With her sons growing up and a new chapter in her personal life, the multitalented star is embracing fresh opportunities in the entertainment industry.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Well, then I got to know, how is it?
00:01How are you? How is dating?
00:03Like, we got apps now, all of that.
00:05It's a it's a whole new.
00:07Oh, yeah, I don't know.
00:09No, no, I swear you mean in the in the world.
00:12Yeah, I'm good.
00:15I used to look at my grandmother and say,
00:16how can you be by yourself for so long?
00:19I get it.
00:22I freaking get it.
00:23You enjoy the solitude.
00:24I like it.
00:30Hello there, Tisha.
00:34How are you?
00:35You did it.
00:36We got it together.
00:38We're together.
00:39We made it.
00:40How are you?
00:41Hi.
00:43How are you?
00:43How are things?
00:44Oh, my gosh.
00:45Amazing.
00:46That's joyful.
00:49That hey, nothing better than joy.
00:50I love that.
00:51I'm really excited to talk with you.
00:52I'm a big, big fan.
00:54You have some really great things going on right now.
00:56So we're going to jump right into it.
00:59First and foremost, I wanted to say congratulations
01:01on your new comedy tour with Finesse Mitchell.
01:04It is called Damn, Gina.
01:06Damn, Gina.
01:08Damn, Gina tour.
01:10I got to ask you, first and foremost,
01:12what was the inspiration for bringing this together
01:14with Finesse?
01:16It was a mistake.
01:19It was literally a mistake.
01:21So I had I've always wanted to do stand up comedy.
01:27I've worked with the best stand ups, right?
01:29But I was always so afraid.
01:31I was scared to death.
01:33And you know, people were always encouraging me.
01:36All the comedians was like, you should really do it.
01:38You should really try.
01:39And I was like, you just want me to bum.
01:41But I was just too scared to do it.
01:45And then it just so happened last year,
01:48everybody knows who D-Nice is.
01:50He had a residency at the Kennedy Center
01:52when it was the Kennedy Center.
01:55Right.
01:56At the Kennedy Center last year,
01:58he had a three night residency.
02:01He had a comedy night, club quarantine comedy night,
02:04club quarantine night, and a club quarantine gospel night.
02:07And it just so happened his host had fallen out.
02:10And I was just coming to support him.
02:12And so he was like, can you do it?
02:15And I said, sure.
02:16I can bring people up.
02:17And his lineup was crazy.
02:19It was like Chris Spencer and Gina Yashere, Sherri Shepherd,
02:23Michael Che, to name a few.
02:25And I was like, yeah, I can bring people up.
02:28And he said, OK, well, you could do 15 minutes before.
02:31And I was like, huh?
02:33What?
02:35But you said 15 minutes, right?
02:37Gee.
02:3915 minutes is like, and that's forever, OK?
02:44And most comedians take a year to just get a good 5 minute
02:50to 10 minute set.
02:52And he's asking me to do 15 minutes of something
02:54I've never done before.
02:55And so he was like, ah, Chris Spencer will help you.
02:58And I was like, Chris ain't going to help shit.
03:00He got ADD.
03:01So then I called Chris.
03:05And of course, Chris goes, just tell a story.
03:08And I was like, I knew you wasn't going to help me.
03:12So then I knew I had to get in front of Chris, lock him down.
03:17And he did.
03:18Right before I had to go on stage, a good half hour
03:22before he was giving me pointers and everything,
03:25I went on stage.
03:26I did my 15.
03:27I started calling comedians out.
03:29By the third comedian, Chris was on the phone with an agent.
03:33I'm walking off stage in between somebody's set.
03:37And I got a stand-up agent.
03:38Tamra Goins is now representing me.
03:41And then she was the brainchild behind putting
03:47Dave and Arnold, rest in peace, and Kim Whitley together.
03:51And she knew that Dave and Arnold was a brilliant comedian.
03:54Kim Whitley was brilliant as well.
