True Story (2021) s01e05 Episode Script

[woman] You okay, big daddy?
[groans sleepily]
They found Ari's body.
[echoing] Ari's body.
I'm next.
[comedian on TV]
I forgot what the fuck I did.
[cell phone vibrating]
I was at home, I said,
"I know I did something."
"'Cause there's too many
white folks paying attention to me."
Yo, what up, C?
Yo.
I know we agreed
that you should go see Gene alone,
but I'm thinking we should revisit that.
No, look, C.
Gene's gotta be treated like he matters.
I know how fans like Gene operate.
I can handle him.
Look, if you don't get him
to take care of that video,
it's gonna be a problem.
Yeah, I know. I know.
That's why I'm on it.
I got it, I promise.
[comedian on TV continues indistinctly]
[cell phone ringing]
[ominous music playing]
[continues ringing]
[ringing halts]
I hope you ain't lying.
[vibrating]
Hey.
Good morning, my friend. How are you?
[Kid] Uh
Fantastic, man.
Everything is fine, said the comedian who
shit the bed in front of 20,000 people.
Come on, man.
You froze up on stage. Big deal.
Little bump in the road. Keep going.
The mark of a true champion
is how you respond to adversity,
and you are the truest of champions.
You always bounce back, so bounce back.
That's great advice, Todd.
I appreciate you.
You don't have to thank me.
Never have to thank me.
I also wanted to mention to you, um
Billie did the Ha Ha Hut last night,
and you should check it out.
It's on YouTube.
- How was she? Was she good?
- She was better than good.
In fact,
I was thinking maybe
we should have her do that charity event.
What charity event?
Remember that asshole
on the plane doing your bits for you,
showed up at the show with his boss,
offered you that charity thing?
That's tonight.
I also wanted to remind you
you gotta stop by Wells Fargo
for last looks
before they take the stage down.
Go back to Billie for a second,
was she good or great?
I'll say it was the old Billie. Okay?
Really, you should check it out.
[Billie] I don't know how old you are,
you look very hydrated. Congratulations.
But I was a kid in the '90s,
and I remember the Atkins Diet.
Who remembers the Atkins Diet?
- [man] I'm on it right now.
- You're on it now?
- [man] Yeah, I'm on that.
- [Billie] It's not good for you, sir.
Didn't you read the news in 1994?
So, you remember it right?
Your mom's weird work friends coming over,
just shriveling up week by week
'cause all they would eat
was plain hamburger meat
and a fistful of string cheeses?
Your math teacher smelled like
a chili dog every day? It was terrifying.
But now, we have Atkins 2.0.
It's better than ever.
- The keto diet.
- [audience laughing]
[sniffing]
[banging on door]
[ominous music playing]
[banging on door]
[sighs]
Hey.
We need you to come with us.
We have some news about Ari.
The police found Ari last night.
- In a dumpster on the north side.
- Oh, my God.
Whoever did it, didn't know the first
fucking thing about hiding a body.
- They were trying to send us a message
- Or he was done by a fucking amateur.
You know a guy named Ray?
He and Ari had business together
the same night he went missing.
Ray? The cat that owns the car wash?
He be buying watches
and trinkets and shit?
I thought he didn't trust that dude.
You know him?
Yeah, I
Nah. Not [exhales]
Look, Ray ain't about that life.
An amateur.
Sometimes what people can do
will surprise you, Carlton.
Yeah. Yeah.
[video call tone ringing]
Yo.
- Tell me why you're mad, man.
- [boy] I wanna come live with you.
Why you so mad at her?
What did she do to you?
Nothing. I just don't wanna be here.
All right, do this for me.
Why don't you wait till I get to New York?
After I get to New York, me, you,
your mom, we'll talk, find a solution.
We'll figure it out. I promise.
If I was there,
you wouldn't have froze on stage.
[chuckles]
I love you. Behave. We'll talk soon. Okay?
Okay?
- Okay.
