Marlon Wayans Opens Up on Battling Depression “I Broke Down & Cried On Stage”

my mother's death shattered me into a million pieces really gu hard break up my life I was rescuing myself with my comedy the expression became different expression became therapeutic I'm bleeding inside but I'm literally pulling myself from depression I'm back with my buddy Marlon ways actor and comedian Marlon ways been performing standups since he was a teenager and a starred in dozens of popular series and movies please welcome Marlin way I got people cracking up right for 57 minutes and then and hit me one stage out their pot broke down I cried cuz the reality

of my parents being godhead if you could hear a message from your mom what would you want that message to be big boy you did good you did right by our family and you show the grandkids and the great grandkids and everybody was good you took care of your brothers and your sisters always me would [Music] what do you wish more people would ask you probably what I'm afraid of what are you afraid of I'm afraid of it's been so amazing last year was just a transformative life-changing event team greatness is great my name is

Louis house thanks so much for being here and before we dive into this special video today I want to remind you about the Summit of greatness our annual conference happening this September in Los Angeles with David goggin Dr J despenza and many more incredible speakers and performers there will be so many live attendees there that you can meet with you can network with and you can help transform your life make sure to click the link in the description to get your tickets and I can't wait to see you at the summon of greatness here in

Los Angeles [Music] welcome back everyone at the school of greatness very excited about our guest we have the inspiring Marlin Waynes in the house good to see you sir good to see you very excited that you're here uh just for people that don't know you are extremely talented not only as an actor but producer director creative writer standup icon and your films have done over a billion dollars globally over the years and we were just talking beforehand about you've been in this industry I asked you when did you start making your first dollars and it's

been over 30 years three decades of you in this kind of world of entertainment writing creativity and expressing yourself and there's something it's crazy because I only look 30 you do look dirty you were born yeah exactly and something I I read about you recently um that I think is really cool because I think a lot of people think of you only as well maybe not a lot of people but I think a lot of people might assume that you're always out for the joke you're always out for writing the best joke and getting to

laugh and whether it be on standup and the movies that you're creating but I saw something recently where you talked about wanting to bring spiritual growth to audiences and I don't know if that's over the last few years that's come to you or if you've always had that but when did that start to become a focus for you saying I want to obviously bring laughter because laughter is healing but how can I help audiences grow spiritually through my creativity I think that started for me I think standup has developed me into that I think that

was always there but I I couldn't hear it because I was too desperate for the joke but then life happens and you know what I'm understanding for 47 years of My Life 50 48 years I had an amazing life I say it to I'm like if you people could die and come back as anybody please come back as me for my first 48 years of life really magical life storyed existed my mother would love me my father who protected us and stayed with my mom and brothers and sisters when they wasn't trying to kill me

they were great you know great uh role models and they poured into me uncles and aunties that love me and I just had a beautiful time I I a career I had I grew up in a house with my Legends you know how crazy that is that the people that you want to be like they're sleeping in the bed above you that's crazy on the underneath you everybody you grow to be like and then they become Superstars and then you meet Eddie Murphy when you're like eight years old and Robert Talon when you're like six

and guys like John Witherspoon another comedic giant when you're like 12 and then you go on a your brother creates a Living Color and you know Jim Carrey and Tommy Davidson and JLo and all these great DAV is G all these great people I had a great life and then what happened was my parents died and 57 people I love died and7 57 wow you know and that's the sad part about getting to be my age is people die it happens to yeah and you know and not to be a hater but you better hope

that you watch people die cuz that means like you still alive you know mean I'mma miss you but I don't want to go that would be here forever so you know I started having this um different vision of myself because I was rescuing myself with my comedy the expression became different expression became therapeutic I'm bleeding inside but I'm I'm literally pulling myself from depression because my mother's death shattered me into a million pieces really breest Heart Break Of My Life yeah and my father's death I started putting myself back together peace by peace and with

that peace my dad was a very religious and spiritual person I realized that when I did my last special good grief and even the special before that God loves me I realized that it's not about the joke that it's about the story if I could bring story to stand up I can do something different that no that would be my voice because I've been doing movies and TVs for 30 years and now I'm like oh wow I only been doing standup 12 and I'm like oh wow if I put all this knowledge that I have

these together I could create something that hasn't really been done and then that's what left me with the spirit because when I do stand up it's like a character that has in a movie a hero that has to find an Elixir that Elixir for a lot of times it's not the laughs the laughs is the things that keeps you entertained The Elixir for me is always going to be love right that is a universal thing love so if I put the whether it's love of self whether it's love of a girl whether it's love of

my family whether it's whatever it is healing right those things and that's what I'm trying trying to get at the end then beyond the joke because if I tell you a joke I could change your mood but I'm not going to change your life now if I tell you a great story that affects you now I left you with a jewel that you can actually change your life with Wow from watching me tell you these jokes and these stories and that's how I think I'm going to be a very effective communicator and Brad it's like

a rebranding of myself I have all this time me and my brothers did all these great things and I realize the individual that I am and I now I could do Marlin right take ways and put over there for a second let me fly around as Marlon and and find my voice without having to answer to a committee without having to you know do things everybody the older brothers say I could just do me and then when I learn all of me I could come back to Wayne and be like guys let me tell you

how we can build this brand oh and so wow that's why I I that that's what I'm finding that my my voice is it's more than just telling jokes telling jokes is is is the smallest part telling you a great story and changing your mood and changing your life who taught you how to tell stories better or when did you start to really Master The Art of Storytelling I'm still working on it you never really Master the art storytelling there's different kind of Storytelling telling his storytelling with with with standup and then there's just storytelling

I think the best book about writing and storytelling I ever read was probably the writer's journey I think it was hery Fogo writer Journey the hero's journey hero's journey right um by I think it was Chris Vogler is that Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey or different no Joseph Campbell did uh I think he did Hero has a thousand faces yes right think um I think it was Chris Vogler I think it's the same that did myth and movies whatever hero's journey writer Journey there sometime they call it either um that book really made me look at

when I watch movies I look at them differently I see scripts I see characters I I see Journeys what does he want it made me look at I don't I'm not entertained by movies anymore you're studying andu I'm studying it's crazy when me I'm watching a movie you guys are no I'm watching the construction I'm like oh my God good news bad news worst news Indiana Jones is an hour and a half two hours of good news bad news worst news something good happen something bad happens something worse happens I escape that and good news

again and that's bad news good news bad news worst news I get this the thing from the statue from this this this egg or whatever it's a valuable egg it unleashes a boulder oh my God I'm running I'm running I'm running I take and I jump and I get to safety and when I land from being escaping the boulder I'm in a pit of snakes right my worst nightmare I escape right so studying story studying character studying what a hero goes through studying how other characters help the the hero or try to hinder the hero

