- So this is the new format,
I'm gonna be doing it six days a week
talking about pop culture events,
and Brendan Rooney, my husband,
my producing partner - This guy.
- And life partner is here. He's a very opinionated man.
(Brendan laughing)
He has a background in politics and military,
he was in the Marines, he's also-
- Comedy writer
- A political scientist degree.
Yes, he's also funny, he knows how to take a joke.
He's also my anger interpreter like Luther.
- Yeah, I'm your Key and Peel Luther.
- So don't come at me, come at him.
- Hey, what happened?
- All right, so what happened
was Dave Chappelle got bomb rushed at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Dude, not cool.
- Oh yeah, no, not cool for a lot of reasons.
- Not cool.
- We identify as elder millennials,
I was born in '84, him '83.
- I don't think we identify,
I think we just are elder millennials-
- Exactly. - We're old
- We're old.
We're old and Dave Chappelle sort of changed the game
for us when we were all growing up.
- Big time
- His show, Chappelle's Show, came out
and it changed the face of comedy as we knew it.
- It was kind of revolutionary and then he picked up,
he left, everyone said that he had mental issues
and all this stuff 'cause he needed to get himself
some space from what was going on.
When he came back it was really important
for people like us 'cause first of all we missed him
'cause he's a (beep) genius.
He shone a light on mental health
and what it means to take a break
and also taking ownership of your art.
And so he's had this huge resurgence.
- He did but it's been dulled,
the brightness of his light has been dulled a bit
because of the current climate of social issues.
- Yes.
- And we're sort of in a situation now
where comedy is being a little bit policed.
We should say that we're not trying
to have any sort of side, we're aiming to be very centered
in all of the things that we talk about.
- And sometimes that's like an icky word to say centered.
- I don't know why. - What you mean is like,
I think it's like true progressiveness, meaning evolving,
making sure the most objective truest thing
is the thing that moves forward
and like, yeah, for some reason it's like a dirty word
'cause people wanna like go into their camps
and shout as loud as they can.
- Right.
- And like when that happens, when people stop listening
or talking, like you were saying, you get violence
as a response to someone being offended,
and that's exactly what happened last night at Dave's Show.
- Make Some noise for hip-hop history.
(crowd roaring)
- There are people who don't like him
for his comedic responses to certain things
and this person felt that being violent
and bum-rushing the stage
and trying to hurt Dave which they didn't accomplish.
- I mean the Hollywood Bowl is a very prestigious place,
we've been there.
- So were the Oscars.
- Yeah, and unfortunately- - That's right.
By the way Chris Rocks response saying
was that Will Smith immediately, brilliant.
- Was that Will Smith.
(crowd cheering)
- Okay, so I brought this up with you the other day
but Melissa Rivers was on a podcast that I recently saw.
Melissa Rivers basically said like, I would love to do
my red carpet roasting-
- Like her mom did.
Well, yeah and her mom gave her the reins for that,
but she's like, I can't do that anymore
because I can't say anything funny about anyone's look.
- That's crazy.
- And the way that they present themselves anymore.
- So crazy.
- And she's like, but the reason
why I can't do that nobody want...
I'm not gonna bring back the show
because it's just not funny.
Nobody wants you wants to watch
- You guys are like couch everything.
This is basically the point
- Couch and we're on a couch.
- Well, no, like you'd have to couch every joke.
You'd have to be like, hey, look at that dress,
it's so red and the color doesn't match, but you know what?
They're a really wonderful person.
- Now let me ask you this,
so what is funny? - Not funny.
- What is the ultimate form- - The ultimate-
- Of society?
Like, I don't understand what...
Here's my problem with everyone's-
- Comedy without boundaries, that's what's funny.
- Yeah, well- - Take a joke.
Quit having such a big ego.
- Yes, that's the other thing.
Is when you're offended, your ego is offended.
- Yeah, it's not about you.
- About comedy stuff.
Now, that's not to talk about making light of things
that are violent and assaults and like-
- No, we're not saying you can yell fire
in a crowded room where there is no fire.
We're talking about with free speech,
we're saying the freedom to go to a comedy show
where jokes will beat hope.
- Well, by the way when you buy a ticket
to one of these things, you are a patron,
you are consenting to attend an event
where if you haven't been educated upon the person
that you're seeing, that's kind of on you.
Dave Chappelle's brand of humor is Dave Chappelle,
like that's kind of, you know what you're getting into
you sit down in a seat
and you're going to take the time to watch him.
- Then, you know what's interesting about these last two?
- You consenting to do that.
- Absolutely, like-
- Just like, okay, wait-
- I've been in the front row and been made fun of
and just had to take it on the chin
and then just laugh at myself.
Go ahead, just like what?
- No, this actually is interesting because this has been...
I guess I've been triggered as a parent
because I've been seeing a lot of videos
where people are fighting on airplanes
or being asked to be removed from the airplane.
