 Hey guys, this is Kwame Opin with The Verge, and I'm at South by Southwest with the comedian W. Kamau Bell, and we're going to talk about a couple things. A couple things, yes. The new show with Kwame Opin. Oh yeah. So, you actually have a new show, it's on CNN, that was just announced. Yeah, it's not on yet, unless somebody has done something without telling me. Oh, in the future now. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh it's on, and it's been a hit. You guys all know, it's on the cover of every magazine. Oh yeah. Yeah, it's the United Shades of America. Yeah, it's a race and culture travel show. I mean, that's not a new topic for you at all. No, no, no, no. I'm familiar with all those things. Race, culture, and traveling. So I do those things regularly, it's just now I'm bringing a camera crew with me everywhere I go. Alright, so you're going to be visiting cities and talking to people about the issues of the day. The issues of, well the issues of their day, basically. The issues that are going on in their place, and also just experiencing different cultures that I wouldn't experience without CNN's travel budget. So it's an opportunity to sort of, one of the things that people most enjoyed from Totally Biased that I hear about is the Man on the Street interviews. And so this just takes that concept and blows it out into a whole show where I'm talking to people about their thing. You know, this is a much smaller crew than Totally Biased. You needed a lot of all hands on deck to do a daily show, but this is a much smaller film crew. So it's not, it's a funny show, but it's not based in mostly the writing, it's based in the interactions with the people. So it's not a thing where it's, it's not written like that. It's just talking to people and because I'm a comedian and I can get people to open up about stuff, we find things that are funny. And I just do things every time that I have fun doing. Sometimes those things look ridiculous and people laugh at them. Is it like, it's coming out of the process of you being in Totally Biased and then a connection of cop talk which you talked about before. It's, it's, yeah, it swirls around people who know me and like me will like this show. It's just a more, it's probably, it's, this is the show, like Totally Biased was the thing that sort of, I got an opportunity to do that and I was happy to do it and happy to pursue it and drive it to the wheels fell off, which, and they fell off. And but this show, if I'm honest, is actually like a show. I had an idea for a show like this before Totally Biased ever came around because I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain and I'm a big fan of sort of that, it's half journalism, but most, but also half the personality of the person. So it's like it's still, you learn something when you watch it, but then it's also about you get to hang out with Anthony Bourdain or Mike Rowe or Lisa Ling or these, these shows where it's like, follow me, go through this thing. And it's not the news, but you do get to learn something and experience something. So I've always been a fan of those types of shows and always felt like I could do well at one of those shows. And then luckily the training I got from Totally Biased from doing the Man on the Street interviews sort of set me up for that. Cause I don't think, I don't think I would have been as good as I feel like I'm being at this show if I hadn't had that time on Totally Biased to do all those Man on the Street interviews, which initially I was pretty scared of just walking with people on the street and saying, Hey, can I talk to you about racism? So I feel comfortable sort of talking to people and very quickly sort of figure out a rapport. So yeah, it certainly feels like I got trained to do this from Totally Biased and I'm taking the thing that everybody, overwhelmingly people said from Totally Biased that they really dug and turning it into a whole show and still beginning to do it. I'm not competing. The thing about having a late night talk show is suddenly you're competing against other late night talk shows and there's this sort of sense of like, Kamau, why can't you call Justin Timberlake and have him lip sync songs with you on your show? Cause I wasn't on Starting Out Live for 10 years. I don't have a Rolodex of all the most famous people in Hollywood and also it's not my thing. But now this show is not really, I mean you have to get ratings on stuff, but it's not competing directly against anybody's thing. It's its own thing. And all the shows that it would sort of be naturally competing against are on the same network. So Morgan Spurlock, Andy Bourdain, Lisa Ling, Mike Rowe, all those people are on the same network as me so I'm not going to be going up against them. It's all part of the same team. So that point's freeing. Yeah, it's freeing. It's a lot. We can, we've shot four episodes so far and everyone has dramatic differences. Like there's just things about, because we sort of are adapting to wherever we go. So if you're in East LA talking about undocumented people and immigration and the Chicano identity, it just automatically becomes a different show than going to Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost tip in North America and hanging out with the Anupiaq people who are the natives and talking about what's it like to have 365 days of snow or whatever or 360, I don't want to exaggerate. And what's it like to live a place where you can only get to by plane that you can't drive into town and there's no movie theater and there's no Starbucks. So those are automatically shows you have to approach differently. So it's freeing and it feels more authentic to