from getting The Elixir right those are obstacles in his way insurmountable odds and every scene has to be like that so I learned from that book and I also think I took Robert mck's story story by Robert mcke he had a a seminar that he did and um I went five times first time I went I didn't understand word he was saying I swear to I cut English you know what I mean like like even when I write I'm like look I'm not great with r grandar I'm not going to work good but here and

then at my writing partner Rick he's he's a stickler for that so we work I'm like yo here's this funny yo it work what was this character with that let's write that and then we we collaborate on that he he is never going to be able to give the flavor and them jokes like I could give so we have a great uh uh collaboration um but I taking that course the first time I didn't know what he was saying but I kept going and now on the fifth time I took it I was like I

don't even take it no more I understand everything that man is saying I understand everything that man is saying when it comes to writing the story crazy enough parody of which I came up with in story is like the least important thing really it's all about the jokes the desperate medium story is not important a thin one but he the jokes everything the timing of the jokes huh got to be funny really when you write a script and you're wrri a parody unlike any other jro right everything got to be funny the slug line okay

where am I what's funny about where the person is what is the people doing they got to be doing something funny who was saying something funny who is the character they got to be funny their interaction with the next person got to be funny the dialogue what's funny about the dialogue what's funny about the world everything the whole movie the whole movie wow it's a desperate medium that's why not a lot of people can do parody the way we can do parody because we have such a well and a knowledge of great characters and our

experience and you know through Wayne is telling jokes and for years and it's you got the master the Artic comedy is its own art and there's different forms of Comedy within the art of Comedy there's different different genres right and sketch is so back to I'm sorry I talk a lot no that's great outside of your own movies what do you think are the three best parody movies that you've seen that have done it incredibly well airplane Hot Shots Blazing Saddles I think they did it great w they they they those guys the zookers no

Brooks you know they they're the forefathers of the of the genre so you know respects you know without them doing it we would have never we probably would have come to it but they gave us the blueprint yeah they showed you how it works yeah we just remodeled the whole thing he was like that's this is the old Ford car and runs on gas and he was like no take all that off we're going to make it electric we're going to put an exhaust system still on there we're going to this card's going to go

0er to 103 seconds like we just changed up and put the flavor on it put we put our our uh Urban voices on a white genre which gave it flavor and it was like oh we never seen that before and it's hard to replicate because it's based on our experience that's why we're like somebody wants to do scary movie five we're like okay go for it it's not going to do well it's yeah it'd be hard because you don't you have to know what you're doing and nobody lo you have to love the art of

parody right parody is its own Beast now as a writer I understand that story so next time I write a parody it's going to be way better than the parody I wrote in the past because now I understand story but you said story doesn't matter as much as jokes and Par it doesn't I still think if you could marry the two you've done something great wow so that's what I'm looking forward to writing the next thing that's going to be I'm putting it all together everything is coming all together you're working on it right now

no well I have a couple ideas in my head and uh I'm I'm I think Rick and I are gonna lay into one and then we're just going to let it rip W that's cool I had one I was going to do but I I can't so I'm I'm not gonna even go there because you know and then um so I think books help me tell stories also I think some of the great comedians tell great stories like Richard PRI great Storyteller Dave Chappelle wonderful Storyteller Dave is masterful you watch Dave man Dave is like

um it's like going to school like a he's like a science Professor you know what I mean or English teacher like he's well well read well spoken knows how to put it all together um my brother Damon great Storyteller great comedian like this so I'm I think you have to steal fire from the gods yeah and what you learn is you don't steal jokes I never want tell anybody's joke I you never got to be accuse me of I'm a writer I'm a writer not just for myself but for others you know what I mean

like I I'm a Creator so I don't want to hear you steal I no no I don't do that I look at things that they do that are inspiring and I go I like this element you know what I mean like I like that Dave can educate you with this humor I love that Kevin Hart could sell you a joke that's a great salesman right there well this good or bad he that he knows how it makes it sound funny either way yeah yeah Chris Rock I love his Artistry cuz Chris is a perfectionist right

and these are like guys that's been doing it before me like I just I'm new newer to standup so they're kind of like the big brothers for me even though some of them were younger or my age I just started taking standup really serious the past 12 maybe 14 years wow so I I've been but now I'm progressing at a crazy rate because I write produce 30 years of mature I write TV I I I know how to direct like I so when all these things meet the standup comedian and the reason why I started

doing standup because I was a star for like 20 something years I've been a star TV movies I'm not I'm I'm not content really I want to be a superstar in order to be a superstar meaning when the best scripts come in I want to be one of the 10 guys that they're sending those scripts to I want to be one of the 10 guys that get the best scripts to work with the best directors because they want to collaborate and we get the best budgets and then I go on a worldwide tour selling out

of this movie but I need the fans to be like I trust him so see standup has made me a professor in comedy really now I understand and I know how to sell a joke and I know how to when I'm on these talk shows i' been lighting them I like Jimmy Fallon up Jimmy Fallon go on the show he's like oh my God it's always a seven minute vacation when you come on you fing ask me question I'm just I just roll and rip because I got 300 people in front of me and make

them laugh and then I know how to make them laugh in the morning so when I do Kelly and Ryan or Kelly and her husband what's her name d Kelly Kelly and Mark when I do that show I know how to I'm appropriate for who's watching so females in the morning I'm not going to curse I'm not going to be too edgy you read the room yeah read the room know who's you know I mean there's a morning talk shows to the afternoon driveing knowing who to sell and how to sell so me doing standup

I was like I'mma get people to pay $50 in ticket to come see me and one day I'm going sell out the garden and if I going get sell out the garden and they're paying 50 to hundred something dollars to come see me there maybe a couple hundred I don't know then when it comes to movies they're going to pay that $20 to come see me in the movies because I have been working to be a huge International Star and everything is what is being created through just me working I don't even look up and

see what I've done I just love the work and now I'm starting to look up and go okay you have to pull out of the micro and you have to be macro now look at yourself and how do you build this artist into this wonderful business but I have the knowledge and the skill set and I used to be very humble because humble people want to learn I've just gotten confident really because I know I've did the work I can talk to you about how to write a you want to know something I'm I have

an excellence in something I have I have a skill set I have a knowledge of something that is like oh how did you put that together right and I could sit there and I could tell you how I did it I know the science Beyond comedy I know the math Beyond comedy I know this I've done it my whole life and now I'm learning sales and now I'm I really want to learn business you know what I mean so I'm going surround myself with people that can teach me about that so I can apply all