03:56But she could put people in seats
03:57and they could enhance one another.
03:59She said to me, I haven't been this excited since Dave
04:05and Arnold and Kim Whitley.
04:06I'm putting you together with Finesse Mitchell.
04:08Now, I already worked with Finesse.
04:09He played my husband before.
04:12And putting us together was really the best idea
04:16because he is a fantastic mentor.
04:19He is amazing.
04:21He gives me notes.
04:22He's hard on me, but he wants me to get better.
04:25And together, we're really enhancing one another.
04:28But his ass did make me audition.
04:31He doesn't call it an audition.
04:33He calls it, hey, meet me at the coffee shop.
04:36But he really wanted to see how serious I was.
04:38Nice.
04:39I love that.
04:40And you have really great, obviously, comedic timing.
04:42We've seen that on Martin.
04:43We've seen your comedic timing on My Wife and Kids.
04:45We've just seen what you're capable of
04:47in those capacities and in other opportunities as well.
04:50And so it makes sense.
04:51But I'm wondering, what kind of stories are you telling?
04:55What kind of things are you using for the content
04:59that you're telling on stage?
05:01The content, yeah.
05:01No, I did that.
05:02The material.
05:03The material is all about me and my real life.
05:09I get to tell people about who I am as a person.
05:12They're not getting the character.
05:14They're not getting a caricature.
05:16They're actually getting to know me as a mother.
05:19They're getting to know me in my new freedom,
05:21my new singledom.
05:24They get to know a lot about me.
05:26And it's so relatable and funny and fun.
05:29The other day, I got so many compliments
05:34from this one guy who was a lifer in prison.
05:38And he had come.
05:39He wanted to see me.
05:40He had just gotten out.
05:42And he was like, you don't understand.
05:45And this was the second time somebody had said this to me.
05:48He was like, you literally have made time go by for me in there.
05:53And you make us laugh.
05:55And you don't understand what you are doing for us.
05:59And I just wanted to see your real life.
06:01And you did not disappoint.
06:03Getting to know you as a person, it was so dope.
06:05And then the other compliment I really got,
06:07which really, really affected me,
06:10was that the manager of the Brea Improv, he had said,
06:16I see the best of the best come through here.
06:18I see people who are actors or actresses trying to do comedy.
06:23He says, but I've never seen anybody
06:25like you have such command of the stage, are so relatable,
06:29and you're doing a great job.
06:30He was so encouraging.
06:32I didn't want the comedians that I've
06:33been working with all my entire career
06:37to think that I was just jumping in and doing something
06:40out of nowhere without integrity.
06:45And so the fact that people like Miss Pat, Lunell, Kim Whitley,
06:52Dave Chappelle, Damon Wayans, they're all rooting me on.
06:57And they're like, yeah, keep going, Tia.
06:58And they're giving me advice.
07:00And it's just, it's been amazing.
07:03It's the scariest shit I've ever done in my life.
07:07But it is also so incredibly fulfilling.
07:10Nice, I love that.
07:11And what has the reception been like when you get on stage?
07:13Like, how are you, like, I don't know
07:15how you move those nerves.
07:16Is it similar to just getting in front of people?
07:19Well, the thing is, for me, I'm always nervous at all times.
07:22I'm always nervous in anything that I
07:24do right before I go and do a sitcom or a movie or whatever.
07:29I'm always nervous right before a scene.
07:32I'm always nervous.
07:33But I've always used nerves as, you know,
07:35it's the same symptoms as excitement.
07:38So I kind of just kind of super focus
07:41when I get on screen, on camera, and now on the stage.
07:47It's the same feeling.
07:48We know that you're multi-talented on screen.
07:51Now we know that you're doing stand-up comedy.
07:53I was like, maybe she's going to go out there and be singing.
07:56And he's, you know, Toni Braxton.
07:57All of it, yes.
07:59Just like Jamie Foxx, you know, just really
08:03incorporating everything, especially
08:05for my ultimate goal.
