Godfrey (comedian)

Godfrey
Godfrey
	Godfrey at a 2007 American Music Awards after-party
Born	Godfrey C. Danchimah Jr.; July 21, 1969 (age 55); Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupations	Comedian; actor; podcast host;
Years active	1995–present
Website	godfreylive.com

Godfrey C. Danchimah Jr. (born July 21, 1969), professionally known mononymously as Godfrey, is a Nigerian-American comedian, impressionist and actor who has appeared on BET, VH1, Comedy Central, and feature films, such as Soul Plane, Original Gangstas, Zoolander, and Johnson Family Vacation. He was also a spokesperson for 7 Up during the popular '7up yours' advertising campaign and a cast member on the first season of The It Factor, a reality television show. Currently, he is a regular performer at the comedy club Comedy Cellar in New York. He is also known for doing the voices of Mr. Stubborn and Mr. Tall (season 2) in The Mr. Men Show and hosting the FOX game show Bullseye. Godfrey also hosted his own radio show on SiriusXM until he parted ways with the show in July 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, Destorm Power, etc. He was once a regular guest on VladTV.

Biography

Godfrey's parents are from Nigeria. Their Nigerian heritage is of the Igbo tribe. They immigrated to the US to escape the Nigerian Civil War. Godfrey is a nephew of Nigerian musician Sonny Okosun.^[1]

Godfrey was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on July 21, 1969. Soon after, the family settled in Chicago where Godfrey grew up. He attended Lane Technical College Preparatory High School and received an academic scholarship to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 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, discovering his comedic talent.

Career

Godfrey in 2007

Godfrey honed his stand-up skills at the All Jokes Aside comedy club in Chicago in the early 1990s. He also plays a pretend tough guy on the World Famous Chad Zumock Podcast. In 1995, Godfrey made his New York debut at Carolines on Broadway and the Comic Strip Live 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, followed by more small television and film roles. In 2000, Godfrey appeared in the Aspen Comedy Festival and on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. He also played a comical role in the movie Soul Plane, acting as an African pilot. He has also been in numerous episodes of BET's Comic View.

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.^[2]

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.^[3] In the following year, he had his own solo show called "The Godfrey Complex" in the same festival for a whole week.^[4]

