Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Madea's Farewell Play (w/ Demi Adejuyigbe)

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Demi Adejuyigbe is back to help Lauren and Nicole finish out their Tyler Perry season with Madea's Farewell Play (2020). Follow Demi on Instagram, and check out The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock.Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and let us know what franchise 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.

This is a HeadGum Original. Don't let nobody judge you, tell you what you can and cannot do. From Tyler Perry. I'm standing here right now, never imagined any of this stuff could have happened. Don't stop. Now more than ever. You know what I feel like don't you start Brian I feel like church to see To dance To play

And on August 27th don't you have your Bible's Turn with me to 2nd Genesis, the first chapter, the 47th verse of the 1974. What? Stay with me. If you can't follow how deep I'm getting, just stay where you at. You don't have to drive to the theater. Let's go.

You don't have to wait in line. Bam! You don't even have to leave your house. Back the hell up. Got that coronavirus going around. Because Tyler Perry's Madea's Farewell Play is premiering in your living room. Enjoy the ride! Got that coronavirus going around. Because Tyler Perry's Madea's Farewell Play... Whoo-hoo! ...is premiering in your living room.

Enjoy the ride! Whoo! I'm hit! You can't tell if you're hit because you got no too many damn colors. You don't even know if you're bleeding. Tyler Perry's Madea's Farewell Play. You can't leave yet, Madea. We didn't get to the gospel.

This is my favorite gospel song. Oh, wow. Okay. This is the 15th and final episode. No. Oh, wow. Okay. This is the 15th and final episode. No. Oh, boy. I am genuinely sad about this. I feel that this is ending too soon. Yes.

It's like, I mean, there's part of me that's like, we should go out wanting more. That's probably for the best. Because with Lord of the Rings, we were like digging into the scraps and it was just too much, but there's so much left to cover in this world. So we're not covering. I'm like, we haven't watched boo. We haven't watched.

Why did I get married to? Wait, why did you skip all these? We only had 15 episodes. Do you know how many things this man has? Yeah. We didn't get to all the teeth. We didn't get to bra. We this man has? Yeah. We didn't get to all the, we didn't get to bra,

we didn't get to sisters, we didn't get to the Meet the Browns new series. We did watch Assisted Living. No, we watched Meet the Browns, but we didn't watch Assisted Living. Are you guys ever driving around Los Angeles and you suddenly just see like a new billboard

for a Tyler Perry thing and that, you're like, oh, that exists. Like, I feel like I have that experience once a week. Yeah, it's every day. I find that there's some new series he has. He literally put something out every second. I mean, yeah, it's shocking. It's truly, truly wild. I went to a bridal, no, a baby shower and spent a chunk of time. He was there

and I was like, I can't believe my friends are friends with Tyler Perry. No, I spent 15 solid minutes explaining the oval. I've explained the oval to so many people. It's like my main topic and there's so much to say. And I mean, anytime you get someone, if you start explaining like one part of the oval, you have to say about 10,000 more things because it just goes. And I've only seen the pilot. Okay. So I shouldn't ask what the oval is.

You can revisit our oval episode because honestly, there's a solid hour about it. And that's what we would just recap for you right now. It's fully nuts. Anything that you think could happen on a TV show happens. And then so much happens, he creates a full-blown spinoff of something that happens in the pilot. But we're not talking about that today. No, we're not. So today we have watched a Tyler Perry stage play, a filmed version of Medea's Farewell Play from 2020.

It is available on BET+. You can also watch it on Amazon or you can record it on Filo. There's going to be spoilers. So watch it first if you're mad about spoilers. So, okay, Lauren, how do you feel about watching this play? I know. I feel like we need to introduce our guest, honestly, because we just need to hear all of his opinions. So our guest is, you've already heard his voice. He's a writer, comedian, performer who has written on The Amber Ruffin Show and The Good Place. He has also hosted the podcast Gilmore Guys and Punch Up the Dam.

Punch Up the Dam? Punch Up the Dam! Punch Up the Dam! Punch Up the Dam! It's Demi and JT the dam it's a podcast about beavers did you punch up the dam um tyler perry's actually already picked up punch up the dam for three and they're shooting it in one week um total so we're so excited to talk about medea's farewell play now this play just before we launch launch into the full-on summary, what were your initial thoughts about this play?

And had you seen it before? I had not seen it before. My mom likes Tyler Perry. And so every so often I will walk into the living room of her house and just be like, oh, that's a Tyler Perry thing. And you can just tell from the feel of what's going on that it's a Tyler Perry thing, even when he's not on screen and i i it's like the last time i saw her watching a tyler perry thing was so long ago but i i saw this and i was like i'm getting deja

vu because it feels so similar and i was just like are all of his things just do they just have this sort of energy all these plays like how many places you guys watch well this is the only play we've watched but okay but his his stuff has the same feeling like there's a family where there is secrets and they will get revealed towards the end and it's like similar secrets i feel like i'm like it's just someone's cheating this person this person then they do some gospel singing anyway i, I hadn't seen it, but yeah, I had a lot of feelings about it. But you essentially had. I mean, first of all, I was quite upset

when I saw that it was two hours and 16 minutes long. Yes, livid. I thought, there's no way. How is this going to be so long? And then there were just, there were so many things about it that I was really bored by. But one thing that i thought was

really interesting was how first of all medea takes 30 minutes to come out which is a very standard medea practice like we want medea now we want medea all the time and we kind of just only want to see medea i think my takeaway was like i would have just watched medea talk out of her ass for two and a half hours then at the end though, though, there's like full on karaoke for like 35 minutes. Yes. What the hell was that? It's a concert. Uh-huh.

But everyone had amazing voices. Everyone was amazing. So I could see like seeing it live. You would be like, oh, my God, I'm going to let this wash over me. But in my living room with my dog i was like uh what i started being like i'm gonna fast forward through half of these i i wish i could but i always feel like i'm gonna miss something important for the podcast and i was like i guess i'll just watch everyone sing every word of this famous song that i know like it's just

like it's pony okay like i never did enjoy that i did enjoy tyler's pony well how about when tyler went maybe lock them doors and turn the light i was like i cannot believe this is happening i didn't understand why there was a country interlude but i was like i guess i'm here for it i don't know what that was. And I mean, so overall it was like, I couldn't follow. I feel like I couldn't follow the play weirdly. I was watching, but I was like, who, what, where, when, why? Like, I just didn't know what was going on. How did you feel, Nicole?

