LIVE FROM ALABAMA - DL HUGHLEY

If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly suggest adding D.L. Hughley Breaks The News to your weekly schedule of television intake. Jesus knows that we don't need another hour of TV in our lives, but this one actually helps you to dissolve all the other nonsense available on the variable VH-1's, MTV's and BET's of the digital audiovisual world and learn more about what's really good in the world today. In a black comedy way, of course.

The first show I caught in full was the episode on the Sunday after Obama's victory. It was just perfectly timed for relevance, humor and appropriateness; it seems that someone in the higher offices of the CNN building is smart enough to realize that if you want someone to be able to apply comedy to the first black presidency, they'd better be black. Brilliant!





Wow; how the world has changed in the past six months, huh? Looks like change will continue to come well into 2009 and beyond, oh my brothers and sisters, and we've got to learn to live with the difference in order to have any input or effect on the future. Especially when the guy in charge looks more like America than any other candidate in recent history. Now that we've got a leader, we need supporters, workers and buffers. As long as we have intelligence, art and dialogue, we'll have a national discussion that will lead to something positive.

But enough of that. Seriously, D.L. Hughley is funny as hell. To be fair, I have noticed that his show can be somewhat off when it comes to the other characters that are featured. It's like someone took the Dave Chappelle idea and made it more politically astute but more watered down; sometimes the people overplay their posturing and the jokes fall flat, leaving a lot of pickup duty for the host. Luckily, D.L. has a knack for improvisation and delivery, so he always ends up with a good show. Personal opinion: I've always thought that he's best when he moves between politics and picking random people in the audience to roast. Sure, he's heavy on the profanity, but why the eff wouldn't he be? He's a black comic, for God and Pete's sakes, providing people of other persuasions than African-American rhetorical proof that you can get away with anything that comes out of your mouth if it hints at a strong intellect.





Anyway, here are just a few clips from the performance. Check him out when he's in your town, and support D.L.'s TV show so that CNN keeps cutting checks for black folks with creative, activist minds like mine.







Coming up next, Common (yes, that Common) comes to Birmingham this past weekend. But did he kill? Tune in tomorrow to see.

COMEDY IS DEAD: CHRIS ROCK RETURNS TO THE STAGE

I saw this guy at the Essence Festival in July, and all I can say is that he deserves his place on top of the black comics' game. There are funny comedians, hilarious comedians, wack comedians, dead comedians, missing comedians like Dave Chappelle, rising comedians like Katt Williams, and then there's the Rock.





What makes Chris Rock a great comedian is his diverse intelligence. He goes over a lot of ground in his live show, and even though his material has become much more vulgar, it has simultaneously become smarter and more worldly. Rock has become better with time, because he has not allowed himself to got the route of Eddie "I'm too busy with these wack-ass movies" Murphy, who he has always called one of his comedic mentors. But we all know that Eddie's shine has been supplanted by Chris's tenacity and consistency. Both men have selected or accepted some very suspect roles in some very dumb movies, but Rock has turned down the check to his own reputation's advantage. Eddie is just taking the check and showing the same cheesy, coony smile every time he shows his mug around Hollywood. And to think, Eddie used to be the funniest guy in the world...



Now, the poor guy is just a lost multi-millionaire, with a love child owned by Scary Spice, a recent snub at the Oscars and Johnny Gill as his last, best friend that he can trust to do anything for him if asked axed. What the hell happened to Arsenio? He would have never let his former BFF do a movie this lame...



All I know is that of all the funnymen out there who do their jobs by making people with senses of humor actually exercise their intellects, Rock is among the very best that existed. As a black comic, he dances across the fine line of telling the ugly truth and making it loveable, like a common pain that we all feel and have learned to live through together. He'll be in the history books if he keeps it up.

So watch his show if you have HBO. It's on right now if you're on the east coast; it plays at 10pm if you're on the Pacific side. Trust me.

CONSISTENCY IS DEAD

It's so crazy that Jon Stewart has more gall than almost any liberal thinker, commentator or columnist. Dude always seems to find factual information that throws the hypocrisy of the GOP back in the face of the dead elephants. And - get this - he's a comedian.

This just supports my theory that the truth is a joke, and vice-versa.

