Queer Eye (2018) s09e08 Episode Script
Are You There, Fab 5? It's Me, Billy
1
What's going on, my little friends?
Welcome to Storytime Adventures
with me, Mr. Billy, librarian.
Are y'all ready for story time?
Yay!
This is the story of Mr.
Billy, the lovable librarian.
"The library is always filled
with laughter when Mr. Billy is around."
"'Cause the library is
his favorite place to be."
"But Mr. Billy has a secret."
"Every night, Mr. Billy
goes home from the library,
he transforms into Billy the Bachelor."
"Billy the Bachelor lives
in a very messy apartment
that smells like way too much cologne."
"Mr. Billy is always taking care
of everyone in the community."
"But it's time for Mr.
Billy the Bachelor "
" to learn to take care of himself."
"Luckily, the Fab
Five are here to help."
We're gonna go see our new hero!
- Aah!
- Yay!
- His name is Billy Allen.
- Hey, Billy.
I'm Billy Allen, and I am a librarian,
the branch manager of Whitney Library
for the Las Vegas-Clark
County Library District.
What's up? See y'all reading
your books and all that.
Mr. Billy, where's my book?
"The friendly local librarian who
hosts the popular kids' reading event
- Hip Hop Storytime."
- Cute.
I like to learn my ABCs ♪
I like to learn my one, two, threes ♪
Hip Hop Storytime is
nothing but vibrant energy.
"And Billy hosts a YouTube
channel called 3 Kings Vision
where he reads aloud children's books
with a protagonist of color
for kids around the country
to learn about reading from
someone who looks like them."
Wow.
What makes Billy a great librarian
is his focus on the kids and the youth.
And just to see his the
energy that he gave off
And the kids just loved him. That's
what makes him a great librarian.
Never in a million years
did I think I would become a librarian.
Honestly, librarianship saved my life.
"After graduating high school, Billy
fell into a partying lifestyle "
- Work. We gonna party, girl. Yes.
- I think it goes dark.
Okay. " and flunked out of college."
No, girl. Go back to school. No.
- You can [BEEP] out.
- Partying.
In my twenties, I was wild.
I went to a HBCU, and I thought
I was gonna become a nurse.
Flunked out, doing heavy
drinking, heavy partying.
And my dad, he was like,
"Look, you ain't gonna be
laying around the house."
"You gonna take your
ass to the military."
I went into the air force.
I still just didn't get it.
So I ended up getting
out of the military early.
You know, I'm like,
"What am I going to do?"
I'm like, "I'm getting
these rinky-dink jobs."
You know, trying to be
dating women and lying
and just not being authentically myself.
And I went back to
school at the age of 25.
"Ten years ago, he got a master's
degree in library sciences
and found his life's greatest
passion in serving the community."
Way to turn things around.
That's really impressive.
Billy spends a lot of time at
the library, always working.
He probably puts in
more hours than I do.
He lives, like, right across
the street from the library.
So his serving is through the giving.
"At the end of the week,
Mr. Billy is receiving
the Compassionate Cities
Award in Education at City Hall
for his services to the community."
"But before he gets the award,
it's time for him to address
the other areas of his
life he's been neglecting."
I think this opportunity's
gonna help him see something different,
help him build his confidence
up in other places and spaces
where he may not be as comfortable.
"He's living the bachelor lifestyle."
I actually have been
to Billy's apartment.
And, um yeah, it's a bachelor pad
that needs I won't necessarily
say a female touch, but a touch.
"His bachelor pad feels like it belongs
to a 13-year-old boy,
not a 39-year-old man."
Hot.
Billy wants to move up in the
library district and in the community,
so I would definitely like to
see him dress a little better.
Not that he dresses bad, but dresses
a little younger than his age.
I don't look like the
stereotypical librarian.
I try to dress as relatable as possible.
I think it would help
not only his career,
but I think it would help him
with his confidence as well.
"We're gonna teach Billy that
we're gonna teach Billy "
- I can barely Hurry!
- I know.
"We're gonna teach Billy
that before you get "
- No, we're not.
- Billy's gonna teach you to read, girl.
I get done, girl, with
that tongue twister.
Okay. "This week,
we're gonna teach Billy
that to really be a success, you
gotta first address the mess."
- Yay!
- Yeah!
I hope they don't find
out I haven't returned
a library book since, like, '89.
Good morning, my little friends.
This is Hip Hop Storytime.
Are y'all ready for story time? Yeah!
Okay, remember, this
is a library, children.
So be quiet.
" Mama Leila's belief that
God will always bring the rain."
Come on in. Come on. Come on. Go.
"She always made sure
food was on the table."
Come on.
Hello. Oh, sorry.
Come on, guys.
"I am my mama's wildest dreams."
Everyone say it together.
- "I am my mama's wildest dreams."
- "Wildest dreams."
The end.
Yay!
Thank you, Mr. Billy.
- Thank you.
- Goodbye to them and hello to us.
- Hi, Mr. Billy.
- Hey!
I'm Tan. Nice to meet you.
Like, I don't have human children,
but if I could take my cat
to this hip-hop story hour,
I would in a heartbeat.
Let me let everybody know
that this is the Fab Five.
And Billy has been nominated
for Queer Eye, so
- Nominated by you.
- Nominated by me.
- Now, Billy, you're stuck with us.
- Yep.
- Let's get it.
- How far do you live from here?
Literally two minutes away.
Since you're two minutes
away, I guess we can just walk.
- Meet us in five minutes?
- Yeah.
- Let's do it.
- It's hot out there.
- Bye. There we go.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
- High five.
You got it. Pow.
- Let's get it.
- Bye, everyone.
So every industry has a librarian?
Yeah, and people don't know you
gotta have a master's degree.
Did not know.
And then Black men, we
make up 0.3% of the field.
So I was like, "You know
what? I'm gonna do this."
- You found your passion. I love that.
- Yeah.
But it sounds like there's
other parts of your life
that is, like, missing out.
I will tell you, I think,
um, I'm at this point where
I would love to welcome
a long-term relationship.
Okay.
So that could be a
little something, but
Oh, that's a big something.
- That's not a little something.
- It isn't.
We're here! Oh my God,
we're future residents.
All right.
Hey!
- We're here already?
- Hey, let's get it.
Let's step into the magical
palace. It it it's magical.
Either that's sarcasm or you
really don't need our help.
- Oh, you gonna love it.
- Okay.
You gonna love it, man.
- You're awfully confident.
- Ready?
- Yes, let's do it.
- Inspectors, get ready.
- Here.
- I don't know if I'm ready.
Oh man. This is fire.
Ooh.
Okay.
Ooh.
No. No. No.
No, no, Billy. No. No.
- Let's have a look at everything.
- Oh, let's get it. Let's get it.
- Ooh.
- Oh man. What's that scent?
Cashmere vanilla.
Ugh, that does not smell
like cashmere or vanilla.
Nothing in the fridge but just four
cups. Except but none of that.
- I ain't get to it.
- Why you saving it?
What is this?
- That's Jesus juice.
- That you saving?
Get your blessings.
- I'm not gonna take a sip.
- Why is there nothing in your cupboards?
No, no, no.
Brother, no, no, no. Brother, no, no.
Can you explain what room we're in?
So this is, like, the living
room slash chilling area
where you catch the vibe.
Is it a camping vibe?
When I first met Billy, I
thought he seems quite type A.
He's really regimented in
everything he does. Uh-uh.
You can be regimented at work
and a complete shitshow at home.
Step into my office. Come on.
Come on in.
Come in. Don't be shy.
Okay, this is actually
I'm gonna close the door
so we can have privacy.
This is actually not all bad.
Let's observe this toilet. Do you
see how there's no shit spatter?
I don't see any rings.
Watch this.
Floss, oral hygiene, hair care section.
We got some hair products.
Oh.
So what is it with all the scents?
- I'm trying to figure out
- Hazelnut cream
- That's fire.
- That's not good for you.
Wow.
- Then there's a Febreze scent.
- Oh man.
A Fabuloso.
Versace. Versace. Versace.
Oh no.
If you could pick a smell in here,
like, what would it be? Like one.
- Like a like a cool, nice little breeze.
- I like that.
- Okay. All right.
- We leaders of the new cool.
I think we found why
that toilet's so clean.
- This is my pantry slash bookshelf.
- Whoa!
- So it's all books.
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
- And cologne packaging.
- Yeah.
This man literally brings his work home.
How does he eat?
What does he eat? I got questions.
- You are a very unique human being.
- Thank you, man.
For someone who is so deeply passionate
about bringing a new experience
to storytelling to
children in a library,
I am shocked by this home.
I don't believe that, like,
you're proud of your place
when you bring a girl home.
You wanna bring her in and be
like, "Yeah, this is my pad."
That's it.
Paging Billy to the bathroom.
Paging Billy to the bathroom.
Okay, I have to say, first of
all, aren't they such rude people?
I am loving and sweet,
so I won't come for you.
But I am also riddled with curiosity.
Do you use this to clean that?
You do, huh? 'Cause I wondered
how the toilet got so clean.
It's not necessarily
a classic toilet brush.
But you know what? You're
giving me ingenuity,
resourcefulness, making it work.
Okay, so
Look. I'm a librarian. I'm
a matchmaker for resources.
Honey, as long as you don't use
it on your dishes, you're fine.
Okay, so you wake up. "Oh my God.
I gotta teach them their vowels."
Then what happens?
So I have a really, uh,
strict, uh, skin routine.
- You have great skin.
- I wash my face.
- Good.
- I exfoliate my skin once a week.
This is probably my most
consistent part of my routine.
Skin care. Yeah.
Honestly, everything else, my
life is honestly like a tornado.
I mean, look, Billy's already
kind of ahead of the curve.
He has, like, a lot of good stuff
to work with in his bathroom.
I've seen a lot worse.
No! Ah!
No!
No!
There's flies everywhere!
- Billy, Billy, Billy
- Buddy.
Okay, Billy.
You know what's fascinating, Billy,
is just such a stark contrast
from who you are at work.
But then to be here makes me think
that there's still a part of you
that still self-identifies with this.
I mean, to be honest, that's
where I feel like I'm lacking
as far as taking myself
to the next level.
I feel like this stuff does affect me
in my professional life
and my regular life.
Of course it does.
I struggle with it. I've
been struggling my whole life.
And thank you for saying that.
Your voice just dropped two octaves.
- I'm actually hearing you right now.
- Yeah.
Are you embarrassed when you come home?
I know I could do better.
Somebody who's not embarrassed
doesn't make a lot of jokes.
What you did is,
you said, "It's great in here.
You gonna love the ambiance."
You do everything so that
way we can laugh the letdown.
I don't want nobody
talking shit about me.
- That's embarrassment.
- Yeah.
- It is.
- Okay. There we go.
This is not how you live if you're
feeling the way you say you feel.
So I just want the space to
match the place you're in.
- Absolutely.
- Also, honor the vulnerability.
- Yes.
- That was really vulnerable.
- And I'm I'm learning that.
- Stay in that space with us.
We want the truth, otherwise we
can't help you. That really is it.
