The Orator.Press Magazine Business & Leadership Interview Series (3 of 4): Comedian Rudi Lickwood ~ May 2021

(Interview Series Part 3 of 4)

There’s No Business Like ‘Show’ Business, Like No Business I Know!

So The Famous Song Goes.

**Comedian** **Rudi Lickwood Is A Born Survivor**!

Comedian Rudi Lickwood Knows Only To Well That Whilst Most People Focus On The ‘Show’ In Showbusiness, The ‘Business’ In Show Business Still Needs To Be Taken Care of. Even, or Especially, When The Chips Are Down. It’s His Lived Experience. And Here He Shares Some of His ‘Show’ Business Survival Instincts With Us, In TheOrator.Press Online Magazine Business & Leadership Interview May 2021. This Is The Final Part of A Three Part Special Trilogy of Interviews (Comedy Page April 2021) (Comedy Page May 2021) (Business Page May 2021).

His Story Is A Movin’, Amazin’ And A Masterclass In Combinin’ Business Motivation And Family Parentin’. It Is A Story of Survivin’ Tough Personal Times, Tough Professional Times, Adaptation And Family Dedication.

And What Makes It Especially Remarkable Is That It Involves Him & A Hollywood A-Lister, After A Meeting With An American Old Time Jazz Performer. Survining A 1980s Economic Crash. And “Pivoting” Again In Order To Survive Another One Thirty Years Later. He Is An Example of Perseverance Through Fortitude, Integrity And Character.

**Rudi Lickwood Found A Show *Business* Solution To Survivin’ A World Financial Crash** **Back In The Ninties**

**And Then Lickwood Did It Again And Found A Show *Business* Solution To Survivin’ The Worlwide Pandemic** of **2020 ~ Virtually 30 Years Later**. This Presenter, Radio Host, Comedian And Commentator Is Something Special **When It Comes To Show Business Survival**.

Eddie Murphy

TO.P: Where Did You Go To School?

RL: North West London. I Went To An All Boys School Called John Kelly.

TO.P: Did You Know When You Were At School That You Wanted To Be A Comedian.

RL: No Idea At All. I Wanted To Run A Restaurant. I Wanted To Become A Restaurateur. But I Discovered Through Waitin’ Tables I Could Entertain. And It Was Through That, Workin’ In The Albany Hotel That I Met Up With Art Blakey, Who Was An American Jazz Musician Who Told Me About A Gentleman Named Eddie Murphy. And It Was Just A Coincidence A Had A Similarity To Eddie Murphy.

After That Conversation We Took A Couple of Pictures Because Alot [of Staff There] Were Out of Work Actors And Actresses Who Were Waitin’ The Tables And They Sent Them To A Lookalike Agency. Next Thing You Knew I Became An Eddie Murphy Lookalike. And Then I Started Promotin’ Eddie Murphy’s Films From Trading Places Right Through To Coming To America.

Beverley Hills Cop 1 But Not Beverley Hills Cop 2 Because By The Time of Beverley Hills Cop 2 He Was Caught Soliciting A Prostitute Who Turned Out To Be A Transvestite. And Then All The PR Companies Decided That They Didn’t Want To Use Me As A Lookalike. Not Because I Didn’t Look Like A Lookalike But Because of Eddie Murphy Being Associated With Eddie Murphy. They Didn’t Want Their Products or Services Associated.

TO.P: So How Did You Make It From There To Develop Your Own Comedy Career?

**The Late Great Legendary American Jazz Musician Art Blakey**
**(1919-1990) Leader of The Jazz Band ‘Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers’** **Was Instrumental In Rudi’s Journey Into Comedy**

Comedy Clubs For Cheerin’ Up & Defeatin’ Depression

RL: I Was On My Way To Doin’ A Show And I Lost The Coming To America Outfit That I Was Supposed To Wear Because I The I Left It On The Train. But The Show Still Had To Go On And Because I Was Meant To Be Hostin’ The Show With Other Lookalikes Who Were Performers I Ended Up Goin’ On The Stage As Myself Talkin’ About What Happened On The Platform And Realizin’ That People Were Respondin’ To Me Without My Look of The Eddie Murphy Lookalike.

