| StageTimeMag.com | Vol. 2 No. 1 |
Comedy news, interviews, reviews and essays
STAGE TIME | "The Comedian's Magazine"
| Cover Story |
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES Festival Wrap Up: New York Underground Comedy Festival Hustle & Grow: STAGE TIME Celebrates 1st Anniversary Comic Resolutions 2007 Comic's Final Progress Report 2006 INTERVIEWS Brad Stine **NEW** Careers in Comedy: Ryan McCormick PR Manager COVER STORY Shang REVIEWS Angry Bob Comedy Jump Off Doug Powell Eric Schwartz James P. Connolly **NEW** Anatomy of a Joke "Racism Damnit!" Written and Performed by Shang |
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It was hard for me to get on Def Jam because [producer] Bob
Sumner said, “I’m from the street. I’m smart too, but I don’t
know if they’ll get you.” But then, I got on there and destroyed…I
was like, “The black crowd is with me.” People would go, “Well,
you’re trying to be like Paul Mooney.” No, I have a whole different
flavor than Paul Mooney, but I believe in lot of stuff that he says.
I believe in what Dick Gregory says and there are a couple of
comics out there like Chris Rock.
Part of your act is political jokes and part of is sex jokes. People
don’t want to hear what the government is doing. They want to
laugh and hear fart noises. I did Comic View. I killed and they cut
my material out. They told me not to go political. They didn’t want
any trouble with their affiliates.
Do you think it’s a business decision or are they underestimating
the audience’s intelligence?
They don’t get it. Right now, the comics who are doing Comedy
Central Presents can’t draw blood if they stabbed somebody. Half
of them are wack. They’re moderate acts. They’re quirky.
Sumner said, “I’m from the street. I’m smart too, but I don’t
know if they’ll get you.” But then, I got on there and destroyed…I
was like, “The black crowd is with me.” People would go, “Well,
you’re trying to be like Paul Mooney.” No, I have a whole different
flavor than Paul Mooney, but I believe in lot of stuff that he says.
I believe in what Dick Gregory says and there are a couple of
comics out there like Chris Rock.
Part of your act is political jokes and part of is sex jokes. People
don’t want to hear what the government is doing. They want to
laugh and hear fart noises. I did Comic View. I killed and they cut
my material out. They told me not to go political. They didn’t want
any trouble with their affiliates.
Do you think it’s a business decision or are they underestimating
the audience’s intelligence?
They don’t get it. Right now, the comics who are doing Comedy
Central Presents can’t draw blood if they stabbed somebody. Half
of them are wack. They’re moderate acts. They’re quirky.
They don’t do big numbers. When you look at comedy, do you know what are the top 10 HBO [comedy]
specials? Do you know how many of them are black? Six.
The most successful comedy show in the history of cable is Def Comedy Jam – a comedy-variety series.
The most successful comedy tour in the history of comedy is the [Original] Kings of Comedy, $42 million.
Don’t they get it? Chappelle’s Show outdid literally everything else on Comedy Central.
And DVD sales –
DVD sales. One season! They say, “Black comics aren’t viable.” Stop lying. They get it. The white kids get
it too. When I do colleges, half the crowd is white. When I do Caroline’s, half the crowd is white.
You said you were angry earlier. What are you angry about?
Most things.
Such as...
The fact that we have a government that – Kanye West was right – that doesn’t care about black people.
If you look at Katrina and look at what happened in West Palm [Beach, Fl] when the hurricane hit down
there and how they fixed everything within six months minimum. You look at New Orleans and it still looks
like a war zone. The fact it took him [George W. Bush] seven days to go down there. Yet, you get eight
billion dollars together to go to war in three days. But you can’t get eight billion dollars together to get
helicopters to get people off the rooftops, who they know were drowning and dying and they happen to be
black. The black person was the looter. And the white person was looking for food and trying to save his
family. The hypocrisy of hip-hop makes me mad.
What’s the hypocrisy in hip-hop?
They’re all hypocrites. There’s no integrity. I talk about how fame twists people’s brain. I talk about how
black people need to get their shit together because there’s a lot of stuff we’re doing to ourselves…about
how I don’t get laid..
You don’t?
It’s a goddamn shame.
specials? Do you know how many of them are black? Six.
The most successful comedy show in the history of cable is Def Comedy Jam – a comedy-variety series.
The most successful comedy tour in the history of comedy is the [Original] Kings of Comedy, $42 million.
Don’t they get it? Chappelle’s Show outdid literally everything else on Comedy Central.
And DVD sales –
DVD sales. One season! They say, “Black comics aren’t viable.” Stop lying. They get it. The white kids get
it too. When I do colleges, half the crowd is white. When I do Caroline’s, half the crowd is white.
You said you were angry earlier. What are you angry about?
Most things.
Such as...
The fact that we have a government that – Kanye West was right – that doesn’t care about black people.
If you look at Katrina and look at what happened in West Palm [Beach, Fl] when the hurricane hit down
there and how they fixed everything within six months minimum. You look at New Orleans and it still looks
like a war zone. The fact it took him [George W. Bush] seven days to go down there. Yet, you get eight
billion dollars together to go to war in three days. But you can’t get eight billion dollars together to get
helicopters to get people off the rooftops, who they know were drowning and dying and they happen to be
black. The black person was the looter. And the white person was looking for food and trying to save his
family. The hypocrisy of hip-hop makes me mad.
What’s the hypocrisy in hip-hop?
They’re all hypocrites. There’s no integrity. I talk about how fame twists people’s brain. I talk about how
black people need to get their shit together because there’s a lot of stuff we’re doing to ourselves…about
how I don’t get laid..
You don’t?
It’s a goddamn shame.
SHANG - PAGE 4
