Comedy to Coaching: The Impact of a Legend with Earthquake

This is where purpose meets power and story-spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get Unplugd.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most impactful and important episode of Mick Unplugd in the history of this podcast. We're talking to a legend to the guy who I follow, who I've looked up to, not just from his comedic skills, but also his entrepreneur mindset. He is someone who we're about to talk about.

It got me in trouble when I was 16 years old, but he is the guy that I have always looked

up to. I am talking about the iconic, the legendary, the phenomenal. He absolutely lets Mr. Earthquake. Quick, how are you doing today, brothers? I'm doing good, but I feel too much like a ulogie.

I like it. Did you talk about that? It's someone I just wanted to say, but I'm doing it, man, I'm blessed. Life is good, and I think it's a well. I'm well.

I'm well. I'm truly honored. I've been looking forward to this all of my life, man, and I truly mean that. Everybody knows the comedic legend that you are. But you don't give yourself enough for the two.

You don't talk about enough about when what you do in the community, but two, the entrepreneur mindset that you have, and I'm going to give you those flowers today, brother. Well, thank you.

“I think my father taught me a long time ago the best way you can change the world is”

doing your part. Your part is, you know, do the best you can, with which you can, or what you have around people that are around you, and that's all I try to do. You know what I mean?

And I always thought if, actually, us as black people, if we only did the best we could

for each other and start with yourself and your own, it will be a lot farther. You know what I mean? You know, I'm personal responsibility and give grace to our women and understand it into our men. You know what I mean?

So that's always been my platform. Absolutely. And you do that in everything that you do to when your own stage, you always have those moments where you're, you're coaching us. And I'm going to say it, you're coaching us black men or how black men should be, right?

You talk to us about going to the doctor, about having our paperwork, about all of those things that matter on Quake's house, you, you talk to everybody about doing the right thing.

“When you're on interviews like those things come out, and that's again, that's why I want”

to give you your flowers, but I'm also going to be mad at you. Because you're the first person that ever got me in trouble. I'm born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, hour and a half up the road from Atlanta, Georgia. And it's 16.

I would sneak down and go to this comedy club called uptown comedy corner in Buckhead. I was not supposed to be there, but it's 16.

I looked a little bit older and I could get in, and I would always have the time in my life.

Except my mama found out one day. She, my mama said I had to be home, so I could go to church on Sunday, and I was late, because I had an amazing time, and I'm just going to leave it at that down in Atlanta. But that's when I realized the bread video of who Earthquake was, because in these are the things that I'm going to say, T-93 and T-95, there were, you can count them on what,

three fingers, like own comedy clubs in the country, not just Atlanta, not just Georgia, not just the South, not just the East Coast in the country, and to see excellence, because it'd be easy to, to tear the club down, and I don't mean physically.

“I just mean, it's a not have would be really easy to do in the early to midnight, right?”

The excellence that that club represented, I got to know Earthquake, the business man, before I even got to know Earthquake, the comedian man, so I'd love for you to just walk us to that time, and why you said, you know what? I need to open my own doors, because people were not willing to take that financial risk, either.

Well, it came out of necessity to be played on the switch. They had a black comedy club there already, historic comedy act here, and they had two locations, one in LA, and of course one in Atlanta, and I was just getting into business of comedy because of, like, it's going on now, golf, won't present, that's a storm had kicked off.

And, um, I had decided that I wasn't going over any fight. I don't mind practicing for a world, but y'all fighting for real, you know what I mean? And, um, as patriotic as I was, I knew that that fight had anything to do with my country, had to do things with all.

black people, black men, to be prosper, was Atlanta, Georgia, never been there.

So I migrated to there, and I said let me try this comedy thing, because I was doing a little host of when I was in the military. And, um, the owner would never let me perform at this club. And then one time, he said, okay, I'm allowed you to perform at my club. And I told, you know, you know, the girls, and then, yeah, I'm a comedian because when you

tell a woman you're a comedian, that's just a black woman, that's all the women I'm messing with. We ain't going to be at the comedy act, nah, I'm down in Miami, you know, way to look. I ain't it, call me when you come to New to the comedy act, and you ain't in the real comedian, let's just perform at the comedy act.

It was a pleasure to be in that Apollo theater back at that time. So you finally said, yes, and I could perform, so I told the little girl I was messing with. I'm performing this Friday, and I finally went, go up there to perform that Friday, and I posed the opening up for Paul Meaning, and the owner told me, nah, you're not on the show.