We live in a world that doesn't
tell men to say that I'm embarrassed
or I'm sad about something
or I'm disappointed.
They tell us as Black men, "That's
the last thing you can share."
So I get it. We understand
where it's coming from.
- Yeah.
- But this is a safe space. This is
- This is a
- Twins.
This is a safe space.
- It is.
- I trust y'all.
- You should.
- Y'all make me feel comfortable.
Take him away, Tanny.
Can we talk about actual clothes?
Do you feel like you're stylish?
I do, but I wanna diversify
my look because I am a leader.
And I have aspirations of becoming
a director of a library system,
like my mentor, Kelvin Watson.
But I feel like also
my style is reflective of the
people that come in my community.
- Okay.
- They can relate.
- They can connect.
- Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like the line of work I do,
I don't always have to be in a suit,
but I feel like in certain functions,
for instance, I'm getting
my award this Friday,
and I just want to take
my life to the next level.
Oh, I found more candles.
I found more candles.
He loves a scent.
Paint a picture for me,
like, aesthetically
of, like, what you like.
So I think, um, when you come in here,
I want it to be a
reflection of my personality.
- Bright.
- Bright.
Happy.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Free-flowing.
- Free-flowing.
- Um
I know even the scent that you
said, which, like, a fresh breeze,
is giving me, like, coastal,
like, contemporary Miami vibes.
Well, I lived in Miami five years.
- You did?
- Yeah, so
- Did you like it?
- I had the time of my life.
- Yeah, I'm sure.
- Time of
- It's not hard to have there.
- Let me tell you, it's a vibe.
I wanna obviously create
a beautiful space for you,
but I also wanna help you create
patterns that help you live beautifully.
- Yeah.
- You know?
- Yeah, for sure. When I come home
- Yeah.
- it's like stuff is everywhere.
- It is everywhere.
I don't have a designated
space for the content creation.
As you can see over there,
I mean, that's my eating space
and my content-creating space.
Right. Okay.
You want to make sure that
you can put everything away,
literally and metaphorically.
Absolutely.
- You're in good hands. All right?
- Thank you.
I cannot personally wait
to throw this sofa away.
I mean, the place is
a disaster, you know?
And this is a smart,
intelligent, successful man.
The space does not reflect who he is.
It might feel like we've
torn you down a little,
but the plus side of that,
it's only up from here.
- Now it's time to build you up.
- Do you feel like we tore you down?
- I actually appreciate the truth.
- Okay.
Y'all helped me put my guard down.
That means something
to me. Like, seriously.
I appreciate that. We
only wanna see you better.
We're already sincerely impressed.
Like, what you're
doing for the community,
what you're doing for these kids
You are an exceptional human being.
And I think that right now, you
need some love showered back on you.
I think all the guidance
you give to other people,
you need a little given back to
you. There's nothing wrong with that.
And, look, your apartment is a mess,
but your heart is immaculate.
And that's the right place to start.
Let's get it.
We have a lot to do, so say goodbye.
You're not coming back here.
- It's over with?
- This is it.
- Say goodbye.
- Let's go.
- Thank you.
- Bye, house.
Bye, girl.
This house doesn't scream confidence,
doesn't scream organization,
doesn't scream professional.
And so I'm interested
to know why that is
and help him move through
that part of his journey
to be proud of who he is in his home.
Billy needs balance. And not
only will I be helping Billy
bring balance to his life,
I shall also be helping
him balance his face.
Multitasking.
Billy can look elevated
and more sophisticated
without having to take
away his personality.
I still want him to have style and swag,
just a more sophisticated version of it.
I think it's about laying the groundwork
in teaching him how to
basically be an adult.
You can be somebody who has a career
but also takes care of themselves
in their personal lives as well.
So for Billy this week, I
realized that we gotta go back.
We gotta figure out what
happened when he was younger
so that he can start to
really enjoy the present
that he's built for himself.
I'm big on rituals to
set my day up for success.
I make my bed.
I brush my teeth.
I make breakfast.
If you start your day with those
rituals, with taking care of yourself,
I feel like you're a lot more
likely to have a successful day.
There's gotta be a temperamental
chef somewhere around here.
Jeremiah and I are combining forces
to show Billy how
to be a real adult.
And a fun little bro day.
Honey, we're home!
There's no easier place to
begin than cooking breakfast.
Hi!
- What's up, boys?
- I'm in the building.
- Yeah.
- Hey.
The key here is to teach Billy
to empower him in the kitchen
so that he can make and execute
the perfect soft scrambled eggs.
- What's your favorite way to have eggs?
- Scrambled.
Thank God. Four eggs each, please.
I'm basically gonna teach you how
to make perfect soft scrambled eggs.
And what I learned, the key ingredient
is H2O.
- I am shook.
- I'm gonna go and eyeball this.
- Water.
- Whisk these out.
Scraping against the bottom.
Poof!
- It's wild.
- All right, go.
So immediately you wanna lift your pan
'cause we're already hearing a sizzle.
There you go.
Don't burn your eggs, boo.
There you go. Don't be afraid.
- Don't be afraid.
- Ooh, there you go.
Now, with our beautiful toast,
we're gonna schmear
herby mayo on the base.
A little layer of cheese.
Tomato.
Our crispy prosciut.
Thank you.
Jer, you want avo, right?
Yeah. Yes, please.
- You know what's crazy?
- Yeah?
I don't like avocado.
- You know what? Can I challenge myself?
- Now a little layer
- Let me try it.
- What?!
Let let me try it.
Let's get it.
Oh, look.
You do a little dance when you eat this.
- You know what I mean?
- Man!
- You know what?
- Mmm!
And it's only up from here.
- Do you know where we're going?
- I have no clue.
We're going to the Holy Grail.
Uh-oh.
- Taco Bell?
- No.
The Container Store.
- Ooh!
- Ooh!
- I hope you're ready.
- We're gonna get things contained.
What do you need in the kitchen?
Well, I need a lot.
There is not one thing in
his home that is organized.
So I really wanna help empower
him and give him the tools
and the things he needs to
tee himself up for success.
That preserves food 'cause
there's a little suction cup on it,
and then it pressurizes it.
Love a suction cup. Keep moving.
- Hey, this place is amazing.
- I told you.
We are gonna hook this man up
with stuff that's gonna
make his house a home.
Antoni, where'd you go?
Hold on. I saw something important.
Oh no. That means it's not important.
He's like Dory. He gets
distracted really easily.
I can tell.
Okay. Let's keep going.
Fire.
The only way to toss salad.
This is like Christmas.
One time, me and my sister, when
we was younger, we saw Santa Claus.
- Like you saw him at a store?
- Like, no. In the air.
- Oh, when you saw him. Got it.
- When I saw him. We saw him.
- Wow.
- Ching, ching
- And this feels like that?
- This does.
- That's nice.
- Yes, it does.
- They definitely don't have snacks here?
- I already asked.
- No Sour Patch Kids.
- Got it.
Let's get it.
Some people enjoy, like,
sports events or anything else.
This is, for me, top of the pile.
- Hi. How are you?
- Hello.
Listen, the scents in Billy's
home were all over the place.
- I smell the vibe.
- Yes.
- I mean, I hope so. Yeah.
- Oh yeah.
So I wanna teach him
that if we streamline it
and we create something
that feels original
and bespoke to just who he is,
it really will change
the way his house feels
and feel less transactional
and more purposeful.
Like this? Let me smell it.
- In there.
- Let me try. Let me try.
It's cool, but it's not cool for me.
Keep going.
- There's 900 different ones.
- Here we go.
This one smell like man deodorant.
This smells like candy.
Take it in.
- You wanna make a candle really quick?
- Let's do it.
You could bring a girl
here. That'd be cute.
No, a woman here.
- I'm sorry. A woman.
- Potential wife.
- A potential Okay. Wow.
- Do you wanna get married?
- Hell yeah.
- Aw, Billy.
- Hey, I'm ready for love.
- Oh.
- Ready for wax?
- Yes.
I'll be the guinea pig.
- You got this.
- I believe in you.
- Whoa.
- Oh! Oh, oh, oh!
You're gonna pour the
fragrance into this wax pot.
And stir just until it's,
like, really incorporated.
You can kind of tell if
you've stirred enough.
- Like making mashed potatoes?
- Yeah.
You're making a potion, for real.
- Obviously.
- Okay.
So now we're pouring into the vessels.
Perfect. Centering tool right on
there. Nobody wants a limp wick.
- So we use that to make sure she stays.
- No one wants a limp wick.
Let the record show I have never
struggled with a limp wick before.
This is not a difficult
thing to maintain.
- It's not.
- And it'll be nice.
You know where to come
to if you need new scents.
You know exactly the scent
profile. You know where to go.
And this will help the
house, again, the consistency,
and it just feeling like
home and smelling like home.
I'm gonna come back and wrap
all this up and get organized.
- I wanna add things.
- Okay.
- Look it, we've got a scent profile.
- Man, let's get it.
All right, let's go wax your back.
Everybody just calm down.
- Uh! We're at this gorgeous salon.
- Uh-oh.
It's a barbershop,
honey. We're giving butch.
- Hey. What's up, man?
- Hey, Alex.
- This is gorgeous Billy.
- How ya?
Good to meet you.
I'm pretty sure that's how men
introduce themselves to each other,
"This is gorgeous Billy." That
was natural for you guys, I'm sure.
- Let's take a seat, Billy.
- Uh-oh. We here.
All right.
When we think about hair,
it's basically like makeup for men.
Like, you're using your hair
to create contour for the face.
But what happens is when we
have this extra length here,
and then our hairline is
here, which is beautiful,
but then extra tall, it's kind
of stretching a little bit more.
Because your cheekbones and
your eyes are gorgeous, honey.
But it's kind of running the show.
It's lacking a little bit of balance.
And we could actually
achieve a more balanced vibe
by bringing this beard down.
If we kind of release
some of that length there,
make this more square,
then just ever so slightly do
I think a really nice little
classic fade would be nice here.
- Okay.
- Then the other thing is your eyebrows.
They skipped leg day is
what your brows did. They
They ain't been working out?
They have not been working out.
And so by giving a little henna brow,
that's gonna let your face
and your bone structure
be, like, the strongest possible,
which I think would be really handsome.
'Cause you are really handsome.
So should we start to fading?
- Let's get to it. Hey.
- Let's get to it, man.
Billy, tell us the skinny on this award.
Yeah, so Friday I am winning
the Compassionate Cities
Award in Education.
I didn't see it coming.
You know, we're doing some really
innovative things, my library.
And, um, you know, libraries are
the center of every community.
And, um, when you do
things for the people,
that's when you get all
the return on investment.
- Yeah. Yes.
- 'Cause it's about the people.
So libraries ain't about books no more.
We have books, but we have so much more.
And, like, the social work
part is so important to you.
Yeah. This literally happened
a week and a half ago.
This gentleman came in. He'd been
living out his car nine months.
And he was needing help.
- He doesn't have nowhere to stay.
- Yeah.
The social worker looked
him up and was like,
"Hey, can you get to the bank
and provide proof of income?"
So the gentleman ran to the bank
real quick and got a bank statement.
