Transcript of How to Keep Going When Life Breaks You with Rickey Smiley New

You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back with another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, and today is gonna be one of the most personal episodes that I've had because I'm talking with a guy that you all know, but he changed my life and he didn't even know it. There was a moment in college where I wanted to give up and Rickey Smiley changed my life. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the legend, the GOAT, Mr. Rickey Smiley.

Man, thank you for having me, man. Appreciate that, bro.

Thank you.

Excuse the left hand, but I really appreciate you having me.

No, I'm honored to be here, man. And I'm gonna go straight to this point.

Yeah.

You know, Ricky, we go to college, we graduate and everybody think life is good, right? Like you, you did the thing, you went to college, you graduated. Now the world is about to open up to you. But the reality is, man, that wasn't happening for me. I saw all my friends struggling to get jobs and I'm 22. Like, man, if I go back home, mm-hmm, it's gonna be over. Like, I can't go back home, right? Like I can't go to college and then come back home and do what everybody else back home is doing.

Yeah.

And there were nights, man, where, like I said in the intro, I just wanted to give up.

Mm-hmm.

And I would go back and watch Comic View. I would listen to the prank call tapes. And, and you just never know when you need that thing. Mm-hmm. And then I started studying Ricky Smiley, the man, not the comedian.

Mm-hmm.

But the man and the father. And that changed my whole outlook on who I was supposed to be. I realized I always knew I was supposed to be something, but I never knew that I could see it. Yeah. You allowed me to see it by studying your path, your journey that we have a lot of similarities in, and then watching you just mature into Rickey Smiley, man. I, I'm proud of it for you, but I needed it for me. I needed to see that somebody look like me can go through life and be that. So I thank you, brother.

No, man. Thank you for having me. And, uh, you know, uh, I, A lot of people talk about those Comic View days. A lot of people, when I, you know, that I meet say, "Hey, man, I was up watching Comic View when I was supposed to have been asleep, supposed to have been in the bed." I used to get in trouble for staying up late watching Comic View. So yeah, it's definitely a— BET Comic View is definitely a historical institution for comedians. It was my first job, you know, my first job in entertainment, you know. You know, was BET, working for BET. So grateful for that opportunity.

Yeah.

And I'm glad between that and the prank phone calls, you know, gave you some hope and put some, I hope that it put some smiles on your face.

You needed it. When you go through, I don't wanna call it despair. I was just, I was trying to figure out who I was supposed to be. And it was internal conflict. And the laughter just helped me realize like, hey man, everything's all right. Like you're able to laugh. Yeah. You're able to put two feet on the ground and walk. Walk wherever you want to go. Like, people don't get to enjoy that.

Yeah.

And then, like I said, I started to study you, and I was like, all right, it's, it's okay. Like, there is a path to make just good things happen. And you can come from a Christian home, and like, I was raised like you were raised, and you know how to do the right things. And when you get pulled certain directions, like, you know where your center is. And I was proud of you because you were a person that publicly were okay talking about your faith at a young age. You were okay talking about your upbringing at a young age. And I didn't have that conflict anymore. And I needed that from you.

Yeah. Well, you know, that's my job, you know, is to, you know, to give people hope, to be a mentor, you know, to try to walk the best path that I can walk. Try to do things the right way.

Yeah.

And hopefully that somebody see it and learn from it, you know, because, you know, like, yourself and myself, we had mentors as well that we loved and respected and kind of gave us something to aim to, you know, to reach for.

Yeah.

Or whatever. So yeah, you know, shout out to my mentors and my grandparents and my parents and my teachers.

Yeah.

Especially teachers in middle school and high school, when your real development happened, you know. So, uh, you know, shout out to them. Yeah. I'm from the South, Birmingham. Alabama old-fashioned home training where, you know, those teachers and instructors would tell you to sit up straight. Don't chew with your mouth open. Table manners, wash your face, brush your teeth. Right. Sit up straight. May I? Like, it's a lot of little, you know, little things as far as Ricky Smiley's the man and the development of that, where that came from. Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm so proud of it, man, because you've been that mentor for me as I got older. I had kids or I adopted my kids, but, Understanding what it's like to be a father. Mm-hmm. Again, you got to do a lot of things publicly. Mm-hmm. Right? And, and you do so much privately, and we'll talk about that later too, that people don't realize. But, but, you know, growing up in that era or raising kids in the era where it's like you can't discipline your kids, you know, you can't do these things. And I'm watching Ricky Smiley like, No, I'm raising my kids the way that they're supposed to be raised. Right. And, and I love that authenticity of you. And like, when did, I'm not gonna say when did you know, but like what made you say you're committed to being Ricky Smiley and you're gonna do it your way with child raising and all that?

The, the problem in, in today's society, everything that's right is now wrong. Mm-hmm. And everything that wrong, that's wrong is now right. Right. And I'm just trying to, I think that what my grandparents and my parents did for me, it worked for me.

Yeah.

