D.L. Hughley performs on stage
Only approximately one quarter of Myrtle Beach Convention Center’s main halls A & B were filled Saturday night May 24, far short of the expected 3,000 in attendance.
It might have been a little disgruntling, heck, disheartening, to television and comedy star D.L. Hughley when he took the stage. For a man that’s been featured on his own sitcom, is one of the original “Kings of Comedy and has hosted BET’s comedy hour, the entire inclined section of the hall was empty.
George Wilborn greets fans after the show
Nonetheless, Hughley, who headlined the Blackout Party comedy jam as apart of Myrtle Beach’s black bike week, went on stage and at least pretended like there were a lot of people in attendance.
The Blackout Party hosted by the convention center was an after party to the East Coast Custom bike show out in the parking lot. The comedy show was supposed to start at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 7 p.m. It didn’t. It started at approximately 9 p.m.
To prolong the comedy show, two other performers graced the stage before any mention of Hughley even surfaced. George Wilborn, who is an established radio and television personality, got right to the brunt of it all.
He walked out on stage and very comfortably told the crowd his entrance was unacceptable. Then he exited stage right, mic still in hand, and told the crowd he was going to re-introduce himself. Already in stitches the crowd rose to their feet when he re-entered onto the stage to Jay-Z’s “Show Me What You Got” and waved, appropriately.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Wilborn said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I relieve stress. . . whose stress? Ya’lls stress. I don’t have any stress – they paid me before the show.” After the entrance, the crowd seemed to remember they were at a comedy show.
Most of Wilborn’s jokes pertained to the differences between whites and blacks. Topics ranged from the types of foods that white people eat in comparison to the types of foods black people eat. One difference that became very accurate was the notion that black people aren’t the most prompt human beings. “We’re always running late. . . well, we ain’t running, but we’re late.”
Appropriately, Hughley finally walked on stage at 10:24 p.m.
Downsides of the night other than the lack in attendances was the microphones. In the middle of one of the hype man’s rants, his microphone died, relegating him to yell at the audience. With a booming voice he was able to pull it off, however it wasn’t the first time the convention center has had issues with their mics.
Well-known rapper Lil Wayne performed a one night show in September of 2007 at the convention center. His microphones were skittish as he began to perform. After noticing the mics were not resonating like they should, Lil Wayne walked off stage followed by his posse. The mics were eventually revitalized and Wayne finished the show.
Myrtle Beach Convention center might finally cross all t’s and dot all I’s now that two separate microphone mishaps have occurred.
Regardless, Hughley finished his show with no mic fallouts. It was fast but funny. His whole set lasted approximately 35 minutes and left audience members with one thing in mind: the after party which was held right at the convention center.
Worth noting was the short set that Chris Rock’s brother, and Georgetown native, Tony Rock performed. Eerily similar to some of his brother’s material, Tony Rock said he was just happy to perform in front of more than 10 black people for once.
