Myra J | Is NOT in the Epstein Files

Thing about being the Trailblazer, you going to smell like smoke.

Going city to city, we turning corners. When you with Trailblazers smelling like smoke, pay attention to their jokes. Success tried to warn us. Motivation conversation captivating the coach. Performing arts, it's the heart, so we got to watch the road. All my dreams out of mind, out of sight. They standing on my left 'cause they can't get right. You know what make them wonder every time I turn the corner.

And now he's going to help me out the car.

I know, she say, boy, you better quit filming and help me.

Right, I'm like, he back there filming, can't he feel like Thank you.

Uh, today we have comedy legend. It's funny, some people been doing comedy 4 years, they call themselves legends already. Um, this person is indeed a comedy legend, like no doubt about it. Ain't no ifs, ands, buts about it. She should be on the biggest podcast in the world because she was on one of A matter of fact, I'm gonna say the biggest radio show, radio station in the world, Tom Joyner Morning Show. Please welcome Myra J. Miss Myra, how you doing? I am—

I was like, who are you having on the show, girl?

Listen, listen, when I tell you, you got to understand, being from San Antonio we didn't have a lot of stations. Even right now in San Antonio, we might have one, big as the city is. And when we got the Tom Joyner, when I tell y'all, y'all hooked us up with music, y'all hooked us up with what was going on in the nation. Normally you have to go to Dallas, Austin— that's crazy— Houston. But listen to y'all in the morning, even one year, I don't know if you came with Mr. Joyner, but Uh, Texas, San Antonio still has the biggest march.

Yeah, I marched.

You can't—

okay, yes, I was there.

Okay, I remember y'all coming. I'm like, it's Tom Jordan, that's Tom Jordan. And I just wanted to tell you first and foremost, thank you for doing the podcast. Um, I've been nervous all day. I've been up since 4 o'clock this morning. I couldn't sleep. No, I'm serious, I'm serious. Um, before we get into your bio I want to just explain to you where we met. So my friend Darryl Edwards— shout out Darryl Edwards— he is one of the greatest photographers I've ever seen, not just in San Antonio, but that I've ever seen. He had been talking about the Tom Joyner family reunion, and I'm like, man, what's that? He said, man, you ought to come, it's a lot of us and doing this. And I'm like, man, I don't know nobody. So just go. I'm like, bro, I can't go. I don't know. No, just go. So I went, and the first year I went, I was so nervous. I was just there, and you came around the corner, and I sent you a picture of that day, and I was like, yo, that's Myra J. And, and I said it in a way of like, maybe she don't know who she is.

That's always funny to me when people come up to you and tell you your name.

That's what I did. I said, do you know you're— you just started laughing at me. Said, what, boy? I said, can I get a picture?

Yeah.

And I was like— and it was, it was early because remember y'all would do the Sky Show right in the front. And I, I got there early. I mean, I was like right behind y'all. J. Anthony Brown, which I got a story to tell you about him because he did something to me yesterday. Um, And I was like, oh my God, this is Mary J. That's Janet.

Oh, that's—

and I'm just going crazy. That day, you were the first celebrity that I met up close. That day changed my life, whether you know it or not. I didn't realize how much it changed my life, but it changed my life in the way of they regular people.

We keep trying to tell y'all, you won't listen.

But regular cool people, because I met people who are not that cool. Yeah, okay, let's, let's just go ahead and get started. Born out of Chicago.

Yes, sir. And I always have to say Cook County Hospital, not the jail.

Oh wow.

Oh wow. Okay, what is it— first, before we go here, what is it about Chicago? Y'all got Bernie Mac, Ronnie Perry, Dion Cole, um, I think Cheryl Underwood if I'm not mistaken, or is it Adele? Is it Cheryl?

Um, Adele, Adele Gibbons, Sherri Shepherd, uh, oh my God, I feel Robin Harris was that— was actually born there. He grew up in Los Angeles, but from Chicago.

Yes.

Red Fox, you know what, I'm not sure, because I know he was—

there was Detroit Red. No, that's where I just got it right. Detroit Red. Then there was, uh, Malcolm X. Um, but y'all have some comedians, you know, from Hannibal Buress, Mojo Brooks. I mean, it's— I can keep going on and on. What is it about Chicago? Because the thing that I, I can't stand is that the media puts such a bad light on— and every time I've been to Chicago, I've had fun, people have received me well. What is it about Chicago that's in the water? They seem like everybody's funny.

Well, it's, it's one of those things. To me, you do what you have to do to survive. But to me, we are a wonderful city. We are a wonderful people and it's a thing of keeping it real. If you cool and you come over to my house and I got one slice of bread, we gonna slice it in half. If you got a friend you real, real cool with and you bring 'em, we gonna take that piece of bread, we gonna slice it in thirds. That's just Chicago folks. We just down, we keep it real and we like a good laugh.

Are your family roots from Chicago or y'all from down south? Okay, okay, okay. Because, you know, I'm trying to claim you of Texas.

I'm—

because when I hear that, like, even Mr. Perry Rodney was saying this yesterday, and I was like, he said, Ray, you don't understand, like, people are just funny in Chicago. We're gonna roast you, we're gonna make fun of you. So have you always been, you know, I know y'all probably get the same questions, like, cause I hate when people ask me that, like, yeah, I've been funny.

Well, I kind of sort of, yeah. When I look back, I, I think in high school I may have been kind of like the female Ferris Bueller. I, I was voted most humorous female and I was voted most popular female of my senior class. I didn't set out to do that. I was just one of those people, I got along with everybody. I got along with the nerds, I got along with the gangbangers, you know, because I was just that person. And I loved a good joke, I loved a good prank. And so there were a couple of times when things were happening that shouldn't have been happening, let's say, and the And the teacher, you know, who's always cracking down, when we would meet for assembly in the morning, my last name was Hughes, he would come in and go, Hughes!

And the whole school, the seats would fall out loud.

They knew it was you.

Yeah, he called a name or something. Hughes, get in my office. And I was, but the thing was, I wouldn't get caught. And it wasn't bad stuff. For example, when the previous class graduates, the upcoming class would go on the roof and paint your graduation number on the chimney. Well, they made the big announcement, you know, and that's defacing the property and you're not supposed to do that, blah, blah, blah, blah. So after school, what time are you going to meet up at the school, you know, to paint? Okay, bye. And I took one of my mama's old sheets or something, and, you know, we went and climbed up and, of course, put it up. The very next morning, he came in and all the upcoming seniors for the next year are in the big auditorium. He didn't call nobody else.

