Welcome to the show, my dude. How you doing?
Oh, my God, I'm just chilling.
I'm just relaxing, living life.
Uh, enjoying the moment, kind of.
I don't know if "cool" is the right word,
but nobody has looked like this in an interview
that I've ever done with them in my life.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
Feel free to go ahead and say "cool."
-That's what it is. -Oh, I'll say "cool." I'll say "fresh."
I'll say... But I feel like this is Lamorne, you know?
This is... This is what you-you...
You see? Look at this.
(laughing)
Let this be the takeaway.
If you learn nothing from today other than,
"Damn, he looks fresh all while solving racism..."
Just, you know, keep that in your mind.
What is... Is that silk?
-This is silk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Okay.
100% silk. Uh, 4,000 thread count.
Uh, sewed it myself.
This is my own collection.
-I like that. I like that. -Thank you.
It has a... It has a nice feeling.
It's like.... It's got, like, half pajama,
half, like, life swag to it. That's what it has.
I'll be honest with you, Trevor.
I-I sit around all day.
Uh, I lay on the couch.
I have my-my titties out, and I just kind of...
I just enjoy...
-(laughing) -(laughing): That's the way I've chosen
to live my life, especially during the pandemic.
Got the tits out. Why not?
You say that, but you work a lot, man.
But then what they don't realize is that Lamorne
is secretly creating a television show
that's gonna drop on Hulu that's called Woke.
-And... -Ooh, boy.
I mean, by the looks of it, it-it looks like a show
that comments specifically
on what's happening right now in America.
But, as I understand, this was created
before the George Floyd mo... movement,
before the Black Lives Matter protests really built up again.
Um, talk me through why you made the show
and why you decided to go with the title Woke.
'Cause that title... I mean, the word "woke" has become...
I mean, on one side, it's corporate.
-Yeah. -On the other side, it's, like,
one of the most contentious phrases you can use.
I mean, New Girl was one of those shows
that was just pure fun.
You know, we tackled some subjects.
Sexism at the workplace.
We hinted on racism a bit.
I know we... I wrote an episode about that.
But when-when we were done, I kind of wanted
to be a part of something that meant something.
It was based on the life of Keith Knight,
a real cartoonist who kind of walked
a very similar walk that I did, you know what I mean?
Politically, where I didn't really know where I fit.
I just... Like I said, I kind of wanted
to just lay around with my titties out
and just enjoy life,
but then you see someone, you know,
going through some sort of injustice,
or you see all these things, and then you...
For some reason, one day, you just wake up
to become activated
or "woke" as you... as you call it.
Engaged. You know what I mean?
And, so, that's kind of why I wanted to jump on this show,
because it meant something to me
that folks will look at it and watch it.
Maybe they'll learn something, you know,
or if anything, maybe they'll just laugh.
But at the end of the day, I can feel good
about contributing something to the conversation.
You know, I always talk to my friends
about how, um, one of the major signifiers
or one of the major experiences of being a Black person
is that even if you do not choose to engage
in the conversations around how Black people are treated,
at some point, you will be treated like a Black person.
-Do you know what I mean? -Yes. Absolutely.
And then at some point,
the very Black nature of your skin
means you are involved in something
that you didn't choose to be involved in,
and the character you're playing had that.
He was a cartoonist. He was just having fun,
making fun, lighthearted cartoons,
and then the police tackled him in the street
because they thought he looked like the mugger
that they were looking for, and his life changed overnight.
What were you trying to do in telling some of those stories?
Well, there's multiple sides to this coin.
You know what I mean? I feel like pe...
I think Black is a sp... It's on a spectrum.
You know, it can be anything.
I listen to a different type of music,
I dress a certain way, and constantly,
I'm hit with these-these microaggressions of, you know,
"You don't sound Black."
Or... And I've heard that from Black people, from white people.
I've had white people tell me that they're Blacker than I am.
I like to... I like... I feel like sometimes,
you know, we're hit with this stigma
or this stereotype of who we are,
which can then lead to, uh, stereotypes, racism.
It can lead to all kinds of negative things
towards our skin tone.
I think that when people watch the show,
it's not just for the people who don't know.
It's also for that Black kid who feels like
maybe he doesn't necessarily fit in
or he dresses a certain way
-or he can identify himself with something. -Right.
Hopefully, they can...
they can get some sort of motivation
or activation to address the elephant in the room,
and when you do that, it causes other people
to get in on the conversation.
And you can't change something
-unless you're faced with it, right? -Right.
Um, I believe that's the quote.
So, if you... You know, until we're faced with it,
you know, then things will probably remain the same.
Hopefully, this show will help towards that conversation.
Well, I-I hope people will start by watching your show,
because I-I honestly think
entertainment is one of the most powerful tools
that gets people into it.
And, so, I feel like if there's more shows
that are funny, entertaining, interesting
and at the same time tackle ideas of racism and race
and-and all the concepts we deal with,
I think you can have a lot of people
who are a lot more educated than they thought they could be
just by watching TV. So, congratulations on the show.
-Thank you. Thank you, man. -Uh, congratulations
on that silk outfit.
-I... -Honestly, it's just to get the tits out.
I can... I can truly say
we have never seen anything like this on the show,
and I think television will never be the same.
What'd you say? You want me to come closer to the screen?
(laughing)
What'd you say, Trevor?
-Oh, my God. Look at those things. -Oh, man.
-Look at those things. Those are... -Lamorne,
-thank you so much, my dude. -(laughs)
All right, man. Appreciate it, bro.