George Wallace is holding it down all by himself as the lone black headliner on the Vegas Strip. His hourlong comedy show is housed at the historic Flamingo Resort and Casino, the same venue that was previously home to shows featuring Toni Braxton and Gladys Knight. Rolling out was recently invited to check out his current show, “I Be Thinkin’.”
Set to a backdrop of the presidential seal bearing the slogan “George Wallace for President,” Thinkin’ gives the 58-year-old former actor the platform to make light of everything from religion to politics to pop culture. He leans on his wealth of life experiences, raw candor and quick wit to effectively engage audience members, including singling out a few and zeroing in on humorous facts about their respective hometowns. He’d start out, “Hey, where you from?” Once he was given an answer, it was “yeah, I was just there yesterday and …”
Wallace has been appearing in Vegas for an incredible seven years and his show doesn’t look like it’s even close to fizzling out. I was there on a Wednesday night, and the room was packed. The college-educated comedian, who once wrote for the late great Redd Foxx, has a consistent reputation and old-school charm that have amassed him an extremely diverse following; I found myself among old, young, black, white, country, urbane … you name the walk of life and it was represented. His enduring friendship with actor-comedian Jerry Seinfeld is indicative of his broad appeal.
“I Be Thinkin'” is most definitely a “grown folks” show, but Wallace has mastered the art of melding class and crass. In fact, he had three preachers — whom he called up and made stand for part of the show as punishment for making their parishoners stand during church services — splitting their sanctified sides. It was good to be able to laugh out loud without having to sift through uncomfortable and gratuitous vulgarities to achieve it. The show ended on a literal high note, when he invited a random young lady on stage to sing Jennifer Holliday’s “And I’m Telling You.” He challenged her to match the song note for note as it was playing, and if she accomplished the task he’d match any money that audience members threw on stage. Wallace was all prepared to joke her off the stage, but she killed the song, meeting his challenge. She garnered a standing ovation, collected a wad of cash from the stage, and walked away with a crisp 100 dollar bill from the comedian’s pocket.
George Wallace can lay claim to many honors as a standup comic, including making “Comedy Central’s” list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time. Rolling out will have a conversation with Wallace about his life, his experiences with greats such as Foxx and Richard Pryor, and what it takes to make it as a successful comedian. Stay tuned to ro for the interview. –gerald radford
