- 2 days ago
Hosted by sitcom legends and real-life best friends Erika Alexander and Kim Coles, ReLiving Single takes you behind the scenes of one of the most iconic shows in television history—Living Single. Through personal stories, hilarious memories, and exclusive interviews, Erika and Kim reintroduce you to the moments, characters, and cultural impact that made the show a trailblazer. Whether you grew up watching Max and Synclaire or are just discovering the magic, this podcast is your front row seat to the laughs, the love, and the legacy of a groundbreaking series that changed the game for sitcoms—and sisterhood on screen.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We're going to be doing new things.
00:04You can be black.
00:05It's no small thing.
00:07Y'all are all light-skated.
00:07We were dark.
00:08It's hard to get repped by these agencies and be dark.
00:11I don't have a Eurocentric idea of what beauty is.
00:15What are you doing here on the set?
00:17Kim Fields is the one.
00:18She anchors the show.
00:19How do you even see me doing something like this?
00:22She said, look at here, girl.
00:23Camera three is your camera.
00:24Make sure you look in your camera because I'm going to get mine.
00:27Swagger for days.
00:28TC brought that to Kyle.
00:32Overton's character.
00:33Let's talk about that a little bit.
00:34He's the Nat Turner of handyman.
00:36Who wrote the theme song?
00:37Queen Latifah.
00:38Who performed the theme song?
00:39Queen Latifah.
00:40Oh, there she goes.
00:41He looks like he's been hit by a Mardi Gras parade.
00:45You'll never watch a sitcom the same way ever again.
00:48Green Living Single.
00:49From the cast to the culture.
00:51Buckle up.
00:51Buckle up.
00:52It's about to be good.
00:54Hey, family.
00:55How y'all doing?
00:58I said, how y'all feeling, family?
01:02Happy day three at the Essence Festival.
01:05I'm Eva Marcel, and I am so excited to welcome to the stage Essence Editor Kimberly Wilson.
01:16Good afternoon, Essence Festival.
01:19How y'all doing?
01:20Okay, so this moment is extremely personal for me.
01:27I didn't just grow up watching these women.
01:30I learned from them.
01:31I wanted to become a magazine editor because I saw Khadijah James on television.
01:37Living Single was the culture.
01:40It was aspiration.
01:42It was joy.
01:42And now 30 years later, they're celebrating that legacy with their new podcast, Reliving
01:49Single, where they take us behind the scenes of the show that changed everything for black
01:54women.
01:55So today, it is an absolute honor to welcome to the stage two of the women who helped raise
02:02a generation of smart, driven, funny, ambitious black women like you and like me.
02:11So please welcome to the stage Erica Alexander and Kim Coles.
02:17Come on, Kim, get the cat mic.
02:40And we're living single in the 90s and world.
02:47I'm glad I got my girl.
02:48Keep your head up.
02:49Keep your head up.
02:50Yeah.
02:50I don't know how long.
02:52It's too fast.
02:53You can get to the left.
02:54It's too fast.
02:54I'm like blue.
02:55And we're living, hey.
02:58Single.
02:58Yo.
03:00I'm glad I got my girl.
03:03Keep your head up.
03:03Keep your head up.
03:07Wow.
03:08Hello.
03:08They came, they showed up.
03:12It's way faster than our theme song.
03:14Woo.
03:14Come on.
03:15Take it down, take it down.
03:16Take it down.
03:17Take it down.
03:17Take it down.
03:18Take it down.
03:18Oh.
03:19Come on.
03:20And woo, woo, woo.
03:22Oh, hey, baby.
03:23How you doing?
03:26Wow.
03:26We are so excited to be with y'all today.
03:29Are y'all having a good time at the Essence Fest?
03:33We love you, New Orleans.
03:34We love you.
03:35We love you.
03:36We love everyone who's come out here.
03:37We love Essence.
03:38Thank you, Essence, for being such a light into the world and representing not only culture,
03:43but black women, black greatness, black kings, black power.
03:47Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here on this stage.
03:51Speaking of all things black and excellent, y'all know we have a new podcast, don't you?
03:58It's called Reliving Single.
04:00We know that you want a reboot, but how about our podcast happening right now?
04:04Yes.
04:05And it's special.
04:05It's a video podcast.