It was critical to my development. And if it worked for me, it should work for my kids because it still works.

Yeah.

Discipline and structure and teaching kids, children respect and teaching them, you know, to be humble and respectful and stuff, it still work. Everybody so sensitive nowadays and everything is, "Aww, aww, aww, don't hurt, that might hurt her feelings." Aww, it ain't no aww. Get down. Don't do that again. That didn't kill them. That didn't kill my granddaughter to tell her to get down and don't do it again. Do you understand? That's it.

Yeah.

That's not no, that's not abuse.

Mm-hmm.

Telling her to get down. I don't have to negotiate her getting down.

Yeah.

Get down.

Yeah.

I'm your grandpa or I'm your dad. Get down. And that's the end of it. You'll be fine. If it hurts your feelings, fine. Because the world is gonna really hurt your feelings when you get out here and meet some of the people. So, you know, I just tell 'em what it is. Like my grandparents told me, it didn't kill me and so it's not gonna kill them. Right, right. I'm not compromising. I'm not get down. If you get down, I'll give you a cookie. If you get down, I'll give you a juice. I'm not giving you nothing.

It's not a negotiation.

Get down.

Right, right.

Period.

Right.

And, and that's it.

And isn't it crazy? Like we knew as kids, like I think parents forget Kids know right and wrong.

They do.

They know right and wrong. They know they're just testing your limits on what are you gonna allow them to do. And you set that standard for your children. Again, that's why I appreciate you because it allowed me when my kids were, you know, preteen to teen to say, I'm gonna talk to you like an adult, but I'm still your father.

Right.

Right. And I'm Ricky Smile. I'm not gonna repeat myself. Mm-hmm. If I say it once, it's been said.

Yeah, I think sometimes we get caught up in trying to give kids what we did not have as opposed to giving them what we had.

Right.

That's the key to success for your child. If you like who you are, then give the kids what you had as opposed to what you didn't have. Now the cleaned up version and the, we watch Iyanla Vanzant, Fix My Life, and Dr. Phil with a little bit of psychology mixed in there and say, hey, okay, I can, you can tweak some things. But that basic foundation, you know, we went to church and we're gonna be sitting here for an hour and a half, hour 45 minutes. Sit down, be quiet, be still. No, they don't have children's church. You don't have to be entertained all the time. You have to learn to sit down and be quiet and be still like we had to do at church. And no, you not getting an iPad. We not taking an iPad in the church as a pacifier. We're not gonna have an iPad all the time in the car. As a matter of fact, I don't have iPads in the car because half of these kids can't tell you how to get home.

Nope.

Because they so focused and so busy looking in the iPad, they can't point to anybody. Hey, turn, make a left, turn right there, stop at that stop sign, go straight, third house, right? Like none, any of that.

Yeah.

So, you know, I try to give my children and grandchildren a lot of what I had. —yeah, as opposed to what I didn't have. Yeah. The same manners and home training and discipline and structure that I got and I received, I try— I give to them, and I hope that it make them, uh, respectful adults. Yeah. You know, and productive adults. Yeah, yeah.

So I'm gonna get to this amazing bestselling book in one second. Thank you. But I usually start my show by asking my guests What's your because? And because I've read this book 4 times, like I feel it in there, but I classify your because as that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Like to me, your why is superficial. People talk about all the time, I gotta find my why. Well, you know what your why is. It's the reason that makes them or that thing your why that's really important. So if I were to say, what's your why? And then I say, but why is it your why? Why is it important? That sentence starts with, well, because I care about that because that tells me who you are. So if I were to say, Ricky, 2026, man, what's your because? Why do you continue to do all the amazing things that you do for communities, for children, mentoring other people? Like, what's your because?

You know, I do it because I love what I do. You know, I love to help people. I hope that I would change somebody's life. I hope that I was able to make somebody's life better. I wake up just to do that. You know, it's a responsibility. It's something that you have to do. It's my life. It's what I, it's who I am. You know, giving and helping and mentoring is who I am as a person. And you know, our job is to bless people and to help people. Help people, bless people, mentor people, you know, 'cause life is not just about you. That's right. You know, and you know, people did not make everything about them. You know, our grandparents and parents and great uncles and teachers, they made personal sacrifices so we could have what we have. And you just have to pay it forward. And that's why you live. Yeah. You know, wake up every day to serve God and to do God's work. You know, start out my morning show with praise break. You know, the first 14 minutes of the show, it just giving God the praise. And you know, a lot of time God put you in certain positions so he could see what you gonna do with it.

And so he could see if he could trust you. And I told God a long time ago, hey, if you get me outta this rut right here, I promise you I'll serve you till the day I die and try to make somebody's life better because of the things that you bless me with. Yeah, yeah. But we have to also understand that, you know, everybody that you bless is not gonna appreciate it.

Amen.

That comes with the territory. That's the dark side of it. So at this age or whatever, I'm starting to realize the good balance between good people and appreciative people and bad people and not so appreciative people and how to navigate through that and find people to help and mentor and love and bless that actually appreciate what you're trying to do for them. And it's really hard.

