Mojo Brookzz Chicago star comedian on Bears being gritty, Caleb Williams winning heart of city, Ben Johnson mentality, turning dreams into reality, impact of father's support, life-changing lesson and paying it forward in comedy.

“Chicago is a gritty city, we need intensity like that from Caleb and Ben Johnson.” Mojo Brookzz Chicago comedian In a special episode of football and comedy, The Pivot Podcast welcomes Chicago comedian Mojo Brookzz a rising star known for his sharp wit, real-life storytelling, and unapologetic humor—plus an unwavering love for his hometown and the Chicago Bears. Mojo breaks down his journey from grinding on Chicago stages to his rapid rise in comedy, sharing what it really takes to build momentum, stay authentic, and keep betting on yourself. The conversation goes beyond comedy as Mojo talks being a die-hard Bears fan, the excitement around the team’s current success, and what it means to finally see Chicago football trending in the right direction. He shares why the city is rallying behind Quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Ben Johnson, how their mentality and execution has ignited not just the fanbase but the city. He also shouts out the Chicago greats who influenced his mindset and creativity, from legendary athletes to hometown icons who set the standard for excellence. Mojo opens up about navigating fame, staying grounded, and pivoting through life with humor, loyalty, and purpose. The conversation dives into the realities of the comedy grind, navigating setbacks, staying true to your voice, and how Chicago’s culture helped shape Mojo’s comedic perspective. We even explore the impact of family support, especially a father's acceptance and how that can be the one defining factor in the course of life. This is an episode about betting on yourself, finding your lane, and pivoting through life with humor and purpose. Pivot Family, please comment, like, hit the subscribe button, we love hearing from you and your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Here's your report.

• 0:01Speaker 01

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• 0:20Speaker 01

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• 0:24Speaker 00

  Hire right the first time. Post your job for free on LinkedIn today at LinkedIn.com/quality.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  The Chicago Bears have no bigger fan than the Chicago-born-and-bred comedian Deion Mojo Brooks, and he couldn't wait to get on the Pivot to tell us all about it. Caleb Williams wasn't his first pick, even when he was the Bears' first pick, but the star second-year quarterback has already ascended to legend status in Chi-Town with his epic comebacks, and Ben Johnson has all the bravado of their only Super Bowl-winning head coach, Mike Ditka, and Mojo says, "Yeah, F the Green Bay Packers, too." He's lived the dream, working with the Bears' PR team the last few years, but that's not where this starts. His story reads like many: fired from his job, crying in his car, one parent supporting and another not, then embarking on his comedic journey, and at one point, almost giving up.

• 1:15Ryan Clark?

  But here we are, talking about his favorite team, how much he loves being a father, odd jobs, and the hard work which led him to an emotional, sold-out show in Chicago last October. He's from the social media-comedian era, but he's honed his skill and worked his craft in bars with only six people, even walking around with bodyguards he didn't need. Of course, guys, this show is absolutely hilarious, but it's so much more. So please get ready for some fun, as Bears' superfan and comedian Mojo Brooks chops it up with the Pivot right now.

• 2:12Ryan Clark?

  Oh.

• 2:13Speaker 03

  Boo. Boo. What's up, boss?

• 2:18Ryan Clark?

  What's up, Wade?

• 2:19Speaker 03

  I knew it was gonna be a hater.

• 2:20Ryan Clark?

  Can't criticize him right now, bro.

• 2:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, I knew it was gonna be a hater.

• 2:22Ryan Clark?

  My dog.

• 2:23Speaker 03

  What's up, man?

• 2:24Ryan Clark?

  My dog.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  I thought you was gonna have one of them Steve Harvey suits on today, man. What's up, y'all?

• 2:29Ryan Clark?

  Hey, man, what's up? Deion Mojo Brooks.

• 2:31Speaker 03

  Yes, sir.

• 2:32Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to The Pivot. This is Channing Crowder. This is Freddie T. I'm RC, Pivot fan. Thank y'all for pivoting with us. Excuse my voice. I was in Pittsburgh earlier this week trying to scream us to a win.

• 2:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:43Ryan Clark?

  And it didn't work.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  It was 36.

• 2:44Ryan Clark?

  Mmm. Well, it was 76, though.

• 2:47Speaker 03

  You must have been screaming on your way to the stadium.

• 2:48Ryan Clark?

  I was, in the morning, on first take.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, there you go.

• 2:51Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 2:51Speaker 03

  When you got there. Went too much to scream about it.

• 2:55Ryan Clark?

  Whole lot of dams.

• 2:59Ryan Clark?

  Well, I will say, what is cool about being in the stadiums on Monday night is how I met him.

• 3:05Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I walked right down and he was doing a pregame show.

• 3:09Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 3:10Speaker 03

  And, uh, was it Minnesota game? It was the first game of the season?

• 3:12Ryan Clark?

  First game of the season.

• 3:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been good ever since. Don't even try to bring that up.

• 3:16Ryan Clark?

  He cried that week, actually.

• 3:18Speaker 03

  I did.

• 3:18Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 3:19Speaker 03

  Because we had, it was the first game of the year. It was Monday night, and we had got all this hype, you know, about how this is gonna be different this year. And we went into that game, and I think we were leading most of the game. And then we let J.J. McCarthy, you know, and we always do that. Like, I just feel like the Bears always let this quarterback that hasn't played much come in and just make us look like we a little league team. And I just sat there after the game, just could not believe, because I thought it was different. I was doing a lot of yelling that game all the way to the end.

• 3:53Ryan Clark?

  One, I'm cutting off my phone after the Bears game if you win. Don't FaceTime me.

• 3:58Speaker 03

  I'm calling you right away.

• 3:59Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I don't want to hear none of that. So during the week, we had a conversation on text message. And I was like, look, man, it's been a great season.

• 4:06Speaker 03

  Nah, read the messages. Go through the messages and say, "Ed Reed, is that what you said to me?" Do that.

• 4:14Ryan Clark?

  Let me see.

• 4:15Speaker 03

  What did I?

• 4:15Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you know what you said.

• 4:16Fred Taylor?

  Now, we need receipts.

• 4:17Speaker 03

  I like receipts.

• 4:18Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 4:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know, because he was gonna, he was gonna try to make it seem like he ain't say nothing that bad, but go ahead.

• 4:24Ryan Clark?

  I don't think this is that bad, to be honest, you know? He was like, "We winning this week." I was like, "Uh, you won't." I said, "No, I said, "Maybe." I said, "But I love your confidence."

• 4:33Speaker 03

  Uh huh. Anytime a football player tells you, "I love your confidence," it's like, "Yeah, right. Yeah, I'm not really winning."

• 4:40Ryan Clark?

  There you go, big man. Yeah, you know, and so, you know, and then he was like, "Green Bay ain't it, bro." I'm gonna have to read it like, I don't know how he talk.

• 4:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, Green Bay, I'll tell you how I said it. "Green Bay ain't it." Where the camera at?

• 4:53Ryan Clark?

  Got him all over.

• 4:54Speaker 03

  "Green Bay ain't it." That's what I said.

• 4:56Ryan Clark?

  And so, I was just like, "Bro, they beat y'all." And it took a miracle in Chicago without Jordan Love. And he was like, "Yeah, last full time we played." He was like, "Jordan Love ain't Aaron Rodgers." And I was like, "Ain't nobody Aaron Rodgers, really." But he cooked, but Jordan Love cooked y'all. And that's how we ended up getting here about, because I told people, I told him I was gonna expose him on text message and put him on the internet.

• 5:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:21Ryan Clark?

  And somebody, he talked about the Steelers losing. I said, "Yeah, they not very good." I did say that.

• 5:26Speaker 03

  You did admit that.

• 5:27Ryan Clark?

  And then, this is how we got to this point. Because I said, "Well, if they win, I want you on the show." And this is why we here.

• 5:33Fred Taylor?

  We here.

• 5:34Speaker 03

  And, and they delivered, like I knew my boys would. Bear down.

• 5:38Ryan Clark?

  Who y'all got next? Don't matter.

• 5:39Speaker 03

  Don't even matter who we got next. Don't even matter. I'm telling you right now, them Rams can come on in. We finna send them right back to L.A. All right, Sean McVay can put them all on Figueroa when we get done, right? Because we is not playing. We is not playing.

