“Yeah, it’s gonna be a good time coming to the University,” comedian D.L. Hughley said of his upcoming performance at Hill Auditorium. “There’s always a different vibe performing in front of a college crowd. Lots of energy,” Hughley told The Daily. The comic will be on campus Sunday evening with Lewis Black, best known for his curmudgeonly rants on “The Daily Show with John Stewart.”
- Charles Goddeeris
- Hughley is determined to make you laugh, like Taco Bell.
[Courtesy of UPN]
Hughley originally made a name for himself on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” and as the first host of BET’s “Comic View,” has since done two HBO comedy specials and has his own television show on UPN, now entering its third season.
The sitcom is a fictionalized account of Hughley’s own family life. Hughley plays Darryl Hughley, the owner of a successful vending machine company, who moves his family from a working-class neighborhood to a more upscale (and slightly white) one. The racial humor of the show is an offshoot of the humor Hughley uses in his standup routine, in which he deconstructs stereotypes and pokes fun at the social differences between races in everyday life. The show has been a hit for UPN’s Monday night line-up. “I guess people say they can relate to my comedy, which is good,” sais Hughley.
Despite his success in numerous fields, Hughley feels that being funny is similar across different media. “Although, you know, comedy is comedy for me, no matter where I do it – whether it’s on stage at a school, or a [comedy] club, a movie set or on the set of the TV show. It’s like a meal at Taco Bell – all the same thing just folded a different way. I mean, who the hell can tell the difference between an enchirito and a burrito?”
Despite his flippant attitude towards his craft, his importance is apparent in the prestigious nominations of both Hughley and his television show. Both “The Hughleys” and Hughley himself have received NAACP Image Award nominations each of the last four years.
Accolades aside, Hughley is dead set on entertaining audiences. He promises that “they can bet I’m gonna be doing that this weekend.”
He may be opening for Hughely, but Lewis Black has his own cult of like-minded anger-mongers sure to be pleased by the comedian’s astounded haranguing of worldwide stupidity.
Every Wednesday on “The Daily Show,” viewers are treated to Black’s recap of the world’s greatest atrocities to the intellect during his “Back in Black” segment. He is known for his disheveled look and frighteningly large forefingers, which seem to take on a mind of their own when agitated. His simple observations are often punctuated by his extreme disgust for humanity, as the casual viewer often wonders whether on not the comedian may drop dead of a heart attack while onstage.
Black’s social observations and hectic delivery meld perfectly with Hughley’s smooth racial and personal musings. This weekend’s pairing is sure to be an explosion of comic genius.