She said, "We could
place him in an apartment.
He could sign the lease."
The guy started crying in front of me.
These are stories that happen
every day in the library.
I mean, these are free resources.
Helping people finding housing
security, that is so major.
Yeah, we change
people's lives every day.
People ask me what I do.
- I'm a matchmaker for resources.
- Yes.
So, like, that's the emotional element
that's like, "Okay, this is what I do."
The purpose part of your
heart is so beautiful.
I mean, the whole of your
heart is so beautiful.
But it's like sometimes when people
are so aligned with their passion
and just serving their
community, which is beautiful,
burnout's a really huge issue
because sometimes, like, we
didn't fill up our tank at all.
And it's not only, like, you know,
haircuts and keeping your house clean.
Like, that's It's really, like,
what fills Billy's cup outside of work?
I love that Billy has passion in spades
and he has such a bright future ahead.
And in that future, I
hope that he can take
some of the empathy and
some of the compassion
that he showers on the
community around him
and take just, like, a
little bit of it for himself.
Now, if you could just carve
"I heart JVN" into this part.
- This side or that side?
- Yeah, right there. Perfect.
- You're joking, right?
- No.
- Can I touch your Adam's apple a little?
- Go ahead.
Ah.
Power!
I love a strong Adam's apple. It's
one of the things that makes me gay.
This beard's looking incredible.
We've got our glam team.
Come on in.
We have Emily on nails.
- We have Cassandra on brows.
- Hey.
You look great. We're doing so
good in the glam team department.
- It's about to happen.
- It's going down.
Yes.
Looks so good. Oh my God.
Yes.
A lot of straight men don't
understand the value of an eyebrow.
So I'm excited to introduce Billy
to the importance of an eyebrow
using henna to give, like, a
semi-permanent brow fill-in.
I'm obsessed with this
technique. I love the results.
And it's very natural
and low maintenance.
So I'm excited for
Billy to get his brow on.
Billy, are you ready to see the new you?
- I'm ready.
- It's time.
- It's time.
- Three, two, one. Ooh!
- Hey!
- Hello.
- What's popping?
- What do you think?
Hey, man. I'm ready to get to it.
Look at the shape with
my pink shirt behind
so you can see the shape.
- Yeah.
- Made it a little more round.
Look at the brow.
Oh man.
- Will you hold this?
- Yes.
- Doesn't that look good?
- Nah.
Nice and framed up.
Yo.
Oh man. I'm sparklin'.
It really is.
- He's on fire.
- I'm on fire.
- This librarian's on fire.
- On fire. Hey.
This is a rental, so I can't paint.
I can't do any type of construction.
But that doesn't mean I can't
add a lot of personality.
We're going for kind
of chic Miami vibes.
Love it.
Hi, guys. How are you? Come on in.
Join us. Take a seat.
Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. It's
so good to see you all.
Thanks for joining us.
We have Billy coming in a few minutes.
We've pulled a bunch of clothes for him.
I'm gonna put him in
a couple of outfits.
And I want your honest opinion.
Even if it's harsh, I'll take it.
- You know what he wears usually?
- Yeah.
It's gonna be still casual
'cause he's a casual kind of guy.
But we're just gonna dress him
up just a little bit. Sound good?
Yes.
- Do you know what you're doing here?
- I sure don't.
Well, you're about to
meet the Tanny Danny.
- My man.
- Hello, mate.
- Hi, beautiful.
- Hi, good to see you. How are you?
- Billy.
- What's up, man?
- Hello.
- How you doing?
- How are you feeling?
- Great.
- I'm gonna leave him to you.
- Thank you so much, K.
- Yep. Have fun.
- You guys, that was K.
He also goes by Karamo.
- Billy.
- What's up?
- You know these guys?
- Yes, I do. You got me, Markell?
- I got you.
- Okay. Okay.
- We're here for a reason today.
- Uh-oh.
- I'm gonna put you in new clothes.
- Okay.
What I really wanna do is just
make it clear that you can dress up
without it having to be a suit.
You can dress up and make it
look like you've made an effort
without having to try too hard.
I'm with it.
So they're gonna tell you
if they like what we're
putting you in or not.
But really, it's gonna
be a critique of my work.
Here we have sneakers. eBay.
eBay is where I can go and get
pre-loved or out-of-season stuff
that we have the product authenticated
so you know when you're buying the
product from eBay, it's authentic.
- Cool.
- Sound good?
- Let's make magic.
- Okay, great.
So will you please take this?
- All right.
- And will you please take these?
- You like those?
- Hey, I feel the vibes.
- I'm feeling the vibe.
- I feel the vibes.
Okay, go put it on and let's
really feel the vibe. Thank you.
- Uh-oh.
- Cheers, mate.
You call me Swaggy B
up here. You feel me?
Ladies' man right there.
Man, you feel me?
Yeah.
He's feeling himself. I like it.
Feeling myself, you
know? I feel the energy.
- It's different.
- Different good, different bad?
I feel good. What y'all think?
I'm drawn to the jacket.
I think it fits, like
- Same.
- Hey.
Same.
I think it fits your, like, story man,
like, children's kind of, like,
thing going on, that connection.
Do you appreciate the fact that
he's slightly more put together
than he typically is?
Yeah, definitely.
He looks a lot more, like, in
style, like, in tune with everything.
I gotta get in tune.
- Ready for another?
- Yes.
- Let's get it.
- Okay. Thank you so much.
Ooh.
Is there anything he
wears that you're like,
"Oh, he looks good in that"?
Or anything he wears that you hate?
- I like anything he wears.
- You do?
We don't look at the looks that much.
Billy claims that he had
to dress a certain way,
similarly to these teens, for
them to respect and care for him.
It's up to him how he feels about
it, like, what he wearing and stuff.
I agree with that.
They don't really care about the outfit.
They care about how he feels.
If Mr. Billy's happy, they're happy.
And I love that for him. And them.
- Okay.
- I'm on fire.
Who watching me? You see the eyeball?
Are you on fire 'cause
you're warm in a fleece?
I'm hot as hell.
These looks, they may
be a little bit bold,
but Billy is bags of personality.
He should reflect that in his clothes.
The look is actually pre-loved.
Really?
Which I love so much.
We love sustainability.
- What do you think?
- Hey, I feel good.
What y'all think?
Definitely feel like the purple,
especially centered in the middle,
is like, "Hey, I'm here."
- I'm in the building.
- Yeah.
Billy isn't quite award-ready just yet.
I know the direction I wanna
take to elevate his look
so that when he receives that award,
he feels exactly the way he wants to.
- I like it.
- Yeah?
- As long as you like it, I like it.
- Hey, you my man.
Well, I figured I'd start you
off with a fun little game.
- You're gonna be my assistant.
- A'ight.
And the point of it is that
I need you to see something,
understand something,
and then we're gonna have
a deeper conversation.
- Okay.
- Good with that?
I'm Gucci. Let's get it.
In Billy's apartment, he was laughing
it off about how messy it was.
He thought it was funny.
Let's see how funny it is
when we present how you're
living to the rest of the world.
Let's bring it to the streets.
And let's show everybody in the
world how you're actually living.
Billy, it's time for you
to see it. The disconnect.
Excuse me. You wanna play a little game?
Yeah.
- Are you Karamo?
- Yes.
Oh my God!
- I'm gonna give you this and you this.
- Okay.
I'm gonna show you some cards.
And then I want you to
tell me, based on the cards,
if it's a red flag or a green flag.
- Okay.
- Number one.
"He's a librarian, and
he's also great with kids."
Oh, green flag.
- Green.
- Solid green.
Green. I love to read,
so if he can, like, skip me
in line to get the good books.
"He's getting an award at City
Hall for work in education."
- Yes.
- Green flag.
- Green flag.
- Oh, that's green. Very green.
I love people that can work
with children, educate them
'cause that's our future
and it's important.
- This is his living room.
- Ugh.
Oh shit.
I'm so sorry. This is a big red flag.
It's time to retire the
camping chair for inside.
If your shit's unorganized like
that, what's your mind like?
Ooh.
"He's got a steady job with benefits."
Absolutely.
- Green flag.
- Green flag.
Not a fan. Just kidding. Green. Green.
But this is his bathroom.
- Yeah, this is a red flag.
- Hell no.
You said no. Red flag. Red flag.
- No, I wouldn't want to pee in there.
- Red flag.
Okay. And this is where he sleeps.
- Yeah, it's a red flag.
- Okay, then.
- Oh my God.
- Red.
Yeah, red. I'd go with red.
Uh, this looks like you
just got out of college,
and you don't know how to clean.
As an adult, you supposed to
be able to handle all of that.
But when you can't, you know
there's something going on.
I think it's just a lack of
self-respect and self-love.
If I went on a date with you
and I went back over there,
I would think there was
some inner issue happening
that you're not addressing.
I'd say there's some growing up to do.
Mmm.
I did not ask her to say that.
I don't think Billy's
even ever asked himself,
"Why is there such a disconnect?"
- Thank you. I appreciate it.
- Thank you.
A pleasure, man. Take care now.
- Good luck.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- You got it.
A lot of consistency in the answers.
A lot of consistency.
When I first met you,
you said everything
they said. That's crazy.
When you start hearing people say
the same thing over and over again,
the things that you've been hiding from,
this is where the
growth starts to happen.
Now you have to realize,
"Oh, yeah. I gotta face this."
"And it's time to change."
- How did that feel?
- It stings. You hear the truth.
I wanna make sure that
before you leave me,
you understand there's a
disconnect in your life.
Organization and not cleaning,
those things can be handled,
but there's a mental
issue that's a block
that we gotta figure out
what's going on there.
Honestly, um, I think just all
the stuff I've been through.
I feel like my past do come to haunt me.
The partying.
Um
I'm still thinking I'm 24, 25.
I got arrested three times.
I got my ass whooped by the police.
Drinking every day.
But when I got this success, it's like
I feel like people
that know me personally,
especially, like, family, they
don't see me as the person I am now.
So when I do come home,
I really don't care.
- You know?
- Yeah.
'Cause I'm not used to
holding myself to a standard.
Even when I was in
college, you know, um,
after I became a librarian, I'm saying,
"I'm gonna start 3 Kings Vision,"
all these people, from loved ones,
people I went to college with was
like, "I can't see him doing that."
I literally had a family member say,
"I just don't believe
it. I can't see it."
- I'm like, "What do mean?"
- Yeah.
- And that type of stuff stings.
- Yeah.
- This award thing is a big deal.
- Yeah.
I feel like so far in my 39 years,
that's the biggest moment of my life.
- I ain't see it coming.
- Yeah.
But I wanna be celebrated
by my loved ones.
- Yeah. Why can't you be here for me?
- Right.
I feel hurt right now 'cause
I know they ain't coming.
And that's the worst part.
- I know they ain't coming, bro.
- Yeah.
Makes you emotional.
He's still remembering that everyone
around him in his personal life
still thinks he's that
kid that messed up.
And first step is that he has
to start to forgive himself
if he ever wants to grow.
I always on the guard of not
telling people my whole story.
Why?
Because people judge.