Yeah. Yeah. You didn't know, I needed to hear that. Yeah. I needed that. I needed that so much, man, because You, you're right. Like you never understand people's intention because you feel like, I'm talking about me. Mm-hmm. You just wanna do good. That's it. You just wanna do good. That's it. And even when you kind of feel like they don't appreciate it, you still wanna feel good. And now I'm starting to look at it because you just reminded me that I could have gave that good intention somewhere else. Absolutely.

Man, when I tell you, I got a text message, an entitled text message, like it was real entitled. And I sent them an itemized copy of everything that I'd done to help them and sent it to them and hit that block button. 'Cause one thing I'm gonna always do is protect my peace. You know, nobody on this earth have to do anything for you. Nobody. And if anybody think enough of you and kind, I'm real loyal to people that have helped me, man. I wish I can have some of my teachers still be living today or whatever. And the last, and one of the last teachers I had, man, I made sure she was straight. I made sure she had everything she needed. You know, I gave her something every month and I sent her her cigarettes and her Courvoisier. That's what she drank. That's what she did. And anytime she wanted to get on a plane and go anywhere, I sent her. And made sure that she got to and from the airport. And that's what it's all about because, man, those teachers went in they pockets and pocketbooks because everybody couldn't afford to go to the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.

We all couldn't afford to go to the zoo. Them teachers went in they pockets and paid for us to have some of the things that we had. And when you didn't have money in the lunchroom, you couldn't get a tray and shit. And those teachers back then wouldn't let you sit there and not have anything to eat. They bought your lunch for you. Your mom and grandma paid them back eventually, but you know, they made personal sacrifices with their own money. Yeah. For us and stuff. So, you know, I hope I'm answering, you know, answering your question.

You were getting it. That's what it's all about. Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah. Helping people and loving people, but, and also understanding that everybody's not gonna appreciate it. Be prepared for the disappointment. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, I, I, but you don't know how those people gonna act. You know? So, so, you know, God put it on your heart to help somebody, just do it. You know? And I don't look for anything in return. Yeah. You can help 20 people, 20, 20 people. I promise you 6 or 7 gonna come back and say, thank you. And I really appreciate it. You, and some you'll never hear from again. Right, right. Or some of 'em you will, that's only if they need something.

And I'm telling you, you taught me that, man. Like I, when I tell you I studied you, I have studied you. And, and speaking of studying, I'm gonna make a confession. I'm gonna look right in this camera right here. 'Cause everybody that knows me knows this. I've only cried 5 times in my life. I'm talking about tears down my eyes cried when my grandfather passed. Mm-hmm. When my mama, my grandma passed and my granny passed. The other two times I was reading this book right here, this book, Rick, it was therapy. It is therapy. I'm not even gonna say was because I, I shouldn't say I read it like I read the Bible, but there's, there's moments where I need to connect. Yeah. And this, this book grounds me, man. So everybody, I want this to be zoomed in. Sideshow, Ricky Smiley. Um, so much so that I usually do this at the end, but I'm gonna do it now. The first 50 people that message me Sideshow, I'm gonna get you a copy of this book. I'm buying it. I'm sending it to you. Thank you. And I, I really mean that, Rick, because here's the thing.

I knew you, not personally. But I knew you. Yeah. I didn't know you. And, and there's, there's a lot of parallels in my life and your life, but I, I understood cuz publicly you've talked about, you know, the, the journey. Mm-hmm. You, you've talked about the losses, but I think seeing it from your viewpoint in a different way, man, like the journey of when it started with your father, which I didn't know. Mm-hmm. April 11th, right? Yeah. April 11th, um, '74. 1974. It, it kind of started and, and I've all, I, I read this book and the first time I cried, man, I cried for you because that's a lot. Like, like when you read this book, you're gonna understand. And, and I, I promise you, it's not like a, a sad story. Like you just understand more about Ricky. Yeah. Right. I cried because, you know, we've always heard growing up in church, there's this saying, God never gives you more than you can bear, right? He's never gonna— I said, well, I don't know about Ricky though.

He get you close. Yeah.

I don't know about Ricky because there are moments where I'm just sitting there and I had to stop reading and I was like, I can't hear another, I can't read another situation. 'Cause again, there's things that I just didn't know. Bro, so one, I thank you for the book, for writing the book. No, thank you. I thank you for the therapy, but dang, bro. Like I didn't know, Rick.

Yeah. Darlene McCoy told me, Darlene, you know, gospel singer Darlene McCoy. She told me at my son's funeral, I think it was after the funeral, she said, man, she said, you built Ford tough. Yes. I'm talking about full tough. Like, you know, I had to, I had to be strong for my other children and my mother, you know, and my son's parents, you know, his mother and father, you know, and his sister, you know, had to be strong for them. I had to walk through that or whatever. And then I had to deal with my grief privately. Right. You know, only thing I could think to do was praise. And it's all I know to do. Mm-hmm. I'm trained and I never would have gotten through all of that if it was not for my Christian foundation and my faith. Right. You know, man, but God, you know, God walked me through that. And I often think about all of the mothers that have lost sons Especially the ones that lost sons that have cancer, the ones that have to go to dialysis, the kids that lost their children and they're homeless and they don't have no, I ran into mothers that buried their son that don't have money to pay for a casket and a tombstone.

