Chance The Rapper addressed recent comments stating that he “fell off” during an interview with Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club.” Chance The Rapper was interviewed on “The Breakfast Club” and was asked by co-host Charlamagne Tha God about how he handles comments saying he fell off. “I could do one of two things, I can […]
Charlamagne Tha God has returned to Comedy Central for the second season of his late-night show. After a successful run as Tha God’s Honest Truth, Charlamagne’s show will return in a new presentation under the name Hell of a Week.
In the show’s second season, Charlamagne adds a new executive producer in Josh Lieb to a crew that featured Stephen Colbert, showrunner Rachael Edwards, Aaron McGruder, Karen Kinney, James Dixon, and Norm Aladjem.
The series will have more of a panel, and in the first episode, Charlamagne was joined by Andrew Shulz, Kenan Thompson, Coleman Hughes, and Lis Smith. Ahead of the show’s launch, Charlamagne Tha God spoke with The SOURCE about changes fans will see in the show’s second season.
The SOURCE: We are hitting season two of your late-night show, but we have a name change. What sparked the transition from The God’s Honest Truth to Hell of a Week?
Charlamagne Tha God: Well, you know, the beauty of the business that we’re in is it’s always constant research being done, you know? We found out that The God’s Honest Truth didn’t necessarily read like a talk show. If you didn’t necessarily know who I was and knew to play on the words, you wouldn’t get that. The God’s Honest Truth, you know, that is my truth. And that is how I feel about things. But Hell of a Week, not only does it read like a weekly talk show, but it feels like something everybody can relate to. Cause you, you probably said that last week, “boy, it was a hell of a week.” So it’s just something that I feel like more people can embrace.
Was there a level of attachment with that name change for you? You take projects as your baby, and then for that to be your late-night intro, was there any battling inside your mind, wondering if this is the right move for you to do even though it makes more sense in a data-driven process?
Always. That’s just natural. Especially when you come up with something, you wonder, am I not good? Was that not good enough? So yes, you always do, but you know, you just gotta realize that things are bigger than you, and you gotta take a step back from yourself and realize that’s why they hire the people they hire to do this research. The first season we had success, which is why we’re getting a second season, but I want a hit show, like a hit hit show. An undeniable hit show. I want to show that people are watching. I want to show that it’s getting the right messaging out there. I want to show that people are entertained and educated by the first season, but now we’ve worked out these one or two kinks here and there. I think we will hit the ground running with season two and make more of a splash than in season one.
This title change also comes with a new format. Listening to Brilliant Idiots, I get a small understanding of what to expect in this transition, but what will fans see in this season?
What I tried to do in the first season was a lot of heavy lifting, man. I was communicating these big broad topics like critical race theory. I was delivering them, but it was through the lens of me. I think this new show is about community, which is what I like to do. When you hear me on The Breakfast Club, it’s me, Envy, and Angela. And it’s us with the guests. You hear me on Brilliant Idiots, and it’s me and Andrew Shulz. I feel like that’s where I’m my best, when I’m, sitting around kicking it with people who can elevate whatever conversation that we’re having. Andrew’s actually on the first episode. I told him, “I need you to shoot.” Because of two things, number one, everybody knows how critical Andrew’s been about Comedy Central, and number two, I want Andrew to be Andrew. I don’t want anybody to feel like we’ve all come too far to be feeling restricted by any platform. I know that’s one reason why a lot of people don’t even like to do these kinds of shows anymore. People would rather have their social media, go on their stage, or podcast so they can express themselves unapologetically. I want everybody on the show to feel comfortable enough to let it fly.
Using Andrew as an example, coming into this with someone who may not have the best history with Comedy Central, and that’s your partner. How do you make sure you create the synergy for those shows to be created with possibly two contrasting entities?
