In an era of countless viral videos and sour attempts at humor, we still have
some funnymen who make us “lmao” effortlessly. Bill Bellamy is one comedian who
has had his hand in all things comedy since the moment he stepped on the scene.
From his comical VJ’ing on MTV Jams, to his stand-up, movies, and sitcoms, Bill
Bellamy knows what it means to chase a joke and actually catch it. So what’s
his key to making you laugh? One word. Addicted.
AllHipHop.com
Alternatives:
So, talk about a couple of the projects that you have going on right now.
Bill
Bellamy:
For those who may not know right now I’m the host of NBC’s Last Comic
Standing,
and then I also host my own show, Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes on TV One so check your
local listings for that. I’ve been traveling the last two years all over the
country looking for young talent. People that are talented, funny, different,
interesting and super-duper humorous – that’s been one of my things
that’s been consuming some of my time.
Then
also two, I’ve been really working hard on a TV show that I’ve been writing and
trying to get the premise right for a family show for next season so that’s
been a passion of mine. I’ve been working on that ‘cause you know, we don’t
really have anybody that’s really representing the family right now. I think
just doing it funny like I would want to do it. So I said I’ma do it my damn
self.
AHHA: Like The Cosby Show style?
Bill
Bellamy:
Yeah, like The Cosby Show for our generation, just real fun, family,
different, great values, funny situations, some bugged out kids you know hooked
up like that. I think that would be a lot of fun and then also you know picking
the right movies. I’ve just been lucky realistically in my career to be able to
do a little bit of everything.
Like
if you look up the stuff that I’ve done, it’s a lot of fun stuff and some of it
is totally different. I did Fastlanes, which was a dramatic action kind of show, then
I turn around and host Last Comic Standing and you can look back and see me in The
Brothers
,Love Jones,
Getting Played,
Def Comedy Jam.
You know a lot of people didn’t even know I was a comedian sometimes, so it’s a
trip.
AHHA: Of course one of my
favorites was your spot on MTV Jams.
Bill
Bellamy:
Yeah, MTV Jams was the jump-off you know? Out there interviewing Tupac and Dre
and Snoop and ahhhh man everybody in the ‘90s, man. I mean from Nirvana to Kurt
Cobain, Collective Soul, Hootie and the Blowfish, Madonna…Beyoncé when she
first came out, nobody even knew who she was, [sings]“no, no, no, yeah yeah,
yeah, yeah.” I was there; I was right there.
AHHA: It’s interesting
because you were a VJ at a time when music in general was starting to really
embrace…
Bill
Bellamy:
…Hip-Hop. Like this is a thing people don’t even really know unless you know
your music. I think I was in the right place at the right time. I was actually
right on the explosion of Hip-Hop going into pop culture, into mainstream
America. Like when MTV finally started playing Hip-Hop videos all the time, not
just on Yo! Because for a minute they were only playing Hip-Hop on Yo! MTV Raps
but then Hip-Hop blew up and it was being played everywhere. That was the bomb.
AHHA: Did you ever have any
bad experience with any rappers that you had interviewed or encountered along
the way?
Bill
Bellamy:
Nah, I’ve been really really lucky in that case. I mean I got love from all
angles especially since people like respect and love what I do. The weirdest
thing that ever happened to me, I remember when I was interviewing Dr. Dre and
he was producing Snoop’s first album, Doggystyle and Dr. Dre was under
house arrest at the time, he couldn’t leave his house.
So
they was working out the studio and that was the first time I was like in
California and that whole gang stuff. I knew Snoop was like gang affiliated and
all of this, I ain’t know what to wear. So I think I wore beige. I was like
nobody can be in the beige gang. Beige is neutral, ‘cause someone might be in
the white gang, someone might be in the all black gang but no one’s ever been a
beige thug so I was like I’ma wear beige and that should work.
AHHA: Yeah, that must have
been kinda weird.
Bill
Bellamy: Yeah…neutral
colors. No one was mad at Bill.
AHHA: [laughs] No one will
shoot you in earth tones.
Bill
Bellamy:
[laughs] No one can say you come up out tapioca.
AHHA: So, in traveling around
checking out all of the new talent, how do you go about telling someone they’re
not funny?
