Kevin Avery
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Kevin Avery

Los Angeles, California, United States

Los Angeles, California, United States
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"CRITIC'S CHOICE"

Being uncool and out of place is actually a good thing for comedian Kevin Avery, whose bits are mostly about revisiting and purging insecurities. Avery says he cut his teeth in middle school, while attending a Jack & Jill youth group weekend retreat. "I grew up with my white friends at Catholic school, then I was in the Jack & Jill youth group with my black friends," he explains. "It was basically like, ‘Live in the suburbs? Can't find any black people? Join Jack & Jill!' I was hanging with white people, and not up on the music black people were listening to. I was a mess." On this particular trip, Avery says, his brethren singled out the two nerdiest kids in the group - Avery was one of them. It started with a lot of he-said, she-said: "They pitted us against each other," he recalls. "It was like a cockfight - kill or be killed. Finally I called him a marsh Muppet. I don't know what it means, but I said it with authority. For a bunch of twelve-year-old black kids, I ruled the night."

If Avery learned anything from that small junior high triumph, it was probably the following: 1) It's possible to gain social status by ripping on the underdog, and fronting as if your shit is just soooo much tighter. 2) When coolness fails you, comedy might be the next best defense. He found these lessons enabling and liberating, and harnessed them whenever he found himself in a subordinate position. Take, for instance, the time Avery snagged a two-week temp job at the Sephora cosmetics company. "I was a merchandising assistant," he explains. "I was writing purchase orders and sending out daily reports. It freaked me out, but I went every day. It was weird to be in an office that was just filled with gorgeous, well-manicured women. I dress like I dress, but I don't have business casual wear, so when I do, I look like when Jack Black or Chris Farley tries to dress up and go in the workplace." On a recent episode of his weekly Live 105 morning show, Avery compared his experience to that of the Anne Hathaway character on The Devil Wears Prada, who comes to work in the haute monde New York fashion world looking all dumpy and has to put up with a million people telling her she's fat.
- East Bay Express


"Alternative Comedy Circuit Requires a Sense of Humor"

Undiscovered Talent

Last week at A Fool's Paradise, the recent Atlanta transplant Kevin Avery, who is black, joked about white kids who use meaningless hip-hop slogans like "True to Da Game." "What game?" he wondered, screwing his face up in bewilderment. "Yahtzee?"

Avery was amazing, a very physical comic who had great bits about riding a mechanical bull and getting flustered by the teenage girls when he taught high school. He was the night's headliner. - San Francisco Chronicle


"Comedy: Up-and-coming comics cross cultural barriers with humor"

Two of the stronger stand-ups were Kevin Avery and Bryan Kellen, comedians who came from the San Jose area for the show. Avery did some impressive physical comedy, imitating a guy riding a mechanical bull in one gag and aping a practitioner of Tae Bo in another.

A light-skinned African American with blond hair, Avery also did a sharp-witted bit about how lots of people come up to him and press him about whether he's of mixed-race heritage. - Oakland Tribune


Discography

Hardcore

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Bio

KEVIN AVERY is a comedian and writer originally from San Francisco, CA, and a long-time collaborator and co-conspirator with W. Kamau Bell, with whom he was part of the popular comic radio duo “Siskel and Negro” (available on iTunes). SF Weekly has called their recent co-headlining shows at the San Francisco Punchline “as rare and magical as a sparkle-unicorn doing West Side Story choreography under a liquid light show.”

A regular opener for Dave Chappelle and David Alan Grier, Kevin has appeared at the Vancouver Comedy Festival, Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival, the SxSW Music and Film Festival, and at SF Sketchfest. Kevin has been praised by the Oakland Tribune for his “sharp-witted” style and “impressive physical comedy.” Of his animated brand of stand-up comedy and storytelling, the San Francisco Chronicle raves, “Avery is Amazing!” His stand up comedy album, Hardcore, recorded live at the Punchline in San Francisco, is now available on iTunes.

Kevin is the writer, star and executive producer of the award-winning short film "Thugs, the Musical," which recently screened at the Bonnaroo Festival. The Dallas Weekly called it an "uproariously funny mockumentary," and the Texas Black Film Festival director said it was, "hands down, THE funniest and wittiest film at the TBFF 2012 Fest! Welcome to a new generation of black social parody." "Thugs, The Musical" is the winner of the Audience Award for Best Film at 2012 LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival and the 2012 MIX International Film Festival, as well as the sinner of Best Short and Best in Show at the 2012 Tupelo Film Festival. Currently, Kevin is a writer on the FX original series, "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell," produced by Chris Rock and airing Thursdays at 11PM, after "Louie."