those things to this thing called comedy and built out of Marley but for so many years you had movies that people are already coming to the movies and watching you they're already paying 20 bucks to come you're you know you're selling selling billion at the box office globally with all your movies most comedian most standup comedians it seems to me do stand up to try to get big enough to be able to then go movies you started in movies and you're going backwards going backward why go backwards when you've already been a star cuz I

don't want to be a I want to laugh at a billion dollars in boxs I want1 billion doll in box office why do you want Tom Cruz because I know I can do it m I have an amazing skill set not just comedy like drama I went to per high school I'm a really they don't know I'm a really talented dramatic actor I know it I know it and just got better and Y you know this year I got uh belir I got two episodes of that and then I have a movie with Jordan Peele

him and uh that Justin tipping director who's an absolute Visionary and I'm telling you man I'm I I I'm just in I'm in my bad and I can finally say it you know when you you know put the Reps in you got the Reps I got the Reps in I did the work what do you think is holding you back from the next level of those results that you want God why do you think God is holding you back because I think in order to make the the kind of sword that I'm going to be

I have to go through a lot of fire I had to go through a lot of fire so everything is building me God is not breaking me so every time every Milestone that I don't reach or I get close to I'm still hungry I'm still thirsty but I'm better wow I'm better and more skilled like now God I was too young to headline movies I couldn't get the girl and save the day I just started putting muscle on my body and getting the beard and knowing having the Poise to stay still in the scene and

be Charming not funny you were the funny guy and now I'm the off the friend now no no now I know how to beet both now I know how to beet Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool I'm ready for those kind of things because this is what I have a insane like there's only Jordan Peele told me he said something funny to me he came to set and he was like let me take 15 minutes and just talk to you about how special you are he watched my performance watch Daily like I got a say there's nobody

like you said you're one of one anybody that's like you is either dead crazy but the well you can come from dramatically and and comedy at the same time he's like there's only been like Robin Williams like Jim Carrey like there not a lot of guys that hit that high note the high note there's one thing like Will Smith can do both but he's not a stand up guy and he can hit the the the low point the drama but he wasn't a standup guy though he but that's why I'm saying see will when it

comes to the comedy uhuh not that he can't do it but he would have to study a little bit more to hit the high notes that Eddie Murphy has hit that high note you know what I mean it's different it's like Beyonce versus Jennifer Hudson it's that high note Beyonce Superstar right and she's amazing Dam how I know Jennifer Hudson is I can never right that's the level of funny like a Jim Carrey that's the high note Jim Carrey Eddie Murphy you know Martin those are the high notes like you know what I'm saying for

me Marlin I'm trying to hit the high notes like Dave Chappelle high notes and then they hit every level in between and so I'm not uh comparing myself and I have nothing but respect for all those mentioned and love for all those mentioned including will I think Will has been an amazing star and an example for years I could look at that and go yeah he broke the mold Eddie Murphy he broke the mold you telling me black don't travel and black ain't overseas but yet box office saying different yes and same thing with us

they like black and comedy don't work yeah we give him a movie called scary movie that makes $300 million worldwide wow and we give him part two makes 100 something million dollar worldwide then we do white chicks it makes hundred and something million dollars worldwide and you're telling me black don't travel all my movies on Netflix have been number one in every territory around the world number one they don't tell you this but it does travel and now I know I want to be able to do it all so I want to be able to

do the romantic comedy I want to do the action I want to do the action comedy I want to do the Buddy action comedy I want to be able to do uh um you know a a drama I want to be able to do all of it and I want people to go that's the guy and I want to sell the out of it in every market and along the way align myself with great Brands and you know if you I I've managed myself pretty good I grew up in the projects trouble all around me

my whole life I've never been to jail I had fights I I could scrap I never I never been to jail I never got a DUI I never I don't do dumb yeah that's good I never disrespect women because I know where I'm going and in order to get there I got to keep it clean yes so you know I behave myself I'm appropriate but I mean I talk a lot no I love it man this is this is beautiful you know you mentioned that I don't know if you said God is like holding you

back or you still need more connection to God to get to the next level or whatever that is God makes me have to do the work you think God learn what do you think what is God speaking to you about how to get to the next Lev level of of service through your creativity to be able to create the results you want keep working and keep building and keep stay on your path you're doing great and I see it now because my last stand up good grief was about my parents dying about how to grief

how to get through it minute 57 I'm I'm making people laugh talking about Chang my pamper my dad is pampering my mom's pampering talking about their private parts and I got people cracking up I got all right for 57 minutes and then it hit me I was running from my own pain and I was talking about my mother and I just started I broke down one stage out their P broke down I cried I was just like cuz the reality of my parents being gone hit me yeah I didn't hit you until then it did

but it but it wasn't supposed to hit me in a show when I'm filming a special and it did and I was like I cool and I was going to cut that out but I was like no keep it in because I need people to understand that I like you I'm hurting but life goes on and we still look for smiles and I get so many messages in my inbox about good grief on Amazon Prime about how it affected them and how it helped them helped them grieve they lost their parents too we're in the

same Club gang gang and how they cried with me and they thanked me because they were in a place of depression and I helped see helped them see their way out because I showed myself my way out so that's healing yeah that's why doctors make a lot of money that's why that's why pharmacies are the a huge business because they help people feel better well so can comedy I want to help people feel better I want to heal so the stories I'm telling now my next one that I'm working on I have a trans child

daughter turned into a son and I talk about the transition not their transition I talk about the five stages of grief storytelling that I learn from those books the five stages of grief to get to acceptance from Defiance to accept resistance frustration anger upset I was defying I was like no you're not doing that and then I went through the five stages of grief now I'm proud to say it only took me one week I'm sad to say that there's a lot of people that it may take them a lifetime and they'll never get to

this beautiful place called acceptance and so I find God speaks to me I need to talk about this in a funny way with truth because there's people out there that need some healing yes there's people out there that need to hear this to know that oh I identify with you I got people coming out to me crying I'm my God my child is going through the same thing and I just want you to know once again I'm taking my art of comedy and I'm helping to heal and I think that's something different different I want

to make you feel feel good not just on some silly I don't want to punch down on nobody when everybody feel good I'mma punch down on me right I'm the joke I'm the butt of my jokes and I'm going tell you a good story about how to be better I was telling my friend this morning uh at the gym because he was asking me I lost my father a couple years ago as well sorry and thank you and gang yeah you lost your dad yeah mom's still here mom's still here man yeah love her yeah

