[ringing]

SPEAKER 1: Hello?

BRITTANY: Hi.

SPEAKER 1: Hi. How are you doing?

BRITTANY: I'm good. Wait. So who's...Wait. Okay. Wow. I'm just letting you know, you are the very first caller. I feel like a radio person now.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Like, "Oh. You are the number one caller." Uh, hi. Oh, God.

ERIC: You're caller number 99 on 99.5.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

SPEAKER 1: (laughs) Oh, my God. I'm a winner. I'm a winner.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Yes.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYS]

ERIC: From Gimlet Media, This is The Nod, a podcast about Black culture from Blackness’s biggest fans. I’m Eric Eddings.

BRITTANY: And I’m Brittany Luse.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYS OUT]

ERIC: So a few weeks back, we invited you to give us a call and play our favorite game with us: Six Degrees of Black Separation.

BRITTANY: Yes, so the goal of the game, as many of you may know, is to connect two seemingly unrelated Black celebrities in six moves or less.

And we’ve played it a few times on the show, and every time we played, we would get like a barrage of text messages, emails, tweets, everybody in our lives, people we don't know, telling us they could play it better. Y’all suck…I could’ve done this in two moves…you did this wrong- it just never ended.

ERIC: Oh Eric you complete idiot ! How could you be such a complete and utter fool to completely blank on the connection between…Drake and Jay-Z”

BRITTANY: They take it really personal with you.

ERIC: I’m just like, thank you for a feedback…you know? What am I supposed to do with that?

BRITTANY: So basically you guys were veeeery confident that you could play the game better than we do! And you know what we decided it was high time that we see y’all in action…So we opened up a phone line where you could call and play against us.

ERIC: Listeners had to follow just two rules:

Number one: they couldn’t cheat and go on the Internet…(we warned them that the ancestors were WATCHING! You don’t want that bad juju…)

And two: if we used someone to make a connection, for example, a Six Degrees favorite like Beyoncé - they couldn’t use her in their connections. And vice versa…

BRITTANY: We had sooooo much fun talking to you guys on the phone…I mean we talked to people all over the country. We talked to people from all around the world. We laughed, we cried real tears you know…things got heated at points…Playing this game with you all proved Six Degrees is truly a bloodsport…So without further ado, let the games begin!!

[SIX DEGREES THEME MUSIC PLAYS]

[ringing]

ERIC: Hello?

LIBIN: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

ERIC: (laughs) Hello?

LIBIN: (laughs) Oh, my God. Eric?

ERIC: Yes. How's it going?

LIBIN: Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Oh, my God. Okay. My mom is home, so I can't, like, scream, but oh, my God. I didn't, I did not expect to get through. Oh my God.

ERIC: Welcome to The Nod. But first, let me get, let me get your name.

LIBIN: Uh, Libin. L-I-B-I-N.

ERIC: Libin. And I'd like to introduce you to Brittany.

BRITTANY: Oh. Hey.

ERIC: Brittany, this is Libin.

LIBIN: Hi.

BRITTANY: Hi, Libin. Nice to meet you.

LIBIN: Hi. Oh, my God. Hi. Okay. Can I just say, I am, like, your guys' biggest fans.

BRITTANY: Oh. Yeah.

LIBIN: And I don't know why I l- actually, no. I know why I called, because you guys are, like, kind of like my heroes, because, like, I know nothing about Black culture. I'm 17, and, like, when I was, like, growing up, I've, just, I knew nothing about Black culture. Until this podcast, I didn't really know b- about, like, Lauryn Hill or, like, you know about Legends Endgame, the-

ERIC: Yeah. Legends Ball.

BRITTANY: Oh, my God. Legends Ball.

LIBIN: ...The Legends Ball thing. Yeah. I didn't know any of the names except Oprah.

ERIC: That's some good Googles. Like ... (laughs)

BRITTANY: ...Oh, my gosh.

LIBIN: That's why, like, this show is, like, such a big deal for me, because it is kind of, like, my only connection to, like, Black culture, because I don't really, like, make a lot of friends… So like you guys make being Black feel like it's non-political and it's just a gift. Like, you make me feel like m- my skin color is a gift, and I didn't always feel that way. Like, I hated being Black when I was a kid. But now I just, like, I feel so happy and so lucky to have, like, this kind of culture. And, like, it's mostly just because of this show.

LIBIN: And just thank you guys so much for everything.

BRITTANY: Oh. Oh, my God.

ERIC: I'm not going to lie. You got us all like ...

BRITTANY: We are dead ass tearing up. (laughs)

ERIC: (laughs)

LIBIN: (laughs)

BRITTANY: I'm good.

ERIC: I'm definitely about to drop some thug tears right now, like ...

BRITTANY: Oh, my God.

LIBIN: (laughs)

ERIC: No. Seriously. Thank you so much. That, that-

LIBIN: Th- Thank you. Thank you.

ERIC: ...It- it- it- means so much to us, like, more than you can ever imagine, to hear that type of feedback.

LIBIN: Okay. You guys want to know the funniest part about this?

