IMO Live: Give Your Parents Grace with Quinta Brunson

Emmy-award winning actress, producer and writer Quinta Brunson joins Michelle and Craig for a conversation during the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. Quinta talks about her early days in comedy, how she broached the topic of her career with her parents, and reveals the one surprising situation that gives her imposter syndrome. Have a question you want answered? Write to us at ⁠imopod.com⁠ http://imopod.com. To learn more about the Quinta Brunson Field Trip Fund, click ⁠here⁠ https://www.thefundsdp.org/fieldtripfund/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I worked on Kim Poehl.

• 0:01Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yeah.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  As a P A.

• 0:03Michelle Obama?

  I missed that in your book.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  I don't know if I was in there. I don't know. I did. It was like, it was their first episode, actually.

• 0:09Michelle Obama?

  Wow.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  And I was a P A. And through that, met a producer.

• 0:12Michelle Obama?

  P A is a...

• 0:13Speaker 00

  Production assistant.

• 0:13Michelle Obama?

  Production assistant.

• 0:14Speaker 00

  And...

• 0:15Craig Robinson?

  She does a podcast now. She's in the business.

• 0:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:19Michelle Obama?

  I'm just, you know, all the lingo, P A.

• 0:22Speaker 00

  I was a P A.

• 0:23Michelle Obama?

  You know, production assistant. And then I, that producer...

• 0:28Speaker 00

  Shut up.

• 0:35Michelle Obama?

  This episode of I M O is brought to you by United Airlines and Chase Home Lending. Oh, wow. It's everybody we know.

• 0:44Craig Robinson?

  Can we, can we go back out and come in again?

• 0:47Michelle Obama?

  I know. It's like, I'm gonna be like, hey, what? Oh, what? You're here, Sandy. What's going on?

• 0:54Michelle Obama?

  Well, you guys, welcome to I M O. But this is the very first event that we're holding here in this amazing auditorium. Isn't it beautiful? Wow.

• 1:10Craig Robinson?

  And I'd just like to thank all of our friends and family who are here. And a special thanks to United Airlines, who sponsored this episode for us. And...

• 1:24Michelle Obama?

  Shout out to our sponsors.

• 1:26Craig Robinson?

  Yeah, but you know, you know, I'm a, I'm actually a million mile flyer.

• 1:30Michelle Obama?

  I didn't know that.

• 1:31Craig Robinson?

  I know you didn't know that. That's why I'm telling you. There's no way you're gonna catch me. You can't...

• 1:35Michelle Obama?

  Probably not.

• 1:36Craig Robinson?

  You can't fly that much commercial anymore.

• 1:38Michelle Obama?

  Probably not. Well, congratulations. Congratulations.

• 1:41Craig Robinson?

  Go catch up to me.

• 1:43Michelle Obama?

  But you guys, this, we are excited. This is a big week. This is the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. And we thought that it would be a good thing to do is to have a wonderful chat. We've got a room full of amazing young girls who are participating in our Girls Opportunity Alliance.

• 2:08Michelle Obama?

  And I think we have the perfect guest today who's gonna join us. And she is, Craig is supposed to do the introduction, so.

• 2:18Craig Robinson?

  Just like always, she's trying to take over the whole thing. And see, all of my cousins and my relatives are here. Look, Mike is over there cracking up, cause he's like, there she goes again, taking over.

• 2:30Michelle Obama?

  Sorry.

• 2:31Craig Robinson?

  Well, Quinta is a creator, writer, actor, and executive producer of ABC's hit mockumentary, Abbott Elementary. Right on.

• 2:49Craig Robinson?

  And, you know, the Robinson household, that's, we're back to Appointment TV now. That's a big show.

• 2:55Michelle Obama?

  I'm glad you're letting the boys watch a little TV. Just happy for them.

• 3:02Craig Robinson?

  Quinta Brunson is the first solo black woman to win the Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series, and the first to earn three Emmy nominations in a single year for writing, acting, and producing in the comedy category. So without further ado, let's welcome our.

• 3:22Michelle Obama?

  A big Chicago welcome.

• 3:24Craig Robinson?

  Our, our, our, our good friend now, that we got to meet her in the back, Quinta Brunson.

• 3:41Craig Robinson?

  Oh, so glad you're here.

• 3:53Craig Robinson?

  Alrighty.

• 3:54Michelle Obama?

  Hey, girl, hey.

• 3:55Speaker 00

  Hi, Mrs. Obama.

• 3:58Michelle Obama?

  I know, I told you to call me Michelle, so you're gonna have to figure that out.

• 4:02Speaker 00

  I asked in the back, I said, what do I, do I say Mrs. Obama? Do I say Mimi? No. Michelle, Michelle, Michelle.

• 4:10Michelle Obama?

  Everybody in this room, I mean, it is truly full of friends and family. They don't know me as Michelle Obama. They know me as Meesh or Shell or Michelle. So you're part of the family now.

• 4:22Craig Robinson?

  Hey you.

• 4:23Michelle Obama?

  Hey you over there. Well, thank you for being here.

• 4:27Speaker 00

  Thank you for having me. This building is gorgeous.

• 4:31Michelle Obama?

  It is beautiful, thank you.

• 4:33Speaker 00

  I didn't get to see it being built, as I'm sure all the Chicagoans, you've been riding past this, but it was absolutely breathtaking to me from the outside. In the car, I just, I said, what is this huge piece of art that got installed? I didn't even realize that this was the Presidential Center. So it's just, it's gorgeous and congratulations.

• 4:52Michelle Obama?

  Thank you so much.

• 4:54Speaker 00

  It's really beautiful.

• 4:55Michelle Obama?

  We are so excited to share this space with the community because it's more than just an archive of Barack's presidency. It is really a declaration of hope. It is a community space. There are recording studios here for young people. This auditorium is available for the community. There are gardens here. There are 19 acres of public new park space created. There's a big gymnasium across the street from Hyde Park High School, which is across the street, a full professional-sized basketball court, because you know, Barack had to have basketball.

• 5:36Speaker 00

  I respect that.

• 5:37Craig Robinson?

  Did you say Craig?

• 5:38Michelle Obama?

  I did say Craig. We do that. I call Barack Craig. He calls Kelly Meesh, Leslie Meesh. We do all that. But, so we're very proud of it and happy to share it with the city and with the world. And I know you're gonna take a tour before you get out of here, maybe? Or you'll come back for a tour?

• 5:58Speaker 00

  Yes, I was supposed to take a tour. Before this, but as you know, getting here was a

• 6:06Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 6:07Speaker 00

  There was weather in the Midwest and so I am here on two glorious hours of sleep.

• 6:14Michelle Obama?

  Look at it.

• 6:16Speaker 00

  And you know what? I was tired. I know where I'm coming. I want my energy to come back and everything. And as soon as we got outside and saw that building, there was really, I'm not kidding you guys, like a warmth and positivity. My driver even was, he was so hype about it and he's here from, he's from Chicago. My security was like, what in the world? It's just, it's really stunning and I think there's a good energy radiating out of this place for sure. And seeing these lovely faces brighten my day, coming out. Hi, girls.

• 6:49Speaker 00

  Hi, beautiful.

• 6:50Craig Robinson?

  Quint, you spent some time in Chicago.

• 6:52Speaker 00

  I did.

• 6:53Craig Robinson?

  How long ago was it that you spent some significant time here?

• 6:56Speaker 00

  Oh, man. It was, okay, so if I do, 15 years?

• 7:04Craig Robinson?

  What?

• 7:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, which is crazy because I'm like only barely 17, but you know.

• 7:09Michelle Obama?

  It's like you were, you were seven when you came.

• 7:12Speaker 00

  It was wild, running the Chicago streets. No, I think like 15 years. I started coming out while I was in college. I might be wrong on the math. I'm a writer, not a mathematician. I don't believe, and I don't think about the past too often, so I'm not sure. But I started coming out when I was in college and I was taking classes at Second City.

• 7:32Speaker 00

  I had a boyfriend at the time who was going to Columbia College.

• 7:35Michelle Obama?

  Tell us more.

• 7:38Craig Robinson?

  She didn't wait. She didn't wait, did she? She just go right in.

• 7:40Speaker 00

  I said, instantly, I don't want to talk about.

• 7:42Craig Robinson?

  She went right in.

• 7:44Michelle Obama?

  You brought him up.

• 7:45Speaker 00

  I did.

• 7:46Michelle Obama?

  Okay.

• 7:46Craig Robinson?

  See, that's the lawyer in me. She's pointing out that you brought it up.

• 7:49Speaker 00

  That's why I was scared of him.

• 7:50Craig Robinson?

  Right through the door.

• 7:51Speaker 00

  Okay, so there was some guy.

• 7:53Michelle Obama?

  You were visiting.

• 7:54Speaker 00

  No, he's a significant part of my past, but that's, that's, because you know what? It brought me here. And I came out to visit him once and saw that Second City was just right next door. And it was kind of like my dream place. I would go watch, I'd watch SNL every night and I eventually looked up where all these people. How they learned to do this. I started to figure it out. They had to have known each other. They had to have developed these skills. And a lot of those people went to Second City. So I started coming out just to take like a week intensive course. It was all I could afford. I could afford a Southwest ticket and a week long course.

• 8:35Michelle Obama?

  But you were West Philly.

• 8:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, so I was in Philly.

• 8:37Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 8:38Speaker 00

  I was, oh, West Philly in the house.

• 8:42Speaker 00

  Oh, my people. What are you guys doing here?

• 8:45Michelle Obama?

  We can't, we'll get into it later.

• 8:48Speaker 00

  I was in Philly. I was using my little money. I taught dance classes. You know?

• 8:56Michelle Obama?

  We're in Chicago. People gonna be involved in this conversation.

• 8:59Speaker 00

  I love it.

• 9:00Michelle Obama?

  I love it. Girls love me more. We're gonna get to the dance classes.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  I love that. I taught dance classes for like $25 a class. And at a dance school in Philly. And I would take my little money and buy a ticket and spend the rest of my little money to go to Second City and take a course.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  I really had to use my own money because I did not tell my parents. They would think that I was on campus at Temple.

• 9:29Craig Robinson?

  Wait, so you were commuting to Chicago?

• 9:32Speaker 00

  I like the way you put it. Not sneaking, but commuting to Chicago. Thank you, Craig.

• 9:37Craig Robinson?

  Without your parents' knowledge?

• 9:39Speaker 00

  No.

• 9:39Craig Robinson?

  Oh.

• 9:40Speaker 00

  Which don't do that.

• 9:41Michelle Obama?

  Don't do that. That's where we go. We'll talk about that later.

• 9:44Speaker 00

  We will talk about it. But yeah, you know, classic girls sneaking off and doing improv.

• 9:54Michelle Obama?

  Common story, just like mine.

• 9:56Craig Robinson?

  At least it was something positive.

• 9:57Speaker 00

  It was something positive.

• 9:59Michelle Obama?

  But you were, because you grew up in a pretty strict.

• 10:04Speaker 00

  I did.

• 10:05Michelle Obama?

  Environment. You're one of.

• 10:07Speaker 00

  One of five.

• 10:07Michelle Obama?

  Five.

• 10:08Speaker 00

  Last of five.

• 10:09Michelle Obama?

  Tell us about.

• 10:11Speaker 00

  Little Quinta.

• 10:14Michelle Obama?

  And your name, Quinta, number five.

