Arnez J

Diverging from the hard-edged raunchy and streetwise observational styles of other contemporary African-American comedians, Arnez J offers comic routines reminiscent of an earlier era of comedy. His improvisational comic style is primarily physical, with a strong reliance on impressions and exaggerations of familiar personalities. “J is a whirling dervish on stage—he runs, jumps, spins, slides, slips, and mugs through a performance, acting out many of his bits while describing them,” wrote Doug Kaufman in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His idols are the classic television comedians of the 1960s: Flip Wilson, Red Skelton, and a performer who might be considered an unlikely inspiration for a modern African-American male artist. “There was never a nicer and funnier comedian to me than Carol Burnett,” Arnez J explained to Daniel Neman of the Richmond Times Dispatch. “The Carol Burnett Show, to me, will never be replaced.”

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