I felt the same way, especially in the beginning when I was like, these are laugh lines, but nobody's laughing. No one was laughing. and then i kept thinking okay the audience is on really low nope then something funny would happen and they'd go crazy and i was like what the fuck why is everyone silent they were waiting yes yeah for medea yeah they were waiting for the people they knew aunt bam got got a huge like, ooh, woo. Yeah. Mr. Brown got a woo. Cora.

But even Mr. Brown, he got like a woo, but then like he would be saying his goofy stuff and then everyone's like, okay. Yeah. Maybe they were just like, Madea. We want Madea. Yeah. They're like, don't tease us. Give us the entree.

Come on. It's very funny to like watch this without any prior understanding of the Perryverse and just sort of like, you can tell when someone enters and they're like, oh, this is a beloved character. So I was like, yeah! Yeah! And some of those characters were in like 90% of the things that we've watched. I looked up the Wikipedia, the chart of like characters and I was like, okay, so this is, these people are in all of them. Yeah.

It's very funny. Yeah. He does reuse people like Omarar who i didn't know that was his name in the play he's sam on the oval and then i think a couple other people are on a couple other tv shows i gotta google the oval i feel like this is gonna come up a lot so the oval is the tyler perry white house show that's what it sounded like but is it like is it just it's absurd it's the most it's a soap opera on crack it's like it's like. But is it like, is it just... It's absurd. It's a soap opera on crack. It's like the first lady and the president are punching each other in the first minute of the show.

Awesome. The pilot. Yeah, it's honestly, it's a real thrilling ride. I've now seen over 30 episodes. But yeah, this play was so hard to follow. It really was. It was so weird because at the end of the day, I think it was a really simple plot.

Yes. I mean, when we read the plot, I think that'll be helpful. I almost wanted to read it ahead of time because I was like, I want to know what's happening. But I was like, this, it's like, there's someone who's like getting divorced or something. I was like missing, like, it was so weird. And then I also feel like Madea goes off book

like a lot and fully breaks the fourth wall like so many times and was just openly laughing at times I was like Tyler Perry's having

the time of his life but doesn't it feel like stand up or something where it's like kind of planned uh huh like he'd be like

he'd be like like someone was holding um a pan of mac and cheese and they're like it's really hot watch out and then he's like that's not mac and cheese that's that's just it's cold this isn't even hot there's napkins inside and then they're like that's our prop and then medea was like oh are we acting and then decide i was like you have done this like it's such a weird move to like you wrote this yeah he he tried you wrote it he tried to break the fourth wall a couple of times where you just

be like uh why is he why is she walking in the middle of the stage and i was just like what because you directed her to do that you're making fun like yeah why did she have to go to the middle stage to read the to make a phone call or whatever i was like you wrote it you directed it you planned it you've seen them do this i can imagine him typing just like oh that's brilliant they're gonna lose their minds when they realize that i'm tyler perry as tyler i'm like okay yeah the times when medea like lowered her voice yes okay then i mean that was i mean it's funny, but it feels like it's a shtick that's like brought out on purpose. Like, yeah, there was one point where Medea is like, this is something that I do. This is I mean, I really do this.

And I was like, I didn't need the qualifier. Like, no, yes. When Tyler wanted to make it known that he actually meant what he was about to say he was like he was like as medea like you should always say actually let me just tell you actually really do this yeah and then got it the payoff was i have pictures around my house photos so you have memories yeah and i was like okay it's not like the most original idea yeah i think when you go to anyone's house you're like oh family is on the wall and the good times boy i think that's all very like play stuff where it's just sort of like having to make it feel so live that you like engage with the audience on a level where it's like we know that

we're performing a thing like where he just starts making jokes about augusta and you're just like okay that's where they yeah I guess I guess that's where they are yeah this is crazy it's like when you go see a musical and they make a joke about something that we all know is real and like not in the where it's like oh this song's never gonna work what's it called thriller and everyone's like oh okay yeah it's just like what this is only that's the worst when you're watching like a play about like a famous musician and it's yeah it's just like what this is only for that's the worst when you're watching like a a play about like a famous musician and it's like it's like they're like let me just tinker around and it's like the most famous song and you're like exactly yeah the bohemian rhapsody

oh my god okay well let's read our our um our final installment for at least the time being of news media news media um this is crazy actually tyler perry teases third installment of why did i get married it's called why did i get married again okay this is what we're talking about every second he has another fucking project i don't understand he just announced he was bringing medea back he's bringing medea back he's doing the sequel to why Did I Get Married? Or the threequel. He has a Jazzman's Blues. He has the Madea movie on Netflix. And guess what?

These are all probably going to come out in 2021. Oh, yeah. That's why this show could go on forever. Forever. How does he do it? He shoots movies in eight days. Oh, yeah. That's a huge thing. He shoots movies in eight days? Oh yeah, that's a huge thing. He shoots things

in eight days. Yeah, which makes sense that he can do a play if it's probably structured the same way. I kept thinking, how does he rehearse and memorize this all so fast? I assume that the movies are probably staged the same way the plays are, where it's like they do the rehearsal and whatnot. And then it's just like, just go. Do as many

lines as you can right now. Fully. It's crazy. It's also just like, it do as many lines as you can right now but like fully it's crazy it's also just like it's so much work for one person which have you guys talked at all about the whole like him not writing with anyone else and like firing the writers yeah we didn't know he fired the writers yeah so there was a thing on one show where it got misrepresented as like him firing writers because they tried to unionize on a show of his and then he ended up writing it himself and i think it's more that he just was like yeah they just didn't write like i wrote so i fired them and wrote it myself and i'm still like well that still sucks just hire different writers or just teach people because like he

doesn't write with like act breaks don't you think you could write in this style like yeah you just write what you want for you know a couple of pages and then you go improvise a bunch of scenes we have a script yeah just teach people how you write so wait about why did i get married again on june 11th shortly after the news dropped that tyler perry will be releasing another media film on netflix he took to twitter to tease a third installment of why did I get married, uh, of his franchise titled? Why did I get married again? Along with the photo,

he tweeted, I've got a question. Should we revisit this? Shut up. That's like that. Like me more. It's like, I did a thing.

