00:00Something I've not said because it's inappropriate.
00:02Nobody ever likes it when you tell these stories in press.
00:05But, you know, this movie has been in, like, matriculation for so long.
00:10There was another actor who was attached to play Nicole
00:13in scheduling conflicts, and I was like,
00:15oh, it's me now.
00:17And I love that for me.
00:20I used to go to Bedside Brooklyn every Sunday
00:29from Long Island with my family.
00:31That's where we went to church.
00:33My parents are from Guyana,
00:35and there's a huge West Indian Caribbean community
00:39at our church growing up.
00:41And so we would travel for an hour every Sunday,
00:44and I hated it because it was so long and it was church.
00:50But as I grew older, it was my only access to community
00:54that looked like me.
00:56And when I went to graduate school,
00:58instead of living in Manhattan, I went to NYU Tisch.
01:02I decided to live in Brooklyn.
01:03And then I never left until fairly recently.
01:06Yeah.
01:08You have a beautiful connection to Brooklyn.
01:10Oh, thank you for putting me up.
01:12Give it to us.
01:13I lived in Brooklyn for how long?
01:16Like 17 years.
01:18I'm not 17 years.
01:20I fell in love for the first time in Brooklyn.
01:23I live in Bed-Stuy while I was at Juilliard in school.
01:25You went roller skating in Brooklyn.
01:27Yeah.
01:28My birthday party was at Brooklyn Bowl.
01:30Yes.
01:31And you were along and everything.
01:32So yeah, Brooklyn was like,
01:33I threw crazy parties in Brooklyn.
01:34You did.
01:35You know, I came into my maturation
01:39and knew you were working in Brooklyn.
01:41Yeah, so I have a lot of love for that community.
01:44And it kind of raised me and created the artist that I am.
01:48And also the mess that I happen to be.
01:50I still live in Brooklyn now, just like Andre.
01:53And you know what's so funny?
01:55I lived in Brooklyn for like back in Williamsburg,
01:58before anyone knew what Williamsburg was.
02:00It's like back in 2000.
02:01Before it was cute.
02:02That's right.
02:03Before it was cute.
02:04But yeah, my whole artist journey is mounted.
02:06And so many of us are NYU people too.
02:08Yeah.
02:09Yeah.
02:10I guess I'm the only person from Alabama.
02:12No, you know, I've been in New York for 10 years.
02:16I was born in New York.
02:17I moved in first grade, I think, down south.
02:22And in the time I was at The Daily Show,
02:25a lot of the stories, if you're trying to tell Black stories
02:28about the uniqueness and the complexity of the Black experience
02:32as it is now, it always ended up taking you to Brooklyn.
02:35And so it's just a spot that I've always, you know,
02:38fallen in love with.
02:39And the other thing that I really loved about this story
02:42is that this script tells the story of change in a place.
02:46And it doesn't necessarily have to be.
02:48It is a Black film.
02:50It is about Black love.
02:51It is the fingerprints of Blackness across the diaspora
02:55all through that script.
02:57But it also represents, I believe,
02:59what a lot of places are going through in terms of...
03:04Like, Brooklyn is unique to me,
03:05like, in the same way that New Orleans is,
03:08or the same way Miami is.
03:09Like, it's a character.
03:11And the people who are native to it
03:12are extremely defensive about it,
03:14and they're extremely sentimental about it.
03:16But they also have a...
03:18You can just...
03:19I don't know if you've ever met anybody from New Orleans.
03:21They feel adrift a little bit
03:23in the sense of not knowing what is to become
03:27of this place that I've loved and known one way for so long,
03:31and now it's turning into something else,
03:33and we're not sure of where we fit into that puzzle.
03:38So, it's just...
03:39It's just dope to be able to help, you know, tell that story.
03:41Are you a bike commuter?
03:43Or was that just...
03:45Listen, I ride the bike so much.
03:48I love riding the bike.
03:48It's, like, one of my favorite things to do.
03:50People joke at me all the time.
03:51They're like, man, I saw you on your bike.
03:53Yeah, that was me, you know?
