Deon Cole on the Success of Blackish

A lot of comedians get their start because of their love for being on stage or their desire to make the world laugh. Deon Cole didn’t start for either of those reasons. According to the comic, a friend bet him $50 to do stand-up one time, and the rest is...

By Josh Chesler

May 14, 2015

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

A lot of comedians get their start because of their love for being on stage or their desire to make the world laugh. Deon Cole didn’t start for either of those reasons.

According to the comic, a friend bet him $50 to do stand-up one time, and the rest is history.

Cole might be best known for his role on the new hit sitcom Blackish, or for spending the last several years as one of Conan O’Brien’s writers, but his stand-up routine is based almost entirely on his own life.

“It’s mostly observational, but it’s a matter-of-factly type of delivery. I think people will learn a lot and laugh a lot, all in one,” Cole says. “It’s not based on pop culture things or anything like that, it just comes from me putting myself in situations I wouldn’t normally be in.”

While Cole is certainly not the only observational comic out there, the Chicago native believes he has a unique take on life and talks about things that few other comics would even think of.

“I don’t know, man. It’s just things like ‘When vegetarians fight, do they have beef?’” Cole says. “[The television success] hasn’t changed my comedy at all. I still think the way I’ve always thought.”

Currently, Cole is filming Barbershop 3 and still does bits with Conan, but he’s also very excited for one of his next projects.

“It’s a show called Angie Tribeca coming out in October,” Cole says. “Steve and Nancy Carell made it, Rashida Jones is in it. It should be really good.”

When he’s not working on TV shows, Cole likes to watch his own programs, as well as a few others.

“I watch my show [Blackish]. I still watch Conan. I watch a lot of Discovery ID, like Wives with Knives and the Usual Suspects,” Cole says. “Blackish opened people up to its success. It showed people you can’t judge a book by its cover. A lot of people read the title and wrote it off, but the people that gave it a shot liked it. Word got around that it was good, I guess, and you know how it is.”

Deon Cole will be at the House of Comedy May 14 through 16. Tickets cost $22 and are available on House of Comedy's website.

Follow Jackalope Ranch on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.