We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Correy Bell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Correy, appreciate you joining 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.
Comedy is definitely a gift. It’s something that you’re born with. You can teach the mechanics like timing, callbacks, punchlines etc. but the art of being funny is inside. There is nothing that you can do to speed up the learning process. You have to take your time and not skip any steps. Every bar show, every open mic, every writing session is important. There’s no rush, comedy will always be there. An essential skill that i possess is being fearless and commanding the stage. I am fearless way before i’m funny. The only obstacles that stood in my way of learning more, is me. Getting out of my own way and not overthinking the process is what I had to figure out in order to be the best creative me that I could be.
Correy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Correy Bell and I am a standup comedian, producer, and actress . I’ve been performing all of my life if you ask my family, but i’ve been a full time comic for almost 9 years. I started comedy on a dare. A comedian that I was introduced at a comedy show told me about her open mic and i was intrigued, I’d go week after week, and after a couple weeks, she said ” if you come back next week, I’m calling you on stage. I came back…she called my name! well, I never back down from a challenge, so I went on stage and told the silliest joke that I could think of, and the people chuckled. I’ve literally been on stage ever since. In such a short time, I’ve performed on HBO, Showtime, TruTV, toured around the world with one of the queens of comedy, Mo’Nique, radio, daytime tv, movies, and more. This journey happened so fast that I almost haven’t been able to catch my breath! Thats a GREAT problem to have. I can’t really think of anything else that I’d rather do, and I’m happy that I’m doing what I love.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal driving my journey is to show my family that you can literally do whatever you want to with hard work and dedication. Not everyone wants to be a Dr. or Basketball player or a rapper, so whatever it is that you want to be or do, just go for it. Never in a million years did I think that I’d be traveling the world just tot make people laugh, but it’s exactly what I do. I make the connections with others so that whatever my children want to become, I’m in a position to assist them in their success and am able put them in touch with the right people and resources that they need.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a comedian is watching the audience enjoy themselves. When they “get the bit”. When I can take them to the land of make-believe and they go on the creative journey with me is the absolute best feeling. I love the laughter because that means that they think it’s funny, but I also love the silence because it means that they’re listening. The instant gratification from a live audience is unmatched. That’s a feeling that you take back home with you. It reminds you of why you get on that stage night after night.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.correyb.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/correyb
- Facebook: facebook.com/comediancorreybell
- Twitter: instagram.com/correybell
- Youtube: youtube.com/lookwhostalkinentertainment1
- Other: tiktok.com/correybell