Hughes!

I'm like, what?

What? But Okay, as a woman, especially during certain times of American history, there were certain ways people depicted women, how they should be. You know, they supposed to be Ozzie and Harriet, they supposed to be later on Clare Huxtable. No offense, it don't sound like that was you.

Well, no, no, it wasn't.

And it took me a while to realize that that wasn't me, because back in that day, if you were going to be, quote unquote, an educated woman— because I went to college— you were going to be a librarian, a secretary, a school teacher, a social worker, or a nurse. That, that was pretty much it, you know.

Really?

And so I went into social services because no one encouraged— no one was encouraging a young Black woman to be a writer, to be an actress, to be a comedian.

Are you kidding me? No. Nobody.

And the only thing that I remember from back then when I was in 8th grade, because I always liked to tell stories. I was always writing stuff. And I had written some short story. Passing it around the classroom. And my science teacher, his name was Mr. Georgopoulos. I remember it. He was like, what is that you all are passing? And he got it and he said, oh wow. Come to the principal's office. I'm like, oh Lord.

Thought you was in trouble.

Yeah.

Mama gonna kill me. I ain't gonna live to see my 8th grade graduation. And he told the principal, we need to make this a part of the ceremony. And I had written this thing about Batman and Robin. Came to the hood, because when Batman and Robin came on television, they had the corny words pow and zap used to pop up on the screen. And I had written something about how the Black people, you know, joined Batman and Robin. Nobody was writing about that, but that's how my mind worked. And so I always remembered him believing in me. And it was the first time I ever felt like Wow, somebody really liked my story. Like, like a teacher. Yeah, like my story. But in high school, I really wasn't, you know, encouraged. So it was just something that I did on the side. I, I acted a fool for free.

If you don't mind, just for a second, because we try to be positive on this, on this podcast. You said something that was interesting. You said for the first time you felt like somebody was encouraging you to do something that you really enjoy. For people who may be watching, especially as, as a woman in this time— I talk a lot of trash on Facebook, that's a character, but in real life I absolutely love Black women, that's all I like. I'm sorry, no offense, nobody. But how important is it to speak life into each other, especially as a woman? To speak life to your kids, your daughters, your sons, uh, because like as you said, that, that one person didn't— you know, who knows if they wouldn't have did that.

Um, it's everything. It's everything. I was just sharing with someone, we recently just lost Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Yes.

And I said the way, I guess, the generation behind me would be the millennials. I said, the way they fell in love with hip-hop, we fell in love with civil rights.

Wow.

When I was coming up, the day that I heard he passed, I could hear my mother's voice over and over again all that day saying, what is Jesse Jackson saying to you that got you getting up every Saturday morning going down to Operation Breadbasket. Before it was Operation PUSH, it was Operation Breadbasket. And on the South Side of Chicago, Jesse Jackson would speak. And before I could leave the house, I had to do my chores. So I'm up before the break of dawn, dusting, vacuuming, washing clothes, whatever I had to do. Because I was going down to hear Jesse Jackson speak every Saturday morning at Breadbasket. And for us, this was in the '60s, it was so empowering. We were Black and proud.

And that was before King passed away or that was after? Do you remember?

This was probably, if King died, I want to say maybe '63 or '64, I get that But probably right after. Okay. Yeah, shortly after. And so it was in our music, it was in our walk, it was in our talk, it was in our hair. You know, this is when we were changing our names and wearing African clothes.

Come on, girl.

And the whole thing. So it was so embedded and still is deep in my soul. Black pride, and I'm very, very supportive of Black people. And, and so that's, that's why, to, to me, to this day, I am still very encouraging of Black people. And like, like you said, this is no shade to nobody else. I love everybody. You be good to me, I'm gonna be great to you. Hasa neva. I love, I love Black. I absolutely freaking love us, even when they piss me off, right? Because there is some pissers out there. Yes. But yeah, I, I just love it. And, and I think it's very important for us to always remember that, um, social media, social media is a double-edged sword. I can see how many, many people have benefited from it. They've grown businesses, they've built careers, and there are so many others where it— I call it keyboard courage, where people can sit back from the other side of the world and just, you know, say whatever. I will never argue with anybody on the internet, ever. I feel like it's just a waste of time.

Yes, ma'am.

Period.

See, now you talk— now you're speaking to me. Go ahead, because you're right, you're right. Yes, ma'am.

And you— and obviously you don't know me, or you wouldn't be talking like this. But anybody who wants to have an intelligent conversation—

come on, girl—

about something worthwhile, come on.

Because the, the fact that as I've grown a little bit, depending who you ask, and I've talked to people who have done big things, it seems like they don't focus on nothing social media. And you think they do because you see all the numbers, and then you find out they got a whole social media team that does all this. And even then, they watch what they— hey, you can't talk to them like that because those my fans is Um, as a person who, first of all, got a master's degree, and I got a bachelor's in social work, which is crazy. When I, when I read your bio, I was like, wait a minute, how— first of all, how did you get from Chicago to California, if you don't mind me asking?

Oh no, not a problem. Uh, well, let's see, went away to college. Illinois State University, and got— I did everything really, really fast. I graduated with my bachelor's in 3 and a half years. I got my master's in a year and some change because my son was born a little early. I married early, and I told my husband at the time when I graduated, I'm not going back to Chicago. I want to go to California because I had always watched these movies and stuff. Yeah, you know, you see the people on Pacific Coast Highway and, and I just thought, plus I hate cold weather. I freaking hate it to this moment.

Yes, bro. Yes, bro.

I hate it.

Yes, bro.

Period. Oh, don't you miss the snow?

No, I do not. Not for one second. So, um, yeah, that, that's, that was the move. I was like, okay. Me and the baby, we going to California. We would come, not come. And I was so serious, and this is no shade to him, but I was so serious that I was coming to California after I graduated. And so we ended up coming to LA and it was rough. It was a struggle, you know, and everybody thinks Los Angeles, the streets are paved with gold. No, no. And I didn't go out to do comedy. It took me a while. To find that part.

