Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Bill Bellamy

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

On the show is the man who coined the phrase "Booty Call"! Bill MF'n Bellamy. His stories are crazy man I mean from Tupac writing him a letter from Jail, to sitting down with Michael Jackson in his Armani suit with the tag still on. This dude has done it all in hip hop and comedy. Partake won’t you? #billbellamy #whiskeyginger #andrewsantino #podcasts  ============================================= RABBIT HOLE $5 OFF with Promo Code: WHISKEY https://rabbitholedistillery.com/drizly ========================================= Follow Andrew Santino: https://www.instagram.com/cheetosantino/ https://twitter.com/CheetoSantino Follow Whiskey Ginger: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeyging... https://twitter.com/whiskeyginger_ Produced and edited by Joe Faria IG: @itsjoefaria Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See where it's sold in your area because it'll be sold everywhere, my friends. Jump down the rabbit hole with me. Drink responsibly. What up, Whiskey Ginger fans? Welcome back to the show. If it's your first time joining the show, welcome to the show. We got a good one for you today. Like my man Steve Harvey done say say it's Bill Bellamy, man, the

OG booty call King. It's Bill Bellamy. Love this dude. Got to shoot a pilot with him. Uh, we chatted it up, had a little souse and had a wonderful time. Check out his podcast available everywhere that you get podcasts. It's called Top Billin'. Check it out. Also, hey, tonight, Cleveland, Ohio, right? I'm here, baby. Let's go. Me and Bob, me and Robert E. Lee, a direct descendant, are doing the Bad Friends Live.

We're doing stand-up. We're doing stuff from the show. So much fun. Cleveland, tonight, get your tickets. And tomorrow, we have two shows in Pittsburgh. First one sold out, second one, come on down. Go to badfriendspod.com for the tickets. Badfriendspod.com to see us live enough rambling from me.

Let's go to the episode. In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. You're that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers are beautiful. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the whore.

Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on Earth. I say that for all my guests,

but I mean it once again today. It is Bill Bellamy's in the house. Cheers. Cheers, my man. I've been waiting to come on with you, man. I know. It's been a minute. I'm glad you came.

Oh, man. People don't know. No, they don't. Oh, that's good. That's really good. We shot a pilot together. We shot a little something something together. Yes.

Tell the people, man. So first and foremost, I had a pilot for ABC. It was ABC. And it was, initially, it was called Winning Ugly. Winning Ugly. Yeah, that's right. It was ABC. And it was, initially it was called Winning Ugly. Winning Ugly. That's right. That was the first, you know, sort of like, it was with Malcolm D. Lee. He was the director, of course.

And I played this, you know, this dad, you know, who basically black guy, ex-athlete who, you know, marries this white girl who has these two sons. And I'm sort of like their new stepdad. You know, and the original premise was called Black Dad. Yeah. You know, Black Dad. Black Dad, really on the nose. Right on the nose.

Like, we don't want to get confused. And so really, really quickly, my buddies, I had my boys that I played cards with, right? And I wished to with, right? And I wished to God with Becky, Becky Newton played my Becky, Becky, shout out to Becky. She's cutie, very, very petite, very, very nice. So tiny.

Tiny girl. Tiny humans. Cute as hell. But we had a scene when we were in the card room, it's like with a boys room. When I say everything that came out of your mouth was bananas, bro. That's when I first met you. I didn't know how funny you were.

Bro, you was your ad-libs were crazy. And they used them. They used them in the pilot. So for people who are watching and listening, you know, a pilot is basically a representation of what we want the show to be. And you get a chance to see all the characters. You see me, you see my kids, and you see my buddies. And we had Slink Johnson in there, too.

Crazy-ass Slink. Black Jesus, if you will. Black Jesus would be with us. So we bonded since then, so, Santino, you're my dude. I'm so happy that you're here. And also, when I did that, I was excited because I thought, man, it was so funny. What I saw, what we did was so good. And like everything else in the business that you're here. And also, when I did that, I was excited because I thought, man, it was so funny. What I saw, what we did was so good. And like everything else in the business, you're like, is it going to go?

Who knows? And you never know with any of that stuff. And the show they picked over us didn't do shit. Of course not. Of course! You could have picked us. We've been on TV for seven years. What are you doing, Bob Iger?

What are you doing over there? That's why we're striking right now. Because you didn't pick up his show. You should have done it. They picked up the show where the girl was the softball player. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember that? Yes, yes, yes.

Two episodes. What was the name of that? She was a pitcher or something. She was a pitcher. God, what was that called? Cute girl that was a pitcher. It was an ABC show. It was like not softball, baseball.

She played professional baseball. She played baseball. But anyway, I have so much to talk to you about, honestly, because on that day we were working and laughing. But I wanted to get to know you more as a human today because I've seen you, I mean, for a large, oh, The Pitch. That's what it was called. Yeah, it was called The Pitch.

Sorry, guys. Yeah, no, sorry, The Pitch. Sorry, The Pitch. Sorry it didn't work. My bad. But I've seen you for a large majority of my young life on television. You've been in my world. And then also as someone who I became a stand-up when I was, you know, 21 years old,

and you had already lived in and out of so many different worlds, it's impressive to me to think, like, you grew up in the guts of hip-hop in the East Coast. Correct. Which I have such an absurd affinity for. McCone and I were talking, bring it up. We were joking around about how many people are influential that were in the movie Who's the Man? Everybody was in that movie.

It was almost like a Super Bowl comedy. Expand, expand. Okay, so look at this. Look at some of these names we were going over before. One movie. Yeah, one movie. The cameos alone were like Be Real. Ashanti.

Yeah, Bushwick Bill. Busta. Bo Legged Lube. I mean, C.L. Smooth. Busta Rhymes. D-Nice. DJ Lethal. It was just Eric B.

Eric B. You know what? It was a hip-hop album on film. It really was. Yeah, that's what it was. But it was because as someone who, you know, I'm an 80s baby, and I grew up, like, admiring and falling in love with hip hop. You came up at the right time.

It was when everything was blowing up. Yes. It was like in the 90s. So you're probably 12. You're probably 12, 13, 14, whatever. And you're like absorbing this big ass wave of pop culture. Yeah. this big ass wave of pop culture.

Yeah. Dude, was there, was there, was there, you know, cats that you knew that were, that ended up

blowing up that you didn't think were gonna blow up or vice versa? Like, was there someone that when you were, when you were in,

in the thick of this that you were like, this dude is gonna, this dude is gonna be the biggest. Like, I'll give you an example of somebody I knew

was gonna blow up with Snoop. Yeah, it was so obvious. Because Snoop was just different. His tone, his voice. And then Dr. Dre had

put his foot in that album. And I remember the first time I heard it, I was at Aftermath, up with Jimmy Iovine. You were at the record company. I was at the record company. This is back in the day when they were like, this is our best shit ever. And Jimmy's like, have a seat.

He's got the fly $42,000, like, sound system in the office so that you feel Dre's music. And I was sitting there like, you know, as if I am MTV, and they gave me, you know, sort of like the sneak peek of listening to every track, the ones they thought they were going to lead off with. And I heard his sound and I was like, yeah, Snoop's out here.

I didn't know Snoop would become like what he is 30 years later, but I knew he was going to blow up that first album. Well, he became an icon now. He became, his first album was Doggystyle, right?

