From W.HYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley.

Today, Arsenio Hall. He grew up in Cleveland, dreaming of being the next Johnny Carson, kind of.

I wanted to do the show that didn't exist when I was a kid, and I knew the talent was out there.

You know, I found Bruno Mars and put him on the show when he was two feet tall.

I wanted those things that Johnny didn't do.

And we hear from Jeff Ross, comedian, producer, and the man behind some of the most savage celebrity roasts on television.

But before all of that, he was a kid growing up in his family's kosher catering

hall in New Jersey, serving weddings and bar mitzvahs, one of which was his own.

My bar mitzvah was like something between a Super Bowl halftime show and like something Saddam Hussein

would throw from one of his kids. He gets personal and vulnerable in his new Netflix comedy special,

Take a Banana for the Ride.

That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.

This is Fresh Air Weekend.

I'm Tanya Mosley.

It's on!

See you!

It's all! Thank you! That's how America was welcomed into the party that was known as the Arsenio Hall show.

His name stretched out the way his mother used to call him into the house

when he was a kid growing up in Cleveland.

During its run in the late 80s and early 90s,

Time magazine called Arsenio, Hip, Brash, and The New Generation.

And some of the most important moments in American culture

...