107 - Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend 1951–1964 - Aisha Tyler

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers

Episode 107 – Sam Cooke: Portrait of a Legend 1951–1964

Guest: Aisha Tyler
Date: May 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of The 500 dives deep into Rolling Stone’s #107 album, Portrait of a Legend 1951–1964 by Sam Cooke, exploring his artistry, influence, and legacy with guest Aisha Tyler—renowned comedian, actor, director, and host. Josh and Aisha discuss Sam Cooke’s evolution, the dualities in his musical output, his role as a pioneering Black artist in the American music industry, and why Cooke matters today. The conversation is lively, personal, and often hilarious, balancing reverence for Cooke’s music and story with relatable anecdotes and sharp industry insights.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Lasting Power and Complexity of Sam Cooke

• Dualities in Cooke's Music: Sam Cooke’s music blends “gospel purity, pop charisma, civil rights fire, and business brain” (03:32).
• Cultural Impact: Both a “booty call and a constitutional amendment”—his music was for “fucking and fighting” (05:19).
• Business Acumen: Cooke was a trailblazer, owning his publishing and label before Motown or Berry Gordy, pushing against an industry built to exploit Black musicians (32:00).
• Evolution: Aisha Tyler remarks on Cooke's transformation from “very polished, very white-friendly” crooner to an artist expressing his authentic, raw, Southern roots and personal/protest anthems (20:34, 45:29).
• Industry Barriers: Discussion on how systemic racism shaped his choices, presentation, and limits of mainstream success—even with massive hits (29:43, 32:00).

Personal Connections and Reflections

• Artist Growth: Both Josh and Aisha connect Cooke’s relentless evolution to their own careers (“I’m always trying to be as radical as I can in my creative life”) (25:19).
• Representation and Identity: What it takes to “be as you as possible,” the challenge of being a woman (and woman of color) in entertainment, finding your voice, and the power of owning your creative lane (53:33).
• Heat and Wholesomeness: The tension between Cooke’s sexy, yearning, often subversive songs and his safer, white-friendly pop output—a “roadmap of Black American music through the central part of the 20th century” (112:57).

Sam Cooke's Record & Songs In-Depth

• Live at the Harlem Square Club: Transformative live recordings showcase Cooke’s wild, untamed energy—“palpable to the listener,” contrasting his more mediated studio output (19:44, 43:43).
• Chain Gang and the Political Turn: “That’s when he starts to get political…gets more Southern, more preacher’s son,” Tyler says, noting a shift from “curated crooning” to unvarnished Southern soul (45:29).
• Greatest Hits as a Resume: The album functions as “the greatest resume ever sung by a man in a suit,” spanning pop, gospel, soul, dance, romance, and protest (24:12, 46:47).
• Signature Songs Discussed:
  • “You Send Me”: The ultimate breakthrough, “proving a Black gospel singer could become a mainstream idol” (47:45).
  • “Cupid” & “What a Wonderful World”: Weapons-grade charm and cross-generational appeal (67:02, 74:51).
  • “Bring It On Home to Me”: A highlight for both hosts, especially in its live incarnation—“palpable,” “wailing,” “gospel feeling” (75:35, 79:25).
  • “A Change is Gonna Come”: Treated as the zenith—“blueprint for soul music” and the “anthem of the Civil Rights movement,” praised for its depth, hope, and ongoing relevance (93:13, 95:01).
• Notable Absences: Josh’s personal favorite, “I Wish You Love,” isn’t on the compilation but is discussed as essential listening (39:29).

Sam Cooke’s Legacy

• Influence: Cited as a direct inspiration by Otis Redding, James Brown, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, Mick Jagger, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and more (115:01).
• Civil Rights Context: The real-life story behind “A Change is Gonna Come”—Cooke’s experiences with segregation and discrimination, the lasting sting of being celebrated on stage but rejected off it (97:51, 98:52).
• Tragic End & Theories: Conversation on Cooke's controversial death, Aisha’s mother’s theory of a music industry hit, and the unresolved circumstances—“nobody went to jail” (101:17, 103:04).
• What Might Have Been: Speculating that Cooke could have become “another Berry Gordy, a producer, empire builder—his story cut heartbreakingly short” (106:01).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Cooke’s Artistry and Duality:

“How does one voice carry sweetness, sex, grief, faith, protest and party music, sometimes all in three minutes?”
— Josh Adam Meyers (05:19)

“He didn’t just sing soul music. He helped invent the part of American music where your hips, your heart, your church trauma, and your bad relationship choices all show up to the same party.”
— Josh Adam Meyers (24:12)

“For a guy that was hemmed on all sides by a lot of different factors…he did so much in such a tiny period of time. Nobody is that productive in such a tiny bit of time without just sprinting like a maniac every minute.”
— Aisha Tyler (25:19)

On Race and the Industry:

“The system was set up to extract value from Black artists, give it to white artists, re-record these songs, revamp these songs, make money with them…and pay these Black artists like, absolutely nothing for what they did.”
— Aisha Tyler (32:00)

“I can play the Civic Center but I can’t get a room? I can be on the radio, but I can’t stay in the hotel? They don’t know what people… It’s…”
— Josh Adam Meyers (98:52)

“This is not just a greatest hits record. This record matters because it is a blueprint for soul music. It is the resume of a genius and the sound of a man building his own future in an industry that did not want Black artists owning the room, let alone the publishing.”
— Josh Adam Meyers (113:55)

On Legacy:

“He wasn’t selfish…He started that label immediately to help other people. I think he had a vision, and I think it’s too bad he didn’t get to realize it.”
— Aisha Tyler (106:13)

“He inspired so many other artists…They all claimed that his singing inspired them as singers. So I think he influenced so many people. But I think, yeah, he was a great artist.”
— Aisha Tyler (115:01)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [07:41-11:30] – Comedy on the road, hotel quirks, and Aisha’s directorial life
• [15:14-21:05] – Discovering Sam Cooke; personal connections to his music
• [24:12-29:43] – Cooke’s business sense, cultural duality, and what it means to control your work
• [39:27-45:29] – Favorite Cooke cuts, family musical history, and how parental taste shapes us
• [47:45-54:49] – “You Send Me” & entering the entertainment industry as a Black woman
• [74:51-80:28] – “What a Wonderful World”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, and collaborating in creative fields
• [93:13-97:51] – “A Change is Gonna Come” as soul’s greatest protest song—deep dive and context
• [98:52-103:43] – Segregation, hotel story behind “Change,” and the reality of being a Black celebrity in Jim Crow America
• [106:01-110:27] – Imagining Cooke’s career had he lived; ties to Motown and Black music entrepreneurship
• [112:57-115:29] – Final summations: why this album—and Cooke—matter so much

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Closing Thoughts & Recommendations

• Must Listen: Live at the Harlem Square Club as a companion for the “real Sam.”
• Standout Tracks: “You Send Me,” “Bring It On Home to Me” (especially live), “Having a Party,” “Chain Gang,” and “A Change is Gonna Come.”
• Why Listen to This Album?
  • Aisha Tyler’s pitch:
    “A beautiful roadmap of Black American music…His voice is like melted caramel…but what grabs you is the passion, intensity, roots, anger, love, and desperation. It’s captivating, transports you, and you can doodly doo-wop this with your parents!” (112:57)
  • Josh Adam Meyers:
    “A blueprint, a resume, and a testament to a man who changed the game for Black artists, merging church, bedroom, dance floor, and protest in a career that burned bright and fast.” (113:55)
• Cooke’s Enduring Relevance: Cooke’s voice, fight for ownership, and willingness to evolve keep him vital, his music echoing through generations and American social history.

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Final Takeaways

Sam Cooke expanded the lanes available to Black musicians—on record, in business, and in American culture. Portrait of a Legend is not just a greatest hits; it’s the sound of an artist wrestling with identity, ambition, oppression, and hope. It’s both a party and a prayer—a must-listen for anyone seeking the roots and resonance of American soul.

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Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

hey fleece army, we need your help to make the 500 even better by telling us a bit more about yourself. Go to www.surveymonkey.com R3TWX8YD for a quick listener survey. It only takes a few minutes and directly supports our team. To show our appreciation, we're giving away two 50 gift cards to lucky participants every single month. So head to www.surveymonkey.com R as in randy/3 the number T as in Tony, W as in woman, X as in Xerox and eight as the number Y as in yellow, D as in Dog. I'm saying this, we're gonna put the link on our website if you can't see that, that was a lot. But this is your chance to win. It helps our show. We really appreciate it. We want to know more about you because you know so much about me. So yeah dude, do it. Www.surveymonkey.com R3TWX8Y D that's a mouthful, but it's there. The 500. The 500. JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition, so it ain't nothing to you. Hundreds more to go and in need of a friend. The King of peace for angelo Talking the 500 until the end Talking the 500 until the end with my man JM on the 500 Talking the 500 until the end I know I laughed when you left but now I know I only I heard myself bring it to me Rad. Yo party people. That is bring it on home. It's by Sam Cooke from the 2003 album Portrait of a Legend from 51 to 64. It's also number 107 on the 500 with me, Josh Adam Myers, your head vampire. Because I'm starting to look Like David from the Lost Boys. I have a great vintage shirt of that. I can never wear it with my blonde hair. Thank you for tuning in to the only podcast where a comedian is going through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums. We are getting down to the nitty gritty. The final hundred are seven weeks away. The relaunch is coming. I want you to tell every person that you know, man, I'm listening to this great podcast, the best. It's called the Hundred. We're not changing the name, but it's going to be the Hundred. Tell all your friends. Get everybody out here. Come on, people. Welcome to the party if you are new and thank you for joining us. And if you want to watch it, we've got Thursdays you get the 500 podcast channel. We have a Patreon kind of support. Everybody like Code Red, Emily Kagan and Alex who can't come in the room because they'll knock the sound out. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast this weekend I will be in Las Vegas at the Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club. That's the 22nd, the 23rd, June 12th and the 13th. I'll be at Chandler, Arizona at Mic Drop Mania. And June 18th and the 20th, Sacramento Punchline. My cholesterol is 290 and my 196 is my low density lipoprotein. I don't know why that's on the same thing, but I felt like I got to read it because they was there already. I'm just going to keep going. Come to a show. Josh Adam Myers and all social media. Josh Adam Myers.com Punch up that live backslash. Josh Adammayas all right, party people, you want to talk about the record because we are talking about Portrait of a legend from 51 to 64 by Sam Cooke. I mean, there is gospel, purity. There is the big questions of civil rights and fire burning inside you. The business brain of a man taking the power in his career and being African American, to say the least. We are asking, how does one voice carry sweetness, sex, grief, faith, protest and party music, sometimes all in three minutes. And that is why we are talking about Sam Cooke. Both a booty call and a constitutional amendment. When you hear that name, he's done it all. People fuck to his music and they fight to his music. But it was a long journey to get there. And my guest today, you know her, you love her. Comedian, actor, director, host, voice of Lana Kane on Archer, Dr. Charlie Wheeler on Friends, host to Talk Soup. Whose line is It Anyway, she can roast you, she can psychoanalyze you and beat you at poker before dessert. The one and only Aisha Tyler. You are the girl that I never knew, and I want to get to know you better. I, I, I. I'm so happy that she is here. We didn't think it was going to happen, guys. It got a little risque. We do this a lot where it's like, are they going to show up? Are they going to do it? We made it. And God damn, was it so much fun. She's such a beautiful soul. I think they're mad at me because we went a little long, but not my fault. Shouldn't have canceled the other two times. I'm going to get what I need out of this. And on that note, she's coming back. This rules. Enjoy this episode, Read, review, and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms, anywhere you get your pods. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social podcasts at the 500 podcast. Email the [e-mail], follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500- go to the website the500podcast.com. Not left to say everybody. But here we go with number 107, Sam Cooke portrait of a Legend. That rhymed perfectly. The lights. I mean, the lights at certain hotels, you're like, oh, this would be perfect to, like, have in the corner of a room and light that area up. Oh, nope, no, it only goes up to 3%. Why does it always take 35 seconds from this? From the moment you hit the channel up button on your remote to when the channel on the television at a hotel actually changes? Why do they.

[Aisha Tyler]

I'm such a door. Because, I mean, you know, you're a comic. I spend so much time in hotel rooms. I have a whole system. I bring my own fire stick. I pull all their wires out of the wall. I.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, a lot of people like that.

[Aisha Tyler]

I have so many systems from when I used to be on the road that, like, I. This is my. I am the captain now.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, that's funny that you say that because actually, one of the things that I really do enjoy is that they all have at least Chromecast. So now you can just go. Or they have YouTube, so you can just scan it and then have your YouTube up and then it supposedly checks out when. When you check out. So far, my algorithm has stayed pretty solid.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's also, like, magical, like pornhub.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, dude, I've advanced so far past pornhub. At this point, dude, that's. That's like the children in the age of. The age of only fans, like, going to real porn stars. Dude, I like regular people. I want liver spots, skin tags.

[Aisha Tyler]

Do you remember? Do you remember what, like, it was like, Gawker, sp, Gizmodo.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah, Perez Hilton. Like, when it was. When it was, like, calling out celebrities. But Gawker, did that have porn?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah. So Gawker was a part of, like, a big, like, conglomerate of, like, digital magazines. And there was, like, Deadspin, Gawker, Gizmodo, which was gaming. Anyway, they had a thing called Fleshbot. So I'd be like, working, and I'd be on Gawker looking at something work related. And then three minutes later, I'd be watching two guys bang in Van Nuys, you know, like, in a grubby apartment room with their tube socks on. Because that was kind of like the. Was the earliest advent of homemade porn. But it was like they were a big launching pad, only fans. Yeah, Fleshbox.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then, Then Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yes. And then he destroyed them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Destroyed them of his infidelities. Not. Not the fact that we want to know about them because they went out there. That's not our fault.

[Aisha Tyler]

We need to be entertained. Recorded it. Like, why aren't we going after the guy who likes Set Hulk up to have to. Can I curse on your show?

[Josh Adam Myers]

You can do whatever you want. I was about to be like, Set

[Aisha Tyler]

Hulk hooking up to his girlfriend. Right. Recorded it. I mean, it was an absolute honey pot. Right. And then somehow, like, Peter Keel gets dragged into this, and now we have this. This ding. Bad of a president. I blame. I blame.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It all starts with the Hogan sex tape. It goes all the way up to RFK junior And now polio vaccines are gone in Florida. It all.

[Aisha Tyler]

We unwound the Q storm. It only took us 30 seconds.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Can I, can I. Can I tell you something, though? I thought this podcast was going to be another false flag today because we've had three or four.

[Aisha Tyler]

We have some false starts. I'm happy that this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We have had a few false flags. I was going full infowars.

