Transcript of D.L. Hughley on Charlie's Boy and the Conversation He Never Had

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It's a shame that the best conversation I ever had with my father was when he wasn't here anymore, because he just never shut up and let it happen anyway. So—

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, and today We're having fun with someone who is on my Mount Rushmore of comedy. You can go back a year and a half ago, see the social posts that I put out there. We're talking to the dynamic, the legendary Mr. Charlie's Boy himself, my guy, Mr. D.L. Hughley. D.L., how you doing?

How you doing, big daddy? Thank you, man. That's very nice. How are you?

Man, I am honored to be here with you. I've told you right before we got on, man, I've looked up to you for so long. Like, you are my GOAT of comedy. I tell everybody the greatest dead or alive is D.L. Hughley, bro.

Oh man, I, I definitely appreciate that. Thank you very much, man.

Yes sir, yes sir. So D.L., man, I love starting my show by asking my guests about their because, that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Like we've, we've done the start with why, what's your why. I like to go a little bit deeper because if I say, well, why is that your why? that sentence usually starts off with, well, because. And to me, that tells me who everybody is. So if I were to say today in 2026, D.L. Hughley, what's your because? What's your purpose now?

I think because we have, uh, uh, I think because I think we're on the verge of, of being, uh, running out of, uh, faith and hope. And I think, uh, that is, uh, That is a very precarious position to be in.

Yeah.

And so I think that it's important. I guess faith is like anything else. It has to be exercised. It has to be used. It has to function. And I think it feels like as a community, we're in jeopardy of running out of faith.

Man, you are so spot on with that. And, and that's why I love you, man. Like, yep, you're funny. You're gonna give it to us every time. But when I connected with DL Hughley, it's because that's who you are, man. Like, you are— you care about community. You care about people. Like, I could tell stories of backstage with DL Hughley in between sets, right?

Yeah.

Like, like, you know, you got the 7 o'clock set and then you have the 9 o'clock set. I'm in between shows with DL backstage. We are drinking bourbon, we are watching the Lakers play, but then you were mentoring me on this media game, right? 'Cause my podcast was like a year old then. You were telling me—

And now look at you. Look at you now.

You gave me the advice. You told me exactly what to do. But here's what's crazy. We talked the entire time you were offset to when they are announcing you for the next show. Like, I've never seen that in my life where you literally talked to me until it's like, and coming to the stage, D.L. And you just like, all right, baby boy, I'll see you next time. And you just walked up to the stage. Like, where do you get that from? Where most comedians, most people in general are just taking that moment for themselves. You were like, nah, I'm gonna mentor you. Like, let's talk through this a little bit.

Well, I think it's like I said, it's like a muscle. You gotta keep working it. This— there is a synergy. Um, um, it's like, it's not too much different than the symbiosis between a tree and, and humans. Like, they both give each other something. And I think that human interaction is like that too. And I think that that interaction helps me be a better performer and be a more informed person, a more empathic human. I think the whole time There's an old expression that a really good friend of mine says, and I think it's true: whatever you're looking for is looking for you. And I think sometimes that's connectivity, sometimes that's a through line, something. So I think you get as good as you give, you get as good as you get.

Amen to that. Amen to that. So I know we are here to talk about Charlie's Boy, and your team was awesome enough to send me a little pre-copy. And here's what I'm gonna put out there in the universe. This is my Unplugged truth. It's already about to be a national bestseller, bro.

Oh, wow. I hope so.

To get that side of you and for you to tell the story the way that you did, man, like, let's talk about Mr. Charlie. Let's talk about Mr. Charlie.

I think he was like a lot of our fathers back then. He was a man of few words. I think— I don't know that men like that didn't know how to speak, or that they came from an era where nobody really listened to them anyway.

Yeah.