me. So you're at South by and are you finding like any of those interactions and any fodder for comedy here? I mean you haven't been here long. No, no, I got here yesterday. I mean this is my third year in a row here and I was hoping to take this year off quite frankly. It's a crazy show. It's a lot of just, you know, to me South by Southwest, it feels like a high school reunion with people I didn't go to high school with. Everybody's just sort of walking around like, I can't believe we made it. And I'm like, we did? I mean maybe you did, but everybody's sort of silently high fiving each other without just sort of looking at each other in the eye like high fives. As far as like people of color, black people, I don't see, it's a very white show from so far. Well here's the thing, fellow black men. South by is a lot about money. Whenever you make things a lot about money, like when it costs, I don't know what the badges cost because luckily I don't have to, I wouldn't come if I had to pay for it. I get brought by other people. But yeah, whenever you make things expensive, it tends to whiten things up. Fair enough. If people make fun of black people for eating chitlins and sort of the worst parts of the pork, but we did that because it was cheaper. You know, if chitlins were like $1,000 an ounce, they would be a white people delicacy. It would be like caviar. I can only imagine. Yes. I mean, white people can get in there either, but there just happens to be a higher percentage of poor black people. You know, I'm not breaking it down for them. I know, I know. I mean, I've been around to a couple panels and I feel like there's like more attention paid to diversity at least these days. Well I think, you know, in the year 2015, if you want to be regarded as open and accepting and liberal and progressive, you have to sort of at least nod to diversity. So yeah, I've certainly seen people of color with badges on, but not in the same percentage that people of color exist in the country. What do you look for when you're around here? What catches your eye most often? I like going to cities and going to the places where people in the city go to. Like we just ate and apparently there's the taco trucks that are set up for this festival and there's taco trucks that are like the locals eat at. So we went to the locals taco truck. At least what they told us it was. There's probably a deeper level of localism that we didn't get to. So that's the thing with my TV show. Like I'm trying to do the things that people in that place do, not the things they've set up for outsiders to do. Okay, thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks Kwame. Thanks.
 Hey guys, this is Kwame Opin with The Verge, and I'm at South by Southwest with the comedian
 W. Kamau Bell, and we're going to talk about a couple things.
 A couple things, yes.
 The new show with Kwame Opin.
 Oh yeah.
 So, you actually have a new show, it's on CNN, that was just announced.
 Yeah, it's not on yet, unless somebody has done something without telling me.
 Oh, in the future now.
 Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh it's on, and it's been a hit.
 You guys all know, it's on the cover of every magazine.
 Oh yeah.
 Yeah, it's the United Shades of America.
 Yeah, it's a race and culture travel show.
 I mean, that's not a new topic for you at all.
 No, no, no, no.
 I'm familiar with all those things.
 Race, culture, and traveling.
 So I do those things regularly, it's just now I'm bringing a camera crew with me everywhere
 I go.
 Alright, so you're going to be visiting cities and talking to people about the issues of
 the day.
 The issues of, well the issues of their day, basically.
 The issues that are going on in their place, and also just experiencing different cultures
 that I wouldn't experience without CNN's travel budget.
 So it's an opportunity to sort of, one of the things that people most enjoyed from Totally
 Biased that I hear about is the Man on the Street interviews.
 And so this just takes that concept and blows it out into a whole show where I'm talking
 to people about their thing.
 You know, this is a much smaller crew than Totally Biased.
 You needed a lot of all hands on deck to do a daily show, but this is a much smaller film
 crew.
 So it's not, it's a funny show, but it's not based in mostly the writing, it's based in
 the interactions with the people.
 So it's not a thing where it's, it's not written like that.
 It's just talking to people and because I'm a comedian and I can get people to open up
 about stuff, we find things that are funny.
 And I just do things every time that I have fun doing.
 Sometimes those things look ridiculous and people laugh at them.
 Is it like, it's coming out of the process of you being in Totally Biased and then a
 connection of cop talk which you talked about before.
 It's, it's, yeah, it swirls around people who know me and like me will like this show.
 It's just a more, it's probably, it's, this is the show, like Totally Biased was the thing
 that sort of, I got an opportunity to do that and I was happy to do it and happy to pursue
 it and drive it to the wheels fell off, which, and they fell off.
 And but this show, if I'm honest, is actually like a show.
 I had an idea for a show like this before Totally Biased ever came around because I'm
 a big fan of Anthony Bourdain and I'm a big fan of sort of that, it's half journalism,
 but most, but also half the personality of the person.
 So it's like it's still, you learn something when you watch it, but then it's also about
 you get to hang out with Anthony Bourdain or Mike Rowe or Lisa Ling or these, these
 shows where it's like, follow me, go through this thing.