- All right.
[end call tone dings]
[knocking on door]
Hey.
Hey. That, uh, charity event.
Did you talk to Billie about that?
- Not yet.
- All right. Well, don't.
Don't say nothing
'cause I'm gonna to do it.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I can use it as practice
before The Garden.
- Cool. I'll call them.
- Out. I'm off to Wells Fargo.
Hey.
What made you offer Billie
Madison Square Garden in the first place?
We never talked about it.
I knew she was upset because
I haven't been using her new jokes,
so it was a way for me to repay her.
That's the Kid I know and love.
[chuckles]
One less thing to worry about.
Well, it's difficult for you, because you,
my friend, worry about everything.
I will worry less
when your ass is out of Philadelphia.
Soon. Very soon.
[train horn blows in distance]
- [dull thud]
- [groans, splutters]
[Ray gasps]
I didn't see Ari.
[moans] I didn't see Ari.
I didn't see him. [coughs]
He called me.
We were supposed to do a deal
on some keyboard trackers. [grunts]
He told me he had to reschedule.
He kept bragging about
some whale that he was scheming on.
He talked about some
fancy hotel he was going to.
Okay, okay, okay. Which one?
What's the name of the place?
[Ray] No, no, no!
- Hmm?
- The Four Seasons. The Four Seasons!
- He's lying.
- [Nikos] What?
He's lying. Ari would never tell him
the moves he's making.
You little shit!
This is why
we didn't trust that motherfucker!
You shit! I tried
to figure out who it was,
but he wouldn't say.
That's all I know.
I don't know nothin' else, I swear.
What are you doing?
- What are you doing?
- That's all you know, that's all you know.
Don't worry about it.
[Ray grunts] Oh, God
[gurgles]
[coughs]
- [in Greek] Savvas.
- What?
- What did you just do?
- What'd I do?
You didn't let him answer, stupid.
[Savvas]
You've been busting my balls today.
[Nikos] You should've let him speak.
- [Savvas] On my case all day.
- [cell phone ringing]
Cut the bullshit and finish up.
- [in English] Mom's calling. Shit.
- Fuck. I don't wanna talk to her.
- [in Greek] I don't want to talk to her.
- Mom, Mommy.
God bless, my Mommy.
Whatever you say.
Sure, Mommy.
[in English] Listen, I gotta go, okay?
We're gonna be there in like ten minutes.
- I love Sagapo. Love you. Yes.
- [camera clicks]
Mama wants to see us.
[in Greek] She gets
on my nerves when she cries.
- When Mom calls us
- Take the phone and go fuck yourself.
[in English] Oh, God. Motherfucker.
[Nikos] No, man.
There's no messages from Ari here.
Looks like he was telling the truth.
Doesn't sound like Ari,
but we'll check out the Four Seasons.
First we gotta go
to Mama's house. Come on, Carlton.
[cell phone vibrates]
Yo. Why are you with them?
Because they came and snatched my ass up.
We on the hunt to find out who killed Ari.
Shit.
- Are you okay?
- Yeah, so far.
I saw them dead this dude Ray, man.
They thought he had
information on where Ari was at.
Whoa. Hold on, they killed him?
[scoffs] Did they?
Shoved shears
right down his fucking throat.
Yeah, the dumbass.
He came to meet Ari the night before.
- Ari told him what was up.
- Did he mention my name?
- Did he say shit about my name?
- Nah, nah.
No. They deaded him before
he could even say anything.
Look, man, I told you,
these motherfuckers here, they're crazy.
You gotta be careful, man. Okay?
- You gotta be fucking careful.
- Yeah, no question.
So, uh, you talk to your man, Gene?
I'll have that whole thing
wrapped up tonight.
That's good.
We don't want to see this. You understand?
I hear you.
You don't have to finish, I'm on it.
You hear me? Be careful.
Yo, here they come. All right.
One.
Fuck.
[Carlton sighs]
So, how
How's your mother holding up?
