| Interviews |
| Terms | FAQ | Staff | About Us | Contact Us ©2005-2007 STAGE TIME - The Magazine That Stands Up For Comedy. All rights reserved. |
BACK ISSUES INTERVIEWS Stand-Up Comedians Jim Norton Robert Kelly Donnell Rawlings Brad Stine Tammy Pescatelli Leighann Lord George Sarris Nick DiPaolo Russ Meneve Shang and more By Tasha A. Harris, NYC Comedy Journalist STAGE TIME The Magazine That Stands Up For Comedy |
I don't sit down and say, "Two guys walk in a bar."
If something happens to my life, I'm like, "That's
funny. It should be a joke." Then I'll throw
the premise onstage and I try to build off of it.
Do you remember your first killer joke?
My first killer joke was the fat Tyrone joke. It was solid.
It had punch lines; it had characters and I was eating
off that joke for nine years. I go places and I can tell if
people know the history of my comedy because I would
go somewhere and someone would go, "Why you don't
do the bike joke anymore?" I haven't done it in ages.
And the first time that you bombed?
I don't bomb. And if I do bomb, circumstances help
me bomb. I'm not going to bomb on not having talent.
Now, if I'm in a place with a rowdy audience or my mic
is not working or I got bad lighting, I'll bomb like that.
But I don't bomb on not being funny.
If something happens to my life, I'm like, "That's
funny. It should be a joke." Then I'll throw
the premise onstage and I try to build off of it.
Do you remember your first killer joke?
My first killer joke was the fat Tyrone joke. It was solid.
It had punch lines; it had characters and I was eating
off that joke for nine years. I go places and I can tell if
people know the history of my comedy because I would
go somewhere and someone would go, "Why you don't
do the bike joke anymore?" I haven't done it in ages.
And the first time that you bombed?
I don't bomb. And if I do bomb, circumstances help
me bomb. I'm not going to bomb on not having talent.
Now, if I'm in a place with a rowdy audience or my mic
is not working or I got bad lighting, I'll bomb like that.
But I don't bomb on not being funny.
The first time I bombed I was heckling this gay guy and I found out the worse thing to do -
a gay guy who's really secure being homosexual, you can't fuck with. I was calling him,
"You gay!" He's like, "Okay!" The way he embarrassed me - he was destroying me. "I'm more
man that you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get." That was like the best jab.
He was real graphic with it. So I tried to hit with some money shit. I was like, "You ain't got no
money. We're going to do this: I'm going to pull out my money and you pull out your money.
Whoever got the most money get to keep the other person's money." I'm thinking I'm rolling.
I pulled out like maybe $400 bucks and the dude pulled out a black American Express card."
I saw him maybe two years later and his voice was in my brain. He came up, "You remember
me?" I started having flashbacks and I called him "black American Express." We hugged on
that and it was all good. But the first time I bombed, a gay guy took me out.
How are you different from other black comics?
I think the thing that separates me from other black comics is I don't have an ideal audience.
What separates me is my ability to crossover where you can have black, white, Chinese or
purple people in the audience. You can have like 15 little kids, his mother and grandparents
and I can still get some comedy out of it. I think being able to work any audience is what
separates me from the average black comic. And I got better teeth than most black comics.
How was the transition from working onstage to working on radio?
It was easy but some of the people I worked with made it uncomfortable. I can interject humor
into anything, if it's writing a book or doing a column or a funny parody song. It wasn't a hard
transition. It's just that I realized that my voice had to be stronger than me making my face
animated so I had be very careful on word selection. People don't always see you; they gotta
to hear you. You gotta make people visualize what you're talking about through your voice.
You did the Rich Biatch tour with Charlie Murphy and Bill Burr. How did that come about?
It was awesome. After the first season [of Chappelle's Show], the money wasn't really rolling in
but I was like, "We got a lot of fame right now." So it was my idea to get some people from
the show. Charlie Murphy really wasn't doing stand-up comedy. I introduced him to stand up.
Bill Burr was an exceptional stand-up talent. I was like, "Let me put these guys together and
let's go pick up these checks that out here waiting for us.
When I first started, I had to earn my respect through every joke. When I would go to places,
they would be like, "Who is the big-head, skinny motherfucker?" And I had to prove that I was
funny. They didn't accept me. The thing about the Rich Biatch Tour is that people actually came
out to see us and going into that type of energy just makes you want to perform at higher level.
How long were you on the road?
We did it for a year - like 50 cities. We sold out everywhere. It was hot.
a gay guy who's really secure being homosexual, you can't fuck with. I was calling him,
"You gay!" He's like, "Okay!" The way he embarrassed me - he was destroying me. "I'm more
man that you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get." That was like the best jab.
He was real graphic with it. So I tried to hit with some money shit. I was like, "You ain't got no
money. We're going to do this: I'm going to pull out my money and you pull out your money.
Whoever got the most money get to keep the other person's money." I'm thinking I'm rolling.
I pulled out like maybe $400 bucks and the dude pulled out a black American Express card."
I saw him maybe two years later and his voice was in my brain. He came up, "You remember
me?" I started having flashbacks and I called him "black American Express." We hugged on
that and it was all good. But the first time I bombed, a gay guy took me out.
How are you different from other black comics?
I think the thing that separates me from other black comics is I don't have an ideal audience.
What separates me is my ability to crossover where you can have black, white, Chinese or
purple people in the audience. You can have like 15 little kids, his mother and grandparents
and I can still get some comedy out of it. I think being able to work any audience is what
separates me from the average black comic. And I got better teeth than most black comics.
How was the transition from working onstage to working on radio?
It was easy but some of the people I worked with made it uncomfortable. I can interject humor
into anything, if it's writing a book or doing a column or a funny parody song. It wasn't a hard
transition. It's just that I realized that my voice had to be stronger than me making my face
animated so I had be very careful on word selection. People don't always see you; they gotta
to hear you. You gotta make people visualize what you're talking about through your voice.
You did the Rich Biatch tour with Charlie Murphy and Bill Burr. How did that come about?
It was awesome. After the first season [of Chappelle's Show], the money wasn't really rolling in
but I was like, "We got a lot of fame right now." So it was my idea to get some people from
the show. Charlie Murphy really wasn't doing stand-up comedy. I introduced him to stand up.
Bill Burr was an exceptional stand-up talent. I was like, "Let me put these guys together and
let's go pick up these checks that out here waiting for us.
When I first started, I had to earn my respect through every joke. When I would go to places,
they would be like, "Who is the big-head, skinny motherfucker?" And I had to prove that I was
funny. They didn't accept me. The thing about the Rich Biatch Tour is that people actually came
out to see us and going into that type of energy just makes you want to perform at higher level.
How long were you on the road?
We did it for a year - like 50 cities. We sold out everywhere. It was hot.
| Home | News | Features | Interviews | Reviews | Essays | Columns | Archives | Feedback | Tell a Friend |