“Anybody that has been around the Seattle comedy scene knows the name Billy Wayne Davis. He’s a self-described hillbilly who has a distinctly intellectual aspect to his stand-up. His comedy is polished and smart. It is not what you (or Hollywood Agents) expect when you hear his distinct Southern accent. I’ve seen him perform numerous occasions and am always surprised at how well he handles himself and put hecklers in their place.”

B-dub talks about how he got into comedy, his worst day job ever, why he moved to Seattle, fighting the ‘stupid southern hick’ stereotype, and how he balances his life on the road with having a wife and a baby.

Read the whole interview at totallycrushedoutmag.com. If you visit Billy Wayne Davis’ website over at BillyWayneDavis.com, you can read about his current bus tour with Ralphie May:

This week I’m flying down to Sacramento on Thursday and doing the Crest Theatre with Ralphie May. Then, we hop on a tour bus up to Portland for a show on Friday at the Newmark. End up in Seattle at the Moore on Saturday and the Met in Spokane on Sunday…….I’ll be flip camming the whole trip and updating them on my YouTube page…….more to come.

UPDATE:

We just learned that BW will appear in a documentary about Seattle comedy appropriately called “Seattle Komedy DokumentaЯy.” The first trailer was just released with this note from the producers: “In 2007, Seattle was at the epicenter of an amazing stand-up comedy movement. This documentary follows the very recent rise, fall and rebirth of the alternative comedy scene and proves that Seattle is many things, but one of those things is a place where great players get their start.”

“When I first started talking about my divorce, I didn’t really know where the line was, and it would get a little too much for the audience to handle. The key to it, for me, is to take something that’s personal, that’s honest and is true and find a way to talk about it in a way that entertains strangers. That’s the challenge of comedy, I think — to find a way to craft honesty and truth into something that’s funny.”

Read the rest of the interview on LEOweekly.com and catch up with all things Strickland at his site TalkingPaul.com.

Jeff Havens

Some questions Havens will ask his audience include, “Does the idea of working for a living depress you?”, “Would you rather play video games and update your Facebook profile than suffer through a lifetime of stable employment?”, and, “Does paying your rent seem like just too much of a hassle?”
[read the rest of the article here]

“How to Get Fired!” is also available in the quaint “book” format (an archaic form of communication involving something called “paper” that does not work at all on your iPad), available on his website, JeffHavens.com. NashvilleStandUp only wishes Jeff would have told us how not to get fired 10 years ago when we were still “employable” – now, we’re just damaged goods. Way to go, Jeff. Way. To. Go.

There’s plenty of funny business happening in Music City, and some of it has nothing to do with the dubious budgetary practices of local officials or buffoon ideologues. Nashville’s black community has a comedy scene that’s now exploding alongside its more prominent and publicized theatrical and musical ones.

Such locales as The Corner Bar on Elliston Place, Café Bella and Nashville Center Stage are home base for many popular events. These include Money Marc and Sleezy’s Wild Funny Wednesdays (8:30 p.m. weekly), Renard and B-Cov’s Urban Soul Comedy Hour (8:30 p.m. each Thursday) and Just Jokes (bi-monthly shows). It’s a safe bet the jokes and routines unveiled at these places are spicier, voiced differently and emerge from a cultural base and perspective that’s not heavily represented on late-night network television or Saturday Night Live.

Renard Hirsch

Hirsch, Brian B Cov Covington and Atlanta-based Nashville native Kevin “Renegade” Green are among the most well-known and popular comics making regular appearances at various Music City sites. They understand and appreciate the demands placed on comics in general and the inevitable issues faced by African-Americans operating in the genre regarding content, direction and sensibility.

Kevin 'Renegade' Green

“Most of my show is political and social topics because those are the topics that’s relevant to everyone,” says Green. “That and family. I try and stay abreast with what’s going on in society. Knowing your audience is the biggest thing to me. I have to understand who I’m trying to make laugh.”