She wants to make sure
we do everything we can to get justice.
She said it's ανοιχτή σεζόν
on the asshole who killed our brother.
What does that mean?
Open season.
Damn.
I'm gonna drop you off.
We gotta go identify Ari's body.
That's cool.
I'm down to do whatever's necessary.
[in Greek] After we see Ari,
I want to make a stop. Just you and me.
- Do you have secrets, man?
- Yes, secrets.
[in English]
I could roll with you if you want.
No.
[car engine starts]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Kid on recording] You know why?
You know why I thought the worst?
I thought the worst
because I know what I was doing as a child
when I was in my room
and my door was closed.
In the room with the door closed,
I was always doing the worst shit possible
on the other side of that door.
Every time my mom bust in my room,
true story, people,
my dick was always in my hand.
Swear to God. Every time.
"What you doing, boy?"
- [ringing]
- One time, she came in,
I had my dick in this hand,
and I had matches in this hand.
I don't know what was about to happen,
she got there on time.
I told her, "There was about to be
a hot dick in this bathroom,
I was gonna set this dick on fire."
- Hello.
- [Kid] Hey. What's up, champ?
You ready to have an amazing time?
I'm talking Green Day-style.
[Kid laughs]
- Come on, I'm outside.
- Okay.
[laughing giddily]
Yeah!
[laughs]
Whoa!
- Wow!
- [hip-hop playing on stereo]
This is It's like a spaceship.
This is amazing!
[Kid] You like it?
[van door slams]
- It's like MTV Cribs, except it's a van.
- What?
- Are you live? Let me talk to them.
- Oh, yeah.
- Please.
- [Gene] The man. Here's the man.
What up, world?
We on Gene live, baby. We 'bout to go up.
First, major shout out to you guys,
biggest shout out to my guy, Gene.
It's all me and this guy.
I'm talking great food,
great conversation.
Listen to me when I tell y'all this.
I'm about to show this man a blast!
I'm gonna give him a night
he's never gonna forget. Mark my words.
- [laughs]
- Here.
Oh, man. Kid-Gene, behind the scenes!
[laughs]
["Life On Mars" by Dexter Wansel playing]
All right, Gene. You gotta go live, man.
You gotta make
all those new followers feel jealous.
Yes, yes, yes.
Look, this is my brother
without the melanin, right here.
My guy. I told y'all.
Look at you, Gene.
You got 600,000 followers in one day!
- I know.
- Good job, man.
- This way, please.
- [Kid] Yes, right here?
- [cameras clicking]
- [Kid] Okay.
Right here?
[reporter] How's it feel
to support such a good cause?
[Herschel] So, Gene, how'd this happen?
You and Kid hooking up?
He wanted to make amends
for yelling at me at the hospital,
like the good guy he is.
Gene, come around.
Come here. Get in the shot. Come on!
[Gene laughs]
I wanna add somebody.
One sec, guys. One quick sec.
Here he is. Come on.
Come on, man.
[reporter 2] You doing this
for the kids in Philly?
Yes.
Thank you, guys. Thank you. Come on, man.
Bro, stop stealing my shine. Come on.
Thank you for coming and making this night
one that I will talk about forever.
- I'm gonna introduce you.
- Thank you, man.
Gene, I need you to wish me luck.
You see what's been going on,
I need a win.
You've never had two bad nights in a row.
Trust me, I know.
But, hey, good luck.
- You're my guy.
- Hey, buddy.
Could use some of
that good press after last night, huh?
[laughs]
I just wanna focus on the, uh
Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. Uh, listen.
Crush tonight, call it even
on the cell phone charger.
[laughs] I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
- It's Will, right?
- Yeah. Hell yeah.
All right. Just wanna make sure.
But first, we're gonna laugh.
Please welcome to the stage
one of Hollywood's brightest stars,
Philadelphia's own The Kid!
Let's hear it!
- [crowd cheering]
- Yeah!
