On this day in comedy on April 9, 1979, Actress, Keshia Knight Pulliam was born in Newark, New Jersey
Pulliam began her career at the age of nine months. She was featured in a Johnson & Johnson national print ad for baby products. At the age of three she appeared on Sesame Street in the challenging role of “Keshia”. However, she is best known as Rudy Huxtable, the baby girl on NBC’s smash hit 80’s sitcom, The Cosby Show from 1984-1992. During that fruitful period, she made her big screen debut in The Last Dragon in 1985 and in 1986 Pulliam became the youngest actress ever nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on The Cosby Show.
Keshia Knight Pulliam was not just relegated to being known only as little Rudy. She appeared in commercials and guest starred on other television shows. She was seen in the films, Polly, Polly Comin Home, Beauty Shop (with Queen Latifah) and Madea Goes to Jail. In 2002, she won the celebrity version of Fear Factor. She was big on winning celebrity versions of shows because she won the celebrity version of The Weakest Link, too. She’s done music videos (Chingy’s “One Call Away” and Tank’s “Can’t Make You Love Me”) and plays (Donald Gray’s The Man of Her Dreams). In 2007 Pulliam returned as a regular TV star in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne playing the part of Miranda Lucas-Payne.
In VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Kid Stars, Pulliam ranks #19 and she has three NAACP image Awards (House of Payne) for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on April 8, 1998, The Players Club was released by New Line Cinema
Ice Cube made his directorial debut in this comedy starring LisaRaye, Bernie Mac, Faizon Love, Jamie Foxx, Terrance Howard, Charlie Murphy, Alex Thomas, A. J. Johnson, Dick Anthony Williams, Monica Calhoun, Tiny Lister, Adele Givens, Michael Clarke Duncan and John Amos.
The story is centered on LisaRaye, who narrates. She tells how as a young, single-mother-to-be she had a put-your-foot down argument with her father and moved out of the house. She subsequently got a job as a shoe store employee barely making ends meets. Then she meets up with a couple of girls who set her straight. Why be that sexy and not get paid for it? She needs to be stripping.
LisaRaye reluctantly gets into the stripping game, working at the Players Club and pulling in undeclared cash. It’s all good until her younger cousin gets a job stripping. This relative is soon doing more than stripping. She’s getting drunk and doing private parties. LisaRaye knows how wild those private parties can be from personal experience and tries to warn her cousin, who doesn’t want to hear it. She’s going where the money is. All the while the club owner, (Bernie Mac) has his own problems. He owes $60,000 to a gangster and his time is up. He’s beat up and thrown into the trunk of his car. If two crooked cops hadn’t shown up and arrested him that would’ve been it. Once Mac is out of jail retribution takes place on both sides.
During all the club drama, LisaRaye seeks some normalcy by dating the DJ. She discovers that her cousin has been tricked into doing a private party thinking there would be other strippers there. It turns out she is the only stripper and she ends up beaten and raped by the guest of honor who was told she was “that” kind of girl. LisaRaye and the DJ (Jamie Foxx) go to see her and then proceed to the club where Foxx holds a gun on the two strippers who got LisaRaye’s cousin ambushed while LisaRaye fights one of them furiously. After beating her down and quitting, LisaRaye knocks the other in the jaw as she and Foxx exit. Their timing is perfect, because just then the gangster and his henchmen shoot up the club and destroy it.
The epilogue is that the cousin gets a job at the shoe store then moves back home to live with her mother. LisaRaye and Foxx are a happy couple (He’s a top DJ on the radio station and she’s a reporter). Bernie Mac was killed by the gangsters. The two strippers that got beat down go work at a new strip club and Bernie’s henchmen go to Freaknik.