I ain't telling you that, I said, you lying to me, so I cry to my mother. I said, man, let me down, sit down there, tell me, you don't put me on.

I told all my friends, I was going to be there, and my mother told me what she always said.

You can't get mad at another person who's not lying, you need to write me a bike. You even get your own bike or don't write a bike at all. You know what I'm saying with your means, you like your own comedy club. I said, well, you just can't get your own comedy club, and she said, the key word that

“that's why I black women are so important to me, because they are she just gave me, and”

that's clear today. Why not? And all right, yeah, why not? So for then on, I went and found some investors and opened up my comedy club and the rest of this history, and I had three out there that man, man, man, and again, just

that the business acumen that you had, the financial literacy that you had, because again, when you own something, right, like there's a lot that goes into it that people don't realize, right, like it's bills to pay, it's employees whose lives depend on the decisions that you make. Like people don't understand that, bro, and again, that's why I applaud you, like, still,

my all-time favorite comedian, but one of my all-time favorite business people is earthquake. Thank you.

It was, you really, you know, was so funny about it, you never realized the significance

of it. You don't tell, you look back at it, because you're in it, you know what I mean?

“You never, that's why I tell people, you know, just do it, and don't, you know, worry”

about if it can't work, just do it apply. And then this time, this sit back and reflect, and you, you never know how great, but all the respect, how great of a cop that she made, until it's over. It's like, you know, like you said, again, it's time to count them in. You know, you count the money when the deal is over, when the game is over.

And you know, you never count your money at the table. So, and that's metaphorally what I did, I just was, I went all out on it, Lanna was rich at that time, because, you know, I was, it wasn't infiltrated by so many people, transitioning to people being there, and I'm here from DC, it was a country town that turned into a city. You know what I mean?

It happened all the sudden, accolades, but it was a city, and you know, like, man, this is fertile. I was, I was surprised, they let you pump your gas, then you walk in and then pay for it. You know what I mean? So, I didn't pay for no gas, just leave the hose on the ground and drive off.

You know what I mean? It was just that, it was just that period, that night, that night, it was beautiful. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Now I'm going to get into this committed legend that you are, man.

You know, we have these conversations, we have barbershop conversations at my house every weekend. Family, we always gather around, and, you know, just two weekends ago, we were talking about earthquake, and every single person in my family said the most relevant and relatable comic of our lifetime is you.

You put in the work, and again, I'm going to keep giving you flowers during this whole interview, but you know, right? Like, I go to comedy shows all the time. There's comedians that don't put in the work, meaning they told a great joke 10 years ago, and that's still the joke they closed with, right? It's like you can close your eyes

and tell the joke, you are always putting in the work and from opening story, and I like story because you're a storyteller. To the close, you got us hurt, bro, like, like hurt. Again, a lot of people that put energy in the beginning or energy at the end, earthquake is given it to you moment after moment after moment.

“We all do us about that work and why that's so important and why I'm not going to have”

you say it. These are the words of Mick and Mick only, why there are some that just don't continue to put in the work. It's hard to come up with a child.

I come from a family that we call, I'm from Washington DC.

We have no cut car, so we always joke, and there is no limit.

You know what I mean, my brother was bound with fighting cancer, and he just came out of surgery. He was in ice, and we asked the doctors, can we go to see him and me and my three brothers. We went to see him. My older brother, man, time home, look at them and say, "Hey, man, I know your zodiac sand is a cancer, but you're going to fall through your cancer."

And we just saw a laugh and the doctor was like, "What is wrong with you all?" He said, "You know to me, but that's just how we have no cut car." So when you have a standard of excellence, within your family, you know there's a standard

“you must do when you stand on that stage, and that's what is in me.”

I know that it's a standard I have already set. I know it's a standard that, you know, I must maintain and it's easier to maintain that standard if you keep working on it, into letting it go down and then try to regenerate it. And I think that's what a lot of comedians do.

I'm not confident enough, or arrogant enough, to be a good thing I can wrestle my lungs. You know what I mean?

I don't have that compatibility, you know, I always worry about, have I structured it this

way? Honestly, I'm always in the lab trying to improve, and of course you get into them slumps with creative it doesn't come, but you mean anyway, I fight to get out of it and keep on working with it. People pay their honor and money to come see you, especially especially your black

comic. I'm an urban comic, my clientele is my people, and I know what it takes for them to spend their money to come see me, so it's an obligation that at least give them their money to come see me. And I always, you know, I'll carry that like a badge on.

