You can't be afraid to verbalize your ignorance. That's holding you back.

Give me an example.

I can give you several like investing. Like you're telling me that if I put this money in here right now, I get 30x, 20x. What the a scam? I know a scam. When I see one, go find you another idiot cuz it ain't happening over here, buddy. But when you go, you say, "I don't know what that means. How does investing really work? I don't know where to get it." Now you're a part of the right conversations. You're part of the right opportunities, but you get there by being the dummy in them. And now look at what I'm able to do.

Kevin, I love it. I love it. Kevin, it took 13 years from where you did your first stand up to you having your moment. But why didn't you quit?

Because of the lessons that my mom gave from being very scarred from my brother. So, let's go back. I grew up in North Philadelphia. My brother sold the drugs. My dad was always in jail, out of jail. My mom wasn't going to let that happen with me. So, we had an agreement. I had a certain amount of time to make comedy work. And in my mind, it wasn't going to be hard because there was no other option. I would figure it out. So, I was driving from Philadelphia to New York every day. I wasn't coming home until 4:00 a.m. where I was doing 25 to 28 sets a weekend.

I worked at for a very, very long time. And the struggle left you with days of what am I doing? Can I pay my rent? This man, but my mom's biggest lesson was you're not quitting. And not many people are going to do the 13 years of hard. Most people opt out at year two and want to go find a quick return. Well, you keep quitting to start something else that you think is the idea. It's just a cycle. You're never completing anything. You got to make a choice of the thing you're going to do and finish. I made the choice that standup comedy was what I was going to finish. Because if I focused and did it well, that would open up the doors for me to do everything else that I want to do.

But they say that you can't have everything in life. So, what is the cost? Have you struggled with your mental health? What advice have you got for young men in terms of like what it takes to be a good man?

It's a weird thing that's happening where the definition of a good man is so foggy. It seems that in this time today more men are being forward wanting to express and talk but the fear of being judged after.

Do you have that fear?

I am a very driven individual and I'm driven off of ideiation. I I like the fact that you can have thoughts and if you're in love with the thoughts that you're having, you can be energized to bring those thoughts like into a bigger reality. That's like that's the real fuel to the brain for me.

Do you think at the at the very core of you that's what's motivating you because that's like a process but the the outcome of that is success in all its forms. It's material success.

Or failure. I mean like there is no success without failure. They go hand in hand. And with the failure comes amazing lessons, adjustments and you get sharper because of the stuff that you've done wrong or that you didn't know to approach a certain way that you now know how to approach. So I embrace the concept of failure just as much as I embrace the win of success.

Had I met you at 10 years old or 15 years old, how similar would you have looked in?

Not even close. Not motivated to do the things that I didn't want to do. Uh not a good student, kind of blowing off school, the opportunities that come with school, the extracurricular activities that I didn't want to do that I was doing that my mom made me do. Hanging out was the thing. Hanging out was the luxury. It was the fun. And it's it wasn't available. My mom was strict. So, I didn't have the luxury of doing all those things, which is why I wanted them more.

And your father, Henry Witherspoon, Spoon G's, my guy. Uh, you know, a mess up in the eyes of most, but my my dad, you know, he didn't necessarily do the right things in life. Um, gang, crime, all of the stuff. Jail, in jail, out of jail, drugs. Uh I mean that that environment that we were raised in is not like you know the the best environment for for anyone but it's a it's an amazing environment for those that live in it because it's all we know and the normaly is the low. My mom strive for the higher side of it. My mom was education uh degree, trying to get another degree, trying to get a master's, trying to My mom was like always wanting to get better, always wanting to educate herself more because she felt that it was the biggest strength that nobody could control but her.

How did you understand that as a kid? Like how does a kid understand the the dad coming and going being in jail drugs?

You are a product of your environment and in that environment that's the norm. So when you so when you say like how did you understand that? Well, nobody had a dad. Right. Like all all my friends, our dads, like we see him when we see him and we love him because that's what we that's what we thought that it should be. It's not like I'm going over a volume of homes where I'm seeing the father sit with the family and the mom and they're doing dinner and they're having conversations and they're, you know, it's this happy household. I I I only had a couple of examples like that. So, because that is the norm, I never it never affected me, right? Like I was never taken back by the obstacles of our household. My mom and dad just didn't get along and it didn't work. All right. It is what it is.

