You raised $360,000,
actually over $360,000
for something that you came up with all on your own
called COVID-19 Protest Relief Fund.
I wanna talk about this right away,
'cause it's so important and inspiring.
Tell us what that fund does.
It's basically a fund for protestors
who are out on the front lines fighting in this,
what I call the uprising for our justice and equality,
and in the midst of our pandemic
and putting their, risking their bodies on the line,
some of them being in communities
that are already at high-risk.
And I was like, "Man, there should be some kind of relief
"for treatment, for some bills,
"for some bill relief, for injuries,"
seeing all of the attacks that were happening
on protestors just for using their American right
to speak out.
So, I just wanted to do something,
because I was having a bunch of different conversations
with folks and including my family, who's high-risk,
so I couldn't be outside when the protests were happening,
and I was like...
And I usually am, so I'm like,
"Damn, I kind of feel a little useless
"in this whole movement.
"I need to do something."
And I was like, "Man, there's a lot of bodies out there.
"Somebody should come up with like a relief fund,
"like somebody should do that."
And when I said somebody, I meant like the government,
because it's like their jobs,
but I guess that was like wishing too much.
So then I said that for like two weeks,
and then I was like, "Well, why don't you do that?
"Just start a GoFundMe, people do it all the time."
I ain't never done a GoFundMe before,
so I just kind of googled how to GoFundMe,
just went to the site, did it,
and I was hoping that it would maybe catch on,
some other people that were more prominent
would do it and make...
I didn't know we would make that much money,
and by the fifth hour, we were already like over $80,000,
and I was like,
"Oh man, I need to figure out how to get this money
"to the people,"
'cause I don't play with peoples' money, you know?
So, that became a three week crash course
getting to know organizers across the country,
getting to know activists,
and learning what a non-profit versus a mutual aid fund was,
which ours is a mutual aid fund,
and learning how it operates,
'cause my whole things was getting the money to the people
as quickly as we could.
But, I guess I had the best...
I was in the best scenario
where it's like usually you start at a mutual aid fund
or a not-for-profit and then you try to raise money.
I had all the money and no knowledge,
so between all the help and the organizers
that really educated me on a lot of things I needed to know,
I was able to set it up and get it going,
and it's been really cool to be on the other side of it now,
where the logistics are kind of worked out
and now we're just trying
to get as much money out to the people
and make as big a impact as possible.
Good for you.
I mean, God bless you.
That's an amazing thing to do.
I would think it would be kind of...
I could see you being panicked if $360,000 comes in
and you wanna get it to the people,
but there's this period of time
where the money's just pouring in,
and you think like,
"How do I get rid of this money?"
Yeah.
Like being on Breaking Bad,
like there's money coming in,
I gotta get rid of this stuff.
(laughs)
Yeah, 'cause I was like...
I was waking up like,
"I gotta get rid of this, 'cause I'm just a comic, man.
"I wanna make dick jokes, man."
There were so many times, Conan,
that I almost tweeted, I bought a chain with it instead,
just a joke.
(laughs)
But, I was like I can't do this.
Until I figure out how to do this, I can't make jokes
about it. I know, I know.
It's a funny joke,
but people would get pissed off for a second.
(laughs)
Yeah man, but yeah it was like a lot of stress,
'cause it was a world I'm not familiar with.
But, I'm so glad I did it,
and on top of that, we've worked with the Chicago Alliance
and the Black Lives Matter Chicago
and a bunch of other organizations,
just getting masks to people, taking care of tests.
We've been getting so many cool notes
about people like being able to pay their rent,
because they're not behind,
and just these medical bills and there's a lot of people
just getting beat up, man.
A lot of people getting beat up, a lot of phones,
a lot of iPhones are broken in the uprising.
We've been able to take care of folks,
and it's been the best...
It's been a joy, man.
It's been something that brings a lot of light
to what's been a stressful time for me personally for sure,
as everybody knows.