I can warm it in a microwave and
finish it. So it’s sitting there, it’s
cooled off. When I started with my
eggs, I want to time that toaster just
in time so that the toast doesn’t get
colder than the eggs.
GINA: See how methodical he is?
SLAP YOUR MAMA,
KEEPING IT REAL
LUKE: I don’t know who said “So
good you could slap your mama” (on
the cable show), but I heard it and I
was like, “Whoa!” And you’re keeping
of a show. What you see on set is
what you would see any day of the
week if you came to the house.
That’s the great thing about it. It’s
unscripted; there’s no direction.
When I get out there, I’m with Gina
just like I am at home.
GINA: Most of the dishes have
history. We’ll just kind of tell
the story about the dish, play in
between, which is what we would
do at home. We did one where
everybody was a statue. It’s just wild.
PAT: I think that’s where it really
comes from. Thank God we’re
working with a network and we’re
accolades, saying, “He’s always
trying to steal my sugar!”
THE NEXT GENERATION
LUKE: What are you teaching your
two daughters to help them have
the values that you so clearly have?
GINA: We try to portray is the love
between a man and a woman and
what it should be like. Pat doesn’t
degrade me. We try to show good
love, working together, and we try
to fight fair. You’ll have differences
and that’s OK, but it doesn’t have to
destroy and break down the whole
house. You have to break the cycle
of bad behavior. We work hard; we
work together; we’re dedicated; we’re
committed; we have endurance.
“I ate there for lunch and dinner, and took a later flight the next day so I could eat lunch
there again. Can’t wait to go back to Memphis,” says Luke.
it very real and authentic. You’re just
out there, and yet it’s the highest
rated show that they’ve rolled out.
working with people that just allow
us to be what we are.
GINA: People are hungry for that.
If you were around us on the norm,
you’d be afraid of some of the things
that we say.
GINA: They could easily say, “No,
that’s not going to work.”
PAT: We’ve been advised on several
occasions, “Don’t try to act.” The
best thing about it is Gina and I
have never been on television before
other than shows that I’ve done
with Al Roker, and I was the guest,
so I get three minutes, maybe. That
is no comparison to being the host
PAT: And that is such a saying, “It’s
so good it makes you wanna slap yo’
mama!” You wouldn’t literally slap
your mama, but it’s that good that
that’s what it makes you want to do.
So a lot of the sayings and the slangs
and the things that we use every day
at home ...
GINA: People are using them.
Now people are saying them with
PAT: One of the things that’s most
important to me and Gina is our
daughters. Our daughters are very
blessed and very fortunate because
they’ve got two parents and were
born in a household. They get a good
mother who knows how to be a good
mother, comes home and cooks,
cleans and is responsible, spends a
tremendous amount of time with
them, and she’s constantly teaching
them. I couldn’t have asked for a
better woman to raise my kids. From
a man’s perspective, it’s probably
as much or more important for a
man to be in his daughter’s life as a
woman. What they get from a man
is a perspective that they couldn’t
possibly get, so I have to set a good
example as a man, as a father. I
have to show them what a man is
supposed to do. Everything, from
how he provides to the way he talks
to a woman, the way he treats a
woman. I am the first example of a
man that they’ll see, and I’ve kept the
standard high as to the kind of man
that they should be looking for.