Okay, so I heard you on the interview one time say, and just get me right what I got wrong, you was there, you was doing your thing, and you saw some comics that wasn't funny, or you knew you was funnier, you're right, or as funny, which you are, it was you are. Um, okay, I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna be me. I'm all nervous, but I'm gonna be me. Do you know how brave you are? Because, because first of all, first of all, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, that's our community sometimes labeling things, uh, that's in a— that's not right. And you know this in social work anyway. Take that hat off. The fact that, okay, everybody's supposed to be this, but I'm going to school for this, and everybody's supposed to do this, but I'm gonna do it this way, and everybody's supposed— you are constantly being a trailblazer. And then to tell your husband, look, man, I love you, it's cold. I've been to Chicago. I'm ex-Navy, retired Navy. I was in Waukegan, Illinois, Great Lakes. It's too cold. I got there in November.

Oh, bless you.

I hadn't seen snow, baby. We ain't had no snow since '85 in San Antonio.

Too cold.

I, I— what, what is this? You see these ears? This ain't, this ain't made for no cold. And then you went to California and then say, man, I'm funnier than them. First of all, people don't understand, when you get on that stage Ain't no protection.

There's nothing. There's nothing. It's you, the microphone, audience. That's it. And I tell people, it's what I find so different. We don't have— we don't have dancers, we don't have music, we don't have a synthesizer. It's nothing. And I tell everybody, I said, it's like being Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. It's, it's your voice, it's your style. Because when you hit the stage, they're looking at you, what you have on, they're looking at your hair, they're looking at how you walk. I mean, they are instantly— all these good Christians just judging the hell out of us as soon as we get the stage. Okay, let's talk about that for a second.

A woman of color 40 years ago, and you're going to go on stage and tell some jokes. And I have told this story before, and it's gotten much better now, thank goodness, but years ago, and many times it's only one woman on the show.

And wait, wait, wait, that's true.

Back then, of course, I mean, even today.

Well, okay.

Yes.

One woman. We need to change that. But anyway, guys can come up to, 2 or 3 guys come up to tell their jokes. You know, you're backstage and you're kind of checking out the audience, blah, blah, blah. And the people are laughing and the women are laughing and they introduce you, the only woman on the show, and you see the body language when you walk out and the women would do this.

The women too.

Absolutely. And just, just like you said, and they checking you from head to toe. What her shoes look like, what her outfit look like, her hair, how those— her eyes, hmm. They, they, they, they are judging you. And that's why I always felt like as a woman I had to come out and I had to get them Immediately, immediately, because I don't have time for you to kind of like, well, I guess, yeah, right? No, come out with the funny. Come out with the funny. Let them know I'm here to do a job, and my job is to make you laugh. It doesn't matter if I have on an evening gown, if I got on gym suits, some raggedy tennis shoes, my job is still the same, to make you laugh. Period.

Oh, listen, and you was at one of the historic comedy clubs ever. I can't even—

ever.

Because when you hear people talk about it, I mean, they say Jordan would come through, Shaq. I mean, all these celebrities and the late great Robin Harris.

That's right. That's right.

To my understanding, took you up under his wing.

Mm-hmm.

Please help me out with this.

Mm-hmm. How, how we, uh, met at, and I had been doing comedy maybe a couple of years, and this was, I believe, the early, probably the early '80s. There was no Black comedy club that I knew of. So you kind of, in the '80s, the early '80s. Well, not in Los Angeles. Not to my knowledge.

No.

No. No. Wow. Not a Black comedy club, like, no. So we would do— well, for me, you go down to the Improv and the Comedy Store, and you try to get a picture, a few little minutes, blah, blah, blah. And so there was a place that I would go to for socializing. This was my bar. And I happen to go there on an off night checking out a blues band. Place isn't crowded, but the band took a break and I asked the guy, the band leader, hey, can I tell some jokes while you all on break? You know how it is when you first start out, you hustling, you'll tell jokes anyway. And he was like, yeah, sure. So I go up there, I do my little stick, and this guy comes up to me after, he goes, Oh, really?

Funny.

I'm a comedian too. My name is Robin Harris. And I'm like, okay. I had never heard of Robin Harris. I didn't know what it was. But I've been down at the Improv and Comedy Store with primarily white audiences. And he literally did, get in your car, follow me.

Okay. I'm—

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You just followed Robin Harris?

I just followed this guy. That's why I said, I was so young.

So young and great.

Okay, I just met this man, but he said he's a comedian, follow him.

Okay, so we go, and I want to say, um, if it was in LA, somewhere near the Fox Hills Mall. But you know how the hotels give the Black people one night, like, you know, this was y'all's night to come down and party. And we go in, and sure enough, we go in this room and the dance floor is packed. And we walk in and the DJ cut the music. I'll never forget this. He said, "Robin Harris is in the house." And I was like, they about to whoop our ass. I know he didn't cut the music off. Like, oh Lord, who? This is just a little club setup. There's no stage. Robin goes into the DJ booth with a fixed mic. Microphone and starts firing off joke after joke after joke, and the people are hollering. Nobody is pissed about— everybody is standing there just sucking it all in like a sponge. And it blew my— I had never seen anything like it, and I was like, who is this man? It blew me away. And We were tight to the day he left this earth.

Oh girl, that's some history!

That was freaking amazing! That was just amazing to me how he could just boom da dun na da na da na da na da na da na da na da na da da da da da da— And it just killed them all. He just slayed it.

Okay, okay, first of all... Because I hear comedians all the time, they're complaining, oh, there's not enough open mics and this, there's not this. And I always tell people, hey man, make your own open mic. Find a spot, do a host something, because when you host, you can fire off some jokes. You need a real audience. I've seen things Robin Harris have done. Robin Harris, uh, Guy Torrey, which makes sense now when Guy Torrey was on Def Comedy Jam. I'm sorry, Joe, Joe Torre, his big brother, why he was roasting people because he came up under— but there's a something I saw of you because I did my little research and you had a little cute little afro girl. You so cute. And y'all was roasting each other back and forth. Wait a minute, hold on. First of all, you don't really hear about people roasting Robin Harris. Second of all, I gotta say this, for that time— today is normal. You roasting probably one of the greatest roasters of all time, and you are— girl, you didn't— you was on it.

Well, here's the thing, Robin, that was Robin's idea. We used to call it Battle of the Sexes when Michael Williams, okay, uh, comedy act. In Los Angeles where we finally had a place to go where Black people could go. When you mentioned the celebrities coming out, that was the place. The Comedy Act on Thursday night, I called it Robin's house.

It—

oh, it— the, the show started at 8 o'clock. You couldn't get in at 8:30. They called the fire marshal.

Are you serious?

You couldn't get in. Could not get in. Period.