Because you don't wanna be judged.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Okay.
I think you've gotta
forgive yourself from now on
to say, "I was learning."
Nothing you did in your past
should you ever be embarrassed of.
- Because you were learning.
- Yeah.
You were learning.
I do forgive myself for
just making mistakes.
I don't call any part
of my life a mistake.
Because if I call any
part of my life a mistake,
that means I shouldn't be here.
Facts.
I personally think that
in everything you do now,
when you're telling your
story about the library,
you need to start talking about,
"Hey, these are the things
I had to grow through
that led me here."
Because I think it's gonna be very
impactful, especially these kids,
if they know like, "Oh, Mr.
Billy had a moment of growth."
"I can have one too."
So as you go forward,
any speech you give,
any story time you give,
bring the vulnerability and forgiveness
of yourself in those stories.
Because the more you
can bring those in there
is the more you actually heal
yourself, and you won't be embarrassed.
You start to learn that
"I don't have to be afraid
of anybody judging me."
And I think in that, we're gonna
see a whole new real transformation.
- Thank you, man.
- I got you.
I got you.
- Thank you, bro, man.
- I got you.
I got the tears flying.
- What do you think Tan dressed Billy in?
- A dress.
- But I don't wanna get my hopes up.
- That's fair.
- How was it?
- I saw him after you did your haircut.
He looked good.
- You saw him already?
- Yeah.
Okay, Mr. Billy.
I wanted to make sure
that we get you something
that is more appropriate for
the award ceremony tomorrow.
Billy's winning the Compassionate
Cities Award for Las Vegas.
And that's such an honor.
The fact that he's receiving
this is massive for him.
I want him to be respected
completely in that space.
I need him to dress up well.
- Right, kids?
- Oh my God.
- Boo, boo, boo, boo ♪
- We are.
- Look at you bouncing down.
- Look at me handling stairs.
- Like She's All That.
- I'm a big boy.
- Just like She's All
- Ready for Billy?
- Yeah!
- Mr. Billy, will you join us?
What we talkin' 'bout?
- What we talkin' 'bout?
- Be careful, Billy.
- Don't fall down.
- I am.
The glasses, the outfit, the color.
Looking like a new book cover.
I do love the vibes and the look.
You're not like a stuffy librarian.
You're like a cool, hip, cute librarian.
The name of this book is
called Give Me My Flowers.
Oh!
That was freestyle too.
That's what he tells the ladies.
- Is this the look?
- This is the look.
You know what's great about it?
It's playfully sophisticated.
- Absolute Thank you so much.
- Hey!
- You look good. You sound good.
- Yes, sir.
- Someone's ready to get this award.
- Here's to that.
- Yes.
- Cheers to Mr. Billy and his award.
- To Mr. Billy!
- Cheers to Mr. Billy!
Yay!
Oh.
Ah.
Billy G!
- Pops!
- What up, Billy G? What's up, man?
What's up, man?
What's going on?
- Do you approve? Cute, right?
- It looks good.
- Yay!
- Hey!
Pops in the building. Wow.
You excited to see your dad?
- Wow.
- You excited to see him?
Hey, man. This is crazy.
I'd like to invite the first
speaker up to deliver our awards.
Can we welcome her?
Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
I'm very excited to have this
opportunity to present this award.
To start, I am doing
the education category,
and our winner is Billy Allen.
Yay!
Whoo!
Billy Allen serves as the
branch manager of Whitney Library
within the Clark
County Library District.
Billy is known for his role
as a matchmaker for resources,
tirelessly seeking out
the perfect resources
to meet the needs of his community.
He firmly believes in the
transformative power of reading,
especially for young children.
Another round of applause for Billy.
He will be having his speech in our
reception right after this, so
Thank you so much.
Got my Grammy.
Parents don't always see the evolution
that their children go through.
Sometimes you look at your kid,
and you see them at a certain age,
and they're frozen that way forever.
Watching Billy's father see
him the way we all see him
is really important.
I wanna shout out everybody
in the Las Vegas Clark
County Library District.
My staff at Whitney Library.
They support me.
When I was flunking out of college,
didn't know what I was gonna do,
made a lot of bad decisions,
libraries changed my life.
I didn't know this industry
can do all this, you know?
Providing resources, providing
information to the community.
And on this path, I met
my mentor, Kelvin Watson.
I can never say thank you enough
for all the support you're giving me.
Another Black man supporting another
Black man in the same profession.
We got Desmond London here,
my assistant branch manager.
Gregory Mason here, my youth
service department head.
We are three Black male librarians.
I don't think it's ever happened before.
This is the diversity,
equity, and inclusion
that a lot of organizations talk about.
This is how you practice it.
But still, even with that success,
I didn't take ownership of my past.
Forgiving myself and showing love.
This has been a
life-changing experience.
Yeah, Billy!
When you can own your truth,
you're literally untouchable.
I'm very appreciative.
This is my time.
I can finally own up and forgive myself.
You got me tearing up.
- You got me tearing up.
- I got you, dog. I got you.
You got me tearing up back there.
I love you. I have to go. I have
a house to finish. See you later.
- Take care. Bye.
- Bye-bye.
That was fire. I'm just
glad I got all this support.
- Yeah.
- Love.
Can we come in?
- What are you guys doing?
- Can we come in?
- I don't know. Are you ready?
- Can I come in?
Do you remember what the
house looked like before?
We sure do.
- Let us in!
- Ready?
- Yes.
- I'm ready.
Or we'll huff and puff
and blow your house down.
- Come on, Jer.
- After you, sir.
- Oh my God.
- Yo.
What?!
Yo.
Oh, what?
Wow!
Whoa!
- This is insane.
- Everybody just calm
Good job.
Wow.
It's a grown-up's home!
- Thank you.
- Oh.
What the hell?!
This ain't this
this is not this apartment.
I know you don't recognize
it. It is your home.
This is where a smart,
successful professional lives.
- This is romantic. This is sensual.
- Gorgeous.
This is now. This is happening.
- I remember the smell.
- Yep.
- Volume one.
- This is your scent.
- Look. Your scent's right there.
- Oh, have you given him a scent profile?
Custom scent profile.
Also, the canopy situation.
The canopy, this is next level.
This gives a lot of drama.
It hides that vaulted popcorn ceiling,
which wasn't doing anybody favors.
- Thank God.
- Oh my gosh.
This is the best tip
for every person who
ever has an apartment.
- Keep going. Keep going.
- Keep going.
Okay, look at your kitchen.
What the hell?!
It feels contemporary and masculine
and a place you actually wanna be in.
Doesn't it look nice?
You've got a pantry that
functions as a pantry!
I didn't know there was a pantry.
- That, I'm most proud of.
- Did you know you had a pantry?
- It was a bookstore.
- Where books went to die.
- A library.
- Yeah. So look it.
When you wanna do content, um,
this table just pushes over.
- This is here.
- Slide.
- This opens up.
- Oh my God.
This is for all your content.
You got lighting.
- Oh yes.
- Yo!
You've got outlets and everything
in here. All integrated.
And then you can put it away.
The best part is when you're done,
it goes away, and you close the doors.
- And you're not living in it.
- Yes.
- Jeremiah Clevenger Brent.
- Yes?
- You've outdone yourself.
- Outdone yourself.
- GOAT.
- So impressed.
This is all your green screen stuff.
- Girl, take a bow, honey.
- Take a bow, girl.
- So good.
- Take a bow, girl.
Hey, clap it up. Clap it up.
It's not about me. It's about you.
You haven't seen the bedroom yet.
Hey!
- Get in the bedroom!
- Hey!
Get in the bedroom!
Oh!
Hold up.
What in the
Was there always a platform in here?
No!
This is custom-made for you so
it can come out when you leave.
It's got storage drawers
all the way across.
This is fire.
This is where you bring a lady.
It feels sophisticated.
It feels grown-up.
Everything's got a place now. It's
not gonna be hard to live here.
Right.
- Thank y'all.
- Yeah. How do you feel?
Sh
This is crazy.
I feel great.
- Honey.
- Thank you.
I appreciate everything.
Voice cracking.
It was an honor.
I feel like these are my brothers.
Forever.
- Y'all be my brothers.
- Yeah.
Thank you.
Oh, it's gonna keep on going.
Keep on going. Spreading this love.
- Love you.
- Where we leave.
- None of us want to.
- I was about to hug you.
We love you, seriously.
- Thank you.
- so much. Thank you.
- Jeremiah.
- Sorry, Jackie.
The MVP.
- We'll miss you, Billy.
- We're gonna miss you.
Keep up the good work. We love you.
- Take care of this house.
- Peace out, Billy.
Hey!
Who's driving?
Not me.
Ah!
- What up? What up, son?
- Hey!
Oh man. This is this is nice, baby.
- Look it. You see the crib?
- Yeah.
Oh yeah. This is this is hot.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Watching Billy grow this
week, I'm so proud of him.
This is my content-creating station.
Hot. Man, that's sweet.
'Cause I know for a lot of men,
it's hard to confront
what you're feeling
and what you're embarrassed of.
- Look at the pantry.
- Oh.
Oh! Oh God.
This is so organized.
And he was vulnerable enough
to tackle it and move forward.
- This is really comfortable too.
- Yeah.
It's gonna be part of his story forever
that's gonna inspire generations of kids
in that library and around the world.
I'm thankful for all the love
and support I got this week.
That right there means a lot to me.
The first of many.
And, you know, I'm proud of you.
You know, I'm proud of you.
Cheers, Dad. Thank you, Dad.
Thank you, Dad, for showing up.
I'm damn near gonna be unstoppable now.
Yeah, you doing a fine job.
I'm just getting started.
Just getting started.
- How do you fold your fitted sheets?
- I don't.
I would take it like this
and like this and like
this and like that.
And now it's a perfectly
compact little ball.
What are you, a barbarian?
The first thing you do
is you grab the two bottom
corners of your fitted sheet
and you flip them inside out and
you tuck them in to the top corners.
Once that's done, you
smooth everything out.
And we fold this in like this.
Then you fold it over twice.
And on the last fold
Da, da, da, da ♪
you tuck it into this nice
little envelope that you've created.
Voilà.
Thank you so much.
- I'll see you later.
- See you.
- You can do the pink one.
- Thank you.
You guys, just three bros
out looking for shoe racks.
Chillin' with the bro.
Look at the frame of that shoe rack.
- Oh my God. Look at that ladle.
- Hot.
Honestly.
- Wax on.
- Yes. Pick up the speed, honey.
- Okay.
- Yes.
- What is this?
- Oh man.
- What?!
- Potato clips.
Guys, keep moving.
Jer, it's cool.
- That looks that looks like something.
- Uh, toothpaste.
Toothpaste.
It is really strong, that toothpaste.
Let's play pool with our bodies.
You guys, that's not how
pool that's not how it works.
I'm not even looking, but I can confirm
that's definitely not how pool works.
Throw that ball at us.
The people from the hotel are here
and are watching as you do this.
Okay, but this is my signature pose.
One, two, three, four.
- Five, six, seven, eight.
- Now I'm stronger ♪
- Dream fucking day, bro.
- Hey.
