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What makes this line so important to you?
How does it help frame the rest of the hour?Keith: Thats our thesis.
Kenny: We attempt to examine the initial claim.Well, is life a bitch?
We had a drug addiction.
Kenny: We drink a lot.
On the surface it seems like life is a bitch, and we give a shot to unpack it.
Some may disagree you know, Im sure Will Smith doesnt think his life is a bitch.
Keith: If life is a bitch, then the conclusion is death, right?
Its either you kill yourself or you decide to get high.
Were trying to understand the logic of that statement.
Part of this joke goes, This is a great book; it got me through the divorce.
Thats right, it really did.
He was married to the streets.
You joke about the streets a lot in your work.
Kenny: Its two societies, man.
You have regular society and you have the streets.
Keith: And its perfectly encapsulated in Newark.
You have, like, decent, upstanding …
Kenny: Middle-class.
Keith: And then you have just this violence and chaos.
We still got people out there, man.
My little brother just got arrested.
Were gonna always have a connection there cause our familys there.
Kenny: Youre constantly questioning whether or not your comedy adheres to the rules of the streets.
Do they watch Jimmy Fallon on the streets?
I dont know if they do.
Keith: Some people would argue that, coming where we come from, thats not the authentic version.
And I would respectfully disagree.
Youve talked about how you essentially go to couples therapy together.
Kenny: He knows my favorite porn category now.
Keith: Its made us more open and transparent.
Kenny: Like, I cried in front of Keith.
Now Ill tell him if I think a joke sucks and hell tell me if he thinks its funny.
Keith: Weve figured out a better way to communicate.
Thats important for any team, but I never learned how to do it with Kenny.
I saw him as an extension of me.
So, if I was mad at myself, I would just be mad at him.
In therapy, she encouraged us to look at each other as individuals.
Seeing,Oh, hes gonna have days off.
Its made our comedy a lot stronger.
Kenny: It works for one to two punch lines!
By that point youre like,All right, were losing em.
Kenny: These guys are weird, man.
Keith: Its like, great.
It just gives us a little bit more material, and we have a lot of philosophers to cover.
You could do a whole hour on John Locke.
Kenny: I think Socrates was the first nigga.
He was tried unjustly and executed.
Thats some nigga shit.
And hes the father of Western philosophy.
The comicKevin Barnett died suddenly in January.
You were friends and co-workers, and surely his passing hit you harder than most.
What is your favorite of his jokes?Kenny: I lovethe Black Wolverine.
I mean, thats probably one of his signature bits, but its just quintessential Kevin, man.
Keith: But then its how he tells the story, right?
No one tells a Kevin Barnett joke because he doesnt just tell jokes, he tells stories.
How he told it onstage was how he told it offstage.
And you cant tell it like he tells it because he added the pain.
Kenny: Its going to be one of the things that I miss the most.
In regards to the opening joke, its more relevant as a result of Kevins death.
Now, the words feel like they matter.
Before we would say, Lifes a bitch and then you die.
But with Kevins death its like,Oh, no, that shits true.
We really want to say, You dont have to do those things regardless of the existential gravity.
you might get high off life.
Im sorry I said it, but, yeah, you’re able to.