Well, and for people that don't know, you were, you are an icon and were a representation of MTV. And when the world that I grew up with of Yo! MTV Raps

and what became something so, such a fixture, you know, we were watching music videos before you came. He's a young, young lad, but he loves hip hop. Yeah. And we were talking about old tribe videos and like how experimental they were. Classic. But, and what was, what was amazing was

you kind of, you were at this cultural forefront of when videos dictated culture right like everyone's talked about you and booty call and and that's you know and the phrasing of that becoming popular but the truth also was everything that was going on culturally was made through MTV in those music videos that's how it got yeah that was sort of that was sort of the MTV to me was sort of like the factory for hip hop. It was. You know what I mean?

Where the videos influenced the culture, what we were wearing, you know, the colors, the dances. What I love most, and I talked about this on one of my other interviews, is that what I loved what MTV did at the time was bring hip hop to kids like you kids that didn't necessarily grow up in New York City kids that were curious about music and they got to find an artist that they like like oh my god I love Nas oh I love Tribe you know what I'm saying you know uh there were so many new, I love Method Man. All these new little, they were like characters that came out of hip hop that became huge. It was superheroes to us. They were superheroes.

Like your kids and you're like, yo, that's cool. Like Naughty by Nature came out of nowhere and blew a hip hop parade. Hey, put them up. This right here was so 90s. Put them up, put them up, put them up. Like, this right here was so 90s. Put them up, put them up, put them up. You just had to do them. And no one knew what Tretch was saying. Yeah.

But it was cool. We didn't know what the fuck he was saying, but it didn't matter. The beat was right. The energy was cool. And a lot of times it was kids' introduction to hip-hop period for sure yeah and because pre-internet you know the only way to find out about stuff truly was to me music videos yeah were the way i started to learn and then through them i would learn i'd go see a show and i'd see who opened for them and then whoever was like you know a new young mc they'd put them on

the show and then you'd be like yo who is that guy yeah and then a year later he'd come to your you know to your city you have to go yeah well my god god the killer bees bro i swear to god i get goosebumps when i think about that video when they were the bees the killer bees was flying down broadway like in new york oh my god what it Swarm forward. Like in New York. Oh, my God. It was just the vibe and the beat of that. Yeah. I remember I was in Denver, Colorado, and the girl who I was doing comedy works at the time. I'm sure you've been there before. Oh, yeah. I love that club.

And the girl, I can't think of her name right now. I want to say Rebecca, but I might be wrong. She was the whitest girl ever, like suburban, blonde hair. She was like the PR person for the club. And she's the one that comes and takes you to TV, right? She said, Mr. Bellamy, my first concert ever, you're not going to believe. You're not going to believe. And I said, you are the whitest girl I've ever seen in my life.

What was the first concert? She said Wu-Tang Clan. And she started going, Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with. I was like, oh shit. She didn't even look like she would even know. But she was like, Bill, I was a kid. I was probably 13 and they came to Denver and that was my first concert ever. And it was so epic to me. I will never forget. And I was like, that's what hip hop was was. You know, and I hope that, you know, even though this year is 50 years of hip-hop, I hope that, you know, we keep evolving and keep

getting more fans and more people to love the culture of music and you know, this fashion and just the energy of it. It's different. You know what I mean? I mean, I don't think it's ever going to die. I think it's going to keep taking shape. Taking shape, yeah. It just changes as we go, right? Like, as I've've gotten older the further apart i think i'm in touch with some of the newer stuff but i do

think i still appreciate it you know like i still like it a lot it's just it's not the first thing i jumped to right but that was the same thing for my generation with my dad and music they loved and it was like yeah i like it but i like this shit more and they were like i like i find that i find that now that you know 30 years into the game when i go back and actually listen to groove theory the groove theory tribe album i'm appreciating it in a different way like i go back uh recently and i was just listening toonic, just listening to each track and just going, damn. Like, I felt like I lived through that. Like, go back to one of your favorite albums when you were a kid and listen to it now. You will remember certain things like, yo, that's when I got my new sneakers.

I remember me and my boy got in a fight. Oh, we played football at the parking lot. Because I believe music are like snapshots in your life. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? They're better than photos. Yeah, they're better because you will remember

everything like the concert you went to, the girl you liked, da-da-da-da-da-da, you know what I mean? I said that to him. I literally said, elevators was on

in the background of at a party. I was under this kid, Charlie, shout out Charlie Maco. I don't know if we should say his full name, but I was at Charlie Maco's

house in his basement and I hooked up with the chick. And it resonated with me for the rest of my life that that was playing on in the background, and the lights were low. You will never forget that, bro. No, no. Because you're nervous. Underneath the pool table.

You like this girl. Y'all having a little fun. Yeah. And that beat was the soundtrack to your move. It was perfect. It was perfect. I love it. That's where I got my rhythm from. That's where I got my rhythm from.

That's where I got the stroke from. Come on, he got that stroke. I got the stroke from it. She'll never forget it. No, no, she has no idea. She's thinking about it right now. She never remembered it, yeah. She's married with seven kids,

so she lives in the country now. Yeah. No, so you're a Jersey guy, right? You're a Jersey kid, but did you grow up in the city? Did you live in New York at any point? No, no, I grew up in Jersey. Okay. Now, you know, the interesting thing about living in newark and growing up in

new york you can like you in certain days you could just see new york you see the city yeah and uh i always you know wondered what it would like to be over there i have family like i would go to new york all the time like i have family in the bronx i got family in new rochelle new york i queens and you know, Brooklyn. So I would go to New York to visit family, like, on the weekends and stuff and cousins and stuff like that. But I never, like, lived there. And I always admired New York City. And it always seemed so big to me.

And I remember saying to myself, like, 13 years, oh, I jumped on a train. My parents never know to this day that I did this. I caught the bus because I said, I'm going to go to New York City. I got on the path, and I rode the train to New York and came up at Penn Station. And I got there, and I was like, oh, my God. Like the buildings looked like they went for miles. I was like, I don't know what made me do this, but I said, one day, I'm going to make it here. Like, I remember saying, like, one day,

I'm going to be a star in this city, and then I got back home, and then I got back on the train and caught the bus home. But it was that impression as a child that this was the city where the real people make it. Like, if you're going to be real, you've got to be known in New York. You've got to blow up in new

york so the whole time i was in jersey i was just shooting the look go get across the water you know what i mean yeah you know what was the path then to what was like the first path to you what was the impetus for you going i have to i want to make it in this business and what was like the click that did it what was was the thing that did it? Well, I would like to say it was Eddie Murphy. And I'm going to tell you why. Because Eddie Murphy had came to my school in college. He was on the – Where did you go to school?

I went to Rutgers. Yeah. And so he did a stop. I guess it was – maybe it was Delirious, I guess. I don't know. But he was going through – this was like 88, maybe 87, something like that. He did a performance at Rutgers, and I just was in awe of how funny he was. And I said, man, that is crazy.

He talked for a whole hour, and everything he said was bananas, right? So I was like, man. And he's from New York. He's right across the bridge. He making it. Right. He's making it. I was like, I want to do that.

