01x03 - I Used to Just Think My Idea Tastes Good

[bunniefuu]

- A subject that I'm hearing
a lot about is reparations.

What are your feelings?

- I don't think about reparations.

I don't.

I don't give a f*ck
about anybody owing me sh*t.

I can do this sh*t.

- They've let the problem get so big now,

that it is complicated
in a sense of who should get paid.

And it is complicated
in a sense of who should pay.

- There's people who probably
have ancestors that were sl*ves,

who are, c-c-culturally,
not even Black anymore.

- In America,
you have had a, a level of reparations.

Jay-Z can go from selling,
uh, cocaine in Marcy Projects

to becoming a billionaire
and creating three other billionaires.

♪ upbeat music playing ♪

♪

[glass clinks]

MARC SPEARS:
Let's raise a glass.

ELAINE WELTEROTH: All right, y'all,
we gon' get into the juicy stuff.

♪ upbeat music playing ♪

- I have a great wine here for you.

It's a Zinfandel, and it's made
by Paula Harrell.

- All right.
- Paula Harrell is a personal friend

of mine from San Francisco.
- I love that.

- And she's known for Zin.

I'm gonna get this open for us.

And tell me more about, uh,
how you got into football.

SOLOMON THOMAS:
Football wasn't my first sport.

I actually grew up
moving around a little bit.

- Yeah.
- Was born in Chicago,

moved to Australia
for five years after that.

CHEF DAVID LAWRENCE:
Australia?

- Yeah, so, I was there
at the age of two, so--

- A Black man in Australia.
- Yeah.

- I've been there.

- There wasn't many of us.

But no, it was-- I mean,
it was an amazing experience

just growing up there.

Different culture. Different people.
- Yeah.

- Different types of food.

But football, it took me to Stanford,

Stanford took me to the NFL, and--

- So, now where are you playing football?

- So, I just finished, uh,
my sixth year with the New York Jets.

It was a fun year.

I was happy about it, yeah.
- Oh, that's wonderful.

- How do you manage
the a-- the authenticity,

the keeping true to yourself

while still being, like, a public figure
available for public consumption?

Like, Beyoncé has Sasha Fierce.

- I had a Sasha Fierce.
I actually had a alter ego.

I was going by a completely different name
when I was in the reality TV world.

So, I just felt like
it kind of made me feel safer

because I kind of was able
to create, like, a boundary.

ELAINE:
Yes.

- It's hard because you--
sometimes, you don't realize

that people who didn't grow up
with people like you,

they don't understand
where you're coming from

or your POV.

This is me that you're gonna get--
- Right.

- and this is me for my peace.
ELAINE: Yes.

- That's definitive.

The vision was always to be,

uh, the Bob Marley for Belize.

And, you know, the way
he touched the planet.

- Yeah.
- O-Obviously, I'm, I'm no Bob Marley,

um, you know, but I've had an impact,

I have a legacy.

And it was always
to try to use that currency

for the benefit of Belize.

- Like, there's a lot
of my life that's actually not

for public consumption, you know?

So, learning how
to create those boundaries

without feeling the pressure
to create a whole persona

is a real, like, careful balance.

- Yeah.

- Do you feel like
you've found that balance?

BRITTANY HALL:
I have a really good friend.

She was like, "There's a difference
between transparency and vulnerability."

- Ooh, break that down.
- And she-- Yeah.

She said, "Transparency is
showing the world what you do.

Vulnerability is showing
the world who I am."

- We're gonna have a great day.
We have a great menu set up.

- Sounds great.
I'm, I'm excited for this menu.
- You ready?

- Yeah.
- All right. Let's go say
hello to everybody.

Good talking to you.
- Thank you. Yeah, you as well.

♪ hip-hop music playing ♪

- Can we say a prayer?

- Absolutely.
- Yes!

- Praise.

- Dear God, thank you
for bringing us all together today.

Thank you for the hands
that have prepared this meal.

Thank you for this union. Amen.

ALL: Amen.
[crosstalk]

- Chef, what you got?

- What I've got for you
today is a burrata.

And we're gonna eat it with roasted beets.

Hope you enjoy.

ELAINE:
We got all these Black people here today.

You-You really had
to give us some burrata?

Where's the soul food at?

- They would go at your head
in the restaurant all the time

about, "Do you know how
to cook Black food?"

- Yeah, absolutely.

They would come to me and ask me,
"Do you know what soul food is?"

