(upbeat music)

- [Reporter] Master ofcomedy, Michael Jr is known

as one of today's most gifted comedians.

On top of his prolific acting career,

Michael has a passion for bringing comedy

to unexpected places.

(crowd cheering)

- We doin' comedy at a church.

- [Reporter] In his newbook "Funny How Life Works"

Michael Jr explores hisjourney to comedic success

and is sure to inspire you along the way.

- Well Michael Jr, it's great to have you

and welcome back to the show.

And thanks for the book,"Funny How Life Works."

I really, really, really enjoyed it.

So thanks for bein' with us.

- Cool, you're welcome for the book, man.

Just send my money to P. O. Box 5--

(Gordon chuckling)

- All right, I'll just hold it up.

How 'bout that?

"Funny How Life Works."

Throughout this book, I'mreally impressed with you

that you turn setbacks that I think

would've crushed other people

but you turned them to your own advantage.

Can you give me someinsight as to why that,

why were you able to turn it around?

- So I realized that when I first started,

even in doin' comedy, even when I started

when I was super young,all I was really doin' was

lookin' for a way to help people.

Like, laughter helps people.

Even though I was superyoung, I didn't understand it

as indepth as I do now,but all I was doin' was

lookin' for an opportunity to help people.

And now, understanding thateven more and understanding

God's word, I understandit's really part of the gift

that I have to offer the world.

And now God has given me even more insight

on how to not just uselaugher to help people

but also use mycircumstances to help people.

And then help people seehow they can use their

current circumstances to help themselves

to be in a better place,

but then to put a swivel ontheir neck and look around

and see who else mightneed some help, as well.

It's really pretty awesome.

Like, it literally is funnyhow life works, like for real.

- Well, let's get intoone of your life stories.

It's kind of amazing,you used to change oil

and you used to be in the oil pit.

I find it incredible thatyou came out of that oil pit

and asked for ownershipinterest in the (chuckling)

in the business.

But there was also an episodewhere a manager told you

to get back in the pit, thatyou didn't belong out of it.

What was your response to that?

- So it was interesting.

So this manager who was,he was an assistant manager

and he was new, and he,and I came up outta the pit

really to help other people.

Like, I was gonna help with the tires,

'cause I got really fast.

I was 14 years at thetime, I was really fast.

I'm in the pit and then I came up to help

and this assistant manager who was new

brand new boots on, brand new outfit,

and he was a little,some might say, racist.

I mean, you know, so hesaid to me, "Hey, Jr boy,

"get yourself down in thepit where you belong."

And it hurt horribly.

And this wasn't the first time

he said something racial to me.

And then the next time he said that,

when he said that line tome, I heard a voice that

I'd heard many times beforethat was really deep.

And the assistant's manager name was Mark.

And this voice says, "Mark,can I talk to you, please?"

And the voice wasactually the area manager

who Mark didn't understand,but he was my dad.

So my dad heard himsay that racial comment

and then he had a conversation with him.

And then my dad gaveme official permission

to come outta the pit and help.

And I use that story,I get into more detail,

but I use that story toleverage it to show how

there's a lot of people,right now, who are in a pit.

But you have a father whois above, who can take you

outta that pit so you can dowhat it is you're called to do.

So that's how we use it.

- Amen. (chuckling)

Whoa, I'll absolutely amen that.

As a comedian, you raninto some racists, as well.

You had a racist hecklerwho went after you.

I'm not gonna repeat what hesaid, but why don't you tell us

how you responded to him?

- What did he say, Gordon?

Tell us what he said.

- Uh, I'm, I'm not gonna go there.

- It's hilarious.

- I'll tell one of myown personal stories.

You and I were on a stagetogether and you looked

at one of the audio speakers on the stage,

and you said, "I'm glad I'm not

"the only black speaker here,"

and I didn't know how to respond.

It was like okay, what, you know, where,

how do I pick myself up outta that?

- So what people don'tunderstand is tension is

comedy's best friend.

Like, whenever there'sa little bit of tension

in the room, comedy helps it a lot.

The problem is there'sa lotta comedians use

some really negative, negative tension.

But there's already so muchtension around, I just get

to show up and relieve the tension.

And when people laugh, their heart is open

and that is the perfect time.

My assignment that God has given me is

to, when their heartis open, make a deposit

that can make a positive change.

