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you'll be on the second floor as your other room will

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be on the fourteenth

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we we're for connecting run caesar

1:01

twelve years apart we

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ride ma'am but technically they're only eleven

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floors apart we don't have a thirteenth

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floor

1:08

reports be eleven for the way from

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our kids i don't see a problem

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stewart

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when you want separate rooms but not that

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separate it matters where you say only

1:18

hilton office confirmed connecting rooms at the time

1:20

of booking filters for the stay

1:23

for final episode this season

1:25

i'm happy to welcome author comedian

1:27

and actor tommy davidson onto the show

1:30

green from his book living conduct

1:33

a this tommy davis tommy davis in his sword

1:35

about

1:52

showtime at the apollo

1:57

performing in d c first

1:59

at the piano

1:59

and then at ibex and triples

2:03

i was doing comedy a places that weren't purely

2:05

comedy clubs that was good for

2:07

me to get my feet at first you're

2:10

just out there you know i mean you

2:12

, quite believe what you're

2:14

doing in there there exciting

2:16

an exhilarating is frightening and scary

2:19

and as a as out

2:22

to a comedy performing for almost

2:24

a year before i even went into the

2:26

comedy club the dc actually

2:30

i never been in one before but

2:32

i started going to this open minds at

2:34

places like garments it

2:36

opened my get the improv in d c around

2:38

then to that are

2:41

not broken in their yeah once

2:44

i do to the stage i needed to educate

2:46

myself about black entertainers audiences

2:50

in , clubs where where

2:52

learned a lot from the older performers many

2:55

of whom still perform on it's surface

2:58

they taught me to appreciate those they came before

3:00

came when who me disasters

3:04

i also learned a great deal of semi

3:06

on he says semi and white i

3:09

became an expert in what was said he saw

3:11

in houses laughter com

3:14

esses you know since it mama we all agree

3:16

yeah review and be armor

3:21

the sounds of normal theater

3:24

it , a whole world as

3:26

entertainment history to embrace

3:29

embrace it gives he alone com

3:32

an app has greatly inspired by

3:34

black entertainers who are part of part permanent

3:36

concert in the united states

3:39

i'm as americans without black for uk

3:42

they'll be nothing to talk about know blues

3:45

know jazz know gospel

3:47

no record low know elvis know

3:50

bob dylan internationally

3:53

the rolling stones and eric clapton would have had

3:55

no songs to mass to lost their careers

3:58

if there were no black socks take

4:00

away louis armstrong robert johnson

4:03

says he was at a star search very

4:06

miles davis know rigid

4:08

recharge your what are you

4:10

left with not only alamo

4:12

that no one is dance

4:14

the way that nikos brothers did north

4:17

, way the due to same sunday sunday

4:19

one's saying the way billie holiday for sarah

4:21

bond for ella fitzgerald ella they're

4:24

a part of what makes american culture makes great

4:27

black comedians have been making people laugh

4:29

for so long and so well and

4:32

white comedians you support our blackface

4:34

just to get a last month maybe

4:36

exist in our own galaxy of down richard

4:40

pryor there is comedy

4:42

before and after prior no

4:44

comedy today without the

4:47

artist i most admire as black

4:50

editor in jewish or

4:52

that's the guy with the one with or that's

4:54

i don't think those cook said there anymore for

4:56

me i think i'm judge now and

5:00

i may be living in santa suit land but i

5:02

think i'm judging i was a buffalo sammy

5:05

davis jr was a consummate entertainers

5:07

he could do it all the

5:10

dance and

5:12

he been doing it from the age of four when

5:14

he started performing on the streets of harlem simon

5:18

was all about last the

5:20

out a way of reaching the audience regardless

5:23

of his color for there's because

5:25

he spoke to the humanity and

5:27

that's been a role model a

5:29

goal for me the

5:31

back of my career there

5:34

was a success but it very local

5:36

one the clean out the strip

5:38

club where first performed we may my

5:40

home base for

5:43

a nineteen year old gonna work in a place for

5:45

the naked women that was

5:47

reason enough to show up hey

5:49

and out the dressing room with the dancers was

5:52

an education itself i

5:54

got good really fast i

5:57

was also appearing in d c i

6:00

would perform for mostly audiences

6:03

i don't really have betrayed max as

6:05

, wrong or why family had raised me

6:08

and they have been my first audience in

6:11

his early days i got to watch of a

6:13

young comedians working out the material one

6:16

of the people that stood out even then was dave

6:18

chappelle he grew up my neighborhood

