Marlon Wayans Opens Up on Battling Depression (“I Broke Down & Cried On Stage”)

SUMMIT OF GREATNESS IS UNDER 2 WEEKS AWAY! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Get them before they sell out at lewishowes.com/ticketsGet ready for an inspiring and heartfelt conversation with the multi-talented Marlon Wayans! In this episode, we dive deep into Marlon's journey as a comedian, actor, and producer, exploring how he's evolved both personally and professionally over his 30-year career. Marlon opens up about his spiritual growth, the impact of losing his parents, and his mission to bring healing through laughter. From his ambitious goals in stand-up to his thoughts on success and failure, Marlon's insights will leave you motivated to embrace your own path to greatness. Don't miss this powerful episode that combines humor, wisdom, and raw emotion! In this episode you will learnHow Marlon is incorporating spiritual growth and healing into his comedy specialsThe importance of continual learning and growth in pursuing your goalsWhy Marlon believes in doing a new stand-up special every year, contrary to industry normsHow losing his parents has shaped Marlon's perspective on life and his artThe value of building the right team and treating yourself as a businessMarlon's approach to overcoming fear and embracing new challengesThe power of trusting in your journey and viewing greatness as a ongoing processFor more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1662For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  My mother's death shattered me into a million pieces.

• 0:03Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 0:04Speaker 00

  Biggest heartbreak of my life. I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different. Expression became therapeutic. I'm bleeding inside, but I'm literally pulling myself from depression. I'm back with my buddy Marlon Wayans.

• 0:18Speaker 02

  Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans. Been performing stand-up since he was a teenager and has starred in dozens of popular series and movies.

• 0:25Speaker 00

  Please welcome Marlon Wayans. I got people cracking up right from 57 minutes. And then it hit me. One stage, after a part, broke down. I cried because the reality of my parents being gone hit me.

• 0:39Lewis Howes?

  If you could hear a message from your mom, what would you have wanted that message to be?

• 0:46Speaker 00

  Big boy, you did good. You did right by our family. You showed the grandkids and the great grandkids. Everybody was good. You took care of your brothers and your sisters. Always we would.

• 1:03Lewis Howes?

  What do you wish more people would ask you?

• 1:06Speaker 00

  Probably what I'm afraid of.

• 1:07Lewis Howes?

  What are you afraid of?

• 1:08Speaker 00

  I'm afraid of...

• 1:11Speaker 03

  Hey, everyone. This is Lewis Howes, and I am so excited to invite you to the Summit of Greatness 2024, happening at the iconic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. This is more than just an event. It's a powerful experience designed to ignite your passion, boost your growth, and connect you with a community of other inspiring achievers. Join us Friday, September 13th and Saturday, September 14th, for two days packed with inspiration and transformation from some of the most incredible speakers on the planet. Don't miss out on this chance to elevate your life, unlock your potential, and be part of something truly special. Make sure to get your tickets right now and step into greatness with us at the Summit of Greatness 2024.

• 1:52Speaker 03

  Head over to lewishouse.com/tickets and get your tickets today, and I will see you there.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Marlon Wayans in the house. Good to see you, sir.

• 2:04Speaker 00

  Good to see you.

• 2:05Lewis Howes?

  Very excited that you're here. Just for people that don't know, you are extremely talented, not only as an actor, but producer, director, creative, writer, stand-up icon, and your films have done over a billion dollars globally over the years.

• 2:21Speaker 00

  Crazy.

• 2:22Lewis Howes?

  And we were just talking beforehand about you've been in this industry. I asked you, when did you start making your first dollars? And it's been over 30 years, three decades of you in this kind of world of entertainment, writing, creativity, and expressing yourself. And there's something I-

• 2:37Speaker 00

  It's crazy because I only look dirty.

• 2:39Lewis Howes?

  I do look dirty. You were born, yeah, exactly. And something I read about you recently that I think is really cool, because I think a lot of people think of you only as, well, maybe not a lot of people, but I think a lot of people might assume that you're always out for the joke. You're always out for writing the best joke and getting a laugh and whether it be on stand-up and the movies that you're creating. But I saw something recently where you talked about wanting to bring spiritual growth to audiences. And I don't know if that's over the last few years that's come to you or if you've always had that. But when did that start to become a focus for you saying, I want to obviously bring laughter because laughter is healing,

• 3:21Lewis Howes?

  but how can I help audiences grow spiritually through my creativity?

• 3:27Speaker 00

  I think that started for me. I think stand-up has developed me into that. I think that was always there. But I couldn't hear it because I was too desperate for the joke. But then life happens. And you understand, for 47 years of my life, 50 or 48 years, I had an amazing life. I say it to them, I'm like, if you, people could die- And come back as anybody, please come back as me for my first forty eight years of life. Really? Magical life, story existed. My mother would love me, my father who protected us and stayed with my mom and brothers and sisters when they wasn't trying to kill me.

• 4:09Speaker 00

  They were great, you know, great role models and they poured into me, uncles and aunties that loved me. And I had a beautiful time, a career, I had, I grew up in a house with my legends. You know how crazy that is? Wow. The people that you want to be like, they're sleeping in the bed above you. That's crazy. On the bed underneath you, everybody you grow to be like, and then they become superstars. And then you meet Eddie Murphy when you're like eight years old and Robert Townsend when you're like six. And guys like John Witherspoon, another comedian giant, when you're like twelve.

• 4:47Speaker 00

  And then you go on and your brother creates a living color and you know Jim Carrey and Tommy Davidson and J Lo and all these great, David Allen Greer, all these great people. I had a great life and then what happened was my parents died and fifty seven people I loved died. Fifty seven. Fifty seven. Wow. You know, and that's the sad part about getting to be my age is. People die? Happens to, yeah, and you know, and not to be a hater, but you better hope that you watch people die. Cause that means like you're still alive. I'm gonna miss you, but I don't want to go, I want to be here forever.

• 5:28Speaker 00

  So, you know, I started having this

• 5:36Speaker 00

  different vision of myself because I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different, the expression became therapeutic. I'm bleeding inside, but I'm, I'm literally pulling myself from depression. Cause my mother's death shattered me into a million pieces. Really? Break a heartbreaker in my life. Yeah. And my father's death.

• 6:02Speaker 00

  I started putting myself back together, piece by piece. And with that piece, my dad was a very religious and spiritual person. I realized that when I did my last special, Good Grief, and even the special before that, God Loves Me, I realized that it's not about the joke, that it's about the story. If I could bring story to stand-up, I can do something different than no, that would be my voice. Because I've been doing movies and TV for thirty years. And now I'm like, oh, wow. I've only been doing stand-up twelve. And I'm like, oh, wow. If I put all this knowledge that I have, these together,

• 6:45Speaker 00

  I could create something that hasn't really been done. And then that's what left me with the spirit. Because when I do stand-up, it's like a character that has, in a movie, a hero, that has to find an elixir. That elixir, for a lot of times, is not the last. The last is the things that keeps you entertained. The elixir for me is always gonna be love. Right? That is a universal thing, love. So if I put the, whether it's love of self, whether it's love of a girl, whether it's love of my family, whether it's, whatever it is, healing, right? Those things, and that's what I'm trying to get at the end. Then beyond the joke, because if I tell you a joke,

• 7:30Speaker 00

  I could change your mood, but I'm not gonna change your life. Now, if I tell you a great story that affects you, now, I left you with a jewel that you can actually change your life with. Wow. From watching me tell you these jokes and these stories. And that's how I think I'm gonna be a very effective communicator and brand. It's like a rebranding of myself. I have all this time, me and my brothers did all these great things. And I realized the individual that I am. And I'm, now I could do Marlon, right? Take Wayans and put it over there for a second. Let me fly around as Marlon and find my voice without having to answer to a committee, without having, you know, do things.

• 8:13Speaker 00

  Everybody, the older brothers say, I could just do me. And then when I learn all of me, I could come back to Wayans and be like.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  Guys, let me tell you how we can build this brand. And so, that's why I, that's what I'm finding. That my, my voice is, it's more than just telling jokes. Telling jokes is, is the smallest part. Telling you a great story and changing your mood and changing your life.

• 8:43Lewis Howes?

  Who taught you how to tell stories better? Or when did you start to really master the art of storytelling?

• 8:50Speaker 00

  I'm still working on it. You never really master the art storytelling. There's different kinds of storytelling. There's storytelling with stand-up. And then there's just storytelling. I think the best book about writing and storytelling I ever read was probably The Writer's Journey. I think it was by Chris Vogler.

• 9:11Lewis Howes?

  The Hero's Journey.

• 9:12Speaker 00

  The Hero's Journey.

• 9:13Lewis Howes?

  Hero's Journey.

• 9:14Speaker 00

  You're right. Well, I think it was Chris Vogler.

• 9:17Lewis Howes?

  Is that Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey or different?

• 9:19Speaker 00

  No, Joseph Campbell did, I think he did Hero has a Thousand Faces.

• 9:25Lewis Howes?

  Yes, yes.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  Right? And I think, I mean, it was Chris Vogler. I think it's the same thing that did Myth and Movies, whatever. Hero's Journey.

• 9:33Lewis Howes?

  Writer's Journey.

• 9:34Speaker 00

  Sometimes they call it either. That book really made me look at, when I watch movies, I look at them differently. I see scripts, I see characters, I see journeys. What does he want? It made me look at, I don't, I'm not entertained by movies anymore.

• 9:51Lewis Howes?

  You're studying.

