If you’ve watched a particular Netflix comedy special, then you’ll know making people laugh is not an easy job.
For Detroit native Delo Brown, comedy is something that just came naturally to her. But Brown didn’t begin to explore comedy as a profession until after she graduated with a bachelor’s in political science from Michigan State University and couldn’t find a job she loved.
“I graduated with that degree and it took me damn near four months to find a job, and I realized that a 9-to-5 might not be best for me,” says Brown. “One day I went to a comedy show, and they were having a comedy competition, and my friends were like ‘you should go up there.’ I went up there and did it, and I won second place.”
In 2019, Brown moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her comedy career. While she’s a hometown hero with a steady fanbase in Detroit, she found that in L.A. she was one of many. Her start in L.A. was rocky and intimidating, so much that Brown took a break from comedy after she landed her first TV spot.
“I was ambitious as hell, and really naive; just bright-eyed and bushy tailed with foggy glasses over my eyes. I moved out there in January 2019, and landed on Revolt TV within the first three months, which was my first TV special, and it went amazing,” says Brown. “But I got so scared, I didn’t perform after that for about a year and a half. I don’t know what it was, I think I saw what I had to go up against and what was in front of me, and I chickened out.”
It turns out that break was exactly what she needed to push through and make comedy work for her. That break led into the COVID-19 pandemic where Brown found herself with a choice: make L.A. work or move back home.
“It wasn’t until the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021 that I got back on my shit, and getting back on my shit was extremely humbling,” says Brown. “I had to light a fire under my ass because I realized how fast paced everything is out there, and how much networking you have to do to get stage time.”
Although she’s still working hard for her stage time out in L.A., Brown is creating her own stages and productions here in Detroit. The bicoastal comedian often produces her own headlining comedy shows in the Motor City, including her upcoming 313 Day Comedy Show Experience. The lineup includes comedians T. Barb, J. Will, and CoCo, all of whom Brown sings high praises for. Brown says that T. Barb has served as a comedy mentor for her over the last few years, helping guide her through the industry, but she says she manifested securing CoCo for this show.
“If you are a millennial, then you listened to CoCo on WJLB every single morning on the way to school,” says Brown. “A few years before I moved to L.A., I did a show at Marble Bar and CoCo was on it. We didn’t get to talk for a long time, but we took a picture together, and I told her we were going to meet back very soon. To see this manifest and come to life in 2023, it’s nothing but God.”
The 313 Day Comedy Show Experience will be Monday, March 13 at Delmar, 501 Monroe St., Detroit. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 and are available at 313daycomedyshow.eventbee.com.
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