On a budget of $5 million, The Players Club grossed $23,047,939 domestically and $213,546 internationally for a worldwide box office take of $23,261,485.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on April 7, 1995, Bad Boys was released by Columbia Pictures
Starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, this buddy flick is Michael Bay’s directorial debut. The story centers around two narcotic detectives in Miami, Florida on a case. After $100 million of their seized heroin is stolen from the police vault Internal Affairs suspects it was an inside job and the narcotics division has a week to recover the missing drugs or they’re going to be shut down. Smith enlist one of his informants (Karen Alexander) to see what she can find out on the streets about a recent big robbery Alexander and her friend, (Tea Leoni) pose as escorts for a baller’s party. Things go south and Alexander and the baller are killed. Leoni manages to escape, but will only tell her tale to Smith. Unfortunately, he’s away when she calls into the station, but Lawrence is there and the police captain (Joe Pantoliano) talks him into impersonating Smith (since Leoni never met him) so she will cooperate. Lawrence does and they meet up.
The conflict arises because Lawrence is married to a jealous wife (aren’t they all) and must now live Smith’s life for a while until they can bust the thieves. Smith returns to find out he now has to live Lawrence’s life. The problem is Smith is a happy bachelor with all kinds of women stopping through; women Lawrence must kick out so he can continue his investigation and stay faithful to his wife. Needless to say, Smith is not happy living at Lawrence’s house. Meanwhile the thieves realize Leoni saw the murder and now they’re after her. The chase is on, but after a series of near death experiences and multiple gun fights the criminals are killed, order is restored and Lawrence cuffs Smith and Leoni up together so he can go explain to his wife why he’s been running around with a white woman.
Bad Boys was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. It featured the talents of Theresa Randle, John Salley, Michael Imperioli and Marg Helgenberger. Originally it was written for Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey. Then once the script was retooled, Arsenio Hall was approached to play the Will Smith role. Hall later admitted turning down that part was the worse career mistake he ever made.
Though it received mixed reviews, Bad Boys was a commercial success. On a budget of $19 million it made $65,807,024 domestically and $75,600,000 internationally for a worldwide box office gross of $141,407,024.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on April 4, 1968, Comedian, Writer, and Actor James Hannah was born in Chicago, IL
James Hannah was a writer’s writer. He left his native Chicago after a stint as quality control monitor for All Jokes Aside, Chicago’s premier black comedy club. James would listen to each act and then offer notes to improve that performer’s set. Whether they liked it or not most comedians tried his tweaks and found that James Hannah knew comedy. Once he’d established himself as a joke doctor he took his skills to Hollywood beginning as a staff writer for The Steve Harvey Show and from there the dominoes fell: My Wife & Kids, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Chris Rock’s, Never Scared, Weekends at the DL and Tyler Perry’s, House of Payne as well as penning material for some of the top comedians in the industry.
Hannah was also a comedian’s comedian. His lists of credits include, Def Comedy Jam, Comic View, Bad Boys of Comedy, Laffapolooza, One Mic Stand and Martin Lawrence’s First Amendment. He was a yardstick and an uncompromising comedy personality. His Truthpaste on social media was an immediate hit as James sounded off on subjects many would go nowhere near. He was bold, fearless and scathing.
James Hannah’s influence was evident in his era. Many Chicago comedians, such as Deon Cole credit Hannah with getting them into comedy by example and in some cases by writing out their first successful bits and teaching them the art. His work ethic was legendary. While most staff writers pander to series stars, James would tell them that they were not funny and then show them how to be. He was a blunt, brutally honest, unparalleled humor mechanic.
James Hannah died from an aneurysm on February 10, 2014, but his comedic phrasings will live on forever.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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An HBO favorite returns this summer for his fourth live solo stand-up special on the network when GEORGE LOPEZ: THE WALL, LIVE FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. debuts SATURDAY, AUG. 5 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live ET/tape-delayed PT). The exclusive special features Lopez performing all-new material before a live audience at the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., his first time headlining the venue.
The special will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO and affiliate portals.
One of the country’s top stand-up comics, Lopez’s varied list of HBO credits includes 2015’s “It’s Not Me, It’s You,” 2009’s Grammy®-nominated “Tall, Dark & Chicano,” which was the highest rated stand-up special on the network in five years, and “America’s Mexican,” his first live HBO special. He also performed on “Comic Relief™ 2006,” appeared in the HBO Films presentation “Real Women Have Curves,” appeared as a guest commentator on HBO Sports’ “Inside the NFL” and performed on 2009’s “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.”