love her let me tell tell you something I love my daddy but if I had to choose between him and my mama by how bring your mom back yeah yeah mothers is something you see your dad always prepares your boy for you know when I'm gone you know your dad when especially if you're close your Dad gives you those lessons of and that that the guide on how to be a man when your mother goes it rips your heart out I should my mother died Blended my heart into pieces and she went first and uh

so love them if you don't and once a week go take your mother on a date uh go take her on a date I took my mother once a week I ain't kidding where I was my father too take him out for a drink okay where I was in the world if I'm doing if I'm in Ohio I'm flying to New York cuz they live separately I fly to New York hang out with my dad take me the dinner laugh with him have some wine and I get on a plane Tuesday pick my mother we'll

take it to dinner go on a date and I did that because I knew one day they weren't gonna be here and so it's important to give them that time cuz when they go yeah you're going to be sad but I have no regrets yeah yeah I have no regrets I was a great son that's good as I a great brother as a great friend and titles that really mean something to me I've been great and and so make sure you that's beautiful yeah go take on a date since they're passing what's been the biggest

lesson as you can reflect back that each of them taught you about life my mother taught me to always learn try different things find Joy even though your situation may be bad whether it's poverty whether it's you know grieving always find the funny right and to love hard and and and to be affectionate to let it all out and not be afraid to be vulnerable and let it all out and some of it I learned is from watching her is not letting disappointments or failures make me bitter negative and too afraid to be vulnerable right

so really watching The Journey The Good the Bad and the Ugly you can't I I think people spend so much time worry about what their parents did wrong I study what they did right when I watch movies one time we was watching been in black and my brother was like you know what's wrong with this movie I said it made $400 million nothing it's perfect right so here's what they did right so and my dad so that's what my mom T my father taught me and and I I will say and he would be so

proud to hear this my father taught me God really my father taught me the important of God's Journey the importance of the Bible and I need to read it more I need to study it my dad tell you the scriptures he knew only one book Bible W you ask him a verse about love uh Corinthians 1337 chter 4 how do you know he studied the Bible my D wait W up in the morning first thing he did was he got up and he studied the Bible then he closed that book and he would say a

prayer then he would rub his knees and look up to God like how am I feed these 10 people today and he go let's go and he come back with dinner wow so my father taught me the importance of God and the importance of working hard for your family and don't be afraid of hard work if you're going to clean a toilet n don't do that no no get up underneath it right get in the bowl get in the when I was working in sneaker stores and stuff I was a great employee that's why when

it comes to me doing movies I've always had great experiences all my directors love me because you don't have to tell me hey can you learn your Lines no no no when I leave a set I don't care we at a 14-hour day I got my acting coach that I pay for this they pay for and I'm like all right let's work we're going to work 3 hours in the morning and then we're going to work an hour before after I work out come back cuzz when I get to set want to be prepared I'm

going be prepared so now I'm not sitting there learning Lines no I got it all packed in I'm ready I'm ready and you can move me any kind of way and oh and I can adjust cuz I'm not worried about Gathering lines so I do more work than you actually expect or I'm expected to do I don't give less I always give more if I'm writing movies if I'm I love to do it all all the meetings I'm I'm there I don't fall nothing in I do all my writing all my standup they're like how

big you how are you dropping a new hour of material every year and I'm like CU I'm a writer and I don't write it down no more the audience don't even know you're basically coming to watch me write live live you're creating it live live I don't do them in town five minutes here five minutes there I don't have to I just do brand I do my special 1111 11:17 I was in baltim or I forgot Baltimore or somewhere else with a brand new hour wow not one word from the special brand new hour that

I'm work I worked through right that I and I and now how how did you do that I'm a writer I know and I challenge myself I challenge myself I already know what my next special is I know what my next three specials are now wow now I haven't worked on all the material but I know you have the idea of the Journey of where it's going yep I know with the next one ugly baby Skittles is this one next one's ugly baby ugly baby's my journey with my brothers and sisters in my household and

then after that talk about relationships like I I know him know him um cuz life has been my greatest writer the journey and now I could apply it to my business right so my last three specials my last two or maybe my three I paid for them myself M I was like no no no I don't they were like oh you and we don't we don't have the budget for it right now or you know we slotted through till 2026 and I'm like okay that's cool but I'm ready to film my special now so I

filmed my special and then I licensed it to HBO then I licens it to Amazon and now I still have my special wow because I know I'm not waiting for somebody anybody Hollywood to tell me I'm ready no no no no I know when I'm ready I know when I'm making people laugh now you're going to bite down and you're going to get me the budget go market the hell out of there and bring people to your site and this what's going to cost but I'm not waiting on you to tell me I'm ready I

know how good it is I'm getting sad Ovations everywhere I go wow I I know how good it is so I'm going to film it in a place that I desire I'm give it my all and then I'mma cut it together and hopefully you like it and if not then I'll sell somewhere else I got a or I got a write off you know what I mean yeah yeah or you sell it online or whatever you yeah yeah I'll I'll sell it create my own website everything is God if they don't want to buy it

if they don't want to license it that's God God saying okay well then you got to create your own business what do you mean everything is God whenever you there's no failure there's no wrong whenever something doesn't go my way it's because it wasn't supposed to so when I say everything is God you trust God you think of the positives not the negatives if it didn't happen my brother told me if one door closes if you sit there and you staring at that one door you're not looking around a thousand other doors have opened all

you got to do is look around you staring at the door like a dog stares at a a tennis ball like no no no no no no no no no no and there's a wall and you trying to get somewhere sometimes you going to kick a hole through the wall and the door I'mma kick a hole through that wall and I'mma wall and I'm going to make my way because that's what I have to do God is telling me not to just open that go door and go through it no no no no no no

no I really want to be masterful I got to knock my way through there what if you what if you spent a million dollars on the production and you spent six months on developing the content and you've had this expectation of launching it into the world and you put all your heart your life your soul into this thing and then no one wants it great not time really I learned a lot though I learned I could put a movie together for a million dollars I learned I could put a special together for a million dollars

and I learned about the locations I learned how how much it costs for crew I've learned um uh about did the director do a great job who what crew work everything is lessons this some positive I'm not worry about there's going to come a time where I'm going be so big that people want to buy everything I have there's going to come a time in my life and and then I'm building a library and when I'm gone maybe and my kids have this thing that Dad did that you go wow all these things my dad

did that they never saw and now the legend of me my kids kids kids will be able to eat off the things so there's no failure everything is supposed to happen exactly the way it is when I was 19 I got Batman I was going to be the first like black person besides Billy D to be in one of these big movies was with Tim Burton and I was going to be Robin and I got a phone call from Tim Burton and Denise denovi in a letter saying that I wasn't really and see I was

