The Marissa Mitchell Show: September 01, 2026

By Thursday and Friday, as things wind down and we get some cooler air in here, we're setting up for a great weekend. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, perfect early fall feel. It will still be plenty warm, but the humidity will lower and we'll have a lot of sunshine. So, great forecast as we get down the road. Do you think this will be our last heat wave? Uh, you can never promise. Not in the month of September. All right, we'll find out. Marissa, I'll send it over to you. All right, it's hot in this. It's hot. The heat wave is certainly upon us. I have D.C.'s comedian. He's super hilarious. Xavier Morgan. I got D.D. personality. Alex Tobert. You all joining us for Hot Sheet and all that jazz. I'm ready for it. Let's do it. Let's get it. You're watching the Marissa Mitchell Show. Clock, you know what that means. It's time for the Marissa Mitchell Show. Thank you so much for joining us on this first day of September. It's a fresh new month. And I cannot believe there are now only four months in this year. We're just flying through it. But we have what you need on this show today to literally get this month off on the right foot. I still got to learn that routine. I'll do my best though. Step Afrika! They're going to be performing live in studio. They have a brand new show at Arena Stage. And guess what? You are in for a preview of their Fruits of Our Labor. The show that honors America's 250th birthday. Plus a dose of inspiration and a reminder to always give back. Hairstylist extraordinaire Victor Scottie Jr. He's in the house. He's bringing salon luxury to women navigating cancer treatments. Trust me. You do not want to miss his story and his mission. True. Life. Xavier. That's my Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, EBT card, Cash App. Whichever way you want to get in contact with me. And that's on period. DC comedian Xavier Morgan. He is here on the couch. He's had so much success. The best part though, he's helping others find their own path with his open mic knife. And he's going to share the mic right now because Xavier is here. Alongside media personality Alex Tolbert. I cannot wait to get to some of these topics. They're just hilarious. Hey, you know, I just naturally mean. Yeah, we were having a whole kiki. EBT card. I said, what? That's why I thought you would be perfect. I knew you were going to hang around for your own segment in about 30 minutes. So we'll get into your rise to stardom and all that you're doing. But first, we want to start off with some topics. You all ready for that? Come on, give it to me. All right. So it's a new month. Do you remember? The 21st night. Y'all can't leave. Come on. I came to my house. And if you spend some time on social media, maybe you've seen it. It's all over my algorithm. People are talking about this great lock in challenging people, encouraging people to set small goals starting now until 2027. That can be your diet, career goals, dating, whatever. The idea is that you don't need a new year to do a new thing. You can make noticeable changes in just four months. So are you all here for the lock? You know, I am. Absolutely. What are we locking in on? So you know that I got my 11-11, which is about manifesting. So we are locking in on getting ourselves ready mentally, physically, working out, making sure you're eating right, all the things. So you know you can lock in with me if you didn't, you know. So how about you? Come on now. Okay. I'm going to be honest with you. I've been locking in on my education. I've been locking in on the job that I have. And of course, I need to be the best comedian I can be. I've traveled to New York. I've traveled to North Carolina. I've been on Virginia. I've been all over the place. But I want to be better than what I am today. Are you getting the EBT? Oh, yeah. I'm trying to tell them. I've got all of the audiences. Yeah, don't sleep on it because the EBT will get you everything you need in-house. Come on now. There are people eating like kings and queens. Queens, okay. I'm a little bit lost. I've seen it on myself. Fifty to get you a hundred. Yeah, you know. It's hilarious. You know, I love this because I always say you don't need a new year to do a new thing. I actually put that part in. Nobody said that but me. So I'll take credit for it. I think sometimes you put way too much pressure on January 1. You still got 365 days to go. Who knows if you will even see. Correct. Not to be grim. But see January 1. Do it now. You've got to do it now. I don't wait until January 1. I think that you should be manifesting all year long. Always working on yourself. Always praying. Always manifesting. Like, come on. You've got to. Like, why are you going to wait for January? What, are you going to sit there in the house the whole time too? Yeah. Right. And honestly, if you wait until January, summer's not far away. Everybody want to work