Episode 36 Latasha Hughes

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What's up, ladies and jet there's
another installment of Bulllug Uncensored. Today,

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I have with me a fellow comic
and everybody's favorite neighborhood girl, Latasha Hughes.

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Latasha, thanks for coming on the
show. How you doing, Thanks

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for inviting? Yeah, absolutely,
no, I can't complain. I mean,

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you know, hope, just trying
to stay busy and hoping to get

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out there more and pound the pavement
and get out the more shows. And

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We've actually get a show together coming
up on May fifteenth, so I'm looking

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forward to that. And that's a
Raven and Worcester, so uh yeah.

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So for those of you that don't
know, Tasha has been a comic for

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several years now in the Western mass
area and beyond Watasha. How did you

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decide to get into comedy? Was
that just kind of off the top,

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like a random thing or was it
something you intended on? It was nothing

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I intended on doing. It was
something I was always told I should be

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doing for like forever. And again
I'm kind of quote unquote late in the

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game, like I started later in
life. Yeah, and I've been like

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always been kind of like quick with
words or like witty like and say things

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that are funny, even when I'm
not intending to be funny, right,

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But I don't think I started with
comedy initially because I was singing first,

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Like that was like my passions music, and I wanted to do that.

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But I don't know. I just
one of the hindrances for me when it

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came to comedy was writing stuff down
because, like I said, I was

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just naturally like stuff just in the
moment came off the cuff, and I

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just didn't know how that would match, you know what I mean with doing

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a structured set. And again I've
never been formally trained for any of this.

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Sou again respecting the craft, like
you know, loving art, thinking

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to myself like it sounds great.
Yeah I'm funny, but I don't think

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I'm that funny, you know what
I mean that kind of funny where I

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can structure bits or you know,
put things together and make people relate to

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me and laugh with me about things
that are going on in my life or

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things that I think are relevant.
Right right, So I don't know.

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I just started going to comedy shows
because again, comedy scene had kind of

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crept up here in Worcester. I
wasn't aware. So by the time I

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found out, Orlando Backs had already
taken off and that a whole group of

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folks had kind of like punched off
into professional comedy. And then I was

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just kind of like, what So
I apparently I missed a whole wave,

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So we're like the second wave that
Jimmy Cash and in those forks were um

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senior comics that I was in direct
contact with, you say, because but

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I just started. So I've only
been doing comedy will be five years in

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August, um. And at that
point, like I said, I was

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going to Bull Mansion. That was
my first taste of comedy here and Worcester

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and just watching shows, you know, like like a inquisitive fan, wondering

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like you gotta see can you imagine
yourself there? You see yourself there?

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Does it look like something you can
do? It? You might want to

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do? And then I just signed
up and m Nikki Lubarelli was like,

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yeah, come on down, and
she scantled me and I got on stage

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and I never got off. Yeah. I mean, like I said,

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you've been I'm on the pavement show
after show for quite some time in the

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last two years, you know,
since the pandemic kind of slowed down a

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little bit. Um, yeah,
now walk me through it. You know

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you're you've we've both kind of been
somewhat rookies over the last five or six

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years, and uh, you know, like you said, kind of honing

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your craft and all that. Um, what do you think was the major

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difference between doing open mics and then, you know, starting to get more

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of a feel for what you're at
quote unquote would be right. Um,

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It's kind of hard, and that's
been my struggle, to be honest,

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because I'm a I'm at a space
where, um, I'm a little bit

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more well known if you want to
say that I have some tenure, right

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I I'm constantly booked. I don't
have that problems from getting book for shows.

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And initially when I started, um, I didn't have any of those

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opportunities, as I should not ask, you know what I mean. I

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was an up and coming, very
fresh, very new comedian trying to just

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figure things out. So the open
mics were my saving grace, per se,

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and that was our lab right.
So, and that's where my networking

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came, That's where I met you
were like so many others, Like I

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said, the Journey Cash and all
the others Usanasana and a couple of my

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friends that took off to Texas,
right, yeah, but that was my

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introduction to the family, to the
network, to the community of comedy.

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Whereas now I'm getting booked more.
I'm struggling with reconnecting to the lab,

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right. I want to get back
in because I have so much stuff.

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I've never stopped writing, but it's
just hard to kind of hone in on

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your new stuff and really try to
work it, yeah, so that you

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can deliver it on a show and
of course be the equality work that now

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you've established yourself to be known for, right, So it's it's just a

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really And everybody I talked to that's
done this like um like ajum a penny

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and they're like did this Like yeah, yeah, you know what I mean,

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because I think they've all gone through
this little wave, right Oh yeah,

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open mics or open mics. But
then aren't you supposed to be doing

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more shows And if you're doing more
shows and your open mic should be a

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guest spot somewhere at that point,
yea, and figuring out other ways to

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work out your your new stuff.
And I'll tell you I missed my open

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mics, and I just also I
have a family, so my time,

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so the time I would have spent
an open mic, I'm now being booked

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for shows, So my my availability
to be able to poke in on a

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mic even that, like my time
restraints unfortunately don't don't allow it. Also,

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Yeah, so you feel like you've
been struggling to kind of manage all

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that correct. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I mean, my my biggest

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issue has been transportation as of late, but I'm hoping that that will sector

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turned around and now that I'm booking
my own shows again and and that kind

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of thing, I mean, I
haven't done as many open mics, and

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you know, I can do you
know, like you said, you get

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some experience by being a musician or
a singer or what have you. Um,

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you know, so I've I've kind
of knocked off that portion of things.

