Appearing live at the Leon County Civic Center Friday night as part of Florida States University’s homecoming event, the Original King of Comedy, Cedric the Entertainer, had some audience members holding the sides of their stomachs, side effects from constant laughter.
“You know us black people, we loved Bill Clinton, he did things we could relate to; He smoked,” said the buttoned down, black suit wearing comedian from St. Louis.
If you missed the show, you missed Cedric, the highlight of the three-hour long show that included a number of dance performances from various FSU campus groups, the crowning of the king and queen and the introduction of Florida State University’s basketball team.
Standing in front of a very mixed crowd did not intimidate the comedian. He kept his act the same, no sugar coating, just real talk.
All hail the king was how the crowd responded the moment Cedric stomped his way onto the stage. Applauds and cheers roared throughout the audience. Everyone was anxious to hear Mr. funny man himself. I wondered what Cedric would say, so did some of the people around me, but our questions were not left unanswered for long. The mixed crowd did not matter because Cedric still talked about what was funny to him.
Teasing boy bands like B2K for always taking striping their shirts off, Cedric laughed as he thought aloud what he really wanted to say to them, “.Boy put your clothes back on – you 12.” He included other entertainers in his script, including the infamous couple Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown and rapper 50 Cent.
Asking, “Have ya’ll ever noticed that 50 cent cant close his mouth?” and then reworded one of 50s lyrics, “I don’t what you heard about me.I got so many muthaf#&%ing teeth.” He even demonstrated what he thought was the rapper’s brushing routine by using the microphone cord as dental floss for 50 Cent’s teeth. It was hysterical. People were turning around to their neighbor saying “You know he wrong for that.”
I did notice that soon after his act began an entire row of white people walked out. Cedric was the last act. Maybe they were just tired.
Cedric’s whole act was not just a black thing. There were times he did generalize some of his topics like when he talked about Bush and the war, things that everyone could relate to, but for the most part, what you see is what you get with Cedric. Maybe next year, FAMU will give him a better stage to perform on.