You couldn't even stand against the wall. It was no more room.

Period.

And people would dress to the nines because they were coming out to the comedy show. And everybody from, you know, like from celebrities to janitors to cashiers, everybody came. It was where Black people came on Thursday nights. And so therefore now the, let's say, comedy elite from the Improv and the Comedy Store, if they wanted to see good comedy and good Black comedy, they had to come to the Comedy Act on Thursday nights because that's where everybody was starting to come. But Robin was the host and he was known for, when you came in the door, he'd go, spotlight, and some everybody operated the spotlight. Um, Lewis Dick Martin Lawrence.

What's up, independent artists? Legacy City CEO of Street Legend Productions LLC, radio station, TV network. Earn your royalties, UPC code, ISRCs. Come holla at us. Street Legend Productions LLC, home of the independent artist. Resume speaks for itself.

Operated the spotlight just to get some stage time, which means he was like— yeah, the spotlight. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was doing jokes, but that was also to get Stage time. So Robin would say spotlight and they would put the spotlight on the door and the whole club would turn around because we know Robin was getting ready to fire you up. It didn't matter if you were a celebrity. And that's why he used to always say officers of the goddamn law, because the police would come, the police would come in, the fire department would come in because the fire marshal knew too many people in there.

Wow.

The funniest part was the police They would find a new officer and bring him in.

They set him up.

Yeah, straight set him up. The cops knew it, Robin knew it, the audience knew it, and Robin would tear the police up and everybody would fall out laughing, fall out laughing.

So he says, "Ma, when I fix up, you ought to come on stage." I'm like, "I'm not coming on stage with you, Robin." And one day I came in the club late and, uh, you know, I had to really, really, really short hair and he said something about my afro and, and I think I said, you up there looking like— I think I called him a raisin with eyes.

Yes, yes ma'am, yes ma'am.

That's what it was because it was a very popular Raisinettes commercial out at the time with the dancing raisins and that's why it was so funny because raisins were really So that particular night wasn't planned? No.

And you wrote, girl?

No, the first time I did it, and then it went so well that I became, you know, like a plant. And the funniest part was that we did it so many times, we kind of knew when I say this joke, he's going to say this one, but then I can come back.

But then we might switch up, and we can see the twinkle in each other's eye like, oh, you got some new shit.

Oh yeah, that is so dope. Yeah, yeah, that is so dope.

It was, it was a great— it was, it was a great time. It was a great time for, for Black comedy. And what I— when I look back on it, what I loved about it, because people were so supportive. And I mean comedians with other comedians. Yeah, a long time ago, black comedians actually supported one another and wanted each other to do well and just have a great show overall.

Yeah, that's okay. It's okay. So looking at some of the videos, because I watched, uh, he messed up the Tories. Gatorade's, um, interview, and he talked about— I know it's a whole different theater, but he talked about when that went down, how that was. At this time, were big celebrities coming to see y'all, uh, with, with Robin Harris? Yes, ma'am.

Oh, heck yeah.

Um, uh, uh, Magic Johnson would, would come through.

This is the '80s. This is when Magic was Magic.

Uh, yeah, yes, this had to be, I, I want to say this was probably very early '90s. Okay. Yeah, yeah. As you can figure out, I'm terrible with dates.

Don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it.

Yeah, but, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, I remember Magic Johnson, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy popped in there.

Uh, and Eddie Murphy popped through.

Yes, yes, yes. Eddie came down, and I'm trying to think, did Eddie get on stage? It seemed like I remember Arsenio going up, but I don't remember if Eddie came up. I mean, if anybody, anybody, uh, Shirley Ralph, um, yeah, just because it was, it was the place to be on Thursday nights, period. No, no question. And it was just so, so much fun. And people would— because of how the place was set up, you had to walk past the stage and go up the stairs to use the bathroom. And people didn't— nobody wanted to get up when Robin was on stage because they know he was gonna get him. So at one point You could look up the stairs and see it was a group of women who wanted to come back down to their seats, but they could hear Robin was on stage. So now the audience is doing this, like, "They're following us down." And Robin would—

he didn't care. He would come down off the stage and go up the stairs. "So y'all asses think I ain't gonna talk about you because you're up the stairs, huh?" And just start talking about you on the stairs.

It didn't matter.

Okay, and I gotta ask because we live in this sensitive world. Yeah, everybody's so sensitive. I even saw something— I didn't even see what joke she said. They said they wanted to cancel some more because she said— I'm like, come on, y'all, y'all going too far at this time. You can kind of—

oh, you can, you can talk about everybody. Everybody and anybody, you know? So it was what it was. Yeah. Period. You know, coming up, 'cause we had mama jokes. We had mama jokes. We played the, look, I remember in elementary school, and I mean second grade, we told mama jokes.

Yes, ma'am.

Period.

Yes, ma'am.

That's all there was to it.

You talk about my mom, I talk about your mom, and then we go play. What? It was a joke. It's what we did. I remember going to college and what's his name? Dolomite has Signifying Monkey.

We said that like the Pledge of Allegiance.

Yes, ma'am. Way down in the jungle deep.

Way down in the jungle deep. Badass lines that's on the Signifying Monkey.

Shut up, don't you want?

We just knew it.

And, and so, you know, I guess things evolve and times, times change, but we had some fun.

So when, when I truly got introduced to you, I didn't know who you were. Bebe's kids, Dorothea. Which is funny because I didn't know until recently Robin Harris wasn't even the voice. It was— there she is. What did she say? She said, I recognize her by her Lee press-on toenails. Dorothea, the, the, the bitter ex. Yep, I've been married a couple of times. Yeah, I get that.

And, and my, and my partner in crime was, was the wonderful stage actress Nell Carter.

And, uh, yeah, how did that come about?

Well, um, the Babyface Kids was, was already in the works. Okay. For Robin's, uh, tragic passing. And, and so I, I auditioned for, for the part, and to this to date, there was never a part that I wanted more. I was like, I really, really, really want to be built to go through it. So I was, I was very, very happy that I got that part. And Faison and I played, played off of each other very, very well. Very, very well. So that, that was fun. That was a whole lot of fun.

That's, that's dope. Especially, it was your friend.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and And here's the thing, when we were actually reading, you know, doing the voiceover work, they had not finished the animation. So we're doing this to just stick figures on the wall. And so—

Wow.

When the actual movie came out, I'm seeing it for the first time, just like anybody else is seeing it. And I remember looking at the screen going, wait a minute.