04:06Now, it's the unofficial, unofficial, official rewatch podcast for Living Single.
04:13For Living Single.
04:14You can subscribe, like, and subscribe on the YouTube.
04:17I say watch it on video because we're still real cute.
04:20Aren't we real cute?
04:21Well, we're real cute.
04:22Come on.
04:23Come get this.
04:23We're doing our best.
04:24Come get this.
04:24I mean, we really made it just for you.
04:27We did.
04:27And when we say that, that's one of the reasons why it's on video.
04:29We do this in partnership with Heartbeat, Kevin Hart's company.
04:33It's important to collaborate with kings and queens that are out there building together.
04:37So when you support us, you support that infrastructure.
04:41And we'll talk a little bit more about why that's important.
04:44But right now, we'll talk a little bit about what makes our podcast unique.
04:48Now, it's one of the first of its kind.
04:50There are many other different type of podcasts out there or video podcasts.
04:54But this is the first one that's supported and that's done by the original cast members.
05:00So it's the first of its kind.
05:01So there are other re-watched shows, but never with a black cast.
05:05And so that's why it was important.
05:07Do you want to tell the people how you decided to do this?
05:09This was all Erica's idea.
05:10Well, a little bit.
05:11There's Eric Edding somewhere here from Heartbeat.
05:13And he had asked me, and he'd done the nod.
05:15And he was over at Heartbeat doing some great things in audio.
05:18And me and my partner, Ben Arnon, we run Color Farm Media.
05:22And we've been doing a show with him and Charlamagne Tha Goddard's, what, Small, Black, and Handsome.
05:28That's their company.
05:29We've been doing a show called Finding Tamika and won the DuPont Columbia Award.
05:34It talked about missing black women and why there was an epidemic of that, missing white women syndrome.
05:41But anyway, we got a chance to talk.
05:44And he said, would you ever do a reboot?
05:45And I said, I don't think so.
05:46I appreciate the show and I appreciate what it's done for me.
05:49But the truth is, you know, I don't know if you really can capture that.
05:53And then I started to think, wait a minute.
05:55Audio can do what TV can't.
05:58We're playing a role.
05:59I'm playing Max, but that's not me.
06:01People know about Max, but they don't know very little about me.
06:05So why don't I get a chance to do something where we can talk about the 30 years since?
06:10And also what we learned.
06:1132 years.
06:1232 years, what we learned, what we did, what we made mistakes on, what we learned.
06:18But also then I get to do it with Kim Coles, who's a genius.
06:21Listen, come on now.
06:21I said yes.
06:23I said yes.
06:23And I've been telling all along.
06:25Like, I would say yes to a reboot because we all still look good.
06:28Well, we're not a walker.
06:30We all look delicious.
06:30And get me while I still look relatively young, even though I'm 63.
06:33You're welcome.
06:3463.
06:35You're welcome.
06:35You're welcome.
06:36So this is, in my opinion, better than a reboot because we show up as ourselves talking about
06:45the show, the behind the scenes.
06:47And what's really cool about this podcast is I get a chance to learn things about Erica
06:51that I never knew, even though I've known her for 32 years.
06:54That's right.
06:54Behind the scenes.
06:55And we've created this sort of a master class.
06:58If you're a performer or a filmmaker or a boss, like all of y'all are today here, a boss.
07:04We teach you, share with you, and share our ups and downs of finding our way to boss-dom
07:10ourselves.
07:10And understand that we live in a complex industry, that you may see us as characters, but we
07:16often have very little control of that.
07:18Now your generation has more control than ever.
07:20But if you don't understand what came before you, you will be destined to make the same
07:25mistakes.
07:25And if you don't understand that the leadership and sort of the, I guess, the pathways that
07:30are created need to be shaped by you.
07:32But we need to have that conversation.
07:34And we also want to leave a blueprint.
07:36We often see our beautiful culture makers come and go, and they haven't had their say.
07:42There's other people making their documentaries.
07:43There's other people talking about it.
07:44So we want to leave this for you so you can hear it from our point of view.
07:48And this is a love letter for you.
07:50A love letter to you.
07:51So on our show, by the way, the new episodes air every Wednesday live on YouTube.
07:59We have 32 episodes coming, and we've just done, the ninth episode just aired, so there's
08:06a lot coming.
08:07Let me tell you who's on the show.