- Sick.
- Everybody just calm down.
Ah.
What's going on, my little friends?
Welcome to Storytime Adventures
with me, Mr. Billy, librarian.
Are y'all ready for story time?
Yay!
This is the story of Mr.
Billy, the lovable librarian.
"The library is always filled
with laughter when Mr. Billy is around."
"'Cause the library is
his favorite place to be."
"But Mr. Billy has a secret."
"Every night, Mr. Billy
goes home from the library,
he transforms into Billy the Bachelor."
"Billy the Bachelor lives
in a very messy apartment
that smells like way too much cologne."
"Mr. Billy is always taking care
of everyone in the community."
"But it's time for Mr.
Billy the Bachelor "
" to learn to take care of himself."
"Luckily, the Fab
Five are here to help."
We're gonna go see our new hero!
- Aah!
- Yay!
- His name is Billy Allen.
- Hey, Billy.
I'm Billy Allen, and I am a librarian,
the branch manager of Whitney Library
for the Las Vegas-Clark
County Library District.
What's up? See y'all reading
your books and all that.
Mr. Billy, where's my book?
"The friendly local librarian who
hosts the popular kids' reading event
- Hip Hop Storytime."
- Cute.
I like to learn my ABCs ♪
I like to learn my one, two, threes ♪
Hip Hop Storytime is
nothing but vibrant energy.
"And Billy hosts a YouTube
channel called 3 Kings Vision
where he reads aloud children's books
with a protagonist of color
for kids around the country
to learn about reading from
someone who looks like them."
Wow.
What makes Billy a great librarian
is his focus on the kids and the youth.
And just to see his the
energy that he gave off
And the kids just loved him. That's
what makes him a great librarian.
Never in a million years
did I think I would become a librarian.
Honestly, librarianship saved my life.
"After graduating high school, Billy
fell into a partying lifestyle "
- Work. We gonna party, girl. Yes.
- I think it goes dark.
Okay. " and flunked out of college."
No, girl. Go back to school. No.
- You can [BEEP] out.
- Partying.
In my twenties, I was wild.
I went to a HBCU, and I thought
I was gonna become a nurse.
Flunked out, doing heavy
drinking, heavy partying.
And my dad, he was like,
"Look, you ain't gonna be
laying around the house."
"You gonna take your
ass to the military."
I went into the air force.
I still just didn't get it.
So I ended up getting
out of the military early.
You know, I'm like,
"What am I going to do?"
I'm like, "I'm getting
these rinky-dink jobs."
You know, trying to be
dating women and lying
and just not being authentically myself.
And I went back to
school at the age of 25.
"Ten years ago, he got a master's
degree in library sciences
and found his life's greatest
passion in serving the community."
Way to turn things around.
That's really impressive.
Billy spends a lot of time at
the library, always working.
He probably puts in
more hours than I do.
He lives, like, right across
the street from the library.
So his serving is through the giving.
"At the end of the week,
Mr. Billy is receiving
the Compassionate Cities
Award in Education at City Hall
for his services to the community."
"But before he gets the award,
it's time for him to address
the other areas of his
life he's been neglecting."
I think this opportunity's
gonna help him see something different,
help him build his confidence
up in other places and spaces
where he may not be as comfortable.
"He's living the bachelor lifestyle."
I actually have been
to Billy's apartment.
And, um yeah, it's a bachelor pad
that needs I won't necessarily
say a female touch, but a touch.
"His bachelor pad feels like it belongs
to a 13-year-old boy,
not a 39-year-old man."
Hot.
Billy wants to move up in the
library district and in the community,
so I would definitely like to
see him dress a little better.
Not that he dresses bad, but dresses
a little younger than his age.
I don't look like the
stereotypical librarian.
I try to dress as relatable as possible.
I think it would help
not only his career,
but I think it would help him
with his confidence as well.
"We're gonna teach Billy that
we're gonna teach Billy "
- I can barely Hurry!
- I know.
"We're gonna teach Billy
that before you get "
- No, we're not.
- Billy's gonna teach you to read, girl.
I get done, girl, with
that tongue twister.
Okay. "This week,
we're gonna teach Billy
that to really be a success, you
gotta first address the mess."
- Yay!
- Yeah!
I hope they don't find
out I haven't returned
a library book since, like, '89.
Good morning, my little friends.
This is Hip Hop Storytime.
Are y'all ready for story time? Yeah!
Okay, remember, this
is a library, children.
So be quiet.
" Mama Leila's belief that
God will always bring the rain."
Come on in. Come on. Come on. Go.
"She always made sure
food was on the table."
Come on.
Hello. Oh, sorry.
Come on, guys.
"I am my mama's wildest dreams."
Everyone say it together.
- "I am my mama's wildest dreams."
- "Wildest dreams."
The end.
Yay!
Thank you, Mr. Billy.
- Thank you.
- Goodbye to them and hello to us.
- Hi, Mr. Billy.
- Hey!
I'm Tan. Nice to meet you.
Like, I don't have human children,
but if I could take my cat
to this hip-hop story hour,
I would in a heartbeat.
Let me let everybody know
that this is the Fab Five.
And Billy has been nominated
for Queer Eye, so
- Nominated by you.
- Nominated by me.
- Now, Billy, you're stuck with us.
- Yep.
- Let's get it.
- How far do you live from here?
Literally two minutes away.
Since you're two minutes
away, I guess we can just walk.
- Meet us in five minutes?
- Yeah.
- Let's do it.
- It's hot out there.
- Bye. There we go.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
- High five.
You got it. Pow.
- Let's get it.
- Bye, everyone.
So every industry has a librarian?
Yeah, and people don't know you
gotta have a master's degree.
Did not know.
And then Black men, we
make up 0.3% of the field.
So I was like, "You know
what? I'm gonna do this."
- You found your passion. I love that.
- Yeah.
But it sounds like there's
other parts of your life
that is, like, missing out.
I will tell you, I think,
um, I'm at this point where
I would love to welcome
a long-term relationship.
Okay.
So that could be a
little something, but
Oh, that's a big something.
- That's not a little something.
- It isn't.
We're here! Oh my God,
we're future residents.
All right.
Hey!
- We're here already?
- Hey, let's get it.
Let's step into the magical
palace. It it it's magical.
Either that's sarcasm or you
really don't need our help.
- Oh, you gonna love it.
- Okay.
You gonna love it, man.
- You're awfully confident.
- Ready?
- Yes, let's do it.
- Inspectors, get ready.
- Here.
- I don't know if I'm ready.
Oh man. This is fire.
Ooh.
Okay.
Ooh.
No. No. No.
No, no, Billy. No. No.
- Let's have a look at everything.
- Oh, let's get it. Let's get it.
- Ooh.
- Oh man. What's that scent?
Cashmere vanilla.
Ugh, that does not smell
like cashmere or vanilla.
Nothing in the fridge but just four
cups. Except but none of that.
- I ain't get to it.
- Why you saving it?
What is this?
- That's Jesus juice.
- That you saving?
Get your blessings.
- I'm not gonna take a sip.
- Why is there nothing in your cupboards?
No, no, no.
Brother, no, no, no. Brother, no, no.
Can you explain what room we're in?
So this is, like, the living
room slash chilling area
where you catch the vibe.
Is it a camping vibe?
When I first met Billy, I
thought he seems quite type A.
He's really regimented in
everything he does. Uh-uh.
You can be regimented at work
and a complete shitshow at home.
Step into my office. Come on.
Come on in.
Come in. Don't be shy.
Okay, this is actually
I'm gonna close the door
so we can have privacy.
This is actually not all bad.
Let's observe this toilet. Do you
see how there's no shit spatter?
I don't see any rings.
Watch this.
Floss, oral hygiene, hair care section.
We got some hair products.
Oh.
So what is it with all the scents?
- I'm trying to figure out
- Hazelnut cream
- That's fire.
- That's not good for you.
Wow.
- Then there's a Febreze scent.
- Oh man.
A Fabuloso.
Versace. Versace. Versace.
Oh no.
If you could pick a smell in here,
like, what would it be? Like one.
- Like a like a cool, nice little breeze.
- I like that.
- Okay. All right.
- We leaders of the new cool.
I think we found why
that toilet's so clean.
- This is my pantry slash bookshelf.
- Whoa!
- So it's all books.
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
- And cologne packaging.
- Yeah.
This man literally brings his work home.
How does he eat?
What does he eat? I got questions.
- You are a very unique human being.
- Thank you, man.
For someone who is so deeply passionate
about bringing a new experience
to storytelling to
children in a library,
I am shocked by this home.
I don't believe that, like,
you're proud of your place
when you bring a girl home.
You wanna bring her in and be
like, "Yeah, this is my pad."
That's it.
Paging Billy to the bathroom.
Paging Billy to the bathroom.
Okay, I have to say, first of
all, aren't they such rude people?
I am loving and sweet,
so I won't come for you.
But I am also riddled with curiosity.
Do you use this to clean that?
You do, huh? 'Cause I wondered
how the toilet got so clean.
It's not necessarily
a classic toilet brush.
But you know what? You're
giving me ingenuity,
resourcefulness, making it work.
Okay, so
Look. I'm a librarian. I'm
a matchmaker for resources.
Honey, as long as you don't use
it on your dishes, you're fine.
Okay, so you wake up. "Oh my God.
I gotta teach them their vowels."
Then what happens?
So I have a really, uh,
strict, uh, skin routine.
- You have great skin.
- I wash my face.
- Good.
- I exfoliate my skin once a week.
This is probably my most
consistent part of my routine.
Skin care. Yeah.
Honestly, everything else, my
life is honestly like a tornado.
I mean, look, Billy's already
kind of ahead of the curve.
He has, like, a lot of good stuff
to work with in his bathroom.
I've seen a lot worse.
No! Ah!
No!
No!
There's flies everywhere!
- Billy, Billy, Billy
- Buddy.
Okay, Billy.
You know what's fascinating, Billy,
is just such a stark contrast
from who you are at work.
But then to be here makes me think
that there's still a part of you
that still self-identifies with this.
I mean, to be honest, that's
where I feel like I'm lacking
as far as taking myself
to the next level.
I feel like this stuff does affect me
in my professional life
and my regular life.
Of course it does.
I struggle with it. I've
been struggling my whole life.
And thank you for saying that.
Your voice just dropped two octaves.
- I'm actually hearing you right now.
- Yeah.
Are you embarrassed when you come home?
I know I could do better.
Somebody who's not embarrassed
doesn't make a lot of jokes.
What you did is,
you said, "It's great in here.
You gonna love the ambiance."
You do everything so that
way we can laugh the letdown.
I don't want nobody
talking shit about me.
- That's embarrassment.
- Yeah.
- It is.
- Okay. There we go.
This is not how you live if you're
feeling the way you say you feel.
So I just want the space to
match the place you're in.
- Absolutely.
- Also, honor the vulnerability.
- Yes.
- That was really vulnerable.
- And I'm I'm learning that.
- Stay in that space with us.
We want the truth, otherwise we
can't help you. That really is it.
We live in a world that doesn't
tell men to say that I'm embarrassed
or I'm sad about something
or I'm disappointed.