• 10:16Speaker 00

  Yes, my name means fifth because my parents didn't expect me and so they just.

• 10:23Michelle Obama?

  She was one of those, oh yeah, we met, yeah, we did, we did.

• 10:27Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 10:27Michelle Obama?

  The, your next oldest is, what's the age difference?

• 10:31Speaker 00

  Eight years.

• 10:31Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, you were oops.

• 10:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, any, you guys got any oops, any?

• 10:37Craig Robinson?

  No.

• 10:39Michelle Obama?

  We have big generations. Craig's had two sets of kids.

• 10:43Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 10:44Michelle Obama?

  Right, so there, there are big age gaps.

• 10:47Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 10:47Michelle Obama?

  And the cousins are close.

• 10:49Speaker 00

  Is it just you two?

• 10:50Michelle Obama?

  Just us.

• 10:50Speaker 00

  That's cool.

• 10:51Michelle Obama?

  And a whole bunch of cousins.

• 10:52Speaker 00

  I love that.

• 10:53Michelle Obama?

  Everybody's here.

• 10:54Speaker 00

  I love cousins.

• 10:55Michelle Obama?

  Probably half this audience is a cousin.

• 10:57Speaker 00

  Really?

• 10:58Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yes.

• 10:59Speaker 00

  I love that. That's, so, okay, no, let me.

• 11:02Michelle Obama?

  Okay, back to you. This is about, don't be, don't flip it around.

• 11:05Speaker 00

  I know, I'm trying to flip it so I don't have to talk about it.

• 11:07Craig Robinson?

  I like how you flip that right to us.

• 11:10Speaker 00

  Could have been a journalist.

• 11:12Michelle Obama?

  But you're one of, one of five.

• 11:13Speaker 00

  One of five. I was the, the youngest and yeah, my, my brother closest to me was eight and eight year difference, sorry. And it was cool because I grew up really, really, really cultured. I think that's the best way I can put it. My parents are in their seventies, I believe they're 73. And my oldest sibling is 53. And my sibling closest to me is 45, is that correct? Yeah. And so, growing up, my brothers and sisters were already living life and passing down life to me.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  And my parents as well. I recently was talking about this, but I grew up with my parents' music, so.

• 12:07Speaker 00

  My music was Stevie Wonder and Al Green. And, and even their oldies, like very old doo-wop songs by groups I don't know the names of.

• 12:19Michelle Obama?

  Did they listen to jazz? We were big jazz.

• 12:21Speaker 00

  Huge jazz, household. And then my brothers and sisters were taking in so much. I mean, my brother was watching WWE. So I was this little girl coming to school, asking people if they could smell what the rock was cooking. And everyone was like, what is wrong with you? Why do you, why are you into that? And then my sisters were into like, you know, they, they were into Conan and Friends and like late night TV. But also my sister took me to my first concert, which was an Usher concert. She just, she, she liked me.

• 13:03Speaker 00

  She pulled me around like a little doll and she was always just taking me with her to things because she liked me. But I was always the youngest kid in the room. So I think.

• 13:13Michelle Obama?

  Did you feel like you were trying to keep up? Or did you like being the baby?

• 13:18Speaker 00

  I liked it. It didn't seem strange to me. And I would get to school and share all the things that I thought were normal with my classmates. And I remember in, in kindergarten, I was four, everyone else was five. And I remember talking to them about like Luther Vandross and the children.

• 13:38Michelle Obama?

  And what would you say? What were you telling the people about Luther?

• 13:42Speaker 00

  I would, you know, I would talk about mu- music.

• 13:45Michelle Obama?

  It's a great music to fall in love to.

• 13:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:49Michelle Obama?

  By the sandbox.

• 13:52Speaker 00

  I was like, yeah, these are the, the songs, right? You guys know this song, right? And they're just like talking about smiley face from Nick Jr. And.

• 14:01Michelle Obama?

  You're like, these babies.

• 14:02Speaker 00

  Yeah, seriously. But I, I'm so happy that I got so much culture. And it definitely was the case with television because, you know, my parents had me watching their shows, plus their oldies. And my brothers and sisters had me watching everything from. Ace Ventura, to Kings of Comedy, to SNL, to Mad TV, to Living Color, for every shows like Rock, but then also shows like the West. I just got so much funneled into me and I'm really grateful for that. So like if I have kids, I kind of want to do the same kind of setup, like one really old one, one really young one. Cause I think the young one keeps the older ones young too.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:48Craig Robinson?

  Really good point.

• 14:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:49Craig Robinson?

  Really good point, really good point.

• 14:52Michelle Obama?

  So were you always the show, show kid? Because you were the youngest, were you performing all the time?

• 14:59Speaker 00

  They made me.

• 15:00Michelle Obama?

  Let the baby sing.

• 15:01Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. No, they made me like their little jester for sure. It was, um, Quinta, do this line from Martin. Cause they just thought it was funny.

• 15:11Michelle Obama?

  What was the line?

• 15:12Speaker 00

  Oh, it's so dumb. There was one, I just saw the episode again recently and I was like, oh, this is where they came from. It was a man at the DMV. It's just, it's very silly stuff. I don't know, but there was an episode where someone, well, Martin gets a new job. He's, um, he's doing a TV show now instead of the radio show. But one of the irate audience members goes, and where's Oprah? And for some reason, that was something they had me say just all the time at three. And constantly reciting, you ain't got no job, Tommy. And Living Color, they really enjoyed making me do the character Wanda,

• 15:56Speaker 00

  who Jamie Foxx played.

• 16:00Michelle Obama?

  Say a little, your little seven year old impression of Wanda?

• 16:04Speaker 00

  I mean, I'm talking four.

• 16:05Michelle Obama?

  Oh, my God.

• 16:06Speaker 00

  Just learned to talk and they are making me. And then they made me do not fun stuff. Like there were three floors to our house and this was back in the day. You had one remote and it worked like all the TVs. And so, or maybe we had more and we just lost them. That's probably more likely what happened. So they, my sisters would make me go all the way to the third floor to get the remote and bring it down.

• 16:29Michelle Obama?

  You were just the gopher.

• 16:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was a gopher. Those were the, um, and then there were fun perks. Like they forgot to tell me stuff a lot of the times. I came so late that they. Family stuff, like family secrets. Like, I didn't find out my oldest brother had a different dad until I was 16.

• 16:46Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:47Speaker 00

  And it was just because they forgot to tell me.

• 16:50Speaker 00

  It was just, like, so normalized at that point.

• 16:54Speaker 00

  So I was like, just don't.

• 16:56Craig Robinson?

  Quinta, were your parents funny? Because...

• 16:59Speaker 00

  They are to me.

• 17:01Craig Robinson?

  Yeah. I just, you have this natural way, comedic way about you.

• 17:07Speaker 00

  Why, thank you.

• 17:07Craig Robinson?

  And I'm just...

• 17:08Michelle Obama?

  It's a good thing.

• 17:09Craig Robinson?

  Yeah. Yeah, well, we always talk about how our parents were funny.

• 17:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:15Craig Robinson?

  They were funny people.

• 17:16Speaker 00

  Right.

• 17:17Craig Robinson?

  But your parents, I mean, your household sounds like it was just a blast.

• 17:24Speaker 00

  I think there's this beauty in people who are just dangerously authentic in themselves. And then there are observational people like me who are taking it all in. And, you know, my sister is one of the funniest people in the world to me. She would never get up on a stage or, you know, even pursue acting. But her natural rhythm is just hilarious because she's so authentic, to a fault. I can't get her to reel it in sometimes. But I appreciate that about her so much. And I think my parents are the same way. My mom is just the funniest little lady, and she doesn't see it.

• 18:01Speaker 00

  We were texting while watching the finals, and she was really upset about Wimpy Yama pushing Jalen Brunson to the ground. And she was like, "This lanky man, my goodness." I said, "Mom, that's, like, so funny that you're so mad."

• 18:19Michelle Obama?

  This lanky man.

• 18:21Speaker 00

  I said, "Well, they used to bully Wimby, so, you know, now..." She was like, "Well, it must stop." And she sent the stop emoji. And that was just so funny to me.

• 18:30Michelle Obama?

  Where'd you get that?

• 18:31Speaker 00

  A hilarious little lady. But you know what's funny? The first time I met you, Michelle, it feels weird. I want to say Mrs. Obama.

• 18:39Michelle Obama?

  You're doing just fine.

• 18:39Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah, Mrs. Obama. You cracked me right on up. You really did.

• 18:44Michelle Obama?

  What did I say to you?

• 18:45Speaker 00

  I'm not going to say what you said, but you were just so funny. And I don't know if you remember, but I literally fell off my rocker laughing. I was, you, so just people's natural, just...

• 18:58Speaker 00

  I don't know, personhood is like.

• 18:59Craig Robinson?

  Are you sure it was her?

• 19:00Speaker 00

  It was her. I was cracking up.

• 19:03Michelle Obama?

  Other people think I'm funny. But your, your mother was a school teacher.

• 19:08Speaker 00

  She was.

• 19:08Michelle Obama?

  Your father managed parking lots.

• 19:10Speaker 00

  Parking lots, yeah. He managed parking lots at a company called Parkway, my Philly people.

• 19:15Michelle Obama?

  Okay, shout out to Parkway.

• 19:17Speaker 00

  I mean, it's the bee's knees in Philly, you know? And I was what they call a parking princess. And by they, I mean me. I called myself that because I could park anywhere in Philly, you know?

• 19:30Michelle Obama?

  Parallel parking?

• 19:31Speaker 00

  I, I can't.

• 19:33Craig Robinson?

  No, she's talking about she could park at any parking.

• 19:35Michelle Obama?

  Oh, you literally, oh, sorry.

• 19:37Speaker 00

  Yeah. In a parking lot, I wouldn't.

• 19:38Michelle Obama?

  See, but that's how I think, if you're the princess, that means you can literally park.

• 19:42Speaker 00

  I'm not good at parking.

• 19:43Michelle Obama?

  Oh, well, then, you don't, you don't get the title.

• 19:45Speaker 00

  That was the crazy part about it. I don't enjoy driving, but I had like the juice. My friends would call me and be like, oh my God, I'm downtown. Do you think your dad can get me in? I'm like, yeah, let me call my dad real quick. It was great.

• 19:58Speaker 00

  It was so cool.

• 20:00Michelle Obama?

  You were living like, what was, what was your neighborhood like? What was school like?

• 20:06Speaker 00

  My neighborhood?

• 20:10Speaker 00

  That's a good question. My family did a really good job of making me feel like I lived in, in like full house, you know? Like, you know, I didn't know that outside, my neighborhood was more like the wire. I wasn't really that aware.

• 20:28Michelle Obama?

  I think everybody here can relate.

• 20:31Speaker 00

  Something I really love about Chicagoans and feel a kinship there.

• 20:36Michelle Obama?

  We all thought we were rich.

• 20:38Speaker 00

  And, and I think that's kind of like a testament to a really good family. And it wasn't protectiveness, it was you're, you're a child and.

• 20:49Speaker 00

  You, you deserve to, to live in a nice environment. But yeah, one day I was outside and I was like jumping rope with

• 20:58Michelle Obama?

  Double Dutch.

• 20:59Speaker 00

  My girlfriend, Double Dutch, with my girlfriends. And then there was like a drive by.

• 21:04Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yeah.

