DEARBORN — The 20th annual Motor City ComedyFest is coming to the Dearborn Ford Community & Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 12. The event is sponsored by Equality Michigan and features four top comedians from across the country. Here's a quick Q&A with each of them.
Poppy Champlin
BTL: What is funny to you?
PC: A lot of things. I can make anything funny really. I hear things funny. I say things funny. If I am not in a good mood though, not a lot is funny. It is my mood. I can see funny in most things.
BTL: What don't you joke about?
PC: I don't joke about domestic violence, misogyny, rape — anything anti-women.
BTL: Who are your comedic influences?
PC: I was influenced by Lucille Ball. Seeing a strong woman be funny, independent, mischievous, ambitious, defiant, can take a pie in the face, loving, generous … She had it all. I was also into "The Three Stooges," and I was also very, very influenced by Joan Rivers. As I was becoming a comedian I seemed to be tracking with her. I was on her late night show as a contestant in a Joan Rivers-for-a-day contest and came in first runner up. Years later in New York I won an America's Funniest Real Woman contest on her morning show.
BTL: What can folks expect from your act at the ComedyFest?
PC: I will be delivering some new, high paced, upbeat material and hopefully a couple of new song parodies that I always come up with.
Karinda Dobbins
BTL: What is funny to you?
KD: I love various types of humor including political satire and '70s variety shows ("The Carol Burnett Show," "The Richard Pryor Show," "The Flip Wilson Show").
BTL: What don't you joke about?
KD: There is nothing I won't joke about, but I would say that I try very hard not to make fun of already marginalized groups or people. I am not here to reinforce the status quo. My jokes or stories will make fun of the system or situations that put people on the margins. An integral part of my comedy is opening the portal to my life which includes almost daily encounters of racism, sexism and homophobia and making people think of those things from the perspective of which I am forced to live them; we can then laugh at the absurdity of it.
BTL: Who are your comedic influences?
KD: Moms Mabley and Richard Pryor
BTL: What can folks expect from your act at the ComedyFest?
KD: Folks can expect to have a really good time!
Jaye McBride
BTL: What is funny to you?
JM: Anything dark. I love dark, "Addams Family" type stuff. I try not to go too far in my act. When I start to hear people whispering, "How horrible!" I know I've gone too far.
BTL: What don't you joke about?
JM: I don't like to take easy jokes. If it's about stereotypes or easy punchlines, I don't bother. If I'm at a roast, I'll go after everyone and everything, but I'd like to leave it there.
BTL: Who are your comedic influences?
JM: Anthony Jeselnik, Mitch Hedberg, Sarah Silverman and of course, Joan Rivers!
BTL: What can folks expect from your act at the ComedyFest?
JM: At ComedyFest, I expect I'll be different than almost any other comic they've seen before. I also expect them to each bring me a homemade pie and/or cupcake. I expect to put on a lot of weight this weekend.
Sampson McCormick
BTL: What is funny to you?
SM: My point of view and the way that I say things about them. I've always had a way of being so lighthearted about things that no matter how serious it is, I've gotten away with making it funny. … I think it's just the way I do things, say things, think things … it can be mischievous but sweet. And above just being funny, I think having the ability to relate, to find things in common with folks. I've always had the ability to connect with people, no matter who they are, that allows them to open up and let me get to that funny bone, and we end up having a great time together.
BTL: What don't you joke about?
SM: I'm pretty old school. I grew up in the '80s playing "The Dozens" (verbal sparring matches that include "Yo Mama" jokes and making fun of flaws with oneself and other people) in the hood, and of course, being a gay man, throwing shade and reading (humorous trash talks and put downs), so I know how to crack a joke and take one. I'm not politically correct, but I'm not an asshole, either. So, nothing is really off the table. But I don't make fun of the handicapped, or do rape jokes, or any of that, or attack groups — unless its FOX News, then that's no holds barred.
BTL: Who are your comedic influences?
SM: Without a doubt, Moms Mabley, Redd Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Rivers, and folks that I saw growing up, like the old black women who would sit on the front porch with a cigarette flapping in the corner of their mouth, eating crackers and tuna fish, talking shit about people, and hollering at people who walked past the yard, "Hey baby! How you doin'? How your mama and 'nem?" They were hilarious and I picked up a lot of their habits and attitude. They were amazing women.
BTL: What can folks expect from your act at the ComedyFest?
SM: Honesty, a very personal point of view about life, and where we are right now. And, of course, I share a lot of stories. That's my style: make folks who've never had a black or gay best friend feel like they finally have one.