She light-skinned with red hair and a big old booty and stuff. That don't even look like me.

Oh, so you, you didn't know nothing? I mean, you wasn't— I mean, no, you say the script wasn't finished, but you hadn't seen none of the characters at all?

No, not—

I mean, that one?

Yes. Not the finished product? No, no, not at all. Not at all.

That's—

but it was, it was a group of children behind me. And they were hissing and booing at the Dorothea character so that by the time the movie was over, I had slumped down in my seat.

I go, I don't want these kids to know it was me. They might jump me and beat me in the back of the head or something. They were like, get her, get her out of it, Robbie, get her, get her out of it, get her out of it. I was like, whoa, okay, they're taking this serious.

And that's when he said, I wear my ring on the wrong finger because I married the wrong woman.

God, that's— that's— oh, that sucks. See, see, one thing about comedy that I don't like— somebody could do a remix. Beyoncé has a great one of Frankie Beverly Mays. You can't remix a joke because people gonna tell you, man, you stealing. But some of these jokes are so funny. It's because I've been married more than once. I'm sorry, I'm, you know, I'm not good. I'm good, I'm good at other stuff.

Marriage—

I'm a good boyfriend. That husband shit just don't work out for me. I mean, we gotta talk every day. Exactly, like every damn— damn shit. Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry, excuse me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I told myself no cuss, okay? Um, yes ma'am, but yes ma'am, but I was still raised a certain way. And my mama— my fact, my mother heard me curse one time during comedy And I was headlining. I said, "Mama, listen, I'm not opening. I'm not doing a church show tonight." "I still want to come." I said, "Mama, I'm just letting you know." And of course my mama, she gonna be front row. She was cracking up laughing. I was so scared because we was raised Jehovah's Witnesses, all strict. Man, she said, "Baby, you did good. Mama heard the words from you." We was Jehovah's Witnesses, but anyway, that's a whole nother thing. So you kept going on comedy, kept doing your thing. And I'm curious as to how you met Mr. Tom Jordan.

Oh, okay. Um, doing stand-up comedy, uh, but by then I'm, I'm in, I'm in Los Angeles and there's a gentleman by the name of Brad Sanders, who's a comedian who does On the Phone, On the Phone with Tyrone, that, that, uh, character. You know, who gave you the daily update on soap operas and stuff. So he used to—

Okay, I like that. That's different. I like that.

Oh yeah, he did the Young and the Restless for years. It was a very, very popular character on the radio. But anyway, he said that, and at that time, Tom was known as the Fly Doctor, you know, from Dallas to Chicago. And even though I'm in Los Angeles, I still knew about Tom because, you know, Chicago is my home. So he said, yeah, he has a countdown show on the weekends. And on his countdown show, he likes to inject comedy between songs. He really doesn't have any women, you know, so you can record some bits. Okay, fine. So I do some comedy, blah, blah, blah. And a couple of my friends from Chicago said, yeah, Tom Joyner is playing you on the radio. And I said, yeah, part of the countdown show on the weekend. And they said, no, he played it during the week and said, you all have to hear this lady, Myra J. And I'm like, are you serious? And they said, yeah. And so that, I actually worked for Tom for a couple of years. Before I actually met Tom.

That's crazy.

Talk on the phone and send stuff in via fax machine. Yeah. And, and so, uh, I, I want to say, I think, I think one of the jokes that, that they said he was playing was I said every, every woman loves a man who knows how to do that 4-letter word that begins with a K. Work.

Come on, you know, my mind just went somewhere.

Of course it did.

You know, that's the beauty of comedy.

Of course it did.

So yeah, and so yeah, so I, I ended up, um, doing more, more bits. I ended up writing the, uh, weekend show, and, and then when he decided to take the show national, you know, and he got, got a group of people and he said, I want to bring you on air. I knew nothing, nothing about being on the radio.

So you hadn't done radio yet?

No.

And then you, the first time you're doing radio, you're on a national.

Look, this is how naive I was when When he had the meeting and he said, you know, it's going to be a national show, I was like, how you going to tell the time?

It's time difference.

This is where my mind was. He said, you want to do the minutes?

See us through. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's the way it is. We are one. We are, we are, we are, we are one. Yeah, no matter what we do, we are one. Love will, love will see us through. We are one. That's the It is.

You know what hour it is? That's what he go, 14, 14 past the hour.

He never say 2 o'clock, right?

Right.

Well, it's in the morning anyway, but still, girl.

I learned, I learned, first of all, I'm so blessed. This little girl from South Side Chicago who ended up doing stand-up comedy, radio, television, writing for television. And this was something I didn't even dream of doing because For us, that, that was— that's all it was going to be, was a dream, you know what I'm saying? Not a reality.

But you put in the work also. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I mean, because, because I, I'm— someone told me yesterday, the other day, he said, Uncle, you're not a dream chaser anymore. Yes, I am. He said, no, you're living your dream. I'm like, no, I'm not. He said, do you know what you're doing? And I'm saying, because it doesn't feel yet, but I'm enjoying what I do, like meeting you and different people and stuff like that. But you are constantly evolving. I mean, from this young girl in 8th grade that the teacher takes your paper to screenwriting as a woman who's Black in LA. Now, I've heard stories about certain rooms. And I'm not— we're not here to do any dirt on nobody, but the fact that you're able to do that not only shows your talent, but it shows that somebody's been looking out for you. Yeah, somebody has really been looking out for you. But, but your spirit is so awesome. Let me just say this, because we live in a time where everybody's so negative, right? Everybody— that's like negativity sells. Clickbait. And some people even ask, why don't you get a co-host? Y'all need to do more hot topics. I'm like, yeah, I want to do that because long term I don't think it lasts. How have you been able to do so many things by being a sweetheart in the industry? That's— no, I'm being honest. That's, that's known for the casting couch, is known for these different parties, and we don't hear Mariah J.'s name on none of that stuff. Let me— can I just say this? Look at this camera. Mariah J. is not in the Epstein files.

Amen. Let me tell you something.

It's, it's so interesting to, to me, years, years later And as we grow and as we mature, I ain't mad at nobody. I am exactly what I am supposed to be. I am at peace. I have worked in an industry that has allowed me to feed my family, you know, to take care of us. And like Jay said, we make people happy. Laugh, and then they pass. Yes. So it, it's— yes, I, I don't compare myself to, to anyone because bottom line, our careers, you know, which, which is a wonderful thing, I, you know, I love what I've done, but even still, that camera turns off, the mic goes off. Who are you then? Yes. Who are you then? And if I'm not happy with that person, then this means nothing. So I prefer being nice. I know that there are some people out there who would go, psh, her? That's okay. Like I said, we evolved. And as we grow older and we know we are closer to the finish line than the starting line, I just want peace. And we can tell some jokes along the way, that's the icing on top.

