The mid-Atlantic straight talk of a TV news anchor can set viewers on edge and signal the onslaught of awful headlines. But when news-savvy comedian Alonzo Bodden speaks, shoulders relax, palms unclench, and listeners settle in. With a velvet timbre that offsets cutting sarcasm, Bodden brings warmth, insight and hilarious commentary to absurdity in our world, whether that's politicians gone haywire or your neighbor down the street. After winning season three of NBC's Last Comic Standing, Bodden became a regular voice on NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me and a recurring host of the Smooth Jazz Cruise. The Inlander caught up with Bodden before his three-night headline event at Spokane Comedy Club, June 29-July 1. You don't have to agree with everything he says or like politics much to enjoy his show.
"Just come on out and laugh, people," Bodden says. "I will tell you this — what I love is when somebody says, 'I didn't agree with you, but you're funny.' That's as open minded as I can ask you to get."
INLANDER: You're a news junkie. What got you into reading the news?
BODDEN: I grew up reading the news. I grew up in Queens, New York, and back in those days there were morning and afternoon daily papers. So we got the Daily News in the morning and another paper called the Long Island Press in the afternoon. That's what my parents did, so I picked up on it.
You do a lot of work that combines comedy and news. Why do you think they make a good pairing?
Well, it's always been the comics job to tell the truth — especially speak truth to power. I've always been a fan of the court jester because he was the only guy who could tell the truth to the king. Of course, it had to be funny or they chop off his head. But still, comics have always been the truth tellers.
What do you think is necessary for healthy public discourse?
To listen. To try to listen to the other side. But I'll tell you another problem we have, and I joke about it in my act. We've kind of lost respect for intelligence, right? I guess it started with the whole — what did they call them — alternative facts? Which by the way, if I had alternative facts, school would have been so much easier. It would have saved all of that time reading and studying actual facts if I knew I could make them up. But, you know, during the pandemic, it was a huge thing — we looked at doctors and scientists and people who actually went to school and studied in labs and said, "Nah, Bill's got 100,000 followers. I'm gonna listen to Bill." Bill is an idiot, OK? So I think that was the problem. We've lost respect for actual intelligence and experience.
Your special is called Stupid Don't Get Tired. Who gets to decide what "stupid" is?
Each individual. There are some things I think we all consider ridiculous, but it can be individual. When I talk about this stuff, it's not just things in the news. It's little everyday things. It's things that happen at the grocery store. It's the airport shuttle driver asking me if I'm going to the airport. I'm like, where else would we be going? (laughs) So it's not always the big newsworthy events. It can be just little simple things.
You were an airplane mechanic, right?
I was. I spent 10 years building and repairing aircraft. I'm the only person in the world who built stealth fighters and entertained the pilots and flight crews at their base when I was doing USO tours. So, yeah, pretty much covered that airline, aircraft and comedy routine.
Is there a through-line between being a mechanic and loving jazz and being a comedian?
The mechanical part — and maybe this has to do with comedy, also — is knowing how things work. A plus B equals C. What I love about jazz and jazz musicians is the incredible creativity and the mastery of their instruments. They do say that there's a numerical factor to music. So I guess you could relate that to the engineering involved in aircraft, but you'd have to be much smarter than me to put those together. Jazz — it's the creativity and the freedom that I love. And comedy has that also. I've done shows where I'm making up the entire show as I go and I absolutely love doing that.
Do you have favorite jazz albums?
Oh, yeah. So many from the all-time great kind of blues. Marcus Miller live in Monaco was a tremendous album. Robert Glasper — he loves his new albums, Black Radio I, II, and III and they are phenomenal. But I am partial to the trio, so I like an album called Double-Booked. Return to Forever The Romantic Warrior is probably the greatest instrument mastery I've ever heard. Weather Report Heavy Weather. There are so many records. And then the vocals. Samara Joy, who just won the Best New Artist Grammy, her album Linger Awhile — her voice is unreal. It is unbelievable how beautiful her voice is and how it reminds you of the classic jazz singers, you know, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday type stuff. Then Dianne Reeves, anything Lalah Hathaway sings. These people's talent — it's unfortunate that none of them are household names, but their talent is incredible.
How can people read a lot of news to stay informed and still be happy?
You have to take breaks. I do that. You have to take breaks from the news because it's a barrage of stress. If you just read the news, if you just read the headlines every day, it would be the end of the world. So I think we have to take breaks from the news. I prefer reading the news to watching the news — I think you get a little bit more. And for God's sake, keep your sense of humor. ♦
Alonzo Bodden • Thu, June 29 at 7:30 pm; Fri, June 30 at 7:30 and 10:15 pm; Sat, July 1 at 7 and 9:45 pm • $15-$28 • Spokane Comedy Club • 315 W. Sprague • spokanecomedyclub.com • 509-318-9998
