Hey, everyone listening to the podcast. This is Ari Melba. I hope you are doing okay during these

tough times. We have something special. This is a podcast exclusive. We read your comments and ratings.

Many of you have said you like it when we go beyond the daily show or the interview clips.

Here we go. This is an exclusive pod interview with playwright Jeremy O.Harris. We've been doing a little more

of these type of interviews due to social distancing. This was originally recorded on Instagram

live and you hear some references to comments and this and that. But really, it was just like

we would do on any special podcast exclusive because Jeremy and I got the chance to go in depth.

He was joining me from London, where I should mention it was late at night, and he was having

fun, smoking a hand-rolled tobacco cigarette.

And we discussed a lot of things, his controversial and groundbreaking work as a playwright,

his friendship with Rihanna, including his views of racialized policing of the theater,

why he thinks Tiger King has gotten basically graded on a curve because we're all locked down.

His optimism about art during this pandemic, I hope you really listen closely to that part,

because I don't know about you, but sometimes all of this weighs me down, it can weigh us

down, and then you start to feel like beyond

the things that are bad, which nobody denies, you start to feel like maybe things are never

going to get better. And Jeremy O'Harris here gives his views on why, even with what we're going

through, a lot of what's happening can still spark and trigger and get going all kinds of important artistic, cultural,

and yes, political conversations and reforms. So based on what you guys have told me, I think

you might enjoy this. Stay tuned for my interview with playwright Jeremy O'Harris.

What's up, everybody? If at first you don't succeed, you try again.

Although I think we were succeeding.

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