The James Altucher Show

Got to interview one of my favorite comedians for the podcast, Tiffany Haddish, star of “Girls Trip,” her recent comedy special. "She Ready", and 20 years a stand up.

I asked her what was the biggest change in her first few years of doing standup. (She's been doing it over 20 years).

She said, "I learned to change the fear into fun".

I think all of the above is great advice to achieve success in everything worth doing.

I had a gift for Tiffany.

It was a suitcase. I gave her a suitcase for the kids.

Let me explain. Because a suitcase is an odd kind of gift.

Tiffany was placed in foster care when she was 12 years old and stayed in the system until she was a legal adult. When she moved from home to home she didn’t have a suitcase or any kind of bag to put her clothes. They make the kids put all their belongings in trash bags. And it made her feel like garbage.

“You’re garbage,” she said. “Garbage moved around from house to house.”

“When I was 13, I said to myself if I ever get any sort of power, any sort of influence at all, I’m gonna figure out a way to make sure no kid feels like a piece of trash.”

And she’s succeeding (and you can help).

So she’s been collecting suitcases for kids through the Felix Organization. If you’re reading this and want to donate a suitcase, look up the Felix Organization.

I wanted to know how she rose up from foster kid to superstar comedian. And the first black female to host Saturday Night Live.

“I try to manifest what it is I want to be,” she said. And she told me her self talk…

“You got divine order all over you,” she said. “Everything is happening in the order and the way it’s supposed to happen.You got this girl. Pull that energy from your uterus. You got it that’s where your soul at. Pull it up from your soul. You got this girl.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

She said she tried to find the joy and the fun in everything she’s ever gone through.

Here’s a quote from her new book, "The Last Black Unicorn":

"In stand-up, you do need to be having fun up there like Richard Pryor said, but you have to know yourself well, too...You start learning and it's like playing a piano. You know exactly what keys to stroke, 'cause really with comedy, you're like fiddling with people's souls. You resonate on the same frequency as them, trying to greet them to relate…”

“To do that, you gotta put yourself out there. And in order to put yourself out there, you've gotta have an idea who you are.”

Make sure to read the full show notes here:

https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/tiffany-haddish/

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