Franklyn Ajaye
Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
More a selection of stories with funny bits than an endless barrage of throwaway gags, Franklyn Ajaye's sit-down show is an hour of sublime comedy. With one of the smoothest deliveries in town, Ajaye moves effortlessly from world politics to his time in shop-class at school; from religion to relationships with just the right amount of sly digs to keep the laugh quotient high. Half the time he seems to be making it up as he goes along (at the show's end he told everyone to come back again 'cos he talks about different stuff each night), and often he seems as amused at what he's saying as everyone else, but there's none of the unprepared or shambolic feel this approach often results in. Even his clarinet playing was spot on. Highly recommended. - Trades Hall - By Shane O'Donohue
Discography
1. "Comedian" (A&M Records)
2. "I'm A Comedian Seriously" (A&M Records)
3. "Don't Smoke Dope, Fry Your Hair" (Little David Records)
4. "Plaid Pants and Psychopaths" (Powder Records- Australian)
5. "Vagabond Jazz & The Abstract Truth" (Manic Depressive Records)
Photos
Bio
Franklyn Ajaye, aka "The Jazz Comedian," is a man of many talents. He was born in Brooklyn, NY, but raised in Los Angeles by an African father and a Florida-born mother. Ajaye is, as he likes to joke, a "true African-American."
The former law student is an Emmy-nominated TV writer (In Living Color, Politically Incorrect, NYPD Blue), a skilled film actor (Car Wash, Stir Crazy, The Jazz Singer, Deadwood), author (Comic Insights— the Art of Stand Up Comedy) and a musician.
Ajaye's first time on stage was at an amateur night at the Village Gate in New York's Greenwich Village. Encouraged by the laughter, Ajaye quit law school, returned to Los Angeles and spent his evenings perfecting comedy routines at The Comedy Store on Sunset.
In 1973, he made his network debut on The Flip Wilson Show and a year later made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At the same time, the first of Ajaye's three comedy albums, Franklyn Ajaye, Comedian, was released by A&M Records. The success of his initial release led to: "I'm A Comedian, Seriously" and the cult classic "Don't Smoke Dope, Fry Your Hair"--regarded by stand up comedy afficionados with Carlin's "AM and FM", Klein's "Child of the Fifties", and Pryor's "Is It Something I Said" as one of the seminal stand up comedy albums of the '70s. He has since released a double CD of comedy and music entitled "Vagabond Jazz and the Abstract Truth" which was recorded in Melbourne, Australia.
Reviewing his nightclub performance, Variety commented: "If Lenny Bruce were to be reincarnated, he might come back in a slightly different form as Franklyn Ajaye". The San Francisco Chronicle said, "He has Pryor's insights, and Cosby's cool".
Ajaye believes that standup comedy is an underrated art form. He's written a how-to book on stand up called Comic Insights— The Art of Stand Up Comedy, featuring full-length interviews with 17 of America's best stand up comedians.
Ajaye, a restless man with a taste for adventure, emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1997. He performs his one-man show, and teaches TV writing, He was most recently seen in the landmark HBO western "Deadwood", and the hit Australian television show "Thank God You're Here".
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