out, you know, the first day. But like, you know what I'm saying? Get in there right now. By January 1, it'll be routine. It'll be like second nature. Come on now. Speaking of setting goals, you just mentioned manifestation. You know, that's one of my things. You might want to actually write them down if you intend to actually see them see the light of day. That's real time in real life. There's some studies out there that suggest 60% of people abandon their grand plans within six months of planning them. But experts say 42% of people are more likely to actually achieve them once they write them down. You go, well, why is that the case? It's part visualization and more accountability when you can see it. Any truth to this? So, okay. So, yes. Every year at the top of the year, I write out vision and then I put the year. So, yes. I do believe. And that's how. I mean, it's in the Bible. It says, write the vision, make it plain so that whoever reads it may be able to run. Even though it may tarry, it shall come to pass. So, yes. I do believe and follow the word of God. So, yes. I have seen a lot of things come to pass in my life from writing it down. Sometimes it'll scare you when you look back. Yes. I'm going to be honest with you. I love writing things down, whether it's my jokes or my goals. Because I feel like when it comes to the computer, I don't even believe it. Right? It's like a muscle memory thing. I need to see my greatness through my hands before I can see mine. You know what? I'm the same way in that. I mean, everyday things. You know, grocery items, things I need to do because there's so much causing why we're so consumed with all forms of media that I literally have to write things down. Otherwise, they will not get done. Definitely. Yes. And that's just on GP. Yes. General principle. Yes. If you need help, use chat-jib-a-teh. Chat-jib-a-teh. You know we like to put a little spice on there. Yes, we do. Whatever it takes. Yes. Moving on to dating now. Do you normally date the same types of people? Well, according to Dating App, Badoo. I haven't heard of that one. You all heard of Badoo? No. That's how they got in the news with the study. They're right. Might be a by-don't. 77% of people are open to dating someone opposite of who they normally choose. And now that practice is a name. It's called 180 dating. You're doing a complete 180. That is where you ditch dating people your age, your type. To find someone younger, maybe older, and interested in things that are out of your comfort zone. Have you all done dating 180? And would you? I mean, I'm now dating with intention, yes. So now I'm dating Jesus. I'm dating the Holy Spirit. I'm letting Him lead me. Okay? Yeah. And sometimes you gotta spend time with Him. Hey, come on now. You can try to hang out with humans. If you want to learn love. You know what I'm saying? Come on. You can't go back. You don't always hear Him. Girl. He doesn't complain. He's a great listener. I'm just trying to tell you. He's a great listener. For myself, personally, I definitely have. Oh, yes. Absolutely. And how did that work out for you? It definitely worked out when she was older. Okay. Because, you know, she was cooking. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was amazing. It's the young ones. It's the white heads. They were cooking and cleaning. Hey, they were clean. You know what I'm saying? It's nice. Like, she took me to dinner. I was like. So I was like, okay. All right. We can do this. This is nice. I got a story for you coming up. That's on that very, very thing. I didn't even know we were going to go there. But it fits. I got to get more deep on your past there with that. We've all heard about quiet quitting, right? It was a huge thing about basically getting the bare minimum on a job to get by. Well, now there may be quiet marriages. Quiet quitting on your marriages. You might want to be quiet on a creek with that one if that's your story. Because relationship experts say it's becoming more and more common. That's just kind of giving up that things will get better. So you just stay there. You just stay in the marriage. Some of the top signs that someone is slowly checking out of their marriage is they decline open communication. They have unresolved conflicts. They grow impatient. And they have the tendency to assume the worst about their spouse's intentions. Dang. I mean. Okay. So we're going to go back to the word again. God created Adam and M-A-E. So before Adam, you know, he was in a deep sleep. So sometimes these men be in sleep. They don't see nothing. They can't hear nothing. But we are their actual dream. We are the ones. We're their actual messengers. So sometimes wives, you've got to get behind enemy lines. You better get on your knees and start praying to the one who created marriage. He will fix your marriage. You've got to believe that. So if you don't know that you're a warrior wife, like the wedding dress is the