A Love Song & Story
to Dirty Angel Entertainment
by: Cassie Ruud
Tyrone (The Real Hyjinx) and Courtenay (DJ WildChild) Collins post open mic. Image / JC Troopa.
This is a love story.
Not just about two people who fell in love (they definitely did that), but a couple who fell in love with their art and craft and have continued to pour that love into every single aspect of their lives and work. This is a love story about a musician and a comedian. A mom and a dad. This is a love story about two people who have shaped and reshaped the Portland comedy scene and are still laying the foundation and landscape for current and new comedians.
This is a love story about Dirty Angel Entertainment, about Black Joy and laughter — and how their love and comedy creates new blooms in the City of Roses.
The Real Hyjinx onstage. Photo courtesy of Courtenay Collins Facebook page.
Intro: Let’s set the scene and some ground rules
While every open mic or show has its own flavor and tone, Dirty Angel’s is consistently vibrating with excitement. The walls thrum with bass at the perfect volume to feel the music in your bones, the crisp scent of whiskey and whispers of smoke, stage lights twirl and frolic across the room. Adjacent to the stage (although sometimes in front or to the side, depending on the location), the DJ dances in the flickering light and shadow, tuning the vibes of the room like a radio station of her own design. A tall man in glasses and a hoodie flits from table to table, checking in, flashing a miles-wide smile, mic in hand.
The inhale of getting onto a rollercoaster, excitement, thrill, and wide eyes:
That’s what a Dirty Angel mic feels like.
Before anyone goes onstage, DJ WildChild (Courtenay Collins) is working magic at her booth, playing new and old hits; Anything from Notorious B.I.G. to Cardi B to Lil’ Wayne. She’ll send each comedian to the stage with their own song when it’s time.
“I’m obsessed with music,” she said, during a Soulfull Saturdays recording session, in between songs, describing her process, “and for a lot of the comics I kinda get a little clue either with their personality, how they interact with me. Their jokes, where they’re from — just something I pick up from paying attention to them and singing. Or maybe we have an inside joke and I’ll play it. If I don’t really know the comic, then I’ll just go by the energy of the room.”
But it’s “Look Thru My Eyes” by DMX that brings her business partner and husband (Tyrone Collins), comedian and MC, The Real Hyjinx to the stage. Hyjinx comes up dancing, mic in hand, and iconic glasses flashing in the spotlight, and no matter how many people are in the room, the energy absolutely soars with applause and laughter.
“I say this to every comic that I work with: Five or 5,000,” he said during the interview. “That’s the energy you should have on that stage. I don’t care if there’s five people or 5,000. That’s one thing you’ll see about me. There could be three people in the audience, but I’m still up there: Like you could be standing-room only and that’s the passion that you should have for anything in life, not just comedy. Whatever you’re doing, you should have that passion.”
That passion comes out in spades onstage — Dirty Angel Entertainment never fails to deliver an enthusiastic, high-energy room, and in return, there are a few established ground rules to cover when it comes to their open mics. After welcoming everyone and making sure WildChild has her whiskey, The Real Hyjinx lays it out.
THE RULES
“Every comedian when they come up here, they have five minutes — five minutes to do their thing — and at the four-minute mark I will give you the light.”
“Now, I do ask while the comics are onstage I ask that you keep the laughter to a MAXIMUM, and we keep the talking to a SHUT THE FUCK UP. Now what that means when the comics are onstage is I need you, the audience, to do just that and SHUT THE FUCK UP. That goes doubly for comics. If I see a comic talking during another comic’s set, I’ll take you off the list and you don’t perform tonight. That’s not me being a bully saying ‘nah nah boo boo my mic’ but it IS about respecting your fellow comics, their time and their skills — are we understood?”
“Now comics, when you come up here, you can say almost ANYTHING you wanna say — BUT, be prepared to defend yourself if you say something somebody don’t like.
If you can’t fight, don't be edgy.