"THE A-TEAM" IS DEAD

Damn. Like, really damn. I can honestly call Rashan Ali and Emperor Searcy friends of mine. I've known both of them for 10 years, and unlike a lot of people who claim to be in the celebrity circle, I can honestly say that both of them know me. So this is wack as hell to me. But, for the record, "The A-Team Morning Show" of Radio One of Atlanta (Hot 107.9) IS DEAD.


The A-Team consisted of Rashan, Searcy, Griffy 2 Trillion and... uh... somebody else, I think. But they are long-standing A-town vets who were there since Atlanta began to blow and stayed down to this day. And it is this day, the day that Obama will accept the nomination, that they have accepted pink slips from Radio One. They are being replaced by THE RICKY SMILEY MORNING SHOW.





The good news about this is that all three main characters of the A-Team are well situated. Rashan is happily married with child, and I don't see her in a financial crunch. Searcy is a partner in Black Market Entertainment, a.k.a. BME, which is also co-owned by Jonathan "Lil' Jon" Smith. He's not at all poor. And Griff is a great host, comedian and personality in his own right, so I assume that he'll either move to another market or find his way to television in the next 12 months.


But to be honest, with no disrespect intended, the show hasn't been the same since Ryan Cameron left. And from what I hear, Ricky Smiley's syndicated radio show isn't really that good, but I haven't heard it, so you ain't heard that from me. But seriously, I don't expect it to last very long in Atlanta, because there are so many home-grown morning shows here, and this city is too big for something that's not local. Tom Joyner is the exception, like Larry Bird. Ricky Smiley? Nope.


Mark my words; Smiley won't last in Atlanta. But, on another note, why does this feel like the opening night of the Olympics? You remember, when John Edwards announced that he had fathered a bastard love-child and cheated on his wife, who has terminal cancer. In other words, people like to put out bad news announcements when the story is likely to be overlooked because of something much more major. Like the acceptance speech of the first African-American nominee for POTUS by a major political party.


I hate this for "The A-Team", but I love this day in history. And, on that note, I'm about to head to downtown Atlanta, to be with some good people as Senator Barack Obama makes his speech.

Life is good. Light-skinded is back! We are living history. This is crazy. I'm supercrunk. Time to hit the town. God bless America (wow).

COMEDY IS DEAD - MORE FLOWERS

Bernie Mac, a King of Comedy and one of the most deserving recipients of fame in recent comedic history, IS REALLY DEAD. Less than a month ago he was opening the show for the next POTUS, Senator Barack Obama, and throwing out some grimy jokes that Obama's camp had to refute. Now, Obama will never get a chance to shake his hand after November 4 and say, "Thanks, Mac." Of course, Mac probably would have responded by saying, "I knew you weren't scared of those motherf*ckers."


Here are some reactionary quotes from celebrity friends who woke up today like everyone else, only to discover that Mac did not join us for breakfast.

George Clooney:
"The world just got a little less funny. He will be dearly missed."

Chris Rock:
"Bernie Mac was one of the best and funniest comedians to ever live but that was the second best thing he did. Bernie was one of the greatest friends a person could have. Losing him is like losing 12 people because he absolutely filled up any room he was in. I'm gonna miss the Mac Man."

Don Cheadle:
"This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie. He brought so much joy to so many. He will be missed but heaven just got funnier."

SOURCE: E! ONLINE

And for a final encore, here is a YouTube of Bernie Mac onstage at Def Comedy Jam, which was the first time I ever saw his comedy act. Dude had me dead from the minute he hit the stage.





R.I.P., Bernie. Hope you're laughing upstairs with Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin and everyone else. I'm telling you, concerts in Heaven may be hard to get into, but they're probably worth every minute.


"Throw it up, baby...
It's Brick City, you heard of that,
We blessed and hung low, like Bernie Mac!"
Redman - Dirty (Christina Aguilera)

THE OBAMA CRUSADE: Day 24

TODAY (Really yesterday, but so what):


This has been out for a day, but it is still... I almost can't believe I'm saying this... impressive. Paris Hilton has responded to Senator John McCain's horrible TV ad with her own short, with help from Will Ferrell's comedic website, FUNNYORDIE.COM. In the vid, she lambastes McCain as a geezer, while leaving Obama's name completely out of the line of fire. Looks like the Hilton Family is regretting that $4,600 check they cut to the Republickin candidate, and might be switching sides.

