On this day in comedy on July 13, 1946 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Voice-Over Artist, Richard Anthony “Cheech” Marin was born in Los Angeles, California.
Marin is a pioneer of stoner comedy along with his partner, Tommy Chong. Together they made up the team of Cheech and Chong. The name Cheech came from chicharrons. Why? Because when Mexicans get high they satisfy the munchies with – chicharrons. (We don’t make up the stereotypes we only report them). Marin’s dad was a cop, but when the possibility that the Vietnam War could enter into the world of young Cheech, he hightailed it up to Canada to avoid the draft; where he met Chong, who was a resident. Chong was a musician who’d had a band with a couple of hits records and had opened a popular night club in Vancouver. The problem was the more business got into Chong’s musical career the less it was a career. When he met Marin in 1968 the timing was ripe.
Cheech and Chong were a cultural phenomenon; catching lightning in a bottle by being on the crest and sometimes leading the love-of-cannabis movement. They came along between the Summer of Love and Woodstock and were to weed what Snoop Dogg is to weed, but before him. The standup comedy material they performed on stage talked about smoking weed. The albums the released talked about smoking weed. The movies they made (except for one) showed them smoking weed. It was branding at its best.
Even a good high comes to an end and thus Cheech and Chong broke up in 1985. They’d made 7 films (Chong directed four of them) and recorded 8 albums; the most popular being 1978’s Up in Smoke. There had been creative differences and Marin was itching to jumpstart a solo acting career so it was time; even if it wasn’t it became time.
Cheech Marin’s breakout film was Born in East L. A. It was a hit and he went on to appear in Fatal Beauty, The Shrimp on the Barbie, Ghostbusters II, Tin Cup, A Million to Juan, Desperado, The Great White hype, Christmas with The Kranks, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Far Out Man, From Dusk Till Dawn, Spy Kids and The Book of Life just to name several. On the television front Marin co-starred on the Golden Palace, Nash Bridges with Don Johnson, Judging Amy and Rob Schneider’s Rob. He had a recurring role on Lost, hosted Latino Laugh Festival and did a slew of guest-starring on sitcoms.
Marin became a noted voice-over artist. He’s been featured in The Lion King, Oliver & Company, Car, Car2, It’s Tough to Be a Bug and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Blazing Dragons, South Park, Dora the Explorer, Hoodwinked, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Pinocchio, The Simpsons and Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie.
Cheech Marin is a prime example of reinvention. The former counter-culture comedian has been on mainstream game shows competing against mainstream celebrities. The former munchies man was on a reality show on the Food Network of all places; cooking, not eating. His career did so much of a 180 that Marin, once a tutu wearing, mind-altered rocker released two children’s albums and a book based on his wholesome creation, Cheech, The School Bus Driver.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 13, 1969 Comedian, Actor, Dr. Kendrick Kang-Joh “Ken” Jeong was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Dr. Ken Jeong is a show-off. First thing – the man is a real doctor. He graduated high school at age 16, completed his undergraduate studies at Duke (1990) and then obtained his M. D. degree in 1995; the same year he won the Big Easy Laugh Off. He’d been working on his stand-up act the whole time and as luck or fate would have it, Improv founder, Budd Friedman and NBC CEO Brandon Tartikoff were judges and told Dr. Ken to move to L. A. immediately. He did and performed regularly at the Improv and Laugh Factory at night. For his day job, Dr. Ken simply became a licensed doctor in California and set up his practice at Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills.
Dr. Ken made the rounds on television. He guest-starred on The Office, Girls Behaving Badly (he was a regular), Entourage, MADtv, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, it was the part of Dr. Kuni in the Judd Apatow filmed comedy, Knocked Up that changed the trajectory. He was now in demand, but personally scared to make that leap of faith. Being a doctor sure does pay the bills and it’s not like they just handed him a degree. It was hard work. Plus, acting’s so flakey. Hot today, the next day people are looking at you in disgust. It was his wife who convinced him to go for it. Medicine wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, she’s a licensed physician.
So he went for it. Dr. Ken has appeared in Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, Role Models, All About Steve, Zookeeper, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Pain & Gain, Big Momma’s: Like father Like Son, Rapture-Palooza (he played God), The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, How to Make Love to A Woman, Ride Along 2, Couples Retreat and the Hangover trilogy. He received critical acclaimed for his part of Ben Chang on NBC’s Community and the fans loved him too. For that role he was nominated for the 2010 Teen Choice Award for “Male Breakout Star”.