And you do it well, man, and now, I mean, it's been this way for a while because, you know, three decades and you started when you was five years old, I get it.

“You are now, you're the the shoulders that people are standing on, right?”

And again, I want to give you your flowers, because I don't know if you understand how powerful that is, man, but it's your shoulders that that people are standing on it. And when you hear those type words of that phrase, like, how does that make you feel? It's humbling. And you try to sit back and say, thank you, God, thank you for letting me to be living

in a great purpose, making it different.

Because I always for all my, all my, see, in this business, I have always tried to elevate

my cares, my friends and my coworkers, because I'm a so fan of the art, I love the art of it. You know what I mean? So when I owe my own comedy club, you know, I only, I just did not do that for me. I did it for every other comedian that they went loud to perform there.

I gave them their opportunities, quake house when I formed when Kevin Hart came to me and asked me about that, we're kind of sure I could have been my show anything, but I've grown in place where other comedians can shine and everybody can hear is other comedians other than the, the name brand you know of. These comedians are just as funny and the people that you love so much.

We was at these same position, these comedians, I'm introducing in their life. So let me introduce you to them.

“And I have always felt opportunity you need to get back, speccing the black community”

and black comedians because we don't have no comedy clubs. We don't have no platform. So I think it's very important for those of us that do get some kind of success and able to provide a platform and we do have the ear of the masses, it's our obligation, our friend, our homily, it's our obligation to pull back, say yeah, you love me, but what about

help, take you funny too, let me show you the vans of comedians that we have and I always carry that to the day I die. And again, I applaud you because as a huge listener supporter, Quakehouse, that is exactly how that show is, man. Like, yeah, your name is on it, but you give everybody their time, like you wouldn't

know that it's your show unless you really knew that it was your show, meaning everybody gets their time, you don't interrupt, you never make it about you, like, every and you let people go in on you on the show, like, y'all cut on each other, like, and you don't, you don't pull the, I'm earthquake card, anything like that, like again, I relate that to business

me, yeah, it's my name, it's my brand, but I can't do anything without my team, right?

“It just though happens that my name is on and not only that, if you really look at it,”

man, it's the, I call it the Tom Brady of shit. You know what I mean? You take responsibility when you lose my fall and you defer all the credit when you win, but at the end of the day, everybody know who team it is, you know what I'm saying? So the, I just really gotta say, you don't need to act like, and if you are about winning,

you want to elevate your team, and you know what I mean, you want to want people to gravitate to the other people that you put, and then after the end of the day, those people that you

elevate are going to be so indebted to you for what you did for them, when they knew you could

have been the other dude, you could have hauled all the time, you could have been, this is my mind, my mind, all my mind, and I look at that as insecurity, I look at that as bad business,

“I look at that as burning bridges, and then if you have to me, having an ultimate faith,”

and God, that this is my purpose, and what's meant for me, can none of y'all stop it? You know what I'm saying? So there's no reason for me to be a riot, to be a betraying, to be a free, that you can. When I know you can't, they can't, you know, that's a perfect segue, you talk about team and the team dynamics, and you brought up Tom Brady, I'm a huge sports nut, and

you are as well, right? Like, I mean, you could talk about sports, more than you talk about comedy, if you want to, and you do a lot of times, right? What happened to your football team, bro? Well, I met the Washington Commanders, I mean, it's understandable, it was a gift and a curse, a gift was, we got JD five, you know, Daniels, JD and Daniels, and we had a phenomenal

year, we went all the way to the NSC Championship, something we had done in over 30 years. So you had to run it back, you had to give all of those older players, that was on one year again, another shot, you was one game from there to the Super Bowl, you know, I mean, you had to postpone or delay the rebuild and add a couple of more players, the C can duplicate what they did, the previous year, unfortunately, the older players got older,

injuries came in, and you sit back and say, okay, we gave it a shot, now we're going to tear back down and get back to the original, the way we are, a building around, obviously a one

