- My neighbors made me a meatloaf like this,
with a black power fist, so they feeling guilty.
They're feeling guilty around here.
I'm letting 'em, too. (laughs)
- What did they say when they dropped off
the black power meatloaf?
- What can you say?
Just hand it to 'em, just hand it to you.
That's it.
- Just, "I understand what you're goin' through
"and I'm an ally." - That's it.
- Here's a meatloaf with a black power (laughs)
- Black power meatloaf, here you go.
- This is another episode of Stand-Up Playback, Sommore.
- Yes!
- Now, first off queen,
I noticed that your house is very nice.
That's a very nice quarantine situation.
I'm at my mama house.
- This is a nice spot, okay?
We gonna put it right here on the,
don't go outside of this frame, now.
- That thing look like a white linen party.
That shit is nice. - White spot, white spot.
You know that's when you made it
when everything is white.
This is it.
(laughter)
- So, I've always had the utmost respect for you.
- Thank you.
- This is a picture of me sweating my ass off
back stage at the comedy club StarDome.
- Oh my God.
- That is from 2002.
- Hilarious.
- If I'm not mistaken, because that's the Fubu suit.
That's the only suit I had that
and I performed in it. - And why do I look
like Patti LaBelle?
Why do I look like Patti LaBelle, yo?
Like really.
And I'm giving you the pat on the chest
like you'll get there one day.
You know, like--
- Yeah yeah, I clearly wasn't funny that night.
"It's okay, young blood."
- No no no, and I only probably had
like 10 minutes more worth of jokes than you.
Really.
(laughter)
- You gave me a piece of advice
that I wish I'd have taken to this day.
That I wish a young comic would take.
- What did I say?
- If I were starting now,
I would wear the same outfit my entire career
until I make it.
- Yup.
I did, and I believed that.
- Just so people could know I ain't made it yet.
- Yup, exactly.
I tell people that all the time.
If I was starting out right now,
I would get me a tuxedo and would I would wear that tuxedo
every single time so people would be like,
"Oh man, you mean the girl with the tuxedo?"
So yeah, I would.
Just to find something to stand out.
- So this clip that we're about to play of yours,
this first clip, this is 19 years ago.
"The Original Queens of Comedy."
And it was you and Miss Laura
and Monique and my dawg, Adele Givens.
And you all took the world by storm.
But before we play this clip let me ask you,
when ComicView passed on me one year.
- Okay.
- And you know, like any comedian
that can't get on ComicView, you get angry.
- Def Jam passed on me, so I get it.
Yes.
Yeah, they passed on me.
The first year that I tried to get on Def Jam, they passed.
So I get it, I get it.
Yeah, they did.
- You bullshitting!
- Yeah, they did.
- What kind of snubs are these in your resume?
- That's good though, that's good.
It only made you go harder.
- So I spent the next year watching ComicView every night
and I cataloged every topic
that every comedian breached on the show.
And so it gave you a science of what
the bookers were looking for versus
what black people were laughing at versus
what comics were just copying others.
So you're trying to see who's similar versus who's original.
You're kind split into different columns.
- You were that deep at that young age?
- Why do you (bleep)s not like me?
Well who the, do you like?
So I'ma find out!
And I'ma document it and I'm gonna have statistical data
to know exactly where I need to get it better.
Because people just say,
"Just keep doing your thing." - Hit that, hit that,
that's what you need to do.
I couldn't believe that, are you serious?
You were that deep into it.
But I get it, but I get it though, I get it.
Go ahead, yeah.
- So what I saw in your material was that
you essentially performed for,
your message was to the ladies.
It was to women.
And the men are just here along for the ride.
Y'all can get up and go get a, use the bathroom,
whatever you want.
- Right.
- I'm here to talk to them.
And because you were talking to them,
of course men want to understand women more
so you had our undivided attention as well.
Was that intentional or was that just something
you gravitated towards naturally, creatively?
Like as you started building your act in that time?
- Well you gotta understand like,
I was what, 20 years, 22 years old?
Excited about life.
Excited about being a stand-up comedian.
Excited about living on my own.
Excited about being on my own.
Excited about traveling.
Excited about the world.
Excited about being on stage.
So I wanted to talk about the things that excited me.
And my freedom and my sexual, and me being a sexual being
was exciting to me.
And me learning how to use my sexuality to seduce the world.
That excited me.
And so that's what I spoke about.
- All right, well this is Sommore 2001,
"The Queens of Comedy."
(laughter)
- I'm not gonna have any children unless I'm married.
I'm for real, (bleep) that.
A bitch might dress like a Power Ranger, but I need help!
(laughter)
I ain't no strong mother-(bleep)-er
when it comes to comes to being strong like that.
