Comedy
Spoken Word
Theater
Music
Workshops, Meetings, etc.

Subscribe Today

Get free stuff!

Bean Soup Times Gear

 Advertising
 About Us
 Subscriptions
Contact Us
Interns Needed
Send Page To a Friend

J. Anthony Brown: Comedy's Best Kept Secret!

The year was 1972 and he was a tailor relocating from his home in Columbia, South Carolina to Atlanta, GA in pursuit of a career as a clothing designer, only to be denied entry to the school of his choice; all because he was $316 short of tuition money.

Brown went to a local nightclub and decided to try his hand at stand-up. After entering a gong show contest at Mr. V's Figure Eight, the owner of the club invited J. back to host on a regular basis. After transforming the club to one of Atlanta's hot spots, J's career in comedy was launched and the one time tailor never looked back!

J. Anthony Brown is heard in the mornings, five days a week, as the co-host of the internationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show on ABC Radio Network. Stimulating his audience with humorous skits, hair-raising improv and gut-busting comedy routines, Brown is a rousing wake-up call! Heard in 95 national markets, millions tune in for a dose of J. on a daily basis.

Brown is one of comedy's best-kept secrets. Well-known, but not widely recognized, his audience hears him, but does not always know when they are seeing him. He recently spoke to Bean Soup Times publisher, Toure Muhammad.

You seem to have mastered both stand-up and radio. Now everybody can't do humor on the radio. How do make it seem so easy.
At first, I begged a lot to be on the radio. I did it free for five years KGLH. That's where I honed my craft and it taught me how to do radio. There's a quickness involved that's not in stand up. You have only so much time. I learned that very quickly. The guy I was on the radio with wanted to be funny. He didn’t want me to be funny. He had my mic turned down low. It was good we were not in the same room so he couldn't tell me to shut up.

Now the rumor is you were the head writer on the Arsenio Hall Show.
That's not the truth. I was a writer. I could not type or spell. He kept me around. I had good jokes. I was working with guys who could type, but they weren't funny. They was mad at me. They ostracized me. Our job was to write jokes.

How are you enjoying BET?
I go to the edge. I like to take it to a different level and at BET I was allowed to do it.

Now you are not only a comedian and actor, but you are a hustler as well.
My entrepreneur endeavors include my own line of honey and hot sauce. It makes money for the diabetes foundation. We want to bring awareness about how to stay healthy because diabetes is a very serious disease. Get off pork. Exercise. I'm dealing with it right now. You can live a normal life, but you can't eat all that pork, and no Sock-it-to-me cake. (laughs) Eat vegetables. Exercise. Diabetes is the number one killer. You could lose a limb. People won't take it seriously.

How do you survive in show business?
Manage your own money and invest. There two parts to show business, Show and business. Protect your money. Have something to show for it. I tell people to pay yourself.

You design your own clothes too?
I don't wear jeans. I design my own clothes.

Any future projects?
Yes. I'm going to be in a movie where I play Bernie Mac's father.

What. You not that much older than him. How you gonna pull that off.
F&^% you. I'm Bernie's daddy. (laughs) I'm going to play it off well.

Check out J. Anthony Brown's website. www.watchoutdehnow.com.

Send Page To a Friend