• 9:51Speaker 00

  I'm studying. It's crazy. When me, I'm watching a movie, you guys are, no, I'm watching the construction. I'm like, oh, my God. Good news, bad news, worse news. Indiana Jones is an hour and a half, two hours of good news, bad news, worse news. Something good happens, something bad happens, something worse happens. I escape that and good news again. And that's bad news. Good news, bad news, worse news. I get this, the thing from the statue, from this, this, this egg or whatever. It's a valuable egg. He unleashes a boulder. Oh, my God, I'm running, I'm running, I'm running. I take and I jump and I get to safety.

• 10:33Speaker 00

  And when I land from being escaping the boulder, I'm in a pit of snakes.

• 10:38Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 10:39Speaker 00

  My worst nightmare. I escaped, right? So studying story, studying character, studying what a hero goes through, studying how other characters help this the hero or try to hinder the hero from getting the elixir, right? Those are obstacles in his way, in surmountable odds. And every scene has to be like that. So I learned from that book and I also think I took Robert McKee's story, story by Robert McKee, he had a seminar that he did and um I went five times. First time I went, I didn't understand a word he was saying. I swear to you, I cut English, you know what I mean?

• 11:23Speaker 00

  Like, like even when I write, I'm like, look, I'm not great with ram. Grammar? I'm not gonna word this good, but here and then at my writing partner, Rick, he's he's a stickler for that, so we work. I'm like, yo, here's this funny. Yo, make it work. What was this character with that kind? Let's write that and then we we collaborated on that. He he is never gonna be able to give the flavor in them jokes like I could give. So we have a great uh uh collaboration. Um but I taking that course the first time, I didn't know what he was saying, but I kept going. And now, on the fifth time I took it, I was like, I don't even take it no more. I understand everything that man is saying.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  I understand everything that man is saying when it comes to writing a story. Crazy enough, parody of which I came up with in, story is like the least important thing. Really? It's all about the jokes, the desperate medium. So story is not important? A thin one. But he he the jokes, everything. The timing of the jokes. Gotta be funny. Really? When you write a script, when you're in a parody, unlike any other genre, right?

• 12:37Speaker 00

  Everything gotta be funny. The slug line, okay, where am I? What's funny about where the person is? What is the people doing? They gotta be doing something funny. Who was saying something funny? Who was the character? They gotta be funny. Their interaction with the next person gotta be funny. The dialogue, what's funny about the dialogue? What's funny about the world? Everything.

• 13:05Lewis Howes?

  The whole movie.

• 13:06Speaker 00

  The whole movie. It's a desperate medium. That's why not a lot of people can do parody the way we can do parody because we have such a well and a knowledge of great characters and our experience and you know, through Rans's telling jokes and for years and it's you have to master the art of comedy, it's its own art. And there's different forms of comedy within the art of comedy, there's different different genres, right? And sketch. Out there's so back to, I'm sorry, I talk a lot.

• 13:34Lewis Howes?

  No, it's great. Outside of your own movies, what do you think are the three best parody movies that you've seen that have done it incredibly well?

• 13:42Speaker 00

  Airplane, Hot Shots, Blade and Saddles. I think they did it great. They, they, they, those guys, the Zucker's, Mel Brooks, you know, they're, they're the forefathers of the, of the genre. So, you know, respects, you know, without them doing it, we would have never, we probably would have come to it, but they gave us the blueprint.

• 14:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and they showed you how it works.

• 14:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, and we just remodeled the whole thing. He was like, that's, this is the old Ford car and runs on gas and he was like, nah, take all that off. We're gonna make it electric. We're gonna put an exhaust system on there. We're gonna, this car's gonna go zero to a hundred in three seconds. Like, we just changed up.

• 14:32Lewis Howes?

  Wrapped up, yeah, yeah.

• 14:33Speaker 00

  And, and put the flavor on it. Put, we put our, our urban voices on a white genre, which gave it flavor. And it was like, oh, we never seen that before. And it's hard to replicate because it's based on our experience. That's why we're like, somebody wants to do Scary Movie Five. We're like, okay, go for it.

• 14:56Speaker 00

  It's not gonna do well. It's hard, yeah, it'd be hard. Because you don't, you have to know what you're doing. And nobody, you have to love the art of parody. Alright. Parody is its own beast. Now, as a writer, I understand that story. So, next time I write a parody, it's gonna be way better than the parody I've wrote in the past, because now I understand story. But you said story doesn't matter as much as jokes. It doesn't, but I still think if you can marry the two, you've done something great. So, that's what I'm looking forward to, writing the next thing that's gonna be, I'm putting it all together. Everything is coming all together. You're working on it right now? No, well, I have a couple ideas in my head. Right, right. And, uh, I'm, I'm, I think Rick and I are gonna lay into one,

• 15:42Speaker 00

  and then we're just gonna let it rip. That's cool. I had one I was gonna do, but I, I can't. So, I'm, I'm not gonna even go there. Cause, you know, and then, um, so I think books help me tell stories. Also, I think some of the great comedians tell great stories. Like, Richard Pryor, great storyteller. Dave Chappelle, wonderful storyteller. Dave is masterful. You watch Dave, man, Dave is like, um, it's like going to school. Like, he's like a science professor. You know what I mean? Or English teacher, like, he's well, well-read, well-spoken,

• 16:26Speaker 00

  knows how to put it all together. Um, my brother Damon, great storyteller, great comedian, like, this, so I'm, I think you have to steal fire from the gods. Yeah. And what you learn is, you don't steal jokes. I never want to tell anybody's joke, I would, you never have to accuse me of, I'm a writer. I'm a writer, not just for myself, but for others. You know what I mean? Like, I'm, I'm a creator, so I don't ever wanna hear you steal, I don't know, I don't do that.

• 16:54Speaker 00

  I look at things that they do that are inspiring and I go, I like this element. You know what I mean? Like, I like that Dave can educate you with his humor. I love that Kevin Hart could sell you a joke. That's a great salesman right there. Well, there's good and bad. He knows how to sell.

• 17:16Lewis Howes?

  He makes it sound funny either way. Yeah, yeah.

• 17:17Speaker 00

  Chris Rock, I love his artistry. Cause Chris is a perfectionist. Right? And these are like, guys has been doing it before me. Like, I'm newer to stand up. So they're kinda like the big brothers for me, even though some of them are younger or my age. I just started taking stand up really serious the past 12, maybe 14 years. So I've been, but now I'm progressing at a crazy rate because I write, produce. 30 years of material. I write TV. I know how to direct. Like, so when all these things meet the stand up comedian. And the reason why I started doing stand up, because I was a star for like 20 something years. I've been a star.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  TV, movies.

• 18:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm not, I'm not content, really. I wanna be a superstar. In order to be a superstar, meaning when the best scripts come in. I wanna be one of the 10 guys that they're sending those scripts to. I wanna be one of the 10 guys that get the best scripts to work with the best directors. Because they wanna collaborate and we get the best budgets. And then I go on a worldwide tour selling out of this movie. But I need the fans to be like, I trust him. So see, stand up has made me a professor in comedy.

• 18:43Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 18:43Speaker 00

  Now I understand. And then I know how to sell a joke and I know how to, when I'm on these talk shows. I've been lighting them up. I light Jimmy Fallon up. Jimmy Fallon go on the show, he's like, "Oh my God, it's always a seven minute vacation when you come on." He even ask me questions. I'm just, I just roll and rip. Cause I got 300 people in front of me and make them laugh. And then I know how to make them laugh in the morning. So when I do Kelly and Ryan or Kelly and her husband, what's her name? Yeah, my girl's Kelly. Kelly and Mark, wanna do this show? I know how to I'm appropriate for who's watching. So females in the morning, I'm not gonna curse, I'm not gonna be too edgy.

• 19:19Lewis Howes?

  You read the room.

• 19:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, read the room, know who's, you know what I mean? There's a morning talk shows to the afternoon drive.

• 19:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, if you're doing it.

• 19:25Speaker 00

  Knowing who to sell and how to sell. So me doing stand-up, I was like, I'm gonna get people to pay fifty dollars a ticket to come see me. And one day I'm gonna sell out the garden.

• 19:40Speaker 00

  And if I'm gonna get sell out the garden, and they're paying fifty to a hundred something dollars to come see me there, or maybe a couple hundred, I don't know. Then when it comes to movies, they're gonna pay that twenty dollars to come see me in a movie.

• 19:55Speaker 00

  Because I have been working to be a huge international star. And everything is what is

• 20:04Speaker 00

  being created through just me working. I don't even look up and see what I've done. I just love the work. And now I'm starting to look up and go, okay, you have to pull out of the micro and you have to be macro. Now look at yourself. And how do you build this artist into this wonderful business? But I have the knowledge and the skill set. And I used to be very humble.

• 20:29Speaker 00

  Because humble people wanna learn.

• 20:33Speaker 00

  I've just gotten confident. Really? Because I know I did the work. I can talk to you about how to write a, you wanna know something, I'm an, I have an excellence in something. I have, I have a skill set, I have a knowledge of something that is like, oh, how did you put that together, right? And I could sit there and I could tell you how I did it. I know the science beyond comedy, I know the math beyond comedy. I know this, I've done it my whole life.

• 20:59Speaker 00

  And now I'm learning sales and now I'm, I really wanna learn business. You know what I mean? So I'm gonna surround myself with people that can teach me about that. So I can apply all those things to this thing called comedy. And build out a marlin.

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  But for so many years, you had movies that people were already coming to the movies and watching you. They're already paying twenty bucks to come, you're, you know, you're selling, selling billion dollars at the box office globally with all your movies. Most comedian, most stand-up comedians, it seems to me. Do stand up to try to get big enough to be able to then go movies. You started in movies and you're going backwards.

• 21:39Speaker 00

  I'm backward.

• 21:40Lewis Howes?

  Why go backwards when you've already been a star?

