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Derrick Brown’s journey in the arts

People are bound to go through different transitions that affect parts of their life. Sometimes their careers change, hobbies, or even their environment, but these changes and phases add to people’s depth and make life worth the story.

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Popular comedic poet pens new book


People are bound to go through different transitions that affect parts of their life. Sometimes their careers change, hobbies, or even their environment, but these changes and phases add to people’s depth and make life worth the story. Derrick Brown went through three different career changes and ended up marrying all of them together to create a life of excitement, community acceptance, and a love for people and words.
Brown is a poet, novelist, and comedian, but it didn’t start that way. It took some time in a dark tunnel for Brown to realize his life was about to change.
“When I was in the foxholes while serving in 1991 to 1993, I was writing little short lines, and because they were short, I didn’t know they were technical poetry,” Brown said as he talked about his life as a paratrooper in the 82nd airborne during the Gulf war. After being discharged because of an injury sustained during the war, Brown returned to civilian life and enrolled in Cypress Community College.
While enrolled, Brown attended an open mic slam poetry with his friend and realized his love for it. “I was a total soldier and didn’t understand art or the need for art. I wasn’t reading a lot of books at the time, but once I entered the poet’s community, I realized they were wild-hearted people, and I still was a disciplined soldier, and they allowed me the space to crack my hard shell, and it made me want to live carefree like them.” Brown said.
Brown went on to meet comedian David Cross after one of his shows as he was dating his friend Amber Tamblyn and she advocated for Brown to invite them to one of his shows in New York as the previous ones were awful. “ She wanted to leave a good impression on him, and I made sure to make it as entertaining as possible, and after the show, he invited her to open up for his party.” Brown was already playing around with merging his poetry and comedy together, but after his performance at Cross’s show, Brown was eager to expand his repertoire.
“Because of that show, I had to figure out how to add enough humor to my set to make it seem like I belong on the comedy stage.” Brown said as he talked about his new style of poetry.” I wanted my poetry to be a rollercoaster between humor and heaviness.”
Brown also started his own publishing company called  Write Bloody Publishing,  which includes eight books of poetry and four children’s books. Brown is releasing his newest book “Love Ends In A Tandem Kayak” today on Amazon. The book contains three chapters that venture from love and memory into loneliness and sorrow, ending in the chase for hardcore joy. Brown is also performing a new live comedy album from Sub Pop Records / Pretty Good Friends at the Glendale Room on April 28 and 29th.
For more information about Brown and how to book him, visit https://tinyurl.com/mr2kpyex.

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