Littleton, Darryl

views updated

Littleton, Darryl

(DMilitant)

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER:

Comedian. Writer for Into the Dark with Teddy Carpenter, Cleveland City Limits, and Comic View. Has appeared on a number of television comedy series, including Townsend Television, Sweet Home Chicago, Apollo Comedy Hour, Uptown Comedy Club, Def Comedy Jam, Make Me Laugh, and America's Funniest People.

AWARDS, HONORS:

American Broadcasting Corporation, America's Funniest People, grand prize winner; Bay Area Black Comedy Competition & Festival, winner, 2006.

WRITINGS:

Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh, introduction by Dick Gregory, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Darryl Littleton is a comedian who got his start writing and performing sketches on the Tom Joyner Morning Show on CBS Radio. Littleton went on to work with Arsenio Hall, D.L. Hughley, and other leading comedians before appearing on television shows, including The Apollo Comedy Hour, Uptown Comedy Club, Def Comedy Jam, Make Me Laugh, and America's Funniest People, on which he was the grand-prize winner. Littleton also won the 2006 Bay Area Black Comedy Competition & Festival, putting him in an elite list of winners, including Jamie Foxx, Don DC Curry, and Mark Curry.

In the same year, Littleton tried his hand at writing by publishing Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh. The book covers the rich history of African American comedians and profiles a number of leading talents. Over one hundred African American comedians were interviewed for the book, garnering responses ranging from the state of the comic industry today to personal reflections. Library Journal contributor Rosellen Brewer said the book was "fascinating and funny, with much little-known information." Vanessa Bush, writing in Booklist, noted that Black Comedians on Black Comedy "is an interesting perspective on race and comedy." She cautioned, however, that some readers might be offended by what she called "off-color humor and language." Willard Manus, writing in a Lively Arts review, believed that a book on this topic was "long overdue" and found the comments from Tommy Chunn, Eddie Griffin, Deon Cole, and Ricky Harris "edifying."