Newcomers: Scorsese, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Meet The Browns - TV Series (w/ Dulcé Sloan)
Episode Date: April 27, 2021Nicole and Lauren are joined by comedian and actress Dulcé Sloan (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Great North) to discuss her experience working on an episode of Tyler Perry's ...;Meet the Browns. Follow Dulcé on Instagram and Twitter @dulcesloan, and tune into The Great North airing Sundays on FOX. Next Week's Watchlist: Madea's Big Happy Family (2011)Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and let us know what Tyler Perry hit they should check out next.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This is a HeadGum Original.
It's hard being an entrepreneur.
That's entrepreneur.
At Brown Meadows Home for Seniors.
Oh, what up fool?
B-Rod Brown is the man of the house.
I'm a winner.
Please misbehave.
Misinformed.
I feel like my hair is growing back, isn't it?
Hallelujah!
And misunderstood.
This is vintage.
Vintage.
Vintage.
Yes!
But he's always there for those in need.
What can Brown do for you?
Get the Browns to deliver my baby!
You don't speak any English.
Meet the Browns.
I love me some Browns.
Yes! Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Oh boy.
I'm Nicole Byer.
I'm Lauren Lapkus.
And this is the seventh episode of the third season of Newcomers. It's actually, it's going too fast. Yeah, I can't believe it's the seventh episode. Theoretically, we only have three more episodes. I'm not done watching.
I'm not done. I'm not done. We're not done. It's not going to end at 10. That's absolutely the wrong choice.
I, yeah, I just, I can't.
It's, this is, okay.
So today we experienced two episodes of one sitcom,
which you would never have known if you weren't told it was the same sitcom.
Totally.
So it's Meet the Browns.
It aired on TBS for five whole seasons from 2009 to 2011
yeah we watched the pilot which is called meet brown meadows and season 4 episode 14 meet the
trainer and we'll be getting into a bunch more movies and tv shows in the weeks to come and if
you want to watch meet the browns it's on dvd or you can watch it on amazon apple tv and bet plus
and obviously we're going to spoil the episodes for you so watch first if you want watch it on Amazon, Apple TV, and BET+. And obviously, we're going to spoil the episodes for you,
so watch first if you want to be on the same page.
But Nicole, before we bring out our guest,
what were your initial thoughts?
This was our first time watching a sitcom of his, right?
Yes.
Very first time seeing Meet the Browns
or any Tyler Perry sitcom.
I had to make sure I was watching the pilot because I was like,
I was like, they jump right in this. I don't know who anyone is. I don't know who anyone is to each
other. And then there's a hundred guest stars. I was like, well, who's actually on the show?
And then we watched the later episode. I was like, well, two prominent people from the pilot aren't even in this episode. No. And I also was like, is the show about him
running an old folks home? Or was that just like a hijinks thing from the first? I was like, I think
it's because then we cut to season four. He's fully like doing totally different things. So
it's like, yeah, I mean, I have a lot lot of questions but i also found it very funny i will
say that the audience was going crazy now i want to know if that was a real audience or not but the
laughs were big and so and they were back to back to there was no air for anything there's no air
and sometimes some of the jokes weren't even like fully you weren't sure if someone was being funny
or not yes and then it was like hardcore laugh. And I was like, okay.
Like there was, I can't remember what the joke was.
It was like her breath smells like feet or whatever.
And that got a huge laugh.
But then earlier, this woman was like,
the old folks home is on fire.
And they talked about this fire in present tense.
And I was like, wait, what?
Like, that's funny.
They were like, we have to get them out of there right now and then like
a hundred people walk in i but also then i mean we'll get into all of it but then like mr brown
was being very funny talking about each one of them and who they looked like and i was like was
this improv it was like really good a lot of people are improvising on the show it also feels like
a lot of takes were the first and only and And some of the lines just weren't there.
But they said we must persevere.
I'm hoping that
our guests can tell us if those
theories are true today.
We have a very fun guest. We're so excited.
It's Dulce Sloan.
Hello, friends. Dulce is a comedian.
She's an actress that corresponded
on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
She also voices Honey Bee on Fox's new animated series, The Great North, which premiered in February.
And she was in one of these episodes, Beat the Trainer.
So we have to hear everything that happened.
Welcome Dulce.
Hello, friends.
Hi, Dulce. I gotta know.
Did you know of Tyler Perry's works before you got to do the episode?
Oh, absolutely. Now, one, this to do the episode? Oh, absolutely.
Now, one, this was the fourth season.
Oh, yes.
Two, House of Pain was on at the same time.
Mm.
Oh.
Also, he was doing the stage plays still.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
So it was like, Medea goes to, I don't know, the moon.
Like, it was just a lot of...
I would watch it
I would honestly love that
honestly me and
she's on the moon
me and Baron
Vaughn were trying to make plans
to go see the Boo
Madea Halloween movie and we couldn't coordinate
our schedules because I was like I have
to see how Tyler Perry does a scary movie because
it's going to be fucking hilarious but I found out i didn't know anything about him until
a few years before because his plays were so popular you could like you went to go see these
plays like the atlanta civic center like oh really yes these were huge. Wow. And he was traveling.
Like, basically, it's like wherever, like before Cat Williams went mainstream, it was like wherever Cat Williams was going.
So it was like Atlanta Civic Center, your New Orleans Civic Center, basically all the cities named in a James Brown song.
So wherever the blacks are, that's what Tyler Perry is bringing.
I think it's called the Chitlin circuit,
which I don't know if that's a nice thing to say.
I didn't want to say it.
I didn't want to say it. That's what it's called.
It's what it's called.
I don't know if we call it that or if that's the name it was given.
And I've yet to be able to figure that out.
So I don't like use the term.
Cause I'm like,
did we say Chitlin circuit or did they say Chitlin circuit?
And Lauren's like, I won't say anything.
I simply won't say the words.
And that's where that'll be.
If Lauren said it, it would be Chitterling Circuit.
That's where.
You should wait until I say Hallelujah.
It's not good.
It makes me laugh so hard.
But like I had gone to, my mom took me to go see.
So when he started getting, like after like Dire of a Mad Black Woman came out, which is actually a really good movie.
We liked it.
And honestly, the amount of white women that were coming up to me after that movie came out and telling me, make sure your husband always has a bank.
Make sure you have a bank account your husband never knows about.
No.
That movie triggered the hell out of white women.
Like they were like i went through
this i don't want to stop you i was in fucking college this woman was like my husband did the
exact same thing that's so funny but i say a black lady i have to tell her things yes
i got it i was like girl i've never i'm in college ma'am i'm hoping for this life um
truly but yeah so like you could go to because a girl i was
friends with she had like the medea box set oh i love it fancy so this was before tyler perry
went mainstream before the cbs deal and they were selling dvd box sets of his plays at the shows so she had like four or five of the plays really fucking gamed the system yes
he was doing these plays and then was like just give me a little bit of money and i'll prove to
you that i have the audience because it's like if you sell out a fucking civic center these people
they see your name you name everything tyler perry presents or whatever they're gonna follow i mean yes wow
people did not realize his follow like these white folks had no idea his following was so huge because
when i saw him at when my mom took me to go see medea goes to jail um it was at the fox theater
in atlanta so he had you know graduated from the civics and he's in the fox theater people like
the only other time i've been the i was like i did like a show with trevor in atlanta at the fox theater yeah so this wasn't
like you know some little rinky dink i mean not the civic center's rinky dink but these are big
venues you know this isn't like a church auditorium this man has used venues and so um because Clayton English was a recurring character on House of Pain, and that was like 2007.
Also, I found out when I was doing my podcast that Tyler Perry has the record for it's the black sitcom that's run that's run the longest.
Which one?
House of Pain.
How long has that been on?