[Aisha Tyler]

I was like, oh, man, I am a real person. I apologize for the false starts. I'm in the middle of directing something, and so I am, like, not even a real person. Like, it's a miracle that I'm here, but I'm really happy to be here.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So, dude, please tell me about it, because I went to film school. I know a little bit about movies. But all I know is that I fucking love you. And this is what made me so happy. Those first. Those first 30 seconds of the podcast of us running around like real human beings. Like, I was like, oh, this is gonna be a blast, dude.

[Aisha Tyler]

This is gonna pants on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm so happy we got to do this here while I'm home. I'm gonna be in LA for the next month and. Which is another reason I'm kind of bummed, because I know you're in Vancouver.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah. I mean, I'm in Vancouver for a month.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So I would have loved to have met you in person.

[Aisha Tyler]

Nice to do it in person.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We will, dude. As long as. As long as this Don. As others don't start going, like, you start talking about Holocaust denying and I start flat earthing, I think we're going to be fine. Like, you have to talk about Sam Cooke. Like, it's not that hard. It's not that hard to talk about Sam Cook.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's going to be the layup for sure. I can't tell you what I'm directing. It's a secret, but. But it's a big TV show. Super excited to be doing it. I do kind of. I split my time between acting and then I direct a fair amount of tv and I do films every couple years. So I got. I've been. I've been chasing the show for a while and. And it's great. And Vancouver's beautiful for the people out there that haven't been. And it's just so pretty here. And I kind of hit the sweet spot where there's still snow in the mountains, but it's like, you know, 75 degrees outside, and Canadians are Canadian, which means, like, very polite. No one getting in your way. No one's stepping on your toes. After you, after you, after you. A lot of Chippendale. I insist, you know, very polite, very nice place to work.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Did you ever. Did you ever do like, JFL in the last few years? Probably post the Summer of George Floyd?

[Aisha Tyler]

No, I haven't done JFL since Pre Covid.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay. So a lot I've. I've. I love jfl. I love. I love Canada. I just got back from Winnipeg. I was in Winnipeg for five or six days. It's. It reminds me of the Anthony Clark joke. I don't remember Anthony Clark, that old Southern comic. And he was like, but I'm going to apply it. And I said this to them, to their faces. I go. You go, I'm from a small. You guys are from a Small town in Winnipeg. And if you have six months to live, go to Winnipeg because it'll feel like a fucking eternity.

[Aisha Tyler]

I feel like Marc Baron did a bit like that about. Right. My. Not. It was like Minot, Nebraska too, right? Just like the middle. The middle. The real black hole here is the middle of the country, the middle of this continent, right? It just. The time just stretches out. If you go to infinity, if you

[Josh Adam Myers]

go to Montreal, if you go to Toronto, if you go to Vancouver, even like Edmonton, I can find, like, the mall, but you can only so much walk around it so much. Winnipeg is great. Don't get me wrong. I'm not shitting on Winnipeg, and I'm not shitting. Oh, they have great restaurants, but damn, is it dry. And Calgary at least has really good vintage. And Edmonton has really good vintage. Oh, by the way, I never do this, but I'm gonna start doing it now because for some reason I. I have so many vintage T shirts that I was trying to match either the artist that we're talking about with one of the shirts. This is not. It's in the ballpark. It's like. It's not. It's. It's in the family. It's. Maybe it's an outdoor cat, but it's still in the family.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, no, that. That. That absolutely lands. That absolutely lands. Very nice.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I got it. Al Green.

[Aisha Tyler]

I Also wearing a vintage T shirt. It has nothing to do with Sam Cooke, but it is both.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rage against the Machine.

[Aisha Tyler]

Rage against the Machine, yes. One of the greatest bands of all time. And also, I feel like Morello, you know, he has traditionalist roots, right? Like, he. He's, you know, I mean, he's an incredible rock guitarist and also like a big kind of like, traditional American blues fan. Like blues and, you know, African American music. So anyway, also, I just, you know, this is my state of mind right now.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm homies, dude. I'm homies. I'm homies with Brad.

[Aisha Tyler]

Brad.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm gonna be with Brad tomorrow. He's coming to my show. I thought he was gonna jam, but yeah, dude. Homies with Brad. Homies with Tom. Tom's reason I vote on the Rock

[Aisha Tyler]

and Roll hall of Fame now. Oh, how cool.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, he's. He's. He's. He's a music fan. He's the greatest. And vintage T shirts, according to one of our frequent guests, Wayne Fetterman. To them, it means nothing. But if you hold on to it for 25, 30 years, it grows at least 10%.

[Aisha Tyler]

10% of value of Holes that you've worn through the armpits, bro.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I got. I've got so many. I could. Whoever. If I ever have kids or find a woman, like she is going to have a closet and I'm still going to be like, no, no, no, not the Black Flag. You know, not that one. Get away from the original.

[Aisha Tyler]

Absolutely not. No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was really excited and that's so radical.

[Aisha Tyler]

Sorry. And it was Rollins. The Minot bit was Rollins. It was Henry Rollins who did the bottom. The. Why not Minot? It was not. It was not Marc Maron. So there you go. I'm glad you surrounded me when you said Black Flag. Both angry, furious, furious dark haired men.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, I. You know, it's funny. I really was looking forward to this. This is like Sam Cooke is an artist. I discovered early on when we started doing podcast. Not saying discovered, like, of course I knew. You know the hits. I knew that. Oh, wait, I gotta do this. And has anybody ever done this to you, Aisha? Yeah. I want to get to know you better.

[Aisha Tyler]

That was. I was very excited when that song came out. I was in college and I would often record it when I request it when I was going to a party. Which was as annoying as you might imagine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, it wasn't. Dude. That's not. That is a great song. And there was window. There was a window where Michael Bivens was. Was just dropping. I mean, ABC Boys to men. Bbd.

[Aisha Tyler]

That.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That sudden impact, that white group that's in the Motown Philly video that no one ever heard of. That Dave Holmes did an incredible audio documentary about finding those guys. It's fucking brilliant.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If you. If you. Dude, if you have nothing to do in, you know, Vancouver, you'll find stuff. Alberta. If you go to Alberta, like listen to it. Moral of the story is. Yeah, dude. Aisha, Tyrone, Tramble, Sam. Oh, Stanley. God. I'm trying to think of the guys from elementary school that really got me into it because I think I was like sixth grade. Sixth, Seventh. It was. Yeah, it was amazing. And I. It's a song that. That and Playground. I probably know. I don't know words in 90 of the songs in the world, but those two. For some reason ABC the Candy Girl

[Aisha Tyler]

was the big one. That was the breakout. That's not them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's another dude. No, that's Band of tiny kids either.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think that's. Oh, my, oh my Lord.

[Aisha Tyler]

Listen, everything is for me in my life is foggy until about 45 minutes ago. So be prepared for some. Be prepared for Some crossed wires.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm fine. I'm so fine. Don't worry. I'll lead. I'll lead the ship. Because when I said I was excited, one, I was excited because, you know, I've been a fan of yours from back in the E days and. And not E. Molly, everybody, we're talking about the news network. Even though ecstasy is way more popular than. If you say E. They're like ecstasy. Nobody remembers E anymore. But you were on Fuck. You're in the heydays of it, and we'll talk all about that. But I also get excited, you know, when it's. It's an artist that I've really dug into on this podcast because I should, like, you know, to give you a little backstory. This is like, you know, something like a labor of love. This is something that, as I've been doing it, knowing these characters, regardless if it's Sam Cooke or if it's country, it's like Loretta Lynn, like, hearing about them ahead of time, or even Bowie, where it's like the. Or Prince. Prince is the one that I found more than anybody from this podcast that I'm like, oh, dude, he's the greatest artist that's ever lived. But Sam was one that was very early on that we did a record called Live at the Harlem Square Club. Alex, my producer, who's not allowed into this little area because he'll fuck up the. No, he'll fuck up the audio. He'll fuck up the audio. And we're on a roll, and we're. We're like. We are right now. Be like we are merging. Like in Time Cop, when the two Ron Silvers see each other. So Alex put in the fucking chat when I did that episode, because I did it with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[Aisha Tyler]

It was, oh, how exciting.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, we did it. We did it at the Natural History Museum in his office here in New York City. And, oh, God, it had to have been November of 2019. So we're, you know, we're about a year. Not even a year into it. I think we've maybe we get boom with Spotify. It doesn't make a difference. And Sam Cooke was someone that I always looked at as, like, what you hear on this record is that, like, you know, the crooner, the. You know, like this perfect voice. Yeah, it was. It was the first time I heard him literally in a room of people that were probably his same color, didn't give a fuck about. About laws or whatever. They were just people partying and drinking and having A good time. And he put on a show that musically is and energetically is so palpable to the listener of us. Because you're like, holy shit. Like this must that Sam Cooke. And it made me look at him in such a different way to where it's like, I, I, I can now appreciate all of this other shit more.

[Aisha Tyler]

And it's, yeah, he was definitely an iceberg. I mean, I think you hear the iceberg nature of his work in this album, the album that we're gonna talk about, because you can feel his evolution as an artist. But that other guy was always in there, right? That soulful, intense, passionate, kind of wilder version of him was always in there. That he was hiding it. Right. Because he had to. For all of the reasons. The Jim Crow south and kind of the race music concerns and coming from a religious family, that guy, he doesn't, I don't think he changed. I think he, he becomes the guy he was. The bolder he gets in his career, the more well known he gets in his career, but then also not behind closed doors, but when he's live and he can really let loose, that's when you're seeing, I think, the real, the real Sam Cooke versus these kind of very highly engineered, especially in his early career. Very polished, very white friendly, to be blunt.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

These early songs. Yeah, these early singles, I mean, incredibly white friendly, like aiming for, you know, a broader audience. I mean, even the background singing, I mean, I don't know if they were white people, but they sounded like they were white people or they were trying to sing like white people. Like all of his backing vocals that really meant to kind of hit that, you know, that Top of the Pops audience. And then I think the more independent he got, the more he didn't give a shit. And then you got the real Sam Cooke.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's always, there's always some Hailee Steinfelds from Sinners in some, like, jazz or soul club. Just like, you know, there's always white women there for sure.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, you listen to those early songs, it's that very curated crooning, kind of like almost barbershop quartet backing that he has in some of the, some of the early songs that are actually, like, deeply incongruous to his own voice. Like, even when he's singing in a conservative way, he's still just this raspy, beautiful, like, Southern gospel influenced black man. And then in the back, they're like, doobidy bop beep boo doo. So you'll hear that. And then I think you Know. I don't. I mean, it's right before Chain gang. Okay, let's see.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It is. I love everything you said. I agree with every single thing you said. Every single thing he said. It's. It's something I've noticed, especially the more that. Because I love soul. I love. I love. I love all of it.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is where my American.

[Aisha Tyler]

I mean, it's a uniquely American product, right? It's ours.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Jazz and soul symbols. Soul sing is blues, obviously. And then you take it back and beep. And it all goes back to black people. If you start right there. You go right here, just a Timberlake there and Elvis. Black people.

[Aisha Tyler]

So.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So that's the thing is that. Is that there's like a lot of these situations of reason. I'm. I'm specifically talking about Live at the Harlem Square Club, which I already loved. Al Green, All. All these. These soul singers prior to that. But that was one that made me really fall. And I know this is gonna be so weird to say. It's like it made me fall in love more with Otis Redding because I found one of his live records that I've talked about on this podcast more than anything, right? It's one of my favorite albums of all time because he's my favorite artist, and I steal everything from him. Is. Is his Live at the Whiskey, where he did three nights, and. And it's because they have to rent these places out. And I don't know if the situation. Because I don't have the paperwork from. From the Harlem Square Club album up, but I know in that situation at the Whiskey, like, Otis had to rent this out so he could show white people, like, hey, I'm a real artist, and I'm going to fucking blow your mind, right?

[Aisha Tyler]

And I can fill it, and I

[Josh Adam Myers]

can fill it, and I can fill it, and. And. And then it's. Then he becomes a superstar. And I don't want to say this yet, dude. I have so much cool shit to talk about. Like, I really want to. I have to do my intro that I do every episode. Okay, we jumped in. We jumped in so quick.

[Aisha Tyler]

We're in it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We're in it, dude. Yeah. This is. This is what I love. I love a Pulp Fiction episode where we start talking about something. We start in the middle. We go back, we're gonna. And we tie it all together by asking if you can fuck to this record, which this. For sure you can. All right? I'm answering that for everybody. Everybody knows that's coming. All right? So we're on the 500 guys. This album today is Sam Cooke's portrait of a legend in 1951-64. It's a pretty low album for it to be. I mean, come. We're coming down to the final hundred, which I don't know what number this was. Alex put it in there, whatever the number was. But this is basically what I would consider the greatest resume ever sung by a man in a suit. Sam Cooke didn't just sing soul music. He helped invent the part of American music where your hips, your heart, your church trauma and your bad relationship choices all show up to the same party. And of course we have. I'm so excited. This is so cool, man. False flag. We all thought it was a false flag.

[Aisha Tyler]

We're here, we made it, we made it, we survived.

[Josh Adam Myers]

She came through. Aisha Tyler. But I'm so excited that you're here because Sam Cooke for me is like something where it's like gospel purity, pop charisma, you have civil rights, fire and the business brain to say, actually I'm going to own my own masters, thank you. And you basically built the same kind of thing, you know, with a multi hyphenate empire with stand up acting, hosting, voice work, directing. I mean it's Sam Cooke if he, if you're Sam Cook. If Sam had a podcast and a better IMDb page and, and was still alive. Benjamin.

