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Mo’Nique Dishes On Her Showtime Special, Reveals Who’s Involved

The Oscar-winning actress explains how it all came together.

Mo’Nique has decided Showtime would be the home of her newest stand-up special and is now revealing what fans can expect from it.

Shot at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points, the special is called Mo’Nique & Friends: Live from Atlanta and according to the Oscar-winning actress, she says it all came together with relative ease.

“Showtime had a conversation with my husband to do a ‘Monique and Friends.’ The deal made sense,” she told AJC Radio’s Rodney Ho. “That’s how it works. It was to the point and provided me real ownership of my image I’ve been building.” 

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The “& Friends” part of the special’s title includes long-time friends of Mo’Nique’s, which include Prince T-Dub, Just Nesh, Tone-X, and Correy Bell. She says that since she spends a majority of her time on the road, she wanted the company.

“It was exciting to introduce some new babies into the game and some legends that have been in the game,” she said. “It felt like I was in a juke joint with some friends, had a drink and just went up on stage.” 

Mo’Nique apparently favors comics who bring real stories to their stand-up, not just jokes, and that has been what she’s done in 30 years in the business.

“My husband said to me a few years back, ‘Momma, there are really funny people, then there are greats.’ The greats bring you into their lives,” she said. “They don’t make up nothing. Let’s have a real conversation.”

Mo’Nique & Friends: Live from Atlanta debuts at 10 p.m. EST on Friday, February 7, 2020 via Showtime. Watch a trailer for the stand-up special below.

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