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Get ready Chicago, here comes Arnez J

                                        By Toure Muhammad, publisher

Arnez J is funny. Before our interview even began, he had me nearly dying with laughter. I told him that I published my own newspaper and that I at times do everything from designing the look to distributing it various outlets throughout Chicago and he immediately told me about the time his mother threw him from a station wagon while driving one early morning down a Denver, Colorado street.

It was so funny that we both were on the phone hyperventilating. Imagine two grown men, just meeting for the first time and in less than two minutes we’re both making can’t breath sounds, “ettccch, etttcch, ha,ha, ha, ha, ha, ettcch, ettcch.” I almost forgot I was supposed to be doing an interview. So you want to hear the story right?

“When I was 12, I helped my mother with her newspaper route,” he explained. At this point, I had no idea a funny story was coming.

“I helped her deliver papers before going to school. My mom had a station wagon. She’s driving and listening to her gospel music just jamming away.” Then they hit a dip in one of Denver’s rock and snow-covered streets. “When we hit that dip, I flew out the back window.”

By this time, we’re both laughing.

He rolls on the ground only to finally look up and see the taillights to the station wagon get smaller and smaller. His mother hasn’t even noticed that he fell out.

“Why didn’t you scream,” I asked.

“I was screaming! But she has her music blasting,” said Arnez.

“What song was playing,” I asked in between laughs.

“I don’t know. Who done left the Gate Open or something. Here’s my mother, who’s about 5 foot 1 and her little bitty head is just bouncing to the music,” said Arnez.

“Then the car hit the corner and she was gone. She didn’t notice I wasn’t in the car until she got home. Then when she comes back for me, she starting laughing so hard, her front teeth fell out. She picked them up and kept laughing. I’m hurt, laughing at what happened to me, laughing at her reaction and mad that she’s laughing so hard at the same time. I’ll never forget that.”

And this story is not even part of his stand up routine.

Arnez J, a Comic View, Def Jam favorite, is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about comics around. He has a great knack for revealing the humor of everyday life. Oh, and I can’t forget how physical the guy is.

With the physicality of Jim Carrey, his brand of comedy has dubbed him "The black Jerry Lewis."

Arnez must have been a gymnast or studied martial arts, I thought to myself before the interview. In fact, “I took both,” he told me. ''I've always been a physical person. I've always expressed my things through mannerisms and facial expressions rather than speaking.”

While working as a flight attendant in Atlanta, he joked with passengers who encouraged him to take up comedy. He debuted at The Comedy Act in Atlanta in 1990. After being a finalist at the 1992 Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, he made his television debut on Showtime's Comedy Club Network in 1993.

Today, Arnez J lives in Atlanta. Theatergoers already know him as Simon, a nightclub owner, opposite Billy Dee Williams and Darius McCrary, in the touring play, The Maintenance Man or in Friends and Lovers a play based on the novel written by Eric Jerome Dickey.

He’s performing with Leon ("The Five Heartbeats" and "The Temptations), Arnez J ("BET Comicview" host), Monica Calhoun ("The Players Club" and "The Best Man"), and Mel Jackson ("Soul Food" and "Deliver Us From Eva").

Television viewers know him for his appearances on Showtime's Comedy Club Network, The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show, Comedy Central's Make Me Laugh, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam and as the 2002 host for BET's Comic View.

And for those of us who love the straight to video urban flicks, he was the funny hotel manager in Miguel Nunez' forthcoming film, Up Against the 8-Ball.

Arnez will be performing in Chicago on November 18 at the Arie Crown Theater along with Rickey Smiley and Chicago’s own Adele Givens. They’ll be performing for the Laughing on the Lakefront Comedy Show, which is a well-put together comedy series produced by Lathea Smyles, CCO of Sta Phocused Productions. Get more info by clicking here.