I am a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I’ve been a comedian for over 17 years and I’ve been confronted with a lot of difficulties including the death of both my parents and recently, my grandmother. With all the ups and downs and trials that life has brought me since leaving my job as a probation counselor in 1990 and going into comedy full-time, the one common denominator has been God. God has always been my rock that I held on to at times when I didn’t have a stable place to live, when I didn’t have money to buy food and wasn’t sure where the next dollar would come from, when I could feel the walls closing in on me, and then out of nowhere a phone call would come in, and work would come, and I would be able to pay my bills. So I know the power of faith and hard work.
A year or so ago I took a paint-less dent repair class so I could learn how to remove dents out of cars because I was tired of struggling as a comedian; but I was so bad at dent removal I wound up putting more dents in the cars than I took out. I got booked to do a comedy show in New York and got cancelled the day I was to tape the show.
So I prayed and asked God to help me in my career. You see I’m working hard just to put a little heat on me. A comedian called me and asked me to help him write some material because he was auditioning for a television show on BET called Coming to the Stage. This was the second season of the show. It was the highest rated show on BET and made the first season winner Lil JJ famous. So I went to the audition of Coming to the Stage and waited and waited in this long line because there were over 80 people auditioning in Baltimore.
From Baltimore they selected me and two other comedians to go to Hollywood to tape Coming to the Stage along with 30 others they selected from around the country. I just wanted to be seen on the show and get some exposure, but after my third week on the show I started to ask God to help me to win. And this is how I know what God has for you-- when I thought I was going to get voted off the show, there I was still in the running. The show was a 13- week show and I was on the show for 7 weeks. In the finals, the judges declared me the winner of Coming to the Stage…the Superstar of Funny. I received a $7,000 Ice-tech watch, a Disney cruise, a walk-on appearance on the UPN sitcom Eve, and a BET special. The exposure gave my career the boost it needed to get to the next level and it got my name out there. So I know the power of Faith, Prayer and Preparation!!