Before Rocksino gig, Arsenio Hall talks love for his hometown

Northeast Ohio native Arsenio Hall talks Trump and Cleveland, looks back to fond night at Playhouse Square, forward to gig at Rocksino

“It was the best night of comedy ever.

“The building started caving in.”

Arsenio Hall says this about a night in his hometown of Cleveland last year. While Hall is used to a raucous welcome — the former talk show host’s fans famously bark when he hits the stage — he says the eruption on this night was enough to shake a chandelier inside a theater at Playhouse Square.

The unexpected appearance was thanks to comedian Chris Rock, who brought along surprise guests and Ohio natives Arsenio Hall and Dave Chappelle for the Cleveland stop on his “Total Blackout Tour.”

Hall, an actor, comedian and producer, grew his loyal fanbase through years of touring and, of course, from his Emmy Awardwinning late-night talk show, “The Arsenio Hall Show,” which aired from 1989 to ’94.

But that would hardly be his last hoorah on television. Hall was also the first black “Celebrity Apprentice” winner, in 2012.

Yes, that means he got to know President Donald J. Trump before the latter took his seat in the oval office.

On Aug. 4, Hall will be back in the area to perform at the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.

In a recent phone interview, Hall touches on that experience, his Cleveland love and his college years with fellow comic and TV personality Steve Harvey at Kent State University. Q It’s always fun to talk to artists who are from Cleveland, and you’re also a former Kent State student. A Yeah, I graduated from Warrensville Heights High School and then went on to Kent State. We have a lot of cool people that went to Kent State.

Q Yes, like Steve Harvey.

A Yes, I used to play ball with Steve when we were freshmen and sophomores, and then I kind of lost track of him. But we had a conversation back then and knew that we both wanted to do stand-up. A guy named Franklyn Ajaye — he was a comic and we both liked him — he came to promote a movie called “Car Wash.” So we went to go see him do stand-up at the gym at Kent State, and he was very cool.

It’s funny, because years later when we both ended up in Hollywood — and I think we were at a rally against guns and gang violence — we started talking, and he told me, “You know, there was a time when you went out there and you started doing things and my dad saw you on TV and my dad told me, ‘See, if you had your stuff together and went to Hollywood, you’d be with that boy right now.’” It made Steve get his stuff together. His dad passed before he actually got it all together. But I always felt good that his dad used me as a motivator [laughs].

QI didn’t know you were both there at the same time, let alone dreaming about comedy together.

AWe are actually the exact same age, but Steve will lie about his age by one year sometimes. I’m his worst nightmare because he can’t lie about his age as long as I’m alive [laughs].

QA lot of strong comedians have come out of Northeast Ohio. Do you think there’s a Cleveland style of comedy?

AYou know what, not only is there a Cleveland style of comedy, but it’s funny you should say that.

I was at my agent’s office, like two days ago, and I was telling him, “Look, y’all don’t know nothing about Cleveland. Cleveland ain’t on your radar — I get it.” But I was telling him, I am trying to sell a Netflix special where I go back to Cleveland and we do this big Cleveland-comedy blowout. Because everybody talks about the Motown sound, people talk about the dirty South hip-hop — everybody has something. When we were coming up, Cleveland had a sound.

Cleveland has a distinct sound. Actually, talking to Eddie Murphy once, I said this around him: “Cleveland comics have a distinct voice.” Eddie said, “Yeah, y’all country.” [laughs] I said, “Hey man, there ain’t nothing country about Cleveland that you don’t know nothing about up in Jersey.”

But I’m trying to get them to let me take that [idea] to Netflix because John Henton, who was on “Living Single” with Queen Latifah, and Steve and myself and Tammy Pescatelli … . I mean they are of all colors and genders. There are comics from Cleveland who have a unique and similar voice that I think would be a cool Netflix special. We could call it “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” or something, and I could take them all home to my grandmother’s house [laughs].

QCleveland would go crazy for something like that, especially after losing LeBron. We could use a lift.

AYou know where the idea came from? I hadn’t been back in a while to do stand-up, right? Then one night, Chris Rock called me, and he said, “I’m in Cleveland — you should come. I’m calling [Dave] Chappelle, and I know he lives in Ohio and he’s coming back tonight. So, if he gets back here tonight, y’all gotta both surprise the audience.” So I came back, and I’m telling you, it was the best night of comedy ever.

