W. KAMAU BELL Took His Mom Parasailing

(upbeat music) - Hey, Bajay! - Hey, Sufi! - And hey, listeners, tripsters, family trippers, what did we say we're calling them, Paji? - Tripsters, yeah, tripsters. - Tripsters, family trips is coming to you live this summer. Join us for our first American live shows at the City Winery on August 12th in Philadelphia and August 13th in Boston, also at City Winery. - Family trips live in Boston is a partnership with Airbnb. And of course, you know we love taking the show on the road and love seeing all of you succumb join us on August 12th in Philly and August 13th in Boston at City Winery. Go to citywinery.com for tickets. - That's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts. ♪ Here we go ♪ - Hey, Bajay! - Hey, Sufi, how are you? - I'm good, I got the bonkers with me. - Yeah, that's right. - Bonkers visited and it's a rainy day. It's a rainy beach day, so we've been sucked in. We've played a little bit of hearts already, played three person hearts. - Yeah. - This is something that's new to them. And 17 cards each, one card in the middle and you don't know what that card is till the end. - Last trick takes that card? - No, that's what my assumption was. You just turn it over and it's just an uncounted point. - Gotcha. - But if you blitz, if you shoot the moon and try to take all the points, if a heart or the Queen of Spades is in there, it's not a blitz and you're screwed. - Oh, wow. - Yeah, I'm like that. - It feels to me like this better strategy would be the last trick takes it for what it's worth. But who am I? Who am I to fight the monster? - I mean, you could change that in terms of house rules. I went to a fourth of July party this year and we played a little cornhole and the girl who was sort of in charge of games. There was this whole like beer Olympics and she said like a bean bag or a cornhole bag that is like leaning into the hole. That's two points, which I had never heard before and I was like, really? She was like house rules and you can call house rules when it's your house, so. - That's true, I could house rule it. Trying to think of the highlights. One is that in case you're worried, every hand of every time mom takes the Queen of Spades and hearts, she's shocked and she feels as though how could anyone have seen this coming? - Yeah. - Her capacity to be surprised by a negative outcome in a game where everybody's fighting for their own positive outcome is shocking to me. We've been watching, she's been watching with the kids, Pirates of the Caribbean. And a series of films that she probably missed when we were in theaters. All right, so I'm gonna show you a character from the Pirates of the Caribbean. Would you say Caribbean or Caribbean pot? - We've always said Caribbean, at least in this context. The changes. We would like to take a trip to the Caribbean. - That's Davey Jones, for anybody listening at home. Google Davey Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean. What animal do you think mom said that looked like? I mean, I would hope an octopus or a squid, Walrus. - She said what? - She went with Walrus. - And then two days later, she's trying to claim she said that because she knew the kids would think it was funny. - Did the kids think it was funny? - They don't think she thought it was a Walrus. - Then Ash said, first of all, you should know what a Walrus looks like, 'cause Poncaieri looks like a Walrus. - Yeah, he does. - And then Ash asked me to make this to prove his point. So that's. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah. - That was a picture that went from Davey Jones to Walrus to dad. - To dad. - And dad looks like a Walrus and Davey Jones, dad. - Addy started calling dad Poncaieri the donkey. - Great. - It's pretty fun. - Yeah. - And then she goes Poncaieri the donkey, "Hurry the furry." She was just coming up with the nicknames. - No. - Happy. "Hurry the furry." "Daddy the baddy." That's me. - Yeah. - "Mama the llama." And then I said, "What is Axel?" And she said, "Asshole." (laughing) - Yeah, that got for us. That was pretty good. - It was pretty good. - We went to a really great Fourth of July parade on Martha's Vineyard. And look, I saw this, this was like a slow motion car crash, but I couldn't get out of the way of it. So, floats are going by. A lot of people throw in candy. And Martha's Vineyard Gazette, which is a great local newspaper. They're throwing out little paper hats, okay. And so I get one and Axel gets one. And you know what, it's Fourth of July. I was celebrating 250 years. I'll put it on a paper hat. - Sure. - And then someone from the Gazette runs back and shoots a little snapshot of us. And they put it on their Instagram. Now they're square hats. And that's not a good look. And. - What a square hat. - A square paper hat. - Okay. - Like, you know, I'm just saying, it was met with a lot of scorn from my circles. Oh, I see. - Yeah. - The Strike Force Five Chat came across it. And Stephen Colbert said, "It looks like you offer internships in Doofy's studies." (laughing) - Yeah. Oh, yeah. - Kind of Doofy. - Kind of Doofy. - But, you know, your entrance to that. - Cute, celebrating. - Yeah. - Cute hat. - Cute hat. - How was your Fourth? - It was good. Yeah, as I said, I went to a party that had some beer Olympics. It was, you know, it was, it was Builders Beer Olympics, but it's been a long time since I've played like, drinking games and there were a lot of things like, all right, everyone has to have a drink. We're gonna listen to Whitney Houston saying the national anthem. By the time the song's done, you have to finish your beer. And I'm like, no. - Oh, yeah, that's not right. I wanted to do that. - I wanted to do the game where there's a chance that you don't have to drink. - Yeah. - And then we'd play like Flip Cup. And I'd be like, you gotta be like, do you have beer in your cup? I'm like, no, I've sparkling water, but that's what I'm gonna do. I mean, I had a couple beers, but I had to drive home at the end of this thing. So I wasn't fully adhering to, I think the official beer Olympics rules. But then, and then the night before, just kind of on a whim, I knew that at beer Olympics, we weren't gonna have fireworks 'cause we were in like a canyon in Los Angeles that could catch on fire. But we went to one of my favorite things in LA, the movies in the cemetery. We saw Shrek, the original Shrek speaking of donkeys, which Mackenzie had never seen, shockingly. And so it was just the two of us. We went on a date night and they have fabulous fireworks there, and you're sort of just perfectly positioned for them. They play right after the movie. They also, there were a lot of fireworks that were not like boom, boom fireworks. They were just like lights. So it was relatively quiet for fireworks, and then they would pepper in some booms. - Oh, that's good. - So it was like teasing you. And they always do like three songs, with fireworks coordinated. The first song was "Try a Little Tenderness," which is not what you think of for fireworks. The next one was "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed. Not what you think of for fireworks, but it was great. And then there was like some disco bop that I didn't know was the last one. And it was, they were beautiful, it was awesome. - That's fantastic. - And it was glad that I got my taste of the fireworks. Also, mom and dad's anniversary. Fourth of July. Fourth of July, mom and dad's anniversary. 56 years. - 56, it's unbelievable. - Yeah, I love them. - Yeah. - It's been very, very fun to have them around. And yeah, it's great. The kids wake up and immediately run over to their room and just start eating their cereal and dad feeds them toothpaste. They like to eat dad's toothpaste. And you know, Alexi puts a lot of thought into what the kids eat. So they're pretty happy when it's just a toothpaste straight from the tube. - Yeah. - Well, I mean, at least it's better than toothpaste from anywhere else. - Yeah, that's true. toothpaste from the same side of the sink. Hey, July 3rd, I went to a friend's wedding. - Oh, yeah, who's your friend? - Just friends of mine in New York City. - There was a little, there was a. - It's weird. A Friday wedding strikes me as weird. - Yeah, a Friday wedding. And you know, again, I tell you more about it. There was an NDA. - Oh. - Yeah. But I had a wonderful time. I will say that. - Yeah, that's great. I'm very happy for my friends. They seem very much in love and that's all you can ask. - Yeah, well, we all hope, we all wish that you would have signed a DA. - Yeah, I'm disclose to telling y'all about it. (both laughing) - All right, we got a great episode of "Fuse" today. - W.comAbel. - W.comAbel. He's got a new podcast, "Who's With Me," which is also the name of his sub-stack. He's been in the game for a minute. Yeah, hosted a lot of shows. - Very smart guy, very smart guy. - And a lot of stand-up comedy, lovely person. - Yeah, enjoy and happy fourth. Happy fourth to everyone. I know it's past, and happy 250th to this great country that so many of our guests have shared. It's wonder about, that wasn't my best sense, but I think the point is, - Yeah, well, yeah. - Also, I think as this comes out, if I'm right, it's gonna be besty all day. So, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And that's sponsored by Amazon Prime, right? 