ERIC: Sure.

BRITTANY: What?

LIBIN: I'm not 100% sure how to play six degrees.

ERIC: (laughs) We got your back.

BRITTANY: We got you!! OK, sooo I’m the judge. So I’m not playing this round. I'm just going to be, you know, basically, um-

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: ...Booing Eric the entire time.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: And helping you.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: Um, but, yeah. I am the judge, and so I'm going to be fact checking and stuff as we go just to make sure-

LIBIN: Okay.

BRITTANY: ...That certain connections check out. And also, I'm going to be, um, using this really amazing sound board-

[bomb sound effect]

-throughout our conversation.

LIBIN: Whoa.

BRITTANY: So you're going to have special effects and things like that, things of that nature.

ERIC: (laughs)

LIBIN: I'm excited.

BRITTANY: Okay.

ERIC: Okay. So I'm about to ch-

LIBIN: So do we know who we're choosing?

ERIC: ...Yeah. I'm ab- I'm about to choose. So I'm going to choose one person, and then you'll help me-

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: ...By choosing another person. Okay?

LIBIN: Okay.

ERIC: All right. So we're-

BRITTANY: So f-

ERIC: ... I'm going to choose two categories first. Right.

BRITTANY: ...Yeah. What's the category?

ERIC: So first category is scammers who love to scam. Okay?

LIBIN: Oh, God. My sister.

ERIC: And on this list we have Diddy. Whew. Original scammer, actually. Low key.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: (laughs) Yeah. Okay. So you got Diddy, Azealia Banks. Oh, man. Azealia Banks.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: Okay. Uh, and Tyra Banks. Also scammer, low key, through her, through her show. Many shows. Both shows. Low key.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: Okay? So if you had to choose between-

LIBIN: Eric.

ERIC: ...Diddy, Azealia Banks-

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: ... And Tyra Banks-

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: ...Who do you know the most about?

LIBIN: Tyra Banks. I only know she's in that one movie where she's a doll.

BRITTANY: Yes. Life Size.

And I haven't even watched that.

LIBIN: Like, I've already lost. (laughs)

ERIC: Our next category is people who you'd want to be your auntie. Okay?

BRITTANY: Mm.

LIBIN: Mm.

ERIC: And so on this list, we have Mary J. Blige.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: Jackée Harry.

BRITTANY: Oh. That's true.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: And Jenifer Lewis. Actually…

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I know none of these people.

ERIC: I n- we're ... Ah. Interesting.

BRITTANY: Well, that's good. This can be like a history lesson.

LIBIN: Dude, it's difficult to play. It's difficult to play with me. Like, I'm so sorry.

BRITTANY: It’s totally fine.

LIBIN: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Like, we're all going to, we're in this together.

ERIC: ...All right. I think we-

LIBIN: Okay. Great.

ERIC: ...I think the smarter person to choose is actually Jenifer Lewis in this case.

BRITTANY: Okay.

ERIC: Do you know Jenifer Lewis?

LIBIN: (laughs) No. (laughs)

ERIC: Okay.

LIBIN: I don't know anyone.

ERIC: (laughs) So have you ever watched Black-ish?

LIBIN: Uh, yeah. Once. Or twice.

ERIC: Okay. Do you-

LIBIN: Is that the mom?

ERIC: She's the grandma.

LIBIN: The grandma. Okay. I did not see her on the episode that I did.

ERIC: Well, there's a spicy older grandma on there.

BRITTANY: Yeah.

ERIC: Uh, who's real poppin'.

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: Yeah. Very poppin'.

ERIC: Sometimes thirsty, too.

[BLACK-ISH SEASON 2 EPISODE 12 "OLD DIGGER" PLAYS]

MARSAI MARTIN: Alright grandma, let’s get you back out there…What kind of man are you looking for?

JENNIFER LEWIS: Idris Elba, Tom Selleck, Al Jarreau, Jesse Jackson on the balcony.

YARA SHAHIDI: Grandma, you're being too specific.

JENNIFER: Fine, Jesse Jackson on any platform.

BRITTANY: Jenifer Lewis is, like, a legend-

ERIC: Yes.

BRITTANY: ...Of stage and screen. The woman, her credentials go longer than, like, either my or Eric's life, and obviously, also (laughs) yours too. So, like, just-

LIBIN: (laughs)

BRITTANY: ...Listen, today's going to be a good old fashioned history lesson.

ERIC: Yes. So I think we're going to just do this one together.

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: How about that, Libin? One round-

LIBIN: I think that sounds good.

ERIC: ...We work together, and I'll just talk you through it how I know.

LIBIN: Okay.

ERIC: And we just take a journey.

BRITTANY: Okay. I love this.

LIBIN: Thank you.

ERIC: Okay. Yes. I got you. I told, we told you we got your back.

LIBIN: (laughs)

ERIC: Okay. So I actually think it's smart to start with Jenifer Lewis. We just, we just acknowledged that she plays Ruby-

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: ...On Black-ish which is a show that was created by Kenya Barris. Okay?

LIBIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: And actually, we're almost done.

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yes.

ERIC: Because Kenya Barris is actually childhood best friends with the one-

LIBIN: No.

ERIC: ...The one. The only. Tyra Banks.

LIBIN: Dude.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

LIBIN: Okay. I didn't...Wow, like, I don't know these names, but I'm still shocked.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

ERIC: (laughs)

LIBIN: I'm blown away. I'm blown away.

ERIC: Yes. And so actually, uh, Tyra Banks, uh, played his, like, old best friend on the show.

[BLACK-ISH SEASON 2 EPISODE 11 "DRE'S BEST FRIEND" PLAYS]

TYRA BANKS: You know you look better on Facetime.

ANTHONY ANDERSON: Well, YOU, look you just got off a 14 hour flight.

TYRA: I smell like it, too.

ANTHONY: I bet you do.

TYRA: This is some of my best work. I kinda want you to smell it.

ANTHONY: I don't- I don't want to smell that.

TYRA: Aw, c'mon get up in here.

ANTHONY: See, now you got me thinking if I don't smell it I'm always gonna wonder what that smell like...Okay, I'm going in. I'm going in!

TYRA: Yeah, get it. Get it!

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: Oh my God! He's smelling it. Okay.

ERIC: So your homework-

BRITTANY: Yes.

ERIC: ...Is to find that episode and watch it.

BRITTANY: And watch it.

ERIC: So technically, you lost, but we played together.

LIBIN: Yes. Mm. I mean, I won because, like, I got to...I'm here.

ERIC: So that means we both won. I think we both won.

LIBIN: You guys are just, you guys have no idea how much this means to me. I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much.

ERIC: Thank you.

BRITTANY: Thank you so much for listening. We really, really, really appreciate it.

LIBIN: Bye.

ERIC: Bye.

BRITTANY: Bye.

ERIC: Did you hear her scream a little at the end?

BRITTANY: Oh, man. (laughs)

ERIC: (laughs)

[MUSIC PLAYS]

[ringing]

AARON: Hey. Hey. Brittany, Eric. What's up?

BRITTANY: What's up? (laughs)

ERIC: How's it going?

AARON: (laughs) Good. How y'all doing?

[ringing]

VATASHA: Uh, my name is Tasha or Vatasha with a V, like Natasha but with a letter V.

BRITTANY: Vatasha. I like it.

ERIC: All right.

BRITTANY: Where are you calling from, Vatasha?

VATASHA: Thank you. I'm calling from Dallas, Texas.

ERIC: Ayyyy.

[ringing]

BRITTANY: So what's your name?

ADRIAN: Adrian.

BRITTANY: Adrian.

ADRIAN: Yes. I'm calling from Canada. I'm calling from Toronto.

ERIC: Out of the two of us, who do you think you have the better shot at beating?

AARON: You know, you, you surprise me sometimes, Eric. You'll come out. But I'm, I'm going to, actually, I think I could beat Eric.

ERIC: (laughs)

AARON: But I know Brittany, yeah, Brittany, Brittany will, she'll, she'll come out with some stuff just, like, out of left field, so I don't know, like-

BRITTANY: Woo. Thank you, Aaron.

AARON: ...Nothing against you, Eric, but, man.

ERIC: I would like to think I'm a sleeper, you know?

AARON: (laughs)

ERIC: Like, I- I like to be underestimated.

BRITTANY: What, you- you sleep when you have to play the game? (laughs) Is that it?

ERIC: So are you ready? Are you ready to play?

ADRIAN: I am ready like hot spaghetti. Let's go.

BREAK

BRITTANY: I'm going to pick the first category. The category is...That's what they say on Pose…

ERIC: (laughs)

ERIC: Folks who are actually (laughs) having a hot girl summer. Okay.

BRITTANY: (laughs) Oh, my gosh.

BRITTANY: Celebs we think would smell really good.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Oh. I have to agree with all these. Okay.

ERIC: Mm.

BRITTANY: The first one is Idris Elba. Second is my girl Rihanna.

ERIC: ...Yeah, that epic thread. There's, like, a thread with, like, 50 Tweets. Like it’s all different videos of different celebrities talking about how good Rihanna smells.

BRITTANY: I believe it. Confidence. Money.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: A little bit of marijuana.

ERIC: (laughing)

ERIC: Do you know what album Umbrella was on?

ADRIAN: It’s like bad, good.

ERIC: Y- You k- keep it going. Keep it going.

BRITTANY: Warmer. Warmer. Warmer. Warmer.

ERIC: Who’s on Bad Boy South?

VATASHA: I mean I can help you…

BRITTANY: Don’t help him, you’ve gotta play against him…

ADRIAN: ...It's not good girl, bad girl. It's, like, good girl…

BRITTANY: What does a good girl do? Do, do they-

ERIC: ...Yeah. Like, how d- what happens to ... (laughs)

BRITTANY: ...Good girls, what, what does she do? If she wants to be bad, what does she do?

