You're an epic writer. Epic poet.
Also an epic performer.
I've had the privilege of seeing you
perform live many times.
The first time I saw you perform live,
I felt literally like you slapped me
across my face 15 times with poetry.
- Oh, my God.
The person to the left of me was crying.
The person to the right of me was crying.
Everyone was crying. I was like, "What?"
It was magical.
But you have "Rupi Kaur Live" that's premiering.
Tell us about that.
- It is a show about love, heartbreak,
loss, trauma, family,
everything that I write about in my books.
I read poems from the books, I perform spoken word poetry,
and it's like the show that you saw live, you know?
I perform. It's very theatrical.
And this--we just decided a couple years ago
that we wanted to tape one of my live shows
and, like, share it with the world
'cause there was just no way that I'd be able to visit
every country and city that my readers live in,
and so I want to bring them this experience
to their TV screens,
and I want to-- on this Friday, April 30th,
I wanna, like, sit there and laugh and cry with them.
It's gonna be a lot of fun, so please join.
- Oh, I actually already bought my tickets.
Mm, that's right, I was, like, the first to buy tickets.
But the stage is, like,
a lot more done up as well, right?
- Yes, it is. It is.
Do you wanna flex on who did what real quick?
- Of course.
So, like, I am very extra.
I try to be extra in every part of my life,
but, you know, sometimes
tour life doesn't allow us to be extra
because I am not Beyoncé,
so I cannot travel with, like, 12 trucks
and have, like, 100 people build my stage every night.
- Right.
- And so for the past couple years,
I've been, like, traveling around
with, like, one microphone
and, like, no set design and it breaks my heart,
so when we found out that we were gonna do this show
and we were gonna do whatever we wanted to do,
I said, "I want this to be
exactly how I imagine it in my head."
And so LeRoy Bennett, who is an incredible set designer,
he came onto the project, but first of all,
I didn't even want to approach him.
It was my producer who was like,
"I'm gonna reach out to my friend LeRoy.
You know, he's a set designer."
Casually says, "He toured with Prince all his life
and has made sets for Ariana Grande and"--
and just mentioned everyone who's everyone,
and I froze and I was like, "You cannot contact him.
[laughter]
"You--are you crazy?
"Like, I am a nobody
"and, like, I can't face this rejection,
so how 'bout we just, like, take it down a notch?"
And she didn't listen to me,
and she comes back and she's like,
"Oh, LeRoy said yes,"
and then I cried
and screamed to all of my friends,
and LeRoy just amplified the vision
and made it so big and so beautiful,
built me a platform,
had giant flower petals designed
that spilled out onto the audience
with this beautiful projection on the back,
and I love him forever.
- We got money!
"Rupi Kaur Live," we got money, bro!
[laughs]
- Girl, we don't have money!
That is the issue!
We put so much of our money into the project.
I cannot--I need therapy for that.
- Facts, girl, facts.
- And then, you know, thinking
I'm excited to share this with the world,
so let's see.
I hope people like it
so that we have money to do it again.
- Yes, absolutely, Well, thank you so much, Rupi.
You know I'm gonna be there supporting you.
Like I said, I got my tickets.
If you're watching at home, you can grab your tickets
to "Rupi Kaur Live" as well.
It is premiering on April 30th, 9:00 p.m. EST.
You can grab your tickets at rupikaur.com.
And if you can't make it at 9:00 p.m. on April 30th,
it's available for 48 hours, so it's so easy.
Trust me. You do not wanna miss this.
It's a spiritual experience. Rupi, thank you so much.
- Thank you, Lilly.