It beat. No, i had the most episodes
it beat the jeffersons by one episode just one he's petty he's petty he's like i'm sure someone's
like you're really close to breaking that record he's like not only will i break it i'm just gonna
do one one more just one more just one more funny but the thing is like because he had a like house of pain went
to syndication in like three years because um they would air two new episodes every night
so like every so like the show came out on wednesday it was two new episodes that night
he is so prolific i mean honestly well that's what i want to hear about with your experience
with being on the show was how fast it worked because we talked about acrimony last week or maybe a couple weeks
ago and it was shot in eight days a full movie so i'm like well a sitcom he's like we do this in two
hours like there's like gotta be no so they shot the whole episode in a day uh which most sitcoms
we know was a week. Yes.
In a day? Just to tell people if they don't know.
So typically how a multicam sitcom would work
is you'd come in on Monday for a table read.
You might have a rehearsal.
You'll have a couple days of rehearsal.
And then on the Thursday,
you might shoot a couple scenes
that need like a car
or something that's not on a set
or that the audience wouldn't be able to see
from where they're sitting.
And then on the final day, if it's on a Friday,
you'd have a full audience.
And that's going to be a whole day of work
of just getting ready for the show
and then a five to six hour taping, maybe longer.
They do three takes and move on.
Three takes and move on.
There's something kind of amazing about it because from my experience on
multicams,
like from Monday to Friday,
the script is totally different.
Like they've done so many rewrites.
They,
it's almost like they've heard it too many times.
Maybe Tyler's theory is we don't need to hear it more than once.
It's funny on the first time.
Let's just go for it.
I will say this.
I think he should do it a second time.
I think it's like, maybe just go through it one more time just one more just one more another
set of eyes or something well bring light to to so you know when you watch the pilot and it's like
you already know who all the characters are yes but you but like so the Browns were our was another series of plays.
Oh, I did.
So because I did they have a movie as well about the Browns or was it just the play? I think it's like the Browns play is available to watch.
So is Tyler Perry in the Browns play?
I think he comes on, but it's not like I think he's not a consistent.
It's not like Madea.
Yeah.
The Browns plays. I think it's because like because that it's not like Madea. Yeah.
With the Browns plays,
I think it's because like,
because that's why when like the episode starts, it's like,
how do everybody already know who everybody is?
Yeah.
It was like kind of wild.
Well,
so that's interesting.
So then you're saying that like people already knew the characters from the
play.
So that's why they didn't feel the need to establish everything for maybe
someone like me, who's just turning it on in TBS for the first from the play. So that's why they didn't feel the need to establish everything for maybe someone like me,
who's just turning it on and TBS for the first time.
Right.
Cause there was a 2008 movie called meet the Browns.
Okay.
And he,
Mr.
Brown casually mentions Medea at one point,
I believe in the pilot.
Yes.
I think he does.
Cause he knows Medea.
It's just very funny to be like,
well,
I'll give this Medea or whatever.
Wait a minute
i'm looking at tyler perry's house of pain not to change the subject okay and it has nine seasons
yeah and season eight aired from october 2011 to august 2012 and season nine has aired from
september 2020 to january 2021 so he brought it the fuck back. This man! I love him!
This is truly...
Like, imagine having your show canceled in
2012, and then
eight years later, Tyler Perry's like,
that's what you thought.
And brought it back. In the pandemic, too.
So yeah, the plays...
So the Meet the Brown plays started in
2004, and
then... So he wrote the play in 2004.
It looks like it was published in 2005.
And then there's the TV show and there's the movie in 2008.
And then the TV show in 2009.
So it was, yeah, because I just want to get the dates right.
So it was plays first, then it was a movie, then it was a TV show.
And then what's even more funny is that
david man who plays brown and cora who plays his daughter they're actually a married couple
wait which one's cora oh is the one who she's the um she's a light-skinned heavyset woman
i thought she was his wife i could not figure out their relationship for the life of me because he's supposed to be
older he's older so on the show i believe he's her father like a long last dad situation i will
say that was unclear in the pilot yeah yeah that was uh fully fully not clear at all that's really
funny though in medea's class reunion is a reveal that brown is actually
cora's mother is cora's father so he's taking his new daughter into the family so oh it's yeah so
they're actually a married couple david and tamil a man and um also if you want to hear
her gospel albums are uh amazing oh my god i listen to her all the time. She has a remake of Take Me to the King.
Dude.
I've seen her on something.
Oh, yeah.
I've seen her sing.
I can't remember what it was.
Oh, wait.
Wait.
Hold on.
Now I got to look this up because I think.
She's an amazing singer.
I actually like.
Yes.
Okay.
She sang at the Oprah tour that I went to.
Sounds right.
Amazing. Wait. Were you at the tour where she I went to. Sounds right. Amazing.
Wait, were you at the tour where she fell down?
Yes.
Oprah?
Yes, Oprah.
Oh my God, it was the craziest.
She's like talking about walking.
She literally talks about balance.
You need balance in your life.
She's like, and it's amazing.
And then she falls down?
All the way.
The screen behind her said balance.
And then it was like, you need balance in your life
and we're going to talk all about balance today and we're going to find ways to make your life
perfectly best and then her feet go whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop
shut up it was like shut up it's the best description and there's like thousands of
people in this place and it's so we're all and we're all her biggest fans we're all like no
like everyone's freaking out and then she fell and there was no one on stage with her so she just fully fell and there was no chair or
anything to grab onto and everyone was like freaking out it was so crazy and then they you
know she made it she immediately took her shoes off and made a big joke and she was really funny
and then they took her off stage then she came back and she was fine but then after the show
she posted on her instagram that she had a sprained ankle and she had a, but she did like a five hour show
all day.
Wow.
She was out there.
I mean,
a professional.
Truly,
truly.
But it was one of the scariest
moments ever.
And then I was so mad
because it was like on Twitter
immediately and I was like,
do we not all respect Oprah enough
to not post this
right now?
I mean,
I do feel like it could have been
a private moment for her like nearest
and dearest fans like we're we all paid a lot of money to be here i mean and we all love her
i don't want her to be embarrassed and then within seconds it was like memes gifts all over the place
i was like bastards that sounds like haters to me that sounds like haters to me but you never know who's in the audience so the browns like they're what am i trying to say
world lexicon no uh universe yeah their universe is already established before the show starts
so that's why we get truly no introduction into who these people are what their relationship is
why all of a sudden there's competing old folks homes.
Wait, before we get into the actual episode, let's get into our news media.
News media.
Always has to be explained.
It just feels good to explain it.
So Lonnie Love reveals Tyler Perry once busted her trying to take pictures of his estate.
Oh my God.
There's a great picture of them together.
It's a perfect picture of Lonnie Love, both arms in the air.
Tyler Perry, maybe like grabbing her stomach.
Honestly, the more you look at the picture, the more you're like, what is happening?
Is he lifting her up by her stomach?
What is this picture?
Show me this picture.
Can I share my screen?
Please.
Because this is wild.
So during an April 15th,
E...
See, do you see it?
Hold on, I'm trying to move it over.
An E! Nightly Pop interview,
Lonnie Love revealed she once visited
friend Tyler Perry's estate
and was caught breaking his no picture policy.
She tried to sneak photos after he asked her not to.