It's unclear if Perry was teasing the film to test audience reception or if the film is actually in the works well it I'm sure it is and yeah same thing the way that he writes them it feels like he can just like send the tweet and then start writing it's like well I'm halfway done the poll's at 50% let's go let's do it

I also think it's funny that it's the third installment but there's six rings. Oh, yeah. Wait, wait. Are there? There's more than three couples. Well, there were more than three couples.

Yeah. There's Tyler and his wife, Jenna Jackson and her husband, the screaming lady who I love and her husband. And then get off the plane. Yeah, there's four couples. Harrison Ford? That guy was so mean.

Yeah, it was Harrison Ford. Yeah, it was Harrison Ford and it was actually Air Force One. Get off my plane. I do not negotiate with terrorists. I would love to see Harrison Ford in a Madea movie. Just the most out of place.

I would love it. Yeah. Yeah, I would very much love that. I mean, there have been some casting choices like that in some of the things we watched. I would love it. Yeah. Yeah. I would very much love that. I mean, there've been some casting choices like that. And some of the things we watched, like, I feel like Kathy Bates was like pretty unexpected.

She's a guest. Yup. She was in the family that prays. And you'd think it's about a, like an evil family. It's not. It's not. What?

Why would you? Cause praise is spelled P-R-E-Y. Yes. Yes. Oh, sorry. Not like praise. Yeah. Like, I'll praise. So it's like the family that prays and you're like oh they're gonna get something they're gonna take

advantage of them or do something it was it was really like this is part of it though like where we feel like he just types because you're like wait it seemed like you actually had something like that even the title tells me a lot and then none of that happened so i don't know sometimes I see his titles and I feel like they're the titles that like you come up with for a TV show that's been running for like 50 years. Or you're just like, yeah, there's a pun in there. We'll figure out the plot later. But is there like any sort of thematic difference between like a Madea's family, whatever, and a why did I get married? Like, it feels like they're all just kind of. Well, Medea is more goofy than the movies without Medea.

But Tyler Perry's in the movies without Medea. Or is he in all of them? He's in most of them. Yeah. But like he, the thing is like with Medea, most of the movies I would say are not comedies. Even Medea movies are walking a line between 10 genres. But like, so when Medea enters the screen, it's funny and crazy.

But then it's like back to like really sad. And maybe Madea makes like a speech that's like actually moving at some point. So overall, like, yeah, I mean, I think the movies that don't have Madea are like pretty dramatic and intense. Should we go to a break and then jump right in? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, let's take a break. And we're back. All right.

So Medea's Farewell Play was written by Tyler Perry, directed by Tyler Perry, released August 27th, 2020. 2020? So there's a joke where they make a joke about coronavirus. They do. Wait a minute. What? Yeah.

Yes, there's a point where when Medea enters, two characters hug and he's like, stay away from me. I got that coronavirus. And then I was like, how early is it into it where it's still kind of cute? Or is this midway in? No, this was February 2020. Really? Okay, so it's right before. Because I'm looking at, we have a little bit of info and it says the play toured sold out venues from January 2019 to February 2020.

Oh, my God. I was like, are they just shooting this in like June? And they're just like, fuck it. Everyone come into the theater because they cut the audience and you can tell that like COVID doesn't exist. Anyway, I wanted them to cut to the audience a lot more. I want to see reactions i felt like that would have made it feel more fun to watch yeah they only cut just to be like augusta that's you yeah strange uh should we get into this plot yeah okay so medea's family, and also, Demi, like, every time Medea's family gathers, it is a different family.

Really? Yes. Medea has a gigantic family and never, never tries to, like, correlate, like, make you understand how everyone's related. Some people called her grandma in this one. Someone did call her grandma. That was you. Does Cora, oh, yeah, so, okay. So we're going to get into it. So they gather to celebrate her great grandson, Malik, as he prepares to graduate from law school.

Malik is Cora's grandson. Cora's other daughter, Robin, notices that their friend Sylvia's ring and they celebrate her engagement. Oh, they notice her ring and celebrate her engagement. They're interrupted by Tiffany, Titi, Darlene's daughter, who arrives at the house. Titi tells Darlene, Robin, and Sylvia that she's waiting for Malik to arrive with his friend, Devin, who she's been trying to date.

Okay, and the whole world around Titi, I need to know more. I need to understand what is happening here because everyone is extremely mean to Titi. So mean. Yes, the Tt stuff drove me nuts because so there's parts where you think okay there's gonna be something serious that comes out of this character and they do not give her any even near the end it's just like she's just

supposed to be a joke thing but then i also i just from like a social sense i'm just sort of like so is this a trans character because they have that line near the beginning yes and then i'm like well tyler perry tackling a trans character at all is he's not the right person to handle it it's not the right thing to handle it i don't know if a thing where it's like isn't a man kind of funny in a old woman costume the right way to handle it but then it's also like okay so uh quay rogers the actor playing t playing Titi, identifies as a man. So this is a man playing a trans character. And so the idea of it being like, all right, well, this is a man pretending to be a woman

and this one is not funny. And this man pretending to be a woman is funny. And I was just like, whoa, there's a lot happening here. And he doesn't- And no one knows how to react. Do they clarify that TT is trans? Because I was like, is TT like Medea where Medea is a woman,

but we joke about how masculine this woman is. That's another. Yeah. I felt that everyone was so transphobic, honestly, that it was like it had to be that the character was trans and not just an annoying girl or something. It was like a really weird, heavy handed obsession with putting her down. Yeah. Bam does say those three boys over there.

Yes. And she's like, who? Right. And then she's like, then okay get it through your head i'm i'm your daughter and it's like okay this is going to be a serious thing then and they just were calling her ugly i was like what is happening i know it was so mean and i yeah it was relentless and i i felt like then they were like initially when the character first walked out i thought that she was going to be a comedic character, like just as like a larger than life personality or something.

But it was like, no, she shut down immediately, like by everyone else. And then like, she has a couple moments of like being funny, but then like, like doesn't get laughed because it's confusing.

I think how she's set up. So you're not sure if you're supposed to or not. And then she starts having catchphrases. And I was like, what's going on here? She keeps doing this thing where she goes, what? What? And then, see? And I was like, the audience is not laughing at this.

