Mark Curry on 'Hangin with Mr Cooper', Richard Pryor, Michael Jordan, Oakland (Full Interview)

mark hurry yes legendary Bay Area comedy figure yes yes welcome to Vlad TV truly an honor it's truly an honor to be here been watching you for about a decade we used to sell your tapes bootleg in Oakland so unique interviews you used to do with the rappers can you the only one would do you know deep rappers yeah I try short 42 we saw all that so much respect Thank You Man thank you well ghetto pathway can steal your stuff when we see you okay I appreciate that thank you I appreciate the Cossacks well it's your first time here so let's go ahead and start in the beginning all right you're from Oakland yes Oakland California well part Oakland beside Oakland semi tired 73rd representing 700 we in this place 70/30 never thought we would do anything okay so you grew up in Oakland 70s 80s 70s were cool and then 80s things started to kind of go a bit haywire right right well if you look at the time lines really I started in the 60s 60 we never look at the time lines 60s I was born a slave because when I was born 19 then and think about it they didn't have a they didn't have voting my parents couldn't vote when I was born my parents couldn't vote yeah they didn't have the Civil Rights Act wasn't passed so when I was born I was just a nobody so we had the 60s like you said and I saw the 60s were a very important part of me because I you know it's kind of when I was a little kid growing up right did you get into the 70s yes in the 70s you were a kid mm-hmm you know seven eight nine years old early teens what were the seventies like in Oakland 70s like in Oakland was incredible because you had influence of so many characters so many different ideology so many thank you had two Black Panthers who were influential in my life because they were the first people gave me food they gave me food and free programs I remember giving food somebody when we weren't poor but somebody giving you a bag of food thank you very much I remember that those sugar pops from the and those little foods it was just one that we were poor it was a great gift we had two black Muslims they will come knock on the door say your white fish my mother my brother my brother you got to stop eating that pork my brother so we had the black Muslims over here my brother you got to stop listening to the white man dealing with the Black Muslim my brother you got to stop eating pork and then you know I was Catholic and I was like altar boy so I was in conflict you know I've been going to cop I was an altar boy and every day going to conflict that we have winos that's BC before crack we have wine those rhinos were different it was wise yeah they were slower they talk hey and they knew you very much slower well you know or whatever you know you know hey you know what you know whatever so and we had not only that we had ads going against us every ad was cool cigarettes was malt liquor and when I went to school I remember I had to pass one to like four liquor stores just to get to school so that's what the 70s was like okay I gotta say man you mentioned the the black Muslims my favorite fish sandwich in the world was the the Black Muslim bakery yes white fish the white fish man I still dream about that yeah you know what I'm talking about I know what I'm talking about yes and yes in baked yeah you some bet used in bed yeah right had a whole bunch woman it was literally the best fish sandwich exact ever and it was healthy my bra it was healthy on top it wasn't cooked in no saturated oils that you units this is white fish my brother yes yes then we get into the 80s Wow and then we get into the crack era yeah now did you know Felix Mitchell personally you know the first time that I ever got into a limousine Felix Mitchell let me sit in his limousine of the dock of the bay I was a young comic and I think I just won a competition something like that and feeling commissioner was sitting in the limousine I had never been in the lemon never you know I was in at that time I had a 67 Volkswagen and he said maybe you want to sit in there I said yeah yeah I'm at the center in here and just said in there so you know Felix Mitchell Felix Mitchell was 69 village and we were 7 attired so it's right there yeah right there okay what happened when crack first hit Oakland when crack first hit Oakland it was like a movie it was like an epidemic because you would see selective people suddenly that you knew that was straight suddenly getting weirder and weirder and stranger and stranger and so you saw the effect of of crack hit you didn't know what it was it was like suddenly these normal people suddenly all you knew it was nothing you can really do in the hood it was like you know oh it got me got them and you never know who we get and they're not only that that's when I started comedy in in 87 so here you you know before I even did comedy the crack epidemic wasn't so incredible that it was hit in our ways but then it was making dudes rich so here you the underlying you see people just walk you know regular people that you know on crack and then you see you know dudes getting money they're not the bad thing the death rate so many people goes kill mm-hmm was just incredible because it brought the violence brought the blood and the money brought you know a higher level of weaponry yeah people started using they 47 soozee soozee changed again hoozy change that's why you don't see no mo karate schools in Oakland easy yeah yeah and then like you said the millionaire's you know Felix Mitchell was the biggest figure yeah and you look at it in the black community you know I know people will scoff at this but he was a Idol he was somebody to look up to who was there I mean I think I did pretty well in my life as far as idols you know well you know but I looked up a Felix Mitchell yeah cars here who else was there and then no sports figure was there you know my father was a