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So I feel real comfortable getting up
there. Yeah, yeah, you

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anything, Yeah right, yeah,
but it's just more for me and m

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with the craft of comedy. Just
making sure that you're timing when you're punching

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is so that's just really um you
know, it is molding over the material

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and getting it right. And I'm
very I'm a chatty patty. Yeah.

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A lot of the times I need
to extract some of all my boys just

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really get to the punch and move
on. But I have to like work

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it out on stage first to realize, like, oh that was too much.

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We can cut this off, you
know, So I could just kind

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of cut the fat, I call
it. Yeah. I mean, you

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know, that's the thing a lot
of people don't realize about comedy is there's

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so many different schools of flat as
to how to go about, you know,

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setting up material. And I mean, for me, I've kind of

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got like a bullet point type of
thing, or I've got like a minor

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structure, but I kind of leave
myself some leg room to move around a

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little bit and change it up and
kind of do a little on the fly.

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But not everybody can handle that.
Yeah, and I was discouraged from

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doing that, you just like me. I call it. I call it

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leaving room to be present performance.
I want to rattle off what I remembered.

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Yeah, I want to leave rooms
for I have an idea of what

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I want to share with you during
this time, but I want to be

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able to allow for creativity to happen. In that moment with you. Yeah,

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and I've had a joke grow doing
that or I've had a completely flue

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was like, oh this is this
is better than I wrote initially, Like,

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you know, because I had that
audience interaction. Some comic will say,

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you know, absolutely not. You
should know everything nor your material and

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not change it up just because you
feel a certain rdaway. And other folks

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are you know, in between,
and others are completely to the left.

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They're like, oh, I just
go up there, you know, like

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I have a bunch of stuff and
I just feel out the crowd and then

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I you know, I call it
pull it out of my joke bagh.

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And I've done that a couple of
times when I had to do shorter sets.

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You're doing guest spots, which is
like five to seven. Sometimes five

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is the most difficult, especially if
you don't have that five that's already you

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know, locked in, you know, and then that five you have locked

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in may not always work with a
different that that particular crowd. So you

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have to that's a muscle you have
to build to be able to out of

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all the material that you have,
you have these five minutes as you're pulling

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from your joke bag. You know
what I mean, being able to pull

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things and then still meet time,
right right, yeah, Now do you

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feel like you're more comfortable in that
ten minute fifteen minute pocket? Very comfortable

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there, I'm shooting off to the
half hour right right right, yeah,

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yeah, that's kind of where I'm
not nervous at five. I'm like yeah,

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because I'm like, because I do
respect time. I am from Boston.

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We're very formally trained, even though
like I've not been technically like I've

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not gone to any school or whatever, but I've been trained on my open

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mics in this city, in this
area, and we're known for being very

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stringent. But I've got nothing but
complimented as I've traveled with how disciplined we

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are, right and I respect other
comics half for us around the country.

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I went to Las Vegas um in
Hawaiian both I got the same. It's

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like, oh my gosh, if
I knew you from Boston needs you to

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told me a long time ago,
I could have put you on. They

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just have so much admiration for our
training and all that, and then I

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tell them I was never formally charges. I was just I'm an over Mike

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and They're like, yeah, but
poodles to us. Now, that's interesting

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that you said that reaction, and
props to you for evil to you know,

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get out of this area and how
you're quote unquote covert zone and really

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get out there. That's awesome.
Oh yeah, And I'll tell you I

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had a culture shock in um Hawaii
when I was taught. Yeah, oh

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gosh, when I was on stage
and I'm telling my joke um in regards

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to the pandemic, and I was
telling everybody about the new language we all

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now speak, you know, the
pigeon joke. Yeah. Yeah, I

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had no idea that that's an actual
language there with the island people. It's

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it's exactly oh man. And I
put in the caption, I would have

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picture myself on the stage and it's
like, and that's why you need to

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be careful about what you say,
do you you know what I mean?