ADRIAN: (laughs)

VATASHA: Nicki was actually, she was managed by Diddy.

ERIC: Really? No.

BRITTANY: Whoa.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Let me look. Let me look this up. Eric, you're not supposed to be looking at nothing. Stop.

ERIC: I know. I'm just... (laughs)

BRITTANY: Put them Twitter fingers down. Close your computer. You can't see. Eric's trying to Google stuff.

ADRIAN: OK, she’s a rude…

BRITTANY: No, no, no, you were right.

ERIC: -you were on track.

BRITTANY: Good girl is in the-

ERIC: You were on track. You just missing like one word.

BRITTANY: ...missing the one word. You got good girl.

BRITTANY: Bad girl - you just need the transitional phrase.

BRITTANY: To get from, from (crosstalk) goodness to badness.

ADRIAN: From one to the other.

BRITTANY: Yes.

ADRIAN: Okay.

BRITTANY: I have read Tina Turner's autobiography. If you've never read it, read it.

ERIC: Really?

BRITTANY: Yeah, there's a class that I had to retake at Howard several times because during the class I would just sit and read, I, Tina and I didn't-

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: I didn't take notes, so, there we go. But you know what? My choices have led me here-

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: ...and we'll see if my choices lead me to victory.

ADRIAN: (laughs) Good girl going bad?

[MUSIC DROPS]

BRITTANY: Okay, you know what?

ERIC: We'll take that.

BRITTANY: We'll call that.

ERIC: This ain't Jeopardy. (laughter)

BRITTANY: Good Girl Gone Bad is the name of the album.

ERIC: Yes.

ADRIAN: Gone bad. Gone bad.

BRITTANY: Okay. You went from, Tasha, Lil Nas X to Nicki Minaj and Nicki Minaj right to Diddy. That's two moves. I think you might deserve a-

[To freedom! Airhorn plays]

BRITTANY: (laughter)

VATASHA: Oh my god.

ERIC: You gotta just keep that one handy, I guess.

[ringing]

BRITTANY: Hello?

DEVIN: Hello?

BRITTANY: Hi.

ERIC: How's it going?

DEVIN: I didn't actually expect you to pick up. Pretty good!

BRITTANY: (laughs)

ERIC: Welcome to the The Nod.

BRITTANY: Welcome to- I, I'm Brittany.

ERIC: I'm Eric.

DEVIN: I'm Devin.

ERIC: Devin, nice to meet you.

BRITTANY: Devin, what's up what's good?

ERIC: Where you calling from?

DEVIN: Work. Uh, Texas.

ERIC: Texas! What part?

BRITTANY: Hey, where in Texas?

DEVIN: Uh, College Station.

ERIC: Brittany’s gonna laugh at me, but I claim a little bit of Texas heritage-

BRITTANY: Eric did live, and also you lived in Texas for two years.

ERIC: I lived there for two years. I was in a different part, though. I was, I was way up.

BRITTANY: Is that when you had your turtle?

ERIC: Yeah, that actually was when I had (laughs), I had a tu- That's a really embarrassing story. But, uh-

ERIC: (laughter)

ERIC: ...when I was a kid-

BRITTANY: I just, I just remembered, I was like, oh, now I'm making a connection!

ERIC: No, yeah, I always tell Brittany this story of when I was a kid I found this turtle in the woods, and I brought it home and tried to hide it from my mom. But it gave me, like, I don't know, it had to of given me, like, E. Coli or something.

BRITTANY: No, no, actually turtles are known for spreading Salmonella.

ERIC: Salmonella, yes. That's about right. I got very sick, like, horribly sick from this turtle that I was keeping under my bed. Until my mom found out, and she was, you know how your parents give you that look, where it's like, I could go crazy on you right now, but you've actually been through enough.

DEVIN: But they feel bad? (laughter)

ERIC: Yeah, like-

DEVIN: Like, you learned your lesson?

ERIC: Yeah, she was like, "I'm just gonna actually let you cook. We're gonna put this turtle back outside." (laughter) "You are gonna let it go." But, uh, that's not what you called for today.

BRITTANY: That's not what you called. You are not calling to hear about Eric's childhood turtle.

ERIC: I think you called to play...

ANNOUNCER: Six degrees of Black separation.

DEVIN: (laughs)

ERIC: All right. So.

BRITTANY: Here we go.

ERIC: You actually have the, uh, I was gonna say honor, but, like, let's get honest. Ah, you have the unfortunate task of playing against Brittany today, which might actually work in your favor.

BRITTANY: You know what? Wow, look at that. Insult. Insult. Insult. I'm gonna pick, uh, the first category.

DEVIN: Sounds good.

BRITTANY: So, Leos that live up to their sign's traits. We got three strong, uh, strong Leos right here. They actually do live up to their sign's traits. Barack Obama. Honestly...

ERIC: He doesn't strike me-

BRITTANY: What better, no, but what better job, what better job (laughs) for a Leo to believe they should have than President of the United States? Tell me. I don't know.

ERIC: That is true.

