Comedy knows no bounds.
Bronx native Gina Brillon will be among a group of five diverse comedians putting topics such as race and culture center stage when one of the longest-running multicultural stand-up comedy shows, The Most RACES Show on Earth (MRSOE), hits Brooklyn this spring.
MRSOE, which now features acts by Brillon, Daniel Tirado, Eman El Husseini, Sheng Wang and Rob Haze, began touring the country in 2005. In celebration of its 12th year on the road, founder Neil Bansil added a debut NYC stop to the lineup.
“It’s important to me to be able to give audiences access to comedians from many different cultural backgrounds in an effort to show that no matter who is on stage, their perspectives on life are not that different,” Bansil said in a news release.
amNY.com asked Brillon, who was the first Latina winner of NBC’s “StandUp” diversity showcase in 2012, to chat about how being from the Bronx influences her comedy set.
Catch the show at The Knitting Factory on April 11 at 8:30 p.m.
What inspired you to get involved with MROSE?
Well, despite it being a really awesome lineup of comedians, having worked with Neil before, I was really excited to work with him again. I knew he could put on a really great show, get a really great crowd and have a nice mix of comedians from different ethnic backgrounds.
How do you incorporate your own multicultural experiences into your comedy set?
Mainly, I tell stories from my life … people that affected me. A lot of that is influenced by my background — being from the Bronx and being Latina. So, it kind of just happens naturally.
So, you were born and raised in the Bronx. Can you tell us about your experiences doing stand-up locally when you were 17 years old?
I spent a lot of time performing in places like Gotham Comedy Club, Stand Up NY and the Comic Strip. The very first place I ever started [performing] was in the back of a hamburger joint and it was called Gladys’ Comedy Room. I met some of my closest friends there. I was always the youngest and usually the only female on the show.
How do you think being a Bronx native influences your set?
The Bronx is a tough hood. It builds a thick skin. I think that kind of sass comes through from me when I’m on stage.
Best/funniest/strangest NYC experience? Go:
I had a fake gun pulled on me at the pharmacy that I worked at. I was behind the counter and a woman from the mental hospital — it was not too far from the pharmacy that I worked at — came in demanding that we owed her ten grand. She pulled out a gun and pointed at me and pulled the trigger and it was one of those fake toy guns with a little flag and it.
Never forgot that day.
