Tyler Perry.
-How are you? -I played that clip
and then I said, "Please welcome Tyler Perry,
and I know some people are watching that, going,
"Wait, was that Tyler Perry singing there? What-what--
-You said Tyler Perry. What is happening here?" -Yeah.
This is a very different movie.
People say "Tyler Perry," we think there'll be
a type of movie that comes out, and this is not it.
Tell me about the movie. Yeah, Madea's not in this.
There's no-- It's set in the 1940s,
and she does not pop out from behind a tree going, "Hellur."
Doesn't happen. This, uh, this--
I actually wrote this movie 27 years ago.
-The first movie I ever wrote. -I heard that, yeah.
And I'd been holding on to it for a very long time
because I had to be intentional about, uh,
building my studio, doing things that work,
'cause I couldn't take a chance on doing a period piece,
-especially ten, 15 years ago. -Huh.
So I made everything work and-and solidified myself
so now I can do things that I've always wanted to do,
-and this is one of them, yeah. -Wow.
-(cheering, applause) -Yeah.
But... let-- Okay, let-let--
So let's go back to the inception of this.
Tyler Perry, 26 years ago, goes, "I want to make a story
"that's about jazz but more importantly
"it's a period piece set in the 1940s
-about it's about forbidden love." -Yeah.
What-what attracted you to that time period?
Why-Why this story?
What was it about this that made you want to make it?
I-I couldn't afford to go to the theater,
so I was sneak in at intermission.
And there was a show at, uh...
You know, people would come out to smoke
and then when they went back in,
I would act like I had bought a ticket
-and I'd walk in with them. -I like that.
And there was a, there was a August Wilson play
in-in Atlanta at the time called Two Trains Running.
And it got a chance to see it and it blew me away.
Well, the second half anyway.
And there was a, there was a, uh,
afterwards there was an after-party
and I got a chance to talk to him.
I said, "You know, I'm doing this play.
"I wrote this play called I Know I've Been Changed.
"It's not working very well.
"You know, people say it's chitlin' circuit,
-it's very lowbrow." -Mm-hmm.
And I was feeling low on myself and bad about it
and he was so encouraging.
He said, "Let me tell you the power of the chitlin' circuit
-"and what it did for all of us as Black people. -Wow.
"But also, let me encourage you
"to write whatever's on your heart.
Don't be limited."
And I went home and started writing Jazzman.
From August Wilson.
-(cheering and applause) -Yeah.
You know...
you're one of the most fascinating human beings
in entertainment for me
because you occupy so many different zeitgeists.
You know, people have ideas of you,
-people have ideas about what you create... -Yeah.
and it seems like you exist,
uh, not despite it but in spite of it.
It's almost like you know. You know...
You-you even said to me,
"Uh, you know, I won't make you watch a Madea movie,
but I'll make you watch this one."
I won't force you to watch a Madea movie,
-but I want you to watch this, yes, yes. -Right, but, but...
-Yes. -No, but-but even in that, I...
You know what I-I find interesting about that is,
how have you been able to operate or work in a world
where so many people have an idea of what you create
and why it should or shouldn't be created,
and you haven't pigeonholed yourself?
You've gone, "I create whatever I would like to create,
you know, in spite of what people say about what I create."
Well, well, listen, I-I...
Number one, I'm very familiar with my audience.
The audience that I grew up with, the people that I know--
I know what they love and like.
We are-- I am them, they are me,
so when I'm telling those kind of stories,
again, it's-it's intentionality.
The Madeas of it all, the Why Did I Get Marrieds.
Those stories helped me build a multibillion-dollar brand
and this huge studio, so I-I knew that that is
the lane that I had to walk in, and I won't ever leave it
-because I love seeing it. -I love that.
Yeah, I won't ever leave it,
but I also know that there are other sides to me.
You know, while I was getting panned by critics for Madea,
I always had Jazz Man in my back pocket,
so to be in this moment, it feels really good
to see people understand that,
just because you come from one place or you do one thing,
it doesn't mean you have to stay there, yeah.
-I like that. -Yeah, yeah.
I like that a lot.
I-I-I also love how...
I also love how you-you-you have this connection
with not just Madea but the idea of Madea,
what-what-what the character has done for you,
what the audience has done for you,
what you've built with them, and-and-and I like that you say,
"I'm not just gonna leave it now."
-No, of course not. -"Because this is a part of myself."
-Yeah. -I always wondered this-- maybe it's on a personal level,
just seeing you as a human being.
There was this moment where Tyler Perry blew up,
is the best way to put it, you know.
All of a sudden, all of film was in Atlanta, and they were--
people were coming to your studios now,
and now Marvel needed Tyler Perry's phone number,
and, and you became larger than life in the industry.
You created a new level of respect
for Black creators and for Black studio executives, et cetera.
-(applause) -But-but...
one thing I always wondered with you was...