'Cause y'all women kill me when you all being too strong.
Y'all be walking around, "I don't need a man for (bleep)!
"I pay my own bills, I pay my own rent.
"I don't need a man for (bleep)!"
Well, as soon as a man (bleep) you real good,
you give him a key to all your (bleep), I know you!
(laughter)
- Oh, the back is out.
- (bleep) that, I need help from the gate.
(laughter)
I'm for real.
And I see the reality in marriage.
See, marriage to me is a lot different
than other people see it.
See, marriage to me is a lot like going
to an amusement park.
You know how you go to an amusement park
and you get inside and you're riding all the rides?
Just having yourself a real good time.
Just riding all the rides!
(laughter)
Then all of a sudden you start walking around
and you start seeing all these
big pretty fluffy-ass animals that you could win.
So now you decide that you got to have you one.
So now you play all the games that you have to play
in order for you to get you one.
Then you spend up all the money that you have to spend up
in order for you to win you one.
Finally, you got you one.
Now you walking around the fairground with
this big, pretty mother-(bleep)-er and everybody see you.
But after while, you realize that can't ride no more rides
'cause you got this big bitch with you.
(applause and laughter)
See, I just wanna ride all night long!
(laughter)
- Yo.
Yo, yo.
That joke still stands up.
You know that, right?
- It still stands up.
But it depends on where you are in life.
It depends on where you are in life.
So it spoke volumes to a lot of women.
And men as well, you know.
You play the games to win you a teddy bear,
but the you realize once you get this teddy bear
it takes you out the game.
You have to park, you can't get on no more rides.
The truth.
- Did you know at the time that what you were doing
was so ahead of the curve?
Like, you're literally just, it's women's empowerment.
Lady, go out here and ride these rides.
I don't want no stuffed animal.
What, but God said he who finds a husband,
you supposed to be cooking for,
You was like, no, get you some dick.
Get all that you wanna get and have a good time.
- I love joke writing.
Like that is my thing.
Like, I absolutely love joke writing
and segues are my thing.
Like, I will not sleep until I have the proper segue
to get to my point.
- I can't believe I have to say this.
Hold that thought, keep rolling.
- Okay.
- My son locked my girlfriend out the (bleep)-ing house.
(laughter)
That's (bleep)-ing insane.
Four year olds man, I'm telling you.
So then to that point about writing
and keeping material fresh.
I feel like that's where coronavirus is really gonna force
a lot of comedians into a new place,
if they hadn't been writing new material.
- I love it.
- Because everything you been doing pre-corona,
don't nobody even want to talk about that no more.
You got 40 million people unemployed.
We already at 100,000 dead and climbing.
People are going to be in pain for a long time
and it's going to force us, creatively,
to have to address that onstage.
You have to talk about the new world that we're in.
Because I think everything--
- And they're not gonna accept the message from just anyone.
You gotta know that, too.
They're not gonna accept the message from just anyone.
- I think any joke you wrote before Kobe Bryant died
probably won't work now.
- Probably won't.
I don't even know who I'm going to be outside of this.
I've never drank this much in my life.
I've never weighed this much in my life.
I know people at the grocery store.
These mother(bleep)ers like,
"We didn't even know you lived around here."
Like, I've been to the grocery store more
than I've been to the club, okay?
So like, I'm a whole new person, okay?
- So I wanna look at another one of your clips.
This 2008 from your hour special,
"The Queen Stands Alone."
Now this is one of my, I think this outfit,
is probably one of my top three favorite
Sommore outfits of all time.
- This was a big mistake.
First of all, you never wear sequins under lights.
That shirt turned into aluminum foil, okay,
at the end of the show.
I was sweating like James Brown at the end of the show.
My eyebrows was off.
My bangs was stuck to my head.
- You didn't take like a titty sweat pat break
in between and then like--
- No, I did, I did.
I had tape on my titties.
I had to take the tape off my titties.
Yeah, we took several breaks.
The mic got wet.
Oh, it was a hot freaking mess.
Yeah, I will never wear sequins again, ever.
In a filming, yeah.
I had sequins and I had a weave right here.
So I had put extra hair on right here.
So halfway in the hair was sweaty, the sequins was hot,
the titties was wet, it was awful.
- I wish people would know
how hard it is to make television.
- It is so hard.
Yeah, and you know, because I'm the executive producer
of my specials, I'm in on everything.
I'm in on the lighting, I'm in on the seating.
It was a lot.
But I love it, every minute of it.
- Dope.
Okay, well this is 2008, "The Queen Stands Alone."
Sweating in some sequins.
- First of all, I support rap.
I do, I support rap.
Do you realize, that's right.
(applause)
Do you realize because of rap music,
we have more young black millionaires than ever before?