I'm talking about mothers that have lost their sons that's 3 years old. Yeah. 2 years old. Yeah. I was talking to a mother last week whose 2-year-old daughter died in her sleep. And my daughters was on the tennis court having tennis practice and I was walking back and forth in the parking lot on speakerphone trying to uplift another, a mother and let her know about God will see you through all of this. Wow. And, Sometimes God let you go through stuff, man, where you could be there for others. That's a thing. Yeah. You know, and I thank God for just allowing me to start the healing process. Yeah. To start to feel like I could take a deep breath, to start to see the sun again or to feel the warmth of the sun. Yeah. And I don't take those little things like that for granted. It's not even, that's a big deal. Yeah. You know, so it's not, you know, about me. And if I can help somebody heal, be there for somebody, can have someone to talk to, then that's my job. I just let God use me.

And so you were talking through where I was gonna ask, like my first question about the book was, did you know it was gonna be a healer for others? And it sounds like at some point you did, When did you say, "I'm gonna write a book"?

Oh, I was having a conversation with my business manager and then she got my publicist on the phone. We had the same conversation and they was like, "You gotta, we gotta write this. We gotta write this up. We gotta put it in a book." And it started from there. Okay. And— Because all of the stuff, you know, the mirror between my dad's death and how he died and watch my, And I sat there and watched my grandparents go through that. And then I became my granddad. Yeah. Sitting on the front row burying my son. It's so many, it's, it's, the book is really, really deep. And, and I would encourage anybody to get it if you're going through the grief process. It's definitely gonna open you up and it's definitely gonna help you out.

So not only that, and this is something Nobody in the world knows. Um, and I'm saying it to you, I'm gonna look you in your eye and tell you, it helps you prepare for grief too. Wow. Ricky, my father died April 1st, two Wednesdays ago. Mm-hmm.

Now, sorry for your loss.

Just this past, just 10 days or nuts. 7 days ago. Wow. Wow. Um, now we didn't have a great relationship. I hadn't seen my dad in 15 years except once at my granny's funeral. Mm-hmm. And we hadn't talked, we hadn't done anything. And I didn't feel a certain way. And, and it's not because he wasn't in my life anymore or anything. Mm-hmm. But I was prepared and this helped helped me prepare for that. And I didn't realize it. Obviously, I knew you and I were going to have this conversation, and I wanted to tell you that, that not only is it for healing, it is also for preparation. Like, reading this book helped me understand fundamentally.

I never heard that. That's, that's the first time somebody ever said that to me. Thank you for that.

Yeah, because again, when you're writing something You're writing it with intent, right? But you never know what someone needs. Right, right. And it helped me prepare. Obviously I didn't know my dad was going to die, that he wasn't dying or anything like that, but it helped me with the right mental framework. And so now I want, I'm gonna talk to men specifically here. You can't be too big, you can't be too proud, you can't have too much ego. One, to grieve. One, to seek help, to seek help for that. And two, to talk to other people. And again, that's what this book allowed me to understand was that put your ego aside. Being a man doesn't mean you gotta be tough 24/7. You still have responsibilities, but you also need to make sure that you are okay so you can handle those responsibilities. And I got that from Ricky Smiler.

Yeah, and it's tough, man. When I tell you it's tough, man, it's— I, man, you know, it's crazy because, you know, when you have to go back to the morgue and see your son laying there with no life in his body, man, it's something. This same kid that used to suck his thumb and sleep in the bed with you, and now you just never thought that it would end up like this. And especially being a public figure, being somebody that have responsibility to get on that microphone because you got 8 million listeners who all, and a lot of them have lost their kids and they're dependent on you and the Praise Break in order to get through. And they worried about you, you know. My son died on a Sunday. Wednesday I was back on the air because I don't wanna lay in the bed thinking about that. Let me just go do my morning show to give me some therapy and to help me a little bit. And then, you know, I can deal with that later. I had to make some tough decisions during that time. Yeah. Yeah. It was tough. It was the worst and darkest days of my whole life.

Yeah.

But you came through it and you're coming through it. Coming through it. And I think, I know for me personally, a lot of folks that I know, like, we just wanted to show you love by being there. Like, even if we couldn't physically be there. Yeah. Thank you. But to like, Ricky, man, like, we're with you. We love you. Keep doing the show. Keep smiling even when it's tough. And you talk about that in the book, and I want to go there next too, but, you know, We need, we need Ricky. Yeah. Because we've all gone through something. And like I said, I don't know if you realize it enough, man, but like, people follow you. People model themselves after you. Like, people need you. And so it's like, I, I need to make sure Ricky can be strong because I'm gonna need to be strong one day. And I'm gonna need to look back at how Ricky is doing.

