- I went through a phase when I was first
starting and I was working Wendy just non-stop,
you know what I mean? - Mm.
Series, series, this, that.
If I wasn't working on the series,
I'm building my business.
I'm at AGC.
I'm doing everything that I can, you know.
And I didn't take the time to stop, to love, to--
Yeah.
--live, to just-- you know.
And I was living. I thought--
- Yes. - --I was.
But in hindsight-- - Yeah.
--being 20/20--
- Yeah. - --you know what I mean?
And really--
Yeah.
--really seeing, OK, now, at--
I'm-- you know, I'm--
I'll be 53.
And it's like, I've really taken--
Damn.
--COVID to just really invest--
You look good.
--and see what's important to me.
And it's like, you can have all of these things.
But Luenell, you remember when I was talking about my fire?
Y'all know I went through a fire.
I lost everything and damn near my mind.
And what I-- - Yes.
--remember coming out of that was
like balance is so important.
It's so important. - OK.
Work-life balance.
Oh, Luenell, come in.
Work-life balance, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, speaking as someone who will have been
married 20 years in August--
Mm.
--first of all--
Come to mother.
--nobody even knew I was married,
'cause I don't post my man--
Not even me till right now.
I was like--
I don't even post my man on social media.
- Right. - My man doesn't have Facebook.
He's one of those kind of guys.
- Is he tied-- - Mm-hmm.
--up in the basement? [LAUGHTER]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
He probably be [INAUDIBLE]
--willingly.
Well, I married my husband in 90 days.
He knew what I did. - Wow.
He saw me at a show.
What?
That's when-- he fell in love that night.
We got-- - 90 days?
--married in 90 days.
But the one thing that I do know is that, with my husband,
or any man who works for himself-- 'cause
my husband's an electrician-- you can't leave a man home
alone for long periods of time. - Yeah.
You can't, definitely. [INTERPOSING VOICES]
Definitely not.
It's like leaving the water running or leaving the iron on.
- Wow. - It's going to be a disaster.
But you know, as a female comic and a mother,
we're expected to do it all, you know.
Yeah.
Everybody's used to daddy going and daddy
being gone for months.
But when mommy misses your birthday
and when mommy misses your recital--
Wow.
--it's catastrophic.
At the end of the day, the kid got
to know that I didn't make your prom,
but I paid for the whole thing.
And the husband has to know that this comedy
game is our first love.
And we-- - Yeah.
- --love you, too. - Wow.
But if it's your birthday and I've got a show,
I'm going to miss your birthday. - [INAUDIBLE]
Yeah, we got to keep the lights on.
Me just being my son's best friend, yo,
you know what I mean?
Like, he plays football.
He just started football last year.
I submitted his schedule to my agents,
like, yo, I can't work on these days.
And that's-- - Oh.
--just what it is.
And that's Saturday, man.
That's Friday and Saturday.
And that's the biggest-- - Wow.
Yes. [INTERPOSING VOICES]
- But let me tell you how good-- - Yeah.
--God blessed me.
Let me tell you, because Friday and Saturdays
are the d-- are the days that you
will sell out in an instant.
Yeah.
God blessed me to sell out Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
Thursdays so I can do comedy throughout the week
and spend the-- - OK.
--weekends with my baby.
I still pay homage, 'cause I'm like,
yo, y'all couldn't do that.
Like-- - No.
--y'all could not call off certain shows
when y'all were coming up and-- - No.
--you know, like-- 'cause back then, y'all didn't even
have internet like we had it. Y'all didn't--
No, no.
--have y'all platforms.
Y'all still had to build from, like, scratch.
So when I say I never--
I never [INAUDIBLE] OG.
I never looked at--
I never thought I was better because I'm new era--
nothing.
We got so much to learn.
And we are spoiled babies in this sh--
We don't really know nothing.
This is bridging the gap, because when it first really
started going, a lot of us were saying,
they didn't pay their dues, you know.
So-- - Right.
- --this is a good-- - Right.
--conversation-- right-- so, you know, that you can help us,
and we can help you.