Eric Blake

Like many children raised in the early 1980s, comedian Eric Blake was a latch-key kid.
"I don't know if you are a single parent or if you know anyone that's a single parent but all single parents have one rule; don't open the door for nobody when they weren't at home," Blake said. "Jesus himself could have come to the door and he was not getting in. Jesus, I know that's you but Mama said to open the door to nobody."
Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, it was more likely to be a gang member at his door than the Messiah and unfortunately Blake found himself engulfed in the criminal lifestyle it was almost impossible to avoid.
While selling drugs on the streets of New Orleans at age 25, Blake had what he calls an early midlife crisis; questioning his choices and looking for a new beginning.
Driving his beat up Chevrolet Chevette and brainstorming ways to get his "product" on the streets in time for tourist season, Blake came to a fork in the road ---- figuratively and literally. While swerving to head in the right direction, Blake's car hit a bump and suddenly his radio, dormant for years, began blaring.
"Something said, 'If you think you're funny, if you think you've got what it takes then come on down for Def Jam tryouts,' and I was like, 'What the hell,'" Blake said. "At that time I'd never done comedy. I didn't understand what comedy was about but I could feel my heart getting a little bit blacker. Old folks say your heart is getting blacker when you reach a point in your life where you realize that is who you want to be and that is what you are and I was becoming this person I really was."
Believing the commercial was a message from God, Blake entered the stand up contest, having never taken a stage in his life.
Blake ended up winning a guest spot on Def Comedy Jam and hasn't sold or used drugs since. That was almost 15 years ago.
"My first time on stage I never knew anything about comedy or stand up and it just clicked," he said. "To just kind of explain a little bit, when you are going down the wrong path in life and you are looking for a spark, looking for a change, comedy was that life for me."
Since his first time on stage, Blake has headlined all over the country, appeared in comedy specials for HBO, Comedy Central and NBC and performed for the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. He spends his free time visiting prisons and low income communities to speak with young people about following their dreams and staying off drugs ---- a concept he calls Street Life Comedy.
"You can talk to certain kids but if you can speak their language, if you know what they are going through, you can reach a lot more of them," he said.
Blake's strong and sober stand up career brings him to the Inland Empire this weekend as he headlines the Comedy Club at Pechanga. A husband and father of three, Blake's family life is a main source of his material.
"I compare the '80, the '70s and the '60s to the '90s and the new millennium, when parents weren't afraid to be parents," he said. "America is losing her values slowly but surely. The other day my nephew took a bite of a hot dog and then threw the hot dog in the trash because he didn't have any hot dog buns. I started thinking that when I was growing up you couldn't do anything like that. You couldn't throw no hot dog in the trash. If we didn't have any hot dog buns we used that cheap Weber bread. You know what I'm talking about? It sticks to the roof of your mouth."
For Blake, comedy in his life is like the white bread around his hot dog. It just sticks.
"I got pleasure from making people laugh. It was just something that stuck in my mind," he said. "Laughter is good for the soul and Eric Blake is soul funny."
Eric Blake
The Comedy


Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/theatre/article_9742561b-24a8-504d-bcb8-56a33997492c.html#ixzz1WaHqiMs2 - NORTH COUNTY TIMES

Like many children raised in the early 1980s, comedian Eric Blake was a latch-key kid.
"I don't know if you are a single parent or if you know anyone that's a single parent but all single parents have one rule; don't open the door for nobody when they weren't at home," Blake said. "Jesus himself could have come to the door and he was not getting in. Jesus, I know that's you but Mama said to open the door to nobody."
Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, it was more likely to be a gang member at his door than the Messiah and unfortunately Blake found himself engulfed in the criminal lifestyle it was almost impossible to avoid.
While selling drugs on the streets of New Orleans at age 25, Blake had what he calls an early midlife crisis; questioning his choices and looking for a new beginning.
Driving his beat up Chevrolet Chevette and brainstorming ways to get his "product" on the streets in time for tourist season, Blake came to a fork in the road ---- figuratively and literally. While swerving to head in the right direction, Blake's car hit a bump and suddenly his radio, dormant for years, began blaring.
"Something said, 'If you think you're funny, if you think you've got what it takes then come on down for Def Jam tryouts,' and I was like, 'What the hell,'" Blake said. "At that time I'd never done comedy. I didn't understand what comedy was about but I could feel my heart getting a little bit blacker. Old folks say your heart is getting blacker when you reach a point in your life where you realize that is who you want to be and that is what you are and I was becoming this person I really was."
Believing the commercial was a message from God, Blake entered the stand up contest, having never taken a stage in his life.
Blake ended up winning a guest spot on Def Comedy Jam and hasn't sold or used drugs since. That was almost 15 years ago.
"My first time on stage I never knew anything about comedy or stand up and it just clicked," he said. "To just kind of explain a little bit, when you are going down the wrong path in life and you are looking for a spark, looking for a change, comedy was that life for me."
Since his first time on stage, Blake has headlined all over the country, appeared in comedy specials for HBO, Comedy Central and NBC and performed for the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. He spends his free time visiting prisons and low income communities to speak with young people about following their dreams and staying off drugs ---- a concept he calls Street Life Comedy.
"You can talk to certain kids but if you can speak their language, if you know what they are going through, you can reach a lot more of them," he said.
Blake's strong and sober stand up career brings him to the Inland Empire this weekend as he headlines the Comedy Club at Pechanga. A husband and father of three, Blake's family life is a main source of his material.
"I compare the '80, the '70s and the '60s to the '90s and the new millennium, when parents weren't afraid to be parents," he said. "America is losing her values slowly but surely. The other day my nephew took a bite of a hot dog and then threw the hot dog in the trash because he didn't have any hot dog buns. I started thinking that when I was growing up you couldn't do anything like that. You couldn't throw no hot dog in the trash. If we didn't have any hot dog buns we used that cheap Weber bread. You know what I'm talking about? It sticks to the roof of your mouth."
For Blake, comedy in his life is like the white bread around his hot dog. It just sticks.
"I got pleasure from making people laugh. It was just something that stuck in my mind," he said. "Laughter is good for the soul and Eric Blake is soul funny."
Eric Blake
The Comedy


Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/theatre/article_9742561b-24a8-504d-bcb8-56a33997492c.html#ixzz1WaHqiMs2 - NORTH COUNTY TIMES