September 20, 2022 • 31 mins
Stand-up comic Bryan McCree shares Flint stories, family humor, and the Michigan grit behind a life on stage.
Is it possible to make Flint laugh?
If anyone can, it’s Bryan McCree — nationally touring comedian, actor, writer, and proud Flintstone. Known for his sharp insight into American culture and his uncanny ability to make us laugh at ourselves, Bryan brings a humor that is both fearless and deeply rooted in real life.
In this interview, Bryan shares personal stories from his Flint upbringing, his family’s remarkable legacy, and clips from his act that poke fun at race, poverty, stereotypes, and the everyday absurdities of growing up in a blue-collar Michigan town. His timing, physical comedy, and stage presence are unmatched — a skillset built partly on the school bus, where he delivered daily comedy routines to his classmates.
Bryan McCree has appeared on Comedy Central, MADtv, NBC, and Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.
He has shared the stage with Sinbad, George Wallace, Robert Schimmel, and even The Isley Brothers.
Bryan comes from a legendary Flint family.
He is the nephew of Floyd J. McCree, the historic Flint Mayor and Michigan civil rights icon; his father was a jazz virtuoso; and his great-aunt was a Broadway legend. With roots like these, it’s no wonder he became one of Michigan’s most beloved comedic performers.
McCree cut his teeth at the historic McCree Theater, where he honed his stagecraft and learned to turn everyday struggles into laugh-out-loud gold. In this episode, he reflects on life in Flint, blue-collar culture, race, music, family, and why he never gave up on his hometown.
This is Bryan McCree.
Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Unbelievably funny.
A true Michigan original.
👉 Visit Bryan McCree’s Official Website for tour dates & merch
👉 Watch Bryan’s comedy on his YouTube Channel
👉 Follow him on Facebook for upcoming shows
Watch Bryan McCree's comedy shows on his YouTube Channel or visit his Facebook Page.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
I am glad to be here tonight with you.
Um, I live in Flint, so I'm gladto be pretty glad to be alive
today.
(02:45):
My uncle was the mayor of Flintback in 1966 under the weak form
of government, which means hewas elected from within the city
council.
So there were like eight whiteguys on the council, and then my
uncle.
And it's almost like the whiteguys got together and said, It'd
be funny if we made the blackguy mayor.
SPEAKER_03 (03:03):
Okay, this is Arthur Bush.
You're listening to Radio FreeFlint, and today we have a
treat.
We have Brian McCree, a comedianfrom Flint, Michigan, who is
here to tell us uh his story.
He is, I think, I gotta ask thisfirst.
Are you a Flintstone?
Am I what?
Are you a Flintstone?
All day.
(03:24):
All right then.
And he's a Flintstone.
And it's my honor, Brian, tohave you as my guest on Radio
Free Flint.
SPEAKER_01 (03:30):
It's an honor to be here with you, Art.
SPEAKER_03 (03:32):
Most people don't like to find the prosecutor.
They usually would prefer not tomeet them.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
Especially if they're black.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
But they scared me a little bit because I always had
these silent options.
SPEAKER_03 (04:51):
I wanted to ask you a couple questions now that I
got your introduction out of theway.
If if you have some more thingsthat you want to brag about, let
me know right now.
You got anything else?
SPEAKER_01 (05:00):
Oh, I don't know.
I've been doing stand-up comedyfor 41 years now.
Actor, writer, flint native.
SPEAKER_03 (05:06):
Brian, you've also appeared on Comedy Central.
I got that.
And then there's Mad T.
Is it Mad TV?
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Yep, Mad TV.
SPEAKER_03 (05:13):
Like Alfred Newman type mad TV?
Well, you know, yeah.
Yeah.
I guess I got that channel.
I didn't I'm not rich enough tohave that channel, I guess.
Oh, it's Fox.
I don't watch that either.
A lot of reasons.
It has nothing to do withcomedy.
SPEAKER_01 (05:29):
Yeah, it didn't used to be that way.
SPEAKER_03 (05:31):
My biggest question to you is it possible to make
Flint laugh?
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
Oh, yeah.
Flint has a great sense ofhumor.
SPEAKER_03 (05:37):
They do?
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (05:39):
How does it compare to some other places you've
been?
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
I I don't know.
I will tell you this about Flintthat uh Flint as well as
Detroit, if they love you, theylove you hard.
If they hate you, they hate youeven harder.
But there's much love in thiscity.
SPEAKER_03 (05:57):
Now, does that mean when they hate you harder, does
that mean they jump up on stageand slap you?
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
I wish I would.
No, uh, that's a newdevelopment.
I and I've actually been bumrushed before on the stage, but
uh been very fortunate to havegreat weight staff and great
security come to my rescue.
But uh no, they don't tend tojump up on stage like that.
SPEAKER_03 (06:21):
Well, you you also come from a town with some great
boxers.
So just watching those guys overthe years, you had to learn a
step or two.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
Yeah, well, right.
I got pre-existing conditions,so I'll fight you for about
eight seconds.
I gotta get you quick.
What neighborhood did you growup in?
Southside, right up the streetfrom Coca-Cola on Lapier Road.
SPEAKER_03 (06:45):
And that that just missed the bombing of Flint.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
I don't know about bombing.
I-69.
I remember when I-69 wentthrough there when I was a kid,
and we used to ride our bikesdown I-69 when it was just dirt.
SPEAKER_03 (06:59):
I remember that too.
But the bombing refers to Iinterviewed Norman Bryant, who
you probably have heard ofbefore, was former school board
president, Flint School BoardPresident, and also the founder
of the African American Hall ofFame.
And he says, Art, they bombedthis thing.
The city was good until theybombed it.
And uh said, What do you meanNorm bombed it?
He meant that they they builtthe expressway through Floral
(07:22):
Park in St.
John's.
I had never heard thisexpression before.
And I found out, interestingly,that it's used by a lot of
people of Norm's age, which isnow in his 80s, and to describe
that period of time.
But when you look back at it,that single act may have changed
(07:43):
uh a whole lot of things inFlint.
Flint might have been a wholedifferent story if that hadn't
have happened.
SPEAKER_01 (07:49):
It might have been.
That was quite a little uhcommunity, from what I
understand.
SPEAKER_03 (07:53):
In some ways, that I-69 propelled Floyd McCree uh
into the national spotlight withuh fair housing uh activity.
SPEAKER_01 (08:02):
Fun fact about that my doctor at the time, T.
Wendell Williams, he was the uhthing that ignited that.
He wanted to buy a house in thisneighborhood, and they would not
sell it to him.
And that started the wholeconversation.
SPEAKER_03 (08:17):
Yeah, then then they all moved to Grand Blanc, right?
SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Yeah, or Flint Township, which wants to be
something else now.