And I think that, you know, and like a lot of kids, you find out that— one thing that's consistent, I think, and I don't think it's specific to us, but I think it's pervasive in our communities, there are a lot of family secrets. And I remember when you were growing up, one way to get your ass good and beat was telling your mama's and daddy's secrets, let information come outside the house. And I suspect some of that was privacy, but some of it was that there were so many lies out there, they didn't want nobody finding out nothing from somewhere else.

Right.

And I think— you know what I mean? And so, um, um— and I also think that silence, to a lot of men in that generation, meant that they'd have to articulate the things that were going on. And I think that sometimes they didn't want to, Saying it out loud was much more— was probably difficult. It added a concrete and a realness to it that I think many of them wouldn't have been able to handle.

Absolutely, man. And one of the things— I see so many similarities between Mr. Charlie and my grandfather, because my grandfather pretty much raised me, right? And so one of the things my grandfather taught me was to move in silence. He said, when everybody knows what you have, you ain't got nothing. And when everybody knows where you're going, you'll never get there. And like, it took me until I was probably like 19, 20 to get what he was saying. And it was just like, oh, don't broadcast your stuff. And now in this social media world, right? Like that's almost the norm.

And now you're a broadcaster. Your grandfather would be ashamed of you, man. You didn't listen to him. Don't tell your business, but every day I'll do it.

No, no, I tell D.L.'s business. I don't tell mine.

Oh, there you go. Touché, touché, touché.

Nah, but again, hearing you talk about Mr. Charlie, not just even in the book, but you've always talked about him. And one of the things that I love, because my grandfather was the same way, when you said, do you love me?

Right.

Like, break that down. Like, that tough love that we received is—

I don't know if it was— like, I got to see, Because tough love means, I just think they didn't know. I don't want to— it's like a majority, but I think he didn't know what to say a lot of times.

Yeah.

I think he— I think they think he didn't have, you know, love languages. You ate, right?

Right. You see these lights?

Right. That's— I mean, but you could ask him something, but it was never the question like, look, You ate, right? So I think having to say things out loud, I think had, and I think that our, generationally, I think those men had, I think duty is stronger than love. I do. I think that people will take a vow, but duty is stronger than love and it's stronger than a vow. Like people will cheat on their wife, but they won't cheat on their oath. They won't do that. You know, once you're in the military, once you're a Marine, you're always a Marine. There are oaths that you take, um, that you take and place above everything because you gave your solemn word. And I think that sometimes that is more resonant than love, and sometimes it is more resonant than the value too. And I think that those men were dutiful, so they didn't— it never crossed their mind to have to articulate an emotional connectivity. I'm— you're mine, I'll take care of you, and I got you. That to me is all we need to have. We don't— all that verbiage is kind of unnecessary.

So I think there's a resonance and a real solidness in duty.

1,000%. Like, I don't know if you remember this, but I remember the first time I heard my grandfather laugh. And I was like, wait, you laugh? Like, he was talking to one of his his homeboy. And I was like, you laugh? Like, do you remember those moments for you too?

I talk about this. I remember my father laughing 5 times, and everybody ran in the house to see what it was. And they didn't laugh, they broke. They broke in half. Like, it was like everything broke. Like, they could not stop snorting, tears coming out of their eyes. It was like... I think laughing out them was a frivolity they would never allow themselves. It seemed frivolous to them.

Yeah.

Um, I think tears seemed useless to them.

Yeah.

Any, any outward display of anything other than this was— but laughter is so insidious that it gets you whether you want it to or not.

Amen.

After— I think laughter— there are 4, in my estimation, 4 universal languages, and they travel everywhere. They don't need interpreter. There, there, there, there, you could— you— I think there's laughter. I think there's love. I think there's math. And I think there's art. And I think music, I'm sorry. And I think those are universal languages. And I think that every human has that, those things. You don't have to like all music, but you like something. You don't have to laugh at everything, but you're gonna laugh at something.

Yeah.

You don't have to love everything, but you're gonna love something. And math is, of course, you know, math is the same all over the world. So I think those things are as human as you can be.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So Charlie's Boy by D.L. Hughley, out. Everybody make sure you get it. I've got links everywhere. But D.L., why? Why now? You could have written this memoir. You could have written this at any time. Why now?