working man but I didn't have no who was out to look at in that hood you know and that's true and I made it pretty well but he was somebody we look here at the cars he had everything oh yeah be when he died he had a procession of like 20 rolls-royce limousines and horses oh you were there you saw if you know of course I was at how crazy was it that was it was incredible it was something we had never seen we're never seen Rolls Royce we had never seen a carriage we had never seen you know it was just an amazing situation I'm not glorifying it when it was just some of course we went we were from that hood we had to go look hey did you yourself get mixed up into the drug game at all are you clear you know the Lord blessed me and gave me the path and I didn't I didn't have to do it you know great I don't have to do it which is you know which is great you might not be here right now I might not be here right now yeah definitely definitely definitely you know I ought to be good at it I'd be good at it what you're good at it they tried to kill my wife I was dissing Bo Denzel let me you have enemy but successful with their success Tucker shatters you would you rather be honest that's why I have no friends well then with the Felix Mitchell passing Lil D took over do you know a little D back then Lodi yeah of course jewelry he was a he was a legend it was a legend yep he was a legend and we know lordy what BMW's he had 320 here BMW when it was an AC Transit right he would give parties at the turf the turf said a party it was incredible incredible you had never seen nothing like that it was opulent it was incredible yeah he did he was incredible we knew lordy he was real cool you know I was a comedian I was a buddy comedian and a knob from him was like yeah you know and I said to look that you deliver me back then he said yeah you know lordy remember I was a he he was a heard celebrity yep he was a heard celebrity he's that he was one you want to get you know that who else he would he was big he was he would be again yeah I just interviewed him but at one point you were known as the crack king of Auckland yes uh now at that at that age 18 19 20 years old when when you know you were doing this did you have did you ever sit back and say man I'm making millions of dollars but I can't ignore the fact that I'm destroying these communities you know you have these mothers and grandmothers and children and these crack babies and you know these neighborhoods when I was a kid you know when you were a kid were nice neighborhoods suddenly were just war-torn yeah you know and along with the crack you know even though your personal operation may not have been violent but crack brought an incredible amount of violence you know for example you know when I interviewed big you you know who's affiliated with the rollin 60s yeah here one thing that uh-huh you know he said the one thing that he they he noticed that when he got a prison and saw crack hit LA that the weapons started changed the murder rates are happening along with the drug addiction and the communities being destroyed you know you you saw all this so did you start to think about it any of that during that time uh I wasn't thinking about that at the time cuz again when you young and you getting money you chasing the money you you know you you you're not thinking about those things though you oblivious to those things though because and your head you feel like man all I'm doing is doing what I got to do to try to try to get out get out the neighborhood you know but at the same time like I told to you you still damaging the neighborhood and then when he got caught up he didn't tell anybody he took a 35 year sentence thirty-five kingpin yeah excuse me you take the kingpin yeah the kingpin of law right yeah 35 life yes like that you know no possibility to parole remember that when he got popped I was working at pay and safe drugstore and I'll never forget today you know I was working at paying saving Berkeley and somebody gave me a paper and I looked at the paper and said little D got arrested I remember that day and that's how big deck that was I remember that day you know the Oakland water bottle you from Lake Mary there's marijuana Lake Merritt water that's right I don't drink Fuji water don't drink all that other words right Oakland water so little D gets locked up ends up doing 28 years was little D pretty much the end of the of the Oakland drug kingpin I don't know where C is hypocrisy of you know of America I don't know I mean I think that you know a little D laugh Starbucks took over what they came in something they rehabilitate in her neighborhood sudden you see in Starbucks popping up ended up dope trade went liquid take a bag you go to Starbucks they stand in line like they don't thing try to cut one in line at Starbucks you gets let up don't rate within the Starbucks you don't know what's in that package they don't had they push it to you they right handed to you thank you you'll be back and you you are back you will be back think about that yep well actually matter of fact I heard the CEO of Starbucks say I want everyone in America to have three main places they go to their home their work in Starbucks Wow think about that yeah well serve some healthier food come on that ain't got no kitchen in how do you gonna make bacon sandwiches with no kitchen that's why hey Mary get back your sandwich you got a little hot plate back there thank you they give you so much sodium so much sugar you are one they don't things okay so you're growing up in Oakland and I guess more - right you went to st. Joseph's high school st. Joe's and Alameda yep you were six six in high school six six six six and you started playing basketball but then you got cut in the tenth grade I got cut by punk-ass coach mr. Phelps you heard that for me your punk ass look at me now and I never liked him he never liked me and I never told us no he just he was up me with he's you