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Michael Shawn - Shawn’s World
Interview by: Mike Ivey Jr.
 A few years back Michael Shawn, the raspy, high pitched comedian, journeyed up I-95 to upgrade from Philly’s 100.3 The Beat (formerly 103.9) to New York’s urban radio juggernaut Hot 97 and it’s been on since; Shawn co-hosts Ms. Jones’ popular morning show with DJ Envy. Adding his comedic sense to an already popular program, and appearing at Improv and BET’s Comic View over the past eleven years, has lead to bigger and better gigs. Shawn has worked alongside Reverend Run’s daughter, Vanessa Simmons, in J Kyle Manzay’s ‘The Actor’s Rapper’ (ENGELMAN RECITAL HALL, BARUCH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
55 Lexington Ave at 25th Street).
The satire of rappers’ seeming stronghold over Hollywood acting roles, otherwise up for grabs among struggling black actors, is right up Shawn’s alley: poignant commentary cloaked in hilarity. The seven year radio vet’s Youtube claim to fame is “Ice Pick” (his remix of Omarion’s “Ice Box”), a video of him crooning, a cappella, about a stalkish mistress. But it’s a different grind when your onstage timing is intertwined with others’. Michael Shawn welcome’s NBS to his orbit to discuss the pressures of task switching, the future of music distribution and Jonesy In The Morning.
 Nobodysmiling.com : What's the most challenging aspect of going from a one man stand up show to a team stage effort?
Michael Shawn : The biggest challenge is to stay within the script, and to hit your cues--cause everybody's got a cue, you know their lines, their key words that you know you got to work off of. And me being a stand-up comedian, all the cues I have are cues I give myself, so I lead into another joke with, you know...I really don't have to stay within the script. Even though I do have a script, I don't have to stay within it. So that's a challenge: to actually just work with an ensemble of different actors who are doing their thing. That's the biggest challenge.
Nobodysmiling.com : Does the grind of show rehearsal compare to preparing for early morning radio everyday?
Michael Shawn : It's similar--it definitely is similar, because your going over the same thing all the time. The same chemistry I have with Jones is the same chemistry I've had to build with the other actors in the play. And you just have to keep going over and start learning each other's...tendencies. Like how to let somebody else get their joke off, or get their line off, and not step over them, which is what you don't want to do in radio. That's the key thing in radio, is you never want to step over someone saying something in radio, which has helped me to actually make the transition to do the play.
Nobodysmiling.com : What lessons are you starting to understand by watching J Kyle Manzay pull double duty as director/star?
Michael Shawn : I just respect the work that they have to put into this. The fact that...to be a director, to actually be an actor at the same time, to get everybody to tell the story the way you want the story to be told, but also to keep yourself in mind, that you have to stay in character...I have to applaud him for the work he puts in. To write a script, to produce it, to get all the actors on the same game plan....it's amazing how much work he has to put in on that.
Nobodysmiling.com : Is there pressure to be the funny guy on the set because of your background and role at Hot 97?
Michael Shawn : I thought it would be pressure, but the fact of the matter is, everybody there is funny, so it makes it really easy to be funny. It's not like you’re sitting around with a bunch of people just like...doing their lines--they're all hilarious. Like I've actually learned, and been able to take stuff to improve my stand-up comedy, so it hasn't really been hard at all, in terms of that--like I thought there would be pressure, but there really wasn't any pressure.
Nobodysmiling.com : Do you have any say on what gets played on Miss Jones' morning show?
Michael Shawn : Heeeelllll no. I leave that to DJ Envy, I leave that to Jonesy, I leave that to the program director of Hot 97, because I realized, I don't know what's hot anymore. Like you get to a certain age when you like, I didn't know. Like we could go back to that Soulja Boy--In had no idea that that would be the biggest song of the year. I can't judge it anymore. I can still judge what a girl with a fat ass looks like, but I can't judge what a good hip hop song is anymore.
Nobodysmiling.com : I feel you. Where do you see music distribution going in the next four years?
Michael Shawn : Pshhhh. That's another thing. I guess Jay-Z, with the whole, doing the hook-up with Apple, and the rumor is that their gonna do some type of Internet record label--it just amazes me that there's gonna be a point now where you'll buy a song but you'll never physically have it in your hand. Like you'll never physically actually own it, it'll be in your computer, it'll be some word telling you what you own, but you'll never actually get to unwrap a CD, or read what's in a CD. That to me is crazy, but it's about to happen. The fact that I have CD’s in my car makes me feel like I have a 8-track in my car right now. So technology is off too fast.
Nobodysmiling.com : Word. I think you actually answered some of my next question: I was going to ask, "who's the best music industry example of sound expansion of talent and endorsement deals?", but I guess you think it's Jay-Z.
Michael Shawn : Yeah, I guess Jay-Z with the Apple thing, and I guess...I'm so far behind. Like, my technology when it comes to computers, is so far behind, I thought I was advanced when I actually used a fax machine for the first time. But right now, I guess it's like the MySpace thing. Who would have thought that MySpace would turn into, basically, an audition for rappers right now? There are people who got deals off of Myspace, and all this other stuff. I didn't know--like, I just got a MySpace. I didn't even know what a MySpace was until, probably like 8 months ago.
And I guess Jay-Z's probably the equivalent now, but these kids are so far past what we were at their age. Like a 16 year old, right now, has so much communication with millions of people. Like when you was 16 and wanted to be a rapper, you would go, sit in front of a record label, have a demo, and hope that Russell Simmons walked out, or maybe Diddy walked out, or maybe someone of that stature walked out. Now, basically, if your MySpace page is poppin, and you get enough people to listen, you actually have yourself millions of people who might check your joints out, and put it on they MySpace. Next thing you know, you got your own simple form of distribution, basically.
Nobodysmiling.com : What comes to mind when your industry associates talk about a person selling their soul?
Michael Shawn : Selling their soul? I don't think everybody really talks so much about selling their soul, because everybody in their own way, in this business, has sold their soul. Me, and I'm not excused from that--everybody's had their point when they've sold they soul, some how, some way. You either compromise your opinion on something, you've compromised something you thought was hot that you wanted to do but you said 'you know what? I'ma fall back, and I'ma do it they want to do it, because they're the people investing the money. So everybody's trying to act like they're not selling their soul, but everybody's compromised something to be in this business.
So, there's not gonna be...I don't know if you're familiar with Lenny Bruce, but there's not gonna be too many more Lenny Bruces. I mean, as crazy as Dave Chappelle acted, I respect the fact that he backed away from something with that much money. Actually, I should watch that word respect. Maybe I'll just admire that he turned down enough money to change his life, his family's life, his kid's life. So, I do respect him and admire him.
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