Like, I remember saying, I want to do that. I want to be able to tell funny stories forever, like, where I could tell funny stories and, like, be hilarious and do voices and talk about my life. And I just was, he left an impression on me. So then I started doing, started doing little stuff at school, hosting coffee houses. If they needed a comic to do anything, I did it at school. At Rutgers. At Rutgers.

And it was like, no, it wasn't no real gig or anything, but I was getting practice. And that was the bug. When I saw somebody that looked like me doing it. Because to me, Eddie Murphy made comedy cool. Oh, well, he did. Before that, it was very... Yeah, it was like, you told somebody that looked like me doing it. Because to me, Eddie Murphy made comedy cool. Oh, well, he did. I mean, before that, it was very... Yeah, it was like, you told somebody before Eddie Murphy,

I want to be a comedian. You goofy motherfucker. Like, people thought you was like a goofball for life. They didn't realize, like, yo, I'm actually humorous. Like, I got... Yeah, I got something. Now you see it, that stigma is gone. Like, now, you know, when you're a comedian,

people go, oh, my God, my cousin wants to be a comedian or oh my God, that's cool, my favorite comedian is blah, blah, blah. You know, when I was coming up, it was like,

oh my God, you don't want to get a job. Yeah. You're almost like a clown. You want to be unemployed. Oh, you want to work at the circus. Right.

You know what I mean? That's what you're doing. You want to be a circus clown. So with the world that you've lived in for so long, it's like, you've touched so touched so many bases right you've acted and you've hosted you stand up and like which is the one you think you want is are there are there ones that you think you're slowly going away from and focusing on more now or you still like all of it the same um okay the

newest the newest thing for me that i never did before was write a book, right? So writing top villain stories of laughter, life lessons, and triumph, that was like, yo. It was your first book. First book, yeah. Didn't know I could do it. Didn't know I had a story that people would read. And so that was like the newest thing in my life that I was like, damn, man, I'm capable of that. That's like pretty cool.

Because I always thought like authors were like, you know, another world of smart and, you know, these intellectuals that can go and grab the words out of the atmosphere, you know. So I always had reverence for that. But that is sort of new in my life. Will this be a continuation? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think if I were to do another book, I would want to talk about fatherhood because it's just how it changed my life and what I learned being a dad on the job. I thought that might be kind of interesting.

But my podcast is kind of like a new thing I never thought I would do or, you know, make time to do. Top billing, that is something that I think is new. It's a new audience. It's fun. It's like people get a chance to listen to you when they want. They get it a la carte. It's like a new vibe. You know, it's like young.

You know, I feel like I'm going to grab other people that may not know my whole 25-year career. Or maybe now I'm getting a podcast crew, people that just dig podcasts. Right, right. And like, yo, Bill's funny as fuck, and then they learn me backwards the other way. But I want to continue to do movies. I definitely want to stay in the TV world. I just feel like I got so many more stories to tell, and I feel like I still so many more stories to tell and I feel like I

still, you know, need to hit that other gear. Like, I've been gearing it, you know, but I think I got another good gear. Downshift and up. Get the wheels up in the air. So then, it's interesting you say that too because I'm

curious to know, look, I don't have any kids and in the business, the balance of what you're're talking about if you were going to write that in the next book of being a father and doing this dance you know is incredibly difficult i'm not i'm not trying to say at home there's people with very hard jobs that have long days and they have families they take care of but i guess the difference for us is i have a lot of friends that do it that have you know a lot of kids and they're working like we're working and they find it so hard that sometimes you blink and you feel like you've missed chunks of time because work consumes us in a way where you've got to like almost leave home a little

bit you know even when you're there it's it's you know it's a very difficult balance like for me and i'll talk about this in my book, like, sometimes you just gotta take an L for the win, you know? And by that I mean sometimes you gotta slow down to get the better of what your family means to you. Because time does not stop.

And, um, so when there was that lull in my career where Cats was like, yo, what happened to Bill Bellamy? Like, oh, my God. Like, did he fall off? I haven't seen him. I was trying to be a dad.

Like, I was just like, yo, man, this means a lot to me. These are my kids. I'm never going to get this time back. So I just started doing less and then being around more. You know what I'm saying? But that was, now looking back, that was the best choice because now my son is, my baby is 17. My daughter's 20.

Like, they're big now, man. Yeah, they're growing. So now I'm sitting here crying because I don't have no memories. I didn't do shit. Like, that would be painful. So, you know, for me, any parent that's out there, you know, that, you know, struggle with that or an artist you know cause we're married to this game

yeah this is it this is it this your baby but then when you add some pieces to that you know shit get real you're like okay well you know your wife wants time she wants you to do things family vacations you gotta go to

you know it's daddy day at school. I got to make pancakes and shit. I'll be doing some, I remember like doing some of the most like low key, like ridiculous shit. And I'm like, I'm a star, bro. Like I'm Bill Bellamy and I'm, you know, I'm making banana pancakes. Like I'm not making puppy chow for your whole school. Like, like, like, like I'm doing like. You got to go be on TV.

Come on, baby. I got to hit series and I'm in car school. Like, like, like, like, I'm doing like. You got to go be on TV. Come on, baby. I got to hit series and I'm in carpool. Like, yo, this is crazy. But it was also wonderful too at the same time. Now they're both gone though, huh? They're out of the house? Or the 17-year-old is still with you? My son is going into his senior year.

So he's class of 2024. So we're going to be empty nesters and going 24, 25. Now are you going to stay where you are? You guys think you're going to move somewhere? I think we're going 24-25. Now, are you going to stay where you are, or do you guys think you're going to move somewhere? I think we're going to move around. I mean, I think I just want to I think I'm going to always keep something here in Cali, but I just want to have

another experience that would be fun, that's different from Hollywood. You know what I mean? Trust me, I know. I'm really looking at lake houses right now. So am I. I swear to God, so am I. Bro, I love lake houses. I've always wanted a lake house.

I just want to have the lake out back, the little boat thing. The kids could come. Jet skis. My boys, if I'm not there, my boys could come to the crib, and they could just hang out and be like, Drew, you in town? Yo, just go to the lake house. The key is behind the two rocks. Go get it.

Just put the beer back when you finish yeah you know what i mean put the whiskey back back the key is always behind a rock it's always behind hint to anybody trying to rob a lake house yeah yeah look under the rock look under the rock now yeah the lake house thing is a good escape like that's so to me what about stand-up to you though does that is that still have any resonance? Oh, stand-up is forever, forever. Forever. I can't. You'll never stop. Come on, man. Yeah. As long as I got my memory and I'm silly, I think of funny shit all the time.

Like, I'm driving around with putting notes in my phone. Okay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, because sometimes the best time I come up with creative ideas is through conversation. Like, having fun with one of my friends from college or something, or I'll just be in the car with no music on, and it'll just open up

my third eye or whatever, and I'll just be like, oh, it'll be like a little vortex of great ideas that just pop in and shit. I'll be like, yo, I could put that on stage. That's great.

Do you talk to yourself when you're in the car alone without music? Yeah. See, I do too. Yeah, I talk it out, you know, and I'm like, okay, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I try to find the beats. It doesn't have to be already all the way finished or anything.