08:08Maybe some of our castmates.
08:10Maybe.
08:12Maybe Kim Fields already showed up.
08:15Yes.
08:16Smooches.
08:17Smooches.
08:18Maybe the fellas have come through.
08:21Yes.
08:21T.C. Carson.
08:22T.C. Carson.
08:23John Henson.
08:24And my beautiful O.O.B.
08:26O.O.B.
08:28I'm going to tell you all right now.
08:29You all want to know a secret?
08:29You want to know a secret?
08:31To kiss him and get paid for it was I.
08:34It was I.
08:35It was a real good thing.
08:36Listen, I was just doing my job.
08:38I was doing my job.
08:39This is a family show.
08:42It's a family show.
08:44Yeah.
08:44Well, to kiss T.C.
08:46Carson was something else beautiful.
08:47Yeah.
08:48I used to lean into them big, luscious lips.
08:50Big, pillowy, chocolatey lips.
08:52Big, pillowy, chocolatey lips and fall into a whole nother universe.
08:56By the time they sucked me out, I didn't know who I was.
08:59It's a family show.
09:01It's a family show.
09:01Yeah.
09:02Well, you saw that with my funny Valentine.
09:04Yeah, well, I was kind of acting.
09:10The truth is that he really is that good.
09:14His voice is a thing of beauty.
09:16He's also the god of war.
09:17He talks about his voiceover work and all the things you don't know.
09:21His jazz work.
09:23John Hinton talks about his life.
09:24John Hinton talks about doing stand-up and some ups and downs that he's been through in life.
09:29And he comes on the show and talks about it and shares it with us for you.
09:33And we haven't mentioned someone else.
09:36I can neither confirm nor deny.
09:39U-N-I-T-Y.
09:42I can't tell you.
09:43I can't tell you.
09:43U-N-I-T-Y.
09:45It's a unity.
09:46I can neither confirm nor deny.
09:48The N-I-T-I-F-H is in command.
09:49I can neither confirm nor deny that she may be coming on the show.
09:53But we definitely have an Yvette Lee Bowser who is the creator of the show.
09:56And the reason why that we're here now, Yvette Lee Bowser created that show a long time ago, 30 years, along with her collaborators, original collaborators, Kim Coles and Queen Latifah.
10:06I was actually work for hire.
10:08If you go to episode zero, you hear how we auditioned.
10:12You hear how we got on the show.
10:14You hear some of the things that she didn't know.
10:15She didn't know my father passed away a month or two before I got there.
10:19So there was reasons why it said, you know, I don't really remember the first couple of seasons.
10:23And I never really put it to the fact that I might have been a little zombie-like or traumatized and was just going through the motions.
10:31But we got to learn stuff about each other.
10:34It's beautiful.
10:34And sort of, you know, have empathy and vibe.
10:36And have empathy and vibes and to heal.
10:38You know, any space that we as women, we as black folks have an opportunity to have those conversations and heal, it's so necessary.
10:47So spend that time understanding who your tribe is, learning more about your tribe, asking questions.
10:52And we're going to ask some questions of each other in just a moment.
10:55But the more you can dig in, especially now more than ever, with everything that's happening in the world and everything that's happening here in this country, we need unity, UNITY, and so much more now.
11:06Are we being signed right now?
11:08Hello?
11:08Hello?
11:09Oh, that's what's up.
11:10Teach me how to say living single.
11:12Oh, Lord.
11:13Living single.
11:16Living single.
11:17Okay.
11:18Living single.
11:19I got it.
11:19Got it.
11:19Understood.
11:20Okay.
11:21By the way, other people talk around.
11:22She's talking about things that are going on in the world.
11:25Stacey Abrams drops by.
11:27She comes on our show.
11:28The Maxine Shaw effect, which is actually a real thing.
11:32A lot of times when you finish a show, you don't know how it resonates.
11:35But for me, walking around with Max's face, a lot of people came up to me and said, you know, I went into law because of that character.
11:42I went into leadership before that character.
11:44I went into executive.
11:45And so we decided to do a data study, a data study to study the effect and see if it was real.
11:52And so that anecdotal stories became real with the research project called the Maxine Shaw effect.
11:58And if you look at it now, you can go see that there's a leadership program because it blew our minds that people like Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley, Marilyn Mosby, all these people kept coming up, judges, and saying that this was something that inspired them.