I mean, one of those lessons that your mother was trying to lay down can be seen in a Bible thousand%. Best story ever. Best story um that I'm able to tell. Checks, man. I couldn't pay my rent. I cannot pay my rent. I needed help. And she was like, "Well, I'm not helping you until you start reading the Bible." And I was like, "Mom, I'm reading the Bible." I was lying. Just lying. I'm reading it. Come on, Mom. This is real. Mom, they're going to kick me out. Are you reading your Bible? Yes. When you read your Bible, then talk to me. And she did this for like a while.

And one day I was like, you know what, man? I was I was by myself and I was like, what am I going to do? I said, let me get this Bible. I read the Bible. And I opened up the Bible and like my checks, rent, like multiple months of rent checks had fell out. And I was like, you know what? It's pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. And then I had to actually open a Bible and and start reading the Bible. But that was her way of of course knowing that I'm lying first of all and b giving me like one of the best lessons ever.

You know somewhere along the lines the gyms that she dropped started to click and the idea of not starting things that I'm not going to finish. That's what really resonated with me the most. So, like I started a lot of stuff that I didn't complete in the younger years. That was me and my mom's battle. No, you're gonna finish it. And she would make me finish it. No, I want to quit. No, you're going to finish it. So, I ended up doing a lot of things with an attitude, which is why I have to ask it.

Then, as I got older, you realize, well, why are you putting time into something in the beginning that you don't want to see through? Why? or just because you have like a rough moment or a rough patch, why is it so easy for you to quit? Why why is the idea of quit so quick to you to come up with and why are you so comfortable with the results of that? I shouldn't be and that shouldn't be my like motto. So, we don't stop. If we start something, we see it the entire way through.

What was it that changed in you? Like what happened that made you suddenly start to take opportunities more seriously?

When you saw the opportunity, you blew it off. I remember the my big dummy moment. We hookie school to go and have our senior day. We go to Great Adventure theme park on the east coast and there was a moment where we're done and we're talking. like eating and hanging out and all my friends were talking about the college that they were going to go to and they had already been accepted. They had already had letters and stuff. When did y'all do this? When did everybody apply? When did you guys take the SAT? I just I took mine, but I rushed it because I wanted to get here. I wanted a hookie. Wait. How do you guys know where you going already? I had no knowledge, no idea. All my friends have went on to the next stage. They let me be the dummy by myself.

And that's when it dawned on me that like nobody cares about you more than you should care about yourself. And nobody is giving you the road map to like the wins. You have to go find that information. You got to go discover it. You got to you got to want to get it. You got to want to do it. And with the right help, the right world of knowledge, it can better help position you. But ultimately, you have to want to you got to want to do it. and me and just not wanting to do stuff kind of put me in a really messed up position early on.

My light bulb moment was look at what not applying myself got me. I feel like the dummy that doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. And now I'm at community college. I'm working as a lifeguard. I eventually went to go work for City Sports, which is a a sneaker store. And I remember when I started working at the sneaker store. Talked about this for years, too. I was like, "Oh man, this is this is cool. This is what I want to do. I got the thing that I want to do." I was so excited that I went and got a job, found a job. I'll do this forever and I'm going to make it to the highest level so I can have a career.

I was flourishing in the space of sneaker sales, right? Education and college degree I don't have. But in the space of personality and sale, I was able to maneuver. This is it. This is my calling. That's where the real beacon of light presented itself through ideas of my friends. You should do standup because you're funny. You should try standup.

Do you remember where you were when they said that?

In my workplace. I'm working every Hey, I'm on the floor.

And someone a colleague of yours that works.

Alice colleague of mine that I work with.

What did your brain think when she said that? Was it was it just blowing on a fire that was kind of already there or was it lighting the fire?

No, I think it the the fire was lit. Like I I never thought about pursuing standup comedy prior to like the idea came up. I was always funny, but I wasn't like man I got to figure out how to become a comedian. That was never a thought. I knew that I was very funny. I knew that I was entertaining. I knew that I can make people laugh. I love being the center of attention. I love the idea of a stage and a light, but that wasn't the thing. It was presented and then I went and did the amate and that's when I fell in love.

