Frangela, Los Angeles based comedy duo composed of comedians Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton, you seen them on VH1 Best Week Ever, giving out their insightful, funny, wisdom on hot topics of the week, and recently I caught up with them for them to give me some advice.
Christina Jeter: What do you think white housewives of America are going to do now that Oprah is going off the air?
Frangela: Okay, no offense to housewives anywhere, but what are WE going to do without The Oprah Show? It’s terrifying. .. worse even than when Mr. Rogers quit, it feels like, like a limb is going to be amputated . . . what is a world without Oprah on TV like? Do we want to live in that world? We can only hope that she will continue, on OWN, or in specials etc. We’d like to think that Oprah has prepared all of us to go on, white housewives, African-American housewives etc., to carry on somehow . . . it’s time she pushed us out of the nest and that we tried to fly on our own . .. now we’ll have to choose what books to read, what Doctors to take advice from, and maybe even learn about political candidates before we vote for them . . . we’re not saying it will be easy . . . but like any good parent, she’s given us the tools and shown us the path – we just have to walk it now.
Christina Jeter: US unemployment rises, but more jobs were created in manufacturing, health care and hospitality. Why do you think Americans don’t want these jobs?
Frangela: We think the “Americans don’t want these jobs” is an absolute fallacy – it’s a myth created to justify a bunch of whack ideas. Americans have to be paid a minimum wage and many corporations don’t want to do that – they don’t want to follow the law, they don’t want to give their employees health care, and they scream poverty at the suggestion that they should. For example, Wal-Mart has reportedly fairly effectively kept their employees from forming unions and has repeatedly been accused of abusing their employees with unpaid overtime and most recently, a sexual harassment claim that it’s been reported, is moving forward as a class action lawsuit. Americans want to work just as much as “undocumented workers,” and they don’t have a disdain for certain kinds of work – but many employers know that they can demand more and pay less to undocumented and immigrant workers, and so they say they can’t find Americans who will do the work – but if they paid appropriately and fairly we have no doubt that they would. It’s a myth that’s used to take advantage of this developing underclass and to justify not hiring, often in our opinion, minorities and women of all ethnic backgrounds. Americans, many, are working more than one, two and even three jobs just to barely scrape by – so it’s not that we don’t want certain kinds of jobs, but when your child care, bills etc. are X and people are paying Y – what are you supposed to do? We just don’t believe this hype at all.
Christina Jeter: Being a mistress seems to be 2010’s claim to fame and fortunate: Rachel Uchitel and Tiger Woods, Jesse James and Michelle McGee, David Boreanaz, Rachel Uchitel and unnamed women. Do you have any etiquette tips for future mistresses of America trying to get into the game?
Frangela: Our first tip is – DON’T. See, maybe we’re just too old skool, but we think that we should all stick together and not have affairs WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S SPOUSES, first of all. Second, we find that it’s much more fulfilling to establish yourself in the world for any skills, talent, work you’ve done outside of having sex with someone who has skills, talent and has done some kind of work in the world. If you have no skills, interests, talents outside of sleeping with people and then talking about it publicly, we think that’s very sad and that you should go to maybe an online degree program and try to get into a field that will allow you to grow as a person, develop skills that you won’t need knee surgery to maintain when you’re 80, and perhaps even, get a job that you and your mama can be proud of! X-Ray tech, Welding, medical billing – whatever interests you! Using your adult times private places to “make your mark” on the world and in history really isn’t what we would call, a great go to plan.
Christina Jeter: Mr. Marcus is the first man to get paid to Fu*k Superhead aka Karrine Steffans! L (Sigh) what are black girls doing wrong in the hoeing game?
Frangela: Look, the ho game is an old, difficult game to get into – and frankly many hoes just don’t take it as seriously as they should. There was a time when a real ho knew how to act when confronted publicly with their hoe-dom – again – it just seems like the artistry, the training, the learning from ho’s from the past has fallen away. Maybe it’s a sign that we are getting older – but ho’s just ain’t what they used to be, and it makes us sad, as American.
Christina Jeter: With so much mayhem happening every day, the Recession, unemployed, the health care reform, being able to get rich off of sleeping with high celebrity man, what advice should people start their day off with?
Frangela: Frangela’s first rule – always check the news before you walk outside. Never just get ready and walk out without first checking the news for the following: a major disaster that’s right outside your door or is about to happen; the country or just your city, block etc. is under attack by terrorists, aliens, and or zombies; or that you’re in the middle of some crazy huge scandal. It’s really hard to get back inside when there are zombies, reporters, or paparazzi running around your lawn, but the Zombies are definitely easier to reason with and have more ethics and principles than the paparazzi, and they won’t demand quotes or answers to hard questions like reporters – so they’re our favorite.
Frangela’s second start your day advice – remember – “You can’t wax that pony twice,” we have no idea what it means but when you say it to yourself every morning it just feels right, and when you say it to other people we’ve found that it stops them from asking you to do things.
Frangela’s final rule to start your day is simple – it’s never too late to turn . . . even if you’ve passed the exit and you’re in the carpool lane on the highway, just believe you can make it across those six lanes and go for it, and if you have to back up on a city street or exit ramp to make your turn – so be it! Oh, and it’s never too late to like change your path, goals, life blah blah too.
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Remember to start your day off with Frangela!
Check out Frangela performing live now in Los Angeles.
The Week According to Frangela – Real News, Real Funny a podcast in front of you – a live audience – Saturday nights from now until June 26th at 8pm at The Second City in Hollywood, go to secondcity.com, or frangela.com for more details. And you can also catch Frangela on the VH1 special “Undateable” airing now.
Check out frangela.com, blogtalkradio.com, and iTunes for more frangela podcasts.
