Bill Bellamy brings ‘Eddie Murphy Raw’ energy to Crazy Sexy Dirty standup at Wilbur theatre

04/30/13 by

Bill Bellamy is the comedian and former MTV and Last Comic Standing host who opened for Janet Jackson and Aerosmith, and invented the term “booty call”. He’s bringing top energy to Chicopee (Wednesday), Providence (Thursday), and Boston (Friday) this week. He graciously allowed this interview with me, Johnny Monsarrat.

I’m giving away a pair of tickets to each of the three shows! Email johnny@eventsinsider.com to win.

Bill Bellamy: Nice talking to you bro. How’s things going there?

Events INSIDER: Things are going great. I’m white and I’m sorry.

Bill Bellamy: (laughs)

Events INSIDER: You’re probably tired of being known as the inventor of the booty call.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah, that is so old. (laughs)… It’s kinda cool because it’s one of those things people know. I think Crazy Sexy Dirty is what I am and what I’m doing right now. Bringing you unconventional tornados of my personality is who I am. For me, my comedy is definitely elevated… It’s the COMEDY. Its going to be crazy. It’s going to be dirty. It’s going to be sexy. It’s a Friday night out. It will be like “Eddie Murphy Raw” where the fans yell, “I love you!”, they point, people are screaming, the fellas are going crazy and the ladies are “ha ha ha ha ha.”

Events INSIDER: Eddie Murphy energy. I like that.

Bill Bellamy: The cool thing about it is, people have been searching for the next big thing. You know, like WOW. People are going to really really wow. That’s what’s special about my career is that [my fans] grow old. When I was on MTV in the 90s some people were in high school, some people were in college. When I came to Woodstock I was on tour with Janet Jackson [in 1993] and I opened up for her [ near Boston at the Worcester Centrum ]. It was an arena and it was crazy. Fun raw high energy. Now when I came to Boston with Aerosmith and I opened up for them – that was bananas. So I have so much history with Boston… Really really cool city.

Events INSIDER: For people who aren’t familiar with your work, how would you describe yourself?

Bill Bellamy: I’m an actor, a comedian, a host, and a personality. I’ve been in the business for 19 years.

Events INSIDER: You’ve got a lot of experience, especially hosting MTV and Who’s Got Jokes.

Bill Bellamy: And I hosted NBC Last Comic Standing. I have a lot of time on the air. I was a presenter or host for MTV, and also MTV jams for 6 years there. I’ve started acting, and I’ve starred in nine movies so far.

Events INSIDER: Lot of good stuff.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah. Now I got a new hot sitcom called Mr. Box Office.

Events INSIDER: With Jon Lovitz, that’s pretty impressive.

Bill Bellamy: I’ve got a lot of ammo. I’ve got 2 specials… One is called Crazy Sexy Dirty… The other is called Ladies Night Out.

Events INSIDER: Because you work for TV One, which advertises itself as a black station, do you think of yourself as a black comedian? Do you find that label constricting? Are you more “gonna laugh until I puke” or “intellectual wordplay”?

Bill Bellamy: I think you’re gonna laugh until you puke. Your brain is going to come blow out of your head. Your hair is gonna grow, you’re going to need a respirator. My comedy is very very universal. Obviously I’m a black man, but what my fuel is: it’s more of a pop culture appeal. A lot of people love it, The audience is comformed by everything: White, blacks 25 to 45, a lot of chicks I don’t know if you noticed but I LOVE fine women coming to see me.

Events INSIDER: So you’re saying that your act is not specifically targeted to a black audience.

Bill Bellamy: No no no no. That’s what I like about my audience. A lot of that is because all the things I’ve done in my career. Because of the things I’ve done at MTV… I’m doing everything, last week I premiered on at CBS with Who’s Got the Last Laugh. I’m coming to [Boston now,] the city with amazing energy that I love… My sincerity really makes feel people good. And I know it’s been a rough time [ with the bombings ] like we still need to get up and we can’t let people make us not live our lives. They’ll get up and do what we gotta do to stand up.

Events INSIDER: That’s a perfect quote right there, giving a sense of your comedy. It will be uplifting. All comedy shows are uplifting but sometimes comedy shows are just like “marriage, who needs that”. They’re all funny but they’re not all uplifting.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah we’re trying to take it all the way up.

Events INSIDER: For the people who are familiar with you, maybe they think they’ve already seen your comedy special. I know how hard that is for comedians. Once it goes up on YouTube people say, “Thanks for that. Now what?”

Bill Bellamy: People that have seen the act [often] want me do the classics, they want to see the stuff they’ve seen on the special. [But] I shot it a year and 3 months ago. So I’m a year and 3 months ahead of you guys with material.

Events INSIDER: So you got a whole new load of material. You got loads of energy. It’s gonna be fun and Bostonian. Do you do a lot of crowd work?

Bill Bellamy: I do Improv. That’s what is so cool about my show. It’s going to be big, insane it’s going to be OH MY GOD. (laughs)

Events INSIDER: And you’re going to leave people happy, ’cause Boston needs that.

Bill Bellamy: They’re going to be happy… Comedy just got sexy.

Bill Bellamy plays the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee, MA on Wednesday, May 1, the Comedy Connection Rhode Island in Providence, RI on Thursday, May 2, and the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA on Friday, May 3. Find him as @billbellamy on Twitter, and Bill Bellamy VIP on Facebook.