6:21

to equal , a good size

6:23

she was kind of scared of us when we came around

6:25

boy the was an unknown

6:28

and wrong but like me he

6:30

, learning what works and what didn't that

6:32

takes years that's

6:34

are you build a career as comic you

6:37

know who was really funny the even back

6:40

then martin lawrence one

6:42

of the reasons that we were all gardens was

6:45

sinbad form their sinbad

6:47

headline on open mike night and

6:50

that was really big for me that's

6:53

where i first met martin the

6:55

at a uniform that

6:57

he always wore sorta

6:59

like guy eddie murphy raw and

7:01

he was funny witty wasn't performing the

7:04

was quite a guy almost died to

7:07

what on stage is now personality

7:10

came out where the most

7:12

part these weren't paying gigs once

7:14

in a while ago my friend rasool

7:17

van with his friend mike james

7:19

to military bases imaging your cabaret

7:22

that was it i performed

7:24

at the car bear that me all

7:26

the difference and was the start

7:28

a bigger things the

7:31

gotta be an amphitheater was a four thousand

7:33

seats summer venue it was run

7:35

by out there who was legendary d c

7:37

for program in both the fort du pont theater

7:40

and the crowd a ban for the national

7:42

park service it

7:44

was said it out dales summer community

7:46

programs kept the be some sweets and

7:48

deceased toughest neighborhoods yeah

7:51

we had me open for concerts and musical

7:53

acts the time i

7:56

was do a musical imitations in my act which

7:58

no one else was doing the that

8:00

set me apart and may be right to open for the summerstage

8:03

audiences no comic in dc

8:05

was doing beat shows like that so

8:08

i took a big leap pass a lot of the

8:10

local comics are performing in that

8:12

big venue i

8:14

would do a twenty minute set to get the audience

8:16

ready to hear some music i'll

8:18

prove evolution be king who and

8:21

the it's like same love come down

8:23

in i'm in love and support

8:26

an african american army grew from maryland

8:28

who later had later big hit object of

8:30

my desire as well as patti

8:32

labelle and even teenager

8:37

one night when i was open for melba more was

8:39

it a men's bathroom after going on stage when

8:41

a young senior in her band or

8:44

prose me saying he wanted to say hello

8:46

to shake me they

8:48

use a meeting patti labelle fans was

8:51

often including a large contingent of

8:53

gators guys though i

8:55

wasn't really sure about this fellows agenda

8:58

i really liked it was my hands but i obliged

9:00

anyway we talked a bit

9:02

and he was a great guy and he told me what

9:04

a sandy wasn't comedy soon

9:06

after he lost his career and

9:09

as are also gained open for three jacks

9:13

their spaghetti g e ,

9:15

like my comedy and invited me to a few cells

9:17

with them them wanted

9:20

prices white guy as and me go fonts

9:22

or with him but i quickly

9:25

found out is that kenny? g is really

9:27

here he was a good friend

9:29

that cuz she keeps the multi-instrumentalist

9:31

singer-songwriter who

9:34

have been apart of bt express and

9:36

it written evelyn champagne king's kit

9:38

i'm in love at what time

9:40

can you shared an apartment with kashif? kenny

9:44

g and patti labelle taught me a lot about your

9:46

business they show me what being

9:48

a professional man and what it took

9:50

to give a powerful and flawless performance

9:55

i learned work ethics committee who

9:57

practice for an hour before the show

9:59

this new spin and another hour for the sound

10:02

check status total of

10:04

two hours of rehearsal

10:07

can you did all that sues performers

10:10

would seem fair for this when he was onstage

10:17

it would not only do an arc or she

10:19

would always do more than no

10:23

one ever necessarily be i feel unsuited

10:26

i learned from her

10:41

as for comedy

10:43

i did it when mentor and ibex tap

10:45

into seats his , is

10:47

cathy it's it's didn't remember

10:50

his last his if i ever knew and

10:52

ever all he was established

10:55

and he had performed in vaudeville and it's the circuit

10:57

sagging trays to st sagging and detroit

11:00

he had open for a lot of jazz eggs

11:02

and it's own performance eggs be bought improvisation

11:06

he was a man's maybe ten a comic or

11:08

soccer league rumble a mother someplace am

11:11

league right down to the

11:13

rubber tappers

11:15

to i me laugh more the he kind

11:18

of any winter as back to pull me aside

11:21

db in a

11:23

one time you told me listen ,

11:25

me motherfucker motherfucker you ask

11:28

nobody's ask us

11:30

them no questions about what you're getting ready

11:32

you're do you , fucking do

11:35

those motherfuckers just to see those they

11:38

pay the ticket and they come to

11:40

see you and they they want no interview

11:42

no questions they just want you to

11:44

do it was the last time

11:46

you went to mcdonald's and told them how

11:48

to make a burger you ask for and big

11:50

mac and they'd given

12:02

the got a barren also do something else for me

12:04

the game he greater ambitions

12:07

because after successfully perform and it's got

12:09

a barren i decided decided to go

12:11

to be apollo the

12:13

apollo back there was some serious shit it