know you never liked me and I never you know it was a trip so you cut me a tip great bit was the best thing that ever happened to me because I found academics and so Thank You mr. Phillips for cutting me in the 10th grade your punk ass but I found academics because I was so I was gonna I was gonna transfer to Fremont I'm about in Glen caraway and Vic Hamptons you know I swear I was I went I remember I went up to Fremont and looked at it looked around saying jobs but I was gonna come here I wasn't fun then I but then my beautiful English teacher and you know and then and I just got into academics I said well boom and I saw that I could do it and I was great why would a coach cut someone who's six six in the 10th grade in high school that doesn't make any sense you know what let's get this the 10th grade like six sixes rers hell he didn't like my brother he didn't like me okay first day of school is the first day of school at st. Joseph's first-day little ghetto boy dress mama got me dressed right first day of school first day homeroom and to say it first day is it did a curry you your brother Gary B be on your P's and Q's here well something like that I first day I like what the [ __ ] first day in homeroom all right your curry watch yourself I like this dude then I remember he locked me in the was a basketball game first by everybody payday loan get adidas a thing high-top adidas Pro models Nikes or something but he brought me adidas so everybody on the team had Nikes and I was only one with adidas I'm like [ __ ] and then he locks me in he locks the door this is true another tone about he locks the door you know when my shoes came late of course you kept them and then he locked the door when I was in there trying them on and so I couldn't get out I remember that I like this dude so use a punk-ass [ __ ] mr. Phelps you know that's never been told but you know but I did pretty well do you think in retrospect let's just say you had a coach that said hey this could be the next big basketball star I'm really gonna put a lot of extra focus on him a lot of extra training do you think that you had the authentic ability to know well you were just really tall I was a good ballplayer you know but you know those some guys had better abilities of me of course you know I wasn't a professional I wasn't nothing like that but you know I you know I did okay my ambitions you know I saw guys that was 100 percent better than me so I had no you know ambitions but you know still that was memorable right because a lot of big ball players came out of a lot field Barner we had Lester Connors we had junior Ryder you know Gary Payton Gary Payton was that around your touch GP no no Gary was younger the younger son you know I saw Gary come on out Kassem out even our users he was the first first you know player in the enter the NBA Draft with a Lord Jesus power for the perm and that's a hit in the history books he has a straight part of the Lord Jesus straight down counsel mouth so you graduate high school and you go to college yeah I California State University I don't know Cal State Hayward I'll say hey I got I got in the Cal State Hayward Cal State Hayward doing the damn bus strike I didn't have a car throw my god I had to get on a bus to go to Cal State Hayward and at that point while going to college that's when comedy started come around well you know it was I was comedy wasn't a viable art you know you didn't would be the community to have comedians in well you had Richard Pryor yeah but it was that was it's like you know Bill Cosby Nitra uses an older dude that you didn't aspire to be there wasn't you know wasn't it like it was now who was the young hot comedian during that time cuz Eddie Murphy came a little at was funny Sinbad was the name yes and bad was a name as far as it was before Eddie Murphy really just a buncha you know Jimmy JJ Walker was a big comedian at the time you know okay but it wasn't a viable like okay I get I gotta get a real job right go to school to learn a trade to graduate and get a job and be a working man like my father right right that was my thing but then comedy it started happening you caught me well it happened like this I was in Cal State Hayward doing well you know and then my father kicked me out the house so I had that that derailed the college thing cuz I had to go to work so while I was working BAM you know a guy Travis Kerry we worked at paying save in San Francisco one night and I was the manager and he was crazy he said ma'am ago try comedy track comedy it was it I'm gonna do it to them ago with you mmm and Travis Curry and so we went to the lucky lion in Oakland over there the airport it was a gong show that was on Soul beat okay and so shout out to the milk yeah shout out to Lynette Eaton I excused the first person to eat ice on air and she's in the black Hall of Fame loveyou Linnell I have still had a nail in a two-piece poster in my bedroom do the two party entities she's arching it she's a regular on the show and yeah she goes by all the time give her poster said posters ran inside she's arching it 90 85 and I loved that poster so the god they had a gong show the dong so BAM I went up I said my joke was Michael Jackson and Jackie Jackson the same people cuz you never seen him at the same place at the same time gone but why I got gone I felt good on the mic so I said something like dang man I didn't even get a chance to do this in this little raggedy piece of place I thought that it look like a funeral home and people laughed and some my little comic boom boom boom I like wow and I touched that golden mic from them from the lucky lion-o they just film porno shows went from yeah I went from there okay so you started doing stand ups like on a regular basis like open mics I'll doing open mics are doing everything I can tempt I'm I got on the mic you know bam bam just around Oakland you know I just I did everything I did barbecues I did I did dope dealer spots