• 21:44Speaker 00

  Cause I don't wanna be a... I wanna laugh at a billion dollars in box office. I want a hundred billion dollars in box office.

• 21:52Lewis Howes?

  Why do you want a hundred billion?

• 21:53Speaker 00

  I want Tom Cruise because I know I can do it.

• 21:55Lewis Howes?

  Damn.

• 21:56Speaker 00

  I have an amazing skill set, not just comedy, like drama. I went from high school, I'm a really, there ain't no... I'm a really talented, dramatic actor. I know it. I know it and just got better. And you know, this year I got, uh, Bel Air, I got two episodes of that. And then I have a movie with Jordan Peele, him. And, uh, that Justin Tipping director, who's an absolute visionary. And I'm telling you, man, I'm, I, I, I'm just in, I'm in my bag and I could finally say it. You know, when you, you, you know.

• 22:28Lewis Howes?

  Put the reps in, you got the reps.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  I got the reps in, I did the work.

• 22:32Lewis Howes?

  What do you think is holding you back from the next level of those results that you want?

• 22:35Speaker 00

  God.

• 22:36Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think God is holding you back?

• 22:38Speaker 00

  Because

• 22:41Speaker 00

  I think in order to make the, the, the kind of sword that I'm gonna be, I have to go through a lot of fire.

• 22:51Speaker 00

  I had to go through a lot of fire. So everything is building me. God is not breaking me. So every time, every milestone that I don't reach or I get close to, I'm still hungry. I'm still thirsty.

• 23:05Speaker 00

  But I'm better.

• 23:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 23:06Speaker 00

  I'm better and more skilled. Like now, God, I was too young to headline movies. I couldn't get the girl and save the day. I just started putting muscle on my body and getting the beard and knowing, having the poise to stay still in the scene and be charming, not funny.

• 23:22Lewis Howes?

  You were the funny guy and now.

• 23:24Speaker 00

  I'm the off, the friend. Now, now, now, now, now I know how to be both. Now I know how to be Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool. I'm ready for those kind of things because this is what I have a insane, like, there's only, Jordan Peele told me, he said something funny to me, he came to set.

• 23:42Speaker 00

  And he was like, let me take fifteen minutes and just talk to you about. How special you are. Yes. He watched my performance, watched my daily. Like, I gotta say, there's nobody like you. Said you're one of one. Anybody that's like you is either dead, crazy.

• 24:08Speaker 00

  But the well you can come from dramatically. And comedically. And comedy at the same time, he's like, there's only been like Robin Williams. Like Jim Carrey, like there's not a lot of guys that can hit that high note. The high note. There's one thing, like Will Smith can do both. But he's not a stand-up guy. And he can hit the, the low point, the drama. Uh huh, but he wasn't a stand-up guy, though. He isn't, but that's what I'm saying, see Will, and it comes to the comedy. Uh huh. Not that he can't do it, but he would have to study a little bit more to hit the high notes that Eddie Murphy has hit. That high note. Do you know what I mean? It's different, it's like Beyonce versus Jennifer Hudson. It's that high note.

• 24:53Speaker 00

  Beyonce, superstar, right? And she's amazing. Damn high note Jennifer Hudson is, I can never, right? And that's the level of funny, like a Jim Carrey, that's the high note. Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, you know, Martin, those are the high notes. Like, you know what I'm saying? For me, Marlon, I'm trying to hit the high notes, like Dave Chappelle, high note. And then to hit every level in between. And so I'm not, uh, comparing myself.

• 25:26Speaker 00

  And I have nothing but respect for all those mentioned and love for all those mentioned, including Will. I think Will has been an amazing star and an example for years. I could look at that and go, yeah, he broke the mold. Eddie Murphy, he broke the mold. You telling me black don't travel and black ain't overseas, but yet.

• 25:44Lewis Howes?

  The box office saying differently.

• 25:45Speaker 00

  Yes, and same thing with us. There's like, black in comedy don't work. Yeah, we give them a movie called Scary Movie. And that makes three hundred million dollars worldwide.

• 25:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 25:54Speaker 00

  And we give them part two, makes a hundred and something million dollars worldwide. Then we do White Chicks, it makes a hundred and something million dollars worldwide. And you're telling me black don't travel. All my movies on Netflix have been number one in every territory around the world. Number one. They don't tell you this, but it does travel. And now I know, I want to be able to do it all. So I want to be able to do the romantic comedy. I want to do the action. I want to do the action comedy. I want to do the buddy action comedy. I want to be able to do, you know, a drama. I want to be able to do all of it.

• 26:29Speaker 00

  And I want people to go, that's the guy. And I want to sell the shit out of it in every market. And along the way, align myself with great brands. And, you know, if you, I've managed myself pretty good. I grew up in the projects, trouble all around me my whole life. I've never been to jail. I had fights. I could scrap. I never, I've never been to jail. I never got a DUI. I never, I don't do dumb shit.

• 26:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's good.

• 26:56Speaker 00

  I never disrespect women because I know where I'm going. And in order to get there, I gotta keep it clean.

• 27:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 27:02Speaker 00

  So, you know, I behave myself. I'm appropriate.

• 27:06Lewis Howes?

  But, I mean.

• 27:07Speaker 00

  I talk a lot.

• 27:09Lewis Howes?

  No, I love it, man. This is, this is beautiful. You know, you mentioned like, I don't know if you said God is like, holding you back? Or you still need more connection to God to get to the next level or whatever that is?

• 27:18Speaker 00

  God makes me, I have to do the work.

• 27:21Lewis Howes?

  So you think God is, what do you think, what is God speaking to you about how to get to the next level? Of, of service through your creativity to be able to create the results you want?

• 27:31Speaker 00

  Keep working and keep building and keep, stay on your path. You're doing great. And I see it now because my last stand up, Good Grief, was about my parents dying. About how to grieve, how to get through it. Minute fifty-seven, I'm, I'm making people laugh, talking about changing my pamper, my daddy's pamper and my mom's pamper, and talking about their private parts. And I got people cracking me up. I got all, right, for fifty-seven minutes. And then, it hit me. I was running from my own pain.

• 28:02Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 28:05Speaker 00

  And I was talking about my mother and I just started, I broke down. On stage, after a part, broke down. I cried. I was just like, because the reality of my parents being gone hit me. Yeah, it didn't hit you until then. It did, but it wasn't supposed to hit me in a show. Well, I'm filming a special. And it did, and I was like, alright, cool. And I was gonna cut that out, but I was like, no. Keep it in. Because I need people to understand that I like you, I'm hurting.

• 28:37Speaker 00

  But life goes on, and we still look for smiles. And I get so many messages in my inbox about good grief on Amazon Prime. About how it affected them and how it helped them, helped them grieve. They lost their parents too, were in the same club, gang, gang. And how they cried with me. And they thanked me because they were in a place of depression and I helped see, helped them see their way out.

• 29:05Speaker 00

  Because I showed myself my way out. So that's healing. Yeah. That's why doctors make a lot of money. That's why, that's why pharmacies are a huge business. Because they help people feel better. Well, so can comedy. I wanna help people feel better. I wanna heal. So the stories I'm telling now, my next one, I'm working on. I have a trans child. Daughter turned into a son.

• 29:38Speaker 00

  And I talk about the transition. Not their transition. I talk about the five stages of grief storytelling. That I learned from those books. The five stages of grief to get to acceptance. From defiance.

• 29:59Speaker 00

  To accept.

• 29:59Lewis Howes?

  Resistance, frustration, anger, upset.

• 30:03Speaker 00

  I was defiant. I was like, no, you're not doing it. And then I went through the five stages of grief. Now, I'm proud to say it only took me one week.

• 30:13Speaker 00

  I'm sad to say that there's a lot of people that it may take them a lifetime and they'll never get to this beautiful place called acceptance. And so I find, God speaks to me. I need to talk about this in a funny way with truth because there's people out there that need some healing.

• 30:30Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 30:30Speaker 00

  There's people out there that need to hear this, to know that, oh, I identify with you. I got people coming up to me crying. Oh, my God. My, my child is going through the same thing and I just want you to know.

• 30:44Speaker 00

  Once again, I'm taking my art of comedy and I'm helping to heal.

• 30:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 30:50Speaker 00

  And I think that's something different, different. I want to make you feel good, not just all some silly. I don't want to punch down on nobody. When everybody feel good, I'm, I'm gonna punch down on me.

• 31:01Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 31:02Speaker 00

  I'm the joke. I'm the butt of my jokes. And I'm gonna tell you a good story about how to be better.

• 31:11Lewis Howes?

  I was telling my friend this morning at the gym, because he was asking me, I lost my father a couple of years ago as well.

• 31:17Speaker 00

  Sorry.

• 31:18Lewis Howes?

  And thank you.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Gang, gang.

• 31:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:20Speaker 00

  You lost your dad?

• 31:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:21Speaker 00

  Mom still here?

• 31:22Lewis Howes?

  Mom's still here. Yeah, yeah.

• 31:23Speaker 00

  Lover.

• 31:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:24Speaker 00

  Lover. Let me tell you something. I love my daddy.

• 31:29Speaker 00

  But if I had to choose between him and my mama, bye, hell.

• 31:34Lewis Howes?

  Bring your mom back. Yeah, yeah.

• 31:35Speaker 00

  Mothers are something. You see, your dad always prepares your boy for, you know, when I'm gone. You know, your dad, especially if you're close, your dad gives you those lessons of, and that, that, the guide on how to be a man. When your mother goes, it rips your heart.

• 31:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:52Speaker 00

  I shouldn't. My mother died.