12:16

, not some cloud come out and making fun

12:18

of the performers and the audience audience

12:21

was a firing a you

12:23

it out there and you killed

12:25

or you were killed i

12:28

started going up to new york to appear in the legendary

12:30

apollo theaters amateur night today

12:33

everyone knows the apollo one hundred twenty

12:35

fifth street between adam clayton power

12:37

junior boulevard in frederick douglass

12:39

boulevard and harlem is filled with

12:41

million dollar apartments and hit

12:43

restaurants however

12:46

begged them throughout the nineties harlem

12:48

was dying the york was still

12:50

suffering from the effects of the crack epidemic

12:53

the main artery of harlem are

12:56

hundreds what he says she was she was of discount

12:58

stores and close and going at

13:00

a business stores there was no

13:02

terrorism the history life

13:05

the about it did it was self was being renovated

13:08

in hopes of improving the neighborhood

13:11

major , were really perform their

13:14

their a season was far from secure i

13:17

remember what i would have to new york and i'd taken the greyhound

13:20

to port authority which in those days

13:22

smell like a public toilet and was filled

13:24

with predators looking for easy marks

13:27

street from the bus out of the bus terminal

13:29

to catch the city by september it

13:32

was winter and it was subzero

13:35

you know when it snows in new york that

13:37

me dirty slash plateaus as big

13:39

as sinkholes everywhere in

13:42

a cinema with whatever outfit i put together

13:44

to form and with whatever raggedy

13:46

coat i was wearing was didn't do

13:48

much good i'm

13:50

waiting for his most like a bust a gun and

13:52

when i finally spotted finally the distance and

13:55

jumping up and down now is the joy

13:59

and all i'm seeking this man

14:02

i , with his own advice advice

14:05

then the bustos that slows down in

14:07

front of front in the saddle why

14:09

driver takes a look at me and

14:16

and i'm was his bus go off to the distance

14:18

and of cursing the magellan myself the

14:20

braves him again and when a with

14:23

his ass in in the same

14:25

thing happens with the next bus i

14:27

was determined to get to the apollo because

14:30

he had tradition well funded

14:32

the obama all the great it performed

14:34

on the weather stays louis armstrong

14:37

billboards angles robinson bessie

14:39

smith duke ellington diana

14:42

ross in the supreme sammy davis

14:44

jr james brown and

14:46

the famous flames jimi hendrix

14:48

and bob marley

14:50

and as mechanics

14:51

the have a pet lucy of graced the stage

14:54

as he had mom's mainly do

14:57

, pigmy markham and more recently

14:59

we had fox average had fox

15:02

you got be a richard pryor

15:06

this edition of amateur night at the apollo

15:09

theater still remain strong as

15:11

an inexpensive it fun way for african americans

15:14

to spend an evening among their own student

15:17

who's applause encouragement

15:19

to the entertainers who might one day become

15:21

famous immobile

15:24

days we got their start at the amateur night

15:26

were seventeen year old ella fitzgerald

15:29

it's jimi hendrix who won an amateur

15:31

musician concert and nineteen sixty

15:33

four when i took

15:35

the stage of the apollo i was still

15:37

too young and foolish to be afraid i

15:40

was just gonna do what i knew i could do it

15:42

it worked for the crowded gotta burn and

15:45

a new of a gold with the crowd the apollo

15:48

well cooper

15:49

the been a massive ceremonies fifty years

15:52

the at a reduced the contestants and

15:54

to back in this up those famous stairs

15:57

the lead from the dressing rooms to the stays

16:01

regarding the stairway to the stars because the

16:03

was were field with framed photographs

16:06

or performers like louis jordan aretha

16:08

franklin android price that

16:11

day may i was talking about what see people

16:13

knew living with roaches having

16:15

to go to work dealer with addicts

16:17

and drunk people are become

16:19

those characters like married drawn who's

16:22

always getting fired from his job for stealing things

16:24

he didn't know he had taken i knew

16:26

guys like that the justify

16:28

their reality i

16:31

had routines about black women the how they were psychic

16:34

they know all the bullshit before they say

16:36

it about the difference between the way

16:38

white women and black women get angry the

16:41

older white guys get a degree in short

16:43

sentences you're outta line

16:46

meanwhile the younger white guys

16:49

they get angry estate friendly at

16:51

the same time dude good

16:53

you know to do i

16:56

always did images of cigarettes as thou green

16:58

lou ross i need a baker

17:01

lana ricci michael mcdonald barry

17:03

white keep up bryson harold

17:06

melvin in the blue notes the skylights

17:09

blue magic the delfonics

17:11

michael , and rick james

17:14

in fact one of my bits that always killed

17:17

was imagining singers like rick james

17:19

or prince going to mcdonalds all

17:23

told i had about hours with the material

17:26

and it is so i would take a different

17:28

him in as a whatever dot will work best for

17:30

the performance argue

17:33