And it just kept coming back. And I was like, all right. Even when TT sings a song at the end, when everyone gets up and sings a song, they don't let her sing. And I was like, this is fucked up. I'm like, this is fucked up like i'm like this this is so weird so weird very strange like doesn't everyone feel bad like i guess not it was as if tt just walked onto the stage and they were like huh we didn't rehearse with this person yeah let's be mean to them it also feels like i feel like if

you ask tyler perry he'd be like well i'm actually doing something great here because they they they go uh three men and then she's like well no i'm a daughter and then everyone's like okay this is a woman but then they're also like but just because she's a woman doesn't mean we won't be mean to her as a woman and it's like we respect her gender wise but not as a person and that's definitely a through line in the movies anyway like women yes get as much shit as the worst things happen to women in his movies so okay malik arrives and everyone congratulates him when devin enters with him tt asks him if he blocked her and devin says he changed his number and this was like a really weird moment too.

And bam shows up and Robin's husband, Omar helps her inside. So yeah. Like, so TT is like, actually like, wait, you blocked me.

And then it's like a weird moment. That's kind of like him obviously lying and saying, I changed my number. And then like, and bam comes in and everyone's so excited that it like just takes away from it. But the TT storyline doesn't pay off at all so you're like no wait why am i just finding out that like this guy blocked her yeah there's no resolution there's no resolution to anything with

tt no uh but i will say aunt bam i don't know if any of her stuff was scripted she was just going and going i loved her song at the end her song was everyone was such a good singer i know the joke i liked was when she was like oh them stairs and they're like there were two and she was like that just it made me laugh how old is the actress because that was also at the end they're putting on the screen like huge images of each actor and they didn't show hers like they like were the camera was too low and i was like wait i want to see her her head without all this wig and also she was the only person who wasn't who was still in her out in her costume yeah and i i thought that was actually

unfair but maybe that's part of her like thing of not showing what she really looks like she's 54 okay well i even thought she was younger than I even thought she was younger than that. I thought she was younger than that, too. But yeah, she made me laugh. I would go in between laughing and then being like, oh boy, you're being so mean. I had a few moments where I was embarrassed and like, damn, this is kind of funny.

I laughed a few times, for sure. Yeah, the first time she says,ber i was like that's great and then they just kept doing it i was like all right and then they throw in a rape joke and i'm like oh right come on boy when she said we will get that i don't know if that's going to be in our in our breakdown here but like she says i took an uber and then i had to the guy wanted me to rape him and he and she just keeps saying that. And then they figure out, no,

you mean rate him. R A T E. And she's like, which is fully insane that she keeps taking the Ubers. If I took an Uber and the driver said, please rate me. I'd be like, Oh,

I guess I don't take Ubers anymore. Yeah. I don't, this is like very weird for me. I don't do that. Uh, but yeah, just don't live in like very weird for me i don't do that uh but these kids don't live in the real world no no they sure don't okay so cora arrives with mr brown and they greet everyone mr brown starts singing a mash-up of gospel songs pulling up family members one by one to join along and that moment i said oh this is a musical? It's a musical. It's a musical. They sing known songs, though.

There's no original. It's an original musical. And Mr. Brown. That's too much time for Tyler Perry to write. He's not going to write a song. And Mr. Brown, who I honestly think is a very funny character in a lot of the things that we've watched, is not getting any laughs in this, man. No, they didn't give him much to do. But even when he ran in, like when he was stoned or whatever on accident is that what happened i was so confused when he

ran in without his shirt on and the goggles and like the the staff i was like he ate like a bunch of the brownies or whatever yeah that plot was drawn out so much in a weird way because like he starts eating them and they're like they start laughing you're like oh okay it's edibles but they try to tease it out like whoa what's going on with them what's he eating and you're like well it's edibles it's edibles and then at some point they're just like he ate weed and everyone's like weed and you're like no yeah we know tyler perry likes to pretend that weed is not mainstream yeah yeah because med, because Madea, like, loves weed, and it's, like, so crazy. It's like, yeah. Yeah. A lot of old people like weed.

A lot of people just like weed. Some people have whole personalities built around weed. Oh, yeah. It's not taboo. It's illegal in many places now. Like, it's not. I realized that near the end of this play, I realized, like, well, this whole thing is boomer humor.

It's just, it's sort of, like, it's targeted for, like, an older audience who will just sort of go, like, weed, that's kind of crazy. Or, like, it's just it's sort of like it's targeted for like an older audience who will just sort of go like we that's kind of crazy or like it will just be like oh medea's talking about millennials oh now we're yeah get them what does she call them mentenials magnolium magnolium and then they just have like a big back and forth of everyone calling it the wrong name. And I was like, man, this is killing in Augusta. Oh, my God. Okay. So Medea arrives and tells the family about how she used to be a stripper named Bodacious.

She then confuses Titi for Big Frida before telling everyone that the burning bush Moses came across in the Bible was marijuana. Now, the Big Frida moment was kind of funny because it was so, it was a current reference. I was like surprised by. Yes. And that the audience got it. I was like, whoa.

Okay. I don't know who's in the audience. I agree. It was so specific. I did like the stripper story that was fully improvised because at the end when she was like, they said I was pregnant and then I got back on the pole and you slid right out covered in glitter. the stripper story that was fully improvised because at the end when she was like uh they said i was pregnant and then i got back on the pole and you slid right out covered in glitter

and dollar bills and then at the end medea falls out of character goes that was stupid and i was like i mean it was a funny story you why undercut it like just let it be funny that's the part where where where tyler completely broke character and was like oh this is so stupid uh-huh this is so stupid he was like if that was improvised i'm like tyler perry is good at improv which makes sense that he is so good at improv yeah no no that's like that's the driving force i think behind everything is that he is and he is very funny there's a great outtake of him him and um what's his name the doc dr phil in uh medea goes to jail there's a great improv improvised take that's not no it's in the movie it's just watch that scene it's great yeah but like when when he is like dancing as medea and like being totally crazy he's very funny and like it's it's it's just like a kind of confusing thing because i feel like i don't we don't get enough of him as

himself i mean i don't i don't know enough about who he actually is or what he's like in conversation so like when i see him as medea being like so goofy i'm like this is funny like this is like it's funny to watch you commit a hundred percent and like grind on the floor with those huge tits like that's really absurd when medea jumped out of her seat and her titties flew so high i laughed so hard and then she's like oh i knocked something out of my stomach and then held her butt as she walked away i continued to laugh like i paused because i laughed so hard medea with a gun got me i was just like that's gold i don't know what it is but when medea pulls out a gun i'm laughing yeah uh yeah and then aunt bam at one point she tells her to duck that made me laugh when her duck was just when she put her head down her chin to her chest and like that's

not a duck uh so Darlene's ex-husband William arrives without an invitation and everyone's upset by his presence Titi refuses to say hi to him then William says hi to Medea she pulls out a gun and shoots the floor causing everyone to duck and take cover I feel like it's important to note that like by this point 90% of what's happening is like serious yes like it's important to note that like by this point, 90% of what's happening is like serious. Yes. Like it doesn't feel like a comedy. Like we're talking about like the funniest things that happened, but like it's mainly silent and like they're kind of doing like a dramatic like soap.

