Comedian and former boxer Malik B recently sat down with the TFU podcast and reflected on his time working with Brendan Schaub on TFATK.
Malik explained that his entry into the TFATK world came through his mentor, Bryan Callen, who had exited the show amid the Me Too movement. According to Malik, Schaub brought him in with a specific idea in mind.
“He saw how I was Bryan Callen’s homie,” Malik said. “And he had Chappelle Lacy. So he was like, ‘Let’s just bring both of these black guys on the show and just see like what can we do.’”
“He brought me on the show on TFATKs,” he continued. “I kind of replaced my mentor and it was going great.”
However, things began to shift during their time on tour, particularly as Malik found his footing in stand-up.
“Things happened on that tour where I feel like, okay, Brendan Schaub is a UFC figh ter champion, right?” he said. “He was a figh ter and he’s trying to be doing standup. I’m a figh ter and I’m doing standup.”
“So it’s like when you have similar paths,” Malik added, “and then you’re the headliner, but your jokes don’t match the guy that is above you, of course, jealousy comes. So it was kind of like a little friction here and there.”
The situation escalated when Schaub reportedly asked Malik to sign a non-disclosure agreement months into working together.
“One day he said, ‘Malik, I need you to sign the NDA,’” Malik recalled. “I said why? We’ve been working this whole time.”
“He was like, ‘Bro, everybody signs the NDA. Theo Von, Bryan Callen, everybody signs the NDA,’” Malik continued. “I said why? We’ve been working for seven months. Why do I need to sign the NDA?”
According to Malik, the response was an ultimatum. “He said if you don’t sign the NDA you just can’t come back. I said, ‘Okay, cool.’”
That conversation led to Schaub confronting Malik.
“He was like, ‘I give you three thousand dollars a month,’” Malik said. “I said yeah but you say you give Bryan Callen fifteen thousand. I’m doing all the work. We’re doing all the work.”
“I told him, I feel like I’m on a plantation,” he added. “That’s what I told him. Told him just like that.”
Malik also claimed that attempts to discuss serious social issues on the podcast were shut down, particularly around the George Floyd movement.
“All my discussions, all my beliefs, all my opinions are about the George Floyd movement,” he said. “We can’t talk about it because your audience is middle of America and you have two Black guys. We got to cancel that out.”
“They cut my episode out,” Malik continued. “He was like, ‘People don’t come to a podcast to listen for that.’”
“You mean tell me I got to be on a podcast where I just got to sit there and play dumb?” he added. “I ain’t feel like doing that.”
Following his exit, Malik described what he believes was a coordinated effort to block him from performing at major comedy venues in Los Angeles.
“Every show I was, I couldn’t,” he said. “He’ll have Brendan Schaub and friends at the Hollywood Improv. I would go up at the Hollywood Improv. Next thing you know, I send my emails in. Nothing. All my shows got cancelled.”
Malik said the situation was later confirmed by a co-host at the time.
“He said, ‘Bro, you know you just did this podcast talking about him, man,’” Malik recalled. “‘He said he gonna cancel all the shows.’”