Um, it was a— it was a cheat code. It was really the chance under the auspices of talking about my life to talk about my father. Yeah, it was— it was a cheat code. It was the conversation I would have had with him that he never would let me have. It's my— it's my opus, my love letter to him. Remember, um, Marvin Gaye had that album, um, Here, My Dear, and he lost it in a— and remember, he had to write this album and he gave it to his ex-wife in a divorce settlement, and it was his greatest work. This feels like that to me. It's like, I'll never see him again. I'll never have an opportunity to have ever said those things. And so where else could I put it? You know, so it is, it is the only place it could have gone. And it's the only conversation I would— it's a shame that the best conversation I ever had with my father was when he wasn't here anymore. Because he just never shut up and let it happen anyway. So.

Yes, sir. I wanna move to a segment I call the Hot Takes. And I've been waiting years to make this statement to get your opinion on it, because you are like the source of truth for me. And I'm being very honest with that. So—

That's very nice, man. I can't tell you how much I'm honored by that.

My first hot take is this. I think people have confused being hurt with being offended, right? Like, I think people are so quick to say that they're hurt, but they're really just offended, right? Like, and we confuse that now. And I say that because my boys are in their 20s, and I hear some of these conversations that they're having with their friends, and somebody's real quick to say, oh, well, that hurt. I'm like, wait, are you hurt or are you just offended? 'Cause if you're offended, you can get over it.

I think that's really— it's the difference. There's no discernible difference. Like, do you know if you were getting ready to— if you took a graph of your body when it was sneezing or when it was having an orgasm, your body would know the difference. It's the same physiologic— whether it's the buildup, the climax, and the resolution, it feels exactly the same thing. And I think, uh, I think those, those are kind of, uh— there's not enough differences to make a distinct— it's a distinction without a difference. And I, I would say that it depends on your vantage point.

Mm-hmm.

But I think that they're all kind of the same thing. And I think that we live in a climate where, as uncomfortable as those things are, there is a corrective— you learned, most likely learned, how to comport yourself in public or around people. You learned, you know, the dos and don'ts, the societal dos and don'ts. But I'd say one of those things, right? Either you were hurt or you're embarrassed.

Mm.

You were hurt. So I think those things have a corrective quotient that is absolutely necessary. Like, you can't make a chocolate cake without salt. And I don't think you can be a well-rounded human being without being hurt or embarrassed.

Agree.

I don't think so. I think that, that, that you can't be in good shape without hurting a little bit. Yeah, you can't, um, be, uh, erudite and well-read without reading things that don't interest you. You can't. It's impossible. And so I think you can't be a fully formed human being unless you go through some of the things that you just talked about. I just, I just don't think it's possible.

I love that. I love that, man. That's why I want to have these conversations with you. I love that. I— my other hot take is this, and I've heard you kind of say it in a different way, but everybody wants freedom of speech till it's a person they don't want to talk to that has it. Yeah, right. Like, we've got— that's the ultimate freedom.

That's when it's free. It can't be freedom only if I like what you're saying. The test of that, the test of character is believing what you believe when it's inconvenient for you to believe it.

Yeah.

That's character. And so I think that we confuse, and people say it all the time, freedom of speech with freedom from consequences. That's not true. Or we oftentimes confuse it with the government infringing on your right to freedom. That's, you know, that obviously is enshrined in the Constitution. But freedom from consequences, freedom from— I think that we have a convoluted perspective when it comes to deeply held beliefs and our definitions of things. And I think because now we have fractured truth to just a slogan as opposed to being an unassailable thing. Like, I could literally say it's light outside and somebody would tell me how it's not and have a reasoned argument. And the truth of the matter is I can't prove a negative.

Yeah.

