Phunny Business: A Black Comedy Page #3

AND NO DOUBT EASY TO WORK

WITH.

THAT'S WHEN I BECAME AWARE OF

BUDD FRIEDMAN AND I THOUGHT,

MAYBE I COULD OWN COMEDY

CLUBS, BUT TARGETING THE BLACK

AUDIENCE.

SO HOW DO YOU TELL YOUR

MENTOR, CHRIS GARDNER, YOU'RE

THINKING ABOUT LEAVING HIM,

AND BECOMING A COMEDY CLUB

OWNER LIKE BUDD FRIEDMAN?

RETURNING TO CHICAGO, RAY DID

A LOT OF SOUL SEARCHING, AND A

LOT OF RESEARCHING AND HE

DISCOVERED THERE WERE COMEDY

CLUBS EVERYWHERE.

THE COUNTRY HAD A NEED TO

LAUGH WE'D BEEN THROUGH A LO OF TROUBLES AND SUDDENLY THIS

THING CALLED STAND-UP BECAME

HOT.

AND IT GOT HOTTER AND HOTTER

AND HOTTER.

THE BOOM WAS HAPPENING IN

STAND-UP.

AH, IT WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE.

YOU KNOW, PRIOR TO THAT YOU

HAD SECOND CITY, YOU HAD

ZANIES, THAT WAS ABOUT IT.

SO IN CAME...

THE LAUGH FACTORY

CATCH A RISING STAR

THE IMPROV:

THE FUNNY FIRM:

I CAN'T EVEN NAME ALL THE

CLUBS THAT STARTED POPPING UP

AROUND TOWN.

THEY WEREN'T HIRING THE BLACK

COMEDIANS BACK THEN.

THERE WERE NO COMEDY CLUBS

THAT CATERED TO BLACK

COMEDIANS.

WE DID USE BLACK COMEDIANS BU THEY TENDED TO BE BLACK

COMEDIANS THAT WERE MORE

MAINSTREAM.

THE ONLY COMICS WHO WOULD GE IN A PLACE LIKE THAT WAS

SOMEONE LIKE...

I DON'T WANNA.

MICHAEL WINSLOW, THE COMEDIAN

FROM "POLICE ACADEMY."

SFX:
ENGINE REVVING

BEING IN THE MAINSTREAM, QUOTE

END QUOTE, WHITE CLUBS IT WAS

A FRATERNITY, YOU HAD TO JUMP

OVER PITS OF FIRE.

IF A COMEDIAN TENDED TO WORK

JUST TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY,

THEN THEY DIDN'T APPEAL TO THE

GENERAL AUDIENCE, AND SO THEY

WEREN'T THE BEST SUIT FOR OUR

CLUB.

IN THE MAINSTREAM CLUBS THEY

ALWAYS HAD JUST A BLACK NIGHT,

WHICH SUCKED.

CHOCOLATE SUNDAYS, HO CHOCOLATE, TOO FUNNY

CHOCOLATE.

JUST CALL IT WHAT IT IS, THE

NIGHT WHEN A LOT OF BLACK

PEOPLE GONNA BE THERE.

IT WAS NEVER NO BLACK CLUBS

THAT WAS CLASSY, IT WAS MORE

BARS AND LOUNGES, AND

NIGHCLUBS.

WE WOULD HAVE TO TRY AND GO TO

LARRY'S BAR GRILL AND GE LARRY LET YOU HOOK UP A MIC

AND ENTERTAIN DRUNK CUSTOMERS.

AT ONE ONE-THIRTY IN THE

MORNING THEY HAD TO CLEAN THE

DRINKS FROM ONE-THIRTY TO

TWO-O'CLOCK. AND SO YOU GOT TO

TELL JOKES AND THEY WOULD GIVE

YOU FIFTY DOLLARS.

I CAN'T IMAGINE PEOPLE WHO,

WHO LOVE ARTS AND LOVE TO DO

COMEDY NOT HAVING AN IMPROV.

NOT HAVING A ZANIES.

NOT HAVING A HOME.

WE GOT ALL THESE COMEDIANS OF

COLOR AND NOWHERE TO REALLY

PUT THEM.

RAYMOND LAMBERT ALSO

RECOGNIZED THE GAP IN THIS

MARKET, AND ALL JOKES ASIDE

WAS BORN.

SFX:
ELECTRICITY

RAYMOND WAS ABLE TO SAY, HEY

THERE'S A BLACK COMMUNITY HERE

THAT WANTS ITS OWN.

HE SAW THE NEED AND HE MET IT.

RAY WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME, AND

HE WAS SERVING A NICHE IN

CHICAGO THAT NOBODY TOUCHED.

THE FACT THAT RAY HAD NEVER

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