...it-it seemed like you, you were super confident as Madea,
and it seemed like, as Tyler Perry,
you were, like, finding yourself in-in-in this journey.
I-I always wondered, was I just seeing that or-or was that--
was that something that I was just projecting onto you?
I-I-- Well, Madea's-- You can't be more confident than Madea.
I mean, she is what she is.
To be that size and have those breasts,
-you have to be super confident, right? -(laughs)
But, no, I-I-I--
What people don't know about me is I'm an introvert.
-Okay. -I pose as an extrovert, so-so I'm always awkward
-in those situations. So that may be what it is. -Okay.
-Yeah. -Okay. But you-- Yeah, but everything.
I mean, you know, people started seeing you online
-and you-you started working out and, all of a sudden... -Yeah.
...there was Tyler Perry with a six-pack
and Tyler Perry started living this life.
-It's been amazing to watch. Genuinely. -(applause)
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.
I'll tell you why. Because, you know, it-it was something
that Oprah, funny enough, said to me
about how you changed her life,
-which is a crazy sentence to say, by the way. -Mm.
-Can we just acknowledge? -Yeah.
It was Oprah as a guest.
But-but she said to me, she said,
"It was Tyler Perry who finally helped me realize
that I had made it. That I had made money, that I was rich."
And I was like, "What do you mean, Oprah? You're Oprah."
And she says, "Yes, but I had grown up so poor
-"and I had struggled for so long... -Yeah.
"that I never allowed myself to opportunity
"to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
"And it was Tyler Perry who called me one day and said,
'Hey, Oprah, Oprah, you're rich. Relax.'"
-Yeah. Yeah. -Right?
I-I want to know who called you
or who-who instilled that in you.
Because-- No, because you've also come up just--
-I mean, I've seen the first idea of a studio you had. -Yeah.
Who-who instilled that in you?
Nobody. I'm still waiting for 'em.
No, no, no. But I will tell you. (stammers)
To go back to this Oprah thing, she left out a part of that.
Because she-she gets off her private jet
and she has a-a garbage bag,
mix-matched luggage and all this other stuff,
and I call her up, I'm like, "Oprah, what are you doing?
Buy luggage that matches. You're getting off a private plane."
So-so that's a part she left out of the story.
But-but, honestly, she was-- she had already been that for me,
just-just-just the level of--
'Cause even though she's a very wealthy woman and she has a lot,
O-Oprah's not a money-- "I'm-I'm--
-I got money, money, money." That's not who she is. -Mm-hmm.
The genuineness of her shows through.
And she also showed me how to be graceful inside of all of it.
-I like that. -But also Sidney Poitier.
Just the man with the... just the class and the grace
-and the way he held himself. and carried himself. -Wow.
He was one of the first Black men that I saw
-that had that kind of presence. -Wow. Wow. -(applause)
And I wanted to be like that.
And I never heard him talk about money.
-Wow. -Yeah.
That is really amazing. Um, you are a pioneer.
You know, oftentimes in life, they say it's easier
to chase a goal that other people have set
because you know where you're trying to get to.
But then, once you get there, it becomes difficult
-'cause you don't know where else to go. -Mm.
You are at that place now. What does Tyler Perry dream of?
I mean, when you have the studios
-that the movie are made in. -Yeah.
You make the movies, you can write your own character.
-What do you dream about? -At this point...
You know, that's why when Jazz...
When I finished Jazzman and shot it and got it out...
Now it's coming out, you know, tomorrow on Netflix.
The level of grief I felt was shocking to me
because I had been holding onto it so long.
It was like a kid going off to college,
and now you've got an empty nest.
So, I'm like, "Well, what's next?
What do I want to do next?" But...
This project was that important to you?
Oh, my God, it was that important, yeah.
And to hold it all of that time, where you're hearing all
of this other stuff about your work-- it was really tough.
But to now to let it go and be out there,
I felt a sense of grief.
But what I also understand is that,
the thing that is get... keeping me going right now...
-Mm-hmm. -There's no other reason for me to do this
other than to come to the studio every day
and work alongside people
who have never had a chance in this business.
-They're... They-they are... -(applause)
Listen, I've got...
I've got, um, people working in grip and electric
who were former prisoners, who had been in jail for seven,
-20 years, working side by side. -Wow. -(applause)
And to have somebody come up to me and say,
"Tyler, I just want to thank you so much
'cause I just bought my mother a house," that kind of thing...
-Oh, man. -It's, like, how can I... how can I stop?
-Wow. -And what would have happened had I not done it?
Like, all of their dreams were tied into my destiny,
so I have to keep going. So that's what I want to do.
-That's what keeps me going. -(applause and cheering)
-It keeps you going? -Yeah.
-It keeps the people going. -Yeah.
-I appreciate you so much. -Thank you.
-Thank you for joining me on the show. -Thank you.
Well, thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
-Thank you. -Tyler Perry, everybody.