You can't argue and prove a negative. And I think that— and that's how we've gotten in the minutiae of truth instead of accepting it as what it is. And I think that it becomes easier to do that when you When you fragment the very— we can't even have a conversation that's rooted in what either— we both agree is happening.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that too. You know, I, again, a huge fan of you with your comedic genius, but also a huge fan of the human being that you are. And I've said that several times. I need people to understand when I'm giving you your flowers, I'm also gonna say this about D.L. Hughley, and I wonder if some of Mr. Charlie plays into this, but you are a great father, bro. And I say that because I see what you do with your children. Your children are a part of what you do, right? Like, you talk about your son all the time, and your son has been there with you on the show. Your daughter, like—

Right.

I love the fact that you make a priority to make your children a priority, if that makes sense. And as I got older, as my children got older, I understood that from you, right? Like, I make sure that I make my kids a priority because you showed me how.

Oh, man. I think I hadn't always done that. I think that I was very scared. And I think a lot of Black parents Mm-hmm. And the Black fathers, I would say, because I can't— I won't even pretend to know what women think. But the minute I became a father, there was a palpable sense of fear that I don't— it never went away, but it abated a lot. That you wouldn't be enough, that something would happen, that it's just a— you're afraid of everything. And because fear can be exhausting, you kind of have blinders on and try to get through a lot of things.

Mm-hmm.

And the dynamic I had with my children at first was just trying to make sure they had and they were OK and all that kind of stuff. The dynamic I have now is when you show up enough as a father or a parent, Um, there's a level of trust just in showing up, just in being there, right? Just in— like, to fill out a test, no matter how good or bad you do on the test, you got to put your name on it, and you got to show up to take it.

Right.

And I think it's like that. And I think, uh, I, I'm interested, uh, in, in having a closer relationship and a very close relationship with them because, um, a lot of the fear is gone. And now we're just people that made it through something, and then— and, and there's something we can all enjoy. And, um, my daughters, uh, said something, and I think they think I was going to be offended, but I wasn't. They said, we want a man who's just like you and a man who's nothing like you. And one married a Puerto Rican, and one married a woman. So...

They were right.

They were right! But it didn't offend me because that's 50%. Hey, man, if you in baseball and you bat .500, you a Hall of Famer.

Yes, sir.

I don't need— I think even in the book, there were things I found out about my father after he died that I really wish I had known. And not in a judgmental way, but it would have given me insight. And I think the one thing I don't ever want is my children to say they never knew me.

Yeah.

Because I make, I make a concerted effort, good, bad, or indifferent, for them to know exactly who I am.

And again, I'm giving you your flowers, man, because seeing you do those things gave me a blueprint of how to be that father, because I talk about my grandfather raising me because, like, my dad was physically in the household, but my dad was never emotionally there, right? I saw my dad every day, but I don't think he ever saw me, if that makes sense, right?

So it makes abs— well, I, first off, I don't think— I think that that sounds like most men I know of a certain age.

Yeah.

Because I wouldn't say that my father was emotionally there.

Yeah.

I would say that he left breadcrumbs of the potential of being emotionally there. But I think that wasn't the game. I think, you know, like, people always talk about, well, how come, you know, Black people don't play baseball anymore? Is it because they don't have many baseball diamonds? Baseball, you learn from your father. It's a very intricate game. It's math, it's statistics. You play catch, you— everything you learn about baseball, you learn 'cause your father taught you. And I think there is probably less of that than we would like. But the reason that it's, for instance, bigger in the Latin community, because there is a more communal aspect to that. That is where— and so it isn't about baseball fields. It isn't about access. It's not even about, I don't think, ESPN. I think that the dynamic that you learn things from your father has— And I, and I don't think it's because I, I, I don't buy into the notion that Black men are the absent fathers that society has tried to make us out to be. I believe that things have gotten so crucial that maybe we've dropped the ball on something, and sometimes that was a baseball.

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No, totally agree. You just brought up that there's things after your father's death that you wish you would have known. What's one thing that's in the book that you want to elaborate on?