armor. So the full armor of God being a wife is your shield of faith, your sword, which is the word of God, and then your helmet of salvation. All those things are collective of who we are destined to be and what we've been created to be on this earth. Some would say it takes two, though. It takes two. Come on now. It takes two. Come on now. Because, like, me personally, I would say, like, you know, first of all, we're so trendy. Everything has to be cool. Quiet quitting of marriage just sounds too trendy. That's crazy. It's crazy. It's been around for a long time. But the thing about it now, I just feel like communication has definitely changed over time. It's just like we're in a situation now that everybody either wants you to over communicate or you're not communicating, like, at all. So now that you're in this marriage, you're like, I want to go do this. And, you know, people are starting to attach marriages to jobs. So I think that's how the quiet quitting is. But if you're starting your marriage as a job, wrong. And I think also people say it, too, for children, finances, you just don't know. And especially later in life. I know this from people I know who are married. You just don't want to start all over again. So there are different reasons. But we're going to wrap up this first block with this one. This has been a relentless past few days when it comes to our legends. Those passing away, we know that. And others just deciding not to perform for a variety of reasons. All over the news you are, remember, Gladys Knight just a few days ago appeared to be struggling and confused on stage, announcing that she's stepping away from it. And then Lionel Richie, who was just hospitalized for the second time this summer while on tour. We now hear that it may have been dehydration. Do you think we should just give them permission? You've done your work. Take a break. Take a vacation. Sit down. It's hard to put it down. They've been making so much money. Yes, it's feeding your family, keeping those bills paid. They know that they're still the breadwinners of their whole family and probably people that they have employed. So they're scared. Yes, they're even scared to step down because of how they pay their people, their staff. I'm going to be honest with you. As a fan, I'm okay with you, you know, changing over time, right? If you're older, I'm okay with you getting a little stand-in. Usher's still dancing. He got a stand-in. If Usher can get a stand-in, I know Richie can get a stand-in. Okay? I don't believe in Usher. No, you saw him. He looked like me on stage. I had to look twice. Thank you, guys. We're going to come back to this. In our hot seat after the break. But in just about 20 minutes, we're going to step it up even more, literally, with South Africa. They're going to join us live for a preview of their new show that honors America's 250th birthday. You are a mess. No way. The hot seat, Alex Sobert here, DC comedian Xavier Morgan. I think I got a dynamic duet on today. Even in the commercial break. I'm over here rolling. Question for you, do you speak French? No. I'm going to say bonjour. All that jazz. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is known for her skills on the mic. Now she's dropping bars in another language. Take a listen. I heard true, yeah, I'll be there. I'll be on it. Meg shared that video on social media showing her practicing how to flirt in French. Not just speak French, but flirting. She joked about learning how to flirt and is now asking for drinks in French while abroad. She was speaking with a server in that video. Meg's French. Hot or not? I'll go with not. If you're going to learn something, do it sexy. Do it sensual. She had to add that Houston twang to it. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to lie, when I went to Costa Rica I did the exact same thing. All you need is those beginning words to get through. I think it's cool that she's sharing a different side. Something different for her fans to see. I'm going to do a little half of it. Maybe we'll get a French album. It's inspirational. You never know. You might see more duolingo French people on there. Wait, doesn't she own some restaurants the really popular chicken spots? In New Orleans. Oh my gosh. Popeyes. I think she owns some Popeyes. I thought it was McIntyre's. That was for French and Creole. You threw me. The chicken spot. In New Orleans. But I think this is a tie to that. It just came to me. Branding is everything. I would not be surprised. I'm going to make it come full circle. With an I, not an E. From flirting to landing a new boo. A new study from the matchmaking company. Remember I told you I had a story just for you and didn't even know it? It finds the older a woman gets, the more likely she is to date a younger man. One in three women in their 60s Not you all. In their 60s says she would be open to a partner who's at least 10 years younger. Experts say one reason