By Terry Tang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s Monday morning at the House of Blues. Helping to promote the comedy concert film, “The Original Kings of Comedy,” Steve Harvey tells journalists that fellow comedian Bernie Mac has the perfect slogan.
“I don’t think that could’ve gotten put no better: ‘White folks looking forward to this picture,’” Harvey said. “That ought to be the headline!”
All joking aside, “The Original Kings of Comedy” is the film incarnation of a very successful two-year tour that made serious money. But the tour’s prosperity went unnoticed by most mainstream media.
“Scary Movie” hit new levels of gross with the highest box office opening for a film directed by an African American. Hollywood observers as well as the press immediately saw the potential for a franchise. Yet, for two years, the media spotlight failed to shine the light on four African American comedians who, time and again, sent thousands rolling in the aisles of sold-out venues.
Paramount Pictures is betting that the punch lines of Harvey, Mac, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer can transcend the tour circuit and win over moviegoers. It also doesn’t hurt to have director Spike Lee at the helm.
A sort of homage to other comedy concert films like Richard Pryor’s “Live at the Sunset Strip,” “The Original Kings of Comedy” is the brainchild of producer Walter Latham. With an initial desire to bring top working comedians to African American audiences, Latham has watched the tour move from theaters to arenas seating 20,000.
“The Kings of Comedy” tour premiered in 1997 with 58 shows. In 1998, D.L. Hughley was recruited to the lineup for a tour of 40 shows. Both tours combined earned an astonishing $37 million in ticket sales.
Although their numbers surpassed that of the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 tour, the “Kings” have yet to really be considered household names. But the film, which documents one show in Charlotte, N.C., may be the door to more notoriety.
While he is reluctant to admit it, Lee attributes the past lack of visibility to race. In the director’s view, only a select few African Americans seem to succeed at one time.
“I just think that there’s always been this phenomenon where there can only be one or two at a time. We only got so many slots and right now it’s filled up,” Lee said. “We got Eddie (Murphy), we got Will (Smith), these other guys. It’s as simple as that. But you know, if you’re talented, there’s room for everybody.”
Latham agreed that getting the tour off the ground was difficult without mainstream coverage. The “Kings” had to rely more on word of mouth.
“Last year, we sold out Madison Square Garden in a week. And the (New York) Times didn’t report about it,” Latham said. “So, it’s been a struggle from the beginning just to garner attention for what was going on. It wasn’t that we didn’t want it. They didn’t find it newsworthy.”
Even without the phenomenal ticket sales, the “Kings of Comedy” shouldn’t be falling off the media radar screen. In Lee’s opinion, consumers who look to the press for entertainment are missing out on the big picture.
“I think that when those editors don’t send out their critics to review this stuff, they’re doing a disservice to their readers,” Lee said. “Because their readers come to newspapers every day for information and if you just close their audience, then you’re not doing what newspapers are supposed to do.”
The fact that some of the men’s jokes revolve around African American cultural nuances has some wondering about the film’s crossover potential. However, the four “Kings” have already proven to attract audiences of every color and class.
“Just because something speaks about the black experience does not mean it is not universal,” Lee said. “You love our music, you love our athletes but when it comes to movies, then it gets touchy. It becomes visual.”
“I mean, neorealist cinema is one of my favorites, … I can’t speak a word of Italian,” Lee continued. “I love Kurosawa. But I’m not Japanese.”
Meanwhile, D.L. Hughley knows he cannot stop people from generalizing “Kings of Comedy” as a “black film.”
“Some are gonna be predisposed to see what’s happening. Some are gonna be predisposed to saying ‘That’s a black film,’” Hughley said. “Some people of color may even say ‘There’s nothing in there for me.’”
“Ultimately, if you come and your mind is open, there is not a person that can see, breathe or walk that we can’t make laugh,” Hughley continued.
Away from the comedy clubs, all four entertainers are amusing themselves and others on TV and in film. Hughley will return to work on “The Hughleys,” which UPN rescued from ABC’s cancellation pile. Harvey and Cedric The Entertainer are set to start a fifth season of “The Steve Harvey Show” on the WB network. Mac is currently shooting a film with Martin Lawrence and Danny Devito.
Away from the cameras, all four men agree that nothing beats the adrenaline rush of doing their stand-up routines. For Harvey, stand-up always lets him have the last laugh.
“That is the one thing that they can’t ever cancel. They can’t tell me they ain’t bringing me back next season,” Harvey said. “I get paid on the amount of people who pay their money to see me and how many times I can get them to come back.”
FILM: “The Original Kings of Comedy” is now playing in theaters nationwide.