Part II: Eddie B “As Long as There Is a Teaching Profession, There Will Always Be a Bartender Who Done Made Enough Money to Pay Their Way Through College!”

Eddie B explains the daily sacrifices that teachers make despite the stress, low pay grade and lack of respect from parents at times!

Hoping to hop back on stage and resume his tour schedule, comedian Eddie B has been very active on social media in providing content for his followers. The teacher turned comedian, has developed a diverse following that consist mainly of fellow educators. However, his growing popularity is starting to seep off campus and his support system is stemming from people of all professions. At the end of the day, funny is funny and no one has mastered putting funny into 60-seconds quite like, Eddie B.

During our recent conversation, Eddie explains the importance of not only providing laughter for his fellow educators, but funding as well; in which he does by way of giveaways, Live stream contests and other various avenues.

Laughter is essential, especially for teachers right now because their profession has been turned upside down due to Covid. You’re not only doing your part creating laughter, but can you also talk about some of the things you are doing to help out teachers as well.

Eddie B: As far as laughter, that is essential for us to laugh about stuff that we stress about. That’s why, hopefully when things ease up, I will get back on tour. They come out in abundance because they get a chance to laugh at the things we really cry about, stress about and develop medical conditions behind. It’s funny how our tragedy is also laughter when you hear somebody talk about it and vent about it. It’s sad but it’s funny because it’s our reality. So, it’s very important that they laugh about this stuff because it is very stressful, man. I played football in college and Arena ball. I have played sports all my life. I’ve had broken bones, but nothing that prevented me from moving around. Teaching stopped me from moving around. I was so stressed out that I developed a condition called bell’s palsy. It’s like a paralysis of one side of your face. I woke up one morning and my face didn’t work. You talk about scared. I thought I slept wrong. We had a new curriculum in place. That was that year where teachers were getting fired left and right. They were having budget cuts among districts. They were firing librarians. I was like, “If they don’t care about the nicest people on the campus, I know they don’t care about me.”

(Laughing).

Eddie B: That’s the only thing that dropped me. I thought, if I go to the doctor, get some meds, it will go away, and I’ll be back in the game. They gave me some steroids and other stuff, but they didn’t tell me nothing about how long it was going to lasts. So, I’m thinking one I am done with the medicine they gave me, which was about a week’s supply, I’m done. Face still not working. So, I called the doctor and asked what was going on. And that’s when they told me that it had to run its course because it’s a nervous condition. Let me tell you how long it stuck with me, man… 8 ½ months. You looking at a guy who had to go back to teaching and they made me teach. At first, they said, “Mr. Brown, take as many days as you need because you’re no good to the campus and your students if you’re not healthy.” That lasted until my sick days were up. When my sick days were up, I was getting calls like, “Okay, you’re going to lose your job if you don’t come back,” and all of this other stuff. So, imagine me trying to teach with one side of my face not working. Looking like The Joker. I’m walking around, I can’t overexert any type of expression because you’ll see that one side is droopy. I vowed never to stress again, man. I had to go through that.

That’s how serious it is with teachers. Especially now. Usually the burn out is in the spring. No… the burnout is on the way to work now because of what’s going on. So, they really need that laughter. If I can be a part of anything, I just thank God that he’s allowed me to be that part of someone’s life. I get all kinds of inbox messages and DM’s and I’m talk about real stuff, bro. I’m talking about, I was suicidal, I was going to quit, I was going through it, I was having nervous breakdowns. But they said when they saw my videos, I lifted their spirits. One lady told me she put her gun down, you know what I’m saying. She was ready to end her life. Some of the administrators are just ball-busters, and they don’t have to be that way. It’s already stressful enough to teach, then trying to get your feet up under you as an educator, then dealing with the kids, and we have a home life, we have kids. We have a whole different type of issue to stress about if we gonna stress. She said she was going to end it, man. It had to be two pages on my inbox, and I read every syllable, bro. And I’m crying, I’m not crying because she didn’t do that to herself, I’m crying because I realized how much it mean to people and God gave it to me. Out of every teacher or anybody that ever spoke up for education in the world, he gave it to me, man and that’s big.