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
The Great White, being known as in French as
Grand Blanc, has as virtually anall-African American basketball
team, which if you've beenaround Flint for any length of
time, is is sort of makes youkind of chuckle a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Yeah, it's ridiculous, but they yeah, we
used to have great ball teams,and it's really a shame that
it's all moved to the burbs now.
SPEAKER_03 (08:47):
So, did you go to Southwestern high school?
Or central?
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
No, I went to Southwestern.
I took uh, but this was back atthe time where they were
starting the magnet program.
So I did uh have the pleasure ofuh going to Central for a
period.
Uh I had took acting over there.
SPEAKER_03 (09:03):
And what was there a teacher there that influenced
you?
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
Yeah, but don't if I had to call their name, I
couldn't tell you.
But yeah, I had a great timeover there at Central uh doing
plays and whatnot.
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
Is there somebody in your family?
I mean, obviously your uncle'swell known uh and I'd even say
famous in the Flynn area, but isthere somebody in your family
that influenced you to become acomedian?
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
I would say that uh my neighborhood and my junksta
position in the family.
So I'm the youngest of threeboys, uh, the grunt of the
litter, as a matter of fact.
And my brothers were giant.
You know, my brother, my oldestbrother was like, he would ended
up being six, seven, but growingup, he was the tallest person
(09:48):
any of us knew.
And then my other brother wastall the other way, he was wide,
he was uh 300 pounds, playedfootball, you know.
So here's this little scrawnykid with pre-existing conditions
fighting for his life out there.
And uh I think that's where mysense of humor came from.
And, you know, the period oftime when I grew up uh back in
(10:09):
the 60s, playing the dozens washow we had fun.
And that's why I attributed alot of my humor to my
neighborhood where I grew up,because everyone was funny,
everyone played the dozen, andyou had to be able to play the
dozen to survive out there.
SPEAKER_03 (10:24):
Now tell tell us the dozens.
There's some people might notknow what that is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:28):
Yeah, so for you white folks that don't know what
the dozens is, the dozens isyour mama joke when you talk
about somebody's mama.
You can get your ass kicked ifyou're not smooth with it.
But luckily I was smooth withmine, and uh luckily I had big
friends too.
I had a woman uh on social mediawho I grew up with, evidently,
(10:50):
and actually I grew up with hercousin, and she heard legend
about me on the southwesternschool bus talking shit.
So she skipped school fromcentral.
She told me that she skippedschool from central to get on
our bus to hear me talk shit inthe morning because that's how
funny I used to be.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
I guess your roots in comedy go back to your
neighborhood, apparently, toyour camp or your hut or
whatever it was that you guysmade over there.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah, the tribe.
SPEAKER_03 (11:18):
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:20):
We had our own in the south.
I grew up in the south end aswell.
We had our own.
Okay.
I l I grew up on Pengalley Road.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
Yeah, I live I actually lived in Pengalley
apartments.
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
So you got it.
Oh, yeah.
And where Pengalley apartmentswere was uh was an old wooded
part of the General Motors dump.
In fact, uh I'm not telling anysecrets, it ain't already out,
but that apartment house wasbuilt on top of the dump.
Oh damn, and when we were kids,and some of that stuff's still
underneath there, like hoods andfenders from cars, and they were
(11:56):
working their way up through thesoil, and we would make camps
there.
We played in this stuff, whichwas which was a place where the
General Motors had dumpedpaints, lacquers, thinners,
other kinds of chemicals lacedwith lead.
SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
That sounds about right.
SPEAKER_03 (12:12):
Yeah.
So so that's what they did inthat playground, and then they
came along and cut down all thetrees, and then they built the
beautiful Pinkelli apartmentsright on top of the dump.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
So nice.
Nice.
Was uh Sicily's pizza over therewhen you grew up?
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
Yeah, I was weaned on that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Oh man, it you know it closed, right?
SPEAKER_03 (12:33):
Yeah, I know.
And that Patricia just passed.
Uh Patricia, Patty and John.
She she and her husband uh ownedthat place for many years, and
she just passed away hererecently.
Is that why they closed?
No, they closed because theywanted to retire, but and it
ended maybe one of the greatestpizza joints in the whole in the
(12:53):
whole region.
The best, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
Yeah, we were all heartbroken when it went down.
We had Sisley's at least once aweek.
SPEAKER_03 (13:00):
It made it warmed my heart a little bit to know that
you are a true Flintstone.
And the fact is, I've askedevery guest that I've ever
talked to on this thing, whichis about 140 now or 50 or
something like that.
And I asked everyone whetherthey're Flintstones.
I only had one say they were aFlintstone.
How do you know somebody's aFlintstone is if they pay union
(13:20):
dues?
SPEAKER_01 (13:22):
Yeah.
Well, I paid different uniondues.
I paid SAGF.
SPEAKER_03 (13:27):
Do you s do you still pay dues or did you decide
that that wasn't necessary?
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
Uh I don't pay them anymore.
I'm not really I'm doing morecomedy than acting anymore, but
I used to do a lot of acting.
Actually moved out to LA uh backin 1999 to pursue acting.
SPEAKER_03 (13:44):
I see.
Now, did you get in any good getany good gigs?
SPEAKER_01 (13:48):
I did.
I got the uh Mad TV when I wasout there, uh, made a lot of
connections.
You know, it's interestingthough, because uh I've had
breaks happen to me that didn'thappen for me out there actually
happened for me here.
Like uh when I did uh ByronAllen's Comics Unleashed with uh
Byron Allen, I got that fromFlint.
SPEAKER_03 (14:08):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yeah, a buddy of mine had done it, and they were
looking for black comics to beon the show, and he referred to
me.
And I actually had to do anaudition over the telephone, uh,
which was kind of funny becausethey the producer called me at
dinner time, and we're allsitting down to dinner, and he's
like, Hey, this is so-and-sofrom Mad TV.
Uh wanted to talk to you aboutdoing the show.
(14:29):
And they were like, Let me hearyou.
I'm like, What?
Okay.
So I started doing my act rightthere on the telephone uh at the
dinner table.
SPEAKER_03 (14:37):
And you can just do it like that.
It's just all improvisationaloff the cuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
I mean, it's written material I was doing for him.
I wasn't improving, you know, Iwas doing my act.
SPEAKER_03 (14:47):
Let's talk about that for a second.
Your roots are are in the city,obviously.
That's the city of Flint inparticular.
You do have, you know, bonafides in in the urban community.
Is is that reflected in youract?
SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
How?
Yeah.
Uh well, I have a bit, and thisis a true story.
Uh I have a bit that goes uh theeconomy's so bad in Flint.
Last week I saw a pimp on abike.
Good to see you, man.
Good to be here tonight.
SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
I'm from Flint, so I'm glad to be pretty much
anywhere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
Yeah.
Where my Flint people at byapplause.