• 5:54Fred Taylor?

  The Bears hadn't been winning a whole lot, and the crime rate in Chicago is usually high during those times. What's the crime rate like now?

• 6:00Speaker 03

  It's down.

• 6:01Fred Taylor?

  Really?

• 6:01Speaker 03

  Talk to the mayor, we down about 8%. Yeah, we happy.

• 6:05Fred Taylor?

  So, all, all the hoodlums in the stadium, they watching the game. They happy.

• 6:09Speaker 03

  And we waiting for something to go wrong.

• 6:12Speaker 03

  If Green Bay would've won last week, they wouldn't have made it back.

• 6:15Fred Taylor?

  We lose, we fight.

• 6:16Speaker 03

  They wouldn't have made it back. They wouldn't have made it back.

• 6:18Channing Crowder?

  First off, you got light-skinned tendencies though. You got like green eyes.

• 6:21Speaker 03

  I'm dark-skinned.

• 6:21Channing Crowder?

  I know you got fighting.

• 6:22Speaker 03

  No, I'm dark-skinned on the inside. You better ask anybody. Y'all, y'all.

• 6:26Channing Crowder?

  No, don't, don't. Why you turning your back on us?

• 6:28Speaker 03

  I'm not.

• 6:29Channing Crowder?

  You dark-skinned on the inside. Be light-skinned on the inside and the outside.

• 6:32Speaker 03

  Because you not even light-skinned on the inside.

• 6:35Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 6:36Speaker 03

  Man, you play linebacker.

• 6:37Channing Crowder?

  But you can't.

• 6:38Speaker 03

  Give me five light-skinned linebackers. That was a dog.

• 6:41Channing Crowder?

  Can they be Samoan?

• 6:43Speaker 03

  No. Because they diff- they built different. Them boys be pulling trucks and stuff over there. They different.

• 6:50Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 6:51Speaker 03

  He was a dog, man. You, you dark-skinned. It's okay to be dark-skinned on the inside.

• 6:55Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 6:55Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying? Caleb Williams, I, I didn't know it. Well, he dark-skinned on the inside too.

• 7:01Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 7:01Speaker 03

  The boy got heart.

• 7:03Channing Crowder?

  When they, when they criticize his nails though.

• 7:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:06Channing Crowder?

  Because a lot of people get on the man about his nails. We've had him on the show. He, he a good, good young kid. I got on him. I asked him about his nails. I'm like, bro, that's not the, what I grew up with.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, and what did he say?

• 7:16Channing Crowder?

  He was like, that's my style.

• 7:18Speaker 03

  That's his style. Here's the thing. When we drafted him, and you know, I seen that USC. I, I cannot say that I was like, damn, we finna get the dude with the nails. I was like that. But, you know, man, bro, times has changed. The world is so open and free and, you know what I'm saying? It's just, I mean, they doing it. I don't care. I don't care what color his nails is.

• 7:41Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, he know his nails.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  He can get his toes done.

• 7:43Fred Taylor?

  Dude with the nails.

• 7:44Speaker 03

  That's what I call him. Dude with the nails.

• 7:46Fred Taylor?

  But you know, y'all have another legendary, uh, Chicago Bear who was soft-spoken, just like Caleb. Sweetness.

• 7:52Speaker 03

  Sweetness.

• 7:53Fred Taylor?

  Sweetness was, huh, you know, yeah.

• 7:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, but he wasn't.

• 7:56Fred Taylor?

  And then go out there and be a dog.

• 7:57Speaker 03

  He wasn't getting no French too.

• 7:59Channing Crowder?

  But you do, but you do say, he earned them now.

• 8:01Speaker 03

  He earned them now.

• 8:02Channing Crowder?

  You willing to pay.

• 8:03Speaker 03

  Let me tell you something. We go to the Super Bowl, I'm getting them toes did for him too. I don't care. I don't, do what you gotta do. Get us there. You give it to me. I don't care. Listen, I don't care what color his nails is. My thing is, can he play football?

• 8:15Channing Crowder?

  He can play.

• 8:16Speaker 03

  He can play football.

• 8:17Channing Crowder?

  Well, so tell me, what were your emotions when y'all was down 21-3 though? You, because you knew.

• 8:23Speaker 03

  I'm gonna be honest with you. We was down 21-3. We was getting ready to go into half. Green Bay was getting ready to attempt the field goal attempt. I told my brother TJ, I say, if he missed his kick, we'll win. He missed the kick. We won. I was never, man, you know, I've been a Bears fan for so long. We've never had a quarterback where you felt like, hey, we get the ball in his guy's hands, we can win. We've never felt like that. The best quarterback that I've seen as a Bears fan was Jay Cutler. And we already knew, if Jay got the ball in the fourth quarter, we need to score. Jay's probably gonna throw it to the other team. And there's nothing wrong with that. But Jay used to just get it out of his hand. The stuff that, that fourth and, fourth and eight.

• 9:07Fred Taylor?

  Best throw I've ever seen.

• 9:08Speaker 03

  The, the season on the line. I don't care what color Snell's is. The season on the line, the boy dropping dimes.

• 9:16Fred Taylor?

  What about Rex Grossman? He got you all to the soup bowl.

• 9:21Speaker 03

  Okay. The first six games Rex was ballin' that year. And then after that, he, he got colorblind. Cause he also started throwing to the other team a lot as well. You know what I'm saying? I liked Rex.

• 9:35Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 9:36Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying? But he just, little hands, he couldn't see over the line of scrimmage. It was just, it was, it was just a lot. But nothing like Caleb. Caleb, I mean, you could, you know I knew he was the real deal when I met his dad. And this was last year. His dad was never happy. Like I, like I never like, I, his dad just, you could just tell his dad was like, no. My son is really like that. This is not, this is not what he is. And it was that, just seeing, when you, when you got a father around you that, you know what I'm saying? You could just, it bleeds through him like that you know, like, no, my son is him. You could just see it. He just wasn't happy. And the first thing that he said when I seen him in Minnesota, I was like, how you feeling? He said, no, they got it together. We gonna be good this year.

• 10:19Fred Taylor?

  What you said Ben was built like when he took his shirt off?

• 10:21Speaker 03

  A kangaroo.

• 10:25Speaker 03

  And I love you. A, a good, better best, coach. I love you. But you was jacked up like a kangaroo you took that shirt off. Did you see it?

• 10:33Fred Taylor?

  With the baby chest with the.

• 10:35Speaker 03

  I'm like, well, put your shirt back on, coach. Don't look like one of them hot dogs that bag in Chicago. Cause you know that's why he did it. You, you take, it was a thing with the winner circle in Chicago. He take his shirt off. They know free hot dogs for City of Chicago.

• 10:51Ryan Clark?

  And that's how they got it.

• 10:52Speaker 03

  And they got it.

• 10:53Ryan Clark?

  The energy he had, the way he shook Matt LaFleur's hand, then Ben Johnson goes in the locker room, and he like, "F the Packers."

• 11:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:01Ryan Clark?

  "F them."

• 11:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:02Ryan Clark?

  As a true Chicago Bears fan, Chicago win.

• 11:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:06Ryan Clark?

  How does that make you feel with the way Green Bay has treated the Bears over history?

• 11:11Speaker 03

  We sticking beside our coach, what he said. You know what I'm saying? Nobody talk about, "What about the first game, when they beat us up in Green Bay?" And Matt LaFleur just, you know, shook his hand, walked off. Nobody said nothing, because we the Bears. No. I don't think it's nothing wrong with it. I think that's the type of intensity, that's what we need. See, we haven't had that in Chicago. You look at the last few coaches that we've had, none of them, none of them had that in them. None of them. It was just certain stuff that you just wouldn't, couldn't imagine him saying. Matt Eberflus would never say that.

• 11:43Speaker 06

  Right.

• 11:44Speaker 03

  Ever. He was a nice guy. Lovey Smith, one of my favorite coaches of all time. He was a nice guy. He didn't even curse. I'm just saying. Who, Mark Tressman? He didn't even know what he was doing.

• 11:58Ryan Clark?

  He didn't know he had a job.

