*Fans first fell in love with comedian Donnell Rawlings as Ashy Larry on “The Chappelle Show,” and later with his critically acclaimed role as Damien “Day-Day” Price on HBO’s “The Wire.”
Most recently, Rollings made a surprise return as ‘Alvin‘ in the hit STARZ drama series BMF/Black Mafa Family. You can also catch him on the “The Donnell Rawlings Show” podcast which airs on all the top platforms and has reached almost 5 million views.
The Washington, D.C., native is a force both on and off the stage as a comedian, actor, and podcaster who will soon be serving up the funny in our living rooms when his comedy special debuts on Netflix. The project is one of 4 specials Dave Chappelle signed on to exclusively produce for the streaming giant.
We spoke to Rawlings about hitting the road post-COVID for solo stand-up performances to sold-out crowds across the country and traveling globally as part of the Chris Rock/Dave Chappelle Tour. He also shared his thoughts on cancel culture and revealed his Netflix special will be dropping later this year. Check out our exclusive conversation below.
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With the new year nearly three months in, what’s Mr. Rawlings been up to so far?
Rawlings: Mr. Rawlings is up to everything that he’s been planning on doing for the last 30 years to continue to keep it moving. I know during the pandemic, a lot of people had a lot of troubles, a lot of people lost work. But during the pandemic, I used that time off to focus on when things started to open up, get back in my stride and just to keep things moving. I’ve been on tour pretty much from the first time I touched a mic up until now, but lately, I’ve been lucky enough to be touring with some of the biggest names in comedy.
I just did a tour with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle in the States, and then we took part of that tour to Australia and New Zealand. I’m with Dave Chappelle again. And then when I come back to the States, I go back, get into my groove of Donnell Rawlings stand-up in theaters and in clubs. But I’ve been very blessed to be able to continue to work, and also very committed to going hard. My phrase is, “Go hard or go home.” If you’re not going to go hard, you might as well go home. And that’s been what I live by forever.
How does it feel to be back performing for a live audience in this post-COVID world?
I mean, it feels good. I was one of the guys, although we were on lockdown, people were finding different ways to do shows. Something that became popular was the parking lot shows where people would, almost like a drive-in movie theater situation. I was doing that. I did things to stay busy, but I also was lucky enough to be out in Yellow Springs during the pandemic when Dave Chappelle created an outdoor comedy space. So I never really got detached from doing standup, but right now after a 30-year career, I just feel like right now things are really, really, really going well. And that’s because of believing.
And also, I’ve been putting the work in for so long. It was interesting with this Australian tour, because I know how people receive me in the States. I’m pretty popular in the United States, but you never know how your comedy would translate in another country. You never know how those people got to know you or whatever. But when I go out on these shows and DJ Trauma says, “You’ve seen this guy on HBO’s The Wire, he’s on a new series BMF.” And then he says, “But you fell in love with him as Ashy Larry from Chappelle Show.” To hear 18,000 Aussies go crazy, it’s like, I don’t think I could ever get used to that. This is a great feeling.
Speaking of standup, how are you approaching your material these days in this age of cancel culture? Is this movement impacting your writing process?
Well, I will say it hasn’t affected me at all. The reason why, because I don’t subscribe to cancel culture. I think in some cases it makes sense, but in so many cases, I give a perfect example my friend, Dave Chappelle with The Closer. The bottom line is we give so much attention to a small percentage of people. You might gauge a hundred people and say, “How do you like the special?” And three people may not like it. And that’s the only attention we give. We don’t give attention to the 97% that like it. The 97% of people don’t think that they’ve crossed the line. And I think that people are trying to dilute what comedy is. Comedy isn’t going to be perfect. Comedy is ugly.
Dave told me one time, he said, “Donnell, it’s our job to make fun of the things that are trouble in the world. And if you can’t learn to take a joke, if everything has to be so serious, you might want to figure out a different art form to follow.” Because thinking that a comic is going to give you the answer to everything, that’ll never work out. And another thing about cancel culture is that one thing ‘cancel culture’ wants to do. You can be forgiven all you want. You can say sorry all you want for a mistake or something you said, but they don’t care. Only thing that they want to do is stop you from making money. And when you’re a person that doesn’t rely on a network, doesn’t rely on a movie, doesn’t rely on this TV show to make money, and you are a person that you make your money through, I think the most important people and the people that really employ you are your fans.
