Interview with Paul Mooney (Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor), coming to Uptown Comedy Corner October 20-21
Paul Mooney is a comedy legend who isn’t a household name because he mostly did his work behind the scenes. He made his mark creating material for Richard Pryor. He also wrote for “Good Times” and “Sanford and Son” in the 1970s. In the early 1990s, he developed signagture characters for “In Living Color” including Homey the Clown.
In front of the camera, he has been in films such as “Hollywood Shuffle,” Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” and “The Buddy Holly Story.” Gary Abdo, who runs the Uptown Comedy Corner, has Mooney coming on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (details below.) He hooked me up with Mooney on the phone Friday.
The interview got off to a rocky start. (Abdo was listening in and can attest to that.). I asked Mooney first why he was coming to Uptown.
Mooney sounded irritated and flabbergasted. “This is a booking,” he said. “I work. The devil made me do it. I’m a professional.”
I asked him about actor/producer Robert Townsend, who I had just met. “A professional, very bright young man,” he said, still sounding annoyed. (Yes, Paul is 68 years old and Townsend is only 52 so I guess Townsend is a young man relatively speaking.)
I was off my game at this point and asked him a relatively lame question about whether he feels underappreciated despite all he’s done. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I just am who I am. I love what I do. I wear different hats. I write. I act. Standup is my first love. That’s why I’ve been doing it such a long time. I see myself as a professor. People study me. They get on TV and act like they don’t even know me.”
How does he feel about that? “It doesn’t matter how I feel about it,” he said, sounding mucho annoyed. “It’s the reality of it. It has nothing to do with my feelings.”
At this point, I noted half jokingly that this is possibly the worst interview I’ve ever done. Abdo laughed, saying that Mooney gets on people’s cases because he can. He later told me one radio station morning team just cut off an interview because they were getting ragged on like that.
I switched topics to Dave Chappelle and the conversation normalized a bit. Mooney wrote for Chappelle’s show and played several characters, including Negrodamus. His take on Chappelle walking away from $50 million-plus to keep doing his show on Comedy Central: “It put him on the A list. He wasn’t on the A list before that. People love him now. They can’t get enough of him. I’m asked about him every single day.”
The fact is, Mooney noted, “you don’t turn down white folks’ money. He also went back to Africa. They’ll never get over it!”
Chappelle now focuses on standup. “He’s a lot like Richard Pryor. He’s unpredictable. That makes him interesting.” Mooney misses the show. He’s trying to convince Chappelle to do a movie but after six months of working the comic, “I’m running out of leads.” He has no clue if Chappelle will ever do a sketch show again.
This led to him mentioning that he once spent five and a half hours on a stage opening for Marvin Gaye in the early 1980s. “They couldn’t find him. I had to stretch it out,” he said. But he said, “it felt like five minutes. When I’m doing an hour, I’m just getting started.”
He participated in Chris Rock’s new film “Good Hair,” which just came out last weekend. “It’s very funny. Chris has been acting like a diplomat. But he’s not telling the real reasons why we process and burn our hair… we try to simulate we’re under the illusion of inclusion trying to be a black Anglo-Saxon.” A black Anglo-Saxon? “That’s a black person that thinks white.”
His candid take on BET: “BET is owned by white people. They rewrite history. They are big liars. They had my show ‘Judge Mooney.’ They got scared. They don’t like the messages I send. They’re intimidated and get frightened. I’m the Jew who says they’re going to gas us. Nobody wants to believe our neighbors are going to put us in a gas chamber.”
Mooney has a book coming out November 3 called “Black is the New White.” “It’s all about prejudiced Hollywood, my relationship with Richard Pryor. It’s everything.”
Has there been progress in racial relations? Yes, he said. “We’re able to discuss stuff like this openly without being beaten or lynched or tortured.” So will Barack Obama ever be assassinated? “No,” Mooney said. “That doesn’t worry me. There’s no reason to kill him. White folks know not do do that.”
He will be doing two shows each night Tuesday and Wednesday at Uptown. By now, he’s in much better spirits. “Tell your black readers to bring a white friend. Let’s all have fun!” Mooney said.
Mooney wrote this masterpiece of a “Saturday Night Live” skit with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor in which a word association game goes awry:
Here’s a segment of his DVD “Jesus is Black.” Note: it’s for adult ears onlyi.
TO GO
Paul Mooney
Uptown Comedy Corner
800 Marietta St NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5783
(404) 881-0200
Tuesday, October 20, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 21, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
$20-$30 through Ticketweb
Buy tickets here.
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38 comments Add your comment
MR164
October 19th, 2009
10:47 am
I’ll be there. Living legend.
BigboomNY
October 19th, 2009
11:07 am
I really dont like him, he is not that funny. I hate when comedians make the bulk of their routines about race.he is one of those guys, and thats why he has never been funny to me.
dick peterman
October 19th, 2009
11:11 am
He is one of the biggest racists himself..I would like to have a dollar for everytime he has uttered the words white people..
MsCobb
October 19th, 2009
11:13 am
Love Paul – will definately be there to see him.
Calvin G. Sims, Sr.