I did I did everything I did everything Barbie Qubes I did my god yeah I did everything that we had a hot spot the Hyatt the Hyatt in Oakland California and I was that was a hot spot of comedy at that time in the 80s do you remember like your worst bomb or your worst heckling during that time no cuz I was a professional because I didn't I didn't get heckled that didn't happen because I was ready and I have called you first so I didn't get a chance hain't nobody huckle mark hurry okay that's what's up no no don't happen you helping me now I destroy you I wish did never said [ __ ] [ __ ] yeah what's the [ __ ] I came out and that was during the eighties when the dope dealers used to give me money to talk about they friends I said did talk about you above here I light into him yeah so I guess after two years of doing comedy you were you could finally quit your job at that point 87 yeah I quit my job and I started 87 88 give me about two years yeah okay yeah how did that feel to finally say okay I could actually do this for a living well I remember the day it happened I remember I quit my job I was in the front and I wanted I just won here I would I would go superstar to work and paying say I just came in second in the rig Sam Cisco Comedy Competition you know and here I was back at work the next day mm-hmm and so they had offered me you know all these club on it was like hey we offer you $1,500 with jealous work I was working with just coming in and so I I knew I had to quit you know to do what I need to do it I remember I was I was I said I go talk to my POC I go tell him I'm a quick his name was Rick from paying say Thank You Ricky was real cool and I went to Rick I said Rick I got man I think I might have to quit Rick he said man the same mark just do what your thing and he was real cool I thought he goes they're like thank you Rick easier than I thought no you remember that day that's the day when I let go of my financial freedom because I was always a comedian who had always looked good cuz he [ __ ] look broken raggedy I'm a comedian fact that I always had outfits always clean you know step wood and I had a car you know like no no bro we don't do no broken you know raggedy and so I let go of that so I guess your first like big break came I guess opening up for Damon Wayans no first break was Showtime at the Apollo AHA that's a rough crowd yeah and I and I got through it I walked out in the middle of winter never been in New York my brother gave me a white linen suit I walked out with a white linen suit in the middle of New York and some tan shoes six seven six eight I walked out and I heard him crowd talking look at that suit we're gonna I just kept walking and I hit him boom boom boom and I killed him and I was Alaskan beating everybody got booed I was sitting in there I didn't know nobody's sitting there by myself and the lady came in no matter what happens keep going if you get food then we can edit it okay everything it was like 15 dudes got boo boo it was like I thought I was in you know the the 1802 the lion when he call it calcium for the Coliseum next like down boo and I went up last dude and killed it in the rest is history I remember the suit I had on oh okay and I got home and they said it's gonna air weeks later and they aired it that night or something and so when I went back to Oakland I went to quarter-pound his first time ever signed autograph won the quarter pound you know later I get do say oh man we just saw you on TV oh damn I was famous you know Volkswagon a quarter-pound 189th and it dude notice me and the people noticing me and I was famous from that corner thank you so I'm a first autograph that quarter pound that's right okay so then the damon wayans thing came later when i'm away and took me on tour with E and then HBO saw me AHA so Damon Wayans are they gonna give you a special said mandango give me oh god that's very easy a watch I said no give me no special you crazy dude if they didn't he didn't even make sense cuz I didn't even know I was still living in Oakland mm-hmm so you know and I moved to and it gave me a special and they offered me it's not like what helped me HBO special what just blew my mind so things started really go up from there yeah and I guess you uh you opened up for Whitney Houston for the tour where would you use you're on tour with Winnie you respect my name people put me speck on my name all right let me tell you the things I've done put some respect on my [ __ ] name until wouldn't you stand mmm Pam can you say that no opened up for Richard Pryor mmm can you say that no open up for Ray Charles mm at the Richmond auditorium in 19 I think 87 mmm Ray Charles baby vams one pillow respect on my name any crazier whitney stories no that's beautiful beautiful crazy thing about Whitney Houston I'm performing I don't know how many people I think it was floor I don't know hello Millie n't know I don't know how big this thing is huge and I'm performing and Whitney Houston you here go Marc Marc and I looked and with using will come and watch my show before her job I remember I looked at his name was Whitney Houston oh and bam is she was the coolest lady ever I went to her wedding really yeah what's your ready Bobby yeah that was it that's right rest in peace Whitney man such as I remember greatest Whitney story we were performing big giant you know Coliseum and she would do you know you know prep you know but she would come in saying before the show you know test the mic and I walked all the way to the back of the Coliseum performing this so I was know what kind of ceilings before I was doing clubs okay people remember that remember that and boom and Whitney Houston were just and it would feel the whole Coliseum It was as if it was crazy I would be wearing it back and you can hear her it was just incredible yeah I mean Whitney had one of the greatest you know female voices of the last hundred years definitely top three was I did the