It’s the reason why, no matter what you feel about Dave Chappelle, the reason why they can’t cancel a guy like that (is) because he’s paid his dues. He’s been in the trenches. He did his time and the people that love him are always going to support him, and he’ll always be able to make an honest living. It’s not a TV show that supports him. I know that Netflix did well by him. They paid him a lot of money. But even if Netflix didn’t exist, he would still be able to create a good lifestyle for himself just by focusing on the people that matter the most, and that’s the fans.
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Speaking of Dave, who are some other comedians that you admire and have influenced your career journey?
It’s so funny. I appreciate a lot of comics for what they do, what they’ve accomplished. But I get my inspiration (from) my mother. The type of sense of humor my mom had, we grew up with nothing. But even with that said, she always found something to be happy about. She always said something funny, always found somebody that probably doing worse than us and we have something to keep our heads up for. When I was coming up for the first time, I saw Martin Lawrence do standup. It inspired me because I was listening to this guy and I was like, it wasn’t like he was the best joke writer. He was so animated. He could tell a story and he was so likable.
And all the qualities he had in stand-up, I was like, “This is what I do around my buddies. Just crack jokes with my friends. Just talk about simple stuff. Just normal day-to-day stuff.” I was a big fan of, and still am, big fan of Chris Rock. Chris Rock. People love Chris Rock, but Chris Rock is definitely one of the kings of comedy. If you have a Mount Rushmore of the comics, he would definitely make that list. And with me touring with him, I should just really take notice of how professional he is, how much of a wordsmith he is, how serious he takes it when he’s preparing for a special. It’s not like a guy just went out there winging it. I’m talking about this guy got notes, he got index cards. His timing is there. His team is professional. And I get a lot of inspiration from not so much how funny somebody is, but what their grind is, what their drive is and what type of work ethic they have. That’s the thing that excites me more than anything.
When you think about how you’ve evolved as a comedian from the first time you first hit the standup comedy circuit till now, how would you describe your growth?
In my 30-year career, I think I’ve grown. I still will push the envelope, you know what I’m saying? My comedy is not going to be squeaky clean. Right now, it is very reflective of my life as a young comic, and you don’t have too many experiences to draw from, to build your material. But one of the biggest changes I know in my material and things I talk about is that me being a father of a seven-year-old son now, 30 years ago, I didn’t have that kid. All my friends was having kids at that time. I’m like that, when they called me the granddad and dad in the same day. And now it’s just so hard for me not to share experiences I’m having with my son. The funny things that he say, the bond that we’re building. When I first started, when you first start, you go for the easy comedy.
When I first started doing standup, I had a lot of easy sex jokes. “You ever had a girl, you doing this and everything.” And that was so easy, but I was getting instant laughs. But as you get older, certain things you don’t feel comfortable talking about no more. You ask yourself, “I’m better than that. I don’t have to rely on just the easy strike. And I can dig deeper and talk about things that affect me.” I think when you first start doing comedy, most comics don’t have a point of view. “Okay, he’s funny, but what’s his point of view? How can we develop a show off of him? Who is he?” I remember I used to do shows when I first started, and I would rip the room. And you knew nothing about me. And as I started getting older, and going back to your question of how have I evolved, I just think that my life experiences have given me different subject lines, and given me better things to talk about and things that people are concerned about.
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So on that note, what’s on your bucket list?
I really don’t have a bucket list. And I’ll tell you why. Years ago, when I first started, I had a mentor comedian, Just June. Rest her soul. She passed away. And this when I as a young comic, she was like, “Donnell, what do you want? What is your dream?” And I said what most comics said. “I want a sitcom, I want a movie.” And then she said, “Donnell, you know what? We are living in the dream.” To be able to create an honest lifestyle, a good lifestyle, controlling what you do, working for yourself, and having fun. The day that I decided to quit my job and pursue this, I was already winning. Because I was doing something I enjoyed and I love.
So that’s my bucket list. Only thing I can do is continue to connect the dots. Can I make more money? Yes. Can I get more film and TV opportunities? Yes. But the thing I appreciate the most is the grind. That’s the best part is the journey.
Lastly, are any other projects coming out this year that you can tell us about?
Netflix. Hopefully, I’ll come back for a third season at BMF. That’s doing great. That’s a street hit. People are loving that. I’m having fun doing that series. Hopefully, I’ll come back for a third season, but this is the year that myself and Dave Chappelle are going to produce my Netflix special. That should be coming out sometime in the summer.
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