Kim Whitley, who was there with
love confirmed the story love explained i said tyler isn't isn't anywhere around i'm gonna sneak
a little picture childish gambino was performing so i was like i just want one memory she soon felt
a hand on her shoulder and perry playfully batted her phone away before she could take any photos
that's hilarious it is very funny i'm like he is
omnipotent only uh omnipresent wait omnipotent he's everywhere um yes oh they don't play any
game about that no picture policy because we when we went to set this was before he has the big
studio he has now he had a smaller studio and oh that lake that is in um the family that prays also really good
um that's on the property of the studio oh so there was a guy there taking pictures because
we were extras so all of us were like dude chill they'll send all of us home stop it
and he was taking pictures that he's just surrounded by
security they take his phone oh no because at first they're like yo dude delete the pictures
and he's like okay and then he starts taking pictures again oh wow okay and like when you're
in there there was like banners of like different still shots from the different movies that he's
done uh-huh and at first they were like yo man no pictures and he's like okay cool and then he does it again they're like dude no pictures and they're like you know
again they get him to delete them and then they just took his phone they're like we already told
you twice yeah no you if that's that's too much but i would have a i would if i were at his house
i think i would be subtly like moving my phone around it would be really hard not to i would
be very i would try it
his house well the house that they filmed diary of a mad black woman in that's his house oh yeah
so we all know we don't need a picture oh no one he's moved to uh he was like i will never
do anything because they he's like they fucked up my floors they fucked up my walls
yeah the whole production here he's like i'll never do anything in my house again but i was
like he's learning in real time with everybody else yeah he's like hey you scratch
my floor it's like yeah there's probably 500 people hanging out all day like you can only
roll down so much brown paper before your floors are just fucked um wait should we take a break
yeah let's do it.
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Link is in the episode description.
Okay, we'll be back.
So, season one, episode one,
Meet Brown Meadows was written by Tyler Perry
and Chantel R. McClain, directed by Tyler Perry, one episode one meet brown meadows was written by tyler perry and chantelle r mclean directed
by tyler perry released january 7th 2009 okay so let's get into the summary of the show
this episode so medea's daughter cora okay these are details i want that yeah it would have been
nice if it was like hey you should have seen you should have watched the movie you should have
yeah i guess so we should feel like it's hey. You should have watched the movie. You should have watched the movie.
I guess so.
We should have watched the movie.
You should have seen the plays.
You should have gone back in time and found a Tyler Perry play near you.
So Medea's daughter Cora visits her father, Mr. Brown, as he's doing a renovation project. Now, when I watched that moment, I thought, wife comes home to husband who is on a ladder.
I did not think all of this.
So anyway, he's hoping to
fulfill his father's dying wish by opening a retirement home called brown meadows also the
picture of the father in the background is insane i don't know if i noticed that it's him with like
the sherman hemsley cul-de-sac uh bald spot cul-de-sac it's this giant picture at the back
like you kind of don't catch it but it's like they rep like the he talks about like doing his father's like dying wish in the in the um shot
gets a little wider and then you see the picture of the dad in the background they don't reference
it just didn't clock it uh so Cora asked Mr. Brown how he learned to renovate he said he picked up
the DVD box set of this old hood which got just an eruption of laughter.
And also, this is like minute one, barely.
But the audience is on board.
So I also was wondering,
were they all people who have seen this stuff
and they come in like,
we know what everything is that's already happening.
That makes it way funnier.
So Mr. Brown tells a story
about how the people at the store were treating him rudely
after he asked the woman working.
This made me laugh. And she had the claps which confuses cora and he said uh he even gave her the clap to or he gave the clap to medea for christmas cora catches on and realizes
he's talking about the clapper a sound activated electrical switch from infomercials that let you
turn on appliances by clapping your hands mr brown said he has to get back to work so he can rewire
the house after electrocuting himself.
Cora leaves and Mr. Brown electrocutes himself again.
Which was intense.
Wait, with the clap, I was like,
this feels like improvised.
He was going on about the clap for like a while.
A very long time.
And it felt like there was this energy of like,
if you're getting laughs, just keep going.
Yeah, keep going.
Do not stop.
Yeah, don't stop. So, okay, while Mr. Brown's nephew, Will and his wife, Sasha, are visiting, there was this energy of like if you're getting laughs just keep going keep going do not stop
don't stop so okay well mr brown's nephew will and his wife sasha are visiting like okay but
they come in oh okay as if they're not a couple they come in with the like so they're like role
playing that they're cheating or whatever yes and then they start to make out um and while this is
happening carmen a social worker arrives to tell them that the elderly home down the street is on fire.
She tells them she needs.
Which I was like, what?
What is she doing there?
The priorities are so off.
She runs down the street to tell them.
It's like, you should be calling 911.
She tells them she needs a place to keep residents.
And Will and Sasha tell her Mr. Brown is opening an elderly home.
So how convenient that she came over.
Carmen asks if some residents can stay with him before mr brown answers fully
she opens the door and lets 20 residents enter the house and that i did enjoy that moment he
was like there can be two and then two people came it was one two done and then she's like
no and then he just goes is this a circus okay that made me laugh the references to
then he called one nelson Mandela and then another one
Winnie Mandela.
He roasted every single person
in a different way and it was
I think they all really enjoyed it. And I feel like
it was new. He was like John McCain. Everyone had a
smile on their face. Like he just like called
everyone something. But then I
was like wow the extras are beholden to never
make a sound. I know.
They only got to like smile or nod ahead.
So Robin Robinson, who runs the retirement home down the street, who knew that there were this many retirement homes in the same vicinity, arrives and thanks Mr. Brown for letting her residents stay with him temporarily.
Mr. Brown says they can stay permanently since he's opening his own retirement home.
Robin tells him he can't compete with her and she will be back she's like this evil old folks home person she's gonna
be back to collect her residence once everything is cleared and the fires put out so that's my
friend kyra so i was in a play with her written by a playwright in atlanta and i was in a play with her and then she
her boyfriend you know soon to be fiance they had a show on bet called somebody's
and so because i was friends with them i became like a uh let's just say i did stand-in work for her oh okay i don't know if y'all know how
stand-ins work but they have to be somewhere near the same size yeah like same height same size kind
of look kind of look like the actor right and so i'd also been contacted to do um so i don't know
if you've ever seen house of pain but the main character on there the mom
she is
she has a darker complexion
than me
she is four inches shorter than me
and she is bigger than me
and they called me multiple times
and were like hey can you be a stand in for her
I'm like sure but I'm taller than her
this is not helpful to you
and i'm lighter than her and they said okay and then they called me back a second time and i said
those things again we do not care we just need someone to stand in the light right it's very
funny like for anyone out there who doesn't know like they you have a stand and come in so that
you can get the camera set up everything at the right height the right lighting for the actor
when they come in so you don't have to do it all over again yes and then so that really defeats
the purpose if they're right yeah but if you watch the show change everything some of the tracking
shots are adjusted mid-tracking yes and i was like this is so wild well because the third time
they called me the girl goes okay so we had called you to be a stand-in for her but oh you're taller than her I said yes you're smaller than her I said yes like oh you're
all at the same complexion I was like no and the girl goes we can't use you why are we calling you
and I'm like I don't know but you've been calling me for a week so how about we take my name off
this list I had a stand-in who was shorter than or no we were the same height but i was seated for something and i was like you need to adjust for about like two to
three inches and they were like no we don't because she was smaller than me and i was like you do i
will be taller than her seated they're like you're the same height as her and i was like yes but i
also know i have a fat ass work so it's like don't you understand like i mean but like your torsos can be totally
different like you could be like the same height sitting down a totally different height standing
up like it just doesn't make any sense and i like told them so then when i got into the shot and sat
right down they went oh this is all wrong we have to readjust it so then i just was my own stand-in
and i would just have to redo everything it was oh that's annoying it was a very annoying but you know
grateful for the work blessed so it sounds like people should listen to black women is what i
heard people should just listen to anybody listen to anybody i mean come on listen to someone who's
telling you hey this is not gonna work you're like yeah and then you get on set and you're like
oh this isn't gonna work i was like i tried to tell you i'm getting paid regardless but i was not i didn't
intend to do this it's like let's just work smarter not a dumber stupid man oh my god okay
so will and sasha do health checks on the residents since he's a doctor and she's a nurse
carmen tells dr tells mr brown that he needs to get a license in order to officially
run the retirement home and she starts to the process for him so yeah they are doing like um
really loose health checks on these residents in the kitchen yeah they do not care and one guy
comes in and he's like time to check my anus like he fully like he starts to unbutton his pants and
she's like what are you doing sir and he's like what did he say it was like the hemorrhoid hernia hernia yeah he's like yeah he's like they do it
every day or whatever i'm like this doesn't seem good i don't think i know what a hernia is
honestly i don't feel like it's a growth on you see i thought it was like a pulled muscle inside
your body that like really hurts i don't know i'll look it up okay what's a hernia come here i want this answer what's a hernia
it's when the lining of your abdomen gets torn thank Thank you. Thank you. There's the mystery, man.