And I would sit them down.
I would say, "Let me try."

And I would show them,
and invariably, would always enjoy it.

- Well, you're West Indian, so.

CHEF DAVID:
And that's my point.

- Caribbean. You, you know about that.
CHEF DAVID: Caribbean.

And where it started off is in Africa.

And I think we all are part of soul food.

I think all--
Every single one of us around here.

- My only objection is, uh,
we don't have any hot sauce.

And Belize, uh, makes
the best hot sauce in the world.

- Better than Louisiana?

ELAINE: You don't bring--
You don't pack hot sauce in your bag?

DR. SHYNE BARROW:
That is one of my shortcomings.

[laughter]

- I was invited to James Beard House
as a chef of color

to come and cook there
for Black History Month.

And, you know,
soul food tastes really good,

but the presentation
cannot, not always be there.

I devised a dish

where I did cornbread
with foie gras on top of it

with an apple compote.

We presented our dishes.

Everybody had great dishes,

but no one had the training I had.

And everybody looked at it
and went, "Wow, that's a great dish."

The maître d' at the James Beard House
turned around to me,

and said to me,
"We should open a restaurant in New York."

- It's not Marie Sharp,
but, uh, it's better than Tabasco.

MARC:
Urban Meadow.

- Okay. Urban Meadow, yeah.

- Wait, do we have Mr. Louisiana
goin' head-to-head

with Mr. Belize over hot sauce?

Do we need to have a hot sauce w*r?
- The battle, the battle--

We gotta have a hot sauce-- I will win.
ELAINE: A hot sauce-off!

A hot sauce-off!
- We got two Louisiana people here.

- I will win, I'm tellin' you.

Marie Sharp is the best hot sauce.

- Marie Sharp?
DR. SHYNE: Marie Sharp.

- I'ma defer to our guest.

I'ma respect Belize today.

- I didn't grow up with spices,
and hot, and things like that.

- You're sugar.

- Yeah. I always lean to, like,
sweets more than spicy.

- Mm. You see me humming?

- I told you.
- She read me earlier.

We have two, like,
I-I don't know if I'm saying this right,

but essentially,
High Priestess at the table.

- Yes.

- Both of these women are very spiritual.

And I'll let y'all share
whatever you feel comfortable sharing,

but I will share that she gave
me a little human design reading--

BRITTANY: Mm-hm.
- before we got to this table.

And I learned something about myself.

She was listening to me listen to her,

and she was listening to me go,
"Hmm. Hmm."

Every-- Like, affirming what
felt true that you were saying,

and you were like,
"Oh, you're a generator."

And I'm like, "I'm a what?"
[laughter]

She said, "You're a generator,
and you hum when you hear the truth."

I was like.

And now, af-- every--
ever since she said that,

which is all of, like, 30 minutes ago,
I hear mys--

Now I'm hearing all my "hmms,"

and I'm like,
"Oh, my God, this is so annoying!"

Probably to everybody around me!
[laughter]

BRITTANY:
It's real.

- This is a question for the table,

but I'm especially curious
what you all think about this.

Do you believe that Black people
are inherently more spiritual

than other groups?

- I don't know
if I wanna say more spiritual,

but we are spiritual.

We just are.

- I-I agree with that.

- This is just the way
I've seen it in America,

where when people have a lot of money.

I think as, as you go up in wealth,

the level of belief goes down.

Uh, I'm not saying it has to be this way.

I just find that, like,
anyone who needs faith

usually leans towards faith.
- Hmm.

- And that's why I like how
you describe everything

because I used to just think
that my idea tastes good,

you know what I mean?

Like, I'd say something
and be like, "Mm!"

Be like, "Yes, that's right.
[laughter]

That's a delicious idea."

But also the way that you describe--

Because there's so much purpose
behind the way that you talk about it.

I've been at parties
where white girls are like,

"Oh, you know, I'm a Leo, so I steal."

[laughter]
That's, that can't be,
that can't be part of it.

You know what I mean?

- But I-I-I think as f--
as far as, uh, what you said

about the more wealth, the less belief,

um, it was actually,
uh, the opposite for me.

I-I became a millionaire
when I was 19 or 18 years old.

But, for me, that brought me closer

to the architect of the universe.

It gave me more belief

because in order for me
to accomplish what I accomplished,

it was so improbable,
not to just be alive,

but to thrive,
and to have my dreams come true

as far as wantin' to be a musician
and, and entertain the world,

that was an act
of, of divine intervention--

- Yeah.
- because my trajectory was just,

just wasn't supposed to go there.