If you get up here being edgy, I think one of two things ‘1) That comic can fight their ass off, or 2) That comic can take a hell of a punch.’ Either way? No fighting in this fine establishment — you want to come to fisticuffs — you take that out to the railroad tracks and relive West Side Story. Or go to 82nd Avenue and fight in Pho Oregon’s parking lot.”
Perhaps most important of all, Hyjinx emphasizes that a Dirty Angel open mic is a safe space — a concept that feels revolutionary with how comedy has historically been a place where punches are not pulled.
“Comics — stay in your fucking lane,” Hyjinx says to the crowd. “You don’t know what that means? You get played off the stage? That means you swerved out of your fucking lane. Do I need to break it down? If you’re not gay, I shouldn’t hear a gay joke from you. If you’re not trans, I shouldn’t hear a trans joke from you. Stay in your fucking lane. If you’re a white man — there’s gonna be a lot of jokes about you. No way to get around it. If your name happens to be Karen, you’re going to be targeted too. Everybody else is pretty much safe. Safe, OK? This is a SAFE SPACE.”
A Dirty Angel mic means consistent, high quality, joyful entertainment — and the rules are part of the fantastic formula they’ve developed over the years, one that has led to multiple weekly shows, open mics, and the 8th Annual Northwest Black Comedy Festival.
With the ground rules established, mutual respect agreed, music electrifying the air, and the energy in the room crackling, Dirty Angel Entertainment crescendos with comedy.
Verse 1: Superhero origin stories
Greatness always starts somewhere — in this case, it was in an Applebee’s in Portland. Tyrone had just moved up from Georgia (after moving around from North Carolina to Vegas, and back to North Carolina), and was working as a server when Courtenay (pronounced with three beautiful syllables: Cour-te-nay) walked in with a group of friends for her best friend’s birthday.
Tyrone (The Real Hyjinx) and child. Image / Tyrone Collins
“She came in with her sisters and them and, it was like, you know, ‘97 as a server, you know, anytime as a male server and you get a table full of women, you're like, ‘oh yeah, this is how I'm getting the tips tonight,’” Tyrone said, in between songs and ad reads. “The women that were in the group ran me ragged like, ‘oh, I didn't get this salad, I ordered this with my chicken wings. Oh, this didn't come out like,’ — just ran me ragged except for my wife.”
At that moment, Tyrone decided he was going to talk to Courtenay after the group had finished their meal, but just barely missed them, the cool, quiet young woman walking out with them. He wound up working a double shift that night, thinking he’d missed his chance, when the group came back to Applebee’s — her friend had wanted the apple crisp.
“As soon as I saw him walk in, I recognized and I honestly begged her not to go,” Courtenay said. “I was like, because he was flirting with me the whole time. I was so not interested during lunch. I was like, dude, this guy is gonna think I'm coming back for him. I swear…”
“…and I was like, well, that was lunch time. He probably isn't there.” But he was — and after a lot of back and forth, he managed to get her phone number.
After trying to get a hold of Courtenay for three weeks, he ran into her sister at the Lloyd Center (where he also worked), and she made him a deal: Get her three CDs and she’d help make that phone call happen.
“And later on that night she called my job,” he said. “It was like, ‘well, my sister said, I guess I gotta call you.’ We went on our first date that night, we went across the street to the movie theater, and we went and saw The Game with Sean Penn and Kirk Douglas, Mike Douglas, one of the Douglases — and somewhere I still have the ticket stubs from that first date.”
From that day on, they were inseparable — if they weren’t hanging out together, they were calling each other on the phone, waiting for Tyrone to get done with work and keep talking. A year later, they got engaged.
“So I went to her parents and I was like, I love your daughter,” he said. “I can't imagine what life is like without her. And I want to ask y'all’s permission to marry her.” While Tyrone had initially planned for a courthouse wedding, Courtenay’s mother asked to throw them a wedding, since this was her first-born daughter tying the knot. They had a beautiful ceremony with a 100+ attendees, 30 days after Tyrone asked for her parents’ blessing.
“But most people thought we were getting married because she was pregnant, but we didn’t have kids until after we got married,” Tyrone said. “They were like, you know, that's the first thing, ‘is she pregnant?’”