Why did you like the stage and the light and and why did you like performing?

The laugh. Why? There's nothing better than to laugh. There's nothing better than being on stage having the bright light. And the only energy of good that you're able to take away from what you're doing is the laugh. Ha. Hearing people laugh, I was like, "Oh that feels different."

Why?

This This is This is energizing. This is like

How does it make you feel about you?

I feel like I'm doing a service of good. If I can make people feel better, if I can brighten up your day, it's a service of good. That means I'm like a shepherd of some sort. I am responsible for making people feel better. Oh my god. That means in success I can bring people to one destination and everybody can share a moment and a laugh and all relate that it came from me. Oh my god, this can get global. This can get bigger. Well, this is starting to change now. Oh wow. Wait, this has opened up doors for me to do this or that or this or that. It all started with the laugh. It all started with the stage.

Can you draw me a picture? If your career was a graph? Okay. So, I'm going to say here is 18 years old and you're 46 now. This is the axis of this graph and on this axis we have let's say success and on this axis we have age. Can you draw me a p a line that shows how how

Success and age? Okay. So success for me knowing what I want to do in life comes here. Yeah. right now. Figuring out how to get to like money, revenue, just supporting yourself through telling a joke, man. Let's go. Let's go here for a second. We flatlining. Okay. Like, I'm I mean, I'm making people laugh. I'm I'm getting in some comedy clubs, but you only get paid with food. But then something weird happens where you start figuring out, oh wait, here's kind of where the spots come in. I can make money on the weekends and I can get 20 to $25 a spot. So rather than doing one spot, I would do, let's just say in a weekend, I got to the point where I was doing 25 to 28 sets.

A weekend. Wow.

Well, I started making 500 $500 a week. $400 a week. So, I was driving from Philadelphia to New York every day. But because of that, now you got to get into a comedy festival. All right. So, now let's start to go here because we did these spots for a while. But then I got in a comedy festival. Oh I got in a comedy festival. But that's when the industry saw me. Who's this new guy? Who's this guy with all this energy? This guy here, he's got something. All right. So, I started meetings, general meetings, and now I get a holding deal. So, let's go up a little bit. I think it was ABC. They gave me like 250 grand. So, they're holding you in hopes they get something. Nothing happens. So, we're flatlining here.

Now, I'm just waiting for the phone to ring. That's how this works. What if I want to create my own thing? Create a show. Oh my god. Show gets picked up. I create something else. They decide to do it. Oh there's a pattern. I can do that as much as I want. I can treat that just how I was treating the spots and stuff in New York. I'm out. I'm moving to LA. No plan, no nothing. Flatline. I'm here. I just did it. I just came and moved out. man. This is weird. I don't like this work. I'm not getting no work, man. This is is real stagnant. I'm going on the road. I want to I want to work the road. I'm going to be a headliner. I worked that for a very long time. Right. Very, very long time to the point where now I'm selling out comedy clubs.

After I started selling out comedy clubs, my person at the time was like, "Yo, we can probably do theaters. You're adding a lot of shows." The next stage of success, right, was let's go from comedy clubs to theaters. All right. Boom. Let's go here. Then let's go up again. Theaters start selling out real quick. Oh, Let's go from theaters, right, to like arenas. Oh Will Packer, he was like, "I got this book that I want to make a movie. It's called Think Like a Man. Steve Harvey wrote it. I think you're funny as hell. I've been tracking you on tour. I want you to be the star." We film it. Think Like a Man comes out. Think Like a Man did 90 something million dollars in the box office. And Will says, "Hey man, working with you is great. Let's do something else. I got this movie called Ride Along. You and Ice Cube would be great." Boom. Ride Along does 140. Like the movies just started to pow, get hard, central intelligence, me and the rock. I mean, it just happened so fast.