I love it.
He didn't come into frame, nothing.
He just comes with information.
Just a voice telling us.
He was like, hello, I will tell you.
Goodbye.
That's my homeboy.
He's an EMT.
I love it.
I mean, how convenient to be like, what is this?
And he knew it exactly.
And I would have been better than me.
Yeah, and it was very quick, succinct to the point.
As Brown decides which residence he's going to keep at the house.
This is also so like wild to me.
These old people don't have any agency over where they get to live.
And they're not all that old.
Like a lot of them are perfectly.
No.
They're like 50.
And they're like, hey.
The colonel looks like he just turned 55.
I mean, also, Mr. Brown is not old.
No, no.
They do no work to make him look old.
They put the gray in the beard and he's just like, he's ancient.
And that's it?
He looks young with a white beard.
Yes.
Okay.
So the rep tells Mr. Brown that all the residents need to go back to Robin's facility.
Robin then takes almost all of them.
She leaves Edna and Colonel with Mr. Brown since they've been giving her trouble at her facility.
Mr. Brown is upset since he's been having the same issues with them.
And then, okay.
This part is insane.
This whole thing feels like a whole different episode.
Yes.
Daisy LaRue, a former actress, arrives and asks for the penthouse suite.
Mr. Brown agrees to take her in since she has money, but Cora is apprehensive.
Robin arrives and says Miss LaRue was due in her facility and Mr. Brown stole her.
Miss LaRue says she has decided to stay with Mr. Brown.
Where'd she even get the information?
I feel like TBS just went, you have to have a white person.
Figure it out. make it make sense
she comes and she's like from like 1940 like in a i mean she was very ridiculous robin threatens
to call the inspector and leaves edna and colonel tell mr brown they have no family and nowhere else
to go mr brown wakes up the next morning to find colonel settling in as a resident and making breakfast. Which is, I mean, okay. Usually in a sitcom, there's an A storyline and a B storyline
where one story is happening and you can take a break from that storyline
to come to another storyline.
Nope.
There is no B storyline here.
There is only the A storyline.
The closest you get is the young doctor and nurse.
And that's not really another storyline.
It's just like different characters.
In addition to.
I think there's no A or B storyline because he writes the TV show like he writes the play.
So when you're watching a play, there really is no B.
Like this is all we're doing tonight.
Yeah.
This is all the information.
This is the only story we're talking about.
So when I was watching the show, I was like, oh, this is the only thing we're doing.
It isn't until, like, the Meet the Trainer episode in the fourth season that you see, like, an A and a B.
So I don't know if they finally, like, if they decided, like, we're doing TV.
Right?
Well, Tyler Perry didn't write that episode
the second i noticed that i noticed that and it felt more sitcom-y yes and wait so just about the
meet the browns other you know storylines that we have from the play and the movie
is a retirement home a part of that at all or is that just i don't think i've never seen
what a choice what's so crazy about
the meet the brown storyline is that there's also like in medea's class reunion which is when she
goes back to like her high school class reunion that's when you meet cora and brown so because
it gets revealed in medea's class reunion that Cora is actually that Brown is Cora's father.
And then that play is a spin.
So Meet the Browns is a spinoff from Medea's class reunion.
OK, I didn't I've never heard of that one either.
Now we have so much.
Yeah, there's a lot to cover.
Yeah.
You like Tyler Perry's assistant living, which is a part of this world with david man and tamela man
right rising the roles from meet the browns i guess this is set so oh my god so the plot is
after losing his job uh jeremy who i don't know moves back to georgia to help his grandfather
who's buying a rundown elderly home and so like maybe they took the pilot of this oh my god is the pilot a backdoor pilot to a different pilot wow
i mean so what show is that so that's tyler perry's assistant living that's coming out
oh assisted living wait what yeah so it oh it premiered september 2020 so oh yeah he was like
okay so i kind of you know wasted that in the pilot or whatever.
But I'm going to use it.
I'm going to use it.
Years later.
So, if anything, Tyler Perry's committed to helping old people, I think is what.
And there's 25 episodes in the first season.
Yeah, he goes old school sitcom rules.
Like, remember, like when we were growing up sitcom like friends always had like
friends living single martin you always had like 20 something episodes in a season
yeah i was like i'm gonna do the same sticking to the rules because the thing is you own
you need a hundred episodes to hit syndication right so he's like i'll do that in a day
let's do this okay well let's talk about your episode.
So season four, episode 14, Meet the Trainer.
This is from 2011.
And it was directed by Carlton.
Yes, I was so excited when I saw that.
I want to hear about him.
So it was written by Carlos Portugal
and was released August 4th, 2010,
directed by Alfonso Ribeiro.
So what was your-
Alfonso Ribeiro, don't play that man like that.
Ribeiro, I'm sorry.
I converted his letters. Well, I let you say it because I wasn't sure how to say it well i guess i shouldn't have
called him carlton he'll never escape that oops i call him the host of afv okay working it's working
um yeah i'll let y'all run through the synopsis and i'll talk okay yeah okay okay so derrick who
lives in the fraternity house next to mr brown Brown, begs Mr. Brown to give him his money back.
That is such a weird sentence because it has no context.
Mr. Brown falsely advertised that Usher would be performing at a church fundraiser
when it was actually just a church usher.
An usher.
Yes.
Mr. Brown eventually gives Derek his money,
but Cora tells Mr. Brown that he needs to come up with a way to fundraise for the church. Derek
suggests Mr. Brown make an exercise
video to raise money, which is
so silly. Derek
offers to help, and they decide to call the video
Jumping Jacks for Jesus. Cora
teaches her high school class. Who knew
she was a high school teacher? And interrupt
it when a new student, Rose, walks in.
One of the other students... This is so
wild. One of the other students
yes raven goodwin who is wonderful yes uh one of the other students in the class tommy makes fun
of her weight cora asks a question about the cuban missile crisis rose answers correctly and
tommy makes fun of her cora sends tommy to the principal's office and it's really over the top
and it doesn't stop for the entire scene yes Yes. Which is what makes the turn even crazier later.
Yes.
Derek and Mr. Brown welcome a group of churchgoers who will be participating in the exercise video.
Mr. Brown shows a photoshopped image of Derek to inspire everyone where he's like on like a baby body.
Yeah.
He's on a super wrestler body.
Oh, yes.
I thought it was a big baby.
Me too because I thought it was a diaper.
Okay, so he starts to lead them through exercises.
Mr. Brown runs into Cora in the hallway
and tells her how the video is going after he...
Also, I was like, why is he in this school?
Because he went to go get the jump ropes.
Oh, yes, that makes perfect sense.
Of course.
Tommy exiting her classroom.
This also is nuts.
She asks why he's there, but Tommy rushes off in a hurry.
Cora turns on the lights and sees Rose buttoning her blouse
because I guess she just fucked Tommy in the classroom.
It's crazy.
Or fooled around.
Maybe.
But I truly am like, they fucked.
Cora asks Rose if she's okay, And Rose tells Cora she likes Tommy.
Cora tells Rose that Tommy's using her
and tells Rose that she wants to take her somewhere.
Rose asks what will happen if she refuses.
And Cora says she'll tell the principal about her and Tommy.
That part made me really sad, though,
because at first it looked like it was going to be really dramatic.
Yes.
Like something bad happened to her in that room.
Yes.
And then it was like, no, I. Yes. And then it was like,
no,
I like him.
And then I was like,
well,
then that's just
a depressing storyline.
