Hide Ya Wigs: Regine Gets Mugged!

Summary

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ReLiving Single Podcast – “Hide Ya Wigs: Regine Gets Mugged!”

Episode Date: August 20, 2025
Hosts: Erika Alexander & Kim Coles
Podcast Theme: A rewatch and celebration of the iconic sitcom Living Single, blending nostalgia, behind-the-scenes insight, and cultural conversations.

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Episode Overview

This week, Erika Alexander and Kim Coles relive Living Single’s Season 1, Episode 14: “Burglar in the House,” where Regine gets mugged and the female-led household faces a traumatic home burglary. Through a mix of hilarious personal stories, inside set secrets, and real-talk reflections, the hosts break down how the sitcom balanced classic comedy with real-life danger and fear, especially for Black women in the ‘90s. They also illuminate the show’s lasting relevance—tackling safety, community, resilience, and the shifting landscape of urban life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Stories: Laughs and Trauma in 90’s New York

• Kim’s Wild Break-In Tale
  At [01:01], Kim recounts a real New York car burglary involving her actor friends, a trunk full of club-locked stereo equipment, and a memorable showdown with both the thief (“the crackhead”) and sympathetic police.
  • Notable Quote:
    “One pulls out a wooden stick... and sure enough, like a block away, there’s the crackhead with our stuff on the street. If I’m lying, I’m dying.” – Kim Coles [01:32]
  • Police advice on vigilante justice:
    “Look, man, this is New York. If you do that, you gotta do it at night. If you do it at night, then we don’t have to respond like that. But you did it in broad daylight, man. You can’t do that. They were giving us tips on how to beat down a crackhead.” [02:27]

2. Episode Recap: “Burglar in the House”

• Plot Summary ([05:05])
  Regine is mugged for her “Chanel” (really “Chanet”) purse, raising fears about home safety. When the apartment is robbed while the girls are inside, comedy collides with very real fears about urban crime.

  • Standout comedic moments include the fake “Doberman in a Can” security alarm and Max’s sharp lines about gender and protection.

• Physical Comedy & Set Stories
  The hosts rave about Kim Fields’ physical performance as Regine and describe on-set antics such as improvised dog-barking contests (“arf, arf, arf!”) between Erika and Queen Latifah.

  • “We spent the whole episode going ‘arf, arf, arf, arv!’... the crew would put [Doberman in a Can] up at various times. It became part of our lore.” – Erika Alexander [11:09–13:12]

3. Comedy, Community, and Gender Dynamics

• Safety & Black Womanhood
  Through lived experience and episode analysis, Erika and Kim explore the constant negotiations of safety, bravado, and vulnerability for Black women:

  • “Black women especially... have to look so strong. We came through hell and made it heaven for y’all. We can’t not say what happened.” – Kim Coles [41:23]

• Roles of Men and Protection
  The episode pokes fun at gendered expectations (“The only thing men have that we don’t isn’t gonna stop a bullet.” [09:21]), but the hosts also reflect on the importance of community—strong men, sisterhood, and sometimes, Doberman in a Can.

• Behind Max’s “Nipples of Power” and Set Memories:
  Kim jokes about her own “nipples of power” in a yellow sweater:

  • “I'm gonna give a shout out to my nipples. 'Cause in that yellow sweater... they cannot be stopped by anybody. The nipples of power have shown up.” – Kim Coles [10:23]

4. 90’s Urban Life: From Knockoff Purses to Street Life

• Culture of Designer Knockoffs
  The hosts reminisce about buying fake designer goods on 125th Street, with vivid descriptions of the bustling street marketplace.
  • “You pick up your fake bag... T shirts and sunglasses... And you’d also hear the cops coming to do a sweep. They’d grab their blankets and run.” – Erika Alexander & Kim Coles [07:05–08:10]

5. Realities of Crime, Policing, and Mass Incarceration (The Reverb)

• Racialized Policing & Incarceration ([33:58])
  The conversation turns serious, connecting the episode’s plot to the harsher realities of Black communities in the ‘90s—over-policing, three-strikes laws, and the crack vs. cocaine sentencing disparities.

  • “Violent crimes were up by half compared to now... They started building prisons all over the place. Who did they look to? People who are brown and Black. It was a money game.” – Kim Coles [35:19]
  • “They demonize people, weaponize people, and make tons and tons of money for the love of money.” – Erika Alexander [35:19]

• Today’s Perspective:
  Crime rates have dropped, but mass incarceration and questions of community safety remain pressing. The hosts discuss how living situations, roommate choices, and even daily subway behavior were shaped by these risks, and how healing and discussion remain urgent.

  • “Get the help that you need, talk about it.” – Erika Alexander [41:45]

6. Memorizing Lines & TV Production Wisdom ([45:35])

• Acting Tricks & Pressure
  Fan letter segment explores how they learned lines amid fast-paced sitcom schedules. Kim records scripts, leaves gaps for her lines on tape, and creates mental images and even sings lines to herself.

  • “I have recall better than most people... but I’m always looking for ways to beef it up.” – Kim Coles [49:57]

• Vulnerability Under Pressure
  Both hosts speak candidly about performance anxiety, perfectionism, and the supportive (and sometimes unforgiving) atmosphere of sitcom sets—reminding everyone that a strong memory is a muscle built over time.

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

| Timestamp | Quote | Attribution | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------| | 01:32 | “One pulls out a wooden stick... there’s the crackhead with our stuff.” | Kim Coles | | 02:27 | “They were giving us tips on how to beat down a crackhead.” | Kim Coles | | 07:05 | “You could smell good, be connected to your spirituality... get a fake bag…” | Erika Alexander | | 09:21 | “The only thing men have that we don’t isn’t gonna stop a bullet.” | Max (in-show) | | 10:23 | “I'm gonna give a shout out to my nipples... The nipples of power have shown up.” | Kim Coles | | 11:09–13:12| “Latifah and I were lobbying to do the sound effect for that [Doberman in a Can].”| Erika Alexander | | 35:19 | “Violent crimes were up by half compared to now... It was a money game.” | Kim Coles | | 35:43 | “You demonize people, weaponize people... tons and tons of money.” | Erika Alexander | | 41:23 | “We came through hell and made it heaven for y’all.” | Kim Coles | | 49:57 | “I have recall better than most people but... always looking for ways to beef it up.”| Kim Coles |

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Memorable Moments

• Doberman in a Can ([11:07, 13:12]):
  The Doberman-in-a-Can joke becomes an on-set legend and cultural shorthand among crew and cast, later reimagined by the hosts with modern security dog alarm sounds ([42:44–44:34]).

• Physical Comedy Praise:
  The dog alarm and nunchucks scenes are cited as prime examples of Living Single’s blend of slapstick and real-life fear.