His second one-hour special, "Godfrey: Regular Black" was shot in Chicago, his home town, on August 12, 2016.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Original Gangstas	Marcus
	Joe's Apartment	Cockroach (voice)
	Chain Reaction	Chidi Egbuna
2000	In the Weeds	Stan
2001	30 Years to Life	Comedian
2001	Zoolander	Janitor Derek
2004	Johnson Family Vacation	Motorcycle Cop
	Soul Plane	First Officer Leslie Gaemon
	The Cookout	Jasper
2005	Virginia	Griffin
2005	Short Fuse	Dogan
2006	Phat Girlz	Akibo
2007	A Dennis the Menace Christmas	Santa/Bob The Angel	Video
2007	Careless	Sabio
2008	Stand Up	Dante
	Show Stoppers	Final Judge
	Bum Boot Camp	Bum	Short
	Don't Shoot the Pharmacist!	Kevin
	The Sweep	Jerome
	Unemployed	Jamal
2009	Omar Saved from Cheating	Omar	Short
2010	Sexcut	TV Actor
2010	A Man, a Woman, a Genie, a Gun	Genie
2016	Like Lambs	Officer Michaels
2016	The Hudson Tribes	Mayor Joubert Lafitte
2019	Rapid Eye Movement	Marcus Crawford
2020	The Binge	Hags' Father
2020	The Truth About Santa Claus	Herbie
2021	Americanish	Gabriel Jackson
2021	Domino: Battle of the Bones	Pip Daddy Fresh
2022	Athazagora	Stan the Driver	Short
2023	The Perfect Find	Jimmy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Midnight Mac	HBO Executive	Episode: "Episode #1.1"
1999	LateLine	Mfune Umbwebwe	Episode: "The Minister of Television"
2000	Thunderbox	Himself/Host	Main Host
2000	Rock of Ages
2001	30 by 30: Kid Flicks
2002	The It Factor	Himself	Main Cast
	I Bet You Will	Himself/Host	Main Host
	Late Friday	Himself	Episode: "Episode #2.6"
	It's Showtime at the Apollo	Himself	Episode: "Queen Latifah/Godfrey"
	Third Watch	Ricky	Episode: "Blackout"
2003	The Celebrity Look-Alike Show	Himself/Host	Main Host
2003	I Love the '80s Strikes Back	Himself	TV series
2004	I Love the '90s		Recurring Guest
2004	Retrosexual: The 80's		TV series
2005	I Love the '90s: Part Deux		TV series
	Black in the 80s		Recurring Guest
	Comedy Central Presents		Episode: "Godfrey"
	I Love the '80s 3-D		Episode: "1985"
	I Love the Holidays		TV series
2006	BET's Top 25 Countdown		Episode: "Moments in Black History"
	I Love Toys		TV series
	I Love the '70s: Volume 2		Recurring Guest
	Celebrity Paranormal Project		Episode: "Pearl's Story"
	100 Greatest Songs of the '80s		TV series
2006-14	Comics Unleashed		Recurring Guest
2007	What I Learned About... From the Movies		Episode: "Sports"
2008	I Love the New Millennium		Recurring Guest
	NESN Comedy All-Stars		Episode: "Episode #1.4"
	truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...		Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2
2008-09	The Mr. Men Show	Mr. Stubborn & Mr. Tall (voice)	Main Cast
2009	30 Rock	Rick	Episode: "The Bubble"
	Z Rock	Pure Dark	Episode: "Z Will Rock You"
	Black to the Future	Himself	Episode: "Hour 4: The 00s"
2009-11	Comedy.TV		Episode: "Episode #1.7" & "#1.18"
2010	Undateable		Main Guest
2010-11	Louie		Guest Cast: Season 1-2
2010-11	Latino 101		Main Guest
2010-12	Laugh Factory		Recurring Guest
2011	Love Lust		Episode: "Love Lust & Secret Societies"
2011	The Heart, She Holler	N-Word The Robot	Episode: "Fear Is Dog Spelled Bassackwards"
2012	20/20	Himself	Episode: "Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time"
2012	Just for Laughs: All-Access		Episode: "Episode #1.6"
2012-18	The Ha!ifax Comedy Fest		Recurring Guest
2013	Juste pour rire		Episode: "Gala Fuck les Variétés"
	PITtv		Episode: "Godfrey: Shout-Out!"
	Insane Clown Posse Theater		Episode: "Godfrey"
	Inside Joke at Moontower		Episode: "Episode #2.2" & "#2.26"
	Upload with Shaquille O'Neal	Himself/Co-Host	Main Co-Host
2014	Deadbeat	Shaky Hands	Recurring Cast: Season 1
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Adam Church	Episode: "Reasonable Doubt"
	Black Dynamite	Al Sharpton (voice)	Episode: "Roots: The White Album"
2014-16	Steven Universe	Kofi (voice)	Recurring Cast
2015	The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore	Himself/Panelist	Recurring Panelist: Season 1
	Bullseye	Himself/Co-Host	Main Co-Host
	ASSSSCAT 3000: New York	Himself	Episode: "Godfrey"
	World's Funniest	Himself/Panelist	Episode: "Cat's Entertainment"
	Get Your Life	Himself	Episode: "Girl Get Your NYPTSD"
	Benders	Rajon Tucker	Recurring Cast
2016	King Bachelor's Pad	Himself	Episode: "Angry Neighbor"
2016	Above Average Presents	Eric Simms	Episode: "The Kicker: For Fans. For Fun."
2017	What's Your F@#King Deal?!	Himself	Episode: "Brad Williams, Nick Vatterott and Godfrey"
2017	Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter	Plaid Jeff	Main Cast: Season 2
2017-18	StarTalk	Himself/Co-Host	Episode: "Episode #4.12" & "#4.16"
2017-18	Lucha Underground	FBI Agent Winter	Recurring Cast: Season 3-4
2018	This Week at the Comedy Cellar	Himself	Recurring Guest
	Glimpse	Christian White	Episode: "Esperanto"
	Our Cartoon President	Barack Obama/Cory Booker (voice)	Recurring Cast: Season 1
2019	CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival	Himself	Episode: "Just My Luck"
2019	King Bachelor's Pad		Episode: "Joker Parody"
2020	Tournament of Laughs		Episode: "And A Round of 32 We Go, Part 2"
2021	Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready		Episode: "Godfrey"
2021	Harlem	Cole Thompson	Episode: "Saturn Returns"
2021-22	Wild 'n Out	Himself/Cast Member	Main Cast: Season 16-18
	That Damn Michael Che	Calvin	Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2
	South Side	Delonte	Recurring Cast: Season 2, Guest: Season 3
2022	We Need To Talk About Cosby	Himself	Episode: "Part 1-4"
	So Dumb It's Criminal: Hosted by Snoop Dogg		Episode: "Hit and Run, Just for Fun"
	Dark Side of Comedy		Episode: "Richard Pryor"
	Human Resources	Mr. Beef (voice)	Recurring Cast: Season 1
2023	I'm a Virgo	A.I. Voice (voice)	Recurring Cast
2023	My Dad the Bounty Hunter	Ja Boluu (voice)	Episode: "This is Doloraam"

Documentary

Year	Title
2002	Comedian
2009	Dane Cook, 30 Premeditated Acts
2010	I Am Comic
2011	Stars & Music
2012	40 Greatest Feuds 3
2012	The Science of Doctor Who
2023	Out of the Loop

Comedy releases

Year	Title
2011	Godfrey: Black by Accident
2016	Godfrey: Regular Black

References

^ "Episode 611 – Godfrey". WTF with Marc Maron. June 15, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
^ "Godfrey: BLACK BY ACCIDENT". www.theblacklistnyc.com.
^ Vallet, Stéphanie (July 19, 2012). "Gala F*ck les variétés: vulgaire et choquant à souhait – Stéphanie Vallet – Juste pour rire". La Presse.
^ [1] Archived July 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine?

External links

Official website
Godfrey on Instagram
Godfrey at IMDb
Comedy Central entry for Godfrey Archived September 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

[1] "Episode 611 – Godfrey". WTF with Marc Maron. June 15, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2015.

[2] "Godfrey: BLACK BY ACCIDENT". www.theblacklistnyc.com.

[3] Vallet, Stéphanie (July 19, 2012). "Gala F*ck les variétés: vulgaire et choquant à souhait – Stéphanie Vallet – Juste pour rire". La Presse.

[4] [1] Archived July 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine?

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