Chapter 1: What experiences shaped Rickey Smiley's journey?
You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are back with another exciting episode of Make Unplugged. And today is going to be one of the most personal episodes that I've had because I'm talking with a guy that you all know, but he changed my life and he didn't even know it. There was a moment in college where I wanted to give up. And Ricky Smiley changed my life.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the legend, the GOAT, Mr. Ricky Smiley.
Man, thank you for having me, man. Appreciate that, bro.
Thank you. Excuse the left hand, but I really appreciate you having me. No, I'm honored to be here, man. And I'm going to go straight to this point. Yeah. You know, Ricky, we go to college. We graduate and everybody think life is good, right? Like you did the thing, you went to college, you graduated. Now the world is about to open up to you. But the reality is, man, that wasn't happening for me.
I saw all my friends struggling to get jobs and I'm 22. Like, man, if I go back home, it's going to be over. Like I can't go back home, right? Like I can't go to college and then come back home and do what everybody else back home is doing. Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How does Rickey Smiley emphasize parenting principles?
And there were nights, man, where, like I said in the intro, I just wanted to give up.
Mm-hmm.
And I would go back and watch Comic View. I would listen to the prank call tapes. You just never know when you need that thing. And then I started studying Ricky Smiley, the man, not the comedian, but the man and the father. And that changed my whole outlook on who I was supposed to be. I realized... I always knew I was supposed to be something, but I never knew that I could see it. Yeah.
You allowed me to see it by studying your path, your journey that we have a lot of similarities in, and then watching you just mature into Ricky Smiley, man. I'm proud of it for you, but I needed it for me. I needed to see that somebody look like me can go through life and be that. So I thank you, brother.
No, man, thank you for having me. And, you know, a lot of people talk about those Comic View days. A lot of people that I meet say, hey, man, I was up watching Comic View when I was supposed to have been asleep, supposed to have been in the bed. I used to get in trouble for staying up late watching Comic View. Yes. So, yeah, it's definitely a BET Comic View.
It's definitely a historical institution for comedians. It was my first job. You know, my first job in entertainment, you know, was BET, working for BET. So, grateful for that opportunity. And I'm glad between that and the prank phone calls, you know, gave you some hope and I hope that it put some smiles on your face.
You needed it. When you go through... I don't want to call it despair. I was just I was trying to figure out who I was supposed to be. And it was internal conflict. And the laughter just helped me realize, like, hey, man, everything's all right. Like you're able to laugh. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: Why is seeking help important for men dealing with grief?
You're able to put two feet on the ground and walk wherever you want to go. Like people don't get to enjoy that.
Yeah.
And then, like I said, I started to study you and I was like, all right. It's OK. Like there is a path to make just good things happen. And you can come from a Christian home. And like I was raised like you were raised and you know how to do the right things. And when you get pulled certain directions, like, you know where your center is.
And I was proud of you because you were a person that publicly were OK talking about your faith at a young age. You were OK talking about your upbringing at a young age. And I didn't have that conflict anymore. And I needed that from you.
Yeah. Well, you know, that's my job, you know, is, you know, to, you know, to give people hope, to be a mentor, you know, to try to walk the best path that I can walk, try to do things the right way and hope that somebody see it and learn from it, you know, because, you know, like.
yourself and myself we had mentors as well uh that we loved and respected and kind of gave us something to aim to you know to reach for yeah or whatever so yeah you know shout out to my mentors and my grandparents and my parents and my teachers yeah especially teachers in middle school and high school when your real development happened you know so uh Shout out to them.
I'm from the South Birmingham, Alabama, old-fashioned home training where those teachers and instructors will tell you to sit up straight, don't chew with your mouth, open table manners, wash your face, brush your teeth, sit up straight, may I. It's a lot of little things as far as Ricky Smiley's the man and the development of that, where that came from. Yeah.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: How can helping others impact your own peace?
And I'm so proud of it, man, because you've been that mentor for me as I got older. I had kids or I adopted my kids. But understanding what it's like to be a father. Again, you got to do a lot of things publicly. Right. And you do so much privately. And we'll talk about that later, too, that people don't realize. But.
But, you know, growing up in that era or raising kids in the era where it's like you can't discipline your kids, you know, you can't do these things. And I'm watching Ricky Smiley like I'm raising my kids the way that they're supposed to be raised. Right. And I love that authenticity of you.
And like, when did I'm not going to say when did you know, but like what made you say you're committed to being Ricky Smiley and you're going to do it your way with kids? child raising and all that.
The problem in today's society, everything that's right is now wrong. And everything that's wrong is now right. And I'm just trying to, I think that what my grandparents and my parents did for me, it worked for me. It was critical to my development. And if it worked for me, it should work for my kids because it still works.
Yeah.
Discipline and structure and teaching kids, children respect and teaching them, you know, to be humble and respectful and stuff. It still works. Yeah. You know, everybody so sensitive nowadays and everything is all, all, all. Don't hurt. That might hurt our feelings. Right. All. It ain't no all. Get down. Don't do that again. Right. That didn't kill them.
That didn't kill my granddaughter to tell her to get down and don't do it again. Do you understand? That's it. Yeah. That's not no, that's not abuse. Telling her to get down. I don't have to negotiate her getting down.
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Chapter 5: What role does faith play in Rickey's life?
