THE JOKES ARE ON HIM GOING FROM CLASS CLOWN TO STAND-UP CHAMP AT 13 PREPS LIL' JJ - NOW 16 - FOR HIS SITCOM DEBUT.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic When Lil' JJ Lil' JJ (born James Charles Lewis on October 31, 1990) is an American stand-up comedian. Lil' JJ won BET's comedy talent search Comin' To The Stage. Since being discovered at his middle school in Little Rock, Arkansas, he has performed at comedy clubs across the performed on BET's reality series for stand-up stand·up or stand-up adj. 1. Standing erect; upright: a standup collar. 2. Taken, done, or used while standing: a standup supper; a standup bar. comics, ``Comin' to the Stage,'' he was all of 13, competing against performers two to three times his age. ``It was crazy,'' says Lil' JJ, whose real name is James Lewis James Lewis can refer to:
Well, you know what happened. He mopped up the competition. ``When I first started on the show, a lot of the other comics would come up to me and say, `That's my little man.' No one was focused on me,'' JJ recalls. ``They all thought, `I'm already the best, I ain't worried about no young'n.' But after a while, more and more, they wouldn't talk to me no more. Some of them I was competing with would say, `I got to get back to work and write more jokes.' '' Just three short years later, the breakout teen comedien (now 16 years old) is starring in his very own TEENick comedy series, ``Just Jordan Just Jordan is a show that in 2007 Nickelodeon TV series starring Lil' JJ that premiered on January 7, 2007. It also occasionally airs on The N. Characters Main Characters
Arkansas to California The Little Rock, Ark., native plays a sort of alter-ego of himself named Jordan Lewis Lewis was voted Hawthorn's best first-year player in 2005. , a teen recently transplanted from Little Rock to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. when his mother comes to help her father run his diner. Jordan has to adapt to a new school as well as all the bumps in the road life has for teenagers. There is also a still-untitled film being planned based on Lil' JJ's life story. Which is this: Like a lot of kids, Lil' JJ was a class clown in school. Unlike a lot of kids who wind up punished for their wisecracks, he actually managed to amuse his gym teacher, Ken Bright. Sensing his pupil's talent, Bright encouraged Lil' JJ to perform at open-mic nights in Little Rock, and even helped him develop his material. Walking in funny footsteps After his first performance, Lil' JJ recalls, ``I had (the) biggest smile on my face ever. I felt like I could be just like Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy Edward "Eddie" Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an Academy Award nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and comedian. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian. . ``My mom didn't expect me to do as well as I did. She was thinking ... she was going to be the only one laughing. Instead, afterward, she was saying, `That's my baby That's My Baby is an American television program that follows various animals and their owners through their pregnancy, birth and follow up. It is shown on the channel Animal Planet. ! That's my baby!''' Stardom, of course, ensued with a part in Queen Latifah's 2005 movie, ``Beauty Shop,'' and a role playing role playing, n in behavioral medicine, learning exercise in which individuals assume characters different from their own. The individual may also be asked to simulate a particularly difficult situation and apply the characteristics that are common to his one of Rene Russo's kids in Paramount's family-friendly ``Yours, Mine and Ours.'' JJ's old gym Old Gym was a 2,500 seat multi-purpose arena in Oxford, Mississippi. It opened in 1924. It was home to the University of Mississippi Rebels basketball team. It was replaced when the Tad Smith Coliseum opened in 1966. teacher is onboard as his manager. ``When I look at it and think about how young I was -- making people laugh is such a great feeling,'' Lil' JJ says. And Nickelodeon plans to give JJ plenty of opportunities to make people smile. Tom Ascheim, general manager of the cable network, is convinced his young star has an extremely bright future ahead of him. A show about ... something ``Just as Jerry Seinfeld This article is about the comedian. For the character, see Jerry Seinfeld (character). Jerry Seinfeld (born Jerome Seinfeld on April 29, 1954 in New York City, New York) is a Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning American comedian, actor and writer. voices that thing you weren't sure had a name, JJ speaks eloquently and funnily about parts of family life. You find yourself or people you know in his material,'' Ascheim says. ``He talks about kid injustice -- something's just not right, something's just not fair. He's really keyed in on that, and that'll speak to a generation. That's what'll elevate him. ``He's young, smart, funny and talented,'' Ascheim continues. ``He'll go as far as he wants to.'' Alison Taylor, creator of ``Just Jordan'' (she also wrote Disney Channel's ``Cheetah Girls'' movies), was knocked out when she first saw JJ perform. ``His skill level was so high,'' she marvels. ``His ability to control and connect with his audience was that of a comedian much older and more experienced. There's that twinkle in his eyes, that gleam, that love of the material he's using. You can picture him in all those scenarios. He instantly builds a world the audience can live in.'' ``I talk about stuff I go through that just ain't right,'' Lil' JJ explains. ``Everybody can relate. Adults can listen and think, `I went through the same thing,' and it's what a lot of kids are thinking already but don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how to say it.'' Of course, if things keep going as well as they are for Lil' JJ, he's going to have a whole lot less to complain about in the future. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com JUST JORDAN What: Teen comic Lil' JJ stars as a recent transplant to an L.A. high school, where he humorously experiences woes common to teens. Where: TEENick on Nickelodeon. When: 7:30 p.m. Sundays on Nick; 10 a.m. Saturdays on BET. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Airing `Jordan' 16-year-old Lil' JJ brings his comedy game to Nick and BET (2 -- color) no caption (Lil' JJ) |
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