for that, the dynamic has become less taboo overall. Also, women are becoming more independent, so they are essentially looking for more of a companion, not necessarily a caretaker. I think men are looking for a nurse with a purse, but women in their 60s dating men who are 10 years or younger, hot or not. All hot. Men do it all the time and no one bats an eye. They don't, but it always reminds me of Marcus from Boomerang. It doesn't seem alarming. We need some stories for this one. I'm going to be honest with you. You got to know what you're signing up for. You know what I'm saying? Because now, people are eating better. There's a lot going and working out. There's a lot of 60-year-olds. There's a few that live in Southeast, I know. I said beautiful 60-year-old. In every situation, though. Absolutely. You said you have a history of dating older women. Have you dated a woman in her 50s or 60s? 50s, yes. How did you all meet? I used to work at T-Mobile. You get a range of people that's coming through. After a while, I saw she needed something. I was like, I might be able to give her what she needs. You were the handyman. Anything she needed to pick up, I was there. I got a friend that calls it sweat equity. You don't need to lock in with that. There's so many things happening at this meeting. We're going to continue. We mentioned our girl, Dolly Parton, off the top of the show. We're learning more and more. Now, Beyoncé's mom, Tina Knowles, is giving insight into how supportive the country music legend was over Beyoncé's cover of Jolene. Jolene, Jolene My man Here's Jolene still out here. Jolene, going to get those hands. She always got her song wrong. It turns out Dolly Parton actually, personally requested that Beyoncé sing that hit song. I had no idea. I thought it was all B. Beyoncé released her version of Jolene back in 2024 as part for Cowboy Carter album. So Miss Tina put that story out. So she oh so when she heard that she was coming out with a country music album she was like hey girl use this song this would be amazing because I mean it took off I mean that was like one of the best songs on there if you if your name was Jolene you Okay well quickly as a man that's married to a woman half my age I'm rapidly reaching a stage where I don't have it anymore so it's not for the faint of heart you gotta have a lot of energy to keep up. Is she on the end of a sweat equity or you know? Hey people eating right. We're doing a broadcast. Hot and humid this afternoon getting hot in here too. Mid 90s later this afternoon and we'll keep the heat wave going into the weekend. All right thanks so much Tuck. Also we have a birthday. It's coming up. All right well the energy is coming up going even higher too. Thanks to Tucker thanks to YouTube and also Step Afrika. They're coming up in just about 10 minutes to perform live on the show a preview of their performance honoring America's 250th. Also stick around for this incredible mission and story. I'm going to introduce you to the award-winning hairstylist who's helping women with cancer feel beautiful and valued. So when I first saw this video I'm about to share I thought it was so touching until I read the comments. They say don't read the comments but people are coming for Niecy Nash for crying in a video about her wedding anniversary. A rock like that I would have cried too. Probably would have gone blind in the process. Niecy Nash and her wife Jessica Betts celebrated their sixth anniversary. As you can see Nash was in tears. Tears of joy over the diamond ring her wife gifted her. But what was meant to be a sweet post turned quickly into a debate about crying on the internet. Folks saying stuff like imagine holding your phone crying and then hitting post. How do you all feel about it? I mean I mean sometimes people do things because they really want people to see how happy they are you know because when I get engaged y'all gonna be tired of me. So I don't blame her but well I'd be crying and doing all this stuff because it's like okay we get a girl you you got a you got a woman in your life that loves you we got it. I mean she's been doing I mean that she's always showing she's been chronicling the whole journey. I mean we get it like you know she's great woman you know it's not my cup of tea you know I don't know if men giving out them type of rings or you gotta go to the other side to get that I don't know. But for me in my house you know it's gonna be this all day y'all gonna see it. I thought it was a good thing Xavier. I mean I see nothing wrong here. I'm gonna be honest with you I love to see people happy for any type of especially when involves love we don't have enough love going on in this world right now. So to see somebody happy is good at least it's happy tears right. Now I understand the weirdness of trying to say hey she just set up her phone and cried but we got to also take a chance and understand like too much of anything people