Now Hughley can
laugh about it

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

Darryl Lynn Hughley, better known today as comedian D.L Hughley, is proud to tell you how he finally made something of himself, despite the odds against him, like growing up in L.A.’s South Central neighborhood, where he was a member of a gang, and even getting kicked out of high school. Nonetheless, he managed to turn his life around.
Hughley admitted that once he decided to be an upstanding citizen, he wasn’t quite sure how to make that happen.
"I wasn’t a particularly funny little kid, but I used to run off at the mouth and talk about people," the comedian said. "I know I said and did things my mother just couldn’t stand. And now I get paid for doing the same things I used to get in trouble for."
So Hughley, the son of an airline maintenance worker and a homemaker, and inspired by such performers as Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory, began to formulate a plan by taking little baby steps. Convinced by wife-to-be LaDonna to try his hand at comedy, when he finally landed on a stage at the age of 22, he knew she was right, and he had discovered what he was truly meant to do.
Finally, after years of club dates, Hughley was selected by BET as the first host of Comic View and subsequently got recognition with two very adult-oriented HBO specials.
But it was the Spike Lee documentary The Original Kings of Comedy that eventually launched him into superstardom. Hughley, about to appear at the House of Blues in Atlantic City on May 27, said he and the other comedians who appeared in the film (Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac) knew they were working on something special but had no idea it would be as big as it was.
"We had no idea it would explode like it did," he said. "We couldn’t tell how others would respond to it, but we knew it was extraordinary. We didn’t know it would make history, but we knew we were having a lot of fun and doing something we very much believed in and were passionate about. And I think the cameras caught all that."
Among other choice roles, by 1999, Hughley scored another hit starring in his own self-named sitcom, The Hughleys, and as a regular on Real Times with Bill Mahr.
He also took a serious turn with his work, starring in the drama Shackles, as well as wowing audiences in 2001 in The Brothers and co-starring in Cloud Nine, among others. "I’m now excited about the HBO special we’re doing in June called Unapologetic," he said.
In fact, Hughley is excited about many things in his life. In 2005, he hosted his own late-night talk show for Comedy Central, Weekends at the DL. And at the age of 43, he’s looking forward to be doing more talk shows.
"I have no desire to slow down," he said. "I want to be one of the best who ever did what I do. I don’t know if you can ever attain that, but this is what I love doing even though it’s something I could never imagine myself doing. For now, more than anything, I want to do a late-night television show on NBC or some other outlet every night. That would be spectacular for me.
"I am so happy to be coming back to Atlantic City," he concludes. "I haven’t been there for about three years, so if I can take my audience on a journey, that’s great. And if I can’t, then I know I’ve still got a lot of work to do." ••
For times and ticket information, call the House of Blues at 609-236-BLUE.