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"Brother's got
the WESTSIDE, trailer park's got DOUBLEWIDES!!" Gary
Owen is the only white guy to ever host B.E.T.'s "Comicview".
Many people recognize Gary as the dancing "Mr.
Broccoli" in the blockbuster movie "Daddy
Day Care" with Eddie Murphy. Or as the goofy
redneck deputy in the movie "Held Up" with
Jamie Foxx.
Owen, was always the "class clown" when
he was growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. After
high school, he got serious and enlisted in the
Navy. He was chosen for the prestigious Presidential
Honor Guard. Spinning rifles and carrying flags
for George Bush and Bill Clinton turned out to
be the wrong job for a funny guy. "I was
always smiling," he remembers. "So
I got yelled at for smiling all the time."
After leaving his ceremonial
position, Owen became a military police officer
at the Naval Installations on Coronado Island
in San Diego. But he was too much of a pushover
to be a cop. He made only two arrests in three
years. "I
was the worst," he admits. During that time,
though, he embarked on his true calling - stand-up
comedy. One night while hanging with his service
buddies, Owen worked up the nerve to go at a
nightclub. After only a year of doing stand-up,
he was named "Funniest Serviceman in America."
Off the military base, it
was the Black nightclubs that gave him his
real breaks: "The only
place I could get on stage regularly," he
recalls, "was in the so-called 'hood' in
San Diego. Then I thought, "Why don't I
make fun of black and whites?" We're both
sitting here. That's when I started addressing
the different black and white issues... interracial
dating and social issues. I like to deal with
issues white guys aren't supposed to talk about."
Owen never pretended to be
one of the homeboys. Basically, I would ask
question, like, 'I don't know what a "boo" (a
term of affection) is. Do I have this right?
Am I thinking right? And they'd laugh because
I was so honest about it.'
San Diego's African-American
community embraced him, and he went onto win
the "Funniest
Black Comedian in San Diego" contest. That
led to his first big gig at Los Angeles' Comedy
Store. Then in July of '97 he auditioned for
BET's "Comic View." Two appearances
on the multi-cultural comedy showcase won him
his own one-hour "Grandstand" show.
At the end of the season he was selected from
the year's four "Grandstanders" to
be the host. Owen was excited because he'd always
been a huge "Comic View" fan.
Gary has numerous appearances
on Comedy Central, as well as hosting MUN2's
hit comedy show "Loco
Comedy Jam". Not one to sit and wait for
things to happen, Gary recently released his
first comedy CD " Live from Tampa" and
his first comedy DVD "Breakin Out The Park".
One thing for sure, when people see Gary live
on stage, they keep coming back over and over
again.
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