We recently connected with Sharief Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Sharief , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned to do what I do through many of trials but, many..many..many….many more errors. The craft of standup/ Acting there is no way to learn other than repetition. You can hang around and understand the concept of standup comedy or acting however, the craft is taught through experience. Knowing what I know now ,having a respected mentor can be super essential! Proper guidance will never go out of style. Knowing what I know now, I also could have hit NYC comedy Scene a lot harder when I first started and gained the experience a lot faster. NYC is the best training ground for a Standup comedian / Actor. It is the only place you can get up 4 times in one night easily as an unknown! The most essential skill I believe I gained from standup that had a domino effect into acting, and even my personal life was the skill of listening. I know it sounds cliche however when you intentionally listen, you can now respond with a unique presence that is so engrained in your DNA it makes you (the artist or Person) unique. The biggest obstacle that stood in my way of learning was me. Close mouths do not get fed is the realest quote! The way I grew up it was frowned upon “to be up in people Biness”. That mindset can be crippling when trying ti grow cause if you don’t ask questions you don’t get answers. I was so worried about “Not trying to look like that guy” that it was holding me back from Becoming THAT GUY!

Sharief , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hey my name is Sharief Johnson and I started Standup comedy nine almost 10 years ago. April will make 10 years of me performing standup comedy. What got me into comedy was a family members partner. I was staying with my cousin at a difficult time in my life. Shout out to my cousin Kim!, she had a boyfriend at this time a Haitian guy who thought I was so hilarious. People always found me funny and I was that guy with my friends and family. However he believed In me being a standup comedian so much, that he wanted to manage me. If you know anything about Haitian guys that do not believe in following a dream. They tell their kids to be lawyers, doctors, and teachers! The fact this guy was not only saying to do it, but he wanted to make money off me made me self evaluate. He went around trying to find me open mics to perform on. Long story short him and my cousin break up the next week! My manager went out the door, but that seed of belief I can perform did not. I sat on that idea for a year before I would gather the courage to reach out to Greenwich village comedy club! I reached out they gave me a date and the rest was history ! I remember before going on stage feeling my heard beating through my esophagus. However after I got off stage I felt a high and understand I had never felt before that moment. It is what I would imagine a birds feels it’s first time spreading its wings and flying ! I was born to do this! Although my first time on stage was “Magical”, I learned fast the process isn’t ! To become really good as a standup comedian is anything but magical. I learned fast that it doesn’t matter how naturally funny you are, if you do not put in the reps you will not get better. I had to learn how to practice like a pro to become one. I had to hit the stages 4 times a week minimum and learn how to write a joke everyone can u understand. I had to learn in order to become universally funny you have to travel the universe with jokes. Jokes that are funny in NYC may not be funny in Ohio, but you won’t know until you travel. I had to learn to become good at the craft you cannot chase the money. I know it sounds contradicting when you work your dream job to live off of it. However , the craft lessons require a patience that money simply cannot buy ! If you are to become undeniably funny you have to chase the funny and not the money. Chasing the craft of standup Segway’s me into the acting world. Because I was chasing the true craft of being my funniest, acting doors opened up. All great comedians have great act outs. If I were to become a great act out comedian, was to learn how to act . So I stepped into the acting world where the irony Is I played in dramas first. I booked a recurring TV Role playing a hit man on one of Curtis Jackson A.K.A “50cent shows called Power Book 3 Raising Kanan. I am on my fourth season approaching this spring!

Standup and Acting to me are like two different energies that are necessary for me . If I am the earth comedy is moon because it shines light on the darkness of me. I would consider acting the sun because it brightens up the day. Also it wakes you to be up and the crack of dawn a lot . Oddly the same disciplines, although different world are required from both. A few discipline is one show up! Show up to environments consistently to get better and practice new skills or jokes . The only way to get better at either is practicing in their environments. Reading is another discipline necessary for both. Both require me to be used as a speaking tool. If I am the gun I should load with as much amp as possible. Reading is essential to understanding. The more I understand the more useful I can become. Third discipline I would say is be self competitive. I’m not saying go out and try and take the competition out. I’m saying push yourself to be your best by surround yourself with the best in those fields. You play how you practice, so make sure your practice is highly competitive and keeping you at your best.

I am most proud of starting my career. The hardest part of any dream or thing we do is starting. We tend to over think things cause we become victims to our thoughts. Overcoming that hurdle to jump myself was simple on the eye, but mentally difficult. When I look back at the things I’ve accomplished such as, Winning Comedy competition, Landing Tv Roles, starring in Commercials with Curry brother, Adidas Releasing Comedy Album, performing with Jerry Seinfeld, working with Netflix, and soon releasing my own Featured project self funded and produced called “The Hustle”. I am beyond proud to look back and say you Started and followed through Sharief Johnson🫡. I’m also proud to be doing it my way. I’m not compromising my self for likes or opportunities! It’s been a slower but For sure Steady process. I’ve heard this quote before and I understand it more as I grow both spiritual and artistically, “The fastest way to get somewhere is slow”. What sets me apart from everyone else is I know exactly who I am . My standup is so unique to who I am. When people are laughing they are also learning exactly who I am, they are learning my name, my son, my mom , where I grew up how I grew up, and more. That what separates me the most yeah some people may have similar stories and relate but there is only one Sharief Johnson with this story and that is me !

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is fishing a project you saw that was just an idea at one point. There is a fulfillment to brining ideas to life that money cannot buy. You get these amazing ideas but more than likely will go through a lot of stress to get them done! There are so many moving pieces to brining an idea to life ! So when you persevere through what ever storm will come your way, you win internally . There’s lessons and relationships you build that could not be brought

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the biggest struggle to understand is how do you live in the” Unknown ”. No creative knows what will be great or bad. You don’t know when you first start if you will hit “Big” or not . But guess what Neither do non-creatives. Truthfully I don’t like the term non-creative cause we all create in some way or another. I am a believer in God and I truthfully believe we are all made in the image of god. Sure some are bigger, taller, wider, faster, slower..etc.However when you break us down to simple form we all operate under one race and that is Human. Being a human we create a being to our personality based on the choices we make day to day. which therefore creates an image the world sees us in, making us all creative’s. It doesn’t matter what you classify yourself under no one has it figured out ! If you work a regular day job you don’t know if you will get fired from this non creative job one day. You don’t know if every day will be good you just have faith in it cause you believe in it. You expect that job to be there until retirement and you show up believing it will. I think non creatives struggle to see that in the creative lifestyle, due to creatives creating their own source through their creative thought’s. It is the same exact thing for us. If you believe in god and that we come from god you would understand and know that we are all creators built with the abundance to do so. It’s only unknown when you don’t know who you are.

Contact Info:

• Website: Sharief Johnson.com
• Instagram: @riefcomedy
• Facebook: Riefcomedy
• Twitter: Sharief Johnson
• Youtube: ShariefJohnson