So now because the movies are working, I'm like, this is so cool. But while this is happening, I should figure out like how to kind of create my own source of like opportunity. Like people keep bringing opportunities to me. How do I create my own source of opportunity? I'm gonna start a a production company. I need to start developing. But now I'm like, I created that. Let's create something else. So then I say, let's go like Heartbeat Ventures and let's do a VC. Oh man, I'm creating a bunch of stuff. Hey, these entities around me, it's all happening because my likeness. My likeness allows me to get in these rooms and start relationships and put myself in a position to make deals and create long-term revenue. How do I get more of that?

Wow. Like NASCAR, people attach themselves to the car they think is doing the best. I'm a car. I should have brand partnerships. Chase, DraftKings, Fablettics. I should have my own brands and businesses that I'm building where more opportunity for long-term revenue can present itself. Grand Cormino, wine, spirits. Now, oh wow, I've grabbed this concept of business control ownership and mirrored it with Kevin's drive and entertainment and visibility. Leverage that to get me into the rooms where I may not be as visible or as strong, but once I'm embedded into these environments, I can bring them value.

And now I go way back here to when I was like not really focusing, not thinking about life, not thinking about how things connect. I'm now able to tap into the lessons that my mom gave. And I'm like, all good things that happen happen when they're supposed to. But now I'm poised and polished enough with a mindset that understands, well, I don't want to start something that I'm not going to finish. So, if I'm going to put myself in position to do these things, how do I make sure that my partners know I'm willing to give my all? How do I show that I'm not going to quit?

Which back here, my mom's biggest lesson was, you're not quitting. If you start it, you're going to finish it. So, how do I make my partners that I'm now saying you should work with me? How do I make Netflix secure and knowing that when you get me, you get 100% of me and I'm never going to quit. I'm going to finish it all. That's my graph.

I've got some questions about the graph. So, I guess the parts that I'm curious about are this initial period when you're 18 where like nothing's really happening because so many of my listeners, probably most of them are in some pursuit or sort of professional endeavor in their life in this kind of stagnant moment where maybe they enjoy it, but like it ain't paying the bills. No one believes in them. Maybe some of their friends are rolling their eyes when they tell them what they're doing. When you look back on this season of life, like what is that season and how do you how'd you get through it?

Nobody believed that I was funny when I said I was going to be a comedian. Like they were like, "You funny but not comedian funny." Like my friends were, "Yeah, what do you mean you gonna get on stage? What do you mean I'm going to get on stage? I'm going be a comedian." G like how? Like Eddie Murphy. Like I'm going be a comedian. Yeah, but you're never going to be Eddie Murphy. Yeah, I know. But I'm I'm saying like I'm going to do it. Like I'm going to be I'm be a star. No, I don't know, man. I don't know about the whole star thing. I think you're tripping. Nobody has the confidence in the decisions that you're making for yourself like you do. So if you're waiting for that to connect in the beginning stages, it may or may not. If it doesn't, it shouldn't prevent you from like following through on whatever the the line of like go is for you.

The money is never coming fast. We're in a time today where this generation has found ways to make money in a entrepreneur manner that we've never seen before. like the the social media machine and how this generation navigates that machine to find revenue and to own is unbelievable. That didn't exist. We didn't have the like in in my time. We didn't have that. We just had the struggle and the struggle left you with days of like literally sitting in the living room going, "What the heck man?"

So, why didn't you quit? because no money, everyone's doubting it. What What were you believing in?

I was believing in the idea that I finally found the thing that I want to do.

So, it was passion that was really you anchored to

I I found the thing that I want to do and I'm not going to quit it because I love it this much and I strongly believe that the sun is at the end of this dark tunnel, but I got to be willing to get there. And I I just don't know how to get there yet, but I'mma figure it out. Guess I'm going to LA. I was in New York, but after New York, they say go to LA. I'm gone. What you going to do when you get there? I'll figure it out.

I remember being at the the BET Comedy Awards and I'm in I'm in attendance and this is like you know I'd had a couple of shots at some things but they just you know it wasn't the things weren't sticking like the the the pilots I thought were going to hit weren't going to hit the the things that I thought were going to happen, they just weren't. And I remember Cat Williams set during the BET Comedy Awards, he had like a leopard suit, destroyed, destroyed the Comedy Awards, destroyed this moment. And audience goes crazy, stands up. I remember being in the audience and I was like, that's it. I say like that's the that's the thing. that thing, that reaction, that roar, that moment. I got to be patient because my moment is going to come. I witnessed his moment.