Like it just feels like, and I, and I was kind of like, who, like, I don't know what, like, why do I care?

And it felt like it was a lot of introducing people for like an hour. Yes. Also, Medea does this weird bit where she talks about Rosa Parks and then she took a picture of Rosa Parks on her iPhone and then shows a picture of Rosa Parks. And I was like, what is? And Medea was in the window. Did you see that? I didn't clock that.

I rewound it because I was like, what is so funny? I did not clock that. I loved that bit. That was I genuinely cackled. I was just like, oh my, because also the reveal of seeing it big on this,

on the screen up there, I was just like, if you're in the audience and you don't know there's a screen up there and all of a sudden you just see a giant photo of Rosa Parks

with Tyler Perry. Yeah. I'd be like, this is art. This is postmodern art. Put this entire scene in home. I'm so sad. I missed it.

Now I have to go back and watch that scene again when tyler perry just goes off and they just let well he just lets himself just like riff for a bit i'm just sort of like this works because like there's that story he's telling about like making lunch for someone where he just keeps listing foods this is fucking ridiculous, but it works. Yeah, I know. So Robin's ex-husband calls and Robin is furious that he's leaving her kids with his new girlfriend. I swear to God, I didn't catch any of this as it was happening. Omar asks if they can go get the kids and Robin gets angry and says they need to spend time with their father. Omar storms out. William tells Darlene that he's engaged to Sylvia, revealing that the engagement ring they celebrated earlier was from him. Darlene is shocked and the rest of the family is outraged.

Yeah. And everyone was mad because, God, the characters in this, there's so many people. It was like, you don't sleep with your best friend's man or whatever. And I was like, but like, I don't know. What if they're happier that way? Yeah. Also, you don't sleep with your best friend's man or whatever. And I was like, but like, I don't know. What if they're happier that way? Yeah, also, you don't like him. Do you watch Real Housewives of Atlanta? I watched it in the beginning, and I watched the episode where they all fucked that stripper.

Yeah. Well, I missed something because I just saw a news thing that Portia is now engaged to Fallon's ex-husband. Basically, there was a side character, Fallon, who came on as like a friend and she was married to this guy. And I guess she got divorced from him and now Portia's marrying. I was blown away by that. But I need to catch up on the show because I don't know if that was covered on the show or not or if that was just what's been happening in pandemic. But people marry each other's friends' exes.

They do. It happens. I think if you're like genuinely over them, then it should just be like, yeah, all right. But if it's like there's something there and it's like, well, then your friend should probably know about this and it shouldn't be like a secret that they were. The fact that it was a secret that they were dating at all

to the point that now they're getting married, it's like time to reveal. I'm like, that's fucked up. Yes, that is. That is fucked up. But i guess it's just like being in comedy or whatever like it's pretty incestuous so like people date each other or whatever so i'm like whatever to it but boy people were tt was real angry yeah tt was uh that was the most the closest thing tt had to a serious moment just being like i don't want to see my father. And then you're like, well, why? And then it's revealed.

And I'm like, I don't know. I guess I understand that. And then Titi, anyway, we're still describing the plot, but like then some other shit happened to Titi and they don't treat that seriously at all. I'm like, well, no, they should. Yeah. It was Titi's whole thing was not respected.

Okay. Yeah. Everyone leaves the house to head to the graduation chorus sits with darlene and tells her they need to pray about the situation they begin singing another gospel song and the songs there were okay wait there were some gospel songs with them there were some pop songs yes that were sung and r&b songs and stuff. And it was like just things, songs, you know, from the nineties mainly, I feel like. Um,

and I thought that was really random. The gospel song made more sense because I feel like in his movies too, like I, he incorporates that and that's the kind of like part of the, the movie often is like people end up in a church, there's a song, it's related somehow to the emotion of the scene um but yes i'm trying to remember what songs they were singing they sang brian

mcknight's back at one and that's when that was one where i was like wait i recognize these lyrics and the guy singing it was like he was totally i mean he had everyone had a great voice so it was pleasant but it was like he was like milking it and i was going like this is karaoke like you're just singing a song that we like you know full-blown karaoke if i saw tyler perry play and then just suddenly got tricked into being like surprised this jukebox musical but it was still two hours and 16 minutes i'd be like no no cut these out right a list of songs to listen to afterwards and i'll go home and be like all right on the drive home i'm gonna listen to these songs and be like what if they sang that cool yeah i didn't really the songs didn't add to the story no it didn't help me understand

characters more it was just it was more distracting yes because you're like wait what is that why are they singing okay because even that song is kind of silly where it's like one or it's like five repeat steps one through it's like so stupid okay so everyone arrives home from the graduation oh robin and omar reconcile and medea gives robin advice about focusing on what she has in life. Medea apologizes to Sylvia for fighting with her. And she apologizes and then burns a cigarette into her shoulder. Oh, I feel like I missed that.

Medea has like a cigarette that looks like it's been lit. Oh, like her weed? It bothered me that that cigarette never got shorter the entire play. Because it wasn't lit at all she doesn't take a drag from it it's a prop that the payoff is she burns a woman and then Medea has

a speech where she was like you looking behind you why are you looking behind you there's a reason why the rear view mirror is smaller than the windshield and I was like it's smaller than the windshield so you can see out of the windshield imagine if the rear view mirror is smaller than the windshield and i was like it's smaller than the windshield so you can see out of the windshield imagine if the rear view mirror was as big as the windshield how would you drive you got a duck to look through the windshield you'd be like yeah

just driving all hunched over like while that is a really stupid quote i did go huh i did too and then i looked it up and i was like whoa that that's really good writing i was like then i looked it up and it's like on a bunch of photos of like sunsets oh okay this is this is not his idea i thought it was his i did think it was good till i thought about it yeah yeah and then i also was like well there's also there's mirrors on the sides of the car to help you see back. And they tell you to turn around. So it's not a great metaphor at all. Mr.