I was supposed to be dead or in jail.

So, I hear what you're saying.

That may be the case
for, for other people,

but for me,
it, it actually brought me closer

to knowing that it's not
just me here on Earth.

There are forces that are, um,
you know, helping me along.

- With me, my faith journey's
been up and down.

Like, my grandpa was a Methodist pastor.

My mom and dad are very into the Word.

And I always was, like, close to God.

I always wanted to be
close to God and Jesus.

And, like, it really hasn't
mattered the money I've made,

it's really mattered
what I've gone through.

I lost a close friend
to a drowning incident in high school,

and that made me really close to God.

Then it was also
the opposite with my sister.

I lost my sister to suicide in 2018,

but that pushed me away from God.

But, to me, it hasn't
been about, like, my success.

It's been about the ups and downs,
the people I'm around.

But where I grew up with my faith,

I grew up in a-a white suburb
in-in Coppell, Texas.

And people, sometimes,
it was like a superficial faith.

"I'ma do this 'cause it looks good
and I can, like, kinda show it off."

And I didn't like that,
and that pushed me away.

But the business I'm around
in the, in the NFL locker room,

a lotta, like, people with a lotta money,

but there's a lotta faith
in the locker room.

- One thing I just wanna
put in perspective is,

I feel like,
and you made me think of this,

is when you said, you know,

what happened with your sister
made you push away from God.

And I feel like
what happens with a lot of us is,

we don't understand that our free will
has nothing to do with God.

A tree can only be a tree.
A rock can only be a rock.

We can be whatever we choose.

And when we don't like the outcome,

we get angry at God

because we have the illusion

that God was a part of that.
SOLOMON: Mm-hm.

- Does that make sense?
SOLOMON: Yeah.

- But do you believe that God
is absent from certain actions?

- I don't believe God is absent,

but I do believe God
gave us power and free will.

God gave us the power
to be nothing and everything.

- As a Christian,

and as somebody who is more devout--
- Yeah.

- are you triggered at all
when people start talking about,

like, human design, or psychic readings,
or mediums, or things like that?

Does it, does it make you uncomfortable?

- Throughout my journey,
I've, I've gotten into kinda all of it.

Like--
- Okay.

- Especially, like, I-I really
struggled after she died,

and I, like, needed
to feel her in some way.

And one way I do that is spiritually now,
whether I feel her in the wind,

or a butterfly comes up
and touches me, like, whatever it is.

Like, her favorite flower was a sunflower.

If I see sunflowers, like--
- I was look-- I was gonna ask you.

- Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, I have this tattoo for her.

Growin' up, I heard, like,
any other God's energy, spirit,

like, "Oh, that's-that's bad."

Like, and I don't, I don't
really believe that, so.

- Can I ask you a question?
- Yeah, of course.

- Do you ever... pray for someone
after you tackle them?

[all laugh]
Like, af-- Like, after you, like,

like, when you get 'em real good, right?

Do you take a minute to yourself
and be like, "Lord, I didn't mean to hit."

Are you like,
"Ooh, he got a family, too, Lord."

Just-- You know what I mean?
SOLOMON: Yeah.

♪ hip-hop music playing ♪

- Before us, we have the halibut.

It's an Alaskan halibut.

And so, it's succulent
when you cut into it.

And, uh, I paired it
with morels and asparagus.

Hope you enjoy.

- Smells good.

- A subject that's-- I'm hearing
a lot about is reparations.

I just wanted to put that out on the table
and find out what are your feelings?

- I think there are people
who want to dismiss history.

Things that are just historically fact,

and damages that have been inflicted
on, on people of color,

and they wanna
dismiss it and minimize it.

That, like, when you talk about "wokeism,"

you know, you couldn't eat
at a certain establishment

if you weren't white.

They used to lynch people,
and hang people,

and do all types of things
because of the color of your skin.

- And we're still getting
k*lled in the streets--

- Exactly. So, so--

But then-- But you-- There's a movement--
- in broad daylight with our hands up.

- to-to dismiss what has happened
and what continues to happen,

and that's why reparations is important.

So, reparations is just
not about the money.
- Yeah.

- It's about undoing that system

that has tried to destroy
A-African Americans,

and, and putting in place
a system that works for everyone,

not just for African Americans.

- You were incarcerated.