Make some noise, Flint.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
Look, Flint people just glad to wake up without a
bullet in the ass.
Jesus, yes, we made it throughthe night.
SPEAKER_01 (15:46):
Man.
Flint, man.
That's my crib, but it's hardliving there.
They make it hard for you to beloyal to Flint now.
Don't they?
Water bill so damn high.
Suddenly I'm bathing in Merlot.
(16:09):
See, I grew up in Flint when wehad the best of everything, you
guys.
I grew up in Flint when we werethe home of General Motors.
Right?
The Buick.
Yeah.
The Buick was invented in myhometown.
SPEAKER_02 (16:26):
Yeah.
Now the economy is so bad, youguys.
Last week I saw a pimp on abike.
Ring ring bitch.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Don't make me put this kickstand down.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
And I don't know the last time y'all wrote a testy
with a with a pimp pad on, butthat shit is not aerodynamic.
It is hard to regulate your hoeswhile you holding your pimp hat
on your head.
(17:19):
You talk to a hoe lately?
He'll be like, I ain't givinghim shit.
Because that's how hoes walkingin.
Any hoes here tonight?
SPEAKER_01 (17:43):
And true story, I was picking my daughter up from
Eisenhower.
Uh no, I take that back.
She was going to Southwestern atthe time.
And we dropped her little friendoff near uh Chevy and the Hull.
And we're coming back up by thepoint right by La Azteca, Taco
House.
And we literally saw a pimp on abike, and his girl was in the
(18:05):
bike path walking, and he was onhis bike talking mad shit.
Like, you better get my money,like you see on TV, bitch.
You better get my money.
So that's how that bit was born.
SPEAKER_03 (18:17):
Obviously, you're a student of this comedy genre.
Who's your favorite comedian?
Richard Pryor is my comedy god.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
No one's funnier than Richard.
What do you think his funniestact was?
His my favorite of his, ofcourse, niggas crazy, which was
his huge breakout album.
And we used to sneak down in thebasement and we had it on
eight-track at the time.
And we would sneak down in myparents' basement and listen to
Richard Pryor on A-Track.
How'd your mom how'd your momand dad take that?
(18:49):
They never they didn't hear us.
They, you know, though theyworked hard.
My dad had like three jobs, andmom was working all the time.
So we had a lot of time byourselves.
So yeah, we had a lot of time tobe able to listen to that stuff.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
Richard Pryor became a great actor over time.
What was it about him that youliked the most?
SPEAKER_01 (19:09):
He he was just so real.
He changed the game, Art.
I mean, you know, comedy used tobe a little stuffy and take my
wife, and you know, andone-liners, and uh, he just
broke it down to the rawness andjust exposed that that rawness
of oneself that that we do now.
Like if you do comedy now anddon't share anything about
(19:32):
yourself, it's like you're notreally even doing comedy.
SPEAKER_03 (19:36):
Yeah, he has a lot of self-depreciating humor,
doesn't he?
So let me ask you one morequestion.
Richard Pryor uh obviously pavedthe path for a lot of other
people in comedy, and alongcomes uh Chris Rock, who I like.
And I think my favorite joke ofhis is that his solution for
crime is that we need a bullettax.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (19:57):
We need thousands of bullets.
Because if it was five thousanddollars a bullet, there, as he
says, there wouldn't be anyinnocent bystanders.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (20:08):
How do you attribute his success?
I mean, the American peopleobviously love that guy.
SPEAKER_01 (20:13):
He uh was fortunate enough to have the co-sign of uh
Eddie Murphy.
So Eddie Murphy uh saw him inNew York, from what I
understand, and flew him out toLA.
And uh Eddie Murphy helped a lotof comedians and Chris being one
of them.
SPEAKER_03 (20:27):
Now you worked with some pretty uh well-known people
over the years.
So tell us about that.
Tell us some of the names ofpeople that you've worked with
and maybe give us an antidote ortwo.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Oh man, I worked with uh the first uh famous
person I worked with was Sinbad.
And uh Sinbad is was the mostdown-to-earth comic I've ever
worked with in my life.
And you know, he was prettyfamous at the time.
He had was freshly off winningStar Search.
And uh I walked in the dressingroom to meet him, and he was
(20:57):
ironing, you know, he used towear those big parachute pants,
and he was ironing his ownparachute pants there.
You know, it kind of surprisedme that someone of his stature
would be ironing his own clothesthat way.
George Wallace, George Wallaceis an amazing guy.
Uh met George Wallace for thefirst time in Kansas City at a
place called Stanfords and Sons.
(21:19):
And uh George Wallace is sofucking cool, man.
He uh sent word down.
He was up in the uh green roomupstairs at the comedy club that
I didn't even know existed.
So he sent for me.
He said, send me a feature actup here to meet me.
So I went up there and talked toGeorge and he had all this soul
food, like huge platters of soulfood.
(21:39):
And he he wanted me to eat some.
He's like, dude, eat some ofthis soul food.
I'm like, George, I can't eatthat right now.
I'm about to go on stage inabout five minutes.
He said, Man, wherever I go inthe country, these these black
church women, they cook for meand they bring these platters of
soul food to the show, you know,and I can never eat it all.
So and uh worked with him againon uh Comics Unleashed with
(22:02):
Byron Allen.
Uh Robert Schimmel.
Robert Schimmel was an awesomedude, man.
Uh now Robert Schimmel's Jewish,and we worked together in
Dayton, Ohio.
And as a black comic, peoplecome up and tell you the most
racist ass jokes and think thatyou'll find them funny.
So one night after a show, thisguy comes up and just told me
(22:25):
the most racist fucking joke,and uh he walked away.
And Robert Schimmel was so hewas madder than I was because
I'm used to it.
Schimmel was steamy.
He looked at me like, does thatshit happen all the time?
I'm like, yeah, pretty much.
But yeah, he Robert Schimmel wasa really good dude too.
SPEAKER_03 (22:44):
You were raised in a home that you know was really an
advocate during the heart of thecivil rights movement for civil
rights and human rights in acity that you know where it was
all real.
As you go around the country andyou you do a national act, I
understand.
Um do you see places like Flintor is Flint unique in some way?
SPEAKER_01 (23:07):
Or do you uh now there are other industrial
cities like Flint, but I I haveto say Flint is very unique in
the fact that uh I don't know,there's just a sense of humor
that's different here.
And I will say this about Flint,even though we had that time in
the 60s where things were bad,um, we're in a place right now,
especially after the watercrisis, where race isn't an
(23:30):
issue anymore.
People don't care about racearound here anymore.
We're we're we're we're tryingto survive as a whole community.
And you might be somewhere elsein the country and somebody
might yell a racial epithet atyou, but they yell something
else at you here.
It's not about race and Flintanymore.
That's the cool thing I findabout Flint.
