How Ashima Franklin becomes a beast" on stage"
Nicknamed "Skinny Fine," the live-wire Atlanta comedian braces herself for the big time.
- Courtesy of Ashima Franklin
Ashima Franklin did stand-up comedy while pregnant, up until the night before her infant son’s birth, and started styling herself “The O.B.: Original Baby Momma.” Frequently Franklin, nicknamed "Skinny Fine," takes the stage persona of a vengeful, inescapable Baby Momma who makes her Baby Daddy’s life a living hell, like a folk hero for unmarried mothers. In real life, Franklin says she has good relations with comic Karlous Miller, with whom she has a young son, and they even write Baby Momma jokes together. An uninhibited dynamo willing to ask her audience any question, no matter how personal, Franklin caught a big break last fall and is currently opening for Katt Williams on the popular comic’s tour. You can see her in Williams’ upcoming DVD Kattpacalypse and the movie Slice: The Horrocomedy, but you should try to catch her at Atlanta clubs, just in case she moves on to bigger things.
How did you get started in stand-up comedy?
I moved from Mobile to Atlanta in 2005, because I had an opportunity to train for a job at AirTran. The day I found out I didn’t get the job, a friend took me to the Uptown Comedy Corner, and I realized that stand-up comedy is what I always wanted to do. I got a job there as a waitress and worked there for a year and a half, while going to open mics at other clubs around the city. Katt says I came up the Hollywood way: “You got a job in something you wanted to do.”
How did you connect with Katt Williams?
Last October I was co-headlining at Uptown for a whole week, and Katt happened to be in the audience for my last show on Sunday night. There wasn’t a big crowd, but I don’t care if the audience is two or 2,000, I’ll put on a show. Afterwards he came up and told me that I was the best female comedian he’d ever seen, and asked me if I wanted to go on tour with him. That was on Sunday, then on Monday his people called me to make the arrangements and I was on tour that Wednesday. We were in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. I’m just pinchin’ myself — is this real? And I have been killin’, man. Katt has four comedians open for him and on the first show, he put me on first, for a five-minute set. Then I moved up to 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and now I go on right before Katt with a 20-minute set.
How do you build up so much energy in your stand-up performance?
First, I gotta get that first laugh as soon as I get out there. I gotta get out there and be a beast. People expect for women not to be funny. You’ve got to show confidence onstage. You’ve got to command a stage. Yes, I’m an attractive female, yes, I’m a mom, yes, I’m funny and yes, you’re gonna like me.