I’m not letting you avoid it; you do a lot for teachers all over. Speak on it.

Eddie B: I do like to stay quiet as far as the stuff that I do. I know that’s not good for branding. When you run into marketing companies and talk about branding and stuff, I’m not big on putting a camera on me if I do something for somebody. You won’t know unless they tell you. I took that into this too. That same heart. God blessed me to make a little money from my tour, I was doing well, I’m doing well, I’m good. But you know what, I remember the pain of having to buy supplies. I remember having to do all that little extra stuff that you never get credit for, “You buy the supplies and we will reimburse you,” you don’t ever see that money. So yeah, I bought out the register at a local teacher supply store. And threw it out there, first 200-teachers, you get a $200 gift card to shop and get your school supplies. It was beautiful and didn’t want no cameras there. It was me being a teacher and understanding. That line was so long, I had to fill up the registers again and chop it from $200 to $100. It was about 3 or 400 teachers out there. And people will think that is beautiful, but to me it was so sad to see. It is a shame that teachers have to get out there in a big line to get school supplies. The same thing the district is supposed to fund them with anyways. We talking about meager accommodations. People don’t get the extra mile that teachers have to walk and go through, just to have a regular year. I’ve done much more, I’ve hit Targets up, 3-4 times. We stand out in front of Target, go in there and get your school supplies. And sometimes I tell them, “Look, they got wine in here too.” You don’t have to use that gift card on just school stuff.

Wine is definitely essential in every educator’s life.

Eddie B: Oh yeah! As long as there is a teaching profession, there will always be a bartender who done made enough money to pay their way through college! I guarantee you. Teachers drink. That ain’t coffee and green tea in that thermos. Somebody got some Hennessy in there, and I ain’t mad at em. But yeah man, I’m getting better at it. Every chance I get, I try to have some kind of, back to school… I need to do something this year though too. It’s kind of weird with the Covid thing and social distancing. I just try to make sure that I go live every now and then and do giveaways. I have a company named JLab Audio, they are the first company to come through and say, “Hey, you’re going to be the ambassador of our brand.” They send me stuff to send to teachers. When I do my Facebook and Instagram Live, they hopping on it, and I’m playing music and I’m drinking and acting crazy. But I’m able to do giveaways. I send the names to JLab and they send their stuff out. I appreciate that so much, man. They have no clue. It has nothing to do with, “Oh, they making me the brand ambassador.” No, I appreciate you helping me help these teachers. Even if it’s just a little something. I will always be grateful for them doing that for me, and the educators around the world. And I’m always shouting their name out because I appreciate it. So, they give me stuff to send. As we move forward, I think more companies will come along and want to be a part of it because I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t want to be a part of helping teachers out. They know we don’t get paid enough, the burn out is real, we have to work two and three jobs just to supplement income and it weighs on us. And then we have to teach your kid and we don’t get respect from parents, we don’t get respect from admin all the time, we get put in a box. We can’t teach how we are. They try to make us robotic. It’s like an explosion waiting to happen and the only way we don’t is by remembering why we’re really doing it, and that’s for the kids, man. I tell teachers all the time, you have a kid for the rest of your life. There will always be a kid that will come up to you and tell you what you meant to them. And that’s big and it’s fulfilling too. Very gratifying.

How do you feel about the reopening of schools?

Eddie B: This is very dangerous times to have us going back physically. Even though some teachers want to go back because they miss their babies, but not at that risk. Sometimes we have pre-existing conditions and I tell teachers all the time, the pre-existing conditions that teachers have, they got it from teaching. Teachers come home sick, I’m sure your wife done came home sick, because kid’s get sent to school sick. It’s real germy (laughing).