12:12And just like for many people coming after Chad Bozeman, the kind of king will inspire them.
12:20Representation matters.
12:21And the reason I want to talk about that right now is that we need to talk about something that's very difficult to talk about.
12:26And I bring it up because Real Living Single is a master class.
12:30It's a master class that is also a blueprint.
12:33It's also we're talking about how we access or how the industry sees our value or doesn't see our value.
12:43Now, there were certain things that we didn't have the power to do or talk about, but now we do because of the access to the Internet.
12:50And one of the things you might have seen, even with the Friends controversy, right, how they treated them versus how they treated us.
12:56We love that they got their flowers.
12:58They're a fabulous cast, and they did well.
13:00But there really is an industry that continually lowballs our value in marketing and also lowballs our value in promotion money and all of these things.
13:10If you want to know why we don't do more, it's because often they're using old, dirty data to tell them what we're worth.
13:17We can't do it because we've earned it or because we deserve it.
13:20We do it because you demand it.
13:22You have to demand a difference.
13:24And then we can go to the table because people are telling us what they are getting for their podcast.
13:28And we know where the bottom floor is.
13:30So you can't come under it and then ask us to meet in the middle thinking we can say thank you when you know you didn't start at a decent negotiation.
13:40You've got to know we're still fighting those fights, and more importantly, we think we can win them.
13:44The reason is if we don't, if they do that to us, what do you think they're going to do to you?
13:49We have to prove our value by demanding it.
13:53So with those numbers, when we say to subscribe and watch all the way through, data matters.
13:58Data matters, and we're going to make sure that we win this fight to you.
14:01From media to markets to all those things.
14:03This is not just a culture war.
14:05This is about an industry war.
14:07This culture are run by corporations.
14:09It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you've got to know what we're doing, and that's what we're trying to change.
14:13And so if you listen to the podcast, you're going to hear us talk about these things, and we're also going to have fun.
14:18There's a lot of love in this.
14:20So we want you to come out and learn, do the master class, understand a larger version of what is in front of you that you will deal with and help us to build.
14:30But also, this is a love letter to you, and we think that we're trying to do a magnificent job of making sure that you're heard.
14:37And so we need your help with that, too.
14:40I'm just trying to get past the old, dirty data.
14:44Old, dirty data.
14:45Well, this old, dirty bastard.
14:47I was the mother of the Wu-Tang, so I can speak about it.
14:50So we can fix that.
14:52All right, so I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, Erica.
14:54Yeah.
14:55Are y'all having a good time, by the way?
14:56Isn't it beautiful?
14:57S.S. Fest is always a beautiful space to be in.
15:00All right, so Erica, let's see.
15:03What surprised you most?
15:05So, you know, on this podcast, we're starting with season one, and we're going all the way through.
15:11So, Erica, what surprised you most about re-watching and talking about season one?
15:19Well, I think I was surprised how much I didn't watch the show.
15:25I didn't remember it.
15:26And so we didn't watch the show because it's a brutal schedule.
15:29You're basically learning a play a week, and you've got four days to learn it, and then on the fourth day, there's two audience that come in, and then you do your best job.
15:37And so the next day, it starts again, and you learn a new play.
15:42Imagine doing that 26 times a year.
15:44You don't have time to look at your own work.
15:46So I love looking at it again.
15:48Okay, I'm going to ask you a question.
15:50True confession.
15:50I want to answer that one, too.
15:52True confession.
15:52Okay, so Sinclair's hair with those little micro braids.
15:56Y'all know how many hours I spent getting my hair done?
16:00I watched the episodes all the time because that's all we had time to do.
16:03So I would make my braiders watch the show.
16:06No, I did.
16:07I would go, come on, do this little tighten up right here.
16:09We're going to watch my show.
16:10So I watched it.
16:11I watched every episode.
16:12That's true.
16:12I made them watch it.
16:13And by the way, we're going to have a hair episode to talk about the Maxine Shaw braids, the new locks, the micro braids, Latifah's press and curl.
16:22All the time.
16:23How she went off of relaxers when she got to L.A. and suddenly decided to have her natural hair.
16:28And of course, the wigs.
16:29And Kim Fields wigs.
16:29The wigs.