Dr. Ken has done commercials (Adidas), hosted award shows (2011 Billboard Music Awards) and showed people how to stay alive (American Heart Association 2011 Hands Only CPR PSA campaign). He’s done animated voices for Despicable Me (both), Birds of Paradise, Penguins of Madagascar, Norm of the North, American Dad, Robot Chicken and Turbo. Then he got a chance to show off again by creating, writing and being the executive producer of his own show for ABC, Dr. Ken.
Jeong has won the Streamy Award for “Best Guest Appearance” (Burning Love).
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 12, 1971 Comedienne, Actress, Loni Love was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Love got into stand-up comedy during her college days. She won a $50 competition and then had to wrestle with the decision to pursue her dream of being an electrical engineer; a goal she’d labored towards since working the assembly line putting doors on the 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass; the reason she was at Prairie View A&M. Her well thought out plan consisted of her getting her degree and diving face first into a career that would offer her a lifetime of job security and substantial benefits or she could give all that up and become a comic who’d probably be broke for the first half a decade and have to sleep on other comic’s couches and on floors or worse – hook up with some guy who’s no good to make the journey take even longer. Hey, she won a $50 competition. What was so hard to decide?
Loni Love compromised. She got a job at Xerox as an engineer and at night worked the club circuit; becoming a regular at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory. On her eighth year at Xerox, Love quit do to comedy fulltime. In 2003 she won the jury prize for best stand-up at the US Comedy Arts Festival. She got work on VH1 as a talking head on their series “I Love the 2000s” and other decades. She came in as runner-up on Star Search. The competition was so tight, judge Naomi Judd said loudly and emphatically that “Loni should’ve won” once the winner, John Roy’s name was announced. In 2009, Variety magazine and Comedy Central named Love one of the top 10 Comics to watch” and she ended up as a sidekick to Chelsea Handler on Chelsea Lately.
Loni Love has performed on The Tonight Show with Jay leno and joked it up on Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed. She has appeared in the films, With or Without You, Soul Plane, Bad Asses, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Bad Asses on the Bayou, Gunshot Straight and Mother’s Day. Her television guest roles have included Girlfriends, Cuts, Phineas and Ferb, Chocolate News, Whitney and American Dad. She had recurring parts on Kickin’ It and Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide, was a series regular on Thick and Thin and hosted Premium Blend.
In 2008 Love covered the inaugural of Barack Obama for CNN. She dropped her first comedy special, America’s Sister on Comedy Central in 2010 and her first book, Love Him or Leave Him But Don’t Get Stuck With The Tab in 2013.
Loni Love’s been a co-host on the daytime talkfest, The Real since 2013.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 10, 1972 Actress, Producer, Hostess, Model, Sofía Margarita Vergara was born in Barranquilla.
Vergara was two semesters away from her dentistry degree when she left school and moved to Miami to pursue emerging show business opportunities. She’d been discovered by a prominent photographer while she was walking along the beach in Columbia and was so striking Vergara soon found herself in a Pepsi commercial that aired all over Latin America. Once in the United States she studied acting.
Vergara has appeared in Big Trouble, Chasing Papi (her first English speaking acting gig), Soul Plane, Lords of Dogtown, Four Brothers, Meet the Browns, Madea Goes to Jail, The Smurfs, New Year’s Eve, Happy Feet Two, The Three Stooges, Escape from Planet Earth, Machete Kills, Chef and Hot Pursuit.
On TV Vergara was omnipresent on English and Spanish speaking stations starting with Univision in the late 1990’s when she co-hosted not one, but two shows (Fuera de serie, A que no te atreves). She has been seen on Acapulco, cuerpo y alma, Baywatch, My Wife & Kids, Eve, Entourage, Amas de Casa Desperadas, Feugo en la sangre, The Knights of Prosperity, Dirty Sexy Money and Men in Trees.
Vergara stars on ABC’s smash sitcom, Modern Family, where she has received multiple award nominations and wins. As a matter of fact, Sofia Vergara has been nominated by just about every organization that gives out awards for television excellence. So far she has 4 Screen Actor Guild Awards, one from Glamour, another from Imagen and a NAACP Image Award,
Sofia Vergara was in the music video “Que Diera” by Carlos Vives and played Matron “Mama” Morton in the stage production of “Chicago”. She has been herself on Punk’d, Dancing with the Stars and Saturday Night Live and has done voices for The Cleveland Show, Family Guy and The Simpsons.