“I’d be like, ‘no, no, we just love each other,”
said Courtenay with a smile.
“They're not going to understand why,” he said. “So they would ask that because we were together a year, and very young. Yeah, we were in our twenties — 20, 23. We were young.”
In 2023, Tyrone and Courtenay celebrated 25 years together — a quarter of a century.
Dirty Angel Entertainment came years later, but the laughter started much earlier.
“I'm a very serious, intense person,” she said. “He makes me laugh. So he brought out a whole different side of me that I could really appreciate and liked about myself, so with that and the music we connected on just a whole bunch of things.” Through Courtenay, Tyrone connected with her sister and her sister’s husband at the time, and they started performing skits together for a mock broadcast, which wound up being one of his first steps toward comedy.
“I had never done an open mic, I had never done anything,” he said.
“[After the skit], he was like, yo, I have a friend that's putting on a comedy show in Seattle on a boat and they need an opener. Would you want to do it? I'm like, I'm telling you in advance, I'd never even done an open mic.”
There was absolutely one surefire way to test his chops at comedy before going up to Seattle — Courtenay’s family came to visit from New York. They promised to be straight with him if he wasn’t funny.
“They were like, look you’re family and we love you — but if you ain't funny, we are going to let you know,” said Tyrone. “I'm like, OK, cool. So, I did my thing. They were like, ‘OK, you're funny. All right, you're good. You're good.’ So, the next day we went up there and I did the show on the boat in Seattle.” He opened for Rodney Perry, and after the show Perry came up to him and wanted to know how long he’d been doing comedy for.
“And I was like, this is my first time,” he said. “This is my first time on stage. He was like, what? I was like, yeah, man, I've never done this ever before. He was like, ‘keep doing it, I don't know what it is but you got something, keep doing it.’ I didn't know how comedy worked. Like, I thought you were funny until you bombed and once you bombed, I thought that was your career. I thought once they stopped laughing, that's it.”
Bombing in Portland almost halted his career, until comedian Nathan Brandon took him under his wing and explained that as a comedian — you’re going to bomb A LOT, but to keep doing comedy. From there, Courtenay and Tyrone dove into the Portland comedy scene a dozen or so years ago — one contact leading to another mic or another hosting partner, a glittering fun time at Gossip, until the duo met Angela, a fellow comedian and they kicked off a mic at Gossip.
Tyrone and Angela became mic co-hosts, going to other mics and showcases around the city, until the original mic closed down.
“So we were like, damn, we want to keep this going,” he said. “So from Gossip, we went over to 82nd and Powell, what was the name of it? It used to be a bar right there on 82nd and before that it used to be a 7-Eleven. That was another store, but we used to be right there. We were running the open mic there. Everything was going good.”
“Those were back in the old days because there were only three open mics in the town, not 30,” said Courtenay. “All well run. They were packed, they were beautiful. Now everybody and their mama think they can run an open mic. So it's just crappy now.”
“What people got to understand is every big comic that you see in Portland — they came through our open mic not even being cocky or not, but you name them: I can buy,” Tyrone said.
Unfortunately the mic on 82nd closed down, which paused the momentum — but just for a moment.
“We were like if we stay down too long, people are gonna forget about us,” he said. “So that's when we went over to the Red Room — now Kelly's Olympian. This was a heavy metal, hardcore, heavy metal rocker, biker rock bar shit.”
One of the final pushes to what would become Dirty Angel Entertainment came from the inevitable need to expand beyond one open mic.
“He and Angela parted ways for a moment because she didn’t want to expand,” said Courtenay. “She was very happy just having that one open mic. And we did it on Mondays in those days. She didn’t want to move. We got a chance to do another night somewhere else in northeast Portland. She didn’t like the area, the place. It was a Black place, Black-owned place. And so I was like, we’re doing it, right. Whatever we have to do and figure it out, we do.”
The desire to expand, to do better, be better, and most importantly — do it together — that laid the foundations of Dirty Angel Entertainment.