They tell us as Black men, "That's
the last thing you can share."
So I get it. We understand
where it's coming from.
- Yeah.
- But this is a safe space. This is
- This is a
- Twins.
This is a safe space.
- It is.
- I trust y'all.
- You should.
- Y'all make me feel comfortable.
Take him away, Tanny.
Can we talk about actual clothes?
Do you feel like you're stylish?
I do, but I wanna diversify
my look because I am a leader.
And I have aspirations of becoming
a director of a library system,
like my mentor, Kelvin Watson.
But I feel like also
my style is reflective of the
people that come in my community.
- Okay.
- They can relate.
- They can connect.
- Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like the line of work I do,
I don't always have to be in a suit,
but I feel like in certain functions,
for instance, I'm getting
my award this Friday,
and I just want to take
my life to the next level.
Oh, I found more candles.
I found more candles.
He loves a scent.
Paint a picture for me,
like, aesthetically
of, like, what you like.
So I think, um, when you come in here,
I want it to be a
reflection of my personality.
- Bright.
- Bright.
Happy.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Free-flowing.
- Free-flowing.
- Um
I know even the scent that you
said, which, like, a fresh breeze,
is giving me, like, coastal,
like, contemporary Miami vibes.
Well, I lived in Miami five years.
- You did?
- Yeah, so
- Did you like it?
- I had the time of my life.
- Yeah, I'm sure.
- Time of
- It's not hard to have there.
- Let me tell you, it's a vibe.
I wanna obviously create
a beautiful space for you,
but I also wanna help you create
patterns that help you live beautifully.
- Yeah.
- You know?
- Yeah, for sure. When I come home
- Yeah.
- it's like stuff is everywhere.
- It is everywhere.
I don't have a designated
space for the content creation.
As you can see over there,
I mean, that's my eating space
and my content-creating space.
Right. Okay.
You want to make sure that
you can put everything away,
literally and metaphorically.
Absolutely.
- You're in good hands. All right?
- Thank you.
I cannot personally wait
to throw this sofa away.
I mean, the place is
a disaster, you know?
And this is a smart,
intelligent, successful man.
The space does not reflect who he is.
It might feel like we've
torn you down a little,
but the plus side of that,
it's only up from here.
- Now it's time to build you up.
- Do you feel like we tore you down?
- I actually appreciate the truth.
- Okay.
Y'all helped me put my guard down.
That means something
to me. Like, seriously.
I appreciate that. We
only wanna see you better.
We're already sincerely impressed.
Like, what you're
doing for the community,
what you're doing for these kids
You are an exceptional human being.
And I think that right now, you
need some love showered back on you.
I think all the guidance
you give to other people,
you need a little given back to
you. There's nothing wrong with that.
And, look, your apartment is a mess,
but your heart is immaculate.
And that's the right place to start.
Let's get it.
We have a lot to do, so say goodbye.
You're not coming back here.
- It's over with?
- This is it.
- Say goodbye.
- Let's go.
- Thank you.
- Bye, house.
Bye, girl.
This house doesn't scream confidence,
doesn't scream organization,
doesn't scream professional.
And so I'm interested
to know why that is
and help him move through
that part of his journey
to be proud of who he is in his home.
Billy needs balance. And not
only will I be helping Billy
bring balance to his life,
I shall also be helping
him balance his face.
Multitasking.
Billy can look elevated
and more sophisticated
without having to take
away his personality.
I still want him to have style and swag,
just a more sophisticated version of it.
I think it's about laying the groundwork
in teaching him how to
basically be an adult.
You can be somebody who has a career
but also takes care of themselves
in their personal lives as well.
So for Billy this week, I
realized that we gotta go back.
We gotta figure out what
happened when he was younger
so that he can start to
really enjoy the present
that he's built for himself.
I'm big on rituals to
set my day up for success.
I make my bed.
I brush my teeth.
I make breakfast.
If you start your day with those
rituals, with taking care of yourself,
I feel like you're a lot more
likely to have a successful day.
There's gotta be a temperamental
chef somewhere around here.
Jeremiah and I are combining forces
to show Billy how
to be a real adult.
And a fun little bro day.
Honey, we're home!
There's no easier place to
begin than cooking breakfast.
Hi!
- What's up, boys?
- I'm in the building.
- Yeah.
- Hey.
The key here is to teach Billy
to empower him in the kitchen
so that he can make and execute
the perfect soft scrambled eggs.
- What's your favorite way to have eggs?
- Scrambled.
Thank God. Four eggs each, please.
I'm basically gonna teach you how
to make perfect soft scrambled eggs.
And what I learned, the key ingredient
is H2O.
- I am shook.
- I'm gonna go and eyeball this.
- Water.
- Whisk these out.
Scraping against the bottom.
Poof!
- It's wild.
- All right, go.
So immediately you wanna lift your pan
'cause we're already hearing a sizzle.
There you go.
Don't burn your eggs, boo.
There you go. Don't be afraid.
- Don't be afraid.
- Ooh, there you go.
Now, with our beautiful toast,
we're gonna schmear
herby mayo on the base.
A little layer of cheese.
Tomato.
Our crispy prosciut.
Thank you.
Jer, you want avo, right?
Yeah. Yes, please.
- You know what's crazy?
- Yeah?
I don't like avocado.
- You know what? Can I challenge myself?
- Now a little layer
- Let me try it.
- What?!
Let let me try it.
Let's get it.
Oh, look.
You do a little dance when you eat this.
- You know what I mean?
- Man!
- You know what?
- Mmm!
And it's only up from here.
- Do you know where we're going?
- I have no clue.
We're going to the Holy Grail.
Uh-oh.
- Taco Bell?
- No.
The Container Store.
- Ooh!
- Ooh!
- I hope you're ready.
- We're gonna get things contained.
What do you need in the kitchen?
Well, I need a lot.
There is not one thing in
his home that is organized.
So I really wanna help empower
him and give him the tools
and the things he needs to
tee himself up for success.
That preserves food 'cause
there's a little suction cup on it,
and then it pressurizes it.
Love a suction cup. Keep moving.
- Hey, this place is amazing.
- I told you.
We are gonna hook this man up
with stuff that's gonna
make his house a home.
Antoni, where'd you go?
Hold on. I saw something important.
Oh no. That means it's not important.
He's like Dory. He gets
distracted really easily.
I can tell.
Okay. Let's keep going.
Fire.
The only way to toss salad.
This is like Christmas.
One time, me and my sister, when
we was younger, we saw Santa Claus.
- Like you saw him at a store?
- Like, no. In the air.
- Oh, when you saw him. Got it.
- When I saw him. We saw him.
- Wow.
- Ching, ching
- And this feels like that?
- This does.
- That's nice.
- Yes, it does.
- They definitely don't have snacks here?
- I already asked.
- No Sour Patch Kids.
- Got it.
Let's get it.
Some people enjoy, like,
sports events or anything else.
This is, for me, top of the pile.
- Hi. How are you?
- Hello.
Listen, the scents in Billy's
home were all over the place.
- I smell the vibe.
- Yes.
- I mean, I hope so. Yeah.
- Oh yeah.
So I wanna teach him
that if we streamline it
and we create something
that feels original
and bespoke to just who he is,
it really will change
the way his house feels
and feel less transactional
and more purposeful.
Like this? Let me smell it.
- In there.
- Let me try. Let me try.
It's cool, but it's not cool for me.
Keep going.
- There's 900 different ones.
- Here we go.
This one smell like man deodorant.
This smells like candy.
Take it in.
- You wanna make a candle really quick?
- Let's do it.
You could bring a girl
here. That'd be cute.
No, a woman here.
- I'm sorry. A woman.
- Potential wife.
- A potential Okay. Wow.
- Do you wanna get married?
- Hell yeah.
- Aw, Billy.
- Hey, I'm ready for love.
- Oh.
- Ready for wax?
- Yes.
I'll be the guinea pig.
- You got this.
- I believe in you.
- Whoa.
- Oh! Oh, oh, oh!
You're gonna pour the
fragrance into this wax pot.
And stir just until it's,
like, really incorporated.
You can kind of tell if
you've stirred enough.
- Like making mashed potatoes?
- Yeah.
You're making a potion, for real.
- Obviously.
- Okay.
So now we're pouring into the vessels.
Perfect. Centering tool right on
there. Nobody wants a limp wick.
- So we use that to make sure she stays.
- No one wants a limp wick.
Let the record show I have never
struggled with a limp wick before.
This is not a difficult
thing to maintain.
- It's not.
- And it'll be nice.
You know where to come
to if you need new scents.
You know exactly the scent
profile. You know where to go.
And this will help the
house, again, the consistency,
and it just feeling like
home and smelling like home.
I'm gonna come back and wrap
all this up and get organized.
- I wanna add things.
- Okay.
- Look it, we've got a scent profile.
- Man, let's get it.
All right, let's go wax your back.
Everybody just calm down.
- Uh! We're at this gorgeous salon.
- Uh-oh.
It's a barbershop,
honey. We're giving butch.
- Hey. What's up, man?
- Hey, Alex.
- This is gorgeous Billy.
- How ya?
Good to meet you.
I'm pretty sure that's how men
introduce themselves to each other,
"This is gorgeous Billy." That
was natural for you guys, I'm sure.
- Let's take a seat, Billy.
- Uh-oh. We here.
All right.
When we think about hair,
it's basically like makeup for men.
Like, you're using your hair
to create contour for the face.
But what happens is when we
have this extra length here,
and then our hairline is
here, which is beautiful,
but then extra tall, it's kind
of stretching a little bit more.
Because your cheekbones and
your eyes are gorgeous, honey.
But it's kind of running the show.
It's lacking a little bit of balance.
And we could actually
achieve a more balanced vibe
by bringing this beard down.
If we kind of release
some of that length there,
make this more square,
then just ever so slightly do
I think a really nice little
classic fade would be nice here.
- Okay.
- Then the other thing is your eyebrows.
They skipped leg day is
what your brows did. They
They ain't been working out?
They have not been working out.
And so by giving a little henna brow,
that's gonna let your face
and your bone structure
be, like, the strongest possible,
which I think would be really handsome.
'Cause you are really handsome.
So should we start to fading?
- Let's get to it. Hey.
- Let's get to it, man.
Billy, tell us the skinny on this award.
Yeah, so Friday I am winning
the Compassionate Cities
Award in Education.
I didn't see it coming.
You know, we're doing some really
innovative things, my library.
And, um, you know, libraries are
the center of every community.
And, um, when you do
things for the people,
that's when you get all
the return on investment.
- Yeah. Yes.
- 'Cause it's about the people.
So libraries ain't about books no more.
We have books, but we have so much more.
And, like, the social work
part is so important to you.
Yeah. This literally happened
a week and a half ago.
This gentleman came in. He'd been
living out his car nine months.
And he was needing help.
- He doesn't have nowhere to stay.
- Yeah.
The social worker looked
him up and was like,
"Hey, can you get to the bank
and provide proof of income?"
So the gentleman ran to the bank
real quick and got a bank statement.
She said, "We could
place him in an apartment.