SPEAKER_03 (23:49):
Yeah, there's also a sense of activism in this city.
I mean, it's part of the DNA ofFlint.
I mean, people get here, theyget pissed, they don't just
start walking away and saythat's too bad, or I'm sorry to
bother you.
SPEAKER_01 (24:00):
No, they'll fight.
SPEAKER_03 (24:01):
They fight.
Yeah, they did.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
Yeah, that's that's another thing about Flint is uh
we're a town full of fighters,man.
And the other thing I love aboutFlint art is that we can talk
about Flint, we don't let otherpeople that aren't from here
talk about it.
You you can't live out in Hollyand talk shit about Flint,
you'll get your ass fucked up.
SPEAKER_03 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Somebody somebody else told meexactly in those words the same
thing.
Rico Phillips.
I don't know if you know Rico,but Rico Phillips is an
interesting guy.
Oh, the fireman?
The fireman, and now he works asa diversity, he's a diversity
director for the Ontario HockeyLeague.
SPEAKER_01 (24:37):
Yeah, yeah, I'm Hiptor Rico.
Yeah, we don't play that shit,man.
I was at the Holly Hotel once,and this lady was steaming.
She comes upstairs and she tellsone of the owners, she's like,
that comic down there is talkingabout Flint and she's ripping it
to do ass.
And she looked at him verycalmly and was like, Well, he
pays his taxes there.
I think if anyone can talk aboutFlint, it would be him.
unknown (25:01):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:02):
So we did lose the Holly Hotel.
What what impact does that haveon comedy?
They've had comedy out there fora long time, haven't they?
SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
Oh, yeah, God.
I uh one of the first comedystages I was ever on was on was
probably Holly Hotel.
Yeah, I I lost an August datethere.
Yeah, Holly was uh significantin uh comedy around here.
I mean, you know, people likeTim Allen performed there.
There was a guy from Florida uhnamed Jerry Elliott.
(25:29):
He was very popular at the time,used to come up here.
But yeah, Holly was everythingto comedy.
SPEAKER_03 (25:35):
Yeah, you know, I had another friend that lost a
gig there too.
Uh Mustard's Retreat, DaveTimolovich and Libby Glover,
who's a southwestern grad, uh,were supposed to play there.
They were all jack jacked up,excited about it now that the
pandemic's over and lost theirgig.
SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
Um I did I did actually uh they booked me uh
back when they started up again,and I actually did get a date in
there.
And uh if you ever get thechance, they uh they've redone
the basement where the comedyclub is.
It is the one of the mostbeautiful things I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_03 (26:05):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
So it'll be fabulous when they fix it.
SPEAKER_03 (26:08):
Who are some of the who are some of the
up-and-coming comedians in theFlint area, if if you could give
us a couple names?
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Uh man, there's a lot of people that do comedy
around here.
Um not I can't say of anyonereally that's doing it on this
level that I do it at, butthere's definitely a uh
underground scene taking placehere.
And I couldn't tell you anynames right off the uh top of my
head.
(26:36):
But yeah, there's a lot ofpeople trying to break in around
here.
SPEAKER_03 (26:39):
I mean, what what was the moment that you decided,
you know, I think I really wantto be a comedian?
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
I think I really want to So for me it was all
about acting for a long time.
And a good friend of mine, uhTony Ennis, who was an actor, uh
comedian friend of mine, andactually grew up a block away
from me.
I was on Little C, he was onShallan, and he was actually my
brother's age, four years olderthan me.
So I had heard that uh Tony wasdoing some comedy things.
(27:05):
Uh he was with a comedy troupe,and uh he came to speak to us at
Southwestern when I was still inhigh school.
Uh came and spoke at in myEnglish class.
One of my favorite teachers,Mary Earling, was my English
teacher, and he came in to speakto us.
So he kind of planted the scenethen.
So we ended up doing a playtogether in 1981 at McCree
(27:27):
Theater, a play called TheMighty Gents.
Uh, I was the protagonist andTony Ennis was the antagonist.
And after a rehearsal, sometimewe would go down to Doobies.
You remember Doobies downtown?
Yeah.
So Doobies used to have a Mondayopen mic night.
And we used to go down there andhang out, have a few drinks.
And one night, Tony looked atme, he's like, Man, you're
funny, Brian.
(27:48):
Why don't you go up and do somestand-up?
And I'm like, Yeah, why not?
So I went on stage and just offthe top of my head started doing
some things and they liked it.
So I started coming back weekly,and that kind of wet my whistle,
man.
I always thought I was justgonna be an actor, but then uh
I'd always liked comedy, but Ididn't know if I could do it
(28:08):
professionally.
But when I saw uh Tony as hisfriends making some money doing
it as a troupe, I'm like, yeah,I can do stand-up, I can make
some money.
So that's what uh made me getinto it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:18):
Now Flynn has had uh a history of having some some
people who who made their way tothe to the big screen and also
uh to stage.
Uh and they've had some famousand maybe not even so famous.
Wendell Harris is one.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Uh Andre Bernhard.
SPEAKER_03 (28:36):
Yeah.
Uh and I think of some of thoseback in the day.
Uh, but your reputation as anactor in Flint, I mean, that's
what I thought you did.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
It it is.
Uh, but then uh, like I said,back in 1981, uh, I kind of
shifted gears and uh was doing alot of acting and uh wasn't as
good at stand-up as I wanted tobe.
So I'm the kind of person thathas to focus on something to get
really good at it.
So I kind of pulled back onacting some and started hitting
(29:08):
the road doing the comedy thingand get getting my 10,000 hours
in.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
Like flying a plane, yeah, you have so many hours.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Get good, you gotta have those hours, man.
And these kids now, you know,they wanna they want a headline
right out the gate.
SPEAKER_03 (29:24):
What makes you so funny?
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
Uh you know, so like I said, the youngest, being the
youngest of three brothers, andalso pain makes comedians funny.
SPEAKER_03 (29:34):
Pain?
SPEAKER_01 (29:35):
Pain.
Some either physical or mental,some type of strife.
And that's not always true.
There are comics like Seinfeldthat kind of had a perfect, nice
life and still managed to findthe funny, but I find that most
comics have something painfulthat triggers the funny in them.
So I suffer from sickle celldisaster, sickle cell anemia,
(29:56):
and I think that pain uhtriggered something in me to
make uh it's a coping mechanismto deal with my illness.
SPEAKER_03 (30:05):
And obviously you've overcome it.
If you had to talk to youngpeople today at Flint
Southwestern or whatever theycall it these days, what would
you say to somebody that wasinterested in getting involved
in either acting or or comedy?
SPEAKER_01 (30:19):
Start learning.
If you want to do stand-up,there's no real easy path.
So these days they have comedyclasses, but I'm not a fan.
I mean, I I guess that's okay.
But to me, you you you gotta getup there.
