Who's with Me? with W. Kamau Bell

Kamau kicks off the episode by reconnecting with comedian and writer Guy Branum, noting they haven't seen each other in person in a while but keep up via social media. Kamau gives Branum his flowers and recalls their time working together on Totally Biased. Kamau praises Branum for refusing to be sidelined in the entertainment industry despite having a law degree and facing industry bias against gay and larger performers.   The conversation turns to Branum's solo show, "Be Fruitful," which explores his place in the world as a gay man who will never "be fruitful and multiply." Branum discusses taking the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the ongoing work of refining it. Bell shares advice about performing at Edinburgh, including the importance of acknowledging local culture for the audience.   They discuss Branum's social media series "Old Gays Remember," which grew out of filming standup clips in West Hollywood, and touch on the changing diversity of writers' rooms in Hollywood since 2020.   The episode gets more serious when Branum addresses his public criticism of the film "The Whale" for its portrayal of fatness, and his broader experience of being overlooked for roles despite fitting the exact description required. Branum also shares nuanced views on the Israel-Palestine conflict as a Jewish man, emphasizing complexity over simplistic positions.   The episode lightens again with a discussion of Branum's appearance on regular Jeopardy after 20 years of taking the test.   Donate to Lambda Legal at lambdalegal.org, the ACLU at aclu.org, Teens of Color Abroad at teensofcolorabroad.org, and to Black Voters Matter at blackvotersmatterfund.org.   Who's With Me is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Chris Dowd. Distributed by Pushkin Industries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The interview opens with Kamau welcoming Ken Jennings and reflecting on how they first met at a Seattle Bumbershoot festival through comedian Doug Benson's podcast. They bond over the classic era of Twitter, agreeing that their generation of Gen Xers had one social media platform they tolerated before it deteriorated.   Kamau shares his admiration for Jennings as a Jeopardy! host, recalling how smooth and natural Jennings appeared when Bell appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy!. The two discuss how Jeopardy! built itself around Trebek over decades, and Jennings admits he was skeptical the show would survive after Trebek's passing.   Jennings describes the difficult circumstances of stepping into the hosting role, explaining that he was originally scheduled to guest host while Trebek underwent cancer treatment, only to receive a call the morning he was due to rehearse informing him that Trebek had died overnight. Jennings felt compelled to continue because crew members told him he reminded them of Trebek.   The conversation turns to Jeopardy!'s cultural significance, its loyal multigenerational audience, and its role as a rare steady long-term job in show business. Jennings discusses his hosting philosophy of receding into the background, following Trebek's ethos that the show should be about the players and clues.   The interview then addresses Jennings speaking out politically on issues including immigration enforcement, trans rights, and reproductive rights, with Jennings framing this as a matter of personal conviction rooted in his Latter-day Saints upbringing.   Donate to World Central Kitchen at wck.org and support Scarecrow Video at scarecrowvideo.org. Support families in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan at  anera.org. Donate to immigration relief at alotrolado.org.   Who's With Me is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Chris Dowd. Distributed by Pushkin Industries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The interview opens with W. Kamau Bell welcoming Mo Willems (and later his wife Cher) to the podcast. Kamau explains that he has never fallen out of love with children's books, even as an adult.   The conversation quickly moves into a rich discussion about the nature of picture books. Willems describes them as songs rather than novels, meant to be experienced repeatedly, and argues that the reader supplies 51% of the book's meaning. He emphasizes that a writer's job is not to convey an idea but to recreate the discovery of that idea.   Willems then explains his creative process, describing how he separates creative time from reactive time and stays unreactive until after lunch. He discusses his "idea garden" notebook and the practice of auditioning characters before assigning them to stories. He reveals that each book begins with a philosophical question he does not yet know the answer to, and that "The Pigeon Needs a Bath" grew from his personal resistance to doing things he loves.   Mo's wife Cher joins the conversation, and the couple discusses their collaborative dynamic, describing themselves as co-philosophers who work out ideas together at the dinner table. The origin story of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" is shared, including how Cher first tested it with kindergartners in a library and the children responded with enormous enthusiasm.   