[Aisha Tyler]

Still alive. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, many voice actors, you know, many voice actors are fudgeing like we. You see if you ever saw H. John Benjamin at a audition, you're like, God damn it.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, he's a guy that's like, Frank, how you doing? Good to see you, Tony. I'm going to be out here having a coffee. Don't worry. He's awesome. He's one of the best. Why are you here? Why Sam Cooke? Why? Why? Because that rules like to go. I love getting to the nook of it. So like, so why are you here for Sam Cook? Out of all the other albums we

[Aisha Tyler]

sent you, probably, I mean, I'll say this, I think I'm probably here the reason that you're here, which is that I thought I knew him and it was exciting to have the opportunity to learn more about him. You know, I think I in my head probably blend him with a couple of other know, singers of his era, you know, obviously Otis Redding and you know, even, even earlier era guys like, like Nat King Cole, these guys that kind of had a dual life. And I'm also really interested in prolific, prolificacy Generally, I think you talked a little bit about all the stuff I do it. I think part of it is that I. I'm excited to always kind of push myself into a space that I'm not familiar with and try to grow and. And learn new things. And I think the other thing is that you're trying to make yourself kind of. What's the right word? I mean, economy proof, discrimination proof, age proof. You know, so much of this business specifically is really driven, you know, for men and for women, but a little bit more for women by your face. And so the idea that you can build an intellectual. A body of intellectual work that's going to, like, carry you through your entire career, and you're always going to be growing as an artist. I think you really see that in his work. He really. I mean, you can hear it in this album that crossed his career. This guy was. He was pushing himself to evolve. He was pushing himself to grow. And I think as a standup or as a musician, you don't. Your hope. I don't know. For me, I don't want to be the artist that I was 10 or 15 years ago. It would suck if I was still doing the same work. And I'm not. It's not that I'm not proud of it, but I'm always trying to be as radical as I can in my creative life. And I think for a guy that was hemmed on all sides by a lot of different factors, by, you know, the oppressive racism of the time, by, you know, his. His, you know, his Southern kind of, you know, biblical roots, and by people telling him, which I think they still do in the business, like, this is your lane. Stay in your lane. He was like, fuck off. And he did so much in such a tiny period of time. It was something like a decade that he had like 30. 30 singles in the top 40 on the Billboard, like, top 40 charts, like. Like an incredibly compressed time for an extraordinary amount of success. Which means that no matter what you're seeing on the recording side, the guy was haunted. He was a haunted artist. Nobody is that productive in such a tiny bit of time without just sprinting like a maniac every minute of every day. And you see it. He built his own label. He was sponsoring other artists. He was trying to radically build something that I think especially as a reaction to the way that black artists are being treated at the time where they were just, you know, they were like hired hands. They didn't own their masters. They did, you know, they didn't know anything. And A lot of them got robbed. And I'm sure that happened to a lot of, like, you know, white rock and roll artists as well. But it was really a kind of a farm industry in the south to get these brilliant black artists and take their shit.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

And he was like. He just refused. And no matter how hard it looked on the outside, I'm telling you, as an artist, I know it was a thousand times harder on the inside for him. And he died so tragically. What you feel in this album is like he was on the upswing of his trajectory, and what would he have accomplished if he had kept working? You felt the loss so keenly by the end of this album.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So I was thinking about that where it's really cool that this comes in at one. Oh, seven. That means, you know, this is seven out being what. And into our. What I'd call our relaunch, because we're, like, doing, like, a big thing for the final hundred, which. It's just, you know, which is great. But you're seven, you know, your greatest hits is seven. Seven away from being what they consider the 100 greatest albums of all time. And there are so many different artists, which means he and someone like Otis and someone like Mama Cass and someone. I could keep going. Janice Joplin. I feel like there's certain artists that. Of course there are.

[Aisha Tyler]

Let me say this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Let me say this. And this is. Now I want to throw back to the. Because I gotta. I gotta.

[Aisha Tyler]

This.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There is a. There is a racial. Not overtone, but connection as well, to probably. When you think of Janis Joplin, her name and Jim Morrison, even though a small window of things they're talked about, they're drawn up because, you know, they're. They're. They're probably white. I think someone like Otis Redding and someone like Sam Cooke is someone like. Who do we. Who is. The guy that we did. It was doing the salt stuff. God damn it. I did it with Lonnie Love.

[Aisha Tyler]

Salt stuff.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He was the.

[Aisha Tyler]

Gosh, I'm so excited.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, no, no, no. But it's just. He's another soul singer that died young. Who. Who is. Is somebody that, if you know music, you know of. You know them, you know Sam Cooke, you know, Otis Redding, like. Yeah, but it's not.

[Aisha Tyler]

Or you think you do. You think you do. I would wager most people think they know them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, for sure. I think that it's this. I mean, I'm really like. I don't know if I'm, like, making a point here or Maybe I'm just like. But I think like to be these, to be these black artists, it's like unless you broke really big, it's just like you're in this, you're in the Rogan sphere, but you're on. But people know who you are, but you're out there. But like all the white ones that died early, it's like they're held up to this. Like, oh my God. And you know, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison and. But it's like, like the soul singers. Unless you like your Marvin Gaye's fame level. Fame, yeah. Does that make sense? Who had like an. Unless they didn't have these long careers. They didn't blow up. Otis didn't blow up until like, you know, literally he died. And then Doc of the Bay, which is like one of my least favorite songs by him, is what really took him there. And for someone like Sam, he did have a 13 year career and he. But it was still like. I don't know how much of white America really knew. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm completely wrong because from what I see, his inner circle included Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Bobby Lou Rawls, other heavyweights. Like, dude, he's you. Because I always like figure out like, why is this. Why is this record on here? And I think it's when you really do it, it's because this includes so many different styles. Is a guy very early on that took gospel, you know, and much like Ray Charles, like, you know, made it into. Goes into early pop. Pop, blues, dance records, romantic ballads, then civil rights anthems. Probably the most important one. And out of all the songs on this collection, Collectively they've logged 273 weeks on Billboard's pop chart and 508 combined weeks on pop and R and B charts. And he co wrote or wrote the majority of these songs. That's pretty fucking badass for a. You know.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I mean, I think he was a. He was subversive from the beginning and he was incredibly sophisticated at packaging that subversion in a familiar rapper. Right. I mean, the fact that he was writing his own songs, the fact that he was crafting a sound and I think always had a vision for how he was going to subvert the system. Do you know what I mean? Which is just. It's so hard for artists to do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh my God. It's like.

[Aisha Tyler]

And it was even harder back then.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And be black and be black and

[Aisha Tyler]

be black against you. It wasn't. It wasn't by happenstance at the these guys were. Were continually being pickpocketed for their work. I mean, it was. The system was set up to extract value from black artists, give it to white artists and. And then, you know, re. Record these songs, revamp these songs, make money with them and pay these. Sometimes these black artists like, absolutely nothing for what they did.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. And he did this before. He did this before Motown was for. Was formed. Yeah, this is like, you know, I'm looking at what's going on in music. I mean, it's. It's all Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino. This is like, you know, gospel phrasing becoming almost like an emotional engine of pop. It's really, it's really cool that he was. And like you had mentioned, and I really want to stress this too to everybody that. But it's like he's also. Like we said, there is no Motown. There is no Barry Gordon at this point who has all the power because he's got all the artists under one label. He is. Sam is one of the first major black pop artists to pursue this on his own. Business, control, publishing, label ownership and eventually a structure where RCA distributed material through his own Tracy Records, which is huge. I mean, his, his family is probably. Oh, I want to find out how much money they got.

[Aisha Tyler]

I mean, it would be nice to know if they did well, you know what I mean? Like, this is just always stacked, stacked, stacked against, against the artist of any. Of any origin. And especially back then. But I mean, he owned his masters.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

One thing. So one thing people may not know about him is that his last name was Cook without an E. And, and, and he was born in. He was born in Clarksdale.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, he.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, but that, but that. He, He. Like, I think it's evocative of like, who this guy was. Like, when he decided to become a popular singer. He added the name to essentially like, separate himself from his former life. And I think he was a guy that was always evolving, always trying to become something new and something different or. And I really relate to this in artists and I imagine that you do too, trying to become a better, more full version of the artist that he actually is. Because I feel like, you know, like, in your mind when you're young, you kind of have dreams of who you think you're going to be, but you can't know until you're on that path. And you're always actually trying to reach the. That version of yourself is kind of like the version of yourself that's in there that's hampered by inability Lack of craft. You know, being a newbie, you know, trying to be as free as you can as an artist. Right. Like, you know, for me, the times when I'm happiest with my work is when I'm not worrying about how other people are going to perceive it, how it's going to be received, whether it's good enough, whether it's right for this audience or that I'm just doing the shit I want to do. And I'm stipulating to the fact that some people. It's not going to be for some people. You know, when I was a baby comic, it was like I had to kill everybody in the room. And I was so worried. You know, that whole thing where you stand up there and there's 500 people in the room, and if one guy's not laughing, that's all you can think about for the next month instead of the 499 people that were having a great night. And then you get to the point where you're like, I'm just. I'm not going to be for everybody, but I'd rather have half of them love me and half of them hate me than everybody be like, that was all right, you know, I mean, there were some jokes there, and I think that was him. He was like, how can I get to the most free version of myself? And you start to really hear that in this album as his music gets, like, more soulful, more, like, sexier. Early stuff is just romantic, but later he's talking about fucking.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And, you know, I guess it is hard to fuck the beginning of this. It's like,

[Aisha Tyler]

that's some, like, sitting on the couch, kind of like dry humping shit. But then, like, later you get some good stuff. And you know when it's. You're hearing, like, there's a lot of, like, yearning and, like, desperation that comes through his later songs, which is really beautiful and. And just, I don't know, very connective. You just. You feel for this guy and the way he. I mean, what's. I'm sure we'll talk about it downstream, but the way he died was just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

So tragic and. Yeah. It's so intense, dude.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's. It's all the good black soul singing. They all died tragically.

[Aisha Tyler]

I mean, Marvin Gay Otis. I mean, Otis. Like, what stuff?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Who's the guy that we did? Yo, Alex, will you look up? Up. Geez Louise, man. I just have to look up. I'm gonna do it right now.

[Aisha Tyler]

Do it, do it. No judgment.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Was it Lonnie Love that did it. I feel like a Lonnie Love. She's done a few times the 500. She's the. Well, it could have been you if you weren't directing. Just a homie. Dude, she. She comes prepared. Dude that loves to talk too. We could do three hour episode.

[Aisha Tyler]

Comics, man. Comics. We. We can fill an hour. You know what I mean?

[Josh Adam Myers]

You give us a minute, I'm gonna let you know. I'm let you know. I'm. I. If I get reincarnated, I want to get reincarnated as an overweight black female comedian. So I would just to be able to tag all my jokes with. With your dusty ass. I love it. I grew up in the Washington D.C. area. What is it? What was. Yeah, it's not popping up. Alex, do me a favor because I don't want to look for this anymore and please don't.

[Aisha Tyler]

Alex, I believe in you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I believe you can do this.

[Aisha Tyler]

Staring at this chat. I'm staring chat window and I know

[Josh Adam Myers]

you're going to come through type whatever. Find out whatever Lonnie Love has done. And there was another artist. But the moral of the story is this, is that. Is that Sam Cooke? Obviously, there's always a reason, an argument for everybody, but I think for him it's one of the strongest. Because don't forget, you know, you're talking about a guy that died at 33. So his, his. His time was. Was very short, abbreviated, very short. And, and, and very much like the Beatles, constantly changing, which I love as an artist. We know. I love that. And, and then also getting the respect he deserves. He is inducted in the first class ever of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. So that's a. That's a. That's saying that you're in. This is our inaugural thing. Yeah. With like the Beatles. With like. I'd love to find out who.

[Aisha Tyler]

He had 30. He had 30 top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964. Do you know what I'm saying? Like seven years. The guy just dominated, you know? I don't know. I just. That was an extraordinary amount of success for any period of time. I mean, that's a Beyonce and Taylor Swift shit, you know what I mean?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So.

[Aisha Tyler]

And he was just explosively popular.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I didn't know that. I swear to God. This is what's so cool. That's why I love doing this. I love doing. Because I knew, of course he was like, the guy's popular, but it's crazy when you really see. Because these are the people he gets inaugurated with. On January 23, 1980.

[Aisha Tyler]

Right, right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke. I mean, that's like. Basically, that's the. That's one degree of Kevin Bacon of rock and roll. And it's. And it's. And it's pulling from the very, very early. All the way up until, you know, what the 70s, which. When you're getting someone like, you know, James Brown who's still fucking going then, and Ray Charles is still rocking. But. But, yeah, dude, it's. This is. This is a legendary guy. Funny enough, though, my favorite song by him is not on the Portrait. And it's. And it's in the. If you go to Spotify, it's in the. In the. You know, the top songs. It bums me out because.

[Aisha Tyler]

What is. What's your favorite song by him?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it's called I wish you love. It's like I wish you love. I wanted to do a. It was during the pandemic. I was taking a lot of psychedelics because we were in la, we had nothing to do. And I. I think, you know, for some. Doing the pod, for some reason just. It. It popped its way in into my life. And that song is just so beautiful. And I always had this great idea of, like. Because the world was so crazy. I mean, it was in Los Hits. I mean, it was nutty. Obviously, we all know that. And white people were doing some crazy. Yeah, yeah, dude.

[Aisha Tyler]

They have a corner on that market.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Corner on that market, man.

[Aisha Tyler]

They're back up to their. They're up to their old shenanigans.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I just love. I just. I mean, I just love when. When.

[Aisha Tyler]

When.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I just love that video. That one white chick with the. She looks like she's from, like, Dusseldorf, and she's got, like, the painted black fist and the BLM painted on her head. And it's like, all right, there's other ways you could have helped love. There's other ways you can donate money. That's ridiculous. Don't be a loon. Moral of the story, wise moral. Story was with the way the world was so crazy. I remember hearing that song and I was like. I was like, I. That's because it happened to me where I was like, I can't look at the news or the Internet and I'm stuck at home. And so I took psychedelics and I started having a bad trip. And then it was like, I put it. Put that song on and I went outside and it was just like, it turned into this. Like, I just listened to it on repeat for probably like three and a half hours as I like wandered Beechwood Canyon looking at, like, I had my dog and waving at people. And it was just a really. You know, I went, there was a guy shooting heroin. And I was like, you need a. You need a minute. Oh, dude, it got up the hill, baby. Baby, it got up the hill. But yeah, it's my favorite song by him. I. It's not. My second favorite song is on here. I also. Wait, I'll tell this story now. Now. I'll wait until we talk about it. No, wait until we talk about the song. So let's. Did you give me the pinpoint moment? You talked about why you like him, but were you into him as like a teenager?

[Aisha Tyler]

No. I mean, I was in a. I was. I was in a. I was in a metal in hip hop when I was a kid. But. But my parents are of this era, 100%, and they were hardcore vinyl heads. So they. I mean, they had so much vinyl and a big. You know, they also didn't believe in television. So, like weekend Activity was. Was dropping records. And so my exposure to music like this was just very, very deep and wide. And you know, my parents. I used to do a bit about this when I was younger. I don't know if that was very good, but it was very. I was. It was accurate, which is that, like, my mom would. My mom would say, like, you know, do you know who this song is by? And I'd be like, oh, I don't know, Jay Z. She's like, this song was recorded by T Bone and the redneck Campbell's back in 1935. Joined. Like, she was so disgusted with me that every. All my references were like, you know, hip hop samples. So I was always. Exactly. The juke joint behind my house in a dead car. We recorded it into a tin can.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, this is Everybody Loves the Sunshine. You know, this is Everybody Loves the Sunshine.

[Aisha Tyler]

Exactly.

[Josh Adam Myers]

At your grandma's house.

