The eleventh of September brings unwanted memories and even nightmares to many, but on this particular night of 2003, three gentlemen lit up the Kenneth R. Williams auditorium with fun, laughter, and even a positive message.The men known as Shang, Tony Woods, and Todd Lynn took the stage on a Thursday night and created an atmosphere that made the Winston-Salem State University campus and local community step outside of all recollections of what this day in history once brought. The auditorium was crammed several moments before the comics even entered the building. Those in attendance were anxious—some because they attended the show when the tour began two years before—others because they didn’t know what exactly they were in for. Beginning about three years ago, the comedians began to perform on a black college comedy tour. ZILO (an internet company and originator of the tour) found that there weren’t a lot of tours that were geared specifically to the black colleges. The entire tour was sponsored and paid for by the United States Army, and the tour receives different sponsors every year. According to Shang, most of the shows have been pretty successful so far. He said, “The U. S. Army is bringing us here…we’ve been having really great shows at all the colleges!”Tony Woods agreed and said, “We’re here in Winston-Salem, we’re happy to be here, we’ve been here before and we liked it…actually this (school) is one of the nicest places we’ve been.”Woods kicked the show off, followed by Lynn, then Shang. Although the purpose of Lynn’s and Woods’ shows are to primarily be humorous, Shang said that he is also urged to educate in his message. He said, “The main thing I try to push in my act, is comedy, and at the same time, awareness—political stuff—and I do my poetry.”Winston Robinson, Senior, Business major is one of Shang’s fans and said that the fact that Shang incorporates education in his comedy is one of the reasons he enjoys watching or listening to him perform.”Shang has a positive message to say with his show and he made it funny.”These comedians are an elite pick because they were chosen out of the thousands of comedians in the country. Woods said he works for ZILO, and “they did an internet search for the most popular comedians…at historically black colleges.” He added that, “There’s 119 of them. In the last few years, we’ve been to about 50.” Shang, on the other hand, admitted that he was not supposed to be on the tour, but was voted in by the colleges.”I don’t know how [he got picked]…I know I got picked from the board of colleges…the colleges picked me.”Shang has come a long way in the comedic world. He says he began the journey on a simple bet.”A dude bet me fifty bucks, and I did well.” He’s been caught up in the comedy web ever since. Shang has a load of fans now, but he says, he still never knows how the outcome will be. He has his good ones, but he definitely has his—not so good ones. He said he’s had times “When they stare at me like ‘why are you doing comedy? Why don’t you kill yourself? Fall on a bullet and just stab yourself…why don’t you go pick a fight with a bunch of clansmen and call them all crackers…with no weapons?'”All in all, Woods expressed that it’s all about the students. “We try to bring a quality show, without pay.” He added that, “We try to go to schools and not charge them…because you can go to a lot of schools and somebody like Sommore would cost a lot of money. It ain’t a lot of money involved, but it feels like you’re giving back.”Woods is definitely giving back to his people. His campus community at a historically black university nurtured him into the line of work he’s involved in now. He attended Central State in Ohio, majoring in mass communications, and he has received a Masters degree in communications.”I wanted to be a sports announcer, and I ended up being a comedian! Maybe somehow I’ll fall back into that.” The students certainly appreciate the love the three comedians show by appearing at WSSU for the tour. Cole Coleman, Junior, Mass Communications major attended the show two years ago, when it first appeared on the WSSU campus. He said, “I expected this year to be just as good as last year, and it was better! Lots of laughter, it was great!”Woods said that he doesn’t necessarily have a favorite comedian, but he does have at least one person who can make him laugh even more than himself. “I’m a big Richard Pryor fan from the old school, but honestly, I like everybody.” He expressed that it felt great being chosen for the tour and he is also a regular on a popular television show. “I’m on a TV show now…I’m on My Wife and Kids, so I get to be on the road and see a different fan base.” Although Woods enjoys appearing on the television show, he genuinely conveyed his passion of positively giving back to the students. Woods would love to quickly broaden the tour and visit all 119 historically black colleges and universities in the country and said, “If we can, we will. There’s nothing more positive or fun in the world, than watching comedians.”
***PLEASE VISIT THE COMEDIAN/POET’S WEBSITE (SHANG) AT http://www.iamshang.com