Comics plan to bring down house

Comedian Lester Bibbs

An all-star lineup of African-American comedians will take to the stage Friday at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts with the "5 Star Comedy Explosion," a one-of-a-kind concert event featuring comics Sheryl Underwood, Marvin Dixon, Cory Holcomb, Lester Bibbs, and a surprise special guest.

"Sheryl's the big name everybody knows," says Memphian and show promoter Linda Mims of her headliner, a former Black Entertainment Television "Funniest Female Comic" and star of the hit film "Barbershop." "But they are all big names on the comedy circuit."

Lester Bibbs' show on Friday will be his first since his cancer diagnosis a year and a half ago.

Marvin Dixon, like Underwood a regular on radio's "The Tom Joyner Show," has appeared on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" and BET's "Comic View." Holcomb has appeared on "Comedy Central Presents" and, again like Underwood, has his own show on Sirius Radio's Jamie Foxx channel, The Foxxhole.

But perhaps the best-known name on the bill to local audiences is Bibbs. A native Memphian, Bibbs started on the local comedy scene in the early 1980s when he was just 17. He's been a national comic figure for two decades now, appearing on "The Arsenio Hall Show" as well as "Comic View" and "Def Comedy Jam." He has also written for other comedians, most notably selling a routine called "Milk and Cookies" to the late Bernie Mac, who used it in the Kings of Comedy.

In 1991, Bibbs made national headlines when he confronted Louisiana politician and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke at a show in Lafayette. Bibbs singled out Duke, who had just announced his plans to run for president, and launched into a string of jokes about his views and associations in a routine that Bibbs says eventually devolved into a riot.

In recent years, however, Bibbs has not had so much to be funny about. A year and a half ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And on the same day, Bibbs and his wife separated.

"My faith was shaken," Bibbs says in a rare nonjocular mood. "My will to live was really tested. Even with the doctors telling me everything I needed to do, my will was gone."

Today, Bibbs' cancer is in remission, a turnaround the comic attributes to holistic and natural treatments. And Bibbs is plotting his return to the stage after more than a year off. He's played a few small club shows to warm up, but his appearance Friday will be his first big show since his diagnosis.

"That night is going to be a big night for me," says Bibbs, who will also be seen later this year in the pilot for a new comedy series called "Laughs and Legends." "I never thought I would see this point again, and I am so grateful and hopeful for it. I just pray the treatments keep going well and y'all keep praying for me because to say that I'm scared is an understatement. I could play it off like I'm cool, but I'm scared as hell."

Never one to shy from controversy, Bibbs has worked his recent troubles into his routine.

"It's a lot of stuff that's been untested that comes from the heart," Bibbs says of the material. "It's so emotional I'm really worried about how it's going to come across here at home."

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5 Star Comedy Explosion

8 p.m. Friday at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, 255 N. Main. Tickets: $36.50 and $46.50; available at the box office, by phone at (800) 745-3000, and through Ticketmaster. For more information, call (800) 726-0915, or visit thecannoncenter.com.

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