The interview closes with the Willems recommending local food pantries and regional food banks, as well as DonorsChoose, as causes they support. Willems ends with a reflection on generosity during difficult times.   Find and support your local food bank, and donate to DonorsChoose at donorschoose.org   Who's With Me is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Chris Dowd. Distributed by Pushkin Industries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kamau’s interview with Shannon Lee opens with a discussion about her role as steward of her father Bruce Lee’s legacy, which she frames as “stewarding” and “nurturing” rather than “parenting” his legacy, focusing on protecting its energy and helping people understand it beyond kicks and punches. She emphasizes Bruce’s philosophy of self-actualization and his four-step formula: research your own experience, accept what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is your own.   The conversation turns to her viral statement about being “tired of white men in Hollywood trying to tell me who Bruce Lee was,” rooted in Quentin Tarantino’s portrayal of Bruce in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which she calls less than kind, generous, and accurate. Drawing on a former Buddhist nun’s teaching, she distinguishes anger from “wrath,” describing wrath as a protective force deployed to defend compassion and prevent unnecessary suffering, and explains how Tarantino’s doubling down in the novelization and interviews pushed her into that protective wrath.   Shannon reflects on the toll of decades of legacy work: her introversion, “Bruce Lee exhaustion,” and the struggle to maintain her own identity while constantly “doing right” by her father. She describes ending relationships that didn’t have her best interests at heart and reframing the work as part of her legacy, guided not only by Bruce’s energetic boundaries but her own.   In addition to her father, she speaks about stewarding her brother Brandon Lee’s more constrained legacy, complicated by studio control over The Crow and unpaid merchandise royalties, which powerfully triggers her wrath.   The interview closes with her core practices: “be here now,” accept death so you’re not afraid to live, and trust that you are held by life and the universe, returning to simplicity as the remedy for complexity.   Support The Bruce Lee Foundation at https://bruceleefoundation.org, The AAKOMA Project at aakomaproject.org, and the Freedom Community Clinic at freedomcommunityclinic.org .   Who's With Me is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Chris Dowd. Distributed by Pushkin Industries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

W. Kamau Bell opens the interview with Sara Sidner by giving her flowers and praising her long record of reporting from conflict zones.   Sidner explains her attraction to covering conflict despite disliking it, seeing it as a way to witness honesty and possibly help resolution, a dynamic she connects to her family background. She describes being mixed race, the “quintessential person to hate” for white supremacists, and her commitment to showing her humanity even to those who hate her, insisting she does not truly hate anyone.   The conversation turns to their shared experience as only children and Sidner’s deeply “country” childhood in North Florida: no shoes, many animals, and even picking up snakes, followed by a move to Miami Lakes and a more urban life. Her British mother from rural England ensured she knew her Black family and culture, giving her “double country” roots and vivid Southern Black church and music memories like “Great Balls of Fire.”   She recounts early poverty in Florida with no electricity, running water, or TV, pumping well water and entertaining herself outdoors, which later made television mesmerizing and helped spark her interest in journalism through shows like 60 Minutes and 20/20.   She describes how traumatic stories and war coverage live in her body, from George Floyd’s murder to bombed children in hospitals, and argues that external conflicts stem from unresolved inner conflicts and ego.   Sidner insists on being “human being first, journalist second,” willing to intervene in emergencies even if it “kills the story,” and says if she ever loses her humanity she must leave the profession.   Sara discusses publicly sharing her breast cancer diagnosis, the unexpected community of survivors it created, and her current “cancer‑free” status, while highlighting the Breast Cancer Research Fund’s work, especially on aggressive cancers and the 40% higher mortality risk for Black women.   Donate to the Breast Cancer Research Fund at give.bcrf.org   Chapters: 00:00:00 Conflict, Humanity, and War Coverage 00:10:04 Florida, Miami, and Multiple Lives 00:20:23 Education, Privilege, and Mom’s Work 00:32:03 Big J Journalism School, Low Pay, and Ethics 00:42:30 Human First, George Floyd, and Refusing to Lose Humanity 00:52:14 Cancer Journey   Who's With Me is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Chris Dowd. Distributed by Pushkin Industries. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.