[Aaron Embry's "Raven's Song"]
[peaceful piano ballad]
♪ ♪
EMBRY: ♪ Oh, the raven's song
is short ♪
♪ But it's strong ♪
[music distorts]
♪ Like the mind ♪
MARKER: You don't really
want to be known
as the guy who draws
boring breakfast food.
You can't go out like that,
because I won't let you!
- We have got to tear
the entire system to shreds!
MARKER:
Broke rhymes with woke.
- [inhales sharply]
- Psst.
Hey, hey. Psst.
Hey. Hey, hey.
That's right.
That sh*t really happened.
- Oh, sh*t.
MARKER: Haven't you heard,
Black man?
The revolution is nigh.
- Can you give me a second?
MARKER: Fine, you got one.
- I'm not dreaming.
I thought I was dreaming,
but I'm not dreaming.
This is not going on
right now.
[persistent ringing]
You know what to do.
I'm not doing this.
So you, unfortunately,
have to go.
- I'm not going anywhere,
brother.
I like f*cking with you.
- Well, you can like it
on your way out the door
because last time I saw you,
you f*cked my life up,
and because of you,
I have to get it back.
I am putting the genie
back in the bottle
and the marker in the trash.
MARKER:
This is not the last of me.
You hear me, Keef Knight?
I will not be ignored!
KEEF: [grunts]
MARKER: m*therf*cker!
[grunting]
[groans]
Ow!
[mellow music]
GUNTHER: [sighs]
Damn, man,
I hope he likes this.
I bought star fruit.
[sighs]
Should I have made toast?
I mean, I don't know.
Would that be,
like, triggering?
- Man, the last thing he needs
is to be coddled.
GUNTHER: Okay, I don't see why
you have to be so harsh.
He just got b*at down
by the cops
and shitcanned from his job.
- Yeah, yeah.
That's like, what, a Tuesday
for black people?
- Okay.
Hey.
Keef.
- What up, bro?
GUNTHER: H-how you doin',
bud, hmm?
Uh, we made you breakfast.
- Why?
- Why?
Well, uh, because...
because we love you.
Okay.
I'll take that.
[laughs]
Thumbs up--you see that?
[phone chimes]
It's a step
in the right direction.
Oh, what--is that Trina?
She actually texted me.
- Talk to your woman, dawg.
She worried about you.
- Yeah.
I'm going to, okay?
I'm just gonna hit her back
as soon as I get all this stuff
straightened out, you know?
GUNTHER: Yeah, yeah.
- Straightened out?
What plan you got
to un-sh*t this bed?
- That's very funny.
I'll have you know
I'm on my way
to Bloom & Hill as we speak.
I am not gonna let my life
get destroyed
over one unfortunate episode.
- [laughs]
Episode?
Oh, you--you think
that was an episode?
sh*t, that was more like
the series finale.
You went full-blown crazy.
You lost your damn mind.
KEEF: Guys, guys, look at me!
Don't I look fine?
[forced laugh]
Don't I look stress-free
and carefree?
I got my eight hours of sleep,
all right?
It is a new day.
It is a new attitude.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
When you go in there,
don't apologize.
Pretend that sh*t
didn't happen, all right?
I'm just saying.
Look, if you pretend
it didn't happen,
eventually maybe
they'll start to think,
"Maybe that sh*t
didn't happen."
- Like the prequels.
- What prequels?
Jar Jar who?
- No ho ho, okay?
Jar Jar happened.
Meesa thinks
you need to deal with it.
- Let me tell you something,
it's like that time
when my dad
got that lady pregnant
and he had that kid.
He just pretended
that sh*t didn't happen
and eventually, my mom...
my mom forgot
all about that kid.
[whispering]
What kid? Hmm?
- Okay, but you definitely
still have a sister.
- [whispers] No.
- So all I have to do
is pretend
that Golden Con never happened.
I think I can do--I mean,
I'm pretty good at improv.
- No, you're not.
You need to stay home
and self-medicate.
Dude, you went toastal.
You were kickboxing
a cardboard cutout.
You remember.
- Hold on, hold on.
- Huh?
- What cardboard cutout?
- Mm.
I didn't see it.
- At the Q and A.
- What Q and A?
- What is a Q and A?
- Okay, it happened.
I was there.
- You were where?
- The Q and A.
- What Q and A?
- The one
where you were kickboxing
the cardboard cutout!
[tense laugh]
- What cardboard cutout?
- No, you can't just repeat
everything I say!
That's not improv!
God damn it.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[upbeat guitar music]
♪ ♪
- Hey.
How you doing, my man?
- What's up, Mr. Knight?
- Thanks, man.
Uh, need me to sign in?
- Nah, you're good, man.
Go ahead.
- Cool, cool, cool.
- It's all good.
- Ah.
Oh, well, if you insist.
[laughs]
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh.