'Cause they have the best deals. - What? - They have the best deals. - Oh, yes, okay, yeah, they have the best. (laughing) - When the person who knows you best in the world goes, "What? Does that mean it was a good joke?" (laughing) - It was a good joke. You have me better with your disclose. - Yeah, I should have just walked away from the tables. I thought I was on a hot streak, and now I know. - Yeah, we hadn't said who's gonna be on the episode, so yeah, that was our mistake that we didn't tee that up first. - All right, love you, Podgy. - Love you, Zuby. ♪ Family trips with the miles ♪ ♪ Brothers, the family trips ♪ ♪ With the miles ♪ ♪ Just come here ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ - Hello. - Hello. (laughing) - What are you watching? - Unbelievable. Unbelievable. - I'm doing lots of things. I'm very-- - I'm just gonna say, I don't expect this from somebody who also has a podcast. (laughing) - I was both listening to another podcast, and I was making content for Instagram, so I'm actually, I was-- - Yeah, I know. - You're a multi-hyphenate, so I would expect nothing less. - Please put Instagram content maker in my hyphenate. - You were not, this was not a man who was just zoning out watching a TikTok career. - This was a man who was juggling. - I was listening to a review of Supergirl, and movie I have not yet seen, and making fun of vanilla ice to put on Instagram later. - Gotcha. I mean, it's incredible that you can do all of it once. (laughing) - Are you someone who's excited about seeing the new Supergirl? - No, no, I was a superhero comic fan, I was a kid. I more care about like, kicking up with like, when the culture is fired up about something. - Right. - Like, people are really mad at the Supergirl movies, so I'm just like, that seems interesting, you know? - Right, yeah, exactly why. - Yeah, there is that, you know, obviously, as somebody who makes art, it's rough at times to remember that people can have a negative critical reaction to it. With that said, I love a critic who has passion and puts a little work behind what they don't like about something. - Yeah, so I think the interesting thing about, well, is that lots of people hate it. Some people hate it for bad reasons. Some people hate it for legitimate reasons. And I like sort of the fact that everybody would be like, "We all agree that we hate it." I hate it because I'm a misogynist. No, that's not why we hate it because the storytelling was bad. - Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you have to wake up every morning and decide what flag you're gonna fly, and you could fly the wrong one. - Yeah, nothing's worse than your flag. - When your flag is bumping into somebody else's flag and you're like, "Oh, that's the wrong rally." - So you moved around. You're upbringing, you were kind of all over the place, right? - Yeah, I was born in, at Stanford University, where my mom was in school at the time, but I did not grow up here at all. We quickly moved back to Indianapolis, where she's from. Live there till I was about four or five. Then we moved to Boston, which I feel very happy. Live there till I was about 12. Which Boston doesn't remember I lived there, but I did live there. And then my mom moved to Chicago, and I was there for a few months, but then hated it and moved to Alabama to live with my dad, it was a mobile Alabama. The night I got there, I was like, "Oh, this was a mistake." But I stayed for two and a half years, and I moved back to Chicago, finished high school, and then college in Philadelphia, back to Chicago, out to the Bay Area, where I've basically been ever since. - So it was a situation where you realized immediately. What did you hope to find in a mobile Alabama? And what did you find? - The way you asked that is so suspicious, what did you hope to find in Mobile Alabama? So I used to be clear, I used to go there every summer. So I knew what I was getting into some extent, but I was just mad at my mom that we had moved out of Boston, and I liked Boston, and so they were in Chicago. And I didn't, you know, I was an only child, and sort of didn't make friends quickly, and was just resentful and wanted something familiar. And then I got there and found something familiar. It was like, but not, you know, I mean, my dad had gotten, I mean, he'd been remarried for a while, but really I went from being an only child with me and my mom to my dad was married, to my stepmom it had, and they had my stepmom had a daughter. So that was like a nuclear family where it was like, "What do we all want to watch for TV tonight?" Where I, with my mom, I'd be like, "I got my TV, you got your TV, see you later, you know?" - So when you were in Boston, was it just you and your mom? Like when did your parents lit, okay? - Yeah, they said, "I don't remember." It's a very sad show. I don't remember my parents being together. I'm really, it's really sad. - When you said I'm moving to Mobile, Alabama, what was your mom's reaction? Was she kind of like, "On, God bless." - It's funny, I wish I could bring her in. I think she was like, I know this is a mistake, but I have to let this kid do what he wants to do. 'Cause she knows, you know, the reason why I'm not sad that my parents put up is 'cause I can't even really imagine them getting along long enough to say, "Should we have sex?" So I don't understand how, how I came to be. So she was like, knew who my dad was and was like, basically like, good luck with that. I mean, you know, and also was like, anytime you need me, I'm here. And so I used to call her every Saturday and just be like, "I'm still here," you know. So it was very, we actually got closer while I was there. - Oh, that's great. And what was, you said she was going to Stanford. What did your mom do? - She was in Stanford to get a PhD in English. The hangup was, she wanted a PhD in African-American literature. And at the time, Stanford did not give that as a degree. They didn't think African-American literature was a thing. This was the early '70s. (laughing) - Even Stanford. And when you're like, even Stanford? - Yeah, even West Coast Stanford, yeah. I'm so crazy. Racism in California. And so she dropped out, so she never finished her degree, but nobody would know that or expect that about her. - Yeah, true. Did she work as an academic in Boston? That's just such a college town. - Actually, it was like deeper than that. She was the editor of textbooks. She was an English textbook editor. And she made it her job to diversify the stories of English textbooks again. This is the late '70s. We got to Boston the same year, Larry Bird did. So you're welcome Boston. But yeah, so she was in the late '70s and early '80s diversifying the stories in English textbooks. Gotcha. - It's interesting when you said that Boston doesn't remember there. Josh and I are from Southern New Hampshire, we're an hour drive to Boston. And Boston doesn't really accept us as Boston either. It's really, if you weren't born there and spent a good 40 years, they're like-- - Yeah, yeah. If you didn't run from somebody in a race ride, I don't think they can't choose me. - And they're very much like, why were you, if you're from Boston, why have you been elsewhere? - Yeah, and why aren't you saying it every 10 minutes? Like why aren't you, like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck do a good job of like saying Boston every day. - Yeah, yeah, they know they laugh, but they're like, you guys talk about it. - Yeah, we get it. And we'll do the accent every eighth movie. We'll do the accent, so you remember. - Did you, you then, when you, you did some college stuff in Chicago as well. So eventually you found your way to belong in there. - Yeah, I mean, so I was it, I went to you Penn for about a year and a half, then dropped out of you Penn and went to, went to, like a Columbia college in Chicago, which is like a media art school. - Yeah. - And yeah, and that's where I slowly found my way to comedy. - That's great. - Diz, does having a mother who dropped out of Stanford-- - It helps having a mother helps, I'm sorry. - But it doesn't. Having a mother who drops out of her PhD program, does that make it easier to then tell her that you're dropping out of you Penn? - Yes. - Yeah, so, both my parents, like both my parents were like the first in their family to go to college. My mom finished her undergrad degree, but she didn't finish her postgraduate degree. And my dad was one of the guys who went back to college when he was 30s and got his like undergrad degree in his MBA. So I think for both of them, they're like, he'll go back if he needs to eventually, and here we sit still and eventually. Although my dad was pissed, 'cause I got into an Ivy League school, which is something he