He stars in and produces the current comedy series “Lopez,” which has just completed its second season and has been nominated for two 2017 Imagen Awards, in the categories Best Primetime Television Program – Comedy and Best Actor – Television. Lopez is currently one of the stars on the stand-up comedy tour The Comedy Get Down, alongside D.L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin and Cedric the Entertainer.
For two seasons he hosted “Lopez Tonight,” a late-night talk show, which represented his return to series television after co-creating, writing, producing and starring in the groundbreaking hit sitcom “George Lopez,” which ran for six seasons. He also twice hosted the Latin Emmy® Awards, co-hosted the Emmy® Awards and released the Grammy-nominated albums “Team Leader” and “El Mas Chignon.” Lopez has written the autobiographical books “Why Are You Crying?” and “I’m Not Gonna Lie And Other Lies You Tell When You Turn 50.”
In 2015, Lopez was seen in the drama “Spare Parts,” which he also produced. He also appeared in feature films such as “Valentine’s Day,” “Swing Vote, “The Spy Next Door,” “Mr. Troop Mom,” “Balls of Fury,” the “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” franchise, “Marmaduke,” “Rio,” “The Smurfs” and “Escape from Planet Earth.”
Lopez has received numerous honors for his talents and charitable endeavors, including the 2004 Artist of the Year and Humanitarian Award from Harvard University. That same year, he was honored with the Spirit of Liberty Award by People for the American Way. In 2005, TIME recognized Lopez as one of “The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America” and TV Guide named him one of the “Top 50 Greatest Television Dads of All Time.” In 2006, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
GEORGE LOPEZ: THE WALL, LIVE FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. is executive produced and directed by Troy Miller; George Lopez and Michael Rotenberg also serve as executive producers; written by George Lopez; produced by Dakota Pictures.
See I told you. Over previous weeks I kept saying that Girls Trip would beat out the similarly themed white (well actually mostly white and Zoe Kravitz) version called Rough Night, which completely tanked at the box office and has grossed only $21.7 million so far.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images for Universal
But then, I’m no Einstein since anybody could have seen that coming. As I said before, despite the celebrity media’s fuss over her, Scarlett Johansson is no box office power house. If you check out her box office stats, with the exception of Lucy, she can’t put butts in the theater seats. Plus, if it wasn’t for her playing the supporting role of Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which let’s face it, many other actresses could have played), she would not have been considered any sort of box office draw in the first place — and one is rushing to see a Marvel film because she’s in it.
Add to that Ghost in the Shell, which is still one of the most expensive B.O. flops this year, and it was a no brainer that Rough Night was going to have a rough time at the box office. It was yet another rude, R-rated comedy aimed at women which isn’t that novel a concept anymore.
However, there hadn’t been a R-rated comedy aimed at black women, and Universal did a masterful job marketing the film to black women filmgoers and with an attractive cast. It had all the ingredients of being a huge box-office winner. This weekend, the film grossed $30.3 million, far more than Rough Night has made in total so far. According to WGN radio film critic and box office analyst Erik Childress, Girls Trip, with its strong positive reviews and word of mouth, could actually out gross both Rough Night and Snatched, the other R-rated female comedy from earlier this summer, combined! It’s also the largest opening of any live-action comedy so far this year.
When you look at it, it’s rare for a film aimed at black women to fail at the box office, even if you remove Tyler Perry movies. Even Moonlight, I argue, played better among black women than men a lot of whom were hesitant to see the film because of its unwarranted “gay movie” label. Make a film for black women and it’s practically guaranteed to do well at the box office. I remember director David E. Talbert telling me that why he makes films aimed for black women because “that’s where the money is at,” which begs this question about us brothers. Can a film geared to just black men be successful at the box office like they were back in the 70s during the golden blaxploitation era? Are we obsolete to be thrown in the garbage heap? What happened to us? However that’s a question for another article at another time.
In the meantime, Christopher Nolan’s stunning, experiential art house World War II film, Dunkirk defied the naysayers who said that there wasn’t going to be much of an audience for a WWII film, when millennials care about nothing other than superhero movies. Of course, this is forgetting that there are millions of older filmgoers (and younger ones as well who have an interest in history) who have been waiting all summer to see something even remotely interesting that appealed to them.