Then I Was Self-Employed, I Wholesaleing and Retailing Food In Harlesdon High St And I Used To Run A Takeaway In Harlesdon, And It Was Durin’ 87 And We Had Black Tuesday Which Was A Financial Crash. And Because of That Financial Crash It Meant That All The Businesses Collapsed. And The Only Thing I Had Was A Car. Lost The Business And Everything. The Depression of That Got Me To Go To Comedy Clubs To Cheer Myself Up Because My Relationship With My Eldest Daughter’s Mother Had Broken Down. And With The Background of Doing The Eddie Murphy Stuff It Enabled Me To Get Up On Stage And Just Talk. But I Was Able To Just Talk About What Was Goin’ On Around Me In Harlesdon At The Time. And People Found That of Interest. So It’s Not That I Was A Funny Guy. It’s That I Was An Interestin’ Guy To Listen To With Laughs Along The Way.

Motivation, Dreams & Ambitions

TO.P: Do You Still Have Dreams And Ambitions?

RL: I Think If I Don’t Have Any Dreams I’d Die. And If I Don’t Have Any Ambition I Become of No Worth or Value To My Daughters. And My Grandson. So Me Pushin’ To Do Different Types of Things; These Seen Me Do Some Tradin’, They’ve Seen Me Fail In Tradin’. They’ve Seen Me Do Investment. They’ve Seen Me Fail In Investment. They’ve Seen Me Do Podcasts, They’ve Seen Me Fail In Podcasts. They’ve Seen Me Do Comedy. They’ve Seen Me Fail In That. But At The Same Time They See Me Get Up And Go Again. So The Motivation For Me Gettin’ Up And Doin’ Things Is Really For The Benefit of Them, So That They Will Continue Pushing Ahead, So That They Will Feel They Can Fullfill Their Dreams Because If We Don’t Show Our Youngsters That We Have Ambition, Where Is Their Ambition Goin’ To Come From?

Legacy & The Next Generation

Bein’ Black British And Born Here Means That I Should Think About Leavin’ Some Sort of Legacy Behind. Because When Our Parents Came They Came With A Five Year Plan Which Is What Alot of West Indian Parents Did Do. They Never Came With The Intention To Stay. They Didn’t Realize That The Mortgage Meant A Rope Around Your Neck. They Didn’t Realize That When They Did Come It Wasn’t Goin’ To Be A Five Year Plan Because By The Time They Ended Up Havin’ Children The Children Then Had To Get Educated Into The Educational System. The Educational System Then Had To Accomodate The Labour Workforce, Which Is Something I Found Myself In. Not Realizin’ That Institutional Racism Was Sittin’ Down There Waitin’ For Me. Neither Did My Parents Anticipate That. So The Struggle Is, Us As Elders Havin’ To Deal With This For The Benefit of Our Children. So If That’s What We Have To Deal With, It’s Important To Have Dreams & Ambitions Because You Want A Better Life For Your Children Who Are Born Here.

What People Say To Your Face Isn’t Necessarily What They Say Behind Your Back, As Trading Places Starrin’ Eddie Murphy, 1983, Pointed Out

Always Findin’ New Dreams, Ambitions & Inspiration As A Way To Get Back Up & Set An Example To The Kids And The Next Generation
Comedian Rudi Lickwood Talks To TheOrator.Press Online Business Page About His Motivation To Keep Goin’ ~ May 2021

TO.P:

RL:

The Development of Black Wealth

They Didn’t Realize That When They Did Come It Wasn’t Goin’ To Be A Five Year Plan Because By The Time They Ended Up Havin’ Children The Children Then Had To Get Educated Into The Educational System. The Educational System Then Had To Accomodate The Labour Workforce, Which Is Something I Found Myself In. Not Realizin’ That Institutional Racism Was Sittin’ Down There Waitin’ For Me.
Rudi lickwood on the windrush generation discoverin a few brutal realities as when as one or two himself

Laughin’ All The Way To The Bank

T.O.P: We Interviewed Lynne Parker The CEO of ´Funny Women’ (The Women’s Comedy Academy – Famous For The Annual Funny Women Awards) In December 2020. She Runs Confidence Classes For Business People Usin’ Stand Up Comedy As A Tool. And You Host A Show On The BBR (Black Business Recommenations) Facebook Platform. And The Controversial Comedy Film ‘The Producers’ Was All About The Perils of Film Finance And Investment. So Clearly The ‘Business’ of Showbusiness Is Something Comedy Recognises As A Serious Aspect of Bein’ Funny For A Livin’. Can One Really Be Laughin All The Way To The Bank If One Gets It Right When It Comes To The Straight Business of The Funny Business?

RL:

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