• 11:59Speaker 03

  He didn't even know. He was just there. He was just showing up. So when you think about it, you know, that was, Matt Nagy. Matt Nagy was probably the closest thing that we would have had to somebody who would have, would have had that type of energy. And I just think that Matt, I just think that he kinda, he always thought he was smarter than everybody in the room, and he just didn't make like the necessary adjustments, you know what I'm saying? And then he was tied to Trubisky, but we with Ben, man, with all that. I liked that in him. You in Chicago, we a gritty city.

• 12:31Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  It's just what we, it's just what we are, and a head coach should embody that. The last time we won the Super Bowl, Mike Dicker was the head coach. Mike Dicker was that.

• 12:41Speaker 06

  Right.

• 12:42Speaker 03

  He'd have told him to his face. Everybody on Green Bay, he'd have said the same thing. So I, that's what we need.

• 12:47Speaker 06

  Right.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  That's what we need, to be the team, the championship team that I feel like we on our way to being. We need that from the head guy, from the top, all the way down, and it's gonna bleed through the team. Nothing wrong with it.

• 13:00Ryan Clark?

  Like, we all come from different places. I'm from New Orleans. I wasn't a Saints fan.

• 13:04Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 13:04Ryan Clark?

  Right. Freddie T is from, Freddie T, what was your team growing up, though?

• 13:10Fred Taylor?

  Chicago Bears.

• 13:11Speaker 03

  The Bears, see.

• 13:12Channing Crowder?

  Who'd you like growing up? Bucks. Bucks, see, I was a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

• 13:17Speaker 03

  Hold on, the Bucks wasn't that good when you was growing up.

• 13:19Channing Crowder?

  My daddy was on the 79 from worst to first team.

• 13:22Speaker 03

  Oh, my God.

• 13:23Channing Crowder?

  With Doug Williams with the cream circles.

• 13:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, I remember.

• 13:26Channing Crowder?

  And I, yeah, back then, so I remember, yeah, my daddy used to talk about it and, yeah.

• 13:31Speaker 03

  So you know what, you know what pain feel like, okay.

• 13:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah. We turned to red and gray and still was terrible. And then Brady came and blessed us.

• 13:39Speaker 03

  You blessed, nah, y'all got blessed way before Brady.

• 13:42Channing Crowder?

  Oh, nah, with, uh, with D. Brooks and them boys.

• 13:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, see how you went straight to the D.

• 13:45Fred Taylor?

  Brad Johnson.

• 13:46Speaker 03

  Don't nobody want to get Brad Johnson though, Brad.

• 13:48Channing Crowder?

  Brad Johnson?

• 13:49Speaker 03

  Brad Johnson, Brad Johnson did what he needed to do to help y'all win. Y'all had to go support.

• 13:53Channing Crowder?

  Brad Johnson got the ball and not turned it over, Brad Johnson.

• 13:56Speaker 03

  Well, how was Keishon Johnson doing what he was doing?

• 13:58Channing Crowder?

  Keishon Johnson was catching two yard routes. Keishon Johnson had a hundred catches, no touchdowns. I know, cause he was catching two yard, Keishon Johnson catch all bubble screens.

• 14:07Speaker 03

  He still had to throw him the ball. That, that, that, that's part of the game. That was an extension of the run game. Ain't that what Tony Romo say?

• 14:16Channing Crowder?

  He flipped his elbow. He did like this, he didn't even use his shoulder, he threw balls with his elbow.

• 14:21Fred Taylor?

  Chan's gonna always be critical.

• 14:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, okay.

• 14:23Fred Taylor?

  And RC will be the first one to tell you that after a while, nobody cares about the stats of the Super Bowl champion. They gonna say, we are Super Bowl champions. Over time, you talk about Jim McMahon and the Bears.

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:35Fred Taylor?

  You talk about, uh, Trent Dilfer when he won a Super Bowl. Right, you talk about Brad Johnson, yeah, Brad didn't do a lot, but he operated within the system that allowed him to win as a team.

• 14:47Speaker 03

  What about Eli Manning?

• 14:49Fred Taylor?

  There, there's another one.

• 14:50Channing Crowder?

  Eli Manning didn't play in the Super Bowl. Eli Manning, Eli Manning was actually a Pro Bowler.

• 14:56Speaker 03

  Eli Manning threw some, Eli Manning was just throwing some shit up in the Super Bowl.

• 14:59Channing Crowder?

  No, Eli could play.

• 15:00Speaker 03

  Bro, the helmet catch.

• 15:02Channing Crowder?

  Dave Tyree.

• 15:02Speaker 03

  That was God.

• 15:05Speaker 03

  That was God that was like, you know what, New England's won enough. I'm telling you, bro, that's, it was just unreal. It was just, it was, some stuff, you gotta look at it. And, and, and it's just the truth. I feel like for any team. To win it all, you gotta have a little luck.

• 15:21Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:22Speaker 03

  You have to, and that's why I feel like this is our year. Because a lot of, a lot of, that fourth and eight, you know what I'm saying? It was a great throw, it was a good play. But it, you, it, it just don't happen. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just the game. I'm telling you, Green Bay was on the other side, like, it's over.

• 15:41Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 15:42Speaker 03

  You can feel it, they, they felt like it was over.

• 15:44Ryan Clark?

  Man, for, for you, let's talk a little bit about who you are, how you get here, how you become one of the biggest Bears representatives on social media.

• 15:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:55Ryan Clark?

  You know, you had the Unhand Me Now tour.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:58Ryan Clark?

  I Know You F-ing Lying, and just watching you blow up. One of my favorite posts from you, and you have it pinned, was you crying onstage.

• 16:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:07Ryan Clark?

  After receiving.

• 16:08Speaker 03

  In Chicago.

• 16:09Ryan Clark?

  An ovation at home.

• 16:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:11Ryan Clark?

  What was, I guess, what, what was the journey like that made that moment so fulfilling for you?

• 16:18Speaker 03

  Man, you know, before I even walked out that night, I was back with my family, and, um, and, and they kept asking me, like, you gonna cry when you go out there? And, cause I couldn't see, you know, the audience. Like, I've been in Chicago Theater a lot of times, and, um, I had just been there earlier that year to see Kevin Hart. And I was like, nah, I'm good, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry. And, you know, when I walked out, and you look out in the audience, and there's, there's 4,000 people there just because of you. And in that moment, you thinking about how many plans had to be made, how many babysitters had to get got? You know what I'm saying? You, you, you know, I'm looking out in the crowd, I see my, my elementary school principal, my seventh grade teacher.

• 17:02Speaker 03

  And, um, you know, you just go through this thing, you know, of how you got here. You know, I remember pulling up to local bars, and there's six people in there, and I'm just in there, you know, doing my thing, walking around with security when I didn't even need it. You know, when you, when you get to that moment, and you know that you're in a city where a lot of people don't get this opportunity, it take you back, cause it's almost like I always knew I would be here, but, but the realization of it happening is, I just, I couldn't, I could not compare that to, to, to anything that I've ever experienced in my life.

• 17:39Channing Crowder?

  Bro, you had security with six people in the club?

• 17:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 17:41Channing Crowder?

  They were violent people?

• 17:43Speaker 03

  No.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  No, listen. I would say, let me tell you something. And my security, he was, he, to this day, he's still my security to this day.

• 17:52Channing Crowder?

  He read it.

• 17:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, he read it. You seen him, Ryan, when we was at the, we was at the Bears game.

• 17:56Channing Crowder?

  Oh, you read it?

• 17:57Ryan Clark?

  Boy, we was exchanging numbers.

• 18:00Speaker 03

  Somebody, somebody was recording me and Ryan exchanging numbers.

• 18:03Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  And they, he had me and Ryan's number.

• 18:05Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 18:06Speaker 03

  And he went off.

• 18:08Ryan Clark?

  Hey, homeboy, he wouldn't let him leave.

• 18:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, he took his phone.

• 18:11Channing Crowder?

  Oh, okay.

• 18:12Speaker 03

  Took his phone.

• 18:13Channing Crowder?

  So, so you was there the whole?

• 18:15Speaker 03

  And I was nervous, because the guy was white. I said, man, get that man back his phone before we go to dinner. They gotta charge for that. Give him back his phone, Ryan. I started walking up the stairs. I don't even know him no more.