He could sign the lease."
The guy started crying in front of me.
These are stories that happen
every day in the library.
I mean, these are free resources.
Helping people finding housing
security, that is so major.
Yeah, we change
people's lives every day.
People ask me what I do.
- I'm a matchmaker for resources.
- Yes.
So, like, that's the emotional element
that's like, "Okay, this is what I do."
The purpose part of your
heart is so beautiful.
I mean, the whole of your
heart is so beautiful.
But it's like sometimes when people
are so aligned with their passion
and just serving their
community, which is beautiful,
burnout's a really huge issue
because sometimes, like, we
didn't fill up our tank at all.
And it's not only, like, you know,
haircuts and keeping your house clean.
Like, that's It's really, like,
what fills Billy's cup outside of work?
I love that Billy has passion in spades
and he has such a bright future ahead.
And in that future, I
hope that he can take
some of the empathy and
some of the compassion
that he showers on the
community around him
and take just, like, a
little bit of it for himself.
Now, if you could just carve
"I heart JVN" into this part.
- This side or that side?
- Yeah, right there. Perfect.
- You're joking, right?
- No.
- Can I touch your Adam's apple a little?
- Go ahead.
Ah.
Power!
I love a strong Adam's apple. It's
one of the things that makes me gay.
This beard's looking incredible.
We've got our glam team.
Come on in.
We have Emily on nails.
- We have Cassandra on brows.
- Hey.
You look great. We're doing so
good in the glam team department.
- It's about to happen.
- It's going down.
Yes.
Looks so good. Oh my God.
Yes.
A lot of straight men don't
understand the value of an eyebrow.
So I'm excited to introduce Billy
to the importance of an eyebrow
using henna to give, like, a
semi-permanent brow fill-in.
I'm obsessed with this
technique. I love the results.
And it's very natural
and low maintenance.
So I'm excited for
Billy to get his brow on.
Billy, are you ready to see the new you?
- I'm ready.
- It's time.
- It's time.
- Three, two, one. Ooh!
- Hey!
- Hello.
- What's popping?
- What do you think?
Hey, man. I'm ready to get to it.
Look at the shape with
my pink shirt behind
so you can see the shape.
- Yeah.
- Made it a little more round.
Look at the brow.
Oh man.
- Will you hold this?
- Yes.
- Doesn't that look good?
- Nah.
Nice and framed up.
Yo.
Oh man. I'm sparklin'.
It really is.
- He's on fire.
- I'm on fire.
- This librarian's on fire.
- On fire. Hey.
This is a rental, so I can't paint.
I can't do any type of construction.
But that doesn't mean I can't
add a lot of personality.
We're going for kind
of chic Miami vibes.
Love it.
Hi, guys. How are you? Come on in.
Join us. Take a seat.
Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. It's
so good to see you all.
Thanks for joining us.
We have Billy coming in a few minutes.
We've pulled a bunch of clothes for him.
I'm gonna put him in
a couple of outfits.
And I want your honest opinion.
Even if it's harsh, I'll take it.
- You know what he wears usually?
- Yeah.
It's gonna be still casual
'cause he's a casual kind of guy.
But we're just gonna dress him
up just a little bit. Sound good?
Yes.
- Do you know what you're doing here?
- I sure don't.
Well, you're about to
meet the Tanny Danny.
- My man.
- Hello, mate.
- Hi, beautiful.
- Hi, good to see you. How are you?
- Billy.
- What's up, man?
- Hello.
- How you doing?
- How are you feeling?
- Great.
- I'm gonna leave him to you.
- Thank you so much, K.
- Yep. Have fun.
- You guys, that was K.
He also goes by Karamo.
- Billy.
- What's up?
- You know these guys?
- Yes, I do. You got me, Markell?
- I got you.
- Okay. Okay.
- We're here for a reason today.
- Uh-oh.
- I'm gonna put you in new clothes.
- Okay.
What I really wanna do is just
make it clear that you can dress up
without it having to be a suit.
You can dress up and make it
look like you've made an effort
without having to try too hard.
I'm with it.
So they're gonna tell you
if they like what we're
putting you in or not.
But really, it's gonna
be a critique of my work.
Here we have sneakers. eBay.
eBay is where I can go and get
pre-loved or out-of-season stuff
that we have the product authenticated
so you know when you're buying the
product from eBay, it's authentic.
- Cool.
- Sound good?
- Let's make magic.
- Okay, great.
So will you please take this?
- All right.
- And will you please take these?
- You like those?
- Hey, I feel the vibes.
- I'm feeling the vibe.
- I feel the vibes.
Okay, go put it on and let's
really feel the vibe. Thank you.
- Uh-oh.
- Cheers, mate.
You call me Swaggy B
up here. You feel me?
Ladies' man right there.
Man, you feel me?
Yeah.
He's feeling himself. I like it.
Feeling myself, you
know? I feel the energy.
- It's different.
- Different good, different bad?
I feel good. What y'all think?
I'm drawn to the jacket.
I think it fits, like
- Same.
- Hey.
Same.
I think it fits your, like, story man,
like, children's kind of, like,
thing going on, that connection.
Do you appreciate the fact that
he's slightly more put together
than he typically is?
Yeah, definitely.
He looks a lot more, like, in
style, like, in tune with everything.
I gotta get in tune.
- Ready for another?
- Yes.
- Let's get it.
- Okay. Thank you so much.
Ooh.
Is there anything he
wears that you're like,
"Oh, he looks good in that"?
Or anything he wears that you hate?
- I like anything he wears.
- You do?
We don't look at the looks that much.
Billy claims that he had
to dress a certain way,
similarly to these teens, for
them to respect and care for him.
It's up to him how he feels about
it, like, what he wearing and stuff.
I agree with that.
They don't really care about the outfit.
They care about how he feels.
If Mr. Billy's happy, they're happy.
And I love that for him. And them.
- Okay.
- I'm on fire.
Who watching me? You see the eyeball?
Are you on fire 'cause
you're warm in a fleece?
I'm hot as hell.
These looks, they may
be a little bit bold,
but Billy is bags of personality.
He should reflect that in his clothes.
The look is actually pre-loved.
Really?
Which I love so much.
We love sustainability.
- What do you think?
- Hey, I feel good.
What y'all think?
Definitely feel like the purple,
especially centered in the middle,
is like, "Hey, I'm here."
- I'm in the building.
- Yeah.
Billy isn't quite award-ready just yet.
I know the direction I wanna
take to elevate his look
so that when he receives that award,
he feels exactly the way he wants to.
- I like it.
- Yeah?
- As long as you like it, I like it.
- Hey, you my man.
Well, I figured I'd start you
off with a fun little game.
- You're gonna be my assistant.
- A'ight.
And the point of it is that
I need you to see something,
understand something,
and then we're gonna have
a deeper conversation.
- Okay.
- Good with that?
I'm Gucci. Let's get it.
In Billy's apartment, he was laughing
it off about how messy it was.
He thought it was funny.
Let's see how funny it is
when we present how you're
living to the rest of the world.
Let's bring it to the streets.
And let's show everybody in the
world how you're actually living.
Billy, it's time for you
to see it. The disconnect.
Excuse me. You wanna play a little game?
Yeah.
- Are you Karamo?
- Yes.
Oh my God!
- I'm gonna give you this and you this.
- Okay.
I'm gonna show you some cards.
And then I want you to
tell me, based on the cards,
if it's a red flag or a green flag.
- Okay.
- Number one.
"He's a librarian, and
he's also great with kids."
Oh, green flag.
- Green.
- Solid green.
Green. I love to read,
so if he can, like, skip me
in line to get the good books.
"He's getting an award at City
Hall for work in education."
- Yes.
- Green flag.
- Green flag.
- Oh, that's green. Very green.
I love people that can work
with children, educate them
'cause that's our future
and it's important.
- This is his living room.
- Ugh.
Oh shit.
I'm so sorry. This is a big red flag.
It's time to retire the
camping chair for inside.
If your shit's unorganized like
that, what's your mind like?
Ooh.
"He's got a steady job with benefits."
Absolutely.
- Green flag.
- Green flag.
Not a fan. Just kidding. Green. Green.
But this is his bathroom.
- Yeah, this is a red flag.
- Hell no.
You said no. Red flag. Red flag.
- No, I wouldn't want to pee in there.
- Red flag.
Okay. And this is where he sleeps.
- Yeah, it's a red flag.
- Okay, then.
- Oh my God.
- Red.
Yeah, red. I'd go with red.
Uh, this looks like you
just got out of college,
and you don't know how to clean.
As an adult, you supposed to
be able to handle all of that.
But when you can't, you know
there's something going on.
I think it's just a lack of
self-respect and self-love.
If I went on a date with you
and I went back over there,
I would think there was
some inner issue happening
that you're not addressing.
I'd say there's some growing up to do.
Mmm.
I did not ask her to say that.
I don't think Billy's
even ever asked himself,
"Why is there such a disconnect?"
- Thank you. I appreciate it.
- Thank you.
A pleasure, man. Take care now.
- Good luck.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- You got it.
A lot of consistency in the answers.
A lot of consistency.
When I first met you,
you said everything
they said. That's crazy.
When you start hearing people say
the same thing over and over again,
the things that you've been hiding from,
this is where the
growth starts to happen.
Now you have to realize,
"Oh, yeah. I gotta face this."
"And it's time to change."
- How did that feel?
- It stings. You hear the truth.
I wanna make sure that
before you leave me,
you understand there's a
disconnect in your life.
Organization and not cleaning,
those things can be handled,
but there's a mental
issue that's a block
that we gotta figure out
what's going on there.
Honestly, um, I think just all
the stuff I've been through.
I feel like my past do come to haunt me.
The partying.
Um
I'm still thinking I'm 24, 25.
I got arrested three times.
I got my ass whooped by the police.
Drinking every day.
But when I got this success, it's like
I feel like people
that know me personally,
especially, like, family, they
don't see me as the person I am now.
So when I do come home,
I really don't care.
- You know?
- Yeah.
'Cause I'm not used to
holding myself to a standard.
Even when I was in
college, you know, um,
after I became a librarian, I'm saying,
"I'm gonna start 3 Kings Vision,"
all these people, from loved ones,
people I went to college with was
like, "I can't see him doing that."
I literally had a family member say,
"I just don't believe
it. I can't see it."
- I'm like, "What do mean?"
- Yeah.
- And that type of stuff stings.
- Yeah.
- This award thing is a big deal.
- Yeah.
I feel like so far in my 39 years,
that's the biggest moment of my life.
- I ain't see it coming.
- Yeah.
But I wanna be celebrated
by my loved ones.
- Yeah. Why can't you be here for me?
- Right.
I feel hurt right now 'cause
I know they ain't coming.
And that's the worst part.
- I know they ain't coming, bro.
- Yeah.
Makes you emotional.
He's still remembering that everyone
around him in his personal life
still thinks he's that
kid that messed up.
And first step is that he has
to start to forgive himself
if he ever wants to grow.
I always on the guard of not
telling people my whole story.
Why?
Because people judge.
Because you don't wanna be judged.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Okay.