 And it's not the news, but you do get to learn something and experience something.
 So I've always been a fan of those types of shows and always felt like I could do well
 at one of those shows.
 And then luckily the training I got from Totally Biased from doing the Man on the Street interviews
 sort of set me up for that.
 Cause I don't think, I don't think I would have been as good as I feel like I'm being
 at this show if I hadn't had that time on Totally Biased to do all those Man on the
 Street interviews, which initially I was pretty scared of just walking with people on the
 street and saying, Hey, can I talk to you about racism?
 So I feel comfortable sort of talking to people and very quickly sort of figure out a rapport.
 So yeah, it certainly feels like I got trained to do this from Totally Biased and I'm taking
 the thing that everybody, overwhelmingly people said from Totally Biased that they really
 dug and turning it into a whole show and still beginning to do it.
 I'm not competing.
 The thing about having a late night talk show is suddenly you're competing against other
 late night talk shows and there's this sort of sense of like, Kamau, why can't you call
 Justin Timberlake and have him lip sync songs with you on your show?
 Cause I wasn't on Starting Out Live for 10 years.
 I don't have a Rolodex of all the most famous people in Hollywood and also it's not my thing.
 But now this show is not really, I mean you have to get ratings on stuff, but it's not
 competing directly against anybody's thing.
 It's its own thing.
 And all the shows that it would sort of be naturally competing against are on the same
 network.
 So Morgan Spurlock, Andy Bourdain, Lisa Ling, Mike Rowe, all those people are on the same
 network as me so I'm not going to be going up against them.
 It's all part of the same team.
 So that point's freeing.
 Yeah, it's freeing.
 It's a lot.
 We can, we've shot four episodes so far and everyone has dramatic differences.
 Like there's just things about, because we sort of are adapting to wherever we go.
 So if you're in East LA talking about undocumented people and immigration and the Chicano identity,
 it just automatically becomes a different show than going to Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost
 tip in North America and hanging out with the Anupiaq people who are the natives and
 talking about what's it like to have 365 days of snow or whatever or 360, I don't want to
 exaggerate.
 And what's it like to live a place where you can only get to by plane that you can't drive
 into town and there's no movie theater and there's no Starbucks.
 So those are automatically shows you have to approach differently.
 So it's freeing and it feels more authentic to me.
 So you're at South by and are you finding like any of those interactions and any fodder
 for comedy here?
 I mean you haven't been here long.
 No, no, I got here yesterday.
 I mean this is my third year in a row here and I was hoping to take this year off quite
 frankly.
 It's a crazy show.
 It's a lot of just, you know, to me South by Southwest, it feels like a high school
 reunion with people I didn't go to high school with.
 Everybody's just sort of walking around like, I can't believe we made it.
 And I'm like, we did?
 I mean maybe you did, but everybody's sort of silently high fiving each other without
 just sort of looking at each other in the eye like high fives.
 As far as like people of color, black people, I don't see, it's a very white show from so
 far.
 Well here's the thing, fellow black men.
 South by is a lot about money.
 Whenever you make things a lot about money, like when it costs, I don't know what the
 badges cost because luckily I don't have to, I wouldn't come if I had to pay for it.
 I get brought by other people.
 But yeah, whenever you make things expensive, it tends to whiten things up.
 Fair enough.
 If people make fun of black people for eating chitlins and sort of the worst parts of the
 pork, but we did that because it was cheaper.
 You know, if chitlins were like $1,000 an ounce, they would be a white people delicacy.
 It would be like caviar.
 I can only imagine.
 Yes.
 I mean, white people can get in there either, but there just happens to be a higher percentage
 of poor black people.
 You know, I'm not breaking it down for them.
 I know, I know.
 I mean, I've been around to a couple panels and I feel like there's like more attention
 paid to diversity at least these days.
 Well I think, you know, in the year 2015, if you want to be regarded as open and accepting
 and liberal and progressive, you have to sort of at least nod to diversity.
 So yeah, I've certainly seen people of color with badges on, but not in the same percentage
 that people of color exist in the country.
 What do you look for when you're around here?
 What catches your eye most often?
 I like going to cities and going to the places where people in the city go to.
 Like we just ate and apparently there's the taco trucks that are set up for this festival
 and there's taco trucks that are like the locals eat at.
 So we went to the locals taco truck.
 At least what they told us it was.
 There's probably a deeper level of localism that we didn't get to.
 So that's the thing with my TV show.
 Like I'm trying to do the things that people in that place do, not the things they've set
 up for outsiders to do.
 Okay, thank you.
 Thanks so much.
 Thanks Kwame.
 Thanks.