• 21:05Speaker 00

  And that happened. And we just ran behind the, um, the, the, on my porch, there was like a little barrier. We had a, uh, what do you call it? Outdoor porch. And then we like stood up. And then this kid I knew came limping down the street and blood dripping from his leg. And I was like, man, that's so crazy that, that happened to him. And then I was like, wait, could that happen to me? And then I remember that being a moment of, ooh.

• 21:31Michelle Obama?

  How old were you?

• 21:33Speaker 00

  It was summer. I was outside by my, I probably was about

• 21:40Speaker 00

  12, I would say. Yeah. Cause we moved out of that neighborhood when I was 14. But they did a good job of making me feel like it wasn't as tough as it was. Cause it was a rough neighborhood, but.

• 21:50Michelle Obama?

  Did having the older brothers and sisters, were they kind of your protectors? Or were you kind of like? I know you, you knew that you had to be able to throw some hands. I know you write about that.

• 22:00Speaker 00

  Yes, I knew, I knew, I needed to know how to fight. And I, I do know how to fight.

• 22:06Michelle Obama?

  Or just like, by the way.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  Really well.

• 22:09Michelle Obama?

  Just so it happens.

• 22:11Craig Robinson?

  You look like somebody who could fight.

• 22:14Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 22:14Michelle Obama?

  Quinto messed up some. It's like.

• 22:17Speaker 00

  I don't like, I think. Right now?

• 22:20Michelle Obama?

  Quinn. Right now, right this second? It's just like, that, that wasn't the look I was going for.

• 22:24Speaker 00

  I can take multitudes, I guess that's good. Yeah. No, yeah, they, they knew how to fight. We never fought each other. And we weren't fighters, you know? Fighting, I don't want to fight. But you have to if you need to in a city like that. Once again, girls, I'm just, I don't feel like, don't, don't fight. It's not, if you can resolve it in other ways, please do it. Yeah.

• 22:48Michelle Obama?

  That's true.

• 22:49Speaker 00

  That's true. I've only been in like two physical fights and I'm very proud of that.

• 22:54Michelle Obama?

  Yeah. And a lot of people haven't been in one, but.

• 22:59Craig Robinson?

  Somebody's clapping for the fight.

• 23:01Michelle Obama?

  That's good, that's good.

• 23:03Speaker 00

  I feel like you guys should take the reins now. This is why I don't want to do this.

• 23:06Michelle Obama?

  No, we love this, we love it.

• 23:08Craig Robinson?

  This is great.

• 23:16Craig Robinson?

  This episode is brought to you in part by United Airlines, Chicago's hometown airline where good leads the way. So, Mish, I have to ask, when you're on the plane coming back to Chicago and you catch a glimpse of the skyline over Lake Michigan, what comes to your mind?

• 23:36Michelle Obama?

  That's my favorite part of the flight. I mean, I try to make it a point to stop everything that I'm doing and make sure that I'm looking out the window. Because I don't know about you, but I try to outline where we are. You know, because the beautiful thing about Chicago, it's a grid system and it's an easy, one of the easiest cities to get around in.

• 23:59Craig Robinson?

  Yep.

• 23:59Michelle Obama?

  And you can sort of track your whole neighborhood, right? So I try to find out, where's the house? Do I see mom's house? Do I see where you guys used to live? Even though it's a little bitty dot, it's just exciting.

• 24:12Craig Robinson?

  You have an idea. No, I feel, I feel that. I feel that same way. Every time I land at O'Hare, there's this specific moment where I just exhale. Like, okay, I'm back. This is where it all started. And even after traveling the world, I still think Chicago is one of the most beautiful electric cities on the planet. And that feeling never gets old. Do you have any special feelings about the city like that?

• 24:43Michelle Obama?

  Oh, my God, it's the exact same thing. I mean, I have traveled the world and my heart is still in Chicago. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The Grant Park and now Jackson Park is gonna be just as beautiful because, you know, shameless plug, but the Obama Presidential Center is gonna be a part of that skyline. The lakefront is amazing. I mean, it's just such a livable city. And when it's not freezing cold, which is the summertime, it's alive with so much going on. Festivals and art museums and great shopping and some of the best food you can have.

• 25:25Michelle Obama?

  So, yeah, Chicago is still my favorite city in the country, probably in the world.

• 25:32Craig Robinson?

  And United is part of that. They've been part of this city for 90 years, shaped by the same grit and work ethic Chicago is known for. Meech, what does home mean to you?

• 25:44Speaker 00

  I've learned that home isn't about the house you're in. It's about the people who are in the house. Right? So we've had to learn, you know? Leaving Chicago, our hometown, to start a new life in Washington and living in the White House. And one of my fears was that it wouldn't feel like home. But the best thing I learned was that home is wherever family is.

• 26:09Craig Robinson?

  Well, Chicago is forever our hometown. And as Chicago's hometown airline, United Airlines can connect you to the world with more destinations than any other airline, on more new planes with screens at every seat, Bluetooth connectivity and bigger overhead bins. Book your next flight on the United app or at united.com.

• 26:39Michelle Obama?

  Now, your parents were wonderful role models to you. There was a lot of love. But there was a period where you were going through some contentious times with your mother in particular.

• 26:53Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:54Michelle Obama?

  Can you talk about that? Because I bet there isn't a girl in this room who isn't mad at their mother right now. Even the 60-year-olds.

• 27:04Speaker 00

  I know. And you know, it was in college really where I, once again, didn't know what she was trying to protect me from.

• 27:14Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 27:15Speaker 00

  And that's where we started having issues. We were so solid before that. But in college, it just felt like she was holding on for dear life or she didn't trust me. And I just didn't understand. I was doing, like I said, I was doing improv. And I wasn't doing drugs. I was, well, I wasn't, I wasn't doing anything bad. I wasn't doing anything bad.

• 27:38Michelle Obama?

  You weren't doing anything illegal technically.

• 27:41Speaker 00

  Yeah. I wasn't doing anything bad.

• 27:43Michelle Obama?

  Anything that everybody else wasn't doing.

• 27:44Speaker 00

  I was a really good kid, so I just didn't understand. And my mom, and I got into it one day after, when I was getting out of the car, she was dropping me off at a friend's house. And I just really, I was... Never disrespectful, but I asked her like, what is going on? What is your deal? Like, you did this, you raised me, you made me who I am. Why are you trying to stop? What, you know, is inevitable. And, you know, I wasn't looking at her as a full human being. It's kind of similar what I'm talking about where like you get to see the full America. Therefore, you understand it. That's why it's important to learn it. I wasn't seeing the full picture of my mom. I was just looking at her as a mother, but not as a full human being who had lost two siblings

• 28:26Speaker 00

  to drugs and alcohol and, you know, was just trying to protect me from a rough world. But I just didn't understand because she was a dancer and everything and she like lived the life.

• 28:40Michelle Obama?

  Because you, you went to temple, but you lived at home. You didn't live in the dorms.

• 28:47Speaker 00

  I, I found my way to live in the dorms.

• 28:51Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, well, you, you snuck your way into the dorms.

• 28:54Craig Robinson?

  Wait, explain this.

• 28:55Speaker 00

  I commuted my way into the dorms. I like what you're saying. I, I had a, there was a friend who, the first day of school, her roommate, I guess, dropped out. I don't know what happened to that girl, but she never, I hope she's okay. But we never told the, we never told the school and I just moved in.

• 29:16Michelle Obama?

  Oh, why not?

• 29:17Craig Robinson?

  Okay.

• 29:17Speaker 00

  I always found my way. I was like a couch surfer, hobo, just moved around campus, stayed on friends' couches.

• 29:24Michelle Obama?

  Where did your parents think you were?

• 29:26Speaker 00

  I would tell them that I was staying on campus, but there was resistance to that. And I was just like, I'm not doing anything. I was watching, do you know the show Tim and Eric? Are you guys familiar? No.

• 29:37Michelle Obama?

  What is that?

• 29:38Speaker 00

  A show on my age. I was watching.

• 29:39Craig Robinson?

  Tim and Eric.

• 29:40Speaker 00

  I was watching like SNL and comedy shows with my friends on the couch, but that, they were just were not, my mom in particular was really not happy. We, we got over that hump and I'm happy that we did. It took a lot of discussion and communication because I was determined to have a good relationship with my mother and she was determined to have a good relationship with me. And I think if two people are just determined to work it out, it can eventually work, but it took some time. I mean.

• 30:07Michelle Obama?

  But I think the point you make about seeing your parents as whole people.

• 30:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:12Michelle Obama?

  I remember distinctly when, we always had a great relationship with our parents. We were a close knit family, all aunts and uncles and cousins. They believed in talking to us about things, but I think our parents did the opposite. They were like, kicked us out. They were like, go try some things, don't stay so close. You know, they had the same fears, you know? But you grow up with your parents and all the adults around you as heroes, right? Because they're so wise. But then one day, as you grow up, you realize, oh, man, dad's got some issues, right?

• 30:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:51Michelle Obama?

  And then you.

• 30:57Michelle Obama?

  And the same thing.

• 30:58Craig Robinson?

  And she wonders why I was the favorite.

• 31:02Michelle Obama?

  But you also see it happening from your kids, when you have kids.

• 31:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:07Michelle Obama?

  When you start, when you know.

• 31:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:10Michelle Obama?

  You've got to go through that period.

• 31:12Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:12Michelle Obama?

  Where you start growing up.

• 31:14Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 31:14Michelle Obama?

  And then you start realizing what the world has in store.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:19Michelle Obama?

  And what your parents are really struggling. And I'm talking to all you young people here who may be mad or struggling with the adult figures in your lives. It is hard to see those people as real, whole people with a set of fears and set of challenges and limitations. And a lot of times, parents don't talk about the hard things.

• 31:41Speaker 00

  No, I mean, and they don't want to. You're a kid.

• 31:44Michelle Obama?

  But it helps, though.

• 31:45Speaker 00

  It does, yeah.

• 31:47Michelle Obama?

  It helps.

• 31:48Craig Robinson?

  But to the parents' defense, sometimes they're just afraid.

• 31:56Michelle Obama?

  Totally.

• 31:57Craig Robinson?

  And they're afraid for you because they think you don't know what's coming.

• 32:03Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 32:03Craig Robinson?

  And that's where I thought our parents did a really good job because we found out later how really afraid our parents were to let us go on trips with a basketball team when you're 13 years old.

• 32:17Michelle Obama?

  Yes.

• 32:18Craig Robinson?

  Or.

• 32:19Michelle Obama?

  Go out of the country.

• 32:20Craig Robinson?

  Go out of the country for the first time by herself when she's in high school.

• 32:24Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 32:24Craig Robinson?

  Or, you know.

• 32:27Craig Robinson?

  Send you off to a school. I went to high school right around the corner here, Mount Carmel High School.

• 32:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 32:32Craig Robinson?

  You know, you know, mostly white school.

• 32:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 32:34Craig Robinson?

  I've got a couple of friends here who I've been friends with ever since then. You know, they were afraid of all of that. And I, you know, I want some of these, these young girls and young people in here to just have a, you know, we're always talking about giving people grace. We never give our parents the grace because.

• 32:52Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 32:53Craig Robinson?

  Um, and, and sometimes it's too much, right? Like, yeah, Meesh and I always talk about how parents these days try and curate this perfect existence for their children.

• 33:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:06Craig Robinson?

  So there is something in the middle there.

• 33:09Speaker 00

  Totally.

• 33:09Craig Robinson?