16:30She was the first wig-anista.
16:32Come on now.
16:33Wig-anista.
16:34But also, Overton going bald on the show and how he felt a little bit exposed and vulnerable and then just decided to shave it off at the top of the second season.
16:43That's right.
16:44And then, of course, TC has his locks and his twists.
16:47I used to sometimes help him get his locks together before the show.
16:50Did you?
16:51He would let me all in his scalp.
16:52Good times.
16:54Good times.
16:54Sounds very intimate.
16:55It was.
16:56Well, there you go.
16:57What was your first big purchase after living single?
16:59What did you say you bought?
17:00My first big purchase was a house.
17:04A house.
17:05I bought a little house in West Hollywood.
17:06You remember that house.
17:07And I'm not going to lie.
17:09I may have got myself a little Mercedes Benz.
17:12A little convertible.
17:13A little convertible.
17:14But I was afraid of all the sun, so I wouldn't put the convertible down because I didn't want all that sun.
17:18You know, I'm trying to preserve my skin.
17:19So that was, I may or may not have gotten a convertible.
17:22Well, I got a house, but I got my mama a house.
17:24See, you care.
17:25You care.
17:26You care.
17:26Unfortunately, I lost it in foreclosure.
17:28Come to the show and you'll listen how.
17:31Hey, it wasn't because I was wasting it.
17:33Because I misunderstood.
17:35Right.
17:36My mama had a house already.
17:38My mama had a house already.
17:39All right.
17:40What do you think makes the living single, you know, the friendship and the unique, I guess, collaboration we have with our audience unique?
17:49What makes that unique?
17:50Because it is unique.
17:50You know what I think is the beautiful connection and collaboration that we have with you all is that we represent you.
17:59So there were skin colors.
18:00There were body shapes.
18:01There were relationships.
18:03There were ups and downs.
18:05There were finding, you know, building a business, building a relationship, finding yourself.
18:10Of all the things that you experienced, we were experiencing through you.
18:15So it was, we are you.
18:16We are you.
18:17And hopefully you saw yourselves or saw your aunties or saw your mama in them.
18:22And so I think that people love the show because it resonated with them beautifully.
18:27That's what I think.
18:29What do you think is what you're most proud about with the reliving single?
18:32What was it?
18:33What was that?
18:33The opportunity.
18:34What are you most proud about?
18:35What am I most proud about?
18:36Yeah.
18:37I'm going to tell the truth.
18:39What do you think the legacy is?
18:40Number one, from the moment the six of us got together, I knew that it was going to be a hit.
18:45I felt it in my spirit.
18:48I knew that this could not not win.
18:51I knew it.
18:52I said that all the time from the very beginning.
18:54I think the legacy is that it remains.
18:57We were there in the space of excellence.
19:01And we were intentional in what we were putting out.
19:05Yvette Lee Bowser made it intentional and that it still lasts to this day.
19:10I've met little girls who go, hi, my name is Sinclair.
19:13What?
19:13You know, and so that we brought the intention, we brought the excellence, and we brought meaningfulness intentionally.
19:25And that that lasts for forever and forevermore.
19:27Yeah.
19:27And the residual checks are nice, too.
19:31By the way, I did not think I was the opposite.
19:33I did not think it was going to last.
19:35I never thought of that with anything that I made.
19:37Again, I was a hired gun.
19:39The show was created for Latifah and Kim because they had a deal with Warner Brothers, which was Lorimar at the time.
19:46Now, me, I come in as a hired gun, like a samurai, a masterless samurai.
19:52And I'm looking for work.
19:54And I'm wondering if they're going to hire me.
19:55But I'm used to things coming and going.
19:57Even on the Cosby show, I was on the last two years as Cousin Pam.
20:01Y'all remember, right?
20:03Well, when it ended, I had to go find another thing.
20:06And the show I found right after that was something called Going to Extremes.
20:09And it lasted for one year on ABC.
20:10I was a doctor on a fictional island called Jantique.
20:14And we filmed it in Jamaica.
20:15And it died the death.
20:17So I was, you know, I was next to this.
20:19And I thought, well, let's go do this.
20:20I admire Queen Latifah.
20:23I'm a fan of Kim Cole.
20:24She came off of In Living Color and was brilliant.
20:28And we can't say enough about Kim Fields who built the highway for us.
