Def Comedy Jam

*Def Comedy Jam*
Def Comedy Jam
Genre	Stand-up comedy
Created by	Russell Simmons; Bob Sumner;
Directed by	Stan Lathan
Presented by	Martin Lawrence
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	8
Production
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Brillstein-Grey Communications; Russell Simmons Television; HBO;
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	March 7, 1992 –; May 2, 1997
Related
	All Def Comedy;

Def Comedy Jam is an HBO television series produced by Russell Simmons, Stan Lathan, and Bob Sumner.^[1]^[2]^[3] The series was hosted by Martin Lawrence and Tony Rock in its first six seasons and by D. L. Hughley for its seventh and eighth seasons.

Simmons and long-time collaborator Lathan were inspired to make Def Comedy Jam by The Uptown Comedy Club in Harlem, New York and The Comedy Act Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They teamed up with Def Jam Records label executive and veteran comedy scout Sumner to launch the show. The series had its original run from March 7, 1992 to May 2, 1997 and in 2006 it returned in the HBO fall lineup. Def Comedy Jam helped to launch the careers of several African-American stand-up comedians.

Notable Performers[edit]

Spin-offs[edit]

The show produced a spinoff called Loco Slam.^[4]

Home media[edit]

The show was released on DVD boxsets in the US and the UK.^[5]

References[edit]

^ Williams, Frank B. (1997-03-13). "STAGE; Totally 'Def'; Spinoff of HBO's hit comedy showcase comes to CSUN". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
^ "Has Black Comedy Been Beaten Blue? : 'Def Comedy Jam' is a hit--but with some African American comics turning to cable shows that limit the raunchiness, clean and subtle could be the wave of the future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
^ O'Connor, John J. (1993-07-08). "Review/Television; Onstage at the Outer Limits of the Outrageous". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
^ Braxton, Greg (1994-02-20). "Loco Hopes to Hit Grand Slam for Latinos". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-05.
^ "Def Comedy Jam Classics, Vols. 1 and 2". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

External links[edit]

HBO - Def Comedy Jam Archived 2009-01-10 at the Wayback Machine
Def Comedy Jam 25 on Netflix
Def Comedy Jam at IMDb

This article relating to a comedy television series in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Williams, Frank B. (1997-03-13). "STAGE; Totally 'Def'; Spinoff of HBO's hit comedy showcase comes to CSUN". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

[2] "Has Black Comedy Been Beaten Blue? : 'Def Comedy Jam' is a hit--but with some African American comics turning to cable shows that limit the raunchiness, clean and subtle could be the wave of the future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

[3] O'Connor, John J. (1993-07-08). "Review/Television; Onstage at the Outer Limits of the Outrageous". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

[4] Braxton, Greg (1994-02-20). "Loco Hopes to Hit Grand Slam for Latinos". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-05.

[5] "Def Comedy Jam Classics, Vols. 1 and 2". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

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