  You can't be too afraid that they can't do anything. And then you can't protect them from everything.

• 33:15Speaker 00

  Absolutely. There's a good book I'm reading. It's a, it's a tougher read, but I'm getting through it called The Anxious Generation.

• 33:22Craig Robinson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:23Speaker 00

  And it speaks to that so well. It is speaking specifically to technology, social media. But it's true that each generation is gonna try to create perimeters based on what they experienced. My parents, look, they survived. And I mean, they made their way through the crack era. Where they were losing friends through the AIDS era, losing friends, watching people disappear left and right. You know what I mean? So of course, they're trying to protect their children from the things that they've seen. I'm gonna try to protect my kids from the things that I've seen. And they're probably gonna look at me like I'm crazy. Because those problems probably still, they probably won't exist in the same way.

• 34:08Speaker 00

  That's right. Or, you know, I hope they won't anyway. I think the internet is our big painful thing that my generation's dealing with. But, you know, to your point though, you're right. How much they're afraid of. And I realize it more and more as I get older. If you're fortunate enough to get older, you, you get it. You start to thinking about having, having kids of your own or having kids of your own. And you're just like, I don't even know how my parents had five children.

• 34:42Speaker 00

  When this, my mom's a teacher. I don't know if you guys heard, they don't make that much. And my dad was managing parking lots. It don't make that much either.

• 34:50Michelle Obama?

  He was a king of parking, but still.

• 34:52Speaker 00

  He was a king. But we're talking about a combined salary of maybe over a little over a hundred grand. Five kids, I'm doing all right, I think. And I'm still like, if I have one, I'm like, oh, my God. I can never stop working. I have to, I don't know, how am I gonna do it? How am I going to do it?

• 35:12Michelle Obama?

  But that's the thing that we constantly have to remind ourselves. Cause we talk to young people like, I don't know if I'm ever gonna have kids. I can't afford it. And, you know, our parents were the same way. My mother didn't work until I went to high school because she wanted to be home. She wanted to be involved in the PTA. She wanted to look out for us. She wanted us to be able to come home for lunch. And so that meant we were living off of one, my dad was a city worker, right? He was a shift worker. And so what that generation did was that they lived small, right?

• 35:46Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 35:47Michelle Obama?

  And then they, they didn't place a whole lot of value in the stuff we had. Right? And they didn't feel responsible for us having, so they didn't feel guilty. Right? I mean, one of my father's favorite sayings was never satisfied, never satisfied. If you had something good on your plate and you were looking for the next thing. He was like, see, that's the problem. You know, you gotta learn how to be satisfied with what you have.

• 36:17Speaker 00

  Satisfied and grateful.

• 36:18Michelle Obama?

  And social media is kind of putting forward

• 36:21Speaker 00

  Oh, boy.

• 36:22Michelle Obama?

  all the things you don't have and should want.

• 36:25Speaker 00

  To your point, that my dad, I was on the phone with him two days ago. And he was talking about what his dream was. He dreamed to have a family. That was his dream. And he accomplished it. And then it was keeping that family taken care of, no matter what that meant. Working jobs that he didn't want to until he got the one that was good. He was, and, and that was so special to me because it was so.

• 36:51Speaker 00

  Big to him, seemingly small to other people. And then another point to like, the internet. And I feel like we're often trying to impress people who aren't even in our community, who don't even know us. And the way I was brought up, we were, you know, a part of a religious community. Our neighborhood, our literal neighborhood community. And my dance school was another community. My father was in the carpenters' union and he was a part of a music group. And these were the people we wanted to impress, our actual communities.

• 37:36Speaker 00

  And I think that made for a healthier environment. But now that we have gotten into the habit of impressing people who don't even know we exist, it feels like a disconnect between what's really needed at home and what we think we need to show people. And I'm saying this not as a judgment, but as someone who's grown up through that is now trying to actively reject it. And it's hard. I struggle. I'm like, I have to actively like, put down this thinking.

• 38:11Craig Robinson?

  That's a great point, because I was thinking about all the things I wanted to talk to you about. We're not going to get to all of them, but one of them was, you got your start on the internet before folks were like, online like that.

• 38:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:27Craig Robinson?

  Right? Can you talk about what you were thinking and how that all evolved? Because first of all, I'm too old to know. I didn't really get to know you until I saw Abbott Elementary. And then we started doing the background work. And I was like, whoa, you've been doing stuff for a very long time and at a young age. Can you talk about how, what was your mindset? How did you say, well, I'm going to do this and then I'm going to put it online? Was that a, a plan? Or was it just sort of an outlet?

• 39:01Speaker 00

  It was an outlet. I talk a lot about the importance of craft. I just was practicing comedy. And the internet...

• 39:10Speaker 00

  I was actually staunchly against it at first. I had zero respect for YouTubers. I thought, I was not on board. I respected the stage and I respected writing and television, but I did not respect the internet. And then what happened was Instagram, look, social media, Facebook, how far back do I go?

• 39:32Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, really.

• 39:32Speaker 00

  It's really hard. MySpace was the beginning of it. It's so hard. MySpace was like really the beginning of it, but we didn't know what was happening to us. I want to be clear about that. We were just kids using the internet. We didn't know. We were basically being indoctrinated into our social lives changing forever. Right? So that MySpace happened. And like, Facebook happened next. And Facebook, this is back when you had to have a college email to sign up for it. And that became the second iteration of you living your life online. You know, like, it wasn't just your friends in the classroom. It was your friends here. And then, when I came to Chicago, actually, I started having friends on Facebook in Chicago,

• 40:16Speaker 00

  which expanded my internet living, you know? The beginning of like, I don't know, just a network of people online. And then, Facebook had video. And I would make really silly videos with my friends for no one. That was the goal. It was just like, just for me and my friends. And then I started a little teeny talk show on Facebook. None of this is big stuff. It just was kids messing around on the internet. And I would interview someone for silly. The first episode of that show is when Barack, he wasn't elected yet. He was about to get elected. I made up a rap and I said, Barack, Barack, you rock my socks. I don't know what else I said. It was so dumb. I'll show you. But it was, it was so silly just being in the dorm, being silly.

• 40:59Speaker 00

  And then it expanded to Chicago because I would come out here and visit my boyfriend, and he was in a music group, and I interviewed them. And then the series started getting popular on Facebook. And so, that was kind of my first way into like, alright, there's something to creating here. Then Instagram happened. Now, once again, just making silly videos for my friends. This is before you could share. Because I feel like some of us in here remember, it was just for you and your friends. And then I made some silly videos. But then I woke, I went to sleep, woke up and they were getting a lot of comments from people I didn't know.

• 41:41Speaker 00

  And looking back, I'm not even sure how, because it wasn't easy to share a video then. There was no share link. I'm not even sure you could like copy the URL to paste and send to someone. So it was complete word of mouth. And that was really interesting to me.

• 41:56Michelle Obama?

  Was it scary? Was it exciting?

• 41:59Speaker 00

  It was exciting. It was, I didn't know to be scared yet, because once again, didn't really know what was happening.

• 42:06Michelle Obama?

  And did your parents know?

• 42:07Speaker 00

  No, God, no. They didn't even, my parents still to this day don't.

• 42:11Michelle Obama?

  I don't know how to, you know? I remember when Malia and Sasha were starting to ask for stuff. And then I was like, I'm supposed to be monitoring this.

• 42:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 42:19Michelle Obama?

  But I don't even know what it is. So I'd get mad, like, give me your phone.

• 42:22Speaker 00

  No.

• 42:23Michelle Obama?

  And I'd be like, open it.

• 42:28Michelle Obama?

  Now take me to the site.

• 42:31Michelle Obama?

  I don't even know what I'm looking for, but I'm gonna find it with your help.

• 42:36Speaker 00

  That is hilarious. See, this is what I mean. That is hilarious. So, no, they had no idea. And then I started making more of those Instagram videos and they started going viral. And then I would put some of them on Vine, which no longer exists. And people would pick them up.

• 42:51Michelle Obama?

  Exactly. Thing, everybody's all like, oh, Vine.

• 42:55Speaker 00

  And I was, it was all just happening and I was, I was broke. I was working at Apple, but man, I was dead broke. My money went straight to rent. I had no money.

• 43:06Michelle Obama?

  Was this when you were in LA?

• 43:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, I had made it to LA by that point, yeah.

• 43:10Michelle Obama?

  Well, also talk about how you got to LA, because eventually you just, you just left. You, like you were secretly staying in the dorms? You secretly took your little self to LA to live? Talk about that.

• 43:26Speaker 00

  I knew I wasn't gonna get away with that. I had to tell my parents. I was soft launching it to them.

• 43:34Speaker 00

  So I went out to LA. I was like, I'm gonna go. Some of my friends are out there from Temple. They're doing the Temple, um, the Temple program that they have in LA. I'm gonna go, I'm, yeah, I'm doing that. Mind you, at this point, I'm flunking out of college. I had a bad breakup with that, yeah, the Chicago boy and it broke me. Okay.

• 43:52Michelle Obama?

  Don't, don't do that.

• 43:53Speaker 00

  Don't do that.

• 43:54Michelle Obama?

  Don't let some-

• 43:54Speaker 00

  Do not do that. It broke me.

• 43:56Michelle Obama?

  Sorry, boy, break you.

• 43:58Speaker 00

  Don't do it. I thought I was, I, I, I thought I was like going back to school, but I was like heartbroken.

• 44:02Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 44:02Speaker 00

  It was a very emotional girl and just like was devastated. And then I was like, I'll, I'll go back to school. I am gonna go back to school, but they didn't know at that point that I was like not doing well.

• 44:15Michelle Obama?

  You were undercover flunking.

• 44:16Speaker 00

  Undercover flunking.

• 44:17Michelle Obama?

  You were such a little undercover girl.

• 44:19Speaker 00

  I know. Not anymore. That was a hard life to live. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't like that. I was, and I wasn't a good liar, so it was-

• 44:28Michelle Obama?

  Seemed like you were, Quinta.

• 44:30Speaker 00

  No, I was good at half truths.

• 44:33Michelle Obama?

  Uh huh.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  And living what is called a double life.

• 44:36Michelle Obama?

  Oh.

• 44:37Speaker 00

  So I was never, I, I wouldn't say, my parents like, where are you going? I'm gonna see some friends, uh, from college. I didn't say what college and I didn't say what friends. Um, so I would get away with it. But then I, yeah, when it came to LA, I, I kinda went out to test the waters just for a month. Stayed with a friend and to see if I could work. So I got to-

• 44:59Michelle Obama?

  Work in the business.

• 45:00Speaker 00

  Yes. To see if it would work out. At that point, I knew Chicago, it was gonna be like SNL or bust and I didn't know if that was gonna be right for me. And I felt like LA had more opportunities. So I worked, I took a, a second city class and I got a lot of PA jobs. I worked on, um, this show, oh, Key and Peele. I worked on Key and Peele.

• 45:22Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yeah.

• 45:23Speaker 00

  As a PA.

• 45:24Michelle Obama?

  I missed that in your book.

• 45:26Speaker 00

  I don't know if it was in there. I, I don't, I don't know. I did. It was like, it was their first episode, actually.

• 45:30Michelle Obama?

  Wow.

• 45:31Speaker 00

  And I was a PA and through that met a producer-

• 45:33Michelle Obama?

  PA is a-

• 45:34Speaker 00

  Production assistant.

