ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190005
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hometown kid makes good as Mark Curry takes his comedy act back to Oakland's Paramount Theater, where he watched comedians and rock stars as a teen-ager.
``Mark Curry - The Other Side'' debuts tonight at 11:30 on the ``HBO Comedy Hour.'' The star of the ABC series ``Hangin' With Mr. Cooper'' takes command of the audience from the start, interviewing a local dude who he says looks like a pimp and another who resembles ``MC Hammer on crack.''
Curry carries on about the absurdities of urban life, using salty language pioneered by his idol, Richard Pryor. And this with Curry's mother in the audience.
How did she react?
``I've never in my life met a mother who's so cool,'' he says assuringly.
Despite his steady work with ``Mr. Cooper,'' which is launching its fourth season, Curry continues stand-up work on weekends, vacations, whenever.
``You try to stay in touch so you can stay funny in this business,'' he reasons. ``When you live the L.A. life, you lose your comedy.''
``Comedy is good here, but you don't want to get caught up in a lot of materialistic things. Those things deter you from actually having the tragedy which you need in comedy. We comedians talk a lot about tragedy. If you don't have tragedy in your life, you got nothin' to talk about.
``If you say, `I was thinking in my hot tub the other day,' the audience can't relate to that.''
Mark Curry grew up in Oakland, tall (at 6-foot-6, he may be the tallest of successful comedians) and decent. His mother and father and his seven older siblings helped see that he kept out of trouble.
``It could also have been the Catholic school,'' he observes. ``I grew up in the church. I was an altar boy until I was in the ninth grade. Maybe it was my mother. And it was very important that I had a father at home. Most black families don't have a father at home. He would knock your ear off if you got in trouble.
``I had seven brothers and sisters breathing on my back. I had a lot of people to answer to. And a grandmother, too! That's 10 people keeping an eye on me! Hey, I better write this down - I think I could get a routine out of my family.''
Curry notes that some of his childhood friends are serving life for murder.
``You think about it, anybody could have gotten in trouble at any time when you're in the 'hood,'' he reflects. ``You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The whole 'hood is a crime and drug area.
``I never did anything bad. I had a father there, I had a strong religious background.''
He also was funny. At night, he and his friends had nothing to do but stand outside their houses and talk about each other. They would try to ``cap'' each other with sarcasm.
``I was a professional capper,'' he brags.
Yet Curry, who is cautious about his age (``in the late 30s''), didn't try to earn a living from comedy until 1987. He had practiced for it in the drugstore where he worked. After playing clubs in Oakland and San Francisco, he embarked on the road ``from Idaho to Eureka.''
Unlike other comics, Curry claims he never bombed.
``No, honestly,'' he says. ``I would find a way to come back up. I'd start screaming and yelling, anything to wake them up.''
His career progressed with appearances on Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien's show, and then an HBO Comedy half-hour brought him to the attention of the producers of ``Hangin' With Mr. Cooper.''
How long will he stay with the series?
``We'll see. This season may be it. I'd like to produce kid specials. I think God blessed me with some type of aura that can help children.
``I want kids of my own so bad. I'm single, looking for a beautiful wife. Put that in the article.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ``Mark Curry - The Other Side'' premieres tonight atby CNB11:30 on HBO. The show was taped at the Paramount Theater in
Oakland, Calif. color