I don’t think it’s a conversation to be had because I don’t even know if Comedy Central has heard what Andrew said [laughs]. I know what Andrew has said, but guess what? A lot of the criticism probably was fair. It wasn’t like just OD slander for no reason. It was fair criticism from a comedian’s perspective, and comedians grew up on Comedy Central. We grew up on Comedy Central, with certain things like I watched Chappelle’s Show. I watched Key and Peele here and there. I love The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but there’s a certain thing we expect from Comedy Central, and I guess a lot of comedians felt like, at some point, that thing wasn’t there. I hope to be a part of the individuals helping to bring that thing back. And I think that thing is just a little old fashion comedy, good old fashion observations of the world. I’m not a comedian per se, but I’m pretty good at making observations of the world.
I’m glad you mentioned that because a lot of comedians have to be able to catch something on the fly, be able to move around, and make a joke out of thin air. You mentioned having to be ready to shoot, but for you coming into this, especially with a new format, how do you like mentally prepare for the show?
I’m mentally preparing by being more loose. I think I put too much pressure on myself in the first season. I put too much pressure on myself like I haven’t been doing this for 20-plus years. I put pressure on myself because even though I’ve had talk shows in Charlamagne and Friends and Uncommon Sense, that did well for MTV2. When I look at those platforms, I was really training for a big opportunity like this, and that’s what literally what it was like. God blessed me with those other two opportunities to put me in a position to have an opportunity like this. When you have your name on the show, I didn’t feel that pressure with uncommon sense. And maybe cause I was just younger and didn’t have as many responsibilities as I have now. It was just fun.
We had Desus and Mero on Uncommon Sense. They had a segment on my show called Classic or Trash. I had somebody like Zuri Hall who is now on American Ninja Warrior. I had Karlous Miller, Chico Beam, and DC Young Fly. I remember Viacom told me nobody understands DC Young Fly, and now they can’t get enough of him. We had Cardi B on that show early on. It felt looser, so I didn’t have the pressure. The first season of this show felt like a lot of pressure because I wanted this to be successful. Still, I’m approaching this season much looser because if it’s one thing, God has consistently shown me everything is going to be okay and everything works out the way it’s supposed to.
Have you ever thought about yourself as the Gucci Mane of finding comedic talent? You know he finds everybody and the names you just named are big.
[Laughs] That’s a Black reference. That’s a reference only Black people from a particular club get. You know, I’ve never thought of that, but no. I know what you mean cause Gucci, I respect him for that. I respect anybody who does that because coming up, man, I always heard these stories of people that were selfish and didn’t want to share the stage. Didn’t wanna share the spotlight, didn’t want to share that platform. The people that I always thought were super dope were the people who had their stars and poured into everybody. My four inspirations in entertainment are Petey Greene; God bless the dead, an amazing radio personality. Arsenio Hall, Jay-Z and Clarence Avant.
Petey was just a servant of the people like he was. If you ever watched the movie Talk to Me with Don Cheadle and Taraji P Henson, Don Cheadle plays Petey Greene. He was just a servant of the people. That was his thing. He opened his platform to the community. He opened his platform to the people so much that when the riots broke out after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they had to put him on air cause he was the only one who could talk to the community then. Arsenio Hall, if you ever watch his old, late-night talk show, man, there’s nobody that puts more Black creatives on television. The first time you saw the cast of Living Single or Wu-Tang as a collective was there. They weren’t getting those looks on the shows that were on NBC and anybody else at the time.
JAY-Z, I think his track record speaks for itself. Look at all the different people that he had poured into. And Clarence Avant is the godfather. You know, country boy from North Carolina. I’m from South Carolina. But that young man went to Hollywood and did great. If you watch The Black Godfather on Netflix, you see how he’s had his hand in everything from Hollywood to the music industry to politics. I admire people like that. I don’t know if I said this before, but if what I’m doing only serves me, it’s not big enough.
You are bringing together all types of people, professions, and more for this show to find solutions. Why do you think to this point, people have not zoned in on finding solutions, but instead, just discussing the problems?