• 45:35Michelle Obama?

  Production assistant.

• 45:36Speaker 00

  And-

• 45:36Craig Robinson?

  She, she does a podcast now. She's in the business.

• 45:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 45:40Michelle Obama?

  I'm just, you know, all this lingo, PA.

• 45:43Speaker 00

  I was PA.

• 45:44Michelle Obama?

  You know.

• 45:45Speaker 00

  Production assistant. And, um, then I, uh, that producer-

• 45:49Michelle Obama?

  Shut up.

• 45:51Speaker 00

  That producer got me a job on a music video, which happened to be Donald Glover's music video, Heartbeat. And I was, so that was, I was like, okay, I can do this. I can work out here. The girl I stayed with, Brittany, she was a styling assistant, and she couldn't do a job, and she gave the job to me for a woman named Samira Nasir, who now runs Harper's Bazaar. But at the time, she was like a traveling stylist. So I went back to Philly. I said, okay, I need to get a job, and I'm going to make sure it's a job that can move me to LA. And that's how I started working at Apple, because I knew that they had a good transfer program. So I worked at Apple for a year.

• 46:32Michelle Obama?

  So you were a tech assistant at Apple?

• 46:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was, I don't know if they exist anymore, an FRS, a family room specialist?

• 46:38Michelle Obama?

  Never been in an Apple store. I know, I'm first lady.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  Well, you had like a big period of your life where you probably couldn't go places easy.

• 46:44Michelle Obama?

  Didn't do normal, human things.

• 46:46Speaker 00

  Yes. That's true. You should go, lovely experience.

• 46:51Michelle Obama?

  I probably, probably won't, probably won't.

• 46:55Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then I transferred to LA. I did tell my parents at that point. I was like, I am moving. I'm going to move there. And I just had to present it as a thing of, I'm not asking you, I am going. Which was really tough for me, because I had never really had that experience from my parents before. My mom was in absolute shock. And my dad, my dad was always supportive of me in a really unique way. He kind of respected my carrying on, but, so he would let my mom do the yelling, but he secretly would be like proud of me.

• 47:32Michelle Obama?

  You'd do your thing.

• 47:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 47:33Michelle Obama?

  Did they know you were interested in comedy by then?

• 47:37Speaker 00

  No.

• 47:37Michelle Obama?

  You couldn't say that. You're like, I'm gonna be...

• 47:40Speaker 00

  No, at that point, I was telling them, I'm still planning on going to school. And I was, I was gonna transfer to UCLA. I know, but it was a plan. I was like, I'll go to UCLA. So it was a fool, it was a truth.

• 47:50Michelle Obama?

  You weren't lying.

• 47:51Speaker 00

  I wasn't lying. And then I got to LA and worked at Apple. But then those videos started going viral. And I said, I started selling T-shirts with like phrases from the videos on them. I was making more money than I've ever made in my life. And I'm talking $4,000, okay?

• 48:12Michelle Obama?

  I'm ballin'.

• 48:14Speaker 00

  Living like a queen. I was taking my friends out to dinner and everything. It was immediately crab dinners for everyone. It was so cute. And then the money ran out. And I was like...

• 48:27Michelle Obama?

  For the young people, that's another thing you don't do.

• 48:30Speaker 00

  Don't do that. Money ran out. I didn't want to make T-shirts. I was like, I feel like a T-shirt maker. That's my job now. I don't want to be a that. And so I was like, I need a job. I started doing stand-up and public appearances, but I didn't want to do public appearances and say my catchphrases on stage. That didn't feel good. And I didn't, stand-up was, I was good at it, but it was not for me. I knew it wasn't.

• 48:53Craig Robinson?

  Why not?

• 48:53Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  It, the lifestyle of stand-up wasn't for me. I didn't like being at the Comedy Store in LA until 2:00 a.m. I didn't like who I was becoming. Like I was starting to like smoke cigarettes and stuff just to hang out. And, and I just, it just wasn't for me. I respect stand-ups and people who are very good at it. And that is like their thing, but I felt...

• 49:23Michelle Obama?

  But it is a tough life.

• 49:25Speaker 00

  Tough life. And I didn't feel like it was my version of storytelling. I always say that. I didn't want to be singular. My personal experiences, I really enjoyed fictional worlds and narrative pieces. So then I got a job. I said, it's time to get a job. So I started working at BuzzFeed at the time. And that was a lifesaver. It was...

• 49:50Speaker 00

  Great pay, wonderful opportunity for me to-

• 49:53Michelle Obama?

  Can you talk a bit about BuzzFeed for people who don't?

• 49:56Speaker 00

  BuzzFeed was this platform that used to exist. It still exists.

• 50:00Michelle Obama?

  It still exists.

• 50:01Speaker 00

  It still exists, but not like it did in its heyday. I joined at the beginning of its heyday where we were producing videos for the internet that were like, it was relatable content, taste tests, etc. I kinda came in and helped build the narrative department, so scripted videos. That was just like a dream come true. I sold shows, I learned how to sell shows there, how to... It's one thing to make a show, it's another thing to actually sell it to a platform. And so I learned how to do that. I made incredible relationships. A lot of my friends from BuzzFeed currently work on Abbott, my friend Kate, my friend Justin, my friend Garrett. They're lifelong lessons there. And there are a lot of people who did not have good experiences and their experiences are valid.

• 50:45Speaker 00

  I'm not one of those people. But I also think I looked at it as for what it was. It was a job for me.

• 50:50Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 50:50Speaker 00

  And a lot of those kids were like coming out of college and that was their first job.

• 50:55Michelle Obama?

  Right.

• 50:56Speaker 00

  And they didn't-

• 50:57Michelle Obama?

  You had had bad jobs.

• 50:58Speaker 00

  I had had bad jobs. I had... Worked at Friendly's, I worked at American Eagle, I worked at a dance... I worked at the YMCA in LA and that was a wild experience. It just... I had some jobs. I worked at a call center for my school. I worked at a sex phone center because I was that broke one time. I had pawned all my stuff at a point in LA just to stay there, like everything I had. And so I was like, this is a job. I get that. Even working at Apple, I understood a job. So for me, it was the best job.

• 51:32Michelle Obama?

  That's another thing about, you know, just for kids, like taking some time to try on some things when it comes to work.

• 51:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:40Michelle Obama?

  You gotta work to pay rent, you gotta work to, you know-

• 51:44Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 51:45Michelle Obama?

  So having all these experiences, so by the time you get to BuzzFeed, you're kind of an adult.

• 51:51Speaker 00

  I'm an adult and super appreciative. I have a 401k benefits.

• 51:57Speaker 00

  By the time I left there, I was making six figures. I couldn't, I never even saw that happening for myself. I was treated with respect with, especially in media. I mean, they let me do stuff that I don't, that nobody was letting no black girl do anywhere else at the time, you know? And when I would even ask them why, it would, they were like, because you're good at it. I loved that. That was so, I'm so grateful for that. That was, that was huge for me.

• 52:33Craig Robinson?

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• 54:14Craig Robinson?

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• 54:57Craig Robinson?

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• 56:25Craig Robinson?

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• 56:50Craig Robinson?

  Was that the first time you felt successful in your path?

• 56:55Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 56:56Craig Robinson?

  Because I ask this because as an athlete and a coach, I find we learn sometimes more from our failures than we do from our wins. And I just want to get a feel for you. Did you think that all those tribulations you went through, good, bad, was it better to fail and figure out how to do it right? Or if you can avoid failing, and this is for the young people out here who think that, you know, you just sat here and did boom, boom, boom. And here, I'm at the, you know, award show, picking up my awards.

• 57:37Michelle Obama?

  Picking up your third Emmy.

• 57:40Speaker 00

  Well, you know,

• 57:46Speaker 00

  I love that question because sports is how I look at everything.

• 57:50Michelle Obama?

  And, oh, Lord.

• 57:52Speaker 00

  No, I'm sorry.

• 57:53Craig Robinson?

  Yeah, please.

• 57:54Speaker 00

  I know.

• 57:55Craig Robinson?

  The two athletes, the two, the two sports fans up here.

• 57:59Speaker 00

  I am one of them.

• 58:01Michelle Obama?

  I like sports, don't I?

• 58:03Speaker 00

  I do. And I just, like, I just watched, actually, not Save the Last Dance, sorry, The Last Dance again, the Michael Jordan documentary.

• 58:13Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 58:15Speaker 00

  Oh, God, like,

• 58:16Craig Robinson?

  Right.

• 58:17Speaker 00

  that kind of look at greatness is what I, that's my jam. I.

• 58:26Speaker 00

  Every failure is just motivation and it's just a part of the bigger picture. And so I have not considered anything I've ever done, ever, a failure. And I never will. It's not that it wasn't like, you know? Yeah. It's just part of the bigger picture. Even when I was folding pants at American Eagle, that was a part of getting me here today. When I had to pawn all my stuff, that would have been a lot of people's down moment. But for me, I'm like, this is just part of the, part of the up, part of the, this. I now look back, I had to ride past that place recently where I, where I sold my computer, which that was big. It was all I had.

• 59:10Speaker 00

  I sold all my clothes at that point for nothing, mind you. I mean, I didn't have like good clothes. They were from like Wet Seal, so I didn't get a lot of money.

• 59:17Michelle Obama?

  Oh, yeah.

• 59:18Speaker 00

  They were, I didn't get anything for them. So that computer was a big deal. And then, but I rode past that place the other day in LA and was like, wow. Like, I'm so grateful that I can ride past and that I have that moment to see how far I've come. So I just think, I don't, yeah, I mean, like, I was talking about that documentary because they had that, that moment where the Bulls lost to the Jazz. And that could have been the it. That could have been the end of Michael Jordan as we know it. And it wasn't. It was, we'll be back next year. And that's part of the journey now. And I'm coming for you. Like, and I think that's how I kind of look at things.

• 1:00:02Speaker 00

  And even Abbott, I don't know, there was a point where I was like, I don't know if I'll ever have another good idea after Abbott. Really? I did, because it seemed so big. I was, I wrote this show and then all of a su- I was like, well, all right. And then as we've gone through it, I was like, oh, this is a piece of a larger puzzle. I don't know. Quite what's in store. I know some things, but it is part of something big. But somebody else, it's big to us and big to me. There are people who could look at, I know it's crazy to think, having a show on network TV as a, oh, I didn't make it HBO show.

• 1:00:40Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:40Speaker 00

  I am around people like that every day. It is nuts to me. It's nuts and so that's-

• 1:00:46Michelle Obama?

  Never satisfied.

• 1:00:48Speaker 00

  Exactly. And that's where gratitude comes in for me. It's major. It's-

• 1:00:53Michelle Obama?

  Well, that's something to also remember as you ascend. You know, you start realizing that this constant pursuit of something outside of yourself, for people who haven't figured that out, they're never satisfied. And it, you know, I've probably sat at, sat at every powerful table there is, you know, from grammar school to the G Summit, right? You, you see the same people at the table with the same issues, you know? It doesn't matter how much money they have, how much power they have, you know? If they haven't figured out this piece, you know, if they haven't figured out their process, their purpose in life, and it's so hard for kids to believe this, but they're

• 1:01:37Michelle Obama?

  not happy, you know? And some people that are constantly grasping it more, the trillionaire, the, you meet these people and they're, they, they, they don't, they don't know how, they don't know how to build anything else except for wealth. So they're empty, right?