going to be off to the races Batman Robin you know what my career would have been but it didn't happen and immediately I was like I was hurt but I said no I'm going start writing these movies I'm going start creating my own show I'm going start doing things that that I know put the ball in my own hand had that Robin happened I would have had a different career where would you be right now had that happened I don't know probably cracked out somewhere because I wouldn't know what to do with that kind of

success of money um but God put me on this journey to create look at what I've done look at what I because I took the long route he didn't want me taking a shortcut I had to take the long route because there was a lot I needed to learn there was Jewels for me to gather all along the way no I didn't go straight to it I went the long way but look at all the that I know now look at all this that I know and I'm going to make my way here it's taking

a long route the scenic route I mean it's been a beautiful scene I mean wonderful but I'm not sitting there depressed that I didn't get that part when I say everything is God I'm saying everything is not all bad sometimes the things that you think is failure is actually successes how do you interpret not just the business but life there's always good and bad a bad relationship could teach you more than a good relationship and maybe that wasn't the relationship for you because that next relationship you get to apply all this stuff to the perfect

woman and now I am successful so I'm grateful for the bad always be grateful for the bad and when I say everything is God you trust God there's a reason it happens so it just keep doing the world don't let it discourage you speaking of relationships you it sounds like you know you work 15 18 hour days for the last 30 years whether it be on a set or in your own mind in your own you know creative lab however that looks you're always working it seems like yeah touring traveling producing writing yeah anything it's

like always got work I don't have a day off how can you have healthy successful relationships when you're always working because people that love you understand they cheer for you yeah they don't want your time like that they don't want to pull from the thing that makes you you they want to see you shine they know your purpose and I've been lucky my my first children's Mother Angela is was amazing amazing I never felt like man I I can't do this and I can't do no baby go do it go do your work W go

do your work they know that this makes me happy and it provides for the family go do your work to this day she's still my best friend and never bothers me your kids you ain't spend enough time with your kids my kids adore me but they know Dad has to work and Dad's doing his purpose and now they're growing and they're like hey I want to do my purpose and dad is inspiring people that love you cheer for you and they want you to be successful if they or if they want to spend some time

they'll come on the road with you and even though you're playing these little you got to go from this and you playing a rinky dink comedy club or whatever it is if they want to support you and love you they just care that they're with you and spending time with you that's cool too but never let somebody take away from you this is me and I'm going to invite people in my life that get me I need rapping paper everybody's rapping paper and I'm going to do the same for you I'm going to inspire you

to be your best self as an individual I don't want to take your time I hope you blow up to be a big huge business I'm there to support you baby I'll get on a private plane and com see you anyway you can be you can be the the bread winner I'm after certain amount of time I'll retire I'll find you because I want you to be happy I don't like when people take don't take from me let me do this this is my purpose don't do this then I'm not living a purpose life I

have to make people smile like a fireman that goes into buildings and rescues cats and people in a burning building that is what comedy is I go into a burning building to find this Elixir called a laugh so yeah sometimes you get burnt sometimes it's casualties St but man I'm here to try and make people feel good I have to do this when you have had so much success as a movie star and a TV star and a comedian why go to small town comedy clubs and spend all the time travel around the country why

why spend the time doing that at smaller towns smaller clubs smaller venues now when you've had so much success because why not just stay in the big cities and stay in LA in New York and just kind of do your shows three four nights a week that way that's the shortcut that's the ego I I don't want to be surfac I don't want to be I want to being the dude that did the work wow you respect the guy you know that had had 50 fights before he ever or 270 fights before he finally got

the opportunity to become a pro to build his way up to get the championship at least them about with the championship because there's a lot of knowledge a lot of licks I got to take I have to learn the Long Way well I'm just going to be a paper chant but you're but you're 12 14 years in standup right yeah but everything is God I'm not trying to be regular I'm Different it's going to take me longer because I'm longing 10,000 hours you know outliers you log 10,000 hours in something and you can be a

great at it I've logged 10,000 hours in five different disciplines so I'm building something different wow I'm going going to be different and that's going to take a long time and that's okay and I'm not I'm not cheating the process nobody could tell me I cheated the process I didn't I did the work I worked in pizza shops I could tell those stories I I did stand up at a pizza shop I leave this pizza shop smelling like pizza five people in there Mar and way on Scary Movie I $750 million of box office I'm

in a pizza shop really in a coffee shop in a dive bar in a a biker bar doing standup comedy and all my peers you know Sydney Castillo and uh Esau and and and DC Irving and all the guys I came up with I didn't come up with Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and those guys in standup I'm this is my I come up with a different group of people because I started late and so I'm playing catchup and if I'm going to play catchup that means that every weekend I got to work I don't

care where it's at you learn in standup give me a microphone phone give me the right lights give me a good sound system give me some water give me a stool let's go I don't care where I'm at corporate event I don't care where I'm at who's in the crowd that's what all I know are you trying to make money everywhere you go or is it sometimes just about the Reps it's about the Reps and you make money doing what you love I love what I do I'm not going to work I'm going to play

I get to play every weekend and I don't care if it's a dive bar I don't care was even even elite club like a improv whatever I have to go the long way before I play the garden I have to do this journey I got to play Winky's hot dogs before I do the garden I got to do de Mor's pizza if you could pick a date the garden would happen in your future what would that date be where you're selling out at Madison Square Garden obviously it's all God's timing I would say when I'm

55 55 three three years three years ago 55 yeah I'm going to make a note of that yep what's the date give me the month and day that you would want to be selling out the garden for your my birthday July 23rd July 23rd all right three years yep 202 what is it 2027 2024 2027 2027 okay we going let's go and if I don't make it there then it'll be 2028 if it don't make it man year it's G to happen you just keep doing it yeah showing up I'm telling you I see it

man but I that's why I'm able to write material I still do the little clubs and stuff I I'm just now starting to do bigger theaters I'm going on a theater tour Wild Child theater tour uh starting in September um check my website Maron Maron uh Wayne's official uh for tickets and dates tour dates Wild Child tour so I'm going doing my theater tour now and I'm still building it with this new set I'm telling you now I got four specials under be beneath me underneath me five four specials five actually because I did Headliners

which was one I put all my friends on five specials and I did this in 12 years wow that's like on her that the SP pace and I already know my next one and I next three after that I'm telling you there's something special happening because everything is coming together what's what's after 12 years of doing standup and obviously 30 years of being in comedy and creativity and Artistry what is the next level for you to really be at the I guess you mentioned Chappelle and these other individuals who have mastered standup what is where