Yeah. One thing about life, man, uh, death is gonna happen. Right. Yeah, death is gonna happen. Death is gonna knock at your door. And like you said, reading my book will get you prepared for it because we all got to leave here. That's what our Reverend John King was preaching about Sunday. You know, we all gonna leave here. We not gonna be here forever, you know? And then you need to prepare your family for your death and get things in order and in place and change your will up every month or two. You know, as much as you need to.

Why you staring at me? Huh? Why you staring at me?

I'm just saying it in general. Yeah, I need to. It's so important as a man not to leave your family in, 'cause they already gonna be going through the grief process. So you don't wanna leave them in chaos. Right. And have everything organized. Like I had my mom, you know, my stepdad to get their stuff together. And she came over one day and she put an envelope in my hand. Yeah. Okay, anything happen to me, here you go. Yeah. And of course I open it up right then and start reading through stuff or whatever, looking at stuff, asking questions or whatever, you know, just to mess with her. But, uh, yeah, death is a part of life, but you don't expect for your children to die. You don't. You don't expect for your children to die. And, uh, you know, I also talk about therapy in the book and the importance of, uh, going to therapy, because when I went to therapy, man, I started opening up, talking about This, it wasn't just that, this went all the way back to my childhood. You know, moments of grief and the things that happened after the grief.

Yeah. You know, process that I dealt with. And then all of a sudden it happens to me. You know, 'cause I always looked at my granddad and stared at my granddad like, I cannot believe that he went through that and he buried his son. And I was real close to my granddad. Yeah. You know, and then I became him. And that's something. The parallel, right? Yeah, the parallel. It's so crazy. It was the exact, and what was really sad to see my uncles who picked me up from the airport go through this all over again because they went through this with my dad. Yeah. And now they lose their nephew. Yeah. You know, and they picked me up from the airport when I flew in Birmingham. All three of 'em was in the car crying. And the only thing I could think to do was turn the radio up. It was on 98.7 KISS, the R&B station, to lighten the mood. When I got home, it was an NFC or AFC playoffs. I know all I remember, the Bengals was playing. And when I got in the house, I just turned the game up, turned the volume up to have it, to lighten it a little bit.

You know, get people distracted a little bit, get them watching the game to get their mind off of that because It was terrifying. It was awful. It felt bad. It was dark, it was cloudy, it was raining. And just some football would just bring just a little bit of, just lighten it a little bit. And I just had to manage stuff like that. Yeah.

Yeah. And you talked about therapy and I want, again, I'm gonna talk to men because a lot of times we feel too proud. And I was, I didn't go to therapy the first time till I read the book through the first time. And I realized that I need help. Yeah. And, and it, it's okay to admit that. And I travel a lot and then I realize that, oh, there's teletherapists. Like I don't have to be at home. Like I can do this on a call or on a Zoom or whatever now. And it, it helped me understand me a little bit. Mm-hmm. It helped me understand sometimes how I make the decisions that I make, the emotions that I have and what brings out the good, the bad, the indifferent. But again, I'm gonna keep giving Ricky Smiley his flowers while he's here. He helped me understand that. Yeah. And so for everybody, not, not just the men, but I think for everybody having some type of regular therapy call session and whatever regular means to you, it doesn't mean weekly, daily, month, quarterly, and like whatever. It's good for your spirit. Yeah.

You better sit down and talk about it. You have to get it out. Right. You have to cry it out. I can't tell you how many days I sat on the steps that go down into my kitchen. I sat on that step and cried for days. And I was just in the house. I can look up at the ceilings and see the cries engraved in the paint. 'Cause I just remember crying and looking up and just crying out, just in the house by myself. This is when those funeral directors say, when the flowers had withered, when the, when the cards stopped coming and the phone calls stopped coming. And like a year later, it really hit me. Yeah. The only difference between when my son died, a year later, you don't have no casket, no flowers, no obituaries, and no condolences, right? And you, you are stuck with— by yourself, just you in the house, by yourself, just you having to relive it all over again. So, um, Yeah, you better go get some help because that's like running into a brick wall.

Yeah.

Because what is my life now? Yeah. You know, like in the blink of a second, your life change. Mm-hmm. You know, so it's horrible. It is.

But God. But God. But God. But God. You know, in the book you talk about, you know, you're obviously a public figure, comedian, radio show, a lot of things you do in the community. And your job is to, part of your job, one of your jobs, make people laugh, make people smile, but on the inside you're dying. And a lot of times, I mean, and this is even before Brandon, right? Like a lot of times people didn't know the things that you were carrying on the inside and you've got teams and you've gotta be the source for everybody. Yeah. Talk about that, man, because I don't think people understand that enough, especially of person like a Rickey Smiley.