Chorus
Because success and love don’t exist inside a vacuum, there have been multiple ripple effects in the Portland Comedy Scene thanks to Dirty Angel. Two of these ripples are Portland comedians Jamoudi Rodriguez and Jocelyne Boyer, both of whom have practiced and honed their material at Dirty Angel shows and mics. Their origin stories show the spirit of that legacy.
Comedian Jocelyne Boyer at the Real Comedy Spot open mic, Kelly’s Olympian. Image / Jocelyne Boyer
“My comedy origin story is simply a childhood dream,” said Jamoudi, who has been getting silly all over the Portland Comedy Scene in addition to being an Open Mic Warlord. “I've always dreamt of getting on stage and making people laugh so they can forget about their outside problems for a bit. Can’t fix ‘em but I can be a very silly disconnect, I find no joy in my jokes landing. The true joy is when everyone in the room is laughing and having a good time together.”
“I was interviewing a local musician and comedian, Zane Thomas, for my podcast,” said Jocelyne, who can be found at multiple open mics around PDX and runs the Paint & Laugh showcase. “We talked about comedy, imposter syndrome, and his podcast, The Smoke Break. He encouraged me to try comedy since I expressed an interest. He told me about a website resource called LaughsPDX created by Brent Lowery. Now run by Reese Hendrik. Both local and very funny comedians.”
Going out to open mics can come with challenges — Hoping for a supportive and energetic room, and that your material hits right.
“‘Don't be surprised if the older comics don't notice you for at least a year. So many people don't make it their first year in comedy,’” shared Jocelyne. “That was told to me by a seasoned comic. It was discouraging. Many times, I would look out in the crowd, and comics would be talking, looking at their phones, or just staring. It was definitely intimidating but I felt so alive after each mic. Even when I felt I bombed, I left and couldn't wait to get back up there with better material. Some of my personal challenges were to not judge myself based on how many shows compared to others I was getting on. Another big one is not feeling like I HAVE to make X number of mics a week. Practice is great but so is rest.”
Jamoudi Rodriguez at the Real Comedy Spot open mic, Kelly’s Olympian. Image / Jamoudi Rodriguez
“The experience is amazing, like all things there will be ups and down,” said Jamoudi about tackling open mics. “You simply have to block out the outside noise if it doesn’t benefit your mission, we have a plethora of FREE open mics to do everyday. We are spoiled in that sense, I also think we are spoiled in the sense that we have to truly be funny here. ‘Truly be funny’ what does that mean? It means we have to go on stage and be undeniably funny every time, Portland gives you an opportunity to perform in ALL types of rooms. In the end, it makes you better as a comic (maybe even a better person), it gives you that Swiss Army knife feeling of ‘I can make anyone laugh anywhere if I can master Portland.’”
Verse 2: Hustle, drive, & Black Joy
Courtenay (DJ WildChild) Collins at work.
Since Dirty Angel kicked off, DJ WildChild and The Real Hyjinx have been in a constant state of motion. Between the two of them, they feed the following projects on a regular basis:
The Annual Northwest Black Comedy Festival — a multi-day, multi-comic festival at Curious Comedy Theater held every February
The Real Comedy Spot Open Mic at Misfits on Tuesday nights
Hosting Soulful Saturdays on the Portland Radio Project every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (99.1 FM)
Regular showcases at Spot On Sports Pub in Gresham
Five to six monthly showcases across PDX
Running an ENTIRE bookable and successful entertainment business centered around Black Joy in one of the whitest cities in the country.
Throw in additional careers and children and the next question is “When do you guys sleep?”
“For me, it does not happen very often,” Courtenay said in between songs for Soulful Saturdays. “When we’re off, my brain is still going and I'm kind of introverted as well… So even when I’m home, I still need like 3-4 hours. I’ll stay up — I’m a night owl, always have been, so we kind of function on different hours…
…We balance each other out so he can handle morning things and I can handle late night things or handle administrative duties at 3:45 in the morning when people don’t need to be up. I can just do that kind of stuff by myself, so it is a little insane.”
