Dwayne Perkins

HK Magazine: You’re from the east coast originally, but now you’re based in Los Angeles. What inspired the move?
Dwayne Perkins: I lived in Boston for a while and it was great for me. The best comics, top to bottom, live in Boston. It was a great place to learn comedy and be surrounded by talent: Bill Burr; Dane Cook; Patrice O’Neal was a dear friend. After living there, I was planning on moving back to New York to keep my comedy going, but fate just brought me to LA. I feel like I am expanding my horizons: I write scripts,
I have an agent, and I’ve been in short films and some commercials and TV shows, so it’s good.

HK: Comedians talk about the difference between the New York and LA comedy scenes. You’ve seen both: what do you think?
DP: New York is probably a little bit better for straight comedy. There are certainly more people in LA who dabble in it, whereas people in New York don’t dabble—they go hardcore. LA attracts a lot of actors who think comedy can be an avenue for something else, but I don’t see comedy helping me become an actor. It’s the other way around. Stand-up is my first love—if I am able to get more exposure with TV shows or a movie, then I can hit the road and do bigger venues and get more people exposed to my comedy.

HK: When was your first open mic?
DP: I had hosted some shows in college and I’d say jokes in them, but the first time I did it at a proper comedy club I was 22 or 23. It was in Harlem, New York, and it was great. It was trial by fire, though, because they encourage the crowd to boo if they don’t like you.

HK: Was it a black room [entirely black audience and comedians]?
DP: Yeah. I started in black rooms exclusively. I learned the basics there, but shortly thereafter I moved to Boston and went from all-black rooms to mainly white rooms, and that has certainly shaped my style. I still do both.

HK: What’s the biggest difference?
DP: The biggest difference is that in a black room, you can’t rely on the jokes to do the work for you; you have to do the work yourself. In a white room, if you have really good jokes they’ll like you, even if you are not connected with the crowd. In a black room, you can’t even do the jokes until the audience is engaged and listening. But once they are, it’s explosive; outrageously good. You have to be in the room with them. You can’t be somewhere else mentally.

HK: I remember watching old Def Comedy Jam episodes, and it seemed like you could never bomb bigger than in a black room, and never kill as fully either.
DP: That’s exactly right. But I’d rather bomb in front of a black crowd, because a bomb in front of a black crowd is quick: “We don’t like you—BOO!—get off.” Three or five minutes. A white crowd will let you bomb for an hour: just uncomfortable non-laughter.