‘People will stick around if it’s good enough’: Long-serving ‘MADtv’ comedian Aries Spears to take Spokane Comedy Club stage

It seems like a few times a year, a photo of kindergarten-aged children decked out in hard hats and hi-vis vests makes its rounds online as part of a meme complaining about job listings that require a seemingly impossible number of years of experience.

The photo is usually accompanied by a caption along the lines of, “When employers want you to have 10 years of experience by age 20.”

While he doesn’t quite meet “10 years of experience by age 20,” comedian Aries Spears gets pretty close, having started performing stand-up at the age of 14.

A young Spears became interested in comedy after watching Eddie Murphy on “Saturday Night Live” and in films like “Trading Places” and “48 Hours.” Spears’ mother, who was familiar with the arts through her work in the music industry, helped Spears get to comedy clubs in New York.

Two years after his first stand-up sets, Spears appeared on “Def Comedy Jam.” The next year, at age 17, Spears performed on “It’s Showtime at the Apollo.”

Thinking back on his early years, Spears recalls getting mixed reactions from fellow comics because of his age.

“There might have been a couple of guys who were somewhat welcoming, but it’s still a fierce, competitive business,” he said.

But Spears carried on performing, eventually adding acting roles in shows like “A Different World” and movies like “Jerry Maguire” to his resume.

Spears’ early sets involved a lot of celebrity impressions, which no doubt helped him when it came time to audition for “MADtv,” a sketch comedy show that aired from 1995 to 2009.

Spears doesn’t remember which impressions he used during his audition, just that the people he was auditioning for gave him a lot of room to play.

“I guess they liked what they saw,” he said.

Audiences agreed, watching Spears from Season 3 to Season 10 as he impersonated the likes of Jay-Z, DMX, Shaquille O’Neal and Denzel Washington and created original characters like Belma Buttons, who co-hosted the fictional show “Reality Check” alongside Debra Wilson’s Tovah McQueen.

Spears never received any flack from someone he impersonated, saying the celebrities were all good-spirited about it.

Going from stand-up, where the success of the set depended on him, to working with an ensemble wasn’t a difficult transition for Spears, who said sketch comedy was a goal of his from the beginning.

“You’re a comedian and that’s what you do and that’s what’s in your blood,” he said. “It’s a fast adjustment because at the end of the day, it’s all about the funny.”

Spears knows about funny, using lots of stories from his past in his stand up. Spears said he doesn’t feel pressure to write jokes about current events because he is inviting audiences into his point of view and sharing what goes on in his head.

“If I happen to say some things that align with current events, that’s always great but at the end of the day, I’m taking you on the journey I want you to be on,” he said.

In more recent years, Spears has also added crowd work to his sets. A look at his Instagram account shows clip after clip of the comedian riffing with audience members.

In one clip, filmed during a set at the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club in San Antonio, Spears starts singing “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “My Girl,” both by the Temptations, because a man in the audience was wearing a sparkly shirt and big gold chain.

Turns out, the man was from Detroit, home of Motown.

“It’s another aspect of the genre, so I feel like if you’re going to be complete, you should be able to do it all,” Spears said.

He has encountered a few audience members who seemed determined to dodge answering his questions, but he said that’s part of the training and that comedians have to deal with all kinds of situations while on stage.

Spears will get a chance at crowd work with Spokane Comedy Club audiences during his five shows Friday through Sunday.

In his years as a comedian, Spears has noticed things becoming a little more sensitive because of political correctness, but said that won’t affect who he is as he stays true to his style, delivery and message.

Social media has also changed the comedy world, as some people have come to expect shorter, quippier jokes in line with the length of Instagram Reels and TikTok videos.

It might be a challenge for some comedians, but Spears has been in the game too long to have his feathers ruffled.

“If you have something worthy of listening to, people will stick around if it’s good enough,” he said.