“Like we don’t have time off,” said Tyrone. “Even when we leave here, we’re in the car, we’re gonna be talking, we’re gonna be meeting, we got this and we got this to look forward to. So one, it takes a lot of dedication like to do what we do, I think, you know, you have to be dedicated to do this and you have to love what you do. So for us it’s an obsession and it’s a love. And I think to do as much as we do, you have to be a little bit crazy.”
Being one of the top Black-owned comedy entertainment teams in an incredibly white city can also present a number of barriers for creators of color — and Dirty Angel has become strategic when it comes to picking locations and partners. The most important element, Tyrone said is to have the ownership of the venue on your side and the same page as you.
“If we’re doing the show in here and we tell somebody they need to shut the fuck up, I don’t care if they’re regulars, I don’t care if they’re in here every day,” he said. “We need the owners to be like, yo, there’s a comedy show, we need you to be quiet.”
“Respect is also crucial,” Courtenay added.
“I learned that early on that being a woman-owned, a Black woman-owned business — two Black people doing something that people are not used to — you need respect,” she said. “I’m telling you, people will come in and see both of us and look around and be like, ‘no, it can’t be them in charge. It has to be someone else we can talk to, right.’”
Courtenay shared how people would go to the bartender with questions before approaching either her DJ booth or Hyjinx holding the mic — and the way forward was to shut that energy down from the jump.
“So yeah, we had to set that up: Like you will respect us, you will shut the fuck up in our shit,” she said. Support from ownership, respect, and trusting Dirty Angel to bring a guaranteed good time by getting out of their way.
“Philosophy wise: You have to believe in our vision like when we come in, just let us do our thing,” said Tyrone.
“We got it,” said Courtenay.
“If we see the owners are on our side, like I said, the main thing is to let us do what we do,” he said. “We don't need your input. Basically, what we need you to do is unlock the door, let us in and then go and do whatever else you need to do.”
“Because we have the blueprint,” she said. “When we first started, folks were nervous, they're not always used to working with Black folks. And that's OK — as long as you can trust us and our vision, that's what we're asking for. We know what we're dealing with. I'm born and raised here. I know the city very well and that gets me far because I know how to speak.”
Combatting and shutting down passive aggressive racism is an ongoing and exhausting part of their work — from not being boxed in creatively to disarming assumptions from sponsors about safety at their shows.
“We had a sponsor last year and when we sat down with them, they wanted a lot of input and a lot of changes,” said Courtenay. “One thing that they suggested or asked was, were we gonna have security? He was like, these are, you know, big wig guys and they might be nervous coming down to MLK and yeah, this is what we're hearing.”
“That 100% sets the wrong precedent, sets the wrong mood, sets the wrong tone — sets everything that is opposite of what a Dirty Angel Entertainment show is, if I walk into an event and the first thing I see is security,” said Tyrone.
“I said, ‘Look here, I am 47 years old and he is 48 years old,’” recounted Courtenay. “‘We are not young thugs. We have been doing this for eight years. We are a business. We have never had any problems. Any fights, any violence.’ I said, ‘Do you want to see the pictures of the audience because they look like your employees. It's the Northwest Black Comedy Festival because of the performers. The audience is 90% white, sir,’ I said, ‘I will never have security at my event, that gives the wrong message. That is terrible optics. I don't want to go anywhere with security or cops. So why the fuck would I have that at my festival? So you're gonna do it or not, but that will not happen. There's no compromise on that.’”
The most dangerous thing to happen at a Dirty Angel show? One of Tyrone and Courtenay’s friends had their car broken into during the eight years they’ve been doing the festival. Consistently, their mics, shows, and festival run on that powerful engine of respect and high energy. The blueprint, the formula for their success stems from those ground rules of respect — but none of it would be possible without the music and the songstress that is DJ WildChild.
While Tyrone took a call outside the studio, Courtenay shared where her bone-deep passion for music stems from and where the mouth of that river started.
Courtenay (DJ WildChild) Collins. Image / JC Troopa.