Just so I have the premise. Because before, I used to be like, I'll remember. You won't. I always keep a pad by my bed. Because a lot of times, ideas come like when you're in that little weird, cool spot, and I'll just write the ideas down before I go back to sleep. And then I used to ride my motorcycle a lot and you know when I had kids I slowed up when I was like you still got a bike or no yeah I do but I don't ride it your wife is my wife always wants me to

get rid of it yeah but I think I look at it I feel like that's a part of my youth when I was a man when I was a young man when I was a young man. Maybe when I was a stud. No, but anyway. I was like, I don't want to be the daddy with the limp. No. Why is one of his legs longer than the other one? Like, why does Bill walk like that? No, I don't want to be that guy.

So I don't ride it. But creatively, I would get him on my motorcycle right after, like, you know, let's say 730 when the traffic dies down and i would just ride maybe all the way to santa barbara sometime oh really like and just vibe out man because it's so quiet you're not on your phone or anything right and you'll be so surprised when it's quiet like that you just hear the sound of your motorcycle you just your mind just it's almost like you're in a trance not a tr, but you're kind of in a meditation. I used to come up with great ideas like that, too. On your bike, when you'd ride out somewhere, like you go to Santa Barbara by yourself,

would you go and spend the night somewhere just to, like, get away? No, I'd just go up for the ride because the highways, fortunately for us in California, our highways are pretty smooth for the most part. And some of the further you get away from L.A., you get those windy turns, and you can lean into your turns and stuff, and I used to practice that. And then sometimes I'd just go up towards the mountains, so I'd just go up. Like Ojai and stuff like that? Ojai, yeah.

I'd get on whatever that highway is and go up there, and it's so pretty, like sweeping turns. You can lean for about a minute just going this way and then come back and i go up there maybe 15 miles and come back i never really want to be out that far when it's dark because now your your vision is compromised it's like highway 33 highway yeah it's beautiful it's like even if you got a drop top or if you just got a really good car that you can that handles well, like that's a good highway for you. If you want to see what it does, because it's not like dangerous where it's like sharp turns, but they're like sweeping. Like if you got a car that can get it, you know what I mean?

That's a good one. You got cars that can get it? Yeah, you do. I like cars. So do I. I love little toys. Can you tell me which one you have that you like the most that can get it? Yeah, you do. I like cars. So do I. I love little toys. Can you tell me which one you have that you like the most that I can get? Well, my favorite is the AMG, the Mercedes.

And the thing about it is, even though it's kind of luxury sport, it's got balls. Yeah, it's got big balls. So it's got big balls. Big, beautiful balls. Big, beautiful balls big beautiful balls so like you can kind of drive it conservatively

you know you're like okay cool the daily car yeah you know I got this little then you get on the highway and hit that brabus shit going bro

like I took my car let me tell you one time this is when I was like let me see what these germans talking about see if it's real oh it's very real yeah i would i drove to vegas right and russell peters got a story like this because russell has this dope ass r8 and the audi r8 is basically a lambo truck yeah with an audi body. It's just the same shit. He puts a little smoke on it, but Russell said he got there in like two hours and 48 minutes. You know what I'm saying?

From here to Vegas. To Vegas. He was cooking. Yeah. So I drove my car to Vegas. And when you go into Vegas from L.A., and if you go at night, it's real smooth. Like if you're going right at dusk, usually not too much traffic. And then when you hit that 15, that 15 is nasty.

You can open it up. You know what I mean? And it's not a lot of cops out there. You know what I mean? And now that we got Waze, Waze will be like, slow down. They right over there. Yo, yo, my man is right on the right-hand side in two miles. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

Yeah, it lets you know. I love Waze for that. Waze is great. It should be called Snitch because they tell you. They're snitching. My man in the bush is on the left. Yeah, they're snitching. Now, yeah, it's fun to bring out a couple of toys and go.

Like, I love, that's like the one thing I've always been obsessed with. When I was a kid, we never had, like, you know, fancy cars or anything. Both of my parents worked. They always had cars. But it was practical. But it wasn't like high-end cars. No, no. It was very practical. It was very Midwest.

How did they get to work? Yeah, very. Chevrolet. Cutlass Supreme. Cutlass Supreme. A Buick. We had a Buick. Oldsmobile.

When you go Midwest, you just see tradition. Chevrolet. Yeah. Ford. Got to get your Ford. A Ferrari for a Midwest white guy is a mustang i remember seeing my first ferrari when i was downtown chicago as a kid and i thought that must be the owner of the bulls and i like i had no idea people could have that kind of money i was like in my mind ferraris you know there were seven of

them on earth when i was a young kid i thought no one could get so who the fuck could that be you know i'm sure and it was just some finance guy down at the mercantile you know the merc so it was like that's when i started to fall in love with the look of cars the first time i saw a red ferrari i was the first time i saw a red ferrari ironically was in chicago oh really we saw the same cat? It was Michael Jordan's. Oh, it was Jordan's car. I said, oh my God. So this is when Michael Jordan is playing and he is walking baby Jesus, right? Mm-hmm. And I'm at the United Center where you guys play, right? Yeah. It used to be called Chicago Stadium.

And I'm in the tunnel. I'm in the tunnel. So I'm standing there. I'm getting my tickets in the tunnel where the players come in. And it echoes a little bit because it's underground. Right. And I'm standing there talking to somebody, and all you hear is, whoo, whoo.

You know what a Ferrari sounds like. Yeah, yeah, it's so distinct. Whoo, whoo. You know what I mean? And I said, oh, shit, who's that, who's that? And I saw Air One. Yeah, Air One. I said, Air One. I said, oh, shit, who's that? Who's that? And I saw Air One. Yeah, Air One. I said, Air One.

I said, oh, come on. Because I never knew you could, like, personalize plates like that. Yeah, yeah. I was like, that is some baller. Yeah! I was like, and Mike got out. And, you know, Mike is 6'6". Yeah.

I'm like, how the fuck Mike fit in there? Mike came out that mug in pieces. I had to disconnect his arm and shit. Snap back into place. He came out like Terminator. And I said, oh, shit, man. I said, man, that's fly. I was like, yo, he just inspired me because it was red.

It was typical. Yo, you got it. That's it. Yeah, that was the car. That's the first person I seen drive that car. and I was like, yo, that's Miami Vice. It was so beautiful, man. It was beautiful, man. Thank you for that, Mike.

See? Mike had the old school Corvette, too. And now the best part about Michael Jordan that's in the recent years is the way, like, you know, look. in the recent years is the way, like, you know, look, here's a guy who

really captivated fashion, right? And like, designed, you know, arguably, if not, the best shoe ever.

Definitely the best shoe that ever has ever been made. Never gonna beat no, nothing. But then you, now you look at the old running joke is like,

Jordan's fashion, fashion, he's always swimming in his shit. Like, he loves oversized everything. He got, and he's such swimming in his shit. Like, he loves oversized everything. He got... And he's such a skinny dude.

The dude, Michael Jordan got more money than everybody. And he's still dressed like it's the 80s. Like, Mike still got four buttons. Mike got his high...