20:33So it sounded like something that would go.
20:36But I was like, nope, ain't never going to make it.
20:39And so you do your best.
20:41And you end up realizing season two, season three.
20:44Wow, this thing is really going.
20:45But here's what I do know.
20:47Our fans told us from day one, we were the number one show in black and Latino households.
20:51From the beginning till the end.
20:55That's a fact.
20:56I knew it.
20:57I see the mark.
20:58Right.
20:58Well, let's ask some questions to the audience.
21:01Audience, would you like to ask us some questions?
21:03We're here.
21:04We're here for you.
21:05Our producer, Amber, is in the audience.
21:08Let's give Amber a hand.
21:10She does a yeoman's job.
21:12She's our senior producer.
21:13Beautiful young sister.
21:15Puts up with all of our cuckoo for cuckoo coca puffs.
21:18Right.
21:19And so we have audience questions.
21:20Yes.
21:21Hello.
21:22Hello.
21:23Hey, everyone.
21:24Hey, Ashton.
21:24Yes, Amber.
21:25Hey, Amber.
21:26Where are you?
21:26All right, so please ask your question, but, you know, tell us your name, where you from.
21:32Hey, how y'all doing?
21:33I'm James.
21:33I'm from Dallas.
21:35I've watched all nine episodes.
21:37I just watched the last one with the little boy.
21:39Wait, go a little bit louder.
21:41Say, brother, something about hot dogs.
21:45What?
21:46James, wait.
21:47Can you bring James up closer so we can see his handsome face?
21:49Come on through.
21:50Come on through.
21:50Come on through.
21:51Come on up.
21:51And by the way, he's going to answer this question, but he's also going to get a giveaway
21:55that we're going to give you a chance to get.
21:57And it is a signed.
21:59We use these cards all the time, but we signed it.
22:01I'm going to sign some for you.
22:02John Hinton signed it.
22:03T.C. Carson.
22:04We caught.
22:04And you're going to get that for asking this question, brother.
22:06Go ahead.
22:07You like that?
22:07You like that?
22:08Yes.
22:08Okay.
22:09Hey, how you doing?
22:09I'm James.
22:10I'm from Dallas.
22:10Hi, James.
22:11It's a little hard because she won't let me hold a mic, but.
22:14I'm sorry, brother.
22:15Yeah.
22:15That's cool.
22:15I was saying that I watched all nine episodes.
22:18I just watched the last one with the little boy.
22:19I love y'all show.
22:20My question is, I know you guys are talking about you have T.C. Carson coming up.
22:25How difficult was it to have the conversation about the way he departed from the show?
22:31I know you touched on it on one of the earlier episodes, and you said we failed him.
22:36So how difficult was it to have that conversation during the actual podcast that he was a guest star on?
22:44Great question.
22:46It's a trick question because we've had those conversations with him personally because we're all still friends.
22:53And so we were having those conversations with him 30-something years ago when it happened and now.
22:59But it is difficult.
23:01Well, I'll say the other thing, too, is that T.C. has healed through that.
23:07He's done the work to heal.
23:08We've done the work to heal through it.
23:10But, of course, it's difficult to see our friend in pain.
23:13And also, Erica, you said something to me once that I didn't, you know, there was an episode that we shot right after he left.
23:19And we were all in grief.
23:21And it was a weird episode.
23:23It was like, what?
23:23It's like a piece of it.
23:24It was the audience favorite.
23:26It's called Up the Ladder Through the Roof.
23:27It's an audience favorite, but.
23:29And we were Supreme's group back in the day.
23:31Yeah, but he wasn't there.
23:33But he wasn't there.
23:33And he was always connected to the music version of the show.
23:36And those men took care of us.
23:38I tell you right now, it hurts my heart.
23:40He didn't just leave.
23:42They took my comedy partner.
23:46So it's like they took more than half of me.
23:48And when we talk about what these things, what happens behind the scenes, everybody wants to assess blame.
23:57But that's too easy.
23:59It's a complex conversation about why these things happen.
24:02And so he got a chance to come on and talk to us so we can start healing because it's a process.
24:08We were young.
24:08I was 23.
24:10You were young.
24:10We were all young.
24:11And we didn't know what we had or didn't have.
24:13But I know one thing, that he's a magnificent actor.
