Interview · moment 13 of 17
Does Money Change You? Tyler Perry's Answer
from It Ends Bad (with Yannis Pappas) · #67
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Giannis recounts asking Tyler Perry whether success changes people, and Perry's answer that money doesn't change you but exposes who you already were; leads into a riff on Seinfeld and Chappelle still grinding stand-up despite massive wealth.
- 37:54Tim interviewed Tyler Perry on his old Fusion show and found him to be one of the nicest guys he'd ever met.
- 38:13After the camera stopped rolling, Tim asked Tyler Perry if money and success change people the way people claim they do.
- 38:38Money brings out your rawest self because you're now enabled to fulfill your deepest personality drives without the social constraints of needing things.
- 39:19In business, everybody eventually gets exposed for who they are, though some people die without ever knowing the horrible things they did.
- 39:38Stand-up comedy is one of the closest things to a pure meritocracy, second only to sports.
- 40:06Even hacky comedians can be hilarious and fill stadiums if they're funny enough as performing vehicles.
- 40:46Tim worries that success might eventually make comedy feel monotonous or boring, but he hasn't reached that point yet.
- 41:02Comedians like Chappelle, Rock, and Seinfeld all remained hungry despite their success, with Seinfeld recently doing new material with act-outs in his sixties.
- 41:54Tim compares comedy to sculpture: comedians are sculptors of words, crafting jokes as an art form regardless of wealth.