Yeah, you literally on stage doing jokes, doing comedy, performing while you crying on the inside. I remember I performed at the casino right outside of Cleveland. I had did a comedy show there after Brandon died. I think that was my first time going on stage. Man, I cried from downtown Cleveland all the way to the casino. And I know that driver had to be uncomfortable. And I mean, I was booing and the driver was, I could tell he wanted to ask, what was wrong, but he was in between there to say I might not want to bother him. And I sat in the car and cried, went in the dressing room and cried some more. Yeah. And cried all the way up until they was introducing me to go on stage. Blew my nose, made sure nothing was in my nose, and got myself together and went on stage and killed them. Yeah, killed them. Wow. Heartbroken on the inside. Same thing happened, I was at, uh, some comedy club and I just was outside crying, back behind the comedy club, just crying it out, trying to get it outta my system so I can go on stage and perform because I still have to work.

I still have bills that need to be paid. Other people are sitting in the audience, you know, that's stage 4 cancer and sitting on dialysis, you know, you know, coming out to see you perform. Yeah. And you have a responsibility. Much is given, much is required. You have to make sacrifices. Yeah. And you just can't sit in the house. You got to continue to keep moving and keep working and stuff because that's going to help you heal. It's not going to solve it, but it's going to help you. Yeah. Going to the radio station Wednesday, Thursday, and that Friday really helped me out a lot. It really, really, really helped me out a lot. You know, I had a lot to do. I had a lot of responsibility. Had to make sure my other children was straight. Had to make sure my mother was straight. And I had to push through it.

Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. So something else in the book, but everybody knows this about Rickey Smiley, you are the son of Birmingham, bro. One of 'em. No, you are the son of Birmingham.

Now it's old Roy Wood, this Roy Wood Jr.

You would say, Roy was on the show too, but you—

And Reuben Studdard. No. We are sons of Birmingham. Roy and I, we came from the same radio station, 95.7 Jam.

Yep. Yeah. Yep. And you were still Roll Tide. Roll damn Tide. We'll talk about that one another day.

Oh, you like Georgia?

That's your team? So I'm a Tar Heel and a Bulldog. Tar Heel, we ain't hit no much in, you know, we come from, we ain't hit no much in sports right now. But I am a Bulldog. I had an uncle who played there. Yeah, we trying to be all right. Okay, trying to be. Y'all gonna do something? Y'all gonna be back?

I don't know, we, I don't know, uh, that's a whole nother conversation because it's a different kind of generation. I don't know, they got to find the right kind of coach to coach this generation. This is not the Nick Saban generation, and these guys are different from the guys that I saw play at 'Bama. Yeah, they a little different, a little weird. So you got to find somebody that might understand the culture and to get them to play because these kids are different and entitled.

I'm trying to figure out why the backup to the backup is entitled though. Like the third string dude is the first one in the portal and it's like, what?

Why? Yeah, yeah, they need to get all that tight. Football is just, college football is just not the same. Nah, it's not. Yeah.

It's not, it's not. Well, Rick, man, what all do you have coming up next? What's Ricky working on?

I think I got some opportunities on, I think HGTV. I'm still performing all over the country. Right. I do this karaoke, amazing karaoke night or whatever. My karaoke night is amazing.

Where are we doing that at?

I think I have the next show in Orlando this Friday or whatever, but I kind of do karaoke all over the country. I do it in Nashville, Birmingham, Orlando. Okay. Fort Lauderdale, here in Atlanta. Okay. I love doing karaoke. I just think it's so much different from a comedy show. It's so much fun. Right. You know, I got my grandkids and my twins growing up or whatever, so I always looking forward to that. Yeah. So. Yeah, nothing like parenting, uh, uh, them, my identical twin daughters. They so much fun and give you so much life. And my granddaughters. Yeah. And my grandson. So I, I get a real big kick out of that. Uh, doing the morning show every morning. Probably gonna do another comedy special in 2027. I hope y'all like, uh, Foolish. Foolish. You can check that out on Hulu. Yes. Uh, it's actually funny. I personally like That comedy special, that's my personal favorite comedy special directed by David and Lorne Talbert and executive produced by them. I really appreciate that opportunity. So I have Uncensored coming out on TV One. Okay. Arik Ismaili Uncensored coming out. I don't know if I can watch it.

Yeah, it's actually pretty good. I probably won't watch it 'cause I don't like watching myself on television. But I did watch "Spooges" now. 'Cause I wanted to sit back and laugh 'cause the jokes. I watched it for the joke where I can get my laugh on. Yeah, whatever.

From beginning to end. It's funny. It hits hard.

Yeah.

Right? And that's what I love about Ricky because you give us different, like, and this isn't a knock on any comedians by any stretch of imagination 'cause comedy, standup comedy is hard. Right. Period. Period. Right. But there are moments where there's like little lulls in a special, right? The joke didn't quite hit like the comedian thought. Like Ricky is playing drums, giving the rhythm, giving it to you every time. Let's go, baby. Yes, sir.