• Raw Honesty About Women’s Safety:
  Both hosts share real stories—navigating the subway, code-switching to stay safe, and how Black women’s toughness is hard-won.[40:14–41:44]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:01–04:11]: Kim Coles’ firsthand break-in story
• [05:05–08:13]: Episode plot breakdown and purse snatching
• [11:07–13:12]: “Doberman in a Can” and set pranks
• [33:58–38:03]: Reverb—crime, mass incarceration, racialized policing
• [41:03–42:05]: Coping behaviors for safety as Black women
• [45:35–50:41]: True Blue (fan question) – Memorizing lines, acting under pressure

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Conclusion: Why This Episode Still Resonates

This episode of Living Single and its ReLiving Single rewatch demonstrates the art of wrapping real-world trauma in laughter—making it digestible but never dismissible. Erika and Kim highlight how the show used comedy as a coping mechanism, gave voice to Black urban women’s resilience, and—through both nostalgia and candor—encouraged ongoing conversation around community, safety, and healing. The honesty about trauma, the nod to the power of community (“living single really meant living together”), and the sharp wit throughout ensure both a heartfelt and hilarious listen.

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Transcript

[Erica Alexander]

Coming up on Reliving Single, I'm gonna.

[Kim Coles]

Give a shout out to my nipples. We were, you know, enjoying life and we come in and there's the trump pop. What's up? What's up?

[Erica Alexander]

What are you gonna do? Hurt him with an Isotoner?

[Kim Coles]

He drove around with a stick in his trunk.

[Erica Alexander]

Stop.

[Kim Coles]

Stop. I know who did it. The crackheads did it. The crackheads did it. We need to find it. What if I'm lying? I'm dying. And I'm sorry about that calculator.

[Erica Alexander]

That's right, Ms. Cleo.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, sometimes being black has payoff. I think my nipples need an.

[Erica Alexander]

Well, welcome back to Reliving Single, the official unofficial living Single Rewatch podcast. And Erica, this week we are talking about a break in.

[Kim Coles]

Yes, a break in New York. If you were there. It was about that life. It was about that life. And I experienced it firsthand when I lived there. Yeah, my car got broken into.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, what happened?

[Kim Coles]

Listen, you know, I'm not a person who is usually out there on them streets, but I was doing a play at the Public Theater and my friends would come up on my day off Monday from the University of Arts, Richard and all of them, and they would hang out with me. So Richard drove his Jetta up and back. In the day when you had a car, you know, you had to take the full stereo out. Remember that? You had to take the entire stereo out. You had to put the club on, lock it on. He took the stereo out and then we put it in the trunk and we went about our business and we were enjoying life. And we come in and there's the trunk. Pop. It's open. The clothes they put in it and the stereo are gone. So, you know, I'm with Philly guys. The Philly guys was like, yo, I know who did it. The crackheads did it. The crackheads did it. We need to find them. One of them pulls out a wooden stick. Cause Richard drove around. That's my ex boyfriend. He drove around with a stick in his trunk. Just in case. They were all university. University of the Arts students. But he picks up the stick. So then they go. And sure enough, like a block away, there's the crackhead with our stuff on the streets. If I'm lying, I'm dying.

[Erica Alexander]

It's true story.

[Kim Coles]

So then, without even waiting, bam. He goes in wailing on them. Pow, pow, pow. And I mean out of everywhere. Cops, boom, boom, boom. They popping out everywhere. Undercover in the car, you know, I felt like a helicopter dropped out of the sky. It Looked like something out of heat. Bam. They swarm us, swarm them. Cause I'm, like, looking from out here, you know, like a bird in the sky, you know, like. And they take my friends, they gather them up. They get the crackhead. Everybody, like, he has my speaker or he has my. And I mean, then just like that, it returned to normal. And I go up to one of the police officers. I say, hey, yo, those are my friends. You know, what do I do? And say, go to the precinct. They'll be there. They're gonna put them through. Boom, boom, boom. So I arrive, I run. It's a couple of blocks away to the precinct. By the time I get there, I hear people laughing. They're laughing. I'm like, what's going on? My friends have charmed them with their actor sales. And they have orange juice, and they have. Oh, yeah, they were refreshments. I sit up there, panicked, looking crazy, wondering if I had enough money in my little ATM card to get them out. Uh, they say, hey, look, we relax. Ah. Hey, sit down, relax. It's all good. And they explained to them, say, look, man, this is New York. You just can't roll up. If you do that, you gotta do it at night. If you do it at night, then we don't have to respond like that. But you did it in broad daylight, man. You can't do that. They were giving us tips on how to beat down a crackhead. At the end, we all took Polaroid pictures with the police officers, and we left.

[Erica Alexander]

Did they process the crackhead?

[Kim Coles]

Crackhead. I don't know what happened to him. You know, I feel sorry for the crackhead. I know he was in dire straits, but he should have come with us. Actors don't mess with Shakespearean actors too.

[Erica Alexander]

Right, right.

[Kim Coles]

They know stage fighting. They all think they can do something, but, yeah, that's what it is. So, you know, the 90s, it was dangerous out there, you know, but we talk about that in the reverb.

[Erica Alexander]

Okay, let's watch the show right now.

[Kim Coles]

Come on, let's get into it. Let's do it. Mama papa. Mi cuerpo crece a un ridmo alarmte. Yopa que comprento conos precios Vajos de la vuelta. Menos sonrimas. It's been so long. How have you been? Hello.

[Erica Alexander]

I'm doing well.

[Kim Coles]

Dave, why are you talking that way?

[Erica Alexander]

Please say one for a compliment or.

[Kim Coles]

Two for a question.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, this is weird.

[Kim Coles]

I think I'm gonna go talking with an automated phone tree can. Pretty ridiculous. That's why? When you call Pacific Source Health Plans, you'll get a real person to answer all your important questions. Pacific Source Health Plans. This is a real person.

[Erica Alexander]

How can I help you?

[Kim Coles]

Human service, not automated phone trees. Find a plan@pacificsource members first.com.

[Erica Alexander]

It'S time for the rewind where we watch and relive living single with you. Here we are at season one, episode 14, burglar in the House. Here's what happens. Regine gets mugged, and then she has fears of a repeat crime. And it becomes a reality because the apartment gets burglarized while the girls are at home. Which is kind of scary, right? It's directed by Ellen Gitelson. It's written by Becky Hartman and Yvette Lee Bowser. Let's watch a beautiful clip. Somebody snatched my purse.

[Kim Coles]

What? Out of nowhere, this thug jumps out at me and snatches my purse. He got away with my Chanel bag. Yes, girl, the gold one. It wasn't Chanel. It was Shannette. It was the only purse that went with these shoes. Well, this shoe clocked him in the back of the head with the other. He's got your license. Oh, girl, don't worry. I lied about my weight. No, that's not the point. He has your address. He knows where you live. No, no, Overton. We gotta change the locks. I get right on it. Locksmith is my middle name.

[Erica Alexander]

I love what Kim Fields does in this episode. She is, you know, frantic and crazy and, you know, and she's all over the place. And it's a very physical episode, which I love physical humor. So there's that.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah.

[Erica Alexander]

In, you know, with this story. That's very serious.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. I mean. Cause now we living city life. Living just enough. Oh, Santa. Steve Lynn Wonder. Tell us what it's about. Because people did get mugged. People spent a lot on their jewelry and designer bags. Remember, everybody was like, blinged out.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah. Cause it came out off of the 80s of excess and, you know, big and broad, and you had to look the part. And so here she is with this Chanet bag. And I don't know, is that really when these knockoffs were really taking off, you know, around that time? So she wanted to look the part and she got gotten.

[Kim Coles]

Now, one thing I remember is where you bought those types of bags was 125th Street. Remember, streets were lined.

