Leon Scott, is one of the funniest guys in the blogosphere, and his blog persona is true to life. “I’m the same guy as the blogger, except with the volume turned down,” he laughs. “I’m just a nice guy, and I like to have fun.”
The blogger/stand-up comedian is a graphic/website designer by trade, who began his career at BET.com. When Viacom bought the company, Scott moved on to work for a newspaper that, apparently, was operated by a cult leader. “The guy who owned the newspaper was an 80-year-old Korean dude who claimed to be the Messiah,” Scott recalls. “It was so weird. There were mass weddings and people would give him their savings. He was a billionaire, although the paper was losing money like crazy.”
It’s a good thing that Scott’s natural knack for comedy helped him find the funnier side of life.
The baby-faced D.C. resident spoke to rolling out about Internet fame, everyday comic moments, and why no ex-girlfriend would dare say a bad thing about him in public.
What did you want to be as a little boy?
All that I wanted to be was unrealistic. I wanted to be Spiderman, that didn’t happen. Then I wanted to be a pro wrestler, Macho Man Savage, but I stopped growing and that didn’t happen either. Then I wanted to be in the NBA, but I’m 5’8. Maybe if they start a league for guys 6’feet and under—where you get paid to play basketball — I’ll play.
How did you know that you had a talent for comedy?
Humor got me out of a lot of bad situations and into a lot of good situations in my life–it’s tough growing up and you look different from everybody else.
Who are your favorite comedians?
Def Comedy Jam, Redd Foxx was really funny to me, he reminds me of my grandmother, and she’s the female version of Fred Sanford. A lady-version, she’s a very beautiful woman.
What is the evolution of your blogging career?
I was in a job that I did not like; I was temping there, and basically I was bored because it was easy, so I would e-mail my friends and tell them how my weekend went.
It was a bunch of funny stories, and then my friend Calvin, who did have a blog, said, that I should get a site going. I barely even knew what a blog was; this was 2004, before everybody had one. He helped me start mine and he let me guest post on his blog for about a week. His fans loved it, and followed me over to mine. I had a built-in audience. From there, I just kept on plugging and trying new things, things kept happening to me that were funny, or I kept noticing new things that made me smile.
Where do you find your comic inspiration?
From everywhere, if it’s funny, I’ll write about it, as long as it’s not hurtful or mean. My cousin T, gives me a lot of material, I’ve written about some things that T’s done that is just so totally socially unacceptable. We went to a cookout, this dude had a custom t-shirt made with his face on the front of the shirt, and it read, “Say Hi to the Bad Guy.” He had Nike shoes with his face on the shoes too, and some gold fronts [teeth]. We were in Fredericksburg Virginia, and I’m like T, you’re doing it too big for Fredericksburg. You need a stage. He was quite proud of his outfit, and I loved it because he had the testicular fortitude to wear this out in public.
How are you handling your online fame?
Being Internet famous and being really famous is two totally different things. When you’re really famous, you can’t do anything without people coming up to you. When you’re Internet famous, you never really know when people may come up to you, or may recognize you because of the site. You can have total anonymity with most places that you go.
But one day I was walking down the street and this dude was like, “hey funny man!” and he said it really mean. I was like, “what the hell is going on? Am I about to get jumped?” Then he came over and gave me a handshake, “I love your website, it’s hilarious.” He was a fan, but he was just really aggressive about it.
Do people treat you differently because they’re afraid they may appear on your blog?
That’s frustrating; it’s usually family or friends, or people that I’ve just met. I try not to write about folks…if I write about people it’s a stranger…I irritated my mother one time because I wrote about an argument that my great aunt and uncle had, and it was funny to me, and a lot of people, but I shouldn’t have put family business into the street.
What topics are off limits for your blog?
People I’m dating currently. If I broke up with somebody, I would let enough time pass, a statute of limitations, out of respect. Every breakup has been on good terms, and it’s just karma. I don’t want people to try to put me out there, although it’s not much they can say, unless they want to lie. Not to sound arrogant, but there’s nothing they can say…I can go to the tapes. If someone really wants to test me…I can go to the tapes. (laughs).
What do you wish women knew about men?
We can’t read your minds. We’re not going to get it, and we shouldn’t be expected to understand everything, we should be expected to try and work as hard as we can. It’s not the end of the world when we don’t understand; it’s the end of the world when we do something horrible. Communication is key.
What advice do you have for future bloggers and comedians?
Learn your craft. Learn as much as you can. Put in the work and ask questions. Some people are jerks and they’re not going to try to help you. Honestly, you’ll be surprised by how many folks who will try to help you if you tell them what you want to do. Build bridges, and use the networks that you have there.
Don’t expect things to happen overnight, everyone isn’t an overnight sensation.
And most overnight sensations didn’t happen overnight, it just looks like it because you didn’t know who they were the day before.