Yeah. Get down. Yeah. I'm your grandpa or I'm your dad. Get down. And that's the end of it. You'll be fine. If it hurts your feelings, it's fine. Because the world is going to really hurt your feelings when you get out here and meet some of the people. So, you know, I just tell them what it is. Like my grandparents told me it didn't kill me. And so it's not going to kill them. Right.
I'm not compromising. I'm not. Get down. If you get down, I'll give you a cookie. If you get down, I'll give you a juice. I'm not giving you nothing. It's not a negotiation. Get down. Right.
Period. Right. And that's it. And isn't it crazy? Like we knew as kids, like, I think parents forget kids know right and wrong. They do. They know right and wrong.
Chapter 6: How does Rickey Smiley handle the pressures of public life?
They're just testing your limits on what are you going to allow them to do. And you set that standard for your children. Again, that's why I appreciate you because it allowed me when my kids were, you know, preteen to teen to say, I'm going to talk to you like an adult. But I'm still your father. Right.
Right.
And I'm Ricky's mom. I'm not going to repeat myself if I say it once. It's been said.
Yeah, I think sometimes we get caught up in trying to give kids what we did not have as opposed to giving them what we had. Right. That's the key to success for your child. If you like who you are, then give the kids what you had. as opposed to what you didn't have.
Now, the cleaned up version in the, we watched, uh, Ayanna Van Zandt fix my life and Dr. Phil, uh, with a little bit of psychology mixed in there and say, Hey, okay, I can, you can tweak some things, but that basic foundation, you know, um, We went to church and we're going to be sitting here for an hour and a half, hour, 45 minutes, sit down, be quiet, be still.
No, they don't have children's church. You don't have to be entertained all the time. You have to learn to sit down and be quiet and be still like we had to do at church. And no, you're not getting an iPad. We're not taking an iPad. in the church as a pacifier, not going to have an iPad all the time in the car.
As a matter of fact, I don't have an iPad in the car because half of these kids can't tell you how to get home. Nope. Because they're so focused and so busy looking in the iPad. They can't point to anybody. Hey, turn, make a left, turn right there. Stop at that stop sign. Go straight. Third house, right? Like none of any of that. Yeah. So, uh,
I try to give my children and grandchildren a lot of what I had as opposed to what I didn't have. The same manners and home training and discipline and structure that I got and I received, I give to them. And I hope that it make them, uh, respectful adults.
Yeah.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Rickey offer about mental health and therapy?
Yeah. So I'm going to get to this amazing bestselling book in one second, but I usually start my show by asking my guests, uh, What's your because? And because I've read this book four times, like I feel it in there. But I classify your because is that thing that's deeper than your why. Right. Like to me, your why is superficial. People talk about all the time. I got to find my why.
Well, you know what your why is. It's the reason that makes them or that thing your why. Mm hmm. That's really important. So if I were to say, what's your why? And then I say, but why is it your why? Why is it important? That sentence starts with, well, because I care about that because that tells me who you are. So if I were to say, Ricky, 2026, man, what's your because?
Why do you continue to do all the amazing things that you do for communities, for children, mentoring other people? Like, what's your because?
Uh, you know, uh I do it because I love what I do. You know, I love to help people. I hope that I would change somebody's life. I hope that I was able to make somebody's life better. Uh, I wake up just to do that. You know, um, it's a responsibility. It's something that you have to do. It's something, it's my life.
It's what I, it's who I am, you know, giving and helping and mentoring is who I am as a person. Yeah. And, uh, you know, uh, Our job is to bless people and to help people. Help people, bless people, mentor people, because life is not just about you. That's right. People did not make everything about them.
Our grandparents and parents and great uncles and teachers, they made personal sacrifices so we could have what we have. And you just have to pay it forward. And that's why you live.
Yeah.
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Chapter 8: What future projects and aspirations does Rickey Smiley have?
You know, wake up every day to serve God and to do God's work. You know, start out my morning show with praise break. You know, the first 14 minutes of the show is just giving God the praise. And, you know, a lot of times God puts you in certain positions so he can see what you're going to do with it and so he can see if he can trust you.
Mm-hmm.
And I told God a long time ago, hey, if you get me out of this rut right here, I promise you I'll serve you to the day I die and try to make somebody's life better because of the things that you blessed me with.
Yeah, yeah.
But we have to also understand that... everybody that you bless is not going to appreciate it. And that comes with the territory. That's the dark side of it.
So at this age or whatever, I'm starting to realize a good balance between good people and appreciative people and bad people and not so appreciative people and how to navigate through that and find people to help and mentor and love and bless that actually appreciate what you're trying to do for them. And it's really hard. Yeah.
Yeah. You didn't, I needed to hear that. Yeah. I needed that. Um, I needed that so much, man, because you're right. Like you never understand people's intention because you feel like I'm talking about me. You just want to do good. You just want to do good. And even when you kind of feel like they don't appreciate it, you still want to feel good.
And now I'm starting to look at it because you just reminded me that, um, I could have gave that good intention somewhere else. Absolutely.
Man, when I tell you I got a text message, an entitled text message, like it was real entitled. And I sent them an itemized copy of everything that I'd done to help them. And send it to them and hit that block button. Because one thing I'm always do is protect my peace. You know, nobody on this earth have to do anything for you. Nobody. If anybody think enough of you and kind of...
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