My father— I work every day. I never take vacations. And it's because I saw my father do that. I always wanted him to be proud of my work ethic. Oh, whether he— whether I did anything. And it's— and this is even before I was an entertainer. I always worked hard at whatever it was I was doing. I wanted to be a hardworking man, and I think it's more of an obsession, um, and then, then, then anything else. But when my father died, all of his friends came to the funeral. And they started talking, and they worked with him, right? And they started talking about how— what it was like to work with him. And I found out my daddy didn't work at all. Like, he didn't work at all. He showed up to work, he played cards, he made, you know, younger dudes get the bags. They barbecued and shit. And then he went home. And he went home and played tired. Like, he was always dragging around like he was tired. And he didn't do shit. He really didn't. I was irritated by that. I'm like, here I am, wanting to make you proud of my work ethic, and you didn't have one.

Right.

Like, he didn't work. Like, I'm sure that to get to the point when you ain't got to work—

Mm-hmm.

But my father— and when I remember me and George Lopez were at my father's funeral, and he went, what are you gonna do? Like, George looked at me like, what are you gonna do? Like, it was— like, I would brag about my father's work ethic. Like, everybody who knew me knew— And he didn't do shit, like literally.

So—

And they sat up there and they were having these conversations while I'm at my father's funeral. And I was like, what? And that's just, I mean, obviously, it's something. What it did for me is I felt like I was disappointing him. in some way, because I already— he thought what I did for a living was frivolous. But I didn't want him to think I didn't work hard at it. But, but in some ways, I think it would help me be a more present father. And I think it— because here's the template. And I gotta at least do that to be like him.

Yeah.

And he wasn't even like that. That was so— I, you know, it would have, it would have helped me to you know, to, to understand that you, you can not go all out all the time.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's wild. So, so Mr. Charlie pretended— Mr. Charlie, I remember the whole tired one that pretended to work.

He was, he was a Teamster, so he didn't— like, how could they ever fire him? Yeah, yeah, he never My father, my father got a watch, a gold watch, because, you know, that's how they did them. He got a gold watch from Delta Airlines for never missing a day and never being late. And he throws the watch on the, on the, uh, the, uh, dresser, and he never wore it, just kept it in the case. He never wore it. So one time, why did I think, oh, this ain't a big deal to him, and I wore that watch? And when I came home with that watch, it was one of like a handful of times he actually was physical with me. And I thought he didn't, he didn't care about that watch, but he did. I was, I was messing with his leg, his life, right? His life. To him, that was a symbol of his life's work. And I was frivolous with it.

Yeah. Yeah. So You talked about him and what he thought of your career, again, early on.

Yes.

I want to go to what I call the room. Was there a room, a moment in time when you were like, comedy, that's what I'm going to do? Like, what was that first moment like for you when you said—

When I first picked up a microphone. Now, this is the weirdest thing. I grew up on 135th and Avalon. And everybody who everybody feared, loved, or respected was either— they were a gangster, they were a dope dealer, they were a good athlete, they were something— everything I wasn't, right?

Mm-hmm.

But I, I always felt so sad for them, even— and I could never articulate why. And the first time I picked up a microphone I knew why. I knew that I had found a way out. I knew it instantly. And I knew they never would. And it made me so profoundly sad. But the very thing that I was feeling all that time was empathy.

Hmm.

Empathy for a life that they would never— that it could never be as full. Already, I was thinking of the things I would see that they never would. And it instantly made me so sad. And it's made me sad for a very long time.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. See, it's those things that I'm learning about you now. And I thought I knew everything about DL, man. That empathy— empathy is a motherfucker sometimes, right? Like, like sometimes when we reflect back, and I never do the why me or the how come But sometimes, just like you looking back, I have friends like you that aren't here, right? Right. I have people that were my partners that, that aren't here. And it's just like, how did I get out? Or not even get out, but how did I—

It's survivor's remorse.

Right.

