STAGE TIME Magazine: Corey Holcomb, Comedian

How did you get started in stand-up?

I was funny and I knew it was something I wanted to do; but I didn’t know how to get
started. One of my friend’s brothers did comedy, Godfrey Danchimah. Godfrey would come
up to our job; we worked at a grocery store. He would talk about how he was on stage and
was having a good time and I was like “I wanna do it.”

He was like “Corey, it’s not easy as sounds.” He took me to the comedy club; but I think he
took me there to show me a lesson. I went to this open mike and I rocked. I rocked the first
time, so I was cocky. I invited everybody from the neighborhood for the next week. I
bombed so badly. I learned a lot about comedy in two weeks. It keeps me on the steady
pace to keep trying to get better. I don’t care how funny you were the last time on the stage;
you’re going to be judged by the next time you’re on the stage.

Why did you audition for Last Comic Standing 2?

Last year I saw a lot of comedians that I thought were not on my level to get prime-time
television exposure on NBC. I sort of looked down on the contest at first. I was headlining
at the Improv already. Why would I want to be in a contest and be judged? It’s exposure.
Being on Last Comic Standing helps the American public find out who you are. They don’t
know who’s funny. They go to the comedy shows to see the famous comedians. Famous
comedians sell the place out; but a lot of times, they disappoint the crowd. I’ve always
been that guy that was funny but I wasn’t famous. I was like “it would really help my career
if I was famous as well as funny.”

How did you adjust to living with other comics?

It’s not easy. Being in the house, you don’t go home; people are telling you what to do.
There wasn’t a lot of space. There’s no cell phones, no television. You’re piled on top of
each other in a competitive situation. If you don’t speak to this person, you lose.

What are thoughts on the situation with you and ANT when he said the N-Word?

It’s something that happens in society. In colleges, there is no class for racism…to
educate people on what’s sensitive to other people. If I was not in that house situation,
ANT would not have got on my nerves. They showed the part on the school bus; but they
didn’t show everything else that happened where I’m tolerating ANT –all the time. ANT can’
t get on my nerves by yelling out a name. It’s just we were like animals caged in. I don’t
care how friendly the dog is, if you put that dog in a cage with another dog, there’s gonna
be trouble. I don’t think I was treated fair.

Do you think you think the show portrayed you accurately?

I like the way they portrayed me; but I think it’s done all out of sympathy because I’m not
going to win.

I knew that when they did the three-way head-to-head.

They didn’t show everything that happened with that either. There are a lot of things that
happen, if the public knew… I’m not going to tell everything that happened; but trust me—
me and Alonzo were not going to challenge each other. Alonzo was my toughest
competition and he thought I was his toughest competition; without the “we’re both black
thing.” We knew they would make us go up against each other.

What is your response to critics who find your material offensive to women and do you
think it affected the number of votes you received?

I think if America was really voting for me, I would have won. I don’t think America was
voting for me. I think the winner of the Wild Card was determined before they even had the
Wild Card. As far as women voting for me, I do a show that is kinda bold. I like to think I’m
that voice of the average guy who is scared to say this stuff; but this is what he’s thinking.
Really, I’m an informant. I’m trying to help the ladies out.

How has Last Comic changed your life?

People have an idea of who I am now. I have to step it up with my plane tickets. People are
looking at me because I wasn’t in first class. The peer pressure to be in first class makes
me spend the extra $500 or $600 dollars because I was riding in coach and this old lady
knew me from the show. She says, “Hey, you’re Corey, you were so funny.” She looked me
up and down because we’re in coach; she goes “What happened? Do you make money?”

What do you want get out of being on the show?

I’ve been on the verge of having a sitcom for the last four years; but a lot of times, they
pass on my show because I’m not famous. My talent has always caught the interest of
studios and networks but they never push it all the way through. I’m hoping Last Comic
Standing pushes me through on the sitcom thing. I have accomplished everything I
wanted on the show.

When I was eliminated, I still felt like I won because the crowd booed when I didn’t move
on. When I was eliminated, they asked the crowd to leave. That’s not the crowd sitting in
the audience when they’re giving the results. That’s the crew and the producers. A lot of
people don’t know that. They gave the results in front of crowd and the crowd didn’t
approve. They thought I should have moved on and that was enough to make me not feel
bad.