you are to where you want to be what's in the Gap I think is the pro I had to get the right team and not only that but I think you know for me I think every Kanye said something every artist gotta think of themselves as a brand um I don't need a manager as much as I do a CEO you need a CEO yeah yeah I need I need to start putting together my team of strategists and how we're going to move right now it's all over the place but I know after when I

get that big tour and I'm able to go okay now let's go let's put this in place this is how we're going to rock I'm telling you next level who are the two or three guys or gals right now who are just doing it really well and standup that you think they've got the right team they've got the right branding they've got the right messaging on tour they've got the audiences they're just boom every night Dave Chappelle yeah Dave because Dave has the uh he's like Bigfoot now he comes everybody's going and you know why

cuz he's masterful cuz the dude spends his life on a stage nobody has more hours long Dave will do six hours to stand up he'll be sleep on the stage and wake up and tell you a joke like seriously I watch him be on stage drinking coffee whiskey and sleep for like a minute looking down and wake up and have a joke I think Kevin Hart has mastered the the science of his business you know um you know he you know and he's proven that you do it all you don't have to just do stand

up which is great for me cuz I'm you've done a lot already yeah right and now I can put it together like that oh we going I I'm at the point now you know I want to build I want to really build a real life Studio I really want to because with my brand of humor I want a studio I want you know I I want I want to I want like a Tyler Perry I want I want to mix all these people together to create Marlin right and I know I can do it and

now that's my goal and the meetings I'm having sitting down with more hedge fund guys and sitting down with more people that want to invest money I have an excellence and I've made a track record that's crazy you know we' made Hollywood a billion dollars and if the investment more than a billion look at all the things we've done all the TV shows we created you know Wayne's Brothers still syndicated Wayne's Brothers you know probably cost I don't know a million dollars an episode you know and so that's a $100 million investment and over the

course of time they probably made $500 million $400 million you know and and and scary movie $19 million made 300 million wow th% I did a movie for a million dollars called hun house I should have did it myself out of my pocket but I had Partners OPP and how much is that how much should it bring in open to $19 million went on to do $70 million and if you would have put the hund the mill in yourself I would have why would why not take made we I still everybody made eight figures yeah

yeah but I probably would have made 30 40 million why not invest you know and make that investment yourself it's a milli I don't know I think because you I needed to learn I don't want to take these leaps of faith without i' rather a partner that knows they can do the distribution and the marke they know the distribution they they know the right production team and you know they can help me and assist me why I don't need to be greedy if I own 50% of a movie it was 70 70% of a movie

own 70% of a movie you know what I mean and of course we had uh ingame who gave us the money for the uh promotion which was about $15 million and then there was open road who distributed us so you know you have Partners so we all make money off of this these Investments we all and I sold them out of it put me on a plane let's go from I did a 20 City Tour sun up to sun down and I didn't even have a jet I got on American Airline Delta Airline City to

City I land I sleep 3 4 hour to get up 5:00 in the morning I'm hitting the morning shows I'm hitting the news I'm hitting the afternoon drive I'm going to the basketball game they're playing a trailer I'm getting on the last spot out and I'm going to the next city five cities and then I told them I begged them I was like please let me go overseas and do this and they like we only going to send you to a couple C I'm like but this is me I want to sell I want to

I do the work yeah I want to I don't want to cheat nothing my mother said if I could bottle your energy boy I I'd be the richest woman on earth cuz I just have and I have good intentions I'm not going to cheat nothing right if I'm if we do it if I sit across from somebody and I go I need I'mma take your money I don't want you to make $1 on that dollar you gave me I want you if you give me $100 you make 1020 I want you to make at least

not cuz $20 if you made $20 $100 that's good right someone did it but if you made 100 you gave $100 and somebody bought you back 500 you like what the that yeah I'll keep reinvesting in that guy yeah but but what you won't do if I'm going to do that I need to be responsible for my business I need to do everything in my power to make sure that I didn't fail anybody and if you give somebody money that's the passion that that that you want from somebody you want to trust somebody you want

somebody be like okay cool go do it bill um what's her name Steve Jobs you trust him build a great computers and phones and trust them so stock people people in the the I'm put my money in E that money turn returns your investment when you go I'm going to give you $100 over I'm going give you $10 million to do a movie I'm going make sure the production is great I'm make sure the script is great make sure we cast the hell of how hell out of it and I'm going make sure that we

Market I sit in all the marketing meetings and that I put this on my back and I get it exposed as much as possible now I need you to make sure that I'm not just doing promotion that you got marketing beneath it and then together we can hit this thing and we can make this huge explosion and we've done it in the past I've done it in the past you know so I'm looking forward now to doing more of that wow so this is a you mentioned Jim qu uh Jim Carrey he's a I'm a

big fan of his work but also but also when I saw the kind of mini documentary about him doing his art his Art Studio I it opened a whole another level of appreciation for him as an artist and then kind of his spiritual journey I've been a fan of with his content around that as well which it sounds like you bring a lot of God into your life also so I respect that in in you as well I saw an interview clip of him about a year ago maybe it was a year and a half

ago where he said he was retiring from making movies unless some like magical script comes to his door that he feels he's called to do Jim made a lot of money he made a lot of money plus Jim has always struggle with I think depression and other things you know he's brilliant but he always had some kind of torment and I think he just wants peace yeah and he gave a lot to the art he gave a lot to people you get tired of being that famous and that that that brother deserves to retire and

have his peace he's is his years of peace and if he's happy then we should all be happy for him lead him in until he's ready to come out of because Fame is a 24-hour job I can't clock out how do you navigate that I just love what I do yeah I ain't made it yet I ain't made it I ain't make it yet you know what I'm saying one day he felt like he made it yeah I didn't make it yet I didn't make it yet so when I make it oh yeah I probably

but I don't know if I ever will I think it's part of my Matrix I just love it he said I would vacation more that's what I do you don't do vacation at all yeah man well I skipped this summer I was supposed to go to Europe and I was I was go to Lake quo I was like no I'm working I'm build this tour because I want to film my next special on 1212 wow yeah because I want it out for next June in that interview he said something like the interviewer was saying why

why you done and he said I'm paraphrasing but he said I'm gonna say something that I don't think any celebrity in Hollywood has the courage to say and that is I've done enough I have enough and I am enough and again maybe he's older uh now and he has done all these different things um but do you ever feel like you will get to that place or do you even want that do you want to be do you feel like you are enough I think it's 70 70 how old does Jim Jim's probably 65 66