But I did like that.
It felt like it had
a lot of depth
and it felt very Tyler Perry.
Like I was like,
we are getting into
some hard hitting stuff
randomly in the sitcom
when also this man
is wearing a unitard
and jumping around
in the other scene.
So Mr. Brown
continues to lead
the churchgoers
through intense exercises.
Cora enters with Rose and says they've come to join the exercise group.
And Rose asks why Cora brought her there after she told her beauty on the inside is all that counts.
Cora tells Rose she wants her to learn self-love.
And Rose leaves.
I'm on Rose's side.
It makes no sense to be like, you're enough.
Come to this exercise class.
It's crazy.
It was a very conflicting message.
It was a very conflicting message. It was a very conflicting message.
So Tommy and Rose go back to Cora's classroom,
but Rose starts to question Tommy.
Cora watches from the door,
and truly the door is wide open.
Rose asks Tommy why he keeps her a secret.
Tommy says he's doing Rose a favor.
Rose fires back,
revealing that she's been doing all of Tommy's homework.
Tommy says, no one's going to hang out with you, Rose.
And Rose pushes him right down hard.
He fell across the room.
Like she had superpowers.
And this man flew back.
That's why you never fuck with a big bitch.
Because we're stronger than you think.
You think I've never pushed a boy across a classroom?
No.
Cora enters the classroom and makes fun of Tommy
for being weak in front of a bunch of other students.
She walks Tommy down to the principal's office and winks at Rose as she leaves.
Mr. Brown's exercise group gets upset about not getting a cool down.
And after Mr. Brown dismisses them, Derek tells Mr. Brown that the tape ran out at the last segment.
Mr. Brown asks the class if they will stay to rerecord the last segment, but they all leave.
And Mr. Brown finishes the video with Cora, Derek, and Rose.
And I'm just like, segment?
When you say segment, how much of this tape do you need to redo?
Yeah, I know.
It felt like you could just say, like, the end.
Like, I don't know.
Also, those strong videocassette camcorders.
Oh, my God, I know. Were hilarious so hilarious what year is it so it's 2010
or something when this is being made so like the cameras look like they're from the late 90s
at best they're like huge gray like but if they're church but also if it's like if this is a church a
bunch of old people go to those are the cameras yeah it checked out it it didn't bother me but
i found it funny i was like
and then the tape running out like it's like this is just a funny problem to have and then i loved
when so who was chasing the the youthful man around at one point oh they're they like oh yeah
that one of the one woman from the class was like yeah i'm gonna eat you i want to you're so
screaming for his life like like just mr brown screaming help me help me because he's a shirtless
child being chased by an adult woman grown mr brown takes the tripod lifts the tripod up and
is like chasing them with it i was like i mean you could just pivot it you could pivot the camera to
capture everything you want and the room was like you know very small so then the idea of them
running around like he can't get away.
It was just it was ridiculous.
I would have loved it if he just ran past the.
So like what I would have loved that if he just like ran like at least one time ran past.
Like I like it like not breaking fourth wall, but just like really like running towards.
So were there a lot of audience laughs in this episode?
There were some.
I noticed a decent amount.
I definitely noticed them.
Yeah.
Okay.
There was no audience.
Wow.
None.
Wow.
None.
Okay.
Because that would impede the time.
Lauren, you can't shoot two episodes of television a day if you're loading in and out an audience
because you would have to have a warmup comic.
Wow.
It would be a waste of time and money.
We need more.
Tell me from step one. I want know about like how this job came to be
i want to know what the week was like but you said it was a day so like tell me about everything
so i so i was at the time i was working at a um this was a 2010 2011 yeah so i was working
um i was doing bilingual customer service for a power company
um that was based out of florida but we were in atlanta but we couldn't tell them we weren't in
florida uh so people would they would give us what the weather was every day so someone called
they wanted to like shoot the shit about the weather we'd know what the fuck they were talking
about oh my god it's really funny right imagine being on the phone being like you're not in florida i've been deceived well because technically they weren't
allowed to use agents outside of the state oh i see like this this is like the state um oh this
was like the state power company but technically they were like we're outside contractors so
that's why every day i knew what the weather was in lakeland florida
because they would tell us and we talked to a lot of old people on the phone uh older americans i
don't know what to call them elderly and so they would call in in the while they're waiting to get
like account information they'd be like so how's the weather where you are and you're like oh it's
uh 75 degrees and clear um but how did you get the show
there's a 20% chance of right anyway so
I hear you I ramble
so um I was excited to see
where it was going well I was like ow
I was trying to connect the pieces
and I couldn't do it so I was like I guess I just ask
Tyler Perry called for help
yeah
will you come to uh
so I knew the
casting director because of being in women in film and television in atlanta of atlanta
and so since i had done stuff with kyra i think like plus everybody in Atlanta knew who the fucking cast director was.
So she
got my name from another friend of
mine who had worked on the show.
And so they
contacted me because they were looking for extras
to be
in the video.
So I think I had to call in
sick from work that day so they didn't know what I was doing.
And so we get to the studio and it's fucking Fort Knox it is Fort fucking Knox really because
it's that first of all it's down by Greenbrier so it's on like the south side of Atlanta
and it's near Greenbrier Mall if I remember correctly which we called Blackbriar Mall
because it was the blackest mall in the city most of the mall was you know
hot wing sneakers and a Woolworth
so you know
like seven foot lockers
so
it was a fucking compound
like there was literally like you know how like when you go like
Paramount or something in LA
there's security and there's walls up around
everything it's the same concept
but it's like,
you have to get super,
like you can't,
you only get to come on that day.
You have to have an ID,
all this other stuff.
And then you get in there and you're only allowed to.
So when you get into the studio,
you're only allowed to be in a certain area as an extra.
Don't take any pictures.
Don't take any pictures.
We'll send you home.
Don't take any pictures.
This kid tried it.
He took his phone and I think, think oh they ended up sending him home
oh they ended up sending him home because he wouldn't show the fuck out
and so they take us to set and the young man uh the guy who was getting chased
he was running his lines and he helped and he asked me to help him run his lines like i'm just standing in a group of people and he asked me to help him run his lines
like i'm just standing in a group of people and he asked me to help him run his lines
and so and i'm running lines with him on set before the scene starts and it's i don't know
if you've ever been in like one of those big uh sound stages where it's like all of the sets
line up in a room that's like a hallway uh-huh so it's like a hallway the sets line up in a room. It's like a hallway.
So it's like a hallway and there's sets on both sides.
So there's no audience.
Oh, no, I actually don't think I've ever seen that. No, because nobody does it like that.
Yeah, that's interesting.
If you're doing a multicam,
you have like the stadium seating for the audience
and then the sets on one side.
And then maybe like the set twists for another set,
like on the back of it but yeah that's
insane just wow that means he's just truly just like flipping the cameras just like not even like
a full reset because if you know like just flipping it oh my god this is because me and him were
working on the lines on like what was the because the church set was right across from us.
And then there was a set.
I don't know which,
if it was meet the Browns or what it was for,
but it was like a front porch,
like a house on a front porch was on the other side of the church set of the church basement set.
Then I was literally helping him with these lines in front of this front
porch.
But it was funny.
Cause he asked me to help him.
Like he was running those lines and I was like,
because he looked at me like, you want to help?
You want to help?
He's like, do you?
Yeah, you can't ask anybody else.
Everyone else is like trying to cram in their lines too.
Right.
There's no time.
Because he was like, he, because I asked him,
like I was looking at him.
I'm like, I see him like looking around like he wanted help.
And I was like, do you want, he's like, can you?