are gonna hate. What did you say about hateration and being great? If you great they gonna hate. That's how you know you're great. If you ain't got no haters you ain't poppin. Alright that's it I got nothing left. Thank you guys and hang around Xavier for more. South Africa they are here to perform live up next you're in for a treat. We're gonna get a preview of their new show Fruits of Our Labor that honors America's 250th year. They're ready to go. Also Xavier Morgan he's gonna hang around more to talk about his career and how he's helping others. It is the sounds of South Africa return to the stage here in our region. The group is getting ready to kick off a new show at Arena Stage with Fruits of Our Labor honoring America's 250th birthday. I'm still trying to learn the choreography. I got a little something something though. The founder of South Africa C. Brian Williams is here as well as some of the star performers. Love you guys. Huge fan. Tell us about this version the Fruits of Our Labor and what it's about. So this is a brand new work world premiere at Arena Stage our artistic home here in Washington DC and it really is a performance like nothing we've ever done before. It's a chance for us to kind of reflect on our American our African-American identity and our relationship with the country and the American dream. So it's gonna be a really different experience and we have you know there's no company in the world like South Africa. We have like the most celebrated artists who perform this tradition of stepping. We're bringing in a master percussionist and we're just gonna take a journey and you know there's nothing like live theater so I can't wait for the audiences to come and see how we celebrate like a percussive reflection on 250 years of America that only South Africa can do. Oh man absolutely super memorable as well. My question is and I've seen you all perform not just here in studio but live at some of your performances. I'm assuming the choreography right the movement their percussion is different because this time the story is. So what changed movement and production wise would you say? Well we have two amazing choreographers who are leading this work. Jakari Sherman who directed our works like The Migration, Reflection on Jacob Lawrence and Drumfolk which both had huge successes at Arena Stage and then the assistant artistic director of Step Afrika is Conrad Kelly. He's like the next generation choreographer for this art form and you remember you know Step Afrika is the world's leading authority on the tradition of stepping so no one in the world does it quite like we do it. So to put these two artists together I just can't wait. Opening night is next week September 10th and we'll be there until November 1 so it's a you know if you haven't really had a chance to reflect on America's 250 this is a show to come and see how Step Afrika does it because you know we're gonna do it like no one else. Like no one else. Don't even try. It's such a unique conversation the music that we're creating the sounds that the artists are doing it's like taking stepping the tradition of stepping to just some really new places. And we are so happy to have you do that the preview here on the Marissa Mitchell show so Brian we're gonna step out and let Step Afrika step up. Take it away. Ladies and gentlemen exhibit A on all that you told us. And they will do this without the music by the way the movement that's the music that we hear and then the chanting I can literally feel the story coming through I saw unity I saw perseverance yeah all that it takes to get to America 250. Absolutely and you know that some of the pieces that we're doing in this work called flag we're playing with the percussive sounds of the flag the anthem our response to the anthem and how it impacts us and the music that we make and I gotta tell you these artists are this is one thing to see them on TV I'm glad we're here uh-huh but to experience could you feel it I want people to take away from this show in particular is just the love of the theater oh you know coming to the theater experience it in ways the experience artists in ways that you just can't you know on the screen so we open September 10th all right I'm gonna do a rapid-fire I know you all trying to catch your breath just one word to describe what step Africa means to you mmm transcending transcending artistry artistry I love that energetic energetic trailblazing trailblazing change change strong strong inspiring inspire bringing up on it again congratulations I'm looking forward to it beginning September 10th at Arena Stage yeah all right congrats to you oh thank you thank you Brian thank you and thank you all for coming you make the show shine for sure all right it's 1136 so much more is ahead including medical grade wigs make to make women with cancer feel special and seen still ahead the very special story of the award-winning hairstylist on his mission