And now you're about to be prime minister.

- In terms of America,
I'm the American dream.

America loves a-a-a-a person
that has been knocked down--

MARC: Mm.
- and climb back to the mountain top.

- To be completely honest,
I don't think about reparations.

I don't.

I don't give a f*ck about
anybody owing me sh*t.

I can do this sh*t.

I'm doing this sh*t. Right?

And so, like, I don't think about it,

but that could be me being selfish

because I also have family, people,

Black-- like my ancestors who are like,
"No. No, n*gga, I need my reparations."

You know what I mean?

- I also think, though,
when we're talking about reparations,

it's so important to zoom out
of the individual experience

and speak about this systemically, like.
- Yeah.

ELAINE:
'Cause I feel you.

As an individual,
I have a very similar story.

- Yeah.
- But I think it's a dangerous
slippery slope

because it can sound to a lotta people
like a bootstrapper mentality.

BRITTANY: Mm-hm.
- And that bootstrapping strategy

does not work within a... construct

that systemically keeps Black people down.

- I feel like we have to break down
reparations to a point

where we're like,
"What exactly do we want?"

And it's gonna be,
ya know, based on location,

on where you're coming from

because, you know,
like, in the Caribbean, it's different,

in America, it's different,

in the UK, it's gonna be different.

And there's different reparations
to be given back in different places.

And specifically for America,

I feel like we still have
all these marginalized communities

that Black people have been pushed into,

the lack of job opportunities
that have come from those situations,

that's a lot to pay for.

And that's not something
money's gonna pay for,

that's not something
therapy's gonna pay for,

that's not something
anybody can really pay for.

But it's something
that we have to... make sure

doesn't get erased.

And I think that that's why it's important
to continuously have the conversation.

We can't change history,
but we can only rewrite a new history.

ELAINE:
I agree.

- It's tough because America
treats reparations as if it's this

insane concept that's
so deeply complicated

for a country that loves to sue.

[all laughing]

Like, we, like, we love to sue so much.
- That part!

- We know that damage
needs to be compensated for.

That's never really been the issue.

When sl*very officially ended,

it was the plantation owners
that were compensated.

And I think that they've let
the problem get so big now

that it is complicated
in a sense of who should get paid,

and it is complicated
in a sense of who should pay

because just like when
there's instance of police brutality

where people then settle,

y-- whether, you know,
in court, out of court, or whatever,

it's actually the taxpayer,
not the police union that pays that money.

So, you partially paid yourself back

for getting your a*s
whooped in the street.

- You know, growing up in, in England,

and... understanding that
the sl*ve owners were paid

up until 2015 to give up sl*very.

Did you realize that?

That was still, still being paid
in England up until 2015.

And so, the discussion
about reparations that's going on now

kinda makes me smile and laugh.

And not that people don't realize
that we had to pay for that,

and now we're asking for--
to be brought on the same level.

- I feel like even if they
give us reparations,

there's some kind of... trick to it.

That's how I feel 'cause I just don't--

- It ain't just a check.
BRITTANY: It's ain't just a check.

It's like, "Oh, we know this is gon'
cause some w*r, cause some chaos.

You know, make 'em wanna
k*ll each other over this money."

I worry about it doing
more damage than good.

- I feel like the further we move away,

it makes it harder and harder
to really make any decisions

because there's people who probably
have ancestors that were sl*ves

who are, c-c-culturally,
not even Black anymore.

- sh**t, they gon' come back and be like,

some white dude like,
"Hey, my grandmother!"

[laughter]
Oh, they gonna be Black all of a sudden.

- Yeah, but there's other models
where reparations were paid.

I hate the divisiveness
that I see within our own community,

debating from a scarcity mindset,
about who gets what,

and, "You're not entitled
to what I'm entitled to

because of my percentage of Blackness
versus your percentage of Blackness."

That's gonna keep us down.

And from where I sit,

I prioritize Black unity over everything.

- I don't have faith in the system.

But that does-- That's not stopping
me from honoring humanity.

And so, we have to be
grateful for people like you

who have the lane of being a politician,

but we have to also honor
the people who don't know that work.

- With the work that you're doing,

you need to hold the system accountable.

Dismissing the system,
and mistrusting the system,

and saying, you know, "I don't want
anything to do with the system,"

is why the system is not
functioning the way that it should.

Because those are the people
that can change society for the better.

- Problem is,
there's not enough of us in politics.

