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BIO
"Brother's
got the WESTSIDE, trailer park's got DOUBLEWIDES!!" comedian Gary Owen
is the only white guy to ever host B.E.T.'s "Comicview".
Many people recognize comedian Gary Owen as the dancing "Mr.
Broccoli" in the blockbuster movie "Daddy Day Care"
with Eddie Murphy. Or as the goofy redneck deputy in the movie
"Held Up" with Jamie Foxx.
Owen, was always the "class
clown" when comedian Gary Owen was growing up in Cincinnati,
Ohio. After high school, comedian Gary Owen got serious and enlisted
in the Navy. Comedian Gary Owen was chosen for the prestigious
Presidential Honor Guard. Spinning rifles and carrying flags for
George Bush and Bill Clinton turned out to be the wrong job for a
funny guy. "I was always smiling," comedian Gary Owen
remembers. "So I got yelled at for smiling all the time."
After leaving his ceremonial
position, Owen became a military police officer at the Naval
Installations on Coronado Island in San Diego. But comedian Gary Owen
was too much of a pushover to be a cop. Comedian Gary Owen made only
two arrests in three years. "I was the worst," he admits.
During that time, though, comedian Gary Owen embarked on his true
calling - stand-up comedy. One night while hanging with his service
buddies, Owen worked up the nerve to go at a nightclub. After only a
year of doing stand-up, comedian Gary Owen was named "Funniest
Serviceman in America."
Off the military base, it was the
Black nightclubs that gave him his real breaks: "The only place I
could get on stage regularly," he recalls, "was in the
so-called 'hood' in San Diego. Then I thought, "Why don't I make
fun of black and whites?" We're both sitting here. That's when I
started addressing the different black and white issues… interracial
dating and social issues. I like to deal with issues white guys aren't
supposed to talk about."
Owen never pretended to be one of
the homeboys. Basically, I would ask question, like, 'I don't know
what a "boo" (a term of affection) is. Do I have this right?
Am I thinking right? And they'd laugh because I was so honest about
it.'
San Diego's African-American
community embraced him, and comedian Gary Owen went onto win the
"Funniest Black Comedian in San Diego" contest. That led to
his first big gig at Los Angeles' Comedy Store. Then in July of '97 comedian Gary Owen
auditioned for BET's "Comic View." Two appearances on the
multi-cultural comedy showcase won him his own one-hour
"Grandstand" show. At the end of the season comedian Gary Owen
was selected from the year's four "Grandstanders" to be the
host. Owen was excited because he'd always been a huge "Comic
View" fan.
Comedian Gary Owen has numerous
appearances on Comedy Central, as well as hosting MUN2's hit comedy
show "Loco Comedy Jam". Not one to sit and wait for things
to happen, comedian Gary Owen recently released his first comedy CD
" Live from Tampa" and his first comedy DVD "Breakin
Out The Park". One things for sure, when people see comedian Gary Owen
live on stage, they keep coming back over and over again. |
