When of the cool things about Dayton is how small town it really is.  Today I was at the WDTN Studio to promote the Legends for Relief Concert, featuring Dayton’s hometown funk bands- The Ohio Players, Zapp, the Original Lakeside and Steve Arrington.  I turn around and there is the Queen of Comedy, Sommore, ready to promote her shows this weekend at the Dayton Funny Bone.  We go way back, as she played my old club Jokers many times back in the day.
For those of you who might not know her- you should! She is one of America’s top comedic female entertainers. With a winning combination of class and sass, Sommore offers audiences a hilarious, yet piercing look at today’s issues from a woman’s perspective. She is frank and fearless in her routines, tackling topics that range from the mundane to the controversial with wit, intelligence and style.
Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Sommore has had a meteoric rise to the top of her field and has been a trailblazer for women in the comedy business. She was the first woman to host BET’s ”Comic View,” presiding over the 1994-1995 season, and in 1995, she received the Richard Pryor Award for Comic of the Year. She also has hosted Russell Simmons’ “Def Comedy Jam,” and “Showtime at the Apollo.” She was part of the record-breaking “Queens of Comedy” tour in 2000, which garnered Sommore a wider fan base and got her registered in Guinness’ Book of World Records when she performed to a captivated audience of more than 50,000 people in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2001 made-for-television movie based on that tour was the highest-rated and longest running special in the history of the Showtime Network.
In 2002, Sommore made her film debut in Friday After Next. She has also been featured in a number of other films including, Family Reunion (2002), Soul Plane (2004), Something New (2006), and Dirty Laundry (2007).