“I would say it started in church,” she said. “That’s where I started singing with my sisters. We had a little gospel group, so we started singing in church. Then we actually started our own rap group in high school, the church to rap. We have always been little entertainers and videotaping ourselves. My mom is from New York — so Motown was big. She and her sisters sang the Supremes and all that kind of music in the house and so that rubbed off, rubbed off on us.”
Her family came out west in the late 70s when she was three, and her aunt introduced her to rap.
“I’m like, ‘this is cool, what is this?’” Courtenay said. “And then of course you hear Run-DMC and all these groups that spoke to me. And Salt-N-Pepa. That was my first obsession. I wanted to be them. Those are my biggest influences for rap.”
Queen Latifah, Biggie, and Sean Combs also make the list, and living in New York for a time exposed her to the sonically infectious sounds of the 90s.
“I’ve been blessed to see The Notorious B.I.G. three times before he passed away,” she said. These musical giants inspired Courtenay to share that love of music — and there is no Dirty Angel Entertainment show that doesn’t include her musical selection, input, and guidance.
Chorus
For Portland comedians like Jocelyne and Jamoudi, the blueprint laid out by Dirty Angel Entertainment has been huge in their comedy careers and has left a massive impact.
“One of the biggest joys is experiencing a mic where you feel welcomed and listened to,” said Joceyln. “I remember going to a Dirty Angel Entertainment mic at Misfits. It felt like a show. I think the model that Dirty Angel Entertainment runs is a good model and one that other mics have learned or should learn. The rules are pretty simple, set by the creators of DAE, Courtenay and Tyrone Collins: Make sure every single comic stays in their lane, STFU during sets, and clap/cheer for everyone.
Just be supportive so we can all get better and grow.
I remember the first time I got booked for a DAE show — I had my best seven minutes ever and they asked if I was available for a show. It makes a difference having people care about you and care if others are listening to you.”
“Dirty Angel currently has had one of the biggest impacts on my stand up career, they’ve created a safe platform that gives comics a chance to gain more opportunities,” said Jamoudi. “They’ve given me opportunities left and right that I’m blessed to have had because I've gained experience I’ll need later in my comedy career. Everyone may think I’m one of Dirty Angel’s golden children that can do no wrong but Dirty Angel and my history is a funny one, we didn’t start off on the best foot (my fault) but they didn’t quit on me and I didn’t quit on them. Good thing too because without them, I wouldn’t have gained my comedy experience as fast as I did. Class is in session with Dirty Angel Entertainment!!”
Verse 3: Legacy & Comedy Boot Camp
Tyrone (The Real Hyjinx) at Comedy Bootcamp.
It hadn’t been the plan to create a space and platform for new and old comedians to hone their skills, Tyrone said — it just happened to work out that way along with the success and showcases.
“Honestly, we didn't know like, you know, we didn't think our open mic was gonna be a boot camp because that's what we consider our open mic — is a boot camp,” he said. “We feel like this gets you ready to do other spots and you know, and you get good feedback, like I'll give you good feedback and I tell people you don't have to listen to me. I’ve got 12 years in; I've done a lot. So I'm never gonna tell you anything to hinder your career. If I'm telling you something it's only because I want to see you get better and I'm gonna tell you stuff that I wish when I was new in the comedy game, my elder comics would have told me, so that's what we do.”
“I think that's just honestly our personality and just being parents, we kind of just have that nurturing thing going on even,” Courtenay said. “I was called the mom friend in school, like in high school. And then, honestly, I think it was like people telling us that getting that feedback from us was helpful, or ‘you're my comedy mom, your comedy dad, comedy, whatever.’ And so then we started growing that with intention like, ‘oh if that's how people see us and seeing it ourselves. And to me the smartest and most successful people listen, chef's kiss.”
Courtenay and Tyrone said they started to see this “open mic boot camp” energy after they secured two open mics and began drawing interest from new comics on the scene. The draw increased given the fact that they weren’t old, white, and stuffy, but instead, a breath of fresh air and mic options rooted in respect.