And I'm like, do you want? Yeah, I'll help you do so. And I was like like looking around like he wanted help and I was like do you want he's like can you like do you want yeah I hope you do so it was like I offered he
asked it was very interesting but then it was almost like he was too good for it
so I was like what is happening because the thing is he didn't know his fucking line
wow we were getting ready to shoot that's stressful because the thing is I didn't see any
different colored pages everything was white
no
everything was white I didn't see any different colored pages
I think somebody might have had a couple
yellow sheets for our listeners
if you have colored pages that
means there was a rewrite but when everything's
all white it means from
like pre-production first draft was perfect
yeah first draft that's it that's what we're shooting like so every draft is a new when everything's all white, it means from like pre-production. First draft was perfect.
Yeah.
First draft.
That's it.
That's what we're shooting. So every draft is a new color.
So by the end,
you might have like pages that are white,
pink,
yellow,
blue,
green,
and all mixed together.
And that is very funny to just go like,
nope,
first draft was solid.
We love it.
I think I might've seen a couple of yellow pages.
And so we get in there
and Alphonsus Robert is the director
and he introduces himself to everyone
I did not know that this man
is shorter than me I'm 5'4
I thought this man was at least
5'6 5'7 because I've seen him you know
you watch him in Prince Prince of Bel-Air standing next to
Will Smith and I've met Will Smith Will Smith's very
tall yeah so
I'm thinking so after I met him I was like
was he on apple boxes the
whole time on prince peter or they just would shoot them from across the room probably like
he was probably when he stood next to him on an like a half apple or something yeah like a half
apple like to say he's short but like that short um and so what's funny is like i know he was the
director but i don't remember him giving a lot of direction.
Mm hmm.
Because when we did our scenes.
So they only take three takes of a scene.
That's it.
I was wondering because I was thinking how annoying it would have to be to do like the workout thing all day or do it many times or whatever.
So you're like, OK, three takes per scene right and even if it's not like a hundred even if the lines aren't a hundred percent
they move on that's so funny they move on it explains why nobody was sweaty at any moment
because sometimes you'll like cut back and forth and it'll be like either the third take or the
fifth take or like the eighth take and you're like oh people are varying degrees of sweaty and i'm like clocking it but this was
everyone was dry nothing was different and i also felt like there were moments where mr brown made
people laugh and that was in there and i was actually like that but but i just think it's
funny like there's just no no those were legitimate moments because and you'll notice sometimes like the young man he'd start laughing yeah because
he would improvise a lot of his lines what a dream job a dream job where you you shoot what
five episodes a week you get you don't have to learn your lines and you just get to have fun
and what about that moment where he was like um directing you guys in what dance moves to do?
Was he making those up?
Like he's like, grab the mail.
Grab the mail.
So we need to pass the plate.
So pass the plate was a thing that he that was already established.
Right.
But then put it in your pocket.
That came out of nowhere.
So that's why you like any time there's a move that we do.
That's one that we knew was coming anytime you see like a pause like a huh and then we do it
then you know that was like because like the put in your pocket put putting it
that was improvised was there a rehearsal before you shot um um kind of as in we would get a run through of what was going to happen
oh and then because they kind of just told us generally what was going to happen uh-huh
and then mr brown came in and he said hi to everybody because that big dude that he references
that's one of my that was a guy
i was friends with haji um and since we know each other like the whole time like he kept trying to
talk to everybody and they were just like hey you need to you can't talk or like there'd be times
where we would try to like say something and speak up and they're like okay y'all can't say stuff too
many times like they're very because you know there's so many times like what's an extra talk so many times you have to pay them
right because I think
I got I think I got paid like
$75 to do that maybe
maybe wow checks out
because oh and everything is and like I think
bunch of most of the people
most of us were non-union
oh interesting
yeah most of it I mean it's Atlanta so
they'll play with that but like there was one point where like Tyler Perry's writers were going on strike because they weren't unionized.
That's insane.
And the NAACP stepped in.
Oof.
Wow.
So they wouldn't sue Tyler Perry.
Oof.
And then a lot of like the crew like certain parts
weren't in the union
yeah that's pretty wild for a scripted
show to not like on television to not
be union well they were playing
because in Atlanta since the film industry
like the film and TV industry was just starting
to pop off they were like
if it's not like LA you can't do anything
if people aren't union but in Atlanta they were just like we're coming you know it's the industry was starting
to take off and georgia's a right to work state anyway so everyone was kind of playing off the
tax incentives and not having to use union people but yeah a lot of the like when we're laughing at
him or when the guy is laughing we're genuinely laughing at him because well, either the exercises like he had lines that were specifically his lines.
And then like we do the three takes.
And then there was like another take.
We're just like, just have fun.
But I was like, how are we giving him a just have fun take?
Every take was a just have fun take.
All the takes have just been him having fun.
Right.
There were lines that that kid was supposed to do that he never got out because he never got to the cue line.
Wow.
And then the lady that was acting, every time she spoke, I just kept looking at her going, this should have been me.
This should have been me.
This should have been me.
I wore my curly ponytail just like
she wore her curly ponytail i guess if i was 20 years older i could have got this job but she was
so much like all of the drama in the scene was kind of i was just like okay is this overdone
is this the style like but no one's gonna say, there's nobody going like, oh, the tone isn't exactly right or interesting.
Like, just to jump back to the other episode, just everyone's everyone was in a different TV show.
Everybody.
Yeah.
And it's like in this episode as well.
It was like, OK, like Raven was pretty understated and wasn't doing multi cam acting.
But then it was almost like Degrassi or something like she was kind of like serious. Raven was pretty understated and wasn't doing multi-cam acting,
but then everyone was like Degrassi or something. Like she was kind of like serious.
Like I feel like her storyline,
her storyline was kind of serious,
but like,
it was like kind of sad.
Like it wasn't like,
it just wasn't the same tone as then going to the church,
you know,
video thing.
And he's going like crazy jumping around.
And I'm like,
this is goof troop.
Like to go from like her being like abused in this relationship and like the and and the lines
being so blurred with like how anyone was being punished with regard to like her relationship like
i felt like the teacher was like kind of blaming her sometimes but also then gonna punish the guy
but like it felt like there wasn't like and like you said with her bringing
her to that class or the video like
there wasn't a clear storyline
for her of like what the teacher felt
yeah it made
no sense because like the thing is it's like
I know that girl
I've been that girl I've had boys keep me a secret
we all went to high school so like I
get it and sometimes
you do get to the point where you're
just like yeah dude i'm not doing this i'm prettier than the skinny girl you're fucking
with like i understand what you're saying but also that bitch is a mud duck so at the end of the day
she might be skinny but her but the way the account for her face was set up
it's all withdrawals and no deposits truly so why are we playing this game right but yeah her character
was so serious very serious in the classroom she was giving you acting she was acting yes
because the only person that kind of seemed really natural was tommy yeah she and tommy
were on a different show than everybody else they were definitely in an after school special
and everyone else was very goof troop
and I just
the rationale
okay I just
they were taping something for the church
in the school so then the teacher
brings a student to a
basement with some random adults
no no no no Brown was at
the church she took her to the church
you know what fully fuck i did not realize that i thought that was like the basement of the school
no brown was at the church i guess the school is right next door because he ran everything is just
right next door i know she asked him mr brown what are you doing here because he's at the school and
he's like i'm here, because he talks about getting
the jump rope because one of the people in the video was stuck on the ground.
Yes.
I thought she was like, why did you come out of the basement to get the jump ropes?
Wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
Raven Goodwin also was in a movie when she was nine called Lovely and Amazing.
And she's so good in that.
Have you seen that movie?
No. I haven't seen it in a long time, i really remember her from that she was so great and apparently she won an independent spirit award for that she was on
a showtime show she just did a movie smilf and she was really good in that i like her yeah i think
she follows me on instagram i think we were really come on yeah it's so weird about how things are
now where it's like you suddenly have a connection to someone like personal.
Dude,
you know who followed me on Instagram during the pandemic and about lost my
damn mind.
One Drita Devando from mob wives.
I love my wives.
I watched mob wives during lockdown.
One.