Super Bowl I was there thank you hello there we go okay also there's a respect on my name Oakland Coliseum before I could even get into the punch line they would even let me perform I was doing the Oakland Coliseum with the fresh festival mmm think about that I remember that yes I was a comedian for the freshman yes the press fest with was the guinea loudini Run DMC I remember NWA was a little group ice-t LL Cool J LL Cool J came out cleared everybody out Eric be a rock him think he's gonna let you know cuz I was back on my name okay so then in 91 you were in a talking dirty after dark yeah with Martin Lawrence yeah that was your first film yeah yeah first Martin Lawrence was a monster back he's monster always has been a monster still is a monster still is a monster there's a month working on bad boys - yeah he's still a monster or bad boys 3 yeah what is it 3 now no he's a monster always a monster I was telling it since day one so you're doing the show me and Mark did i HBO special together aha you got your HBO specials but then the TV show comes around yeah I was offered I was doing Showtime at the Apollo they offered me a sitcom and I was also offer than living color we don't know that put some respect on my name right why did you turn down a living color well you'll either mr. Cooper or in living color yeah and I gave Steve Harvey the Apollo hmm I gave it to him put some respect on my name's Steve III gave it to him okay did he end up stealing my material yeah for real look it up what did he steal here Bob yes Bob TV look it up well on this TV show he did a whole thing on Halloween mm-hmm it was all my bits and so he did his whole thing on Halloween looking up I want you people look it up on his TV show look he talked about Halloween my mama put boxes on us dude that was my material come on man and he used all my material and I confronted him you know like he didn't know but maybe he didn't maybe maybe some writers gave it to him you know maybe maybe but still that's my livelihood you know you taking money you know I wrote that because it really happened put some bees back on my knife okay well I can see why you turned down being a cast member on a living color to have your own show yeah on hang on mr. Cooper yeah yeah it was a living color that I used to do warm up for in living color Damon I was on tour with Damon he would let me do even after my HBO special I was still doing warm-up for a living color because out then it was a job it wasn't beneath me at H feel special I was still right and let me tell it was one of the hottest show oh my god I just watch the film yeah till 2:00 in the morning 3:00 morning yeah I said yeah I mean you're talking about Jim Carrey that was how he got started named David Wain I mean all the way his family yeah right now yeah all of ya even Jennifer Lopez was a backup dancer she was one of the you she was the one you didn't even look at she wasn't the finest one exactly she became Jennifer Lopez so then you got the show hang on mr. Cooper ended up running for five seasons yeah 100 episodes 100 episodes what never quiz it on ABC ABC yeah you were on one of the big networks with a major show now how did that feel to really star on a sitcom like that it felt incredible it felt very incredible it was it was it was the most you know a kind of thing ever it's beyond you know it was beyond the dream nasty was a dream you know I was like wow but I was trying to be intelligent as possible mr. Cooper you know that's why instead of the basketball you know I was you know I would have a laptop and you know we try to I want to be a little educator they want to be a buffoon you know so I you know and mr. Cooper was awesome it was made me international star international right because he got syndicated all over the world I walk if I walk to Australia people know me when I went to Australia went to Germany ProSieben I went to Spain with Africa you know I'm in Africa and in Tanzania though I was in Tanzania and I'm taking a leak outside the car as a hermit [Laughter] African accent love it you know the first one to perform in Africa people have to Richard Pryor really yeah ha yeah that's what's up yeah okay and raven-symoné is on the show yes this is after The Cosby Show yes which was the biggest thing ever yes yeah after the Cosby's it was that like her first role after Cosby I think it's I think it was yeah okay and she was a becoming a big star yes she was a big star ready she was already a big star yeah let me yeah she was a big star well she was new on The Cosby Show she wasn't the newest member of The Cosby Show as it was kind of starting to end so you know she's now she was a household name then but now she's doing more stuff and she's getting bigger but what was she like back then incredible new her lines you know it was professional she was you know a little professional she knew my lines she knew no mark no dick to the script so yes I you know she's incredible incredible actress she's still going right I mean when you look at child stars you know a lot of them are kind of as they get older they turn into train wrecks yeah not raven symone right not ready still empire what do you think was your greatest story from the mr. Cooper days Wow the greatest story from mr. Cooper days we got a couple of them his greatest his greatest stories from mr. Cooper days first open it up for Richard Pryor play the most incredible he's my idol you know he's somebody I always looked up to he's the one reason I got into comedy and it allowed me to open up for Richard Pryor to talk to him intimate and he told me some things I'll never tell anybody but it was deep and and I got a chance to open up and talk to Richard Pryor not to me but comedian comedians can say that they opened up for Richard Pryor I open it back because I really because when you really take a step back and you talk about the greatest stand-up comedians of all time you'd be hard-pressed to say it's not