Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Made in the Shade
Marvin Dixon brings his new show to SoFla.
Standup funnyman Marvin Dixon thinks he knows the reason that he’s been so successful in show biz: He shares the stage with other comedians he thinks can deliver laughs.
“A lot of headliners don’t want anyone as funny as them,” Dixon says while on tour in Atlanta. “In the famous words of Richard Pryor, ‘As long as you help others be successful, you will always be successful.’ ”
Local audiences have been following Miamiborn Dixon’s regular comedy nights for almost two decades, first at the nowclosed Miami Nights in the ’90s and then at “Laugh Out Loud Thursdays” at the Hollywood Improv in the 2000s. Tonight he’s bringing “Fifty Shades of Comedy — the All White Edition” to the Casino at Dania Beach. Dixon will be joined by comedians Big Sean Larkin, Darren “D.S.” Sanders and Smokey Suarez.
“A lot of clubs build their comedy night on big names,” Dixon says. “I like to book the funniest comedians in the country and sometimes that is a different person. It’s like a restaurant. Yeah, it may be the most popular restaurant, but does it have the best food?”
So here’s what Dixon thinks of the other comedians on the bill.
Smokey Suarez: “To me, the funniest comedian in New York now.”
Darren “D.S.” Sanders: “People know him from BET’s ‘ComicView.’ He did the carnival Cruise Line for years. He was one of the funniest comedian on the cruise lines. Everybody said that.”
Big Sean Larkin: “One of comedy’s best-kept secrets — very conscientious, very clever. And straight up, crazy, hilarious. He’ll take something obvious and make you look at it in a totally different way.”
“I follow the pattern of one of my favorite comedians, Redd Foxx,” Dixon says. “He knew all these comedians from working on the chitlin’ circuit. He was bringing on all these comedians on TV that he thought deserved a break. That’s how he did his TV show [‘Sanford and Son’]. If you read the autobiography of Redd Foxx … you’ll see that the TV network wanted to audition all these actors, but Redd said, ‘I know who can play these parts.’ The network said, ‘We don’t know who these people are.’ And Redd said, ‘Trust me.’ And he ended up having the No. 1 TV show.”
Here is more about “Fifty Shades of Comedy” and Dixon:
Why is this show called “Fifty Shades of Comedy”?
I changed the name to “Fifty Shades” because comedy comes in all shades, black, white, Latin — everybody, all nationalities. Some people like rap music, some rock ‘n’ roll, some R&B, some heavy metal, but everybody likes to laugh. Everybody.
What’s with “The All White Edition” in the title?
Well, all the comedians will be dressed in white and all the audience will have white on. It’s like an all-white soiree. It was something we usually did during the summer. We’ve been doing it since the early 2000s. And then, everyone mixes and mingles afterward.
“Fifty Shades of Comedy — the All White Edition” will begin 8 p.m. tonight, in Stage 954 at the Casino at Dania Beach, 301 E. Dania Beach Blvd. Tickets cost $15, $20 and $200 (VIP seats at table for four). To order, call 844-234-7469 or go to CasinoDaniaBeach .com.