Margaret, it is so good
to see you.
You get the flowers I sent you?
They must be lost in the mail.
Uh, I'm here for a meeting
with Phil and Cindy.
- Is Cindy expecting you?
- Yeah, I think--
yes, she possibly might be.
I think yes, she is, so...
Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
Let me just check real quick.
- Yeah, yeah, she--yeah.
'Cause you can call her.
She knows who I am, so...
Love the sweater, by the way.
[whispering]
It's very Michelle O.
The double bow?
Girl, you better stop.
[laughs]
- I have Keef Knight
in the lobby.
No, he--
I'm serious.
He's here.
In person.
Okay.
Okay.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Keef!
- Cindy.
CINDY: What a surprise.
- Hey.
Um...
- Hi.
KEEF: Come and sit--
- No, no, no.
Stay there.
Stay there.
- I can sit there--okay.
CINDY: [laughs]
I assumed you would start.
- Yeah.
Oh, no.
Of course I'm gonna--
I'm gonna start.
[both laugh]
So excited, you know,
to really just get the ball
rolling on syndication.
You know what I mean?
Um, looking forward to it.
So many deadlines, right?
What to do?
That's the question.
- So we're just gonna pretend
Golden Con never happened?
- Golden what?
- You're not serious, are you?
- Serious about what?
- Golden Con.
- Golden who?
- It happened.
- What happened?
- Golden Con.
- What about it?
- It happened!
- Okay! Okay, it happened!
Jesus!
I'm sorry, okay?
I don't--
I don't know
what came over me, all right?
But let me assure you,
my actions do not express,
in any way,
how I feel
about you fine people.
CINDY: Look, Bloom & Hill--
well, we're not sure
we're the right fit
for this new direction
you've taken.
It's--it's not you, it's us.
- Cindy, Cindy, listen to me.
Please don't do this, okay?
I have not taken
a new direction.
My coordinates are...
[beeps]
[laughs]
I mean, you get it, right?
Growing up as a...
Asian...woman?
As an Asian or something?
Growing up as an Asian
or something woman--
- I'm gonna let
that Asian comment slide.
You really think
you can get up on that stage
and pop off like that
and recover?
- To be honest,
I thought maybe--
- It doesn't work that way
for people like us.
You think I don't ever
wanna throw an iPad
out of one of these
stuffy-ass windows,
watch the glass pour down,
pick up a piece, and...
slit an executive's throat?
But I follow the rules.
I read the fine print.
You didn't.
- No, no, I have.
I definitely have, I know--
- Oh, you could've been
a legend!
John Legend.
- [softly] John Legend.
CINDY: He did it the right way.
First he got the money,
then he got the woke.
You think he could've released
"Preach" right out of the gate?
No.
He had to do at least ten years
of "Ordinary People"
before he could take that risk.
That's what we have to be
to come up in this world.
Ordinary.
- [scoffs]
I get it.
And I'm so glad you said that,
because now...
now it's confirmed that
we're on the exact same page.
Look!
I'm Toast -N- Butter man!
Gentle laughs,
sweet observations.
I'm the exact same guy.
Nothing has changed.
- Well, according to
The Bay Arean...
Everything's changed.
[dramatic music]
- f*ck Toast!
f*ck Butter!
Yeah!
Oh.
Okay.
CINDY:
That was like the world's
worst TED Talk.
- [softly]
Yeah, definitely, um...
[indistinct shouting]
I can--I can fix that.
[screaming]
[upbeat jazzy music]
♪ ♪
[people chatting]
[quietly] Ayana.
- Oh, sh*t!
Keef X in the flesh!
Yes!
[applause]
Yes.
[applause dies down]
- You have to take
that video down.
- Uh...no.
- No?
- No.
You told off a piece of toast
in blackface.
That sh*t stays up.
- Okay, look,
I was not in my right mind.
I was distressed.
Things happened.
- What things?
KEEF: I don't know, things.
Doesn't matter.
What matters is that I had
a momentary lapse in reason.
- You sounded reasonable to me.
- Yes, because
I sounded like you.
- Hmm, yeah.
But you had
a "come to Black Jesus" moment.
Now you wanna walk it back?
I was proud of you.
[phone chimes]
[phone clicks]
- Look,
I'm not sure
who you think I am,
but I'm not that guy.
I'm just a guy who wants
to get his life back, okay?
- I hate to say it,
but once your eyes are open,
you can't unsee.
- Yeah, but it doesn't mean
I can't try.
And the longer
that video stays up,
the harder it gets.
- You think you can scrub
the Internet clean?
[chuckles]
KEEF:
Wait, what?
What are you doing?
AYANA:
[laughs]
You're a meme now.
KEEF:
Oh, my God.
I'm a meme.
f*ck--f*ck--f*ck--
f*ck Toast -N- Butter!
[in slow motion]
f*ck you.