Anyway, here is the video, which is a classic. I mean, I might even respect Paris now. I don't know what to believe anymore... I'm so confused.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Yo, not only are the jokes funny, and not only does she look pretty good, and not only does she show that she can be very articulate when asked axed, but damn... her energy policy sounds like the best idea that I've heard thus far.

“I never thought I’d say this, but Paris Hilton’s plan is sound,” said Peter Beutel, an energy analyst at Connecticut’s Cameron Hanover.

“I’ve maintained all along that we need the best (ideas) of the political left, the best of the right and the best of the center. We need bipartisan ideas welded together. If Paris Hilton gets into the act with her plan, I’m all for it,” Beutel said.

“So now we’ll just have to see what Britney has to say and maybe combine them both into a policy,” said Art Kinsman, a spokesman for AAA Southern New England.

SOURCE: THE BOSTON HERALD

I'm dead @ this. It's, like, totally the hardest thing Paris has ever done. I can't even say any more on this one. Holla at me later.

Shout out to Rihanna.

THE OBAMA CRUSADE: Day 16

TODAY:


We're going to laugh. We're going to look at the ignorance, and laugh together. Because really, even though political humor can go too far, sometimes it's still funny if you can dig past an obvious insult and find your sense of humor.

Here are a few photos I've found along the way to fullfilling this assignment to cover the Obama campaign for 100 days.

















Pretty classy, huh? Feel free to pass them around to others. Or feel free to start a petition demanding that people stop using caricatures, drawings and graphic manipulation to create images that unfairly draw negative and misleading racial and cultural reactions upon political candidates from those who don't know how to tell a lie from the truth. See how far it gets you.

Good luck with that.

BLACK TELEVISION IS BACK FROM THE DEAD (tonight)

Hell no, I don't mean B.E.T.


Just caught Nas on The Colbert Report. Much respect to Stephen Colbert and Comedy Central for letting the guy speak his mind and perform "Sly Fox." To be honest, I hadn't even heard it before watching it a half hour ago. Had plenty of chances to download it, but when you're a real fan you leave at least something to discover if you're going to support it with money. I had already downloaded The Nigger Tape, his mixtape with Green Lantern. How much free shit could I ask axe for without putting something in the collection plate?

So really, I'm going to buy the new Nas album tomorrow. He did a good job, especially considering how Colbert can throw a person off with his conservative schtick. You can't let him fool you into being pissed off, and you can't let him totally steal the show. He's known to do both to unsuspecting guests. Nasir was on point.





I'm about to run out and grab a six pack of that good Belgian beer (Bud Light) and sit my ass down to watch CNN. BLACK IN AMERICA: THE BLACK MAN is on right now. I'm waiting to see if Soledad O'Brien is going to wink at me through the TV. Baby girl has that thyow! Plus, I think I should see what Time Warner says about me and my life, under the guise and co-signage of Soledad O'Brien's fine ass.

So far, she's done a seriously good job. Her stock is rising. TV networks: you catch her contract up, you'd better snatch that. Don't be surprised if she asks axe where the cash at.

REALLY DEAD MCs

Estelle Getty, known to the world as Sophia from the hit television show "The Golden Girls", IS REALLY DEAD.


Ol' girl was the quintessential embodiment of an old lady. She died in real life at 84, but she played an octogenarian on the show for years. I'm sure my Mom will call me today and tell me how sad it is and tell me how that, along with "Cheers" and a few other 80's shows, used to be one of her favorites. You should call your Mom and console her.

But really, ol' girl did her thing. She made big money, got famous and made a character that everyone will remember. Much respect.


Please show your appreciation by singing along with the following video:




Or you can crank that Golden Girl one last time...

THE LAST LAUGH

George Carlin, who was a hero to modern comics, IS DEAD. I remember watching him back in the day, and always feeling like I was watching a lecture that you could laugh at. Dirty words sprinkled everywhere. But did I ever laugh out loud? Not really. I always liked Richard Pryor a little bit better, but I can appreciate dry humor, especially when it represents the counterculture and its funny enough to make you think.





PRYOR = G.O.A.T.
CARLIN = S.G.O.A.T.


But there's plenty of time for that debate. For now, may the man rest in peace.