Omar!
Look at you, Omar.
Yeah, you know?
Looking good, brother.
I mean, it's a little weird because we grew up together.
We've known each other since we were, like, three years old.
[cheering]
I know Omar.
We were in high school.
I've known him since high school.
And when we first met, Omar in high school,
he used to carry around this little blue ball.
He was skinny.
He had a big-ass head and shoulders.
But he looked like an arrow.
But you could just put him in a thing and sling him.
And he just had a big-ass head, and he
had this little blue ball.
And he would just bounce it all around.
And all I could think was I'm going to kick his ass.
[laughter]
For no good reason because the thing was-- you remember
Rocky, like the first movies?
He had the blue ball.
So that was my thing.
I was, like, drinking raw eggs and bouncing
the blue ball like Rocky.
And so I thought I could kick somebody's ass.
And plus in the cafeteria I used
to chill with all the girls.
You know what I'm saying?
And so Marlon was jealous.
I wasn't jealous.
[laughter]
I wasn't jealous.
I-- well, I just thought you--
He thought I was gay.
[laughter]
You know what I'm saying?
You get a little blue ball. You know what I'm saying?
He double dutching.
I'm like, something up.
But then I found out that you had a devious plan.
Your plot was to hang around the girls
and be the friendly guy.
And you'd be friends over time and wear them down.
You ain't shit.
No, man, you know?
Hey, persistence, it works.
You got to have resilience in life.
We actually didn't like each other until--
we almost fought.
And we was in the locker one-- and then we got
each other in the headlock.
Yeah, we got to the stalemate.
- Yeah, and-- - We were stuck.
We--
No, because we had the same technique.
I remember I had you like this.
And you was digging this part of your wrist into my jaw.
And I was digging that into your head.
And you was like, yo, we got the same technique.
We used to join forces.
Yeah.
[laughter]
You know what's funny is it's the truth.
That's what makes it funny.
We literally got stuck, and then we got cool after that.
And we've been thick as thieves ever since then.
MARLON WAYANS: Yeah, I'm glad about it.
[applause]
We had some good-- what people don't
know about Omar is, like, you're a really funny dude.
You're actually one of the funniest dudes I know.
I mean, you ain't never did a comedy.
I want you to do more comedy.
I know.
But what they don't know about me is that I can act.
So we both have the same skill set.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah.
But, see, Omar's not a comedian,
so they don't expect it from you.
So, you know, I could say anything.
You say the same thing, and you get slapped.
I get laughs.
No, because you light skin.
[laughter]
We've been going through this since high school.
We both say the same thing, and people
get offended when I say it.
I'm like, what?
He just said the same thing.
So you go, oh, he's a different color Black.
Yeah.
[laughter]
What's, like, your most monumental
moment in our friendship?
In our friendship?
Yeah, like, what do you remember, like, most, man?
Oh, man.
Honestly, there have been so many.
I mean, the birth of your kids.
And, you know, obviously, God bless, Mama Loves passing.
And just us growing up, man.
Just being innocent kids in the city.
I remember we used to be like, all right,
let's not take the train or the bus.
Let's walk down from 66th and Amsterdam
and walk for 40 blocks.
And maybe meet a girl, get her number, get a slice of pizza.
Those are really sweet memories.
All my memories is like, I remember when you fell asleep.
And Omar sleep with his eyes open like that.
Yeah.
[laughter]
And me, him, and Tupac Shakur was
hanging out because y'all did Juice together.
Oh my goodness.
And Omar's sleeping like this.
Are we really bringing this up?
And what people know about Pac is Pac is like a--
he was a funny dude. - He was a funny dude.
So Omar's sleeping like that.
And Omar and Pac went and took his balls
and put them out and put them right near Omar's mouth.
So it looked like Omar was like that.
[laughter]
Yo.
I remember one time--
Why did you just do that?
I don't know.
Because you talking about all these sad memories.
Mama Love passing, and, you know,
I remember the baby's born and the umbilical cord
and the shape of it. - Yeah.
Oh, nigga, where's the jokes?
Come on now.
We had some good times.
I was mad at Pac for that though.
I was super mad.
Like, yo, son, you really going to do that?
Yeah, but you always get mad.
You ain't got to-- you got to work on that.
You got anger issues, man.
I don't have anger--
[laughs] if somebody take they nuts out next to your mouth
while you sleep like that, that would have
went viral right now.
This is when we used to take Polaroids.
Yeah, but, see, you should have
just woke up like that, bop, and just hit him one time.
I was asleep.
Then we'd just do like this, like a speed bag.
Ba, da, ba, da, ba da.
OMAR EPPS: Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.
The funny thing-- no, because you get mad a lot.
Remember, one time--
OK, we--
I don't even know what's going to happen right now.
OK, one time, like, we was in-- remember
when you got caught stealing the orange,
strawberry, banana juice?
