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Im not a liberal.
Im not a conservative.
When Im onstage, Im a comedian thats observing liberals and conservatives.
I wanted to create a real environment where people are reacting authentically.
Because for me, thats the only way that were having an honest conversation.
Otherwise, youre just preaching to the choir.
But for me, I dont feel like I grow as a comic that way.
But they still come.
Theyre like, These people like abuse.
Some people like to feel it, and some people dont.
If you know who Paul Mooney is, you know that this is always who Paul Mooney has been.
I dont think anybody thinks,Oh, hes had this major change in his life right now.
He told me, Lean into who you are.
And I was like, Oh man, I already think Im already doing too much.
He was like, Keep doing you.
This is who you are.
Thats what you do, thats who you are, and thats who you better be.
Its so funny because I dont perceive it as punching them in the throat.
I just see it as having an honest conversation with the audience where its a safe space.
It was an impoverished neighborhood.
We were on public assistance.
I shared a room with my three siblings.
That was my life.
And Im like, So now my experience is not valid because it doesnt look like yours?
Sure enough, yours was worse because sometimes you slept outside?
But does me sleeping in a pissy bed with three other kids become ideal?
Its ideal to you, but to me its hell.
If we dont have the uncomfortable conversations, we wont move forward, because were not unpacking.
But unpacking usually means Lets have a conversation in a way thats comfortable for me.
There will be no mass exodus.
Groups of people are not jumping in planes or boats and going back to where they originated from.
Thats not going to happen.
When I talk about certain things, it comes from the perspective of a village.
We are village people, and thats what I aspire to be.
We take care of each other, right?
But weve gotten so far away from that.
The people who have always said, Ill walk you to the car.
double-check you let me know when you get home.
So my idea in the joke was were talking about allyship and how everybody has privilege.
Gay men have privilege in the fact that theyre men in the world.
Ill stand up for your rights to get married.
I want to stand up for your rights and love and to have everything you deserve.
Can you stand up for my safety?
And a writer said that that joke was homophobic.
Its still going up.
During COVID, it has gotten worse.
I was like,Oh, youre blind to any experience other than your own.
And I say that a lot, because I feel alone a lot.
I was sexually abused, I was raped, I was mistreated.
But the most traumatic part of all of those things is that I felt alone.
And I see you.
When I get these emails, I feel better because its like being in group therapy.