24:16And he did nothing wrong.
24:19And he deserved better.
24:21Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
24:23I'll keep watching.
24:25Thank you, brother.
24:26Appreciate you.
24:26And we have time for one more.
24:29Only one more?
24:30Only one more.
24:30I'm so sorry.
24:31So I'm going to get this young lady right here.
24:33Hello.
24:34And I can't forget to give you your card.
24:39Thank you, James.
24:41Hello.
24:42Hi.
24:43Hi.
24:43My name's Emanuel.
24:45I'm from Massachusetts.
24:47I'm one of those black attorneys.
24:48You sound like you're from Massachusetts.
24:50Black attorney.
24:50Black attorney.
24:52Come on.
24:53Hey.
24:55I'm one of those black attorneys that you inspired.
24:57Me and my cousin Stacy.
24:59She's not here right now.
25:00Um, my question is, what was your favorite part of being on the show and what was the hardest
25:06part of being on the show?
25:09You go first.
25:10I'll be thinking.
25:11I'll be thinking.
25:12I'll be thinking.
25:13I've been thinking.
25:14Um, my favorite part of the show was working with my castmates.
25:19They're great collaborators.
25:20And I'd let you know that inside of this business, comedy is hard.
25:24But everything is hard.
25:26Drama's hard because you have to keep your heart open.
25:28You've got to come in ready to work, show up on time, know your lines, but be ready
25:32to play.
25:33How often do we get to play in life for a living?
25:36But sometimes on days you don't want to play, you don't, you still got to do your gigs.
25:40So I believe we did our gigs well because of the collaborative, you know, atmosphere.
25:45Um, and that was my favorite thing.
25:48And what was the other part?
25:49What was the hardest part?
25:50The hardest part was the brutal schedule.
25:52It is relentless.
25:53And it, and it piles up on you.
25:56You get used to it.
25:57By the way, your muscle, your memory is a muscle.
26:01And if you use it, it's, you strengthen it.
26:03So by the time we left, we could look at something like that and know it.
26:07You could just do it.
26:08You had a photographic memory.
26:09Kim Fields came in with a photographic memory.
26:12She's a prodigy.
26:13So you want to get up to speed, but you also have the job of making sure that when Earth
26:18the Kick comes on or Gladys Knight or all these divas and then all these black kings come
26:23on, we had athletes, we had Holyfield, we had all these things.
26:26Yvette Lee Bowser made it a beautiful train station of black power and also connectivity
26:33to our world that is not, is diverse.
26:37And so you had to be ready to maintain.
26:39And a lot of people don't know what it is to maintain, but I'm letting you know, if you
26:42come into this business, don't think you can get and hit it once.
26:45You got to be ready to keep your mental game up.
26:47So frankly, that was the hardest part because they're not, they're not thinking about whether
26:53you are tired or sick that day.
26:55And yet you need to take care of yourself.
26:57It was very brutal then.
26:59Now there's talking about wellness and all that.
27:00But back in the day, you ain't talking about no wellness.
27:03You showed up like this.
27:07And when you got to stage, you walked like this.
27:11True.
27:11That's not right, but it's true.
27:12True.
27:14All right.
27:14What was the question?
27:15The hardest part?
27:17The best thing.
27:17What was your favorite part and what was the hardest part?
27:19First of all, you mentioned Eartha Kitt.
27:21I want to just let everybody know that Eartha Kitt, you know I've done this before.
27:24Eartha Kitt showed up to set wearing a little track suit, a turban, two sets of lashes.
27:31Bam!
27:31Bam!
27:33And wrist weights and ankle weights.
27:35And I asked her, Ms. Kitt, why are you wearing wrist weights and ankle weights?
27:39And she said, that way I'm always exercising.
27:41Even if I'm just walking, I'm exercising.
27:45Old diva.
27:46Old diva.
27:47True story.
27:49All right.
27:49So the best part was getting to know these amazing souls.
27:53Like I said from the first day, not only did I feel it, I enjoyed the synergy that the six of us had.
28:00We got along very quickly.
28:02The chemistry that you see is real.
28:05The magic that you feel is real.
28:07So going to work and play every day with these souls was amazing, right?
28:12The most difficult part was when the show got canceled.
28:16And you sort of get dropped off the 17th floor of going to work every day and getting free food.