BRITTANY: Angela Bassett and Terry Crews. So, the thing is is like, I could choose Barack Obama, because, like, he's friends with like every Black celebrity. But I think that that might make for a less fun round.

ERIC: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: So I'm gonna go with Angela Bassett.

ERIC: Okay.

BRITTANY: Yeah, Angela Bassett.

ERIC: Angela Bassett.

BRITTANY: All right. Now who we're connecting to. All right. Now, this is the second category. People who should be required to bring a chaperone to the tattoo parlor.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Oh, there's reasons for this one.

DEVIN: (laughs)

BRITTANY: One, Gucci Mane, because he did get that ice cream cone on his face.

ERIC: He did do that. I mean, he's gotten a lot of things, actually.

BRITTANY: But you know what, though? You know what he's got now? A six pack. And, so you know what? Shout out to Gucci Mane. Clean livin', proud of you. Um, Zoë Kravitz. Whoever wrote this, had the, was of the opinion that maybe she has a few too many. Maybe she could slow the, pump the breaks on that. And then, oh, okay. T-Pain. Now, everybody knows I love T-Pain. But someone did say, someone did mention, I didn't say this. Why does he have a tattoo of the Facebook like symbol? That's actually a fair question.

ERIC: Yeah.

ERIC: All right, Devin.

BRITTANY: So, Devin, you good, you got your choice of Gucci Mane, Zoë Kravitz or T-Pain.

DEVIN: Think I'm gonna go with T-Pain.

BRITTANY: All right.

ERIC: Smart choice.

BRITTANY: Angela Bassett to T-Pain.

BRITTANY: Okay. I'm gonna think about this some. So...'cause Angela Bassett has been in a lot of movies and television shows.

BRITTANY: And T-Pain has made a lot of songs with a lot of people. And I really should know better, because, the thing is, actually, I actually feel the boot on my neck right now because I just did, like a month of T-Pain research.

ERIC: Yup.

BRITTANY: Um, and I've like, built up mild obsession. It's not mild, actually.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Okay. All right. We gonna-

focus, I'm focused. All right...I have- I have the connections, I think.

ERIC: All right.

BRITTANY: All right. So. Angela Bassett, she played the mom in Boyz N the Hood.

[ringing]

ERIC: Correct.

DEVIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: And Nia Long was also in that movie?

[ringing]

ERIC: Correct.

BRITTANY: She was also in a Kanye video for Touch the Sky.

ERIC: Correct.

BRITTANY: And Kanye collaborated with T-Pain.

[ringing]

ERIC: Correct.

DEVIN: Wow.

BRITTANY: I'm a three move queen. Win or lose. Win or lose. I will give you three moves. I will try to give you three moves.

ERIC: All right. Devin, do you think you can do better?

DEVIN: I don't know if this is going to be better, but I can tie it.

ERIC: Alright, take us through. Show us what you got.

DEVIN: All right. So. Angela Bassett plays Tina Turner, What's Love Got to Do With It? Iconic.

[ringing]

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

DEVIN: Tina Turner is at the Legends Ball (laughs) with Gladys Knight.

[ringing]

ERIC: Hey.

BRITTANY: Yes.

ERIC: That is correct.

DEVIN: Gladys Knight recently was runner up to T-Pain-

BRITTANY: In-

DEVIN:...in The Masked Singer.

[ringing]

[T-PAIN's The masked singer clip plays.]

BRITTANY: It could be said that your connections are really a master class on this show.

ERIC: Yeah, this was reall-

BRITTANY: Like, this is amazing. (laughter) Like, you, like, I- I mean I'm shook right now. I'm shook.

ERIC: Uh, okay. So, we have tied.

[To Freedom! airhorn plays]

ERIC: How we are going to solve this, is we're actually gonna go back to the same two categories that we had before and chose two new celebrities. And you all will have two minutes, okay, to try to connect these celebrities. And whoever does it the shortest wins.

BRITTANY: So, I already picked Angela Bassett. Um, I could have Barack Obama or Terry Crews. I'm gonna go with Terry Crews.

ERIC: OK.

BRITTANY: Your other two choices are Zoë Kravitz or Gucci Mane.

DEVIN: I'm gonna go with Gucci.

ERIC: Oh.

BRITTANY: Okay.

ERIC: I'm putting two minutes on the clock. You guys are going at the same time.

DEVIN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

ERIC: Make sure you put your pencils down-

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-

ERIC: ...at two minutes. Okay? Cause the test will be over. Everybody ready?

BRITTANY: Shit. Okay.

ERIC: Three, two, go.

[JEOPARDY THEME PLAYS]

BREAK

[JEOPARDY THEME PLAYS]

ERIC: All right. So, Devin, we're actually gonna get you to go first this time. And so take us through your connections. What you got? Terry Crews to Gucci Mane.

DEVIN: Okay, so Gucci has that song Both with Drake.

ERIC: Mmhm.

DEVIN: And Drake was on SNL and Andy Samberg writes for SNL, right?

ERIC: Ah, you can only use Black connections.