Forbes ranked her as one of the most powerful women in the world and estimated her annual income to hover around $30 million. At one point Vergara was the top paid actress in all of television.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on Julyn9, 1993 A Different World series finale on NBC.
Originally a Cosby Show spin-off, the sitcom became its own show. Denise Huxtable was supposed to go off to Hillman College in Virginia and viewers were meant to be exposed to life on a historically black college. Great idea; major problems. The fact Hillman was fictional and based on Hampton University was not a problem. The fact Denise Huxtable had a white roommate (Marisa Tomei) was not a problem (many HSUs have interracial student bodies). However, the fact Lisa Bonet who played Denise Huxtable got pregnant was.
After the first season the show needed retooling. Complaints had come in that the portrayal of Hillman was inaccurate so Debbie Allen was brought in to make the show authentic. Debbie had attended Howard University (a legit HSU) and was a skillful director of actors. She took the series writers to 3 black colleges to flush out true-to-life ideas.
Since the decision had been made to have Denise Huxtable drop out of Hillman and move to Africa (so viewers would never see the ‘good girl’s’ baby bump), Allen focused the show on the new principal characters of Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). Social issues the parent show shied from were explored on A Different World such as racism, date rape, AIDS, blacks owning slaves, the Persian Gulf War and class relations.
A Different World had a cast that remained in flux. After the first season departure of Lisa Bonet, Marisa Tomei and Loretta Devine; Cree Summers and Charnele Brown were brought in as regulars. Dawnn Lewis and Mary Alice remained, but Sinbad and Darryl M. Bell went from recurring to main characters. Glynn Turman and Lou Myers were also given more camera time. In subsequent seasons Ajai Sanders and Jada Pinkett were signed on as recurring and later bumped up to main characters.
The sitcom was noted for accurately portraying college life, fraternity and sorority involvements and the black experience. To help tell these stories the show featured a wide range of black talent. Over the years appearances were made by Kim Wayans, Jenifer Lewis, Rosalind Cash, Ron O’Neal, Phylicia Rashad, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Robert Guillaume, Bill Cosby, Patti Labelle, Diahann Carroll, Tisha Campbell, Art Evans, Lena Horne, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Richard Roundtree, Halle Berry, Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold, Dean Cain, Whoopi Goldberg, Heavy D, David Alan Grier, Gladys Knight, Jesse Jackson, Blair Underwood and Tupac Shakur.
During its six season run the sitcom was always in one of the top two slots with Black viewers and has been credited by many college alumni that it is that show that encouraged them to attend historically black colleges.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 8, 1945 Director, producer, Stan Lathan was born in Philadelphia, PA.
While attending Boston University in 1968 to gain a master’s degree in arts, Lathan instead obtained his destiny when he was recruited by television station WGBH-TV to help create and direct the country’s first magazine show entirely produced by, for, and about African Americans—Say Brother. It was an effort to calm civil rights tensions.
His big break came in 1973 when he was brought to Los Angeles to direct Sanford & Son. From there he hit the fast track, helming Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Cagney & Lacey, Frank’s Place, Roc and others. He also directed the 1984 feature film Beat Street.
Lathan saw more pilots than LAX as the man behind the launching of Martin, Moesha, The Parkers, The Steve Harvey Show, Amen, South Central, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, All of Us, Eve!, The Soul Man and Real House Husbands of Hollywood.
In 1989, Stan Lathan partnered with Russell Simmons to create Def Comedy Jam. The duo then expanded the brand and garnered a Peabody Award for their series “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” and Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway for which they won a Tony Award for best special theatrical event.
This multi-talented comedy icon is also a master producer, having served as EP and director of Dave Chappelle’s comedy specials Killin’ Them Softly for HBO and For What It’s Worth for Showtime, “Cedric The Entertainer: Taking You Higher” for HBO—and It’s Black Entertainment—a two-hour musical documentary for Showtime.
Lathan and Simmons created Run’s House that spawned a spinoff, Daddy’s Girls. They executive-produced Running Russell Simmons and Russell Simmons Presents: The Ruckus for Comedy Central.
In 2013 Stan Lathan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors. He has received six NAACP Image Awards and in 2014 was honored by the Directors Guild of America.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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Here is an interview with comedians David Arnold and Gary ‘G-Thang’ Johnson by our host, comedian Jaylyn Bishop, last week at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival.