• 31:55Speaker 00

  Blended my heart into pieces and she went first. And uh, so, love them. If you don't, and once a week, go take your mother on a date. Uh, go take her on a date. I took my mother once a week, I didn't care where I was, my father too, take him out for a drink. I don't care where I was in the world, if I'm doing, if I'm in Ohio, I'm flying to New York because they live separately. I fly to New York, hang out with my dad, take him to dinner, laugh with him, have some wine, and I get on a plane. Tuesday, pick my mother, we'll take her to dinner, go on a date. And I did that because I knew one day they weren't gonna be here.

• 32:33Speaker 00

  And so it's important to give them that time because when they go, yeah, you're gonna be sad, but I have no regrets.

• 32:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 32:40Speaker 00

  I have no regrets, I was a great son.

• 32:42Lewis Howes?

  That's good.

• 32:42Speaker 00

  As I am a great brother, as a great friend and titles that really mean something to me. I've been great and, and so, make sure you.

• 32:51Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful.

• 32:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, go take her on a date.

• 32:53Lewis Howes?

  Since their passing, what's been the biggest lesson as you can reflect back that each of them taught you about life?

• 33:01Speaker 00

  My mother

• 33:04Speaker 00

  taught me to always learn. Try different things.

• 33:14Speaker 00

  Find joy even though your situation may be bad, whether it's poverty, whether it's, you know, grieving, always find the funny. Right? And to love hard.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  And, and, and to be affectionate, to let it all out and not be afraid to be vulnerable, let it all out. And some of it I learned is from watching her, is not letting disappointments.

• 33:46Speaker 00

  Or failures make me bitter, negative, and too afraid to be vulnerable. Right? So really watching the journey, the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can't, I, I, I think people spend so much time worried about what their parents did wrong. I study what they did right. When I watch movies, I remember one time we was watching A Minute in Black and my brother was like, you know what's wrong with this movie? I said, it made $200 million. Nothing. It's perfect.

• 34:18Speaker 00

  Right? So here's what they did right. So, and my dad, so that's what my mom taught me, my, my, my father taught me, and I, I will say, and he would be so proud to hear this.

• 34:30Speaker 00

  My father taught me God. Really? My father taught me the importance of God's journey, the importance of that Bible. And I need to read it more, I need to study it. My dad could tell you the scriptures. He knew only one book? Bible. You ask him a verse about love, Corinthians 13, 7, chapter 4. How do you know he studied the Bible? My dad would wake up in the morning, first thing he did was he got up and he studied the Bible. Then he closed that book and he would say a prayer. Then he would rub his knees and look up to God like, I'm gonna feed these 10 people today.

• 35:09Speaker 00

  And he go, let's go! And he come back with dinner.

• 35:12Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 35:12Speaker 00

  So my father taught me the importance of God and the importance of working hard

• 35:21Speaker 00

  for your family.

• 35:24Speaker 00

  And don't be afraid of hard work. If you're gonna clean a toilet, nah, don't do that, no, no. Get up underneath it. Get in the bowl, get in the, when I was working in sneaker stores and stuff, I was a great employee. That's why when it comes to me doing movies, I've always had great experiences. All my directors love me because you don't have to tell me, hey, can you learn your lines? No, no, no. When I leave a set, I don't care, we had a 14 hour day, I got my acting coach that I pay for this, they pay for it. I'm like, alright, let's work. We're gonna work three hours in the morning and then we're gonna work an hour before, after I work out, come back. Because when I get to set.

• 35:58Lewis Howes?

  Want to be prepared.

• 35:58Speaker 00

  I'm gonna be prepared. So now I'm not sitting there learning lines. No, I got it all packed in, I'm ready. I'm ready and you can move me any kind of way and the, oh, and I can adjust because I'm not worried about gathering lines. So I do more.

• 36:13Speaker 00

  Work than you actually expect or I'm expected to do. I don't give less, I always give more. If I'm writing movies, if I'm doing, I love to do it all. On all the meetings, I'm there, I don't fall nothing in. I do all my writing, all my stand up. They're like, how did you? How are you dropping a new hour of material every year? And I'm like, because I'm a writer. And I don't write it down no more. The audience don't even know. You're basically coming to watch me write. Live. Live. You're creating it live. Live. I don't do them in town, five minutes here, five minutes there. I don't have to. I just do a brand, I do my special 11 11. 11 17.

• 36:59Speaker 00

  I was in Baltimore, I forgot, Baltimore or somewhere else.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  With a brand new hour. Wow. Not one word from the special. Brand new hour that I'm, I worked through, right? That I, and I, and now. Wow, how do you do that? I'm a writer. Yeah. I know, and I challenge myself. I challenge myself. I already know what my next special is. I know what my next three specials are now. Wow. Now, I haven't worked on all the material, but I know. You have the idea of the journey of where it's going. Yep, I know what the next one, Ugly Baby. Skittles is this one, next one's Ugly Baby. Ugly Baby is my journey with my brothers and sisters in my household. And then after that.

• 37:40Speaker 00

  Talk about relationships. I, I know them, know them. Because life has been my greatest writer. The journey. And now I can apply it to my business, right? So my last three specials, my last two, or maybe my three, I paid for them myself.

• 37:57Speaker 00

  I was like, no, no, no, I don't. They were like, oh, yeah. And we don't, we don't have the budget for it right now, or. You know. We're slotted through till 2026. And I'm like, okay, that's cool, but I'm ready to film my special now. So I filmed my special. And then I licensed it to HBO. Then I licensed it to Amazon. And now I still have my special. Wow. Because I know, I'm not waiting for somebody or anybody, Hollywood, to tell me I'm ready. No, no, no, no. I know when I'm ready. I know when I'm making people laugh. Now, you're gonna bite down and you're gonna give me the budget, go market the hell out of this and bring people to your site. And this one's gonna cost.

• 38:39Speaker 00

  But I'm not waiting on you to tell me I'm ready. I know how good it is. I'm getting standing ovations everywhere. I go, wow. I know, I know how good it is. So I'm gonna film it in a place that I desire. I'm gonna give it my all and then I'm gonna cut it together and hopefully you like it. And if not, then

• 38:54Lewis Howes?

  I'll sell somewhere else.

• 38:55Speaker 00

  I gotta, or I gotta write off.

• 38:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, or you sell it online or whatever. Yeah.

• 38:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'll, I'll sell it. I'll create my own website. Everything is God and they don't wanna buy it. They don't wanna license it. That's God.

• 39:07Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 39:08Speaker 00

  God's saying, okay, well, then you gotta create your own business.

• 39:11Lewis Howes?

  What do you mean, everything is God?

• 39:12Speaker 00

  Whenever you, there's no failure. There's no wrong. Whenever something doesn't go my way, it's because it wasn't supposed to. So when I say everything is God, you trust God. You think of the positives, not the negatives. If it didn't happen. My brother told me, if one door closes, if you sit there and you staring at that one door, you're not looking around. A thousand other doors have opened. All you gotta do is look around. You staring at the door like a dog stares at a, a tennis ball. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And there's a wall and you trying to get somewhere. Sometimes you have to kick a hole through the wall and the door. I'm gonna kick a hole through that wall and I'm a wall and I'm gonna make my way.

• 39:56Speaker 00

  Because that's what I have to do. God is telling me not to just open that door and go through it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I really wanna be masterful. I gotta knock my way through there.

• 40:06Lewis Howes?

  But what if you, what if you spent a million dollars on the production? And you spent six months on developing the content? And you've had this expectation of launching it into the world? And you put all your heart, your life, your soul into this thing and then no one wants it?

• 40:20Speaker 00

  Create, not time.

• 40:22Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 40:22Speaker 00

  I learned a lot, though. I learned I could put a movie together for a million dollars. I learned I could put a special together for a million dollars. And I learned about the locations. I learned how, how much it costs for crew. I've learned, um, uh, about, did the director do a great job? Who, uh, what crew work? Everything is lessons. There's some positives. I'm not worried about there's gonna come a time where I'm gonna be so big that people wanna buy everything I have. There's gonna come a time in my life and, and then I'm building a library. And then when I'm gone, maybe, and my kids have this thing that dad did that you go.

• 41:01Speaker 00

  Wow, all these things my dad did that they never saw. Now the legend of me. My kids, kids, kids will be able to eat off of things. So there's no failure. Everything is supposed to happen exactly the way it is. When I was nineteen, I got Batman. I was gonna be the first like black person besides Billy Dee to be in one of these big movies. Was with Tim Burton and I was gonna be Robin. Then I got a phone call from Tim Burton and Denise de Novi in a letter saying that I wasn't. Really? And see, I was gonna be off to the races. Batman, Robin, do you know what my career would have been? But it didn't happen. And immediately I was like, I was hurt.

• 41:45Speaker 00

  But I said, no. I'm gonna start writing these movies. I'm gonna start creating my own show. I'm gonna start doing things that I know put the ball in my own hand. Had that Robin happened, I would have had a different career. Where would you be right now had that happened? I don't know, probably cracked out somewhere because I wouldn't know what to do with that kind of success and money. Um, but God put me on this journey to create. Look at what I've done. Look at what I, because I took the long route. He didn't want me taking the shortcut. I had to take the long route because there was a lot I needed to learn.

• 42:29Speaker 00

  There was jewels for me to gather all along the way. No, I didn't go straight to it. I went the long way, but look at all the that I know now. Look at all this that I know. And I'm gonna make my way here. It's taking the long route, the scenic route. I mean, it's been a beautiful scene. Wonderful. But I'm sitting there depressed that I didn't get that part. When I say everything is God, I'm saying everything is not all bad. Sometimes the things that you think is failure is actually successes. How do you interpret not just the business, but life? There's always good and bad. A bad relationship could teach you more than a good relationship.

