The hosting slot on a comedy show is a serious job for any stand-up. They arrive early to warm up the crowd and stay until the bitter end even if nobody is left to watch them. A host is also responsible for introducing every comic onstage, mentioning their credits and not butchering their name — all while hoping they actually make it on time for their spot.
Given the task, few comics can successfully keep a show running and still manage to steal it at the same time. But for Chris Powell, a.k.a. Comedian CP, it’s the spot on the lineup where he shines as one of the funniest hosts to hold a mic in L.A.
On a recent night at the Hollywood Improv for the monthly show Hot Mic, presented by Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio, the late-night audience piles into the dimly lighted main room at 9:30 where CP wakes them up with his punchy, Detroit-bred delivery that cuts through murmurs and side chatter with a voice like a gas-powered chain saw. He stirs up the room with an animated flurry of short bits, crowd work and googly-eyed characters he makes up on the spot. With braids dangling under the sides of a Detroit Tigers ballcap, the comedian opens with a joke about bestowing extra nickel bags of crack to a drug-addicted uncle back home in Motor City — his way of showing his family that he’s movin’ on up in the world. It’s the first hit to get the crowd hooked for the rest of the show.
As the crowd is laughing, they’re probably not even thinking about the countless others in the satellite radio audience who will be cracking up later when the live recording of Hot Mic gets its monthly broadcast on Sirius XM‘s Channel 96.
“I think I have a unique style of creativity so that when I host a show it’s like a fingerprint on the show,” CP said. “I’m never hosting it the same way so Hot Mic being live across 131 countries every month puts the pressure on me to always bring new, fresh material to the table and sometimes the material is not even really necessarily ready to be put out, but it’s also fun for the audience to see a comedian brave enough to create on the spot in a way that makes them feel included in the process.”
His skill of improvising jokes on the fly has also crossed into acting, writing and producing on recent TV shows like FX’s “How to Die Alone” and BET sketch show “The Hospital,” created by fellow comic KevOnStage. Last June, his debut special “Sunday After Six” debuted on the streaming platform Veeps with two more specials on the way and CP recently made Vulture’s list of 25 comics to watch in 2025. For the seasoned stand-up and father of two, it’s all been building toward his career goals of doing it as big as comedians like Hart, Katt Williams and Dave Chappelle.
Powell aspires to follow Kevin Hart’s path, saying he wants to “take it to the next level when Kevin Hart is ready to pass the torch.”
(Bryan Proctor)
“A lot of people want to come right out [in comedy] and be at the top of the game, but I feel I have the type of talent where I can afford to be selective, be patient and be ready to take my spot at the top when it’s time,” he said.
Before getting his start in his native Detroit, CP’s first brush with comedy hosting came as the chapter president of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at Michigan State University where he would host packed student events on campus, often encompassing more than 1,000 people. Winning them over with humor helped him with “honing my bravery on stage.”
“You can’t be shy in this business; shyness is a part of being humble and in order to get that out of your system you have to work on it,” he said. “The way you work on it is putting yourself out there for criticism, for ridicule and learning how to limit the bad experiences by being good.”
Like most comics without many comedy clubs to perform in, CP cut his teeth doing spots and open mics at local bars. The brand of comedy built on quick-hitting punchlines that can get a buzzed crowd warmed up in seconds is a style CP says is epitomized by fellow Detroit comedians like Tony Roberts.
“We basically performed at bars and there weren’t a lot of comedy audiences; it was just the alcoholics who were there for that night, that’s their bar,” he said. “The difference between an audience that wants to hear comedy and an audience that doesn’t really care about it is that it’s harder to make the latter laugh. So once you start to make the people who don’t really care about it laugh, it becomes way easier to make someone laugh who actually wants to listen and follow your bits.”
His energy over the last decade or so in L.A. has become a staple at long-running local shows like Crack ‘Em Up Thursdays at the Comedy Store and Chocolate Sundaes at the Laugh Factory. It also earned him the latitude of longer stage time that he needed to act out his more elaborate bits. One includes a story about visiting his mentally ill cousin at a psych ward that continuously unfolds into a full one-man comedy sketch with plot twists, a full cast of characters and pockets of laughter erupting throughout.
“Your jokes are like your wardrobe, once you buy a shirt that’s your shirt, you own that shirt until you basically get rid of it. Sometimes you might be a little too big for that shirt, it doesn’t fit right, you need to work out — that’s how jokes are,” the comedian said. CP first wrote the story about his cousin 12 years ago but says he’s only recently started performing it on stage. ”Some of these jokes I’m telling now I’ve wanted to tell this way since the beginning of my career. I just knew I couldn’t tell it the right way.”
A big part of why the comic — who’s become a headliner on national tours while writing, producing and acting on TV — is excited about Hot Mic is the chance to boost the signal of other L.A. comics on the rise.
“The Hot Mic show is dope because when you do a show you’re looking for an audience so a lot of times at these clubs you’re performing in front of 30, 40, maybe 100 people. On our show it’s nationwide but it’s also a bunch of other countries included [that it broadcasts to] as well so your audience is so broad and you get an opportunity to pick up a lot of new fans along the way,” he said.
Getting into Hart’s orbit has been a major bucket-list moment since the show started in July 2024, CP said. Among the biggest lessons he’s learned from the comedy star is to have a working knowledge of new talent, no matter how big you get.
“When you meet Kev and he knows who you are and he’s familiar with your work and understands your potential because he’s been there as someone with potential before it was realized — it’s actually easier to talk to someone like that and relate to them than people would think,” the comedian said. “He doesn’t need to hate on anybody, it’s just purely like, ‘I’m proud of people like you in your position, here’s what I can do to help.’”
The ability to host young comedians while maintaining a massive fanbase and running multiple ventures is something CP says he aspires to do.
“I want to be the comedian who takes it to the next level when Kevin Hart is ready to pass the torch,” CP said. “Too many comedians are afraid to say that or let that be the goal. We have to be honest about what we’re trying to do. If you just want to be a comedian to get a couple dollars and get some attention that’s one thing, but I see it as a thing where the sky is the limit.”
The comedian said the mentality to reach the top should be earned by staying grounded, getting on stage no matter the gig and staying ready to grab the mic, whether it’s as a host or a headliner.
“I do the same show whether it’s two people or 2,000 people,” he said. “I need the reps, I need to know that I can do this no matter what. Similar to someone who’s freestyle rapping — if you don’t use that muscle you’re gonna lose it.”
Comedian CP performs at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday on Hot Mic at the Hollywood Improv along with Jackie Fabulous, Rell Battle, Ali Macofsky, J Cann.