-I want to talk about "Nobody's Fool."
Congrats on this movie. Gosh, they are funny --
You got a lot of funny people.
-Yeah, my first rated-R comedy.
-I mean -- -And I let them --
I let them go there, man. -You went for it.
-Yeah, yeah, I went for it. I went for it.
-There's a couple good scenes. -Yeah, yeah.
-We'll talk to you about it later.
I just got to say, 'cause it's funny --
we were going through the notes,
and who's gonna be on this week, and I saw you're coming back.
And, you know, I love you, but I got to say
how I'm just honored to know you.
Because, honestly, what a great story you have
and where it all started.
In one of the notes, it said it's been 25 years
that you're in the business.
-This is my 25th year in the business, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
More than half of my life.
-More than half of your life.
-More than half my life, yeah.
-And just so everyone knows the story,
because I think I know a little bit.
You started just writing and directing plays?
-Yeah, live stage plays. Little, small venues.
200-seat theaters half the size of this desk,
you know, is where I started.
And one weekend, I thought 1,200 people
would come over the weekend, and only 30 showed up.
But I kept going. I stayed persistent.
That's what I tell anybody with a dream.
Just keep going, yeah.
-Right, and then, it got bigger and bigger.
-Bigger, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's amazing. This story is so awesome.
'Cause you worked everything.
You wrote, produced, you directed, you acted in it.
-Yeah, then I'd hang the lights, and put up the set.
No kidding. No kidding. And at intermission,
I would go out and sell the popcorn,
then come back. I mean, I was working, man.
-You did it. -Hey, that's what you got to do
if you're gonna make it, right? -And then the theater --
[ Cheers and applause ]
Then the theater grows, and there's so many people --
People, lines around the block waiting to come see
you do "Madea" or whatever play you were working on.
And you do that, and you go, "I got to go on tour."
-Yeah. -So you start doing
more and more bigger theaters, then you go --
-Went to arenas. Ended up playing arenas.
Like, my last tour was in arenas.
It was insane. Yeah.
-So, then you go, "I need bigger than arenas."
-Yes. -"So I'm gonna release a movie."
-Yep, got to go to film so that I'm not killing myself.
I was doing like 350 performances a year,
sometimes 360 and 370. It's crazy.
-There's not even that many days in the year.
-Exactly right. Exactly right.
But I was doing two and three and four on the weekends,
so it was nuts. So, then on to movies.
-So, then you go, "You know what?
Not only am I gonna be in movies and make these movies,
I want to be -- like, I want to be an entrepreneur.
I want to own these movies." -Yeah, own the movies.
-"I want to be a studio." -Own the studio.
-So, you opened a small studio. How big was your studio?
-Oh, it was huge, man.
It was all of like 3,000 square feet.
-Yeah, yeah, that was -- -And I thought, "This is it.
This is all I need. This place is gonna be it."
-You made it. -Then the first movie,
I opened the door, people were coming in,
I was like, "Oh, my God. We don't have any space here."
It was crazy. -So you grew out of that space?
-Grew out of that one space, yeah.
-A bigger place. -Bigger space, yes.
-Is that this place? -That's the first place, yes.
That's the first place. -2003.
-A little more than 3000 square feet.
-That's the very first Tyler Perry studio.
-Very first one. -In Atlanta, 2003.
-Yep. -Okay.
-It was behind a strip club.
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, that's how I recognized it. Oh, yeah, I know that place!
-Yeah, behind a strip club. -Yeah.
-So you do that. You grow out of that place.
-Yes. -You go into another studio.
You start making TV... -Yeah.
-...as well as movies.
-Yeah, started doing TV over there from "House of Payne,"
"Meet the Browns," "Have and Have Nots,"
and then ran out of space there.
So we had to go to the studio that I'm in now,
which was a former Army base -- Fort McPherson Army base.
-Wait till see this thing. How many --
I don't want to say feet.
How many square feet -- How many acres is this?
-It's 331 acres, and it's -- [ Audience "Oohs" ]
-Look at this, guys.
-Yeah, these are all the sound stages.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-This is Tyler Perry studios.
-I've been working, man. I've been working.
-This -- It doesn't -- This is a great story.
I mean, no one does --
I'm meeting a studio head.
[ Laughter ]
You know what I'm saying?
I've done little things here, and I've been to studios.
I never met the person that started the studio.
The Warner Brothers are long gone.
-Was dead. Yeah. And so was Walt Disney.
He was dead by the time you got there.
So, I think I'm one of the only living people
who have a studio that's named after them.
-I am just so psyched for you, man.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I can't even tell you. You know I'm a fan.
-Thank you. -We love you!
-Yeah, I know, we love this guy.
Come on, that's awesome. -Thank you.
-What a great story.
Let's talk about --
You have "Nobody's Fool" coming out.
You have Tiffany Haddish.
Madea -- I heard a rumor that it might be the end of Madea.
-That's it, man. That's it.
Time for me to bury that old broad, man.
-No. -I'm sick of that old bitch.
-No, no, come on, now! No.
-No, it's been -- She's had a run.
I don't want to be her age playing her.
So it's time for me to let it go, right?
It's time for me to let it go.
So, yeah, I'm gonna do my last "Madea" farewell tour next year,
and the last is the "Madea Family Funeral" movie
that comes out in March.
And then we're moving on to something else.
There's so many more things I want to do.
-I know, I know, I know. -Yeah, yeah.
-It just -- I mean, people are dressing up
as Madea this Halloween. -Exactly right, man.
There's this one kid that showed up at a Howard --
Kevin Hart texted me, said, "Man, it was so brilliant
for you to go to Howard University homecoming.
I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
He sends me a clip. It's this guy dressed as Madea
who's twerking in front of the crowd, right?
-Yeah. -Crowd's going crazy.
I'm like, "Kevin, that's not me!"
[ Laughter ]
-I got a picture of this guy, 'cause I want to look at it.
-He's good. He's good. -This guy's fantastic.
This is Howard -- Look at this guy.
-He's good.
Listen, he sounds exactly like Madea.
He's got the body language. He's got it all down.
If I give it up, I may pass it on to him.
-Yes! Resurrect Madea!
-Resurrect Madea, yeah. -We'll be calling you, buddy.
-That's right, that's right. Call me, Howard, yeah.