Q&A; : Comedian Warms to Beach

Street comic Michael Colyar, 33

Claim to fame: Performs weekends on Venice Beach. Specializes in high-energy “conscious comedy” dealing with social themes of the day.

Background: A self-styled street hustler from Chicago, Colyar is making the transition to big-time venues. Signed by Creative Artists, he taped a one-hour performance for HBO and is about to publish a book of his poetry.

Interviewer: Times staff writer Patricia Ward Biederman.

Q. What’s unique about performing on Venice Beach?

A. It’s the best place I ever worked. It’s a continual school for me. It definitely increases my ability to do improvisation, to work off the top of my head, because it’s always spontaneous. People are always walking up and saying something or attempting to interfere with the show, and I have to silence them, quell them. I have to deter them from that type of behavior. And I do that by talking with them and dealing with them. I have to be able to do that and come right back to the joke where I left off, so I don’t lose the rest of the audience. Plus, it’s like the best practice ground any stand-up performer could have, because this audience doesn’t come to see me. They come to the beach . Over 70% of the people who see me stumble across me. When I can get them to stop and stand on their feet for an hour, and to pay me, then I know that I have accomplished my goal as a performing artist.

Q. Obviously, good things have happened to you here, but has anything bad happened to you here?

A. You know, I haven’t experienced the bad because I don’t fly in that space. Despite the fact that my beach show is quite profane, my entire being is anchored in God. Everything I do, whatever I do and how I do it, I do it for God. And so, since I walk in that light, I don’t really encounter danger. I mean, I always have hecklers. And once a guy came up and pulled a knife on me. . . . There were two cops there on a bike. They pulled their pistols on him and cocked them, and all of a sudden, he understood English and gave them the knife. They took him away. And my first year, I had a guy spit in my face, but he was this drunk, white homeless dude, who was just mad at himself. I don’t think it had anything to do with me. They’re the only two incidents that I can think of that have been negative.

Q. Were you able to support yourself as a street performer right away?

A. Yeah, I made money from the beginning. On the third day in Chicago, I said, “Well, let me see what happens,” and I worked 30 minutes and I made $15. I went, “Damn, I could probably live like this!” So my goal was the next day I was going to go to this major mall where the rich white folks spend their money in Chicago. It’s called Watertower Place. And I said, “I’m gonna stand in front of Watertower Place, and if I make $40, I’m not waitin’ tables no more.” And I had a bag of change and two pockets full of money--$84--when I left. And I said, “Dammit, this is my gig! “ Then winter came, and I came out here and I worked this beach and I made real decent money. And that was when I was still just doing dig jokes and other peoples’ material. And then I started evolving into doing conscious stuff, talking about stuff like racism and AIDS and crack. And people started giving me things besides money. The first year, they gave me 37 watches. They gave me gold chains. I’ve eaten at almost every very nice place in this town, compliments of the owners, who’ve seen me here. I’ve received so many things from people who want to hug me and people who cry, “Good morning, brother,” and want to share intimate things with me.

Q. You do an anti-crack poem as part of your beach performance. Were you personally involved with drugs?

A. I used to do crack, and I got myself off of it. My child is the one who really moved me from drugs. With the help of God. My child’s 11 now, and he was 9 then.

Q. Is that when things really began to get good for you professionally?

A. No. They were already flying, and that’s part of the reason that I was having my little drug thing--because I could afford it. I would come home on a Sunday night, and I would have a stack of money on the floor about as big as you. I had nothing really to do with the money, and so I’d treat myself to a little here and a little there. I wasn’t crazy about the drug thing. When I smoked what I had allotted myself to smoke, I would generally not go back and get more. That would be my treat for myself. Then a couple of times, I started getting heavier into it. I remember once I went off and smoked, like, 600 bucks worth with two girls. That’s when I knew it was crazy. So after I went to Hawaii and smoked all that crack, the first thing I did was I called my wife and told her, “I’m bringing my ass back home.” I started talking to God daily and saying, “Help.” Any rate, I started praying regular, but I kept doing it. You know, I’d say, “Dear God, help me get out. Let me stop. Let me stop.” And then I’d go out and I’d do some more. And every time I’d do some more, I’d get sicker and sicker. One day, I just felt like I was gonna die. My head was about to explode, my gut was about to explode, and it dawned on me at that moment, that Nicholas almost lost his daddy. And that’s when I realized, “I’m not doin’ this anymore.”

