By Victoria Anastasi
Towson University alumnus Brandon Broady has always made people laugh.
As far back as high school, Broady was nominated as the biggest comedian for his senior superlative.
Now, the 29-year-old Silver Spring native is taking his comedic chops and putting them on television as he hosts his own show on BET.
“The Xperiment,” which made its debut Monday, features man-on-the-street interviews, sketches, viral clip reviews and celebrity guests. It will air Mondays through Thursdays at 5 p.m.
Even though “The Xperiment” recently premiered, the buzz is already starting.
“My goal is getting the word out there to press so they can talk about ‘The Xperiment’ and hopefully getting more viewers to tune in and watch the show,” said Luis Defrank, a spokesperson for BET.
Before making the move to California, Broady was going to college at Towson University, double majoring in Acting and Electronic Media and Film. He graduated in 2008.
“It’s been great,” Broady said. “People are very psyched about it. Every episode is better than the one that preceded it. I’m excited. Each week it’s going to have a different flavor.”
Although Broady is hosting his own show, gaining social media followers, and getting hair and makeup ready in his trailer in Santa Monica, California, Broady didn’t always have his heart set on entertaining.
“As a kid growing up, I thought I was going to be a paleontologist,” Broady said. “I thought I was going to be bringing back dinosaurs. I didn’t know that I really wanted to perform. It was other people that said, ‘You should perform.’ I always knew that I was funny and I always made my classes laugh.”
And that he did. According to Broady, he constantly got in trouble for goofy behavior.
“I was hosting the morning announcements at school every morning, but with a different style,” Broady said. “I was the kind of guy that would do funny stuff on the announcements. The principle would run up to the studio every day and tell me, ‘Mr. Broady that was inappropriate what you did on the announcements today.’”
One of Brandon’s teachers at Springbrook High School, Adam Graham, 52, was in charge of the morning announcements, as well as in charge of the school plays.
“It started as a stand-up thing to see how much he could get away with,” Graham said. “I enjoyed it. I also, every once in a while, would push things that I allowed to go on [the announcements]. We wanted to get some entertainment value too. You have to have engaging people. Having Brandon being one of those guys was valuable. It helped make the announcements work well.”
Graham was only one of Broady’s high school teachers that noticed his talent shining through in different projects, like his modern day reenactment of Romeo and Juliet. After his teachers saw the spark, they approached him with requests to audition for school plays.
“I think Brandon always liked performing, but I don’t know if he thought of himself as an actor first,” Graham said. “I provided an opportunity for him and he took full advantage of it.”
By Broady’s junior year, he auditioned for his first play, and got the role.
“He was very electric on stage,” Graham said. “He was great. He was very funny. I was proud of him. He doesn’t flinch from trying something that he knows is going to be hard.”
From then on, performing was Broady’s goal.
“Everything just fell into place,” Broady said. “All these things, from doing these shows in high school, from the radio and hosting, it just really worked out.”
One thing that Broady talked about was his passion for stand-up.
“I’m always thinking of new jokes, new ideas,” Broady said. “My thing is that when I go on stage, I try to get some new jokes, some old jokes, some freestyle off the top of my head. As long as I’ve done [that], I feel that I’ve done my job in stand-up.”
Broady also said it is important that he connects with his audience, even those from different cultures.If he is performing stand-up in an unfamiliar place, like Dubai, he said that he researches the culture to make sure he does not offend anyone.
“I have to understand them and open up,” Broady said. “Even though I’m being true to myself, I have to cater my jokes to them.”
As Broady moves forward with his career, he said he can always count on his family as being his biggest inspiration.. Now, Broady is enjoying where he is now, hosting his show.
“We try to include a little something for everybody,” Broady said. “I just want people to tune in. It’s not like any other show that I have seen on TV. So I’m really excited about where this show is going to go.”
Broady said that the interviews with celebrity guests will be different than normal talk shows.
“We like to have fun with them,” Broady said. “We want to show our viewers this other side to celebrities- the fun side.”
From being the class clown in high school, to honing his craft in college, it was destiny that Broady went down the path of entertainment.
“The Xperiment is a great opportunity and a great foundation,” Broady said. “But this is just the start of a very long successful career.”
(Videos from YouTube)