• 18:26Channing Crowder?

  But, but you just said, talking about sports teams, though, to get where you are, a lot of people try to be funny. A lot of people want to be in your place. Does it take, like you just said, great teams need luck?

• 18:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:38Channing Crowder?

  Did you have any luck with where you are right now?

• 18:41Speaker 03

  Oh, man, this was a lot of hard work, man. I ain't gonna lie to you. You know, I try to think about how many times I felt like the dice kind of just rolled in my favor, where it could have felt like luck, but I, I promise you, you know, for as long as I'm doing it, I never had anyone, you know, come and grab me and say, hey, you know, I'm gonna take you under my wing and I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you. I, everything that I know, everything that I've learned, is just, it's been self-taught. It's just been through experiences and stuff like that. Opportunities that I've gotten is just, you know what I'm saying, me waiting on my turn to come. I think the biggest blessing for me is those bars that I was going into when I first had started doing videos

• 19:22Speaker 03

  back in 2014. And I was, you know, I was growing and I was like, man, you know what? If I blow up, people are gonna wanna see me. So I have to go, I gotta learn how to be a stand-up comedian. So I went and I was going to these bars to do these different things. I feel like that is what separates me from a lot of comedians that we learn to love from social media that try to transition to the stages, is that a lot of them blew up before they were ready. And they just got through out there. Where I was, you know, simultaneously making the videos run online. And then I was in a lab, working on the stand-up. You know, learning and understanding what it was.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  So that when my time came, I'm, I'm, I'm over-prepared. I'm ready. You put me in any room you want to put me in, and I'm gonna get the job done. So, you know, timing is everything. I think that's what it is. I'm grateful, I'm grateful that God made my journey. One that, you know, it just, it took its time. You know what I'm saying? It took its time for the flower to grow. You know, and now that it's here, you know, it's sustainable. This is something that I'm gonna be able to do for the rest of my life.

• 20:34Fred Taylor?

  You talk about the hard work. You talk about, you mentioned knowing that you would be here someday.

• 20:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:40Fred Taylor?

  Was there a particular moment, or a sketch, or something that hit? And you said, all right, let's, let's take it from here?

• 20:46Speaker 03

  Uh, man, so I used to do this character when I first started going viral. It was the Sugar Daddy character named Mr. James. And when I first used to do them, now I do them, and we do the prosthetic makeup on me and stuff like that. But when I used to do them, back then, I used to use this Snapchat filter. And it would make my head real big, and, you know, I would play all the characters. And I remember, I was dating this chick that lived about an hour and a half from Chicago. She was in college. And I was sitting there with her, and we were just talking. And I just thought of this video to do, is this Sugar Daddy. And I remember driving home, and, you know, I just remember like, man, I'm gonna do this video. And I'm gonna do it like this, I'm gonna do it like that. And I did the video when I got home.

• 21:31Speaker 03

  And at this time, I was still living with my parents, so I did it in my room. The next morning I woke up, it was at like 3.5 million views. And I was like, this is it. Like, this is, this, okay, this is it. So then I, I kept making more of that, and people was falling in love with it. And I got fired from my job. And then, you know, my mom came to me and was like, you know, I was, that day I got fired, I was already looking for another job. And she was like, no, you know, your comedy thing, like, you know, your, your numbers are looking good. She said, you can stay here as long as you want. Just keep, just focus on that, collect your unemployment, and see what happens. And the rest was history. I never went back to work.

• 22:14Speaker 03

  That video, that ride home that day, just that hour and a half ride home changed my life.

• 22:19Speaker 07

  The new LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't undo your last hire. The no show. Who set you back because they didn't show up on day one? Or day two, or ever again? And now your product launch is delayed because you're talking to alien abduction podcasters to track them down. But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can help make sure your next hire sticks. In fact, businesses who use LinkedIn are 24% less likely to reopen a role in the next 12 months. Hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn.com/quality.

• 22:49Fred Taylor?

  How does it feel to hear that sort of support from your mom? Because like in my house, I tell my son, who's 23 now?

• 22:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:56Fred Taylor?

  I said, 21, you gotta go, but obviously.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, you're not gonna do that.

• 22:59Fred Taylor?

  Right, right.

• 23:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, but I don't, my thing is, is that having parents, especially my mother at the time, because my dad wasn't buying it at the time. He wasn't. And it's crazy, just years later, he ended up buying me this bracelet, you know, just saying like, hey, son. I didn't, I didn't believe at first. And he was like, it's not, you know, what you're doing or what you have right now. He was like, but I should have been on, I should have been on that train from the beginning. And that meant something to me, you know what I'm saying? More than anything, but to answer that question, I feel like, you know, in our community, that's the thing. 18, 21, you out.

• 23:39Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 23:40Speaker 03

  And we the only ones that's like that.

• 23:42Fred Taylor?

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:43Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying? And I feel like the world is not what it was like when our parents was coming up. It's not even as cheap as it was when our parents was coming up. So, you know, to get your kids at their young age and throw them out into this world, and they don't really fully understand it or fully grasp it. I just think, I don't agree with it. I think what my parents did for me, I was, man, I'm be honest with you. I was there till I was 30. You know what I'm saying? And I started doing comedy when I want to say I was about 20, 24 or 25. So I was, you know, on this journey for about four or five years. And once the pandemic hit, that's when it was like the money was coming in.

• 24:27Speaker 03

  I was making all this money on social media and I was like, okay, I can be out on my own. And even then, I can tell you right now, if I wanted to right now, I can go back to my parents' house right now. Just because there's the type of people that they are, that they would rather us struggle from their house than just be out here struggling in the world, getting the stuff that we don't, you know, that they don't want to have to help us get out of. So if they can prevent it getting there, if that's you being here until you get back on your feet, I can appreciate that.

• 24:57Channing Crowder?

  But I gotta ask him, bro, well, you can't stay in Pop's house with that chain on.

• 25:01Speaker 03

  No, not now. No, not now. I would have to get him one.

• 25:07Speaker 03

  But I bought him a car.

• 25:08Ryan Clark?

  I was about to ask you about that. When you got him the BMW, I think the beauty in it was that you said you'd do it.

• 25:15Speaker 03

  I would do it, and I said it a long time ago.

• 25:17Ryan Clark?

  What is that full circle moment of him coming to you saying, I should have been on board? And then what you were able to do, being able to help you keep your promise?

• 25:27Speaker 03

  Him coming to me and telling me that he should have been on board meant so much to me because I never knew that he wasn't on board. So it was him like admitting that to me. You know, he kept it real. He was like, man, I was laughing, but I wasn't laughing with you. And that meant something to me because as a man, and especially, you know, coming from your father, the expectations, my dad thought we was, me and my brother was going to the NFL. You know what I'm saying? And I could have told him in high school, I wasn't gonna make it. You know what I'm saying? Because I was skipping practice to go, you know, be with the girls, but I was good. But I wasn't committed.

• 26:08Speaker 03

  And in order to get to that level, as I'm seeing right now in the profession that I'm in right now, it takes a different level of commitment. You know, him not believing, you know, I couldn't be mad at him because I understood it. Your son wake up one day and say, hey, I'm about to be this comedian. I'm gonna be a star. I'm gonna make these videos and this gonna make it happen. I'm gonna have all this money. And as a man that grew that, you know, my dad in the 70s. So you think of the era, he came in like, man, you ain't about to be no comedian. You know what I'm saying? You better go get a job. You need to be trying to figure something out. And, you know, to be able, for him to admit that and gift me with his bracelet that he bought me. It's a diamond bracelet with my name in it.

• 26:52Speaker 03

  For him to gift me that and have that hard to hard conversation with me and tell me, hey, son, I wasn't with you at first, but I'm letting you know from this day forward, I'm with you the rest of the way. Whatever you want to do, I'm behind it. It gave me that, it was just that other half that I didn't know I was missing. To push me to where I was going, because mom always there. Mom was at every show. Mom was at every football game. You know what I'm saying? Dad was there when he couldn't work. You know, if he didn't have to work, he was there. To now having that, you know what I'm saying? It just, it changed everything. So I know what my dad contributed to our family. I know how hard he worked. I know, I know the long nights, you know? I know some of the stuff that he did that he probably didn't want to do. You know, a lot of days he didn't feel like it, but he had to.

