Basketball players are not stupid. That’s the gist of Blake Griffin’s warmup set for his charity comedy night, Comedy. By Blake. What he wants you to know is that the “dumb athlete” stereotype is not only inaccurate, it has a very simple explanation. His bit turns out to be every bit as funny as the Kia commercials that made him a primetime favorite through his first four seasons in the NBA.
The injured Los Angeles Clippers superstar brought out his family and friends, including his Clippers teammates for a night of standup presented by Griffin, his sponsors at Red Bull, and some of his personal favorite standup comics for a show headlined by veteran Chicago comedian John Mulaney. As he joked in his side-splitting intro: “I invited five of my favorite comedians to join me tonight, but they weren’t available. So we have these comedians instead.” Aside from Griffin’s own hilarious ten-minute warmup, comics included Norm Macdonald, Phoebe Robinson, Whitney Cummings, and Jim Jefferies, all tackling sets that ranged from spectacular to outright scandalous.
Griffin did a wonderful hosting job, keeping the sets bouncing along at a lively clip, which really kept the energy up when Macdonald’s set went a little off the rails, bringing in Mulaney’s closing set to save the day when some of the audience became a little restless. For some reason, a favorite topic of the evening was Deandre Jordan’s designer long sweater, which was likened at various points to a bathrobe and pajamas.
At other points, the assembled comics tackled current events such as the recent spate of sexual harassment allegations against various powerful public figures and, of course, the current President’s erratic behavior, which Mulaney compared to “a horse being loose in a hospital.”
Other sponsors for the night included Knowledge Society, the Los Angeles Clippers, Brand Jordan, Comedy Central, United Talent Agency, 20th Century Fox, Universal Music Group, the University of Oklahoma, Smart & Final, and OBB Pictures. The proceeds of the evening were donated to Blake’s own Team Griffin Foundation, an organization committed to providing young men and women the best opportunities to develop and showcase their skills and learn essential lessons of life, competition, and hard work by encouraging academic and athletic success.
It turns out not only is Blake Griffin a funny guy, he’s also a giving one. Combining that with his obvious athletic gifts and natural talent on the basketball court, it’s as Cummings said during her set: “Why does he have such good comedic timing? That’s not fair. He’s like a unicorn. He’s lovely, such a nice person, which doesn’t make any sense.” What would make sense, is if he pursues even more comedy after this — hopefully last week was just the beginning.