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It wasn't offensive what I was doing. Um, I thank god. I

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didn't say anything ridiculous or out of
the way. I like, no idea

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that that's a real language. Like
it's like we all but it was in

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relation to them. It's almost like
I knew them when I didn't. It's

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like we all now speak pigeons.
They're like, that's not new for us,

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we speak pigeon. It was amazing. That was amazing. So I

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did that. But that was a
checkpoint. I was like, I want

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to do my geographicals and chose my
little terms and yeah, yeah, my

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little uh about languages and well whatever, right. I never realized how important

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research of certain areas can be.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's a

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big deal now. Growing up obviously, you know, were you a fan

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of any specific comics, like anybody
that influenced you per se? Oh man,

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Mom's maybe. I absolutely love her. She's a pioneer for so many

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reasons. And again a lot of
people like why you should because she she

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um she was around um in the
forties, I think late late twenties,

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somewhere in the late twenties. I
because she started out an actress as an

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actress pars and then she molled her
way into comedy and she did it like

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myself. She started comedy later in
her life. And she was just such

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an inspiration because she traveled a whole
live band. She was all about the

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class, you know what I mean, And she had like a whole vibe

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and because she was so beautiful and
young and vibrant, had already done that

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glam bam thing. She was about
using the art of comedy for evoking a

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little bit of truth and knowledge about
the condition of the country at the time

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with ratism and all these different things, and then just about living and introducing

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people to Black culture and some of
the things that we do with the things

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that we say in that kind of
thing. That her uniform was what one

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would say, um, kind of
atrocious. She wore combat boots, oversize

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dress or sometimes overalls, a fishing
hat, right, an apron I mean

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just almost um haggish, looked like
you know what I mean. She just

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looked ye, yeah, look a
little rougher on the edges, which,

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mind you, at the time she
had plenty of money, right, she

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had plenty of money. Um,
But she did that on purpose, especially

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as a female in a male dominated
space, right to not let her looks

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have anything to do with what she's
throwing down, right, And I just

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love her for that. And um, she was one of the first African

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American female comedians to or comics in
general. I'm gonna ahead and say to

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perform for the president two or three
Presidents America. So she got welcome you

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when they had their inaugural or whatever. She was working then as one of

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the entertainers to come in and the
ticket bone for everybody that was there,

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all the guests, So that was
she was well respected, well known,

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and I just I love her for
her her craft. No, absolutely to

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talk about paving the way, Oh
definitely. Yeah, any other comers you

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can think of, like one of
the Pikes or anybody that you I love

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Wanda. I followed her from way
back again when she was acting and all

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that stuff, and I always found
her to be super hilarious. And again

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crudles to her for representing LGBTQ.
I mean, as soon as she had

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the opportunity, she didn't hesitate and
it was just fast forward. And she's

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just but she's such a class act, to be honest. I mean,

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she's just a phenomenal comic that I
hope too. She was here in woos

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Her at one point and I had
something else in a whole other direction,

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so I missed her, but I
do hope to catch up with her and

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see her live. Oh yeah,
I love the Richard Pryors and the Eddie

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Murphys of the world as well.
I mean they would they just, I

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mean, such a talent writing,
such a contribution to the to the culture

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um female comedians. Alex the More, she's a classy She's a classy chick.

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She's so fresh, but she doesn't
you know what I mean. But

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here's the deal with her. And
again, I love learning about the person

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behind the comic. If you will, she's a whole NBA slash business major

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slash like guru in a whole other
space where you know what I mean,

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you would never imagine, yea,
And yeah, she will throw on some

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heels and some lipstick and a boostier
and talk trash about penises and insects and

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women, you know, and whatever. And just to say because again as

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a comedian and you know this to
be true, it's almost like, oh

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that you know, he's either people
are really excited about you or they're embarrassed

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that you. Oh that's what you
do folks, you know, and it's

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like it's just a weird art to
be a part of. But I just

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love learning about other folks. Differently, in Setti, I love satric entertainer

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Steve Heart like you know, they
do so many and and again they're college

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graduates. I mean setting you it's
part of a summarity of something. You

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know. He gives back to the
community and all that. And he didn't

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have to be on the stage.
He could have been behind a desk doing

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a nine to five Steve Harvey saying
thing, you know, he should have

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been. And I read his book
and he was trying, and then he

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was just like, oh this isn't
mean yeah, just you know, took

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the leaps. So what was life
free like for you before Calmary? Like,

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what was your upbringing like? Um? My life before comedy? Um,

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my upbringing was pretty normal. I
guess. I was born and raised

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here in Worcester, So deal with
it. I'm stuck here, like you

237
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got the stup with me. Okay, this is yah. I born and

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raised here. Um my parents,
um, were part of that second regulation

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of African Americans from the South to
the North. Okay, So they came

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here in the sixties, Um,
looking for the great opportunity. Just work,

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That's all it was. It was
employment. Yeah, and they brought

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a home. They got married,
of course, they brought a home here,

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a three ducker in that home was
really a pillar for my family as

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I knew it. Growing up because
my mom would had sent for her sisters

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and a couple of our cousins and
all that came from there, and they

246
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had a place to stay. And
because my parents, again they were so

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awesome and they were great hard workers, they wanted their blessing to be the

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family's blessing. They kept their rent
at a very low to nothing, you

249
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know what I mean, just enough
to probably cover the water in the taxes,

250
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and they took care of the mortgage
themselves because they were they well bounderfully

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employed. So that was a good
thing that they could extend the gift to

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family to come over and do that. And just about everybody that came through

253
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those doors did exactly that. They
were just able to save enough to buy

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their own home and not you know, so I had a very rich childhood.