The diversity in your crowds is not only amazing, but it’s so important to reach so many demographics and groups that gravitate to your work. That has to be gratifying in itself.

Eddie B: Wooo! Man from 18 on up to 75; all different races, all different religions and beliefs. I got people… man, Indians, Caucasians, black and Hispanic. Look man, if you look up into a crowd at my shows, you would be like, “What is the common denominator here?” You see people who you probably wouldn’t think would ever hang with each other outside of that room. And I’m almost certain that some of the people in there won’t even hang with each other outside of that confinement. What brought us together is what we share, and that’s teaching. What we go through because we all go through it. It hits us all in the same way. It’s beautiful to see that man. I couldn’t appeal to no other race than black people when I first started in comedy because I was this neighborhood guy, neighborhood comedian. I would do life comedy, but my life was in the neighborhood. Somebody that grew up in the suburbs wouldn’t know what I was talking about. “I don’t know anything about food stamps. What’s food stamps? This guy is crazy.” It’s beautiful to see everybody together.

Don’t get it twisted, the people who love numbers, don’t think they not looking at that too. I don’t care, that’s just how it happened. It’s real luring to people who are about making money because they see numbers and they see demographics. 95% of them are all women. I love it when I have like 3-generations of teachers. I have a new teacher, the momma teacher and the grandma. Everybody come to my show. When is the last time they all hung out and went out? You know what I’m saying. I love it, man. All different races, all different beliefs, but they jamming before the show starts. I have a DJ. They slapping five to each other. They all know what I’m about so they gotta understand what each person in the crowd is going through too. They dragging their husbands in there. I got fans who didn’t even know about me. The husband get drug out and end up having a good time, even though they don’t know teacher vocabulary words. They can pretty much know what we are talking about. Most of my show is pretty much life comedy from a teacher’s standpoint. I might throw one or two vocabulary words that teachers know in there. Anybody who has ever worked at a job and didn’t always like it all the time, you can relate. A lot of people will come up and take pictures and stuff and they will say, “I’m not a teacher, I just love you,” and I say, “Thank you so much. I know you can relate though.” I love the fact that I have a diverse crowd. I love it because I’m a people lover, period. I love people. I’ve heard stories from people from all different races. Everybody has that one thing in common that they wish they would change, and they wish things were different, and they wish they could say something. It turns into one big vent session.

Are you optimistic at this point about resuming your tours? And where can we find out more about the dates?

Eddie B: Yeah! Very much so. And even if we have to tweak it a little bit, we gonna do something. I’ll do something, even if it’s virtual. We’ll figure something out. Just go to my website www.eddiebcomedy.com. You can look at all that stuff, tour dates, shows, my calendar, they can text me directly at (832)957-2788. It’s real simple to find me. Hopefully, we can get it going in 2021, but if not, hey man… the TV show will be coming out soon. Shoot, after the TV show drop, I think all of this will be bigger. I want to get everybody in the same place at one time. How about that? Let’s sell out a football stadium. I’m not going to say I’m going to do it, but I think God going to bless me to be able to do it, man because that’s where my heart is. To see every teacher out there is a big movement. That’s a statement right there and it’s going to happen.

You are able to congregate the masses and I think it’s awesome for teachers to have an outlet for laughs that go through the daily struggles that they go through. I appreciate your time, keep doing your thing. Where can we find you?

Eddie B: Everything on social media is @eddiebcomedy except for Twitter. It was a dude that didn’t wanna give that up. I got to Twitter too late. He took eddiebcomedy, so I’m @comedianeddieb on Twitter. I can’t stand that, but hey… you gotta try to be uniform, but God dog. He need to gone head and give me that. Nah man, he can keep it. I really appreciate you taking the time to even hear my story and what’s going on with me on behalf of teachers. On behalf of all educators, I know they are going to appreciate it when they read it. It’s real cool what ya’ll are doing. I really appreciate it, man.

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