By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
As a heavy rain pours outside the StarDome Comedy Club in Hoover, Alabama, on a warm July evening, the Broadway Room inside the venue is packed with dozens waiting to enjoy the monthly Open Mic Night, a showcase of comedians, some of whom have traveled from as far as Atlanta, Georgia, to perform. Several in the audience are in attendance not for the comedians but for the host — Eunice Elliott.
For the next two hours, Elliott, herself a popular comedian, is the constant for the show, opening with a monologue, introducing the performers, riffing in between acts, and engaging with the audience.
Rick and Amanda James from Hoover are among those who say they’ve come for Elliott. The couple came to their first open mic in June, came back again in July, and will be there again for the 7 p.m. show on August 29.
“[Elliott] is so funny, she’s beautiful, she’s hilarious. We love to come watch her. This is our second time at the StarDome ,” said Amanda James, speaking about her and her husband. “She just keeps it real, very authentic. She is very relatable. The stories she tells and the jokes she tells are relatable. Her energy is good.”
Her husband Rick said Elliott is easy going, able to reach people where they are: “Even if I’ve had a bad day, she’s going to bring me up with some of her authentic conversation, making people feel like we’re all together.”
The StarDome this summer brought back its Open Mic Night with Elliott as the host for the first time in more than a year. People who come to the show get to hear at least 10 comedians perform. On that rainy Thursday evening, she booked and hosted 13 comedians in the Broadway Room, which holds up to about 75 people.
“A lot of times people don’t like to host, but I really love to host because I’m steering the ship,” Elliott said following the July show. “I would rather be responsible for people’s good time than not.”
Elliott moved the show smoothly across two hours without a break in the comedy.
“Timing is my thing,” she said. “I’m good with timing, and that makes a difference. Timing and flow and giving [comedians] a chance to breathe, … or if energies come down bringing it back up.”
Many Talents
Elliott wears many hats: host/emcee; author; comedian; comedy writer; actress; radio/television personality; podcast host, community activist, speaker to name a few. Before transitioning to stand-up comedy, she was a news anchor for local television station WVTM 13.
“At the time I was still doing the news, when [comedians] would come by the TV station for interviews they would ask, ‘Why don’t you come open for me?’ Then, after they saw me open, they would ask, ‘Can you travel?’ What people don’t realize about the Birmingham comedy scene is that it’s vibrant because of that comedy club, [the StarDome],” said Elliot, who has opened for several big names in comedy who’ve performed in Birmingham — Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno, J Anthony Brown, George Wallace, Finesse Mitchell, Guy Torry, Rodman, Mike Epps, Faizon Love, and others.
“That’s how I got connected with some of my comedy mentors, [including Marlon Wayans], because they would come to the StarDome,” she added. “That really afforded me a lot of opportunities, even though Birmingham historically is not thought of as a major comedy scene.”
Lifetime of Laughter
For Elliott, comedy runs in the family. She is the third of four siblings (two brothers and one sister), and they grew up always telling jokes.
“My whole family is funny,” she said. “We used to play a game called, ‘I Bet You Can’t Make Me Laugh.’ We always entertained each other. I would say that everybody in my family thinks they could be a stand-up comedian. I’m just the only one that tried it.”
Born and raised in Bessemer, Alabama, Elliott attended Jess Lainer High School and the University of Alabama (UA), where she studied journalism and theater.
“I graduated in the 1900s, … mind your business,” she laughed. “When I was at [UA], I focused on a communication degree in sports communication. My first job a week after graduation was at [sports broadcasting channel] ESPN in [Bristol], Connecticut. I stayed there a couple of years working on [the station’s flagship program, SportsCenter], as a production assistant on the smaller segments and game highlights that make up the show. Then I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and worked for the Tennessee Titans [football team] in media relations.”
From there, Elliott went to Miami, Florida, where she worked for the Orange Bowl Committee, a nonprofit organization that promotes sporting and entertainment events across South Florida. Then she moved to Atlanta, where she worked for a sports agent, Pat Dye Jr., whose dad coached at Auburn University. She then started her own public relations firm and represented professional athletes for 10 years.
WVTM 13
Elliott returned to Birmingham in 2013. During that year, she started at WVTM 13 as the traffic reporter and then was promoted to morning show anchor. “At that point, I was 38 years old, and I had never done television,” she said. “I had done some comedy bits and a little stand-alone segment for them, though, so they reached out to me when they were looking to move someone to the morning show.”
Elliott stayed at the station until 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
She always wanted to write comedy, and she would often frequent comedy shows and rewrite the comedians’ acts. After a tough breakup, though, she became “sad and depressed,” she recalled.
“I was like, ‘What could I do that nobody could ever take from me?’ That’s when I started going to open mics. … It was one of the most natural things I ever did.”
Since that time, Elliott has performed around the country: “There were several open mics at bars around [Birmingham], especially back when I started. … I also performed at the StarDome’s open mic back then, as well.”
What she likes most about being a comedian is, “saying the quiet parts out loud,” she said.
“Either you’re going to say, ‘I think that, too, and that’s why it’s funny,’ or ‘I’ve never thought about that.’ I skew on either side. If I’m making a joke about plucking chin hairs, there are a lot of women who will say, ‘Oh, dang. That’s not something I have figured out how to laugh about yet.’ Now they can because it’s like they’re not alone. It’s a struggle, but it’s not the end of the world,” said Elliott.
“I take things that most people are going through, whether it’s dating, aging, life, career, family, and I just say the quiet part loud or say the part you didn’t realize you felt,” she added.
“Appreciation for Home”
While she doesn’t do it often anymore, Elliott has taught classes at the StarDome to help comedians sharpen their skills.
“If someone is thinking about being a comedian, I usually tell them, ‘Don’t think of what could be funny, just share what is funny.’ That’s my number one thing. I noticed that when people first get on stage, they start making up these fantastical ideas that aren’t realistic and don’t really connect with the audience,” she said.
Elliott’s favorite comedians include some of the greats who changed the game, such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, and Eddie Murphy.
“Now some of my favorite comedians aren’t the most well-known comedians, but [Jeremiah “JJ” Williamson] is great, [Christopher Powell, also known as] Comedian CP. … And I have to put Marlon Wayans on the list pretty high because he’s my comedy mentor.”
Wayans — the youngest sibling in the Wayans Family of entertainers, which includes multihyphenated artists Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Kim Wayans, and Shawn Wayans — is known for his role in the cult classic “White Chicks,” a 2004 film in which he and his brother Marlon are law-enforcement agents who disguise themselves as white women part of an undercover assignment.
“[Marlon Wayans] has supported me for many years, my writing and my comedy. He’s the one who convinced me to move to [Los Angeles, California],” said Elliott, who spent the past year on the West Coast at celebrity news and entertainment outlet TMZ, in addition to doing stand-up comedy, acting, and auditioning.
“I’m a person that enjoys traveling and having good experiences, but I have deep appreciation for home,” she said.
News staff writer Barnett Wright contributed to this report.
Eunice Elliott will host the next Open Mic Thursday at the StarDome on August 29 at 7 p.m., and the club will continue doing the showcase for the foreseeable future on the last Thursday of the month. Individuals who desire to be part of the show are required to submit a video of a previous comedy performance to eunicecomedy@gmail.com in advance; performers are not confirmed to be on the show until they receive a confirmation email.