[Aisha Tyler]

Go to your room. So I just was always getting ripped a new one over my lack of, Of, Of. Of deep knowledge of the origins of popular music. And you're a metal fan.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Metal and hip hop. Metal and hip hop is a whole nother world. We were involved in it. Ask our parents. Did they know? Did they know that? Did they know. Did they tell what Guns N Roses song this was?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, my dad took me to see the Scorps in eighth grade at the Cow palace, and he was Like, I don't understand this. I don't. I don't understand it. I don't support it. But you know, I was excited about it. That was what mattered. Yeah, dad. That was a great dad. Dad, back me up. Didn't get any of it. Didn't know why this was happening to him. Why so much hair? Why so much streaming? But he supported me. But. But so. So a lot of these songs are the kind of thing where you don't know that you know his. His catalog and then you hear the songs and you. Oh yeah, I do, I do. I know. I know all these things. I've heard them before. I felt them and then some of them, like having a party. He recorded it. It's been re recorded like dozens of times. And like. And the. And like, it's such a great song. I don't know if that's my favorite, but that's like top three for me from him because I liked it when he started to get like a little bit. Bit sexier. Late six. I don't know, he started to get a little like, edgy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If you haven't heard Live at the Harlem Square Club, that it's. Dude, it's. You know what it reminds me of? It's like the Grateful Dead. We've had Al Franken on. We've had Phil Hanley, brilliant. People that love him. And it's like, I just. The album's fine. And they're like, it's the live. And I think it's the same thing with Otis Redding. It's the live. And I think it's the same thing with Sam. It's like, once you hear Live at the Harlem Square Club, you're like, that's what I want. This is fine. This is good. And this is like, it's still ice cream, but dude, this is.

[Aisha Tyler]

And it's also because it's created for a certain. For like a mass market. And think about the lack. I mean, listen, there's. There's. We've always had a very deep, very robust, like rock and roll blues, you know, like R and B, soul, you know, like market here. And there's so many artists we'll never know about. Like, that's one thing I really loved about Sinners was like, if you go back and you like, listen to the Sinner's soundtrac, then you can like go dig into all the artists, some of the vintage stuff that they either re recorded or played, and find out about these artists from like, you know, the tens and the twenties. There's Just so much richness there. But the whole point of some of these songs was to take something very intense and very rooted in place and, you know, repackage it for a wider audience. And then you. What you hear, like, right after, like, right when he starts to do. At the time of his life, when he does Chain Gang, that's when he starts to get political. Right. But he doesn't just start to get political there. He starts to get. Culturally starts to get more and more. He gets more and more Southern all of a sudden. Like, he excises all of his Southernness in the early part of his career. It's very doobity bop bop, you know, like milk and ham cheese, you know, ham sandwich. Then you just start to feel Southern preacher son shit come out in his music. And it's so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Ah.

[Aisha Tyler]

I mean, it's. Oh, I don't know why it brings tears to my eyes, because what a relief it must have been for him to start to be who he really was. And so then what you're talking about with these live albums, like, that's the real Sam Cooke. The doors are closed right there. No one is recording. This is our recording, and we're gonna do exactly what the fuck we want. And that's when he really lets loose. And I think he was always. He had a lot of restraint. He was a very restrained artist early on because I think he knew to get where he wanted to go, he was gonna have to. To win people over.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. And. Oh, he did. He did. Dude. All right, let's talk about a few of the songs. I want to see if we. I want to see if we can. I want to see if we can hit the important ones with the most inch. Because it's like, not everything on here is as important as everything. But, you know, I've got. I got details on all of them. So if we. If I skip over any. Because this isn't an actual, like, you know, this isn't like, it's not Dark side of the Moon. This is a. This is a Greatest Hits. So it's just. They're like.

[Aisha Tyler]

For all the songs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This isn't curated. This is curated, but it's not like every. It's not like this is important if we go out of order.

[Aisha Tyler]

It is time related. Right. I mean, it is very much beginning of his career too. And sure. So you do. You can feel a through line here, but it's in the nature of the music.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. But I think if we're going to start anyway, we start with his breakthrough Solo smash reaching number one on the pop and R&B in 57. You send me. This song is absurdly simple. That's what I wrote. It's you. It's. It's you send me. It's repeated until everyone in America gave up and fell in love. I mean, it really is like this is a. This is also. This was the DJ's favor. This over the. The A side on the record, which was Summertime. They thought that was going to be the big one. And this is kind of what proved a black gospel trained singer could become a mainstream pop idol without sanding off all the soul. And I love the. I love the crooners. I love. You know, everybody knows. I love the Ink spots. I love them. You know, I love that if I didn't tell. Oh yeah, I love all that. I want to ask you about your career. What was the moment in your career where people suddenly went, oh, like, oh, this is. She sends me. Oh, I don't know.

[Aisha Tyler]

Probably hasn't happened yet.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Shut the front door, dude. Shut the front door.

[Aisha Tyler]

You know, I think that like, like in your career, it's. I don't know. I don't think you ever feel like you've. I don't know. I can't. I can only speak for myself. I don't feel like I ever feel like I've reached a point because I'm always like, I could do better. You know what I mean? Not like I do more. I don't think it's about more money or more stuff. I think it's like, I always think I could do better.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure.

[Aisha Tyler]

Probably the break was. Was Talk Soup. You know what I mean? Which, you know, was. Was a cult hit. I mean.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Cult.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I mean, it was a cult hit. I mean,

[Josh Adam Myers]

were you. Were you right after Henson and then before that was Kinnear?

[Aisha Tyler]

Right, I was. It was Kinnear, Henson, House sparks and then me.

[Josh Adam Myers]

House sparks and then Joel.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I did like seven months and then Joel. And then Joel McHale came after the show went away for little.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, yeah, you guys are the people we think about. You're in the. I mean, seriously, it's like Kinnear, who was. And what's so cool. It's like, you know, especially you, Joel McHale and. And Greg really transitioned it into doing like, not just being the personality, but also that's hard to go from being like the face of something, talk show host, whatever you want to call it, and then to transition into acting. Yeah, it's really impressive, man. And also to Own it it. When, when already you have these guys ahead of you. What's it like being the first woman to do it? I mean especially after they're not like. It's not like you're taking over the man show for Kimmel and Corolla. They're both, they're all, they're both awesome guys that. But it's like is that nerve wracking or are you just like. Well, it wasn't nervous on my own.

[Aisha Tyler]

No, I mean I, you know, I've been a stand up at that point for a long time and I had, you know, I listen, I mean it's better now. But when I was a stand up it was very much like, like they put all the women on like ladies night out, you know what I mean?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Pretty funny women at the comedy store.

[Aisha Tyler]

Belly room flyers and shit.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

And I just have always, I was, you know, kind of. My comedy was pretty aggressive. It wasn't, didn't really like align a certain kind of like gender patterns. So I was always the only woman on a lineup. And so that didn't feel out of place to me at all. I mean I was told by the network, by certain people at the network that it was never going to work. You know, it was very funny. It was like I auditioned for it. I did one ep. They were giving people like a week at a time to audition for it. I was not famous enough for that. But I was a regular on the old Bill Maher plaything. Correct. So I got one night. They gave me one, one bite at the apple and it just went so well that I got voted in by audience. Like fans just wrote in and were like, you know, we love her, she was the best. I just got the most fan mail and, and it was just because I think I loved the show. I was a fan of the show. I knew how to take tell a talk soup joke. I was a stand up and I kind of didn't give a shit. And my style was kind of like guy friendly I guess. So I was never really anxious about it. I thought it was actually the opposite. Like I was going to stand out because it had been three white dudes in a row. So people were going to be curious about it, you know, even if they were showing up to see me crash and burn. I knew we were going to get some early curiosity. And I also remember people at network like my publicist like we're going to get you some magazine, we're going to like announce it, we'll get you some press, you know, because It's a big deal, like, first woman and first black woman. And the network's like, no one's gonna care. And we can't get anybody any press for this show. No one cares. And then my publicist was like, hold my beer. And then we just got, like, five magazine covers. Yeah. Like, I was constantly told I was gonna fail kind of on all sides, which is. I love this. I love the petty taste of disdain in the morning. It just makes me go harder. So for me, I love that job. It was the best time. We just fucked around every day, and it was so free. And we got in a lot of trouble. We got a lot. We had a lot of trouble with the network and a lot of trouble with, like, the standards of practices people. And then we did a bit. We started. It was kind of just like, you know, we tell the jokes. Right. There'd be the clips, and we'd tell a joke. And then. And then we started to push it a little harder into it being more about the bits and less about the clips.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure.

[Aisha Tyler]

And we're doing sketches and characters, and we, you know, we're doing, like, Blaxploitation, short movies and all this fun stuff, which was great for the writers, you know, to do something more than just write the punchlines. And we did a bit. When Tiki Me Elmo first came out. We did. We did this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Go on. Very short.

[Aisha Tyler]

It was very. Oh, I remember, very short. And something tickly. Elmo was on some TV show, and we did a bit where a Raggedy Ann was sitting on Tickle Me Almost Face, and he was jiggling her, you know, in a. In a. In a. In a untoward way, as they do. As one. As one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, listen, Tickle Me Elmo, Lucky. He's not specific of where he wants to be tickled.

[Aisha Tyler]

He's like, you know, he just wants to make you happy, maybe. That was. That was probably the beginning for us. I apologize for nothing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That was when I. That was when I tuned in.

[Aisha Tyler]

I regret nothing. It was a great. It was a funny bit, and it's still a funny bit. And every time I talk about it, I think it's a hilarious bit. But the lawyers were like, we don't understand. I was like, you do understand. That's why you called me on the phone. Because you got it. Because you got the joke. But it was great. It was a great job. I loved it. And then right after that, I got friends. And so that was probably the thing that really, like, changed my life.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's so cool. I love that. Like, you know, to be able to be, you know, especially in animation. I do a lot of voiceovers and. And I've done a lot of cartoons. And, you know, I'm friends with a lot of the Simpsons guys. We work on it. Kind of cool. I've. I've been. I know they're gonna. There's. Even if it's just a word, it's like, I'm gonna get in there to finally do it. And it's like the way you transitioned it into something like. Like Archer, which we'll talk about later too. But it's like, it's really. It's something that when. I mean, I made that comparison at the beginning, it's apt. It's just like you have to have control of your own shit. And especially for a comic, unlike an actor, you know, we are our own business really early on, and we're doing our own auditions. And so you had to kind of like. And also to be a woman and a woman of color, it's. You gotta skadoodle a little bit harder sometimes.

[Aisha Tyler]

So you gotta just figure out who you are. And you have to. I mean, early and early in my standup career, I mean. And again, I don't think it's special, and I'm definitely not lamenting it, but I just had, you know, just person after person be like, this is not gonna work and not gonna work and not gonna work. It's never gonna work, you know, because my comedy was like, pretty muscular. Oh, you're trying to run with the guys. It's never gonna work. You curse too much. I'm like, the guy behind me just did a 20 minutes on a midget, from what I can tell. Wait, he's doing without the midgets. You know what I mean? But like I said, and all of a sudden I'm like, I've gone too far, you know? And I think to extrapolate that to any artist journey, you have to figure out who you are, and then you have to just understand that your people will find you, your tribe will find you. I think that's true of music as well, you know, like, we all know the number of artists that are trying to sound like another artist, but it doesn't get really exciting until they figure out out how to sound exactly and fully like themselves. And then. And then that's the thing that keeps you going. Even when maybe other factors aren't going your way. Maybe you're not the most popular artist out there. You're not making the most Money. You're not touring the biggest venues, but if the shit that you're doing is. Is coming from your soul, that is. You know, you can't pay the bills with it, but that is its own reward. And that is the thing that's going to put you in a position to be successful, is when nobody else can do what you do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Totally be as you as possible. That is the only advice I say to anybody. I say, whatever the fuck you are, lean in. That's why. That's why everything I do is comedy and music. And Fentanyl. That's on the Fentanyl comics.

[Aisha Tyler]

Good times. Affordable, widely available. Sometimes you get a bonus Fentanyl you didn't even know you were gonna get.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And you literally kill the audience. You kill the audience. That's such a bad joke. But, you know, it isn't. The. The next song we're gonna talk about.

[Aisha Tyler]

Okay, good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, I'm. I'm so loony right now, man. Like, I'm not. I've. I literally was. I was at the Comedy Connection in Rhode island last night. I drove home. Oh, God bless you.

[Aisha Tyler]

God bless you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, no, it's great. I'm. I was. I'm working with a.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's exciting, but. I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, no. But I'm literally in town for. For one day, and then I fly to LA for the next 25 for the festival. Festival. It's too bad you're not in. You're not in Los Angeles tomorrow, because

[Aisha Tyler]

I do. I do sing. Yeah, I was one of those infernal little bebop, like, do BAP groups when I was in college.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, no, dude, you're gonna do it. You're gonna do. I do a show. The goddamn Comedy Jam. And we're. It was a TV show on Comedy Central. It's where comics do stand up, then they tell a story about why they chose the song they're gonna sing. And then they sing it with my band, and we're taking it back to the Roxy. And, dude, it's like, it's all, like. It's Burr, Nikki Glazer. Like, it's all, like. It's all big name. We're doing it for, like, 12 years. But this year, because this is coming out after, we have, like, a bunch of real, like, we have. I think Billy Idol's coming by to sing with Big J. We have. My buddy from the Strokes is doing a song. We have Josh Homemade from Queens of the Stone Age, Jason Mraz. I don't know.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's just I've never heard of him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What I'm trying to say is you're doing the show next time, so that's very good company. That's amazing. So just the idea of, like. Like, I'm like, how excited I was about this and this. I've really thanking you. How easy you've made this. We're not done yet, but I'm saying I'm hanging in. Me being loopy. Oh, dude. If I was this way in front

[Aisha Tyler]

of Neil Degrass, my middle name, man,

[Josh Adam Myers]

if I did this in front of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, I would be. Well, be like, what are we talking about? Like, tell you to get your bibles in order.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I was in. I was in. I was in a rock cover band in college and we did like a little lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton and Dewey Brothers and s like that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I. I gotta. I got. I. I can match your weird. For sure. Perfect.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right, let's talk about I love you for sentimental reasons. This is a standard because these are. These are the big ones that I think that I.