• 1:01:56Speaker 00

  Totally. And it's fascinating to see, as someone who spent a lot of time working on making sure this was straight, to watch some people that everyone knows and loves are hollow.

• 1:02:08Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:09Speaker 00

  Hollow, man. Like, and you, you talk to them and literally, like, you feel like you can see right through them. It's like, I don't even know why I'm having a conversation with you. I see what, it's just nothing in there. And I was watching one of my defining decom's Disney Channel original movies the other day. And-

• 1:02:27Michelle Obama?

  Hold on one second.

• 1:02:28Craig Robinson?

  This, this what happens, we have old, when you have, when you have old people in there.

• 1:02:32Michelle Obama?

  I know, it's okay.

• 1:02:33Craig Robinson?

  That I guarantee, I guarantee that's somebody old.

• 1:02:36Michelle Obama?

  And they don't know how to turn it off.

• 1:02:37Craig Robinson?

  They don't know how to turn it off.

• 1:02:38Michelle Obama?

  And I go, Jesus, we were just talking about social media. Hand it to a young person.

• 1:02:44Craig Robinson?

  Give the young person the phone.

• 1:02:45Michelle Obama?

  To turn the phone off. But do you guys remember the movie Brink?

• 1:02:52Speaker 00

  The dad in that movie says something that was, that hit me so hard. And this Disney Channel movie, but he tells Brink, who's a skater and all he cares about is skating and shredding. And his dad's like, you know, skating is what you do. It's not who you are. You are. He says he's a, he lost his job, the dad in the movie, and he was a construction foreman. He said he used to introduce himself as, hey, I'm a construction foreman, such and such. Almost like who he was, was the job first. And then he falls off a ladder and hurts himself and he had to find himself again. And that really stuck with me because I'm going through that with my career right now.

• 1:03:31Speaker 00

  My job is not who I am. It is my work. I do care about it very deeply. But I think it's important. I mean, I know people who, teachers who care about their job very deeply. I know bus drivers who care about their job very deeply, but it's not who I am. Who I am is a good sister, a good daughter, a good friend. You know, just who are you when no one's looking?

• 1:03:57Michelle Obama?

  And these are not just words. It's really the, the truth about life.

• 1:04:03Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:04:03Michelle Obama?

  You know, and it's like the, the sooner that you, young people understand that, just sort of believe that truth. You know, then you can start building life from there. Right?

• 1:04:17Speaker 00

  We've got to get rid of social media. I don't know what to do. I, I just, I, every, but I, I don't know.

• 1:04:24Michelle Obama?

  Well, and spoken like somebody who's built your career on, so can you talk about how you're thinking about it?

• 1:04:30Speaker 00

  I started to vow to destroy the very thing that created my career. You know how many times I used to, back before even, you know, Twitter became X, I used to be, I used to have dreams of going to Twitter and pulling the plug out of the headquarters. I'm so serious.

• 1:04:47Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:48Speaker 00

  I could feel in real time, the negative effects that it was starting to have on my peers, on my people. Not to even mention the younger generation. They got a number done on them for real. Because I at least lived life before the internet. You know, the internet didn't come into my life as a social platform until I was like 17, but.

• 1:05:13Speaker 00

  Man, it is, it's a doozy. I don't know what we're gonna do.

• 1:05:17Michelle Obama?

  It's got people thinking that fame is a goal. That, like, I don't even understand what influence is in the absence of anything behind it.

• 1:05:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:05:28Michelle Obama?

  You haven't built anything. You're just sort of selling somebody else's stuff.

• 1:05:33Speaker 00

  It, it has its benefits for sure.

• 1:05:35Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 1:05:37Speaker 00

  I do think the negatives are outweighing the benefits. And so, there was a recent case, though, that, you know, was gonna be interesting, where finally someone got to court and proved, hey, same effects as cigarettes.

• 1:05:54Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:54Speaker 00

  Happening right here. We gotta do something. We can't keep living like this. And I know we all like joke about the algorithms, but it's really not funny that you can...

• 1:06:07Michelle Obama?

  You can manipulate somebody.

• 1:06:09Speaker 00

  It's just, yeah, you know, and the sea of happiness.

• 1:06:11Michelle Obama?

  That you're messing with dopamine and people's habits. The, the notion that a lot of these programs are using the same algorithms that they use in Vegas, you know? To get people to continue to gamble and use slots as the same sounds and the sights and the noises and the repetition.

• 1:06:30Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 1:06:31Michelle Obama?

  It's just important for kids to understand that because it all looks so good because the, the allure of fame and notoriety.

• 1:06:43Speaker 00

  And the allure of community. That's another, I think more than fame, it's been this allure of community that is there, that I think there's, there's issues with that. It's now been scientifically proven that there is an issue with you thinking your community is...

• 1:07:01Michelle Obama?

  People you don't know.

• 1:07:02Speaker 00

  10,000 people you don't know and have no connection with in person. And even, you know, for children to be... Growing up and the first people they are talking to.

• 1:07:14Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:14Speaker 00

  Are people they don't know.

• 1:07:16Michelle Obama?

  I tell, I would tell the girls that when they started getting into it.

• 1:07:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:07:20Michelle Obama?

  I was like, it would make the same point now, they were right up the cusp and they're like you. They are so glad that they were just right on it.

• 1:07:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:07:29Michelle Obama?

  That it's not like part of their ecosystem. Sasha being the youngest is probably a little more into it. But, you know, you look up and she, you know, she's like, I got a thousand friends. I was like, I know you don't. I mean, there is, you don't, you don't know. I swear to God, I know these people. And I was like, no, you don't. And I said, and the thing you have to understand is like, now you have a thousand people who have access to you. You know, and when you're coming up in our, our day, when it was black and white TV and we used to walk to school in our bare feet.

• 1:08:06Michelle Obama?

  But in order for you to have, people to have access to you, they had to call a phone, right? And your mother or parent would answer. And the person calling you would have to communicate and say, hi, my name is X is such and such there. And by doing that, your parent was alerted, oh, such and such is in my child's life.

• 1:08:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:08:28Michelle Obama?

  Now I am cognizant of who my child is dealing with. You might say, well, who's such and such?

• 1:08:34Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:08:34Michelle Obama?

  Tell me about that person, right? Now that buffer that is necessary of protection, just a parent going, somebody is calling my kid. Now you don't have it.

• 1:08:45Speaker 00

  And, and the fun, I'm so sorry.

• 1:08:47Michelle Obama?

  No, no, no.

• 1:08:48Speaker 00

  The interesting part about this conversation is a lot of parents of that time, they were trying to protect their kids from outside. Outside was getting crazy.

• 1:08:55Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:56Speaker 00

  So it was really safe if you were on the family computer doing something. But they had no clue, they were trying to protect us from the outside, but now we know. And that court case is what they're proving, which is, no, they know what they're doing. They are getting your kid addicted. That's what they had to prove with cigarettes. Like, no, no, no, no, the marketing, Joe Camel is like a cartoon.

• 1:09:15Michelle Obama?

  That's right, that's right.

• 1:09:16Craig Robinson?

  Who would have ever thought watching loads of TV would have been better for you?

• 1:09:21Speaker 00

  I know, I'm a big, big supporter of television.

• 1:09:24Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, so, so we were TV kids.

• 1:09:27Craig Robinson?

  We were TV kids.

• 1:09:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was such a TV kid. I mean, I, I love, I just love TV.

• 1:09:32Michelle Obama?

  I like that you.

• 1:09:33Speaker 00

  Oh, no, go ahead.

• 1:09:34Craig Robinson?

  Speaking of TV.

• 1:09:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:35Craig Robinson?

  Can we talk about Abbott Elementary?

• 1:09:37Speaker 00

  We can. Yes.

• 1:09:40Craig Robinson?

  So, we all, we all admit, this is, it's a great show. And, you know, I was talking to my wife and my kids about this show. And we all, like, so you got 16-year-old, 14-year-old, and adults all watching TV again, which, which had, had, had stopped happening. Everybody's sort of binge-watching everything. I, I was dying to ask you, why do you think it's such a great show?

• 1:10:06Speaker 00

  Well, I created it with that intention.

• 1:10:09Craig Robinson?

  I thought you were gonna say, cuz I created it.

• 1:10:10Speaker 00

  No. Intention is important, though.

• 1:10:13Craig Robinson?

  Okay.

• 1:10:14Speaker 00

  I created it with that intention. I would go back home, and my, my niece, she's 20, 20, 21, and my mom is 73, and I'm 36, and then we had nothing to watch together. And I really couldn't stand that, you know? I really, I just didn't like that because my parents and I grew up watching TV together.

• 1:10:34Craig Robinson?

  Everybody watched the same show.

• 1:10:36Speaker 00

  Everything, everyone, and everything that we were watching was old, you know? I think a big show in our house was, later on, became King of Queens for some reason. And that became a generational show in our house.

• 1:10:50Speaker 00

  Cosby Show kinda fell off in the house cuz that, you know, but that would've been one, I think.

• 1:10:54Craig Robinson?

  That would've been one.

• 1:10:55Speaker 00

  A Different World was a big one cuz my niece really liked it and everything. But I was like, there should be more of these. And then, after I was visiting my mom, the year before she retired, and I was pushing her to retire, I was visiting her and just walking around the schools. I grew up in schools. They feel like second homes to me. So I do know them well enough to know the rhythms and everything. But visiting it in that way, after being out of school for so long, you start to see it in this really clear way. It's kinda like when you haven't seen your family in a while. And you're like, you grew up in this family, but you haven't seen them in a while, and you see them again, and then you like, see everyone kinda clearly for who they are. That's what it was like when I visited my mom.

• 1:11:40Speaker 00

  Her new principal was so funny and bananas. And my mom's little best friend, who Melissa in the show was based off of, was so funny to me. And my mom was so, I saw this woman who didn't wanna retire cuz she didn't wanna...

• 1:12:01Speaker 00

  Be put out to pasture. I don't know. Both my parents really, they're workers. They've been working their whole life. They love working. My mom loves teaching and I could feel that in her and that. So that was the heart of the show to me right there. And then my mom, years ago, had this TA, a teaching assistant, that was so young and bubbly. And I remembered, even though I was young, I remembered that woman getting on my mom's nerves. And I thought that was so funny. And so, all of a sudden, I'm like, I see Janine, I see Barbara, I see Melissa, I see Ava. My good friend from school, Gregory. He became a teacher and wound up teaching with my mom. And he and I went to school together. We went to these programs together and everything. We went to college together.

• 1:12:45Speaker 00

  And I really, watching him become a teacher was so interesting. And I was so proud of him and so proud of what he was doing. He was, it's again what I'm talking about, like him choosing to be a teacher was him choosing to be a role model for so many young black boys in Philadelphia. Something they desperately needed, whether they knew it or not. And so, then Gregory became clear to me. And I had a friend, Matt, who's teaching in New York, who was the most well-meaning white guy you could find.

• 1:13:20Speaker 00

  And I was like, Matt is, it was so funny to me. Just so earnest, nothing could get him down. You know what I mean? And I wanted to so many times, be like, Matt, you corny as hell.

• 1:13:31Michelle Obama?

  That's everybody on the Obama campaign.

• 1:13:34Speaker 00

  Yes. But you know what? That corn is what helps some kids to see another day. That corny teacher is necessary. So then I got my Jacob. I was like, I have a show.

• 1:13:47Michelle Obama?

