Sep 24, 2026 · 7 min · 8 segments
Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Black Mamba", he played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in…
The world was heartbroken yesterday by a helicopter accident in Los Angeles that claimed the lives of nine people, including that of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.
Kobe was such a life force, so strong and creative and inspired that, in my head, I thought that he was gonna live forever.
I met Kobe when he was 17 and I was 21.
He was a rookie on the Lakers.
And I was just starting out in the comedy scene in L.A. We were at a party, and we didn't know anyone at the party, so we just started talking.
And I said, like, hey, what are you doing? He goes, I play basketball.
I go, where? And he goes, for the Lakers.
I go, wow.
He goes, what are you doing? I go, I'm a stand-up comic.
We just got along.
We hit it off, started talking.
He was telling me he was into poetry, and I met his sister.
She was there.
And so then the guy that was having the party said, hey, guys, who wants to make a beer run? And Kobe wasn't drinking.
He was 17.
So he goes, I'll do it.
He goes, Jimmy, you want to come? So I go, okay.
So I get in the car.
It was me and Kobe Bryant.
And he's brand-new in L.A. Me, too.
I didn't know L.A. at all.
And we drive down Sunset Boulevard to this place called Pink Dot.
You pulled in.
The world was heartbroken yesterday by a helicopter accident in Los Angeles that claimed the lives of nine people, including that of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.
Kobe was such a life force, so strong and creative and inspired that, in my head, I thought that he was gonna live forever.
I met Kobe when he was 17 and I was 21.
He was a rookie on the Lakers.
And I was just starting out in the comedy scene in L.A. We were at a party, and we didn't know anyone at the party, so we just started talking.
And I said, like, hey, what are you doing? He goes, I play basketball.
I go, where? And he goes, for the Lakers.
I go, wow.
He goes, what are you doing? I go, I'm a stand-up comic.
We just got along.
We hit it off, started talking.
He was telling me he was into poetry, and I met his sister.
She was there.
And so then the guy that was having the party said, hey, guys, who wants to make a beer run? And Kobe wasn't drinking.
He was 17.
So he goes, I'll do it.
He goes, Jimmy, you want to come? So I go, okay.
So I get in the car.
It was me and Kobe Bryant.
And he's brand-new in L.A. Me, too.
I didn't know L.A. at all.
And we drive down Sunset Boulevard to this place called Pink Dot.
You pulled in.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.