It is coming from this— me, I've only been doing comedy about 15 years, and I've— it's a lot of crazy people, let me say that. And there are times when, like, my name King Get Right did not come from the movie Life. Although as much as Eddie Murphy is my GOAT forever, it didn't come from that. It come from me hitting people in the face. Just not proud of it, but it just— I always say my mama named Candy, my dad named Charles. That's just— those are names that fight. But to listen to people who has been doing it a long time and say, hey, you don't have to do it that way. Sometimes it's best to maybe to just maybe surround yourself with a different team or or people, and it seems like in today's climate it's almost impossible, but I know it's not. What advice, if you don't mind me asking, would you give to people today who think that you have to be the messy people, to be the ones that's always talking about— you try to build your career off of tearing somebody else down? Well, they haven't learned yet.

The, the thing is, especially with the, the internet, and I, I understand that, you know, that's, that's how, how people get, get their, their following. I like the internet. I don't love the internet, period. You have to, you, you have to love your village and your Your village has to love you. And just because somebody is around you, that does not mean that they love you. All money ain't good money. We all know that. I have walked away from some money things. Ain't no big million dollar gifts, but I've walked away from gigs. Trust me, that money comes right back around. It was money that I could feel comfortable with. It was money I could sleep with. Yeah. So it's a core thing. Yeah, you, you have to, you have to make a decision that you can still feel good about yourself in the morning. And so sometimes we have to learn that because, you know, I, I don't, I, I don't get and get into the, to the mess, you know. Yes, ma'am. This one said this about this one and this one said that. You know how old I am? Why would I give two dead flies smashed up against a nasty wall with somebody at this point?

I mean, Bernie, you ain't worth two dead flies smashed. Like, dang, Bernie, you ain't worth nothing.

I don't know if that's a Chicago saying, but we say that smashed up—

you ain't worth two dead flies smashed up It's a nasty wall. God dang it, that's, that's low.

Okay, because I, I want to get you out of here. I gotta ask, because after I saw you at the Tom Joyner family reunion, then the next year I came on in 2015. I actually broke my leg that year, that's why I wasn't back in 2016. In 2015, I was there as staff, was helping out. So now backstage, I'm seeing things I had never seen before. Y'all have fun. No, because you don't— you know, again, behind the scenes, people don't see, right? They, they don't see what you're doing or whatever. Are there any moments over the years that you could talk about without naming names, or if it's some names that we know, we— where it was a crazy moment at the, you know, with Tom Joyner or with the crew, with the staff, maybe a guest that you can talk about that maybe, you know, maybe you haven't really talked about it, or maybe you've talked about it before and somebody just needs to know?

Okay, okay. Well, we, we talked about— well, we've told this story many a time. When, uh, one of our trips to South Africa And we are broadcasting live from South Africa. And Tom Joyner went to South Africa? Yeah, we went twice. Oh wow.

Okay. Oh yeah. I'm telling you, girl, at the same time, we ain't getting nothing until years later. Wait, wait. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

And we broadcast live. Um, the first time, the Bureau of South African Tourism brought us over to encourage Black Americans to to come to South Africa. So yeah, we're over there and everything is laid out. And his father, Papa Joyner, he's Joyner, was there, he's videotaping. And we're in a room and Tom is live up on the air, we're all sitting there. And his father—

Mr.

Joyner was sitting on the back of a couch. He's videotaping us. Do it, do it yourself. And while Tom is speaking live on the on the air, we hear thump, and we look over, and all you see are two shoes sticking up on the back of this couch. Well, the guy, he runs over and, you know, grabs him, and we can see, you know, he's okay. But y'all still going— we are live on the air, so Tom is looking around, he sees that his father is okay. He keeps talking, y'all talking. So I want to say, I think Jay was the first person to kind of give the signal, like, then George was like, George Wallace. Okay, so he's dipping out. And then, you know, the Ray comes, can I go? And we all go. Nobody said a word about it. And the next day when we go to broadcast, before the show starts, I was like, y'all ain't shit.

I know y'all was in the hallway and laughed about my daddy falling off that couch. And he was right. We were in the hallway going, did you see Robert Jordan fall off the couch? Watch out. We knew we had to hold it together. We knew we had to hold it together.

All of a sudden everybody got to go to the bathroom.

Everybody. I know y'all was in the hallway laughing, and we were, we were dying laughing.

Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah. I, I often say, I said, Bebe's kids grew up and went on the time That's what happened. Wow.

That first of all, thank you for the story. But the fact that y'all have to keep it together because you still been professional, you know, and then Mr. Joyner is probably like, he probably wanted to laugh too, you know. I mean, I'm sure he laughed later on because, you know, his daddy was all right, but it's nothing like a slip and fall.

Look, I am one of the clumsiest people.

I slip and fall all the time, and I tell people, I said, I said, I laugh when other people fall, and it's okay.

I said, because I have fallen enough, I'm giving people a great laugh. I fell one time, we were doing, we were actually hosting the Essence Music Festival when Essence was at its peak and popping. So You know, the Superdome holds 80,000. I don't know how many people was in there, but it was packed. And we were on the stage and Tom says, "Mira, go out to the audience and find me somebody," you know, 'cause we're playing games. That's right. With the audience for 20 acts. And I got on this flaming orange catsuit and I go sashaying. Well, as you know, going from bright lights on the stage down into the audience. It's dark. And he said, go in the back and get me somebody. They got these big cables between the aisles. No, you didn't. I did not see. No, you didn't. Let me tell you something. I flipped over one of them cables.

All I know, I can see myself on the big old jumbo. First you could see me, and then you couldn't. Totally gone. They got the camera on the stage now.

All I could see was Jesse Brown. Jesse Brown is laid down.

I know he was. I know he was.

Laughing so hard.

But this was the funniest part to me. I'm okay. It's just funny. Okay, I fail. Before I can get up, the first person that get to me, it was a lady in the audience. She dropped her knee in my chest and said, stay down. Everybody saw that girl.