You you just gotta you gotta geton stage, you gotta write.
You gotta write your behind off.
(30:39):
And I would say if you want toget in a stand-up, start with
writing three minutes ofmaterial that you think is
funny, and then start going toopen mic nights and start
working it out and recordyourself to see how you look,
how you sound, uh, how yourwords go together, because one
little word can throw a joke allthe way off.
So I would say find a mentoralso and stand up as far as
(31:03):
acting.
You can go to acting schools.
You can learn how to act.
Knowledge is the key to any ofthese uh professions.
SPEAKER_03 (31:11):
Well, that's it for today.
Thank you for joining us.
I hope you enjoyed Brian McCree,comedian from Flint.
Please rate us, review us, andsubscribe to our podcasts at
radiofreeflint.media, ourwebsite, or wherever you get
your podcast.
Until next time, thank you forjoining us.
This is Arthur Bush from RadioFree Flint.
(31:32):
Goodbye.
I am glad to be here tonight with you.
Um, I live in Flint, so I'm gladto be pretty glad to be alive
today.
(02:45):
My uncle was the mayor of Flintback in 1966 under the weak form
of government, which means hewas elected from within the city
council.
So there were like eight whiteguys on the council, and then my
uncle.
And it's almost like the whiteguys got together and said, It'd
be funny if we made the blackguy mayor.
SPEAKER_03 (03:03):
Okay, this is Arthur Bush.
You're listening to Radio FreeFlint, and today we have a
treat.
We have Brian McCree, a comedianfrom Flint, Michigan, who is
here to tell us uh his story.
He is, I think, I gotta ask thisfirst.
Are you a Flintstone?
Am I what?
Are you a Flintstone?
All day.
(03:24):
All right then.
And he's a Flintstone.
And it's my honor, Brian, tohave you as my guest on Radio
Free Flint.
SPEAKER_01 (03:30):
It's an honor to be here with you, Art.
SPEAKER_03 (03:32):
Most people don't like to find the prosecutor.
They usually would prefer not tomeet them.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
Especially if they're black.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
But they scared me a little bit because I always had
these silent options.
SPEAKER_03 (04:51):
I wanted to ask you a couple questions now that I
got your introduction out of theway.
If if you have some more thingsthat you want to brag about, let
me know right now.
You got anything else?
SPEAKER_01 (05:00):
Oh, I don't know.
I've been doing stand-up comedyfor 41 years now.
Actor, writer, flint native.
SPEAKER_03 (05:06):
Brian, you've also appeared on Comedy Central.
I got that.
And then there's Mad T.
Is it Mad TV?
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Yep, Mad TV.
SPEAKER_03 (05:13):
Like Alfred Newman type mad TV?
Well, you know, yeah.
Yeah.
I guess I got that channel.
I didn't I'm not rich enough tohave that channel, I guess.
Oh, it's Fox.
I don't watch that either.
A lot of reasons.
It has nothing to do withcomedy.
SPEAKER_01 (05:29):
Yeah, it didn't used to be that way.
SPEAKER_03 (05:31):
My biggest question to you is it possible to make
Flint laugh?
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
Oh, yeah.
Flint has a great sense ofhumor.
SPEAKER_03 (05:37):
They do?
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (05:39):
How does it compare to some other places you've
been?
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
I I don't know.
I will tell you this about Flintthat uh Flint as well as
Detroit, if they love you, theylove you hard.
If they hate you, they hate youeven harder.
But there's much love in thiscity.
SPEAKER_03 (05:57):
Now, does that mean when they hate you harder, does
that mean they jump up on stageand slap you?
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
I wish I would.
No, uh, that's a newdevelopment.
I and I've actually been bumrushed before on the stage, but
uh been very fortunate to havegreat weight staff and great
security come to my rescue.
But uh no, they don't tend tojump up on stage like that.
SPEAKER_03 (06:21):
Well, you you also come from a town with some great
boxers.
So just watching those guys overthe years, you had to learn a
step or two.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
Yeah, well, right.
I got pre-existing conditions,so I'll fight you for about
eight seconds.
I gotta get you quick.
What neighborhood did you growup in?
Southside, right up the streetfrom Coca-Cola on Lapier Road.
SPEAKER_03 (06:45):
And that that just missed the bombing of Flint.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
I don't know about bombing.
I-69.
I remember when I-69 wentthrough there when I was a kid,
and we used to ride our bikesdown I-69 when it was just dirt.
SPEAKER_03 (06:59):
I remember that too.
But the bombing refers to Iinterviewed Norman Bryant, who
you probably have heard ofbefore, was former school board
president, Flint School BoardPresident, and also the founder
of the African American Hall ofFame.
And he says, Art, they bombedthis thing.
The city was good until theybombed it.
And uh said, What do you meanNorm bombed it?
He meant that they they builtthe expressway through Floral
(07:22):
Park in St.
John's.
I had never heard thisexpression before.
And I found out, interestingly,that it's used by a lot of
people of Norm's age, which isnow in his 80s, and to describe
that period of time.
But when you look back at it,that single act may have changed
(07:43):
uh a whole lot of things inFlint.
Flint might have been a wholedifferent story if that hadn't
have happened.
SPEAKER_01 (07:49):
It might have been.
That was quite a little uhcommunity, from what I
understand.
SPEAKER_03 (07:53):
In some ways, that I-69 propelled Floyd McCree uh
into the national spotlight withuh fair housing uh activity.
SPEAKER_01 (08:02):
Fun fact about that my doctor at the time, T.
Wendell Williams, he was the uhthing that ignited that.
He wanted to buy a house in thisneighborhood, and they would not
sell it to him.
And that started the wholeconversation.
SPEAKER_03 (08:17):
Yeah, then then they all moved to Grand Blanc, right?
SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Yeah, or Flint Township, which wants to be
something else now.
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
The Great White, being known as in French as
Grand Blanc, has as virtually anall-African American basketball
team, which if you've beenaround Flint for any length of
time, is is sort of makes youkind of chuckle a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Yeah, it's ridiculous, but they yeah, we
used to have great ball teams,and it's really a shame that
it's all moved to the burbs now.
SPEAKER_03 (08:47):
So, did you go to Southwestern high school?
Or central?
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
No, I went to Southwestern.
I took uh, but this was back atthe time where they were
starting the magnet program.
So I did uh have the pleasure ofuh going to Central for a
period.
Uh I had took acting over there.
SPEAKER_03 (09:03):
And what was there a teacher there that influenced
you?
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
Yeah, but don't if I had to call their name, I
couldn't tell you.
But yeah, I had a great timeover there at Central uh doing
plays and whatnot.
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
Is there somebody in your family?
I mean, obviously your uncle'swell known uh and I'd even say
famous in the Flynn area, but isthere somebody in your family
that influenced you to become acomedian?
