Laughs & Lessons: Rip Micheals Pulls Up to ROC Solid | Drink Champs Network

TL;DR

Comedian Rip Michaels shares his journey from homeless single father doing open mics to producing sold-out arena tours while awaiting a heart transplant.

Key Points

• 1.Rip Michaels started comedy at 12-13 years old in Chicago. He was too young to enter clubs like the Cotton Club and had to wait outside until it was his turn to perform, then be sent back out.
• 2.Dave Chappelle advised Rip to go to New York to prove himself. Taking that advice, Rip arrived homeless via Greyhound bus with no connections, performing anywhere from subway cars to Bushwick projects to Jamaican spots like Footprints in Flatbush.
• 3.Rip broke into MTV by making people laugh in the TRL line outside 1550 Broadway. A producer noticed him, brought him upstairs, and he became the official warm-up comic for TRL, 106 & Park, the beach house, and eventually Late Night with Carson Daly.
• 4.Christina Milian was a key early supporter, casting Rip as Ja Rule on the show 'Becoming.' She also put him in the film 'Love Don't Cost a Thing,' helping snowball his credits into Comic View and Bad Boys of Comedy.
• 5.Rip missed the original Wild 'N Out audition because he was a single father with full custody of his daughter since she was 2. He couldn't travel to LA, but when the show moved to New York he eventually got in through a TRL director who recognized him at the door after Spanky Hayes forgot to put his name on the list.
• 6.Rip was the warm-up comic for Wild 'N Out for two years without knowing auditions were happening. Production secretly filmed his warm-up sets and used the crowd's laughter reactions to fill in gaps where jokes weren't landing during actual tapings.
• 7.Rip created the April Fools Comedy Jam, now selling out Barclays Center, originally inspired by his late mentor Rasheed. He also launched the Wild Now Tour, starting with 1,500 people at Amazura in Queens and growing to being #2 on Pollstar behind Kelly Clarkson, including two arena shows in one night — 12,000 at Prudential Center and 17,050 at Capital One Arena.
• 8.Rip also created the 'Fall Back in Love' concert series reviving R&B artists like Brandy and Mario who had stepped back from arenas. He combined R&B acts with comedians, paralleling the April Fools format which pairs hip-hop artists with comedians.
• 9.Rip suffered a heart attack at State Farm Arena in front of 18,000 people and is currently on a heart transplant list with his heart functioning at only 19%. He also had a second cardiac episode after selling out the Apollo Theater.
• 10.After his heart attack, Rip lost his SAG health insurance and called everyone he knew for a small acting role to maintain coverage — and almost no one helped. An unexpected lifeline came from internet personality Justina, who cast him in an indie film, a moment he calls a profound wake-up call about real friendship.
• 11.Rip's comedy top list centers on unsung grinders rather than mainstream legends. He named Tony Roberts as one of the funniest comics in the country, Rasheed (deceased) as a top-five-caliber storyteller, TK Kirkland as a long-grinding soldier, and Deion Cole — alongside the established greats like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, and Martin.