Thank you. Thank you. Oh.
Oh, my! What an applause.
Thank you, guys. I like that.
Feel like y'all could do better.
Make a bit more noise than that!
[cheering]
Show some love. So good. So good.
Don't cheat me. Don't cheat me.
All right, let's address the elephant
in the room before we do anything.
How many saw me bomb
the other night? Be honest.
Yeah? Yeah, everybody saw it?
Well, here's the good news,
that's not going to happen tonight.
So get it out your goddamn heads.
As a matter of fact,
what I want you to do
is to take out your phones.
Take out your phones.
You got something good to record.
I'm about to fuck this show up.
We're gonna have a good time.
There's a lot of good things to laugh at.
A lot of good moments,
a lot of funny shit.
But before I do,
I gotta talk about
my guy, Will, for a second, man.
You guys know Will? Y'all know Will?
- [cheering]
- Yeah? Y'all know Will?
I had the pleasure of meeting Will
on a flight from LA here, to Philadelphia.
- We shared first class.
- Yeah.
And I found out Will was a fan.
So much a fan that he decided
to steal my joke on the plane
and do my bit on me.
And in that bit, he showed me
He showed me
how much he loves to say the word "nigga."
[Will laughs uncomfortably]
He does!
Will says the word "nigga" a lot.
He doesn't care where he is.
We were on the plane in first-class.
He was like, "Nigga!"
"Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga!"
"Nigga!"
Y'all never heard this?
You got a Black boss.
You never did this bit for your boss?
You gotta do the nigga bit
for your Black boss.
- You've never heard Will do the nigga bit?
- No.
Will, you gotta
do the bit for your Black boss.
I didn't know your Black boss
has never heard you do the nigga bit.
Hersch! What did he say, man?
He said, uh, "It's okay
if you do the 'ah' not the 'er.'"
"It's okay." That's what he said.
Yeah, say "ah".
Your Black boss ain't gonna get mad
if you say "ah." Call him a nigga.
Do it. No, but it won't
it won't bother him, right?
So, do it. "Nigga!" Come on.
Okay. Okay.
Get in his face how you did mine.
Remember?
"Nigga!"
"Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga."
You wanna do it. Here.
Take the mic. You can do it.
Come on, man.
[Kid] What?
You made your point.
If you're not gonna do it,
then I'm wasting my time.
I wanted you to make everybody laugh,
'cause you do the joke well, man.
Hersch, he didn't wanna do the bit.
He didn't wanna do the bit, Hersch.
He had me and you dying.
- Yeah, sure did.
- [Kid] Oh, my God!
Well, guys,
if Will isn't gonna do the bit,
then I guess I need to do bits.
I'll make you laugh since
Will don't wanna make you laugh.
It's a charity event, goddamn it,
so I feel like we should give.
Who wanna give their kids away?
Am I the only one?
- Raise your hand. Am I the only one?
- [laughter]
I'll auction my fuckin' kids off
right now if I could.
[playing jazzy pop song]
[Kid] I think I'm back.
Do you know what's crazy?
I didn't realize that I needed that.
I guess I did.
- [Will] Hey, Kid.
- Yeah?
- Not tonight.
- Hersch.
We good.
Thanks a lot, man.
After you left, my boss went on a rampage,
and he fired me for being
an embarrassment to the company.
That's, uh
That's terrible.
Yeah! Something tells me
you don't really mean that.
What happened on the airplane
was because I am a fan.
- A fan?
- Yeah.
- Oh. I thought you was being a dick.
- [Will] Fucking asshole.
I I repeated your joke back to you.
- Mmm.
- Okay? You wrote that joke.
And I'm sorry if I offended you,
but you cost me my fucking job!
I didn't cost you a damn thing.
You cost yourself your job.
Wow.
That's a hell of a way to treat fans.
- You have a good night.
- Hey, you have a better night.
[chuckles]
I cost him his job.