[Erica Alexander]

The streets were lined. And a lot of times it was the Africans selling the stuff. Yeah, right. They had all the. You know, they put their blanket down and you would come and buy all the stuff and you pick.

[Kim Coles]

And essential oils. We were oiled up. Were we oiled up? We smelled like Bahrain. You hear me?

[Erica Alexander]

It was always the Muslims selling the oils.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. And the bean pies. And the bean pies. And of course, they were passing out, you know, the. What was that called? The.

[Erica Alexander]

The watchtower. The Watcht Jehovah's Witnesses were selling.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. Oh, Amber says the final call.

[Erica Alexander]

That's the final call for the Muslims. The watchtowers for the Jehovah Witnesses. So you could smell good, be connected to your spirituality. Get you a bean pot and get you a fake bag all on the street. And T shirts and sunglasses like, you know. Cause we were coming off of Cazales, so these were like more like Cazalettes or something was right on the street. And you would also hear the cops coming. You know, they'd go and do a sweep. And you'd see them, you know, pull.

[Kim Coles]

Up their blankets, their blanket and run.

[Erica Alexander]

And then just run into the next corner.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. Yeah. They're good times.

[Erica Alexander]

Good times. Gotta smell like Egyptian musk all the time.

[Kim Coles]

Me too. That was my favorite.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, that was the favorite.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. Wow. Anyway, so now she's gotta replace her credit cards and her ID and we gonna see what happens.

[Erica Alexander]

Right? And she tells us that they're maxed out anyway. Don't make a difference.

[Kim Coles]

Don't make a difference.

[Erica Alexander]

Now we know that the guy has an address. And I love that our lawyer is paying attention to what happens. Cause you've seen this happen time and time again. We're when somebody gets their bag snatched and that this guy might come back.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah.

[Erica Alexander]

Here we go.

[Kim Coles]

Whoops. Now we gotta start taking our safety seriously.

[Erica Alexander]

I know, but you gotta chill.

[Kim Coles]

I mean, Overton already changed the locks. Hey, you know, my new locks will work a hell of a lot better if you ladies actually kept the door closed. Nice going, Max. You left the door open. And I paid for my crime. Kyle's here. And it's a good thing, too. I like having men around to protect us. And we're here for you, baby. Ray Jean, why do you always look for men to protect you? Criminals have guns, okay? The only thing that men have that we don't isn't gonna stop a bullet.

[Erica Alexander]

So Regine is.

[Kim Coles]

Is bugging. So now she wants Khadija to, like.

[Erica Alexander]

Come on, let's make this happen by that alarm. Right? And protect the household. And I like again that the men are there to protect us and still there, you know, playing with you. You know, you told me something A long time ago about these quips that you would have with TC that, you know that you can't always come if they didn't write a line for you, you don't have a way to come back to him. So you just, you know, that particular time, you had to contain your comeback. But we know that you're gonna have a comeback in a minute.

[Kim Coles]

Right?

[Erica Alexander]

Right.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. And that's the thing, I think, with comedy. And you'd agree that a lot of it is self discipline to not move. Right. To move very little bit, or just, you know, a little bit so it can cook and the audience builds because they can see you sort of squirming in there. And then, of course, you either move on or you get your little comeback.

[Erica Alexander]

And John Hinton did it beautifully. The joke about the bullet, you know, not being able to stop. And you could see him cooking in it. Cooking in it and listening for the audience's moment when they, you know, find it, move past it, and then he delivers his line. It's comedy genius.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. But in the meantime, Max just says something about that men. The only thing men have that, you know that's different from us won't stop a bullet. But I just want to say I'm gonna give a shout out to my nipples. Cause in that yellow sweater, once again, that cannot be stopped by anybody. The nipples of power have shown up.

[Erica Alexander]

They were right there.

[Kim Coles]

They were right there talking about bullets. I think my nipples need an alar. Yeah, they did.

[Erica Alexander]

It's beautiful.

[Kim Coles]

So are they gonna get a security option? And what are their options? They need locks for the doors, which they have, and maybe an alarm. And there's this great thing that Yvette and Becky do. They create the alarm. And it's a Doberman in a can.

[Erica Alexander]

Doberman.

[Kim Coles]

Cause Khadijah's so cheap.

[Erica Alexander]

Right. Can I give a little behind the scenes on that? Latifah and I were lobbying for us to do the sound effect for that. If you remember that episode, we would do this, and she would go, arf, arf, arf, arv. And I would go, arf, arv, arf. And so we kept like, no, it needs to really sound like a dog. But we spent the whole episode going, arf, arv, arv, arf, arv, arv, arv, arv. Yes.

[Kim Coles]

I'm sure I tried to forget that. Because now that you've done it, I'm having your ptsd. Good God. We endured on that set from you all.

[Erica Alexander]

So Doberman in a can.

[Kim Coles]

Nipple alert. Just the Three of us and our.

[Erica Alexander]

Doberman in a can.

[Kim Coles]

Shh. Y' all hear that? There it goes again. Aw, Sookie. Sookin.

[Erica Alexander]

Give me my Newton Chucks from under the bed. All right, all right.

[Kim Coles]

Go get. Okay, I'm going down. Shoot. I ain't sitting up here by myself. Come on, girl. Grab something. Well, that's really good, Sinclair. What? What are you gonna do, huh? Beat em down with isotonas.

[Erica Alexander]

Love that scene. There's so much there.

[Kim Coles]

That's an epic scene. It's an epic episode.

[Erica Alexander]

And I had a great time rehearsing this scene.

[Kim Coles]

I know you did.

[Erica Alexander]

I had so much fun with this because it was ridiculous, it was silly. And I had that can in my pocket. And between you and me, I would goose her underneath the covers with the can. She was like, kim, stop. I would goose Dana. I would goose like, Dana. Dana, just stop.

[Kim Coles]

Stop.

[Erica Alexander]

So, yes. Cause in preparation of pulling it out and was just hilarious. Doberman in a can.

[Kim Coles]

And you know that Doberman in a can joke? Never. It went past this episode because remember sometime that the crew would put it on, like at various times.

[Erica Alexander]

It became a part of our lore.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. It became a part of the everything. But, you know, I gotta give the nunchucks now. Please. The person is broken in and they're listening to them, and I love it because there's a lot of that old school Kim Fields, Right?

[Erica Alexander]

Well, I'm getting into bed with you.

[Kim Coles]

That's a free student.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, it was great. That's why it was physical. It was comedy and it was. It just was great.

[Kim Coles]

I think that's what comedy's supposed to do, is put you in a really tough situation, and then you see how every character reacts inside of their character. And that's what makes it funny. When you come in the room, I have to say, the great Kim Coles is there nudging Latifah the entire time, but off the beat, because you're not doing it on the beat. So that's funny. You're talking at a different rhythm. And you yourself. Yeah, look at it again, kid. You were smoking. You did this. And then you would do that every now and then, but it wasn't on the beat. That's what was great about it. It was eurhythmic action going to what you were saying, which is, I think, a testimony to what you can do while you're talking.

[Erica Alexander]

Right.

[Kim Coles]

You know what I mean?

[Erica Alexander]

Of course. Yeah. Because how could I. Could I even do it now? I don't, because I'm thinking about it Now I wasn't thinking.