I think you've gotta
forgive yourself from now on
to say, "I was learning."
Nothing you did in your past
should you ever be embarrassed of.
- Because you were learning.
- Yeah.
You were learning.
I do forgive myself for
just making mistakes.
I don't call any part
of my life a mistake.
Because if I call any
part of my life a mistake,
that means I shouldn't be here.
Facts.
I personally think that
in everything you do now,
when you're telling your
story about the library,
you need to start talking about,
"Hey, these are the things
I had to grow through
that led me here."
Because I think it's gonna be very
impactful, especially these kids,
if they know like, "Oh, Mr.
Billy had a moment of growth."
"I can have one too."
So as you go forward,
any speech you give,
any story time you give,
bring the vulnerability and forgiveness
of yourself in those stories.
Because the more you
can bring those in there
is the more you actually heal
yourself, and you won't be embarrassed.
You start to learn that
"I don't have to be afraid
of anybody judging me."
And I think in that, we're gonna
see a whole new real transformation.
- Thank you, man.
- I got you.
I got you.
- Thank you, bro, man.
- I got you.
I got the tears flying.
- What do you think Tan dressed Billy in?
- A dress.
- But I don't wanna get my hopes up.
- That's fair.
- How was it?
- I saw him after you did your haircut.
He looked good.
- You saw him already?
- Yeah.
Okay, Mr. Billy.
I wanted to make sure
that we get you something
that is more appropriate for
the award ceremony tomorrow.
Billy's winning the Compassionate
Cities Award for Las Vegas.
And that's such an honor.
The fact that he's receiving
this is massive for him.
I want him to be respected
completely in that space.
I need him to dress up well.
- Right, kids?
- Oh my God.
- Boo, boo, boo, boo ♪
- We are.
- Look at you bouncing down.
- Look at me handling stairs.
- Like She's All That.
- I'm a big boy.
- Just like She's All
- Ready for Billy?
- Yeah!
- Mr. Billy, will you join us?
What we talkin' 'bout?
- What we talkin' 'bout?
- Be careful, Billy.
- Don't fall down.
- I am.
The glasses, the outfit, the color.
Looking like a new book cover.
I do love the vibes and the look.
You're not like a stuffy librarian.
You're like a cool, hip, cute librarian.
The name of this book is
called Give Me My Flowers.
Oh!
That was freestyle too.
That's what he tells the ladies.
- Is this the look?
- This is the look.
You know what's great about it?
It's playfully sophisticated.
- Absolute Thank you so much.
- Hey!
- You look good. You sound good.
- Yes, sir.
- Someone's ready to get this award.
- Here's to that.
- Yes.
- Cheers to Mr. Billy and his award.
- To Mr. Billy!
- Cheers to Mr. Billy!
Yay!
Oh.
Ah.
Billy G!
- Pops!
- What up, Billy G? What's up, man?
What's up, man?
What's going on?
- Do you approve? Cute, right?
- It looks good.
- Yay!
- Hey!
Pops in the building. Wow.
You excited to see your dad?
- Wow.
- You excited to see him?
Hey, man. This is crazy.
I'd like to invite the first
speaker up to deliver our awards.
Can we welcome her?
Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
I'm very excited to have this
opportunity to present this award.
To start, I am doing
the education category,
and our winner is Billy Allen.
Yay!
Whoo!
Billy Allen serves as the
branch manager of Whitney Library
within the Clark
County Library District.
Billy is known for his role
as a matchmaker for resources,
tirelessly seeking out
the perfect resources
to meet the needs of his community.
He firmly believes in the
transformative power of reading,
especially for young children.
Another round of applause for Billy.
He will be having his speech in our
reception right after this, so
Thank you so much.
Got my Grammy.
Parents don't always see the evolution
that their children go through.
Sometimes you look at your kid,
and you see them at a certain age,
and they're frozen that way forever.
Watching Billy's father see
him the way we all see him
is really important.
I wanna shout out everybody
in the Las Vegas Clark
County Library District.
My staff at Whitney Library.
They support me.
When I was flunking out of college,
didn't know what I was gonna do,
made a lot of bad decisions,
libraries changed my life.
I didn't know this industry
can do all this, you know?
Providing resources, providing
information to the community.
And on this path, I met
my mentor, Kelvin Watson.
I can never say thank you enough
for all the support you're giving me.
Another Black man supporting another
Black man in the same profession.
We got Desmond London here,
my assistant branch manager.
Gregory Mason here, my youth
service department head.
We are three Black male librarians.
I don't think it's ever happened before.
This is the diversity,
equity, and inclusion
that a lot of organizations talk about.
This is how you practice it.
But still, even with that success,
I didn't take ownership of my past.
Forgiving myself and showing love.
This has been a
life-changing experience.
Yeah, Billy!
When you can own your truth,
you're literally untouchable.
I'm very appreciative.
This is my time.
I can finally own up and forgive myself.
You got me tearing up.
- You got me tearing up.
- I got you, dog. I got you.
You got me tearing up back there.
I love you. I have to go. I have
a house to finish. See you later.
- Take care. Bye.
- Bye-bye.
That was fire. I'm just
glad I got all this support.
- Yeah.
- Love.
Can we come in?
- What are you guys doing?
- Can we come in?
- I don't know. Are you ready?
- Can I come in?
Do you remember what the
house looked like before?
We sure do.
- Let us in!
- Ready?
- Yes.
- I'm ready.
Or we'll huff and puff
and blow your house down.
- Come on, Jer.
- After you, sir.
- Oh my God.
- Yo.
What?!
Yo.
Oh, what?
Wow!
Whoa!
- This is insane.
- Everybody just calm
Good job.
Wow.
It's a grown-up's home!
- Thank you.
- Oh.
What the hell?!
This ain't this
this is not this apartment.
I know you don't recognize
it. It is your home.
This is where a smart,
successful professional lives.
- This is romantic. This is sensual.
- Gorgeous.
This is now. This is happening.
- I remember the smell.
- Yep.
- Volume one.
- This is your scent.
- Look. Your scent's right there.
- Oh, have you given him a scent profile?
Custom scent profile.
Also, the canopy situation.
The canopy, this is next level.
This gives a lot of drama.
It hides that vaulted popcorn ceiling,
which wasn't doing anybody favors.
- Thank God.
- Oh my gosh.
This is the best tip
for every person who
ever has an apartment.
- Keep going. Keep going.
- Keep going.
Okay, look at your kitchen.
What the hell?!
It feels contemporary and masculine
and a place you actually wanna be in.
Doesn't it look nice?
You've got a pantry that
functions as a pantry!
I didn't know there was a pantry.
- That, I'm most proud of.
- Did you know you had a pantry?
- It was a bookstore.
- Where books went to die.
- A library.
- Yeah. So look it.
When you wanna do content, um,
this table just pushes over.
- This is here.
- Slide.
- This opens up.
- Oh my God.
This is for all your content.
You got lighting.
- Oh yes.
- Yo!
You've got outlets and everything
in here. All integrated.
And then you can put it away.
The best part is when you're done,
it goes away, and you close the doors.
- And you're not living in it.
- Yes.
- Jeremiah Clevenger Brent.
- Yes?
- You've outdone yourself.
- Outdone yourself.
- GOAT.
- So impressed.
This is all your green screen stuff.
- Girl, take a bow, honey.
- Take a bow, girl.
- So good.
- Take a bow, girl.
Hey, clap it up. Clap it up.
It's not about me. It's about you.
You haven't seen the bedroom yet.
Hey!
- Get in the bedroom!
- Hey!
Get in the bedroom!
Oh!
Hold up.
What in the
Was there always a platform in here?
No!
This is custom-made for you so
it can come out when you leave.
It's got storage drawers
all the way across.
This is fire.
This is where you bring a lady.
It feels sophisticated.
It feels grown-up.
Everything's got a place now. It's
not gonna be hard to live here.
Right.
- Thank y'all.
- Yeah. How do you feel?
Sh
This is crazy.
I feel great.
- Honey.
- Thank you.
I appreciate everything.
Voice cracking.
It was an honor.
I feel like these are my brothers.
Forever.
- Y'all be my brothers.
- Yeah.
Thank you.
Oh, it's gonna keep on going.
Keep on going. Spreading this love.
- Love you.
- Where we leave.
- None of us want to.
- I was about to hug you.
We love you, seriously.
- Thank you.
- so much. Thank you.
- Jeremiah.
- Sorry, Jackie.
The MVP.
- We'll miss you, Billy.
- We're gonna miss you.
Keep up the good work. We love you.
- Take care of this house.
- Peace out, Billy.
Hey!
Who's driving?
Not me.
Ah!
- What up? What up, son?
- Hey!
Oh man. This is this is nice, baby.
- Look it. You see the crib?
- Yeah.
Oh yeah. This is this is hot.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Watching Billy grow this
week, I'm so proud of him.
This is my content-creating station.
Hot. Man, that's sweet.
'Cause I know for a lot of men,
it's hard to confront
what you're feeling
and what you're embarrassed of.
- Look at the pantry.
- Oh.
Oh! Oh God.
This is so organized.
And he was vulnerable enough
to tackle it and move forward.
- This is really comfortable too.
- Yeah.
It's gonna be part of his story forever
that's gonna inspire generations of kids
in that library and around the world.
I'm thankful for all the love
and support I got this week.
That right there means a lot to me.
The first of many.
And, you know, I'm proud of you.
You know, I'm proud of you.
Cheers, Dad. Thank you, Dad.
Thank you, Dad, for showing up.
I'm damn near gonna be unstoppable now.
Yeah, you doing a fine job.
I'm just getting started.
Just getting started.
- How do you fold your fitted sheets?
- I don't.
I would take it like this
and like this and like
this and like that.
And now it's a perfectly
compact little ball.
What are you, a barbarian?
The first thing you do
is you grab the two bottom
corners of your fitted sheet
and you flip them inside out and
you tuck them in to the top corners.
Once that's done, you
smooth everything out.
And we fold this in like this.
Then you fold it over twice.
And on the last fold
Da, da, da, da ♪
you tuck it into this nice
little envelope that you've created.
Voilà.
Thank you so much.
- I'll see you later.
- See you.
- You can do the pink one.
- Thank you.
You guys, just three bros
out looking for shoe racks.
Chillin' with the bro.
Look at the frame of that shoe rack.
- Oh my God. Look at that ladle.
- Hot.
Honestly.
- Wax on.
- Yes. Pick up the speed, honey.
- Okay.
- Yes.
- What is this?
- Oh man.
- What?!
- Potato clips.
Guys, keep moving.
Jer, it's cool.
- That looks that looks like something.
- Uh, toothpaste.
Toothpaste.
It is really strong, that toothpaste.
Let's play pool with our bodies.
You guys, that's not how
pool that's not how it works.
I'm not even looking, but I can confirm
that's definitely not how pool works.
Throw that ball at us.
The people from the hotel are here
and are watching as you do this.
Okay, but this is my signature pose.
One, two, three, four.
- Five, six, seven, eight.
- Now I'm stronger ♪
- Dream fucking day, bro.
- Hey.
- Sick.
- Everybody just calm down.
Ah.