-My next guest is one of the most successful writers
and producers working today.
He's the Emmy-nominated creator of "Black-ish,"
and he also produces the new show, "We The People,"
which premieres July 4th on Netflix.
Everyone please welcome Kenya Barris.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-♪ It's Kenya Barris, case you didn't know ♪
♪ Leo is his sign, "Black-ish" is his show ♪
♪ It's Kenya Barris ♪
♪ He's macking like a truck ♪
♪ On the show about his life ♪
♪ And it's called "Black as...Can Be" ♪
-[ Laughing ] -That's Kenya Barris.
-Oh. -It's so great to see you.
Thank you so much -- -This is crazy.
-Thank you so much for coming on the show.
I appreciate this, bud. -Thank you for having me, man.
-Oh, please. We're giant fans.
But obviously, they are, as well.
Standing up. Not bad. -That's amazing.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I like this. What made you go blonde?
Is this a new thing?
-I think it was like a mid-pandemic life crisis.
[ Laughter ] I was like...
-It looks good! -I had nothing going on,
I was like, "You know..." It's been okay.
I got some likes, a lot more hates, but...
-Yeah, you take the good with the bad.
Last time we talked, we were talking about your show.
And, yeah, say hi to The Roots. Sure.
Actually, we were talking about The Roots.
You did a whole special on Juneteenth.
-Juneteenth! -Juneteenth.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You did a whole thing about Juneteenth.
And then, today, actually -- As of today --
actually, today, it became a national holiday.
-Yes, it is a national -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-I would say that you had a little bit to, uh --
maybe, to do with it. -I don't know if we had
anything to do with helping it. I don't think we hurt it,
but I definitely feel like if we were the butterfly wings
that helped start the tornado, or whatever the case may be.
But, honestly, you guys, they did a song that was amazing
and came through in an important time.
It's just the whole episode that we did.
And just to be a part of --
There's been a lot of things that I've been --
never thought I would be able to be a part of.
And Pharrell's been with me. But to be a part of something
that celebrates our contribution --
you know what I'm saying? -- "our" meaning Black culture's
contribution to all of America -- you know? --
I feel like there's nothing that, like, to me --
It's in the very, very top of the list of things I'm proud of.
-Thank you for doing what you do.
Yeah. -A lot of work to do.
-Yeah. Speaking of work,
during the pandemic, you go,
"Yeah, we're still gonna do shows.
We're gonna give you what you like.
We're going make more episodes of 'Black-ish.'"
-Right. -During a pandemic,
which is impossible, but you said,
"No, nothing's impossible."
The first two episodes you made animated.
-Right. We wanted to -- We were --
Karey Burke and all those guys over at ABC,
we were like -- We're lucky enough to kind of be one of
the only shows on network television that actually
talks about things, and we felt like it was
really important to still be in that conversation
with everything that was going on,
with the civil unrest and just with our political process.
And we felt like we didn't want to have any hiccups with COVID
and things like that. So we knew animation was one of
the things that kept going on,
and they let us do an animated episode.
-It's brilliant. -It came out really good.
That show is just the gift that keeps giving.
-Yeah, we've known Anthony for a long time.
I love him. Anything Anthony does,
I just love him, yeah. This is --
You're going into the eighth and final season.
-Yeah. -So this is it, going --
But it's bittersweet, right? -It is bittersweet.
We're really lucky because shows --
One, to be a Black show that came on after
"Modern Family" was amazing. It was really important to us
to say that we wanted to speak to the world --
you know what I'm saying? -- and talking about our culture.
We didn't want to hide it. We wanted it to be a show
that was absolutely, positively about a 100% Black family.
You don't get to say goodbye. Sometimes you're just canceled.
But to be able to walk the show home
and give the audience who's supported us this long
a proper goodbye means a lot. And hopefully, we can get you
and The Roots and everybody to come be a part
of this last season in a big way.
-Yeah. You kind of said Roots
more than you said me, but it's okay.
[ Laughter ]
I take that as an invite.
I want to talk about "We The People," on Netflix.
I love that you're doing this.
I think it's the best.
You know, I think of "Schoolhouse Rock."
-Yes. -When I had that growing up,
and I loved it, and that's how I learned, really.
I mean, obviously my teachers, as well, but -- yeah.
[ Laughter ] Please, oh my gosh.
To all my teachers out there, I learned from you, obviously,
and my parents. But "I'm Just a Bill"?
-I mean, that was it. -That's how I know that.
-It told me how, when the thing was going,
I'm like, "Hold on. Because he's just a bill."
I would remember it, like -- You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
-Is that kind of where it came from?
-So I was at this thing, the Annenberg Foundation
hosts this thing, and Norman Lear had invited me.
It was amazing. And, you know,
one of my friends, Chris Nee, who created this amazing show,
"Doc McStuffins," which I think is the
longest-running animated show on Disney.
-Of course, "Doc McStuffins." -And we found out,
because they bring in all these people to give you, you know,
lectures and things like that.
Civics is not taught in school anymore.
So we were like, "This has to be something that we start
at a young age, teaching kids about the process."
And she came up with this amazing idea and asked me
to help, you know, come in with her.
And Barack and Michelle came and produced it.
And I was like, "Yeah. I mean, I guess."
[ Cheers and applause ] [ Both laugh ]
-"Let me think -- yes." -"I guess. I mean...
All right."
-So you get Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, okay.
But are there any big names involved?
[ Laughter ]
But who else is involved with this?
-It's crazy. It's an animated sort of
homage of "Schoolhouse Rock." We got Peter Ramsey,
who was the animation director for "Into the Spider-Verse,"
which was groundbreaking.
-That was one of the best movies I've ever seen.
-It could've won Best Picture. -I agree.
I think it should -- Yeah, I loved it.
-Could've won Best Picture. So, he's one of the animators.
We've got an amazing group of, you know, really diverse
and talented animation directors.
Some huge names. H.E.R. does an amazing song.
Janelle Monae, Adam Lambert, Brandi Carlile,
just amazing people across the board.
And they all come together, and it's for a good cause,
and I think from just moving on,
I feel like I want the things that I do to be about something.
You what I'm saying? Even if it's not something
that people -- I want people to start a conversation.
Even some conversation that is against me,
at least it starts a conversation.
I think this conversation is about learning what
this country, at its foundation, should be about
and also taking responsibility for what it's not about.
And I think that animation is something that lasts
the test of time, and I'm really happy to be a part of it.
-It's called, "We The People," 4th of July, Netflix.
Look for it. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's a clip of H.E.R.'s song, "Change," from "We The People."
Take a look.
-♪ Make a statement and say it proud ♪
♪ Oh, from the street to the hill, join a campaign ♪
♪ Don't have to wait for someday just to have change ♪
♪ Nom you're never too young to make a difference ♪
♪ You have the power to be an active citizen ♪
♪ If I'm just one person, will my voice even stand out ♪
♪ Can I make a difference if I don't even know how? ♪
♪ To change ♪
♪ I don't even know how to change ♪
♪ We don't even know how to change ♪
♪ I wanna know how to change ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You have a beautiful mind, buddy.
Kenya Barris!
"We the people" premieres July 4th, on Netflix!