You have been doing shows with Todd Glass. How do you like working with Todd?

It was a little hard the first show because I’m a headliner. I use to going on stage and
doing 45 minutes to an hour. I’m not used to splitting the time with people. I’ve established
myself as a headliner at the Improv, it’s hard to do that, and you’re not famous. It’s not that
you’re not headlining; but you’re sharing the bill with someone else, hoping the tickets
sales increase. My manager thought it would be a good idea, so I’m like “I’ll play this
game for a little while.”

In what ways have you grown as a comedian?

There are black comedians that can only perform in front of a black audience and there are
white comedians that can only perform in front of white people. The key to success for me
is to deliver to both. I don’t care if you’re black or white…relationships, which is what I talk
about…men and women don’t get along.

There are some in the black community who know me and I’ve done Leno three times, so
there were people from the white community who know me. But the [club] managers didn’t
know me.

It was reported that you played a cruel, practical joke on a semi-finalist.

Some people say I played a cruel joke on my buddy Vladimir [Khlynin]. Some said it was
cruel and to others, it worked; but the producers of the show were with it. They geeked me
on to do it. It almost went haywire because my friend went too far for the laugh. He took
Vladimir’s coat because Vladimir wouldn’t give up his money.

By this not being a real robbery, my friend was like “give me the coat then.” We’re running
back to the hotel and Vladimir flags down a cop—and then it got real. The cop was like “get
in the car” and drove down this one-way street. I ran as fast as I could and waved down the
car. The other officer was a lady and she told the guy to stop. So she got out of the car and
talked to me and I told her “this is a joke that is going haywire. He wasn’t robbed. This is
something we’re doing for a TV show, Last Comic Standing. I’m calling for the producers.
You know they didn’t come.

How did you get out of it?

The lady could tell something was wrong. When she got back in the car, that’s when all the
producers and everybody walked up. They were still acting like they didn’t know what was
happening.

Why is it that the main goal of the finalists on Last Comic was “just to make the Top
5?”

There were a lot of things that happened where comics realized “I don’t know about
winning. It’s out of my control.” It’s not about comedy; it’s not about talent. If you’re in the
top five, that’s more television time. Last Comic Standing is a cool title to have; but Ralphie
May does the best financially out of all the people on the show last year and he didn’t win.
That’s what you want to get out of it: to always make money on the road.

Do you think some of the comics were more concerned about creating drama than
being funny?

I think the people who wanted to cause the most drama were ANT and Tammy [Pescatelli].
In ANT’s case, he’s not the strongest comedian, so he’s trying to shine, one way or
another. For the most part, nobody really wanted drama. We didn’t really want to challenge
each other; but that’s how the game went. Contests are always controversial. The best guy
doesn’t always win. I would never tell a comedian to do a contest; but I would never tell a
comedian not to do something to help their career also.

How do you balance comedy and family life?

I don’t. I usually go with the flow. Unfortunately, when you’re in the entertainment business,
it has to be about you, until you’re sitting on enough money where you can relax.

Do you have children?

I have two kids that I know for sure are mine and one that may.

How old are they?

I have a son and a daughter, ages 3 and 11. If the other one is mine, he is 16. When I
graduated from high school, I had job at Kentucky Fried Chicken and I slept with my
manager because she was so fine and I couldn’t believe that she let me have it. She got
pregnant and I don’t know for sure if it was mine because she was married.

I know it sounds as if I’m making excuses but I didn’t realize what I was doing. I was at her
house. He was out of town. She told me, “I’m pregnant; but don’t worry about it. I took care
of everything.” I didn’t understand what she meant. I found out later on that she and her
husband were having problems conceiving.

I saw her one day when I was pumping gas. I said “how you doing?” and then she said,
“Do I know you?” I was laughing so hard. I figure in two more years, it will be cheaper for
me to go see her because the kid will be 18. I’m going to knock on the door, walk in and
be like “hey, don’t nobody know me but this bitch.” I had a wild life when I was young; but
now I’m a lot more mature than what I use to be.

www.coreyholcomb.com