And in that moment, my takeaway was that he was ready for the moment. his material, the the jokes, everything, it all hit. And I didn't watch it in a in a manner of like jealous or angry. I was like that that's it. You don't know when the moment is presenting itself, but I'm staying with the thing because I know that the moment is going to come. And when I'm in the moment, if I knock that moment out the park, all things will change. But you may not know it. You may not know when the moment comes.

When did your moment come?

Shaq's all-star comedy jam. I headlined it. I end up having one of the best sets that I've ever had. And at the end of the Shacks Allstar Comedy Jam, I say good night and they do like a slow motion walkoff. It's a slow motion thing and it's like I'm I'm walking, the crowd stands up and they're going crazy. By the way, I don't know the slow motion walkoff is going to happen in the edit of the special, but I remember in real time crowds standing up, stars were there. Everybody was there, right? And in that moment, Cat was in the audience. The Shacks Allstar Comedy Jam and Cat was watching the show. He was just there as a fan, but at this time everything big is happening. And I had a moment and that was the moment that then took me and shot me out the cannon. And if I wasn't prepared for the moment and I wouldn't have known all the things to come.

So about 12, 13 years from the moment you did your first sort of standup event to you having your moment. And I find that fascinating cuz those 13 years most people aren't willing to do something for 13 years without their moment showing up. If they told you that it would take 13 years for you to have your moment, almost nobody would take part.

Nobody. No. and those 13 years of your training. I mean, so Scooter Braun told me one time, he was like, what makes him different is the work that he's willing to do in something. And he was like, you know, if they were giving out like a million dollars for somebody that can hit a fast ball pitch, you know, from a from the best pitcher in baseball, right? And this thing will basically require everybody everybody's going to go and try to hit this because everybody wants the million dollars. So the first day of the announcement, the line to hit this pitch is going to be droves, right? Like I mean millions of people, who knows how many people would be in this line and people would go up and strike out and after that they would go, "Damn, it's over." like I missed. Not many people would like miss and then go stand back in line to go hit the ball again. He was like, I'm going to keep getting in line. What you'll find is that the line will get smaller and smaller because of how many people are dropping out and optioning not to wait and do the hard thing again.

That comparison and that world of understanding is like something that equates to life very well, right? Not many people are going to wait through the 13 years of like hardship. Most people opt out at year two, maybe three, no money, whatever. I need to figure something else out. Year six, screw this man. Stupid. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Right? I'm going to go find the quick avenue or the quick return because money is the that's what it boils down to for most people. Where's the money? Where am I making the money?

I notice this a lot with young entrepreneurs, especially those that aren't having success. They start one thing. Well, they when they come and tell you what they do, they tell you 17 things. And they think that more doing more things is increasing the probability of success.

100% where it's the opposite. It's the it's the thing that you actually thought of that you are going to put 100% of your mind and focus into to complete. And then after that, you're able to pick it apart and take the good, the bad, the whatever and either restart that thing again to improve it or make a decision to do something else. But you finished. I made the choice that standup comedy was what I was going to finish. I made a choice that becoming a good comic and a good headliner, if I focused and did it well, that would open up the doors for me to do everything else that I want to do. If I don't have that, how do I expect to get in?

I was speaking to Evan at Snapchat and he was talking about T-shaped people. So you have like a broad understanding of of a lot of things, but then you're like really deep on one particular thing. And that one particular thing is almost I guess you could see as like screw that gets you into the industries. So for me, mine would have originally been marketing, but I was able to use that like deep expertise to then launch this media business cuz it's still the same game of marketing that I did for for 15 years. I was able to go into like the stock market because they really needed to understand marketing. And it was that deep expertise in one thing that was my leverage in all of these really interesting rooms.