08:06Like I told you, I wanted to do that one-woman show.
08:08So right now, I'm just concentrating,
08:11super concentrating on telling stories and telling my story.
08:16And then I'm slowly incorporating music and dance
08:22and the acting and all the characters.
08:25Because who was that?
08:28I want to say it was Royale Watkins,
08:29a really great comedian.
08:30He was like, you are really good at doing characters.
08:34So make sure you incorporate that as well.
08:36I know one of the pieces of your material, like you said,
08:39it's all about your real life and your experiences.
08:41A part of your real life is you're a mother, as you stated.
08:44And I know your oldest son is in his 20s now.
08:47He's grown, grown.
08:48You do have a teenager.
08:51How are you balancing going on the road, doing shows,
08:54acting, all the things that you do?
08:56Oh, I'm so glad you asked that question.
08:57That's a great question because, you know,
09:00for the first half of my life and career,
09:03I've been doing this for 53 years now, right?
09:06And everything that I've ever done was for other people.
09:11Even me getting into this business.
09:13Somebody had asked me recently, you know,
09:17what is it that, why is it that you didn't get caught up
09:21and all that stuff?
09:22And I was like, because I did it for certain reasons.
09:26Like, I never wanted fame.
09:29I didn't get into it for the money.
09:31Well, the money wasn't for me.
09:33It was to help my parents with rent.
09:35It was to help my parents pay your phone bill.
09:38I was super, super aware of my circumstances.
09:40Let me back up.
09:41I'm from North New Jersey.
09:42Most people don't know that
09:43because I play a lot of budget roles
09:45and I'm from the projects.
09:47Most people don't know that either.
09:50But as a child, I was super aware of our circumstances
09:54and how hard things were.
09:55So I wanted to help even at five years old,
09:58at three years old, I wanted to help.
10:01And so getting into this business
10:04and doing it for that reason, I think was different.
10:09But now that I'm at the age that I'm at
10:13and with COVID isolation, it really worked out for me
10:16because I didn't have people in my ear telling me
10:18what I could or could not do.
10:21I also was like, now is my time to do, make choices for me.
10:27I've always made choices based on making sure
10:29that everybody else was okay.
10:31But this is the first time I'm making choices for Tisha.
10:35And even if it's freaking scary,
10:37this is the scariest S I've ever done,
10:41but I'm doing it and I don't mind doing it.
10:44I just wanna take chances that I've never taken before.
10:47Even with my kids, they're older now.
10:50I didn't even take jobs that were outside of California
10:54because my kids are based here, right?
10:56So for a long time, I didn't take jobs
10:59and it probably hurt my career a lot.
11:03I wouldn't go to another state,
11:05I wouldn't go to another country
11:06because raising them was more important than anything else.
11:11Making sure my presence was known
11:13was more important than anything else.
11:14Now that they're older,
11:18they understand, they understand my passion,
11:22they cheer me on and they understand
11:26it's time for me to let them be men
11:31and it's okay that I go away and then come back.
11:36And are they helping you with your jokes?
11:38Are they letting you know-
11:39Yeah, I talk about both of their behinds, right?
11:42So I have to run all my jokes and my ideas for stories
11:46by them first because I don't want them
11:51to feel uncomfortable with anything that I'm saying.
11:54As a matter of fact, I sat my son down
11:56and I showed him a video of some of the newer jokes
12:01and he was laughing so hard, my eldest,
12:05he was laughing so hard.
12:07He was like, yeah, and say this, and say this.
12:08I was like, you don't do jokes.
12:12You know you're not funny.
12:15Now I can talk about you,
12:17but boy, don't you dare try to give me a joke.
12:20You're like, I don't need your help.
12:21It's all in fun and they get it and they love it.
12:24Nice, nice.
12:25And so do you also talk about life after your divorce
12:29and like you said, being single?
12:30I do.
12:31Well, then I gotta know, how is it?
12:32How is dating?
12:35We got apps now, all of that.