Both comedians talk about their upcoming projects and more, and as expected this interview turns into a hilarious interview! Check out the interview below;
On this day in comedy on July 6, 1979 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Producer, Kevin Darnell Hart was born in Philadelphia, PA
Once he’d cut his comedy teeth on the Philly circuit, hart went West and frequented mainstream clubs on mainstream nights. He avoided doing the so-called ‘Black nights’ and being labeled a Black comedian only able to do Black crowds, as far as the clubs were concerned anyway. Being a different fish in a big pond paid off. Hart got his big break in comedy in 2000 when Judd Apatow cast him in a recurring role in Undeclared following of series of amateur comedy competition wins. He was off and running with parts in the films Paper Soldiers, Scary Movie 3, Soul Plane, and Little Fockers.
In 2008 he released his first stand-up album I’m a Grown Little Man. He cranked it up with performances in Think Like a Man, Grudge Match, Ride Along and About Last Night. He dropped two more comedy albums and starred as himself in Real Husbands of Hollywood (co-created with Chris Spencer).
Raised by his single mother, Hart used his ability to make people laugh to deal with the family problem of having a cocaine addict father he hardly ever saw. He got into professional comedy after performing at an amateur night at The Laff House in Philadelphia under the name of Lil Kev. After an early period of rough shows along with having chicken wings thrown at him, Hart entered comedy competitions throughout Massachusetts. That was the turning point.
Hart is truly a 21st Century comedian. He has a game available through iTunes called “Little Jumpman.” His Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube channel are all connected to and accessible through this app. Most overseas fans of Hart discovered him on YouTube.
Kevin Hart has hosted various ceremonies. He’s hosted the BET Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards (with the help of a referral by friend, Judd Apatow). Hart has hosted two episodes of Saturday Night Live and plans on doing more MC work. He has franchise films: Ride Along and Think Like and mounts record breaking concert tours.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 6, 1951 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Charles Allan ‘Charlie’ Hill was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Hill left school to become a comedian. He was attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying speech and drama. He’d gotten into the Broome Street Theatre Group and then he just packed up and moved to Los Angeles. He became a regular at the Comedy Store in Hollywood. From there it didn’t take him long to get work.
Charlie Hills’ first television appearance was on The Richard Pryor Show. He was the first Native-American comedian to perform on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Hill made numerous appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Hill grew old enough to do The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He was a writer for Roseanne on ABC and guest starred on The Bionic Woman, The Golden Girls and Moesha.
Hill toured all over the world and was often interviewed for documentaries dealing with being an Oneida-Mohawk. He appeared in almost a half dozen documentaries including the 1999 Sandra Osawa directed PBS documentary, On and Off the Res’ with Charlie Hill. He was an award show host (First Americans in the Arts Awards) and an awards show winner (Hill won the 2009 Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award).
On December 30, 2013 after an extended fight with lymphoma, Charlie Hill passed away in Oneida, Wisconsin. He was 62 years old.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 4, 1914 Comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader, actor Timothy John Anerum (“Timmie Rogers”) born in Detroit, MI, 1914.
Rogers was known as the Jackie Robinson of Black Comedy because he opened the door for other performers such as Dick Gregory by insisting on not wearing blackface, donning a tuxedo and standing firm with his conviction. His comedy was clean, topical and political. His catchphrase was “Oh Yeah!” and Timmie Rogers starred in US television’s first black prime-time show Uptown Jubilee on CBS in 1949 and opened for Latin sensation, Carmen Miranda.
At the age of eight, he began earning money by dancing on the street. Rogers ran away from home at age 12 and became a dishwasher. He also learned nine languages by learning those of the other dishwashers. He later recorded in French and German. A job cleaning ashtrays led to a job at that ballroom dancing onstage. He became part of the vaudeville dance team, Timmie & Freddie in 1932. They dissolved in 1944.
Rogers found work as a recurring guest star on The Jackie Gleason Show and worked with Gleason for over forty years. Rogers wrote, “If You Can’t Smile and Say Yes”, recorded by Nat King Cole. He also wrote songs for Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughn. In the late 50’s he recorded the hits, “Back to School Again” and “I Love Ya, I Love Ya, I Love Ya”.
Timmie Rogers made appearances in sitcoms in the 60s and 70s including “Sanford & Son” and “Good Times”. He’s featured in the oral history book, “Black Comedians on Black Comedy” and in 1993 Rogers was inducted into the National Comedy Hall of Fame.
Rogers passed on December 17, 2006 of undisclosed causes at the age of 92.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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