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He was playing ball, and getting his shots up. When I asked what he was up to, he replied, “The same thing I was up to last time you spoke to me, man.” Al actually said he was taking better care of himself, which I was happy to hear. I always knew he could make me laugh or give me some material. I would call every now and then to see how he was doing. I completely forgot.īefore I sent him that sketch, I actually had not spoken to Al in a little while. “Well, I don’t do jokes like that,” Al jokingly but seriously said. I actually sent Al the sketch he could have been in last week and when we spoke on the phone, he said in a funny way, “Man, I turned it on, went to get my food, and when I came back I saw you doing something real gay on the screen so I turned it off and deleted it off my page.” I even thought about asking to be in one of my sketches. I knew for sure if one day I could green light movies like Adam Sandler, I would throw Al in a movie. I really wish I could have convinced him to do that. He would have stuck out and been different from everyone else. How many really funny 6-8 dudes are walking into audition for anything?”

You’re funny, you can be yourself, and you are 6-8. I said to him, “Nobody is gonna look like you that shows up for an audition. When you see him in those commercials, it’s really impressive for someone who doesn’t come from any type of acting or artistic background. I told him that he should go into acting. I’m actually really happy that Al was one of the first guys to watch me do comedy. I remember trying out a joke on him and he laughed, so then I did it on stage that night. But the night went well, and Al enjoyed himself even with my material being as bad as it was (looking back at it now). That particular crowd probably thought we were there to rob the place. Here are all these nerdy tight jean-wearing comics with their notebooks trying out material, and here I come in with baggy clothes, some notes on paper, and a s6-8 black dude wearing a sweat suit. He might have laughed and smiled equally at both. It was also hilarious for me to watch what he thought was funny and what he didn’t find funny. It was only my second time getting on stage and here’s Alimoe who’s not the easiest person to make laugh watching me. In fact, after the article was finished, Al came all the way downtown with me, got in a train to Long Island City and watched me do stand up for at an open mic at a place called The Creek And The Cave. There are some examples of what Al is like when he gets into the mode on DVDs. I don’t back down from too many verbal challenges but if we were around other people, I wouldn’t spar with Al. Everyone I talked to can certainly vouch for that. I do stand up comedy now and Al was a hilarious guy. He wasn’t just, “Hey, I’m the dude on the corner with all my friends funny,” either.

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He gave the most honest answers I think I’ve ever heard, and we also laughed a great deal.Īnyone who watched Al on TV or knew him in person knew how funny he was. I had a great time interviewing him for the article.

I kept in touch with Al throughout the years, whether it was hooping on the court with him or catching one of his games uptown. I got the chance to write an in-depth article on Al about three years ago for SLAM.