Bill
Bellamy:
It’s real easy, “kill yourself.” Nah you just gotta be like, “Look dawg
you just don’t have it man. You
know, there’s a lot of trades like electrical work, you can always be an old
school librarian they still have those, Internet maybe. Internet that can be a
forte for you but comedy is not.”
AHHA: Does it annoy you at
all that you’ve got have these viral videos going on around YouTube where
somebody will say something that’s really actually not funny and then they get
their 15 minutes for kind of doing something half-heartedly funny?
Bill
Bellamy:
You’re right. The crazy thing is that it’s only 15 minutes, and I mean if
you’re in it just to be famous or just to be popular for a few minutes then
that’s what it is. But if you’re really trying to be around, be a veteran and
still be relevant, you know you gotta have talent. You gotta write material
that resonates with people, that people dig that’s memorable.
I
was just listening to a T.I song off [Paper Trail] and I was just
listening to his music man and he said some kind of rhyme that had my name in
the joint. I was like that’s kinda gangsta – just the fact that the cats,
the younger generation still know who I am or that I’m still around and cats
got love for me, I so appreciate that man, it’s like wow. You know and it’s
really hard you gotta get lucky you know, you gotta be in the right place,
right time, you gotta stay on your grind.
I
mean you look at somebody like Jay- Z you think it’s easy to stay in the game?
You look at a chick like Beyoncé, I mean this girl is working; she’s coming out with
a new album every two months. Look at Lil Wayne, when you look at a cat like
Lil Wayne right, cats wasn’t really respecting Lil Wayne about six years ago.
This dude is the number one hottest dude right now he’s coming so hard with it
and people love him for it. You can’t tell me people don’t respect his hustle
and he’s really bringing fire right now.
AHHA: That’s so true. It was
kind of interesting – and you saw it firsthand at MTV – when Lil
Wayne came out it was like okay, he’s that little kid in Ca$h Money.
Bill
Bellamy:
Right, he was like Tito Jackson in the Jacksons. But now look who’s the star
now you know what I mean? That’s what I love about our business; it’s like if
you work real hard and you have your talent and you persevere through the rough
times, you can really get it and really really get yours. I feel like the best
has yet to come from me. I feel like I definitely hit some nice little homeruns
here and there, but I never really got the out the park joint yet where I just
blow up like crazy where it’s just like, “Oh my God.” I think my “Oh my God”
moment is on its way.
AHHA: You’ve been everywhere
in your career.
Bill
Bellamy:
…and I’m really thankful. I’m really really thankful. I swear I’m keeping it so
real. It’s like I’m out here hustling getting on these planes, traveling all over
different cities, working for this show, that show, working and writing on my
TV shows, working on scripts and stuff. It requires a lot of work just to get a
little bit of shine. So you don’t even know if it’s gonna work or if people are
gonna dig it.
I
took a chance with Last Comic Standing; I didn’t know if people would really
dig me hosting that show, but I just thought it would be kinda fun and I just
went with the heart. I was like this could be fun so I went out and did it and
it worked. Who’s Got Jokes is another fun move and right now people need
to laugh, like our life is crazy, economically it’s retarded right now. I think
I’m in a really good place, providing laughter for folks, giving people a place
to come out, relax and really really enjoy themselves.
AHHA: Which do you like
better, standup or situational comedy?
Bill
Bellamy:
I like standup the best because I’m totally free to be me and do what I need to
do. With TV, you’re always dealing with subject matter – constraints, how
do you deliver the joke, this, that and the other. But I mean I’ve done TV for
15 years so I know what that is but it’s still hard. It’s nothing like going on
stage and being able to say whatever you want.
AHHA: Besides yourself, who
would you say is the funniest standup comedian?
Bill
Bellamy:
Well I can’t just say one. I mean it’s a lot. You got Dave Chapelle, Chris
Rock, you got Cedric [the Entertainer], D.L. [Hughley] You got Steve [Harvey],
Bernie Mac – the late Bernie Mac, oh my god. I like Katt Williams too.
AHHA: How were you affected
by the passing of Bernie Mac this year?
Bill
Bellamy:
Man, devastated. [Bernie Mac] was like a mentor to me, great friend, we did Def
Jam tour together and he basically adopted me like his little brother man. It
was really difficult for me to really wrap my head around it ‘cause I just
didn’t think stuff like that would happen you know? Especially with cats that
you’re working with, you’re out here on the grind, you’re proud of what they’re
doing, and he was only 52 or 53 or something like that. It just makes you
realize man, you gotta grind out baby. You gotta go get it man, you never know
how long you ‘gon be here so go for it.