  You do.

• 1:13:48Speaker 00

  I have a show. And then I just like, woke up and was like, I'm gonna make this. At the time, I was in a couple, I was in between some other deals. So I was gonna make it as an animated show first. But I was really in, I am very into animation. And so I was like, I'll do it animated. And I hadn't seen an animated documentary. But then...

• 1:14:07Speaker 00

  Things happen, whatever, and got the opportunity to do it live action, which led to the show. And yeah, I just, I just wanted to make a good comedy. I had no idea how it would really shine a light on education. That was not my intention, to be honest. I just thought it was a good show. And I think that's kind of the beauty of like being so intentional about one thing. Yeah. You don't even know the like blast radius that could happen. You know, I, I really wasn't thinking about any, I'm amazed by some of the impact that has come from the show.

• 1:14:50Craig Robinson?

  I was just in Chicago and let me tell you, the energy in the city was incredible. Everyone was just buzzing with excitement. While I was there, I actually had a bit of downtime. So I booked this Airbnb experience. It was a custom sneaker making workshop. It was seriously so much fun. First, she takes you through her space and shows you exactly where the magic happens. You get to see the whole process, ask a million questions, and check out all these different leathers and fabrics. But the best part? I got to customize my own pair of sneakers. I made them especially for IMO. And honestly, the conversation and the hands-on activity made it such a memorable part of the trip. Now here's what really struck me.

• 1:15:35Craig Robinson?

  Chicago was absolutely packed. And I'm thinking, if you live in a city that draws big events like this, you could be making real money those weekends. That's the beauty of Airbnb. When people list their spaces, it allows travelers like me to actually experience a city like a local instead of just staying at a hotel. So if you've got travel coming up, think about listing your space. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com/host. It's officially patio season and this year Kelly and I were committed to sprucing up our outdoor space without completely blowing our budget. The idea was to make our patio feel like

• 1:16:20Craig Robinson?

  an extension of the house. And Wayfair made the whole process so much easier. We got new seating, a rug, some lanterns, and suddenly we're out there all the time. Morning coffee, a few work from patio sessions. It completely changed how we use the space. I recommend starting with the four-piece Acacia Wood Patio Conversation Set, which comes with its own cushions. Wayfair offers installation and assembly services, but I was able to put these together myself in no time at all. Wayfair really is a one-stop shop for home. Plus, with over 20 million five-star reviews

• 1:17:04Craig Robinson?

  and Wayfair verified products that are vetted by their specialists, you'll feel confident about what you're buying before it even arrives. Patio season is here, and these deals won't last. Head to wayfair.com right now to get your outdoor space ready for way less. That's W A Y F A I R dot com.

• 1:17:27Speaker 03

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 1:17:30Craig Robinson?

  If you're anything like me, you're particular about the clothes you wear during the summer. I want something that's light and breathable while looking a bit more put together than, you know, my old t-shirt collection. For all our summer staple needs, Kelly and I go to Quince. If you haven't heard of them, they're a total lifesaver in the world of unpredictable online shopping. They focus on high-quality essentials. Think breathable linen, soft organic cotton, washable silk, but without the luxury markup. I got this 100% organic cotton mesh-stitched sweater polo in beige, so it goes with everything. And it's still just as comfortable as my favorite t-shirts.

• 1:18:14Craig Robinson?

  And I could find some amazing gifts for Kelly there, too. Everything at Quince is priced 50% to 80% less than similar brands. That's because Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com/imo for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash I M O for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com/imo.

• 1:18:59Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, well, you did it up. And I love the way you talk about how you weren't necessarily, you don't suffer from imposter syndrome.

• 1:19:11Speaker 00

  No, it's my biggest flaw. I've learned.

• 1:19:15Speaker 00

  I was like, maybe I should get some imposter syndrome sometime. Yeah, I know.

• 1:19:20Michelle Obama?

  Can you talk a bit about that? What is that about? Especially when so many, there's so much conversation about people not feeling like they belong in their success.

• 1:19:31Speaker 00

  I feel like, if I feel like I don't belong somewhere, for me, that is a sign to leave. So I always follow that instinct. If I'm somewhere, I'm like, I don't belong here. To me, that doesn't register as imposter syndrome. It registers as, I'm not supposed to be here and I'm leaving. And peace out to the environment.

• 1:19:57Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:00Speaker 00

  Yeah. But if I am somewhere and I feel like I do belong there, I don't let any doubt enter because I'm here. And I look at the feeling of not belonging is more as a defense mechanism for me. Something to keep me safe. But when it comes to...

• 1:20:23Speaker 00

  My work or comedy or

• 1:20:27Speaker 00

  any of this, I don't, I don't know. I don't.

• 1:20:32Speaker 00

  And when I do get it, it's for the silliest things like. And even then I'm like, you're here, so you belong. And so I had it for a brief second. I think this is what imposter syndrome feels like. I was at the game, uh, not the, the game on Wednesday in Madison Square Garden. And I'm not a Spurs or Knicks. I'm not from New York and I'm not from San Antonio. I'm especially not from New York. And being in Madison, like being in Madison Square Garden, I was like, oh, man, like. I felt like, I felt like a little bit of, ooh, can I root? So I went out and got like an agnostic NBA jacket. You know? I just followed the feeling.

• 1:21:15Speaker 00

  I'm not, I'm not a, you know, I'm a fan of both teams. I'm just not from there. But I was like, let me.

• 1:21:20Craig Robinson?

  So you weren't rooting against the Knicks is what you're saying?

• 1:21:23Speaker 00

  This was a series where I truly was.

• 1:21:26Michelle Obama?

  You were neutral.

• 1:21:27Craig Robinson?

  You hope both teams lost.

• 1:21:30Speaker 00

  I, I hoped both teams won. That would have been, after watching this season.

• 1:21:36Craig Robinson?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:37Speaker 00

  Of basketball. I thought these were two, I was so happy it was these two teams in the finals. And so I just felt like, I just, it was just good basketball, which is so fun to watch. And so I, I felt, is that imposter syndrome? I felt that way, but then I went and worked on it. I got myself an agnostic jacket.

• 1:21:55Michelle Obama?

  It's like, I'm going to the game.

• 1:21:57Speaker 00

  I'm going to the game. I sat down and I had a grand old time, you know? And I, I was able to lift the spirits of those around me because

• 1:22:06Speaker 00

  the, the New Yorkers around me threw in the towel. This is when they were down by 30. Then I was like, hey, guys, you gotta believe.

• 1:22:13Speaker 00

  I'm here for a good time. So and that was the beauty of it being like, no, I do belong here. There was a man next to me about to croak. He was like 97 and he was, I was like, sir, you gotta believe. You gotta believe, you gotta believe, everyone. And they're like, what is your problem? And I'm like, just having a good time.

• 1:22:34Michelle Obama?

  I belong here.

• 1:22:35Speaker 00

  I belong here.

• 1:22:36Michelle Obama?

  It's my stadium.

• 1:22:36Speaker 00

  So that's why I don't let it enter because I think it can block your blessing or the blessing you can be to someone else too.

• 1:22:43Craig Robinson?

  Yeah, yeah. Well, we have some fun stuff planned at the very end that we want to get to. But before we do that, I want to talk about the field trip fund, the Quinta branch. Can you talk a little bit about that?

• 1:22:56Speaker 00

  I'm so excited about it.

• 1:22:57Craig Robinson?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:58Speaker 00

  So I was really sad to hear that my niece and nephew, who went to school during COVID, didn't get to experience that many field trips. I immediately blamed COVID and they just were like, no auntie, like field trips just aren't happening anymore. And I was like, excuse me? They're like, yeah, it's like, there's no money for them. They just aren't that big of a deal anymore. And I was like, not that big of a deal. Field trips changed my life. Changed my life. The first time I went to New York was, New York is only two hours away from Philadelphia, but so many kids from Philly never go to New York. And it's right there, but you know, whatever. So and then we did such fun things.

• 1:23:43Speaker 00

  We, we went to the river and we built boats and whatever. We went to museums. We went to, sometimes it was just to the, the Independence Hall in Philadelphia and drew the Liberty Bell. But these things mattered. And so when I learned that, that really upset me. And when I found out the issue was like money, I was like, well, I have some of that. So I'm gonna try to help. And so I started talking about it with, I now have a team of people I work with in philanthropy specifically. And I was just like, what can I do? How can I help? And

• 1:24:23Speaker 00

  I went back to that thought of community, right?

• 1:24:27Speaker 00

  Yes, I could by myself, like, throw money at the problem. But there was something to the community also being able to care if they were, if they were moved to do so. And I felt like when people in Philly heard the information that I heard, which is that field trips aren't happening anymore. Because you're kind of disconnected from that if you don't have kids, that they would feel motivated to. There's not much that we as individuals can do about maybe the school buildings, which are old. Or the teachers' salaries, which need to be raised. But there, here's this main thing we can do. And so we talked about this fund where anyone can donate.

• 1:25:13Speaker 00

  And you will change the lives of Philadelphia students everywhere. Because field trips don't cost that much, but they do cost money.

• 1:25:22Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:22Speaker 00

  It, and they can go somewhere free, but they need a bus. They need transportation there. We took a lot of my field trips in school on SEPTA. SEPTA is the

• 1:25:32Michelle Obama?

  Public

• 1:25:32Speaker 00

  Public transit. And, you know, because they were like, we're not paying for no school buses. We are getting tokens and getting these kids on the bus.

• 1:25:39Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:39Speaker 00

  And we're going to the park today. And so the teachers would come out of their pockets for that. And I don't expect, Philly is, I think, maybe the, it's one, maybe like the fifth poorest large country, a large city. And so people are not, they don't have money.

• 1:25:56Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:57Speaker 00

  They don't. These parents are working multiple jobs.

• 1:25:59Michelle Obama?

  They don't have the extra.

• 1:26:00Speaker 00

  They don't. Multiple jobs, just trying to get the kids to school. If we can alleviate one thing for them, it'd be nice. So I launched it.

• 1:26:12Speaker 00

  And put 20,000 in. And was, and just told the public, like, hey, if you guys want to donate to this, you can. This is going to be here forever. In only two months, we had over $100,000. I was, I could not.

• 1:26:35Speaker 00

  I was in disbelief. I thought they were telling me the wrong amount.

• 1:26:40Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:41Speaker 00

  Because we didn't do that much press for it. You know what I mean? I kind of announced it once with a video and that was it. But people were so motivated, like I was, to learn in Philly. And I also just wanted to start small. They were like, do we want to do this nationwide? But I do believe in watering your own garden first.

• 1:26:57Michelle Obama?

  Absolutely.

• 1:26:58Speaker 00

  And I don't know the situations in other cities. So I didn't want to assume that I did. But I know what's going on in Philly. So we, and it just keeps growing. Right now, we're hitting, we would like to hit a marker where at that point, basically, over time, this money will continue to be there forever. It will always be there and always grow.

• 1:27:24Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:24Speaker 00

  For these kids to be able to go. And it'll start next year. And teachers will be able, they don't have to apply. They don't have to prove they deserve a field trip. It's going to be there for them to grab what they need and go. And that's what I wanted too. I don't want to do the thing where you have to add more paperwork.

• 1:27:46Craig Robinson?

  Thank you for that.