He got the high jeans. High waist. High waist jeans! Belt is over his navel. Mike locked in and tight. I don't get it, man. I don't know why he loves it so much,

but I still see him. You still see pictures of him like on the golf course. Yeah. And that's his shit. Yeah. Mike loves that golf. That thing,

I think that gave him his new, his new like sort of basketball because even when he was playing, he was doing it then, but like now when you can play and he's playing on the best of the best of the best he's got the best friends and he can get out there and learn and he's super competitive he owns his own course now he has his own course yeah baby you know i'm winning on this one yeah i didn't i didn't win on tiger shit but i'm winning

on mine yeah the bug bit him what's your what's the bug that bit you later in life that you never did when you were young do you have something that you do now that you didn't do when you were young? A young man? Well, one of the things that bit me is I'm definitely a video game system. Oh, you're a video game guy. I'm a gamer. So, like, I've had every PlayStation from the, I mean, god dang, I basically got a museum of PlayStations.

I've never really jumped to Xbox. I got it, but I don't play it. You do the PS5? Yeah, I started with PlayStation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When they get to 9, I'm going to have 9. I got all the games still. I got every, like, I can go back. We can go old school.

I got Sega Genesis. Damn. Like, I've been gaming since the 90s. I had the first NBA live game. What do you play now the most? The one that I play when I just want to kill motherfuckers and just blow some steam off. Call of Duty is my shit. That's your shit.

Call of Duty is just gangster. Like, you can go in there. And there's another game that I love to play that's good, too. It's called Syphon Filter. Syphon Filter. Siphon Filter. So Siphon Filter is a Clancy game. Tom Clancy. And it's a one-person play.

But what's so dope about it, it makes you be creative on surviving. Like, you know, you turn it up. You put it on professional, bro, they sending 40, 50 motherfuckers at you, bro. Like, you make one mistake, like, you got to be quiet. It's all stealth. So, like, if you use a grenade, they sending dogs, they sending sentinels, they sending all kinds of people at you.

So, now, if you run out of ammo, you done. and they're sending all kinds of people at you. So now if you run out of ammo, you're done. So what I like about the game, even though it's an older play, it makes you really think about how you move. Like you were looking at the video on YouTube. That's one of the first versions. The one that I have is like super cool.

Like you go in these buildings. You go to different cities. You can go to Chicago, and you and you can you know where the mercantile, but yeah You're going through that you on the top of building. Do you play GTA 2 or you want to? My son rocks that GTA pretty heavy people love that game, but I don't know if I like it as much You know, it's wild about that game Like now people you can you can be other kinds of occupations within it. Like, I've seen videos online, like, guys will just be cops and pull people over in the game. They'll just be a cop.

So you can just be a cop instead of the main character is like, you know, like the storyline has changed over the years. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember it was like you had missions to go on. Yeah. Now I'll see videos of dudes that are just cops, like snitches, pulling people over and shit. It's the most bullshit. I mean, I remember like there's prostitutes in it. Right, right, right.

I don't know if you could be a prostitute in it, but you should be able to. No, I see a lot of women and they be like, I'm gonna be a hoe. So, no, but, um, I just like doing what I do.

Get paid on GTA. Get paid on GTA. Get my weight up. But I, one night, it was so funny. I thought somebody was in my son's room, and he was just like, no, man, don't go in there, man. I'm all right. I'm all right.

You go in there if you want to. And it was him and like five of his friends. They were playing GTA. And, you know, they got the headphones. He got the chair and the microphone. And they're like, one guy has the big sniper rifle. I was like, oh, man, they got the headphones. He got the chair and the microphone. And they're like, one guy has the big sniper rifle. I was like, oh, man, they was getting it. I was like, that's dope, like, where you can go and play with your friends.

And, you know, and y'all just say, oh, we going online at 10. Yeah, yeah, we'll see you there. That's super dope. I know, because for us, you had to come to the same house. Yeah, we had to be in the same house. If you weren't in the same room, it was like, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. I'll tell you what I did. but that's i used to remember uh we loved uh what was your game n64 007 we play 007 was hard we'd play golden eye was hard it was so

much fun oh it was so much fun because we'd all get together it was my favorite man and everyone want to be odd job because he's a little tiny one close to the ground. Oddjob is Bobby Lee. Bobby Lee is Oddjob in the real world. I remember this game so vividly, man. It was just so I'd play that for hours and hours. You just had to make sure you get your you can't panic. And you got to know how to cycle through your weapons

because that helps you. Because when you get nervous and they start coming you swipe, you know, you swipe up to the ceiling, you do all this goofy stuff. You start pointing. Yeah, yeah. And the guns, you're like, no, no, no. No, get the other target out.

You got to back up. Back up, back up. Yeah, that's what I love about that game. So now that when your kids do go, when your kids are out and gone, do you think you're going to start doing something else career-wise? Or do you think that's going to speed you up or slow you down? Because, like, I have friends, you know, like a good buddy of mine, Greg, his kid now is off to college. And he feels like now he kind of wants to shift up and, like, really start to get even more embedded in the business.

And some people want to go the other way. No, I want to turn up. You think so, yeah. I think because now I have more time. More freedom. But I also want to travel more, in the business. And some people want to go the other way. No, I want to turn up. You think so, yeah. I think I, because now I have more time. More freedom. But I also want to travel more too. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With the wife?

Yeah, me and wife, we could just do some of those trips that, you know, that we wanted to do for ourselves. You know, we took our kids everywhere. We did all these great family trips and stuff. I think that would be kind of cool. We want to go to Africa. I want to go to Egypt.

Have you been to Africa before? No. Never? No, no, no no i've been to nigeria my bad i went to nigeria and that was super cool i went to lagos and i want to do the ivory coast i want to go to ghana um i want to do um johannesburg yeah south africa i think I want to just kind of like maybe make my way around. And then I want to go to Egypt. I want to go to Dubai. I've never been to Dubai yet. Yeah, Dubai would be fun. Yeah. I want to kick it with the prince.

Yeah, I just want to hang out with that money, money. I feel like if you're cool enough, they might let you have a couple million. Hey, man, you guys just have a little. Yeah, yeah, just take a million to go. Just go cut out some money you want and take with you. If the buildings are made of money. Where's the greatest place that you went for work instead of vacation? Where have you worked that you got to travel there and it was unbelievable?

Oh, wow. Did you ever do a gig somewhere that you got to go shoot somewhere else? Or perform somewhere else? Well, there's two places that I think was really interesting. Going to Germany. And I did this thing for the military places that I think was really interesting. Going to Germany and I did this like, I did this like thing for the military,

which was really, really cool. Like a USO thing or no? Yeah. And so it was really cool. So you go to all their bases. You're right. So I went to Frankfurt. Frankfurt.

Frankfurt. I went to Stuttgart. Stuttgart. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, yeah. And I went to Kaiserslautern. Yeah, Kaiserslautern. Right's a good job. And I went to Kaiserslautern. Yeah, Kaiserslautern. Right?

That's what I say, right? Kaiserslautern. And... Yeah, we like Bill Bellamy. He's a funny guy. Yeah, so... Come back here and make us laugh, Mr. Bellamy. Please.

So we had a good time. And then we end up getting on that fast-ass train from Kaiserslautern to Frankfurt. And we partied in Frankfurt, which is like the Manhattan of Germany. Right, yeah, yeah. Went out and met people from all over the world. The craziest thing that I learned from that experience was that we need to be multifaceted with our language. Like, we only, like, most in America, people are lazy.

They got English and Spanish. But when you're abroad and you're somewhere in Germany, people speak French. They speak, obviously, English. They speak Spanish. They speak German. They speak Dutch. And they go back and forth.