never would have been able to do when he was in high school. And so he was not happy about it. - Are they, your parents both still around? - Yeah, my mom lives, actually lives in our house. We just moved her in last year, she's 89. My dad still lives in mobile Alabama with his new wife, his new new wife, and yeah, he doesn't wanna leave. - Wait, when you say new new, does this mean a third wife or is this mean the step? - Yes, yeah, this means the third, I mean. (laughs) Yeah, so he was married to my step mom for many, many years. She passed away, and then my dad married again. - And what was your closeness with your step mother? Was she a big part of your life? - I mean, so I lived there for two and a half years, nice to go there every summer. And so yeah, I mean, you know, it was rough because there was sort of a sense of, I mean, ultimately it was great. But at the beginning, there was just when I got there, they were like, okay, now call your step, mom, mom. And I was like, I already have a mom that I call mom. I don't think mom's a convert title, you can convert other people. - So weird to ask for that. Like, I mean, again, this is before there was a lot of art about mixed families. (laughs) - Yeah, yeah. - Before we saw movies about how to behave with-- - Yeah, there was a couple of plenty of family. It was called, which is called, this is what it is. - Right, you have a, this is, when you're here, this is your mom. - Yeah, and so, okay, it was also hard 'cause my younger, my step sister was very happy to call my dad, dad, 'cause she had a close relation with her dad at the time. Murm, I'm still in all the family, T. - Yeah. - But so it was like, well, she's doing it, and I'm like, well, I'm doing it, it's hard to be, I like my mom, I'm no offense. - If you like her. so much. Oh, why did you come here? Yeah, exactly. What was the summer in mobile, Alabama? I mean, that's what I do. When I see my kids now, that's three daughters, and how scheduled their summer is right now, like a 15 year old, an 11 year old, an eight year old, and my eight year old had two weeks of camp, but doesn't have camp today. And I feel like it's the first time you're having like a summer day of like that I used to have and take for granted of like, like I was, I was right about this recently, like waking up, eating breakfast, and then sitting in my grandmother's din all day long, as we watched like game shows, soap operas, afternoon game shows, cartoons, wheel of fortune, about 530 prime temp TV, and occasionally they would be like, go outside. That was summer for like three months. I'm so glad. And because I was so worried you were going to go the other way, which is like, throw up in the door, you know, run down to the gully. Collect rocks. But I got, you know, there was that part of summer that my kids are never going to have, also just because of the way we, you know, feel about screens. And it's hard to argue, like there's a real value to watching prices, right? But like I really did feel like in the summer, it was like, I've earned this. I was in school all year, and I'm just going to sit here. And as I got older, I did a lot of like, I mean, lying in my childhood bed, reading books on a beautiful summer day. And I remember making the argument to my parents. I'm like, it's wonderful to read in the summer. There's birds chirping outside. Yep. I can see the trees out the window. This is great. Like the idea that I got to go run around like it's, it's outdoor school was not. Well, I mean, for me, the minute I started making money from TV, I looked at her by like, you were all wrong. Like all that TV time is why I was working TV now. Like, like, yes, I was right. I was studying apparently. So I really, me and my wife had very different attitudes for screens. And I'm like, it's not that you're on the screen. It's what the what you're doing on the screen. Yeah. I do just want to point out Seth just knocked outdoor school. And every weekend, what do you send your kids to Seth outdoor school? Well, that's because we'll hear the thing. If I had a wife who said, like, yeah, on Saturday, you can just watch TV all day. I'd be like, great, keep him home. But like, we're not going to let him do that. Like somebody else take him. Yeah. So much of our, I mean, again, and I get it. And I'm not like, you know, I'm not going to sit down with my wife and be like, I think they'd be better at school if they watched Alf. You know what I mean? But a lot of the way the time we spent with our parents was together watching television. Yeah, for sure. No, my house, it was like, it was like the way that people used the radio, which is on all the time. Yeah. And also, it's sort of the thing about it that was good is that sometimes TV got, there was nothing to watch. And you ended up watching something you're never going to watch because you couldn't turn the TV off. What are we, Philistines? You know, so. Yeah. And that's how you ended up going like, huh, I didn't know about this, uh, the wildlife show or that, you know, you sort of ended up watching things that you weren't going to watch otherwise. Did you have any influence over the clicker? Did you ever get to drive or were you sort of a passenger in terms of what you were watching? In my grandmother's house, when I was a kid, I was not in charge. Like I had to, I had, that's why I got to watch a lot of soap operas when I was a kid in my, and with, with, I mean, I actually wrote about this on my subject recently. They're like, there would be blocks of TV where I got the first couple blocks and then she got the next couple. And so like, I wrote about Friday night when I was a kid was like, uh, incredible Hulk, dukes of hazard and then Dallas. And we just sit there and she would watch the first two with me, and then I'd watch the last one there. And then when Hulk got canceled, it was a Falcon crest and then down. So yeah, there would be like you, you sort of like, everybody got their block of the television. It's amazing that like when they canceled Hulk, you're like, well, I'm sure it'll be another superhero show and they're like, actually, we're leaning towards dynasty. It's exactly. Actually, that Dallas thing does really well. Yeah. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with the Breadwinner. Hey, Baji. Hey, Suvi. It's very exciting. Straight from theaters must see comedy this summer now available to watch at home on digital to enjoy again and again. And you know, who is in this movie, Pashi? Who's that? One of our great road trip pales of all time, Colin Joast. Oh, yeah, you know who else is in it? Well, someone who's been a guest on the show Nate Bargette. Yeah, star star of this movie, really? Yeah. And he was the star of the podcast when he was on. No fence to you. Well, that's okay. I mean, he was a star over you as well. Mandy Moore, I would love to have her on this podcast. I was in a movie with her once. She plays Nate's wife, three children, four days in as well. Directed by Eric Appell, who did the fantastic Weird Al movie a couple years ago with Daniel Radcliffe. It's a very funny movie to Nate and their three children Katie's the ultimate mom. But when her household invention leaves to once in a lifetime deal on Shark Tank and takes her in a prolonged business trip, Nate must figure out how to keep the house from literally falling apart. Welcome to the dad era. Grab your family and don't miss the comedy. Everyone is loving with an 86% audience score on rotten tomatoes, starring the number one comedian Nate Bargette's summer can be chaotic. Movie night doesn't have to be. Get it now on prime video Apple TV or Fandango at home rated PG. Support comes from article. Article furniture is going to change the way your home looks. Yeah, it's going to look a lot nicer, Suvie. Yeah, it's going to be, it's going to, you're going to feel happier when you walk into a house. Full of article furniture, they offer curated collections for every style. Be it mid-century modern, coastal or scandy inspired. And these are pieces that not only shine on their own, but also pair seamlessly with nearly any other article product. 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Visit article.com/trips and the discount will be automatically applied to check out. That's article.com/trips for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new grippy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new grippy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Maybe it's Mabelie. So your grandmother is your dad's mom? Yes. That's when you'd watch CV. Were you close with her in general? Oh sure. Yeah. I mean, I had a classic Southern grandmother, like a classic, like, you know, would like, like wasn't like, how would my dad take this? Wasn't necessarily nice to you, but you knew she loved you. Yeah, I think that's a little bit like a New England grandmother too. Yeah, like we have like I have no doubt that she loved me one of the best for me, but certainly didn't, didn't suffer my foolishness. You definitely, I think it's like the Midwest is where you want to be if you want to actually know they like you. Yeah, or my kids, my wife, my mom is nice, but my wife's mom is like the classic like grandmother who like is making the arts and crafts, and like, you know, doing, doing all the things with the girls, yeah. Where is she? Where did your wife grow up? Monorake, California. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, made famous through that HBO TV show that made Monorake seem nicer than it is. Yeah, it's always that's how they do it. You were an only child. Did your grandmother have other grandkids? Yeah, yeah, no, it was one of those, it was also that classic Southern family where there was like, you know, like some of my cousins were some people I thought my uncles were actually my cousins, you know, like words, like, because there was just so many generations of children and also so many like, well, that that person died and then we took that kid in and, you know, where you sort of like don't know exactly how you're related to everybody. Yeah, so we had, but because I was by far the youngest, I was like, my cousins were a lot older than me, so I didn't grow up with them in the way that like my kids are growing up with their cousins because I was like, my mom had waited. It's funny to say this, she was 36 when she had me, which at that time was super old to have your first kid. Yeah. And so, whereas everybody else was having kids out of high school or in high school. And so I was by far the youngest on both sides of my family. So I was in like an only child and also felt like an only cousin, except I had another, there was another cousin who was the same age as me, but she was actually like, her mom was actually my first cousin and then she was like whatever that is once removed cousin, but we were close in age. And that lady is author in K. Jameson. Oh, how did that work? Yeah. Did you, so when you would spend a summer in mobile, would you just it, would you interact with so much family? Yeah, no, so for sure, like when I've taken my kids back there, I tell them because they hit me. Because first of all, I love taking my kids back to Alabama because I just feel like so many people are afraid of the South if you don't live there. So, yeah. And Mobilo is like the southernmost tip of the South, like the Gulf of Mexico is next. Not the Gulf of America, but so I will tell them like everybody's going to act like they know you and are related to you and everybody's going to be like, they're going to talk about you like they like they knew you when you were a baby, even if they're meeting you for the first time, you know, it's great. And so like you have to so and you just have to sort of set my kids up, you have to just be ready for that. Like there's going to be like 80-year-old women who are like, oh baby, we're just going to come in for a hug. I know we talk about consent and we talk about like you know, we talk about like your body just just yes, that's all true. Just be prepared that they don't know any of that. We have, I hate to say this, I have waived your rights to consent. But only the black women over the age of seven. Yes, you are going to be man-handled by a black woman over the age of seventies and and and after how many times is it something now that your girls, you have three girls, correct? Yeah. Is it something they look forward to a trip to mobile? Has it become a. Yeah, we're going to summer. We haven't been in a while. So it's funny. Like so my dad actually has a condo on orange beach, Alabama has beaches, a lot of people don't know that. It's the part of Alabama looks like Florida should own it. But so we're going to orange beach and my kids are like, I really want to go to a mobile which just sort of blows my mind and also was like, I never said that when I was, you know, but they want to go to his house at mobile and they, yeah, so they're sort of bummed out to it. What is the appeal? What is your dad having mobile that they like doing? It's funny. So my dad, I think my dad likes living in mobile because he was a titan of industry and he got into insurance sales and then became in charge of insurance company. Like he just, he got into the thing called re insurance was the people who insured insurance which is like the ultimate highest level of scam right under Bitcoin. And so he did well and has lived in New York and has traveled all over the world and could live anywhere he wants to but likes living in mobile because I think he likes walking his feet to places like and you thought I'd never be anything because he was like the kid came from the family that was poor and, you know, being black and mobile, nobody's supposed to be successful. So he really likes the fact that he's now like a big, a giant fish in this small town. So therefore about 10 years ago, my dad like built his dream house and when you go into it, it feels like you drew this on a piece of paper when you were eight because this is ridiculous. And because it's mobile, it probably cost half a million dollars. What he would pay for it in LA or in Manhattan would be very different. I mean, it might cost more than that, but you know what I'm saying? And so his house has an elevator in it, a completely unneeded elevator like a completely because he lives on the bottom floor, my stepmom lives on the bottom floor, she was alive. There is no need and there's enough property where he could have just been a ranch house but I'm like, this is eight year old you going when I have a house, I'm going to have an elevator in it. Yeah. So my kids like riding up and down the elevator to be honest, I might be getting strong, but I feel like I just read an article about the baseball player Dusty Baker and that he had an elevator in his house that went up to a room that has all his like memorabilia from playing and it just made me really happy. I was like, I don't know, I don't know if it's because of baseball, knees or what, but I'm like, I'm just happy Dusty Baker has an elevator in his house. No, it's just great. I mean, that again, talk about high levels of achievement, if you can, if you're born poor in black in this country and one day you have a house with an elevator in it, that's like, you know, that's higher than president, I think, you know. That's really good. Is mobile so the kids just like, like, we're going to go to a house and just ride the elevator and. Yeah, and I mean, it's also like they, it's got a big backyard. It's like my, my, my, their, my dad's wife really is invested in being like the grandmother that like, my mom isn't like on the, like, she like gets them, so they'll show up and there's gift baskets. And you know, it's just like, you know, shoes and all their, like, slip, new slippers and all their sizes. She really shout out to Lola. She really goes that extra mile to make them. So, and it's also very clear, like the Christmas presents have all gotten better since they got married, like, because my dad, we just go to Amazon and go, what do you, like, whatever the number one gift for eight-year-old girl would be, he would just buy that, you know. So, yeah, so, so they, they like it because it's just, it's very much caters to them. But they're going to feel, yeah, how long, when you were a kid, how long would you go to mobile in the summers? Was that your whole summer? Yeah, it was the entire summer. I feel like school was out on Friday afternoon and then Saturday morning I was on a flight and then I would then, you know, let's say school started on a Monday, I'd be back on like, maybe that Saturday before school started. Wow. So, would your mom basically just be a mom and no kids for the summer? Yeah, that's the funny part is that for years, I would be in Alabama, like, I feel so bad for my mom. She's got to be so sad to be alone by herself all for three months. She's got to be so sad, like she's got to be so depressed and as an adult, I carried that with me for years. Then as an adult, I found out she's like, that's when she was having fun, like, be serious, capital F fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And especially as like someone who was a single mom during the year, like they needed you, I would imagine she needed even more than a normal parent would. For sure. And she also was very good about like, I never as a kid, like I met some men who came through the house, but there's never like a, this is your new dad or this is my boyfriend. She was very good at like, you know, these men were not allowed to like, call me son and later I was like, I guess that's the guy she was dating, but you know, so she was very good at like separating church and state. But did you, what were your vacations like? Would you ever sort of go to non-mobile places or non-boston? Would you, you and your mom go and get a ways or? Yeah, I mean, so certainly there were like, like we lived in Chicago. There would be like trips to go to my, my her mom's house in Indianapolis. That was like, there weren't a lot of like major huge vacations, although when I was little, little we went to Disneyland, that's