Hughley wants you to laugh until it hurts

Comic has weathered the storm to come out on top

By RODNEY BENGSTON
Staff Writer

Oct. 26, 2000

There may be movies and a TV series now, but even if that disappears, D.L. Hughley plans on standing tall — and telling jokes.

Pretty heady stuff for a guy who admits to running with the wrong crowd while growing up in South Central L.A. By his own estimate, 75 percent of the guys he grew up with are dead or in jail.

Hughley (pronounced hyoog-lee) says he still can't pinpoint why he always felt he would make it. "I think about that a lot. I don't know why, but I just knew."

Making it means having his sitcom, "The Hughleys," beginning its third season, now on UPN; starring in conert and on film as one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" for Spike Lee; and still doing his stand-up act, which plays at 8 p.m. Friday in Playhouse Square Center's State Theatre. (Call (216) 241-6000 for tickets.)

Hughley got into show business on a dare. He was entertaining customers at a barberhop with his razor wit. The barber, also a nightclub promoter, threw down the gauntlet, challenging Hughley to open for the late Robin Harris.

He was hooked from his first moment in front of a microphone, on Feb. 14, 1988. Hughley was earning a good living in the circulation department of the Los Angeles Times but, within three years, he was doing well enough to leave his day job.

Headlining throughout the country and led to his family-oriented sitcom and "The Original Kings of Comedy" tour that grossed $37 million.

"The Hughleys" has had its shares of ups and downs. ABC aired the show for two seasons but the relationship between the network and Hughley, he says, always was strained. It turned uglier when ABC canceled the show last spring.

With the move to UPN, Hughley says the series is getting the support it needs. "Now, we just say what we believe."

Like all comics, Hughley has seen his share of good and bad times on stage. One of the worst, he remembers, was at a Cincinnati concert. "It got ugly. They had to call for the police."

Reminded that Cincinnati is the town that spawned Jerry Springer, Hughley quips, "Yeah, I know that now. They've got to put that in a pamphlet for when you come to town."

The other end of the spectrum is sweeter, at a concert in Atlanta. "Somehow this kid got past security and ran up on stage and hugged me. He told me that he had stopped drinking a couple of weeks before and used the money that he saved to buy the ticket for the concert."

Many comics worry about getting a message across. Hughley's message is simple: Have a good time. "When people are leaving, I want them to say, 'I laughed until I hurt.' "