And at first I was like, well, freedom of speech,
and they should be able to talk
if they're not putting hands on anybody.
But, then I'm thinking, if you-
- Don't do a comedy show on an airplane.(laughs)
The plane might go down.
- But if you go on an airplane,
you consent to being a certain type of passenger
and a good citizen, that will sit in your seat
when told to and get there safely.
- It's the same thing actually.
- And that's why you deserve to be removed from the seat.
This is why we mean about centered thought processes,
that we're going to try to talk about.
- We're like objectivity.
- Yeah, objectivity. - Really, right?
- That's like the main thing it's like-
- See and I think...
I'm thinking on the ends of people thinking,
well, you guys are talking about ego, but what if I'm like,
what if I've been assaulted,
what if I've been personally affected
by Dave Chappelle's brand of humor?
To that, what do you say?
- I will say someone will be on the receiving end
of something they don't like at some point.
Chappelle's gonna do what Chappelle's gonna do, right?
- Yeah, but this-
- It's like the Office episode where Michael Scott say,
come on, roast me, then he gets roasted.
He starts crying, gets pissed off
and making fun of everybody and they take it on the chin.
But like, you don't consent to go to a comedy show,
hear jokes and get mad that you heard jokes,
that's just not the way it works.
Like, take it on the chin, learn how to be self deprecating.
It is up to you to choose how you react to a thing.
- I think that people are scared
that things are out of hand.
People don't know what is wrong, what is right,
what is in the middle, and also what it means
to be an American?
That is very confusing.
When we were growing up we kind of knew good, bad.
We knew what it was to be an American
even with all of the systemic racism and the gender issues.
Like we knew that growing up,
elder millennials lived with that.
We created social media, we understood what bullying was.
And to that, you said...
In the past, we've talked about it,
you're like people should travel
and get perspective on what it means to be American.
- Exactly well and-
- And you're saying that as a veteran,
I do wanna qualify that.
- I'm just saying it as a person,
like I traveled after being in the military
and like lived with locals in Central and Southeast Asia,
Central America, I saw different ways of life,
I saw how people responded to bad situations,
I saw much worse situations than anyone
and I do mean anyone in any situation in the United States
is dealing with, there's always somebody who has it worse.
I think people need to listen more,
I think people need to talk more,
get in the comments section and go ahead and talk.
Like learn to deliberate,
it's okay to have different opinions than other people have.
It's not about shouting as loud as you can.
It's about expressing your opinion
and it may be different than ours and us saying,
where do we actually have some-
- Common ground. - Ground to stand on exactly.
- A common ground.
And here's the takeaway for this
whole massive complex concept
that we're only touching on today,
but we'll probably continue to have to speak on,
and hopefully people can come to understand
what we're about, 'cause we're not about
maliciousness violence, condoning assault,
like we're not about that, okay?
We're also not pushing any particular agenda.
The takeaway here is that,
people should not be policing speech
to the point where we aren't speaking to each other.
It's not about speaking less,
it's about speaking more, finding common ground.
And speaking for progress,
speaking for a common understanding
- We're not saying...
By the way when we're talking about free speech,
we're not saying walk up to someone in the middle
of the street and call them names,
'cause that is not cool either.
- But here's the thing, you're either part of the solution
and you're solution focused in your speech
and in the things that you wanna do
or you're part of the problem.
- Right.
- I feel like comedy of any brand takes the power
from complex issues and it gives you a space
to kind of talk about it.
If you're gonna show up to a Dave Chappelle's Show
expect Dave Chappelle to talk about things
that Dave Chappelle is known to talk about.
- Also, if somebody is saying something you don't like,
don't be violent,
That's definitely not the answer, and it's also illegal.
Think of a good comeback.
You know what I mean?
Like that's that works sometimes.
- Yeah.
- Although- - You see that.
- Although like-
- That's a typical male response though.
- I mean trolling, isn't like...
By the way- - A come back is a troll.
- People are gonna disagree with this in our opinion,
even though it's a fairly neutral,
I mean I don't think the objective should be to be divisive
and to separate more.
But like in the comment section
we want this to be a conversation.
We want you to respond and tell us what you think,
and then maybe there's something that we could learn too.
You know, like if you stop listening
and you stop wanting to learn
and just digging into your opinions as much as possible,
that's when we stop growing, that's when things get worse
and more polarized.
- That's super true.
I completely agree with you.
We definitely encourage you to engage
with this format in a respectful way.
If we could create a community,
that's talking to one another, rather than shouting
at one another, I think that would be really magical.
I was really happy to do the vlogs
and help a lot of people with some personal stuff
that I went through in my lifetime.
I was really touched by that.
That was when I felt like my influence was was being used
for a lot of really good stuff.
And so with this format,
I think we're getting our perspectives down
and hoping that you can engage with them
in a respectful way in the comment section.
And maybe we create discussions that are solution based.
- That'd be awesome and we'll see you tomorrow.
- See you tomorrow.
- Later gators.
(gentle music)