[Kim Coles]

Okay, great.

[Erica Alexander]

I'm glad it worked. I'm glad it worked.

[Kim Coles]

There's all that good stuff coming. She comes out, she's I can't take no more. Goes, give me my new trucks under my bed.

[Erica Alexander]

Who has nunchucks under their bed? A girl from New Jersey does. She does her little move, which makes the audience laugh, but she knew what she was doing and it was hilarious.

[Kim Coles]

Well, did she know? I mean, she did. You know, Latifah did do a thing. It was hilarious. All slow, motioned out. Those weren't wood though. They were like rubber, so they would hurt herself.

[Erica Alexander]

But somebody had taught her how to do. Like I said, she's from Newark. She very well might know how to do it.

[Kim Coles]

Oh, you. Come on. Dana is a woman of many parts. But I'll tell you where that new Chuck story, I think it came from. Now I'm not taking it anything away. Now don't get mad at me, Yvette or Becky, but remember, remember I told you the story of me living in Brooklyn with my boyfriend and his friend Rich. The both Richards, Richard Whiten, who's on the show, Richard Lyons, who played my boyfriend. And Richard Whiten came out one night and we were all asleep, but I guess he was going to the bathroom. And suddenly we hear my Richard jumps up, grabs his nunchucks and says to me, stay here. And he goes. And he goes out in the hallway and he's like, dude, what's up? What's up?

[Erica Alexander]

I remember what's up?

[Kim Coles]

You got these nunchucks. And then Rich Whiten goes, uh, nevermind. He said, no, dude, what's up? And he said, well, you are not gonna believe me, but I think that picture on the wall was staring at me.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh my God.

[Kim Coles]

And dude, my Richard takes it very seriously. For real? You got something for it? I got something for it. So he goes into the kitchen and grabs Sage, lights it up and he comes. And I'm like, Now I'm peeking around the corner looking at these lunatics saging the poster.

[Erica Alexander]

I didn't know that. I just remember the what's up? Story. I didn't know that was the.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, because of the. That's why he was screaming. It wasn't a break in. Fool thought the poster was staring at him. He saged the poster and then he's saying, it's good, it's good. And then Rich go, yeah. And then turns around and goes, ah. He says, oh man, I think that one did too. No, Erica, Richard turned around cause I Had posters on the wall. This is my apartment. We're in a co op. And he sages the other one and said, I got this one. Right? Right. Dude, that's what happened. And he had his nunchucks that he had brought from Philly and was out there with them talking about, what's up? I gotta say, that was a shout out because, you know, he protected me first. He was like, stay here. And then he went out. But yeah, that's. We told that story. And in fact, to this day, Dana Said tells that story all around.

[Erica Alexander]

I don't know. Were nunchucks a big thing on the.

[Kim Coles]

West coast if you didn't have a gun?

[Erica Alexander]

And these.

[Kim Coles]

Are you talking about men who didn't have guns? So they had things. They had weapons of, you know, whatever, to protect themselves. And I think that if you came up in a city, if you didn't have nunchucks, which. Let's give a shout out to Bruce Lee, right? And you know, karate. We coming off of 70s and 80s. Everybody was trying to get taekwondoed out, right?

[Erica Alexander]

Or karate'd up. Let's do a shout out to a woman who says that you never wanted to be possessed by a man, and yet you had incredible kings protecting you.

[Kim Coles]

I did. I always did.

[Erica Alexander]

You did.

[Kim Coles]

You do. I know, but maybe it's cause I don't want it and I attract it. But I do think that if you're strong and people aren't intimidated by you, then they are strong.

[Erica Alexander]

Right?

[Kim Coles]

By nature, I believe if you're standing next to, you have a strength that is uncommon. Right. You know, you ain't weak standing next to people who might be seen as intimidating. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Shout out. I love that. Millennials who may not understand or, you know, the alphas, what an isotoner is, tell us the significance, because Regine has a bible and you have an isotoner.

[Erica Alexander]

I have an isotoner slipper. So your grandmother and your mother wore isotoners. I don't even know if they still exist. They're the really soft, comfortable slipper. It's like a ballet slipper kind of, you know, foam. So comfortable, they. They came in satiny colors and they're soft. So for me to be going downstairs with an isotoner. Plus, it's a funny word, so even if you don't know what this slipper is, what are you gonna do? Hurt em with an isotoner?

[Kim Coles]

So we in the thick of it. Let's see what's going on.

[Erica Alexander]

Let's see what happens. Now.

[Kim Coles]

Well, it's about time you got here.

[Erica Alexander]

Sorry there was a pesky little homicide that required our attention first.

[Kim Coles]

Well, I've stabilized the situation for you officers. You can take over now. Uh huh. And you are a complete idiot.

[Erica Alexander]

Can anybody describe the suspect?

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, he looked like my TV with feet. Well, I think we've got everything we.

[Erica Alexander]

Need to file a report.

[Kim Coles]

Oh woo hoo. The police are gonna file a report, y' all, let's throw a parade. They're gonna file a report.

[Erica Alexander]

What good is that gonna do?

[Kim Coles]

Well, it'll help us compile a statistical.

[Erica Alexander]

Profile of crime in this area. Forget a compilation, my stuff is gone.

[Kim Coles]

Sorry we couldn't do more for you.

[Erica Alexander]

Just keep your doors and your windows locked. It's not uncommon for these people to.

[Kim Coles]

Come back for the stuff they didn't.

[Erica Alexander]

Get the first time. Thank you. We're all asleep.

[Kim Coles]

Real well, knowing that, I have to say that what they talk about next is how the, how long it takes for the police to get there.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kim Coles]

And let's be real, it took a long time back in the day. And especially, you know, policing inside of neighborhoods that might have been, you know, primarily of color. It did take hours. And just automatically if you had a robbery, didn't mean that you were at the top of the list. If you were, okay, that was lower. So they come, the cops come and.

[Erica Alexander]

Talk to you, come four hours later. And they seem very non pleasant. All right, we'll take down a report.

[Kim Coles]

And they're nice, but they also tell them, look, you know, you may not like that we came, but be on guard. Cause they could come back.

[Erica Alexander]

We gotta do a shout out to our guest stars. It was Rosa Nevin and Tim Russ, who I think is the first black Vulcan on Star Trek.

[Kim Coles]

Voyager.

[Erica Alexander]

Voyager. It suited him. Oh, he did such a good job.

[Kim Coles]

He did great.

[Erica Alexander]

He really did. And so I'm proud of him. And we had him on our show.

[Kim Coles]

You know, the nice thing is then tc, Kyle and Overton get to show how protective they are of you guys.

[Erica Alexander]

And we rely on them and they know that and it gives them a sense of pride, you know.

[Kim Coles]

And Max is over there too, because when she, when they say, hey, they could come back, she's like, yeah, thanks a lot for helping us, helping us to sleep.

[Erica Alexander]

Well, that says a lot that you're there with us to support and to watch what's going on. And I guess your apartment was secure, was it?

[Kim Coles]

Well, you know, come on now, who gonna bug Max? You know what protect is her energy, her Force field of integrity is out there.

[Erica Alexander]

The force field of integrity.

[Kim Coles]

Yes.

[Erica Alexander]

Keeps everybody away. But you came over to support us, too.