Yeah. But, you know, just so many different opportunities. I'm supposed to be doing some stuff with Country Wayne, waiting on him to call me. I really wanna do some scenes on Country Wayne's show, 'cause I'm a big fan of it. I just, I'm like, I can just bartend. Just have me in the background bartending. I just need to do something with Country Wayne. 'Cause I think his skits are hilarious. I would love to do something with Desi Banks or whatever. You know, I just want to have fun, man. I just want to have a great time and make people laugh. And I'll start to secure my legacy and continue to do Good radio. Hey, the legacy is secure, bro.

Yeah, I know. I know you, 'cause when it's you, it's hard to, to see. Yeah. Your legacy is solidified. I can promise you. I know me in college, my same group of homeboys still talk about Lil Darryl to this day. Actually, one of the, Antoine, I'm talking for you. He wants to know when is Lil Darryl coming back? Like we need a Lil Darryl special.

We need something. We gonna have a birthday party this fall for Lil Darryl. Lil Darryl is in his forties now. He got a, got a wife and wife. And a son. He married to a heavyset white woman and he got a little mixed baby. So we're gonna have a birthday party with him 'cause he in his, I think he'll be 43 or 44 or something. But I'm throwing Lil Darryl birthday party. So make sure y'all come out. Look, Mick Unplug is bringing the cake.

We gonna have the birthday cake.

That's crazy. Lil Darryl. And I still do it on stage, but not in that, I do it in a different way, but it's funny as hell. It is. It is. Listen, man, my standup comedy right now is so rich. This the funniest I ever been. It is. Because I've been through so much. I have so much to talk about. And the funniest part's about getting older and talking about the young generation, how they scare the hell out of us. Yeah. I got some funny stuff. So, you know, if you ever get a chance to see me perform live, man, I give you a show from the beginning. Yes. To the end. When I went to Charlotte, when I went to Raleigh, to the Improv, Charlotte to the Comedy Zone, from beginning to the end.

Whole lot of fun. Absolutely. And you know, my youngest son is in school in Miami, and I was told you're gonna be doing a show in Coral Springs. Yeah. Sometime this summer. So I'm gonna come through there. Yeah. I'm gonna come through. Where he in school? He's at University of Miami. Okay. He's marine biology. Oh, nice. He, he can swim. You on your own.

Hang out with me, 'cause I, I, I deal with that ocean. Yeah. That's one of my favorite things to do is to be out on the ocean. And I swim with sharks and stingrays and all that stuff, man. I love, uh, the ocean.

I watch y'all. Yeah. I'm out there, I get my ankles in, and then I'm like, all right, good. I'm gonna go back under the shade, this umbrella, 'cause I don't do the sun like that.

I dive off into that deep blue ocean and swim, man. I just, I just, thank God ain't got ate up. Not yet. Yes. You know, not gonna woo yet. There it is.

All right, I'm gonna get you outta here on this. Well, first again, we gonna zoom in here. The first 50 people that message me Sideshow, I'm getting you a copy of the book. You all know I do that anyway.

You know I named the book Sideshow. No. Did you ever know why? No. All right, so the name Sideshow came from the song Sideshow. Okay. By Blue Magic. Let the sideshow begin. Hurry, hurry, step right on in. Can't afford to pass it by, but guaranteed to make you cry. So Sideshow, the song, is about a clown that's performing, but he's sad on the inside. That's what Sideshow, that's where I got the topic Sideshow from. But all those trials and tribulations that's going on in my life and the things that I have happening that's going on and still have the ability to go on stage and perform and get on the radio and make people laugh. Like, why you crying on there? Man, I used to cry during commercial break during a radio show. Mm-hmm. Go and cry it out and come back and crack jokes. Right. Or whatever. That's, that's my job. Right, right. So, uh, that's where the topic, um, I mean the title Sideshow comes from.

I didn't know. Yep. Now I like it. I like it. So first 50 people getting a copy. If you're number 51, go to Amazon, go to Barnes Noble, go to your local, uh, bookstore, support local too, but get the book. I can promise you it's gonna change your life. Um, it's changed my life. If you are grieving, you definitely need it cuz it's gonna help you. It helped me prepare, which, yeah, again, bro, like there's some fundamental principles in here that you go through that, that's amazing.

So thank you.

Everybody go get this book. My last question for Ricky Smiley is this though. Mm-hmm. I know you cook, you throw down. Oh yeah.

What I cook for Easter? Is that what you're about to ask? Yes. Are chicken and dumplings, collard greens out of my garden that I grew. Okay. Macaroni and cheese, the Bahamas style macaroni and cheese. Ooh. Yeah, if you ain't, you haven't had macaroni and cheese unless you had it in the Bahamas or Jamaica. Bahamians make good macaroni and cheese. Yes. And they don't just do cheese, they season their macaroni and cheese. It's flavorful, you can swallow it and still taste it. Mm-hmm. That's good macaroni and cheese because it's seasoned. I did gumbo. Yeah, I always have to add gumbo or whatever, you know? Yeah. 'Cause I'm a fan of, you know, Cajun cuisine. Lobster bisque. I did lamb chops. We had dressing, chicken, turkey wings, smoked turkey necks. It had it all. Laid out. My mom bought some potato salad because I don't let anybody bring nothing. I don't like people bringing, right? Just, just don't, nope, don't bring nothing. Everything is here. That's me coming in there with all that aluminum foil. That's me, pans and crock pots. And right, it makes my nerves bad. And you, you're messing up the order. I have a tight, tight little menu.

