He is probably the funniest comedian that you don’t really know all too well. A superior talent, Billy D. Washington, is not a comedian that you can compare to others. His sets make you challenge your thought, question your actions, and start a conversation. In other words, the brother is deep. Houston audiences got to experience Washington’s higher level thinking when he headlined at the Joke Joint Comedy Showcase.

Just to put your mind in the right frame Washington opened his performance explaining what he was not to the audience. Topping that list is not being a comedian who degrades black people. “I will never, ever position black people in a place of weakness. I always want to portray us in a position of strength,” said Washington. “The thing is we (black people) are constantly punching up. They (white people) are punching down but they think we are on the same level. And we are not on the same level because we are still minorities. And so I will not ever put a black person in my audience in a position where they can feel ashamed of themselves, can feel ashamed of their culture. Like even if they don’t like what I do on stage. They have to respect it because they know its smart.”

His comedy showcase was intelligent, different, and most definitely funny. Washington touched on every subject from slavery and homelessness to in the news issues like the NFL kneeling for the national anthem controversy and teachers having guns in school. And at the end for kicks, he threw in one Trump joke and one reference to fried chicken. He covered it all but not in a manner I had seen before.

Take his Trump joke, for example. One that he has a love and hate relationship with. In a bold, unapologetic way Washington flat out stated that Donald J. Trump is just like the N-word. The racially diverse audience didn’t know where he was going with this. White people turned a hue of red as they gasped, black people looked a bit confused, and other racial groups were on the edge of their seats. All these mixed reactions played into Washington’s hands as he paused scanning the audience building the intensity for the punch line. I would tell you the entire joke but I will not do so to protect Washington’s material. Just know it was funny and not fake news.

“It is hard to explain the joy that I get out of that last joke. It is hard to explain the pain that it takes for me to do it, “ said Washington about his love/hate relationship with the Trump joke. “As a black person, even as I say it, I hate it and love it at the same time.”

His background

Washington’s roots are firmly planted in Houston. The 1983 Kashmere High School was always destined to be a comic though he wanted to be a lawyer. Comedy was his defense mechanism in school. When kids picked on him. He hit back with a joke taking the attention off himself so they eventually left him alone. The talent was caught by his classmates and senior year he was voted “Most Likely to Be A Comedian.” However, Washington didn’t walk into his destiny until he had a brief career as a Harris County Deputy Constable for five years and then a private investigator. Funny how life works because it was while he was working security at a comedy club that he fell in love with the craft. He gave it a try. He got good at it and gave his two weeks notice to do comedy full time.

“They are basically the same job,” Washington explains about his transition from law enforcement to comedy. “It is about control, about control of the situation, about walking out in front of a group of people and letting them know that you are in charge.”

Taking charge of the comedic stage is what Washington has done his entire career. Within his first six months as a full time comedian, he was on tour with the Temptations. Following that success was the crème de la crème that still gets him to the front of the line of other comics to this day… his stint on Def Jam Comedy Jam.

HBO’s Def Comedy Jam is like a degree. Appearing on the show in the mid-nineties got him major representation from the top agencies in the country. That further opened doors for Washington to tour with Aretha Franklin as her opening act for three years, act in a major motion picture with Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges, host a daily show on VH1, get a television pilot on FOX, and allowed him work the most popular clubs across the country along with periodic TV work on a variety of stand-up comedy shows. “That credit is like a degree,” said Washington of having Def Jam on his resume.

Along with a lengthy career as a comedian, Washington is also a playwright with 14 plays under his belt; a filmmaker, with two award winning films; and an author.

The path he has laid is inspiring to comedians coming up. Comedians like Spike Miller, who hosted the showcase at the Joke Joint. Miller started comedy three years and says Washington is his mentor. “His legend surpasses anything, even meeting him.” Miller, who calls Washington a Houston legend, said he had never seen a comedian – Black, White, Indian or whatever - bury a stage the way Washington did. “If you came in thinking one way, you left a fan, period. And that inspired me so much.” He let Washington know how much he had affected his career. Instantly, Washington took Miller under his wing. Now Miller has the Washington stamp of approval.

His legacy

Washington said he would love for his legacy to be a comedian that was a teacher and could say stuff that makes black people proud. Sure, that’s a great legacy for a comedian but what about a father? His children are his greatest legacy. A proud smile spreads across Washington’s face as he bragged on children.

Washington and his wife have a daughter who has a New York University dance MFA and currently teaches in Aldine ISD. The couple’s son is, as the old folks say, a chip off the old block. He is following in the entertainment field like his father on the filmmaker path. He is currently raising funds for his film, OBB – Other Black Boys, that tells the story of a man who in love with both a male and a female and how he is dealing with his feelings of homosexuality from a straight man’s perspective. He is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

Though Washington has traveled to many places, a lot of times with his entire family in tow, he always makes his way back to Houston, his forever home. “Houston means so much to me because I have been other places and I think the best of those cities Houston has it better, The best of diversity in LA, I think Houston has it better. The most amazing creatives I know from New York, I know more creative people here. The best hustlers from East Coast, I know people who hustler harder from here. And it is harder to make it from here,” he said about the city he loves. “Houston is very well endowed. And if you are well endowed you ain’t got to go nowhere they come to you.”

Just like the city he hails from, Billy D. Washington is well endowed also because the people came out in droves over the weekend at the Joke Joint. He packed the house for two nights and four shows and they left in stitches. But that’s nothing new for the veteran comedian. When you’re different and unexpected, people keep coming and people keep laughing.