Growing up i didn’t even know I loved comedy. I watched cartoons after school, The three Stooges, Abbott and Costello and WC Fields on the weekend, then in the evening it was Rowan & Martins Laugh-In and the Carol Burnett show. My favorite comics at the time was Rich Little, Bob Hope, Phillis Diller and Nipsey Russell to name a few. It wasn’t until Richard Pryor I got my taste of black standup comedy in the mid 70’s. Me and friends use to sneak and listen to the Richard Pryor, Redd Fox, and Dolemite albums while our parents were away. Oh, and we watched Benny Hill on a regular. I even got in trouble with my mother because I ran the phone bill up calling “Dial-A-Joke”, she was mad AF.

it wasn’t until 1983 when Eddie Murphy made his debut, “Delirious”, stand-up comedy television special on HBO, we watched it everyday for the whole summer. In my opinion, Eddie murphy was the next generation comedy.

Comedy has always been the love of my life and continues to be to this day. When I decided to do this competition I had no idea how impassioned the comics were. From the outside looking in all you see is a comic on stage, Funny/or not, then you go home. I would frequent the “Comedy Union” in Los Angeles where a lot of comics got there start. I owned a communications business (Celebrity Communications) in Inglewood, CA at the time and thought it would be a great idea to sponsor some shows to boost my business. Before long i was the proud sponsor of the Friday Night show with host Rodney Perry and the Tuesday Night show hosted by Michael Colyer, and not to mention I supplied most of the LA comics with their pagers or cellphones. I spent 3 years sponsoring shows, couldn’t help but get to know the comedian’s first hand. What fascinated me the most was that most of the comedians had a ritual before going on stage. From dropping to their knees and praying, to finding space to be alone meditating. I thought to myself “These People are serious”. All of my years of watching comedy, and finally witnessing the inside, I have a lot of respect for the craft.

Promotions is another passion of mine. So, immediately i came up with the idea of a urban comedy competition. Not knowing the comedy realm, Rodney Perry informed me of the “Bay Area Black Comedy Competition”, who was on hiatus at the time, so, Little did I know it wasn’t MY idea. So, I thought I’d go ahead and get my feet wet in the business and pick up where the BABCC left off.

50 comics from across the nation, 10 comics per show, 5 shows. The winner from each advanced to the finales to compete for the grand prize and bragging rites. Comic Shawn Morgan claimed victory in the first Comics On Fire (COF) show. Shawn went on to do Bill Bellamy’s “Whos Got Jokes”, P Diddy’s “Bad Boys Of Comedy” and scores of other shows. COF went on to show case in NYC/New Jersey, same premise. 5 shows in New Jerseys “What’s So Funny Comedy Club” (RIP Baritone), and finales in NYC’s “Caroline’s On Broadway” where comedian Roz G (R.I.P.) won the grand prize. At least I can say my show made it to the world famous Broadway.

I had a ball doing these shows, the people I have met along the way, New friends I still have have today. Ive seen people grow and blossom into stars, it has been my pleasure to have them be apart of my show and my life. Not sue why I never came back with the show, i believe it was mainly because of the economy then (2005/06)(LA)(Schwarzenegger). But, we are back, Lets get it…

https://linktr.ee/comicsonfire