I think it's 70 you're 70 yeah but see I still have a young face right I could I could still play 35 you know what I mean like these are you trim the beard up you know oh yeah if I take this off it's crazy like without the mustache it's crazy I don't I literally don't change you know what I mean like and my body is still good I probably got a great 30 years ahead of me wow maybe 20 definitely 20 hard years 25 hard years 30 of working yeah so I mean you've been

in the business for 30ish 32 years somewhere around there if you could give three pieces of advice to you your self right before you started making money right before you started getting on TV and doing movies 30 years ago if you could give younger Marlin three pieces of advice what would that be of 30 years of experience and wisdom and failures and success and love and heartbreak and get on stage as soon as you can really learn the science behind your art stand up a teach you to be a writer producer director every night you

learn so much by doing standup comedy two you don't worry about Hollywood you are Hollywood really Hollywood needs you more than you need Hollywood that's true don't worry about so much feeding the business become a business be the business be the business three put together the right thing groom your team from day one stay loyal communicative um bonded so you have a trust make sure that each one of you do something different when you come together you learn about each other's you know art and knowledge and then you come meetings of the mind and here

right so you don't need to do stand up like I do you but you have you need a strategist somebody has to play chess with you you can't it's hard I tried to do it all I can't you're an artist yeah I am I'm I was an artist I'm always gonna be an artist but now you're a business mind and artist buiness yeah yeah that's what I'm really focused on I'm got that I'm GNA continue to work that and I'm gonna build that and I'm build the businesses that go with the business but right now

I got to become the business wow and I have to I've learned you have to say it and you have to mean it and you have to walk work toward it if you can't say it out loud and God can't hear you then how are you going to get to where you have to get to that's why like you declared the date for your your garden tour I'm glad you asked me yeah July 23rd 2027 that's my birthday and my mother's birthday wow my mother so that would be beautiful 55 yes sir it's number Oney

be so proud look at my baby I knew he was caught wait you got to have a photo of her on the on the screen absolutely I'm going cry that night not just because I made a million dollars from one show I can see that though I mean I can already see the future three years in the future I hope I hope it happens then I'll be there I'll be there if it's happening it don't we call back to this moment Absolutely I'll come I'll come do it again if you could go you've been in

the business for 30 years and you said you'd want to go for another 30 if you could do a hypothetical for me and you could imagine your future self at 72 M and if you can see your life from now until then and imagine all the things are to happen the highs the lows the inet and if you could give yourself three pieces of advice from then to now future Marlin to today what would he tell you today three things that you need to hear to really actualize your potential your gifts make sure you're taking

care of your heart feeling the love being a good human being along the way all these different things that you feel like what do you need to hear from future self discernment everybody everybody deserves to eat not everybody deserves to eat at your table oh who you invest your time with and spend your time with is it valuable or you just wasting time wow don't waste your time time is the most valuable thing that you have every moment should be accounted for and you should feel great about you learned something if you're not learning to

die two don't um containers don't be the smartest guy in the world not that you going to lose your circle but you could create another ring so create new ring of people that you uhhuh you know inspire you and you can learn from three remember that in branding you can create other brands so as you create the brand of marlin what else is Marlin selling what them brand what are you interested in what's authentic to you I like smelling good you need a cologne I like my skin well I need a men's he uh a

men's SK line skincare line I love good clothes you need the clothing line I love smoking cigars you need a Cigar Company which I do have uh Lego tridente experience cigars check them out they're delicious um you like T you your cocktails what's your favorite drink like bourbon you need to create a bourbon or get getting into business with a great uh liquor company that you can Market everywhere you go create great Partnerships with your brand with other great Brands and then don't forget that you're the brand so protect it wow and continue to stay

out of trouble and stay away from Knuckleheads and always be a honorable considerate person and to stay humble as a person don't be so humble in your business you own it m or be humble as a person because you can't bring that arrogance into every day because you're going to offend and hurt people but sometimes business you got to be a shark period you have to own it w this has been inspiring Marlin I've got a couple final questions for you but I'm grateful for the conversation been really beautiful if you can imagine all your

dreams coming true which I believe they will uh and you get to to live as long as you want but it's the end of today for you and if you could hear a message from your mom on that last day of your life what would you want that message to be big boy you did good you made me proud my your father proud I'm looking at God he's smiling you did right by our family we sure the grandkids and the great grandkids and everybody was good you took care of your your brothers and your sisters

that I told you that I made for you and you've been an honorable child you made the world laugh I always knew you would that's beautiful matter sounds like a beautiful mom your father and I oh P waiting on you so I close my eyes and wake up huging my parents do you have I'll drink this water now it's beautiful man I know I know the the grief is uh something again you're your special good grief you you allow you share a lot of this with the audience and it's uh it's beautiful to watch you

continue to share openly and vulnerably about your relationship and the sadness and the joys and everything between I don't cry about them a lot yeah just want I think about them yeah what's good is I've gotten through crying every day and yeah now you get to that point I have to think about it I have to visit it what does it feel like do you know what's funny and before I think now I'm ready for whatever I've been asking God for I know I'm ready even dramatically because I've always been a good dramatic actor but

I've I've had a very happy life yeah so it's hard for me to manufacture pain and I could get to the tears but now since my parents gone I know I got Wings because it's so easy for me to access those those emotions I couldn't before I had to think about it when this and now just open the save wow let it out a man that's beautiful what do you wish more people would ask you because they ask you about you know all the people you know and you've worked with and the stories of the

past and the celebrity and the fame and the money and the success and you know all the jokes but what do you wish they really asked you I'm an asking with anything everything it's probably what I'm afraid of what are you afraid of death I'm afraid of is it dying too soon or dying before you reach your potential or dying dying I love life yeah it's beautiful and I fomo and I'm be so mad at you just being VI and I'm not there I'm be hating from the ground these kids and then uh I think

marriage you're afraid of marriage never been married because I never wanted to cheat on my wife I'm a noble dude you never wanted to cheat on wife I never wanted Che my wife I never felt like I was ready for marriage until I hit my 50s really yeah you feel like you're ready now yeah I it you're still afraid yeah but less yeah cuz I'm I'm much more stable even though I travel I'm not in the clubs I did everything I wanted to do right you had F I did it all and I'm just like

now I just I want I want to do less and I just I just want to just hang out and chill and smile and enjoy my girl enjoy my kids and my family and you know when I have that time what do you think is available for you as a man and a human being when you get married if you get married what's available for you what's the next level um I think it's I'll have a lot more I'll be able to accomplish a lot more more focused energy less distracted energy cuz I ain't I

ain't going nowhere I ain't me I'm not going in you're not texting everyone every there I'm not I ain't following nobody on you know me on Instagram I ain't got people DM me I follow one person uh that's all you know um my wife and you know just being focused on my family all the other noise and all that other stuff I want to at that point I'm probably going to get a farm somewhere far away Chappelle living in my home state you know in Ohio I've been to his places have you small town Ohio

