THE DOCTORS
Watch Comedian Joe Recca's Video
COMEDIAN JOE RECCA started doing comedy in 1987 at the Comedy Café in
Washington, DC. A veteran comedian who started doing comedy with Dave Chappell.
“Dave Chapelle and I would sit in the back of the club waiting to do our five
minutes.”
Joe’s style of comedy can be described in three words: Funny, Funny, Funny. His
real life comedy comes from life experiences. Observations of growing up in the
south, racism, ex-wife, relationships; Joe’s comedy covers it all.
All ages, all races, everybody can relate to Joe’s comedy. Joe’s creativity
comes from a love of making people laugh. Joe says, “No matter what race you are
or what language you speak, we all laugh the same, everyone understands
laughter.”
Joe was a probation counselor working in corrections, “People will listen to
anything you have to say if you make it funny. There was an inmate who would
find Jesus every time he got locked up. He’d say, ‘I’m back with Christ’. You
wasn’t with Christ when you had those people lying face down in that liquor
store. ‘Christ will set you free’. Christ better be on the parole board”.
I am a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I’ve been a comedian for over 17
years, and I’ve been confronted with a lot of difficulties including the death
of both my parents and recently my grandmother passing away. With all the ups
and downs and trials that life has brought me since leaving my job as a
probation counselor in 1990 and going into comedy full time the one common
denominator has been God. God has always been my rock that I held on to at times
when I didn’t have a stable place to live when I didn’t have money to buy food
and wasn’t sure where the next dollar would come from, when I could feel the
walls closing in on me, and then out nowhere a phone call would come in and work
would come and I would be able to pay my bills. So, I know the power of faith
and hard work.
A year or so ago I took a paint-less dent repair class so I could learn how to
remove dents out of cars because I was tired of struggling as a comedian, but I
was so bad at dent removal I wound up putting more dents in the cars than I took
out. I got booked to do a comedy show in New York and got cancelled the day I
was to tape the show.
So I prayed and asked God to help me in my career. You see I’m working hard just
to put a little heat on me. A comedian called me and asked me to help him write
some material because he was auditioning for a television show on BET called
Coming to the Stage this was the second season of the show. It was the highest
rated show on BET and made the first season winner Lil JJ famous. So I went to
the audition of Coming to the Stage and waited and waited in this long line
because there were over 80 people auditioning in Baltimore.
From Baltimore they selected me and 2 other comedians to go to Hollywood to tape
Coming to the Stage along with 30 others they selected from around the country.
I just wanted to be seen on the show and get some exposure, but after my third
week on the show I started to ask God to help me to win. And this is how I know
what God has for you, he has for you. Because when I thought I was going to get
voted off the show there I was still in the running. The show was a 13 week show
and I was on the show for 7 weeks and in the finals the judges declared me the
winner of Coming to the Stage…the Superstar of Funny. I received a $7,000
Ice-tech watch, a Disney cruise, a walk on appearance on the UPN sitcom Eve, and
a BET special. The exposure gave my career the boost it needed to the next level
and got my name out there. So I know the power of Faith, Prayer and
Preparation!!