Before we talk about anything, OG,
let me just ask a serious question off the rip, man.
What is your annual budget on hats?
[laughs]
Oh, the hat, the hat budget is, it's first, whatever it
is, and then I take care of the kids'
school and all that stuff.
It's every time I see you, the hat, I
never see a hat repeat itself.
It's just hats, just a bunch of hats.
Does your wife have any room for her shoes?
That's the constant battle.
It's my hats against her shoes.
I've lost.
I definitely lose in that battle, for sure.
Now I had the honor of doing morning radio in Birmingham
for almost 15 years, and a lot of comedians, a lot of OGs
came through when I was young in the game.
It's something that I peeped about you all.
Y'all always came in town, when you at the time,
you come in town a day early--
Yeah.
--and go to the Black mall, parley with the people,
do your shows.
Then on Saturday, when you could sleep in the hotel,
go to the Black barbershops. - Yeah.
Parlay with the people.
You were one of the most universally loved people
in entertainment talked about.
It goes you, Sinbad, and hamburgers in turn.
[laughs]
And I--
Lasso!
And I mean this seriously.
What can politicians learn from comedians
on just getting love from people
and just interacting with folks?
I mean, really, you can't do it
just at the time of that you're running
for office or whatever.
I mean, the idea is, just actually making contact
with people, looking people in the eye, feeling that vibe,
understanding who they are.
You see people out there Greene, New York.
This is I got this from Jay-Z. I see you green New York hat.
You know what I'm saying?
What's up?
You see them.
You let them know you see them, you know?
All right.
Yeah, I see you late clap, OK, late clap over there.
And then they go, oh, wow, I'm gonna vote for Ced.
I'm late clap.
Because he saw my hat.
So The Neighborhood.
Yeah, man.
Congratulations on 100 episodes.
Yeah, thank you.
First and foremost.
And you're directing the 100th episode
of this television program.
And The Neighborhood, I've always been a fan of it,
because it's a show that positions itself within
the issue of gentrification, and not addressing the bigger
issue, but just what it means to be a Black person
in a Black neighborhood and have white person come
in, and you figuring out how to keep your culture, while also
learning about someone else's.
In the writer's room, how are you all able to toe
that line on that issue and make
it so palpable for everybody?
That was always the thing with the show.
I mean, you know, it was interesting,
because when the show first came to me,
it was, Here Comes the Neighborhood.
And I was like, oh, wait a minute.
That's a whole other attitude right there.
I'm like, I'm already there.
The neighborhood already exists.
So it was one of those things where we wanted
to be able to tell the story of like how
you feel when things come.
You do want growth in your neighborhood.
You do want a Starbucks and a Whole Foods,
but you don't want to do that without losing the culture,
you know what I'm saying?
So you know, and that's really how we tell the story.
We got great actors.
Max Greenfield plays Dave, is just legendary funny man,
killing it.
Tichina Arnold, Beth Behrs, Marcel Spears, we kill
it, man.
[applause]
Now, talk about directing.
What was that like?
Because the episode premieres next week.
But what was that like to sit behind that camera and go,
you do this, go get me a water, mother--
That was it!
That was it.
That's what I did.
That's what everybody love.
I was like, yo, the director, you
actually you get to paint the picture, that's what I say.
You know, you're the one that's kind of literally putting
all the colors on the canvas.
And so you get to tell people, just for no reason,
I don't like the tie, I don't like the tie, lose the tie.
And you know what?
No, the tie good, keep the tie on.
You know, so.
But you know, but actually, it was that kind of thing
where I got great actors.
You really just give them the best
place to deliver and get off.
And that's what I really learned as a director
for the most part.
I've been doing, I've directed a couple of episodes
of The Neighborhood, and then The Soul
Man that I used to have my other show with Niecy.
And so that's the idea.
Really just finding that place where a comic can get off
or an actor and just like show them where they
need to be for it to happen.
Well, I can't thank you enough for what you've done
for not just the culture of entertainment,
but also just the culture of stand-up comedy.
And it's not something that you toot your horn about.
It's not something that you talk about a lot publicly,
but I want to give you flowers today, OG, because people try
to measure stand-up comedians on the worth
of who had the best special or who had the best jokes.
But behind the scenes at this same show, The Neighborhood,
you have staffed and employed so many people.
Black, white, women, just so many people.
And there's so many comedians.
[applause]
You know, it's one thing to be someone in this industry
and create a great comedy special,
but I measure the worth of a comedian
by how many homeowners does he create within his team.
30.
And it's a bunch of them over there.
Thank you so much, Cedric the Entertainer, everybody.