255
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My great grandmother lived on the second
floor, my aunt Knuckles on the

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third floor, and I was on
the first floor. And there was always

257
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this rotation of family. So when
would move out, their little moving and

258
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you know that kind of thing.
But it was a great, a great

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way to to grow up. We
always traveled in packs, all my cousins

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because that's just how you did it, you know. Nobody was able to

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go there alone, you know what
I mean. And we always thought to

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us, I was like, nobody's
gonna grab us because as soon as they

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they'll be like they'll be trying to
rush back, like, oh they'll I

264
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think we found here, Like we
drive them absolutely nuts, and nobody's kidnapping

265
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this bunch of wildcats. You know. Yeah, my dad is a musician.

266
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Um opened up for the Jagger Prince
when he came here at the Mechanics

267
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Hall did battle the band. So
yeah, so I came from a very

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musical family. I said. Initially
I was supposed to be a singer.

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And he still looks at me like, I can't leave you doing comedy.

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You're not singing, And I'm just
like it's whatever that Like, I don't

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think anybody's looking for next Tina Turner. Okay, so well there's nothing wrong

272
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with that either way. That is
so true. But I just, um,

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I don't know. Comedy is a
lot more forgiving, I guess if

274
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you will, but I never really
I'd have to go back and train.

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I have a good voice, yes, but I have to go back and

276
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train it to really do it professionally
or not. Maybe now they were all

277
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these little voice ticklers. I don't
have to do anything. We just signed

278
00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:03.039
the contract. But yeah, I
played the oregon um for a while.

279
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I first started out with the flute
though, and I think it was like

280
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a fifth or sixth grade in elementary
school. Everybody gets the instrument, right,

281
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Yeah, and then I got bored
with that. I sang in the

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choir. The second Baptist Church was
it was tremendous. That was such a

283
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huge part of my life. A
sense of community and also responsibility. That

284
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was the thing in my house was
once you start something, you finish right,

285
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So WHI rehearsal was mandatory. So
if we wanted to go ahead and

286
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go to um Skylight at the time, Tier tier because it's closed. It

287
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.519
was like the only roller skating rink
we had here. Yeah, and still

288
00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:44.759
there's not another one. But that
was like a big deal. So if

289
00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.519
you went, you had to get
up to church on time and be ready

290
00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:53.160
and yeah, so taught me early
how to play and be responsible at the

291
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same time. Yeah, that's definitely
a good foundation as far as you know,

292
00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.880
growing up with family close by,
I can definitely relate to that.

293
00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:08.400
My uh, my father's side of
a family where my last name comes from.

294
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:15.200
Obviously, Um, the pretty much
the street that I grew up on

295
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was uh, my house, my
uncle sles, my grandparents and then my

296
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:26.440
great my great grandparents had a farm
just at the end of the road,

297
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:33.720
and eventually my other aunt and uncle
would take over the property and live there.

298
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Um, what's my great grandparents passed
and I was I was very fortunate

299
00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:45.720
when when I was twenty five,
I think I had just lost most of

300
00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:49.599
my great grandparents. So I mean, you know, it was quite fortunate

301
00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:53.880
to have that close knit like you
said, you know, just a couple

302
00:21:53.880 --> 00:22:00.559
of hundred yards away, if not
less. Then you know, I grew

303
00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:07.160
up in I wouldn't say a super
musical house, but my grandparents were in

304
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.920
a church band and my mother was
as a kid, a part of that,

305
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:17.920
and both both my aunts played guitar, and Um, as far as

306
00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:22.079
the comedy stuff goes, that that
was just kind of I don't know.

307
00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:26.000
I think it just kind of stemmed
out of circumstances with my life. You

308
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.119
know, see that laugh or cry, and we chose not to do the

309
00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:34.759
ladder, So I got everything kind
of worked itself out, and I have

310
00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:41.000
a few funny people in my family, so that that was fun to learn

311
00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:47.559
all of that, but no previous
professional comics by any means, so it

312
00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.720
was interesting to go into that.
I'm I'm the only one that got serious

313
00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.559
about the entertainment business, so I
definitely have that in common, would you

314
00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:02.680
right? Right? Absolutely? Yeah, So I had a lot of good

315
00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:08.279
family stories to stem from and make
material out of. So, you know,

316
00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.599
having that close knit like you're saying, look at network or that,

317
00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:18.160
um, it makes it a water
easier to come up with stuff to talk

318
00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:22.319
about for sure. Oh yeah,
my mom was witty too. She was

319
00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:26.359
really funny sheet you know, but
again never getting on any stage. Yeah,

320
00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:29.519
I know she's not doing that,
but she was just such a natural

321
00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:34.000
spirit and yeah, so' definitely probably
inherited a little something with that from from

322
00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.799
her um and then of course being
a mother of five, right, I

323
00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:41.319
have a lot of it. But
you know what's so funny it is even

324
00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:44.119
Nikki UM, when I first started, She's like, you need to dive

325
00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:45.720
into your kids, you need to
get and I've yet to do that.