I am--I am--I am the sausage!
[sobs]
Oh, my God.
Just sh**t me in the face.
[g*nsh*t, woman screams]
Jamal!
f*ck Toast -N- Butter!
f*ck
Toast -N- Butter!
[hitch-pitched]
f*ck Toast -N- Butter!
Aw, sh*t.
- I like it.
You have stage presence.
- I feel like you enjoy
watching me suffer.
- I barely know you.
But yes.
KEEF: Okay.
Okay.
[sighs]
If you were me,
what would you do?
- Honestly?
- Honestly, if you were me.
- Buckle up.
[bass riff]
[seatbelt clicks]
[Cover of Carpenters'
"Rainy Days And Mondays"]
SINGER:
♪ Talking to myself ♪
[phone chimes]
SINGER: ♪ And feeling old ♪
♪ Sometimes I'd like to quit ♪
♪ Nothin' ever seems to fit ♪
♪ Rainy days and Mondays
always get me down ♪
- Sir?
Sir.
SINGERS:
♪ Rainy days and Mondays ♪
- Do you mind turning that off?
I've had a very shitty day.
♪ ♪
[music turns off]
Let's be honest--
you were never that talented
in the first place.
And now that everyone thinks
you guzzle seawater,
you've probably drawn
your last cartoon.
[gasps]
What are we gonna do for money?
Oh, and if you have no money,
what are you gonna live on?
San Francisco is so...
- Actually, sir,
you can turn that back up.
SAD FACE: You know what
the rent costs out here.
[music resumes]
You're gonna get kicked
to the curb!
You're gonna be turning tricks
in the hay for vegan sliders.
- You can turn it up, sir.
SAD FACE:
Stay away from bridges.
- Louder.
SAD FACE:
Golden Gate Bridges...
- Louder, louder, sir.
SAD FACE: Bay bridges,
Nash Bridges, tall bridges!
[dissonant instruments
clanking]
♪ ♪
- You know they always hiring
at the post office.
VOICE : Post office don't pay
Toast -N- Butter money.
- He could rob a bank.
- He might get sh*t.
VOICE : At this point,
it's worth the risk.
- Hear, hear, m*therf*cker!
Read all about your broke ass.
VOICE : You gotta fix this.
VOICE : He can't fix sh*t.
VOICE : What's the plan,
Keef Knight?
VOICE : Join a cult?
VOICE : Sell a kidney
for cash?
VOICE :
Find your safe place!
VOICE : Tell us, Keef.
ALL: Tell us.
♪ ♪
- [breathing heavily]
- Hey, Keef.
- Hey, Nancy.
[sniffs]
Hey, um, do you mind
if I hang out here
for a second?
I promise not to kickbox
any cardboard cutouts.
NANCY: Okay.
I really mean this.
Are you going crazy?
- What--who told you that?
Who said--who said that?
- Mm, I just--
I watched the video.
I didn't--no one really
needed to tell me.
- Oh.
- So...
- I was just kinda going
through somethin'...
- Yeah.
- At the moment.
- Okay.
- Currently.
- Have you gone through it?
Look, we were with you
in the beginning,
and we will be with you
at the end.
Not that this is the end.
[whispering]
But if it is,
don't get anything
on the comics.
- Okay.
- Okay?
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
[pensive music]
♪ ♪
- Hey, Keef!
That's right, it's me, Toast!
You know how to fix this mess.
Draw us!
- [laughs]
If you draw the best
Toast -N- Butter strip
you've ever done, they're
gonna have to take you back.
♪ ♪
MARKER: Oh, hell, no.
You're not drawing anymore of
that Toast -N- Butter nonsense.
- Are you every marker now?
- Yup.
'Cause you cannot be trusted.
From now on,
you're gonna use me
to draw comics
that mean something--
comics that are powerful,
comics that are real.
I can go on and on.
- Shh. No.
You will draw
what I tell you to draw, okay?
And today, kids, we are drawing
Toast -N- Butter.
Jeez.
- No means no, m*therf*cker!
Didn't they teach you that
in high school?
- [grunts]
You are not a person.
You are a marker.
Now do what I say!
That's a good boy.
MARKER: No, Keef.
I said no.
No means no!
- [whimpers]
MARKER: [grunts]
- Bitch, I will uncap you
and leave you hanging out
in the sun for days
where you will die
a slow and dry death.
[grunts]
This is good.
This is very good.
What do you think?
- Oh, buddy.
W-wow.
- Yeah.
NANCY: Yeah, yeah.
[both laugh]
- I'm back.
Time to get my job back.
- Yeah.
Okay.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Hey, my man.
Uh, I can't sign in right now.
I just gotta go--
- Can't come in.
- What are you talking about?
I was just in here.
You saw me leave!
I have to, um,
I have to show them this.
I just finished it.