03:55I mean, biking with a coffee in one hand and riding.
03:57People think I'm crazy, but I love it.
04:00I love it.
04:01I think that's truly a Brooklyn thing.
04:03It's the same thing when people come visit me,
04:04and I'm like, I'm almost there, and they're like, where are you?
04:06And then they see me coming around the corner on my back.
04:08They're like, are you just...
04:09What kind of, like, wonderland?
04:11I'm like, it's Brooklyn.
04:11And I only do that in Brooklyn.
04:13Like, I never take the bike into...
04:14I don't take a bike into Manhattan.
04:16Oh, no, I would feel comfortable.
04:17Yeah, it's dangerous, right?
04:18See, I live in Manhattan, so I just...
04:21Just walk?
04:22Yeah.
04:24Viking's, like, flying.
04:25Can't go in a hot hole like that.
04:27Yeah, Viking is a Brooklyn thing.
04:29That's so funny.
04:30Ray, were you looking to do a movie at this point in your career?
04:35When Andre called, you know, it's...
04:38It's a gift.
04:39It's a literal gift, because not only is it a film,
04:42but it's telling a very interesting story,
04:44and comedically, I get to be something a little different.
04:46I still get to crack a joke and be funny,
04:49but I don't have to performatively be
04:51what people are traditionally used to seeing me.
04:55And I think between Daily Show and stand-up,
04:58there is a certain expectation when you see me.
05:01So it was cool to be able to have that deviation.
05:04So to even just have the opportunity to take on that challenge
05:07and then to have a director that trusts me enough
05:11to not make me do the other things that are familiar,
05:14like, that's a gift.
05:15I was at Andre called.
05:16I'm like, yes.
05:17Like, two of the suits I wear in the film are from the Daily Show.
05:20I love that. Thank you.
05:22I was like, we're going to save some money.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Now, I think y'all got dress shirts from somewhere else.
05:27See what?
05:29Put them pants.
05:30That was straight Daily Show.
05:31Thank you for that.
05:33We were all playing things.
05:35I've been on Bel Air for the last four years,
05:37and so, um, it's like such a pragmatic, you know, heavy...
05:41This character's nothing like that.
05:43She's, like, light and funny,
05:44and I'd love to do more comedy.
05:47And so, when Andre showed me this role,
05:49I was like, yes, thank you!
05:51But he also, but he knows me.
05:53And I think that's why I love a lot of these new TV shows
05:55and movies that are coming out
05:56where people are playing against type,
05:59but really, you're leaning into people's other loves,
06:01like the other colors they have not been able to play with.
06:04Yeah, I have the same experience.
06:06I know I've, like, um, sort of, uh, been...
06:09Dewanda was teasing me earlier,
06:11because I've been a mom for since the very...
06:13She was, like, 12, and I was like, how should we get them kids?
06:16I've been, like, a mom in every movie,
06:17and, like, something really heavy is happening.
06:20Um, and I'm grateful for it, and I love all this.
06:22Yeah, they're beautiful.
06:22Don't get me wrong.
06:23Um, but, uh, Andre sort of knowing me
06:27and being like, do some of that.
06:28Let's do something different.
06:31Let's, um, let's have some fun.
06:32And then Rachel creating a safe space to play
06:36and actually asking and encouraging funny choices
06:40and improv and things that I think in other environments,
06:43people are like, we don't really know what that is.
06:45Like, what you're doing is weird.
06:46Can you not?
06:47Can you not do that?
06:48They were like, do it.
06:49Yeah.
06:49And that's, that's, you know, really freeing.
06:51It's actually been a gift for me,
06:53because I think post, I've felt it in my work since.
06:56So that's, that's huge.
06:58We're, like, ferociously protective of each other's dreams.
07:03And honestly and earnestly invested in a real way.
07:06And, um, this film is emblematic of that in many ways.
07:10Oh, my God.
07:11There you go.
07:11There you go.
07:12There you go.
07:13In many ways.
07:14People let me go.
07:15Once again.
07:16There you go.
07:17Then.
07:18No.
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