October 19th, 2009
11:27 am
Paul Mooney is really brilliant. Unfortunately, like so many brilliant comedians, he is obviously in pain over his personal experiences and he is stuck in that emotional place that limits his creativity to where he is emotionally.
He is not a great comedian because he does not seem to have the ability to get over himself. To transcend his race. Many comedians have this problem. If it is not race, it is gender or sexual orientation or ethnic origin.
I prefer a comedian whose routine is not always about themselves.
Calvin G. Sims, Sr.
October 19th, 2009
11:28 am
And yes, MR164, he is a living legend.
dl
October 19th, 2009
11:30 am
Paul Mooney and Richard Pryor hands down made more people laugh out loud than anyone. I still laugh at routines and writing from more than 30 years ago. SNL, Sanford and Son. I laugh when I see him because I know he is going to say something funny.
Gman
October 19th, 2009
11:34 am
Paul Mooney is real and says things that most people in this country don’t want to hear.
m.deeyall
October 19th, 2009
11:42 am
THE TRUTH HURTS PEOPLE WHO KNOWS THAT THE TOPIC IS ABOUT THEM.IF YOU RESEARCH EVERYTHING MR.MOONEY SAYS ABOUT ANY RACE IS TRUE.THOSE WHO DONT LIKE HIM BECAUSE OF THIS,ARE THE ONES HE IS TALKING ABOUT.IF WE ALL TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE HUMANS AND NOT LIKE ANIMALS OR LOWER CLASS CITIZENS,MAYBE MR.MOONEY WOULDNT HAVE A JOB…
M Anthony
October 19th, 2009
11:46 am
Hey Rodney you are learning by talking with Paul. Funny I have watched him for years and always thought he was funny and thought provoking. Interesting how people get offended when comedians talk about race. Throughout history and even with President Obama today white folks have made fun of black folks. I guess thats ok as long as it isnt folks who look like Paul. Its a free country these days people so get over it or dont go to see him. I will be there and ready to laugh.
Remember When...
October 19th, 2009
11:48 am
Did anyone see him on BET in the nineties? The routine about being on crack? Hilarious….
Reign
October 19th, 2009
11:52 am
Paul Mooney is BRILLIANT, HONEST, AND UNAFRAID! I love him, always have. He definitely makes you feel uncomfortable and that’s a good thing. If you’re honest with yourself and you know what’s really real, you’ll be comfortable with him. I didn’t realize he did so much behind the scenes, but now that I know, I can see his humor in it (like with Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle and In Living Color). He’s edgy because he’s real and it’s makes “some” uncomfortable, intimidated even, but again, if you’re hones with yourself, you’ll realize, this dude is Off The Chain funny, but real.
Mooney Fan
October 19th, 2009
12:05 pm
KEEP IN MIND THAT HIS WIFE IS WHITE AND THEY HAVE KIDS.
Chief Wiggum
October 19th, 2009
12:11 pm
I think I’ll skip this one. Sounds like he’s a bit angry with a chip on his shoulder. I guess he’s preaching to the choir with his material.
KB
October 19th, 2009
12:28 pm
Paul Mooney is the man!!! He is a part of a generation of comics (Lenny Bruce, Sam Kennison, George Carlin (God rest his soul), early Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory, and Don Rickless just to name a few) people don’t like to hear because he talks about what he sees in America. People don’t like that. Comics like Mr. Mooney talk about all of the warts in this American society. We as Americans tend to overlook them and Mr. Mooney refuses to. I am going to try to make my way down there to see him.
DeShaun
October 19th, 2009
1:49 pm
Best way to cover up for a racist? Call him “honest,” “real,” “unafraid,” etc. Semantics. Racism is apparently colorblind and, depending on what side of the table you’re on, you can make a decent living off of it.
m.deeyall – making an incoherent point in ALL CAPS only makes things worse.
M Anthony – “Throughout history and even with President Obama today white folks have made fun of black folks.” Ok. I suppose that justifies Mooney’s race-baiting.
Race relations don’t look like they’ll ever improve.
CBH
October 19th, 2009
1:53 pm
He is an excellent comedian and he’s experienced and earned the right to speak his
mind about whatever he wants to. I take issue with the writer of the piece blatantly
not mentioning HIS name in the link to the story. He mentioned Chappell & Pryor
to appease who? A very large part of Atlanta’s residents know who Paul Mooney is
other wise they comedy club wouldn’t have booked him. Further proof of what he speaks on – when CERTAIN white people hear true things that make them uncomfortable they
get shook as evidenced and omitted by the writer who decided to not mention his name in
link to his story.
CBH
October 19th, 2009
1:58 pm
Upon further review….. I stand corrected. The writer of the story isn’t even white. Hell he shook about??????? But to clear the air – the bulk of his story weighted heavily the fact that Mooney wasn’t a household name – so maybe that’s why the link to the story on the front page of AJC doesn’t mention Paul by name and instead chose to say “writer for chappell and pryor……” It’s still a slight either way you look at it
Stephen
October 19th, 2009
2:16 pm
Sounds like a brutal interview
lmno
October 19th, 2009
2:21 pm
“when CERTAIN white people hear true things that make them uncomfortable they
get shook as evidenced and omitted by the writer who decided to not mention his name in
link to his story.”
