Lil Roc is a comedian based in Los Angeles. He was present at the Making Smoke event, where he talked about what inspired him to become a comedian, why Los Angeles is the place to be for the career, and the importance of writing down your jokes and skits.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. I started comedy from my homeboy Jeremy Gumbo. He had a show at the Hollywood Improv when he had the audience get up, and I got up. At that moment, I just got bit by the comedy bug. I started getting booked for shows and then I started meeting people, and it went from there.
What makes Los Angeles a great place to be a comedian?
It’s so many comedy places in Los Angeles. It’s like a foxhole every street you go down. You never know who’s going to hear you, and you never know who you’re going to see. It’s a very nice place, and it’s a lot of things that you can do here. There are limitless opportunities.
Who have been some of the greatest inspirations to come from Los Angeles?
All the hot comedians come to Los Angeles, from Eddie Murphy, Kevin Hart, Paul Mooney, and Redd Foxx. Everybody has come through L.A. Some of them are not exactly from here, but everybody comes to L.A. Even if you’re not from here, you’re still going to get some of that flavor just from being here. It’s a lot of stuff going on every day.
Why should comedians write their jokes and skits?
I say it’s very important because you could just be thinking about someone, or you could be walking into the store talking to somebody, and that’ll make you think of something or somebody with a big personality. Sometimes that’ll make you think of things and you could just be driving down the street that may make you think of something. It can happen with everyday interactions. You always want to write it down just in case you might forget it. You never know what you might come up with just by conversation. You’re always in a creative mind space, and it’s natural.
