In this special on-location episode, Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson travel to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to sit down with comedy legend Dave Chappelle. Their conversation is hilarious, candid, and wide-ranging, covering Dave’s life, fame, and search for meaning beyond the spotlight. He reflects on his upbringing growing up in Washington, D.C., and Ohio, and how having a foot in each city shaped both his worldview and his comedy. He also shares deeply personal stories about his parents—especially his mother, whom he calls a “greatness whisperer”—and the lessons that gave him the confidence to pursue an unconventional path.
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About IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson
Michelle Obama and her big brother Craig Robinson bring their unique experiences and candid perspectives to a range of personal dilemmas, from the everyday to the existential. Each week, they’re joined by a special guest to tackle audience questions with practical advice, terrific stories, and plenty of laughs. From dating and relationships to parenting and financial planning, IMO sees the iconic First Lady at her most relaxed and honest. This podcast will leave you laughing, reflecting, and feeling more prepared to tackle life’s challenges.
About Michelle Obama
Michelle’s passion for storytelling has set sales records, garnered awards and accolades, and earned her global acclaim. Her memoir, Becoming, spent over 130 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list, sold more than 17 million copies worldwide, and won a Grammy Award. American Factory, the first film produced by her and her husband Barack Obama’s media company Higher Ground, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2020. Upon its release in 2020, The Michelle Obama Podcast was the most successful original in Spotify history, bringing in more women listeners over 40 than any other podcast. Through the Obama Foundation, she founded the Girls Opportunity Alliance, which supports adolescent girls’ education and empowerment around the world.
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About Craig Robinson
Craig is the Executive Director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and host of the Higher Ground podcast Ways To Win with Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. From 2017-2020, he served as the vice president of Player Development and Minor League Operations for the NBA’s New York Knicks. Previously, he was a Division I head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State and Brown, and spent more than a decade working as a trader in the investment banking industry. Most importantly, he is a husband and father of four.
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About Higher Ground
Higher Ground was founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in 2018 to tell powerful stories that entertain, inform, and inspire—while elevating new and diverse voices in the entertainment industry. Learn more at
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One thing that always made me perturbed is how the media says the economy is doing so well because everyone’s blowing their money. Just shit seems backwards sometimes.
That was a beautiful conversation. Thank you for sharing that with us. 💙
An intelligent Chicago girl here!!! Yes!!! I’m a nerd, but I will Kick your tail!!!
The more I learn about Dave Chappelle, the more I respect the person he has become over the years. Intelligence and compassion are too of the adjectives that I would use to describe Dave Chappelle. Mr. Chappelle please keep up the great work that you do and enjoy. One of my favorite quotes is” above all to thine own self be true”. This says everything about you Dave. You have my respect and admiration. Thank you.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍❤️. Oh, by the way, Michelle we all miss you and we love you and your husband. The show was wonderful to watch and I hope to see in the future more great interviews.🦋❤️☮️💙🇺🇸🙏😘
" Power of Gathering"
This is a Healthy lifestyle ❤
Dave making Fun of Fact$
Salam, DAve, make sure you build a MASJID in OH- IO!!!
When Dave said, "my mother's laughter is music," I lost it. I started crying and I'm listening to this at work. My mom hasn't had the life filled with joy she may have envisioned for herself. An immigrant, she worked very hard because her parents came from a farming community in the Philippines. There's joy in her life but it's muted and kept in secret some how. But when my brothers and I can make her laugh, it's one of the best feelings in the world. Thank you, Dave Chappelle for saying this. I'll remember it forever.
This 74 year old white guy wants it to be known that I totally agree with Dave Chappelle in that you and Barack did more to humanize what a presidency is than maybe anybody ever. You both went in and came out gracefully and brilliantly human. I really really appreciate you for that. Partly or maybe mostly because of that, even with things as bad as they are now, I still have hope for the future. Thank you for that too.