326
00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.400
I've yet to. Um. It's
almost like that mother goose thing. I

327
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:52.599
want to you know, yeah,
you want to kind of shield them through

328
00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.640
from there. Yeah, it's like
I'll talk about stuff, but I don't

329
00:23:56.680 --> 00:24:00.720
necessarily want to put you ont you
know, and but it does really have

330
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:03.960
to be them. It's just useful
things or things that I've that I've experienced

331
00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:10.720
through association with someone different, like
you know, it's just but yeah,

332
00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:17.000
So the tagline of being your neighborhood
or favorite neighborhood girl, where did that

333
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.720
come from? Was that kind of
something you developed or people just started saying

334
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.319
that or that's something I came up
with. Initially, I just thought about

335
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.880
it because, as you know,
like I said, this is a very

336
00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:33.200
that's not even talking about moms.
Maybe it's like way back then, this

337
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:38.640
is still a very male dominated space
yea. And I started noticing. I

338
00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:44.359
was like, wow, there's like
no chicks here, like like open mic

339
00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:45.359
after open mic, and I was
ripping up the road. I was in

340
00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:49.039
Hampship, open Minds, I was
in Providence of course, all over the

341
00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:55.960
city and Booster when we had like
four or five you know, maybe on

342
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.680
Monday and Thursday you could double down, right, it was crazy when we

343
00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:03.920
had the attic and started all that. So, um, I just thought

344
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.960
about it. I'm like, I'm
from Worcester. There's not a lot of

345
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.119
girls. I'm your favorite neighborhood girl, like you know what I mean.

346
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.359
It's like, well, how can
I be your favor neighborhoodirls? You don't

347
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.200
live here, but everybody has one, you know what I mean? Where

348
00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:17.200
the neighborhood you come from? Because
there's not a lot of girls. I'm

349
00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:22.799
that girl, right and it's just
stop. Yeah yeah. Other than doing

350
00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:26.000
the stand up stuff, what are
other kind of things are you involved with?

351
00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:33.599
As far as night So yeah,
in the in my other life is

352
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:37.799
still my life, um until comedy
like totally takes off and I can do

353
00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.759
it for a living, which is
the dream, right. UM. I'm

354
00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:48.720
a community organizer for an environmental justice
organization, so I'm working very heavily in

355
00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:56.319
the areas of climate justice, equity
and equality UM or frontlining bipop communities.

356
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:04.559
So that's been very interesting. That's
UM work. That is UM. It's

357
00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:12.039
slow moving, but it's very rewarding. UM. Changing the way people think

358
00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:17.160
and live right and process energy and
all those things that we take for granted

359
00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:22.680
is very difficult. The most difficult
thing I've encountered so far is making them

360
00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:26.279
aware of how important it actually is
right, and there's a whole movement now

361
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.000
and it's not because we're good people
and we finally paid attention to our environment.

362
00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:33.599
Is because we're being mandated because the
government's like, if we don't get

363
00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:40.559
some together, like none of us
right right, UM working very closely with

364
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.519
communities to um do retrofits in these
because the good we're in New England.

365
00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:49.359
It's a it's a bit of a
pitfall of being one of the thirteen colonies,

366
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.359
right We've got the old houses.
Yeah, they've got stories to tell,

367
00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:57.920
right, but the most important story
they're telling to us right now is

368
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:03.640
we're not energy efficient. There's absolutely
nothing going on in this infrastructure that can't

369
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:10.759
use some help to kind of help
with windows replacement, you know, insallation.

370
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:17.400
Hello. Yeah, when you have
whole tree trunks and newspaper friends,

371
00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:21.039
that's when you know you're in New
England. Okay, So just doing that

372
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:26.759
kind of stuff and the electrification push
moving from gas stoves to electric in the

373
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:33.960
same for the heating to be based
with some of the dinosaur contraptions, people

374
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:37.039
still heating their homes. All this
is like wow, just for you know,

375
00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:41.519
for health and also for economics.
It's very expensive to eat your home.

376
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:44.960
We have all these weeks and you
know, and all that kind of

377
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:51.680
stuff and respiratory issues that the children
that are in frontline communities are suffering from

378
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:55.839
severe upper respiratory issues that they weren't
born with to do their environment right now

379
00:27:55.880 --> 00:28:02.160
in the East Boston, any and
everybody lose within like two point whatever miles

380
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.319
from Logan Airport, which we think
as a luxury treat and it is I

381
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:10.559
travel. Um, the people that
live in those communities suffer the most.

382
00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:18.039
And because that was a red line
space four for waste. Basically, you

383
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:19.519
notice when you take the back road, you don't take the highway, the

384
00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:22.799
beautiful little road. It goes all
the way. And he says, oh

385
00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:27.240
you Logan Airport take yeah, Um, you can see all of the other

386
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.720
industries there. And I had no
idea. There was so many different like

387
00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:37.200
factories and things that were in those
same space. People. I'm like,

388
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.359
wow, I had no idea to
just see. The toxic book is coming

389
00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.680
out or whatever, and it said, when you think about zoning, that

390
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:48.079
makes perfect sense because everything yoused to
be in that space, in that area

391
00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:53.359
as much of it as you can
because nobody else is in there. There's

392
00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:57.640
a lot. There's a lot that
goes that goes with it, no certain

393
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:03.720
ways. You know, there's a
lot of complex issues that we're facing as

394
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:07.400
a nation. And you know,
I certainly can't speak to the black community

395
00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:14.559
personally, but um, you know, it's remarkable the year efforts that you've

396
00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.839
put into, you know, supporting
where you come from and and that kind

397
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:23.440
of thing. And you don't see
that enough nowadays. No, And you

398
00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:26.759
know what it is. Initially you
think, oh, like what happened?