• 1:27:47Speaker 00

  Where you have to prove how good a school you are, how good your class is. Because that was a thing that, that was becoming a thing. And I didn't like that either of like, prove that your class deserves it. And what, like, what? It's just some kids that need to do something. That used to kind of get on my nerves with like, I don't know. It was a thing I had too, as a kid where I'm like, why is, are they better than me? Because they made a better collage, like.

• 1:28:17Speaker 00

  Okay, we deserve to go. It would be like sweepstakes where it'd be like, "Want a trip to Nickelodeon Studios and prove that you're the best class." And it was like, shouldn't all kids get to go? So I'm so excited about it. Anyone here can donate. Basically, we are going to reach 200,000. And then it will self-fund, so to speak. I will be continuing to contribute to it for the rest of my life. And making sure that these teachers can just pull and these kids can never have to worry about a field trip. They've got a lot to worry about.

• 1:28:51Michelle Obama?

  Yep.

• 1:28:52Speaker 00

  But they won't have to worry about being able to get, to get somewhere. And we're not trying to send kids out of the country. We just.

• 1:29:00Michelle Obama?

  Go to the museum.

• 1:29:01Speaker 00

  To the museum, to New York. I actually met someone in Philly recently that 30 years old, never been to New York. It's right there. But that's the importance of like being shown you can do it once is it never seems scary again. Yeah.

• 1:29:18Michelle Obama?

  That's the thing. Well, that's beautiful.

• 1:29:20Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:29:21Michelle Obama?

  So proud of you. Proud of you.

• 1:29:25Craig Robinson?

  So we tried something new a couple of episodes ago where we had like this rapid fire.

• 1:29:32Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:29:33Craig Robinson?

  Round. So we would love to do it with you.

• 1:29:35Michelle Obama?

  Are you in charge of rapid fire?

• 1:29:37Craig Robinson?

  My sister, this was my sister's idea.

• 1:29:40Michelle Obama?

  No, no, it wasn't. I think rapid fire is for the staff.

• 1:29:45Craig Robinson?

  It wasn't it.

• 1:29:47Michelle Obama?

  But you're gonna do rapid fire.

• 1:29:48Craig Robinson?

  Yes, let's do it.

• 1:29:49Michelle Obama?

  Be rapid about it.

• 1:29:52Craig Robinson?

  So Philly cheesesteak or Chicago deep dish pizza?

• 1:29:55Michelle Obama?

  Philly cheesesteak. Yeah, that's a.

• 1:29:58Craig Robinson?

  Well, what about you?

• 1:30:00Michelle Obama?

  Deep dish. I mean, you know, because I just have to. But certain kind of deep dish, Gino's East.

• 1:30:07Craig Robinson?

  Gino's East.

• 1:30:08Michelle Obama?

  Not Giordano's.

• 1:30:08Speaker 00

  It's hard to get into it.

• 1:30:10Michelle Obama?

  It's so, the crust is so good.

• 1:30:12Speaker 00

  It's really hard.

• 1:30:13Michelle Obama?

  And that sausage layer, ugh, to die for.

• 1:30:15Craig Robinson?

  You just need a sharper knife.

• 1:30:17Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:30:18Craig Robinson?

  Sharp knife.

• 1:30:18Speaker 00

  Good to know.

• 1:30:19Craig Robinson?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:19Speaker 00

  Good to know.

• 1:30:20Michelle Obama?

  Okay.

• 1:30:23Craig Robinson?

  Reality, reality TV or sitcom?

• 1:30:25Speaker 00

  The other answer, sitcom. Hate reality TV, hate it.

• 1:30:29Michelle Obama?

  I mean, as much as I love reality TV, there's nothing like a good.

• 1:30:32Speaker 00

  I know. I didn't mean to talk to you about this.

• 1:30:34Michelle Obama?

  I know. What, is it a problem?

• 1:30:38Speaker 00

  It fascinates me.

• 1:30:39Michelle Obama?

  It is. That's the thing.

• 1:30:40Speaker 00

  I would like to have judgments, but I would never judge you on that ever.

• 1:30:44Michelle Obama?

  It's, I consider it part of my major is sociology. It's just a study of people. And they are fascinating to me.

• 1:30:52Craig Robinson?

  She's trying to get me, because we're doing this podcast, into reality TV.

• 1:30:56Michelle Obama?

  He's gotta know more about popular culture. I mean, we're talking about that. He doesn't see anything.

• 1:31:01Speaker 00

  I watch Survivor.

• 1:31:03Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:06Michelle Obama?

  The competition show, yeah, yeah. But still, it's, it's a sitcom.

• 1:31:11Speaker 00

  Do you watch Love Island?

• 1:31:13Michelle Obama?

  Yeah, I do.

• 1:31:17Michelle Obama?

  Yeah. Malia and Scott, that's, that's mother-daughter time.

• 1:31:22Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:31:23Michelle Obama?

  You know, because, and they're behind. They got me hooked. And I was like, if you started the next season. And they were like, no, we're busy. It's like, oh, you need to.

• 1:31:32Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:31:33Michelle Obama?

  You need to get some more free time.

• 1:31:34Speaker 00

  I re-watch old reality TV.

• 1:31:36Michelle Obama?

  Well, what's the point of that?

• 1:31:38Speaker 00

  I don't know. I'm fascinated.

• 1:31:39Michelle Obama?

  Okay.

• 1:31:40Speaker 00

  I'm fascinated by that time. Like, the early 2000s reality television was the purest, I think it was ever gonna be.

• 1:31:45Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:46Speaker 00

  So every now and then.

• 1:31:47Michelle Obama?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:48Speaker 00

  I'm loving this guy clapping in the hat like, like preach. But I, I re-watch, very often I re-watch Flavor of Love, I Love New York.

• 1:31:57Michelle Obama?

  Well, now, all those characters are coming back on the new reality. Uh, what's your name?

• 1:32:03Craig Robinson?

  Wasn't this supposed to be Rapid?

• 1:32:05Speaker 00

  I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

• 1:32:07Craig Robinson?

  Rapid.

• 1:32:09Michelle Obama?

  Okay, well, you just gotta keep going.

• 1:32:11Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:32:12Michelle Obama?

  Because we both talk a lot.

• 1:32:13Speaker 00

  Yes, we do, but, and, no.

• 1:32:15Craig Robinson?

  Wawa or Portillo's?

• 1:32:16Speaker 00

  Wawa, I don't even know what Portillo's is.

• 1:32:18Michelle Obama?

  Oh, Portillo's. Well, it's Chicago, y'all. Let's be nice to our guests. Be nice to our guests.

• 1:32:25Speaker 00

  Portillo's, I'm being set up.

• 1:32:26Craig Robinson?

  No, no, no, no. Portillo's is a locally, regionally famous hot dog and Italian beef place.

• 1:32:36Michelle Obama?

  It's got everything.

• 1:32:37Speaker 00

  Sounds lovely, I would love to try it.

• 1:32:38Craig Robinson?

  And Wawa, for the Chicago fans, Wawa is like a.

• 1:32:43Speaker 00

  A magical.

• 1:32:43Craig Robinson?

  Convenience store.

• 1:32:45Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:32:45Craig Robinson?

  It's like a small Buc-Ee's.

• 1:32:47Michelle Obama?

  I don't think the two, the Wawa, we had, all they had was sandwiches.

• 1:32:51Speaker 00

  Okay, it's not all they had.

• 1:32:54Michelle Obama?

  I was way back in the day.

• 1:32:55Speaker 00

  You can get a, it's a lot there.

• 1:32:57Craig Robinson?

  You can get everything there.

• 1:32:58Speaker 00

  Iced tea.

• 1:32:59Craig Robinson?

  I think you can get a Pajmina there.

• 1:33:01Michelle Obama?

  Okay, I haven't been to a Wawa like that ever.

• 1:33:04Speaker 00

  Aspirin.

• 1:33:05Michelle Obama?

  Okay, wrap it, wrap it, wrap it.

• 1:33:07Craig Robinson?

  One week teaching at Abbott or one week at the White House?

• 1:33:15Michelle Obama?

  Respectfully.

• 1:33:16Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 1:33:17Michelle Obama?

  One week teaching that at.

• 1:33:18Craig Robinson?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:19Michelle Obama?

  Respectfully, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:33:23Craig Robinson?

  All right, last one. Tasty Cake or Garrett's Popcorn?

• 1:33:30Speaker 00

  I don't even know what a tasty cake is.

• 1:33:32Craig Robinson?

  So tasty cake is like Hostess, but on the East Coast.

• 1:33:36Speaker 00

  But better.

• 1:33:37Michelle Obama?

  No, no, no.

• 1:33:38Speaker 00

  Oh, Garrett's.

• 1:33:38Craig Robinson?

  I guess Quinta said, but better.

• 1:33:40Speaker 00

  But better, it is. Uh, I, let me just say, I do love Garrett's popcorn.

• 1:33:44Michelle Obama?

  It is legalized drugs.

• 1:33:47Speaker 00

  And my.

• 1:33:48Craig Robinson?

  The, what, what's your go to Garrett's order?

• 1:33:51Speaker 00

  The caramel?

• 1:33:52Craig Robinson?

  Just straight caramel?

• 1:33:53Speaker 00

  Someone, one of my writers brings me a bucket.

• 1:33:56Michelle Obama?

  You don't do the mix?

• 1:33:58Craig Robinson?

  The caramel and cheese?

• 1:33:59Speaker 00

  Yes, I do that. Okay. His name is Garrett and he brings a bucket. He does, he brings a bucket to the room every year, every time he visits home.

• 1:34:07Michelle Obama?

  And you can't stop eating it?

• 1:34:08Speaker 00

  Can't stop eating it. However, I'm gonna have to go tasty cake because it is just so good. I'll bring you one at some point so you can taste it, yeah.

• 1:34:16Craig Robinson?

  You would think you didn't go to school on the East Coast. You don't know tasty cake?

• 1:34:19Michelle Obama?

  I don't remember, but I don't remember much, y'all.

• 1:34:22Speaker 00

  It's very Northeast specific, yeah.

• 1:34:24Craig Robinson?

  Yeah, it's, it's like Hostess.

• 1:34:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:34:27Michelle Obama?

  Okay.

• 1:34:27Craig Robinson?

  But I think people on the East Coast feel like it is much better.

• 1:34:32Speaker 00

  Because it is.

• 1:34:33Michelle Obama?

  Okay, okay.

• 1:34:34Speaker 00

  That's the reason we feel that way is because it is.

• 1:34:36Michelle Obama?

  We're gonna be nice to you because you're our guest.

• 1:34:38Craig Robinson?

  Quinta, thank you so much for being here.

• 1:34:41Speaker 00

  Thank you for having me. Thank you.

• 1:34:43Michelle Obama?

  Thank you.

• 1:34:46Craig Robinson?

  You really don't seem like you're working on two hours' sleep. So we thank you for that.

• 1:34:51Speaker 00

  It was the energy in this room, it really was. Thank you, guys, I appreciate it.

• 1:34:54Michelle Obama?

  Was so proud of you.

• 1:34:55Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:34:56Michelle Obama?

  And keep it, keep it going. We are watching everything you do.

• 1:34:59Speaker 00

  Thank.

• 1:35:00Michelle Obama?

  So, ladies and gentlemen.

• 1:35:02Speaker 00

  Thank you, thank you, guys.

• 1:35:03Craig Robinson?

  You gotta come back and visit us again.

• 1:35:05Speaker 00

  I will, thank you so much.

• 1:35:28Craig Robinson?

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