AHHA: Definitely true. Do you
see the new comedians possessing that same level of humor that you and Bernie
Mac possessed as well as others?
Bill
Bellamy:
I don’t know man. It takes time to get to that level ‘cause you gotta be in the
game. I mean I don’t know who’s got it like that. All the guys that I know that
are actually good like that, they’ve been doing it for so long. Like I said,
Rock and Chapelle and Cedric, Steve, D.L, these cats. I mean a guy like
Earthquake he’s hilarious. I think Lavelle Crawford is hysterical. Nobody can
talk about being fat better than him, I mean he just makes being fat so funny.
The way he talks about it; it is hysterical. He makes you wanna eat, he make
you wanna be overweight like man, I could do it too.
AHHA: So with Last Comic
Standing
and even with Who’s Got Jokes, you’re offering opportunities to younger comedians
to get in the business. In the earlier days when you first started doing
comedy, you really had to grind to make your name and it worked ten fold. But
for a lot of the newer cats, do you think that the hustle and quality is
instilled in the newer comedians as much as it was in the past for people like
yourself?
Bill
Bellamy:
Yeah, I think it is, but the difference with these cats is there’s a lot of
ways to get quick fame and not longevity. Like they can be on the Internet and
do some stuff or they can get on these reality shows and be funny and stuff
like that. We were one and out – like you had Def Comedy Jam and maybe
two other moves and if you didn’t blow that up, it was a wrap. You back in the
club kind of like just trying to prove who you are again.
So
I think with these guys, what they gotta be careful of is understanding what it
is they’re doing trying to build a career and not trying to be a hot flash. You
want to be around, you want to be able to say you’ve been doing comedy 18 years
and people still love and come out to see you; you don’t want to be hot for one
summer. I think cats is like yeah whatever, been there, saw that.
AHHA:
How is
it being a dad?
Bill
Bellamy:
It’s a beautiful thing. I’ve always wanted it. I knew I was gonna wait ‘til the
right time and really really got blessed. I have two beautiful healthy kids and
they just make it worth everything from being with them and seeing them learn
and just really start getting real good with everything; it’s gangster. It’s
really a wonderful feeling to be able to teach, to learn from them as well and
they keep you young. They keep you fun.
My
kids have me doing stuff I would not do unless I had kids. I’m rolling around
on the rug, fighting and wrestling with these kids, just chasing them all over
the house. They’re running from me, hiding in the same spot 20 times. I’m like,
“dude, I know where you are, you always hide there! I know that’s your spot.”
It’s fun and I just think everything comes full circle in my life. I’ve had an
opportunity to start my family and I always wanted to be able to spend time
with my wife and my kids. I didn’t want to just be a workaholic and not enjoy
the fruits of my labor.
So
when people are like, “Yeah what happened to you? I ain’t seen you man,
whatever man,” I’m just like you know what? I’m kicking it with my kids man and
I’m being a father and really being a part of their young days because they’re
not gonna be little forever; it goes so fast. So I’m just really excited that I
was able to really be in this part because it’s so important that you nurture
them when they’re little like that and also when they get big. Before you know
it they’re like in school and they’re not babies anymore.
AHHA: Yeah, and your daughter
is getting big. She started school now.
Bill
Bellamy:
Yeah, she’s in kindergarten.
AHHA: Does she have a sense
of humor? You really get to see personalities in kids around that age? Are you
seeing it?
Bill
Bellamy:
She’s definitely got it going on. I mean she not as funny as her daddy though,
but she’s decent. She’s kinda hot for a five year old though. She got skills,
she got skills.
AHHA: If your life depended
on it and you had to make someone laugh, what joke would you tell them?
Bill
Bellamy:
Ahh man, I got so many. I just heard this joke it’s so funny. You ready?
Whatever word I said you say addicted.
AHHA:
Got it.
Bill
Bellamy:
Sex?
AHHA: Addicted.
Bill
Bellamy:
Alcohol?
AHHA: Addicted.
Bill
Bellamy: What
hit you in the butt last night?
AHHA: Addicted (a-d**k-did).