Video After The Jump
In this episode of "People's Party With Talib Kweli," Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with with actress, comedian, writer and editor:
CHAUNTÉ WAYANS
Here's what we got into:
• Collaborating with Jasmin on episodes of truTV's 'Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks'.
• Perceived rules and judgements of how lesbians should look and act.
• Coming up as a "poor" Wayans and her mother's early struggles.
• Her recent reconnection with her father after several decades of not seeing him.
• Having no ambitions of a comedy career until she found the voice that it gave her.
• Dealing with the pressures of being a Wayans and confirming to industry norms.
• Talib not being a drinker until he became a performing emcee.
• Her grandmother Elvira Wayans always being the funniest of the family.
• Fond memories of witnessing the early evolution of her family's success.
• People's reactions to her working day jobs at Lids and Macy's.
• Her uncle Marlon getting on her case for refusing to go on the road with him.
• Valuable advice given to Talib's daughter Diani on her career path.
• Jasmin giving love to Chaunté for the opportunities she provided.
• 'Dance Flick' being a torch passing to the next generation of the Wayans family.
• Chaunté's dabbling in the rap game with her parody music video 'Get The Strap'.
• Discussing the elements of the rapper-comedian connection.
• Utilizing the pain and passion from losing two of her closest friends.
• How the struggles of being a gay, black woman made her strong.
• Chaunté's take on the controversy following Dave Chappelle's 'The Closer.'
• Facing the consequences of taking principled stands when refusing vaccinations.
• The impact of her appearance on the Netflix comedy special 'They Ready'.
• The naming of her 'House Arrest' podcast.
• Success coming way of learning how to change negative patterns.
• The awakening during a pivotal moment when she knew she had to stop drinking.
• What's next for Chaunté Wayans.
TIME STAMPS:
3:22 -- Chaunté and Jasmin try and trace back to where they originally met each other, discuss the first time they collaborated while recording episodes of truTV's 'Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks' and talk about Jasmin's acting debut when she got the chance to get "studded out", portraying Chaunté in one of the sketches. They also talk about Jasmin's "bargain shopping" way to having her own baby, all the questions that poured in afterwards and people's perceived rules and judgements of how lesbians should behave and live their lives.
10:10 -- Chaunté's is asked about her early upbringing in Manhattan's Fulton housing projects. They discuss her mother's early struggles of working two to three jobs with her family moving frequently and a few perks that came along when her uncles started gaining some comedic success. They also talk about Chaunté's recent reconnection with her father after several decades of not seeing him and how the time spent with him became a big part of her breakthrough to overcoming her struggles with alcoholism.
15:21 -- Chaunté gets into her having no real ambitions of making a career out of comedy growing up, but instead having interest in the tech industry. She explains how things changed when she was forced to move to California where should found comedy gave her a voice when she was just coming out as gay. They explore how her being pushed to conform to industry norms and the pressure to achieve success as someone from the Wayans family led to a downward spiral of alcohol abuse. Talib also talks about how he never really was a drinker until he joined the ranks of the rap game and the drinking culture that came along with it.
20:01 -- Chaunté speaks about her grandmother Elvira Wayans always being the funniest of the whole family and how she would never hold her tongue for anyone. Chaunté gets into how growing up as a Wayans was a blessing as well as a curse and her having especially fond memories of witnessing the early evolution of her uncles and aunts becoming comedy legends. Chaunté also goes on to talk about people's reactions to her being a Wayans family comic working day jobs at Lids and Macy's.
25:25 -- Jasmin brings up Chaunté's jokes about being a Postmates driver. They go on to discuss the opportunities that came with growing up under the Wayans family tree, her family dynamic and all those interactions giving her an endless amount of material and some arguments while living with her brother Marlon when he got on her case about refusing to go on the road with him. They also discuss the idea of family being expected to put others on and the Wayans fam being a prime example of true black American royalty.
29:27 -- Chaunté gives Talib's daughter Diani some valuable advice about using her unique opportunity to learn production from behind the scenes and they discuss Chaunté's path from doing production to becoming a comedian. Jasmin also thanks Chaunté for having her on the 'House Arrest Podcast' and bringing her the opportunity to perform in a New York club. Talib goes on to bring up his old school friend Damien Dante Wayans, how they used to party often during Talib's stay in LA and they talk about Damien's directing of the 2009 film 'Dance Flick' being a torch passing to the next generation of the Wayans family.
33:24 -- Chaunté's dabbling in the rap game with her parody music video 'Get The Strap' is brought up. They go on to talk about the elements of the rapper-comedian connection as well as some differences. They discuss rapper's and comedian's unshakable confidence, both having to perform through whatever tribulations they may have in life, comedians being forced to always bring new material to their fans while rappers are encouraged to play their hits as well as how both comedians and emcees always have their minds on the set-up and punchlines.
40:35 -- Jasmin brings up how she wasn't able to finish a performance after she found out a good friend of hers had passed away and goes on to ask Talib and Chaunté how they have found the strength to go on while dealing with internal issues. They discuss rappers benefitting from not usually having to shed personal stories on stage, Talib forgetting lyrics to his own songs on stage after not performing for a year due to covid and Chaunté using her pain and passion from losing two of her closest friends to successfully pitch a show to producers.
46:29 -- Chaunté is asked how her unique perspective of being triple marginalized as a gay, black woman impacted her comedy. Chaunté talks about each of those individual struggles making her strong and how she fully embraces those hardships. Dave Chappelle's Netflix special 'The Closer' is brought up and Chaunté is asked for her take on all the controversy. She proposes one idea to fix the whole thing, Jasmin raises one of her biggest problems with how the LGBTQ activist community operates and they discuss the importance of comedians speaking their truth to avoid losing their passion.
52:43 -- The debate about the covid vaccination mandates is brought up. They discuss how so many are now coming face to face with the reality that taking principled stands on things they believe in usually has real consequences. Chaunté's friend comedian Tiffany Haddish is discussed along with Chaunté's appearance on the Netflix comedy special 'They Ready' only briefly catapulting her career with poor timing due to it's release right before covid hit. Talib also brings up the good times hanging with her uncle Marlon and his being part of the 'Midnight Miracle' podcast ad.
59:18 -- Chaunté is asked about the naming of her 'House Arrest' podcast. They go on to discuss Chaunté's mentioning of how everything that is happening to her now is a result of her learning how to change her patterns, her taking a valuable lesson from studying the practice of dianetics, Talib changing patterns in his own life and the awakening during a pivotal moment in Chaunté's life where she knew she had to put a stop to her self-destructive ways. Finally Jasmin asks Chaunté what she has on the horizon.
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