• 43:13Speaker 00

  And maybe that wasn't the relationship for you because that next relationship, you get to apply all this stuff to the perfect woman.

• 43:23Speaker 00

  And now I am successful, so I'm grateful for the bad. Always be grateful for the bad. And when I say everything is God, you trust God. There's a reason it happens. So it just kept doing the work. Don't let it discourage you.

• 43:36Lewis Howes?

  Speaking of relationships, you, it sounds like, you know, you work 15, 18 hour days for the last 30 years. Whether it be on a set or in your own mind, in your own, you know, creative lab, however that looks. You're always working, it seems like.

• 43:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:50Lewis Howes?

  Touring, traveling, producing, writing, yeah, anything. It's like you're always got work.

• 43:55Speaker 00

  I don't have a day off.

• 43:56Lewis Howes?

  How can you have a healthy, successful relationships? When you're always working?

• 44:02Speaker 00

  Because people that love you. Understand. They cheer for you. Yeah. They don't want your time like that. They don't want to pull from the thing that makes you you. They want to see you shine. They know your purpose and I've been lucky. Wow. My, my first children's mother, Angela, is was amazing. Amazing. I never felt like, man, I can't do this and I can't do, no baby. Go do it. Go do your work. Wow. Go do your work. They know that this makes me happy and it provides me family. Go do your work. And to this day, she's still my best friend and never bothers me. Your kids, you ain't spending enough time with your kids. My kids adore me.

• 44:45Speaker 00

  But they know dad has to work and dad's doing his purpose. And now they're grown and they're like, hey, I want to do my purpose. And dad is inspiring. People that love you cheer for you and they want you to be successful. If they, or if they want to spend some time, they'll come on the road with you. And even though you're playing these little, you gotta go from this and you're playing a rinky dink comedy club or whatever it is. If they want to support you and love you, they just care that they're with you and spending time with you. That's cool too. Mm hmm. But never.

• 45:17Speaker 00

  Let somebody take away from you. This is me. And I'm gonna invite people in my life that get me. I need wrapping paper. Everybody's wrapping paper. And I'm gonna do the same for you. I'm gonna inspire you to be your best self as an individual. I don't wanna take your time. I hope you blow up to be a big, huge business. I'm there to support you, baby. I'll get on a private plane that comes to you anyway. You can be, you can be the breadwinner. I'm after that. A certain amount of time, I'll retire. I'll find you. Cause I want you to be happy. I don't like when people take, don't take from me. Let me do this. This is my purpose. If I don't do this, then I'm not living a purpose life. I have to make people smile.

• 46:00Speaker 00

  Like a fireman that goes into buildings and rescues cats and people in a burning building. That is what comedy is. I go into a burning building to find this elixir called a laugh. So yeah, sometimes you get burnt. Sometimes there's casualties, but man, I'm here to try and make people feel good. I have to do this.

• 46:21Lewis Howes?

  When you have had so much success as a movie star and a TV star and comedian, why go to small town comedy clubs and spend all the time traveling around the country? Why, why spend the time doing that at smaller towns, smaller clubs, smaller venues now? When you've had so much success? Because why not just stay in the big cities and stay in LA and New York? And just kind of do your show three, four nights a week?

• 46:52Speaker 00

  That way. That's the shortcut. That's the ego. I, I don't wanna be surfaced. I don't wanna be, I wanna be the dude that did the work. You respect the guy, you know, that had had 50 fights before he ever, or 270 fights before he finally got the opportunity to become a pro, to build his way up, to get the championship. At least about with the championship, because there's a lot of knowledge and a lot of licks I gotta take. I have to learn the long way. Well, I'm just gonna be a paper champ.

• 47:27Lewis Howes?

  But you're, but you're 12, 14 years in. Stand up, right?

• 47:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, but everything is God. I'm not trying to be regular. I'm different. It's gonna take me longer. Because I'm logging 10,000 hours, you know, outliers. You log 10,000 hours in something and you can be great at it. I've logged 10,000 hours in five different disciplines. So I'm building something.

• 47:52Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing. Wow.

• 47:53Speaker 00

  I'm going to be different and that's gonna take a long time and that's okay. And I'm not, I'm not cheating the process. Nobody could tell me I cheated the process. I didn't. I did the work. I've worked in pizza shops. I could tell those stories. I, I did stand up at a pizza shop. I leave this pizza shop, it's smelling like pizza. Five people in there, mauling way into on scary movie. I had 750 million dollars of box office. I'm in a pizza shop.

• 48:21Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 48:21Speaker 00

  In a coffee shop, in a dive bar, in a, a biker bar, doing stand-up comedy. And all my peers, you know, Sidney Castillo and Esau and, and DC Irvin and all the guys. I came up with, I didn't come up with Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and those guys in stand-up. I'm, this is my, I come up with a different group of people because I started late. And so I'm playing catch-up. And if I'm gonna play catch-up, that means that every weekend I gotta work. I don't care where it's at. You learn in stand-up. Give me a microphone, give me the right lights, give me a good sound system, give me some water, give me a stool. Let's go. I don't care where I'm at. Corporate of it, I don't care where I'm at. Who's in the crown? That's what, all I know.

• 49:06Lewis Howes?

  Are you trying to make money everywhere you go or is it sometimes just about the reps?

• 49:09Speaker 00

  It's about the reps and you make money doing what you love. I love what I do. I'm not going to work. I'm going to play. I get to play every weekend. And you, you don't care if it's a dive bar, even, even a little elite club, like a improv, whatever. I have to go the long way. Before I play the Garden, I have to do this, Jerry. I gotta play Winkie's Hot Dogs.

• 49:34Speaker 00

  Before I do the Garden, I gotta do the Maurice Pizza.

• 49:37Lewis Howes?

  If you could pick a date, the Garden would happen in your future, what would that date be? Where you're selling out at Madison Square Garden.

• 49:48Lewis Howes?

  Obviously, it's all God's timing.

• 49:49Speaker 00

  I would say one of fifty-five.

• 49:51Lewis Howes?

  Fifty-five, three, three years?

• 49:52Speaker 00

  Three years ago.

• 49:53Lewis Howes?

  Fifty-five?

• 49:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:55Lewis Howes?

  Well, I'm gonna make a note of that.

• 49:57Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 49:57Lewis Howes?

  What's the date? Give me the month and day that you would wanna be selling out the garden for your show.

• 50:03Speaker 00

  My birthday, July twenty-third.

• 50:05Lewis Howes?

  July twenty-third.

• 50:09Lewis Howes?

  All right. Three years.

• 50:12Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 50:13Lewis Howes?

  Twenty-twenty, what is it, twenty-twenty-seven?

• 50:16Speaker 00

  Twenty-twenty-four, twenty-twenty-seven.

• 50:17Lewis Howes?

  Twenty-twenty-seven, okay.

• 50:19Speaker 00

  We going.

• 50:20Lewis Howes?

  Let's go.

• 50:21Speaker 00

  And if I don't make it there, then it'll be twenty-twenty-eight. If it don't make it, man.

• 50:28Lewis Howes?

  The next year.

• 50:29Speaker 00

  It's gonna happen.

• 50:30Lewis Howes?

  You just keep doing it, yeah, so showing up.

• 50:31Speaker 00

  I, I'm telling you, I see it, man. But I, that's why I'm able to write material.

• 50:37Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 50:37Speaker 00

  I still do the little clubs and stuff. I, I'm just now starting to do, dig at theaters. I'm going on a theater tour. Wild Child Theater Tour, uh, starting in September. Um, check my website, Marlin, uh, Marlin, uh, Wayans Official, uh, for tickets and dates, tour dates, Wild Child Tour. So I'm going, doing my theater tour now, and I'm still building it with this new set. I'm telling you, now I got four specials under, be, be, beneath, underneath me. Five, four specials, five, actually, cuz I did headliners, which was one I put all my friends on. Five specials, and I did this in twelve years.

• 51:13Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 51:14Speaker 00

  That's like on her, that, the spate, pace, and I already know my next one, and I'll do the next three after that. I'm telling you, there's something special happening because everything is coming together.

• 51:26Lewis Howes?

  What's, what's, after twelve years of doing stand-up, and obviously thirty years of being in comedy and creativity and artistry, what is the next level for you to really be at the, I guess, you mentioned Chappelle and these other individuals who have mastered stand-up? What is where you are to where you wanna be? What's in the gap?

• 51:47Speaker 00

  I think it's the, I had to get the right team. And not only that, but I think, you know, for me, I think every, Kanye said something, every artist gotta think of themselves as a brand. Mm-hmm.

• 52:02Speaker 00

  I don't need a manager as much as I do a CEO. You need a CEO. Yeah, I need, I need to start putting together my team of strategists and how we're gonna move. Right now, it's all over the place, but I know after, once I get that big tour and I'm able to go, "Okay, now let's go, let's put this in place, this is how we're gonna rock." I'm telling you. Next level.

• 52:29Lewis Howes?

  Who are the two or three guys or gals right now who are just doing it really well in stand-up? That you think they've got the right team, they've got the right branding, they've got the right messaging on tour, they've got the audiences, they're just, boom, every night.

• 52:44Speaker 00

  Dave Chappelle.

• 52:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:46Speaker 00

  Dave, because Dave has the, he's like Bigfoot now. He comes, everybody's going. And you know why? Cause he's masterful, cause the dude spends his life on a stage. Nobody has more hours long. Dave will do six hours of stand-up. He'll be asleep on the stage and wake up and tell you a joke. Like, seriously, I watched him be on stage drinking coffee, whiskey and sleep for like a minute, looking down and wake up and have a joke. I think Kevin Hart has mastered the, the science of his business, you know? Um, you know, he, you know, and he's proven that you can do it all. You don't have to just do stand-up, which is great for me, cause I'm. You've done a lot already, yeah, yeah.