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
I would say that uh my neighborhood and my junksta
position in the family.
So I'm the youngest of threeboys, uh, the grunt of the
litter, as a matter of fact.
And my brothers were giant.
You know, my brother, my oldestbrother was like, he would ended
up being six, seven, but growingup, he was the tallest person
(09:48):
any of us knew.
And then my other brother wastall the other way, he was wide,
he was uh 300 pounds, playedfootball, you know.
So here's this little scrawnykid with pre-existing conditions
fighting for his life out there.
And uh I think that's where mysense of humor came from.
And, you know, the period oftime when I grew up uh back in
(10:09):
the 60s, playing the dozens washow we had fun.
And that's why I attributed alot of my humor to my
neighborhood where I grew up,because everyone was funny,
everyone played the dozen, andyou had to be able to play the
dozen to survive out there.
SPEAKER_03 (10:24):
Now tell tell us the dozens.
There's some people might notknow what that is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:28):
Yeah, so for you white folks that don't know what
the dozens is, the dozens isyour mama joke when you talk
about somebody's mama.
You can get your ass kicked ifyou're not smooth with it.
But luckily I was smooth withmine, and uh luckily I had big
friends too.
I had a woman uh on social mediawho I grew up with, evidently,
(10:50):
and actually I grew up with hercousin, and she heard legend
about me on the southwesternschool bus talking shit.
So she skipped school fromcentral.
She told me that she skippedschool from central to get on
our bus to hear me talk shit inthe morning because that's how
funny I used to be.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
I guess your roots in comedy go back to your
neighborhood, apparently, toyour camp or your hut or
whatever it was that you guysmade over there.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah, the tribe.
SPEAKER_03 (11:18):
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:20):
We had our own in the south.
I grew up in the south end aswell.
We had our own.
Okay.
I l I grew up on Pengalley Road.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
Yeah, I live I actually lived in Pengalley
apartments.
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
So you got it.
Oh, yeah.
And where Pengalley apartmentswere was uh was an old wooded
part of the General Motors dump.
In fact, uh I'm not telling anysecrets, it ain't already out,
but that apartment house wasbuilt on top of the dump.
Oh damn, and when we were kids,and some of that stuff's still
underneath there, like hoods andfenders from cars, and they were
(11:56):
working their way up through thesoil, and we would make camps
there.
We played in this stuff, whichwas which was a place where the
General Motors had dumpedpaints, lacquers, thinners,
other kinds of chemicals lacedwith lead.
SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
That sounds about right.
SPEAKER_03 (12:12):
Yeah.
So so that's what they did inthat playground, and then they
came along and cut down all thetrees, and then they built the
beautiful Pinkelli apartmentsright on top of the dump.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
So nice.
Nice.
Was uh Sicily's pizza over therewhen you grew up?
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
Yeah, I was weaned on that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Oh man, it you know it closed, right?
SPEAKER_03 (12:33):
Yeah, I know.
And that Patricia just passed.
Uh Patricia, Patty and John.
She she and her husband uh ownedthat place for many years, and
she just passed away hererecently.
Is that why they closed?
No, they closed because theywanted to retire, but and it
ended maybe one of the greatestpizza joints in the whole in the
(12:53):
whole region.
The best, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
Yeah, we were all heartbroken when it went down.
We had Sisley's at least once aweek.
SPEAKER_03 (13:00):
It made it warmed my heart a little bit to know that
you are a true Flintstone.
And the fact is, I've askedevery guest that I've ever
talked to on this thing, whichis about 140 now or 50 or
something like that.
And I asked everyone whetherthey're Flintstones.
I only had one say they were aFlintstone.
How do you know somebody's aFlintstone is if they pay union
(13:20):
dues?
SPEAKER_01 (13:22):
Yeah.
Well, I paid different uniondues.
I paid SAGF.
SPEAKER_03 (13:27):
Do you s do you still pay dues or did you decide
that that wasn't necessary?
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
Uh I don't pay them anymore.
I'm not really I'm doing morecomedy than acting anymore, but
I used to do a lot of acting.
Actually moved out to LA uh backin 1999 to pursue acting.
SPEAKER_03 (13:44):
I see.
Now, did you get in any good getany good gigs?
SPEAKER_01 (13:48):
I did.
I got the uh Mad TV when I wasout there, uh, made a lot of
connections.
You know, it's interestingthough, because uh I've had
breaks happen to me that didn'thappen for me out there actually
happened for me here.
Like uh when I did uh ByronAllen's Comics Unleashed with uh
Byron Allen, I got that fromFlint.
SPEAKER_03 (14:08):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yeah, a buddy of mine had done it, and they were
looking for black comics to beon the show, and he referred to
me.
And I actually had to do anaudition over the telephone, uh,
which was kind of funny becausethey the producer called me at
dinner time, and we're allsitting down to dinner, and he's
like, Hey, this is so-and-sofrom Mad TV.
Uh wanted to talk to you aboutdoing the show.
(14:29):
And they were like, Let me hearyou.
I'm like, What?
Okay.
So I started doing my act rightthere on the telephone uh at the
dinner table.
SPEAKER_03 (14:37):
And you can just do it like that.
It's just all improvisationaloff the cuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
I mean, it's written material I was doing for him.
I wasn't improving, you know, Iwas doing my act.
SPEAKER_03 (14:47):
Let's talk about that for a second.
Your roots are are in the city,obviously.
That's the city of Flint inparticular.
You do have, you know, bonafides in in the urban community.
Is is that reflected in youract?
SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
How?
Yeah.
Uh well, I have a bit, and thisis a true story.
Uh I have a bit that goes uh theeconomy's so bad in Flint.
Last week I saw a pimp on abike.
Good to see you, man.
Good to be here tonight.
SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
I'm from Flint, so I'm glad to be pretty much
anywhere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
Yeah.
Where my Flint people at byapplause.
Make some noise, Flint.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
Look, Flint people just glad to wake up without a
bullet in the ass.
Jesus, yes, we made it throughthe night.
SPEAKER_01 (15:46):
Man.
Flint, man.
That's my crib, but it's hardliving there.
They make it hard for you to beloyal to Flint now.
Don't they?
Water bill so damn high.
Suddenly I'm bathing in Merlot.
(16:09):
See, I grew up in Flint when wehad the best of everything, you
guys.
I grew up in Flint when we werethe home of General Motors.
Right?
The Buick.
Yeah.
The Buick was invented in myhometown.
SPEAKER_02 (16:26):
Yeah.
Now the economy is so bad, youguys.
Last week I saw a pimp on abike.
Ring ring bitch.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Don't make me put this kickstand down.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
And I don't know the last time y'all wrote a testy
with a with a pimp pad on, butthat shit is not aerodynamic.
It is hard to regulate your hoeswhile you holding your pimp hat
on your head.
