Prank calls used to be a form of silliness peculiar to childish and immature people. Today it is entertaining content for which it is worth paying money, at least Rickey Smiley makes money with it. The comedian, who is best known for his prank calls, has been the subject of three television broadcasts and a national radio program about his prank calls.
Maybe Rickey is just an outlier when it comes to what the world thinks of prank calls. If that is the case, we need to investigate the man who opposes the world’s opinion of prank calls and learn more about him. Read on to learn more about the biography and career of Rickey Smiley
Rickey Smiley Bio
The prank caller and reality TV star is an Alabama-born comedian who was born on August 10, 1968. His real name is Broderick Smiley, but he calls himself Rickey and grew up in Birmingham.
Rickey is African American and attended Alabama State University and Tuskegee University for his education. During his studies at Alabama State University, he was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Phi Fraternity and the Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity.
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Rickey’s career in comedy began in 2000 as host of the BET shows Comic View. He excelled in his role as host and was promptly signed on for five years. A formal contract with the TV Network-enabled him to host other television shows such as The Nashville Network, Comic Escape, and Uptown Comedy Club. He has also worked on HBO’s legendary comedy show Def Comedy Jam.
Before Rickey found his niche in prank phone calls, he mostly played outrageous fictional characters. He found his place in the comedy world when he started working for a Dallas radio station, CBFB, in 2004. He was offered the chance to be the host of the morning radio show. One of the outstanding features of the show was the distinctive telephone conversations for which Rickey Smiley is known today. Together with the information, news, and the playing of the latest hip-hop music, the show quickly became popular among listeners. In 2008, he was offered to show his hit show nationwide and he accepted the offer.
The show “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” gained great popularity through prank calls where the comedian disguises his voice to amuse the audience and calls a random number to amuse the listeners. Some of the most notable pranks he has performed are “Uncle Melvin”, where he called his uncle and pretended to be a man who is convinced that his girlfriend has left him. He developed the joke further by making sure that the character punctuated each of his remarks with the word “buddy”.
Due to the popularity of his show, especially the prank calls, Rickey Smiley has released albums of his prank calls, six albums in total with the album “Rickey Smiley”: Vol 6 is a best-selling comedy album on iTunes. Outside of radio, Rickey Smiley has appeared in several movies and television shows, including his own reality TV show, Rickey Smiley for Real in 2015, and his filmography lists movies such as Friday after next (2002) and Baggage Claim (2013).
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Kids, Wife, or Girlfriend, Is He Married?
Despite his ten children, two biological and eight adopted children, Rickey is currently single. He also only learned of the existence of one of his biological children when the child was six years old. Rickey has stated that he has no desire to be married. It may seem strange that a single man raising ten children, but the comedian has expressed that the loss of his father at the age of six has absorbed in him the passion for raising and helping children.
Rickey Smiley Siblings
Rickey Smiley is generally considered an only child. It is also common knowledge that he had a rather difficult childhood, as he lost his father when he was only six years old. After the death of his father, Rickey was raised by his grandparents. Although he is an only child, Rickey has expressed on several occasions that much of his early life was fun due to the strong sense of community of the southern culture and the fact that he was surrounded by many family members.