28:24And getting your hair and makeup done.
28:27And playing with these talented souls.
28:29It was very difficult to leave the show.
28:31And for me, the pain didn't come at the beginning of the show.
28:34It came at the end because I, I just told you about the residual checks.
28:39I shopped all of that money away because I didn't feel that I deserved to have this anymore.
28:46And so I shopped and the visa was calling me and discover was calling.
28:49You will discover I can't afford to pay you, sir.
28:52So the difficult was the drop afterward.
28:55I didn't prepare myself for the dry moments, for the dark moments.
29:00And so I would say that anyone in any business, anything that you start, for my entrepreneurs in the house, where are my entrepreneurs?
29:07Right?
29:08Whatever it is, prepare yourself for the moments that are this.
29:12You know, for every stage that you will go through, prepare for it so that you are, you're armored.
29:19You're all, you're locked in and ready to go.
29:21Because it's going to come.
29:22The ups and downs are going to come.
29:23By the way, we have to say that we were the number one show in black and Latina households for the entire time.
29:31And even though we got canceled, one of the best things I say is you.
29:35It's because of you.
29:37It's because of what you did and Tom Joyner, who started a letter campaign.
29:42This is before social media.
29:43There was no social media.
29:44That was just you.
29:45You had to write a letter.
29:46And that's what happened.
29:47The black community came in and our Latino community came in and our fans came in of all different colors.
29:52And they said, give them another season.
29:55They gave us a half season.
29:56And we can talk more about why those things matter.
29:58But the truth is, we're doing this because our, Kim, you'd like to call them our friend, our fans, our friends.
30:04Our friends.
30:05Demanded.
30:06And we think we can give you something that's entertaining and fun, but also that you can keep in your heart.
30:12And hopefully will be something that will, I don't know, be part of your journey and leave you better than when we found you because you left us always better than we have.
30:22And thank you so much.
30:24Remind me your name again.
30:25Emmanuel.
30:26Thank you, Emmanuel.
30:28Is that it, Amber?
30:28You're going to get up hard?
30:29That is it.
30:30That's it.
30:30That was enough time.
30:32I want to stay.
30:33I'm going to stay.
30:33Okay.
30:34So you got to catch us every Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
30:38You can follow us at Reliving Single.
30:41There's a photo happening at the same time.
30:43Go ahead.
30:43Read the stats, girl.
30:44Go.
30:45Get it.
30:45At Reliving Single Podcast.
30:47Reliving Single Podcast.
30:48And it's a vodcast, so it's a video podcast.
30:51And we look good, so come look at us.
30:53You look damn good.
30:54Please take out your phone now and subscribe.
30:55Take out your phone.
30:56Subscribe right now.
30:58Like I said, data matters.
30:59Oh, here they come.
31:00This is a data thing.
31:02So we need to see that.
31:04Follows and likes go, and we need to see you watch Hi, Sweetheart.
31:07Hey, Siki.
31:09We did a movie.
31:10It's coming out.
31:10Anyway.
31:11Let's give this side some love.
31:13Yes, let's get over here.
31:14And we're going to go give y'all some love.
31:14Thank you all so much.
31:16If you got a question.
31:16Woo, woo, woo.
31:17If you got a question for us.
31:21Woo, woo, woo.
31:22If you got a question for us, send it to RelivingSingle at Heartbeat.com.
31:28And we just might read it on the show.
31:30You can also record one of those on the cards, on the screen.
31:33Yeah, okay.
31:34And listen.
31:34I'm making her do all the work.
31:35I'm just posing.
31:36Go ahead.
31:36Yeah.
31:37No, no.
31:37Go ahead.
31:38No, no.
31:38Do all the work.
31:40What the hell is that?
31:42She's made some new friends.
31:43Oh, my God.
31:43You look so good.
31:44Oh, my God.
31:45You crazy.
31:46That's my niece.
31:48Oh, my God.
31:49Yes.
31:49Lord, I didn't even.
31:51That's Tanisha.
31:53Okay.
31:54That's all right.
31:55Listen, we'll talk later.
31:56We love you.
31:57Thank you all so much.
31:57Take care.
31:58Get on your phone.
32:00Subscribe now.
32:01I'm not kidding.
32:02That's what we need.
32:03They're playing us all.
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