Comedian Kyle Grooms Talks Working With Schumer and Chapelle Ahead of Mar 11 Bookworm Set

Dave Chapelle and Amy Schumer are but a few of the big names that Kyle Grooms has worked with over the years. The veteran comic and actor has steadily built a fanbase ever since his spots on Def Comedy Jam and NBC's Last Comic Standing a decade ago, and after all that time he's poised for a breakthrough in 2018, with a new LP set to come out as early as this spring and a guest role in Schumer's upcoming film. Before all that, he'll crack wise at The Bookworm on Mar 11 as part of this year's Literary Festival. Below, Grooms tells us about his rough New Jersey upbringing, what it's like to work with Schumer, and more.

You have a bit where you make fun of having the name Kyle, and you joke about it being a name for a six-year-old white boy. I gotta say, I don't appreciate that – I used to be that six-year-old white boy!
[Laughs] Well I was performing in the Def Jam scene then, and it was really thug man. If there's anything about you that's opposed to that, it's a bit of a struggle because then you get called a nerd. You want to have a name like Daikwan or something; that's a more threatening name for a black man.

It must've been interesting to be a part of that rough and rugged Def Jam scene. But now we're in a post-Donald Glover world, where it's pretty cool to be nerdy.
I grew up way before that though. My mother named me Kyle because she wanted me to get called back for job interviews. It's a safe name. But now any name seems to work, in this post-Donald Glover, post-Obama era.

Speaking of your family, I love your bits about your brother. Are your relatives a great source for material?
Yeah, my brother Eric, well he's not with us anymore, but this one time I got home from school and there was a note on the refrigerator saying "ERIC GOT SHOT." We went to the hospital and I found out somebody shot him for trying to steal his gold chain. So I tried to turn that into comedy.

I'm sorry to hear that, man.
No, it's alright, he made it out okay. He only got shot in the leg! But he lost a gold chain. That's America for you man – always having to worry about guns.

Sounds crazy. You guys grew up in New Jersey, right? How do you think that shaped you?
Jersey's like the armpit of New York. People who can't take the prices of New York move there. And I think New Jersey always tries harder; we've got some kind of little brother syndrome there. It's a rough place. It's multicultural though, which I like. Growing up there I was a bit of a class clown, though I was quiet around my family. I'd observe things about my family and then act it out in front of strangers, the people you aren't intimidated by.

Are there parts of Jersey that still stick with you and affect your comedy?
For sure, because you see so many different personalities there. You get a good mix of things. And then when it came to performing for an international audience, I wasn't shocked because I'd grown up in such a multicultural area.

Were you going into the city a lot, to check out famous standup clubs?
I wouldn't go in for comedy that much, but I was always sneaking into New York to see hip-hop shows or to hang out and get fake IDs.

What was it like to see New York's hip-hop scene then? You're a huge hip-hop fan, right? I remember seeing your bit about not wanting anyone crying at your funeral, that they should instead just play Biggie when your casket is carried out.
Dude, you're digging in the crates, the archives! That's an old bit! [Laughs]. But yeah I'd see a lot of shows. I saw [Run DMC's] Tougher Than Leather tour, and I saw LL Cool J and Ice T. I'm old bro. But don't tell anybody! I saw Doug E. Fresh. Yeah, I can remember when the Wu-Tang were little pups. I'd sneak into New York to see all that, then try to get back to Jersey before I got robbed by Brooklyn kids.

How did you get into comedy?
I was living in Miami, working as a TV graphic designer. I was always funny and comedy was something I always wanted to try. I just thought I'd treat it like a hobby. But by my fourth show, I was addicted, and I kept doing it until I could feed myself off of it.

Were you bombing a lot then, or did it go smoothly?
I had a few big bombs, and I remember them all. The club I started out in was worse than the Apollo or Def Jam. It was the Miami ghetto crowd – they practiced booing you. That's what they went there for. So they got me a couple of times. I'd bomb with them whenever my ego got too big and I thought I could coast.

And from there you went on to Def Comedy Jam, working with Dave Chapelle and then Amy Schumer.
Yeah, I did a few things on the Chapelle's Show. I was in a few sketches. Neal [Brennan, the series' co-creator] asked me to start submitting writing for it. Then Dave left [for his infamous Africa trip] a week later [laughs].

But now I have a new album coming out this spring, possibly April, called New Jersey vs. Kyle Grooms. And Amy Schumer has a new movie called I Feel Pretty coming soon. I have a little guest spot in that, a couple of scenes.

How did you and Amy hit it off?
I knew her when she first started in New York. I'd already been working the clubs there for a while. She was a young girl, really funny and cool. I think I introduced her to a few people, and I remember just telling her early on how funny she was. We danced a few times [laughs]. When I was on the road and we ended up in the same city I'd come see her shows, then we'd go out dancing. She's just a comic friend. She's like a cousin, a comedy cuz.

What's it like to work on movies with her?
I messed up so many takes because she'd make me laugh when I wasn't supposed to. Her improv is dope. I've always been really impressed. People talk shit about her, but they don't get to see her work.

It must be hard sometimes, I hear rumors about all kinds of comedians. Can that scene still be very cut-throat these days?
Even just regular people like to talk shit anyway, man. You could be a bonafide genius and people will find a way to shit on you.

Tell us a little more about your upcoming album.
It's just me telling personal stories. A lot of it shows how young black kids get caught up in situations. For me, I had to go to court when I was 10 years old, and I tell this story on the album. I had this little kid fight, and I got charged with assault and battery. I didn't even provoke the fight, Some other kid was messing with my girl cousins, being a douchebag and picking on them. And I ended up in court, at only 10 years old. Had to get a lawyer and everything. I tell the whole story on the album. But it's funny too though, man.

Do you think things are better these days, or do you see no improvement regarding systemic racism?
Well, when I was 10 I didn't catch that it was racism. Where I grew up, if I fell off my bike anyone else's parents would've taken me to the hospital – black, white, or whoever. I thought shit was sweet when I was growing up.

And nowadays, as an African comic, do you have to deal with a lot of racist trolls online?
Yeah, but it makes me wonder if things are worse now, or if we're just able to see it more clearly because so much of it is online. I don't know. Because when I'm out in the world, I don't feel that tension very often. But when you look online or when you read about stats, it's easy to see that shit's f***ed up.

What were some of your other inspirations while working on this album?
I listened to a lot of Chris Rock, Bill Hicks, and Dick Gregory especially right before I started recording this album. All those guys have inspired me. I was also inspired by Dave Chapelle's new specials. On this one I'd give Dick Gregory most of the credit though, I listened to him to motivate me.

Speaking of Dave's latest specials – he got some serious backlash for not being politically correct enough in some of the bits. How do you feel about the PC vs free speech debate that's happening in comedy these days?
It's corny as fuck. So corny. There have been things that were thought to be offensive which is hilarious. I look back to when Chevy Chase and Richard Prior did the "nigger" bit on Saturday Night LIve. It was one of the funniest things we've seen. But do you think they could do that in 2018? Every white actor would be afraid to! It just makes me think, like, "C'mon man, what are we doing?"

Kyle Grooms will perform at The Bookworm on Mar 11 at 8pm. Tickets are RMB 180 or RMB 150 presale. For more information, click here.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
Instagram: mullin.kyle

Photo courtesy of Kyle Grooms