Brown, Omar and William talk outside of the house, which is a thing he loves to have three men talking outside of a house. This conversation. Oh my God. Yes. Mr. Brown tells William that he should not be coming to the house. This conversation. Oh my God. Yes. Mr. Brown tells William that he should not be coming to the house with Sylvia. He then breaks into a song.

Sylvia apologizes to Darlene and tells her she didn't know what to do because she loves William. She admits that she was with William when they were still married on their family cruise. Malik asks William to leave. Devin confesses that he and Darlene have been seeing each other with,

oh boy, and Titi. Titi's heartbroken and malik is furious so the song mr brown sings is like so intense like it's all about humping if i remember exactly yeah that conversation takes such a turn because he's just sort of like you need to you guys need to respect your woman except for you you need to stop you need to be respected by a woman. And then they're both like, you don't fuck. And he's like, oh, I fuck. And then he just goes into a song. And it's not funny, though. Like, it's not even supposed to be.

Like, it was so serious. And it was truly about him being like, I can get it like this. I can get it like that. Like, whatever. And I was like, okay, Mr. Brown. like whatever and i was like okay mr brown there's a weird line that uh i feel like medea like the medea verse sort of has where it's like it's uh holy but also horny in a way where it's like that can't like neither can sort of like conflict with the other where it's like we're gonna be horny but in a way where it's like we won't say anything specific so that it can still

be holy and we're gonna be holy but not in a way where it dissuades the fact that you know people are horny and that's great also the way tt reacts and shakes her head or their head in a way that i was like is tt's neck okay and that wig was truly glued down because it did not come off yeah because she was like throwing her head around like a full exorcist yeah uh-huh and then later tt she i think it's called duck walking when you walk bent fully down and i was like tt tt's body can handle it oh yeah no tt was doing a lot of moves. She had one point just like drops full to the ground in like a, it's not a full dead drop, but it was just sort of like, Whoa, you hit your head on the floor or she didn't, but it was just like,

it was a lot of stuff where I was like, okay, you are like auditioning for drag race right now. And also what else do you do here? It was part of what made the character uncomfortable though. I think is that like, it was like, she was doing these big things where I feel like they were funny, but, like, no one was giving it to her. Audience didn't care. No, they didn't. Because T.T.'s reactions, I thought, were funny.

Me too. When T.T. truly moved her neck like that, it was very funny to me. But some of it I was thinking okay if this wasn't one of the movies i would be cracking up yes but there's something about being on stage where it's like so far away and you're not getting like the full face emotions and everything like in the in the movies a lot of this stuff would have been stuff that i thought was funny like i don't know like a lot of the things that that felt really silent for the audience i think it's like the same way a multicam works where it's like,

if the joke, if it's, if there isn't a big laugh after it, you feel like, oh, I also won't laugh at that. But then it's like, they,

they basically are telling you what things are funny and how funny they are. Whereas a movie, it's just like all up to you. And it's just so strange. Yeah. Yeah. So this is where Devin sings Brian McKnight's back at one to darlene and proposes

darlene's concerned devin is too young but medea and bam convince her to reconsider and then medea offers more advice to everyone before she gets up to leave and dances to pony by genuine i mean this was very funny to me medea putting, she was like in a downward dog, ass up in the air, wiggling it around. And she was like, I have my favorite gospel song. And I was like, I was like, okay, that is funny. I laughed really hard. Darlene asked Cora to sing a gospel hymn and the play ends,

quote unquote, because honestly it doesn't end for another 40. You should just, you should tell people that like, you have an intermission and then be like all right from this point on we're singing yes it's not plot related anymore everything's fine no more plot i did say to mike when we were watching it i was like if i was there i think i could be excited about the songs going on for a long time just because everyone was so good and like you know most of the songs or all of the songs and so then it's like this is fun but at on my computer i was truly it was like what you said nicole i'm just like why is this happening why is it and then for then part of what i thought was confusing was like the play's done it feels like some people are

not in character like some people are just doing stuff. Like when that one guy sings Maxwell and this woman's work or whatever. I'm like, he's just performing. He's not in character. But then Titi comes out and tries to use me and they're like, nope, and push her away. Then Bam does this thing totally in character,

which was really good. Oh, yeah. Bam can sing. Yeah. But I just was like, why are some people in character and some people aren't and then when the like show ended and they this also made me really sad i mean i don't know i've sung emotional but when they're like here's the whole band it's a live band the whole time and then they put up each person's picture on a huge screen and no one claps yes i was like it was very confusing

i was like it was weird because i was like nobody reacted the way i thought they would react in the audience like clap for the orchestra and then i mean in the beginning i guess the dialogue was so overlapping that they didn't leave room for laughs yeah but i don't even know i don't know if they would have laughed i also wonder if it was like i feel like when the laughs got big that's when you heard them or maybe they like turned it up at that point but it does feel like there's a point in which people are like laughing like lightly chuckling or even just like clapping sort of quietly and you can't hear it and then when it's like big you can hear it so it feels like no one's clapping otherwise but i i also don't i don't know because it feels like once medea comes in even when

aunt ban comes in it's just like laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh and then it's so clear that the audience is alive but every time else it's like no they don't give a shit yeah i would have liked to see people like see some reactions just of even like during serious parts like just see some people watching it or get like a section of the audience just to kind of get a sense of like are people what are people thinking because it's it's it just wasn't clear but this is also what we have come across so much with like tyler perry doing so many different genres and one thing where you don't know how to feel like watching the movies like we had like a moment with um which i can't i always mix up which one it is but the one where uh the woman has cancer and then she dies um i can do that

all by myself no it's either big happy family or family reunion yeah that's what i mix up those two it's yeah um but anyway like we were like you know all over the place emotionally watching that like there's one moment you're all over the place emotionally watching that like there's one moment you're laughing and the next one you're like literally sobbing like a beautiful funeral scene sobbing at the end and like it's that's interesting but i feel like it didn't feel like people were having that emotional response it just felt like it was silence or enjoyment i don't know yeah and for hours, that's a lot. It is a lot of silence and a lot of enjoyment.

