Live at Gotham

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This past Wednesday I went back up to NYC for my Live at Gotham taping. Woo-hoo!!! We had to get in town the day before the taping just to make sure we were there and there were no problems. An extra free nite in a funky little NYC hotel? No complaints outta me. They put us up at the Maritime hotel. The hotel was in Chelsea and it was really cute. The rooms were a little small, but the space was gorgeous and they really went all the way with the cruise ship theme. Note the windows. I wish I had taken photos of my cabin/room and the shower. Then you’d really see what I meant.

Anyway, on Wednesday nite, the best friend Michelle who works in the city came by the hotel to evaluate outfit choices before we headed out to dinner. She picked the same outfit everyone else (including the wardrobe manager at Comedy Central) did. Of course it was my second choice, but ended up working well in the end. Then we went out to this Thai Restaurant a couple blocks away from the hotel. It was yummy. Good choice us! When were done eating, Mich had to hop the bus back to Hackensack and I had a show to get to.

My management had a benefit show going on that nite at Stand-Up NY, so me and the two other guys from the agency that were taping the show on Thursday –Nate Bargatze and Mike Vecchione — were on the show as a warm-up. Also on the show were Todd Barry, Rich Vos, Kevin Brennan and Jeff Ross. I was almost scared to talk to Jeff because I’ve seen him rip so many people to shreds at roasts, in my head I’m assuming he’s gonna start busting on me as soon as I introduce myself… Of course he didn’t and seemed like a really cool guy. Oh how I love NY. Continue reading →

Black Comedy Experiment Family Reunion Homecoming Revival Festival

Sorry I’m just now getting around to writing about this… I’ve had a pretty busy week. Last Saturday I went up to NYC to take part in the Black Comedy Experiment Festival.

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3 days, 40 great comics, 16 amazing shows showcasing the diversity of the Black comedy diaspora (not sure if it’s proper to use diaspora in this context, but I just did, so deal.)

I only went up for the last nite of shows. I was on a show called Chicks and Giggles with Abbi Crutchfield, Robin Cloud and Hadiyah Robinson. It was so much fun and played to a packed room. After that I went to the upstairs showroom for Laughing Liberally, hosted by comic and vigilante pundit, Baratunde Thurston. If you don’t know Baratunde, please check him out. He’s awesome. He has an amazing blog, he’s written a few books, speaks all over the country, and is an editor for The Onion. That show featured Leighann Lord, Elon James White (the festival producer) and Charles Star — the festival’s only White act — who was awesome. The last show I caught on Saturday nite was the Shades of Black show featuring Michelle Buteau, Baron Vaughn, Victor Varnado, Elon James White and Jason Weems of DC fame, who came up for the show as well.

I had a great time at all of the shows. And I had a bunch of friends from Howard that came out to see my shows and stayed for the rest of the nite and had a blast too! Finally got a chance to actually meet a lot of the comics I’ve exchanged e-mails with or just heard of. It was like an awesome young Black comedians homecoming or family reunion. There were so many shows I didn’t see that I wish I’d gotten the chance to check out… but there’s always next year. Big up to Elon and Baron for putting the festival together. Looking forward to next year. If they’ll have me, I’ll be there.