Headkrack, Gary With Da Tea bid farewell to 13 seasons of ‘Dish Nation’

Syndicated entertainment show “Dish Nation,” which had a deep connection to Atlanta, ended its 13-season run earlier this month.

Atlanta-based executive producer Joaquin Ferreira, who worked on the show from its original test run in the summer of 2011, said the show was a victim of shifting viewing habits and deteriorating conditions on broadcast television.

“It became very hard to make the finances work,” Ferreira said in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Live audiences are dwindling. And YouTube views didn’t make up for it.”

“Dish Nation,” which aired in Atlanta for years at 7 p.m. weekdays on Fox 5, aired its final 3,395th episode Sept. 12.

When the show debuted nationally in 2012, the original conceit was to have different radio morning shows offer hot takes on pop culture news, something these programs had already been doing for years.

Among the radio shows “Dish Nation” used over the years were “The Kidd Kraddock Morning Show” in Dallas, “Blaine Fowler & Allyson Martinek in the Morning” in Detroit, “The Heidi & Frank Show” in Los Angeles, “Brooke & Jubal in the Morning” in Seattle and “Scott & Todd” in New York.

But there was one constant for the show’s entire run: members of “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” in Atlanta. Smiley himself eventually stopped doing the show on a regular basis but his cast featuring Headkrack (Lester Raynel Ruffin), Gary With Da Tea (Gary Hayes) and Da Brat (Shawntae Harris) stuck around.

Porsha Williams was a host on "Dish Nation" for eight years from 2013 to 2021. (Courtesy of Dish Nation)

The chemistry among the Atlanta-based personalities was undeniable, Ferreira said, noting that “they resonated the best because they had such great energy.”

Headkrack, who grew up watching John Tesh and Mary Hart on “Entertainment Tonight,” said “Dish Nation” greatly expanded his brand and recognition nationwide.

“I’d be in airports and white ladies from Nebraska would run up next to me and ask what I’m dishing about,” he said. “My family and I were at the Statue of Liberty and got off the ferry. The guys in prison detail called out to me and said they watched me every day in the yard.”

Headkrack said he learned the fine art of the quick quip, which helped him get more airtime on “Dish Nation.” “I figured out how to get to the punchline quicker, to give the details faster,” he said.

Over time, because of creative and budgetary constraints, the number of radio hosts on the show shrank. For a few years, it was just teams out of Los Angeles and Atlanta. By 2022, the show moved to one location: Atlanta. Tanner Thomason, who had been part of the L.A. crew, moved to Atlanta and joined Da Brat, Gary With Da Tea and Headkrack in a new studio in downtown Atlanta.

“It was a lot cheaper to pay four on-air hosts instead of 20″ in 2012, Ferreira said.

The final crew, he said, “were just fantastic. All of them are just hilarious, really professional and easy to work with.”

He was especially bemused by Gary With Da Tea, who would go out of his way to provide a counterpoint to the others.

“He loved playing Devil’s Advocate,” Ferreira said. “It was always fun to figure out which side of a topic he’d land on. He was always trying to find the funniest way to disagree.”

Gary With Da Tea said everyone agreeing on a topic is tedious. “Most people are too scared to say what they really think but I didn’t care. There’s always more than one way to skin a cat.”

He is sad about losing the show: “I hate that it ended. It was fun and a good paycheck. It was also an easy job. I was getting paid to do the same job I do on the radio.”

Headkrack, a former Atlanta radio fixture, was on "Dish Nation" for 14 years until September 2025. He now hosts "Side Dish," a Fox Soul gossip show and owns a Pepper Boxing franchise in Buckhead. (Rodney Ho/AJC)