• 27:37Speaker 03

  So to be able to give that to him for what he's given to our family, bro, it meant everything to me.

• 27:42Ryan Clark?

  His dad's super light-skinned too, though. This is, his, his, his whole-

• 27:46Speaker 03

  My dad is probably your complexion or a little lighter. He just got the light eyes.

• 27:51Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, he, so-

• 27:52Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, the light eyes.

• 27:53Speaker 03

  But I'm gonna tell you something, though.

• 27:54Ryan Clark?

  His whole background, but pops look like he bought it, though.

• 27:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm letting you know right now. I'm telling you right now.

• 27:59Channing Crowder?

  He ain't mind no bullshit.

• 28:00Speaker 03

  Damn. I wouldn't try him. I wouldn't recommend nobody try him either. I'm not playing.

• 28:07Channing Crowder?

  I don't know if you see the show, though, but the light-skinned thing, they try me all the time about the light-skinned thing. That's why I got on your ear.

• 28:13Speaker 03

  You have to stop owning it on the inside. You have to, you dark-skinned on the inside. Let me hear you say it. Say, I'm dark-skinned on the inside.

• 28:20Channing Crowder?

  Then you also got the light eyes, though.

• 28:22Speaker 03

  That's why I got, that's what really gotta, that's what really gotta, I gotta, I gotta check it fast. Because if I don't, now people punching me.

• 28:30Ryan Clark?

  Is that why you told a little boy to come on, on stage and tell his old lady that he's gonna get some of that thing that night?

• 28:38Speaker 03

  You talking about Travis?

• 28:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:42Speaker 03

  You know what, man? With that, I feel like this. I feel like, we gotta, I think a lot of people afraid to say how they feel. Because of how they think people may feel about them. And if you're not saying how you feel or acting on how you feel, are you really being you? Like, buddy, you hanging around this woman, and you know you want something. You know what I'm saying? And you playing this role. Like, no, say what you want. Women respect that. Say what you want. Don't... You faking it like you're just this nice guy. You know, you light-skinned.

• 29:14Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah. Hey, you a talented light-skinned brother. Man, load up. I ain't got pretty... I wish I had pretty eyes.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  No, you don't.

• 29:20Channing Crowder?

  I would be a killer.

• 29:21Speaker 03

  No, you don't.

• 29:22Channing Crowder?

  Look at how good I look with dark eyes.

• 29:23Speaker 03

  You don't want these problems, man.

• 29:24Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I don't need no... I have problems enough looking as good as I look now.

• 29:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, but if you had these eyes, your problems gonna go from here to there. I have problems, man. I can't get women to leave me alone.

• 29:35Channing Crowder?

  I have the same problem.

• 29:37Speaker 03

  All right, D. I'm telling you, man.

• 29:39Ryan Clark?

  Now you doing a lot, dawg.

• 29:41Speaker 03

  Telling you.

• 29:41Fred Taylor?

  Was it the same before... First of all, where were you working when you got fired?

• 29:45Speaker 03

  Security. I was doing security.

• 29:47Fred Taylor?

  Oh, you was security?

• 29:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was a security guard.

• 29:48Channing Crowder?

  Well, were you securing?

• 29:49Speaker 03

  Hold on. Because I was dangerous. I was dangerous. I pulled that flashlight out, you had some trouble. Man, so I was doing security, this security company, but we was contracted. I was working at General Mills. So, pretty much what I would be doing is, they would have all these different, you know, truckers come in to pick up the loads of cereal or whatever General Mills have. And they would come in and check in through the security booth, and, you know, I would direct them where to go. But I was in charge of the security operations at this entire distribution center. And then I left there, and then I was in charge of Best Buy. Security Distribution Center in Bolingbrook, Illinois. I was the supervisor.

• 30:32Speaker 03

  That's when I started the Mr. James thing. I started going viral. And the people at the home office of the security company were seeing the videos. I had did one of the videos at the Best Buy. But you couldn't tell that I was there, but if you knew, you knew. And they came down, and they was like, hey, man, you know, we really... Because when I got to that job at Best Buy, the security operations was a mess. And they needed somebody to get in there and kind of... Fix it back up and clean it up. And I felt like I took on more than what I could handle. I, I, I didn't really fully understand the situation that they were in. And the money was, was decent for me at the time, like 20 bucks an hour. So I was like, yeah, I'll take the job.

• 31:17Speaker 03

  But when I got there, they were understaffed. So I was trying to hire people. Also, I was working 16, 24 hour shifts. And all of this while I'm a dad, I'm a young father at the time. And then I'm still trying to pursue this comedy thing. And I had got booked for this show in LA. And I went out there and the person that was supposed to work security that weekend just didn't show up. So Best Buy didn't have any security at the distribution center for like 72 hours. And they heard about it. Best Buy was mad. They went to the security company and told them. And they were like, where you at? I'm like, I'm in LA, I'm in LA. Now, I'm the boss. I, I, if nobody is there, I'm supposed to be there. So they came down and was like, man, listen, it's either, you know, you gonna do this

• 32:02Speaker 03

  or you gonna chase that comedy career. And I was like, man, this can't, this can't change my life. This can't change my daughter's life. Like, what other opportunities do y'all have for me?

• 32:13Fred Taylor?

  So you really didn't get fired? You stepped down?

• 32:15Speaker 03

  No, they fired me.

• 32:18Speaker 03

  Cause you still were working. I wasn't ready to quit. You know, I was just, I, I thought, I thought we was have, you know. You ever get fired and didn't know you was about to get fired? You thought y'all was having a conversation? I thought we was having a conversation. And I was like, well, do y'all have any other opportunities where I can grow in this? Like, if y'all really wanna be committed? And he was like, you know what? The guy's, man, he got the rocking back and forth. And he was like, yeah, listen, we're letting you go. I was like, wait, hold on, wait a minute, y'all. Let me choose again.

• 32:54Speaker 03

  Cause Christmas, bro, Christmas was like a week away. And I had to give my daughter stuff for Christmas, man. Man, they fired me and I went to car and I just cried, man. I just cried and I couldn't go back to General Meals because of how I left from over there.

• 33:09Ryan Clark?

  Protecting, protecting the cereal.

• 33:10Speaker 03

  I left from over there, we had to protect the cereal.

• 33:13Ryan Clark?

  Captain Crank.

• 33:13Speaker 03

  Which I should have stayed. I left from over there to go over to this spot. But the only reason why I left from over there is because when I had my daughter, I was so afraid of getting to put on child support. And I don't know why, because I didn't have no money. But I was so afraid of being put on child support that as soon as I had my daughter, I put her on my insurance at work. And that started pulling out the majority of my check. I was coming home every week with like two, three hundred dollars. I was behind on my car note and the job was like, look, we'll pay your insurance. We just need you to stay because you the only one that know the operations. And I just didn't trust them, so I left and I just left. I just stopped answering the phone. And that is one of the regrets that I have is that I shouldn't have left the way that I did.

• 33:55Speaker 03

  And I went into that other job thinking that the grass was greener and it wasn't. I only lasted there a month. But that went straight into me being a comedian full of time and I never went back.

• 34:04Ryan Clark?

  What was that conversation when you got home, though?

• 34:07Speaker 03

  To my mom?

• 34:07Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, when, like you said, after the crying is done, you know where you are.

• 34:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:12Ryan Clark?

  What do you walk in the house and say?

• 34:14Speaker 03

  Mom, I got fired.

• 34:17Speaker 03

  What? Yeah, I got fired. Why? Mama, they, they talking about I can't do comedy no more. And she was like, they said that? You can sue them. I said, well, let's sue them then. She said, did they say exactly that? I said, they didn't say exactly that. But they said I need to choose. And she was like, and you said comedy? I said, no, I said, what I said was this, the security job wasn't gonna give me the opportunity that I wanted. And she calmed down and she was like, you know what? She was like, your comedy been doing good. She said, just, she said, just focus on that. She said, collect your unemployment and she was like, you know, I got you. And I did just that and I was getting unemployment, but I was making money doing comedy. So the unemployment was just a little extra sum. When that ran out, I was still doing well.

