By: Michael Reel
Changing Our Narrative
Multi-talented comedian and actor Alex Thomas recently invited Reel Urban News to catch his set at the famed Laugh Factory on Chocolate Sunday. Our profile of Thomas, a veteran of stand-up, television and movies, is the first of our new digital media series, WELCOME HOME.
“The Laugh Factory is a sentimental place to me,” Thomas says. “This is one of the places where I started. I was very fortunate in the early ’90s, a lot of black comics could only do the black rooms, which was the Comedy Act Theater in the hood, off Crenshaw and 43rd. We had Maverick’s Flats back when J. Anthony Brown was doing it.
“I was very fortunate. I was one of those dudes, I became a paid regular at the Laugh Factory, the Comedy Store and the Improv, where all of the superstars were. It helped hone my comedy act because it was a mixed crowd.”
Thomas was brought up in the heart of South Central Los Angeles at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. Raised along with four brothers, Thomas admits his early comedy was a reflection of the sights and sounds of his childhood. “As a new comic, when you’re a young brother ain’t been nowhere, that’s all you really know to talk about, how you grew up.
“I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. I came from nothing.”
Thomas’ upbringing was difficult but unlike many of his childhood friends, Thomas was raised with his father in the home. “I had great parents. My mother and father are still alive.”
Thomas’ father Alex, Sr. was a trombonist in the group Earth Wind and Fire. His mother Mary is also musically talented. They both provided the young comedian with the foundation for success.
“I grew up in the music business. I grew up in the studios with Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and Minnie Riperton. They were my dad’s friends. My dad helped come up with the name Earth Wind and Fire. They were just called the Phoenix Suns – Maurice White, rest in peace. Verdine White and my dad came up with the name Earth Wind and Fire.”
Thomas credits his experience with school busing in the early ’80s with perhaps saving his life. “Being broke, growing up in South Central and being the only black kid at an all-white private school, being bused from South Central to Beverly Hills was a way out for me.”
In addition to the crack epidemic, South Central was the home to the notorious Crips and Bloods gangs. “Half my family are Crips. Half my family are Bloods. I was just very fortunate not to get caught up in it.”
Thomas broke into entertainment as a dancer on TV’s Soul Train. Thomas became friends with fellow dancer Rosie Perez, who would later become the choreographer on the groundbreaking show In Living Color. Thomas became assistant choreographer to Perez during the show’s first two seasons.
Thomas credits In Living Color‘s co-creators Keenen Ivory Wayans and brother Damon Wayans for pushing him into stand-up. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx was also a part of the early days of In Living Color.
Thomas took a lesson from comedy pioneers Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor and understood early on the importance of making crowds of any race laugh. “I was doing places like the Laugh Factory, they always have mixed crowds. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now, they’ve always had mixed crowds.”
“I was always one of those black comics, I did the black nights, but I did the regular nights. On Wednesday nights when it’s half-Armenian, white, Chinese and Danish, it helps your material. It’s like being a quarterback on a football team. You have to be able to read the difference. You practiced all week with the team but things change come game time.”
Thomas admits the motivation for broadening his appeal was also financial.
“What made me cross over was this thing call money. There’s more money in the crossover. I wanted to be like Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. They were funny. They just happened to be black. But the whole world loves them.
