Comedian Eric Blake: From streets to stage
Courtney Bruner / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: The Verge
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When Blake became an adult, he realized he did not want to be on the streets anymore.
"I was at a point in my life that I needed something new," Blake said.
Blake had never really been outside Los Angeles. He took a trip to the Grand Canyon. It was then that he knew there was a God.
Blake moved to Louisiana and began to work there.
One day, Blake was driving around in a car with a radio that did not work.
He was praying to God to find him a path to follow that was not on the streets.
He hit a bump in the road and his radio started to work.
It was an advertisement for a Def Jam competition. Blake decided to try it out even though he really had not experience in comedy.
"My friends always thought I was funny," Blake said.
Blake went to the competition and stood in front of a crowd of around 300 people. His first joke was the last thing he said that someone thought was funny.
"I was just talking about things in my life and people were dying laughing," Blake said.
Blake was given $300 that night and the next night.
He left after the second night to tell his wife, who at the time was still his girlfriend, about what had happened.
Blake received a call saying he won the competition and had a chance to go back to Los Angeles for the next part of the competition.
However, Blake decided to go on one more time. He bombed it and decided not to go back to Los Angeles at the time.
Blake never went back to the streets.
Blake will perform in the 7th Street Underground on Friday, Nov. 14 at 9 p.m.
Blake has been in many movies and acted a few times on the TV show "Martin." He is most known for his stand-up on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend." Blake has also been in many shows for the Hispanic community because he speaks Spanish.
Blake considers himself a "universal" comedian because he likes to joke about many different topics. Blake's favorite thing to joke about are animals and his kids.
"I've learned a lot from watching my boy and girl," he said. "Girls get things faster. I like to joke about that."
Blake said he has learned a lot from comedy.
"You need to put God first," Blake said. "Understand that it [comedy] is a craft. Be true to yourself first. Put love in it."
Blake feels that his years in comedy were worth it.
Blake said he was once in a barber shop in South Carolina and started joking about a man in the shop.
After Blake quit talking about the guy, another man came up to him and asked him to give him a hug.
The man said he had not laughed in three months because his son had been in the burn unit there for those months.
The man said for the first time since his son had been in the unit, he laughed. Blake made him laugh.
"You have to express your passion through your work," Blake said. "It makes it worth it."
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