• 34:59Speaker 03

  And then it had got to a point, though, where it slowed down for me. The views had started to go down. The bookings weren't coming in as much anymore. And I had to, I remember my sister was a human resource manager for this temp agency. And I called her like, I might need a job.

• 35:22Speaker 03

  And she was like, what you mean? I was like, you know, just slow down. I never thought it was over, but I was like, I need to regroup. I need to pivot.

• 35:31Speaker 07

  The new LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't undo your last hire. The no show. Who set you back because they didn't show up on day one? Or day two, or ever again? And now your product launch is delayed because you're talking to alien abduction podcasters to track them down. But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can help make sure your next hire sticks. In fact, businesses who use LinkedIn are 24% less likely to reopen a role in the next 12 months. Hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn.com/quality.

• 36:01Fred Taylor?

  You asked us if we ever been fired. I'm curious now. Have y'all ever had a civilian job?

• 36:07Ryan Clark?

  Yes.

• 36:08Fred Taylor?

  I've never had.

• 36:09Ryan Clark?

  I had a civilian job.

• 36:10Fred Taylor?

  Where?

• 36:11Ryan Clark?

  I worked at LSU. When, during the time I was head of the league.

• 36:16Speaker 03

  That don't count.

• 36:17Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, yeah, that don't really count.

• 36:18Ryan Clark?

  I worked for the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

• 36:19Speaker 03

  You gotta ask a real question.

• 36:20Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, like a real job.

• 36:21Speaker 03

  What was it like when you got cut? That's getting fired.

• 36:24Fred Taylor?

  Well, yeah, that's getting fired, but I mean like a job job.

• 36:27Channing Crowder?

  I had a real job.

• 36:28Speaker 03

  That's a job.

• 36:28Fred Taylor?

  That is a job.

• 36:29Channing Crowder?

  I was a cashier and I got fired because if any old woman came through, I used to put her produce because you gotta look the code up.

• 36:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:37Channing Crowder?

  And I didn't want to look the code up. It's a waste of time. Bananas are 40 11 to this day. So I used to know some codes. If I didn't know the code, if you got avocado or jackfruit, I don't want to look the code up and I just give it to them free. And an old lady told on me and she was like.

• 36:51Speaker 03

  She got it for free?

• 36:52Channing Crowder?

  I got a bunch of fruit and he only charged me $11. And she had a whole basket full of fruit, but I wasn't going to look up all them codes.

• 36:57Speaker 03

  She was black?

• 36:58Channing Crowder?

  She wasn't black.

• 36:59Speaker 03

  I know it.

• 37:02Speaker 03

  I knew she wasn't black. I knew she wasn't.

• 37:05Channing Crowder?

  They fired me at the Cub Foods in Atlanta.

• 37:07Speaker 03

  Cub Foods.

• 37:08Channing Crowder?

  Cub Foods.

• 37:09Speaker 03

  They don't know about Cub Foods.

• 37:10Channing Crowder?

  No, nobody. Cub Foods can't be.

• 37:12Speaker 03

  You never heard of Cub Foods?

• 37:13Channing Crowder?

  No.

• 37:13Fred Taylor?

  No.

• 37:13Speaker 03

  Oh, my God.

• 37:14Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, they probably, brother, they ain't around.

• 37:15Speaker 03

  My sisters used to work at Cub. I had three sisters, all of them worked at Cub Foods.

• 37:19Channing Crowder?

  I was at Cub Foods. Your sister, how was your sister? She fired me?

• 37:22Speaker 03

  She was in Chicago.

• 37:23Channing Crowder?

  Oh, OK.

• 37:24Speaker 03

  Look at them, that's that light skin stuff right there. They think they know all the women in the world.

• 37:28Channing Crowder?

  The lady that fired me with light skin.

• 37:30Fred Taylor?

  What y'all got going on, man? Y'all too, y'all too light-skinned. Two seconds ago, y'all was like this.

• 37:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:35Fred Taylor?

  Both of y'all. And now, y'all like this.

• 37:37Channing Crowder?

  We just run, we just run the world.

• 37:39Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, man, RC, we wide-legged, y'all.

• 37:41Speaker 03

  You see what I'm saying? But that's the problem with y'all. Y'all wide-legged because y'all always feel like somebody about to do something to you.

• 37:47Ryan Clark?

  I'm actually just sitting like this.

• 37:49Channing Crowder?

  Look how relaxed we are. What's wrong with y'all?

• 37:52Speaker 03

  We comfortable, y'all not comfortable.

• 37:53Ryan Clark?

  You know, where you are now, when you grow big enough to do something like The Bear and The Bears.

• 38:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:01Ryan Clark?

  How did that all come about? And that had to be a moment where you realized, okay, all this work I've put in, not only are the people I initially intended to see it, seeing it, but now it's growing bigger.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  It's growing bigger. You know, for that, what happened was, it's crazy. Justin Fields was the quarterback at the time. And we, uh, we playing Green Bay. And we lost, and I had did this video of me watching the end of the game. And my girl come in, and I'm crying. And in this video, I mean ESPN, I mean everybody, I mean, it was, it was all over the place. And everybody had responded to it, except The Bears, because they lost. They didn't know how to interact with it. So they DM me, and they was like, "We see you." And I was like, "Hey, you know, I have some ideas. I would love, you know, to, you know, to sit down with you guys and talk about some ideas

• 38:58Speaker 03

  that I have to kind of, you know, bridge the gap between the fans and the team." Because at the time, we, we were losing so much, you know what I'm saying? The only joy that we really were, were getting is the hope that something might be different. You know, I sat down, and I, you know, we had a meeting with the social media department. I met with the president, Kevin Warren, and, um...

• 39:22Speaker 03

  They brought me to a game. And we end up going to the game. And I'm end up meeting, you know, I met Justin Fields. And every player I met on that team that day is no longer on the team. They all signed my jersey. I, I, this is when I realized the business of the NFL. I have a jersey right now with Roquan Smith, Eddie Jackson, Justin Fields, Darnell Mooney. The only one still on this jersey is Jalen Johnson. That's still with Chicago. But, you know, I, I met the players and, and they, and they, oh, man. You know, I, I remember asking Justin, I said, did you see the video? He was like, we all seen the video. And, you know, it was a dream come true. Like, I'm on the field at Soldier Field, I'm walking out the tunnel with the team.

• 40:05Speaker 03

  And that started my relationship with the Chicago Bears. That video, when I'm crying when they lost to Green Bay. And right after that, the next year, hey, we want you in the schedule release video. And I ended up doing two, the next two schedule release videos that they, you know, that they put out. And I instantly became like the face of the fan base for the Chicago Bears. Who's better, you or Gilly? Gilly is obnoxious, man. He is, I, Gilly is on a whole nother level, man. Those Eagles fans are different. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I've been to a Bears Eagles game in Philadelphia. I'd rather see the Eagles when they come here to Chicago, man. But I would say, uh, I, Gilly got me beat for sure.

• 40:50Speaker 03

  Like, Gilly, I feel like Gilly would fight one of the players that mess up. If, if, if somebody fumble and lose the game, they gotta hear. Like, Gilly calls players out. I don't do that. Yeah. I don't, I won't call a player out. And just because, you know, because when you're around the team and, you know, you show up to the games, you gotta see these guys. And they hear this stuff and they, and they see, and they see this stuff. And I don't never want them to feel like they don't have my support. They know they messed up. Right. You know you fumbled. Yeah. You know you dropped the ball. You don't need a comedian, you know what I'm saying, to spark the interest of the internet, you know? I think I did it one time. It was a guy, when, when he was playing with us, he was a practice squad guy.

• 41:34Speaker 03

  I don't even think he in the league anymore. But he was a practice squad guy, he fumbled. When we were driving to try to beat Minnesota, Justin Fields was quarterback at the time. And a guy, he caught the ball, he did all this extra stuff on with the ball. And I said, "Leave his ass in Minnesota. Leave him there." I called him back, but after that, I don't, I try not to criticize the players, man. Just, you know, I couldn't do what they do.

• 41:58Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:58Speaker 03

  Just like they couldn't do what I do, I'm gonna respect that.

