In 2018, as the featured comic on “This Is Not Happening,” the Comedy Central storytelling showhosted by Roy Wood Jr., Comedian B-Phlat delivered a routine that, in any other circumstance, might not have been funny.
“I don’t feel like I have to touch on everything … people want to get away from all that. They come to hear comedy, they come to laugh.”
After all, it detailed a knock-down, screaming, and kicking fight between her estranged mother, a group of women she lived with in a St. Louis housing project, and the comedian’s posse of protective cousins. The incident resulted with everyone in police custody.
What made the story of family dysfunction hilarious was the comedian’s first-person account, replete with animated references, free-flying curse words, hair-pulling, and how a phone call to her cousins, “Pumpkin, Jean, Lynn, Rhonda, Tisha” and others led to a street fight where police refused to release the comedian, a minor at the time, to her mother.
“They were like, ‘B$$@h, please…you the reason why she’s here in the first place.’”
That routine spoke to Beverly Perkins’ (better known as “B-Phlat”) style of comedy. She avidly watches national and local news, but doesn’t purposely try to fit current social or political topics into her act.
“The thing about me is that I always have material and I’m super smart,” the confident comedian explained.
“I don’t feel like I have to touch on everything in the nation. People want to get away from all that. They come to hear comedy. They come to laugh.”
When it comes to sensitive material, B-Phlat makes herself the center of her jokes. That way, she said, it allows her to boldly touch on uncomfortable topics including poverty, urban dysfunction, death, abortion, or politics – even in this age of “cancel culture.”
“It’s all about me. People can’t tell me about me,” B-Phlat said. “Everybody [can be] a bully behind their (computer) screens and want to cancel people. I don’t pay any attention to all that.”
B-Phlat will deliver her bold and unique style of comedy at KJ’s Bar & Grill on Broadway on Wednesday June 7, 2023.
The venue hosts nationally known comedians on Wednesday nights. B-Phlat, who graduated from Kirkwood High School, is returning home for a live show.
Perkins, who has lived in Philadelphia since 1992, was raised in diverse environments. She said she shuttled between Meacham Park, where her dad lived, and St. Claire, MO where her mother resided. The experience, she said, helped hone her comedic skills.
“I was exposed to different people and different areas. Living outside my box made me well-rounded,” B-Phlat explained.
“Living in the country for so long, adapting there, moving to the city, then to Philadelphia…it all opened me up to where I am now traveling all around the world doing God’s work-comedy.”
As a teen, B-Phlat had no intention of going into comedy. She graduated from Fontbonne University with a degree in art history & fine arts. At the time, she was a burgeoning artist and trumpet player with an initial desire to become a museum curator.
She left St. Louis after being accepted at Drexel University in Philadelphia to pursue a degree in arts administration.
Instead, she wound up working in marketing at a large Philadelphia law firm. One of her jobs was to organize annual retreats for lawyers in the region. It was also her responsibility to host annual roasts, which wound up becoming a release for her frustrations with big-time law firms.
“At the time, there were only two Black attorneys at the firm and whoever worked in the mail or lunch rooms. So, I would give those old partners hell,” B-Phlat recalled.
“Everybody started saying I was funny, and I realized they were right…so I quit.”
That was in 1997 and B-Phlat said she’s never had a regular 9-to-5 job since.
“I have no regrets. I never wanted to work for anybody anyway. I wanted to be my own boss and now I am,” she said.
Before leaving the firm, Perkins wasaccidentally introduced to stand-up comedy. In 1994, she said she and a group of friends signed up for a local talent show. Without her knowledge, her friends signed her up for a comedy routine. Taking the dare, Perkins took to the stage with her trumpet in hand playing a rendition of TLC’s “Creep.”
“I told this funny story about a sexual encounter and me creepin’ around and only got two laughs,” Perkins recalled.
Surprisingly that incident only inspired her.
“I figured, ‘well, damn, if only two people laughed, then there must be something funny about me.’”
Undeterred and determined to do her own thing, B-Phlat started hosting her own comedy shows. She and comedian Fred Thomas (one of the characters of Budweiser’s classic “Wassup” commercials) produced “Tickle me Tuesdays” with visiting comedians, poets, singers and other entertainers at the North Star Bar & Grill in Philly.
“That’s where I met celebrities like Jill Scott, Sonja Sanchez, Music Soulchild, (comedians) Sommore and Michael Blackson and other famous people,” B-Phlat said.
Comedians who came to the Philly spot extended invitations for her to join them on the road. That, B-Phlat said, was the genesis of her performing standup across the country.
Still, St. Louis holds a special place in B-Phlat’s heart. She and the owner of KJ’s Bar & Grill, Kenneth Martin, and his manager Terrence Reynolds, go as far back as 2001 when Martin hosted comedy shows at his club “Two Brothers” on Natural Bridge near Interstate 170.
“Kenny and Terrence have always been instrumental in my career, especially in St. Louis,” B-Phlat said, adding with a chuckle:
“Don’t tell them, but they can probably get me for free.”
B-Phlat is also a part of the Emmy-award winning, “Two Funny Mamas with Sherri Shepherd & Kym Whitley” podcast.
In March, she brought the celebrity duo and friends to KJ’s. On a segment of KSDK’s “Live in the Lou,” Shepherd and Whitley encouraged viewers to visit the club, “eat some fried chicken and fish” and have some fun.
B-Phlat will be back in September as part of the 3rd annual “Music at the Intersection” celebration. More than 50 national, regional and local artists are scheduled to perform across four stages throughout Grand Center Arts District. B-Phlat will host one of the stage events celebrating 50 years of hip-hop music.
The comedian’s plate is overflowing these days. Not only is she part of Shepherd’s online platform with her show, “Tight’N Up Tuesdaze,” she has her own podcast, “Frugal Flips” where she travels the country with her team “flipping” spaces for “older women or people with disabilities or who need help” with a modest budget of under $300.
The comedian is in talks to have the DIY (do it yourself) show, “Frugal Flips with B-Phlat” stream on HDTV. Additionally, her goal is to have her own HBO, Netflix or other streaming service comedy special.
Comedian B-Phlat will perform June 7 at KJ’s Bar & Grill / 5300 N Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63147
For ticket information call: (314) 659-8225
