Playing Vegas: Comic’s career started with a score on open mic night
Back in his early 20s, Deon Cole was watching a stand-up comedy special with a buddy, who suddenly said, “Man, you should do stand-up, for real. Your take on things is so unique, you should do it.”
Cole didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. But he listened.
“I wasn’t sure, because I wasn’t a funny guy like a comic is,” says Cole, headlining The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on Friday night. “I never thought my way of thinking would equate to comedy.”
His friend offered him $50 to put his name on the board at Chicago comedy club All Jokes Aside. Cole’s jokes were certainly put aside. It took him three weeks to finally get called up to perform.
“I was there watching these guys, and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m ready to try,’” Cole says. “I put some stuff together, and man, the next thing you know, boom. Wow. The response changed my whole outlook on everything. I couldn’t sleep that night.”
A joke about the bottled beverage Sunny Delight that night effectively made Cole’s career.
“I talked about the commercial: The white parents would let all these kids come in and just open the refrigerator and just be in there and get something to drink, and they pull out some Sunny Delight,” says Cole, who is originally from Chicago. “I was like, ‘If it was where I’m from, you had to go to the side of someone’s house, to the refrigerator.’ That was one of my first jokes.”
The 53-year-old Cole has since recorded the hourlong Netflix special “Charleen’s Boy.” He was Alfonso in the second film adaptation of “The Color Purple” in 2023 and starred as Charlie on ABC’s “Black-ish” and Freeform’s “Grownish.”
Cole won an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series honor at the 2020, 2021 and 2022 NAACP Image Awards. Taken together, Cole has won 10 NAACP Awards and received two SAG Award nominations for his work on “Black-ish.”
Asked where he gets his material today, he says, “Just living, but living outside of the box and doing different things. Everything’s in play. You just have to watch what you say, because the landscape we’re living in is challenging. But I try to be wide open.”
Cole has picked up that his act is universally popular. One night a ticket holder showed up with a phone trained on the stage.
“Right before I was about to shoot my last special, I went in and did a show in Ohio, and this guy recorded the whole show and posted it,” Cole says. “I was working the material before I could go film the special. I had to send a cease-and-desist letter for him to take it down. It was crazy.”
The special was Cole’s latest Netflix show, “Ok, Mister.”
He has an interview series coming up on his YouTube page, “Funny Knowing You.” He’s interviewed several comics for the project.
“The twist is, every answer they give is a joke but is actually about their lives,” Cole says. “It’s almost like they do material that they’ve never done on stage.” Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, D.L. Hughley and Tiffany Haddish are among the subjects. The series is set to premiere by November.
“It was phenomenal, a great experience,” Cole says. “I never stop. You’ve got to keep creating.”
Original immersive show
That’s how we refer to “Marriage Can Be Murder,” which has opened at the Rio as part of the hotel’s adventurous upgrades under Dreamscape Co. ownership and president Patrick Miller.
John Bentham of Ivory Star Productions is the longtime producer. Married couple Eric and Jayne Post are the co-hosts. The dinner production has lasted 26 years in Las Vegas, across several venues. It’s no accident.
Eric Post has written an unrelentingly witty script and is a convincing straight-man cop, clad in short shorts inspired by Lieutenant Dangle on “Reno 911.” Jayne is a flawless comic actor, a daffy blonde just smart enough to keep the crowd laughing. Eric also creates the four-course dinner menu, delivered seamlessly through the staged scenes.
The Posts just launched a second version of the show, “Ball and Chain,” this week. As is the case in any dinner theater production, you are amid the cast members. The guy across from you might be a concierge. Or perhaps he is a killer. “MCBM” is worth a look-see.
Some real chaos here
“Fight Circus,” a no-rules spectacle that folds combat sports, comedy and a carnival into a live broadcast experience plays Kaos at the Palms at 8 p.m. Friday. This is from the producers, casting crew and agency behind Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, “America’s Next Top Model,” “WWE Tough Enough,” “MTV’s Real World” and “Stranger Things.”
The new ringmaster, Gabe McKinney, is familiar to Las Vegas entertainment followers with a keen eye. He portrayed the Gazillionaire in “Absinthe” for five years.
And Mix Master Mike (aka Michael Schwartz) of the Beastie Boys is resident DJ.
Chaos all over Kaos, in short.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