• 42:01Ryan Clark?

  Speaking of what you do, the, one of the cool things you, you did was, uh, and I don't know how, when you're looking at the crowd, how do you actually figure out a way to know what people are there doing?

• 42:14Speaker 03

  It's a gift. I see it. It's just, you know, as I'm, as I'm, as I'm doing the jokes, you know, I'm looking through the audience, I'm, I'm, I'm looking at, you know, the different people, and my mind is like, yeah, right there. It could be something small. It could just be the shirt that you have on. That shirt is interesting enough. Why would he wear that shirt? He's an interesting person. Let me, let me, let me get to know him. Or if I see a dynamic, if I see a man and a lady, and they sitting together, but, you know, she's leaning this way, or she's not really touching, like, all these things are happening in real time, and I'm noticing all of it, you know, when I'm on stage. And that's kinda like how I know, like, where I'm gonna go.

• 42:57Ryan Clark?

  That's how you knew the two dudes was on a date?

• 42:59Speaker 03

  So with that, bro, a lot of, me and my mom was just talking about this. They were like, "How did, how did you know that?" I have, you know, that part of the show happened at the very end. I had been watching them all night. I seen them all night. One of the guys had on like a, um, a, a see-through shirt or something like that. It was, it was, the shirt was very LBWQ.

• 43:21Ryan Clark?

  What, what's them letters?

• 43:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

• 43:26Speaker 03

  I knew they was with the X community. You know what I'm saying? I could tell by the shirt. And I was watching the other guy, and I noticed the other guy was kinda... He wasn't ready for the world to know, you know what I'm saying? He was like, "Hey, we just kicking it." But the other dude was like, "Nah, we in here, we together." You know what I'm saying? And I seen it all night. So when I came over there, I knew what guy to go and talk to because I go talk to the one that appears to be more free and willing to talk about this. He's gonna open it up for him. So it's just a strategic thing. It's knowing people, you just gotta know people. That was so funny, that was cool.

• 44:03Channing Crowder?

  But with that, with that, because at the end of all your sets, you just start you just start fucking with people.

• 44:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:09Channing Crowder?

  And that's the thing you do, like you watch it, we saw it Instagram, like you go watch your Instagram, man, it's just hilarious. But do you ever, like you saying, how you tag somebody? Do you ever watch and be like, "Nah, that ain't..." Because you mess with one dude, you're like, "Bro, you 6'3", you got a policeman on him, or something like that, but do you ever be like, "Nah, let me leave..." Yeah, "Let me leave, bro, alone, let me leave, bro, alone."

• 44:30Speaker 03

  They'll give you that energy. Like, I've done shows where you get a guy in the audience, and like, you you throw like a little jab at him, and they'll give you a look like, "Nah." "I ain't the one." "I ain't the one." I respect it. I respect it, I respect it. Now, if I feel, now if I end up, I might double back. Because what I'll end up doing is trying to get you on my side. Then, once I get you on my side, then I get on you. But if you give me that vibe, like, there's been some older OGs in the shows before. And I'd have said something, and them uncles had looked at me like, "All right, man, you gone with your jokes."

• 45:06Speaker 03

  I'd have seen it, and I'd be like, "You know what?" Because I know my dad. My dad don't let nobody play with him, so I'm like, "All right, I got you, OG, don't even worry about it." Anyways, what y'all doing after this? Like, I move right on. So it's just, you know, it's just knowing people. And if somebody give you that vibe, like, and it ain't even so much that you scared, because bro, I've been on stage, and the dude just stood up, like, "I'll come up there." Like, "Well, come on." "You ain't going back." Right, yeah. You won't be going. I let the audience know, the show will be over once he gets up here, it's over with after that.

• 45:38Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 45:38Speaker 03

  So I hope y'all enjoyed yourselves.

• 45:39Channing Crowder?

  You walk over there, you limping back.

• 45:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, you limping back.

• 45:42Channing Crowder?

  Well, is that, what, is that talent, something?

• 45:46Channing Crowder?

  You, people can write sets.

• 45:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:48Channing Crowder?

  But that talent.

• 45:49Speaker 03

  That's, that's skill, bro. I don't care what nobody say, you know what I'm saying? Any comedian, and shouts out to Matt Rife and Nate Jackson and, and, you know, all, all Desi Banks, all the comedians that have that ability to make something out of what's happening right now, that's a gift. That's a skill, I don't care what nobody say. People try to act like, oh, well, they must not, don't have any joke. I got a full, I'm about to drop my comedy special. I just shot in Atlanta. Fire, I done watched it six times already. Fire. Like, and I, and I'm watching it on my TV, you know, from the perspective of the people watching, not from my rothus, because the first couple times, I wasn't laughing, but, because I was studying like, well, okay, did I want to change this?

• 46:34Speaker 03

  But once I watched it to enjoy it, fabulous. It's gonna be one of the best specials. The director himself, this is gonna be one of the best specials 2026.

• 46:42Fred Taylor?

  So, with that, in comedy, do you feel pressure or privilege, oftentimes being mentioned alongside some of the other Chicago greats like Bernie Mac or Richard Pryor? You know, those guys that were right there from Chicago.

• 46:57Speaker 03

  When you went to the league, did you want to be mentioned with Walter Payton?

• 47:00Fred Taylor?

  Of course.

• 47:00Speaker 03

  Okay then.

• 47:01Fred Taylor?

  But no, I mean, was it pressure or privilege?

• 47:04Speaker 03

  No, I wanted that.

• 47:05Fred Taylor?

  Got it.

• 47:06Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying? Like, I, like, and to go back to the moment that you brought up at the Chicago Theater, you can, it's not a lot of comedians that's from Chicago that was able to do what I did. The, I sold that theater out a month in advance, four, four, four thousand seats. You know what I'm saying? And the names that's done it, Deion Cole, you know what I'm saying? Corey Holcomb, um, uh, D-Ray Davis does the, the Eric Crowne Theater. You know, Bernie Mac did it with the Kings of Comedy. I went in there just me.

• 47:38Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 47:38Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying, just me. And, you know, I wanted that. You know, I think even before I walked out, you know, a video played of, you know, just kind of like me going out on a tour, you know, and leading up to the Chicago show. And then they just had a message that said, "Mojo today, you know, makes history along with other Chicago greats." And, you know, the pictures of Bernie Mac and Robin Harris. All of those pictures pop up and you just hear the crowd going crazy. And then, then at the end, you know, it says, "And tonight, you know, he becomes the first comedian from Chicago that comes from the social media generation to sell out the Chicago Theater."

• 48:21Ryan Clark?

  Man, that's amazing. When you mentioned those names, it made me start to think about the history of Chicago. So, I want you to give me the top five people, athletes, entertainers, actors, that are synonymous with Chicago love, support, and fame.

• 48:42Speaker 03

  Michael Jordan, Derrick Rose.

• 48:46Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 48:47Speaker 03

  You know, Bernie Mac is a Chicago legend, Chance the rapper.

• 48:54Speaker 03

  And I'm just gonna say this for my boy, man, Caleb Williams.

• 48:59Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 48:59Speaker 03

  It's happening for him right now.

• 49:02Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 49:03Speaker 03

  The city of Chicago is gonna be his.

• 49:06Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I, um...

• 49:07Speaker 03

  It's happening. I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm just saying it now. Even, I want to be honest, and I hate to say this, even just the way he's done to Green Bay two times this year, that dude ain't gotta do nothing else.

• 49:25Speaker 03

  We thank you, we thank.

• 49:28Speaker 03

  Caleb don't got it, man. Listen, he don't gotta pay for another nail. He don't gotta pay, not for no ticket to see Mo the Rooksey, no. No, I, I, I, but, no, Chicago, I mean, we just, we just got a lot, man. And I see it for myself, you know what I'm saying? They, the city of Chicago treats me like royalty.

• 49:46Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 49:47Speaker 03

  Wherever I wanna go, whatever I wanna do, they, I mean, they lay out the red carpet, so. It's, it's been a lot, but athletes wise, for sure. Jordan, Derrick Rose, they getting ready to retire his jersey. They haven't retired a Bulls jersey since 2009. And that was Scottie Pippen. Derrick Rose going up in the rap. But Derrick Rose to go to high school there, though. It's crazy. And then come back and win the MVP. And that's what it was like for me at the Chicago Theater. It was like when he got drafted to the Bulls. And he had been there his whole life, and you in the city, you been here your whole life. You know, you pull up to that Chicago Theater, y'all seen the Chicago Theater, they got the, you know, the Chicago going.