Richard Pryor it is Richard Pryor it is you know I mean it is who is better than Richard Pryor it is the best white black Spanish Asian I don't care I'm not gonna put a race on the greatest stand-up comedian of all time now there's a quite a fight for number two you know make no difference the richer dough was gonna say they're better than Richard Pryor nobody nobody ever and that was incredible - I got a chance to play against Jordan they did Space Jam on Warner Brothers lot so every day I would work out in the morning and Jordan I mean one thing about him he really worked out that season he came back I honestly saw him every morning workout it's sick I will get to the gym his work out Jordan be there before me 5:30 a.m. every morning and I know them dudes that stayed up late I don't like because you know like man but he was dedicated and so you know you know the ball came up and you know we didn't even say anything you know he threw the ball to me you know I was talking about a little [ __ ] yeah we'll see all right you know my first jump I made it oh damn you know I thought you had that and then he got the ball and he said what you lookin at he caught me looking at it and that's nothing incredible story to me so mr. Cooper ran for five seasons why did it ultimately end well you know I don't know the ratings were good you know we took they got a new president in they changed the the network president and she wondered you know what I changed never president they want to bring their home show and so they can get their points right so they tried to kill our show it put us at 9:30 at night but we still survived we came out the first year we top top 12 first you know I mean with black show people on the bill that we made some history and then they moved us to Friday at 9:30 after doing a top-10 share but you couldn't kill us and we kept going and we had a great time doctor five seasons are finally ended yes how sad were you and you finally got that call to say okay no I knew it ended okay I knew it was ending and if you look at the ending the last part of mr. Cooper I put on a squirrel suit I was supposed to marry Holly and I didn't want to get married and just be married don't the shell done so I said no I didn't want to get married so I'm calling a squirrel suit so the end of mr. Cooper you see me with a squirrel suit on because I was crazy but thank you ABC and the greatest run about life and what I want to do it again that's what I want bring it back I want that's one of them come back to TV I want to mark curries okay I want to tell my story babe okay well you end up continuing to do a bunch of television you were on the Jamie Foxx show yeah place ours and easy I kind of character you're on The Drew Carey Show yeah I ended up on a Kirstie Alley's show yeah fat actress that was great they had me naked I got naked you got naked yeah nude scenes I remember yeah that was crazy I love that show because it wasn't a script you could just say what you wanted I never did anything like it was just you just talk say anything you want and when I started talking to acts any question it was like wow so I played Kirstie Alley's love interests hilarious so you're doing television and you're still doing stand-up the whole time and wish you'd really love more is it the television or the standard you know two different arts I love them both dearly they go hand-in-hand I believe that if your stand-up is really working properly and you're doing very well then it helps it helps you know what would you you know comedic timing on a television set you know so I love stand-up yeah I mean people that you know like I'm friends with Godfrey in heels yeah Garfield awesome I remember I asked him how many stand-up shows you do in a month and he told me like a hundred or something like some some insane number like he's multiple day he's a night every night and I everywhere is what we do yeah so we do [Music] so then in in 2005 there was a situation with a fire there's a situation you know so lead me up to that like what exactly happened well beyond that kind of blocked out of my life sir and it's you know it's something it was a bad situation and it in it and it prompt me to go into a deep depression and so I don't even deal with that it was a bad situation and and it took me you know it changed my life basically you know you know the fire got on me I guess it was an aerosol can water heater something blew up it was a fault and bam and thank you Jesus no you know I wasn't hurt I was hurt very bad yeah I wasn't you know it wasn't scarred blew me back I mean that thing blew me back I've never told people but it blew me back my shoulder was I was burnt but I think I broke my shoulder and I'm like damn my shoulder hurt but I was a messed up on the other side and in fact I didn't tell him about the muscles my shoulder I think I had broke it that's true but anyway it was a deep bad situation that took me into a deep depression you guys I thought about suicide I thought deep but it's hard to commit suicide when you six six cuz ceiling right here here so you know hang myself I could joke about that people they're doing it happened to me so you know and then but it made me realize it made me change myself as a comedian it really did because it was like I was an elder like man when I come out man I'm gonna be true I'm gonna be I mean I'm hitting a completely different way no more holding back on this comic all right because with the mr. Cooper show you were like the straight-laced guy yeah yeah I was trained I was mr. Cooper mr. Cooper mr. Cooper I was a teacher right so that more so you kind of formed your comedy around that character a bit you didn't go all the way left with it no I ya doing that time it was difficult cuz I was going you know I was a different comedian and so here are going stage and people expect me to you know be a different guy and I was a different convenience I I was always funny but it was like a