Podcasts and Red Bulls: How W. Kamau Bell Flies Solo
With his overstuffed backpack, the comedian and host of CNN’s United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell has mastered life in the air.
Photographs by Noel Spirandelli
When he’s not traveling the nation tackling hot-button sociopolitical issues on his Emmy Award-winning CNN docuseries United Shades of America (now in its fourth season), W. Kamau Bell miraculously finds time to perform stand-up sets in comedy clubs and college campuses across the country. Needless to say, the man is on the road. A lot. Here’s how he makes his always-on-the-move lifestyle work for him.
Home base
Oakland, California. I was born in Palo Alto but moved to Indianapolis, Boston, Chicago, Alabama, then back to Chicago. I spent every summer in Alabama with my dad as a kid. I’ve essentially been traveling my whole life.
Up in the air
There are times when I’m gone three weeks out of the month and times when I fly to L.A. and back in one day. The Oakland-to-Burbank flight is like the subway for me — get my work done and go home at night. I try to be around my wife and kids as much as possible.
Packing M.O.
When you travel a lot, every extra minute in the airport is a waste. I take a backpack stretched to the gills for an overnight trip to avoid checking a bag. I dress the same wherever I go, no matter the temperature. I really strip it down — I’ll get mad if I didn’t need to bring extra socks.
In-flight entertainment
A lot of my job is figuring out the big problems of the world. So when I’m trying not to think about that stuff, I listen to the Jalen & Jacoby podcast, mostly about the NBA. I download a bunch of podcast episodes: Death, Sex & Money; Radiolab; The Good Place; WTF with Marc Maron; Broken Record; and any podcast that mentions Elizabeth Holmes. I don’t want to get ten minutes into one and realize I don’t like it midflight.
Jet-lag coping mechanism
People will say, “The West Coast–to–East Coast time difference must affect you.” That’s not the issue. It’s having three kids under the age of 9. I also travel so much that it all feels the same, you know. I’m drinking Red Bulls no matter what. It’s like in The Avengers: How does Bruce Banner not get angry? Because he’s always angry. How do you not get tired, Kamau? Because I’m always tired.
Pit stops
Despite whoever is in the White House, I love D.C. Everyone is smart and knows what’s going on in the world. And Jackson, Mississippi, is not what I expected. Mississippi is the south-est of the South, and Jackson is a cool place in the middle of a state that’s not necessarily cool all the time.
Making connections
Sometimes when I’m trying to connect with someone, I’ll think, Wait, Kamau, just shut up. We’ve become a society that puts value on interrupting, and often we’re just waiting to talk while someone else is talking — others can sense that. But the more you let people talk, the more they open up — it’s natural. It’s not the questions you ask, it’s about patience and meeting people where they are.
About the author: Yolanda Wikiel is the senior editor at Airbnb Magazine. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, Parents, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Redbook. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two cats.