for perseverance also we're gonna go one-on-one with DC comedian Xavier Morgan kicked off the show with him he's gonna get into his career and how he's using his platform to help others we'll be right back one thing about our show we are big on empowerment around here we are we have a local hairstylist who's empowering women who are battling hair loss the Donna Jean hair restoration clinic in Arlington bridges the gap between clinical necessity and luxury and the mastermind he's here Victor Scottie Jr. thank you so much for coming thank you for having me I'm so excited I want to put her since her name is the gene in honor of my mom yes that's what the clinic is named absolutely yes so my mom were born and raised in Chicago she was a school psychologist as her career she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2017 and she had that for eight years and I saw all that it took from her it took away her appetite her strength but never her spirit and so I wanted to make sure that I did something to honor her and she was at home in hospice and I was sitting there holding her hand and I really believe that this idea came from her and so I wanted to dedicate my first piece to her to her oh my gosh I feel love right here from you describing that story so thank you thank you thank you so you decide to launch this yeah back to the beginning oh my god really in a space so that I would say had been largely ignored yeah most part yeah so first I have to back up and say I have a career in tech so this is a second career for me yes I worked at some tech companies planning a lot of programs and experiences and so then I moved into cosmetology and then as she was getting more ill I was like how do I really bridge the gap between that business experience and my cosmetology license and I say you know what I have the opportunity to help folks especially women black women brown women who are really looking for something that has their natural texture the medical wig market there is a dearth of wigs that have the texture that's on my head that you know is on yours too and so that's where the gene came from. Wow and I can see here I wish we could get tighter but you can see her coils, her beautiful locks and like you said it matches your natural hair texture. And it's all human hair so and I'm a colorist at heart. You just do it all. What can't you do? I should have started with that. I don't know when I find out. You're excellent, you're excellent Victor. I colored it myself and I did that not just for aesthetic but to really show that in this time where again your dignity might be taken from you you can play you can have joy you can experiment but also still look like yourself. Wow and so is this something you can put on and off every day or how would the install work? Absolutely yep you can put it on and off this particular the jean she has no hardware so it's built for a healing scalp that's what makes it different from an aesthetic wig. So inside it there's double layered so and you can't feel any knots or anything. This is incredible. And it's custom engineered so me and the partner shout out to Precision Labs we partnered together and created this from scratch all for women who might be in treatment or who might otherwise have scalp sensitivities. Even when you talk about helping these women don these beautiful pieces which are a part of them. Yes. Right and they're proud to say that. You have this one-on-one styling space. Yes. So take me into Victor what it feels like. Absolutely. When you're there. Absolutely so I operate out of a Sola Studios and shout out to Sola I'm actually one of their faces of Sola for 2026. Award-winning. Yes award-winning. Nationally recognized. National ambassador. So thank you to them for being able to provide that private space because that's really what's important to me because some women you know they might be immunocompromised they might not be feeling their best so we're able to come in I'm able to draw the lights a little bit I have curtains intentionally biophilic design so there are plants everywhere. My mom really loved footies. I don't know if that's a Midwest thing or not but footies a little soft. She loved her footies child. So I have footies there that you can put on so you can be comfortable it's also mirror optional I can cover up the mirror if that's not something that you want to see right then but it's really meant and nourishing snacks and everything it's meant to be able to have an experience that caters to you and that is really that is really yours and I'm providing that. The way you talk about it I'll be there all day even after you're done. I have buffer time just in case. So there are probably other stylists who are watching and maybe want to go independent like you have and help people in a deeper way on their own terms in their own time. What's your best piece of advice? Yeah the best advice that I would have is to really understand your