like one of my first memories. And then like, there were a couple like, the biggest vacation that I remember us taking is we went to San Francisco one time, which was years before I ever thought I would live in the Bay Area. And because I was, this is my, this is like, when I look back, oh that's proof that my mom loved me. So I don't know how we ended up picking San Francisco, but I do know that once we got there, that she allowed us to stay in a hotel near Chinatown because I was a fan of Bruce Lee and I knew Bruce Lee had been born in Chinatown. That's a mom who loves her son. Yeah. And then all the place you could stay in San Francisco, we stayed in the, in the Hilton Chinatown because my mom was like, oh my, and I walked her out the streets of Chinatown looking for Bruce Lee memorabilia, which at the time was not as easy to come by as it is right now. That's funny. I would have thought they would have been out in front of that. I mean, that's peak, kind of peak Bruce Lee. I mean, this is like the peak, I mean, I feel like we're actually in peak Bruce Lee. Now this was like, I don't know what was I like late, late, like this is the 80s as a teenager. And there was a period of time where the Bruce Lee industrial complex hadn't fully kicked in yet. So, like I remember going to like a, like a shop that like one of those Chinatown shops that has like everything like my friend Kevin kind of could say, it has videotapes and parkas and sprites and, and they had, I'd get a Bruce Lee iron on on a white t-shirt that I had forever. That was the way I got my Bruce Lee t-shirt, whereas, you know, like so it was not, it was before, I'm friends with his daughter now and it was before she had like assembled all the rights back and really kicked it up into high gear. It is funny. That's how you know you're not fully there. It's like you, you still, there's assembly required. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You know, put that on that and sell that. I always funny because like, you know, somebody being from a place makes natural sense. My wife's from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and it's funny when I sometimes when I go back and I'm like, they're selling Walter White memorabilia. Exactly. I'm like, which part of this reflects well on Albuquerque as a culture? Is it then the beautiful vistas? Yeah. It's like Philadelphia not knowing where to put the rocky statue. Is this art or is this sports? Yeah. It's something because it's rocky, but we don't know exactly where it goes. Yeah. But we know we can't get rid of it. Yeah. We know we can't get rid of it. Yeah. People be real mad if you get rid of it. Yeah. People are flying into town to take pictures with it. We just don't know where it goes. Yeah. History. Maybe it's history. What was the, so your mom Indianapolis, was that a city that you would look forward to? Was it her mother? Yeah. I mean, her mom was more of the grandmother who quietly sits in the chair, doesn't say, you know, like there was not a lot of like, you know, there wasn't a, like with my mom, with my dad's mom, I have a lot of memories with her and being with her and being hanging out with her with my mom's mom. There was not, there was not as much excitement in Indianapolis and she never got over the fact that the Hulk got canceled. No, she didn't. She really popped out of it. She just got real. After that, she got real quiet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is funny just having different vibes from grandparents because I think like, I wouldn't, you know, we had one in Pittsburgh and we had one in, you know, sort of coastal Massachusetts. And as much as it's about where you are geographically, so much more, it's about like who the actual grandparents are and what they want to do for fun. Yeah. No, for sure. Like, I've always been aware that my mom, like I said, she's 89 is a better, like when you're, when you're like over the age of 11, she kicks in as a grandmother, like when you're like ready to talk about the real shit. Yeah. Yeah. We had one of those. Right. And then the other one like, once you get over 11, you're like, oh, you an old lady. What in Indianapolis were you, were you down? town? Could you like, if you walked out of your grandmother's house, were you in the city or were you? That's a good question. I mean, no, no. I mean, this is also like, we're talking about like 70s and early 80s. So I wasn't really going anywhere, right? Maybe across the street. And also Indianapolis is, I mean, you know, it's a funny Indiana quiet as this kept is actually Mississippi. It's just Mississippi within Northern accent. So it's not a, it's certainly not a place for you that I would have been by grandmother who let me walk around town. Yeah, fair enough. I'm laughing about the horror. Yeah, turns out. It's everywhere. Yeah, yeah, so it's, I mean, so I, when I think about Indianapolis, I think about being at my grandmother's house and like just being there and like they're, you know, it's just also like my, the other thing about that grandmother, she was like, she did cook. She was really good cook. And when she died, it's that thing, you know, you hear the expression, we lost some recipes like we lost a ton of recipes with her because my mom is granted a lot of things. That's not one of them. So funny. What if I think about like my grandmother used to make hand pies, which were like, that's what we called them, which is basically like a hostess apple pie, but homemade, you know, right? And, and my mom, we tried to make it at one point, if she died, and it was like, this is good for nothing, so that's it. We lost the hand pie recipe. What, would you, did you or your mom ever like get on an airplane together and go anywhere or was that? Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, I think that, yeah, so we went to, we went to DC one time. I think really it was like, again, single parent, they're trying to think of other, I mean, I mean, we, there would be probably, I guess what I think about probably once we went to the Bahamas one time, when I was a little kid, and I remember being there as a little kid, be like, this will be better when I'm an adult. You know, so there was like, there was definitely like a once a year trip, but it'd be like a big deal. We were not going, I was on planes a lot because my dad was in Alabama, like so I was a kid. I was like, the kid who was always like, who knew how to fly? Like, I tell my kids these stories because at the time, and when I tell my kids these stories, they think it's like a horror story. Like I was flying by myself since I was like four years old. Yeah. Right. So like, you know, my mom just, just walking me to the gate, sitting me in a chair, looking at the gate agent going, you got this? And so, and then I would just, and then because I'm flying Alabama from like Boston, you have to connect through Atlanta. No big deal. Just the business airport in the world. And you know, being handed off to people one after the other, so by the, and then getting to, and this is back when you could walk into the gate to get off the gate in Alabama, and my dad would be standing right there. So it was like, can I tell my kids that they're like, no, no, you know, my, my oldest kid was 15. She's never flown by herself. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I, I'm trying to think of the first time I did. I was probably close, well, 15, 16, maybe, but it's four is nuts. But again, once you do it, then you're fine. I would have mad. Well, yeah. And I think also, it was just like, my mom was like, I'm not, I don't want to see your dad. So I'm not flying over. Right. Yeah. It's going to take a lot of time. There's a connection. Yeah. I mean, I just, yeah, I wouldn't have done that with my kids. My wife certainly would not do that. But it was just, it was just the most efficient way to get it done. But I remember the point that like, at some point, I think when you turn 12 or 13, you go out of like, they don't like hand delivery places anymore. And I remember the first time I was at an airport at like 12 or 13 and something. It's like, no, get yourself to the gate. Right. Like make your own connection. Like you're like, but two weeks ago, you were doing this for me, you know, I wasn't paying attention. You were supposed to learn. This was also an instruction. This is the, yeah, this is the last time you ever get to fly by yourself with with help. So I remember being like, really freaked out about like getting through the airport by myself. Did you, where do you think you were good company for your mom on trips? Like when you were in DC, it's just like mother and son. Yeah, we were, that's, that's the difference between my relation with my mom and relation with my dad. We were me and my mom were legitimately like friends. Right. And like hanging out together and like to sort of doing things. And she, from a very early age, because she could always afford babysitter. She would take me places, which I think really was one of the defining things about