Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘Smoove’ Humor Comes To Cherokee Casino
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in a Smoove season.
Actor, writer and comedian Jerry Angelo Brooks, known by his stage name J.B. Smoove, is most famous for his role of Leon on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — recently renewed for another season.
He also joined Bic for a new commercial campaign this year and is promoting the book he wrote from the perspective of his “Curb” character, “The Book of Leon: Philosophy of a Fool,” all while continuing his stand-up and other projects coming down the pipe.
“Each time I catch fire and it seems like I’m everywhere, actually those are seeds that I’ve planted over the year and then they start to all come and be aired at the same time. And it looks like J.B.’s everywhere. Smoove season.”
And Smoove is bringing that unique brand of swagger and outrageousness to Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs, Okla., for a stand-up show on Saturday.
“My stand-up shows, it’s never what people expected it to be. Because I don’t [even] know where I’m going to go,” he shares. “I like to perform for the venue — for a certain size stage, for a certain type of lighting, for a certain type of stool… Everything plays a part in what I’m going to do that night. A lot of things I do on stage, I won’t repeat because it just fit that moment, it fit that audience. It was perfect. I like the crowd to feel like, ‘Wow, he did this especially for us. This won’t happen again.’ That’s the fun part about doing what I do is I’m a wild card.”
“Curb” fans may catch a glimpse of Leon on the stage as well, as Smoove describes his relationship with his character: “There’s a lot of Leon in J.B., but there’s no J.B. in Leon.” Smoove also reveals he interacts with his audience in the new book, too — speaking directly to the reader and doling out advice.
“When you write your story, then you appear on enough TV shows and everybody kind of knows the skim of your life, once that’s done, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, do I still read about this dude’s life over and over again?’” Smoove says of his decision to write from Leon’s warped perspective for his first book, rather than an autobiography. “But a good bad advice book is different.”