“of the greatest young court of back's album to play, and go from there. So that's what”

happened with our team. We gave them one more year for them to duplicate the go father, and it didn't work out. It was a gamble, it didn't work, and now we back to you, we building and doing what we need to do with the quarterback we got. No, y'all would be just fine, man, because those quarterback contracts are very good if you got the right quarterback, which you guys did, so to turn it around, we'll be quick, because

my team did it. So I'm a New England Patriot, it has nothing to do with Tom Brady. I'm listening to me, but you don't, y'all got listening to me. Oh, New England Patriot, the easiest role to the Super Bowl album to know. We had to play the games, though. I'm not

knocking it. You can celebrate it. You came in a second, my every team is going to be

upset except for one. And obviously, yeah, y'all was too y'all went. No problem on this experience, make me get to find out who went to a Super Bowl. He already know what it takes and everything, but y'all back in the same situation, we are. Do you keep that same team? Because you got to the Super Bowl or do you stay on the same formula of rebuilding and rebuilding, placing around and hitting the draft and everything on it? And we're going to see, yeah, we got

to go get an offensive line because we got exposed. Well, you got exposed early than that. You didn't have nobody on the other side of the school. You know, you played the team that didn't have no offense. So, out the wild, out of the league, the opposing decisions get tied. We just, we just can't listen, man. We just lean and get a chance to drink no water. Y'all went three and out again. You know what I mean? After a while, I tell

people if I had to be picked between the defense and the offense, I'll take the defense. All day. Y'all understand? Because the defense can demoralize the whole team. Yeah. You know what I mean? If you, you got to 85 bears and you knocking the quarterback out turn and the defense, see, man, anger, no break and there's three and out there, you're demoralized. Yeah. So, believe everything got to be right. Yeah. Everything got to be defensively. They

defense is. Can your defense make a stop when it needs to make a stop. I don't want

to hear you in the fourth rank defense in the league, but when he got, there's no reason. Kansas City should better go all way down the field in 13 seconds. You pose a loop, okay? You got the game winning. You let him go all the way down in 13 seconds. 13 seconds, man. Come on, man. I listen. I can't blitz something. You do what? You pose to have certain, what did you crack this all week for? You pull that one coverage. This is the one right

here that we're going to blitz and you're going to be free and you got to make this,

“you got to make this talk. If they get a next formation right here, what's they love to do?”

And you come over there because you know pretty boy and see the quarterback patch of my home.

Come on up here. Come on. You see other pretty likes can do. You know the likes can do. Oh, it was the ball in there. Come on. How do I tell them? You just got to sit there and you see previously and you put pressure on outside. You're going to beat them. Why are you going to sit back in the zone? You both have a blitz package. And this is the one we're going to run. Right here when the game's on the line. Yes, sir NFL general managers earthquake might be available

on your coaching staff or man consulted consultant to the owner. He might be available. Well, if I did music, I'll start a team of building a time. I'll build it from the inside out, offence and defense align out. If I can you understand, if I got an offensive line that can push the ball three yards out and if I got a defensive line that can push you back three yards out, then anybody behind me is doing it. I'm going to put it anybody is quarterback.

The ball that I do, run, run, run, run. They're going to have to do something to come and stop the run and check down. I don't need cash at my home. I've been saying that forever, brother. Like at the end of the day football is just blocking and tackling. Everything all gets erased. Everything else is just getting your eyes to look somewhere else.

“Exactly. You should get all that what Richard Denton was a friend of mine. And he said one of the”

best thing album when he was with the 85. I said, don't you worry about how they're doing all that switching and everything around and all that motions they get. They got to stop but eventually when they stop there's a left moment left. That's it. When you shift over here, move all that, we can't hear about nothing. We're coming right here. You got to stop. And when you stop, I got him, you got him, you got him, you got him, you got him, you got him, you got him, you got

him, you got him, you got him, be your man and go get the quarterback. That's it. And I said, okay, I love that philosophy. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Quake, man. I got to talk really quick about Earthquake legendary. Yes, this is Pell's home team. Crazy numbers. You guys were rocking it. Man, like how did all that come together? Legendary Kate, they should tell me, I thought it was a prank call.

“I'm gonna be quite honest, Richard. Me and Dave had been friends for a while. He called my agent”

and asked for my number and the agent call and said, Dave should pay, I was wondering, is it cool for me, for him to give them my number? I said, of course. So he called me. I'm gonna do your special. Take you to Netflix. I should have given a long time ago, please forgive me. I said, yeah, so he went to Netflix and told them that he wanted to produce my special. And I knew that was going to be career changing and it was and it was beautiful. It was one of the biggest

breaks that I've ever received other than now developing my own TV show on Fox. I've ever had in my career, you know. And it is still one of my favorites. If you go to my my list in Netflix, it is still there. I love to watch it when I'm in the air because it makes me not think about anything and I laugh for a good hour and 15, man, because you give it to us all the time, all the time. And let's talk about this Fox show coming up. Let's talk about it. Yeah, man. And with my boy,

