Las Vegas Weekly

J. Reid’s got jokes

Who’s got jokes? J. Reid does. The Las Vegas-born comedian filmed the show Who’s Got Jokes? with Last Comic Standing host Bill Bellamy last April at The Luxor, and the hour-long stand-up competition is playing right now. Who’s Got Jokes? pits 32 comedians against each other and hides surprise hecklers in the crowd to try and rattle the performers; so far Reid has made it to the semi-finals. While Local viewers can follow the Mojave High School graduate’s journey on TV One (Saturdays, 10 p.m. on Cox Cable channel 363), they can also catch Reid live this week at the Sin City Comedy show at The V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops.

How did you get a shot on Bill Bellamy’s show?

I drove out to LA to audition for the show at a club called The Comedy Union. I did a three-minute set and the producers came up to me after saying, “good job” and that they wanted me on the show. I got a call three days later confirming everything and saying I was on the show.

I heard you had a small part in the film 21. Can you tell me more about that?

Yeah, I had a little small part. We filmed that portion poolside at the Red Rock Resort. I played a massage therapist. If you watched the movie in theaters, you could see me for about 15 seconds, but when they did the DVD, they cut out a lot of stuff. So you don’t really see much of me on the DVD.

What was your format like for your most recent show at Matroyshka restaurant?

When I organize these shows like J. Reid’s One Mic Stand at Matryoshka, I kind of do it from a promoter’s side. I fly out comedian friends I’ve met from just being around the circuit like Ron G. and Adam Hunter from Last Comic Standing who came out to one of the Icehouse shows. At the Russian restaurant, I hosted and did ten minutes up front, then I would bring up a couple of local comedians and let them do sets. I would come back and do another set before bringing on the headliner. It gave me a vehicle where I could perform regularly in Vegas and get my name out there.

Have you ever tried out for Last Comic Standing?

I’ve never been on it. I did try out for it when I first started stand-up. I think it was the first year that they did it, but I didn’t really like the way the audition process went. In the future, I might try something like that again.

You’re no stranger to TV comedy. Can you tell me about the BET program you were featured on?

I was on the show called BET’s Coming to the Stage. I had been doing comedy for almost two years before I got on that show, almost four years ago. It was a learning experience, for one. Before the show, I didn’t really have a chance to perform in that setting with the lights, the cameras and the big stage. When I did that show, it helped me grow as a comedian because it gave me the experience and taught me that you can’t use the same club set when you’re doing something like a big stage show. It kind of taught me the business and gave me the experience I would need for when I got to a big stage like on Who’s Got Jokes?