hard transition you know for a minute you know it was difficult well I guess 18 percent of your body got burned in that accident I got burnt BAM I was in the st. Francis burn unit finally even know how long I was in calling myself induced coma for a while you know and and the Lord saved me and he saved me because I you know it was a trauma event and you know he saved me and because I was supposed to get you know the pain the the biggest thing that hurt me was I lost weight I was like 230 240 then and the shock of my body or something and suddenly I went that to zero I went down to like a I remember Nike send me some clothes because I saw somebody else in the burn unit inside B Jordan I'm in the hospital you know and I remember they they I went to take a shower did youdid she's lady nurses always take me to I didn't take a sailor I was couldn't putting a water on me cuz I was bandages but I was just you know wash myself I said I'm calling my Nike stuff Nikes open my box and I remember I put the pants on and the pants fell off what happened and a grating give you no mirrors in there look like what oh there's no mirrors in the burn unit No all right and then did I I said what does I said go get me a scale are you sure I said yeah go get me a scale what the hell and I looked at that long I lost so much weight so car crying I like what is going on what you know and it you know it was a it was a bad situation to be in that burn unit and it was gonna scrape for you and it was like but remember they wanted me to get into the water and that's when the pain you know and I said nah they wanted they got a chair to go dip you into the water I said no no if I'm gonna take this pain I'm gonna get in myself no sir you can't do that such [ __ ] it's the ladies back off I remember I took all my stuff off and I got into that water it's supposed to hurt and it felt like a baptism and the Lord I didn't feel no pain you know maybe I don't know but I didn't feel it but the water felt good as hell I'm like oh man and then no water for a while and they did what it's supposed to do the bad stuff and you know and it was it was it was probably the most dramatic experience it took me so low into a black in a valley the people didn't know what was wrong with me but it was like I was I went dark for some reason well I guess Bill Cosby called you when you were in the hospital copy Cosby called me yeah everybody calm yep I'm in the hospital Cosby called me making jokes Damon Wayans called me Chris Tucker all the comedian's called me they thought all the [ __ ] joked on me well I guess they're comparing you to a to Richard Pryor it would everyone do call me and I took it in stride are you freebasing to [ __ ] yeah you smoking dope now man and they all said that's true see they all talk yeah they all talk [ __ ] I mean do you have a relationship with Cosby um yeah I knew Cosby you know Cosby when you look at where Cosby is right now I'm gonna talk about that yeah no comment yeah I mean no comment on that I you know I want to keep this interview that's like yeah sense so eventually you get out of the hospital yeah now are you still scarred up or you feel scarred up messed up [ __ ] up on some super pain pills still to this day no no no oh now we gonna take them like yeah they had me on some stuff so powerful and I mean my sisters knew what they were lucky what are they okay so you get out yeah how long before you actually start doing comedy to the you know from the time you actually get released from the hospital I was back on that stage I remember I had a corporate event to do in Mexico maybe about I I remember I was in Mexico still bandaged up and so maybe I don't know I don't know how long it was but still bandaged up back I couldn't remember times I remember I went to Mexico I couldn't go outside because I still had fresh Birds I still did that event were you making like jokes about it during the stand-up or that come well I didn't tell a lot of people didn't know about it since it happened in Oakland you know we got TMZ so if even LA would have been all over and I the stuff I didn't want people to think that I was messed up you know you know people take you down now I really didn't tell nobody and people really didn't care you know you know you know okay but you got right back on that stage I got right back on that stage a different animal a different beast so at this point like when I look at some of your more recent comedy it's a little more hard-edged a little more you know swear words or more vulgarity mm-hmm more sex jokes so you just started going all out of that yeah I start going all out I started saying that I did it like this I'm gonna say what's on my mind the truth I'm not gonna hold back I'm not gonna try to be conservative I'm you know they're coming to see mr. Cooper that was a TV show I'm giving the people what they want you know people want to hear what they want to hear and so I'm giving them you know I'm being me you know this be the different person you gotta change with the times you know you can't sit there and just do the same thing and you know I change the time sometimes occur sometimes I don't I could do a complete clean set easily but some of these times you know a person is in within character and so you know so but it is what it is when I was on that dead in that hospital I said I'm dead they're dead and you know I'm hooked up to all these machines I said if I get out of this my but I don't care I'm gonna go crazy well you know comedy started change at one point because with the internet the social media comedians started to become actual comedians actual stand-up you know for example I interviewed haha Davis recently and you know ya went from doing skits to gettin on stage Ryan Davis the person I interviewed young BC young fly I've interviewed tour yeah with us you know what are your thoughts about you know now I'm kind of naming you three of the big standouts right you know who