- If the person wants to open up, fine.
If the person doesn't want to open up, fine.
But when it comes to our public servants,
I gotta get give them hell.
(group laughs)
- [Announcer] This is "What a Joke"
with Tom Papa and Fortune Feimster
on Netflix is a Joke Radio.
- Your show is really great
and you're not to going at it lightly.
You're diving into real stuff
and really bringing some really great conversations.
And I know that takes a lot of work.
- Yeah, but, you know, I used to sell crack
and work at Taco bell.
We have to really watch what we call work,
I don't know if I would call that work per se.
- Which was harder crack or Taco Bell?
- Taco Bell, actually, 'cause-
(group laughs)
I mean, I wanted to, I guess, sell crack.
I didn't really wanna work at Taco Bell
'cause you know they got the khakis
with the purple T-shirt.
- Right, right, not as cool.
- It was my manager, and I remember,
I remember literally still trying to like,
I would still go to the hood, right.
So I remember getting off work one day
pulling up to the hood in my mom's white Lumina Caravan
with this Taco Bell outfit.
And my homeboy was smoking a blunt
he said look at this motherfucker,
you used to have a real N word job,
now you working at Taco Bell.
I was like oh, shit.
- Oh no.
- Called out.
- Your street cred was in danger.
- Exactly, worked at Taco Bell for two weeks.
- Wow.
- They fired me, my oldest sister find me after.
- Oh, that's brutal.
- Yup.
- Wait, what did you do?
- Nothing, that was a problem.
(group laughs)
- You're standing around, not doing nothing.
Eating a taco.
People want to talk a lot, I make it eat one.
Like I wasn't doing nothing.
So she had every right to fire me.
- Tell me, where are you doing the show?
Are you in New York?
- Yeah, I'm in New York.
The Daily Show Building is now
The God's Honest Truth Building.
- Oh, that makes-
- Lot of pressure,
all those years of Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah,
I've always wanted to do late night television.
That's something that's always been on my vision board,
forever.
Since the days of watching Arsenio Hall.
And when the original Daily Show was out with Jon Stewart,
just watching the way he was able to
not just tackle these big topics,
but become part of the everyday news cycle
and not just become part of everyday news cycle
actually created change with his voice.
Jon Stewart got legislation passed,
you know what I mean?
And he was one of those ones,
when Fox News was to the right and CNN was to the left,
he was kind of always objectively in the middle,
always in that gray area
and would challenge both sides.
It was like when I saw that, I always like,
man, I want to do a combination of that with Arsenio,
with Bill Maher, so that's always been a thing of mine.
I couldn't have did this show 10 years ago.
I'm 43, four daughters,
happily married, six years of therapy.
(group laughs)
My worldview is different now.
So I'm right where I'm supposed to be at the moment in time,
I'm supposed to be.
- It seems like it's really coming through in the show.
Like it really has when you mentioned Bill Maher,
it has that kind of a sophisticated way
of looking at things,
but you still have a very comedic angle.
Like it's a fun hang.
And then you drop in these interviews
with these people talking about real topics.
It's almost like a spoonful of sugar approach.
- That's that's my bottle.
Put the medicine in inside the candy
and like, hey, here's the thing,
I'm not an expert at anything.
I'm just a man who's had some experiences
and I have a POV and a platform to express them,
I'm not sitting here trying to act like an expert.
I'm not the smartest guy in the room.
I got a team of writers, a team of researchers.
I come in with an idea.
This is some stuff I want to explore, we put it together.
I express it to the world and it's open for debate.
I'm not trying to convince you of anything.
I'm not trying to be matter of fact about anything.
And that's why even like in act two,
we like to say we do Let's Unpack This,
and that's when we bring people along in to,
maybe challenge some of the things that I've said.
Like last week we had the senior advisor to the president,
Cedric Richmond on, after I called cowardly donkeys,
I'm calling out the Democrats for being cowards.
And you know, the death of democracy
is going to be because of their cowardice.
So he came on and wanted to push back on it,
wanted to talk about it.
- It's surprising to see a show on Comedy Central
call bullshit on Democrats to begin with,
and then to have him sit there
and actually go through his accomplishments
at the end of it, you get spin out
and it's like, we've progressed.
Like there's, it's we weren't just hitting
the same talking points that everybody hits.
It was like, oh, we've got new stuff we could actually
think about now after that interview.
- Yeah and the crazy part is I love it
because it starts a conversation because you know,
people don't align saying he was bullshitting.
Like, you know what I mean?
We talked about how do you call it an executive order
on banning choke holds?
And yes, it's true, but it's on a federal level.
So it's not like George Lloyd was killed
by a federal police officer.
It's not like Breonna Taylor
was killed by federal police officers.
They were killed by state police.
So I didn't know that.
- You've never seem to have much fear
when it comes to interviewing people on your show,
radio show or this.
I mean, have you always just been like very straightforward.
- I was raised with a lack of empathy
because my father tried to make me like a hardcore robot.
So he would always say the fastest way between two points
is a straight line.
And my mom would say, you and your daddy
don't know how to talk to people.
