Questlove and Maya Rudolph - comedy and music

Uncle Quest has a podcast, Questlove Supreme. I of course enjoy it because of his….even calling it “extensive knowledge” is not enough…but his musical history knowledge is unmatched. Of course, we can all memorize band members and lead singers’ solo ventures, but Q knows engineers, mixers, studios, producers well beyond the big names (Timbaland, Pharrell, Terry Lewis/Jimmy Jam….). And so, his podcast episodes are long and deep, which are my kind of podcasts. / where am I going??? Ya know?

I recently listed to Q and the lovely, talented, not to mention funny funny funny Maya Rudolph episode. Maya’s parents are singer Minnie Riperton and Richard Rudolph, a very successful songwriter.

This exchange is great re: musicians and comedy/comedians. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a similar comment out there in the ether that comedy is similar to having a musical ear. I feel that.

The below is an excerpt, transcribed and lightly edited by moi.

Questlove: Ok, so I once dated a comedienne, and, ah, damn….The thing was was that….we….like…Me and my friends would watch her [stand-up] act and she wasn’t fully developed yet as a comedian. The thing way, is that my friends started laughing at me because they were like, “Face it, Ahmir - she’s not funny.” So, every time…

Maya: [laughs]

Q: so every time we came to the club, they were laughing at me and at her, but in her head, she’s like, “YO SON, I’m killin’ it!”

M: Like a stand-up?

Q: Yeah Yeah, she does stand up.

M: I’ve never ever done stand-up. That’s a whole other animal. And that’s even worse….and that’s why I won’t do it. If you fail at that, that’s it…

Q: I think you have to drown first before you resuscitate yourself. You have to be horrible and then you learn the tricks of the trade.

M: I thought if you wanted to be a comedian, you had to do stand-up, so when I was in college I wrote some stand-up, but I was like, “I’m never going to do this….” Terrifying, ‘cause I don’t like to be exposed! I don’t like to be vulnerable. Stand-up is vulnerable! Stand-up is so much more difficult in my opinion. And I just like to be other people. I mean, that’s what I’m programmed to do.

Q: That’s real deep.

M: I know it’s just so much easier to be…to not be vulnerable. And I’m sure when I was a kid, that’s how I hid it and then I was like, “Oh, my friends like this, I should keep doing it.” But I also think that being around music, I just developed….I think having a musical ear made me like a little…like a parrot, like a little bit of a mimic. So I didn’t realize I was doing voices and stuff when I was doing them, but I think I was just always doing them. Like, if you tell a story about someone, “and then she was like, ‘whyyyy’d ya get the spicy chicken??’” and then you talk like the person, and then you realize, oh I’m just copying sounds.

Q: I have a question.

M: Yessir!
Q: Do you think that growing up around music helped you with your comedy, like with timing and all that and with rhythm?

M: I kinda think they’re intertwined. I do…I’ve talked to many musicians about this, and I’ve never gotten an answer why, but, musicians and comedians are each others’, they’re counterp—-, we’re totally connected.

Q: Absolutely. but, I think…

M: I think it’s ‘cause also skills that other people…you can’t just acquire them, you have to naturally possess them both.

Q: Do you think that the way you, in a sort of therapeutic way, dealt with…

M: Absolutely, I know exactly what you’re asking.

Q: Because I know no comedian or funny person uhh especially with all the time that I spend at The Comedy Cellar, and really gettin’ to know all those people, like, behind every person who’s ever made me laugh there’s like a big giant bowl of pain somewhere in their backyard, buried somewhere.

M: I would also go out on a limb and say, I’m no therapist, but I would guess that it was also an act of rebellion from my family. Ya know, my parents were musicians. So I was like, “I’m not gonna sing! ‘cause that’s too painful, that’s too hard, I don’t want to expose that part of me.” Like, I don’t even think I truly sang in my own voice, truly truly sang songs in my own voice publically until fairly recently. I’ve only ever sung at like..

Q: Channeling other people.

M: Right. Because it was too painful because it was just sooooo connected to my mother. So, I can sing a funny ass song for the rest of my life. I can sing anything funny. And that’s probably because covers are easy, but when it comes to my actual, my real voice, singing is very very intense for me. And I think probably the natural like just the light from comedy was so much more…you can hide. You can hide in comedy. And I can hide and be a million things. And then I also just think it’s so fascinating to like be mixed and just like pretend to be other people, ya know? ‘cause you’re like, it has so much to do with the time I was growing up, being mixed wasn’t as cool as it is now. Like, The Cosby Show, everyone on the show was considered black, but Lisa Bonet was mixed. People didn’t even say what “mixed” was. And um, so I just think it was easier to like pretend to be other people. I think it’s absolutely that, and like that rebellion from what your parents do - you have to do something else. But, it was also…comedy was cool to them! My mom was….I remember my parents going to see Richard Pryor concert. and there’s some famous “Mr. Rudolph and the Monkey”

Q: I KNOW THAT! Yes.

M: Is that what it’s called?

Q: Did he name it after…?
M: Yeah, he was fucking with my dad.

Q: I knew it!

OH EM GEE, imagine Richard Pryor ranking on your dad - legendary!

Anyway, all in all, comedy is about timing and cadence. I think of all the funny people in my life - thankfully there are dozens - and plenty are also musically inclined as well. The set up of a joke or a funny story has a structure like a song or poem - I think so, anyway. I still can’t read music despite “playing” instruments, but I can sing/stay in tune. I am funny, but am quite intimidated by the thought of doing stand-up comedy myself. This is kind of straying from the original idea behind this post, but WHATEVER IT’S MY SITE weeeee. Cheers to Maya and Questlove for this great conversation.

Also, check out Quest’s conversation with Rick Rubin, the one and only.