It's survivor's guilt, survivor's remorse. Yeah. And I, and I think, I think, I, I, I think that that's how bad That's, at some level, feeling like, why did you deserve it and they didn't? Um, that some kind of way you feel that you aren't worthy, or that even more to the point, that other people were more worthy. And, and why did you get this grace and this favor?

Yeah.

And I think, I think it's a very pervasive thing because it manifests itself in something like people trying to pretend like they're not, um, as far along as they are, or playing down their blessing. When you are blessed with something, if you don't appreciate it, if you don't lift it up, if it doesn't— if you don't amplify it, then whatever powers that be think you don't appreciate it, take it from you.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think It's not even a— it's, it's just such a— that's, that's— it's, it's what we do. What we do is very rare, anybody to achieve anything at all. And I'm not talking about— it don't have to be lofty goals. I, I never forget, like 3 weeks ago I was in Atlanta. I was going to see my granddaughter and I was going to have dinner with Killer Mike. And I landed at the Atlanta airport And this dude came up to me in the middle of the airport, and he was walking up to me. He kept wanting to talk to me. I'm like, man, I gotta go. And he pulls out a picture. He said, nah, man, just take a minute. He pulls out a picture. He said, you remember this? And it was him. And it was 25 years ago, and I met him. He was a homeless dude. He was homeless. He was dirty and homeless. And I met him at the Varsity, or J.R. Crickett's, in front of J.R. Crickett's.

Mm-hmm.

And I talked to him and I gave him some money. And I'll never forget, I gave him some money and he— I let him come to the show. And when I left, I had 2 days on the room, so I let him stay in my suite. And that nigga drank the bar dry. He drank the bar dry. And I hadn't heard from him, you know, it's 25 years ago.

Yeah.

That guy Is now, um, a homeowner. He's married, he has children, and he took a picture of that day. And he was— that picture, because he said he knew he would be different after that. I can't tell you what that meant to me. I can't tell you. It's 2 dudes, and I just— I could not believe that he had the wherewithal to take the picture and that he would be there when I landed. Like, how? Like, I mean— They would happen to be there. We just happened to be there. And I'm telling you, man, he looked tall and strong and had a wife and he owned a home. And he said, nobody can ever tell me nothing about you because I know you. And, and I— it just— I, I think that that level of humanity, not just from me to him, but him to listen to— it was just I think there's nothing as beautiful as loving mankind or loving humans.

Nope.

And I think that now it is seen as something weak or something obscene or something to be ashamed of. And I think I just— I was— it is one of the joys of my life to have a story like that. That someone told me about something I did.

Yep. And there's, there's a ton of those stories from you, brother, and, and I am one of those stories. And I'm gonna try not to get emotional right here.

But no, because don't start. This book is all right. There's only so much of this I could take. This book here, this book here should be sponsored by Kleenex.

So again, Charlie's Boy, make sure you go get it. I've got links everywhere. But here's how you helped change my adult life in the last 2 years. So we're at your comedy show backstage, I'm with you for whatever duration. And you're, you're coaching me, you're mentoring me, you're like, you're saying, hey, McMahon, like, this, this media business is different. And what you said to me, I'll never forget, because it changed my outlook on the whole thing. You said, you need to understand this is a game. And if you don't know the rules, then you're the one being played. And I was like, God damn. And so I said, well, what are the rules? And you started breaking down, understand how money is made, understand your percentages, understand the control that you actually have. Like, don't let anyone dictate things to you. You can say no. Like, you told me no is a complete sentence. You don't have to justify it. If you don't wanna do something, don't do it.

Right.

Brother, you don't understand that moment. I needed that guidance. I needed that mentorship. And it changed everything I started doing with my podcast. And then thinking of not just the podcast, but the brand of who I am and all of that. And I owe you so much, bro. So much.

Well, shit. Thank you, young man. I appreciate that. That's very, that's very nice. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I'm gonna get you out of here with my rapid 5 because I don't want to start getting emotional. I need a bourbon.

Right.

It's like 3, 4, 5.