You're, like, hearing every language. You're like, yo, I'm at the UN, but I'm in a club. Yeah, but imagine for them how close proximity they are. That would be like every three states that you moved to had a totally different language. If we went to Arizona and they spoke something else, we'd start to get used to it more. We're just spoiled. We don't got to worry about it. We're spoiled in America.

When I was in Germany, even when I went to Paris, obviously people speak French, but they speak so many different languages because it's so easy to travel. Like you said, you jump on a train. In two hours, you're over here. In an hour here. It's like, oh, my God. I was like, man. So I've been trying to learn more and more French. I want to learn.

So I'm working on Spanish and more French. Yeah, because I just want to learn. I'm like, man, I can learn some new stuff. I don't have to just settle with being, you know, simple. So I force myself to speak the language wherever I go. You're trying, huh? Yeah, so I get my Google Translate, and I just, like, make sure. Mademoiselle, ladies, you don't see people play.

You know? Like, I'm just. You're selling it, right? Like, I'm trying. Bonjour. Do they like it, though? They like it they like it though yeah they're like wait wait wait wait wait they see you trying this and then they pause and they go yes yes what do you want to eat yeah you know like even here when i speak spanish to spanish people they always go what do you want yeah like they act like they don't want me to speak Spanish. Like, I'm like, yo, I'm trying to get it.

They're like, ah, thank you. It's just they can tell when it's really authentic. Like, if you grew up with it and you're so fluid, they can tell. Yeah, I'm reaching. Like, my son is really, really good with his Spanish, and my daughter's really good with her French. Like, they, you know, they pick the language. But he won't do it, but I've seen him, you know, I'm like,

dang, you could really speak Spanish. He was like, ah, okay, whatever. Yeah, then he, they pick the language. But he won't do it. But I've seen him, you know, I'm like, dang, you could really speak Spanish. He was like, eh, okay, whatever. Yeah, he doesn't give a shit. Yeah, he's just lazy. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, when I was a kid, it was like you took a language class, but no one was expected to retain any of it. Right?

Right. Nobody gave a shit. It was like, yeah, take it. I'm just trying to get A. Right. Right. I ain't using this shit another day in my life. I was trying to get a C.

I was trying to see my way through that shit. I was like, can I get in and get out? Get out of here clean, baby. Were you good at school? Were you good in high school? You were good, huh? I was solid. You were a smart cat.

I was a B student. I was no A student. I wasn't trying that hard. I mean, I had pretty much mostly As and Bs. Were you an athlete in school uh-huh i played uh played basketball i played baseball i ran track um no football i did high jump no i was a little too skinny for that i didn't my parents wouldn't sign off on that one you're just gonna get yourself killed um that was one of the sports i thought I would have been really good as a receiver.

I really wanted to do that shit. And my parents were a little like, oh, my God, you're going to get all beat up and you're going to be broke up and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, ugh. They didn't let you do it. They didn't let me do it. What did your old man do? What did your dad do for a living? My dad, he actually was a supervisor at a warehouse.

He's blue collar like James Evans. My dad did every actually was a supervisor at a warehouse. He's blue collar, like James Evans. My dad did every kind of job. My dad did security. My dad drove big, big trucks, commercial trucks and stuff. I couldn't understand how my dad could drive something so big. He did that. He worked in the warehouse. He ended up getting out of the truck and ended up running

where all the packages... It would be back in the day like what Amazon is now. If you were to imagine the back of Amazon and all that stuff that's going back there, he was that guy running that stuff and doing that kind of stuff. Did your mom work when you were a kid too? Yeah. My mom worked

at a place called Novartis. Novartis? Novartis? Novartis, they're a huge pharmaceutical company. Oh, nice. And at that time they were called Sandoz, S-A-N-D-O-Z. And she was what they called a research and development line operator. So like, for instance, when you see all the medication going down the line, there was what they call protocol and there was SOPs.

So there's certain things that have to happen every time or that line gets shut down. That line could get contaminated. That line could be like, okay, well, we find out we're gonna stop from here back because these you know these capsules they had gel caps they had um um uh suppositories all that stuff that medicine was going in it it's almost like robots yeah it is she was in control of all that stuff and you know she did that for a long time and i even got a chance to um do like a summer job there working at the pharmaceutical company i was like i'm not gonna do this shit i'm good i'm gonna be a star i'm gonna be a star one day i don't think i want to wear the hairnet and be here we're looking at capsules all day right what was the moment of your first big break

like what like was it do you remember, like, the first thing? Big. You were like, shit, this is it. This is it? Like, I'm making it a career now. Like, I don't have to worry about, man, do I got to get a day job? You know, because we all have these, like, fluctuations in our career. But was there a moment that you were like, shit, man.

My most definitive moment like that was when I did Def Jam. Def Jam, yeah. Because I knew when I do this set that I got this eight minute set it's a wrap on the world I knew

without a shadow of a doubt nobody had a better set than that that's how I felt about it and I was like yo and now

I was the first comedian on the first show of Def Comedy Jam you had to come out first I taped last but my set was so crazy, they switched. They wanted you up front. Do you remember who else

was on the lineup? Ah! You have to look it up. Come on, here, look it up. Let's see who else was on this lineup. Who was on that lineup? Season 1. Was that D-Ray Davis? No, you gotta go season 1. I was gonna say that. It's way later. I was on the first episode. Bill Bellamy, Laura Hayes, G. George, Ted Carpenter.

Martin Lawrence was the host, right? Yes, yes. Go up to the first and let me see who else was on this. So on these first episodes, man, that's so wild. Joe Torre, Derek Fox, Yvette Wilson, Anthony Brown. See, I think that's so. I came out in. 92?

It was 92, I think. Yeah, 92. Def Jam comedy changed the game so much. And I think Russell had a lot to do with it in the sense of people were validated by Russell Simmons so much. They validated what was cool about that show. It validated you as one of the funniest comics in the country. It was just a stamp it's

just a stamp that was what that's all you need johnny carson was at one point it was like if you did deaf comedy jam oh yo you wanted the funniest comedians in the country period ain't nothing to talk about if not the world you would not you would not be on there if you wasn't right and so when i had the set of sets like my set, I just executed. I had my energy was right. I didn't stumble over words. I knew A, B, then I'm going to go to C, then I'm going to go to D, and I'm going to close on E.

And you did eight minutes, right? Eight minutes of fire. Fire. And my life changed. As soon as that shit aired, I was sitting on the tarmac like three, 1,003, 1,002, one, man. Right here, right here. That's the set right there. Right. And look at what you're wearing, by the way. Like, I'll try to explain to him. I'm like, you know, I tell my son, I'm son i'm like yo you know your daddy was fly yeah i came in a game fly did you know you wanted to wear a suit did

you oh yeah because i wanted to look like a star like i just that was on purpose i was like i gotta look like a star like i don't want to look like i'm homeless well because a lot of guys wanted to be flashy a lot of like yeah yeah there you are so that's that's the young comedian special so that led me to hbo that's when h started going, yo, this kid Bill Bell and me is next. Next thing. And so I went from that to the HBO's 15th Young Comedian special. We taped that in Tempe, Arizona. How old were you then?

I was probably 26, 25, 26 years. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you something funny about that. Guess who was on that show? On the Young Comedians one? You ready? Yeah. It was Andy Kindler.

