W. Kamau Bell
speaker
1,269 appearances
5 recordings
5 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard 14 Oct
W. Kamau Bell’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Oct 2025 with 1.
Appearances
Well, often the thing that I've learned is that people in this situation, this happens to me a lot, have a speech they've prepared if I ever run into that guy. Yeah. I'm going to tell him, and they have it memorized. And if you just sit back and let them talk, they will eventually talk themselves out. They will get to the end of their speech and all you're gonna be like, yeah, I hear you.
And you know, the other time, you know what? So eventually I had to, so that happened. Next few months later, a few months later, I'm getting in the car, same thing, same driver. And he goes- Man, I got to talk to you. I saw you on CNN talking about Dave Chappelle and trans people. Why you got to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Uh-huh. I was like, I finally called the car company.
I was like, Hey man, I'm not trying to get anybody fired. I'm not trying to get anybody. I don't, I'm not, I'm not, but I just, I just need to not, not that guy. Yeah. Not, not his podcast. I've been a guest on his podcast twice. That's very funny.
Why aren't you mugging? Why aren't you rolling on the floor?
I think that the biggest thing I've done is like, don't feel like you're supposed to be places, like don't feel like, sort of like go where you're invited. You know what I mean? So CNN goes, do you want to do a show here? That doesn't make any sense. I'm a comedian. That's not gonna work. But let me go have that meeting. Oh, Bourdain's here. Oh, Morgan Spurlock's here. I like them. Oh, Lisa Lee.
Oh, they want me to da-da-da-da. Anybody alive? Go on. Lisa's still with us. Lisa's still with us, thank God. But yeah, so, but yeah, like, the idea of, like, I sort of, like, maybe I should have, like, moved to L.A.
and started auditioning for stuff, but I'm like, and the CNN show at the beginning especially wasn't, like, it was paying good money, but it wasn't, like, network TV money or anything. Yeah. So, like, it was, like, I was still having, I was still working outside of it, but, like,
So basically, if somebody's inviting you a place and you feel like you can do what you do there, don't question all the like, but is this the, but maybe I should. So there was a run where I was on the CNN crawl, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, and me. And it was like, nope. Nobody one of these things does not belong here, but like I figured out my way there.
And so I think for me like Following my nose has been the best thing to do instead of like saying like like free I I never moved to LA I should have moved to LA I have friends, you know, all my friends like for one. I mean based on looking back It's like well, no, I also knew that LA was not gonna be I was just like that's not gonna work for me I just knew and so
I sort of always knew that, like, I got to do it my way. And then if you're going to do it your way, then just expect it's going to take longer. Or it's going to be a different journey. Or it's not always going to make sense. And so I think even the bands I liked sort of taught me, like, all my favorite bands had careers that they achieved less than they should have. You know what I mean?
But they created great art. And so I feel like, well, look, you don't like Aerosmith. You know what I mean?
No, like if you're a big fan of like... Pearl Jam's a fine example where it's like they're still around and they're still vital and all that stuff. They're still packing stadiums. But like you don't know it unless you look for it. You have to be a fan. Yeah. But they're all paying their mortgages on their multiple houses every month. Yes. But like...
Like, you know, but like the bands I like, it's like they're they just go through a lot more. And so I'm like, then that's probably your path. Yeah. You know, so I think but having three kids, it's also like, all right, so I can't just go back to stand up and fool around with it. If I'm going to stand up, I got to start booking some gigs because I need to sort of like this has to generate income.
So, yeah.
And I also think that, like, I recognize being smart for a comedian doesn't mean you're actually smart. And we live in a time where a lot of comedians think they're actually smart. I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yep. And I think I've sort of got the point of, like, always understand that you're smart. It's like being good-looking for a comedian. Yeah. Like, what's his name? Matt Rife. Matt Rife, yeah. He's good-looking for a comedian. Yeah. 60-year-old Brad Pitt walks in the room, nobody's looking at Matt Rife.
You know, so I think that, like, the idea being that, like, we've got a whole generation of comedians who have been...
The internet has connected people in a way that black weirdos can find each other. I remember the first time somebody called me a blurd, I was like a black nerd. I was like, oh, is that what I've been all this time? I wish I had that when I was 12. I wish I had that word. Back then it was not, oh, now it's cool? And so I think that like...
my kids are able to define themselves, you know, they're mixed, so it's a little bit different, but they're still black, and they're able to define themselves as however they want to, and I sort of enjoy watching that.
Showing 981–1000 of 1,269 · page 50 of 64
← Previous
Next →