This is exactly what I needed to get me through the rest of my shift at work
Wow, Michelle and Craig have a LIVE audience! You two remind me of me and my older brother, except he was only 16 months older. I've seen a few Dave Chappelle routines. I've never seen a famous comedian live except George Carlin. I almost thought I'd have to get up and leave because I was laughing so loud, I was starting to hyperventilate! Whew! I notice Michelle and Craig call out 'O-H'. Here in Oregon, I presume we can stick with 'O-R!' because I doubt anyone wants to spell the whole thing out. I'm glad I moved from Washington. lol I love how long Michelle's hair is now. So cool to see it long. I fought hand over fist with my mom to have long hair. Finally, in my Junior and Senior years, I got to let it grow long. Michelle mentions something I discuss with my younger family….about the small stuff. The small stuff in life means the most to me. Gardening with my grandson by my side. (he's older now and has better things to do). We'd listen to music while I pulled weeds. He'd entertain me with a play list that made me laugh. I'd always say, 'Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff'. The small problems will pass. You two had cool parents. My step-dad was a hateful bigot, while my mom, we suspected later might have been bi-polar and they both were forces to be reckoned with. I won't go into it but both my older brother and I couldn't wait to graduate and leave that hell hole. I created my own little cohesive family after I moved to a different state. Life is what you make it, but the adult me had control of my life, whereas my kid-self was afraid and unhappy. I needed humor, as a kid to survive. However if I tried to be funny around the step-dad, I'd get a slap across the face and was told to not be a 'smart mouth'. Now, I can be goofy and funny around my daughter's family and they are the same way. We laugh alot. I admit. I enjoy getting people to laugh but not under the stress of doing stand-up. Too much pressure. I chat up people in the check-out line at the store or folks on the city bus. If I can leave with people smiling, I am fulfilled. I didn't know Eddie Murphy had a brother. Never heard of Charlie. Learn something new every day. I always enjoyed Eddie Murphy's movies. I don't think I knew he did stand up. Then one day, I saw a cassette with a stand up routine by Eddie called 'Sunset Strip'. I could barely get through the first couple of minutes and threw the cassette into the trash. I didn't dare give it to anyone I know. The language was so filthy I lost enthusiasm about Eddie. All of my friends don't use foul language and every other word on that tape was mother f–er this and mother f–er that. There were so many foul words, I can't even remember the good words. Heck. when we were kids, we had a record (this was before cassettes were invented, we had a Bill Cosby record. We'd play that record over and over again. It was all family friendly and turned me into a lifelong fan. After the Eddie Murphy cassette, I never bought another comedian tape. I saw George Carlin and I laughed so much, I missed every other punchline. He was awesome and by then, I was mature enough to hear the list of definition s of the word 'shit'. I'm glad I saw him in person. That was the last stand up show I saw. Now….about having kids. I only had one. Like The Cos used to say, "if you have just one, when something gets broken, you KNOW who did it." When I was a kid, my step-dad, a sergeant in the Army, would line up us four kids to interrogate us and if no one fessed up to breaking something, us two oldest ones would get a whooping for 'allowing' one of the youngers to break something. My older brother and I had plenty of bogus justice when we were growing up. Needless to say, once we graduated from high school, we left and never came back. My mom finally wised up and divorced the sorry SOB but by then, we were on our own, building our own lives. Dave…mentioning Coretta Scott King reminds me of a trip I made to Saint Paul, MN in 1978 to visit a friend. That week, Hubert Humphrey had died and his casket was in the Capitol. I went there like hundreds of others, to see his casket. Later, I waited in the back of a huge church to get in, to see the funeral. I know there were lots of famous people but the only face I can recall of them all is Mrs. King. She was so eloquent and graceful. There were hundreds of people in that church. It was the biggest church I'd ever been in, in my life. The choir must have had over 100 people in it. There were easily more people in the church than the population of my home town, yet the widow of one of the most important men in our history was the only face I remember. Anyway, Michelle and Craig…thanks for the sit down with Dave.
1:42:17 — 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
(Audience missed that callback)
Jon, another bought and paid for boot licker by Qatar. I'm positive he licks more than boots.
"…the greatest comedian this country has ever produced…" — 🫠
The GREATEST comedian in this country*
Dave Chappelle, do you remember doing a show just outside Perrin Airforce base in Grayson Co. TX in the mid-70's? I was there!
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Love love love u all!!!
I wish dave would quit smoking. I want him to outlive me. He is the GOAT of stand up.
My Forever First Lady❤️🙏💐
Great interview!! ❤
Beautiful!!!
Loved this!!!!
Youre telling me this podcast has to have ad reads?! Really?
This was such a great interview. Im in awe
Great interview ❤
Which is the sponsor of this interview? Can you repeat please?
I love and respect this man so much. He stood up for the truth and stood up for himself, even when it meant losing his career. Dave Chappelle is a king. He stands up for what's right in the world and isn't afraid to say it exactly how it is. 👑🏼 true legend 🫡