Because the problems make for better television, Chris Rock had that joke back in the day. I think it was a joke about disease, and he was like, the money’s not in the cure, the money is in the treatment. It’s the same thing with this. It’s like if we get to the solutions, then that takes away from all the time we could spend talking about problems, and the problems cause conflict, and it causes viral moments. But man, I want to get to solutions cause the reality of the situation is there’s no problem that America has that’s going to be solved in 30 minutes on a TV show. So we will never run out of problems to try to solve. Too many questions are being asked on television instead of people making actual statements. Everybody is asking should Donald Trump go to jail for the January 6th Insurrection. I’m like, what do you mean, should he? If you’ve been watching, they already said they got more than enough to charge him. If there’s any question that should be asked, it’s what the hell is the DOJ [Department of Justice] doing? What is the DOJ waiting for in bringing charges? That should be the question.
Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God with Charlamagne Tha God airs Thursdays on Comedy Central at 11:30 EM/PT, Paramount Plus, or on Comedy Central online.
Yesterday, Showtime announced that Desus & Mero would not be returning for a fifth season due to the duo’s decision to split and pursue separate ventures.
“Desus Nice and The Kid Mero will be pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward. SHOWTIME’s late-night talk show DESUS & MERO will not be returning for a fifth season. Its final episode aired Thursday, June 23,” a spokesperson for the network said in a press release.
Fans were shocked to hear about the split but wished the Bodega Boys much success in their future endeavors.
However, in a recent episode of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne called out the “culture” for reporting negatively on the split.
“Two talented brothas, wish them success in their solo endeavors, but one thing this situation reminds me of is we really are a culture that’s quick to talk about bad news,” Charlamagne said. “Like, Desus & Mero been on TV for the last six years from Vice to Showtime—their show’s critically acclaimed, they got New York Times best-selling book, brand deals, they’ve done some amazing things together and I’ve never seen the culture collectively report on those great things the way they’ve done this breakup, but that’s just the way it is.”
“People will scream about what they think is your failures and they’ll whisper about your success.”
The camera then zoomed in on DJ Envy who also wished the two success in their future endeavors. This is surprising given their beef in 2018.
The second season of Charlamagne Tha God’s weekly late-night program will have a new name and format with the same fantastic host for a comic examination of the week’s events, MTV Entertainment Studios announced. Comedy Central’s Hell of A Week with Charlamagne Tha God will feature notable guests and Charlamagne’s humorous and honest take on the most hotly debated subjects and will premiere on Thursday, July 28th at 11:30 PM ET/PT.
This season, the half-hour weekly show, executive produced by Stephen Colbert and Charlamagne, will feature unlikely pairings of comedians, outspoken celebrities, and thought-leaders from all political stances to discuss the current events influencing politics and culture with notable guests unpacking the stories making headlines.
“Last year I shared ‘THA GOD’S HONEST TRUTH’ about politics, culture and social issues but this year, I’m thinking enough shows talking about problems; I want to discuss solutions,” said Lenard “Charlamagne” McKelvey. “Regardless of if the conversation is politics, entertainment, or just some random f**k sh** going on in the culture, ‘Hell of A Week’ will be a safe space for free speech & a safe space for comedy. Basically, if you don’t want to be ‘canceled,’ this isn’t the show for you.”
Comedy Central’s Hell of a Week will utilize the comedy and wit of Charlamagne to deliver digestible soundbites of America’s news. You can learn more about the show here.
TV personality Charlamagne tha God and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change CEO Dr. Bernice A. King are among the next group of speakers announced for the United Justice Coalition’s (UJC’s) first social justice summit on July 23 in New York City at Center415. Additional speakers include award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, and national civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
Earlier this week, the UJC revealed the first round of speakers for its inaugural social justice summit on July 23. They include Grammy Award-winning musician and proponent of criminal justice reform Yo Gotti, New York Attorney General Letitia James, MSNBC host Ari Melber, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachael Rollins, Legal Action Center President Paul Samuels, University of California, Santa Cruz professor Craig Haney, and well-known psychologist and founder of The AAKOMA Project Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble.
