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The original kings of comedy

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

We got jokes.

A cultural phenomenon for our time: Spike Lee captures the comic geniuses behind the successful Kings of comedy tour as they bring the house down at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina USA, in the concert feature film The original Kings of comedy. Spike Lee brings his aesthetic sensibility and distinct style to the comedy concert film genre, as he documents the individual talents of Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Cedric The Entertainer and Bernie Mac and reveals the behind-the-scenes activities of a tour that continues to sell out arenas.

"I wanted to see this on film because it has to be documented. It's the best comedy tour ever but it's been under the radar. Being on film would enable a lot more people to see it. When I was asked to do it, I was in from the beginning," says Lee.

Since its creation by entrepreneur Walter Latham in 1997, the Kings of comedy tour has taken audiences by storm. With an established following among African-Americans across the USA, the tour has become the highest grossing comedy tour in history with ticket sales exceeding $37 million. Yet in spite of the tour's success, the phenomenon remains one of the entertainment industry's best kept secrets.

"That's why we wanted to do this film, to expose what we're doing to the rest of America, so that they can see that they're welcome to come too," says Latham.

Picking up where Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip, Eddie Murphy's Raw and Martin Lawrence's You so crazy left off, The original kings of comedy showcases the acerbic observations of Steve Harvey and playful humour of Cedric The Entertainer from Warner Brothers' The Steve Harvey show, the rapid-fire wit of DL Hughley from UPN's The Hughleys and the in your face style of self-proclaimed road rat Bernie Mac.

Their take on topical issues and human behaviour is a laugh a minute experience that transcends race, class, gender and age. Steve Harvey welcomes the opportunity to share the tour with a wider audience. "They'll find out why they call us 'The kings of comedy'," he says.

Persons of interest

Steve Harvey .... Himself
DL Hughley .... Himself
Cedric The Entertainer .... Himself
Bernie Mac .... Himself
Spike Lee .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film festivals:

Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2002

Steve Harvey official movie site
Studios and distributors:

Paramount Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

African-American humour. You don't gotta be African-American to get the humour but it sure helps. If y'all are, y'all will laugh your tits off. If y'all ain't, he, he, he, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho, better get that fake tan lotion out.

If y'all ain't no African-American, y'all gonna have a hard time understanding some o' them boys coz they talk way deep down in the belly, the way a big, black boy should.

By the way, there's a new linguistic theory that the southern states of the USA have a different accent from the northern states because it's a mixture of Anglo and African English: as many of the white children were raised by black nannies, they learned to speak black English, and with the trickle down effect (upper class to lower) the new way of talking spread throughout the land.