Personally, like, after the 2016 election,

I was like,
"I gotta get involved somehow."

I still don't know how do I make
a bigger difference in politics.

It's a lot.
- Help us!

- It feels like a lot sometimes, yeah.

- We can't have the mindset
that we can do anything,

but we can't do anything.

♪ hip-hop music playing ♪

- To end this wonderful
meal that we've had,

I've put together
a butterscotch crème brûlée

made with Caribbean sugar.

So, we brought some of the Caribbean here.

- Oh, there's Caribbean sugar?
CHEF DAVID: Oh, absolutely.

- And there's American sugar?
CHEF DAVID: Yeah, it was sugarcane.

ELAINE:
Just like there's, like,
Louisiana hot sauce

and Belize hot sauce.
CHEF DAVID: Yeah.

ELAINE:
Brittany, can I just run it back?

'Cause y-- I love what you were saying,

and I feel like so many people will relate
to what you said to Shyne.

You're grateful that he challenged you

because you realized
you never really had the opportunity

to think about
or talk about politics in this way.

So, you didn't even realize

kinda the trauma that you
have around the system.

- I don't spend my time sitting at home
talkin' to my friends about politics.

We talk about makin' money,
what we gon' manifest, how we gon' heal.

That's w-- You know what I mean?
That's what we talk about.

- While you're worried about money and,
and getting to where you need to get to,

which is totally respected,

they're passing legislations
and policies that are to your detriment,

that's gonna impact
that journey that you're on.

And so, there has to be
a duality in, in, in our lives

where we get to where we're going,

but we gonna pay attention
to these people that work for us.

- Like you said, after 2016,
was when I was like,

"Okay, I should probably pay attention
to who's drivin' the car."

You know what I mean?

And, and so, then I-I noticed how

many people go when
it's a presidential election,

how few people go when
it's, like, very local, you know?

Uh, sometimes even for mayor, right?

So, when I'm walkin' up,

there was a guy that was passing
as I was about to walk into, you know,

like, the high school gym
where you go vote and everything.

And the amount of "brothers" that you get

lets you know
the situation you're in, right?

So, I'm passing 'em, and it's, like,

one "Hey, brother"
is just another Black guy, right?

But "Hey, brother, hey, brother"
is usually, like, money.

And he hit me with like,
"Hey, brother, hey, brother,
hey, brother."

I was like, "That is a lot.
I don't know what that is."

Like, no one should,
no one should do that

unless they're your actual brother.

And he's like,
"Hey, brother, hey, brother, hey, brother.

I'm runnin' for city council.
I hope I can count on your vote."

I was like, "Geez!"

And that was, that was, like,
such a wake-up call right there

of, like, this, this person,
probably, is, is a great candidate,

but they don't have any funding,
they don't have any money.

They, they have to, like, camp out
outside of the voting, you know,

to, to let people know, "Hey, just so
you can put a name to the face.

I'm on the ballot,
but I couldn't afford any commercials."

Locally, you'll have four people
that are splitting the vote almost evenly

because so few people showed up

that now all four of them are divided
amongst, like, a few thousand votes.

So, literally,
that's when your vote counts

because it's, like, your vote could be
the difference by a whole percentage point

of someone getting in,
or someone getting the runoff--

- Did "Hey, brother, hey, brother" win?

- Uh, no, he did not. He, he did not.
I may have been one of four votes.

[all laughing]

- Shyne, how did you... take care
of your mental health

while you were incarcerated?

- Uh, praying.

My journey of prayer, and I, uh--
which preserved my mental health,

started in trying to survive Brooklyn.
- Yeah.

- I just didn't wanna die,
and, and I didn't wanna k*ll anybody.

- I didn't know much about mental health
before my sister died by suicide.

Like, I knew-- As a man,
I was taught, "Hey, be tough."

You know, "You can, you can push
through anything. Just work hard."

And so, that was kinda my mindset.

People talk about the stigma
of mental health and we're thrown into it.

And we're like, "Okay, people aren't
talking about it. We feel alone."

I finally saw my mom, went to therapy,

learned how to cope with my emotions,

learned how to express,

and learned how to, like, have,
like, certain ways to, to deal with them,

and to honor my grief and everything,
and it's been a journey.

It's, it's forever gonna be a journey.

- Mental health, like, really hit me
when I was, like, in high school.

SOLOMON: Mm-hm.
- Uh, there was a, a athlete I-I idolized.

His name was Ricky Berry.