why. I think that your why can really help you track you know and chart your path. For me I came right out of cosmetology school and went straight into the suite so many people will say don't do that but for me I knew what I was doing it for and I'm always guided by purpose and I'm always guided by spirit and I think if you have those two things you can do absolutely anything. You talk about guided by spirit I think spiritually I'm getting a question from our viewers just now when it comes to payment if you are diagnosed with cancer or maybe a serious form all forms of alopecia serious but could insurance cover this? I'm so glad you brought that up yes and so actually on my website once you sign up for the mailing list you can get a free guide that will actually walk you through what's called restoring identity but yes insurance can cover it. I give folks a super bill and then they can get reimbursed that way. Wow yeah all right dollars and cents. Listen and putting money back into the pockets especially of black and brown women you know so we're not only changing the game in terms of hair but also really the economy. Thank you so empowered isn't he fabulous to actually doing it through open mics. You saw Silas talking about the aesthetic which is really even deeper than that when you get to what a lot of those women have gone through but you also have a comedian that I talked about off the top of the show DC's own Xavier Morgan. He has a dream as well. He's acting it out. He's in it and a thick of it and he also wants to help others see their own dreams realized. So I'm super happy that he decided to join us today to get deeper into his path. Xavier thank you thank you thank you. No thank you. Yeah you got basically the whole hour. You good? Hey man. I need better snacks. It's not the first time I made people laugh for free. You're born in Jersey but you call DC home. Absolutely. Talk about how DC has kind of rooted you and your talent. What it means to you. The thing about DC what I enjoy is that honestly you never know who you're gonna run into. It could be people from you know Northwest, Southeast you know people from Virginia, people from Maryland, people from Arkansas, people from Texas. I think DC is like that secondary melting pot to New York. So I feel like you know me building my bones here between DC and Maryland has given me the chance to be funny to everybody. Yeah and has been home to so many comedians. I mean you talk about the Mount Rushmore of comedians. You know you got Tony Woods, you got Tommy Davidson. Yeah. You know I'm saying we got some great people around here. Chappelle obviously. So it's like with those type of great you notice that they have been consistent to like their work. So I've noticed like I want to be around that. Have you always been into comedy or did this like come up a few years ago and you're like you know what I'm gonna tap in? I'm gonna be honest with you. You remember back in the day with VHS's there was always a box of VHS's. Of course. And you didn't know what you was gonna get. It may be Lion King. It may be something you're not supposed to watch. So but one of the things I wasn't supposed to watch was Delirious and Raw Eddie Murphy. Oh man. So you know I was eight, nine years old watching that and I was like this guy you know my looks like me is entertaining an entire arena. No band, no nothing. Just him. I want to do that. Yeah you got to get that red leather suit too. I don't even think people appreciate how big Eddie was in the 80s. You know he was the Michael Jackson of comedy. You know in terms of scope and reach. So what is it about comedy that that keeps you in it and also wants you to help other comedians find their voice in place in the industry? Well you know comedy's been around for a long time. Since the medieval times. Being able to talk about the truth. Right. You know I'm saying. And me being in the position that I am now I like the ability to be able to say what I want to say. For better or for worse. So you know me to be able to sit here and be able to spread my blessing that God has blessed me with and to see the smiles on maybe one night and maybe six people and maybe another night might be 600. So I like to be able to spread that blessing to somebody and them come up to me and be like I really needed that laugh and I appreciate you for that. Is there any topic you won't touch though? Especially in this age of cancel culture is still very real. I talk about everything. Yeah. I feel like you know people running away from things has stopped conversations now. So I want to continue conversations. I'll talk about the easy stuff. I'll talk about the hard stuff. You've opened from I mean Cheryl Underwood is one. Ted Carpenter. Buddy Lewis. Out of those and others you've worked with is there something they shared with you that kind of sticks with you that you can share with me today? Absolutely. Ted Carpenter which is also from