutely,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: he was also doing stand up, but he was also writing.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And I had a little seed in my in my
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: brain and and and then somebody else said something about
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: writing and being an actor, like you're gonna have to write,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: learn how to write if you really want to show
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: people what you can do. And then it's it's one
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: of those things where if you try to follow up
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: on if the universe, you know, if you see or
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: hear things three times from three different places, you know,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the universe is trying to tell you to tap into that.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: And so for me, the writing is is a way
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to make sure that I always have an option on
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: bringing my voice and point of view to the world.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Without that, I'm reliant on somebody else to try and
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: create something for me. So I do a great bill.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I do a great deal of acting. I do a
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: great deal of work. That's largely mostly what I do
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: in between I'm writing. In between I'm i'm, i'm, I'm
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: writing and preparing for the next thing. Um, I'm just
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: fortunate that I keep getting interrupted by a bunch of
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: acting jobs. So the world got to wait a little
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: bit longer to see a little all right, Liza, don't
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: used the word interrupted. That's a that's a blessing. That
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: that's a that's a that's you want them, you want
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: them off. The bookies. We don't calling we call them bookies,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you know, you know that's that old famous you know,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: you sit around the house and then one day you
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: get that phone call, you get three dates as a
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: stand up on the same day. You go, hey, what
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: were these? Why couldn't they be separated week by week
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: by week, a month by but by but exactly. But
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: you know, man, I'm happy you came on my show, man,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: because I wanted to hear your story and and and
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: I considered some things that you've done a younger version
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of me, and you're doing great and your graduate of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Howard the players to make a side fire just a
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: value system that comes with players in the fraternity of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the Soriti. It's what I push and in fact you're
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: starting on the final seat of Insecure. Keep winning, man,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: I would always be a fan of yours. Man, If
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: you want me to promote, I'm based in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: So no, you got a frap brother. I know Buddy Lewis.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: If you call Buddy Luis right now, he said nothing
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: but positive things about our relationship. So when you come
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: through you through Atlanta, Georgia, make sure you stop in now,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: come by my offers and we'll break bread together. Okay,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: no problem. I appreciate it now and I will follow
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: up on that. Oh, no, I know you will. I
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: got you. I know you will and it guess what
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I aim to please my young friend brother. Okay, I
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: appreciate you. Okay, cool, Thank you for coming on money
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation Mental probs. Thanks for your time. Appreciate If
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you want to hear anybody interviews or see anybody by interviews,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: please go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I am your host. In this season of giving,
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• 30:05
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