S2 Episode 21: DON REED - Sticking to His Story

A “Solo Show Powerhouse” and consummate storyteller with a full toolkit of characters, sound effects, impersonations and improvisation. Reed was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Dream On, The Cosby Show and Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime. Reed was an advertising & promotion executive at NBC for two years, then did voice-work for cartoons such as Disney’s Gargoyles, Spider-Man and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. In 2008, he debuted a solo autobiographical show titled East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player and has presented a total of 5 solo shows altogether. In 2009, he became the warm-up comic for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – and performed stand-up to warm up the studio audience for over 1,000 episodes. NPR/WNYC’s Snap Judgment recognized his storytelling for Performance of the Year in 2016. Later that year Theater Bay Area gave his show East 14th the 2016 TBA award for Outstanding Solo Show. The same year, Reed co-starred in the streaming comedy series, Bartlett, with Broadway phenom Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton. In 2019, Don Reed was approached by writer/director/filmmaker Robert Townsend to co-produce his one man, theatrical hit Living the Shuffle. On this episode he shares the importance of truth in storytelling, explains how he writes on the move in his car, and encourages anyone who does stand-up to try a night of storytelling.