“That's just how I was raised,” she said. “People always like, ‘oh Geraldine's kids think they are better.’ No, we were just raised with pride and standards. I just have standards for myself and we always have and I think people see that and so they might get, you know, whatever ideas about us. But anyway, so yeah, I didn't like the attitude. When we started our other mic, I think people thought now we have choices, right? They can be like, oh yeah, fuck those old stuffy white dudes running that mic.”
The influx of new comics and new talent was so successful, they decided to do a showcase: The Young Guns — featuring 56 of the hottest comics on the scene at the time and a massive undertaking on a comedy scale. For some.
“I'll put it this way, every showcase that we put together: We done,” Tyrone said. They also put the emphasis on showcasing women comedians in the scene — inspired by Courtenay’s love of Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa.
“Coming from Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah always focusing on the strong women in hip hop,” she said. “It was like, ‘I have to do that same thing for women in comedy.’ They deserve their own stage, their own focus because we had some really funny up and coming folks but we always go to the underdog. That's our focus because we are the underdog.”
Courtenay added that Dirty Angel could sometimes be an acquired taste — but that is something to revel in.
“We are for a certain person, a select few and that's what we're here for,” she said. “We're not going to change to try to encompass everybody because that's just not who we are. It's not our brand and it would be silly to try to copy that.”
Since Dirty Angel Entertainment sees a smorgasbord of new and established comedians, there are a few that Tyrone and Courtenay suggested keeping an eye on.
“Keep an eye out on Jocelyne Boyer — she is my favorite right now,” said Tyrone.
“I love her as a comic,” said Courtenay. “And these are my favorite people. I'm gonna tell you, it's the people that I don't see coming and it might be the people that I look at with a side eye the first time or two, the people that I fall in love with instantly or have like an instant something to, they usually disappoint me. The people that I don't see coming — like Jamoudi when he started coming to our mics.”
According to Tyrone, Courtenay, and Jamoudi, their initial relationship involved a lot of honest feedback and occasionally being rubbed the wrong way — but the Open Mic Warlord put in the work and didn’t quit trying to improve his craft.
Tyrone (The Real Hyjinx) and Armaan Singh at an open mic. Image / JC Troopa.
“I did not like him and I was not shy about telling him,” she said. “And I respect him and love him to this day because he didn't quit. That didn't turn him off.”
Other comedians, Tyrone said, might have pulled back and walked away from that kind of criticism — Jamoudi took it as a challenge.
“Jamoudi was like, ‘You want me to get better, you know what, I'm going to do just that,’” said Tyrone.
“And he kept coming back and he won me over,” said Courtenay. “He won it. I respect it.”
Watching a comedian like Jamoudi grow was rewarding, as well as for Dirty Angel Comedian Armaan Singh, said Tyrone.
“Armaan was scared, nervous off in the corner right?” he said. “He never talked, just quiet and he was one of those people then once he got to know us and talk to us, he felt safe. Because he had gone to other open mics and this was the first one he said he felt that.”
“He was like, ‘OK, I actually, I feel safe, I feel safe,’” she said. “And Armaan came back again and again. They did a poem and blew my fucking socks off. And I was like, oh, this is a talented motherfucker. I'm underestimating this person. And just again, seeing the growth and the confidence.”
Chorus
Jamoudi Rodriguez at an open mic. Image / JC Troopa.
The impact of this comedy duo on the Portland Comedy Scene runs deep in this city — and its comics.
“They are many things to this scene, one of them being they are the closest thing you will get to a FREE comedy school,” said Jamoudi. “They don’t want your money for lessons, they just want to see you be great and put you on a show that allows you to do so.”
Beyond that, he added, “They are a platform for the Black community in comedy, without them I don’t get the love I’m getting out here, I don’t gain the experience I’ve gained as fast I did. One of Portland's challenges is being a white scene, I don’t have to explain why that’s a challenge for someone that’s not white. But I will say we LOVE and are GRATEFUL OF Dirty Angel Entertainment for what they do for the scene day in and out.”
Verse 4: Celebrate Dirty Angel Entertainment
— Here’s how you do it right:
So — what are the best, most meaningful ways to support this local business, Black creators, and Portland’s Comedy Mom & Dad? Through sharing and respect.