the summer a better one performers

17:35

after another and sell at summers

17:37

in was in the i

17:41

was good enough to even a new york times took note

17:43

in an article play and again at the apollo

17:46

top dog nine amazon

17:48

, live in nigeria six

17:51

reporters samuel g free was singled out

17:53

to see just how performers it looting

17:56

a comedian named tommy davis

17:59

the imitate the

17:59

star weekend

18:02

despite my success all season and

18:05

the presidents and i lost

18:07

to a seager david , in

18:09

the finals however as to my

18:11

performance to my black man

18:13

dressed in a disservice soon ty

18:16

approach week he was named sinclair

18:18

jones the glare

18:20

was in new york lawyer who live entertainment

18:23

in the entertainers more than law one

18:26

night and nineteen eighty seven sickly record i

18:29

saw comedian perform at the apollo

18:31

and i said to myself

18:33

this guy's incredible

18:35

ziegler crowd of the ten minutes the

18:38

cheeses life that comedian

18:40

was me the

18:42

time to clear was a lawyer one of the big sports fans

18:45

new york city and , happened

18:47

to be there that night he met

18:49

he seat is it oh my god i've

18:52

never seen anything like you

18:54

you're incredible

18:56

did you write your own ticket we

18:59

talked me branches and texan i get it back on d

19:01

c the glare came

19:03

down to dc to see me before miles say afterward

19:08

he sat down with me i said he believed

19:10

that i could be one of the most successful entertainers

19:12

anywhere he just see me do it not

19:15

just stand up it also tv

19:17

and movies is that was

19:19

all the sinclair had to say my life

19:21

and use will remain the same instead

19:25

regular made an offer san i'm

19:28

willing to put my money where my mouth is i'll

19:30

take you to l a four week next

19:33

business day with , place to stay

19:35

you perform at the close out there and

19:38

you're like it in all goes well

19:41

the human body or let manager career

19:45

sigma was willing to invest in me that

19:48

me all the difference the

19:50

think for one second as is your soon

19:53

enough were planning our we can l a i've

19:56

never been to california before

19:58

now

19:59

today today's the day every

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day on radio lab we have

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the story as old

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the time ah this story again

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war you get your bike

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hear to get my like any worse

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available wherever you listen to podcasts

22:26

davidson for reading and for closing out the season

22:29

he can pick yourself up a copy of his book living

22:31

in color available now at your local

22:33

bookstore

22:34

thank you to a mad at davidson and

22:36

prior our friends at kensington books and epidemic

22:39

sound production ,

22:41

by matt keeley johnny deutsche madison richards

22:43

and more than swear from nepal lama it it

22:46

media help from sylvia bell sylvia our

22:48

production coordinator is jordan aaron are

22:50

mixing engineers tim mixing plus editing

22:53

sound design scoring arranging hosting mixing

22:55

and mastering for this episode were done by

22:57

episode you brewer our executive

22:59

producers are myself jeff umbro of

23:01

the pa agglomerate and just and pa

23:03

of lit hub story

23:06

event will be going off the air for a little while but i

23:08

encourage you to please stay up to date

23:10

be at my sub stack [unk] dude brewer

23:12

dot sub stack dot com or

23:14

you can always follow me on twitter at jude

23:17

brewery i

23:19

really appreciate you sticking with us for

23:21

five seasons it's been an incredible

23:23

run you ,

23:25

i started doing this in two thousand and

23:27

sixteen i took a little reporter out

23:29

and i just started reporting my friends and colleagues

23:31

you know writers i admit on the road when i was performing

23:33

my own work writing

23:36

kept me alive for have so many

23:38

years and to spend the time that time have

23:41

for the past six years just from

23:43

storytellers telling stories storytellers telling bound

23:46

getting to experiment with format so much

23:48

as much as i have i'm

23:50

incredibly thankful again

23:52

thank you so much for listening the

23:54

see against

23:57

former trade

24:01

okay girls or goes

24:15

the duel voice overs for cartoons in this is

24:17

very different

24:21

i remember doing my arm do

24:24

an audio bursts

24:26

and say and i would never do this shit again it's

24:28

so hard

24:41

finding that missing send guard remembering

24:44

whether it's a home or away game getting

24:46

the right to to the right playing field on

24:48

the right this wire simple things

24:50

sometimes office suite

24:53

with auto owner's insurance doesn't have

24:55

to be what we work with independent

24:57

agents who live in your community and answer

24:59

when you call so you to worry about more

25:01

important things bird not be

25:03

that fails

25:08

you are independent agent of ottawa does make

25:10

sense for you