You can sue. No, she didn't. Yes, she did. Yes, she did. The woman was pinning me down. Our executive producer, I can hear him running up the aisle going, somebody get her shoes! Marjane lost her shoes! Somebody find her shoes! I'm laying on the ground with one heel on. A woman in my chest, my girl, don't you get up! Don't you get up, girl, you can sue! Yeah, yeah.

To me, that kind of stuff is hilarious. It's hilarious.

It's just funny.

I mean, you gotta laugh. Listen, I don't care what nobody say. I, I laugh at some of the most inappropriate things. I know I'm wrong. I used to get pinched in church all the time. I remember my grandma, the first time she caught the Holy Ghost, and then the preacher was going up and, uh, really, the Lord said, and you know, she's doing all this stuff, and my— amen, amen. And then he said, y'all need to pay your tithes. The Holy Ghost just left my big mama. She just stopped. Well, sometimes we ain't got it. When I tell you I laughed so hard and got tore up in church, I'm like, it's her fault. Like, some stuff you just, you have to laugh. Now, been old preachers, these preachers back in the day when I was backsliding, I ain't seen the many women go up in that, that, that welcome where they gonna do the welcome for the one, welcome once, welcome twice, that big hat, and that hat go one way and the wig go the other way. I have gotten in so much trouble over the years laughing at folks. Okay, help me out. I heard a story. Oh, I want to keep you. I heard a story. I'm like, there's no way in the world that happened. Someone— matter of fact, you told this— told this story on 95 South, 85 South. Okay, J. Anthony Brown lost his mother.

No, where you going?

It's true, because these are, these are comedians. People don't understand, we're different. And they— you have to be a friend to actually do this, because just because we've comedians don't mean you can say this at my mama's funeral. I love me some Candy. So you was there.

What happened, girl? So yes, it's at the end of the, you know, the thing. You go and you give the family their sympathy. George Wallace was in front of me, and George approaches Jay, and Jay stands up, and they hug, and you know, blah, blah, blah. And George bolts out the door. And I'm thinking, okay, George is, you know, he'll give a big motion. Let me go out the church and check on George. And I go into the parking lot and I'm like, George, are you okay? And he says, did you hear what Jay said? And I said, no. He said, black motherfucker, you better come to my mama's funeral.

And I said, I just came to make sure the bitch was dead.

Now see, now see.

Wait a minute. This, you got to be my friend.

No one else could understand that but the love of those two. You got to be you, because it, it's almost like, I love you, I love you too, man. Yeah. And this is what we do.

And that's— and they laugh about it to this day. It's one of their funniest stories. They just fall out laughing now.

I'm sure the other family—

that's why I was about to ask that, because I got some ghetto cousins. Well, sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that on camera, but they know they ghetto. Edit, right? I don't know how they would have took that.

Well, here's the thing. Sometimes my family would call up to the radio station because something they think, and And you shouldn't let— tell them where you are. It's very simple. I don't come down on your job complaining about anything. Preach, girl. This is my job. Preach. And this is what we do. I can handle anything that I feel is inappropriate. I don't need for you to be calling down to the radio station or writing letters, none of that. I'm okay. And if it offends you, okay, don't listen to the show.

Because obviously you can handle your own. Duh, duh.

So no, no, don't, don't call. But also some of the funniest things, you know how it is when we're telling a story in Belgium.

You said it was 8 so-and-so. That ain't who said it was.

No, he didn't.

While I'm on the air, I'm thinking, yeah, you're getting nervous.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I don't feel so bad now because I, I— there's certain jokes I stopped telling. Okay, yeah, there's certain things I stopped telling. I'll tell you after we get through., and family members like, oh, I don't like that, but the audience loved it. I'm like, if I can't be me, y'all just don't come.

That's, that's, that's a dilemma that, that I had for, for the longest, because I, because I really don't want to offend anyone. Well, that I care for. I don't really care for even, you know, what a rusty one, for all I care. But, but my mother only came came to see me one, one time, and I— it was in Chicago, and everybody's like, your mama's gonna be in the audience, what you gonna do? And I said, my mom's coming to see my show, and I'm not gonna change it for my mother. Because when I thought about it, hell, I've been doing comedy all these years, she wouldn't even come. Now I gotta change everything because she's coming? I love you, Mama, but This is my show and this is my career and these people paid money to come and see my show. Yeah. And she came and I didn't change it. I love it. My aunt was with us. She said, your mama was hollering. I love it. Laughing. I love it. Hollering, laughing. Yeah. You know, when I did Def Jam, I didn't— well, back then I didn't curse, and I, I didn't curse on, on Def Jam. Tha Master. I, I did not curse.

And, and now, did you do that on purpose? Yes, I did.

Okay. Because I want to be different. Because when Def Jam came out, and I trust me, I don't, I don't not curse it if it has a purpose, uh, but everybody was cursing, and I was like, well, I don't I'm not going to curse. And, and I, and I talk about sex and everything. I— one, one of the jokes that, that I did, uh, because I, because I was talking about all the, uh, feminine douche products, I said, you know, but back in the day it was just vinegar and water. I said, now it's vinegar and water, it's strawberry, it's collard greens. I said, baby, what you want to eat? That's the joke. That, that's, that's the joke there. Now, to me, I could have taken that joke to a very, very, very, let's say, graphic place. Yes, ma'am. But I say the audience's mind is much dirtier than anything that I could have said. So to me, the creativity comes in when I say something else, because everybody can say the, you know, the D word and the P word. And to me, just me, that's not creative. But, but if I said, girl, he took his, you know, honey, he took his jeweled unit. Mm-hmm. Well, now everybody's like, oh. Shoot, he had a Juul?

Do you know what did he have on it?

Did it get—

See what I'm saying? The audience's mind is dirtier than we think.

The audience's mind is much dirtier than anything I could ever say. So all I do is paint a picture. You take it wherever you want it to go.

I like that. I like that. Mm-hmm. When, when you finally, um, first I'm, I'mma ask this right here. Because I, I have a habit of forgetting that this is Turning Corners, right? Because I get so caught up in the conversation. Is there a moment in your life where you can say it was a turning corner moment where you was like, maybe you wanted to quit comedy, or maybe being a single mother— which you need to bring back Tips for the Single Mom, when I tell you that is needed. Today you say take it to a restaurant where there's a 2-tooth minimum. I'm a girl that is needed today. I'm serious, because I don't understand. I don't understand the society. Look, I'm gonna be— I'm gonna die a lonely person, I get it. But was that a turning corner moment in your life where you said, okay, I could either go left or right? But I'ma keep going. And you know that if you wouldn't have chose that, possibly your life would be in a different space.