I need a bourbon right now. Right, right.

So, so here we go. I'm gonna do this because—

Goddamn it.

Stop it. Stop it. I want to do this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I usually do 20 copies of a book that I love, but because of who you are to me and what you mean to me, and I've got, you know, your team and I've got their info, I'm getting 100 copies of this book. And the first 100 people on Instagram that message me Charlie's Boy, I'm gonna get your information and I'm sending you this book because to know DL is to know Charlie. And to know Charlie is to know my mentor. And my mentor is DL. He, like, I need people to understand who DL Hughley is, the core values that he has, the reason he drives so hard. The reason that he does what he does, you're gonna get in this book and it's gonna teach you life lessons. Like, you're gonna see moments of you in DL's story. So I'll have Yvette and the rest of the team, 100 copies. I'm ordering them now. But the first 100 people that message me on Instagram, Charlie's Boy, I'm giving you that book because my guy DL means that much to me.

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Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it.

Yes, sir. All right. Rapid fire. Let's, let's change some of this momentum.

Oh, now it's rapid fire? Oh, great.

Let's change this momentum.

Great. Great.

This bourbon about to get me choked up. So I need it. Um, who makes D.L. Hughley laugh? You make so many people laugh. Who makes you laugh?

Um, you know what makes me laugh? That I see the funniest shit on Instagram, but kids, kids really make me laugh. My granddaughters make me laugh. You know what's so funny? If my daughters or my kids acted like my grandkids, I'd have literally thought they were retarded. I would have thought something like this. I had to But because it's my grandkids, it's funny and charming. And they make me laugh so hard. I can't believe that I have never laughed at children this hard, ever. They make me laugh just— and I think part of it is because I don't owe them anything. So no matter how bad they turn out, it ain't got shit to do with me. But they make me laugh very hard.

There you go. There you go. What's one conversation that you think America keeps avoiding?

The conversation about who we are. Like, you know what the thing about this country is? I think that it's almost like when you hear a recording of yourself, or an audio version of yourself, and you go, that doesn't sound like me. And it's because you hear yourself from the inside out, but everybody else hears you from the outside in. You'll say, that don't sound nothing like me, and that sounds— and everybody else thinks it sounds exactly like you. That is how off we are as a country. We do not see how we are to everybody else.

Yeah.

We refuse to accept reality. We're a case study in contradictions. But full-throatedly, we cannot be that obtuse. We have to, we have to, at some point, understand exactly who we are. But we're pretending like we don't.

Hmm. That's why I love you, bro. Like, I think every time, every time, every time. If you had to give up comedy The radio show, commentary, what you giving up first?

Uh, I, I think they're not— and it's like, this is like, uh, the water that comes into your house is a source. Now you could use it, yeah, for comedy. I mean, you could use it to take a shower, you could use it to take— to cook, you could use it to wash clothes, you could use it— it's the source. And I think It's just the apparatus I access this from. So they all are the same thing to me. And they really are the same thing to me. See, here's what you are getting right now. There is a level of intimacy to take a microphone and to speak for people and for them to stay, because they have to invite you in.

Right.

movies are different because movies, you go see a thing. You go, you go with all these strangers. A concert, you go to it, you see a thing, right? You go, it's an event. It doesn't— it's not in your space. But this thing, people got to invite you in their proximity. They put you on when they are trying to distract themselves from things. Like, I'm driving, I'm gonna put on a podcast. I want to relax, I'm gonna put on a podcast. I'm running, I'm exercising, I'm gonna put on a podcast. There is a level of intimacy that cannot be approximated. And I think that's where AI will fail, because it can write all of these things, but the human connected— to be able to reach through an apparatus and demand people's— that's why they spend so much time ascertaining. You know how you— it isn't the amount of people that listen to you. You know what'll make you make money? How long they listen.

Yeah.

How long they listen.

Yeah.

Not the amount.

Right.

2 million people listen for a minute, but if 100,000 people listen for 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

Yep.