That's what it is. Uh, I just— my mama said I, I did forget to make the pinto beans. I was gonna make some pinto beans. But we had a big, big, big Easter dinner. And the day before that, the Easter Bunny came. Peter Cottontail came through, hung out with the kids. We did a little Easter egg hunt. Easter and Thanksgiving is a really big deal at my house. So yeah, the food was good. And do I wanna open up a restaurant? Absolutely not. After what y'all did to Miss Tina, what y'all did to Gladys Knight, and having all these bloggers show up to, to judge your food and criticize your food. Y'all talk about Kandi and Todd and anybody that open up a restaurant, y'all want to go in there and make video. I would never. Now if I do a restaurant, I'mma— the days that I decide to cook, I'll send out an email to people that I want to come.

Because you'll fill it up anyway.

I'm going to invite people that I want to come, but I would never open up to get publicly humiliated the way they did. I don't care if the food, the gumbo or whatever was not good, for you to go on the internet and just do stuff like that to people. I've seen people do that with Kandi. I've seen people do it to Sweetie Pie's. You know, and every time I went in all of these establishments, the food was good. Amazing. Everybody gumbo is different or whatever. And by the way, gumbo is not just about the roux. It's the seasoning and the how. Anyway, that's a whole nother podcast show on gumbo. 'Cause I'm trained by executive chef. Shout out to my, to Kurt Boudreaux, you know, who really spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with him learning how to cook and prepare food like an executive chef. I'm not talking about a caterer. It's a difference between a caterer and an executive chef.

Chef. We are learning today.

I'm learning from him, like cutting exercises and all of the stuff, and whys and the dos and the don'ts. A lot of people don't know, so I learned a lot of stuff. So, uh, but what I'm on right now is my, uh, seafood pot pie. I make a— I made it for the first time, it was a hit. Yeah, man. Um, I'm gonna make a seafood pot pie and I'll make sure you get one. Yes, please. I want you to make a video. And, uh, and, and on the top I did the, uh, the crust with the, I used the cheddar biscuit from Red Lobster. You could buy it in the box and make the biscuit and you put it on top of the seafood pot pie.

You got some out there?

I wish I did 'cause I'm so hungry right now. I am too.

I'm like, ooh, I can taste it.

I can taste it. Man, I could really use it right now. So I put a little, you know, the shrimp. But people don't understand the importance of just making sure that you get the seafood flavor. Or whatever. I'm really getting really, really, really good with seafood. Yeah. So I'm learning a lot. Yeah. Trying to expand my taste palette and then really get in the kitchen and cook. But I will make a recipe book to teach you how to cook it. But I'll never open up a restaurant for you to come in there and cuss me out, cuss my employees out. Uh, I'd be seeing y'all push over cash registers and, and all that kind of stuff. Wanna come in there, dress wrong. Yeah. Cause you can't tell nobody how to dress. Right. If you come in a Ricky Smiley restaurant, you gonna be dressed for dinner. Yeah. And I'm a classy person. There you go. And I was raised with class. Yeah. And I don't want to deal with the public because everybody don't have the same home training. You got that right. You got that right. I know I said a whole lot.

No, no. So I don't know if this is meant for me to tell you, but I'm telling you anyway. Yeah. Cooking with Ricky Smiley. I don't know if that's the book. I don't know if that's an Instagram show or channel. I don't know if it's a TV show, YouTube, whatever.

If I get me a sous chef, I'll do it. If I can get some cameras, I'm gonna do that one day. That's a good idea. People been telling me for years, I'm gonna do a Cooking with Rickey Smiley and then have guests on or whatever. But I have to have me a couple of sous chefs because cutting up all those onions and those bell peppers, getting— I had a cooking show on Fox Soul. But man, when you start prepping and you got to do, then you got to shoot, then you got to clean up the kitchen. Man, that's a lot. It's the cleanup part for me. $1,200 an episode.

You heard it here first, Cooking with Ricky Smiley. Yes. If you wanna be a sous chef, send your resume. Don't just think you gonna show up. Like I will vet the resume for you. Please. I got you covered. Please. Ricky, brother, I love you, man. Thank you so much for everything you've meant for me. Ladies and gentlemen, he's Ricky Smiley. I would tell you where to find him, You know how to find him. But most importantly, get the book. Sideshow, get the book.

Thank you, man. You got it. That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen, share it with someone who needs that spark, and leave a review so more people can find their because. I'm Rudy Rush, and until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay unplugged.