Oh goodness, are you still--
OK, go ahead. Go ahead.
OK, so we go to the supermarket.
Omar was a shoplifter, and I didn't know this.
I found out he was a shoplifter.
And we went to the--
we went in the store.
It was a store on 42nd Street.
Yeah.
Me, you, and Mitch went, and I felt like I should be--
you know?
This was at the time when Do the Right Thing was out.
And the man said--
we get to the counter.
And I go pay for my chips, and Omar's at the counter.
And the guy goes, what about the juice in your pocket?
And I said, what juice?
And the guy goes, the juice right in your pocket.
And Marlon goes, yeah, what juice?
And it turned into Do the Right Thing.
Like, man, you--
Yeah, we was like, you doing it because we Black.
Yeah.
You doing it because he's dark skinned.
You ain't mess with me because I'm light skinned.
The dark-skinned brother because he's
a different color dark Black, you gonna blame him.
And then the guy goes--
Meanwhile, I'm sweating bricks because I
got the juice in my pocket.
[laughter]
MARLON WAYANS: Omar goes in his pocket.
He don't pull out a juice.
It wasn't like a little juice.
He pulled out like a 96-ounce bottle of juice.
[applause]
And I saw this, and I immediately went, oh,
my god, I'm telling everybody.
I left the store.
The next day, Omar came to school.
I laughed so hard.
The next day Omar came to school,
and everybody kept walking up to him.
He was on the escalator, and all he heard was--
- Oh my goodness. - --Omar got caught stealing.
(TOGETHER) Omar got caught stealing.
Omar got caught stealing.
Orange, strawberry, banana juice.
[laughter]
You was so mad.
You were so mad.
[laughs]
Oh, my god.
That actually happened.
We want to perform, and a shoutout
to LaGuardia High School.
Shoutout, shoutout.
[applause]
What was your favorite role of all of them?
Because you've done a lot of great work.
Like, I remember your whole career.
I remember like, man, there was this one role you did,
Higher Learning.
Yeah.
MARLON WAYANS: I remember I watched that movie,
and your ending scene was so powerful.
I was sitting there in awe.
I was speechless.
And at the end of the movie, he's just walking away.
And I said-- in my head, I said, bro, you walking
toward $1,000,000 right now.
I remember you actually saying that.
And then it happened.
You got $1,000,000 for your next movie,
and I was just so proud because I was like, damn, I ain't
treating for shit no more.
[laughter]
Thank you.
What was your favorite role?
You know what, yo?
I always look at it like--
I feel like each role is a piece of a mosaic that's
a bigger thing that will be done
once it's said and done for-- once my time on this Earth
is done.
So I don't have a favorite role.
I pour the same amount into every role
that I pour into the next one.
And for me-- but as you know, there's nothing
like the first--
that first-- yeah, that first role is just like, oh.
You know what's crazy is as you was telling me that,
I was sitting there going, where the [bleep]
did you learn the word mosaic?
What?
What are you talking about?
[laughter]
No, but you're an author now, man.
This--
Yeah, man.
This-- this-- this made me so proud of you.
This book, I was like, this is the dude that cut every class,
is writing books. - Yeah.
I couldn't even read your notes that you
passed to me in class.
They were in some graffiti or weird language.
But, man, I'm so proud of you.
What inspired you to write this book?
Well, I just--
it's a coming-of-age book about these three teens.
It takes place in 2098.
And I just was imagining, what's
the world going to look like?
Like, what's society going to look like?
And more importantly, like, for me-- because we're born
and raised in New York--
what's New York going to look like to those kids?
And I just started dissecting it and breaking it down
and really trying to look through the eyes
of a budding mind.
Because I'm really-- you know, my mother was an educator.
So I'm really into speaking to kids
at different schools and things of that nature
and offering what I can.
And this is my offering in that way of, hey, climate change
has happened.
It's about classism.
It's about sexism.
Obviously, it's about-- racism is still in there.
All the isms, and then how do we spin that on its head?
Because it's really about these kids who are, like, trying
to figure themselves out.
Because that 14-, 15-year-old stage
is an awkward part of life, like, just for anyone.
So it doesn't matter where you come from.
You could be from Arkansas or Nebraska,
or you could be from an urban space like Chicago
or New York or Atlanta or whatever.
And I believe that there's something in there
for every kid to take away because it's also about
escapism to give them something to get them through the next
day, you know?
I read the book, and it's amazing.
And I'm very proud of you.
OMAR EPPS: Thank you.
I swear it wasn't till that explanation you just gave me.
I thought you cheated on somebody to write this book,
but now I know.
[laughter]
You do know them big words.
I love you, my brother.
You guys, go get the book.
It's on Amazon right now.
It's on Amazon.
On Amazon.
Give it up for my brother Omar Epps.
[cheering]