DELRAY BEACH – J.B. Smoove is jumping back in time.
His six-part podcast series “Funny My Way” profiles six black comedy legends, highlighting the lives and contributions of Dick Gregory, Flip Wilson, Paul Mooney, Moms Mabley, Rudy Ray Moore and Redd Foxx.
A comic himself and former writer for “Saturday Night Live” Smoove combines wit with strong storytelling to create “Funny My Way.” It’s worth a look.
Also to today’s Stand-Up Spotlight, we’re learning more about the pre-show and post-show guests that will surround Chris Rock’s live Netflix special.
And for Jim Gaffigan fans, there are a couple stories in the mega-comedian.
As always, let’s keep it funny.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – March 2, 2023
JB Smoove: “The World Changes But the Comedian’s Purpose Doesn’t”
If J.B Smoove had it his way, he’d cast himself as the lead in a biopic about the late comedian Dick Gregory. “In another world, another life, if I was 20 years younger, I would love to play that man,” says the Emmy-winning actor and stand-up comic. “He really had an amazing, fascinating life.”
Smoove (né Jerry Brooks) did a deep dive on Gregory’s life when he narrated the six-part Audible Originals podcast Funny My Way, uncovering the lives of six Black comedy legends: Gregory, Flip Wilson, Paul Mooney, Moms Mabley, Rudy Ray Moore and Redd Foxx. His performance has earned the Curb Your Enthusiasm star an Ambie nomination for best podcast host.
Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, and more join Chris Rock’s live Netflix special
As the end of the first quarter of 2023 closes in, Netflix is placing big bets on live streaming, stand-up comedy, and Chris Rock. The streaming service’s first-ever foray into live television will be Rock’s second Netflix standup special, following 2018’s Tambourine. Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, is set to air on March 4—and newly announced pre- and post-shows will feature some of Rock’s wide set of comedian friends.
Titled The Show Before The Show, a live pre-show for Rock’s performance will air from Los Angeles staple The Comedy Store at 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET, and feature messages from Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, Arsenio Hall, Deon Cole and Leslie Jones. The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng will serve as host, while Cedric the Entertainer, Ice-T, Sir Paul McCartney, Sarah Silverman, and The Chris Rock Show alum Wanda Sykes have also all reportedly recorded messages for the half-hour show.
Jim Gaffigan: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me (‘Ellen DeGeneres Was My Celebrity Crush Growing Up’)
“My favorite item in my wardrobe is a fancy robe that my wife [Jeannie Gaffigan] got me. I used to make jokes that I hated robes, but this robe is so nice. When I put it on, I’m like, ‘I should just live in this,’” the Linoleum star, 56, exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us Weekly.
Jim and Jeannie, 52, wed in 2000 before going on to welcome five children: Marre, 17, Jack, 16, Katie, 12, Michael, 10, and Patrick, 9. “The most challenging thing about being a dad of five is everything — and remembering that they can’t help it,” Jim tells Us.
Jim Gaffigan Finds Drama In Movies Like Linoleum More Satisfying Than Comedy
At the 2022 South by Southwest Film Festival, comedian Jim Gaffigan delivered a fantastic performance playing two different characters in Colin West’s puzzling and poignant drama “Linoleum.” The film follows Gaffigan as Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan), the host of a failing children’s science TV show called “Above & Beyond” who has always had aspirations of being an astronaut. But suddenly, a mysterious space-race era satellite coincidentally falls from space and lands in his backyard, forcing him to relocate to his sister-in-law’s house with his wife (Rhea Seehorn), who is looking to get a divorce. Things only get worse when a doppelgänger named Kent, a real astronaut who looks suspiciously like a younger, clean-cut, uptight Cameron, moves into his neighborhood and steals his TV show. Meanwhile, Cameron strikes up a friendship with Kent’s teenage son (Gabriel Rush), who also takes a liking to Cameron’s daughter (Katelyn Nacon).