1. The writer, Rodney Ho, is not white.
2. The story appeared earlier today with the link titled, “Meet Paul Mooney”
3. I am white and think Paul is hilarious.
Mickey
October 19th, 2009
4:17 pm
Paul Mooney is a legend who used to live in Atlanta, but that fact doesn’t appear anywhere in this article. No wonder the interview went badly. Mooney could tell the writer was ill-informed and ill-prepared.
Shirly Hemphill
October 19th, 2009
4:21 pm
Hailed as the “comedian’s comedian” since no audience can stand him. There’s a reason nobody knows him and his stale ass material.
He’s been kissing the ass of every black comic that’s ever left him behind… still playing the happy hours at Yuk Yuks, I see…Professor!
NativeCentralTexan
October 19th, 2009
4:57 pm
I saw Paul Mooney in Austin, TX two months ago….I’m still laughing out loud! For all you die hards that have negative comments to post—this is COMEDY, not a political forum. Paul Mooney is a comedic legend and if you appreciate REAL, UNADULTURATED comedy—-stop reading this and get your popcorn!
Hmmm
October 19th, 2009
8:10 pm
“you don’t turn down white folks’ money”
–always have to raise up the issue of race if you’re black, I guess
Akilah
October 19th, 2009
8:44 pm
LOVE Paul Mooney…glad I heard about his show because I almost missed it! Can’t wait to see your show Paul! Can’t wait to see how many people get up and leave the room!
Downtown Heffa
October 19th, 2009
9:47 pm
Now that’s going to be pure entertainment. Paul Mooney is one of the greatest comedians ever! No one is safe! This is a must see event.
WTH?
October 20th, 2009
9:11 am
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mr. Mooney on a show and let me tell you, you cant eat or drink when he is around! I have chocked on many occassions not simply because his come back sarcasim is quick and hilarious it’s the fact that he does it with a straight face! I remember one of the AP on set asked if Mr. Mooney was going horse back riding because of what he was wearing he says “Yeah, I just finished riding your Momma” OMG! I was under my desk because Mr. Mooney looks at me with a straight face and ask why do they do that to themselves? Don’t they know who I am? Oh I laughed so hard tears were pouring down my face I just knew we were going to be fired! That was the greatest yr and a hlf! Thank you Mr. Mooney!
sansho1
October 20th, 2009
10:00 am
Mama jokes are the ultimate low-hanging fruit.
riley hawkins
October 20th, 2009
10:01 am
BIG UP PAUL MOONEY! WELCOME TO ATL!
SexyCool
October 20th, 2009
10:38 am
Rodney – Way to avoid a trainwreck of an interview. I will be at Uptown tonight prepared to laugh until I throw up.
M Anthony
October 20th, 2009
10:54 am
To DeShaun: exactly what is race baiting? Is that what white folks call it when they dont want to talk about race? or say, it is really not about race. or when someone else talks about race and you dont want them to? or maybe it is just the excuse people use when they have a problem with the truth. If you dont like Paul dont go to the show. Likewise I never knew racism was colorblind. Far as I can tell from history of this country only one group of people made a living off it. And it was not the Native Americans or black folks. Maybe your reading the new history books that say slaves came to this country to help the southern farmers.
blackman...
October 20th, 2009
11:44 am
Keep saying the truth… white folks do not care to hear about thier past treatment of
an entire race… when they do – it reveals the truth about how some of God’s children are
evil.
Vincent
October 20th, 2009
11:47 am
Angry black man…ugh! No thanks. Doesn’t sound all that funny either. As for your post, M Anthony, yes, blacks can be racist too. Don’t act like you have the moral high ground b/c you’re black and I’m white.
Rory
October 20th, 2009
12:22 pm
m.deeyall, you’re a classic victim. too bad that worn out card you’ve been playing all these years doesn’t mean anything anymore. people like you do nothing but make excuses and whine about the big bad man keepin you down.
Michael
October 20th, 2009
12:34 pm
Negrodamus — hehehehe.
» Blog Archive » Before They Get Stale: John Cleese, Todd Barry and Zach Galifianakis
October 20th, 2009
6:17 pm
[...] Paul Mooney talks about all the legends he has worked with over the years, like Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle. [Access Atlanta] [...]
To do list: October 21 | Inside Access
October 21st, 2009
12:24 am
[...] Comedy: Paul Mooney performs, 8 p.m., Uptown Comedy Club, Atlanta. Interview. [...]
too bad
November 1st, 2009
4:30 pm
Paul mooney was brilliant, but hatred has eaten him up. I think he is the reason why the chappel show ended. wishing people death, making fun of someones tragic death? all kinds of awful stuff Ive heard. I think everything is in black and white to him, and the world is many colors. brown, red, white,black, yellow. This nation is no longer just white and black people, and his hatred is just stirring up old nonsense emotions. I feel sorry for people who pay for his shows. The guy makes me sick, he can not even get through a show without saying the N word…Much better comedians out there, old worn torn, bitter, broke, and hateful. Time to retire, or deal with the new world we live in..