my personality. I was always a pretty good listener because I'd be around adults and just be like, man, I don't know none of this, but it sure is interesting. So, yeah, so I was, I was, I would say I was, I was a good hang for my mom. And one of the things that I really like with my kids is I've replicated like, I feel like I'm a good hang for my kids. And we like, we actually generally like each other in addition to having being legally tied to each other. Right. When you went to the Bahamas, is that, are you like staying on the beach somewhere? Are you at somewhere? Yeah, we're at, we're at like a, like a classic Nassau resort. Oh, it's funny. So we, yeah, so we're, it's just a variety of another trip of that. So we, yeah, we went to, we went to a resort and got to get around town a little bit. My memory is just of like the fact that it was hot and that it was all the fun looked to be something that you could do if you were an adult. Like I remember, it did not seem like it was not, this is before I think all inclusive resorts with like slides and things like, you know, with like the kid area. We're like, when me and my mom would be my wife go places. So it's funny. So years later, we went back to the Bahamas, but it was as a result of like, I got booked on a Jesse Thorn maximum fun podcast. Oh, yeah, I know that dude. Yeah, like, yeah, he had a cruise that was like, that also was like, so he had booked me on the cruise that you stand up and my wife was supposed to go and she was pregnant. So she, she was too pregnant to go. And so the last man, I was like, mom, do you want to go? So the time my mom was in her seventies. And so I took my seven year old mom on her first cruise ever. And again, it was like, like, it was one of the greatest, most ridiculous things ever to take. We're staying in the, you know, those tiny cruise rooms. Yeah, you wake up and you can touch both walls like this and took her on this cruise ship. And we got to sort of like hang out for a few days, for several days on this cruise ship while, you know, around you, everybody's getting as drunk as possible. And, and I'm doing stand-up comedy at night. And one of the greatest moments I remember that cruise trip is my, we're sitting at breakfast one day. And this is a classic, my mom sort of thing. She's looking out the boat and she sees people, like, parasailing off the back of a speedboat. And she's like, what? What is that? I was like, that's parasailing. People do that? Yeah, they're doing it right now. Why would you do that? Because you, it's like a thing you'd want to, I don't know, people do everything. Is it dangerous? I'm sure it's probably fine. They're not going to do it in these stages. Why would anybody want to do that? Of course, an hour. I think I want to do that. Did you get her up there? So we went, parasailing. It was like one of those moments you're like, this is like, maximum mom. And just such a like, she looked at it was like angry. This is how my mom works. She's angry. I don't like that. I think that's dumb. Why would anybody do that? What time can we go? Did she enjoy the experience at the end? She did. She did. She had a, she had a great time, but I just always remind her of like that moment of like, that's a classic like, whenever she gets really like upset or bothered by something, sometimes it's like, I actually like that a lot. I don't want to try it, but I'm afraid to say. You know, so yeah. I think it was also part of my mom that is so from Indianapolis, like a poor kid from Indianapolis, poor black or from Indianapolis, that her world was so small and she thought she was never going to escape it. And everything she wanted to do is to escape that world. And so she's, but she's still in a place where sometimes she's like, feels like, why did they get to do that over there? I'm mad at them. It's like, actually, if we pay $75, we get to do it too. It's a nice Trump card on your dad because she's like, you know, that's like a thousand elevators. That's how it goes. That's how high it was. Would you ever go anywhere with your dad, stepmom, and step sister? Yeah, I mean, that's the like, the big, because my dad, like I said, my dad eventually became a Titan of ministry, but I was a kid he worked. He was like a bank manager. Look, you said. So when you're in when you're a mobile, the big trip is either New Orleans, which we went to a couple of times, but the more main trip is like the beaches of like they call the Red Neck River era, which is where I'm taking my kids to. And that's what they call it. And it's basically the beaches of Alabama and Florida is close to Alabama. And you'd rent these like, you know, sort of motel condos. And that would be your trip is on the beach on these beauty. It's funny. These beautiful beaches that happen to be on the least popular parts of Florida in Alabama. So and that's where I'm taking my kids. Now the condos are like these giant towers. But that was like the when we were going to the beach, that was the time we were like, we have lived well. We have done well in life. We're going to the beach and you know, you go to the grocery store and you have to buy groceries. It's like the fun part of staying in a condo on the beach is you know, to buy groceries. Are we going to finish this box of cereal? I mean, yeah. Oh, it's I mean, it's so sometimes I get frustrated when like I took my oldest who's 10 to Boston and we did all the historical museum stuff. And all he cared about was, you know, room service. Yeah. And part of me is like so mad that his focus is in the wrong place. But then when I remember trips, I think the most exciting thing was we were going to go to a different grocery store that had all the same stuff. But it was just a different grocery store was so exciting. Well, that's what my wife does. This is like you get to buy the cereals you don't normally buy at we that we will never buy for your home. So like that the cereals that are like little packages of cereals all do like 12 of them and all together. So like you're like, I finally get to discover what this fruit loops is all about. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It's also so funny as a kid. You're like, it's a variety pack of 12 and then three days in you're like, I hate the other nine. We just get 12 of the ones we liked, but at least now you know, yeah, I feel like you marveled at it. It was a lot of like, oh, wait, I didn't, wait, in my excitement to get the fruit loops, I didn't realize how many of these were brand forward, brand, no raisins. Support comes from FitBod, what's up, buddy? Hey, Sufi, you know what, when you get to work out routine, it's great, because you get that rush from starting up a new thing. 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When you went down to the Redneck Riviera would you know other people who like a lot of times people you know just growing up around in New England like you'd go to Florida and then people you happen to know would be sort of staying nearby would you know people who were going to be there as well or were you you just I mean this is what I miss and I mean when I see my kids do I get really excited like it was the days when you were like you would just be a kid me and my steps as we jump in the pool and whatever kids were there you sort of just became friends with for the day mm-hmm you know what I mean like which I feel like it doesn't happen the same way used to because parents are like open to that and also kids have devices but just the idea of like oh you're in the pool we're in the pool now we're all friends you know what I mean so like that's what I remember about it was a it was a time of those friends for three days yeah yeah it's a I it's a I it was interesting you mentioned earlier because I feel like the friends from three days where you when you realize it's over and you're like never going to see them again you don't really want to work to do it you know your friends you're like what do you do right yeah be tempels be like yeah it been a pool lately no other share no other shared interests have even been breached but it's also like it's funny when you talk about like a summer of watching soap operas I feel like there's that same thing where it's like you think that they're you realize like oh I've just been on a moving train yeah there's no I'm not going to be here for any conclusions no no you know I'm gonna like the summer would be like trying to pick up when did I miss what did I miss what are what are what are hoping that guy doing now from days of our lives I can't remember I'll tell you this I fear Graham by there's anything like ours they love to watch it and they don't like answering questions I feel like the more questions also the more questions you answer about a cell proper the more you feel bad about watching it in the first place like yeah yeah no just don't don't interrupt my stories was that was a common refrain yeah I feel the same way about sports and having like introduced my boys to it and now it's all they want to talk about and I'm just like