Bill Burr, producing it from his production company with Fox. We right now going through the process with the, you know, the notes with the scripts and everything. We trying to get it all together, suitable for the network. And it's going to be a, it's going to be a earthquake show with the mandate from the president Michael Thorn that said in our quote, I don't care if you put earthquake on the roof on the moon as long as it's earthquake. We're buying an earthquake to hear that

blessing from a man of that, that's that show. The network president something, anybody in this business dream upon me and it came. I didn't have close to 16 deals and

every time they saw me to do a TV show, I had to always try to convince them. They should allow

once I was in the meeting and they were sending me notes and one of them said, we don't believe

earthquake was saying that. I said, well, I'm earthquake. I've been working like long enough,

“anybody. I think I should know what earthquake was saying. When you don't think, I mean,”

you actually had a month ago. I don't think earthquake was saying that. What? You know what, you know what I mean? So this is what you're dealing with and to actually have a person that wants me to be on his network because Foxes is making a transition to back to their origins of when they first came out with sitcoms with 11 color, Murray with children, Martin. Yeah, they going back to that. Yeah, rock, they're going back and we're one of the shows that's

slated to make that move red to song to come back and and the script is funny because I wrote it. I am very caught. Yes, I had everything to deal with it and we're just waiting for the rest of the notes on it and get the script, the guy will put in the give us the ALK to cast, they don't get it going.

Man, I have never anticipated anything more than this because one, I think the people are telling

these networks in a kudos to Fox that reality TV is great and all. But we're missing something in this society. Like, we don't laugh as much. Like, they're silliness and nothing against Instagram comedians. Everybody's got their place. It's still not the same as just I had a rough day. I need to laugh and I need to show this. Just going like, put me at ease,

“take my mind off the day. And when you go see earthquake in person, that's what happens. So the”

fact that you have the full creative control over your own showman. I am so excited and have been anticipating this for a long time, brother. Yes, and taken when was that creative control

is the mandate that came along with it because it's getting no one right me but me. You know what I mean?

So I tell the story and get it in. And when you were thinking about the relaxation, you know what? I told that to my writer. We want to be calmed on, take him away. You know what I mean? We want and the reason why in my humble opinion that it was so much reality TV shows because people who was greenlighting the shows, it was so far fest that every day people couldn't even recognize what this is. You know what I mean? So really in my humble opinion, it was a testament to them not allowing

people that comedians that they hire to come and tell you, I'm at the front line. I'm telling you, I ministered this comedy gospel to 4,000 people all this weekend for a whole hour. Believe me, I'm telling you what experiences we're at. If you trust in me, I can bring that and you allow me to do it on your platform and give me a honest shot at it. We can pull this on. And the reason why reality show is I don't want so well because people can recognize without more than the

fictitious scripted show that you've formulated and sitting through the machine where people who lives in me and all the houses, that's not dealing with the everyday life. You know what I mean? So I think, you know, that's going to the biggest problems I had to say in my humble opinion. I respect it too. And like I said, I cannot wait when taping starts. I'm going to be out there in the live studio audience. Please. I promise you. I promise you. You have my people

thing I ain't going to interrupt. Please, I want you to be there. I want you to talk about it. I'm going to a ladder online influences. I'm going to bring them up a seat because I really want them to sit because we need our justices. We need our good times. We need our show that, you know,

“that, like you say, you can just sit and laugh and that's what we're doing. That's what we're writing.”

And we don't push the edge. I'm all for it. I'm all for it. You don't have to tell me twice, man. So I'll make sure I'm doing my part every day if I got to. I'm going to be posting about it until it comes out. And when it comes out, I'm going to post in times the day because I know what those ratings are supposed to look like, something that world too. So whatever I can do, brother, I'm there. Like, you don't even have to ask. You just tell me and it's done because you've changed

my life more than you ever know. Like, you taught me how to be a business man and how to be a man period when I didn't have somebody that looked like me that could do that. So thank you for being earthquake and thank you for the inspiration that you've given to me personally, brother. Thank you, brother. And thank you and we're just getting to describe my appreciation to what you just said. There you go. There you go. Well, I know you're busy. So I'm going to let you run to everybody this

watching a listening follow earthquake. Stay up to tune with what's going on with the new show.

more. From following me at the real earthquake, for all my days of where I'm going to be,

“keep going. First and anything else to work out. My brother, God bless you and I hope to see you”

in the future. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll be with you, brother.

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