Coming from a kid that came from a very normal background, was was born in Africa, moved to the UK, mother's Nigerian, dad's English, and didn't know that all these like rich people were back here playing money games. I thought the way you make money is you like work in McDonald's, you like work really hard, you might become manager, D. And then at like I'm going to say 27 being sat in a billionaire's kitchen and watching him on the phone and he's calling his boy and they're doing 50 million just before the IPO happens so that they get a better price and I'm thinking hell.

It's all it the the the thing that I've realized right when you look at your biggest investors right you'll find that they're all together. None of them are investing in the new thing alone. They all are like, "Well, it's better with you, so do it with me." Well, what about Gary? Yeah, call Gary, too. Let's see if we can get him in here. You'll find that this group of 10 people all who could easily do something on their own do not believe in the struggles of self when you can combine this machine of great minds to provide another great opportunity and in success.

This whole business of venture, this whole business of company build, whether it's tech, lifestyle, health, well, it doesn't matter what it is. You will notice that the people that started from the bottom are now running the new companies of today. And now the source of personnel that's underneath it will be the minds running the company of tomorrow. It's not like rocket science. Once you're behind the curtain once you go, "Oh shit."

I was a firm believer that nobody's stealing my money and giving you nothing. Yeah. You going to go and put it where? Yeah. No, my money going to stay right here under my bed. I'm not doing that. So give you you want me to give you money and you telling me you going to get you going to take that money and then that money is going to turn into what? Yeah. Okay. Go find you another idiot cuz it ain't happening over here, buddy. I come from the world of everything is a scam. But when you go, you say, "Well, how does the stock market really work?" Or, "How does investing really work?" Or, "What do you mean you make money while you sleeping?" What does that mean? you you can't be afraid to like verbalize your ignorance.

And and the bigger problem, which I'm sure a lot of your viewers have, is like insecurely like just being quiet about the stuff that they don't know as if you're going to figure it out because someday, one day, somebody's going to go, "Hey, you look like you need to know." It'll never happen that way. It's never going to happen. You're never going to run into a person who's randomly going to talk about the things that you wish you had more knowledge in. It will never happen. And what you'll find is that information is not free, but it's available. It's not actually hard to obtain. It's only hard to people that are very insecure about just verbalizing I don't know where to get it.

How does one build an empire that relies on people when they naturally don't come from a place of that information? So they they might have trust issues like you were referring to these kind of trust issues like wait a minute, you're trying to steal my money. You're going to have to be trusting a lot of other people with your wealth, with your business, and with your with your children's inheritance. And I hear so many of these stories of I trusted a guy and I lost everything.

But in business, what you'll find is that the emotions can be your like can be your worst asset. Having emotions in business attached to business can be everything but beneficial to the business. So the more that I was able to detach my emotions from the world of want and understand that the things that I'm doing are to better position the business and the people that have worked so hard to help this business get to where it is today. I have a service to them as well.

My ignorance doesn't mean that I'm lazy. My ignorance means that I believe you. And I don't know to second guessess or second check or to hire or onboard people to second guess to second check to show me fine print fine line because it's impossible. go back to the emotions and why I say emotions had to be removed. I'm going to have somebody look at this just so I know that it is what it is. I wouldn't lie to you. I know. But it's in the best nature of business just for me to make sure that my eyes that I have lay eyes on it and they can just say what you just said but just make sure I understand it correctly. Yeah. But you don't have to do that. It's nothing against you. It's just a practice that I have within the way that I now approach business and anything that you do. It's never personal.

What's the cost though? Because you know, you're incredibly successful. You've got all this empire of companies and businesses and ventures you've started. They say that you can't have everything in life, especially not at the same time. So, what is the cost of this pursuit? Because

Time.

Is your ambition like in uns insatiable?

Yes.

It just won't. You couldn't switch it off if you wanted to.

Are you happy?

I'm 10,000% happy, but I'm stressed out with the concept of I have to do.

If your life ended now, God forbid. Do do you think if you if you found out today that it was ending, you would reflect on it and say, do you know, I think I might have had things in the wrong order, would there be any mis prioritization in hindsight if today was the day?

