Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard. I'm joined by Lily Padman. And today we have Lena Waithe. Oh, I love Lena Waithe.
Chapter 2: How does Lena Waithe describe her childhood influences?
She's an actor, a producer, and a screenwriter. She created The Shy. She was on Master of None. We loved that show. Yes. Queen and Slim, Boomerang, Them. This is the final season of The Chi, now streaming on Paramount+. You know, Lena, you're going to really fall in love with her if you've never heard her chat. She's just as sweet and wonderful as it gets. That's right. Yeah.
Please enjoy Lena Waithe. He's an object's man. Bye. Bye. Holy options. No, no. You were great. Were you offered enough options? Because look how many I have. I know. That's how I usually am.
That's how I usually am.
Oh, because you brought her a cream top and she was like, I'm not fucking with that much dairy.
I don't drink coffee. You don't drink coffee? What about tea? Sometimes.
Is it caffeine in general you don't get down with? I don't know if I need any kind of caffeine. He's already like, you're talking to the wrong guy.
Caffeine, caffeine, caffeine, caffeine.
Well, he doesn't need it, but he drinks it.
I can't do it. Yeah, I don't want to be dependent.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Lena face in her early career?
I was like, oh, yes, definitely.
And it's true. Yeah. Well, we're all addicted to something. Our vices sometimes look different. And some are more socially acceptable than others. You know, it's like cheating is a vice. Being unfaithful, I think, can be a vice.
We'd say that's low acceptance, right? Yeah, we would agree. Correct. Universally reviled, universally practiced. Estelle. Esther. Esther Perel. Esther Perel. I fucked it up on both sides. You brought her all together. I made her a one name artist.
You're like, look, let me glob you here.
Let me make you worldwide.
I got you. But also it's like shopping is a vice. Socially acceptable. Social media is a vice. Absolutely. But socially acceptable in a way. Because the funny thing is people are on their phones posting on social why you shouldn't be on social. And folks are watching it like, yeah, but I'm getting this message on the very thing you're telling me to get off of.
We had the CEO of Instagram on.
First of all, Liv. Liv. Who's my guy with the glasses who always sending the thing about the updates and stuff? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's our guy, Adam Mosseri.
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Chapter 4: How does Lena Waithe view aging and identity?
Mrs. Tarbunis. Yeah, Larry LeClaire. Come on. Yeah. When they tell you you're a good writer.
You're like, okay. I think what we say is so powerful. The power of the tongue is real.
Yeah. And I just need to always, any opportunity, give any little kid that thing.
Yeah, because they'll remember it. It stays with them.
Both ways. Whether you're told you're not good at something or you are good.
Yeah.
It just sticks.
For sure. So, no, I was really grateful to have that. But also, obviously, loved watching television as a young person. I used to watch old TV because I had the grandma in the house. So we was watching, like, all in the family. Yeah, her shows.
Oh, yeah, she was like, we're going to watch what I want. I did that too with my grandma, yeah.
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Chapter 5: What valuable experiences does Lena share with her mentorship program?
And that is invaluable and worth more than any amount of money you could have made.
Absolutely. Where I do that because I have this mentorship program where there's writers, there's actors, there's people who want to be execs. And I get on Zooms with them once a month and they can ask me whatever they want. We have these lovely private conversations. And I think that's where I realized, oh, that's where I can show up and be real. Because also it's that element, too, of...
Being supportive and encouraging, but also being grounded and being realistic. And I think that is the path you're walking with your kid. Maybe for me as a mentor, which I've become and I try to do that, it's still a responsibility.
Chapter 6: How does Lena view the responsibilities of parenting?
But I think you're doing, I always say parents are doing God's work because it's a different kind of responsibility that you have. This is a person that... is a reflection of you, but also you want to make sure that they aren't a carbon copy of you. So it's like, you got to give her guidance, but also make sure she has a space to become more of herself.
Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. The thing you fight the most as a parent constantly is they are their own thing. It's all you're doing. Like you're trying your hardest.
But think about how many parents don't do that. There's so many parents whose children are really doing the thing that parents want them to do.
Chapter 7: What insights does Lena offer about personal happiness in relationships?
It's very natural and gratifying to see yourself in other things. We search for that. And that's how we bond. And it's great. Invariably, you do that. You see all these things that are similar to yourself in it. And it's very gratifying. But then you have to go like, and that's 10% of them. I might miss the other 90%. It's not like me at all because I'm not looking for it.
Chapter 8: What are the key themes in Lena's upcoming projects?
Right. You got to remind yourself to constantly look for it. Back to the baby thing. So what happened to me was, A, I've always wanted kids. So that's standard. But also I had a friend who had a daughter who I just fell in love with. I'd take her trick or treating. She'd ride on my shoulders. And I just constantly was like, if I don't get a Madeline before I die, I'm going to.
You're built for it. I'm built for it. But Delta, fuck you up a little bit.
Oh, yeah. No, that's not the problem. No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because then I'll meet kids and I'm like, oh, can my kids be cool and chill? Yeah, of course they will. But then the jerky part is, though, they're going to have moments of not being chill, not being cool, like upset. It's just a lot going on. There is a lot. You know, I'm just like, how much do I have?
I got responsibility for myself, my community, my work. And you feel fulfilled. I do. Yeah. I'm whole. Yes. And I do think it can be very societal. I think sometimes people say, oh, why do you want to have kids? Oh, you know, on that age, I can finally afford it. Or it's that time.
And although now there's so many every other week, there's an article in New York Times about people can't afford to have the children now. So they're deciding not to for certain reasons or people don't like the world they may bring them into. But for me, it's more of an internal thing about what do I actually have the mental capacity for?
What I also think about is at the end of a long day, what do I want to do with myself? And I think the first thing is to not take care of someone else. Yeah. Yeah.
That's fair.
Because it's a different kind of thing that you're doing. Because also anything could happen with kids. Like they fall, break something. That's so scary.
They sick. Can I hit you with something? Go ahead. No, I'm trying to convince you to. No, no, no, no. Go for it. But I'm just, I just want to point out a lot of these counterintuitive things. Yeah. You might be shocked to learn or find out or experience that taking care of them is taking care of yourself in a way that was unimaginable.
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