To go back to earlier, I want to talk about Smart Guy, right? I had Jason Weaver on the platform, and he was telling me how y’all had a hard time wearing what y’all wanted to wear on Smart Guy. Y’all had to get permission? >> Yeah, well Yeah, when you’re on TV, too, you know, a lot of things they’ll they’ll We would wear like Nike and Reebok and stuff, and then we would cover up the swoosh, and we would cover the sig mean like you couldn’t wear certain things, you know, like the brands, they had to be cleared.
Um But yeah, they did they were strict on that. It wouldn’t It didn’t want to be in a problem. We wore like a lot of cross colors. I think we were sponsored by like Karl Kani at one point. I know we had a Reebok deal at one point. So, it wasn’t that big of an issue, but it was. It that that that was a fact.
Um Smart Guy, yeah, that was that was woo, that was some fun [ __ ] right there, bro. From a standpoint of a role that was one of those made for you roles. Like when I did Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper I had to tailor Ervin Rodman to me. Like they just wrote just lines. Hey Coop, what’s up? I had to take it and go, “Hey Coop, what’s up?” I had to put extras on it. I had to make it.
I had to do this. Smart Guy was beautifully written. Every line was we laughed, the table reads were hysterical, and then we get up there. Well, they didn’t even have to do many rewrites, but they would, but they would just punch up jokes, and it would just be like the the originals, but Hood Safari and all the stuff Oh, man, it was the people that were on there, I don’t forgot how many people were on there.
I see episodes now myself, I’d be like, “Oh, shit.” Um Destiny’s Child, oh my god, I can’t believe we had Destiny’s Child on there. When it was all the children, it was the full four children. And they And they was I remember you know, one thing one thing I’d say about Destiny’s Child that was kind of was kind of fun is it was work, you know what I mean? We’re always real professional.
I’ve always, you know, professional. People like, “Oh, what did you get?” The only time I got with somebody to gain was with the Baby Boy and me and Angel, but we you know, we kind of have a history before him. Anyway, but with Destiny’s Child was crazy because they were just like, “Yeah, y’all should come to our our performance.
Y’all can see the real Destiny’s Child.” We like, “Aw, what you mean the real Destiny’s Child? Like, who do you do? Yeah, what is that? You know, your daddy ain’t going to be there?” Like, um Then we saw footage after but we didn’t go. We were supposed to go to the Greek Theater. Who knows? Things could have been different.
Things could have been a lot different. That’s all I’m saying. You just you never Jay-Z, listen, it could have been a lot different, bro. No, no, no. Um But I didn’t get to We didn’t get to see them live in concert and it’s kind of funny because I noticed that like when I saw um when I did Hangin’ with Mr.
Cooper, when I saw Mark Curry live do his stand-up, holy, it was a whole different beast. He’s so funny even now. His his his timing, his storytelling, the things he can talk about on set. And it’s it’s Mr. Cooper was just a fraction of him. You know what I mean? And even with Destiny’s Child, them on there was like, “Oh, that was cute.
” And it was this wholesome blah blah blah. They get on stage and they were like, “Oh, [ __ ] wait a minute. This is something else, you know?” And um I res- I respect the hell out of that. That’s what That’s why so blows my mind that I do stand-up now cuz I was something I never thought I would do. Sorry I went all over the place there, you know.
>> [laughter] >> We talk about clothes. I don’t want to >> I can only imagine how fun it was being on Smart Guy Sit. I know that had to be insane. >> Woo! Woo! It was It man, it was awesome. And then I mean, me and and Jason were really close. He was younger than me so I always felt like he was my little brother.
And I took him under my wing and my boys be- he became part of my crew, you know what I mean? So he he’s talk about Cuzzalo and Nash and Meazy and Wayne and all that. Wayne was his cousin, Bruce Wayne. And we do We still do music to this day. And um and Focus, we was all we was a clique, man. We’d go to Vegas every weekend, man.
>> [laughter] >> We was every weekend. We’d come off the right to the set coming off the 15 freeway. Like, okay, we got to get on and get to get up, man. We two hours, 1 hour nap, and then and then get after it. But, it was just such a fun show, and then we were at that age, too. You know, he was a little younger, so he was old enough to go to Vegas.
I was about that. We was I was Yeah, I was 21, 22, 23. Yeah, cuz then in ’24, I did Baby Boy, but um Oh my god, it was a good time. First apartment, no, second apartment. Second apartment got apartment right across the street. I was late every day to work, every day. Never get a Never live right next to your job. For some reason, you get later.
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I don’t know. That was me. Smart Woo, Smart Guy got his [ __ ] in. >> Yo, I had no idea that one of the reasons why Smart Guy ended is because Todge, he wasn’t getting paid right? >> Yeah, no, that’s what I talked about earlier. It’s just it He They should have paid him more because he was the lead. It’s just that simple. But, here’s what the thing is.
This is This is where it got me and I cannot I I I’m sorry if I put it on him. It’s not his fault that the show got canceled directly. Uh He was right, but it’s what they did and how they did it. But, you just got to know. Sometimes, you got to bite that bullet, and it sucks. It’s not compromising.
It’s Oh, you just said you got to No, no, no. We agreed to do the show, and we all knew we’d all get paid the same thing. But, why would we care? You know what I mean? It’s tough. When you’re the lead, there’s responsibility. You have to have lawyers that get your contract situated a certain way. But, he agreed. And we said after the first They always say this.
After the first year, if it’s a hit, then everybody going to get paid. That’s what they always say, no matter what the show is. And we had the same contract for 3 years, bro. And it was like, you sign a contract, you do year one. Then it becomes a hit, cuz you got picked up. Now, you do year two. And it’s a hit.
So, you get picked up for a three. And now, halfway through a season three, [laughter] you’re like, “This.” It’s like, “No, no.” You can’t be halfway through the You got to say [ __ ] this before the season starts, bro, because I think the issue with what he did, which is I you know, his hands were tied and he probably figured what else can I do? I’m I’m just not showing up for work.
How about that? No, man, you’re disrupting too much [ __ ] That’s no. Make your stand before the season starts, then there may be time to negotiate so forth and so on, blah blah blah. But if the season’s already going and you decide, now you’re [ __ ] [ __ ] up, bro. You know what I mean? Now you’re causing problems that could have been avoided.
So they’re like, well, how about we just cancel your show? And it’s like, And it was weird because when it happened I’m in real time, it was like, All right, uh here’s the script for next week. Cool. Tasha’s not going to be here. >> [laughter] >> What do you mean? No, there’s No, no, there’s no there’s no Tasha.
Uh so we’re probably going to be heavier on like Marcus and Mo’s storyline. No Tasha, huh? Was he sick or something going on? You know, where is that? No, he’s sitting out cuz of the money issues and contract. What the [ __ ] Okay, show must go on. All right, so you said more lines for us. And what are we going to do? Oh, we should all stick together. Everybody sit out.
Uh What? No. No. Um because we didn’t feel the same way. Sure, was it unfair? But it also goes back to what I was saying earlier, bro. Like, uh we’re on the WB network. We’re a black sitcom, one of the last. It’s you’re fortunate. You’re at where you’re at. Now, ooh, take what I give you, but at the same time, kind of you know, there’s other opportunities.
Here blah blah blah. But this one here, we love the job. We would never want to sit out. We love that show. All of us did. Obviously, you know, Tasha had his issues, but you know, I I think you make your you make your demands, you make yourself known, but then you show up to work, bro. You got to do your job.
You’re paid, you agreed. Yeah, but the numbers are different and I feel this. All right, we hear you. Now go do your [ __ ] job. No. Okay. No more job. That’s it.