Early on in my radio career,
I just didn't know how to talk to people.
So I was just doing that straight line thing.
Now I'm like I said, I got four daughters,
so you don't get softer with four daughters,
something's wrong.
If you want to start doing therapy
and peeling back those layers of your life
and everything you thought you knew you don't know anymore.
Like, you're not you don't, something's wrong with you.
And so for me, it's like, I have empathy for people.
Well now, so the conversation, the intention is different.
Like I'm just speaking to the person.
- I will say, it's rare to hear,
especially men talk about being six years in the therapy.
That's very impressive.
I mean, what made you, what was that catalyst
to make you want to do that kind of inner work?
- I was falling apart.
I was falling apart internally.
Like externally, everything looked great, right?
Like nationally syndicated morning show,
we making more money than you ever thought about making
in your life.
New York times bestselling book,
I'm producing TV shows, everything's going great.
But I'm also out here living that
like Radio Rock Star life, so to speak,
I remember having a conversation with Chris Rock
and Chris Rock was like, yo, every superhero's
going to test out their superpowers at some point.
And he was like, you've never been this version of yourself,
ever.
So it's like, it's a lot of great perks
that come with being that version of myself at the time,
you know?
And I was losing my mind, I'm out here drinking, drugging.
I just started searching for a therapist.
And man, it's literally been the best thing
ever for me because it's not even just therapy anymore.
'Cause you know, therapy gives you the language
and helps you not understand
what it is you're going through,
what you really got to do the work to heal.
So I'm there, I'm that guy that's sitting
with the sacred purpose coach and I'm burning the Sage
and the polysanto.
And I'm walking around the backyard barefoot
and I'm doing the breathing exercises.
And I got my alter at the house
and I'm lighting the candles and I'm mediating.
So I'm doing all of those different things,
just on my healing journey.
And I've been blessed just to have like really great friends
around me.
Like here in this building,
there's so many of us who actively go to therapy.
We talk about going to therapy.
I was just having a conversation with my showrunner,
Rachel Edwards, she literally said to me,
she was talking about going to her therapist.
And she said, I understand our dynamic.
And it is for me to understand, like she was like,
I talked, talked to my therapist about our dynamic
and I'm crying at her, right.
I'm like, well, what did she say?
And she's like, it's not for you,
it's my private therapy session.
Those are great conversations to have
when you're, with the audience.
That's what we all should be doing.
I don't know why we don't take advantage of these resources
that exist here on this planet
in regard to that mental health.
- It feels like it's becoming more commonplace.
It feels like people are,
just the people are discussing it openly and stuff.
It seems like we're in a new era for it.
- And it's a fortunate point
like even my daughter, my daughter is 13,
so she came to us, me and my wife
and she was just she was crying.
She was like, I am overwhelmed.
I'm overwhelmed.
Like she just, she understands the language.
'Cause me and my wife both go to therapy.
We have these conversations.
She was like, I'm overwhelmed.
She's like, it's too much for me.
I'm trying to do cheerleading, I'm on this Zoom.
And it's like, yo, sit her down,
calm her down and let her know,
this is a new world for all of us.
Like, don't get up.
don't beat yourself up because your grades slipped
through the pandemic like you're on a Zoom every day.
I'm watching you try to do clay projects on a Zoom
at home.
Like I couldn't even imagine,
being in seventh grade at the time.
I couldn't imagine having to figure out seventh grade.
Like my dumb ass got left back in seventh grade,
and I was in class.
If I went to my dad and been like, I'm overwhelmed,
it had been a punch in the chest, man up.
- Right, exactly.
- Don't come back if you're overwhelmed, go do some pushups
if you're overwhelmed.
- I'll give you something to cry.
- And my dad told me to man up, I was like, wait a second.
- I'm still crying about it at 43 years old in therapy.
- I hear ya.
- Well thank you so much for being here.
You as a personality and the show,
it feels like the timing of this is so perfect.
It really is.
- Oh, thank you man,
that means the world coming from you Tom, thank you.
- Please come back and see us from time to time.
- I would love to Tom, Fortune, thank you for having me.
- All right, take care of yourself.
- I always enjoy The Breakfast Club, so.
- Thank you.
- You're gonna have to start dressing like Steve Harvey,
if you keep all these jobs going.
(group laughs)
(bell rings)
- This is the other thing,
how come Bojangles has never asked me to do anything?
I have literally promoted them my entire career.
Look what I had today, Bojangles.
It's Bo time.
Bo-row.
It's Bo time.
(group laughs)
- We're getting a little sidetracked.
- Should we just make some phone calls, I guess?
- These commercials would only air in the South.
Guys just picture this.
(upbeat music)
It's me, I'm doing some scenario,
and I turn to the camera,
and I go it's Bo time.
I gotta get on the boat to get to the jangles.
- Yeah, the turns out to like a bow-tie.
I don't know what is Bojangles?
- Fried chicken.
- Fried chicken, how dare you?
- Oh, okay, fried chicken.
- It's the Popeyes of North Carolina.
- If there are any Bojangles executives listening right now,
consider this, a hometown hero.
(group laughs)
(upbeat music)