Brian 'B-Cov' Covington

They are also 21st century comics. Green got his start doing open mic nights around Nashville in 2001, and four years later he was appearing with many others, including Covington and Hirsch. Hirsch found stand-up to be his forte while majoring in speech and theater at TSU in 2001, and Covington began in late summer that same year.

In addition, they’ve come of professional age in an era when the content and linguistic freedom afforded Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney and Eddie Murphy — not to mention such predecessors as Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell and Slappy White — is under siege from advocacy groups zealously trying to protect the African-American image from what they deem overused stereotypes, vulgar personas and one-dimensional portrayals. Still, they maintain they are unconcerned with political correctness.

“When I go onstage I don’t go with the intent to say something that is going to scare the pants off the audience,” Hirsch says. “I’m not knocking comics who do, it just isn’t my style. My goal is to make people laugh at some everyday topics, enjoy life and forget the stresses of the day.”

Covington, for his part, says he doesn’t worry about political correctness because he likes the challenge of getting a laugh with inoffensive material. Still, he says, a comic must walk a fine line.

“You want to have that edge that people expect of comedians, but you also don’t want your crowd to feel uncomfortable,” he says. “The best comedians can say what people are thinking but don’t know to get it out the right way. I think people enjoy and respect you when you’re honest. B.S. does have an odor!”

“I’m a comedian,” Green says. “I tell jokes. I don’t say anything to be mean-spirited or disrespectful. Club owners worry about political correctness more than comedians. Now saying that, I don’t talk as brash when I’m doing a mainstream show as when I’m doing an urban show.”

Their ability to simultaneously be universal and specific also reflects their array of influences. Covington cites G-rated types like Bill Cosby, Sinbad and Flip Wilson, and has equal praise for Billy Crystal, Robert Townsend and Damon Wayans. Green’s just as quick to rave about George Carlin as Bernie Mac and Dave Chappelle, while voicing special praise for a colleague, local performer T.C. Cope. Hirsch’s long list of favorites includes both Chris Rock and Zack Galifianakis. Thus their material has scope, topicality and variety, and can easily be shaped to work in any particular place and reach any audience.

While giving praise to promoters and behind the scenes types like AG Granderson (the guiding light that’s helped make both Jazz and Jokes and his newest venture Just Jokes prime factors in the city’s comic world) and John Wright (a central figure behind the Urban Soul Comedy Hour), Hirsch, Covington and Green feel things are just getting started for black comedians in Nashville.

“I feel like this is a ‘perfect storm’ situation because when we started the Wednesday-night dates lots of new talented people came out, and now we have a bigger comedy community than ever,” Hirsch says. “I think black comedy is taking off because we get out and hustle to get people in seats.

“Contrary to what a lot of folks in Nashville think we [black folk] will get out and support.” Covington says. “Now we’ve got a new wave of comedians that look up to us, like we got a TV show or something, just because we’ve been doing it longer. So we don’t look at them like competition; it’s just more funny people around that can help the movement here. We all promote and support each other because one person isn’t going to get this city on the map as far as comedy goes.”

But their focus is even broader than that suggests. “It should be noted that our stages are open to every ethnicity,” Renard Hirsch says. “Black, brown, white, green, it doesn’t matter. Funny is funny.”

(Renard Hirsch and Brian B-Cov Covington’s Soul Comedy Hour stars 8 p.m. Thursday at Café Bella, 209 8th Ave. South. Admission is $5. Check Kevin Green’s facebook page for updates on his Nashville appearances.)

From left: Mark Anundson, Monty Mitchell and Kevin Green are seen at Harvey's South Street Comedy Club. Mitchell won the club's Funniest Person Contest.

Monty Mitchell knew from the first time he made other children chuckle at the lunch table, he was addicted to hearing laughter.

The now 36-year-old’s comedic stylings won him the Funniest Person Contest at Harvey’s South Street Comedy Club, 559 Wiley Parker Road in Jackson.

Mitchell won the honor over 100 amateur and semi-professional comedians during a six-week period. Besides the title, Mitchell also won cash, a promotional package and stage-time on the New Year’s Eve show, as well as two more appearances in 2010.

