Alex Babbitt
He’s an up and becoming comedian, who opened up for Tommy Davidson (just to name a few) at Caroline’s Comedy Club.
SKII: What have you done as a comedian?
Alex; I’ve started hosting a monthly show at “Brit Pack Studios” called: “Fresh Face Fridayz”. It’s about different comedians who are trying to make it in the comedy world. This is one of my main gigs. I host an event at “The Liberty Theatre” on Saturdays. I opened up for Tommy Davidson, a famous comedian whose been all over television. That night it was at Caroline’s Comedy Club in lower Manhattan. That was really cool. I still can’t believe it.
SKII: Have you ever been on B. E. T.?
Alex; No. No Television yet. I’ve opened up for a lot of famous people like; Tommy, Earthquake, Melody Camacho, Jay Farrell and a whole lot of other people. Jay Farrell was a really cool comedian who showed me love. I couldn’t believe it. This guy was famous and treating me like I was his equal. He was a really cool dude. Most of my comedy routines were done at clubs. I was performing with other comedians, different singers (whom I believe was rising stars) and basically networking.
SKII: How long have you been performing as a comedian?
Alex; I’ve been performing as a comedian for four years now. I started when I was 16 years old. Comedy has been cool thus far. It’s blessed me pretty quickly. I told you I started doing comedy at the age of 16 and I’ve opened up for some heavy headliners. I grew up watching Dave Chapel and Chris Rock. Comedy was the thing I really focused on. People would say; you should do comedy. The defining fact is that Chris Rock and Chapel both was young when they started. They both were 14 years old at that time. I started young and my life is moving forwarding. I was influenced by another comedian also. His name is Jeffrey Joseph. He was an older comedian. Jeffrey Joseph came to my high school for career day. On that day, I was inspired to do comedy. I saw Jeffrey Joseph again and he told me about some open mikes for comedians. I went to do open mikes and then from there my shows started progressing. Comedy just seemed to work for me. I never got any negative responses. It came naturally.
I used to write poetry. I’ve tried singing in the range of bass. That’s funny. Singing Bass. Believe it or not, that actually got me my hosting gigs. I guess they thought that was part of my comedy routine. I was working with a vocal coach Craig Dairy before he became my vocal teacher. So, from going to his class and by him helping me with my voice, he helped me build my stage presence and confidence. He allowed me to host his family’s benefit concert. And doing this, it gave me an outlet into hosting. I’ve hosted more music events than comedy events. I love doing concert. I’ve done a few off Broadway plays with a company called “The Possibility Project.” When I was in my early teens, I participated in plays based on my life. Everyone in that play was a character who portrayed themselves. We did plays about our life. The plays were done off Broadway. Comedy was not my first choice as far as a professional job. I tried other things but comedy is my strongest route for now.
SKII: Where were you born and raised?
Alex: I was born and raised in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn with my father. Recently, for about a year now, I’ve been living with my mom. That was an interesting transition trying to let her see me doing comedy and accepting it as my job.
My dad has a lot of kids. He has taken on a responsibility of being a dad for a lot of kids. My two older brothers – Andre and Kevin, are much older than I am. They have me by 10 to 13 years. Although we lived in the same apartment, we didn’t really grow up together. My brothers had their own lives and they knew more about the streets than I did. They were tougher than I am. They made a lot of mistakes out there in the streets. They are cool dudes, but they just made a few mistakes while growing up. So for most of my upbringings, it was mostly me and my dad, my aunts and my grandmother until she passed. So for a little while it was just us until my brothers came back into our life and guided me into the man I am today. They gave me advice and a lot of insights about life. They talked about the mistakes they’ve made in their life while growing up. They made sure I didn’t do the same.
SKII: You recently moved with your mom. Why?
Alex: Well, my two brothers I mentioned earlier in my story are related to me by my mom. It’s an interesting story. I grew up with my dad and my dad is not sensitive at all, but he’s loving. My mom, on the other hand is so sensitive and she worries a lot. I used to be out late doing comedy shows. My dad would say; be safe. That was it. But, my mom used to panic. Especially during the time “The Ferguson Case” was going on, my mom would panic and say; Where are you? Call me back as soon as possible. She would call me a lot. I’m doing comedy routine and sometimes I don’t go on until late that night. My phone’s battery would die. My mom became so emotional and just panicked And as I walk through the door, and before I got a chance to tell her what happened, she would run up to me and say, where were you? Why didn’t you call? I was scared for your life. My dad was totally different from my mom. Be safe – dad would say and not worry as much. Where are you going? What time are you coming home? Call me to let me know your ok – that’s my mom. I was not used to that type of emotions. It’s cool but it was different from the way I grew up. Here’s another example. My mom would cook a four course meal and my dad would cook noodles and meat. I think my mom have a different level of love. She makes me care about my image a little more. I try to dress better now. When I moved into my mom house at the age of 18, my mom treated me like a little boy. That was because I didn’t grow up with her. I had to make my mom see me as an adult. I’m not little anymore mom. She finally saw that in me. Different levels of love confused me at first. But being around the both of them are great. I love the both of them.