I have been,
I've been doing shout outs to Big Ang during
my set
I've been doing shout outs
I do a bit about like how if the Lord ever blessed me
with a dragon I'd burn down New York
and I start with Staten Island
because no one needs it I said the only thing I would leave
is Drita DiVanzo's house and the mural to Big Ang
shout out to Big Ang
during my set
I do a character based on Big Ang.
Loosely inspired. And her name is
Big Sue. But she talks like this
and I have a really huge
lips and it's just basically
what it is. I don't really know her
that well, but I do love the voice.
I think she's incredible. She's amazing.
She's so funny.
She would just be like, I'm not married to
anybody, but the boys, they like me and you're
just like how did your voice end up like that how long has it been like that she has doesn't it hurt
you to speak listen she only dates the wise guys and she remembers when the guys used to have her in the fuzz and the nice houses
and you know when my uncle
Sally, like I was just
if dude, like she
makes you want to, I was like you know what, these Italians
might have it right, this shit
also Karen Gravino
she had, she opened
a pizza shop, but then
it's closed, and then it was called
it was like called Nostra,
Cana Nostra, which is like the Italian mob.
Wait, was it called La Costa Nostra?
Oh yeah, that's what it was called.
You goofy bitch.
She just came out with a reality show last year
called, I think her dad's finally out of jail
for the drug charge.
It's so fucked up.
Sammy the Bull.
Sammy the Bull.
Her dad took the charge for them as he was trying to-
Wait, we have to get back to the Browns.
We have to.
I'm so sorry, but she just had a new reality show come out
called like Mob Family or something.
So if you want to know what Karen Gavanna is up to-
I don't know if I'm into it.
I'll check it out.
Karen's not my favorite.
I haven't seen a lot of Mob Wives, but it's great.
But Drita DiVanzo, it's fucking amazing.
Drita DiVanzo follows me
and then um what's her fucking name uh lily leah remini started following me oh that's a good one
okay which those are two white women where if shit ever went down i'm like them too i want them
too yeah yeah well uh drita's going to jail because her and her husband, they were, you know, laundering shit.
Anywho, I think we covered all of the trivia.
We did?
Okay.
Well, so the awards that have been won, David Mann won an NAACP Image Award for his performance in 2011.
And Lamont Rucker was nominated twice for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the NAACP Image Awards in 2010 and 2011.
He was what?
Nominated twice for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Nominated?
That man?
Nominated?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Wow!
Hey, you said a lot without saying much.
Woo-hoo!
You saw that pilot!
You saw that pilot!
The receptionist.
Were there no more?
Who else got nominated that year?
You saw that pilot.
Bro, okay.
You know, we're just here to support black men.
Wait.
Was he the one who smiled through Madea's Christmas?
Probably.
No, was he? Probably. Hold through medea's christmas no was he probably i gotta google him
now because he's he's in something else that we just watched uh why did i get married too
we haven't watched that yet but hold on maybe he's in the first one oh he is in why did i get married
but he's not the the boy yeah yeah yeah no no, no. I don't think so. Wait, who's smiling?
Which movie was that, though?
Wasn't that... That was Madea's Christmas.
Okay, so what?
Is he smiling because he doesn't know his lines?
Who's this man?
No, he was just this man who appeared
and gave a bunch of money to Tika Sumner
and just wouldn't stop smiling the whole time.
His character smiled a lot,
but he plays Sheriff Troy in Why Did I Get Married?
Oh, yes!
We're going gonna need some law
enforcement here which is my favorite line ever uttered in a movie i think you better stay we
gonna need some law enforcement up in here i think that's the direct quote does he have a southern
accent or is he just a cat daddy it's just like a dramatic moment that I feel like he accentuates the way he says things.
But the reception of Meet the Browns, the reviews were mostly favorable.
And this is shady.
Noted Tyler Perry's ability to cater to his audiences.
Wow.
That's shady as fuck.
But also, you can't be mad because Tyler Perry knows his audience.
No, he does.
He does cater to his audiences.
But I feel like every review, they're like, okay, not for me.
But like, somebody's out there who likes.
It's like these weird caveats that it's like, no, he's just successful.
You might not like it, but you cannot knock that it's successful.
You can't argue with it.
So yeah, audiences liked the show and ratings stayed consistent, which also is a huge thing.
Yes.
And when the series premiered on January 7,
2009, it had 4 million viewers.
Which is insane! Nowadays, that's
nuts. By 2010, Meet the Browns had
become the top sitcom on TBS. I mean,
you can't give it a
bad review at that point. No, you can't.
It's just like, that's
a lot of people watching that. You also know what
all of the black people are watching.
If you wanted to subliminally tell us anything that was the time to do it if you wanted to come for us
in any type of way if you would like to market to us you have your commercials run to something
i was also oh i just remembered i was also on a promo for meet the browns
as an extra and the guy who played the colonel,
I think me and him,
like during the promo,
are like playing like
cards or dominoes or something.
But it was like a promo commercial
for like the new season.
So I guess before the season
that I was in came out,
they like asked me to come back
to like be an extra
in this commercial.
I think again,
I made like maybe $75.
Still fun, right?
My mom was at extra in
Medea's family reunion and they paid her $30
and she was there for $12
wow
$12
and some dude fried her hair
like one of those beautiful
flat iron put her hair
just all kinds of nonsense in her hair fucked her hair up
like just flat iron grease all this other shit
and then they were in country ass Georgia,
just outside all day,
30 bucks.
Like she took a day off of work.
She's like,
I'm going to be in the X.
I was like,
this is insane.
But yeah,
the Colonel dude,
he's,
he's a very nice man.
I don't,
I don't know if he's not in the fourth season.
I don't remember.
As is,
cause it's just, it seemed like the show was on all the time.
Like, I don't remember.
I swear one time there was a series like a season finale.
And then the premiere for the new season came on right after it.
Wow.
I think is the way his shows would go.
Like, you never.
There's never a break.
Right.
I love Lucy.
Like, it's always on like tbs like they got
i mean house of pain went to signification literally in like two years two three years
they had a hundred episodes of a tv show in like two or three years like i really admire it i
admire it i i'm like so impressed i don't i don't understand it reminds you of the old studio
system like like early hollywood like studios like if you were on a contract in the old studio system
you were contracted to do 30 movies a year
i feel like there's a happy medium between like well yeah because like we've been on sets where
you're like jesus christ nobody thought this out out. This is very poor. We're just here.
We live here now.
We live here now.
Between like that and like we shot a whole movie in 42 minutes.
Like, I feel like there's a nice, sweet spot.
I'm thinking like, why is there no one else like Tyler Perry?
Like, why?
He's like, so he's he's feel so special because it feels like he's making this happen.
It's possible.
So why is nobody else doing this?
Because I don't think that anyone else wants to deal with his audience.
And because it's like carve out your own audience.
Yeah.
Even just being like, oh, I'm going to just zoom through this show and make like an episode.
Right.
But could you imagine if like I just try to think about could you see a white man doing this? Could you see a Latino like if it was like a Latino?
I just don't understand why nobody else has done it, because I'm like, I don't get it either.
If you get two million dollars to make a movie and it's like fun enough and word of mouth and you make back plus some like at a profit like why why wouldn't someone else right because like part
of me is going like okay well it's because he had established this audience with these live shows
and all this stuff and so he by the time he was actually you know chosen or given a contract or
whatever to make something he had like this whole system ready to go but it makes you wonder about
like just people who are already famous where like you could like send someone who's just already
famous and has like a whole
production company and everything could just be
like Jennifer Lopez presents
and like just churns out a bunch of shit
I don't understand why no one else is using this
formula because it's like but if you look at like
he had been doing those plays
forever
like when you think about like Cat Williams
like Cat Williams was
the highest paid touring comic who had never been on Comedy Central because he had been headlining and touring for years, but he wasn't mainstream.
So I think Tyler Perry was because black people are about name recognition.
