By Darryl Litteton
And unlike many clubs you don’t have to be a
marquee name to get your talents recognized.
Since the Black Comedy Boom subsided many have
tried to re-create the magic. “Def Comedy Jam” and
BET’s “Comic View” both famously attempted failed
reboots to lackadaisical results. Def had been a
comedy revelation; a show on Friday nights that
people either stayed home to watch or taped and
peeped as soon as they got back from the club
(alone or not).
“Comic View” had mesmerized
audiences twice a day, five days a week with a wide
array of comedic talent; some actually talented,
some not so much.
Once
the
doors
were
opened
Uproar
Entertainment committed itself to recording and
promoting today’s most talented comedians. They
seek them out.
Comedy talent is scouted at
comedy festivals throughout the country (where
Uproar gives a recording contract to the winners).
Their roster includes comedy powerhouses like
George Lopez, Brian Regan, Margaret Cho, Dana
Gould, Doug Stanhope, Richard Jeni, Bobby Collins,
John Pinette, Alonzo Bodden, Pablo Francisco,
Suzanne Westenhoefer, and Scott Kennedy.
The era was revolutionary and the lightening that was
caught in a bottle in the early 90s had shot back out
into the stratosphere to never return to the same spot.
Black Comedy has been in a nadir ever since. Some
say it’s over; evidence being that most of the major
black comedians blanket their acts with mainstream
verbiage and dilemmas and not the bedrock of black
comedy – the black experience.
There’s also the
uncomfortable fact that many headlining black
comedians often opt to use white openers to soften
the blow, but that also underexposes other deserving
black talent of being seen by the very audience that
would comprise their fan base. So as far as the genre,
the teeth have been taken out of the beast.
They feature the classic comedy recordings from
such notables as Jonathan Winters, LaWanda
Page, Slappy White, Shecky Greene, Marsha
Warfield and Rich Little, not to mention the
legendary comedy albums of National Lampoon
featuring many of the original cast members of
Saturday Night Live.
Defanging never took place at Uproar Entertainment.
The 30 year old label has consistently put out hard
hitting comedy; catering to those fans who like it the
way it was intended. Race never mattered. They let
everyone offend. If your stand up is in-your-face and
uncompromising they just might have a place for you;
that is if you’re funny as well because Uproar’s name
is justified. The finished product they release has been
meticulously produced after being recorded at some
of the top comedy venues in the nation, so the artist
comes off to their best affect.
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Uproar also recorded up-and-comers Tyler Boeh,
John Moses, AJ Finney, Andrew Norelli, and Kabir
Singh. This year alone they brought the equipment
in to lay down tracks for Nikki Carr (“Last Comic
Standing”), Tobe Hixx, Travis Simmons, Alfred Robles,
Rain Pryor and yours truly with my latest recording
of the aptly titled “Too Raw For Mainstream”.
This was my second go around with Uproar. When I
had the privilege of recording my first one “Am I
Lying?” I was part of a wave of urban comedians
that included Shang, Al Toomer, Melanie
Comarcho, Marquez, the Greatest and Evan Lionel.
So Uproar has always been a big proponent of
black comedy. Why not? The man who founded
Uproar is also the man who found Richard Pryor.