• 53:31Speaker 00

  Right, and now I can put it together like that, oh, we going. I, I, I'm at the point now, you know, I wanna build, I wanna really build a real-life studio. I really wanna. Because with my brand of humor, I want a studio. I want, you know, I want, I wanna, I wanna, like a Tyler Perry. I wanna, I wanna mix all these people together to create Marlin, right? And I know I can do it. Now, that's my goal. And the meetings I'm having, sitting down with more hedge fund guys and sitting down with more people that wanna invest money. I have an excellence. And I made a track record that's crazy. You know, we'd made Hollywood a billion dollars.

• 54:12Speaker 00

  And if the, and that's more than a billion. Look at all the things we've done, all the TV shows we've created. You know, Wayans Brothers is still syndicated. Wayans Brothers, you know, probably costs, I don't know, a million dollars an episode, you know? So that's a hundred million dollar investment. And over the course of time, they probably made five hundred million dollars, four hundred million dollars, you know? And, and, and scary movie, nineteen million dollars, made three hundred million.

• 54:36Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  Thousand percent. I did a movie for a million dollars called Hunter House. I should've did it myself out of my pocket, but I didn't. I had partners. OPP.

• 54:47Lewis Howes?

  And how much did it, how much did it bring in?

• 54:50Speaker 00

  Open to nineteen million dollars. Went on to do seventy million dollars.

• 54:53Lewis Howes?

  Ooh, and if you would've put the hundred, the million yourself?

• 54:57Speaker 00

  I would've.

• 54:58Lewis Howes?

  Why wouldn't, why not take those?

• 55:00Speaker 00

  We, I still, everybody made eight figures.

• 55:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 55:02Speaker 00

  But I probably would've made thirty, forty million.

• 55:05Lewis Howes?

  Why not invest, you know, and make that investment yourself?

• 55:10Speaker 00

  I don't know. I think because you, I needed to learn. I don't wanna take these leaps of faith without, I'd rather a partner that knows.

• 55:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. And they can do the distribution and the marketing.

• 55:21Speaker 00

  Yes, and they know the distribution, they, they, they know the right production team.

• 55:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 55:27Speaker 00

  You know, they can help me and assist me. I don't need to be greedy. If I own fifty percent of a movie, it was seventy, we, seventy percent of a movie. Own seventy percent of the movie. You know what I mean? And of course, we had Endgame who gave us the money for the promotion, which was about fifteen million dollars. And then there was Open Road who distributed us. So, you know, you have partners. So, we all made money off of this, these investments. We all, and I sold the shit out of it. Put me on a plane. Let's go. From, I did a twenty-city tour, sunup to sundown. And I didn't even have a jet. I got on American Airlines, Delta Airlines, city to city. I land, I sleep three, four hours to get up.

• 56:11Speaker 00

  Five o'clock in the morning, I'm hitting morning shows. I'm hitting the news. I'm hitting the afternoon drive. I'm going to the basketball game. They're playing a trailer. I'm getting on the last flight out. And I'm going to the next city. Twenty-five cities. And then I told them, I begged them, I was like, please, let me go overseas and do this. And they was like, I'm only gonna send you to a couple of cities. I'm like, but this is me. I wanna sell. I wanna, I wanna. Do the work, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I wanna, I don't wanna cheat nothing. My mother said, if I could bottle your energy, boy, I, I'd be the richest woman on earth. Cause I just have, and I have good intentions. I'm not gonna cheat nothing. Right? If I'm, if we do it, if I sit across from somebody and I go, I need, I'm gonna take your money.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  I don't want you to make one dollar on that dollar you gave me. I want, if you gave me a hundred dollars. Let you make ten, twenty times out of it. I want you to make at least not, cause twenty dollars, if you made twenty dollars or a hundred dollars, that's good, right? Someone did it. But if you made a hundred, you gave a hundred dollars and somebody's watching back five hundred, you're like, what the? Yeah, I'll keep reinvesting in that guy. Yeah, yeah. But, but what you won't do, if I'm gonna do that, I need to be responsible for my business. I need to do everything in my power to make sure that I didn't fail anybody. And if you give somebody money, that's the passion that, that, that you want from somebody. You wanna trust somebody.

• 57:38Speaker 00

  You want somebody to be like, okay, cool, go do it. Bill, um, what was the name? Steve Jobs. You trust him. You build great computers and phones and I trust him. So, stock people, people in the market, I don't put my money in Apple. That money returns your investment. When you go, I'm gonna give you a hundred dollars or I'm gonna give you ten million dollars to do a movie. I'm gonna make sure that the production is great. I'm gonna make sure the script is great. I make sure we cast the hell out of it and I'm gonna make sure that we market. I sit in all the marketing meetings and that I put this on my back and I get it exposed as much as possible.

• 58:21Speaker 00

  Now, I need you to make sure that I'm not just doing promotion, that you got marketing beneath it. And then together, we can hit this thing. We can make this huge explosion. And we've done it in the past. I've done it in the past, you know? So I'm looking forward now to doing more of that.

• 58:37Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So this is a, you mentioned Jim Carrey. He's a, I'm a big fan of his work, but also, but also when I saw the kind of mini documentary about him doing his art, his art studio, it opened a whole nother level of appreciation for him as an artist. And then kind of his spiritual journey, I've been a fan of with his content around that as well, which it sounds like you bring a lot of God into your life also. So I respect that in you as well. I saw an interview clip of him about a year ago, maybe it was a year and a half ago, where he said he was retiring from making movies. Unless some like magical script comes to his door that he feels he's called to do.

• 59:18Speaker 00

  Jim made a lot of money.

• 59:20Lewis Howes?

  He made a lot of money.

• 59:21Speaker 00

  Plus, Jim has always struggled with, I think, depression and other things. You know, he's brilliant, but he always had some kind of torment. And I think he just wants peace.

• 59:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 59:37Speaker 00

  And he gave a lot to the art. He gave a lot to people. You get tired of being that famous. And that brother deserves to retire and have his peace. These is his years of peace.

• 59:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 59:49Speaker 00

  And if he's happy, then we should all be happy for him. Lead him in until he's ready to come out of him. Because fame is a 24 hour job. I can't clock out.

• 59:58Lewis Howes?

  How do you navigate that?

• 1:00:01Speaker 00

  I just love what I do. I ain't made it yet. I ain't made it. I ain't make it yet. You know what I'm saying? One day, he felt like he made it. I ain't make it. I didn't make it yet. So when I make it, oh yeah, I probably, I don't know if I ever will. I think it's part of my matrix. I just love it.

• 1:00:19Lewis Howes?

  He said.

• 1:00:19Speaker 00

  I would vacation.

• 1:00:20Lewis Howes?

  You don't do vacation at all, yeah.

• 1:00:22Speaker 00

  Man, well, I skipped the summer. I was supposed to go to Europe and I was, I was with Lake Cuomo and I was like, no. I'm working on a build this tour because I want to film my next special on 12 12.

• 1:00:34Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:00:35Speaker 00

  Yeah, because I want it out for next June.

• 1:00:37Lewis Howes?

  In that interview, he said something like, the interviewer was saying, why, why are you done? And he said, I'm paraphrasing, but he said, I'm going to say something that I don't think any celebrity in Hollywood has the courage to say. And that is, I've done enough, I have enough, and I am enough. And again, maybe he's older now and he has done all these different things. But do you ever feel like you will get to that place? Or do you even want that? Do you want to be?

• 1:01:08Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel like you are enough?

• 1:01:09Speaker 00

  I think it's 70.

• 1:01:11Lewis Howes?

  70. How old is Jim?

• 1:01:13Speaker 00

  Jim's probably 65, 66. I think it's 70.

• 1:01:17Lewis Howes?

  He's 70?

• 1:01:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, but see, I still have a young face, right? I could, I could still play 35. You know what I mean? Like, these are my.

• 1:01:23Lewis Howes?

  You turn the beard up, you know?

• 1:01:25Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. If I should take this off, it's crazy. Like, without the mustache, it's crazy. I don't, I literally don't change, you know what I mean? Like, and my body is still good. I probably got a great 30 years ahead of me.

• 1:01:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:01:39Speaker 00

  Maybe 20. So definitely 20 hard years, 25 hard years.

• 1:01:44Lewis Howes?

  30 of working, yeah. So, I mean, you've been in the business for 30 ish, 32 years, somewhere around there. If you could give three pieces of advice to yourself right before you started making money, right before you started getting on TV and doing movies 30 years ago. If you could give younger Marlon three pieces of advice, what would that be? Of 30 years of experience and wisdom and failures and success and love and heartbreak and.

• 1:02:11Speaker 00

  Get on stage as soon as you can.

• 1:02:13Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:02:15Speaker 00

  Learn the science behind your art. Stand up will teach you how to be a writer, producer, director, every night. You learn so much by doing standup comedy. Two?

• 1:02:30Speaker 00

  You don't worry about Hollywood. You are Hollywood.

• 1:02:34Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:02:35Speaker 00

  Hollywood needs you more than you need Hollywood.

• 1:02:37Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 1:02:39Speaker 00

  Don't worry about so much feeding the business. Become a business.

• 1:02:47Lewis Howes?

  Be the business.

• 1:02:47Speaker 00

  Be the business.

• 1:02:50Speaker 00

  Three.

• 1:02:52Speaker 00

  Put together a writing.

• 1:02:55Speaker 00

  Groom your team from day one. Stay loyal. Communicative.