[wrong answer button rings]

BRITTANY: Black celebrities.

DEVIN: Ah.

ERIC: Black separation.

ERIC: It's an important word in the title (laughs).

ERIC: All right. Brittany.

BRITTANY: Okay.

ERIC: Where'd you, how far did you get?

BRITTANY: Okay, so Gucci Mane, let me go, okay. So, Terry Crews played the father in Everybody Hates Chris, which was, obviously, about Chris Rock's life.

[bell rings]

ERIC: Yes.

BRITTANY: Chris Rock had a joke.

ERIC: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BRITTANY: He had a joke that he cheated on his wife with a member of Destiny's Child.

[bell rings]

ERIC: (laughs) Okay.

BRITTANY: Okay? Um, Solange is the sister, the blood sister of Beyoncé, a member of Destiny's Child, and Solange had a song with Gucci Mane. That is true.

[three rings]

ERIC: My Skin My Logo. That's a good one.

BRITTANY: From When I Get Home. That's a good one, it's a nice, it's a really nice, beautiful song.

ERIC: The beat.

['MY SKIN MY LOGO' PLAYS]

ERIC: It has been great talking to you today, thank you so much for calling in.

BRITTANY: It's been an honor. Truly.

DEVIN: All right. Thank you all. Uh, it was fun.

BRITTANY: (laughter) Thank you. All right. Have a good day.

ERIC: All right, bye.

DEVIN: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Bye.

DEVIN: You, too. Bye.

[MUSIC PLAYS]

[ringing]

LESLIE MAC: Hi. This is Leslie Mac. How are you all doing?

ERIC: Hey!

BRITTANY: Hey! How you doing? (laughter)

[ringing]

SID: I'm calling from Australia. I just woke up. So-

ERIC: Wow!

BRITTANY: Oh, I was like, why you whispering?

[ringing]

BRITTANY: He said he’s known you for good amount of time…

BAKER: Bake... Baker Blanding from Howard.

ERIC: Oh shit! sorry Baker, what's up man?

BRITTANY: (laughter)

[ringing]

BRITTANY: (laughing)

LEILA: Oh my god, hi!

BRITTANY: Hi! Hi, this is Brittany!

LEILA: My name is Leila. Um, actually, do you remember a girl called you, her name was Libin?

BRITTANY: Yeah!

ERIC: Yes!

LEILA: I'm her sister. I’m her older sister.

BRITTANY: Oh cool!

ERIC: That is awesome. So nice of you to keep it in the family.

BRITTANY: This is, (singing) it's a family affair… Thank you for tolerating that.

BRITTANY: So the category is men who can duet with Beyoncé better than Donald Glover.

ERIC: snorts. This category is celebs who are probably witches or have played one.

BRITTANY: Second category is people who are loud and wrong.

ERIC: (laughing)

BRITTANY: Stacey dash?

SID: (laughs)

ERIC: North West to Da Baby. Okay.

BRITTANY: Alright. They're both babies. There you go. I did it. I did it in one move.

ERIC: (laughs)

SID: (laughs)

BRITTANY: (laughs)

ERIC: That's really good. I would have made that joke. That's really good. I'm proud of you, Brittany.

BAKER: I don't know the Bow-wow oeuvre...I have no idea, but I was seeing the...

BRITTANY: The oeuvre (laughs)

ERIC: I'm sure he wishes people referred to it like that. Like-

BRITTANY: I know he does. I know he does.

BRITTANY: Wait question. Do you know who Luther Vandross is?

LEILA: No. That guy, no.

ERIC: We're gonna have some homework for you.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

LEILA: (laughs)

ERIC: And lastly, Da Baby.

BRITTANY: Da Baby.

LEILA:Okay, I've gotta figure out which baby this is. Oh wait, I know which baby this is…

BRITTANY: Da Baby, Da Baby.

ERIC: Well if I help you, you gotta concede…

BRITTANY: (laughs)

BAKER: Ooh.

ERIC: I was gonna say. 'Cause like I think you could do this, but like...

BAKER: Ooh.

BRITTANY: Yeah. See now you've like, he's feeling that real energy, that real true Eric energy.

ERIC: I mean look, we- we are, it's a competition.

BAKER: Of course!

ERIC: Da Baby featured on what is one of the most confounding songs on uh, Chance's new album that is honestly just, just not that great. It may be-

BRITTANY: (singing) I love my wife.

ERIC: Yeah just like that. I'll sing a title,

BRITTANY: (singing) I love my wife.

ERIC: I love my wife.

BRITTANY: (singing) I love my wife.

BRITTANY: Here I’m gonna give an airhorn…

[Airhorn blasts]

Actually no actually I’m going to give you one of these

[To Freedom! Airhorn plays]

SPEAKER 2: I'm Jamaican, and I, I certify that air horn officially.

ERIC: Yeah. (laughs)

BRITTANY: (laughs) Thank you.

[ringing]

ERIC: Hello.

BRITTANY: Hello!

RICKY: Is this Brittany and Eric?

BRITTANY: Yes. It is hi!