I have to let 'em know
that I can still do this,
obviously.
I know what you're thinking.
It looks a little shaky,
but that was on purpose.
I did this intentionally.
So I'm gonna go in the--
- I can't let you in.
- Come on, man.
You know me.
What are you talking about,
like...
[monitor hinges squeak]
"No entry"?
Did they darken my photo?
- Does it matter?
SINGER: ♪ Swing low ♪
♪ Sweet chariot ♪
CHOIR:
♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪
[Perfume Genius'
"Just Like Love"]
[moody pop music]
SINGER: ♪ Sleeve ♪
♪ Cut just off the shoulder ♪
♪ ♪
♪ You ♪
♪ Are christening the shape ♪
♪ ♪
♪ They'll talk ♪
♪ Give them every reason ♪
KEEF: [whispers] Trina.
♪ ♪
SINGER: ♪ For child ♪
- Two days, Keef.
Two.
- Yeah.
- How do you think
that makes me feel?
- Yeah, I know.
I just, um...
if it's any consolation,
you know,
I-I wasn't ignoring you.
I just--you know,
I just been running around
like a crazy person trying
to put my life back together.
I thought I had it figured out.
Fun fact:
I did not have it figured out.
[laughs]
We'll--I'll tell you
about it later.
We'll have a giggle.
It'll be fun.
Can we do this...inside?
I mean, uh,
I'm sure the neighbors
don't really wanna
hear about
what's going on out here,
and I know for a fact
Clovis and Gunther wanna know
about what's going on.
CLOVIS: Oh, nah, we can
hear you just fine, dawg.
- They can hear.
Okay.
- You left these at my house.
- Trina.
[sighs]
Look...
We are Trina and Keef.
Treef.
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trina and Keef.
I--that is not enough.
- I need you.
- You haven't spoken to me
in two days!
- Not in words or anything
fancy like that, but, like--
TRINA: So done.
- You wouldn't have gotten it.
The reason why
I didn't come to you.
Because I know for a fact
that you would not
have gotten it.
- So you ignore me for two days
because you already know
how I'm gonna react
to this horrible thing
that happened to you?
- Yes.
- So rather than give me
the chance to let you down,
you just assume
that I'm gonna do it,
so why bother?
- Well...yes.
- I am sorry about
what happened to you, Keef.
I am.
But...
You know what?
I hope you find
what you're looking for,
but honestly, Keef,
I don't think you even know
what that is.
- But--look, we can finish
talking about this
and then--can we just go insi--
[door opens]
[somber music]
[door slams]
♪ ♪
[indistinct TV chatter]
BOTH: Hey, Keef.
- [sighs]
Man, I don't even know.
- I know what you need.
I always know what you need.
Come over here
and have a drink.
- Surprise, n*gga!
You didn't forget about me,
did you?
[laughs]
- Nope.
- You can't run from this.
[moody music]
SINGER: ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
- [whispering]
'Sup?
You should be looking up.
At the stars, man.
Do you even realize
the Newtonian mechanics
that went into you, me,
and Clovis meeting each other
at this particular time
in life?
That's the thing, bro.
We could've existed
or never crossed each other
in the space-time continuum,
but we're right here,
right now.
Together.
[stirring music]
♪ ♪
You know,
it's all gonna work out.
You just...
can't fight the wave.
It's the thing that carries you
from who you are now
to who you're going to be.
♪ ♪
That's the thing.
♪ ♪
- I'm seeing things.
- I figured.
- No, I mean
I'm really seeing things.
- Shh.
- I--
- [whispering]
Just listen to the wave.
[soft hip-hop music]
♪ ♪
- Ah.
[whispering]
Aw, that's disgusting.
[groans]
Hm.
- Are you done running around
with your little
existential crisis?
We got work to do.
SINGER: ♪ Mm ♪
[moody soulful music]
♪ ♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ You done living in misery
there ♪
SINGERS: ♪ Ah, ah ♪
SINGER:
♪ You done living in misery ♪
SINGERS: ♪ Ah, ah ♪
SINGER:
♪ Eyes, eyes, eyes,
eyes, arise ♪
SINGERS: ♪ Still arise ♪
♪ Eyes, eyes, eyes,
eyes, arise ♪
♪ Eyes, eyes, eyes,
eyes, arise ♪
♪ Still arise ♪
♪ Eyes, eyes, eyes,
eyes, eyes ♪
♪ ♪
♪ My, my, my, my, my,
my, my, my eyes ♪
♪ My, my, my, my, my,
my, my, my, my, my ♪
SINGER: ♪ Mm, mm ♪
SINGERS:
♪ My, my, my, my, my ♪
01x02 - What Prequels?
Watch/Buy Amazon
Keef is a cartoonist on the verge of mainstream success when an unexpected event changes his life.
Keef is a cartoonist on the verge of mainstream success when an unexpected event changes his life.