LEIMERT PARK : Theater Plays Host to Cable TV Show
The cable channel Black Entertainment Television held its first Comicview awards show last week at the Vision Complex Theater, drawing legions of celebrities and marking the first time the theater has played host to a televised event.
“Marla Gibbs’ theater is great, and it’s great that BET chose to have the awards here,” said soul singer Vesta, who hosted the show. About 300 musicians, stand-up comics and fans packed the Vision auditorium, which was refurbished in Art Deco style for last August’s Los Angeles Festival. Awards presenters, hosts and attendees included comedian Lawanda Page, television actors Darryl Sivad (“Roc”) and T’Keyah Crystal Keymah (“In Living Color”) and comedian Richard Pryor.
The awards show was a culmination of BET’s second season of “Comicview,” a weekly series that showcases up-and-coming comedians taped live at the Normandie Casino in Gardena.
Awards went to Dante (best impressionist, best music comedy, most cutting edge), Lovell Crawford (rising star), Amazing Grace (best impersonation) and Just June (best female comic). Each of the eight finalists competed to star in their own half-hour “Grandstand Comedy Jam” on BET.
The highest honor, the Richard Pryor Award, went to comic Cedric the Entertainer. Pryor’s sharp, socially observant material in the 1970s influenced a generation of black comedians, including those who performed excerpts of their routines during the show.
The Comicview Awards will air on BET later this year.
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