Return of the Joker

Most standup comedians seem to follow the same career path. First, they spend up to a decade traveling to every college town in the country, honing their skills, and waiting for the big break. Once they get it, they’re off to Hollywood for small parts in successful movies. Then there’s the career pinnacle, a starring role in a motion picture. However, the film is usually so awful that the movie career goes in the tank and, voilà, the comic completes the full circle back to standup.

The good news is that the rollercoaster ride of success and failure only gives the funnyman more bullets to shoot with. Get a glimpse of someone who’s been down both sides of that road when Cedric “The Entertainer” — star of kickass flicks like Barbershop and Talk to Me and mega-duds like Barbershop 2 and Code Name: The Cleaner — returns to our college town of Tempe.