If we know who you are, if we fuck with you, we fuck with you.
And Tyler Perry understood that. recognition if we know who you are if we fuck with you we fuck with you and tyler perry understood
that so like i like jennifer lopez could easily do this it could be jennifer lopez presents yeah
and she could do the same thing but i think because he has come up with this whole new
model of doing things and it's a black man doing it i don't think people want to fuck with it i think
it's truly what it is because it's like or it's like i can't i i truly cannot understand i can't
come up with any other reason as to why someone why aren't other shows shooting an episode in a
day why aren't other shows yeah i i wonder because it works because it's very cost effective when you think
about it yes as opposed to like well just like other shows are like noted to shit like he gets
a he gets on a leeway yes but it's because he has all the creative control there's no one else to go
to yeah yeah who's tyler perry getting notes from ty? Right. He's like, we did a good job. Good job. You did it. You finished.
Right. So there's no, like, there's nothing.
There's no one else to answer to.
There's no hoops to jump through.
There's no one you have to make happy because think about it.
It's, if it's his shit, the sponsors are just like, how do we get these black dollars?
And Tyler Perry is like, hey, come advertise during my show
and you'll get black dollars.
You'll get black eyes on it.
But since he is,
because like,
I swear when he was doing,
like, you know,
when you're like on sets and stuff,
you'll see execs there.
Especially the day that you're shooting.
I didn't see anybody from TBS on that set.
No one from TBS was on that set.
I don't even remember the second AD. Like ad no it was refranco robera and a camera like i don't remember anybody else on that
set no one else was talking to us it like honestly it's like you could do nicole byers presents like
just see how that because i don't i don't have enough stories in my head listen i know i don't
i know i don't because he's got all these different because it's like it's the family
from the family of praise and then all the medias and then they're all woven together
and they're all woven together so browns can come into medea anyone in the house of pain
universe can medea can pop up there so since everyone's intermingled and interrelated,
anybody can get, anybody can get it.
Like, all right, I want you, you, you, and you movie.
Like he made his own Avengers.
Like he made his own Avengers.
That's why we call it the MCU,
the Madea Cinematic Universe.
We do call it that.
I don't know who coined that, but.
Yeah, I know one of our guys was john braylock
maybe um well sadly we have to we've come to the end of our show i feel like we could go on forever
because like tyler perry there is never you just we just never run out anything to talk about with
this man there's so much there i've met him he's a very sweet man oh oh good 72 feet tall like he
seems big i'm gonna google this he is big and so when i went to go
see medea goes to jail and at one point as medea he jumped off the stage he's six five into the
audience it was like and then there was the tit like the boobs their titties that medea has in
the costume i don't know what's in them. But as he jumped off the stage, they just went airborne and then they just fall on top of him.
But I swear they were to hit somebody in the front.
We do love his titties.
We love Tyler Perry's titties.
Love the titties.
And so afterwards there was like my mother.
I don't know how she did this, but we got it.
We were we were like maybe in like those mezzanine seats or something.
And there was an after party at this place called Churchill Downs like a bar next door to the theater I don't know
how my mother got us in this after party I have no idea but I'm in the after party I'm talking to
Tyler Perry I'm talking to other people that were in the play who ended up being who ended up being
playing a house of pain I met him he was in a book signing at a walmart in atlanta and i met him there so i was like wow
and then he came to the show like a year ago and i was talking to him daily show and i told him i
was an extra on the show and he was like really he's like that's so great so he's a very nice man
but when i'm telling you he i met him at that walmart he was sitting down he was still a head taller
than me when i was walking with him down the hallway in daily show i don't think i ever was
able to like look it was like looking into like i never i couldn't lean back far enough to see
the man's face like he's a fucking juggernaut how tall i love it but he's a sweetheart he's a very nice he's six five
oh yeah he feels like he's six thousand i also googled him and in that google it says he's worth
a billion dollars which we've covered but that is crazy not worth of a billion dollars is a lot
of money that's not even real money it's not i mean at that point it's not that I mean, at that point, it's not. That's so wild. I do want to go down to the studio that he did because the studio that he built, the new one, is on a old Confederate Army base, which is hilarious.
Yes, yes, yes.
I don't know if we knew it was Confederate Army, though.
We didn't know it was Confederate.
No, no.
I think we just thought we knew it was Army base.
It was originally a Confederate Army base.
And then the U.S. government, when the South lost, it became a U.S. government army base. And then the U S government, when the, when the South lost,
it became a U S government army base.
And it was open up until like the mid 2000s.
Like the army base,
like only closed a couple of years ago.
And they weren't doing anything with the land.
Cause it's in downtown.
Like it's near,
it's in Southwest Atlanta.
Southwest is in South Atlanta.
And it's so much fucking land.
And the city was like,
come get it.
We can't use it.
There's a fucking golf course out here
we don't want it and you know
old boy bought it but yeah it used to be a confederate army
base wow I love it
reclaim the land
well we normally read
reviews if you want to give us
five hallelujahs
hallelujah
hallelujah
and we'll read it
so this is from Nessie Sp spooky wow wow wow wow oh like nicole yep
so you know how to do it exactly how to do it i wasn't sure about the tyler perry season but i
love the intro music i love the episodes the guests are amazing and funny how much lauren
and nicole love and the way they talk about the movies it makes me
want to watch them truly can't stop it's so funny that people listen to this without watching without
watching it i know i can't stop teeing while i listen at work that's nice oh wait so they're
giving reviews you're not doing reviews of the show you're doing reviews of your podcast
reviews of our yes yes if you review i think that's even better if you are out there
and you want to write a review we'll pick one to read next episode as well and dulce do you
have anything you want to plug while you're here um i'm on the daily show when i'm on it and uh
so figure that out yeah figure that shit out wait i'll post it when i'm on um great north is um on
sundays on fox at 8 30 and um and you were just on seth meyers which i was just on seth meyers
last night um wearing a dress that nicole byer gave me like four years ago i love it i love that
you found a use for it listen i that's i my the first dress i was gonna wear like a
sunlight hit it i was like oh fuck there's like a spot on this dress and i couldn't get it out
because it was from rainbow so i couldn't put in the washing machine because it's flammable
from rainbow and i was like fuck what else do i have and i was like the dress from nicole
honestly friend it was like you came through in a pinch um i have various
other jackets and boots from you that i love so i just gave my friend the silver shoes you gave me
i love it sisterhood of the traveling stuff it's just out of the traveling stuff like you know
one day nicole's buyers clothes will be all over the nation i'm just one of them all sizes
oh just a bunch of fat ladies being like oh yay we did it honestly nicole is the only fat girl i've
ever known that could buy can fucking find thrift clothes because me this fat girl goes in a thrift
store and i'm like one i'm itchy two um fat people don't give away clothes like i've never gone in a
thrift store and been like i could wear this like i've never so i'm always amazed
that you can find oh gorgeous things you are a listen if thrift store clothes would make me
itchy i'd be right alongside you i thought i was an asshole and everyone's like no they're itchy
and i was like fucking thank you yeah that made total sense to me when you said it there's a
feeling in the air but it's still fun um well
thank you so much for being here with us today that was so fun talking to you thank you uh oh
nicole we have to have a conversation offline but anyway catch up catch up catch up okay
thank you for having me this was amazing i was glad to be able to talk about my experience
it was so fun to hear about
someone I think he might be the first person we've talked
to who's had an inside
scoop right yes yeah I'm from Atlanta so
all we did was talk about Tyler Perry
all day long
I honestly truly loved hearing
that it's three takes move on
I just
eight days for acrimony this man's incredible
we'll be back next week with another
episode i don't know what it's gonna be but i'm excited yeah and if oh and if you're out there
and you're wondering what the next thing is we usually tweet about it under whatever our current
week is so if you want to watch the thing before the next episode comes out just look on twitter
it's probably there Twitter will help thank you bye bye Thank you. That was a Hidgum Original.