Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Reid Clark. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Reid thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

In this video a comedy club owner who I respected an appreciated calls me out for doing comedy about racism and the audience turns on him. This happened at my home club after I had left home and been traveling with my travel nurse girlfriend to different scenes doing comedy. Always repping my hometown. However, you are never loved in your home town. My friend recorded this video and I was torn whether or not to release it but things in the scene were getting so stressful for me. When I got into comedy it was a bunch of older white men, making racist jokes and letting me have black jokes that didn’t work for them. I thought comedy was rock and roll. Being funny on and off stage and every joke had a little truth to it which made it mean for the laymen. I was 19 when I started so after a few years people around my age began to do comedy and I unconsciously treated them the way I was treated. New people came into the scene and I felt didn’t give me the proper respect I was deserved or even acknowledgement. All of this came to a head one night when the host of the show and the owner of the comedy club admonished me for doing comedy. It is pretty crazy to think about. The video has a satisfying end because the audience was on my side. However, other comedians were not on my side once I released the video. After that comedians that I respected and admired began alienating me from the scene and making up rumors about me. The hatred became so real for me that when I found myself personally in a situation where my roommate was a victim of domestic violence and we convinced her to file for a restraining order, they refused to let me know if the abuser would show up at the club. I asked for the safety of myself and my partner at the time and the venue refused, seeming to have little to no regard for our safety.

I was still traveling with my nurse girlfriend at the time and any time people would call up comedians from my hometown to get a reference they continued to throw dirt on my name. I have since made peace with many of them but the scars on my reputation have been slow to heal. A young black man is a target for mischaracterizations if he works at Denny’s but I took a risk chasing comedy and always wonder if I was less confident, more appeasing to my white peers and less honest about how I felt online. Would I be further than I am now?

Reid, 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?

Currently taking Writing Lab at The Groundlings

Reid Clark’s comedy has been described as dark, blue, and political, with elements of musicality and improvisation. In eight years as a stand up comedian he has worked with Tone Bell, Andy Haynes, and Fortune Feimster and many more. Reid also has improv, sketch and writing experience and training at UCB, The People’s Improv Theatre and Washington Improv Theatre. He has directed, written and performed in music videos that were recognized by film festivals. Reid has been seen on Netflix and NBCU’s Discovery ID. Reid has been in the Cape Fear Comedy Festival, a three time finalist in Port City’s Top Comic and a finalist Funniest In South Texas Comedy Competition at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club in San Antonio. Reid recently was a part of the Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival, Bay Area Black Comedy Festival, Memphis Comedy Festival, Harlem Comedy Festival, Gilda’s Laughfest and has performed in colleges and clubs around the country like Broadway Comedy Club, Stand Up New York, and Comedy Catch. He was an actor in DC Fringe Festival and is the season 5 winner of Comics Watching Comics available on Amazon Video. He is currently taking class at The Groundlings. He also was a semi finalist in the 2021 American Black Film Festival Comedy Contest.

Comedy Demo Reel

Stand Up Comedy (10+ Min)

6:41 Min

Miranda Slide Music Video

Website
https://linktr.ee/ReidClarkComedy

All platforms/ReidClarkComedy

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

On my final show in my hometown before leaving with my travel nurse ex girlfriend I was beat up after a show. A couple came in late and the woman was wearing a dress that reminded me of the rainbow fish book I used to read as a child. I remember making fun of her and I blacked out because my half brother was in town and feeding me tequila like I was a rainbow fish. When I came to the man of the couple was lecturing me about how often I say the N word on stage. I started comedy in the south so this happens a lot so I drunkenly chose to respond awesomely. When they left the conversation and the venue for the night I sent my salutations in the form of a “Goodnight Niggas”. The guy immediately turned back and rushed towards me. I was driving my girlfriends car at the time and she had one of those cheap plastic pink pepper sprays. I was so confident that this thing was going to work. I stood with my hands on my hip in a Wonder Woman’s power pose and everything. He was the most unaffected he could be. White guys don’t season their food but they must season their eyes for fun. He dragged me and my flip flops all across the gravel parking lot. My ankles and face were bleeding for days. I don’t get black out drunk anymore but I still say the N Word in my act. I will not be silenced.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are so many moments in my life where my voice isn’t heard or desired. The moments I have on stage bringing joy to other validate my existence. Even when I don’t want to do comedy I always feel better after I do it. There is a poem that Chris Farley supposedly carried around on his person that goes like this:

As I stumble through this life,
help me to create more laughter than tears,
dispense more happiness than gloom,
spread more cheer than despair.

Never let me become so indifferent,
that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.

Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,
make them happy, and forget momentarily,
all the unpleasantness in their lives.

And in my final moment,
may I hear You whisper:
“When you made My people smile,
you made Me smile.”

That is what drives me when times are really dark. It takes me back to the place I was when I decided I wanted to do this with my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ReidClarkComedy
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/reidclarkcomedy
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/reidclarkcomedy
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/reidclarkcomedy
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/reidclarkcomedy
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/reidclarkcomedy

Image Credits
In 11 years as a stand up comedian he has worked with Tone Bell, Andy Haynes, and Fortune Feimster and many more. Reid also has improv, sketch and writing experience and training at UCB, The People’s Improv Theatre and Washington Improv Theatre. He has directed, written and performed in music videos that were recognized by film festivals. Reid has been seen on Netflix and NBCU’s Discovery ID. Reid has been in the Cape Fear Comedy Festival, a three time finalist in Port City’s Top Comic and a finalist Funniest In South Texas Comedy Competition at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club in San Antonio. Reid recently was a part of the Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival, Bay Area Black Comedy Festival, Memphis Comedy Festival, Harlem Comedy Festival, Gilda’s Laughfest and has performed in colleges and clubs around the country like Broadway Comedy Club, Stand Up New York, and Comedy Catch. He was an actor in DC Fringe Festival and is the season 5 winner of Comics Watching Comics available on Amazon Video. He is currently taking class at The Groundlings. He also was a semi finalist in the 2021 American Black Film Festival Comedy Contest.