At the UJC Summit, the speakers will take part in various panel discussions and town halls to address the condition of criminal justice reform, mental health, public safety, and other topics in the country. The UJC will make announcements about other speakers who will make up the summit’s final lineup of activists, entertainers, lawyers, businesspeople, professors, experts, and media figures.
The discussions will give the nation’s top thinkers a chance to work together in the spirit of social and racial justice to make positive changes in the following areas: laws/policies, mass incarceration, voter registration, education, civic action, and various spheres of influence like media, entertainment, and technology. Numerous social justice and criminal justice reform organizations will also be present at the conference so that people can become involved. The public is welcome to attend the convention for free. Registration is available here.
The UJC is a group of specialists from many fields who met informally in 2019 to exchange resources, knowledge, concepts, and support in an effort to coordinate tactical approaches to combat structural injustice across America.
Last month, Team ROC and United Justice Coalition’s founding member Dania Diaz spoke about the upcoming summit with The SOURCE. You can learn more here.
The “Put Your Shoes On” challenge is the latest viral sensation on TikTok. In the challenge, parents capture their kid’s reactions as they ask them to come outside to help them in a fight. Many kids are ready to go to war with another kid to help defend their parents, while others try to figure out a different solution, and others just cry.
In a recent airing on The Breakfast Club, DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne spoke on the newest viral challenge. Envy and Yee found the topic amusing, as Envy told which of his six kids would beat up other kids for him and which ones wouldn’t. Charlamagne, however, criticized parents who participated in the challenge.
“I can’t even believe we’re entertaining this conversation, I don’t like it,” Charla said. “I don’t like people laughing at their kids’ pain, traumatizing those kids for likes and reposts. I hate it. You got kids crying on the internet, scared to death because you wanna go viral. I think it’s wack.”
The Breakfast Club co-host went on to say that maybe parents should “run up to your bum ass friends that you think are your homeboys and home girls and tell them some people outside and put their shoes on and see how they react.”
“And by the way, I understand it’s a joke. I love inappropriate jokes. I just think this is wack. I don’t like traumatizing kids. especially for likes and retweets. an these are your children… Why are you entertaining strangers by traumatizing your kids,” Charlamagne said.
The first-ever Black Effect Podcast Festival has been announced by iHeartMedia and Charlamagne Tha God to honor, elevate, and amplify Black voices in the podcast sector. The event will occur at the Avant Gardner, Brooklyn Mirage, on Sunday, August 28. Charlamagne Tha God will attend the festival with some of the most well-known figures from the Black Effect for a day packed with enlightening panel talks and live podcast tapings geared for budding podcasters in the Black community. Lil Duval, a comedian, and Nyla Symone, a DJ and personality for Power 105.1, will serve as the festival’s host.
The most popular Black Effect podcasts, including “The 85 South Show,” “All The Smoke,” “We Talk Back,” “Reasonably Shady,” “Black Tech Green Money,” “WHOREible Decisions,” and “The Trap Nerds Podcast,” will be recorded live as part of the festival. The Business of Podcasting Panel with Dollie S. Bishop, President of Production and Creative Development for the Black Effect Podcast Network, and Charlamagne Tha God will also feature thought-provoking and educational talks for ticket holders.
“The Black Effect Podcast Network was created to amplify Black voices for new and established content creators and storytellers, giving them a space to showcase their creative vision in the ever-growing podcast game,” said Charlamagne Tha God. “I’m excited to celebrate the first-ever Black Effect Podcast Festival, where talented Black creators and aspiring podcasters will come together for a day to uplift and inspire one another. This festival is for the culture and is one of many events the network will host for the Black community.”
For Black creators looking to have their voices heard in the podcast industry, the Black Effect Podcast Network has emerged as the go-to venue. Launched in September 2020, the Charlamagne Tha God-curated Black Effect Podcast Network has since premiered 32 shows with a stellar lineup of marquee talent and culture-changing voices dedicated to illuminating, educating, and entertaining viewers. Black culture’s most influential and dependable voices are brought together to inspire discussions on social justice, pop culture, sports, mental health, news, comedy, and more.