actually could do really really well yep you know we really do good stand-up shows but sometimes you know you're famous on the internet that doesn't always translate to being good on stage because it is well comedy I feel it's a craft you can't go to college and come out a great comedian like you know me you can't get a robbery degree you have to actually do it year after year decade after decade right what are your thoughts about the new college millions I stay in my lane instead of criticizing these youngsters are you know trying to come up if you just stay my thing is I stay in my lane I know what I need I know when I step on stage I had to be funny and my time allotted ain't got time to figure out what these guys gonna do if they go stay I kind of know what's gonna happen you know you look at them they got famous from the internet but you know it happened you on stage you know I don't want to dis one you know I know you know but you know a true comic will be there you'll be there when the dust settles as true comments gonna be there yep I agree what happened on the Southwest flight I'm a Southwest flight I'm sleep flat today were beating somebody I said what I thought you know she the man beating somebody up I'm like man I don't want to die on the flight can you go help I said you know I said what's going down that's a [ __ ] you know somebody trying to open up a window we're trying to die in here from but if we're gonna go down then let's go down fighting from the time we ain't gonna just take no terrorists mother what you got homie you got a box cutter we're coming out to your ass so they woke me up there's some Port hood black dudes sitting back there with glasses on and he had hit it hit a lady or something and I think they wanted me to go and see if he was all I said I said player you are right man you you good maybe you got these people scared back up here man yeah right you know and he said it was cool I said mean you know just chill out man just relax and I said well you and me I was giving my seat you know I feel sorry for because when he can heal and his FBI and Rex they do an emergency landing right but they just went back to the airport again all I know is I don't know what do what happen I think yeah we went back to the airport right because I didn't get home till like 2:00 a.m. yeah what happened your Ford Bronco man all this news my Ford Bronco 1996 Ford Bronco was was my heart as a man you know I built it up from a puppy she was worked perfectly and a tree fell on it crushed my Bronco Holt I saw the picture it's like old tree hello tree like right on the roof State Farm when to give me like you know no money thanks State Farm Lula's ain't cheap they were rude they were it was just it was a weird situation it was in 96 it was a 96 before Bronco but try to find a 496 for a bomb couple thousand dollars he say it's Ford Bronco baby so what are you working on these days right now I'm on tour with Mike Epps and the funniest tour also with some more and and I forgot an inlet to her name well and I'm out there on these on this on this row what's next for me is I want to do a special I don't know who what it was on I want to do a special and I want to come back with a talk show and a sitcom I think I could do both I definitely wanna come back with a sitcom just you know I think I have fun doing [ __ ] copy it was so much fun and it would be a good time for me to come back I think the world needs it yeah man we'll listen I've seen some current you know some recent stand-ups you've done and what you say you see this done you two - listen you have not you have not skipped a beat I try I try not to you know what just working hard it's being humble doing the same things I still go to the club you got to go to the clubs you guys do got all the things you know stay in your lane so you have the confidence when you step on the stage least you know you gonna be funny you don't worry about anybody else what are you gonna do what's your brand my brain is like blue magic you don't know me and whether you know the CEO or not but you know me you know mark curry just like you know coca-cola it's a brand name now if you were to name your top 5 stand-up comics of all time no top fives Richard Pryor surprised Richard Pryor surprised is your priority probably five times in a row yeah I could see what good five times in a row because everybody I could name you know took a little bit of something from him you know and so I say top five is Richard Pryor alway rest in peace were you in contact with him after I mean later in life after he went through the burn and everything else I know last time I saw him perform was at the Comedy Store every time I saw him he went to the comedy store every time so I would be up to every night and watch him no I didn't think about filming it I don't think we've had filming you know you know a mini DV camera back yeah yeah I didn't think about film so that that was my just watching him work and he got older and that's it you know yeah yeah major loss but I'm not I'm not done I look at it like this especially seeing Tiger Woods especially I still have it in me I'm never bitter I'm not bitter I just wanted you know I want I want a show I want a TV show whether it's a talk and I want to go on tour that's too small ambitions you know maybe do a movie too you know Samuel Jackson started late I haven't stopped and I want it all I want a movie and with a TV show I want to stand-up special I want it all who's out there can give that to me come see me get at me that's what it is that mark curry yes oaklands finest the real mother cow that's town business bear your brother man appreciate you coming in thank you very much P snack stop today's time

Channel: djvlad

Views: 111,295

Keywords: VladTV, DJ Vlad, Interview, Hip-Hop, Rap, News, Gossip, Rumors, Drama, Mark Curry

Id: Un5rdmYoOxo

Length: 55min 21sec (3321 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2019