I came out, I did like 40 minutes, and they thought that was a really nice surprise. The audience was amazing. When the MC guy introduced me, he said, “He’s from right here…” — and nobody expected Arsenio Hall. The [expletive] chandelier shook, and the building started caving in. It was the greatest audience. Then when I finished, I brought on Chappelle, and then we both brought on Chris. What an amazing night. I wanted to come back and do a special or something. I said next time I come back, it should be everybody that was born in Cleveland and does stand-up.

QIt seems that a lot of comedians have different kinds of humor in different times. We seem to be in a pretty tense time right now. Do you change your material to reflect the times?

AThese times are so comically gifted for me [laughs] in the sense that our president is somebody I know. Not only somebody I know, but I was on “Apprentice.” I won “Apprentice.” I’m the first black celebrity to win “Celebrity Apprentice.” I always say that I’m the Jackie Robinson of “Celebrity Apprentice.”

So it’s kind of cool to know [Trump]. I’ve argued with him.

But you know, the fact that I’ve interviewed Hillary Clinton, the whole political race was more specifically interesting to me. Now what I also have noticed is that you can’t be a lazy writer right now as a comic. It’s changing so quickly. Even your point of view, you could say, “OK, my point of view today: I’m gonna write some jokes about Kim Jong Un. Oh, I’m going to write this angle about Dennis Rodman. I’ll say that he should get the Nobel Peace Prize because he met Kim Jong first and then opened the door to Trump, and that’ll annoy Trump if he gets the Nobel Peace Prize.”

So I wrote a bunch of stuff about that angle, and how we were closer to peace, and how when Trump does something good, sometimes you hate it because he’s succeeding and blah blah blah. Then as I’m writing it, two days later it changes, and the point of view becomes, “Wait a minute, Kim Jong Un is not denuclearizing. Matter of fact, that stuff he blew up … he blew up like old Blockbuster locations.” I’m like, “Hey, we can’t fall for this. This guy is like the Magic Don Juan of international leaders — we cannot be pimped by this guy.” It constantly changes. Now all of a sudden that joke sounds old.

So you go, “Wait, wait, wait, I’ve got Stormy Daniels stuff.” I go on stage sometimes, and there’s not time to do all the things you want to do because there’s so much stuff going on and you’ve gotta keep up. Who would have thought that (former Trump campaign manager) Paul Manafort would be in jail and O.J. (Simpson) would be out?

I always say that jokes are like dollar bills and God is making it rain on comedians. I’ve never seen a time like this where you just wake up with your yellow pad because it’s gonna rain jokes on you every day.

QI’m glad you see it from a positive perspective because I think a lot of comedians right now are afraid to offend or are thinking heavily about red states versus blue states.

AWell, there is that side of it because I have a lot of friends who have had horrible experiences — from Kathy Griffin to John Caparulo, who is one of the comics who went to Kent State, right? Whenever you see him, he always wears a cap with a “K” on it, and he’s a funny comic. I saw him get attacked one night because he did a joke comparing the Washington Monument to a penis. He did that joke and a lady attacked him in a club in Hermosa Beach (California). I’m like, if you get attacked in Hermosa Beach … life is complicated [laughs].

Q

So she physically attacked him?

AWell, she started with hitting him with a glass and hitting him in the head. So I’ve got a lot of friends who have gone through that. I don’t know what (actor and Trump supporter) Scott Baio’s life is like, [laughs] but I’m sure there are people angry at him. But what I do — and this is not by design, this just worked out this way — I do a whole thing about being a “Republicrat,” which is kind of a term I made up during the election. I was doing this joke where I’m like, “I’m a Republicrat. I just don’t like any politician on either side of the aisle.” After doing that joke, it dawned on me, if you hit everybody, people are fine. I don’t hit ‘em to make people comfortable, I hit ‘em because I really do believe that Hillary’s full of [expletive] and Donald’s full of [expletive] [laughs]. So I really haven’t had any problems because if you’re mad at me, everybody’s gonna be mad at me because I really don’t like NOBODY on the public scene.

QI think that’s a good approach. It’s kind of similar to how “Family Guy” has been written.

AExactly. When you see me do stand-up, if anything you say, “We’re all mad at you because you don’t like nobody.”

SUBMITTED Arsenio Hall says he’d like to pitch Netflix on a special about him and other comedians from Northeast Ohio. “Cleveland has a distinct sound,” the funnyman says.

SUBMITTED Comic Arsenio Hall says the political news moves so fast these days that by the time he’s written a few jokes on a topic, it typically feels like it’s no longer relevant.