SKII: What is The Dean’s List Tour? What did it mean to you?
Alex: The Dean’s List Tour is a great movement that’s happening right now. I’m glad I got to experience it. Scott Morris is the founder of that company. He’s a young guy, about 23 years old I think. Well, I had a friend whom I worked with, and they were part of the tour. He said; You should go for the audition. So I did the audition and I did not get it. But that was ok. I knew Scott because I did some interviews with him before.. Then one day Scott called me and said, I need someone to host a show. Although you did not make the actual audition, I thought you would be a great host. So it worked out in my favor. I didn’t make the audition but, I was still part of The Dean’s list Tour. Scott’s a real cool dude. He works with this other guy called Josh Walker who has a company called AMG music. Scott and Josh had a connection and I made my connections through them. The Dean’s List was awesome. Here is a young black dude bringing a lot of people together to do a show in different colleges. He started from nothing into something great. That’s going to be big. I think the Dean’s List Tour is going to be something everyone is going to want to be a part of. I’m glad I got to host the event. I felt like I was among a group of empires.
SKII: Have you traveled outside of New York to do comedy?
Alex: The furthest I’ve been, as far as traveling outside of New York was to Connecticut and Virginia. I went on tour with a friend Elsa Waithe. She’s a well known comedian. She took me on tour with her to her hometown in Virginia to do comedy shows. It was awesome. Comedy clubs in Virginia was so much different than comedy clubs in New York. New York is so much rougher because of the many outlets of comedy clubs. Virginia comedy clubs appreciated me more. I felt so comfortable there. I received so much love there. New York comedy clubs can be so mean. It’s not all of the comedy clubs in New York, but there are those who can be so mean.
SKII: What comedy clubs have you performed in?
Alex: I’ve done Caroline’s comedy club; East Village comedy club; Broadway comedy club. I’ve done a lot of Bar shows; church shows; Dallas BBQ restaurant shows. I’ve done a lot of shows all over New York. It doesn’t matter how many shows you do, what matters is… “Making The People Laugh”. If you can do that, then you know you’re in the right profession.
SKII: I met you at an AMG event doing comedy. Tell me about your experience there.
Alex: “AMG” Josh Walker, he’s such a dope dude. I did one of his earlier shows when he was just starting his company and we just hit it off. I respect him because he respect art as a whole. He tries to make outlets for artists to shine. He’s only 21. A year older than me and I look up to him like a role model. He allowed me to perform at a lot of his shows. Like the one I met you at. At that show, I almost cursed during my routine but, I noticed the kids around the event so I held my tongue. I do curse in some of my comedy routines but it depends on the environment I’m in. I’m not like Bill Cosby who does totally clean jokes, but I do curse sometimes in my routine. I went to Virginia with my friend and I couldn’t do routines with curses. The Deans list too. They didn’t allow that also. I almost did it at AMG’s event and then I caught myself because I noticed the kids. He allow me to network with a lot of people and he gives back. He is such an awesome person. He gave a charity and I brought some teddy bears to his event. I received a lot of help growing up. So I don’t mind giving back sometimes. AMG – Josh Walker is such an awesome guy.
SKII: Who inspires you?
Alex: My family definitely. They are my motivators. They show me so much love. My family made a lot of mistakes and they are opened about it. My family would say; Alex – I’ve done this and I’ve made these mistakes when I was younger. I’ve gone to jail for this and I don’t want you to follow me. My mom had children at a very young age and she constantly talk about that. Even-though she had children at a young age, she went on and received her Master’s degree. She’s a perfect example for motivating me. Her name is Jennifer Gillmore. My mom, stepmother and my dad show me so much love. Neither one of them were perfect while growing up, but they talked about it to me. They all love me in their own special way. When I was a little younger and I might have tried to stray away and do things I shouldn’t do, my family stopped me and just talked to me. They told me about their lives when they were younger and they said they made a lot of mistakes also. They didn’t want me to go down that same road and I didn’t. My brothers went to jail and they didn’t hide that from me. So that’s a good influence towards me. They are truly my inspirations. My girlfriend is another. She has got me through times where I wanted to quit comedy. She got me through that stage. She kept me grounded. Her name is Ronesha Carew. I love her. She buy me things when I can’t afford to do so. I joke around with her sometimes and say, your doing this because you know where I’m headed right? Your investing in me. I begin laughing because I know that’s not true. I know she loves me and I truly love her. So yeah! Those are the people who inspire me.