Nissan is the sponsor of the Black Effect Podcast Festival and will have a fun activation there for participants. A pop-up market exhibiting goods from Black entrepreneurs, a family game room, and a picture booth are just a few of the many exciting activities and games the festival will provide.
Award-winning entertainer Jamie Foxx talks about music and acting history as the first guest on the premiere episode of the Tank and J. Valentine hosted podcast, R&B Money. Premiering at number-one upon release last Wednesday (June 1), the new R&B podcast is brought to you by iHeartRadio and Charlamagne Tha God’s Black Effect.
“FIRST EPISODE OF THE @rnbmoneypodcast is UP on the @blackeffect ! Of course, we kicked it off with THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER OF ALL TIMES JAMIE “MUTHUFIKIN” FOXX!!! @iamjamiefoxx It’s LIT!!.. R&B MONEY!!,” captioned Tank on an Instagram post previewing the podcast starring Jamie Foxx.
A clip from the podcast of Foxx, 54, discussing a time he was with an unrevealed intoxicated high-profile actress mistaking him for NBA champion Rick Foxx went viral on social media last week. Along with telling the mistaken identity story, Foxx, Tank and Valentine discussed their longtime friendship, Foxx’s music and film career, legendary party stories, and adventures including legendary stars, ranging from R&B legend Brian McKnight to boxing icon Mike Tyson.
In music, Jamie Foxx and Tank collaborated on Foxx’s 2x platinum-selling debut album, Unpredictable (2005), and the platinum-selling follow-up album, Intuition (2008). Tank has released seven albums in his solo career.
Outside the new podcast, Tank is in album mode with the release of his “final” album coming soon. Currently promoting the upcoming album’s lead single “I Deserve,” Tank will be releasing the album’s second single in the J. Valentine-featured “Slow” this Friday (June 10). For daily updates on Tank, follow the hit-making singer/songwriter on social media.
For all things R&B related, follow the R&B Money Podcast on social media.
Watch the premiere episode of the R&B Money Podcast featuring Jamie Foxx below.
Saucy Santana is enjoying some high moments in his career at the moment. He recently joined Latto on a stop in Atlanta during her Monster Energy Outbreak tour which came a few months after he released his most recent project Keep It Playa. That effort delivered 16 songs with contributions from City Girls, Kali, Beatt King, and Rubi Rose. More recently, Saucy announced that he signed a record deal with RCA which further proves that the trajectory of his career is on an upward climb. Saucy shared the news during a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, and it’s here that an awkward moment also took place.
This got awkward for a quick second — One of the straight dudes at the Breakfast Club told Charlamagne he be watching Santana twerk videos, so he brought him in during the interview pic.twitter.com/Zo0UikqDLn
During the live broadcast of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God invited one of his co-workers on the show to step into the room to meet Saucy. It’s here that Charlamagne revealed that the individual “really enjoys your twerk videos.” Saucy clearly did not expect things to pan out as they did. “You buggin’ the f*ck out,” Saucy said to Charlamagne who replied, “I’m not lying. I’m dead serious… He actually said to the room, ‘Y’all don’t be watching Saucy Santana twerk videos?”
Saucy asked the worker if they enjoyed and they replied, “It’s entertainment. I thought it was funny.” Despite the awkward energy in the room, Saucy was able to use the interaction to make a point about his career. “That’s what I love about me,” Saucy later said. “Now I’m at a place in my career where n****s ain’t scared to be like, ‘Yo, I f*ck with the music’ or ‘I f*ck with the vibe,’ or just anything. You could be a straight n**** but you f*ck [with it].”
He continued, “That’s one thing I take pride in. I feel like a hit is undeniable, music is undeniable, star quality [and] star power are undeniable. So regardless if you’re a man, woman, white, Puerto Rican, polka dot: if it’s enjoyable and you f*ck with it, then you f*ck with it.”
You can watch the moment between Saucy, Charlamagne, and The Breakfast Club worker in the video above.