(applause)
Oh yeah!
See, the beauty about rap is
you can't (bleep)ing live rap music.
Rap music is a fantasy.
It's not a (bleep)ing reality.
You think about this.
You work hard, 40 hours a week.
You try to pay your bills, save as much money as you can.
Don't you wanna hear about a mother(bleep)er balling out?
(laughter)
I do.
I wanna hear about how many bitches you got.
What kind of rims you're riding on.
How you blinging out, pouring champagne on bitches.
'Cause I can't and I ain't doing that with my money.
(laughter)
So I wanna hear about it, I do.
I do.
But you can't (bleep)ing live rap music.
I learned this shit when I listened to TI's last CD.
TI came in on that bitch.
TI said, "I buy keys by the threes.
"When I chirp shawty chirp back.
"Louis knapsack where I'm holding all the work at.
"What you know about that?
"What you know about that?"
(applause)
- I know all about that.
- I'm sitting in this bitch, I'm like,
"Oh, this shit cold-blooded"
(laughter)
What I didn't realize was TI was talking about cocaine.
(laughter)
I'm in this bitch, singing this shit to the top of my lungs.
"I buy keys by the threes, when I chirp."
I ain't got a mother(bleep)ing Tylenol on me.
(laughter)
But I'm feeling this shit.
- Wait, pause it right there.
When you talk about rappers, does it get back to them?
- I did a joke, I think in this special,
about Fantasia and to this day,
I think she still kind of,
every time I see her she kind of looks at me sideways.
Because for a long time, people thought that I was Fantasia.
Like, especially white people,
would think that I'm Fantasia.
Like, when Fantasia won, oh my god.
They thought I was Fantasia.
- 'Cause she had the short hair.
And you had the short, with the--
- Exactly, exactly.
What I always tell people,
if I talk about you, then you're special.
Period.
- All right, let's keep going.
- You can't live the rap music.
Then you can't believe everything the rappers say.
You can't!
It's entertainment.
Do you realize that these young millionaires
got so much money now,
that they putting diamonds in they teeth.
Diamonds in they teeth!
The first time I heard the grill song by Nelly.
Oh, the grill song (bleep)ed me up.
Nelly came in on the track, Nelly said,
"Da da don, da da da don.
"30 down at the bottom, 30 more at the top,
"that's 60 teeth, goddam that's a lot!"
I said, "This (bleep) got so much money
"he done bought 28 more teeth!
"Goddam!"
(laughter)
This (bleep)'s balling.
(laughter)
- Yo.
- And I love that it's such a subtle smart joke,
because you know how many teeth
you're supposed to have in your mouth.
- Yes, yes.
- So you could laugh, but in back of your mind
you doing the math.
How may teeth we supposed to have?
- How many we supposed to have?
"30 down at the bottom, 30 more at the top,
"that's 60 teeth, goddam that's a lot."
Not supposed to have 60 teeth.
Yeah.
So it just shows that, you know, yeah.
My jokes are very analytical.
And then I pick the little things out and I love it.
I love it when the audience gets it.
There's nothing better than when they get it, right?
- I think people get a message more
when they feel like they're not being taught.
You know, if that makes sense.
- It makes sense.
And I think the more honest you are,
like one of the jokes that I wrote
and I absolutely love it,
and I did it on a special where
and it's called "All The Queen's Men."
It said for some reason we living in a society
where people won't listen to the police.
I said, "Like the police tell you to stop,
"put your hands up, we won't put 'em up.
"But the DJ tell you to stop, put your hands up,
"we put 'em up and let 'em stay there,
"and let 'em stay there."
Like, and people like,
"Wait a minute, that's funny as shit."
And it's the truth.
It is the truth.
So I think that as long as you're honest,
you're honest and you make it funny, people can accept it.
- Well, when I tell you this I mean it.
You are one of the greats.
- Thank you, I appreciate it.
- The material that you've done has emboldened
the next generation of young comedians,
especially the ladies!
As they used to say back in the day.
When the comedy clubs open back up,
are you gonna just hang out in the club?
This is why I'm scared of being back in the club.
Everybody say six feet.
Six feet is based on casual conversation.
A laugh is not a casual exhale from your mouth.
That's (hard exhale laugh).
- And you know black people, when we laugh,
we like to hit each other.
We do, we like, we gotta touch you and stuff.
Yeah, we gotta touch you and laugh.
We got to, yeah, it's gonna be different.
- Yeah, everybody gonna have corona.
Thank you so much.
Is there anything that you wanted to plug?
- Just go to sommore.com.
I'll see y'all after this is all over.
- Indeed.
All right, well enjoy your white linen furniture.
- Thank you Roy, I appreciate you.