And the ability to make people wait and lean into what you have to say and to not have to ask permission to do it is, is, I think, the greatest thing technology's done for creatives. ever.

And that's the lesson you gave me backstage, because we were talking about, you know, 1.5 million listeners and downloads. And you said, great. What are your stats on how long people are listening? And are they re-listening? And I was like, I don't know. And you said, you need to go figure that out.

Well, you can, you can know, right? Analytics will tell you, right? You can know. And then, and then, and then the thing is, The funniest thing about this is, this is, you know, Alexander Graham Bell, in order to invent the telephone, he had to want to talk to people that weren't even there. Imagine going, you know what, I think I want to— that's exactly what you're doing.

Yeah.

I want to talk to people that aren't there. It isn't hard to get somebody to sign up for something they're not paying for.

Yeah.

It's hard to make them keep doing it. Yeah, it's hard to make them actually look at the free gift they got with proof of purchase. It's hard for them to access it.

Yep. Yep. 4th question. I promise we're getting out of here with 2 more. 4th one.

Long book, you can take all the time you want. Goddamn it, hang on.

No, no, no, I'm doing that because you're my guy, man.

No, man, I'm Thank you, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Thank you.

So, long day from work, you want to come home and have a nice D.L. Hughley beverage. Yeah, come on, baby boy. What you sipping on?

Come on, baby boy. It's gonna be— it's only one of two things.

Okay.

It's gonna be a gin martini or, or, or a little— well, 3 things. I, I— it depends. Like, if I Well, you know, like if I'm, if I'm getting ready to perform, I have half a martini and half a cigar, and then I go on stage. If I'm talking shit to somebody that I really dig, I'm gonna have a little bourbon.

Absolutely.

Or maybe rum, it's gonna be a dark liquor. And if I just want to talk a woman into doing something, it's, it's, uh, it's a tequila. There's a, there's a, there's a method to my spirit. My spirit consumption.

I love it. I love it. I love it. Last question. When the story of D.L. Hughley is being told, the last paragraph, the last sentence, what's one thing that's gonna be there? What's one word, one phrase you wanna make sure is there?

I can tell you that the phrase that I, that I, that I, that I know for sure that it is from me. It ain't none of my business. What people think of me is none of my business.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

So, you know, I just, I don't have any allegiance or any interest in, generally, in what people think of me. And that's good or bad.

I also have learned that from you. Because I, I have a cutoff button. And it's just like, all right, you might—

Like, why would I— like, people think that— people think access to you is mandatory. It's not. We live in a— this is à la carte. The only reason you hear me is because you choose to.

Yeah.

You don't have to hear me, but I ain't got to hear you either.

Yep.

I ain't got it. Like, I don't cut my comments off because I'm not— I think that people have the right to say what they want to say. And I don't want to ever feel like my feelings are so sacrosanct that I can't let people express themselves. I'm not gonna read them, but they have the right to post them.

Right.

And I think it's It is the price you pay for someone giving you their ear. And so that is not an expensive price to pay for me. But reading it, I can't invite you into my mind. I can't invite— the most expensive real estate in the world is what's between your ears.

There you go. There you go. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been my GOAT, my greatest of all times, Mr. D.L. Hughley.

Hey man, good to see you. Now what you sipping on tonight, young man?

Oh, I'm about to have a Double Oak Woodford as soon as I press end.

Come on, youngster, you don't know nothing about that.

Come on now. Look, the next time you're in Greenville, I got some bourbons for you. I got something for you.

Okay, okay, for sure. Have you had, uh, it's, it's really, it's like Wild Turkey Decade. It I know that. Well, I mean, I know it seems— okay, it seems— yeah. So let me show you something. So we're here. So this is my apartment in New York, right? So you see all that, right? All right, baby boy. I love you.

I love you back.

And I will see you very soon. Like we say when I'm getting on stage, see you on the other side.

Yes, sir. I appreciate it, baby boy. All right, man. Later.

All love. For sure. For sure.