the area too. Yeah. He lives right in Southeast which is amazing. So he he came from Deaf Comedy Jam and I had a chance to you know kind of as an upcoming comedian you got to do a little bit of stalking and you have to you know run up on the people you really like and tell them like you know what you want to do and he was one of those comedians that said I'm gonna put you on and he put me on the DC Improv and he put me on at the Baltimore Comedy Factory but he told me when I come out it's a heavyweight match. You need to don't come out there swinging you know soft because it's a crowd out there. They not swinging soft either. You need to come out there and hit what you need to hit on. Yeah I mean it could be like Muhammad Ali you're in the ring with if you're not ready. You know what happens when you're not. One thing I know about comedians you know we've had several on this show. I've interviewed plenty over the course of my career. There are times in their careers where the money is looking funny. The opportunities are looking funny and not funny at all. How do you make it through the hard times to get to the better side of it? You got to acknowledge it. You got to acknowledge where you are and you got to do your research. Any comedian that is at the where you want to be they struggle just like you. So for me to be able to understand that and understand this is just a way that I'm going to get where I got to go that's okay. The money is gonna come. I'm not gonna lie like you can get money in different ways merch and everything like that of that nature. But being able to sit there and spread that blessing will come back to you. You also have the advantage of social media. The Eddie Murphys of the world didn't have that starting out. I mean that's another gateway. Social media is definitely a thing but social media is very oversaturated. So you got to make sure that you're you know you're consistent finding your lane. You know because when you go to these comedy clubs they want to see your numbers. How many people follow you? I know people that got a million followers can't get 40 people in a room. Wow. So it's just like you know it's about being able to show your results in the community that follows you. Okay so these open mics. Mm-hmm. I really want to get to that because that's an opportunity for others who see you as an inspiration. Absolutely absolutely because me personally I've built up this community of open mic of the open mics that I do. The main open mic that I do is the Artimage which is every Tuesday. Every Tuesday? Today. So you know it's a great time. It's a great free free entry for the audience. It's five dollars for the comics I like to sign up. I also invite all art so I've had people that come sing, spoken word. Oh my. Everything. So I like to be able to put on a great show, have fun, you know network and get to know people. Now this is the longest running open mic in DC. Get out of here. In the same spot. Yeah. How many years? We are now at coming up on four years now. That's just remarkable. Yes. Well keep it going Xavier. Thank you for coming right before I guess hours before your open night tonight. We appreciate you. Keep shining. You're invited back anytime. For sure. All right well the local sports landscape is expanding with new women's sports teams in the DC region. One in particular is the center of today's Burst of Joy. I'm going to tell you about DC flight after this. In today's Burst of Joy, girl power on the court. The local sports landscape is expanding with a new major league volleyball team in DC and a few hours ago we learned the team will be named DC flight. This is the fourth professional women's sports franchise in the DMV. They're going to play their games beginning in January. Also more announcements are coming. I spoke with the team president. She says they're going to announce their colors, also the venue that they will play in. All of that is to come in just a few weeks. So congratulations ladies. I can't wait for the roster to be revealed as well. I know you're hard at work on that. We'll be back with a preview of tomorrow's show and your end note after this. For M note, my many thanks to SEP Africa for coming and performing today. They have performed in more than 60 countries all over the globe and so I'm super proud of them and super excited to see their show that will honor America's 250th at arena stage. Well coming up tomorrow on the Marissa Mitchell show, we're going to keep the vibes going. Reggae and gospel artists, lady to flame is going to be here alive. She's also going to perform her new song summer blending dance hall island and reggaeton beats. Also tomorrow, board certified dermatologist dr E. Faye Rodney will be live with us with a special way that she's dedicating her career to helping people of color take care of their skin will also get some skin tips as we head into fall. Then chef way is going to be back helping us prepare