HTA-0578: Don Reed — East 14th Street (Part 2)

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Henry follows up with comedian/performer Don Reed about his one-man show describing his unorthodox Oakland upbringing.

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Don Reed. When last we met Don Reed, he was describing his unorthodox Oakland upbringing

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by a father who was a Jehovah's Witness and a biological father who was a pimp.

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The show was East 14th Street. He's back, ladies and gentlemen.

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He's back doing his one-man show called the Kipling Hotel. Take it, sell it.

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The East 14th was set in the 70s.

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This is the 80s.

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And this is the process of me leaving my family in Oakland here to head off to UCLA on a partial scholarship,

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which I didn't know loosely translated.

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It actually said for not enough money to make it.

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So I headed to UCLA and was struggling.

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So I picked up some odd jobs.

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One of them was attempting to be a stripper.

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How'd that go?

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You'll find out in the show.

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You should know.

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glad you're not showing us. You should know that I weighed like 11-teen pounds and had

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a little wet afro. So it didn't turn out well. You'll know that much for sure. What other

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jobs did you try for? I tried to be a gigolo for about 40 minutes. But then I stumbled onto

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an article that said, you know, I'm looking for college students to work in an upscale

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environment serving breakfast to the elderly and I got on the bus and I drove

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through Hancock Park and through Beverly Hills they ended up in a not upscale

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area whatsoever where I heard Aaron gunshots and help the authorities

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immediately so it was the Kipling not far from Skid Row and I served breakfast

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to the elderly and met some very very interesting