Comedian Brown: a 'one-man party'

By John Benson

entertainment@vindy.com

Women looking to give their man a New Year’s resolution they can use in 2012 may want to consider taking in actor-comedian Kevin Brown’s New Year’s Eve show at The Funny Farm Comedy Club.

“I have a degree in pleasuring women,” said Brown, calling from New York City. “I tell all of the secrets. I want every guy to leave my show more studly than they were when they walked in. By any means necessary. I’m a fun comic. I make everybody have a good time. I’m not political. I’m not trying to change the world with my humor. I’m just trying to change people in the room. I am a one-man party. I feel like a comedy assassin. If a club wants an audience destroyed, they call me.”

Even though Brown has been a working stand-up comedian for nearly 15 years, it wasn’t until he landed the role as Dot Com on the hugely popular NBC comedy “30 Rock” that he jumped into the mainstream. His credits include appearances on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Last Comic Standing,” as well as roles in feature films “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” and “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.”

As for “30 Rock,” the show’s current season was pushed back to January, which is normally the sign of a network trying to get rid of a series. So what’s up?

“Under normal circumstances it’s not a great sign, but ‘30 Rock’ is fine,” Brown said. “Tina Fey had a baby, and they had to give her a little bit of extended maternity leave. There’s nothing to worry about. We’re shooting; we’re up to episode 9 now, and we’re shooting 22. Right now, I have a real strong feeling there will be a season 7 of ‘30 Rock.’ And I plan on sticking around until they get rid of me.”

Invariably, Brown is sticking around for the paychecks as well as the unique experiences that come from hanging out with crazy comedian Tracy Morgan. The funny thing is in the past, both Fey and Morgan have attempted to distance his character, Tracy Jordan, as being based on Morgan and his eccentric behavior. However, any fan of the show will tell you there’s something disingenuous with that line of thinking.

“I think it’s a great question, and Tracy Morgan and Tracy Jordan are identical twins,” Brown said, laughing. “Tracy doesn’t like to see it or admit it, but they are identical twins.”

Brown said finding an identical twin to his stand-up comedy style is hard to do. He feels he brings something unique when he’s performing, especially when it comes to appearing in Youngstown on New Year’s Eve.

“You know, I love bringing in my New Year doing what I love to do,” Brown said. “I love doing stand-up, and if I can be on stage to set off my New Year, that means I’ll be performing for the rest of the year in my mind. So that’s a great time. I love the energy of that.”