Adult Swim Greenlight’s
Brings Back
Over 20 years ago an young comedian from St. Louis named Guy Torry was trying to follow in his
older brother’s footsteps, but he realized it wasn’t as easy as he first thought. Big brother Joe had
made a name for himself nationally by being the second host –after Martin Lawrence -of the
insanely hit HBO series Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam on HBO, and Guy just knew he could do
the same. The problem was- as he quickly learned- the opportunity wasn’t the same as his older
brother’s and maybe, just maybe, he had to find another way to break through in Hollywood.
To make matters worse, his move to Hollywood wasn’t anywhere near as smooth as he thought it
would be. Landing a role in a film or television wasn’t easy either, but due to his earlier appearance
on Def Comedy Jam, he did manage to land several small roles in such shows as Family Matters
and Martin.
While Torry was on this journey he realized that the movie producers and talent scouts who were
casting for these shows and films all wanted the next “hot” comedian, but the problem was they
weren’t really going out to see any of the new hot, young, black comedians on stage in Hollywood.
Torry knew that in order for him and several of his fellow comedians that needed to change. So, he
did his research, and he asked around and before you know it, The Comedy Store allowed Torry to
open what eventually became known as Phat Tuesdays.
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