Get the fuck out of here.
Karma's a bitch, ain't it?
What were you saying?
You were saying, um Uh
Talkin' about, oh,
stand-up back in the day.
I'm gonna, um
I think I'm gonna head back to the motel.
I gotta go.
Why? Wait, wait, wait. We didn't even eat.
Shit. Come on, Hersch.
So, what I'll do, Gene, in New York,
I can basically, I can leave you
tickets to all three nights, man.
Cool?
- Can I ask you a question?
- Sure.
Do you like your fans?
What you talking about?
Because you treated
that guy Will like garbage.
- And he's a fan.
- No, Will's an asshole. He's not a fan.
You? You're a fan, Gene.
Mm.
Are you saying that
because you think it's true?
Or because I have a video
that you need me to erase?
[suspenseful music playing]
- Enjoy your stay.
- Thank you.
- You're the manager?
- I am.
Seen this man?
Okay, Gene, look.
Am I concerned about the video? Yes.
[Gene] Mm-hmm.
Yes, I am concerned.
But I'm not being nice to you
because you have the video.
- Really?
- Yes.
Then why you being nice to me?
I'm being nice to you
because you're a good dude, Gene.
[laughs] You're cool as shit.
Will was different.
Will's got some shit with him.
You gotta understand,
every fan doesn't mean well.
That's because we're human.
And humans make mistakes.
We're not like you.
You're
Kid, you're a superhero.
Gene. That's not true.
It's not true, man. I'm a regular guy.
- I make mistakes.
- Mm-hmm.
- Maybe this was a mistake.
- No, no, no.
You're saying this
because I have the video.
You weren't ready for me to
You're saying that because I have
this video, you're trying to play me.
No, Gene. Gene. Look at me.
- You gotta calm down.
- No. No.
Maybe you think
all your fans are like Will.
That we're all just
We're all just trying to attack you.
Huh?
I'm sorry, but hotel policy
prevents me from disclosing
any information about guests or residents.
No. The man in this picture
is my brother. Okay?
He was murdered.
And someone told us
that he was here a few nights ago.
The night he was murdered. So
I'm gonna ask you one more time.
Have you seen him?
No. I've covered this entire week,
and I haven't seen him.
[Savvas in Greek] You notice?
- [Nikos] I did.
- There are two.
- Yes, over here too.
- Three.
- [Nikos in English] Yeah.
- Leave that picture with me.
And a number.
I will ask the other workers.
And call you
if anything is said to the contrary.
Thanks very much. I'd appreciate it.
Hey.
Famous people stay here, yeah?
Naturally, we are the Four Seasons.
- Well, naturally.
- My condolences about your brother.
Thank you.
[Gene] I made a mistake at the hospital.
Weren't you mad at me, Kid?
Huh?
I'm not even supposed
to have this stupid video.
The only reason I have it
is because I followed you that night,
so I can apologize for upsetting you!
I didn't wanna upset you.
Look what you did.
If I showed this video to anyone,
if I sent it to anyone
your life will be ruined.
You'd go to jail.
Everyone who loves you
would be so ashamed.
If you sent that video out,
what kind of fan would you be?
If you know something
that can hurt somebody
and you still go and do it anyway,
are you being a fan?
Are you being a friend,
or are you
taking advantage of a situation?
Will took advantage of a situation.
You only have that video because
my brother took advantage of a situation.
Do you understand that, Gene?
They took advantage.
If you wanna go ahead do it, then do it.
But do not say I was mistreating a fan.
You tell the truth, okay?
Make sure you tell the truth.
That I was being a regular guy.
Whether you wanna accept
that or not, Gene, I'm human.
I'm not a superhero.
I'm a regular guy.
I made a mistake.
I made a mistake, Gene.
That's the worst night of my life,
when I made that mistake. I know that!
You telling me
I don't deserve a second chance?
Is that what you're saying to me, Gene?
Well, I would never hurt you.
'Cause the world needs you.