• 50:30Speaker 03

  You pull up there and you see your name on the marquee and it say, "Sold Out." And all those people lined up as you pulling in to see it is.

• 50:39Channing Crowder?

  Can y'all please sell something else other than that ragged ass Mirror Bean?

• 50:43Speaker 03

  Who?

• 50:44Channing Crowder?

  Chicago wanna sell that Mirror Bean to everybody. That bean ain't worth a damn.

• 50:48Speaker 03

  Man, we, we don't sell that to y'all. Everybody talk about the Bean. I went to the Bean. I'm just standing at the Bean. The Bean's just a big ass Mirror Bean. Y'all chose to be hyped up by the Bean.

• 50:58Speaker 03

  Let me tell you something. I ain't never been down to the Bean. You ain't never been to the Bean? No, I don't have a picture in front of the Bean. I've never been down to the Bean. I've driven past it down Michigan Avenue. I've never, no, we didn't tell y'all. Nobody from Chicago told you, "You gotta go to the Bean." Never.

• 51:14Channing Crowder?

  I went to my whole family to the Bean, then we were just standing there.

• 51:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, just standing, looking crazy. I guess that's it.

• 51:19Fred Taylor?

  Looking at your reflection.

• 51:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, when you said it, you was like, "To the what?" I didn't even know what you was talking about at first. No, we don't, man.

• 51:26Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, no, I, I really just think it's an honor, man. I had, you did some research. You, your name came up with Obama, both Obamas, Oprah.

• 51:36Fred Taylor?

  You said Mike, Scottie, D-Rose, Peyton, Chief Keef, Chance, Kanye. Your name pops up with all them men. So keep, keep doing what you're doing. But we always ask our guests their biggest pivot in life. Like, that's that one moment you can go back to and say, because this happened to me or for me, I am, that's the reason why I am who I am today.

• 51:55Speaker 03

  The biggest pivot in my career was when I told y'all I was, the views had started slowing down. I was doing that Mr. James character. And I had to pivot from the character work into showing people more of me being funny. So I had to lose that filter. It was all a crutch, right? And I knew that if I had kept going down that route, it was over. It was, it was just over. I wasn't growing anymore. It was at a standstill. And what I ended up pivoting to, I was at a concert and Lil Dirk proposed to his girlfriend at the concert. And I started doing these ring camera videos

• 52:39Speaker 03

  where I would go to my girl's house and go to the ring camera and be trying to get her back. And that brought me in, it, it gave me a second life. In this career, it gave me a second life. And from there, I was able to grow as me. People was able to see me for me. And then I was able to continue to expand my comedy to other things. That was, that's what changed my career. That decision right there changed my career. In my life, was, was, after I got fired, I had went and interviewed for another job the very next day. Even though my mom had told me to get the, um, the unemployment and stuff. They offered me the job. It was for the same amount of money. And the day that I was supposed to go start, I didn't go.

• 53:24Speaker 03

  I said, I'm gonna do what my mom told me to do.

• 53:26Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I, I would also say one thing I do love to see about you is you and your daughter. And which, you know, when, when you have parents like you have, how did that shape you into how you want to be in her life?

• 53:41Speaker 03

  I think the biggest thing is with me and my daughter is how, um, It's how affectionate we are. My family has always been affectionate. We've always hugged, we've always kissed. We've always showed each other our love. And I always wanted my daughter to understand that she comes from love. She does not have to search for it out here in this world. It comes from there. We have conversations. Just yesterday, we was having a conversation. I got an air hockey table at the house. And I'm like, how you feeling? I was like, you feel beautiful? Yes, I feel beautiful. You love yourself? Yes, I love myself, Dad. Like, those are the type of conversations we have. That's the type of dad.

• 54:23Speaker 03

  I don't want her to be out here thinking that she can find something out there that she doesn't already have at home. And my family's always been that way. It's like, hey, we got us. You don't got to go out there to have it. Like, we got us. And when you do go out there, find people that's familiar with what you grew up on. You know what I'm saying? I think a lot of times, when you come from love like that, you end up attracting a lot of people that's just trying to survive. And they don't know how to love the way that you do. They don't know how to show the love with appreciation, you know, the way that you do. And I just want, you know, I just wanted my daughter to come from where I came from. Knowing, I always grew up knowing that somebody loved me. I always knew that.

• 55:08Speaker 03

  And I just want her to know that. Like, you don't never, if you got a question or anything, you don't never got a question if you are loved here.

• 55:16Ryan Clark?

  Well, I just want to give you your flowers before you leave. This is normally Freddie T's thing.

• 55:20Speaker 03

  Okay, thank you.

• 55:21Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I sent you the message from one of my childhood friends who lost her daughter, you know, a few years back. And she doesn't have a lot of things that bring her that sort of joy. And when I posted you on my story, she actually, you know, I sent it to you, but she reached out to say how much she laughed and how good that was for her. So, thank you for that, for sure. And my homeboy, Kevin, y'all met him in Houston, shot me a text. He's like, I'm going to his show tonight. First thing he asked me, does he have VIP tickets? Second thing was, he told me, just tell him to stay. I got him. And my homeboy sent that, too. There's not a lot of people who say they're going to do a thing and do it and who show up like you, showing up for me, and you didn't owe me nothing.

• 56:06Ryan Clark?

  So, I do want to tell you, man, thank you for being you. You're a real one.

• 56:11Ryan Clark?

  I'll FaceTime you if y'all lose this week, just to check on you though.

• 56:15Speaker 03

  But no, you say you not answering if we win.

• 56:17Ryan Clark?

  I'm not, I'm gonna cut my phone off.

• 56:18Speaker 03

  I'm calling you right from the stadium, baby. Right from the stadium. And let me say this though, to all you brothers, man. You know, I appreciate what y'all, what y'all have here. The meaning of y'all podcast. I appreciate the guests that y'all bring on, what y'all do for the culture. You know, shining light on, you know, entertainers and athletes, you know, that's, that's coming up in this, in this business. I watched all you guys, just, you know, growing up, and you one of my favorite running backs. You was alright. You was a dog. You know what I'm saying? Ryan, no, honestly, man. Listen. I'm gonna say this though, Ryan, you know, I, over the last few years,

• 57:00Speaker 03

  you know your name then came up, and you know, and, and, and I done seen him on Twitter, and, and I always respected, um, how you always took accountability. And you was a never, you, you never backed down from, if you wrong, hey, I was wrong. I respected that. And the reason why I say that is because that's what I respected about my dad, when he sat me down and said, hey, I wasn't with you from the beginning and I was wrong. That's a man. You know what I'm saying? To be able to take accountability and say, hey, I was wrong, maybe I shouldn't have said that, or maybe I shouldn't have did that. I apologize. And this, I respect that. And because of that, from afar saying that, I always said, that's somebody that I can mess with.

• 57:43Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, bro.

• 57:44Speaker 03

  So I appreciate y'all for having me. This was, I had a good time, man.

• 57:47Ryan Clark?

  Man, thank you, though. Appreciate you. I'm sorry I be talking to you this weekend.

• 57:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You will.

• 57:52Ryan Clark?

  You will.

• 57:52Channing Crowder?

  So you giving our VIP tickets, I heard?

• 57:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, whatever y'all need. Whatever y'all need. Now, look, I'm gonna tell y'all, we'll see y'all, we'll, uh, see y'all, I knew y'all probably be down to Super Bowl.

• 58:03Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 58:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, we'll be there. Who you going with? Huh? Who I'm going for?

• 58:08Ryan Clark?

  Say, who you gonna go with? You just gonna watch?

• 58:10Speaker 03

  You know what? So the Super Bowl is the day before me and my dad's birthday. Our birthday on the same day. OK. So I'm taking him to the Super Bowl. No matter who goes? Huh? No matter who goes? No matter who goes. Yeah, from the AFC.

• 58:47Speaker 08

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 58:57Speaker 08

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