[Aisha Tyler]

These are the classics. The standards.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes, I think so. This is a standard that Nat King Cole, one of my favorite singers, did before Cook, but kind of like he was like a little. What do you call it, Like a mentor Cook, basically. It's. It's. It's. It's not just gospel fire. It's basic, smooth, restrained, expensive sounding. So this is like Tuxedo Sam, you know, But I feel like, you know, looking up to somebody. The question I wanted to ask is where. Where Sam Cooke, you know, could look up to someone like Nat King Cole? And we learned something about. About, you know, performing and timing. What old school performer taught you the most about timing? Ooh.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, my God. Well, when I was a baby comic, the two guys I really wanted to emulate, and I wish I could say there were women that I wanted to emulate. There are people that I really admired and loved and, you know, I mean, like Whoopi Goldberg or. Oh, God, I can't think of her first name. She was so amazing. Sue Murphy. There was these comics that I really admired, but the two comics I wanted to be more most like were Tom Rhodes and Marc Maron. And the reason that I loved them was because it always felt like they were just up there telling a story, not up there doing bits. And I loved this, like, super hardcore informality of their standup. And that was what I tried to, you know, I mean, for all intents and purposes, I didn't Copy their material, but I wanted to copy their style. Oh, yeah, they just kind of wandered up there and like a jam band. It was like comedy version of a jam band band, right? I always wanted it to feel like the comedy was sneaking up on the audience versus, like, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit. And so I tour. I didn't tour with Tom, but Tom would come into the Bay Area and he would let me. The two guys that would let me do, like, guest sets were him and George Lopez. And. And, you know, George was just. George was just a destroyer of worlds, right? Like, George could just do three hours and destroy top to bottom, wall the walls down. People were their asses hurt, but they were, like, laughing their brains out. And. And I would. I would just. You know, Tom was just really generous. He would give me time, he would give me advice. And I remember once going up to Mass, like, you know, it's just a baby comic. You're so wet behind the ears. And I was like, I want to, you know, like, what do I do to be like you? He's like, you just got to keep getting up on stage. And I was like, you just don't want to fucking tell me what the secret is? That's the secret, man. It's the 10,000.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Be you. Be you and get up as much as you can.

[Aisha Tyler]

As much. As much as you can get up. And. And. And I love he. He was always very kind and very generous in that way. And he was right. You know what I mean? And I think it's like any other craft. You just have to keep going up, and then at some point, you feel things shift. You do. You feel. You do a day where you walk on stage and you don't have butterflies and you kind of know what you want to do, but maybe you don't know exactly what you want to do. But that doesn't make you scared either, because you think, I'm going to find it in the moment. And then you walk off stage and you're like, well, that was a great time. And even when it. Even when I didn't get laughs, like, that was a great time, too. And that's like the muscle memory. It's almost like being an athlete. There's just one day where all of a sudden the race feels different to you. And. And so those are the guys that I really, really admired and wanted to be like. And, you know, and still to this day, I think, you know, they both have, you know, crafted a certain kind of style. I think all these young guys all are trying to do that same shit, too. All these crowd work guys that just, like, pick people out of the audience are doing the same shit those guys are doing back then, maybe with a little bit less craft.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's a. There is a. I love that. Yeah, I love that. You mentioned out of Tom Rhodes and Marin, where, you know, both homies for sure. Tom. Tom's a lot nicer than Mark

[Aisha Tyler]

is. Mark is not. Mark is not even nice to Mark. Once I figured out that Mark is busy having a conversation in his head with himself, that's not particularly kind. I never took anything personal that came out out of his face. He's got his own inner diet, and I. I love the guy. When I had a podcast, we did two homes in a ways. Like, I did the show. Did my show a couple times, and I adore his mind, and I adore his honesty. And he's gotten a lot better.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no.

[Aisha Tyler]

We all got into therapy. We all got better.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm not on him, dude. You know, I'll tell you, but I'll tell you, man, you get two marks with. With me and him, where it's like, he'll do my show all the time. We were just in. In Austin at Moon Tower, and he popped up. He was gonna. I. I reached out to my head of time about the Thursday, thinking that was the only day he was in town. And then he showed up at the rehearsal on Wednesday. He goes, we're doing it tonight too. And I go, I guess so. And then, of course, I'm putting him on, and he'll. He'll be. You know, he'll be angry. And then he'll get off stage after playing guitar and killing. I know, I know, but he'll get off stage. He'll get off stage after he's killed on guitar. And my band and me have really given him that experience. That's so much fun. And you see a moment of vulnerability. Like, that was good, right? I'm like, yeah, dude, it's great. Yeah, but it's like, he's nice for a short window. You get a little bit closing, you

[Aisha Tyler]

see the light go out in his eyes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But Tom also. Yeah, but Tom is. Dude, Tom is that cool, dude, man. Tom is just that. He's the Jack Carawack of comedy, dude. That's what I think.

[Aisha Tyler]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy, as a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us? But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know all that. That's like the holy grail of streaming services though. And getting paid. They want to we want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand, and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too to generate your own Spotify Canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com VIP the 500 that's distrokid.com VIP the500 for 30% off your first year dig it. This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is sharing the message that connection is crucial because good relationships are an essential and sometimes overlooked component of mental well being. If your relationships could use some strengthening, a licensed therapist from Talkspace can help. Therapy can help you communicate better with loved ones, repair conflicts, and understand how to address loneliness and build community. It's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a therapist within two days. You'll meet with your therapist online on your schedule. Plus Plus Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. Make personal connections a priority and start today. If you're not covered by Insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's S-P A C E80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80. He's like, he just.

[Aisha Tyler]

And he chased. The thing is, he was chasing that freedom too. You know, it felt so effortless. It felt like as a viewer. Right. But you. But you know, again, like watching a great athlete or like watching a great musician. It looks effortless to you, but you know, they have put in those 10,000 hours.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

Trying to chase freedom. Trying to chase the moment where it doesn't look like they put in the 10,000 hours.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, I want to. I want to. I want to. I want to stop you there. To take a word that you just said to bring. To bridge the gap into the next song because you said freedom. And I think this, this, this thing. I can't speak this song. Oh, leka. She got up. My dog got up. Thank God.

[Aisha Tyler]

Hi, puppy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, like, is killing it. Dude. We. This is the first weekend I wasn't allowed to bring her. I fly with her all over the world. But Big J, because I was opening for Big J because he's writing on. He. I'm writing on the roast for the Kevin Hart Rose. So he's performing. So we just get high and just go over ideas for the. For the roast. But he didn't want me to bring my dog. He doesn't hate her. Don't worry. She's great. I bring her everywhere. No, he's an incredible dog person. He just wanted to get high and have no responsibilities.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, well, that's fair. You know, no one, you're having a good time with your friends until one of them's like, I gotta go.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But no talking about freedom. Talking about freedom. Cupid is probably the first song. This is Cook's most famous pop song. Uses the mythological imagery but keeps it light and radio friendly. That little cupid draw back your bow hook is basically a nursery rhyme for adults making terrible dating choices. Such a great, great song.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Now he's starting to get into the era where he's like, now he's. This is where the guy goes. Gets the power, I think, because he goes right from this into what a wonderful world. You know, on the album, which is not one of his. He. Well, he co wrote It. With Lou Adler.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The owner of the Roxy. And Herb Albert. I. I really like what a Wonderful World. I mean, you can't not think about it from being in. What is it? Animal House.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, God. I think it's been in so many things.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, but that's like, the big scene is, like, when he's going through the buffet and he's doing the. He does the, like.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The impersonation of his. It.

[Aisha Tyler]

All right, so real quick, here's a fun fact.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, take me there.

[Aisha Tyler]

I. That wrote Animal House went to my college. So. And it was based on his experiences at a fraternity there called Alpha Delta, which is quite possibly one of the 10 most repulsive places to be. And on the. On the. In human existence and on this planet. The basement was essentially worse than Hotel Rwanda, everybody.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, yes.

[Aisha Tyler]

Maybe not. Maybe a little bit less genocide. Okay. But it was an open, open latrine, so the room had this gutter that went around the edges, and you would be talking to somebody, and then they would just turn around, whip out the dick, and start pissing against the wall. It was just this incredible combination of urine and vomit and other human kind of ejecta and. And from that, you got the movie Animal House. So there you go. I love this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wait, who was the guy? Wasn't it that dude? That guy Kenny, Right?

[Aisha Tyler]

The guy who wrote it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, but I'm pretty sure it was like he died. He was a drug addict, too.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Douglas, Kenny.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Douglas, Kenny.

[Aisha Tyler]

Kenny. Well done. Well, thank you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right, quick question. Rapid fire. Rapid fire. Because I want to get a couple more things and get you out of here, and then I gotta pack and. Yeah, and if we would have done this. If we would have done this on one of the other, other times, we could have had

[Aisha Tyler]

106 more albums.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We'll come back. I'm making sure you come back. I like you. We're doing it in, though. We're doing in person. That's the deal. Okay, so real quick, what's the worst dating advice you've ever gotten for Cuban?

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Come on.

[Aisha Tyler]

You got for Cupid. I don't know that. I mean, I wouldn't. I wouldn't take any dating advice if it was given to me, you know? Listen, I. I wish I. I wish I really had it, like, I, I. In my head, you know, I'm a player, but I was in a rough relationship from, like, college until 44, and then I've been in another relationship, him, for about 10 years. So I got. No, I. I just. I just caught a dick, held on to it, caught another one, held on to it. So I got.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You're so. Wait, what was. All right, I'll say this and how about this. Out of the two long term relationship, if you're comfortable talking about it, we don't have to. But was there. Was there one. You know, was there a pickup line? What's the best pickup line?

[Aisha Tyler]

I. I tend to. I tend to be the cruiser and not the cruisey, so. Really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, you're. You're the William Fren. You're the. You're the Alino mama.

[Aisha Tyler]

I am the rich man. I am the one who knocks. You know, and part of that is I'm six feet tall, so I'm pretty intimidating to watch.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, really?

[Aisha Tyler]

So, yeah, so you better be. You better have your. Together with.

[Josh Adam Myers]

With, with.

[Aisha Tyler]

Without shoes on me. Six feet flat feet. Six. Six feet flat feet. So. So, you know, I'm in. In. In the, in the. In the delicate words of boondocks. I'm a big. So like, you know, like, guys don't. Guys. Guys, Guys aren't gonna cruise unless they know, like, I gotta. I gotta throw some energy their way.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, the guy. Wait, all right, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So have you. Are the dudes that the two long terms. Are they both like six four, six, five, or are they like.

[Aisha Tyler]

They're both taller than me?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Have you, have you, have you. You hooked up with like a short king before?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't discriminate. You know, I'll tell you who has the guys that have the most swag are short dudes. Like, like Seth Green is just rocking like some hard. Have you ever met Seth Green in person?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

Just did the podcast extra outside swag.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We have personalities. We have personalities. You know, who doesn't? Jacob Elord. Jacob a. Jacob Elordi has thrown at

[Aisha Tyler]

him, flying out of the sky, dropping out of the sky like, like the stork just delivered a baby. But yeah, the short guys. Short guy's got swag. And I dated Sam Rockwell in high school and he's shorter than me, so I, I don't. I don't. I don't discriminate.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wait, you dated Sam in high school?

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, yeah, in high school.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Went to same high school Academy Award winner.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yes, Academy Award

[Josh Adam Myers]

dude. We did every scene.

[Aisha Tyler]

We're friends to this day.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We. We. I in Burr has the cartoon F is for family. And that was my first like big animation thing. And, and his character and my character would. We were never, of course, recording at the same time, so, you know, as you do animation, but. But it was. Every scene was with me and Sam Rockwell. And so when I finally got to meet him at Erewhan, before, I met him through Bill at one of the Christmas parties, you know, because Erawan is the only. That's the hippest motherfucking.

[Aisha Tyler]

And by hip, you mean a juice cost you 47 bucks then. Yeah. Like, yeah, I love that, John. I. I can. Yeah, no, I'm cool. I got there a couple times. I. I was there recently. Wait till this very quick story. I apologize for cutting across you. I was there recently. I was at another appointment. You know, I'm gonna jam into Air1

[Josh Adam Myers]

and get something real quick.

[Aisha Tyler]

Just get a couple things for the house. Just a few bits. And I. The grocery bag was half full, and the lady told me it was like, $400 or something. We both. We both froze. We froze. Like, she froze, and I froze like. Like. Like in headlights because she knew it was. It was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is what you turn. Like, what?

[Aisha Tyler]

How you gonna charge me that much? And I was like. I literally was like, if I run out of this. Well, they know it was me. That was like a full, like, minute of silence.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I left my. I left my card in the car.

[Aisha Tyler]

I'll be right back.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, we can just use your phone. We can tap. Yeah, this is a different SIM card.

[Aisha Tyler]

This is just a brick. It was. It's ridiculous that. Anyway, I used to.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I used to spend. I used to spend money there, too. And then I learned. I was like, man, what I want to eat is so easy to cook. Just like, a chicken breast and vegetables and, like, a rice. I always. Because that's. That was why I was like, you.

[Aisha Tyler]

You go. Like, it was prepared, and you could just grab it there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then I. And then I stopped going for a while, and. And then I went back to go. Let me just grab something there. Not knowing that they didn't do the 20 plates anymore. They do it, like, individually. So I was like, yeah, I'll do some chicken. I'll do the protein, and I'll do two sides. And then the guy was like, all right. And they put the sticker on. It was like, 45 bucks. I was like, off.

[Aisha Tyler]

My answer is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was like, I'm not. I'm not buying that.

[Aisha Tyler]

You can take your $60 strawberry.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was like, leave it. I was like, leave it.

[Aisha Tyler]

Back off to the hippie hole. You. You crawled out.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was like, leave it.

[Aisha Tyler]

And I was raised by hippies, so I have a lot of PTSD around hippie stores generally. Like, my mom had a health food store when I was a kid. I have a lot of deep trauma around health food stores. They have a certain smell, like a brewer's yeast and kale chip kind of smell that really. Back in a vulnerable place. So I just. I just stay away.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All of those people. All of those people that are in there probably wouldn't have dairy if you. If. Unless. Unless you had to waterboard them first. But they will all. They will all do a bump of ketamine at some random friend's house.

[Aisha Tyler]

There's no gluten and K, it's gluten free. Last time.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I like. You really think I'm. Gonna. You think I'm gonna eat that processed food, but I'll take five kilometans.

[Aisha Tyler]

They're all trying to find, like, a rich vegetarian, rich vegan. Everyone's trying to find every. Trying to find a. Like a. Like a nice Peter Thiel in there, but I don't think that person exists.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I want to ask you a question about what a wonderful world. We mentioned it already. This is, I think, one of the greatest examples of weaponized charm. Academically useless, but baby, I'm academically useless, but baby, I love you.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's so sweet. It's such a sweet song. Everybody knows this song. Everybody knows this song. It's been covered thousands of times. It's been in thousands of movies and television shows. It's just the sweetest. It's so. He was distilled sweet, especially early in his career. He's very, very sweet. After changing, he starts to get more. And I don't mean this in a negative way. He just starts to get more emotionally ragged. And I love it like. Like, bring it on home to me. He's like, begging this person to come back. And, like, it's just so. He gets. So he gets a lot more like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So that this is next to the one that I mentioned before. Bring It On Home to Me is probably.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, great.

[Josh Adam Myers]

My favorite Sam Cooke song, especially because the live version at Live at the Harlem Square Club is just so perfect, man. And it really, like, oh, man. It's just like, you. I. I love this. I love the. I love the. The album version. But good golly Miss Molly. Like, is it so badass? Because it's like, I say, it's. It's palpable. It just.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's just wailing. He's just. You could just feel like there's A grit.