I need you.
[Gene sobs softly]
I guess I just
saw myself in that guy Will.
I understand.
But our relationship is different.
- Okay?
- Yeah.
Can I still go to New York?
Yes, you can come
to the whole East Coast leg of the tour.
You can be a part of it.
[chuckles]
As "Behind the Scenes Gene"?
As "Behind the Scenes Gene."
Here.
- Um
- Come here. Come here.
It's all right.
- I'm sorry.
- No, it's okay.
You did good, man. All right?
- You are a superhero.
- No.
Hey.
Thank you.
My guy.
[Gene laughs]
Your guy.
[exhales]
You all right?
Yeah.
I mean, he kinda lost it for a minute.
But we got it worked out.
My man's kinda crazy, ain't he?
A little bit.
Actually, a lot of bit.
I deal with fans day in, day out.
I forget something about what I do
makes them feel good about themselves.
Gene did that for you tonight?
He did.
[cell phone vibrating]
[Kid] He definitely did.
[cell phone chimes]
[line ringing]
[Kid] Yeah?
Yo, video's gone?
Believe it or not, it is.
[exhales]
Did your guys
find what they were looking for?
No, but they ain't stopped looking.
- I got you. Let's talk tomorrow.
- One.
Was that C?
Y'all good?
I think we will be.
[suspenseful music playing]
Damn.
[Kid] I told y'all, red carpets
and everything, get used to seeing him.
[cameras clicking]
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Yes, yes, yes.
Look, this is my brother
without the melanin, right here.
My guy. I told y'all.
Gene, you're startin' to look like me.
Except the complexion difference and all.
What, you got 600,000 new followers now?
Go, Gene. Go, man!
[Kid chuckles]
Yo, bro, stop stealing my shine. Come on.
[sighs]
[Kid] go up for a minute,
when I've done that,
it's all me and this guy.
I'm talking restaurants, great food,
- great conversation.
- [knocking on door]
[Kid laughing on phone]
We're gonna build, man. I'm
[clicks]
[knocking]
[knocking]
- Hey, Carlton.
- Yo. What's up?
- Everything okay? Kid?
- Can I? Yeah.
No, I just came to apologize, man,
for treating you like you was
a crazed stalker the other day.
- Sometimes I get protective of my brother.
- You were a little mean, but
You know, he told me that you
got rid of the video and everything.
- You did get rid of the video, right?
- Yeah. Deleted completely from my phone.
Right, right. See, that's smart.
Smart. Smart.
'Cause we gotta do
whatever we can to keep him safe.
Not just him.
You and him.
Yeah [chuckles]
But I assure you,
your and Kid's secret is safe with me.
Good, because I told him
that if you have his back,
then he should show you love.
Yeah.
And that's what he did.
It's a gift for you, man.
[Gene laughs]
[laughs]
Oh, my goodness.
But this is a Rolex Submariner!
Do you know how expensive this is?
Oh, I damn sure do.
- [laughing]
- Yeah.
[Gene] Holy.
Oh, my goodness.
Hey, Gene, man. You know, like
I get why I love my brother,
but what is all of this?
Why you love him so much?
[Gene] Oh
[light emotional music playing]
Your brother saved my life.
My sister, Angie
battled cancer.
Lost it.
Um, Kid was the only thing
that kept the smile on her face.
After she died, uh
things got really dark for me.
Until I put on Kid's Laugh 'Til You Cry.
Kept me from hurting myself.
Kept me sane.
Whoa. Heavy.
[Gene] Mm.
Well, now he considers you family, so
Now that we're family
can I ask you to do something for me?
What's up?
Don't be a burden to Kid.
Lift him up.
Don't drag him down.
[ominous music playing]
Okay.
You have a good night.
[airplane engine roaring]
[line ringing]
- [Savvas] Carlton.
- Yo.
What?
I think I found the dude you looking for.
Yeah?
Yeah.
[suspenseful music playing]