Inspired by his friends and his own life, Kody writes bits about things that he notices everyday– taking slices of life and creating commentary that is humorous and entertaining. For this comedian, no subject is too bold, as he cracks jokes about everything from relationships to racism. Well, one subject might be too bold, as Kody unfortunately discovered.
One night, Kody was testing a new joke about a grim subject: AIDS. It went a little something like this: 200 years ago, when someone had a cold, it was like the end of the world. Oh no! Not a cold! What will we do? Thankfully for us, with the evolution of science, we discovered that catching a cold really was not a big deal. Now, imagine 200 years from now when you go to the doctor and he tells you you have AIDS, and it is no big deal! The doctor gives you a little medicine and you sleep it off…
Crickets.
“No one got the joke,” Kody says. “And it was awful because I was alone on stage and no one laughed.” It’s the mistake every comedian desperately avoids, but is inevitable in the risky comedy business. The trick to survive in this industry is how you handle the situation and move on afterward.
“The next day, I wanted to avoid the “bomb” joke again,” Kody says. “So I just told the audience my story about how my joke bombed the previous night. They laughed!
“To do this job you need to have a lot of courage. You have to be confident while you are telling stories,” Kody says.
Of course, there are always going to be uncomfortable moments when the audience does not laugh, or laughs when you least expect it. A good comedy show is like an experiment and Kody is the mad scientist.
“It’s scientific. After each show, I’m replaying the show and graphing the level of laughs during my performance, and I will change the line depending on the amount of laughs that I get. There is a rule in comedy: you need to have a laugh every three seconds.”
With scientific laugh formulas and rules, the comedy industry is a serious business, and by following the creative footsteps of funny men like Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, and Dave Chappelle, Kody has landed a spot on the Kings of Comedy show opening in Brussels on the 28th of April preceding the Brussels Comedy Festival from the 2th of April through 7th of May. Don’t miss out on night of laughs with Kody and the rest of the Kings of Comedy lineup.