it doesn't matter shut up they're like who's the best who is the best Red Sock ever I'm like I don't want it doesn't matter nobody knows you don't know him nobody knows because I have that happened with my oldest daughter she was not because I it's funny I have these three daughters and none of them are like super hero interested which is a kid that was I if I I lifted the airs a kid of the super boys I'd be so excited but none of them are so I sort of had to see some of these by the CMOS these Marvel movies and DC movies by myself but then finally my oldest daughter got interested in the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies but only because in day was in them yeah and so she she sees in day as being the equal of Spider-Man in those movies but what it means when you watch us three movies is they're so tied into the Avengers MCU universe that there's cosy like who's that guy I gotta pause okay look so that's Iron Man let me explain all of who Iron Man is and why he's being mean to Tom Holland in the scene are let's first play who's that guy okay that's told me a choir let me explain why told me why is he you know no I haven't explained multiverse to children that's not fair I remember like growing up I don't know if you were comic book person but like when you used to grow up and like I we would buy like just road trip comics so you know wasn't when I was going to the comic story which I did later in my life and like picking everything up and you'd buy like an Iron Man 261 and then there'd be like a little asterix it's like see Iron Man 248 and I'd be like to my mom like we got to find a store we got to find a store with back issues because I don't know what you go in on the base to sell them like in like 7/11 there's just be a rack of comic books and it was just sort of a rack of odds and ends of random issues that had not been sold and you're like great but now I'm in the middle of a story that I'll never be able to figure out again it's also a reminder that this is being a comic book and a book which is like you'd go to a store you'd like buy a comic book so you'd be like well this drive is going to splash by now and I'm done it took me eleven minutes exactly I remember when comic book would be 60 cents to a dollar and I was like a dollar but it's still the same five minutes of enjoyment yeah I can't invest a dollar into the same drawings and Spider-Man didn't get a nicer house where you guys were you more pool people over ocean people if you had that option at a place I'm a me and my wife this is where okay well if we're talking about as a kid well yeah yeah you can go any era yeah so as a kid I would say I mean we went to the beach but I would say we were more pool people as an adult I am fully a pool person I've been to the beach enough in my life thank you beach you've done well you've done your time beach and now is your wife a beach person is that why I told you she like because she grew up in Monterey so the smell of the ocean is really important for her like it's real like sometimes she has to we live in Oakland sometimes you will like once every couple months it will drive to Monterey just to get the smell of the Monterey ocean yeah in her and the Monterey Ocean is not like a warm it's not it's not it's you know Northern California Beach is not Southern California Beach but she's definitely a beach person but to me the beach is just a lot of work that doesn't that doesn't ever pay off it's not walking onto the beach is hard like you're saying exactly everything you're saying exactly it did it was the pool is just there right it's funny that you know it wasn't really home per se being from Northern California and yet you've ended up back there as as as your home yeah I mean when I moved when I moved here I was like I'm going to move to the San Francisco Bay area it's going to be a brand new thing and my dad was like you know you should move him back home right and I was like what like I because I never really thought of myself as a native Californian and even now when I have to tell the story of my life I have to be like okay I was born in California but no because then people started well where did you go to high school no no I didn't I was no not here for all that, but yeah, so there is something about me, something about this that makes sense that like when I moved to the Bay Area, I thought I'd be here for like two years and then moved to LA and you know, get sitcom, movie deal, all that stuff, you know, the, uh, the young Chris Rock package where you get a sitcom in a movie deal and a, and a lethal weapon sequel. Um, but like none of that happened and I ended up staying and now, you know, now I can't, now I'm pot committed. Yeah. That's fantastic. I mean, I was in New York for a couple of years with my first TV show but then, excuse me, I've got pregnant, you know, we moved right back. Any, um, exotic trips you've taken with your wife and your daughters? So yeah, the, the great thing, and I know how you feel about this, but you guys were with us, but the great thing about being in this business is that sometimes you get to take them on work trips and sort of, it doesn't always work to split the difference. But, uh, but like, you know, so like we got to, you know, when I was in Montreal when I, when we had two daughters, we went to the, we went to the just for laughs in Montreal and I took my daughters with me and it sort of cool to walk, have them walk around town and go see that tiny poster underneath that giant poster. The tiny poster is me. You know, my voice would immediately be like, why don't you have the bigger poster? Yeah, exactly. We're sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's a, there's a picture of them, like there's all the comics who have shows of the festival and my, my daughters were at the bottom of this giant poster like these pictures because my poster was at the bottom. Yeah. So, uh, so yeah, so we've gotten to like, like when my daughter, my oldest daughter was six weeks old is when I've gotten to the Edinburgh Finch Festival. So we had to get our passport at six weeks old and take her to the Edinburgh Finch Festival. And I got to like walk around Edinburgh with it, with this, uh, baby and like one of the, the, the, the, the, the giant thing while handing out flyers from it. Oh man. We've both done Edinburgh and the one thing that I'm not jealous of is doing it with a six month older. Six week old, even six week old. Yeah. Yeah. Wait. Well, do you remember your venue at Edinburgh? Where'd you play? I was in those, it was definitely in the places where the comedy shows were. It like, I don't know, like where it starts with the P I think the Pleasants. Yes. I was like that where I was in a good look. I was in a good central location. And in like a hundred seat venue. That's some that eight people in it, but you know, you know, by the way, for your first fringe, I wouldn't recommend going bigger than a hundred. No, no, no, for sure. No, I actually wouldn't recommend doing it at all. Did you just do it once? Yeah, I just, that's what I remember I was there. And I remember seeing, there's a comic named Glen Wool, who was there who had a really good year. This was like 2011, 2012. Yeah, 2011. And they're like after 10 years, Glen Wool finally has his breakout show. And I was like 10 years. No, I won't be back. I'm not, I'm not going to, if I don't break out in one year, I got a, I'm having a hard enough time breaking out in America. I can't pop commit to Scotland. Well, also like Josh and I kept going back with Improv shows, but that thing at Edinburgh, where standups have to come up with a completely new hour. Yep. To go back to it. You're like, what? Yeah. No, it's it's, it's, I was like, I would have to move here for this, for this to all make sense, because it's like, I'm not, but I'm, and I'm not doing that. So I was like, I will never, it's something like this. Like because it would find ish, you know, because you know how Edinburgh works, you get the star reviews, they put them on your poster and, you know, so, and if you, but surely they only put them on if you get four or five. So I remember like Michael Winslow was there when I was there. And you couldn't even see his face for all the five star reviews, Michael Winslow got, you know, and it's like shout out to Michael Winslow. He doesn't have that kind of a claim in this country, but in Edinburgh, they were like, he is the guy, you know, wait, Michael Winslow from like police academy. Yes. Yeah. I mean, he's getting five stars for his poster was lousy with five stars. Like, you know, because they just glue them on. And after a while, you barely can see the performer for all the five star reviews. And they just say there nobody who does sound effects. And I mean, apparently not. Apparently not. Yeah. Yeah. Different enough from everybody else that it was like, well, if you want to see something unique. Yeah. Yeah. And Edinburgh is definitely like about doing something you like they like they like things that are, and you know, they're