And when I was a senior
in high school at a basketball camp,

I get this call
from one of the counselors,

and he was, like--
Ricky was the star with the Kings.

He made the all-rookie team.

So, he called me
and another camper from Sacramento,

and brought us in a room.

We thought we got in trouble.

Yeah, I'm tryin' not
to get choked up about it.

It was a-- one of his
old coaches pulled us aside,

and he said, "Hey, man,
uh, Ricky k*lled himself today."

Just tragic.

When I-I ended up gettin'
to read the letter that he wrote,

which I don't need to get into here.

I wanna remember Ricky,

and what I remembered from him.
- Mm-hm.

- Before I medically transitioned,

I w-- I had this mindset of just
being, like, super masked.

You w-- You ask me something

and I'm gonna give you
what I think you wanna hear.

But, like, there were times
where I was just, like,

destroying myself on the inside

because I didn't know how to process it.

I didn't know who to talk to.

And I didn't know where to go with it.

Years later, now that I'm livin' my life,

and I'm, ya know,
doin' me, I feel a lot better.

In reality, I feel like
I've just become more comfortable

saying how I feel even if it seems scary.

And, um, because of that,

I've learned to do checkups
on people I care about.

Just asking somebody how they're doing

can, literally, change
someone's entire course.
- Yeah... yeah.

I think people assume

that because you tell jokes
you're always happy.

That all comedians are always happy.

- It does make sense that people
think that comedians would be happy

'cause we're always makin' people laugh.

But that's a thing you're doing
for someone else.

It's like assuming your doctor is healthy.

[all laughing]

'Cause you're like,
"Oh, he supposed to know."

But then, every once in a while,
you'll have a doctor

and be like, "You don't look good."
You know what I mean?

Like, you'll go to a doctor
and be like, "Should we go together?"

You know what I mean? You know?

And so, it's one of those things
where it-it does seem like that.

But I think that being
around a lotta comedians,

I've seen them in-in lots of pain,

and-and comedy's
just sort of part of a process

to get that stuff out.

I think that with-with, uh,
comedians as well,

there's not as much
of a sense of community sometimes,

like, because it is
such a lone-wolf thing.

There's not that much
that's, like, sexy about comedy.

Like, when you were makin' music,

they were, they were tryin'
to get at you, you know what I mean?

Like-Like, they were like,
"Oh, my God, it's Shyne!" Right?

And then they see me after a show,
they're like, "That was very funny."

And I'm like,
[all laughing]

"All right. Cool. That-- Great."

- And same with him, right?

When they come off the football field.
- Yeah, same with football.

It's, like, there might be
a game where you didn't play,

but they're still like,
"Ooh, you look like you will play!

Can I, can I get--
You know, you wanna hang out sometime?"

[laughter]
- You ain't got groupies, dawg?

- Nah! Not at all!
MARC: Come on, man. That's a lie.

- The DMs are just for free tickets.

So, like, even the DMs they're like,
"Hey, let me holler at you.

"Love to bring my boyfriend
to one of your shows

'cause he loves you."

But, yeah, I think that's how you
end up getting these stories

of people who brought so much laughter,

brought so much joy,

and then, out of nowhere,

you find out they were
dealing with depression,

or they, they were
in a really bad place, you know?

- Sometimes it's also about,
like, undoing the toxic masculinity

that's sort of taught
to Black men growing up,

especially in America.

Like, it's something that
my father definitely had to go through.

He told me one thing
that he would never do to his children

is enforce this idea that men can't cry
and that men can't be affectionate.

And he's like--
'Cause these are things he was taught.

And he-he thought it was ridiculous.

- So, I was talking to a friend,
and I asked her,

I was like, "How many of your male friends
have cried in front of you or to you?"

And she responded like it was foreign.

Like, "Girl, what are you talkin' about?"

And within the past
three years of my life,

I have four male friends cry to me.

Breakdown. Boo-hoo. Sobbing.

It's an honor to say that.

And I feel like, just as people,
especially with Black men,

we have to listen.
- Right.

- And that's all they need.
- Yeah.

- Chef?

- Yes.

- You mentioned that you
have been opening up

to this idea of therapy.

You haven't quite made it there yet.

- No, I'm at the ledge.
ELAINE: You're at the ledge?

CHEF DAVID:
No one has kind of pushed me over yet,

but I would like to be pushed.

- Okay, well, can I appoint my--
CHEF DAVID: And I want a parachute.