Um, yes, of that. Well, look, let me put it this, this way. I, I quit a, a television job, a television writing which paid good money, benefits and everything. Now, I, I will say I, I was, I was working on, on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Okay. Um, but what, what happened was the, the show that I was, that I was working on, the executive producer was a white guy. Um, really kind of, what, what can I say, very emotional type guy. He did, he didn't hire me. The person who hired me was, was Black. This particular executive producer had a reputation for being, you know, just kind of wild and blah, blah, blah. So as, as a writer, you can work very, very, very long hours. I don't, I don't have a problem with that because the script has to be done. You ain't gonna turn the TV on and they just say, well, we didn't finish the script, so ain't no show this week.

You know, so you're, you're writing with other people, I'm assuming? Okay. Yes, ma'am.

And, and I'm, and I'm still a fairly new writer. This was only my, my third year. I think, uh, writing. So, very long story short, he had asked us to make these changes. Okay, fine. We stayed there very, very late till 2 o'clock in the morning. It's called the page one rewrite. Basically, you have approximately a 40-page script and they go, this ain't working. Start all over again from page one. You gonna order pizza, you know you're gonna be there all night. Wow. Everybody, you take the first scene, you two take the second scene, but we gotta put this together because it has to be put together and delivered tonight. Okay, fine. So, so we, we did it. We're back there the next morning to read it, and he came in and literally took the script, and I can still see it, and threw it in our faces and said, who wrote that, why did you all change this? Almost like he didn't remember telling us.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. He's the one that told y'all to change it?

Yes, yes. And everybody was just sitting there kind of frozen. And me, especially then, if I'm quite well, I could feel the tears coming because I was just that angry. And I just start screaming at the top of my lungs like, we changed it because you told us to change it, blah, blah, blah. And I walked out of the room and called my agent and said, I'm breaking my contract. I can't stay here. I cannot stay here, period. And gave my 2-week notice and left the show. And that was— but that's what I mean by all And look, this is how, this is when I knew I had made the correct decision. This is the only time this has happened to me in my life. Like I said, I gave it to the Tweed Notes. The next morning when I was driving into the show and I was coming off the exit on Melrose in Hollywood, literally I couldn't breathe. Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. And I still had the wherewithal to drive myself to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. I pulled up to the valet, jumping out the car, leaving the key here. You park it. I went into emergency. Still, they slapped me on the gurney, the EKG, blah, blah, blah. My doctor finally came in and said, Myra, you're not having a heart attack. You're having an anxiety attack. Breathe. Breathe with me. Take deep breaths. Oh man. And breathe. And I knew exactly what the deal was because I was on my way to work. And I was like, never again. Never again will I let anything have that much control over me. Yes, ma'am. And so, but But I felt good because I'm like, well, I didn't turn again. I didn't even go to work that day. I called him like, I'll be here tomorrow. And here's the thing, and I sent myself a huge thing of flowers to greet me at the job the next day when I came in. Oh, I was kind of cool after that because I knew.

Yo, that's so dope. I'm leaving here. Yeah. That is so dope. And, and okay, because I've heard stories of people who stay in bad situations because of the money, because of the notoriety, or what it might lead to down the road. But again, you are— you are— your core is saying, no, I'm not— it's not worth it.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. And people are like, how could you walk away from TV. Apparently it wasn't for me, and that's okay. Something else was for me, but that particular lane at that time wasn't for me, so I got out of it.

And you okay with it? Hello? No, I mean, and I'm saying it as a matter of fact because there are some people, and I've seen them, and, and that goes in anything, jobs, relationships, you know, what, come on girl, teach.

Just, you're gonna be okay. Just breathe. What, what did my doctor say? He said, Mara, just breathe. And, and when I, when I stopped panicking and listened to him and I'm laying on the gurney with all this stuff, it was, oh. Okay, so, oh, excuse me, excuse the interruption.

Yeah, but, but you understand why I'm saying this, because we live in a society now where people will sell us— I'm sorry, that's just— I've seen it, and I'm like, I'm uncomfortable in certain rooms because I walk into a room, I'm like, nah, this ain't, this ain't it. And they'll tell you, well, Ray, you got to do this, you gotta rub elbows. I don't, I don't like fake people. I don't like people that I might have to beat up. I don't want to go to jail. I'm too old, you know. And my fear of jail, honestly, is getting beat up naked in the shower. Like, so that keeps me out those rooms. And here you are, someone who has walked from, I mean, this lane to this lane, to radio, to Robin Harris, to— I mean, you didn't—

girl, Well, here's the thing for me, and I had to learn this.

Bottom line, I want to be happy.

Preach, preach, girl, preach.

You know, so many people, you know, they think that fame and fortune— now don't get me wrong, Sweet Mama likes her some money. Well, not even the money. I like the things that money can do. Yes, things that money can buy, like that. But I love me even more. So, so if, if that means I got to do that to have that, that's okay, because I'm loving me right now.

You know what, that's, that's— I'm— I had other— but you know what, that's, that's it, because I think people need to hear that. I think I think we live in a time where people need to hear someone who has walked the walk, talked the talk, and said, you know what, I don't have to do what everyone else does. I'm going to take my own lane. I'm going to do what God has called me to do. And I think that's a perfect way to end the show. I want to tell you, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for being so patient with me.

I know I've got on your nerves. No, no, never.

Listen, you gotta, you gotta say I've never— now I'm the booker, I'm the— as you can see, I'm— and sometimes I'm like, I don't know what to say. It's in, in— I, when I— there's certain people I talk to, ain't no big deal, but people that I admire, that I've been watching for from afar, been watching with y'all what you do, I got a gift for you that you're gonna like. Um, Yes, that's for me. Yes, ma'am. Can I look at it? Yes, ma'am. Especially the white one. I want you to see the white one. Okay. And, and when I—

oh my God! Oh my God, thank you! Yes, I love it. Thank you. My birthday is in 2 weeks. Yes. Perfect birthday present. Yes, thank you so much.

Okay, you just made my day. You just made my day. You just made my day, cuz listen, you don't understand. I was like, I gotta do something for her. And, and yes, yes, yes. Okay, okay, you just made my day. You just made my day. Hey, thank y'all for tuning in. My name is Ray Can't Get Right. I appreciate y'all. Ahala!