[Josh Adam Myers]

His voice is. You know, and if you ever change your mind, it's just. That's not the record. The record is. If you ever, like, very. Like, it's white America. He's. Dude, it's. It's two Gerard Carmichaels. You have the one where he uses the word.

[Aisha Tyler]

No, I love.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And I started with J. Carmichael.

[Aisha Tyler]

I love Gerard.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'll say this. Listen. I'll say this. Gerard, you have to. Sometimes you got to be the first draw. That was meeting all the Fox execs and getting out into that. That. And then we all knew he was gay. And then it's like. And now he's got it. And then he gets to go to the Harlem.

[Aisha Tyler]

The greatest thing about Jarod was, like, he put in the bump in the middle where it was just agony. He put in all the Papal stuff. He put in the Tyler stuff. He put in all the ways in which it hurt. And so we got to see the whole coming out and not just the triumphant emergence. I just. I loved everything he did. I loved his special. Like, if I ever went back into stand up again, I would. I would do something like Rathaniel. Like, that's probably. Probably. I'm not even saying it's the most explosive special I've ever seen, but it's the most emotional.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it's the best one. I think it's from knowing him.

[Aisha Tyler]

Unbelievable.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, I've never watched any of that. I don't watch any of that. I've watched the special. Watch a couple. I watched the first special because I was there when he recorded it, and I watched Ruthanna. I think rail's his best work.

[Aisha Tyler]

Brilliant.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It really is.

[Aisha Tyler]

So disciplined. Yeah. But great.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That could play the game, I'll tell you that much. Not talking. But he knows how to play the game around these white people.

[Aisha Tyler]

People.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He knows. I was like, you want to know what it's like talking to. Drawing Carmichael. Go pet my dog real quick. He'll give you the. All the oxytocin in the world.

[Aisha Tyler]

This is something you. You.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, he. Dude, I'm not putting it down.

[Aisha Tyler]

I've always had to play the game. We don't even learn how to do it. It's just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He. Dude. Very simple. I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this incredibly. I think it. I think it's an apt thing to say. It's almost like, listen, you know, there's two different versions of Sam Cooke. There's the ones that we talked about where it's like, he's non Threatening. And he's just, you know. Know, it's. You know, don't know much about people. Bah. Very easy. And then there's the Harlem Square Club version, which is him being himself, hanging out with Muhammad Ali. You can't be whitewashed hanging out with Muhammad Ali and fucking Jim Brown and some of the people he is.

[Aisha Tyler]

But I think buried in there is a very sad statement about American culture, which is that you have to hide an aspect of yourself to make yourself more palatable. None of this is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, anytime you talk about any of these singers, none of it has a happy ending, unfortunately. It's. It's the sadness of where America was and still, in a sense, still continues to be. Hopefully it gets better. We always think it'll be progressive, but it isn't. But a song like, you know, bring it on home to me is if you go, dude, I'm telling you a second, this shit's over. Like, put on live at the Harlem Square Club and let that shit vibe, and it will make your fucking day. It is my favorite version of him. It's one of the. His greatest soul records. Lou Rawls sing the response vocal on the album. The call response was. This is emotional. It's like this emotional groveling, and it's very gospel feeling. But, you know, he's repeatedly adapted this, like, gospel feeling into a secular plea.

[Aisha Tyler]

Right? The God. This gospel gets much more like, deep, deep south black church, like, little. Like, it gets much more like, stomping the floorboards as, like, the early gospel influences are very polished. And then this is where he really gets the. He's getting the Holy Ghost. He's getting the ghost. He's. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And the ending. The yeah, the yeah, yeah responses are so perfect that they should have their own royalties. That's how good that, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude.

[Aisha Tyler]

The live version. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Go yourself. Who's your. Who's your Lou Rawls? Like, who's the person who makes your performance better just by answering back?

[Aisha Tyler]

Wow. Wow. That's such a good question.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thank you.

[Aisha Tyler]

I don't know that there's. I don't think there's anything analogous in my creative life other than the voices in my head.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Maybe who you've worked with. It doesn't have to be so much they're a writer or they're answering the call. But who's someone like, that you've just vibed with, like, in your performance? Because especially. Especially as an actor, you know, it. It's like, dude, you've worked with people. We've all worked with people that give you fucking nothing. And then you gotta. And you gotta give of. You got to stay in your moment, you got to stay in the character. So. But then you work with people that you're like, oh, man. Like, yeah, this is fun. Like, we get to vibe, we get to jam together. Like, who have you been able to jam with?

[Aisha Tyler]

I mean, I'll give you two quick answers. One is, you know, this is going to sound kind of anodyne, but this is true. You know, I'm on this TV show, Criminal Minds, and I was only supposed to be on there for six episodes. I was coming in to fill in for another actor who was out for AJ Koch was out for maternity leave. And I've been there for a decade. I'm going to start my 10th episode, my 10th season of the show. And that was something where, like, if it was a jam band and I was just filling in for the guy that was sick or the basis that was sick, like, it immediately I was like, oh, I'm home. And it felt that way right away. And for a Show to be 20 years old now and to feel so supportive and so ego free and so everybody wanting everybody else to win. And I think you see it in the show because, you know, a bunch of us also direct the show. So there's this real, like, caring kind of like, it's not like, okay, I'm showing up for my lines and I'm going to fuck up. I'll see you guys next week. Everybody's like, showing up early, staying late. How can I help? How can I back you up? That's been a really, really great feeling. And I think it's unusual in any business. And I think it's especially unusual, you know, in a show this old that's doing its best work in season 19 and 20. So very kind of, you know, a fancy answer. And then, you know, I had been directing quite a bit before I started doing tv. I'd done a bunch of short films. I'd done a movie, and then I did a couple of episodes of Criminal Minds. And then I got hired to do a show called Roswell, New Mexico that was a reboot of the original one. It's run by a woman named Karina Adley McKenzie, who was a writer on Vampire Diaries and the Originals. And then that was the first show she created. And she gave me my first directing break outside of my own TV show. And yeah, it was great. And just be socially friends and kind of creative equals offset and then sit with next to Someone. You know, I always tell showrunners now and writers when I'm directing their stuff, I'm like, I'm here to bring your dreams. I'm trying to make your dreams come true. That's my job as director. You wrote something you had in your head. It's. It's up to me to realize it and hopefully give you back better something than what you envisioned. And. And that break, it was a show for Amblin, which is Steven Spielberg's company. And that was the thing that really, like, kicked off my. My creative career. And so she and I collaborate still quite a bit. And, you know, it's. It's. We're in a weird business, the creative business. It's not like you go to work and you meet the guy in accounting and you're going to cover a spreadsheet together. I mean, all of it is ephemeral. All of it is fleeting. All of it is. You're trying to capture magic constantly. You're trying to capture something magical, and it can feel like a sprint. And a lot of times, things are constantly slipping through your fingers. Things are falling apart every day. For everything that you see, 100 things have hit the ground. 100. You broke at 100 eggs on the ground.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

So in the end, it's got to be people that you want to spend your time with, because that's the only thing that you really can control is. Is who. Who's. Who deserves your emotional and creative investment and who is going to return it back to you in a. In a. In a careful way because you're just flinging shit against the wall all day, every day. Yeah, but most of it goes nowhere.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Most of it does. But, but, but, you know, but you always get a feeling when you're like. Like, I think I'm on to something. Just keep doing this. This is fun. And if you're doing it because it's. If you're doing it for. For success, it's never going to be successful. If you're doing it because you love it and it's fun. Like, dude, if you're. If you're. Because I'm telling you, you. I can tell you love directing. And I'm, I'm.

[Aisha Tyler]

You.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is something you're very interested in because it's like, I'm just doing this for fun. You don't need the money. You got, you got. You know, you're. Baby, you gonna have SAG insurance until you die. You dying in a good bed. You ain't gonna have to go. Go to Cobra, you get to stay with the good one. What I'm saying is though, but it's like that's, that's an awesome transition because now you get to really have this third act is like one that's not

[Aisha Tyler]

really dependent on my face. And, and actually no, this, now this is also gonna.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You still got face card. Don't worry, you still got.

[Aisha Tyler]

All right, this is, this is sound very self serving. But I will say since you know, I, because I, I have this other job or this other business which I have a booze company and when I started it I, I just, it was exactly the same thing. I was in Scotland, a friend of mine was like, do you want to taste some whiskey? I was like, yeah, I'll go. It was a guy from the Macallan and I go to meet this guy from the Macallan and I think it's going to be like an old Scottish guy with elbow patches and a kilt. And I walk into this place called the Weep Hub on the corner in Glasgow and It's like a 35 year old Korean American guy and then the master blender from the Macallan who's a woman and they think they're going to meet some actresses. Like oh my God, he's great. And I have like, I probably have like a 70 bottle whiskey collection. So we sit down at noon on Saturday and I leave Glasgow at like two in the morning and this guy is like, we just bond over like our passion for spirits and like our passion for drinking. And then when I wanted to start at this company I was like, hey, do you want to leave the, the greatest, the greatest whiskey emperor in the world and come run my startup for me? And so, and you know, I took up some persuading but now this guy James Kim is my co founder in my booze company Loss of female. And that it's, you know, being, being a founder is incredible. Incredibly hard work and emotional and frustrating and. But it's. I'm with someone who I trust and we vibe first, right? We vibed first. And so that's been a really great experience as well.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That rules, man. Yeah. Also if you guys drink whiskey, here's your chance, promote it.

[Aisha Tyler]

So here's my booze company. So. So it's actually a cocktail company. We make organic ready to drink cocktails. They are 100% organic. No artificial colors or flavors, no dyes. They are foolproof. This is our mojito, we just launched it. And this is our margarita. Here we go. She's a very pretty girl. No, like I said, no dyes, no colors. All you do is crack this puppy, pour it over ice. No mixing, no mess. I love whiskey, but what you do with whiskey is you pour out a couple fingers and you listen to Otis Redding or Sam Cooke. But with these guys, you could house six of these in an afternoon with your friends by the pool. So this was. This was the way we wanted to go. We wanted to do something that really people could like, fall in love with, get invested in. And quite honestly, because I do, I do a fair amount of recreational drinking. These are the best tasting, ready to drink cocktails on the market by far.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love that. We'll give a shout out at the beginning of the end too. And it doesn't. And this. What's so great about these, like, these like crack and drink ones, everybody. They're not music dependent. You could listen to anything from Chumbawamba to Claude Debussay to. To Cannibal Corpse. The old music that Aisha Tyler used to listen to.

[Aisha Tyler]

Listen to some rage. Oh. Very first album I bought on vinyl was Metallica's Kill Them All.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Ah, what a heartfelt.

[Aisha Tyler]

Isn't that nice?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love it. Oh, you gotta tell me.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, that. That was. They were. They were a hometown band. I'm from San Francisco, so that was the very first album that I bought. And then me and my friends stood in line and outside of the vault on post to buy Ride the Lightning. We waited all day when the album came out. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. I love Metallica. It's a joke of mine on stage, every DUI I got. I was listening to Metallica when I got it. It's only three, but all three, I swear to God, I was listening. I don't drink anymore, by the way. Everybody. Don't worry. But I'm just saying. All. Don't me. Don't give me a Jager Bomb and Master of Puppets, because I will get behind the wheel and drive. All right, all right. So I want to mention a couple. Couple. But I really want to. I want to get to the main one that I wanted to talk about, which so Twist in the Night Away is a big one. It's an incredible record. Yeah. I had a great question about who's live. We just had Drew Carey on, so.

[Aisha Tyler]

I love Drew.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, dude, he's the man. Like, that was such a fun episode too, because we're doing like the Rolling Stones. I love that.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, dude, he's super knowledgeable. He knows a lot about music. So.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But I mean, you get it, dude.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's Like Recordhead.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, for sure. But you get it as being something that could do improv. It's like, it's. Dude, if it's. It's to see you taking an improv class as well. Most life changing thing you could do to meeting people and listening is like, how much is improv? Like, it must have. Like, were you. Were you already into improv prior to getting anything? So it was just like, oh, so

[Aisha Tyler]

that's the Sam Rockwell story. I like this boy. And I followed him into improv class in high school. That was. Yeah, that was. I was. That was how I got into acting. Acting. And when I did a podcast and I used to talk about, you know, I used to always do people's origin stories. I used to joke that every single story started with there was a boy or there was a girl. Every single one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

How tall is. Hold on.

[Aisha Tyler]

I was like five, nine, maybe.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, you were five, nine then?

[Aisha Tyler]

No, I was. I was six feet. I've been six feet. So I was like eight. I think he's like five, nine. Yeah. I don't know. We should. We should look it up. I don't. I don't know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm doing it right now, Mom. I got it right. Hold on. Sam. I was about 10 seconds. Sam Cook. Cook.

[Aisha Tyler]

Sam Cook.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rockwell. So Rockwell. I love him so much. I love him as an actor.

[Aisha Tyler]

He's a great. Like, I cried like a baby when he won his Oscar. I was so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what? You know what? No. You know what the cry movie for him is? And it's. And also Three Billboards at Ebbing, Missouri. It's Moon.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I've seen that dude and the guy that. And it's. One of the main reasons I love it so much is because of the guy that did the. The score for it. It's like Clint Mansell. He did. He did the Fountain by Darren Aronofsky. But man, he's five, eight. He's my height.

[Aisha Tyler]

I gave him an inch. I gave him, you know, as one should. I gave him an extra inch. But you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And you're this model. Look at Naomi Campbell, six foot. Like, are you playing volleyball and too. Are you like.

[Aisha Tyler]

Oh, I was. I ran track. I was. Was a. I was a. I was a hurdler.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I. Oh, yeah, dude.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah. Yeah. Stepo. Long legs over that. And people. Not. Not that we're here to promote Sam's career, but you should definitely watch. Have fun. Don't have fun. What is it? Good luck. Have fun, don't die. Which I just Watched.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I just saw that. Yeah, it was so fun.

[Aisha Tyler]

He's such a great actor.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I say, dude. I say, moon, watch anything. Watch my TV show with him.

[Aisha Tyler]

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, you go on and on, I'm telling you. But Moon is the one. Noah, you know what? Because everything else is. And Confessions isn't. It's. And I don't even think Three Billboards, because Three Billboards is such a great film, but it was kind of like, you know, it just. It just kind of. I'm not saying came and went, but

[Aisha Tyler]

it's like, you know, except for the eight Oscar nominations. No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm talking. But listen. There's a. Listen. I think it's a brilliant movie. I just rewatched it on flights. I love that scene where he. Yeah, he thinks that. He thinks that the guy given the billboard to her is the reason that Woody Harrelson's character took his own life. And that was his brother, and that was his mentor. And they have that Jim James song on the guy from My Morning Jacket. And he gets ready. He's listening to his thing talk, and then he goes up and he beats the guy up, throws him out the window. It's just this incredible one shot, but I'm like, oh, all the other stuff. But also this character then goes. Comes on this like, oh, dude, it's such a good movie. But it's. What I'm saying is there's an even deeper, deeper cut. Is Moon. I can't stress. It's just him the entire movie. Yeah, it's so good. Oh, if you don't cry from that, then you're dead inside if you don't. If you don't get emotional.

