Friday's Question: Should a Comic Be Rolling Deep?

Eddie Murphy was really starting to explode around "Delirious", I could see rolling deep with some peeps.

Ego is fascinating. By taking the stage to do comedy, you have said to the room, "I'm funny". I used to think I was special for taking the stage to do any sort of comedy or acting but it takes the same nerve to start and excel at any endeavor. Egos exist in all walks of life. Doctor's are known to be egotistical. It has to take an extreme amount of ego and confidence to be a neurosurgeon.

You are cutting into someone's head.

However, have you ever seen a neurosurgeon rolling deep? Swinging his stethoscope around, an arm wrapped around a Candy-Striper, 3 of his best friends from his neighborhood who aren't even doctors all on their cell-phones, a couple of nurses, and some orderlies hauling his golf bag?

Chris Rock talked about always being asked if Lorne Michaels had a big ego or was Michael's arrogant and he responded maybe he was; but arrogance was all around him. Rock said he could find an arrogant cab driver on daily basis. So when does ego warrant a posse? It doesn't. The posse' is just symptomatic of an ego that has gone awry.

Its silly for a comedian to have an entourage. Eddie Murphy or Jerry Seinfeld, I can understand. These guys have surpassed comedian and performer and have become media moguls. But for comics?

I was standing outside the DC Improv a little over a month ago and while a few of us were waiting to do our showcase in the Lounge, the headliner came through with her entourage dragging her stuff ala the desert scene with John Candy and Bill Pullman in Spaceballs (5:30 mark). The small space outside the Improv doors was already small with the 5 of us hanging outside of it, it became smaller when we were joined by a train of "handlers" and luggage. It inspired a couple of awkward moments. The first one was when one of us lowly local comics tried to make light of the dense silence that came over the small outside by saying, "Hey man, that looks heavy for one person, she should help you out" the guy replied, (out of breath) "Nah, man, this is nothing". I respect that. Why would you say anything else in front of your boss. But the second part that I found the most humorous was after that as the fog of silence grew thicker and the mood more awkward, the headliner stood nose to the face of the back door waiting for it to open like it was the front entrance of Safeway. And it did not open. She did not move. And they waited. No one said a word. It was weird too. I felt like she felt she had to get in before one of us asked her for an autograph or picture. I started to feel bad for her. Like maybe I should just do something nice and validate her for the moment. Its probably the same awkwardness that James Belushi brings to any social moment. Finally, her second guy said something like, "Man, they said the back door was going to be opened!" which his boss replied, "They did" without moving any part of her body as if she was still trying to open the door with telekinesis. Second guy started angrily banging on the door. Until finally it was opened and all the awkwardness escaped into the main show room.

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