399
00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:30.440
How some people aren't paying attention.
Nobody cares. We're on hamster wheels,

400
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.160
man. Yeah, we are so
focused on keeping a roof over our heads

401
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:38.079
and putting food on the table that
we don't have time to really figure out

402
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.720
the best way to do that.
Yeah, the best way to you know,

403
00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:49.039
make sure that we're all faring well
in process of of you see,

404
00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:52.839
that's the thing. They're not living
there, we're existing, right, Yeah,

405
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.519
we're all trying to survive. We're
all trying to say yeah, when

406
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:57.279
you're in survival mode, you can
lift your head up to see that,

407
00:29:57.640 --> 00:30:02.319
right like this this is kind yeah, this is this is insane. But

408
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:06.160
COVID kind of helped us along with
that, and it was a tragic thing.

409
00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:07.119
So I'm not going to say,
oh, yay COVID. I'm just

410
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:11.200
saying, and the part of my
bit is and tragedy, beautiful things can

411
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:17.799
happen, and some beautiful things happened
for folks to realize where the little pockets

412
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:23.839
were of injustice, where the little
pockets who were of disservice and undisserviced communities.

413
00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:29.319
And also our workers who were frontline
workers who knew that earls McDonald's and

414
00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:30.759
the dunkin Donuts and you will to
get your gas and now that we're going

415
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:36.400
to be essential, it's when oh
it was really hard to ride through for

416
00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:38.440
your a cup of coffee, but
there was no one there, yea.

417
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:44.160
So it was it was our way
to really look at people that do what

418
00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:51.599
they consider basic jobs. I don't
see anything about a job being basic,

419
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:56.720
but if you're working and it's an
honest job and you're getting paid, there's

420
00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:00.440
no should be no shame in it. But I think what COVID did was

421
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:04.160
really give them the value that they
deserved because right here in my neighborhood during

422
00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:10.799
the pandemic, I had never seen
a sign up or a McDonald's worker at

423
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:14.799
twenty dollars an hour, which they
should have been getting anyway. Well yeah,

424
00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:17.240
you know, they should have been
getting anyway, you know, but

425
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.039
that but that was the emergent thing
on their end. It was like,

426
00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:22.200
well, we're nothing without them,
because then as my Harry Burgers, we

427
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.440
got here without anybody to serve.
You can't make fails, you know.

428
00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:32.160
And that movement has continued since COVID. So they gave them leverage, is

429
00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:37.119
what I want to say. And
they've been running with it as they should

430
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:40.920
have been, and they're being recognized
for the work that they do. And

431
00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:42.640
the cost of living is what we're
really talking about, yere, Yeah,

432
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.079
because I want to guage McDonald's or
duncans or the gas station, because we

433
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:53.680
really need to be fair about profit
and distribution in labor and cost of living.

434
00:31:53.880 --> 00:32:00.279
You know, I can't work for
thirteen dollars when gas is almost much

435
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:04.079
of it, Like yeah, yeah, exactly, like three gallons of gas.

436
00:32:04.119 --> 00:32:07.640
Like maybe I don't, you know, because we didn't include the taxes.

437
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.640
Like you just got to be careful
about about how you treat people,

438
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:15.200
you know. So no, absolutely, and I think you know it kind

439
00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:20.559
of like you said, leveled the
playing field for a lot of different people

440
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.720
and waking other people up to the
fact that you know, you take these

441
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:29.319
people for granted, but as soon
as they're not there, you lose your

442
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:37.839
damn mind. And here we are
exactly. So I was working at an

443
00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:44.039
acute respiratory hospital during the pandemic,
So it was it was quite Yeah,

444
00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.440
it was. It was crazy.
Then there was a while we couldn't order

445
00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:49.480
food and we would be there.
So if you forgot to pack at dinner

446
00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:52.640
or whatever it was, you in
the vending machine, you or somebody would

447
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:53.640
share, you know what I mean. There was like all these rules because

448
00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:58.000
everybody's so afraid about something coming in
and out, and then us having to

449
00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:00.039
fight for that, and we had
to do the time tax. It was

450
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:05.759
just a lot. Yeah, So
it's for a community outreaching that kind of

451
00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:10.279
thing. Was that something that you've
always kind of strived to get involved with

452
00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:15.400
or was that just kind of a
natural happening for you? Oh wow,

453
00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:19.119
that was a beautiful accident. Is
that what I call it? I M

454
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:24.680
like I said, I was working
at acute restairatory hospital and again I just

455
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:32.759
needed a break and I pulled myself
out of that and like June of I

456
00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:36.839
can't remember the times because everything's just
like such a match. But I pulled