ERIC: It is!

RICKY: Oh. My. Gosh. This is crazy.

ERIC: (laughs) You are caller number 99.

RICKY: I'm just sitting at my desk and I was like "hmm". I saw y'all's tweet pop up and it was like if it was the last call for the day would it be you? And I was like "yes it's going to be me!" And I pressed to phone, and here I am now.

BRITTANY: Oh my gosh. It's like magic.

ERIC: Yeah. Serendipitous.

RICKY: Truly.

ERIC: And so tell us your name!

RICKY: My name is Ricky and I live in Georgia.

BRITTANY: All right let's get started.

[SIX DEGREES OF BLACK SEPARATION THEME PLAYS]

RICKY: Yes! C’mon theme music.

BRITTANY: So Ricky, you're today going to be playing against Eric.

RICKY: Okay.

ERIC: Okay. So, our category is folks who promote the yee-haw agenda.

BRITTANY: Mmm. Brittany.

ERIC: Okay. No. Um, okay. So the three options are Lil Kim, Beyoncé, Will Smith… Ricky, are you a Beyoncé fan?

RICKY: I am a Beyoncé stan.

BRITTANY: Yes!

RICKY: I am part of the Beyhive.

BRITTANY: Yes, I was about to say. I always can, I can-

RICKY: A founding member of the Beyhive.

BRITTANY: Always spot a fellow hive member.

RICKY: You can feel it. You can feel it! You can feel it.

BRITTANY: Feel it, you can feel it.

ERIC: Brittany just perked up so much. You cannot see how happy she is at that.

BRITTANY: (laughing)

ERIC: Okay. Actually on that note then, I'm actually gonna chose Will Smith. 'Cause if you al- if you know Beyoncé that well then that means I'm at a disadvantage.

BRITTANY: Knowing a lot about Beyoncé is like knowing a lot about Moses, it’s just like the stories are out there.

ERIC: But you talk to a hive member and they're like, they're like well look. Beyoncé was photographed on this day in 2001. And I'm just like I don't- I can't- I can't do all that. So anyways, we're gonna go with Will Smith.

RICKY: In this video...

ERIC: Exactly. (laughs) So okay. We- let's see who we will be connecting Will Smith to.

BRITTANY: Okay. Next category.

ERIC: Next category. Folks who could use a diary rather than social media.

BRITTANY: Oh.

ERIC: Okay.

RICKY: Oh man.

BRITTANY: Tyrese. (laughing)

ERIC: (laughs) Actually you can, yes. Tyrese is on the list. (laughing) So we have Tyrese, Nicki Minaj, Bow Wow.

BRITTANY: Ooh.

ERIC: Okay, so Ricky. You get to choose. Do you want to connect Will Smith to Nicki Minaj, Tyrese, or Lil Bow Wow? Or Bow Wow, now. Sorry, excuse me. Bow Wow.

RICKY: Um, I'm going to do...Tyrese.

ERIC: Tyrese. Okay. Okay. That's probably, that's a smart choice.

BRITTANY: Okay. I like that, a little bit. I feel it.

ERIC: Okay. Interesting thing about Will Smith,

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

ERIC: Is he usually be one of the only Black people in his movies. Um-

RICKY: That’s facts.

BRITTANY: But Ricky though, don't you, don't you, don't you feel vindicated as a hive member right now that Eric didn't chose Beyoncé and he played himself?

AARON: Oh yeah. Trust me yes.

ERIC: Whatever. I mean that's fine.

AARON: If it was Beyoncé, if it was Beyoncé I would have been like all right. Nicki Minaj, feeling myself, I won.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

ERIC: (laughs) All right. Uh, let's see. Um, hmm. God damn. Or maybe I should start with Tyrese. Let me start playing now and start with Tyrese. Uh, yeah. I'm gonna go with Tyrese,

BRITTANY: Okay.

ERIC: To...

BRITTANY: "What more do you want from me?" Remember when he did that?

RICKY: (laughs)

ERIC: Okay. I'm gonna go with Tyrese, to Ludacris, they both in the Fast franchises.

BRITTANY: Mm-hmm (affirmative). That was right. Okay.

ERIC: Uh, I think-I wanna get, I think I feel like I need to get to another Black actor, Don Cheadle, I'm gonna go Ludacris to Don Cheadle. Uh, they were both in the movie Crash together.

[ringing]

BRITTANY: Oof.

ERIC: Way back, way back when.

RICKY: Great movie.

ERIC: Yeah. It's that movie- whew. My mom, when I say my mom was like...

RICKY: It won an Oscar. It definitely won an Oscar.

ERIC: Yeah. She would come- "Have you seen Crash?" I'm like mom, we watched it together.

BRITTANY: (laughs)

ERIC: Now Don Cheadle. I feel like I should be able to go with Don Cheadle to Will Smith pretty quickly. Who's that last Black person Will Smith was in a movie with? God damn. That should not be so hard. (laughs) Uh, uh let me think of Will Smith movies.

