Godfrey C. Danchimah, Jr. (born July 21, 1969), professionally known as Godfrey, is an American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

who has appeared on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

, VH1,

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

, and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s, such as ''

Soul Plane ''Soul Plane'' is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jessy Terrero (in his feature film directorial debut). The film stars Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man and Snoop Dogg. Supporting actors include Mo'Nique, Loni Love, K.D. Aubert, D.L ...

'', ''

Original Gangstas ''Original Gangstas'' is a 1996 action-gangster film filmed and set in urban Gary, Indiana starring Blaxploitation film stars such as Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, and Richard Roundtree. It is the final film directed by Larry Cohen ...

'', ''

Zoolander ''Zoolander'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the '' VH1 Fashion Awards'' television ...

'', and ''

Johnson Family Vacation ''Johnson Family Vacation'' is a 2004 American road comedy film directed by Christopher Erskin. It stars Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, Gabby Soleil, Shannon Elizabeth, Solange Knowles, and Steve Harvey. The story revolves aro ...

''. He was also a spokesperson for

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up comp ...

during the popular '7up yours' advertising campaign and a cast member on the first season of ''

The It Factor ''The It Factor'' is an American reality television series which aired for two seasons on the American TV channel Bravo. It followed actors as they attempted to lead successful careers. The first season profiled actors in New York City, and the ...

'', a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show. Currently, he is a regular performer at the comedy club

Comedy Cellar The Comedy Cellar is a comedy club in Manhattan where many top New York comedians perform. It is widely considered to be the best comedy club in the United States. It was founded in 1982 by then stand-up comedian, and current television writer/p ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is also known for doing the voices of Mr. Stubborn and Mr. Tall (Season 2) in ''

The Mr. Men Show ''The Mr. Men Show'' (sometimes referred to as ''Mr. Men Little Miss'' or simply ''Mr. Men'') is an animated children's television series based on the original '' Mr. Men and Little Miss'' books created in the 1970s and 1980s by British author R ...

'' and hosting the FOX game show ''

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

''. Godfrey also hosted his own radio show on SiriusXM until he parted ways with the show on July 1, 2019. He now owns and hosts a podcast called ‘In Godfrey We Trust’ on the Gas Digital Network. He is also known for collaborating with other social media stars such as

King Bach Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), also known as King Bach is a Canadian-American Internet personality and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, where he had 16.2 million followers, making him the most fol ...

Destorm Power DeStorm Power ( ) is an American Internet personality who began his career on the social media platform YouTube. Life and career The fourth of eight siblings, Power was born in Arlington County, Virginia and raised in Baltimore, Maryland by h ...

, etc. He was once a regular guest on

VladTV Vladimir Lyubovny (russian: Владимир Любовный; born June 28, 1973), commonly known as DJ Vlad, is an American interviewer, journalist, and former disc jockey. He is the CEO of video and news website VladTV.com. His YouTube channel ...

Biography

Godfrey's parents are from Nigeria. Their Nigerian heritage is of the Igbo tribe. They emigrated to the US to escape the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

. Godfrey is a nephew of Nigerian musician

Sonny Okosun Sonny Okosun (1 January 1947 – 24 May 2008) was a Nigerian musician, who was known as the leader of the Ozzidi band. He named his band Ozzidi after a renowned Ijaw languages, Ijaw river god, but to Okosun the meaning was "there is a message". ...

. Godfrey was born in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

on July 21, 1969. Soon after, the family settled in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where Godfrey grew up. He attended

Lane Technical College Preparatory High School Lane Tech College Prep High School (often shortened to Lane Tech, full name Albert Grannis Lane Technical College Preparatory High School), is a public 4-year selective enrollment magnet high school located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on ...

and received an academic scholarship to the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

, where he majored in psychology. At the University of Illinois, he made the varsity football team and performed at a traditional talent show for new team members. He stole the show, performing impressions of his coaches and teammates and discovered his comedic talent.

Career

Godfrey honed his stand-up skills at the All Jokes Aside comedy club in Chicago in the early 1990s. In 1995, Godfrey made his New York debut at

Carolines on Broadway Carolines on Broadway is a venue for stand-up comedy situated at 750 Seventh Avenue, on Broadway between 49th and 50th Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. History Caroline Hirsch opened Carolines as a cabaret in ...

and the

Comic Strip Live The Comic Strip Live is the oldest stand-up comedy showcase club in New York City, located at 1568 Second Avenue (between 81st and 82nd Streets). History The Comic Strip was opened in 1976. Richard Tienken and Robert Wachs were two of the club ...

and was soon signed by the William Morris Talent Agency. He began working regularly in television, first behind the cameras as a warm-up comedian for '' Cosby'' and '' Soul Man''. His first on-camera appearance featured him performing stand-up comedy for NBC's ''

Friday Night Videos ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...

'', followed by more small television and film roles. In 2000, Godfrey appeared in the

Aspen Comedy Festival The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...

and on

's ''

Premium Blend ''Premium Blend'' was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as "Live at Gotham". The show wa ...

''. He also played a comical role in the movie ''

'', acting as an African pilot. He has also been in numerous episodes of BET's ''

Comic View ''ComicView'' is an American stand-up comedy show that aired on BET on Tuesdays and Fridays from September 1992 to December 2008. In May 2014, BET announced the return of ''ComicView''. The show has been the launching pad for such comedians as D ...

''. A self-styled karate master, he continues to do film and television work alongside his stand-up career in New York. His first one-hour special, "Godfrey: Black by Accident" was shot for Comedy Central on January 22, 2011 at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City to a standing room only audience. As a guest of Mike Ward's show called "F*ck les variétés", part of the Just for Laughs 2012 festival of Montreal, his performance was highly acclaimed. In the following year, he had his own solo show called "The Godfrey Complex" in the same festival for a whole week.
? His second one-hour special, "Godfrey: Regular Black" was shot in Chicago, his home town, on August 12, 2016.

Filmography

Film

Television

Comedy releases

References

External links

Official website
*
Comedy Central entry for Godfrey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey 1969 births American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors African-American male actors African-American male comedians African-American stand-up comedians American stand-up comedians Illinois Fighting Illini football players Living people Actors from Lincoln, Nebraska Igbo male actors American people of Igbo descent 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people