Most predictions were that the film would do somewhere in the $30-40 million range this weekend, but others said that was lowballing the film and the interest for the film was much greater than people were saying. And they were right, since the film pulled in $50.5 million this weekend. Overseas, where interest in the film will no doubt be higher, especially in the UK and Europe, the film made another $55.4 million, which is solid opening for a film that was seen by many as a very risky venture. The next few weeks will tell the tale if Nolan, who is one of the most successful film directors in recent years with a worldwide total to date of $4.3 billion, has yet another huge worldwide hit on his hands.
In yet another obvious prediction, the massive $180 million CGI sci-fi epic Valerian and City of a Thousand Planetscompletely tanked at the Box Office with $17 million. Unless the film is a super-sized monster hit overseas, which it could be since foreigners love weird things they don’t understand, Valerian looks destined to fail big time. It didn’t help to make a confusing, visually tedious (despite all the special effects) film based on a mid-1960s French comic book that no one heard of in the United States with two charisma challenged, skinny white leads that no one ever heard of before (Yes I know Rihanna is in it briefly, but who’s stampeding to the theaters to see her in it?).
Last week’s No. 1 film, War for the Planet of the Apes dropped huge some 63% percent percent from last weekend, adding it to the list of summer sequels that simply failed to perform at the box office. But then again that wasn’t so surprising as it fails to deliver what it promised. It’s mainly a war between human and the apes. Instead, you get instead a whole lot of apes brooding and no action except a brief flurry at the beginning and a battle scene at the end between two human while the apes hide out of the way at the end. Hey, we want to see apes kicking humans asses! Is that too much to ask for?
In other news, Spider Man: Homecoming continues to dominate the box office with audiences happy that finally they’re got a Spider Man movie that doesn’t suck and Baby Driver continues to have strong box office legs and has become director Edgar Wright’s biggest box office hit ever. The real box office surprise sleeper hit, Wonder Woman is still pulling in money and will come close to hitting the $400 million mark domestically and The Big Sick is turning out to another more modest sleeper hit thanks to excellent word of mouth.
Here’s the weekend’s Top 12:
1) Dunkirk WB $50,500,000
2) Girls Trip Uni. $30,370,720
3) Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony $22,010,000 Total: $251,711,581
4) War for the Planet of the Apes Fox $20,400,000 Total: $97,750,914
5) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets STX $17,020,000
6) Despicable Me 3 Uni. $12,714,475 Total: $213,322,700
7) Baby Driver TriS $6,000,000 Total: $84,233,939
8) The Big Sick LGF $5,000,000 Total: $24,539,378
9) Wonder Woman WB $4,630,000 Total: $389,033,279
10) Wish Upon BG $2,477,816 Total: $10,522,081
11) Cars 3 BV $1,927,000 Total: $144,021,565
12) Transformers: The Last Knight Par. $1,125,000 Total: $127,561,805
Source: Shadow & Act
Here is an EXCLUSIVE interview with Director Leslie Small, the Director of Kevin Hart’s stand up feature films (films such as Let Me Explain, Laugh At My Pain and What Now) and the new season of Hart Of The City for Comedy Central. We talk about his career and new projects, including the new Steve Harvey film Family Feud.
We will find out more about the film in the next couple of days and we will talk to the Director again and try to seek more info. In the meantime, watch the interview where he reveals that the film is happening below;
Tiffany Haddish ( of the new film Girls Trip) tells an amazing story about getting high and taking her Girls Trip co-star Jada Pinkett Smith and her husband Will Smith on a Groupon Cajun swamp tour on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. If you missed it, here it is below;
We hear that comedian and actor DL Hughley, as well as the national radio show jock of The DL Hughley Show, has recently launched a new show on Westwood One titled The Hughley Truth.
It appears that the new show is a show where Hughley speaks his mind about the political climate of the country and with the ability to delve deeper into the conversation than he’s probably allowed on his national radio show. On The Hughley Truth, Hughley speaks about whatever story is being talked about including any police brutality or arrests, and of course, President Trump.
The new Apple podcast is available now via Appl and on Google Play; search under The Hughley Truth.