{"id":119623,"date":"2017-09-26T06:03:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T10:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=119623"},"modified":"2017-09-26T06:03:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T10:03:56","slug":"russell-simmons-talks-def-comedy-jam-25-and-series-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/26\/russell-simmons-talks-def-comedy-jam-25-and-series-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Simmons talks ‘Def Comedy Jam 25’ and series return"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“I’m very excited after looking at the rough cut,” Simmons said in an interview last week. “I really believe that people are going to have a great time watching and it will revive a few careers.” (Photo<\/a>: Russel Simmons\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES — Russell Simmons says not much has changed for black comics since he created \u201cDef Comedy Jam,\u201d the early-’90s HBO series that introduced Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Sheryl Underwood, Cedric the Entertainer and many other comics to national TV audiences. It was a weekly showcase for edgy and outrageous comedians at a time when \u201cThe Cosby Show\u201d and its (then) righteously wholesome star Bill Cosby was the mainstream face of black comedy.<\/p>\n

TV’s \u201cgatekeepers\u201d still tend toward \u201cthe most accessible, easy-to-digest\u201d black entertainers, Simmons said, but he’s newly inspired after making \u201cDef Comedy Jam 25 ,\u201d a celebration of the series’ comedians and cultural impact that premieres Tuesday on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very excited after looking at the rough cut,\u201d Simmons said in an interview last week. \u201cI really believe that people are going to have a great time watching and it will revive a few careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He especially wants that for Adele Givens, an original \u201cDef Comedy\u201d performer who Simmons said \u201cnever got a break in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time around, maybe somebody will see her for who she is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 90-minute special intersperses clips from the original series with live appearances by a slew of comedians, including Lawrence, Underwood and Cedric the Entertainer, along with Steve Harvey, Tracy Morgan, Craig Robinson, D. L. Hughley, Katt Williams and Dave Chappelle.<\/p>\n

A de-facto host of the special, Chappelle hilariously went off-script during the taping earlier this month at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a white-supremacist starter kit at Target. Let me get some tiki-torches and khaki pants, I’ve got something going on next week,\u201d he said before spontaneously leading the crowd in the \u201cblack national anthem,\u201d \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can leave this in, too,\u201d Chappelle said. \u201cIt’s a reunion. I was drinking backstage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons said \u201cpretty much all\u201d of Chappelle’s off-script run made it into the final edit.<\/p>\n

Rising star Tiffany Haddish said \u201cDef Comedy Jam\u201d provided an outlet for female comics that didn’t exist elsewhere. She got her break on the show in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an opportunity for an uninhibited female comic to say whatever she had to say,\u201d Haddish said. \u201cLet’s be honest, that’s where you want uninhibited people to be: on TV, not at your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show allowed black comics to \u201cbe unapologetically and unflinchingly who we are,\u201d said Hughley, who hosted the second iteration of \u201cDef Comedy Jam\u201d in 2006.<\/p>\n

Simmons is bringing the series back for a third go in November: \u201cAll Def Comedy\u201d will have a six-episode run on HBO, he said.<\/p>\n

The anniversary special is like an entree and a retrospective leading into the new season, Simmons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really inspired me and it reminded me of all these movies in development and all these people who should be working. Some are famous from ‘Def Comedy Jam’ and they tour in the black community but haven’t crossed over, which is the case with almost every stitch of black comedy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it reminded me how excited I am to do a new chapter of ‘Def Comedy Jam.’ There are so many underserved comedians who deserve a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Russell Simmons says not much has changed for black comics since he created \u201cDef Comedy Jam,\u201d the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":119641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[24881,24883,24879,24880,2438,24878,24882],"class_list":["post-119623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-bernie-mac","tag-cedric-the-entertainer","tag-def-comedy-jam","tag-martin-lawrence","tag-netflix","tag-russell-simmons","tag-sheryl-underwood","mauthors-sandy-cohen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}