The term “crossover” is seldom used of comedians, yet the word is the perfect descriptor for Vernard “Bone” Hampton, one of redemptive comedy’s most well traveled and in-demand funnymen.
Bone’s comedic smarts know no bounds. One day he can be seen working the crowd at a comedy club, the next he’s doing his thing at a church gig, and the following he’s making a splash on a hit sitcom. “I look at comedy like wearing clothes,” he says. “If I’m going to a prom, I’m going to wear a tuxedo. If I’m going to a choir rehearsal, I’ll go in shorts and a T-shirt.”
When Bone began his comedic career in California (after moving from Texas - almost on a whim), he felt like a fish out of water. But the experience inspired him to find his own niche, his own identity in the crowded world of foul-mouthed comedy. “What I did know was the Bible and how Christians think,” he acknowledges. “Perhaps I’m not going to be able to touch mainstream audiences like those hardcore guys, but I’m going to be able to touch them in a way a Kirk Franklin or TobyMac would.”
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