man he will not like you're so rich cuz he doesn't need to right at least get a $10 million house you can't do it Dave you're rich I have the he has this little place that he hangs out in a little town yeah no his own by his house we call the Shaq and this didn't have no ice he had like a ice machine that was spitting one thing of one cube of ice at a time I play Go Dave I said I love you I get a $200 ice machine let's go yeah yeah I

went and bought him an industrial ice machine I sent it to the damn Shack I was like I can't let you live like that I can't come here and visit you without gidy ice yeah yeah so he's like Marin you're a gentleman you only that bought me something that's funny so you know I I think it's it's I do want like a farm I want a a big palatial estate and put all my family on it and just have all these little all these houses and just make everything my my family my office and work

everybody right there all my friends on a big ple big land where we grow our fruits and our vegetables live off the land and just kick back on the porch and till this time to ride out man wow it's beautiful any other fears death marriage skydiving yeah man water I haven't done that like I do not like the ocean that drown me three times like I'm good M like got life F on yeah yeah yeah um I think it my fears um I've always feared disappointing people but I don't anymore yeah that's part of life

but as as long as I do everything in my Powers not to yeah then as long as I'm doing my best like sometime in business you do a movie put all this stuff into it and then the movie doesn't FL well sometimes it's not your fault did you do everything in your powers yes to ensure that it was successful because if I did then maybe somebody else failed but I don't mind taking the blame because taking the blame I think that's when you grow I'm here to grow in life I'm here to get better I'm

here to improve I don't mind some criticism I don't my brother's I have the hardest critics in the world my brothers I think part of me taking so long to make it to where I want to make it cuz I got all these different voices in my head and I'm trying to get all this approval from them and then I realized I don't want to beat I don't want to do it that way I one time I was we took Keenan to MOS for his 60th birthday and we had a sprinter van and um in

the Sprint event I was talking to my brothers about standup and the state of business and I was like me talking about standup specials and I said I want to do one like every year year and a half it's like that's stupid that's going not going to be funny yeah what kind of special is that that's a regular yeah they stupid you can't it takes 20 years to put together a special these are my three brothers telling me I said I'mma show y'all something different I believe that I can do a great special every year

year and a half and here's why because I get bored with telling the same jokes I don't need to perfect the jokes I don't need that much time to to rehearse because I remember things I remember scripts I write I I I I get tired of doing the same material every night I'm doing something different I like to do different stuff I want to hurry up and put this out and perfect it and talk about some new they're like that's not the way it goes you got to work the same material for 5 years you

have to work the same material five years I don't have to I went to perform High School I could I can it's in me I I can do a sitcom in three days and and kill it on Thursday so Monday just a table read Tuesday we do nwork work run through and a little bit of hle Wednesday we do block and tape Thursday I'm filming in front of a live audience and I'm crushing it so if I can do a sitcom where they keep changing the script and I'm learning all these new lines and I

could do that in a matter of four days why the hell I can't do a special in a year and a half I know we stupid the van SE that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of and then my brother David he looks good he go you know ugly nickname for me he said you know I ain't trying to burst your bubble is damn near impossible but if you think that you can do it show them I hope that funny and he left and from that day on I was like okay and I'm not show

them in the anger M show you no I'm going to show you that it can be done and you guys can do the same thing and here's how I did it wow that's beautiful that that's beautiful where should people follow you and support you online you got the tour coming out you're onour Wild Child tour Mar Wayne's official get your tickets uh hurry up you can get a a discount I am doing meet and greets so I'm going to be doing meet and greets so you get the chance to come meet me uh check it

out uh um I'm probably going to put an option to get my album It's the live at the Apollo which is the taping of good grief but there's a lot of jokes that isn't in there that um you can find golden nuggets um and also online uh Instagram at Mar Way X or Twitter um Mar way uh Facebook Maron way I have two pages one is personal the other one's fan pign sign up both uh and lastly I'm on Tik Tok but yeah I forgot I think it's Mar Way on Tik Tok uh Snapchat it's

weird but F me now and then I'll pick it up and I'll do some voices and character but M way and uh yeah and uh also uh don't forget to I got my tour my special good grief on Amazon Prime my other specials if you want to find them wokish is on um Netflix and then you know what it is is on HBO Max as well as good grief and lineup on HBO Max make sure you check them out and uh I got a lot of great things coming for you and uh 30 something years

in the game and I'm just beginning it's amazing man it's amazing man we'll have it all linked up for everyone in the description as well but we got one final question for you Marlin before I ask it is this gonna make me cry no no you already did that so before I ask the final question I want to acknowledge you Marlin for what it looks to be you know this the first time we've met but you know I've seen your work on line and we've got some mutual you know people in common who've said great

things about you but what it looks to be is you've really tapped into a different level of spiritual growth even though you've been connected to God your whole life and your father brought that to you since you were very young and that's been a part of your life but it sounds like you're unlocking a different level of spiritual growth in your creative service to the world it's not just about how can I be funny and make money and like get the laugh MH but how can I be funny get the laugh and serve and help

others when whatever story that I'm telling how can I be of service in my art yes and it's something my fiance does really well is thinking about how she can serve in her comedies that she does as well as a a writer and actor and I'm just really happy you're doing that I'm really happy that you are using you know 50 years of your life experience and talents and gifts that God keeps pouring into you to also think about serving on a highest level whether you're doing it at a donnut shop for five people at

a standup or when you're selling out the Garden in three years on July 23rd to 30,000 yeah I appreciate that you're thinking in that way of service and and it's it it just makes me feel happy to know that it's funny I I don't go to church because I realize I can serve service God better by being a church so when they come to see my shows that I'm giving them God's word with without being preaching you get it through comedy you get it through but there's always this spirit and you know I am of

service I want I want I want people to be happy happy is important for me I want everybody to be happy including myself that's beautiful man my final question Marlin what's your definition of greatness then your authentic self point of view and voice reach to massive and did everybody trust does everybody trust from people to fans to the business to the money people trust you with your vision of what you see yourself and your business ass greatness to me is not a destination I read the a book called The Alchemist and in that book it's

a little boy that wants to see the par pids end of the book you never seen the pyramids but he's on a road to see the pyramids and to me greatness is the road that I'm traveling the destination is an illusion as long as I'm walking toward being my best me I'm headed toward greatness yeah and part of greatness is Ultimate joy and happiness to be us greatness I don't like the idea of knowing that what I'm about to do is going to cause ripples of unhappiness even though it's it's sometimes necessary to correct what's

going on and and that's why it's like uh you know it's almost like all right maybe and you always want to hope that