The lifelong Cookeville resident travels weekly to Nashville and hits other spots to continue to build his stage presence.

“I got a paddling in schools so many times for acting out,” Mitchell said last week about his childhood. “I’d do anything I could to make people laugh. I just now was able to find a way to get on stage and figure out how all that works.”

On Jan. 28 and 29, Mitchell will host shows headlined by Cledus T. Judd at Harvey’s South Street Comedy Club.

Mitchell spoke with The Jackson Sun about his side job.

Question: You’re an insurance salesman and do comedy on the side. Do you find the two contradict each other, or does it provide you with some of your humor?

Answer: I kind of take on a different personality on stage, or maybe I’m a different person at work. Maybe it’s truly me on stage; I don’t know. I don’t mingle the two at all. Most people don’t know that I do this.

Q: How would you describe your comedic style?

A: I’m not sure. I’ve been told that it’s kind of conversational-type comedy. Mostly it’s true stories that happened to me. I’m not a one-liner kind of guy, so they’re kind of long stories, but they’re about 50 percent true. You start out with the truth and make it absurd at the end.

Q: How do you push yourself and challenge yourself creatively?

A: I write five new minutes every week, and it seems most of the five minutes, nine out of 10 times ends up being junk; I take it to the open mic and test it out, and it ends up going in the back of the comedy folder. But it keeps the creative juices flowing. I find that works best for me.

You can’t substitute stage time. There’s nothing else. You’ve got to get on stage, and there you develop what you call your voice. It really does develop slowly, and you find yourself.

Q: What comedians have or do inspire you the most?

A: Growing up, Eddie Murphy was my favorite. I listened to “Delirious” until I broke the cassette tape.

Now I like Louis C.K., Jim McDonald. These guys are continually writing, always updating their stuff. They’re really involved in it 100 percent, they’re always looking for new ways … I find that amazing.

On the Net:

southstreetcomedy.com

- Stanley Dunlap, 425-9668

See Keith this weekend with James Gregory at Zanies!

It’s an okay write-up, but only okay. Dave could have looked deeper than Nashville’s “funny musicians” to find his local angle. For example..

Lahna Turner

Occasionally, Lahna produces “The Music City Comedy Show” at Zanies Comedy Showplace – a night of funny people who have music in their comedy acts. In the past, the lineups have included Rik Roberts, Steve Goodie, Wynn Reichert, Sean Parrott, Bucky Habanero, and Shantel Adams.

Rik Roberts

Steve Goodie

Wynn Reichert uses a tongue-in-cheek delivery to belt out tunes like, “I Need To Get Laid,” and audience favorite, “Sometimes I Wish I was Black.” Wynn is originally from California, lives in Nashville and tours internationally.

Sean Parrott

Speaking of the Mangy Dog Whoop Dee Doo, this Nashville-based podcast consistently features funny songs and parodies and whatnot produced by local professional funny people Jesse Perry, Mark Anundson, the previously mentioned Sean Parrott, Damian Anaya, Brad Edwards and more..

Mark Anundson

This isn’t nearly a comprehensive list of ALL the musical comedy acts in Nashville.. but it’s a start. Keep an eye on the NashvilleStandUp calendar for upcoming shows featuring these very funny people.

Carla Rhodes & Cecil

New York Magazine has dubbed NashvilleStandUp alumni, now New Yorker Carla Rhodes as one of the “Ten New Comedians That Funny People Find Funny.” They asked the city’s comedy tastemakers – club bookers, improv teachers, already-famous comedians, borderline-creepy groupies – to tell them about their favorite up-and-comers. Then they invited the ten nominees to the Gotham Comedy Club to perform a show.. for each other. Later, they assembled the stand-ups for a postmortem at New York’s offices.

Carla says, “This is very exciting! It’s even more exciting that I’m wearing a $3.00 thrift store dress from Kentucky in the photograph. It matches Cecil’s rosy rosacea cheeks, yes?”

Don’t forget to check out “Positively 5th Street,” a new video series documenting Carla’s life with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Visit CarlaRhodes.net for all of your Carla Rhodes needs.

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