not they're like things that are unique or that feel like nobody else is doing this. By the way, no, good for him. I want to make sure yeah, no shade to Michael Winslow. I delighted every time I saw him on screen. I'm very happy that he had. Yeah. If you Google his Jimmy Hendrix impression, it's it's actually like amazing. And so if he closed on that, I get where the five star reviews work. Yeah. And I mean, it's impression of the speaking voice of Jimmy Hendrix of the guitar. Do your daughters get a vote on where you've taken vacations? Do they ever say like, Hey, we would love to go here. Yeah. So one of our most sort of like well, sort of most talked about family vacations was I was walking through the streets of Berkeley one day. And this woman stops me, recognize me. And so I just wrote a children's book. Can I give it to you? And I was like, of course you can. And the name of the book is called Mr. Okra sells fresh fruits and vegetables. And it was about a man in New Orleans who had a truck where he would drive around the city and sell fresh fruits and vegetables. And the book is all about all the different places. It's sort of like the blueberries were blue like this building in New Orleans. These tomatoes are red like this like this place in New Orleans. So it's like all about like it's like a tourism guide to New Orleans set against this character. And it's also he sings a song. So when you read the book, if you're a good parent like I am, you sing a song with it. You know like it's all about how he sings through the streets of New Orleans. And so I just like took it home and immediately sort of became a part of our family children's book cycle with my and at the time it was just my oldest daughter was around. And then my middle kid was born and I started reading it to her. And she loved that book so much that she's like, I want to go to New Orleans. And I was like and New Orleans is only two hours from Alabama. So I was like, we could probably pull this out. You know, like we yeah, the next time we go to Alabama, we can just like drive the two hours to New Orleans. And we can go to New Orleans. And so we did. And so she was like four at the time. And so for years, and it was a great trip. And also the book did a good job of laying things out. So like you'd be like, wait, the green pomfrons are next to the church, which is across from kind of a new month. We just knocked out three. That's huge. We knocked out three pages. I mean, that might be absolutely pinnacle vacation, which is based on a book your kids love. But in a town that's built for adults. Yes, yes, really good. Yeah, because we had our we had our babysitter with us at the time, our child care person. And so she would watch the kids at night. And me and my wife would walk around New Orleans and we'd have our own tour of New Orleans. So yeah, so it was like and it was great because it gave my four-year-old the sort of I I planned a family trip. You know, she felt all good about it. It was a good trip. And that book and it's funny. It's not it's not a famous kids book. I think every if you look on it, try to order it. I don't think they printed up a lot of copies of it. But it's like it's funny when you know, Good Night Moon gets all the credit, you know, Mo Willems, who should get all the credit, it's all credit. Yeah. And then I think probably a lot of families have the random kids book that they only have that no other family has. It's somehow made a big impact on their family. And for us, it's Mr. Oak or sells fresh fruits and vegetables. So and now as an adult, she talks all wanting to live in New Orleans sometimes based on this whole experience. Wow. The amazing. Yeah, my kids love Good Night Moon. They made us take a vacation to an old woman's house. We had to be quiet the whole time. We want to go to an old woman's house at bedtime. And she was like, just leave my house. Good night. They were like, Oh, the mush doesn't taste as good as I thought it would. Yeah, the the binier's a cafe new mall under much better than the bus. Yeah, I just was that cafe. Do we come out of battle? You have a new podcast as well. Yeah. So my new podcast started a little over a month ago called Who's With Me, which is also the name of my sub stack. And every week I sit down and talk to have interesting conversations with people. And it starts out with me giving people their flowers. So I can tell them why I admire them or why I invite them on the podcast. And then it then I have some very specific questions for them. And then it ends with me asking them for ways that they would like my audience to help, you know, because at this time of of history, we need to figure out how we can, you know, turn this ship around. Now we'll congrats on that. And it's lovely to see you and talk to you. Yeah, good talking to you. Thanks. Yes. Before we let you go, Josh is going to hate with our speed round questions. Okay. Okay. Here you go. You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous or educational? Relaxing. It's not even close. What is your favorite means of transportation? My favorite means of transportation. Plane. If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a family vacation with? Oh, the fictional part is what's opening up all the things. Yeah. The Brady's. Oh, fun. Although things to go south for them sometimes, I remember. Yeah, just why is he touching me? He said, touch this thing we found in the ocean. No, thank you. I'm good. I'm good on that. I expect they would have a lot of snacks and a lot of good cereals. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be? My eight year old, because she's basically feral. Okay. Great. What is your dream destination for a family vacation? Some place that is dad's only. Some place that is that is that is has good wife and it's hot, but it's also close to the beach, so my wife can go to the beach, but I want to pool, I want heat, and I want good Wi-Fi. Okay. Great. What do you consider as your hometown? You've been all over, so what's your hometown? My hometown is Oakland, where I've been living for many years, and where all my kids have been born. Okay. If you had to get more families to come visit Oakland, what would you tell them about that town? That Oakland is the blue bubble that everybody makes fun of, so like if you want to come to a place where you can relax, because we have all the diversity, the food is great, Lake Merritt is great, there's a hang on the weekend at Lake Merritt, it has all the people, all the stuff, all the things, and it's a lot cheaper than San Francisco. Yeah. I host a California podcast, and we were talking to the visit Oakland people, and they've got like a taco trail, I feel like, and they've got all these trails, and yeah, when I was looking at the stuff that they have on offer, it really looks like a great town. And we very recently added a Bruce Lee Avenue, so we're doing the right thing. Oh, look at that. It is heyday right now. And then Seth has our final questions. Have you been to the Grand Canyon? No. Do you want to go? Yes. All right. There we go. I was kind of hopeful that we're like, we're kind of the same age, and I was hopeful that you hadn't gone because you like me, I think it's overrated, but I wish I wish you the best. Well, here's the thing. I hope you have a great time with your family. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Seth, do you change it? I don't need to go, but I sort of took it as like you were inviting me, and I was like, I sort of, Seth, the way his voice goes, okay, yeah, because you like, would you like to go? It was like, it was a this. It was a, would you like to go? You're right. All right. Yeah. So I'm going to change it to this, but you don't want to go, right? There we go. They're not getting it. I thought we were becoming friends. Now I know. Okay. Thanks for having me. You want to be a friend at a Grand Canyon, find a different friend. I'll be your friend for the Grand Canyon. I'm into it. Well, I'm glad you're here. Devin Kamal Bell. It's so nice to talk to you. Thanks for being on the pod. Great to meet you. Thank you. [Music] [Music] It must have been confusing. Come I was always moving. Oh Chicago, he was busy. [Music] I went to Alabama for his high school day. Went out to San Fran. Where he stayed in Chinatown. Got a Bruce Lee team. It wasn't iron on. Went to the Bahamas with his mama. An activity of note. She farmed a sail behind a boat. Here's a visit. Here's Grandma. Grandma. Game shows and soap. Papa runs. [Music] Dad's house was a little bit greater. Mobile. Because it has an elevator. [Music] An airline escorts as he goes state to state. Till they said your 13 now. Get yourself to the gate. In the summer left his mom thought she'd be sad when he was gone. But in truth she was the one who was having the most fun travel to festivals. Ha! Just for less than Montreal. Try this hand at Edinburgh. I am impressed by Michael Winslow. [Music] Oh, double Easter. Oh, bra. So fresh fruits and vegetables. Oh, you. Good book. [Music] New Orleans. [Music]