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Biography
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Then
Son
to an abusive, drug-dealing father, Charlie managed to avoid most of the
violence by faking asthma attacks. The family would be moved to and from
several public housing projects because of so much criminal activity and
community complaints against his father. After one major incident
Charlie’s mother took the small, chubby child and his brother to live at
the Battered Women’s Shelter where Charlie was bitten by another child
and taken to the hospital. His father became a “born again” Christian
and promised his mother he would change. His father continued the physical
abuse, once even outside in the church parking lot. Charlie was taken to
the Emergency Room and refused insurance coverage because it was
considered “an act of God”. Charlie’s older brother was admitted
into a mental hospital and later escaped with the help of Charlie. His
brother would later attempt suicide multiple times and enter a halfway
home.
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Now
After
a year of depression and thoughts of suicide Charlie was taken to a comedy
club for his birthday. Charlie explains the evening, “I realized all
their jokes had someone as the victim. Somebody gets hurt and people
laugh. A guy slips on a banana peel, and people laugh. I wanted to see if
my life makes people laugh.” Charlie got on stage anywhere he could,
bars, open mics, even as a street performer at downtown bus terminals.
Charlie entered an amateur contest at the club where he had had his
epiphany and won. After only three months as a regular opening act Charlie
was still not happy. He hopped on a greyhound bus with $300 in his pocket
and headed to New York City. He slept in subways and parks and finally
entered a homeless shelter, was robbed, went days without eating, but
still managed to perform at almost every club in NYC. He has been an extra
in movies and television. A couple of years later after experiencing this
drama Charlie is continuing to fine-tune his act. Charlie explains his
style, “If I’m right about this, people don’t expect to laugh at my
domestic violence jokes, suicide jokes, and homeless jokes, but if I do it
just right, they’ll forget and laugh anyway. If comedy is tragedy, I’m
gold baby!”
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