I want a p-- I want
a pillow there when I land

to allow me to-to receive this.

- Our, uh, psychiatrist
is the Black barber.

- I've gotta agree with you.
I gotta agree.

- And the same is for women.

The Black hair salon is our therapy.

I grew up in a Black hair salon.

My aunt owns a Black hair salon,

and I watched these women
walk into this place

that protected and celebrated
their beauty in a world that did not.

And it was amazing just to see,
like, the sisterhood in that space.

But, wait, I wanna hear about
what goes down in the barbershop.

- Don't tell 'em everything, though.

- No, it's just--
It's, like, you get your 30 minutes,

and you feel like you're in a safe space
and you tell 'em everything.

So then, when another dude--
Solomon, you know this.

Another dude walk in, y--

"Don't even say hi to my barber
'til I'm done gettin' my hair cut," right?

- Like, "This is my time!"

- "This is my time.
This is my 30 minutes."

And it's like, [exhales]
"All right, I'm good.

And I feel good. I look good."

Y'all's stuff is different

'cause y'all there
for, like, two days, right?

- It's real.

♪ hip-hop music playing ♪

- We need your channels to be open.

We need the veil to be thin,

so that you can just read this man.

I'm very excited about this.
- If there's something to be read.

- Ooh. There's always
something to be read.

CHEF DAVID: Oh, there is?
- There is always a read.

- You know, speaking of water,
you know, while we were sitting here,

I was sort of, like, marinating
and kind of just throwing my eyes around.

- Yeah.
- And so, I have a question.

What is the significance
of, like, fish to you?

- As a kid fishin',
I always fell in, so I hated fishin'.

And I go fishin' as an adult,
I've been sick on a boat.

But I need to be near water.
I don't wanna be on it.

And during this period
that we've had with COVID,

I have taught myself to swim properly.

- No way!
- And I swim a minimum of a mile now.

And I've swam up to two miles.

- She said water,

and I wanted to ask you
about your shower rituals.

- Well, it's crazy.

I will, like, shower
three, four times a day.

- Your showers are very powerful.
- Not many people know about that,

but I love showers.

- Pray in your shower.
Water holds consciousness.

In the morning,
set your intentions for the day,

and then,
at the end of the day, wash it off.

- Wow. These are things
that are just secret to myself

and-and my wife.

And, uh, and, you know,
to-to have you read that

just by lookin' at me is amazin'.

Uh, I'm in shock.

Enough about me.
What about-- Let's point towards Josh.

- I gotta say,
you kept us laughing at the table.

Every time he kinda got
a little vulnerable, then a joke came.

Did you guys notice that?

- Yeah, easily.
- Do you, like, have really bad anxiety?

- It's, it's only bad, it's not horrible.

You know what I mean?

- When you first came in,
you were really quiet.

You know, I could tell
that you might not like to be alone

because you might, like, ruminate.

- Yeah, sure.
No, that-that's pretty spot on.

I definitely enjoy collaboration,
and talkin' to people, and everything.

- My number one advice for you is just

don't ever become your worst enemy.
- Mm-hm.

- And it's almost like spirit's
telling me to tell you, "Patience.

Things will blossom when they do."
JOSH JOHNSON: Mm-hm.

- "Don't rush it."

- Can I ask you a question?
- Yes.

- When you're doing a reading,

if someone, like, you look at him,
and he's a very tall man.

If you're doing a read
for a shorter man, is the read shorter?

[Chef David laughing]

Like, he's a paragraph,
would I be a sentence?

[all laughing]

- I actually am excited for his future.

- Yeah. Me too.
- I'm excited to see where you're headed.

I'm excited
'cause I can feel it, I can see it.

And I s-- I told him,
"You remind me of Donald Glover."

Not in the sense of... that person,

but more in the sense
of the energy that they put forth

and the competence in their skills.

JOSH:
Oh, I see. I-I appreciate that.

And I hope, one day,
I can grow a beard like him.

[all laughing]
'Cause he, he, like,

really pushes the hair.

Like, it's-it's very good.

♪ I'm Here Now by Classik playing ♪

♪ Roll up, hol' up, I'm here now ♪

♪ Roll up, hol' up, I'm here now ♪

♪ I'm here now, I'm here now ♪

♪ Roll up, hol' up, I'm here now ♪

♪ Roll up, hol' up, I'm here now ♪

♪ Roll up, hol' up, I'm here now ♪