(17:19):
You talk to a hoe lately?
He'll be like, I ain't givinghim shit.
Because that's how hoes walkingin.
Any hoes here tonight?
SPEAKER_01 (17:43):
And true story, I was picking my daughter up from
Eisenhower.
Uh no, I take that back.
She was going to Southwestern atthe time.
And we dropped her little friendoff near uh Chevy and the Hull.
And we're coming back up by thepoint right by La Azteca, Taco
House.
And we literally saw a pimp on abike, and his girl was in the
(18:05):
bike path walking, and he was onhis bike talking mad shit.
Like, you better get my money,like you see on TV, bitch.
You better get my money.
So that's how that bit was born.
SPEAKER_03 (18:17):
Obviously, you're a student of this comedy genre.
Who's your favorite comedian?
Richard Pryor is my comedy god.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
No one's funnier than Richard.
What do you think his funniestact was?
His my favorite of his, ofcourse, niggas crazy, which was
his huge breakout album.
And we used to sneak down in thebasement and we had it on
eight-track at the time.
And we would sneak down in myparents' basement and listen to
Richard Pryor on A-Track.
How'd your mom how'd your momand dad take that?
(18:49):
They never they didn't hear us.
They, you know, though theyworked hard.
My dad had like three jobs, andmom was working all the time.
So we had a lot of time byourselves.
So yeah, we had a lot of time tobe able to listen to that stuff.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
Richard Pryor became a great actor over time.
What was it about him that youliked the most?
SPEAKER_01 (19:09):
He he was just so real.
He changed the game, Art.
I mean, you know, comedy used tobe a little stuffy and take my
wife, and you know, andone-liners, and uh, he just
broke it down to the rawness andjust exposed that that rawness
of oneself that that we do now.
Like if you do comedy now anddon't share anything about
(19:32):
yourself, it's like you're notreally even doing comedy.
SPEAKER_03 (19:36):
Yeah, he has a lot of self-depreciating humor,
doesn't he?
So let me ask you one morequestion.
Richard Pryor uh obviously pavedthe path for a lot of other
people in comedy, and alongcomes uh Chris Rock, who I like.
And I think my favorite joke ofhis is that his solution for
crime is that we need a bullettax.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (19:57):
We need thousands of bullets.
Because if it was five thousanddollars a bullet, there, as he
says, there wouldn't be anyinnocent bystanders.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (20:08):
How do you attribute his success?
I mean, the American peopleobviously love that guy.
SPEAKER_01 (20:13):
He uh was fortunate enough to have the co-sign of uh
Eddie Murphy.
So Eddie Murphy uh saw him inNew York, from what I
understand, and flew him out toLA.
And uh Eddie Murphy helped a lotof comedians and Chris being one
of them.
SPEAKER_03 (20:27):
Now you worked with some pretty uh well-known people
over the years.
So tell us about that.
Tell us some of the names ofpeople that you've worked with
and maybe give us an antidote ortwo.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Oh man, I worked with uh the first uh famous
person I worked with was Sinbad.
And uh Sinbad is was the mostdown-to-earth comic I've ever
worked with in my life.
And you know, he was prettyfamous at the time.
He had was freshly off winningStar Search.
And uh I walked in the dressingroom to meet him, and he was
(20:57):
ironing, you know, he used towear those big parachute pants,
and he was ironing his ownparachute pants there.
You know, it kind of surprisedme that someone of his stature
would be ironing his own clothesthat way.
George Wallace, George Wallaceis an amazing guy.
Uh met George Wallace for thefirst time in Kansas City at a
place called Stanfords and Sons.
(21:19):
And uh George Wallace is sofucking cool, man.
He uh sent word down.
He was up in the uh green roomupstairs at the comedy club that
I didn't even know existed.
So he sent for me.
He said, send me a feature actup here to meet me.
So I went up there and talked toGeorge and he had all this soul
food, like huge platters of soulfood.
(21:39):
And he he wanted me to eat some.
He's like, dude, eat some ofthis soul food.
I'm like, George, I can't eatthat right now.
I'm about to go on stage inabout five minutes.
He said, Man, wherever I go inthe country, these these black
church women, they cook for meand they bring these platters of
soul food to the show, you know,and I can never eat it all.
So and uh worked with him againon uh Comics Unleashed with
(22:02):
Byron Allen.
Uh Robert Schimmel.
Robert Schimmel was an awesomedude, man.
Uh now Robert Schimmel's Jewish,and we worked together in
Dayton, Ohio.
And as a black comic, peoplecome up and tell you the most
racist ass jokes and think thatyou'll find them funny.
So one night after a show, thisguy comes up and just told me
(22:25):
the most racist fucking joke,and uh he walked away.
And Robert Schimmel was so hewas madder than I was because
I'm used to it.
Schimmel was steamy.
He looked at me like, does thatshit happen all the time?
I'm like, yeah, pretty much.
But yeah, he Robert Schimmel wasa really good dude too.
SPEAKER_03 (22:44):
You were raised in a home that you know was really an
advocate during the heart of thecivil rights movement for civil
rights and human rights in acity that you know where it was
all real.
As you go around the country andyou you do a national act, I
understand.
Um do you see places like Flintor is Flint unique in some way?
SPEAKER_01 (23:07):
Or do you uh now there are other industrial
cities like Flint, but I I haveto say Flint is very unique in
the fact that uh I don't know,there's just a sense of humor
that's different here.
And I will say this about Flint,even though we had that time in
the 60s where things were bad,um, we're in a place right now,
especially after the watercrisis, where race isn't an
(23:30):
issue anymore.
People don't care about racearound here anymore.
We're we're we're we're tryingto survive as a whole community.
And you might be somewhere elsein the country and somebody
might yell a racial epithet atyou, but they yell something
else at you here.
It's not about race and Flintanymore.
That's the cool thing I findabout Flint.
SPEAKER_03 (23:49):
Yeah, there's also a sense of activism in this city.
I mean, it's part of the DNA ofFlint.
I mean, people get here, theyget pissed, they don't just
start walking away and saythat's too bad, or I'm sorry to
bother you.
SPEAKER_01 (24:00):
No, they'll fight.
SPEAKER_03 (24:01):
They fight.
Yeah, they did.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
Yeah, that's that's another thing about Flint is uh
we're a town full of fighters,man.
And the other thing I love aboutFlint art is that we can talk
about Flint, we don't let otherpeople that aren't from here
talk about it.
You you can't live out in Hollyand talk shit about Flint,
you'll get your ass fucked up.
SPEAKER_03 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Somebody somebody else told meexactly in those words the same
thing.
Rico Phillips.
I don't know if you know Rico,but Rico Phillips is an
interesting guy.
Oh, the fireman?
The fireman, and now he works asa diversity, he's a diversity
director for the Ontario HockeyLeague.