457
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:39.799
myself out of there. I took
a six month hiatus of just I needed

458
00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:44.880
a brain brain break. Yeah.
Well, um, a job opportunity came

459
00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:47.640
across from neighbor to neighbor to do
some deep canvasing, So I was like,

460
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.480
wow, can't even know what that
is. But I went through I

461
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.960
you know, applied for it.
I got the position. And once I

462
00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:00.240
got the position, I thought,
well, this is super cool because what

463
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:06.119
I'm bring is I'm going door to
door and I'm just waking up folks consciousness

464
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:08.599
about their power to vote. And
all the people that we were talking to

465
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:13.840
that we were deep camusing with were
all registered voters, but they have poor

466
00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:17.280
voters report cards, so they were
voting for the president, but they never

467
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:22.400
voted for the municipal government, which
is the most important. Yeah, the

468
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:24.599
president is fine, it's great.
I'm never telling anyone don't vote for him.

469
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.039
But at the end of the day, the American people need to be

470
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:32.320
reminded that it really does doesn't matter
who the president is because the people that

471
00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:37.679
are going to make sure that your
community is taken care of your neighborhood,

472
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:43.119
your schools, your healthcare stundars and
hospitals are okay, are your state and

473
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:47.079
local government. Those are the people
that can soften a blow or make a

474
00:34:47.079 --> 00:34:51.480
blow harder if they're not in the
interests of the people that live there.

475
00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:54.519
So as hard as you go for
the president, you need to go just

476
00:34:54.599 --> 00:35:00.440
as hard for your mayor, your
governor, and your city council, school

477
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:07.320
council. All of those things are
crucial to how you function because you remember,

478
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:10.119
we're part of this huge country,
right and the president sits on top

479
00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:14.840
of the whole country. He's not
he doesn't even know what's going on.

480
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:19.119
And let's just be honest, ry
have to be reminded that we exist.

481
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:22.679
Yeah, you know what I mean. We have to make sure that the

482
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:27.199
people that are in our communities are
there to fight for us job it.

483
00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:30.320
So that was what I was doing. I was knocking on doors and I

484
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:34.400
was just so juvenated, like this
is like a completely different thing than for

485
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.960
what I was doing prior. Of
course, still creeping out of the pandemic.

486
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:40.199
We weren't completely out just yet,
right, but getting not farly making

487
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:44.239
contact. Some people were just excited
to someone ring the Bell, it's been

488
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:49.440
a long time. Yeah. Actually
saw someone at a visitor right. And

489
00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:54.679
during that time, the manager that
I had was planning to move to Florida

490
00:35:54.679 --> 00:35:58.880
and he wanted to give me his
job, which is a community organizer with

491
00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:01.960
neighbor to neighbor, but he wasn't
leaving until July, and I couldn't,

492
00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:05.599
you know, wait for that to
happen. So he's like, there's a

493
00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:08.239
position that I found at mother's out
front. I want you to apply for

494
00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:10.679
it. And I'm like, well, he's like, can't an organizer just

495
00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:14.000
like I'm doing? And I'm like, okay, it's environmental justice. I'm

496
00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.039
like because I didn't know a whole
bunch about it, although I was familiar

497
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:23.039
because there's my um. My graduate
degree from Wister State University was Community development

498
00:36:23.719 --> 00:36:30.840
and urban Studies. My major was
urban studies with the focus of community development,

499
00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:36.519
and I my last paper for my
senior year was about environmental injustice.

500
00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:39.840
So it was just like full circle
almost right. I was like, Oh,

501
00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:42.760
this is wild, you know what
I mean. It's like, how

502
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:45.199
did I go from? But this
is what happens, right, And I

503
00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:49.199
applied for it, I got it, and I've just been on a journey

504
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:53.400
every since. Yeah, the person
that held this position prior to me is

505
00:36:53.760 --> 00:37:00.400
now city councilor hotel right, And
so when I was deep canvassing, I

506
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:07.119
was I was promoting her Christian king
and two who's the two is the first

507
00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:10.880
um LGBTQ council that we add on
deck. So there's a lot of great

508
00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:16.639
changes happening here in Worcester. So
no, it's fantastic. Yeah. Yeah,

509
00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:22.480
getting back to the comedy set of
things. Sure. I often asked

510
00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:25.440
my guests, Um, you know, if you had a five to ten

511
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:31.559
year playing looking ahead as far as
personal goals and and things you'd like to

512
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:38.760
accomplish within your career, what does
that look like? Oh man, that's

513
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:46.800
so awesome. It looks it looks
well traveled. Um. It definitely involves

514
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:55.400
some cruise ships, um um.
But it also involves an opportunity to give

515
00:37:55.480 --> 00:38:05.599
back in ways that I can't now, just by establishing relationships in spaces where

516
00:38:06.039 --> 00:38:07.719
they could give power to some of
the needs that I see from my city.