[Kim Coles]

I did. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then you talk about that system. Because you didn't just steal a stereo system back in the day. They had several pieces.

[Erica Alexander]

And TVs were not as lightweight as they are now, too. So somebody had to really want that and want to carry that out.

[Kim Coles]

The Doberman in the can ain't working.

[Erica Alexander]

It's not enough. Oh, no more reruns. I have got to get to bed.

[Kim Coles]

No, y' all can't leave. You gotta stay here with us. Regine, we have been here for the past three nights.

[Erica Alexander]

We have lives, too, you know.

[Kim Coles]

Obviously, you don't. If you've been here for the past three nights.

[Erica Alexander]

And you have been here to count. Touche. You women need to just relax. You know, if you really think about it, what happened to you all could.

[Kim Coles]

Been a lot worse. My friend Mustafa's cousin's friend was one of the victims in that triple murder just down the block. Maybe we not consoling you ladies in the right direction. Maybe we should go home, sleep tight. Fro lines.

[Erica Alexander]

Would you tell if you've ever had a gun or considered having a gun?

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, Richard got a gun.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, my first husband had a gun and was like, we're gonna teach you how to shoot it.

[Kim Coles]

That's right. He took me to the range. Every woman should know how to change a tire and shoot a gun.

[Erica Alexander]

That's the thing and the lesson that I learned. And I never went. Cause I couldn't do it. And I'm not saying that I would or wouldn't do that now. But he said, if you take. The rule is if you take the gun out, you have to use it. And I was like, I'm not ready for that. You can't just go, hey, hey, Robert, I've got a gun. If you take it out, you must use it.

[Kim Coles]

That's a rule in storytelling, too.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, it is.

[Kim Coles]

That if you see a gun in the first act, you will expect to see it in the third. You're making the audience a promise that it could go that far. So you have to go that far.

[Erica Alexander]

Right? I don't have a gun.

[Kim Coles]

Right. You don't. Thank God they didn't either. Cause Sinclair wouldn't.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, I couldn't. I was barely. I was messing with nunchucks. I love that moment that Kyle takes them out of my hands. And that's the relationship that we have to this day. It's true.

[Kim Coles]

I think Tc Treats us like that.

[Erica Alexander]

Like.

[Kim Coles]

No, baby, come on.

[Erica Alexander]

Come on. Baby, that real quick. Come on back. No, baby. Baby, fix your tooth. Fix the lipstick on your tooth.

[Kim Coles]

Come on, Come on.

[Erica Alexander]

He's so protective. Just like that. And there we are watching that little TV with the foil on the antennas. Y' all remember that Your grandmother probably had that in the house. Cause the foil would help, you know, get better reception. I love that you do this. This beautiful scene in the back with the bars now on the windows. And you'd get a mug. I don't know where that mug comes from. Warden. Warden. And the genius of that is you give us one extra little sample. So you were listening for the audience. I think listening for the audience. They were laughing, and after the laugh was done, you gave one more little brrr. And it gave a second laugh. It was just brilliant.

[Kim Coles]

Well, you know, that's the thing. You know, we always talk about the audience being the fourth character. Or, you know, fourth character. Like if there's six characters, the seventh the most important that we listen to and that we time the rhythms to ourselves and including the cameras and then also the audience. Yeah, you. It takes a lot of concentration. I don't know about you, but filming these things could be exhausting, right?

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, absolutely. You're paying attention to everything. You're paying attention to the lines. You have to know where you need to be standing, paying attention to your scene buddies. And that's why I love having a live audience and paying attention to them, because they will tell you where to go next. And I really think that extra brink across the bars was you listening to them and going, they like that. Where did they get this extra? That means they get an extra laugh. And I think the audience knows that it's.

[Kim Coles]

But there they now are kind of barred in. And before they even think about it, they could open their windows and think that no one would come in. But now it's saying that the women are getting more closed in and locked off from, you know, the world.

[Erica Alexander]

Is everything all right down here? Ain't that a bitch? That was a false alarm.

[Kim Coles]

Sinclair set the alarm off when she roping the door, but it was somebody in the kitchen.

[Erica Alexander]

It was just right.

[Kim Coles]

Eugene, I'm going to bed alone and I'm gonna sleep if it kills me.

[Erica Alexander]

I'm no fool.

[Kim Coles]

I'll sleep tomorrow.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah, Max? Yeah? We hear the siren.

[Kim Coles]

Nah, no need for you to come over. Besides, we just set the alarm.

[Erica Alexander]

All right, all right.

[Kim Coles]

See you in a minute. They're all bugging. Yeah, they're Tripping.

[Erica Alexander]

They're all on edge.

[Kim Coles]

All on edge. Absolutely. Of course, Kyle and Overton come down, they check it out. You sort of lock in and you sort of settle. Cause you realize that this is the way it's gonna be from now on. And they've got the police sirens as a button to sort of say that you guys are locked in. Hey, you even get a call from.

[Erica Alexander]

Max, can I come over?

[Kim Coles]

Come over. He's like, okay, I'll see you soon.

[Erica Alexander]

And so again, the four girls will be together and you're gonna be there with us sitting in this moment too.

[Kim Coles]

You know, and it kind of has that little music, like a little After.

[Erica Alexander]

School special kind of PSA commercial like. Like, you know, crime is gonna be there and you can still love each other and take care of one another.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. Nowadays they would put in a number for crime watchers and stops. Community help. Please call 777929. Right, right. Kiss your ass goodbye. I mean, that's really what it is, right?

[Erica Alexander]

So I love that there's a reality happening underneath the comedy. And isn't that where the best comedy comes from?

[Kim Coles]

Have you thought about getting a gun? Have you thought about how you're living?

[Erica Alexander]

I'm not a fan of guns, but I'm a fan of protecting me and mine.

[Kim Coles]

You know, I understand why people would want to. You end up living and getting in sometime relationships that you wouldn't because to feel safe, you might have roommates that you have just to feel that there's more people in the house. Certainly are like, you know, all the time thinking, how can I make myself safe? So you end up paying more for your rent and living in places that, you know, look, this looks like a safer neighborhood.

[Erica Alexander]

I've done that. I've lived in places that felt safer and I'm willing to pay a little bit extra. And you know, sometimes it's false. You know, break ins happened in West Hollywood when I was living in West Hollywood. But I wanted to be in areas that had more presence of protection.

[Kim Coles]

Look, I got broke into my house, an apartment in Philadelphia.

[Erica Alexander]

Another break in girl.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. I'm realizing I might be more traumatized than I thought because it's triggering me. Yeah. It was an apartment that I shared again with Richard. I was trying to keep an apartment there and also be in New York where I lived with my father during the Cosby show. We left to New York and when we came back, the door was open and our hi fi, our wi fi. It was a kenwood system, everything. And I had bought It. It was great. System was gone. And you know what? It hurt even more because we figured out because of the way the cops did come eventually and the way they took things, that it was probably a friend.

[Erica Alexander]

Someone that you knew.

[Kim Coles]

Someone that I knew. Yeah. And we even know who we think that friend is to this day.

[Erica Alexander]

Did you approach them?

[Kim Coles]

I don't know if Fritch ever did. I didn't because, you know, I knew that person's circumstances and they were coming from a different place. And you also feel really guilty about being successful and having things, so you don't get as mad. But I was mad. And I think to this day I limit who comes into my house. I don't really have many back and forths.