It is a lot. So some trivia about this play, this play toured from January, 2019 to February, 2020. And the filmed version of the play is the final performance. And the play is Quail on Rogers first stage appearance as his internet character, TT internet character.

That's okay. I was confused by that. Cause I was like, did Tyler Perry license this character out to Quail on? Cause he was doing other stuff with this character, but I guess they were just like, what if TT was part of this family? Which makes sense.

Or not Medea. Tyler Perry likes to pull like popular internet stuff. So I think TT existed before the, td definitely definitely existed before the play okay that's actually really interesting i mean i'm feeling a bit about this now and i guess there was some talk of tt joining a martin reboot at one point so this character has been in other stuff or talked about being other stuff but like so is it is it a i mean it seems like if it's an internet character it's a comedic character yes i guess so but the way that she's treated in this feels like well it's not supposed to be a comedic character it's supposed

to be like a a real character that does comedic beats but not a character that you go and you're like haha that's funny just by their nature of existence. I don't know. Yeah, I think Tyler just didn't know what to do with T.T., but wanted to have T.T. in the play. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, it says Instagram star Quailan Rogers. Okay, so I need to look up this Instagram, but he had a movie, a feature film called T.T. Goes Undercover.

There was news about this in October 2020. So T.T. also has a show. I think it's like TT in Love. It's like a dating show, but I think it's not real. I think it's a parody. I don't know. But I've seen TT's on Instagram. I think TT's funny.

I just, I'm confused about the character fully. Yeah. So like, I don't see a page for Qualail on himself i don't know what the instagram is supposed to be it's uh blame it on the okay i have to look at this okay here we go okay so he oh okay he has five million followers and maybe that was tyler like, oh, this will bring the young people to see my plays. Yeah. I need to go down a wormhole with what the vibe is with TT on Instagram. Mm-hmm.

I mean, I always thought it was just a character. I thought it was a man playing a woman. I don't know. I truly don't know. Yeah, I guess I just really didn't like how the character was treated the whole time. So it was hard to have fun with TT. Yeah. It feels like maybe there's some external information

we need to have about how people see TT usually to understand this, but. Like if TT's like an annoying neighbor character or something that everyone's like, you're annoying. That's different than being like, we don't like that you're trans. Yeah. It a very different especially because they do go no this is our daughter she's part of the family but she's ugly it's like what's happening right well even that

point where they were like oh you look she was like i look like my mom and they were like you don't you look like your dad and they put a blue hat on the dad because Titi has blue hair. And then I was like, okay. Like, I can't, I just can't tell what the point is of that. And that's the kind of stuff where like Titi feels like she's about to get an emotional thing. And then they go like, uh-uh, you look like this man. And everyone's like, ha, ha, ha. And you're like, whoa, what's happening here?

Totally. whoa what's happening here totally um so the awards the play and the filmed version did not receive any of those what any of those things um some of the reception a critic from the new york times wrote medea's farewell play covers familiar medea territory wisecracks music and a plot built on a law school graduation that brings the family back together comfort food for fans who stream this recorded version um okay the earnings have not been disclosed because it's probably so much money that it's just you can't even imagine uh because the the it toured for a year to sold out venues from uh january 2019 to february. How does he do that and still make all of these movies? Because he makes them in a week. It truly must be that he goes like, okay, I'm going to take one week off and shoot all

of the oval. Then I'm back on the road. Then I'm going to do one week off and shoot a full feature length movie. It's like, I don't know. I mean, it doesn't mean it doesn't it doesn't seem sustainable but i mean maybe covet was kind of good for him in that way because he was able to just like focus and have a bunch of shit going on where he could be there he's like i wrote 45 movies in covet and i'm gonna shoot them all tomorrow i mean honestly he probably also toured on the weekends.

So he probably worked Monday through Thursday on things and then would just tour on the weekends and then maybe go on vacation for a week. I don't know, Tyler Perry vacations. I am genuinely fascinated from like a production standpoint of how he can shoot a movie. A hundred percent. I mean, I would really enjoy being there to understand like what what the conditions like is everyone exhausted or is everyone kind of happy it's like so quick

like what can they do they just light the entire set and they can just change the camera and not have to change it because i'm just like like even just stopping down to shoot even if you're like we got this let's go i'm like you can't do things that quick. I'm so curious. Yeah, and I feel like with Tyler Perry, in some movies he plays like four characters and you have to do like prosthetics. I don't know if there's a lot of prosthetics. There's some prosthetics in some of them, but just the full-on changes

and then acting with the stand-ins, like that seems, that should take a long time. Like that kind of stuff is tedious, but nope. He figured it out i wonder if while he's changing over characters if there's a monitor in the makeup trailer where he's got like a walkie and he's directing that way oh yeah oh my god i wouldn't be surprised that seems to make sense right because if your eyes are open you can watch it and you can direct how long i mean it's it's been

interesting trying to figure out how tyler does shit so fast i wonder if he also works with so many of the same people because he's like i don't have to direct this person they know the character they'll read it that is probably true it's like okay we'll go throw mr brown in here he'll do his thing that'll be easy um so i mean after seeing the play, where are we with Tyler Perry? Does this change anything about what you think? like this is just these are these are only popular because of dumb black people but then they'll say it's shit about like adam sandler where it's like you know he's just having fun and making movies like it's it's the same thing it's the same shit and i'm like just because tyler perry makes movies that are not for you doesn't mean that they're inherently valueless but then i also watch this and i'm like yeah it's still not for me despite a lot of these things genuinely being like wow i

find that honestly funny and i think he's got something to it but me, despite a lot of these things genuinely being like, wow, I find that honestly funny. And I think he's got something to it. But then there's a lot of stuff in between that where I'm just like, hey, man, don't do this. So I feel like I'm at the same point with Tyler Perry where I'm just sort of like he gets undue shit. But also, I'm not I'm not about to go out and rent Boo 2 sincerely. I might I might watch it ironically. If they do a Boo 3, I'll go see it in theaters. That sounds fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, how do you feel, Lauren, now that you've seen the play and you've experienced so much of his work? Seeing the play was interesting because I was thinking, even though it was his final play and I would have been curious what the original plays were like,

it did kind of open my eyes to the tone of his movies and like these characters and and seeing like where they kind of come from and like the vibe that they have on stage was really interesting um and put it into perspective for me in a way but i also feel like at the end of the day i just enjoy the film the movies like more than the play like the play vibe wasn't me, but I also don't necessarily love watching like filmed plays. If I were going to see it, maybe I'd want to go there, but I thought it was, I don't know.