[Aisha Tyler]

He's great in that Atlanta Olympic bombing movie. I can't think of the name of it. He's just. He's. He's got. Yeah, he's just. And I think one thing that he. That Sam really represents that I love, and I think it's what we were talking at the beginning of the conversation, is just how actors. How artists just get better and better and better. Better, right? Like, yeah, Nika Costa used to say, like, you know, if you're. If you're gonna do so, like, you get to get. You gotta get to get your heart broken. You know what I mean? Like, that's. That's where it comes from. It's not just about the voice. It's about the experience. And I think every single project that. That Sam does, you see, just. He's just. He's Constantly. Constantly evolving and expanding as a performer. He's so good. He's so good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Constantly. And. And I think now to talk about evolution. God, we were really good with the Segways today, Aisha. For real. Like, you and I, we've been. You're leading me right to. Next thing is. I think the. One of the most amazing evolutions is. And it's unfortunate because it's basically all inspired by the racist treatment that he experienced on tour. Hearing Dylan doing Blowing in the Wind and then, of course, you know, really building his career during the civil rights struggle. And it's not victories yet, it's struggle. Is a change going to come now? I think this might be one of the best, if not the. When you think of, like, the Civil Rights movement and. And the story of. Not the story. Yeah, but the kid. The story of the journey of trying to get equal representation and. And equal rights is this song. And I think, of course, in the summer of like, George Floyd, the one that I mentioned before, it was like, I'll be the first admit living in la. And it's like, yes, I. I believe in all equality, blah, blah, blah, for sure. But it was like, I just. I got really into the marches because I just wanted to get out of the house. I was like, so, like. I was like, oh, my God. But dude, I was at every wall one. I was an ally. And I remember the. The Laugh Factory did. One of them was like, Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel ran it. They were both homies. And I was like, I'm gonna go up there and sing A Change gonna Come. And my friend Justine's like, don't do it, Josh. I was like, I can kill it, though. I can kill it. Like, I can kill this song. I murder.

[Aisha Tyler]

I was born by the river oh,

[Josh Adam Myers]

I could kill it did. So she stopped me because that would

[Aisha Tyler]

have been like, she did you. She did you. A. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But I. I just.

[Aisha Tyler]

But I. And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And that's the thing, though. This is. This is a reason this is in the Library of Congress as. As it. The anthem of the Civil Rights movement, where it doesn't feel like it's pandering or it doesn't feel like it's. It feels like it's. It. It feels very. It feels very like.

[Aisha Tyler]

It feels very of his own experience. Feels very rooted in who he was. I mean, this one and, and, and. And Sit on the dock of the Bay. They're different songs, but they have the same emotional foundation. There's just this longing and this Deep, kind of resonant pain in both of them. But they both. I don't know. This is not the show and we're at the end of the Runway, but I feel like you're just hearing these black men channel the suffering of. Of the people around them in these really evocative, intense, transporting ways. And it's such a beautiful song. Every time you hear it, you hear something different. And I think from a guy that people knew as this poppy dancey. And like I said, he was leading. Everything was leading up to this. Like, Chain Gang was leading up to this. Even songs like Little Red Rooster Where? Or Meet Me at Mary's Place that felt very Southern, very black. Like, he just gets blacker and blacker as his career goes on, right? The songs get edgier and blacker and more Southern and more kind of like raspy and angular that, you know, that was culminating here. And it's too bad because he would have done so much more if he

[Josh Adam Myers]

had continued to live.

[Aisha Tyler]

But it's just. It's a song that is a Rubik's Cube and you can look at it from a hundred different directions, and you're going to feel and see something different every time you do. It's really, really beautiful.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It is considered, if not I, I'm. It might. They might have taken it off the number one. I don't see why they would have, especially after 2020, because, you know, this is the 2012 list we're doing, which is a lot of, like, you know, there's a lot of records on this one that, you know, do they put

[Aisha Tyler]

that list out every year or is it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, no, no, no, no. Well, for a while. So it was 02. Oh, I think it was 02. 08, 2012. And then I started doing this in 2018. That's how long I've been doing this shit. We're almost done. Bottom hunch. What I'm trying to say is this,

[Aisha Tyler]

let me tell you. Oh, go ahead.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But no, but then. But I did get to finish. The point was in 2020, after that, after the summer of. Of. Of George Floyd, they put out another list. And this one way different than all the other ones because, you know, bro, there was like, you know, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, like, that's like the whitest. Like, what the fuck did that influence? You know what I mean? Go back to the black people. So it's more like a lot of records moved around where it's always been. Number one, sergeant Peppers, and number two was always Pet Sounds. Well, Pet Sound stayed at number two. Sergeant Peppers dropped to number 25. And number one became like Marvin Gay. What's going on?

[Aisha Tyler]

And then that album, that album, if you want to cry, listen to that album for sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And not taking anything away for it at all, but what they did was they made it. They instead of, of, they basically flip flopped what they did with the other lists where it was all old white guys voting. They just, they basically went. Got rid of all the old white people and white people and they like all like, you know, it was so it's more than black focus, which I'm not saying it wasn't just expanded the scope of what expanded it, but it was also. But like, there was things that, where you're like, okay, my number one. The first record I did on this podcast was Outcast equipment at number 500. Like, that dropped down to like the 40s. Like, it's all like, it just, I feel it's like, ah, you got to find the middle ground where you get the equal amount of everything. Because it's like you're telling me that Sergeant Pepper dropped from 1 to 25. I mean, that's insane.

[Aisha Tyler]

Right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right. There's nothing. But there's an argument to make that Lauryn Hill's Miseducation is a top 10 record. So.

[Aisha Tyler]

Because I also think it's about what are those, like, what are those albums influence what's happening now in music. Trace its direct roots back to what happened 20, 30, 40 years ago. And that's always changing too. I mean, as you said at the top of the conversation, music is an art form. Artist, subjective. We can pitchfork ourselves to death, but right. There's going to be a thousand different ways to like, pick this part, this list apart, because there's a thousand different ways to feel about music, you know,

[Josh Adam Myers]

yes, I, I could listen, I, I, you know, but there's a thing about this song, A change gonna come that before 2020 and after 2020, it's always been in the top, like five greatest of one of the greatest songs ever written.

[Aisha Tyler]

Important songs for people that don't know and who feel like maybe this was performative or maybe he was like cashing in on or trying to connect to the civil rights movement because, you know, this. There was like a lot of energy building the story behind this. And I think it's exactly what we were talking about. This was a guy who had an incredible amount of public success but was still incredibly. And this is true of many, many performers of color since Time Memorial in this country. White people are playing the records, they're on white television shows, and then they're on tour, and they can't get a hotel room. So he was on tour. He called ahead and make a reservation for his wife and himself. And when they got there, even though they had a reservation, the dscort told them they could not check in. And Sam was furious, as one would be. And I think especially, you know, you can feel a hundred types of anger about this, but there's a special kind of anger when you're with your family, you're with your wife, and you're being humiliated, you know, as a man. And I can't speak to it specifically, but I'm going to say representationally, I can imagine that would have been really enraging. Very angry. And he was Sam Cooke at the time. He wasn't like a guy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I can play. I can play the Civic center, but I can't get a room yet. 100 fucking be on the radio, but I can't. Yeah, we don't. They don't know what people. You guys, It's. It's.

[Aisha Tyler]

Well. And they finally left. They wouldn't let them check in, so they went to another hotel. And when they got to the. That hotel, that hotel person had called the police on him. And he got arrested for trying to check in to a hotel under his own name with a reservation that he held and with money that he had to pay. And this guy was already nationally famous. So they arrest him in Shreveport, Louisiana. And the next day they run a huge headline on the COVID of the New York Times. Negro Band Leader arrested in Shreveport. And he did not get an apology for that arrest until 2019. He had been dead for quite a bit of time for those who have not been paying attention. So imagine that, like this feeling of you're doing everything you can to build a life for yourself, and then you're treated like a child, you're treated like an outcast. And the abiding rage and shame that that generated and that song came out of that experience. For anybody who thought, well, this was about commerciality or about appealing to a certain audience, this came out of an experience that would have happened thousands of times to thousands of black artists. To Etta James, to, you know, to Nat King Cole, to every single famous person that, you know, who I can be, I can perform on the other side of this building, but I can't. I have to walk through the back door. My name is on the marquee, but I have to walk through the alley. My Name is on the marquee a block away, but I can't stay in the hotel. All the Negro league baseball players who had to stay in black homes because, I mean, it's just, you know, endless. Listen. We seem to be sliding back to that era in this country, and I think it's a fitting way to put a bow on the conversation that, you know, people keep acting as if racism is somehow magically cured sometime around the time that MLK was assassinated. And I, I, I, I, I think we would all beg vigorously to differ.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, it is a, it is a tragic story and, and of course, this ends even more tragically because, you know, this is where what was so great about. You get, you get this, this message. At least he has this song that will like, because I was just looking at the stats of it, dude. It's, I mean, it's, I mean, these are all lists and they're all like make not make believe, but you know what I mean? It's like list mean or, or whatever. You put whatever value you want into it. But this is number three on the 500 Greatest Songs of all time. It has vot been voted the number one best protest song of all time. And it continues to stay around there and then.

[Aisha Tyler]

And it's hopeful, too. It is a hopeful song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

I don't, I don't think that's another reason why people connect with it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, it's not angry at all, but it's, there's a melancholy to it for sure. And I think, I think even then the end of his life, which I don't, I don't for time reason. I don't want to go too, too in detail, but it's like, go read about it.

[Aisha Tyler]

My mother's convinced that, that the, the industry had him killed because they didn't like how much power he was building up in the, in the, you know, in terms of control.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Masters, can I, can I give you a theory?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is an exclusive, everybody. And Aisha, I think. Are you a sports, are you a sports fan?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, but, you know, I'm a dilettante, so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But, you know, but you know, like how like all the New England teams every few years win something. I think it's a conspiracy because we need them to keep working. But in living in New England, which is the shittiest area probably in all of America, because it's cold and mucky and, and it's racist and it's just gray and it rains and it's just all horrible and everybody has got a Horrible accent and flannel shirt and. But not, like, cool flannel shirts, like, in Seattle. Like, it's like flannel. Like. Like, motherfucker, like, that's your best outfit. Like, you know what I'm saying? And I think. I think to keep them working and keep them stuck there, they have a thing with the NFL, the NHL, the mlb, and give them a championship every few years to give them something to be excited about and to keep them in control. Because dudes, food. It's like some of the areas where the team suck all the time. Like, D.C. like, no one gives a fuck. Like, it doesn't have to be D.C. rules. You know what I mean? We have great. It's nice weather some of the year. There's. There's multicultural. There's free museums. There's shit to do, you know, But. But in New England, man, there's not a lot.

[Aisha Tyler]

Maple syrup.

[Josh Adam Myers]

My theory. And now the. The other theory is the. The story of how. How he passed, which is a. You know, it's a homicide. It's a.

[Aisha Tyler]

It could be an unprosed homicide. And. Yeah, and it's too granular to get into here, but it's worth reading about. You know, it's very tragic how he died. And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Yeah, nobody went to jail. Nobody went to jail.

[Aisha Tyler]

No. No prosecution whatsoever. Which, again, is not a new story in this country. And it's still. You know, we're still seeing it now. I think we're still. We're still seeing it even with, you know, these crazy shootings that are happening currently. So, you know, it's. It's. It's. It's. It's disappointing, but it's not shocking. But I think it's. It is tragic because he would have. He was such a prolific artist, and I think he. He was still. He still had his best work ahead of him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What do you think? I love. I love asking this question is like, about. Like, what do you think he would have done? Like, you know, I mean, because it's like, I. Like, I. You know, I always say, like, what would it. What would. What would Kurt Cobain have kept doing? Like. Like, do you know what I mean? It's like, is he gonna stay badass and, like, oh, man, he's the rock star. Or is he, you know, eventually gonna be doing, like, new Genics commercials with Frank Thomas and Doug Flutie, where it's like, hey, guys, it's me. My testosterone is low now that I'm 60.

[Aisha Tyler]

Like, with Kurt, you know, he. He. He was suffering right I don't think he. He might not have continued because he was suffering so intensely, right? Like, couldn't. He couldn't go on, but.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure, but.

[Aisha Tyler]

But.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But Sam would have bad. Bad Paul. Yeah, you're right. You think of somebody else.

[Aisha Tyler]

Al Green would have gone on, right? Marvin Gaye would have gone on. These are all guys that would have continued, right? Well, we did go on, you know, but Marvin Gaye.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Marvin Gaye with all of his fucking financial issues, you know for a fact, eventually he would have been like, I'm Marvin Gate for Blue Chew now. Let me tell you guys, if you trying to get it on in the bedroom and you're around my. My age, and you got to pay an alimony, that will cripple most economies.

[Aisha Tyler]

He was killing it right up until he died, right? Like, he had no period of fat. Like, he had. No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. Aisha. The. One of my favorite records I've ever done on this podcast was. I think it's called To Hear My Dear or whatever. The one he. The record he did to give. He was like, all right, we're getting a divorce. I'm gonna give you the next record. And the whole record is just a you to that woman. Like, every song. I did him with Roy Wood Jr. And just Roy, you know how G. That's like. He's one of the. I think he's one of the most underrated comedians working, and he's one of the best and of all time, in my opinion.

[Aisha Tyler]

Very funny.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very, very funny. But just, I mean, like. Like, Chef's Kiss. Like, dude, he's incredible.

[Aisha Tyler]

He's incredible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But I'm talking about Marvin G. Marvin.

[Aisha Tyler]

Marvin.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The big.

[Aisha Tyler]

You. These preacher sons, you know, they. They have. They got something. They got some stuff to say.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Say. Yeah, and rabbi sons, too.

[Aisha Tyler]

Us.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rabbi. I'm not Rabbi, son. My dad wasn't working, man. Yeah, but, like, what do you think he would have done, do you think. Do you think?

[Aisha Tyler]

I think he would have kept creating. And I think he. He. There might have been two Motowns. Do you know what I mean? I mean, that was the way that he was headed.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Interesting.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah. And I could only have been good. It could only have been good for black artists if he continued, or maybe he might have turned into a Barry Gordon and been a producer and. And because I think that was what

[Josh Adam Myers]

he wanted to do.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's what he believed in. He wasn't selfish in that way. He started that label immediately to help other people. I think he had a vision, and I think it's Too bad he didn't get to realize it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love him. I'm really. I'm really, really. He's an artist that I've discovered on this podcast that it's really makes me happy. It was why I started doing it. I wanted to experience. I wanted to fall more in love with the. I mean, you know, you're talking to.