[Erica Alexander]

Somebody stole my calculator once in high school. Yeah, that's that. Someone stole my wife. It was a boyfriend. It was a boyfriend. You know, this is when the calculators got really fancy. He stole my calculator.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. Yeah. You're breaking my heart.

[Erica Alexander]

And I've had my. My heart stolen away. No more break ins. Wow. Erica, I'm sorry.

[Kim Coles]

It's all good. And I'm sorry about that calculator. This is getting worse and worse.

[Erica Alexander]

A calculator, a high five. Yeah, let's do it and do a heart. Is it time for the reverb?

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, time for the reverb.

[Erica Alexander]

Time for the reverb.

[Kim Coles]

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[Erica Alexander]

Okay y', all, it's confession time. I am a picky eater. Like I don't like my food touching on my plate. Kind of picky.

[Kim Coles]

And me? I'm gluten free. Which means eating sometimes at some restaurant. It feels like an Olympic event. Dodging bread baskets and side eyes.

[Erica Alexander]

But wait a minute now. But hello Fresh. It's like they took notes on both of our quirks and made magic happen in the kitchen.

[Kim Coles]

Now you may have heard of Hellofresh. They send chef crafted recipes and fresh ingredients to your home. But this summer they made their biggest menu upgrade yet. This isn't the hellofresh you remember. It's bigger.

[Erica Alexander]

Hellofresh has doubled its menu 100 options every week and I can avoid anything I don't like. And you know what? Still get a delicious plate of flavor.

[Kim Coles]

Come on. Healthier. They've got it. High protein and veggie packed recipes. I can eat greener, stay gluten free and still feel like I'm eating a.

[Erica Alexander]

Feast and tastier three times more seafood every week, steak recipes that you don't have to pay extra for and seasonal produce that I will even eat without a fuss. And no muss, no fuss.

[Kim Coles]

Look, I use this and you should too.

[Erica Alexander]

Same. You know, if they could satisfy my picky palate and Erica's gluten free rules, then baby, it's a win for you too. The best way to cook just got better. Go to hellofresh.com Single10FMNow to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. One per box with active subscription free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com Singleton FM to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. This is the reverb our time to reflect on the episode's themes and how they still echo throughout the culture. So there's a larger conversation to have here about black Americans that this episode just touches on the differences between pushing policing, these marginalized community and the effect of legislations like the three strikes law, stop and frisk, stop and frisk, chokeholds.

[Kim Coles]

All that we've had to go through a lot. Was crime a sign of those times? Yes. Yes it was. You can't talk about the 90s not talking about mass incarceration. You can't talk about it without talking about the inequalities and the unfairness. And of course, crack versus, you know, cocaine, where if you were doing cocaine and you were white, you basically got nothing. And then meanwhile, if you were unfortunately addicted on drugs and got caught doing that, you could get life sentences. And they have appealed and even pardoned many of those people. Not enough. There was a thing in the mass incarceration thing that we talk about, the legislation that brought us there, those were state laws, the federal law that sort of, you know, gave the states, I guess, more room to do that. They were different. And the federal prison system, I believe, kind of stayed the same. But the state prison systems like went off the wazoo and they started building prisons all over the place and they needed people to put in those prisons. And who do they look to? People who are brown and black, black men, black women too caught up in that. Brown people. They were just filling those people in there because it was a money game.

[Erica Alexander]

And by the way, that's happening today. If you go digging behind what's happening now, there've been large prison systems that are built privately and we know that they are very profitable. And so you demonize people, you weaponize people, folks, and you put them in and, oh, look, they're making tons and tons of money for the love of money.

[Kim Coles]

For the love of money. And it ruined people's lives because you didn't just take a father or a brother out of the home. You disrupted that home. There was a lot of things that happened because those people weren't there. There was a lot of years talking about the brutality of the police was off the chain. So if we talk about even the music, the hip hop, that's what they were talking about. The street poets were saying, this is what we're dealing with. But I tell these young people nowadays, I say, y' all don't even know what you don't know. Between then and now. In 1993, violent crimes were up by half compared to now. That means that per 100,000 people in 1993, 797 of those were violent crimes. But in 2023, it's only 364. So that's significant. That's a huge drop. And there's a reason for that, because, you know, then was crack. We talked about that. There was guns. Hard times, we say, so then around.

[Erica Alexander]

What, 20, 20, we have a pandemic which slows everybody down.

[Kim Coles]

We're all at home.

[Erica Alexander]

So there's a reduction in policing, people buying guns. Yeah. Listen, if people are fighting over toilet paper, we know that there's another.

[Kim Coles]

There's no gun to go to Costco. Hey, you better put that down, homeboy.

[Erica Alexander]

And then there's also a mental health crisis.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. And we also had people talking about it because, remember, there was George Floyd. People were saying no police or, you know, less police. That's because, you know, that was the problem. They were sending police to mental health calls, and that wasn't good. So we had community programs now come in and start to rebalance things. And we had less crime now because of that. And in some states, they actually enacted laws to help, but other states, it went crazy. In fact, I went to Arizona to get my street signing.

[Erica Alexander]

Street naming.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, my street naming. Thank you, Az. Shout out to Flagstaff and Winslow. And while I was there, I saw signs on the hotels. Your gun must be seen. You couldn't have any in the hotel, but you could walk around, you know, carrying. That was a carrying state. It was a carry state. And maybe Arizona always was. I don't remember it like that, but I remember feeling sad that you can't go home again. And that's really what this is about, that when they break in, home ain't home no more. When I think of Home. I think of a place. We think of some place that we.

[Erica Alexander]

Hope can be secure, can be safe and secure.

[Kim Coles]

But that's what the sadness is with the police sirens and everything, that those girls feel very vulnerable, and they won't ever feel safe again. And certainly Regine, having endured a mugging, is a different woman walking down that street. I know someone very close to me who got raped coming home in broad daylight in Philadelphia. And she was never the same again.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, how could she be?

[Kim Coles]

I know what it feels like to see someone whose violent hostility has changed their entire personality. And so we can laugh about it, but if you weren't there, you don't understand why some of those laws came into effect. And they were also, you know, unintended consequences. People were asking for things that didn't know that it would suddenly be a mass incarceration thing. There were so many things that happened to the 70s and 80s to set us up for the 90s to be so insecure. And yet there is power and love inside of there and beauty and art happening. And I want to remember those days, you know, that's what you want to remember about those days.

[Erica Alexander]

You know, there's a way that we as city girls, because you've been a country girl, and you've been a city girl for sure. There's a way that we have to be in order to protect ourselves. You know, I've talked about, you know, having enough means to live in a neighborhood that seems to be safe. There's a girl who used to braid my hair, and she sometimes take the bus, right? And she said, there's a look that I put on my. She's a pretty girl, right? She's beautiful, and she's, you know, open and bright. But she has to shut herself down in public spaces and have this, you know, scowl just to keep some measure of protection. Cause she knows that that will at least keep some of it at bay. And so she would imitate what she would do. And, you know, like. Cause sometimes guys are like, what's wrong with you, you pretty girl? You're not smiling. I'm tired. I'm tired today. And that would be enough to, you know, stave off some kind of potential attack or some potential attention on her.