Yeah. Janine Garofalo. Wow. Nick DiPaolo. Wow. And Ray Romano. Wow. Can you believe that?

My rookie ass was in there with Ray Romano, and Ray Romano went ham. Can you believe that? My rookie ass was in there with Ray Romano, and Ray Romano went ham. He went crazy. Judd Apatow was on that one. Apatow. And Dana Carvey hosted it. What? That's even crazier.

Bro, look at that lineup, bro. That's fucking wild. And the craziest shit is Janine Garofalo ate it, and Andy Kindler ate it and they went on before me on that show and I said

oh my god and you crushed it was over I was like yo not me how did Ray Romano do killed Ray was great

hey alright guys good to meet you bro you know he always had that kind of vibe he's cool man hey man

he's so cool Judd what did Judd do what did judd judd look where judd started and like people just think he's like the best you know uh screenwriter guy he's a stand-up yeah he was a stand-up he's a stand-up like that's me and judd right there together that was what what year was that night 92 probably filmed in 91 right right? Yeah, aired in 92. I'm on the ass, Andrew. Do you remember buying that suit? Do you remember getting that suit, that red suit?

Yeah, I remember where I got that red one from. Where's that red one from? I got it in Jersey City. Because this guy, this African brother be like, Mr. Bellamy, you have to look good. You know, you have to look like a star. So he was like, come to my store. I'll give you good deal, good deal.

Do you remember how much that suit was back then? It was probably like $500, $600. It wasn't too bad. $500's a lot from 92. Yeah, for me, in 92, yeah. 92, that's a lot. But then, you know, I would have spent way more than that. What's the most foolish thing that you think you've bought,

that you've spent the most money on? Stupid money? Yeah, dumb shit. Dumb shit. Well, you're like, come on, Bill. I'm going to tell you the funniest shit I did. Yeah. So I was on MTV, and I was going to interview Michael Jackson, right?

And this was for a history album. And I was interviewing him, and I was the guy who was introducing the the video to the world so michael jackson is the first artist to premiere his video on every network simultaneously damn that's big time that's huge that's that's bro that's like groundbreaking see i'm standing right there so that that suit that i went and bought right there was Armani. It was $3,000. In what year was this? This was 90, what was it, 94? 93?

It doesn't say. Does it tell you? What album was it? History. Wow. Armani? Armani. Armani, five grand?

Five. 95. It was 95. So I went to Barney's, Barney's Men's Store on Park Avenue. I was going to say, it's got to be on Park Avenue. Yo, when I tell you, that men's store used to be the bomb. And I say, yo, I got to look like a star for this shit. I got to look, because Mike, I know Mike was going to wear some captain shit, something fly.

You see, Mike always came like he was like a goddamn captain of a cruise ship or some shit. Toot toot. Yeah, toot toot. So I was like, yo, I'm going to wear some flowy shit that's going to be dope. And let me tell you what's funny about that suit. That was a $3,000 suit, right? I had to leave the tags in it because MTV wouldn't pay for it. I had to take it back.

That's a wild era, too. That's also, well, when we talked about this, you were in a Tupac video. Temptations. But he wasn't in the video. No, because he was in jail. He was in jail. And he wrote me a letter. If I could go back to my, go to my mom's house and go through, I might have it still in one of them.

It's probably be one of those classes. He wrote you a letter from jail? Literally. It had Rikers Island, da, da, da, da. You get a, you know, serial number, this, that, and the other. He's like, yo, B, man, I appreciate you. I love you, man. I'm be out of here.

They got me locked down right now. I'm just asking all my people, my favorite people, man. I appreciate you. I love you, man. I'm gonna be out of here. They got me locked down right now. I'm just asking all my people, my favorite people, man, to hook me up, man, with this new video I'm dropping. It was called Temptations. And Dave Nelson was

the director. And Coolio was the guy that was going to go shock G. The one that put the satin on your pants. And Ice-T was in director. And Coolio was the guy that was going to go shock G. Right. There's a- The one that put the satin on your pants. Yeah. And there's Ice-T was in it. Yeah.

Kenya Moore was in it. Jada was in it. Warren G. Warren G was in it. Yeah. Everybody. Yo, it was- And I was in the scene with Jasmine Guy in the bed.

That might be- I don't know if that's Taye Diggs. Was that Jada? That's me. There you are, though. Waving people over. Yo, look at this. Yeah, I'm about to get that Jasmine Guy booty. Yo.

Hip-hop videos were basically light pornos. It was like baby porn. Baby light porn, man. Look at this. I'm licking the... I was a player, player. Shit. So he wrote you the letter just thanking you, saying thanks for doing all this.

And what was so dope is when he did get out, I got to interview him. So when you go and watch Tupac and Bill interview, that was where he was like, yo, I'm fucking with you. Like, he came and gave me my interview first before he did MTV News. That's wild. That was dope. Yeah, but we was friends before that, though. Like, you see right there.

There we go. Yeah. Fresh out of jail. California dreaming. What rapper were you the closest with, you think? Let's see. Like, who was were you the closest with, you think? Uh, let's see. Like who was someone that you considered such a good friend? Like Pac, Tretch, Warren G.

Me and Warren used to, man, this is, man, Warren was one of the most competitive Madden players ever. Loved Madden. When Madden first came out, Warren G was the first person I ever played for money and he smoked my ass. And it was, this is like when we would be

doing them shows where I'm hosting. They always brought them, brought the, the Segas. Yeah, they bring it with them. They bring it with them. Hey man,

something wrong with this controller, homie? No, it's you. It ain't the this controller homie no it's you it ain't the controller homie that's that west coast are you still are you still close with people like like artists from that era you're so close with guys today i just never really had a um you know i never had a bad time with anybody man it's like uh recently i just you know i saw dr dre and we just started you know we was just like man damn dre like it's like uh recently i just you know i saw dr dre and we just started you know we was just like man damn dre like it's crazy though what we've been through together like he's like man it's crazy anytime you won't come to the crib man come see the new studio blah blah blah like i i want to do that kind of stuff and follow up on it because i'm so busy i'm doing this and i'll be

forgetting but like guys like snoop dre warren guys, guys that we kind of came up together. Whenever I see Jay-Z, we always just got that smile because it's like, yo, we came up together. You grew up together. We literally grew up in the business together. When I see Queen Latifah, it's like, oh my God, Bill, that's crazy. I ran into Usher, right? You know, Usher was probably 15 when he first came in the game. And I remember his first album, you know, when he was coming up.

And next thing you know, he had Confessions. And I went to see him in Vegas. His show is Bananas, by the way. If you want to go. Oh, he's doing them right now, right? Oh, it's great. Like, he probably got the best show I ever seen in Vegas, his show is Bananas, by the way. If you want to go. Oh, he's doing them right now, right? Oh, it's great. Like, he probably got the best show I ever seen in Vegas, like, outside of Michael Jackson shit.

Like, his show is immersive. It's like you have a good time. His DJ is crazy. He's amazing. He's got dancers and skaters. You'd just be like, you'd be like, I should just went right by me. Whoa.

You know what I mean? It's really well done. So when I see guys like him, and I'm like, wow. I used to see Mariah all the time. I haven't seen Mariah in a long time. But me and Mariah Carey came up together. It's just like, oh my god, Mariah, you're so nice to me.