I thought it was a bit eyeopening to see Medea on stage and just to see how he made that speech at the end. That was like, you know, touching, but he, you know, I,

because this is our final episode, I've had so much fun watching all of these and i and i feel like i'm gonna watch more because there's so many things that we haven't seen that i'm like that people will tell me like oh my god you have to watch this one you have to watch that one there's always like another one to watch i i've really enjoyed this and it's gone by so fast because we've been having so much fun. And so I agree with Demi's point that like, whether it's for me or not, it's like, it's a fun time.

It's a good time. It's just like, it's, it's not, it's maybe not world changing, but it doesn't need to be at all. And I'm having fun watching them. So it's been a good journey.

What do you, what do you think? I feel fully the same way. It's been a wonderful journey. I have truly just tee hee fully the same way. It's been a wonderful journey. I have truly just tee hee heed at so many things. Like it's funny. I love Madea. I think Madea is a very funny character. I say what you will about like the writing, the acting or whatever. But Tyler Perry gives you so much that you can find at least one thing that you like that he's done. much that you can find at least one thing that you like that he's done and demi to your point where people are like adam sandler is a genius or whatever and it's like is it is it like sometimes

adam sandler isn't for everybody tyler perry isn't for everybody i do wish people would stop you know being disparaging about his work because i think it's impressive like whether you like it or not you have to say it's impressive well and i think know, as much as we can laugh about the process, it's like knowing that he is shooting it so fast, he's doing it, he's writing it in two days, he's shooting it in two days. And like, it's funny. I'm still going, hey, man, he did it. Like, yeah. And he talks in his speech at the end of the play, which I guess was it was the last performance. So it was the most I don't know if he made that speech every time. But he thanks the audience for supporting his movies and talks about all the jobs that he's given to black actors.

And I think that's amazing. And so you can't like he because he creates so many jobs like, like he's shot, you know, thousands of things at this point, thousands of hours of content. And that's great. He's like, you know, all these people are supporting their families from the, these shows and it's not just about me and blah, blah, blah. And I mean, it's complicated when someone is a billionaire because you kind of have to think there's something bad about that. But he's done a lot of good he's done a lot for other people you know he yeah distributing the vaccine to people he's he gives

he's i think he's a wonderful person and honestly i am sad that we are coming to a close on this me too and if there are roles for us in media if it hasn't already been shot i would think we both would be wide open to that. Would love it. And if he listens to the show, I hope he understands that we are teasing with love and fun. Yeah. I mean, honestly, Tyler Perry, just like write a little sea storyline about two little podcasters. Who talk about Madea.

Yeah, who are talking about Madea, who are doing like a true crime series on Madea. Oh my God, that would be so good. I want this so badly. Having me follow up to the movie where Madea goes to jail and then it's like a Halloween parody and it's you two covering Madea. That would be awesome. That would be so good.

Oh my God. Okay, that might happen. I mean, from our lips toler's ears to his computer screen i mean the amount of people who've tagged us i have to think he's seen our names pop up i hope so i don't know enough people tweeted him he will or just like write like a paragraph for him and just go you can use this for free he will be be like, that's five minutes of work done. Let's go. You're in.

Oh, man. I love it so much. Well, this has been so fun. I mean, we have other things in store for everyone out there after this season. Now that it's complete, some surprises to come. We are talking about our next season and what we're going to do. But thank you so much for following us on this journey. I think, I think we've gotten a lot of people to at least consider Tyler Perry.

If not, they probably wouldn't have. Yeah. And I love that. Me too. Demi, thank you so much for being here. Do you have anything you want to plug?

Thank you for having me. The Amber Ruffin show is still going. Watch that. It's so good. It's really fucking good. It's so good. Thank you. Her book, by the way, is great.

Have you read her? I listened to the audio book. Yes, it's great. Ooh, I want to read it. Everything she touches is just gold. She makes me laugh so hard. Yeah. Well, everyone watch that.

And thank you all for following us. And we'll see you next season. Oh, no, wait. Lauren. This is my favorite part. I swear I was not trying to skip it. It's the five hallelujahs segment. And it's the last one that we have.

So how could I possibly have forgotten? Okay. So this one comes from update the app again uh that's their name loving the real mcu on my 20th watch through with this pod i grew up with i grew up watching the mcu and have watched diary of a mad black woman and medea's family reunion since i was about six but these movies shows and plays have never been funnier than with nicole and laurence input ps as a resident of georgia you're basically obligated to be an extra on a Tyler Perry movie at least once.

So I can confirm that he wraps every scene in three shots or less, and that the Madea transformation from plainclothes director to Tyler, or plainclothes to, or what? What am I trying to do? The Madea transformation to become Tyler in plainclothes takes only 30 minutes.

It's absolutely wild. So, I mean, yeah. Why would he ever step out of the medea outfit i'd just be like if i gotta be in this the whole movie i'm just gonna this is how i show up to set just directing it all day okay i think i read that wrong it takes 30 minutes to put it on so it's not a long transformation so okay that's very fascinating um gen fly writes five hallelujahs i wish i could hear lauren and nicole every. The Star Wars and Lord of the Rings episodes were hilarious, but somehow they've gotten even better with the OG MCU.

Thank you so much, everyone. And thank you for your nice reviews. And we will see you soon with something else. I'm like genuinely misty eyed. I know. I'm kind of like, oh, it's ending. It feels too soon. It really does. But see, even if we did 20, we, it's ending. It feels too soon. It really does.

But see, even if we did 20, we'd still go, we need 100 more. There's just way too much to cover. Yes, there's so much. Surprised that you guys skipped Boo. I know. We were going to watch Boo at one point. It was on the calendar. I don't remember what happened.

But yeah, you know, something to look forward to. Yeah, that's it. Bye-bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. something to look forward to. Yeah, that's it. Bye-bye! Thank you. That was a Hidgum Original.