[Kim Coles]

You know, what affects me. I walk a certain way in the street. Of course, I spent my days walking back and forth to the Public Theater and also to Bam in Brooklyn. And then coming home late at night on the train, the J train, back to East New York. East New York was one of the worst Places you could live. That's where my father had his church. And literally, I would come home with nobody on the train. And you'd see people say, how you doing? You know, what's up? And you'd say, I'm good, thank you, and have a good night. And if you spoke a certain way with certain, you know, richness in your voice, they let you be.

[Erica Alexander]

So I was working a full time job and going to comedy clubs late at night and me taking the D train back to Brooklyn. And the same thing, you know, this is fine line where if you don't speak, you're a bitch. And if you speak with too much softness, they know that you're a mark. But if you do, like, how you doing? Hey, how are you? You have to give respect.

[Kim Coles]

Yes.

[Erica Alexander]

But also let them know that I'm paying attention and none of. I forgot about that. There's a way that you have to be.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. And you can't not avoid their eye.

[Erica Alexander]

No, no.

[Kim Coles]

You have to acknowledge they're there, but not right.

[Erica Alexander]

Right.

[Kim Coles]

You know what I mean?

[Erica Alexander]

Go back to where it is and not look scared.

[Kim Coles]

Not look scared.

[Erica Alexander]

So it's like, I see you. I respect, hey, brother, how you doing? I respect you. And there's a way that you change the way you forget about that.

[Kim Coles]

And then they wonder why black women, especially so strong, have to look. Oh, they're not soft. I said, do you know what? We came through hell. We came through hell and we made it heaven for y'. All. Let's be real. But we can't not say what happened and it happened to us. And we're walking around every day not talking about it right. And wondering why we burned out.

[Erica Alexander]

We're talking about it right here.

[Kim Coles]

We're talking about it.

[Erica Alexander]

And I'm hoping this opens up conversations for y' all watching this, have conversations in your communities and get the help that you need if you have been through trauma, and I know that you know someone who's been through trauma, because that's what happens. So get the help that you need. Talk about it, and get, get what you need.

[Kim Coles]

And we need to thank the legislators who have been working from those times on. You know, people are so jaded. I said, no, this is what work looks like. We just have to work towards something that's a better society, that's not, you know, gunned up and all of that. But we're getting there. And we're glad we got our girls. Right?

[Erica Alexander]

We're glad our girls power numbers. We're glad I got our Girls, right?

[Kim Coles]

That's right.

[Erica Alexander]

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. Living single really meant living together for protection, for love, and for liberty. And I loved the Doberman in a cat.

[Kim Coles]

That was brilliant. Yvette and Becky. That's so good. That's brilliant.

[Erica Alexander]

It was so brilliant. But, you know, why don't we update it for 20, 25?

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, because they do have alarms that sound like dogs.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, do they really?

[Kim Coles]

Of course. That's what we gonna do.

[Erica Alexander]

Okay, let's do it right now.

[Kim Coles]

Let's listen to a few of them.

[Erica Alexander]

Okay? Let's. Let's find the. The one that we could use right now for 20, 25 and beyond.

[Kim Coles]

Okay. Amber, she's gonna pipe it in. Oh, that's okay. Wow. No, no, no.

[Erica Alexander]

Too much, too much, too much.

[Kim Coles]

That dog sound like they got rabies. You know what I mean? That's a 28 days later dog, right?

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, no, no, no. That's too much, too much.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, no, we don't like Cujo.

[Erica Alexander]

It's a little Cujo.

[Kim Coles]

No, no, no. Stephen King dog. Yeah. Let's see what number two.

[Erica Alexander]

Them little itty bitty dogs. They don't. They. They worry me. Get out of here. Ain't nobody scared of you.

[Kim Coles]

That's that Paris Hilton, right? Who's. That's gonna scare the banker?

[Erica Alexander]

No, no, no, no.

[Kim Coles]

Thank you.

[Erica Alexander]

Another one.

[Kim Coles]

Oh.

[Erica Alexander]

He'S happy.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. Sounds happy, too. Too nice. That's a family dog.

[Erica Alexander]

That's like Lassie. Y' all remember Lassie?

[Kim Coles]

That's.

[Erica Alexander]

That's. That's a happy dog.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. No, no. Okay, what else we got? Come on now. Where we living in Transylvania? They howling. That dog is howling.

[Erica Alexander]

Is sitting on a porch chewing on an old pork chop. Anybody gonna be scared of that dog? No, no, that's not even a dog. That's a dog. No, no, no. What else you got?

[Kim Coles]

Okay.

[Erica Alexander]

All right.

[Kim Coles]

Okay, okay. That's a pooch.

[Erica Alexander]

That's. That's a professional on the watch, right? Doing the job. Doing the job. That would be my choice.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. You think it's a German shepherd? What is that? Yeah, I don't. I don't.

[Erica Alexander]

I don't know. My dog. I. I'm actually scared of dogs, so.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah.

[Erica Alexander]

Even these sounds are, like, worrying me a little bit.

[Kim Coles]

That was good, though.

[Erica Alexander]

Okay. Didn't you have an episode where you had a dog? You had a big Doberman or. Schnell, Schnell.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, I had a dope. Yeah, I had a dog. I was asking for a dog, but I wanted a fake dog. I just Wanted one of those ceramic dogs. And I just wanted to come and just stroll it and talk. Sorry. Stroke it and just talk. But Yvette was like, no, no.

[Erica Alexander]

Were you scared of that dog?

[Kim Coles]

No, I love dogs. I had two chow towers in the miniature Dotson.

[Erica Alexander]

Wow. Yeah.

[Kim Coles]

That attacked the man on the street. Cause he was walking his dog. I nearly had to smuggle them out of the state. Cause I thought they'd be put down. But he came in, he was scared of us. He said, I don't want no problems here. He saw a whole bunch of black people coming out of the house in the middle of Valley Village. And he. He was, like, apologizing to us.

[Erica Alexander]

Nice.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. Sometimes being black has payoff. They thought we was, you know. That's a sound of the police. Yeah. He was starting nothing with the drug dealers down at the end of the road.

[Erica Alexander]

That's right. Meanwhile, just a bunch of crazy kids.

[Kim Coles]

Living on a bunch of stuff from Arizona. Right.

[Erica Alexander]

Is it tight for True blue?

[Kim Coles]

True blue.

[Erica Alexander]

Tight like glue.

[Kim Coles]

Okay, Kim, this is where we hear from our friends. Yes. Okay, Amber, take it away. So this question actually comes from our. A YouTube question. And this is from Burn the Receipt. And they said, I would love some insight on how you all memorized your lines, took writer feedback with changes, and didn't seem to mess up. Keeping the script straight week to week seems so tough. So how did you all do it? Mm. How do we memorize our line week to week and keep it moving on that schedule? It was vicious too.

[Erica Alexander]

It was vicious. Sometimes we didn't. Sometimes we went up on our lines. I remember you had a technique, and I don't know if you still use this. You said that you would take the whole script and record on a little recorder everyone else's lines and leave space for your lines. And that's how you began to learn it by rote.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah, I still do that.