12:36It's a whole new-
12:38Who?
12:38You.
12:39I don't have damn apps.
12:40You don't have apps?
12:41You mean in the world?
12:43Girl.
12:45I'm good.
12:46I used to look at my grandmother and say,
12:47how can you be by yourself for so long?
12:50I get it.
12:53I freaking get it.
12:55Oh, this freedom feels good.
12:57You enjoy the solitude.
12:59I like it.
13:03I really like it.
13:08I'm sure I'll start sooner or later, but later.
13:15I'm having fun right now.
13:17I get you, awesome.
13:18And as you mentioned, how is your oldest son?
13:21How is Zen doing?
13:21Like, I know he's out in the world, independent.
13:24How are things with him?
13:25My kids are amazing guys, okay?
13:27I can talk about them all day.
13:29Zen is now 23 years old.
13:31He's in college and on the Dean's list.
13:35He's studying to be a professor of animal studies.
13:43I had turned his obsession
13:44with lining up little animal figurines
13:48into more of a passion that he could utilize in life.
13:54And he always said he wanted to be an animal conservationist,
13:58but now that he's in college,
14:00I think one of his professors really inspired him.
14:04So now he wants to be a professor of animal studies.
14:09So he's going to get his master's.
14:11He's just finishing up his bachelor's,
14:13sorry, his doctorate, excuse me.
14:15He's, so that's his goals.
14:19My youngest, I'm gonna tell you something.
14:21He used to be a F student, DF student.
14:23Something happened and it clicked in middle school
14:27and he turned everything around.
14:29My baby is a straight A student.
14:31Sorry, he got one B, sue me, but I don't care.
14:35Like the biggest compliment
14:37that I get about my youngest child
14:40that I've been getting emails since middle school
14:42and high school now from his teachers
14:45that says, Zeke is one of the kindest children
14:49that they've ever taught.
14:53And for me, that's even bigger than the grades at times.
14:57You know what I mean?
14:58Yeah, for sure.
14:59I'm so proud of the human beings that I've been raising.
15:04They're really great people.
15:07And to watch both of their accomplishments
15:10and even with Zen and the struggles that he's been through
15:13with the autism and everything,
15:16it's just really nice to see them thrive
15:19and be kind about it.
15:21You know what I mean?
15:23They're really cool kids.
15:24They're really cool kids.
15:26I love that.
15:27I love that.
15:28And knowing everything that you gave,
15:31the time and the opportunities that you said
15:33that you kind of declined
15:36because you really wanted to focus on motherhood.
15:37Like those types of things, like I can even relate to that.
15:39I'm a mother of two sons myself.
15:41And I say no to a lot of opportunities
15:43and things because I want to put them first.
15:45Now that you are like, they're older, they're grown,
15:49what are some things that you are looking for
15:51in addition to having like this opportunity
15:54with the damn Gina tour?
15:55I want to make sure I say it right.
15:57Well, one of the other things that I'm doing right now
16:01that I started to explore during COVID isolation,
16:05I've always wanted to be an author.
16:06I've always wanted to be a writer.
16:09And I was able to block out the noise
16:15of what I could and could not do from other people.
16:19Yeah.
16:19And for the first time,
16:21I started writing during COVID isolation
16:25and I sold five shows during COVID.
16:29I'm writing two books right now
16:31and nothing salacious, one fiction, one nonfiction.
16:42But one is about my journey with my son in autism.
16:46I will be 57 this year
16:49and I feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life.
16:54And I'm so glad that I'm now making choices for me
16:59and that I have the opportunity to make these choices.
17:02So life is different.
17:05And you may think in any moment
17:08that this is probably a beautiful devastation.
17:13Things turn into a beautiful devastation.
17:15There are moments where you just feel like,
17:17why am I going through this?
17:18But then God reveals all.
17:23He just does.
17:25And he makes it a beautiful devastation.
17:27Every single time, it never fails.
17:29He never fails me.
17:30He never fails me.