Crowd roared with laughter during homecoming comedy show

De’Arbreya Lee
Associate Editor

As part of the many events held during Jackson State University’s homecoming week, the campus welcomed rising comedians Lavell Crawford, J.J. Williams and Steve Brown on Wednesday, October 5 at 8 p.m. in the Rose. E McCoy Auditorium.

The Comedy Show is one of the many homecoming events that students, faculty and staff look forward to.

Returning as a performer from last year’s comedy show was comedian Steve Brown, who hosted last week’s event, whiling warming up the crowd with laughter.

Brown has made appearances on shows like “Russell Simons’ Def Comedy Jam”, “Showtime at the Apollo”, BET’s “Comic View” “Tom Joyner Morning Show”, just to name a few. He also appeared in Tyler Perry’s film “Madea’s Family Reunion.”

As a broadcast communications graduate from Stillman College, Brown said that he enjoys doing shows at HBCUs.

Brown started the Steve Brown Scholarship fund in 2002, where funding is raised by fellow comedians and local talent in his hometown of Tuscaloosa.

Brown said that his noted characteristic for joking and playing around with people gave his the position as the emcee for all of the shows at Stillman. He said that it was at one of the many shows that he emceed where an already established comedian took notice of him.

“He saw me and said “Dude, you ought to start doing comedy” and he started taking me on the road with him,” said Brown.
Comedian Jeremiah “J.J.” Williams Jr., has a special fondness for Jackson, Miss.

“I really enjoy coming to Jackson State”, said Williams, a Jim Hill High School and Alcorn State University graduate. He earned his rank in the entertainment business when he won the Bay Area Comedy Competition in Oakland, Calif.,  in 2000.

Williams recalls his first indication of success in the business during a show in Atlanta, Ga.

“I moved to Atlanta, went to the comedy club, tried it out and got a standing ovation on my first night and stayed with it”, said Williams.

Since then, the Jackson, Miss., native has made serval television appearances on shows like “Showtime at the Apollo”,  BET’s “Comic View”, and Urban Works Entertainment’s “Cedric The Entertainer Presents: The Platinum Comedy Series — Starting Line-Up.”

Williams also played in the 2004 film “Johnson Family Vacation” as Cousin Bodie.

“It was a boyhood dream of mine growing up watching the old veterans like Richard Prior, Eddy Murphy and Redd Foxx. That’s what really light the build in my head to want to go and pursue this”, said Williams.

Williams, whose ties to the Jackson community provided a comedian-audience relation in his references to faculty and staff at his former high school.

Headliner Lavell Crawford’s performance at the comedy show was his first at Jackson State.

“I think Mississippi is a good state.  There’s a lot of love and a lot of pain here.  I like to go to cities where the folk may need to laugh when they are going through something serious,” he said.

Crawford has made appearances in television shows such as “The Jamie Foxx Show”, “Comic View”, and NBC’s reality series “Last Comic Standing.”

The crowd roared with laughter, as Crawford performed, giving the crowd some of his signature “voices” and bulging eyes.
Students said they enjoyed the comic relief.

“It was really funny and the DJ was really good”, said Elizabeth Donnelly, a freshman elementary education major from Memphis, Tenn.

Desiree Conton, a freshman biology major from Peoria, Ill., said the show was “hilarious and it gave me something to do”, said Conton.