Comedian Alonzo Bodden will appear at Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul on March 22-23. A regular panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” Bodden has been a hit with audiences nationwide for over 20 years. He recently spoke to the MSR.
“I love doing topical material,” explained Bodden on his upcoming St. Paul shows. “I love it when things happen locally. I was just in Cleveland, and some police horses escaped, running down the highway — even the horses in Cleveland don’t like the police,” cracked Bodden.
During our nearly half-hour phone interview, Bodden offered a sample of current subjects he hopes to broach during his stand-up:
The 2024 U.S. presidential campaign: “We got one guy who never does anything telling us the other guy forgot everything.”
On post-pandemic: “People just decided science wasn’t real …”
On Florida: “Florida says history didn’t happen. I don’t know if you’re aware that the whole slavery thing … was just a sophisticated job training.”
On banning books: “Which ones are they banning? Guns? They’re OK; you can bring them. The hell is wrong with us?!”
“One of the things I like about doing topical comedy is there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen,” said Bodden.
Bodden’s first big comedy break came when he appeared in the “New Faces of Comedy” showcase at the Just for Laugh Festival in Montreal. He bemoaned that the annual comedy festival recently declared bankruptcy.
“They never fully recovered from the pandemic,” he said. He added that several comedy clubs around the country also suffered from the pandemic.
“Some clubs and places have survived, and then others couldn’t bounce back, which is a shame. The independent clubs are the best [for comics], and it’s a shame some of them couldn’t make it … the pandemic was tough.”
As a result, streaming now has become a viable option for stand-up comedy: “Streaming is great that it lives on forever,” said Bodden. “My last special we did on YouTube. Everything ends up on YouTube.”
“Alonzo Bodden: Stupid Don’t Get Tired” was released on YouTube in 2022. His fourth stand-up special, “Alonzo Bodden: Heavy Lightweight,” premiered exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in 2019.
However, he said nothing beats a live audience. “There are some downsides. If you take a clip out of context and throw it up … you can make it into whatever you want. But if you’re in the room — live in the moment—that same joke is hilarious. “So streaming is a double-edged sword,” he noted.
His social commentary isn’t restricted to the stage or screen—Bodden hosts the podcast “Who’s Paying Attention?” where he gives his unique take on what’s going on in the world.
“We’re angry as a society,” observed Bodden. “I think the last time I was there [in St. Paul], we were angry about transgendered people. We’re angry at immigrants again. We’re mad at daylight saving time. There are things we may have joked about or talked about 10 years ago that we don’t talk about today. There are things that I don’t do, but … there’s nothing off-limits. The crowd will always tell you if it’s funny. The crowd can always read whether you’re being funny or actually being hateful.
“So, if I do a joke about white people, it can be funny,” continued Bodden. “If it’s in anger, a hateful thing, the crowd will pick up on that, and they won’t like it. We keep shifting on who to hate. It ain’t easy to keep up, which is why I like being Black. Blacks and Jews were hated consistently, but every other group comes and goes,” joked Bodden.
In addition to his regular NPR appearances, Bodden has appeared on television (“Fresh Off The Boat” and “Dr. Kim”) and cable (“Jay Leno’s Garage” on CNBC) and was the winner of season three of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.”
“My sense of humor I absolutely inherited from my mother,” said Bodden. “She was the funniest person I ever knew. She could always find a laugh, and that was one of her gifts.
“Humor is the gift, and [I] hone the talent over the years just being on stage,” he pointed out. “I could say it’s a combination of two. Yeah, I am fortunate to have a natural gift of humor. And over the years, I’ve kind of figured out how to transfer that on stage.”
Mel Hall will appear with Bodden in St. Paul. “It’s his first time working in St. Paul,” said Bodden. He’s gonna kill it as a young, up-and-coming comic.
“We look forward to it,” concluded Bodden.
Alonzo Bodden will perform at Laugh Camp Comedy Club, at 490 N. Robert St., St. Paul, on Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23. There will be two shows on both nights at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. You can purchase tickets or get more info by calling 866-687-8525 or ordering online at www.camp-bar.net/events.