-How is it being --
for you, with comedy
during this situation,
with everything going on?
-I mean, people sort of say,
like, can you be funny
at this time?
And I sort of remember
back to like 9/11
when I was
a pretty young comedian,
and there was a sense of
maybe there's not going
to be comedy anymore.
But comedy finds a way,
because people need comedy
to relieve the tension.
And so for me, it's like,
both of us were funny
before we were "professional
comedians," right?
-Yeah.
-For me, it's like,
being funny is just
how we process the world.
-Well, cut to now
you've won Emmys now.
The show's crushed. I think
the last time I saw you --
-Hold on, right here.
-Yeah! Come on! Come on, now.
-Hold on.
Let me get the last one.
-Number three.
Come on, bring in three.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
That's got to feel good.
-I keep them on the floor
where they -- you know.
[ Both laugh ]
-You don't want to put them at
risk of falling from anything.
-Yeah, and they're in my office
so my kids won't break them,
which I'm sure is going
to happen eventually.
-But that's got
to feel good, right?
You put this hard work,
and you've done --
What a trajectory,
and you ended up doing this
and "United Shades of America."
It's fantastic.
And did you film the whole
season before the pandemic?
-We finished filming
in February.
Like, I mean, if we had gone
maybe another two weeks,
we would have been --
something might have started.
But we finished -- We didn't
realize how lucky we were
until about a month later.
We were like, "Oh, wow."
-Well, talk about
the new season.
What do we have
to look forward to?
-A lot of times with that show,
we end up sort of, like,
predicting the news
in a weird way.
So a lot of the stuff
is going to feel very much like
maybe we knew this was coming.
We have an episode
about the gig economy
that now we're understanding
that people who deliver
groceries and do ride-shares
are essential workers,
but they're not paid
and protected that way.
And we were talking about that
before COVID-19.
And now there's been
a lot of talk
about we have to redefine
who an essential worker is
and how to take care of them.
We have an episode
about public schools
and how hard public school
teachers have to work.
-Hitting all the bases.
-We have one about reparations.
[ Laughs ]
-Wow.
-We have one white supremacy.
[ Laughs ]
So it's -- You know.
-Wow. You have
a topical, topical show.
-I'm not saying I did this
to make my show bigger.
I'm not saying that.
-No, no. Your executive producer
is Nostradamus, though,
which is weird.
-Yes, exactly, yeah.
-We like to ask everyone
that comes on the show
if they have a charity
or something
that they want to spotlight.
And this story
I think is amazing,
what you're about to talk about.
It's through livefreeusa.org.
It's called
Masks for the People.
Can you just quickly just
walk us through the story
of what actually went down
and how you pulled this off?
-So, Pastor Michael McBride,
who's the minister at The Way
church in Berkeley, California,
who I've known for years
and was on an episode
of "United Shades,"
reached out to me at the
beginning of the COVID-19 crisis
saying, "This is going to hit
black and brown folks harder."
This is before the news
was talking about it.
He said, "So will you help me
raise $1 million?
We need at least $1 million
to get free masks
and free hand sanitizer
to the communities
of black and brown folks
who are hit the hardest
by COVID-19?"
I was like, "$1 million?
I think you meant to call Kevin
Hart, but I'll do what I can."
[ Both laugh ]
So we started doing
weekly Zoom-like sort of shows
on Facebook Live,
for Masks for the People
and having activists come on
to raise money.
And as we did it like --
We were going to do it one week.
We've done it like 10 weeks now
in a row.
But after about the third week,
Jack from Twitter, Jack Dorsey,
said he was going to transfer
a billion of his dollars
to COVID-19 work
and relief work.
And I asked Pastor Mike,
"Do you know Jack?"
He said no. And I was like,
"Well, weirdly,
he follows me on Twitter,
but I don't know him.
But he follows me.
We're all in the Bay Area."
So I slipped into Jack's D.M.s
-No!
-The way a married man should,
to ask for money.
-[ Laughs ]
-And Jack gave them $1 million.
And so now we've raised
well over $1 million.
And it's still --
The money's still needed
because it's also
for gun prevention work
and for violence interrupters
in the ghetto
and mass incarceration work
and getting masks
to people in prison.
So there's a lot of work
to be done.
And, you know,
so if anybody else wants me
to slip into their D.M.s --
-You'll do it.
-For the Lord. I slipped into
his D.M.s for the Lord, Jimmy.
-For the Lord.
Oh, my gosh. Perfect.
It's always good to see you.
And I really appreciate you
doing this
and coming on the show
and talking to me.
Thank you for having
the conversation with me.
I really appreciate it.
-Well, thank you for having me.
Like I said, I really appreciate
you doing this right now,
'cause we all have to be
in everybody's lane right now.
-Yeah. Best to the family.
Stay safe, pal.
-Same.
-Thank you.
