Comedy life suits
Bodden just fine

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

Perhaps one of the greatest things about being a comic is that you can write and say literally anything that comes into your mind.
Take Alonzo Bodden, for instance, winner of NBC Season 3’s Last Comic Standing.
"I write my own material about things that strike me as funny," said Bodden, set to appear at Trump Marina in Atlantic City on Saturday, July 19. "For example, right now we’re living in an unbelievable time. There’s so much going on that in order to get through it all you have to maintain your sense of humor. Bush is the funniest and scariest thing of all, but we voted him in office twice, so we deserve what we get. Bush insisted gays couldn’t marry. Now, as they foreclose on your home, you can take comfort in the knowledge that it will not be sold to a gay couple!
"Oh, and then there’s Dick Cheney," Bodden adds. "I love him. He doesn’t apologize for anything he does. He’s like the most evil man on earth. He has no heart. They removed it years ago. He’ll eat your children and never feel the least bit sorry for it."
Funny stuff, but Bodden didn’t always make his living as a stand-up comic. A graduate of Aviation High School, for nine years he earned a paycheck as a jet mechanic for Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas.
Bodden did a stint as a trainer, teaching airplane mechanics, when his funny side came out. Eventually, laid off from his job, he enrolled in a comedy class and said he has never looked back.
Today, he describes his material as "cynically good natured in an angry suburban Negro kind of way. And he strongly urges all young comics should study one of his idols, Bill Cosby.
"Bill started out as a story teller and over time evolved into more of a social commentator. To me, he’s one of the best," Bodden said.
Being a former jet mechanic, Bodden said he also knows his way around cars as well, and is ready to take a comedic look at some of the world’s most famous and not-so-famous machines. Perhaps this new show will do as much for Bodden’s career as Last Comic Standing, although Bodden’s winning moment was not televised at the time.
"Looking back, I think friends and fans and supporters were more upset than I was only because I kind of get how network TV works," he explained. "When some executive somewhere cancels a show, I know it’s not personal. (Today, however, Last Comic Standing is back on national TV once again.)
"More importantly," he continued, "they told me I would get my check and that it wouldn’t bounce. So I said, ‘OK, NBC, I can forgive you. When you win $250,000 it’s hard to complain to anyone about how you’ve been mistreated." ••
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