If life ended today, I could cross my legs comfortably and be okay. That it's that it's time. I did it correctly. I made sure that I applied myself to the best of my ability. I tried my best to put those that I loved in a better position so that they could see more and do more. My last name and my family name is much stronger today than it was yesterday. The idea of the world is something that I was able to see and understand better because I was blessed and fortunate enough to travel and meet so many people are made to like we're here to embrace, we're here to love, we're here to like share. I was an energy source of good to bring people closer together through all things that I've done. So, it all connects. And I'm okay. I'm okay with if it stopped, it stopped. What I'm what I'm not okay with is while I have the bandwidth of good health, great mind, strong like mind concept and I can I can go I can do it. I can get there. I'm not okay with wasting that time.

What about being a man? It's it's confusing. I think it's more confusing than ever for many to be a man. And we often talk about this masculinity crisis where men have less men male friends than ever before.

Yes. polluted waters is what I call it. Extremely polluted waters.

What advice have you got for for young men on in terms of like what it takes to be a a good man?

You know, I think the definition of a of a good man is so foggy today. I was raised on a foundation of a leader or leadership. And I think, you know, rest in peace to my dad. It's messed up of a road that my dad had. My dad's like later years were driven from accountability. I'm aware of what I didn't do. I'm aware of the mistakes that I made and I'm aware of what I should have did much better. I can't change those things, but I would love to try to be the best grandfather or grandparent that I can be. His accountability in that moment is what I remember the most about my father and love the most. Because leadership or lack thereof put me in a position to say I don't want to do that. I want to do this.

So now I got two boys. I want to make sure that my example of man to my to my sons, it's leadership, responsibility, it's accountability, emotions. I'm not against emotions, but but I am also I am a student of everybody has problems. Nobody there's not a shortage of problems. So the weight of the world that you feel is the heaviest for you may not come close to what the weight of the world is for you. And I think in sharing your emotions and having an opportunity to voice or offload them extremely important but you also in a world where you know weakness can at some point in time be taken advantage of. Right?

Kevin, we have a closing tradition where the last guest leaves a question for the next, not knowing who they're leaving it for. The question left for you is, what is the advice you got as an adult that had the most significant impact on your life?

I'm going to go to best the best piece of advice came from Chris Rock where Chris Rock told me early in my comedy career. He says his exact word is you don't just want to make people laugh. the world is so much bigger than your block or your neighborhood. He said, "Get out the country. Get out the country and figure out a way to make the world laugh and comedy will be so much better." At that point, I was very like specific in my material. 15, you know, we got these the this drugstore is crazy. YOU EVER HAD A GUY IN THE DRUGSTORE IN YOUR BLOCK? AND IT'S LIKE, WELL, everybody doesn't relate or can't relate. How do you broaden it? How do you how do you open it up so that you're never changing your material or who you are? Everywhere you go in the world, people can laugh and you never have to adjust. Get out the country. Get bigger in the way you're thinking about your craft.

Have you struggled with your mental health?

No. No. I think I told you my issue is like more more stress. It's not a struggle. It's like I know I do too much.

What's the symptom of that? How do you feel? Like

You have to like you have to shut down. So like what I'm getting better at is in a day there's time I just don't I'm off the phone. I got it. I know I told him I would do calls. Just tell them I'll start that tomorrow or the day after. But like there's a there's a time where I get to a point in the day where I'm like, "Okay, that oh that's it for me. You're done."

So you're pushing yourself right up to the edge over and over and over and over again.

I get to a a point in a day and that timeline of when I'm shutting off has gotten earlier and earlier, whereas before it was, you know, we hours of the night and I'm still on the phone figuring it out. and all day you just been racing and racing and racing. So I think the older that I've gotten. I've realized more and more that's not healthy. The healthy side comes with silence for a sec. Like you need you need some you need some silence. A ride in a car by yourself, no music.

What happens next for you? We sit here in 10 years time, it all went well. What happened?

I think in 10 years time, if I'm able to sit on a stool at a comedy club with 30 people and do material and enjoy my craft, and it's little small hole-in-the-wall comedy clubs, wherever I'm living at the time, and I do it maybe twice a week. and I golf. Uh, and I spend time with my kids and hopefully their kids and I'm a grandpop and we're able to like look through photo albums of remember when and mailbox money is attached to things that I've built that are operating and functioning on its own. That's that's my version of success.