(mellow music playing) (upbeat music playing) - [Announcer] Virginia's own comedian, Allison Moore.

- You seen the movie Harriet?

Yeah, Harriet, Oscar nominated, shot right here?

Your girl, was not in that movie.

(audience laughing) But I was so close y'all.

Damn, I was so close.

So, this is what had happened, so my friend, she sent me a casting notice.

She was like, "oh girl, hey, listen, The movie Harriet, they're auditioning, girl.

I think that you should try out, it's for a background slave.

(audience laughing) I think you'd be perfect."

(audience laughing) (audience clapping) So, when I'm saying "I'm a clean comedian."

People are like, "so what does that mean, girl?

You the gospel comedian?"

I'm like, well... No, I just don't curse, on stage.

(throat clearing) I'm like the female version of Sinbad, and so, because I kept using him to try to explain what I felt like that my comedy was closely mimicking.

I said, "well, you know what?

I need to open for Sinbad."

That was my first major production of $50,000, that we pulled together, my team and I.

We booked Sinbad and they were like, "we don't know you girl," and I'm like, I'm not doing all this work if I can not open.

So I had to share some content, make sure that I was funny, and et cetera, and then Sinbad said he would love to have you open, and I really think that from that hard work that he got to see, he really respected me.

- This is laughed over, all your friends, that's (audience laughing) - [Allison] Okay, but wait, my kids are in Middle school, So, I gotta put them out?

- You need to be like no, you gotta make sure, you know, that they have- be able to drive.

- My mama in law, she here though.

She know I talk about her.

She didn't like it at first.

She's like, "why would you say these things?"

I'm like, "boo, I get paid."

She's like, "oh, don't forget to tell them about the time," (audience laughing) - He allowed me to open for him.

Another time, we continued the relationship, and he was even my first guest on The MooreLaughing in the Morning Show, when we took it to TV.

Sinbad is here, He dropped all of the knowledge, all of the wisdom, and I am so excited about you getting into this interview.

Get into it!

It's always another level.

- Yeah, it's always another level.

- So how do you stay motivated over this time?

- Yeah, how are you not motivated, if you're doing something you love?

And my dad told me, "you like when someone says what you can't do, I see you.

You don't do good when too much is given to you."

(upbeat music playing) - I have been funny my entire life, but I didn't know that I was funny, so every time I would come around, of course my friends, family were always laughing, but I didn't know that I brought the laughter, and it just took me till I became, you know, older.

One day I was emceeing an event.

We had a comedian on the event.

The comedian says, "well Allison should have been the comedian," and I'm like, "what?"

So it took me till I was thirty years old.

My first time on stage, on purpose, to be a stand-up comedian, I was in a complete panic attack and something fell out my mouth, that was funny, then I'm like, "okay, okay, girl."

I was so mad, so mad.

I can't get a background slave part, man.

I was frustrated.

I'm like, "it ain't need no lines, I'm not going to be talking, (audience laughing) better yet, I'm not going to be smiling, ain't no way."

(audience Laughing) Chill, like this a musical ♪ Sun up to sundown ♪ ♪ Picking that cotton ♪ Huh!

♪ Sun up to sundown ♪ ♪ Whipped by the masta ♪ Huh!

♪ Sun up to sundown ♪ ♪ Chained and shackled ♪ ♪ No more auction block for me ♪ (whispering) ♪ No more auction block for me ♪ (audience laughing and cheering) When I got the call to open from Martin Lawrence, all types of things went through my mind.

I was relieved, I felt like, wow, this could be the thing that just takes me to the next level, and it was, it was the thing that took me two weeks into a pandemic.

(upbeat music playing) I was petrified, I thought my whole career, everything I threw away, I got a master's degree in human resources.

I walked away from corporate America for this journey, so I'm like, "you big dummy."

So at the beginning of the pandemic was just absolutely terrible, for myself and my other peers that are live entertainers, cause we were the first one, for people to cut, so it was was one of those sink or swim moments, be your most creative, and so that kind of started to push me towards doing the talk show, just so that I can continue to get the content out.

(upbeat music playing) ♪ It's time to get up, yeah ♪ Good morning!

Hey, hey, hey!

Welcome to The MooreLaughing in the Morning Show ♪ It's Friday.

Hey!

♪ You did not ask me to start like that.

The show started on Facebook Live.

It was right here in my kitchen.

We had twenty seven episodes on Facebook Live, and then we went over to Scott Ford network in Hampton, Virginia.

Hold on now, we pulled out twelve weeks worth of new material.

(throat clearing) but the way the budget's set up, we had about seven weeks, and a lot of reruns, but we still proud.

(Audience cheering) Good morning!

Good Morning!

Good Morning!

It's time to get up and get moving, I'm so excited.

Here's a little randomness for you this morning, so these are like from the season two episodes signs, right up, so I could see them, and using that as we're preparing for season three.

The show has some talk-show components, it has some thought provoking moments, where we're about, like growth, and personal development, and then we also got sketch comedy.

I mean just straight foolishness.

Hurry up and take the picture, baby.

You ready?

Cause I'm doing everything I can to cover these stretch marks, these broken nails, my weave messing up, my eyelash falling, the fact that my butt is little, and also I don't want, oh, this is a video, oh (beep).

(relaxing music playing) What's something else that's only good?

You don't want to do it twice.

(laughing) You use the same kind of, okay, let's not do that one.

Am I a clean comedian?

I think the pandemic is trying to make me not clean, still I rise, still I rise.

Will be fast food, divorce, and whatever else this would be.

I've been twerking all pandemic.

Twerking has been my therapy.

(laughing) Twerking is therapy is funny.

(relaxing music playing) - [Allison] A lot of my success, and a lot of the things that I've done have come out of life's lemons.

I am a human resources professional, with over ten years of experience, and I am also an entrepreneur.

(drum symbols crashing) Founder of Black Please Coffee.

(chimes) Yeah, I got a lot of pushback naming the company, Black Please, in the beginning.

It's that double entendre, because it's referencing coffee, and then yeah, I am black, but coffee was my inspiration.

Even the type of, the caffeine, It was just that moment of all right, you got this, you got your coffee, you could do this, girl, you got this.

Who got this?

You got this.

I wasn't necessarily trying to be a spokesperson at that time, but sometimes you can't get around what is called to you, or what you're called to, and comedy is an easy place to start to have uncomfortable conversations about racism.

(relaxing music playing) I love Another View, That's one of my favorite places to be, once a month.

That has really pulled on me, to kind of level up in regards to my knowledge, and especially politically, especially economic-wise.

I'm a young millennial.

(laughing) Now I'm like, "I'm grown, I'm almost forty, and I have something to contribute."

Still I rise.

Still I rise.

Can you turn off your alarm clock please?

(beep) I forgot the man name.

(beep) We gonna work on that, we gonna work on that.

(beep) You just got to laugh, right?

And not be embarrassed by these situations, because I've learned over the years, that my transparency is really encouraging, and so everything that I thought was going to happen, did not happen.

It was way harder than what it was supposed to be, but it was much more rewarding than what I ever thought I was going to get out of it.

(audience cheering) Thank you so very much for laughing with me, my name is Allison Moore, I am very glad to be here.

(upbeat music playing) (audience clapping) ♪ It's time to get up, yeah ♪ ♪ It's time to get moving ♪ ♪ It's time to get up, yeah ♪ ♪ It's time to get moving ♪ ♪ Hey, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk ♪ ♪ Hey, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ♪ ♪ I'm up, I'm up, I'm up, come on, ♪ ♪ I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ♪ ♪ Twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk ♪ ♪ I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ♪ ♪ I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ♪ ♪ I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ♪