[Aisha Tyler]

This is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's an argument that every one of these records and, you know, and even on the newer list, everything deserves its shot on whatever this list is. And the list isn't. Isn't gospel. It's just a thing that we've been going through. And. And I'm so glad that I got. I mean, maybe it would have been cooler if this would have been earlier and then I would have gotten live at the Harlem Square Club. So I could have been like, yeah, I think he's cool. But this, I mean, it really would have blown my mind. Mind to hear it in that order.

[Aisha Tyler]

But.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But I think I had already heard enough, right?

[Aisha Tyler]

You already knew enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I'm telling you, maybe that is something that, like, I recommend everybody in the companion piece of this episode is, here's the deal. Watch Criminal minds Season Season 19 drops

[Aisha Tyler]

on on May 28th.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Watch that. Then pick any. Pick any episode of Archer and just dive in. You know, then the friends, you keep going. And I bet somewhere on the E, if there is an E app, because they seem like one of the idiots that never tried to go to Hulu or whatever. Do you know what I mean? It's like you're like, dude, Comedy Central, go to Hulu, you dummies. Like, don't. Nobody wants your shitty app. Rip Comedy Central. That being said. That being said, it's. I think if you're gonna listen to this greatest hits record, immediately after put on live at the Harlem Square Club. And yeah, dude, please come back.

[Aisha Tyler]

I have. I was a pleasure. Oh, and when you're watching Criminal Ones, just go to lossophy.com l o-s O-P-H e.com order some cocktails. We'll send them right to your house. If you live in one of the fun states, if you live in one of the sad states, I wish I could help you, but get your friend who lives in a fun state to order some and then bring it to your house. And yeah, we should come up with a good. What's it. What's a good discount code for the 500?

[Josh Adam Myers]

The 520, I'd say, say. I say cooking C O O K I N. No, no cook. Because we're trying to cook in. Cook it. Okay. That's too Cook at 500 degrees, but

[Aisha Tyler]

it's just like Cook 20. E20. C O K E20 will be the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. We ask everybody these questions. I might change one a little bit differently, but I don't know. We'll see how it goes. Favorite song on the Portrait of. This is such a long title, I forgot what it was at this point.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Portrait of a Legend. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.

[Aisha Tyler]

That's all right. It's a long. It's a long title.

[Josh Adam Myers]

51 through 64.

[Aisha Tyler]

I want it to be a. Change is going to come, but that's okay because I love that song and everybody loves that song. It is. It's having a party. Honestly, I don't know why. It's a song that I heard a hundred times when I was a kid, and I love it. He did a lot. He had a lot of. Of really melancholy songs. And that was just a great one, and it's a great listen. I think I listened to it like three times this morning and I. It's. It's a. It's a great one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is such an easy. This is such an easy record to dig into. Mine's always going to be forever and always Bring it on home. I think that's a wonderful song. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one that. If I was going to sing it, anything from him, I would do that. That. And obviously a change going to come, but, you know, there's something a little off about me. Excuse me. Pardon me, Reverend Farrakhan, do you mind if I go up there?

[Aisha Tyler]

We're good. We're good. We've got. We're sorted out for the day, but thank you, my brother.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We are good.

[Aisha Tyler]

All right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If I do get reincarnated as a black, overweight female comedian, will I be able to come back here and sing it?

[Aisha Tyler]

Is that cool?

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right.

[Aisha Tyler]

Perfect.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is this a no, Skipper? Is it. Is there anything he skipped over? I mean.

[Aisha Tyler]

No. I listened to everything. I listened to everything all the way through. And then when I listened to it again, I came in at Changing Gang because that was when I thought it started to get really exciting. I think that's when you start to feel his Southern roots. You start to feel his edge, his longing, his emotion, his anger. So Chain Gang is where I came in. And I love the whole album, but I. But I really. I. When I. When I re. Listen, I listen through From.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I agree. I, I don't think this is. If you're skipping over this, you're wrong with you.

[Aisha Tyler]

Dude. There's nothing bad on this album.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's just, there's nothing bad. I mean there's stuff I enjoy more than other stuff, but I, I, I literally. This was not a hard, a hard get through record.

[Aisha Tyler]

This was one he does Summertime from Porgy and best. Like he's just starting to get into the political stuff.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

The big emotional stuff and yeah. So chain gang forward.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay.

[Aisha Tyler]

Can you to this record to the end of it. Yeah. Not. I mean listen, you know, people fuck to the, the grinding of a, of a, of a wheat. Hold on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No chopper.

[Aisha Tyler]

But that's like the Sam Cooke.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The Sam Cooke, you know. Fuck. Challenge. Can you do get through all 26 tracks without coming?

[Aisha Tyler]

It's. It's so wholesome.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know it's not.

[Aisha Tyler]

Which is nice. You fall in love to the first half of the album and then, then you, then you have sex to the second half of the album.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hold on, I want to find how long this is.

[Aisha Tyler]

Little Red, like Little Red Rooster. You know, that's just a song about banging. You know, ain't that good news is all. You know, maybe at Mary's place. All those songs are like juke joint songs. So like once you get past Summertime, you that's definitely some, some sex music. But then wrap it up. Wrap it up before change is going to come. Don't be humping during a change is going to come. Come on. That's your time to make protest signs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

A change is going to come. A change is going to come. Not C. But if you can get there. If you can get through all. If you. Here it is. Here it is. Black people and white people. If you can get through the 79 minute and 8 seconds. Second portrait of a Legend Sam Cook challenge. It's a long time. 79 minutes. Yeah. It's a long time.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's a substantial. It's a long one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's really. There's no way you're gonna be able

[Aisha Tyler]

to pick your favorite tempo. Pick your BPMs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You're not gonna be able to. You don't want to finish to. Jesus gave me water.

[Aisha Tyler]

No, you don't. Nope. Nope. Pick your BPMs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like stopping around straight track. Track 28.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Cut it off at a change. Yep. Sit back and, and reminisce. Think about it. Because now you're clear headed. You're clear headed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're clear headed now that you both came. Think about the world. Think about how you can help the world. That's like the best time to do it.

[Aisha Tyler]

Make the world a better place.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Last question. What would be your elevator pitch to get someone to listen to this record? Like, how do you sum this record up? It could be why, why you think it's on the why you think it's on the list, but really it's just like. And it doesn't have to be like, hey, whatever way you want to phrase it, you phrase it. But why is this important to listen to an amalgamation of everything we just talked about? How do you sum it up?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah, I think this is just a really beautiful roadmap of black American music through the central part of the 20th century. His voice is like melted caramel. But what really grasps you is the passion and the intensity of. You feel his roots, you feel his, his gospel roots, you feel his southern roots, you feel his anger, you feel his love, you feel his passion and desperation. And it's such a great arcing roadmap through black American music of that era. And, and it just, it's just captivating. It really transports you. And it's a good time. You can doly doodly doo wop. You can listen to this with your parents.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You've done that like four or five times today. I'm like, is this like a thing? Are you turning that elephant, Gerald?

[Aisha Tyler]

Like back there, there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Love that for you.

[Aisha Tyler]

It's in there. It's in there. So if you want to understand, if you want to understand the era and what artists of the era were going through, you could, you could feel it just in the music.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I, I want to. This is what I wrote. I said, this is not just a greatest hits record. This, this, this record matters because it is a blueprint for soul music. It is the resume of a genius and the sound of a man building his own future in an industry that did not want black artists owning the room, let alone the publishing. And I think someone like Sam is important because not only did he give us the church, he gave us the bedroom, he gave us the dance floor, he gave us the street, the struggle and the hope, which is greedy. It's greedy. Frankly. Most artists give you one Lane. Yeah, this guy in, in, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't. I'm not saying he doesn't get the credit he deserves, because if you're first class Rock and Roll hall of Fame, you, you get, you're getting the credit. People know, know, he's. But like, I said earlier about why I love Otis and why I love. I love someone like Sam Cooke and I love Wilson Pickett. And you can go on and on and on. They're not the. They're. They're like. They're.

[Aisha Tyler]

They.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They deserve to be up there with every artist that. That lived a full life and continued to make music. And they should not be forgotten. That's the thing. And that's why I'm glad this is. This is put up there. And I don't think we can forget them because they left us this music. That's so.

[Aisha Tyler]

And I think, you know, the list of people that have claimed to be influenced by him, you know, Otis Redding, James Brown, Rod Stewart, Johnny Nash, Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, Mick Jagger, al Green, Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Steve Perry, which we all have felt, I think, and heard, and Stevie Wonder. I mean, this guy inspired so many other artists. So you're.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Inspired them.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yes, inspired them. They all claimed that his singing inspired them as singers. So I think he influenced so many people. But I think, yeah, he was great. He was a great artist.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Aisha Tyler]

Taken too soon. Taken too soon.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Take way too soon. Way too soon. But. But I'm telling you, if you get one lane for most people, that's why great. That's why the best artists that have ever lived give you a fucking hold. Goddamn highway. You know what I mean? Four or five lanes.

[Aisha Tyler]

Yeah. To do it. Can do everything you think you believe that you can do. You should do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I can't believe we did this. I can't believe the false flag that I thought that this podcast, this.

[Aisha Tyler]

We made it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was like, this is never coming on.

[Aisha Tyler]

We were doing a bet.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Me. No, me and Alex. I was about to bet him right before you joined in. You remember that? Remember in. In. In Back to the Future, Part three, when Marty is like the least memorable

[Aisha Tyler]

of the Back to the Future movies.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Shut your face. My favorite one, everybody with the second one because of all the futuristic. But this, the third one, is one of my favorites because you get just you. You just, you know the characters by that point and such a level. And Michael J. Fox is just.

[Aisha Tyler]

Just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's just Michael J. Fox and he's being full Michael J. Dude. And he's so adorable and Chris and. But I'll say this, I'll say this is that this is how this podcast was going to happen. Is that. Remember there's a part where like, Doc Brown gets zapped and gets back. Goes back to the 1800s or whatever, but he doesn't know that. And suddenly a car pulls up out of nowhere and it's like, hey, are you Marty McFly? We've had this letter in the post office for 120 years to be in this moment in this spot. And we all bet, and I bet it wasn't going to happen. And you're here. So you're my, you're my Marty McFly back the boring of the three,

[Aisha Tyler]

that's all right. I mean, I just said it's the least memorable. I mean, I've seen the first one probably a hundred times. I think I saw the third one only once. But rewatch, that's, it's a reason to go back and rewatch it because I do love that franchise.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Please come back on also, promote away one last time and just give everybody wherever. What's going on?

[Aisha Tyler]

Yes, you can watch me. Chrono minds starting season 19 starts May 28th on Paramount. Plus you can buy my [e-mail] l o s O P H E Ready to drink, completely organic, no artificial college of flavors. So fucking delicious. The code, the little discount code, if you order, we'll send them to your house. Is cook 20 c o o k e 20. And you know, order some cocktails and then do as, as our good friend Sam Cook has done and have yourself a party.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Have yourself a party.

[Aisha Tyler]

Have yourself a party. Absolutely.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And be on the lookout for everything. Aisha. Guys, you're coming back. Thank you. Thank you so much. This was so much fun. Dude, this was so much fun.

[Aisha Tyler]

Thanks for having me. Have a great trip out to la. Have the best, most fruitful, most creative time and we'll see you on the next one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What did I tell you? What did I tell you? The one and Only Aisha Tyler. Aishatyler.com on Instagram Aisha Tyler, catch the new season of Criminal Minds. Check out her cocktails. Loseph.com l o s e p h e.com and for more information on Aisha's upcoming stand up gigs, current projects and everything else, that's aisha. Go to aishatyler.com and her social channels. She rules. Now, our new music big, brought to you in part by distro kid, is a track called Truman by Stephen. I don't know how to even say that. Bambidel. That's what you're listening to right now. That rules. Find the links to the music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you are in an album, if you are in a band and you want your album featured on the 500. Send us your song to 500podcastmail.com Put that album and artist in influenced you in the subject line next week. Oh, it's our first ramones. We're going big for this one. This is our first Ramones dude rocket to Russia from 77 Skadoodle. We'll see you do the homework. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Bottom 100 getting closer make it count Time won't compromise first thing I learned in school? Here I am still trying to break the rules of Sometimes I dream of moving backwards to before I h behind the microphone Oh, I I hope that feeling comes back? Maybe we'll all wake up soon? I live this day again and again? If you're watching this from home? Yeah, it hurts just a little? Always lived life on the outside now Never thought it would get better

[Aisha Tyler]

but

[Josh Adam Myers]

that's what we do? That's what we do? I hope that feeling thing comes back? Maybe we'll all wake up soon? I live this day again and again? Hello, if you're watching this from home? Don't look so surprised? Got that universal TR strong but it's so hard to take your own advice? Something's disconnected? The moment that you stop the thoughts take over and you're terrified? Feeling hurts just a little and I'll tell you why? I thought you were on my side? Thought we'd coincide that feeling? Head hurts just a little and I'll tell you why? Show's been on my side? I thought we'd coincide? I hope that feeling comes back? Maybe we'll all wake up soon? Who knows? I live this day again and again? Hello, if you're watching watching this from home. Hello, if you're watching this from home. Hello, if you're watching this from home. Hello, if you're watching this from home, The 500. Keeping it please see for the Police Nation on the 500, the 500, Edward Arthur Winslow.

[Aisha Tyler]

Do you ever want to just shake Cory Matthews from Boy Meets world and be like, ugh, your life is so perfect. Or roll your eyes at the simple problems of the Tanner family? Well, it's time you met a sitcom family that's unlike any you've met before. Because while my life is not like the 90s sitcoms I grew up loving, I'm finally giving my crazy childhood the real star treatment. Hi, I'm Holly Brown, and everybody knows but me is my story, a narrative podcast about family secrets, dark comedy and shocking revelations, all told through the kaleidoscope of my deep love for 90s nostalgia.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So grab your Beanie Babies, maybe some Gushers. And get ready for for a genre

[Aisha Tyler]

bending true story that belongs in the TGIF hall of Fame. Because Everybody Knows But Me. Subscribe to Everybody Knows But Me wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, I'm Jeremy Schwartz from American Criminal on our latest season, a deadly bomb blast rocks the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, but no one steps forward to take credit, leaving a third authorities scrambling for answers. Six months later, another bomb, this time outside an abortion clinic. As locals fear for their safety, investigators struggle to find evidence that will lead them to the killer. Listen to American Criminal Domestic Terror the Hunt for Eric Rudolph. Wherever you get your podcast. Next Chapter Podcasts.