Yeah, I Talk Like This

Steve Brown addresses his high, squeaky vocal cords before anyone else can, turning what could be a distraction into a collision between his aggressive posturing and reality. He claims thug credentials, but an attempted bank robbery derails the moment he shouts orders and leaves the hostages laughing hard enough that he fills out a job application to save face. Taped in New York and broadcast on NUVOtv in March 2015, the performance caught the Detroit-born, Alabama-raised comic after years of working through Southern clubs. Director Manny Rodriguez keeps the camera trained on Brown’s animated physical routines as he reenacts drive-thru cashiers mistaking him for a woman and the indignities of a 40th birthday checkup.