She's like, Bill, you're such a good guy. Oh my god. I saw Toni Braxton when I was in New York promote my book, and we just hugged because it's like, it's certain people in your life that you just really lock in with. Look at me and Mariah. It's so funny to grow up. We were in Hawaii together right there.

You grew up in this era, but then also grew up with these people. I mean, it's almost a thing you can only look back on and really understand it and feel it. Because when you're there, this is just your life. But then you look back and you're like, man, that was a revolutionary time. Dude, I remember the first time I saw Eminem and I was like, Dr. Dre's crazy.

You thought he was trash? I didn't think he was trash, but I was just like, yo, this is kind of gimmicky. Like the My Name Is? Like, My Name Is! My Name Is! My Name Is! And I was kind of like, God, this little shady. I was like, okay,

Dr. Dre, you may be. You might have missed on this one. Shit. Proved me wrong. Did not miss. That goddamn Eminem is the truth, boy. Shout out to my man Eminem. My bad. I just didn't know.

I mean, coming from the Chronic and Snoop and, you know, the Dog Pound gangsters and all this, and you got Slim Shady. And he sold more records than all of them. Yeah, that's a fact. That's a fact. He swung hard, though. But that is interesting to think. It was so different. Well, at the time, too, like,. That's a fact. He swung hard, though. But that is interesting to think. It was like... It was so different.

Well, at the time, too, like, white rap prior to that. Which is Vanilla Ice. Vanilla Ice, really. And Beastie Boys. And Beastie Boys, yeah. But, I mean, they were so... Beastie Boys were so... I always felt like Beastie Boys was like a cool hip-hop white boy band-ish.

It was hip-hop. No, that's kind of what it was. Yeah, you know what I mean? It was almost like a band that does a little bit of hip-hop. Like, that's kind of what it was. Yeah, you know what I mean? It was almost like a band that does a little bit of hip-hop. Like, I never felt like they were a run DMC. Well, I mean,

see, you know, that's what I'm saying. It's like hardcore Beastie fans are like, yeah, and Third Bass. Yeah, Third Bass. Yeah, like Third Bass was like fly.

Like, I see Search every now and then, though. And, you know, we text and stuff and he'd be like, yo, Bill, man, you come through Florida, man. Team up with me.

He's a really good guy. But these were all kind of the precedents of white guys in hip-hop. And Beastie were kind of the most iconic of white dudes that were also bros, but that were embedded in the culture and were respected by the culture. Yeah. So I think Eminem was the first time people saw a white dude who was for real but not trying to be anything other than

he was talking about being from you know Detroit the trenches of Detroit so it was kind of like people were used to like fun party guys from New York but then they heard this white dude

really from a fucking terrible place. So I think it threw people off, and a lot of people at first... Because I didn't know if it was authentic at first. That's what I was saying. Who could know? Because I was like, Slim Shady, that ain't no real rap name. Like, what does that mean? Like, I didn't know. And then like, he just kept dropping hit after

hit after hit after hit. Unbelievable. Like, when we had House of Pain, you know, we had Cypress Hill, you know, they were dope, you know what I mean? They were real rap artists. Like there's nothing to talk about. Like, you know, House of Pain was tough, bro. Cypress Hill, they was real. They was like, you know, Fred Durst.

Yeah. You forget. Yeah, Fred was in there. Fred was in there. But this guy was the first time. Necro, yeah, Necro. He had some foul, foul shit. Necro, but I mean, someone like Eminem was the first time, I think,

suburban kids saw a dude that came from a place that maybe some of them came from, like a tougher area. It didn't have to be in the city. You could have grown up without any money and been a poor white kid and saw him and was like this is kind of how i feel yeah you know and he was speaking to that did that youth man and it was a testament to his to his talent and dr dray seeing it like dr dray was like yo this dude's dope i remember how he stayed he stood on it hard too he's like i saw him I saw him. And I was just like, yo, this kid dope. We getting in the studio and we ain't stopping.

I was like, oh, shit. Were other people around him like, don't work with him? No. I don't remember that. But Bill Bellamy was like, don't do it. I was lucky enough to be around Dre from Snoop. So you got to understand. So Dre was producing from Snoop. So you got to understand. So Dre was producing for Snoop.

Then it was Daz and Corrupt and all these guys that were under that umbrella of Def Ro. So at that time, I'm around these cats. So I'm getting sneak peeks of this, that, and the other. And when Dre left and went to Aftermath, I'm still communicating and whatever. And he was like, yo, I got this new artist. M and M.

He's going to be bigger than everything. I'll never forget. I was like, what? He was like, watch. We in the studio right now. We bringing it to MTV. And he was gone. Because he was controversial, too.

He was saying all that shit that you know like he was like the angry white boy he was like and he was saying it in a clever way but he was getting he was getting in trouble remember oh yeah people was like the elton john thing yeah they was trying to give him a hard time but it blew him up it only made him bigger it only made him bigger well because everybody knew that as like like anything like we're dancing in the same world as comedians. It's like anytime somebody gets mad at something that you say and you're like, you know, you can tell if the artist's heart is in the right place.

They're doing it for entertainment factor. Yeah. Not because they're, you know. We're not trying to be disrespectful or whatever. It's entertainment, man. Man, we're like as comedians, and this is one of the things I just want to say about this cancel culture thing, especially when it comes to comics, like, you gotta understand, like, our job

is to be the eyes of the culture, eyes of humanity, eyes of relationships, ups and downs in life, and take a simple aspect of life and flip it. You can't be so soft-skinned that,

you know, oh my my god he said something about divorcees oh that's a real situation that people go through right and maybe you got to take on it that's hilarious like i love bill burr like bill burr has such a great take on racism such a great take on being you know an irish guy and you know marrying a black woman and this that and the other and he puts it out there so beautifully for someone's gotta say it yeah and he doesn't care and he's whining about it i love it oh i don't listen you know i love bill burr like that's my god man he's so fucking money to me but like i'd never go oh oh my god he hurt my feelings i'm like yo bill that's, that's crazy.

That's funny. Yeah, because honestly, it's like someone has to take, if you're going to want comics to be these, you know, these lenses into what's going on in the world, it's going to come at some risk that you're not going to enjoy what they say. You ain't going to like everything Bill Bell and me say. I get it. I mean, that's life.

You know what I'm saying? But if there's a couple things in there that I could do that might make you go, wow, I never thought of it like that. That's kind of true, though. That's worth all of it. That's it. That's all we try to do is be like, yo, me too. When people leave your show, they're like, yo, yo, man.

I said the same thing in the car yesterday. You know what I mean? That's what you want. To resonate. I love you, buddy. I appreciate you coming. Please watch, listen to, enjoy, indulge his podcast, Top Billing. Top Billing.

Go get the book, Top Billing. Available everywhere. Yes. It's the internet. You know you can find it. It's easy. Amazon. Amazon.

It's a normal. They'll drop the book off by drone. That's right. We end the show the same way. You look into that camera right there. You say one word or one phrase to end the episode. Whenever you're ready, say one word or one phrase. Doesn't matter what it is, but it's going to end the episode.

Look in that camera when you're ready. Extraordinary. In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. you're ready. Extraordinary.