Q. What was your first professional break?

A. Everyone gets to Venice eventually. Directors, producers, rich folk, poor folk, everybody makes it to the beach. The first film I did was “Hollywood Shuffle,” with Robert Townsend. Back in those days, when I was first out here, the first year, all the guys would come down and see me. Robert Townsend would come, Keenan Wayans would come. Arsenio (Hall) would come down and bring people. All these folks used to be very supportive when I first started, and so the whole community really knew me, especially the black comedy community. “Hollywood Shuffle” allowed me to join the union, which was the most important thing. It allowed me to join SAG (Screen Actors Guild). That was like a start for me. Since then, a lot of people have come and seen me on the beach and said, “Damn, you’re good. You’ve got to try out for this,” or “You got to audition for that.”

Q. How did your appearance on “Star Search” come about?

A. I auditioned three times, and each time they told me, “No.” But my friend, Budd Friedman of the Improv, any time they had a showcase, made sure I was on that showcase.

So I think the night that got me the job on “Star Search,” I was auditioning for Pat Sajak’s show. The producer of “Star Search” was there, Sam Riddle. And he came running outside afterward. He said, “Hey, you want to be on ‘Star Search’?” I said, “Well, I auditioned three times.” And he said, “Look, you want to be on it, you’re on.” So that was it. And then when CAA (Creative Artists Agency) came on the scene, it just went crazy, ‘cause they’ve got all the connections, they’ve got all the juice. I have so many projects lined up now.

Q. Are you going to continue to work the beach?

A. As long as it’s safe, yeah. As long as nobody’s gonna come up and try to kill me. The beach is my real job, you know. It’s my spirit. And it’s the thing that’s allowed me to do everything else. I think the thing that hurts so many people is, as soon as they seem to get what they think is gonna be prominence, they change who they are. And I don’t want to change who I am. I like who I am a lot. And I like the beach. I like those nutty people. They’re real, and the energy and love is just really great out there.

Q. You gave half of the $100,000 you got for winning “Star Search” to various charities. What made you decide to give away half of your first major earnings?

A. My goal initially was to be a millionaire, you know, and then, as I started to evolve, I realized that I wanted to be the greatest human I could possibly be. So instead of trying to make a living, I live my making, and my making will make my living.

Q. Do you think comedy with a social conscience is coming back into fashion?

A. I care about the planet. I care about my brothers. I care about the issue of love, and I care about us trying to rediscover ourselves as pure humans. My thing is to get the messages out that I believe in. I was talking about AIDS the second year out here. I talk about racism every single day, which is an issue that’s never gonna go away. I do the things that move my heart. I follow my heart as closely as I can. I see people beating each other up. I see an ocean that you can’t swim in. These are things that I see with my eyes, and so I don’t have to read the paper to decide. . . .

Q. Are you surprised by your success?

A. I’m stunned. Almost every day somebody gives me something more. Almost every day they make a new offer. I have so many blessings. I’m clear that everything I get is a blessing. And I’m clear that it’s a blessing because I’m trying to do what is true in my heart. And I try to give back. I always try to give back to the community. I think it’s real, real important that we don’t forget where we came from. Even Plato talked about the fact that you must give back to the community; you can’t just gain from the community, then take off. You’ve got to give it back. And I think that people who do that are the survivors. They’re the ones who are around forever, because they’re real and they’re being true.