And that's exactly what I decided to do,

every time I hit the stage.

And I'll use anything that's not a sin

to absolutely do that.

Like, I'll run at it.

And my desire is to seepeople come to Christ

and understand what their purpose is.

That's what I wanna do.

- All right, that's a great thing to do.

We've got a pretty big racialdivide in America today

and some people wanna minimize it.

I think some people wanna takeadvantage of it, politically.

But I don't think either one of those

actually helps us bridge the divide.

So, you have any advicefor old white men like me?

What can we do to help the situation?

- Well, first of all, thefact that you're havin'

the conversation is pretty awesome.

What I'd say to everybodyis, I would say to a,

to a old white dude,as you called yourself,

or I would say to a young, handsome,

amazing-looking black man.

Anyway, the important--

(Gordon laughing)

The important thing to dois to not over-correct.

If you've ever been in a carand you start to spin off,

the worst thing you coulddo is turn the wheel

the other way really, really hard.

You wanna make sure that you'renot neglecting who you are

as a result to overcompensatefor somebody else.

And then I would say is it seems as if

when it comes to over-correcting,a lotta people are focused

on it being, they say they want justice

and I'm all about justice, my goodness,

but I am not at all about just us.

Like, that is not what God wants.

God does not want it to be about just us,

He wants to have, He wants justice.

He wants us all to love each other.

And I actually think the factthat God made us different is

really just a checkpointto see who can make it

past the checkpoint and notget caught up on the fact that

we have some differences.

The fact that we have differences

is amazing, it's beautiful.

But if you keep gettin' caughtup and you can't do this

'cause this person is Mexicanor you just can't deal

with this person 'cause he's white,

God is right there, Hecan't trust you what's

on the other side, He can'ttrust you with the rest

because you keep gettin'caught up in this, right here.

Where I'm all about okayLord, what do I need to do?

I'm wanna pass this checkpointso I can reach more people,

so I can help themunderstand the purpose that

they have using comedy, and to do this,

and then we can get someamazing things done, together.

It's not about justice,it's not about just us,

it's about justice.

- Yeah, amen.

One nation under God, indivisible

with liberty and justicefor all, that's great.

- Oh, wait, we in school right now?

(Gordon laughing)I'm in sixth grade again.

- And in heaven, and in heaven

there's every language, every tribe,

every tongue, everybody.

And we all get to sing together.

I don't know if you wannabe singin' next to me

'cause I can't carry a tune, but.

- Well, I think inheaven, I think in heaven

you probably gonna have some rhythm.

- I don't know, that's, that, I don't,

I don't even know if, you know.

- Yeah.- Yeah.

- I don't know, God's pretty awesome.

I don't know, I saw you dancin' once.

I was like I don't know if he can do that.

- No, no, you saw me floplike a fish on a dock.

- (laughing) I wasn't gonna say it.

But as long as you know youwere the fish, that's fine.

- Yeah, I'll quote an oldJoe Williams song to ya.

"It's not easy bein'white, you could never

"get your rhythm right."

- (honk-laughing) I never heard that song

but I agree with it.

- All right, ya oughta,

well, he's an old jazz guy.

Anyway, the book is called"Funny How Life Works."

- "Funny How Life Works."

In fact, if people wantit, the book is available

everywhere, but if youwanna get a signed copy,

go to FunnyHowLifeWorks.comand I'll actually

send you a signed copy,FunnyHowLifeWorks.com.

- Last time we talked you had sold out.

Are you back in print?

- We did, man, everybody sold out.

Amazon was sold out, Target was about,

everybody was sold out, man.

But now we have some more copies

so by all means, go get a copy.

But ideally, go toFunnyHowLifeWorksBook.com

'cause if you go there, all the proceeds,

'cause there's so muchstuff goin' in the world,

all the proceeds are goin'to a black family in America.

- (laughing) And that's you.

I, I, just check, mine'snot signed, Michael.

We gotta--- Oh, well--

- I'll send it back toyou or maybe I'd have

to buy another one.

(Michael laughing)

All right, thanks for bein' with us,

thanks for the book.

Encourage everyone to get a copy.

- Dude, you are awesomeman, I so appreciate

you guys, for real.

Check out the book, appreciate it.

- Appreciate what you always do.

It's a real blessing, thank you.

- [Michael] You guys are awesome.