• 1:03:05Speaker 00

  Bonded. So you have a trust. Make sure that each one of you do something different. When you come together, you learn about each other's, you know, art and knowledge. And then you come meetings of the mind here, right? So you don't need to do stand up like I do. But you have your, you need a strategist. Somebody has to play chess with you. You can't, it's hard. I tried to do it all. I can't.

• 1:03:31Lewis Howes?

  You're an artist.

• 1:03:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, I am, I'm, I was an artist. I'm always gonna be an artist.

• 1:03:36Lewis Howes?

  And now you're a business mind and artist.

• 1:03:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm really focused on. I'm got that. I'm gonna continue to work that. And I'm gonna build that. Build the businesses that go with the business. But right now, I gotta become the business. And I have to, I've learned, you have to say it. And you have to mean it. And you have to work toward it. If you can't say it out loud and God can't hear you. Then how are you gonna get to where you have to get to?

• 1:04:03Lewis Howes?

  That's why I like you declared the date for your, your garden tour.

• 1:04:07Speaker 00

  I'm glad you asked me.

• 1:04:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, July 23rd, 2027.

• 1:04:11Speaker 00

  That's my birthday and my mother's birthday.

• 1:04:13Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:04:13Speaker 00

  My mother, so.

• 1:04:15Lewis Howes?

  That'll be a beautiful 55.

• 1:04:17Speaker 00

  Yes, sir.

• 1:04:18Lewis Howes?

  That's number one in numerology.

• 1:04:20Speaker 00

  Be so proud. Look at my baby. I knew he was gonna do it.

• 1:04:23Lewis Howes?

  You gotta have a photo of her on the, on the screen.

• 1:04:25Speaker 00

  Absolutely. I'm gonna cry that night.

• 1:04:29Speaker 00

  Not just because I made a million dollars from one show.

• 1:04:32Lewis Howes?

  I can see that though. I mean, I can already see the future, three years in the future. I hope, I hope it happens and I'll be there. I'll be there if it's happening.

• 1:04:39Speaker 00

  If it don't happen.

• 1:04:40Lewis Howes?

  Call back to this moment.

• 1:04:41Speaker 00

  Absolutely. I'll come, I'll come do it again.

• 1:04:44Lewis Howes?

  If you could go, you've been in the business for 30 years and you said you'd wanna go for another 30.

• 1:04:51Lewis Howes?

  If you could do a hypothetical for me and you could imagine your future self at seventy-two.

• 1:04:59Lewis Howes?

  And if you can see your life from now until then and imagine all the things are to happen, the highs, the lows, the in-betweens. And if you could give yourself three pieces of advice from then to now. Future Marlon to today, what would he tell you today?

• 1:05:16Lewis Howes?

  Three things that you need to hear to really actualize your potential, your gifts. Make sure you're taking care of your heart, feeling the love. Being a good human being along the way, all these different things that you feel like. What do you need to hear from the future self?

• 1:05:32Speaker 00

  Discernment.

• 1:05:35Speaker 00

  Everybody, everybody deserves to eat.

• 1:05:38Speaker 00

  Not everybody deserves to eat at your table.

• 1:05:42Speaker 00

  Who you invest your time with and spend your time with, is it valuable? Or are you just wasting time? Don't waste your time. Time is the most valuable thing that you have. Every moment. Should be accounted for. You should feel great about you've learned something. If you're not learning, you're dying.

• 1:06:04Speaker 00

  Two.

• 1:06:07Speaker 00

  Don't, um.

• 1:06:10Speaker 00

  Continue this. Don't be the smartest guy in the world.

• 1:06:16Speaker 00

  Not that you're gonna lose your circle.

• 1:06:19Speaker 00

  But you could create another ring. Create a new ring of. People that you, you know, inspire you. And you can learn from.

• 1:06:32Speaker 00

  Three.

• 1:06:36Speaker 00

  Remember that in branding, you can create other brands.

• 1:06:42Speaker 00

  So as you create the brand of Marlin, what else is Marlin selling? Rather than brand, what are you interested in? What's authentic to you? I like smelling good. You need a cologne. I like my skin well. You need a men's, a men's.

• 1:06:58Lewis Howes?

  Skincare line.

• 1:06:59Speaker 00

  Skincare line. I love good clothes. You need a clothing line. I love smoking cigars. You need a cigar company, which I do have. Legal Tridente Experience Cigars. Check them out, they're delicious. You like your cocktails. What's your favorite drink? I like bourbon. You need to create a bourbon. Or get in the business with a great liquor company that you can market everywhere you go. Create great partnerships with your brand, with other great brands. And then, don't forget that you're the brand, so protect it.

• 1:07:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:07:39Speaker 00

  And continue to stay out of trouble and stay away from knuckleheads and always be an honorable, considerate person. And to stay humble as a person. Don't be so humble in your business. You have to own it. But be humble as a person. Because you can't bring that arrogance into every day because you're offending, hurting people. But sometimes business, you gotta be a shark. Period. You have to own it.

• 1:08:04Lewis Howes?

  Wow. This has been inspiring, Marlin. I've got a couple of final questions for you, but I'm grateful for the conversation. It's been really beautiful. If you could imagine

• 1:08:13Lewis Howes?

  all of your dreams coming true, which I believe they will,

• 1:08:17Lewis Howes?

  and you get to live as long as you want, but it's the end of the day for you.

• 1:08:27Lewis Howes?

  And if you could hear a message from your mom

• 1:08:32Lewis Howes?

  on that last day of your life, what would you want that message to be?

• 1:08:37Speaker 00

  Big boy, you did good. You made me proud, my father proud. I'm looking at God. He's smiling. You did right by our family, and these are the grandkids and the great grandkids. And everybody was good. You took care of your brothers and your sisters that I told you, that I made for you, and you've been an honorable child. You made the world laugh. I always knew you would.

• 1:09:22Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful, man.

• 1:09:32Lewis Howes?

  Sounds like a beautiful mom.

• 1:09:33Speaker 00

  Your father and I.

• 1:09:38Speaker 00

  Up there waiting on you.

• 1:09:39Lewis Howes?

  Mm.

• 1:09:40Speaker 00

  You're so, uh...

• 1:09:53Speaker 00

  I close my eyes and wake up, hugging my parents.

• 1:10:07Lewis Howes?

  Do you have...

• 1:10:07Speaker 00

  I'll drink this water now.

• 1:10:10Lewis Howes?

  It's beautiful, man. I know, I know the, the grief is, uh,

• 1:10:15Lewis Howes?

  something, again, you're, you're special, good grief, you, you, you share a lot of this with the audience, and it's, uh, it's beautiful to watch you continue to share openly and vulnerably about your relationship and the sadness and the joys and everything in between.

• 1:10:30Speaker 00

  I don't cry about them a lot.

• 1:10:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:33Speaker 00

  It's just when I think about them.

• 1:10:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:35Speaker 00

  What's good is I've gotten through crying every day, and now you get to that point, I have to think about it, I have to visit it. What does it feel like? You know what's funny? Before, I think now I'm ready for whatever I've been asking God for. I know I'm ready, even dramatically, because I've always been a good dramatic actor.

• 1:10:58Speaker 00

  But I've, I've had a very happy life.

• 1:11:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:00Speaker 00

  So it's hard for me to manufacture pain. And I could get to the tears.

• 1:11:08Speaker 00

  But now, since my parents gone, I know I got wings because it's so easy for me to access those emotions. I couldn't before I had to think about it, when it this and what. Now, just open and save.

• 1:11:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:11:23Speaker 00

  Let it out.

• 1:11:24Lewis Howes?

  Ah, man, that's beautiful.

• 1:11:27Lewis Howes?

  What do you wish more people would ask you?

• 1:11:32Lewis Howes?

  Because they ask you about, you know, all the people you know and you've worked with and the stories of the past and the celebrity and the fame and the money and the success and, you know, all the jokes, but what do you wish they really asked you?

• 1:11:45Speaker 00

  I'm gonna ask people with anything, everything. It's probably what I'm afraid of.

• 1:11:50Lewis Howes?

  What are you afraid of?

• 1:11:52Speaker 00

  Death.

• 1:11:55Speaker 00

  I'm afraid of...

• 1:11:57Lewis Howes?

  Is it dying too soon or dying before you reach your potential or dying?

• 1:12:00Speaker 00

  It's dying. I love life.

• 1:12:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's beautiful.

• 1:12:03Speaker 00

  And I have FOMO and I'm gonna be so mad at you for speeding by and I'm not there. I'm gonna be hating from the ground. He's kidding.

• 1:12:12Speaker 00

  And then, I think, marriage.

• 1:12:16Lewis Howes?

  You're afraid of marriage?

• 1:12:17Speaker 00

  Never been married because I never wanted to cheat on my wife. I'm a noble dude.

• 1:12:21Lewis Howes?

  You never wanted to cheat on your wife?

• 1:12:22Speaker 00

  I never wanted to cheat on my wife. And I never felt like I was ready for marriage until I hit my 50s.

• 1:12:28Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:12:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:12:29Lewis Howes?

  You feel like you're ready now?

• 1:12:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, I could do it.

• 1:12:31Lewis Howes?

  You're still afraid?

• 1:12:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, but less.

• 1:12:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:35Speaker 00

  Because I'm much more stable, even though I travel, I'm not in the clubs. I did everything I wanted to do.

• 1:12:42Lewis Howes?

  Right. Yes. Have fun everywhere.

• 1:12:45Speaker 00

  I did it all and I'm just like, now I just, I wanna, I wanna do less and I just, I just wanna just hang out and chill and smile and enjoy my girl, enjoy my kids and my family and, you know, when I have that time.

• 1:13:00Lewis Howes?