SPEAKER_01 (24:37):
Yeah, yeah, I'm Hiptor Rico.
Yeah, we don't play that shit,man.
I was at the Holly Hotel once,and this lady was steaming.
She comes upstairs and she tellsone of the owners, she's like,
that comic down there is talkingabout Flint and she's ripping it
to do ass.
And she looked at him verycalmly and was like, Well, he
pays his taxes there.
I think if anyone can talk aboutFlint, it would be him.
unknown (25:01):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:02):
So we did lose the Holly Hotel.
What what impact does that haveon comedy?
They've had comedy out there fora long time, haven't they?
SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
Oh, yeah, God.
I uh one of the first comedystages I was ever on was on was
probably Holly Hotel.
Yeah, I I lost an August datethere.
Yeah, Holly was uh significantin uh comedy around here.
I mean, you know, people likeTim Allen performed there.
There was a guy from Florida uhnamed Jerry Elliott.
(25:29):
He was very popular at the time,used to come up here.
But yeah, Holly was everythingto comedy.
SPEAKER_03 (25:35):
Yeah, you know, I had another friend that lost a
gig there too.
Uh Mustard's Retreat, DaveTimolovich and Libby Glover,
who's a southwestern grad, uh,were supposed to play there.
They were all jack jacked up,excited about it now that the
pandemic's over and lost theirgig.
SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
Um I did I did actually uh they booked me uh
back when they started up again,and I actually did get a date in
there.
And uh if you ever get thechance, they uh they've redone
the basement where the comedyclub is.
It is the one of the mostbeautiful things I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_03 (26:05):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
So it'll be fabulous when they fix it.
SPEAKER_03 (26:08):
Who are some of the who are some of the
up-and-coming comedians in theFlint area, if if you could give
us a couple names?
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Uh man, there's a lot of people that do comedy
around here.
Um not I can't say of anyonereally that's doing it on this
level that I do it at, butthere's definitely a uh
underground scene taking placehere.
And I couldn't tell you anynames right off the uh top of my
head.
(26:36):
But yeah, there's a lot ofpeople trying to break in around
here.
SPEAKER_03 (26:39):
I mean, what what was the moment that you decided,
you know, I think I really wantto be a comedian?
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
I think I really want to So for me it was all
about acting for a long time.
And a good friend of mine, uhTony Ennis, who was an actor, uh
comedian friend of mine, andactually grew up a block away
from me.
I was on Little C, he was onShallan, and he was actually my
brother's age, four years olderthan me.
So I had heard that uh Tony wasdoing some comedy things.
(27:05):
Uh he was with a comedy troupe,and uh he came to speak to us at
Southwestern when I was still inhigh school.
Uh came and spoke at in myEnglish class.
One of my favorite teachers,Mary Earling, was my English
teacher, and he came in to speakto us.
So he kind of planted the scenethen.
So we ended up doing a playtogether in 1981 at McCree
(27:27):
Theater, a play called TheMighty Gents.
Uh, I was the protagonist andTony Ennis was the antagonist.
And after a rehearsal, sometimewe would go down to Doobies.
You remember Doobies downtown?
Yeah.
So Doobies used to have a Mondayopen mic night.
And we used to go down there andhang out, have a few drinks.
And one night, Tony looked atme, he's like, Man, you're
funny, Brian.
(27:48):
Why don't you go up and do somestand-up?
And I'm like, Yeah, why not?
So I went on stage and just offthe top of my head started doing
some things and they liked it.
So I started coming back weekly,and that kind of wet my whistle,
man.
I always thought I was justgonna be an actor, but then uh
I'd always liked comedy, but Ididn't know if I could do it
(28:08):
professionally.
But when I saw uh Tony as hisfriends making some money doing
it as a troupe, I'm like, yeah,I can do stand-up, I can make
some money.
So that's what uh made me getinto it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:18):
Now Flynn has had uh a history of having some some
people who who made their way tothe to the big screen and also
uh to stage.
Uh and they've had some famousand maybe not even so famous.
Wendell Harris is one.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Uh Andre Bernhard.
SPEAKER_03 (28:36):
Yeah.
Uh and I think of some of thoseback in the day.
Uh, but your reputation as anactor in Flint, I mean, that's
what I thought you did.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
It it is.
Uh, but then uh, like I said,back in 1981, uh, I kind of
shifted gears and uh was doing alot of acting and uh wasn't as
good at stand-up as I wanted tobe.
So I'm the kind of person thathas to focus on something to get
really good at it.
So I kind of pulled back onacting some and started hitting
(29:08):
the road doing the comedy thingand get getting my 10,000 hours
in.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
Like flying a plane, yeah, you have so many hours.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Get good, you gotta have those hours, man.
And these kids now, you know,they wanna they want a headline
right out the gate.
SPEAKER_03 (29:24):
What makes you so funny?
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
Uh you know, so like I said, the youngest, being the
youngest of three brothers, andalso pain makes comedians funny.
SPEAKER_03 (29:34):
Pain?
SPEAKER_01 (29:35):
Pain.
Some either physical or mental,some type of strife.
And that's not always true.
There are comics like Seinfeldthat kind of had a perfect, nice
life and still managed to findthe funny, but I find that most
comics have something painfulthat triggers the funny in them.
So I suffer from sickle celldisaster, sickle cell anemia,
(29:56):
and I think that pain uhtriggered something in me to
make uh it's a coping mechanismto deal with my illness.
SPEAKER_03 (30:05):
And obviously you've overcome it.
If you had to talk to youngpeople today at Flint
Southwestern or whatever theycall it these days, what would
you say to somebody that wasinterested in getting involved
in either acting or or comedy?
SPEAKER_01 (30:19):
Start learning.
If you want to do stand-up,there's no real easy path.
So these days they have comedyclasses, but I'm not a fan.
I mean, I I guess that's okay.
But to me, you you you gotta getup there.
You you just gotta you gotta geton stage, you gotta write.
You gotta write your behind off.
(30:39):
And I would say if you want toget in a stand-up, start with
writing three minutes ofmaterial that you think is
funny, and then start going toopen mic nights and start
working it out and recordyourself to see how you look,
how you sound, uh, how yourwords go together, because one
little word can throw a joke allthe way off.
So I would say find a mentoralso and stand up as far as
(31:03):
acting.
You can go to acting schools.
You can learn how to act.
Knowledge is the key to any ofthese uh professions.
SPEAKER_03 (31:11):
Well, that's it for today.
Thank you for joining us.
I hope you enjoyed Brian McCree,comedian from Flint.
Please rate us, review us, andsubscribe to our podcasts at
radiofreeflint.media, ourwebsite, or wherever you get
your podcast.
Until next time, thank you forjoining us.
This is Arthur Bush from RadioFree Flint.
(31:32):
Goodbye.
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