RICKY: (laughs)

BRITTANY: (imitating timer jingle)

ERIC: Brittany is trying to mess me up 'cause she knows I'm close.

BRITTANY: Distracting. (laughs)

ERIC: Uh, okay hang on. Uh...

ERIC: Wait. I'm pretty sure Don Cheadle has been on Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

BRITTANY: What character do you think-

ERIC: But he has been on the show.

BRITTANY: He has been on the show.

ERIC: Okay. Okay. Okay.

BRITTANY: I'll give you this. He has been on the show.

ERIC: Yes. Okay. So Don Cheadle was on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air with Will Smith. That's three moves.

BRITTANY: Do you know what the character was?

ERIC: Uh...

BRITTANY: The freaky thing is I actually knew…off top...Ricky I'mma help you out. Don't worry I got you next round.

ERIC: What is-

Aaron: Oh girl, I won, trust me.

BRITTANY: Oh shit!

ERIC: Damn! Damn! (laughs) Ricky's sitting there like "I'm just waiting on him to wrap up". Like, damn.

BRITTANY: Whoo!

ERIC: Well I can't actually remember which one was it? Which episode was it?

BRITTANY: Okay he played Ice Tray! You remember? He was a friend from Will's old neighborhood and Hillary fell in love with him. And I remember because no disrespect to Don Cheadle, he and I are of different generations. But Don Cheadle as Ice Tray was sexy.

['Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy' episode plays]}

WILL SMITH: What up on the school yard, huh?

DON CHEADLE: All school, man? I don't bother it. And it don't bother me.

KARYN PARSONS: You don't go to school, Ice Tray?

DON: Oh sure I do. I've been held back in the tenth grade three times in a row.

KARYN: Three times?

DON: Yeah, see. My motto is. When I find a grade I like, I stick with it.

[audience laughs]

ERIC: All right. So Ricky, it's your, your shot. If you can't win, that's okay. You know?

BRITTANY: Look. Ricky-

ERIC: It's- It's okay.

BRITTANY: I feel like you wasting your breath with this, Eric. I think Ricky got it.

ERIC: (laughs)

BRITTANY: Okay Ricky, take us home.

AARON: Okay. You ready for this?

BRITTANY: Yes. Get us from Tyrese to Will Smith.

RICKY: So in 2017, Tyrese reported to TMZ that Will and Jada Pinkett Smith were going to pay five million dollars to get him out of debt. Boom. Done.

BRITTANY: Oh!

[Airhorn blasts]

ERIC: Yo! (laughs) I'm not even gonna lie! I uh, yeah. I, I'm feeling pretty, pretty shook right now. Like God damn!

BRITTANY: Damn. Ooh!

ERIC: I forgot all about that. That is true, that's a true statement. Damn! I'm not even, I'm- Okay! I took all that time. Ho- well first off, how you gonna let me take all that time if you- if you sittin' up there with one move? To, like, to-

RICKY: I was just like - I already know that one move.

ERIC: God Damn.

BRITTANY: I'm, I'm stunned. I'm, I'm gonna be honest Ricky. You got me fucked up right now. I am stunned. I am sitting here, I am taken aback.

ERIC: Ricky got the cheat codes low key. Like, God damn.

BRITTANY: I know. I'm sitting here like I am supposed to get my hair braided tomorrow. How am I gonna get my hair braided if I'm bald headed? Because you fucking snatched my shit off.

ERIC: (laughing)

BRITTANY: What what, what? What?

ERIC: Wow. I yeah. I remember-

BRITTANY: Damn.

BRITTANY: Do you wanna host the show?

ERIC: Yeah I was like uh...

BRITTANY: Am I fired now? Like-

RICKY: I was, I was- look. I was (laughs)

BRITTANY: Like… And you won wi- you know what? It's because Eric, you turned down Beyoncé. She sees all.

ERIC: I know. That was where I fucked up. That was where I fucked up.

BRITTANY: When you fucked up, that was exactly where you fucked up.

RICKY: Hello. Correct.

[THEME SONG PLAYS]

ERIC: So…congrats to the new host of the nod, Ricky!

BRITTANY: Seriously!!! Rickey took my edges, my job…

ERIC: We gotta just let go of the show, this is the last show.. .

BRITTANY: We had so much fun with you guys...But if you missed your shot at playing, let us know and maybe we’ll do this again! Get at us on Twitter, we’re at ‘the nod show.’

[CREDITS]

The Nod is produced by me, Brittany Luse, with Eric Eddings and Kate Parkinson-Morgan. Our senior producer is Sarah Abdurrahman.

This episode was edited by Sara Sarasohn. Fact checking by Max Gibson. The show was mixed by Cedric Wilson. Our theme music is by Calid B.

For additional music credits, check the show notes.

[THEME SONG ENDS]

[CODA]

ERIC: Yo, I lowkey wish Tyrese had made that Martin Luther King movie…I would pay some real money to see that.

RICKY: Same. Same. So that Will Smith could've been in it as Malcolm X.

ERIC: Exactly.

BRITTANY: Oh my God (laughs)!