  What do you think's available for you as a man and a human being when you get married? If you get married, what's available for you? What's the next level?

• 1:13:10Speaker 00

  Um, I think it's, I'll have a lot more, I'll be able to accomplish a lot more. More focused energy. Less distracted. Energy, cuz I ain't, I ain't going nowhere. I ain't, I ain't, I'm not going in the. You're not texting everyone everywhere. No, I'm not, I ain't following nobody on, you know, Instagram. I ain't got, people DM me, I'll follow them in person. Uh huh. That's all, you know, um, my wife and, you know, just being focused on my family, all the other noise and all that other stuff. I wanna, at that point, I'm probably gonna get a farm, somewhere far away. Chappelle, living in my home state, you know, in Ohio. I've been to his places. Have you? Yeah. It's nice. Small town, Ohio, man.

• 1:13:54Speaker 00

  He will not, oh, I'm like, you're so rich. Cuz he doesn't need to, right?

• 1:14:00Speaker 00

  At least get a ten million dollar house, or you can do it, Dave. You're rich. I have to, he has this little place that he hangs out. In a little town? Yeah, no, his own. On his house? Yeah, by his house. We call it the shack. And this didn't have no ice. He had like a ice machine that was spitting one thing, one cube of ice at a time. I'm like, yo, Dave, I said, I love you. Get a two hundred dollar ice machine, let's go. Yeah, yeah. I went and bought him an industrial ice machine. I sent it to the damn shack. I was like, I can't let you live like that. I can't come here and visit you without getting ice. Yeah, yeah. So he's like, Marlon, you're a gentleman. You know, that bought me something. That's funny.

• 1:14:40Speaker 00

  So, you know, I, I think it's, it's, I do wanna like a farm. I wanna a big palatial estate and put all my family on it. And just have all these little, all these houses and just make everything my family, my office and work. Wow. Everybody right there, all my friends on a big, big land where we grow our fruits and our vegetables, live off the land. And just kick back on the porch until it's time to ride out, man. Wow, that's beautiful. Any other fears? Death, marriage? Skydiving? Yeah, man. Water? I haven't done that. I don't like, I do not like the ocean. That, drown me three times. I'm like, I'm good. Unless I got a life festival, I'm good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:15:23Speaker 00

  Um, I think my fears, um, I've always feared.

• 1:15:31Speaker 00

  Disappointing people. Hmm. But I don't anymore. Yeah. That's part of life. But as, as long as I do everything in my powers not to. Yeah. Then, as long as I'm doing my best, like sometime in business.

• 1:15:47Speaker 00

  You do a movie, put all this stuff into it, and then the movie doesn't perform. Well, sometimes it's not your fault. Mm hmm. And you do everything in your powers. Yes. To ensure that it was successful. Because if I did, then maybe somebody else failed. Mm hmm. But I don't mind taking the blame because taking the blame, I think that's when you grow. I'm here to grow in life. I'm here to get better. I'm here to improve. I don't mind some criticism. I don't. My brothers, I have the hardest critics in the world. My brothers. I think part of me taking so long to make it to where I want to make it because I got all these different voices in my head. And I'm trying to get all this approval from them. And then I realize, I don't want to be, I don't want to do it that way.

• 1:16:30Speaker 00

  I remember one time I was, we took Keenan to Mykonos. For his sixtieth birthday and we had a Sprinter van. And um, in the Sprinter van, I was talking to my brothers about stand up and the state of business. And I was like, I mean, they're talking about stand up specials. And I said, I want to do one like every year, year and a half. And it's like, that's stupid. That's not gonna be funny. Yeah, what kind of special is that? That's a regular. Yeah, that's stupid. You can't, it takes 20 years to put together a special. These are my three brothers telling them. And I said, I'm gonna show y'all something different. I believe that I can do a great special every year and a half. And here's why, because I get bored with telling the same jokes.

• 1:17:15Speaker 00

  I don't need to perfect the jokes. I don't need that much time to rehearse because I remember things, I remember scripts. I write, I, I, I, I get tired of doing the same material. Every night I'm doing something different. I like to do different stuff. I want to hurry up and put this out and perfect it and talk about some. They're like, "That's not the way it goes. You gotta work the same material for five years. You have to work the same material for five years." "I don't have to. I went to performing arts high school." "I could, I could, it's in me. I, I can do a sitcom in three days and, and kill it on Thursday." "So Monday, just a table read. Tuesday, we do network run through and a little bit of rehearsal. Wednesday, we do block and tape. Thursday, I'm filming in front of a live audience and I'm crushing it."

• 1:17:58Speaker 00

  "So if I can do a sitcom where they keep changing the script and I'm learning all these new ones, "and I could do that in a matter of four days, why the hell I can't do a special in a year and a half?"

• 1:18:12Speaker 00

  "Real stupid." And then in the van, Sean, that's the dumbest thing I've heard of. And then my brother David, he goes,

• 1:18:23Speaker 00

  "You know, Ugly, a little nickname for me, he said, you know, I ain't trying to burst your bubble. "It's damn near impossible. "But if you think that you can do it, show them."

• 1:18:43Speaker 00

  "Now I hope that..."

• 1:18:44Speaker 02

  "It's funny."

• 1:18:46Speaker 00

  And he left. And from that day on, I was like, "Okay." "And I'm not gonna show them in anger."

• 1:18:53Lewis Howes?

  "Mm-hmm."

• 1:18:53Speaker 00

  "No, I'll show you. No, I'm gonna show you that it can be done. "And you guys can do the same thing. And here's how I did it."

• 1:19:02Lewis Howes?

  "Wow. That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful." "Where should people follow you and support you online? "You got the tour coming out, you're on social media."

• 1:19:10Speaker 00

  "Tour, Wild Child Tour, Marlon Wayans Official. Get your tickets. Hurry up. You can get a discount. "I am doing meet and greets. So I'm gonna be doing meet and greets, so you get the chance to come meet me. "Uh, check it out. Um, I'm probably gonna put an option to get my album. "It's the Live at the Apollo, which is the taping of Good Grief, but there's a lot of jokes that isn't in there "that I'm, you can find golden nuggets. Um, and also online, uh, Instagram, at Marlon Wayans X or Twitter."

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  Marlon Wayans, Facebook, Marlon Wayans. I have two pages. One is personal, the other one's fan page. Sign up both. And lastly, I'm on TikTok, but yeah, I forgot. I think it's Marlon Wayans on TikTok. Snapchat, it's weird, but find me. Every now and then I'll pick it up and I'll do some voices and characters. But Marlon Wayans and yeah, and also don't forget to, I got my tour, my special, Good Grief, on Amazon Prime. My other specials, if you want to find them, Wokeish is on Netflix. And then You Know What It Is is on HBO Max as well as Good Grief and Headliners on HBO Max.

• 1:20:23Speaker 00

  Make sure you check them out. And I got a lot of great things coming for you and thirty some years in the game and I'm just beginning.

• 1:20:31Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing, man. It's amazing, man. And we'll have it all linked up for everyone in the description as well. But I've got one final question for you, Marlon, before I ask it.

• 1:20:39Speaker 00

  Is this gonna make me cry?

• 1:20:40Lewis Howes?

  No, no, you already did that, so.

• 1:20:44Lewis Howes?

  Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Marlon, for what it looks to be, you know, this is the first time we've met, but you know, I've seen your work online and we've got some mutual, you know, people in common who've said great things about you. But what it looks to be is you've really tapped into a different level of spiritual growth. Even though you've been connected to God your whole life and your father brought that to you since you were very young and that's been a part of your life, but it sounds like you're unlocking a different level of spiritual growth in your creative service to the world. It's not just about how can I be funny and make money and like get the laugh. But how can I be funny, get the laugh and serve and help others? When in whatever story that I'm telling, how can I be of service in my art?

• 1:21:26Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:21:26Lewis Howes?

  And it's something my fiance does really well is thinking about how she can serve in her comedies that she does as well as a writer and actor. And I'm just really happy you're doing that. I'm really happy that you are using, you know, 50 years of your life experience and talents and gifts that God keeps pouring into you to also think about serving at the highest level. Whether you're doing it at a donut shop for five people, at a stand-up, or when you're selling out the garden in three years on July 23rd to 30,000.

• 1:21:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:21:59Lewis Howes?

  I appreciate that you're thinking in that way of service. And it's, it just makes me feel happy to know that.

• 1:22:07Speaker 00

  It's funny, I don't go to church because I realize I can serve, service God better by being in a church. So when they come to see my shows that I'm giving them God's word without being preached. You get it through comedy, you get it through, but there's always this spirit and you know, I am of service. I want, I want, I want people to be happy. Happy is important for me. I want everybody to be happy, including myself.

• 1:22:35Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful, man. My final question, Marlon, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:22:42Speaker 00

  Then your authentic self, point of view and voice,

• 1:22:51Speaker 00

  reach the masses,

• 1:22:55Speaker 00

  and did everybody trust, does everybody trust from people, the fans, to the business, to the money people, trust you with your vision of what you see yourself and your business as? Greatness to me is not a destination. I read the, a book called The Alchemist. And in that book, it's a little boy that wants to see the pyramids. End of the book, he's never seen the pyramids, but he's on a road to see the pyramid.

• 1:23:28Speaker 00

  And to me, greatness is the road that I'm traveling.

• 1:23:36Speaker 00

  The destination is an illusion. Hmm. As long as I'm walking toward being my best me, I'm headed toward greatness. Yeah. And part of greatness is ultimate joy and happiness.

• 1:23:53Speaker 00

  And to me, that's greatness.

• 1:23:55Lewis Howes?

  I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels, at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life,

• 1:24:36Lewis Howes?

  then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.