[Erica Alexander]

For me, it takes rehearsal. I need to rehearse it over and over and over again. The more I rehearse, the better. I get it. I'm not good at memorizing lines all by myself. I need that repetitive way of being.

[Kim Coles]

I also can sometimes write the whole thing out. And I'll write my part out phonetically or write it out in pictures so then I remember the picture. I also sing my lines to myself in a weird way. So if I was saying now we would hear from our friends. We are now we hear from our friends. So when I hear it now we hear from our friends. That is disruptive and makes me Remember what the line is?

[Erica Alexander]

Right? Nice.

[Kim Coles]

So I do all of that because, you know, especially when you're doing drama, you don't get any rehearsal. We have, we said the four day work week. On the fourth day we actually performed it to two live audiences. So you went home and you learned it and we rehearsed on stage and that helps a lot. But when you're going into a drama and or one hour, you don't, you come in and it's. It's go time.

[Erica Alexander]

Soap opera that way too. There's no, you have no choice but to do it all on your own.

[Kim Coles]

Soap opera, damn it.

[Erica Alexander]

I'm glad I did it. And I see why those, especially those older actors stay so fresh. Cause it's all the time. You take it in, you put it out. That's another thing too. Like I have at the end of our tape night, I would dump the, like do a dump of the script out of my head. I imagine I would dump the script out of my head to make room for the new script.

[Kim Coles]

That's why I don't know any of these episodes. I realized like that happened. I have no idea. You just sort of. It's short term memory storage and long term. You sort of remember the emotional stuff that would happen and sometimes remember some.

[Erica Alexander]

Lines, but not a lot.

[Kim Coles]

What. So papa, were you on again Days of our Lives? Oh yes.

[Erica Alexander]

Playing the crazy nurse Whitley. And I was amazed at how much you have to memorize, how little rehearsal time you have. And we were in the middle of the pandemic, so there was really no time. You were rehearsing with math and. Which is also weird, you know, like I need to be able to put it in my body. So that's another thing for memorizing. It's like you're rehearsing it and you're putting it in your body. So when I stand here, this is the line that I say. So it's a. It's a lot. It's a lot.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah. People need to know the brain is a muscle. You gotta use it. So one reason why you're really good at memorizing is when you're younger, you've just come out of school where you've memorized many tests and answers to those tests. But as you get further and further away from those school days, people say, oh, my memory's not what it was because you're not studying, you're not using it, you're not forcing yourself to remember phone numbers and addresses. We're not doing gps, we're not doing the work visually anymore. So what's happening is you're sort of farming that out. You know what I mean? Outsourcing your memory. Do not do it. And the more you use it, the stronger you get. And also, read every day. Read out loud. Test your mouth. Form the words that helps your brain remember. But I think that as an actor, I feel like I have recall better than most people. But I feel that it's not good enough. So I'm always looking for ways to beef it up.

[Erica Alexander]

Do you feel that you've disappointed people when you mess up a line or.

[Kim Coles]

I can sometimes feel that way, especially if there's pressure. But I've decided that that's not a way to go. Cause I used to be afraid of missing a line. And that's down to perfectionism, you know, and also expectation. If you're anonymous and no one knows who you are, that's one thing. But if you come and people are like, yo, girl, we know you're gonna tear it up. You gonna do this? And I'm like, am I? I just wanna. I wanna be like everybody else. And I told myself, no, I'm not. I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna rehearse. I'm gonna experiment right there in plain sight. And I'm gonna mess up. And if I do mess up, I'm going to rewind and do it. I'm gonna calm myself and say, okay, feel your feet. Ground yourself and do it again. Because I do. I get locked in my head.

[Erica Alexander]

Oh, yeah.

[Kim Coles]

It is a spiral.

[Erica Alexander]

Yeah.

[Kim Coles]

And that is a horrible place to be where you're in your room just now beating lines. Say the line. Say the line. I'm like, no, no, no, let it go.

[Erica Alexander]

I also will hide the script. Places I go, like, okay, say the line. Okay, okay. Okay. Ready? Let's do it, girl. Ready? Ready. So on our set, there were little pieces of the script hidden everywhere.

[Kim Coles]

Yeah.

[Erica Alexander]

So that you could, you know, just look at it right quick and be ready.

[Kim Coles]

When I was a parole officer, I would have it in the folder, and the script would be in there. Oh, really? Well, it says here, oh, there's nothing.

[Erica Alexander]

Better than if you have a folder or if you have a book that you're reading or something, you just, you know, have it right there. So there's all kinds of tips and tricks.

[Kim Coles]

Yes. Y' all are getting all the goodies behind the scenes, but it's tough. But, you know, it is called showbiz, and it's the Land of Illusions and a lot of People need help with their lines. It does not mean that they're bad at their job. We just help them get there. And I'm hoping as I get older that people are kind to me.

[Erica Alexander]

There's also a job on the set with the script supervisor. We call them scripty. And their job is to make sure that you do say it line for line for line. And I've said to some, like I may have said, and instead of but, but was it generally what it need to be, then let's go ahead and let that one go.

[Kim Coles]

Let's make lemonade. Right?

[Erica Alexander]

But it's their job to make sure that you say the lines as they are written. And listen, the writers do such a good job, you want to serve them.

[Kim Coles]

Serve the lines properly. And last thing I'll say is sometimes you're saying you're doing a character that would say it in a certain way and you can't suddenly take your street vernacular or your roundabout way. They need the line in that way. And that's why it's important that you read aloud and read things that you wouldn't normally say in life. Because they're not writing for you, they're writing for a character.

[Erica Alexander]

That's right. That's right.

[Kim Coles]

Boy, do we get the tips.

[Erica Alexander]

We give long answers to short questions.

[Kim Coles]

Well, that's our show.

[Erica Alexander]

That's right. Ms. Cleo and I will be here next week and we wanna thank all of the fans and the friends for supporting our show. The friends are truly a gift that keeps on giving.

[Kim Coles]

Yes, they are.

[Erica Alexander]

That's right, Ms. Cleo.

[Kim Coles]

That's right. Make sure you follow me. Make sure you follow us on all our socials at Reliving Single Podcast and listen and watch us on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Erica Alexander]

Well, Ms. Cleo knows the day we'll be back again. Don't forget to like and to subscribe and to watch. All the way through.

[Kim Coles]

All the way through. Thank you. We are see you again. Okay. Next week, Reliving Single is hosted by me, Erica Alexander and me, Kim Coles. Reliving Single is a production of Heartbeat in association with Color Farm Media, Executive.

[Erica Alexander]

Produced by Kevin Hart, Jeff Clanagan, Eric Eddings, Leslie Guam, Erica Alexander and Ben Arnon.

[Kim Coles]

The show is produced by Kim Coles.

[Erica Alexander]

Amber Watson is our senior producer.

[Kim Coles]

Our associate producer is Kenny Jackson.

[Erica Alexander]

Our other associate producer is Electra Telesford. Our video editor is Nee Kirschman.

[Kim Coles]

Our sound engineers are Eric Hicks and Cedric Wilson.

[Erica Alexander]

Production supervision by Razak Boykin. And Brett Calkins.

[Kim Coles]

Additional production support. Support from Alex Atkins and Z. Taylor.

[Erica Alexander]

Special thanks to BK Augustine and Dr. E.J. johnson.