“My biggest thing is just to share what we have coming up,” said Courtenay. “Spread the word if you go to a show, tell your friends you went to the show. Because I think we do have very dedicated and loyal fans, we really do. But, you know, we always want to grow outside of that because I think there's a lot of people that can benefit from our shows and especially what's going on in this world, the joy that we provide and take seriously.”
I think it's important for more people
to jump on this Dirty Angel bandwagon.
“Laughter is a blessing,” said Tyrone. “That open mic we ran last week? I needed that. I needed it in my soul. I needed that night. I needed to laugh. I need to be around fellow comedians and feel that love. And comedy has been the one thing that we actually built a community around. One of the things I love about comedy is I’ve learned that we all have fucked up days like we all have bad days. So my energy comes from, I don’t know if you had a good day or not, but for the next five to 10 minutes, I don’t want you to think about nothing else but just laugh, laugh, laugh and enjoy with me, you know. You don’t realize the difference of little things you can do for people, making somebody laugh. You know, sometimes that laugh you gave that person might keep them from going to jump off that bridge or doing something stupid just because they needed that release.”
For Courtenay, the success of Dirty Angel comes from the duo knowing the why of what they’re about, and the consistency that brings. And the undeniable fact that the great work they do is still extremely hard, and sometimes thankless.
“Why are you doing it?” she asked. “Are you doing it because someone else is doing it? Are you doing it because you think you're supposed to do it? Are you doing it just for attention? If you're doing it for any of those, you might get your validation for a month or two, but it's not gonna last. No, it's not. And we've seen it again and again and again, because we see white people when we know why they're doing it, you'll be like, ‘that's gonna be like four months.’”
“It's like this shit is hard,” said Tyrone. “Like this is, it's not easy. You try, especially for us. We got five or six monthly showcases that we all we're trying to, ok, we gotta book. That's a lot, we gotta book, then we got to make sure. And then it's, it's a lot and a lot of people don't want that. I know people that got rooms and like dope rooms and just let it go because they don't want to do the work.”
At the end of the day, it still comes full circle back to respect — the respect that Dirty Angel Entertainment holds for the quality they bring to a show, the respect they set at the top of an open mic for comedians and their audience, the respect they have for growth and learning and honing one’s craft at comedy, their respect and celebration of comedians of color, and the respect they deserve as professionals who have been doing this for over a decade and who earned their flowers ten times over.
Tyrone and Courtenay go into every potential venue with a plan and a set of standards, and with the knowledge that if those standards aren’t met — it’s fine to walk away.
“Everything is not supposed to last forever,” said Courtenay. “There's time and place, endings and beginnings. You have to be brave to fail in front of people.”
Tyrone (The Real Hyjinx) and Courtenay (DJ WildChild) Collins post open mic. Image / JC Troopa.
Thank Yous
Thank you to Tyrone & Courtenay Collins for one of the most incredible interviews I’ve had the honor of doing, and to Jocelyne Boyer and Jamoudi Rodriguez for sharing their experiences and being hilarious creators and comedians. I hope I’ve cobbled together something that reflects that. And if I didn’t, I trust I’ll get some excellent feedback.
Support Dirty Angel Entertainment
by following them on socials (Facebook, Instagram), and buying tickets to the 2024, 8th Annual Northwest Black Comedy Festival (Feb. 15 - 18, at Curious Comedy Theater). Hit up Courtenay & Tyrone for information on partnering with Dirty Angel for events.
Tune in every Saturday to Soulful Saturdays on the Portland Radio Project at 99.1 FM from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. PST.
Follow and support Jocelyne Boyer on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (and get tickets for Paint & Laugh, it’s a ton of fun).
Follow and support the Open Mic Warlord himself, Jamoudi Rodriguez on Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming shows.
In the words of The Real Hyjinx:
“Thank you so much, get home safe,
and GOOD NIGHT.
By: Cassie Ruud
Cassie has a background in journalism, writing, and storytelling and lives with her partner in the Portland area. You can usually find her playing D&D, cooking a new recipe, and laughing her lungs out at various open mics and shows around town.