517
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:12.199
I'd love to give back. There's
so much talent here and was so

518
00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:15.880
there's always been, but there's not
a lot of platforms. We often have

519
00:38:15.960 --> 00:38:19.960
to travel other places to have access
to the things that we need. And

520
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:22.800
this is why I'm so excited about
I've been at j MCAVI would be my

521
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:27.840
fourth time the theater. People catching
on to it. I call this space

522
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.679
and even knows here this is a
great place for us to kind of showcase.

523
00:38:30.760 --> 00:38:35.119
It's what we deserve to hold our
events and all that. It's a

524
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:38.519
professional theater. I mean, everything
that you could possibly dream of having or

525
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:45.559
needing there is there, but we
need deserving. I want more for us,

526
00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:50.199
But I would love to have an
academy of some kind to foster and

527
00:38:50.199 --> 00:38:54.239
to building the growth young talentates here
that just really just doesn't exist. That

528
00:38:54.280 --> 00:39:00.719
would be my ten year shout out
right. Well, that's certainly yeah,

529
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:07.880
commendable and you know it definitely,
you know, anything that networks and that

530
00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:12.599
kind of thing I'm always inspired by. So good on you for thinking that

531
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:15.960
route and like I hope somehow you
can make it come to fruition for sure.

532
00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:22.079
Ye same. So do you have
any shows coming up in the next

533
00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:27.920
few weeks or what's coming down the
pipelines with Latasha? So I have a

534
00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:35.360
show this week at the Big Box
Theater. It's Friday. The twenty eight

535
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:40.400
show is that eight I breath.
The doors open at seven and it is

536
00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:46.519
for it's a fun reason sorry for
in the hour of needs. This is

537
00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:52.440
a space that's a non profit organization
that was developed and founded on the fact

538
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:59.519
that we have housing insecurity here and
it helps and services folks that don't necessarily

539
00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:02.800
qualifi five for all of the other
government state funded housing programs that we have,

540
00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:08.639
but still meet housing right. So
they've taken up to six families at

541
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:15.000
a time and it's very communal and
it doesn't really look or feel like sheltersh

542
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:20.559
if that makes sense. It's really
beautifully rand and I'm so excited that they

543
00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:24.599
allowed me to be a part of
that to help them to raise the funds

544
00:40:24.599 --> 00:40:30.760
that they need to provide that service
for. Thank you, sweetheart. I'm

545
00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:32.480
in the middle of my son wants
to give me snacks. I'm very well

546
00:40:32.519 --> 00:40:36.719
loved. Five and the last two
are going to make sure my hips are

547
00:40:36.840 --> 00:40:43.400
are well rounded. Yeah. So
that's what I got coming On Friday Saturday,

548
00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:51.679
I have two shows. A day
show. It's a Smoker Tree show,

549
00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.239
which is I think it's super cool, the twenty nine and Providence,

550
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:58.280
and then I have laugh Out Loud
Saturday on the twenty nine. So the

551
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:01.360
Smoker Tree starts at for um and
at nine. I believe in laugh Out

552
00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:06.440
Out Saturday is nine till whenever they
throw us out. Because Marvin Marvin Wells

553
00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:09.079
is uh, he's out there.
Mister Kuza is gonna be on that show.

554
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:13.400
Um. Yeah, so it's gonna
be a wild time. It's gonna

555
00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:15.960
be a wild time. Definitely check
my page because I don't have UM in

556
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:20.440
front of me. The names of
the venues of society. Yeah, where

557
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:25.960
can everybody find you on the interwebs? Oh yeah, so um Latasha used

558
00:41:27.480 --> 00:41:32.559
UM Facebook and UM Instagram. It's
the whole government named Latasha hus Thomas and

559
00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:37.320
actually are are Yeah, so look
that up. And and most of my

560
00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:42.480
stuff is public too, so you
should be able to snag me pretty easily.

561
00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:45.039
Do you have any clips on YouTube
or anything like that. I do

562
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:47.920
have a couple of clips. Yeah, Latasha Hughes have a couple of clips.

563
00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:51.719
I need to that's a good thing. I need to work on that.

564
00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:53.639
Yeah. I have a lot of
voice. I have a lot of

565
00:41:53.719 --> 00:41:57.119
voice performances, but I don't have
a lot of video performances. So that's

566
00:41:57.119 --> 00:41:59.960
my next thing. I really do
need to capture more of my my perform

567
00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:05.400
That will be great so I can
keep my YouTube page right on. Well,

568
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:08.079
I'm best of luck with all that, and I look forward to sharing

569
00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:13.320
the stage with you once again here
in a few weeks. It'd be nice

570
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:16.039
to get the old gang back together. Oh I know that lineup though.

571
00:42:16.079 --> 00:42:22.079
That's that's prime Man. That's gonna
be good, good, good deal.

572
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:25.400
Well, this episode is brought to
you by Boiling Guitars, What do You

573
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:30.679
Use? Barbershop and Four Engines Apparel
For more information, visit Bulldog on sensor

574
00:42:30.760 --> 00:42:36.239
dot com Slash sponsors for more details. Latasha, thanks for coming on.

575
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:39.360
I will be in touch and UH
be sure to check her out. Folks,

576
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:40.800
we'll catch you next week.