What comedian needs to make fun of their mother, when the President of the United States provides enough material for the entire comic industry, joked Alonzo Bodden, the American host of an upcoming local comedy show.

Mr. Bodden, an NBC Last Comic Standing winner, will lead a collection of top international comedians at the Just for Laughs Bermuda event on at the Fairmont Southampton Resort from January 11 to 13.

“Actually, my mother is funny,” Mr. Bodden told the Royal Gazette in a recent interview. “But every time I try to do personal stuff, something more topical comes up.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this guy, George Bush, but he is our number one comic in America. He is the President, but he is actually material for the entire comic industry. I have him to talk about. Do you know how much damage he could do in a month? He wants to start another war. He wanted to take over Canada.”

Mr. Bodden said comedy will always be an outlet, and it is the comic’s job to figure out what people are thinking, but don’t want to say, and say it for them.

“Yeah, sometimes people take what I say the wrong way,” he said. “As a matter of fact I got thrown out of a hotel in Vegas I was performing at, because I was making fun of the hotel, and the owner was there and he didn’t get it. The crowd was laughing, but he took personally. So it does happen.”

Mr. Bodden said he absolutely always comes up with new material for every routine. When he comes to Bermuda, he hopes to find material as it comes to him.

“I will probably do some jokes about Bermuda,” he said, “but it doesn’t work to research ahead of time. You just have to see what you encounter when you get there.

“It is more of a natural thing. It is a series of islands, right? I could read about land mass and the number one export and tourism, but there is not going to be anything funny there.

“If I get a cab driver, that drives on the wrong side of the street at eighty miles an hour - now that would be funny. I don’t mind risking my life if there is a joke involved.”

Mr. Bodden was an airplane mechanic for nine years, before deciding to make a career change to comedy. Both careers sound absolutely terrifying to many people.

“To me neither career is scary,” he said. “I guess in reality there is probably more pressure on an airline mechanic, because if I crash and burn as a comic, that just means they didn’t laugh. Whereas if I crash and burn as an airline mechanic, there are investigations and I have to answer questions and it is really annoying.”

He said the transition wasn’t that hard.

“For one thing in the aircraft industry you get laid off frequently,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was quitting a job. I was just out of work one more time. My last job in aircraft I was teaching new mechanics so I was already standing in front of a group of people making them laugh. So I don’t think it was that hard. The people looking at it from the outside, would say, ‘wow, that was a huge transition’, but I was just doing it. I didn’t have time to think about it being hard .”

He said it was easier to make the leap because he was single, and didn’t have any responsibilities.

“I am an irresponsible child,” he said. “All kidding aside I guess it was a risk, but from the first time I did standup I loved it. I never thought of doing anything else.

“It helps to not have a family, because there wasn’t anyone depending on me. Comics start out doing a gig for a meal and a drink.”

For Mr. Bodden the career transition turned out to be highly lucrative. Not only did he win the third season of Last Comic Standing, (which never aired), but he has also appeared in numerous television shows and movies including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Make Me Laugh, Friday Night Videos, Thirty-Something, Power Rangers, and The Craig Kilbourne Show.

He also was the first comic to appear on the Keenan Ivory Wayans Show, and was a body guard in the movie Bringin Down The House. He has also been in The Girl Next Door, Angel, Grounded for Life and Profiler, among others. He also has his own comedy club in Los Angeles called The Laugh Factory.

The move to comedy stardom, however, wasn’t always all movie stars and glamour. Like most comics, he had to do the small time circuit first.

“The first show I did was at a theatre in Santa Monica,” he said. “I was spoiled because it was a comedy class graduation. So everyone brought friends and family. The room was full. The second gig I got the reality of working at the bar - not IN the comedy club, but working at the bar in front for four people and a bartender who if you told a bad joke turned the blender on to drown you out.”

He said it was fantastic to win the NBC show Last Comic Standing, even though he didn’t get any publicity from it.

“Doing the show was like my introduction to America,” he said. “It is prime time television and millions of people watch it. (At least they would have.) They cancelled the final episode, so no one saw me win, but I did get a quarter of a million dollars. Once the check cleared, me and NBC were cool.”

He jokingly said after paying Uncle Sam, his agent and manager he had exactly $73 left over.

“No, actually, I used the money to make a down payment on a piece of Los Angeles real estate,” he said.

Mr. Bodden grew up in a middle class, black family. Although he is from a “family of smart asses” he is the only one who “went pro”.

“I am not from the hood,” he said. “My parents are still married. I am not the stereotypical ghetto comic. That is not my background.”

Mr. Bodden requested that the Royal Gazette mention at least twice that he is single, drives a Hummer and recently invested in Los Angeles real estate.

“The ladies in the house love that stuff,” he said.

Mr. Bodden will only be in Bermuda over the weekend, as he is currently taping an episode of Vegas on NBC in New York.

“I don’t have time to hang out, unfortunately,” he said. “I am hardly ever at my home club in Los Angeles.

“I am on the road all the time. My agent wears a furry hat and drives a Cadillac. He makes money by keeping me on the streets.”

Mr. Bodden will perform in the Mid-Ocean Ampitheatre at the Fairmont Southampton alongside several other comedians including Jeremy Hotz from Canada, Rocky LaPorte from the United States, Frank Olivier from the United States and Bermudian Nadanja Bailey. It was recently announced that John Heffron will replace British comedian Lee Mack.Tickets are on sale now at $65. Special dinner packages exist at Fairmont Southampton restaurants. For more information contact the Fairmont Southampton, or go to www.comedyevent.bm or www.boxoffice.bm or telephone Richard Simon at 292-7232.