Meet Arthur Hamilton

Thanks for sharing your story with us Arthur. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ve always been a funny person, but growing up I never told myself, ”I want to be a comedian!” Honestly, I just wanted to play basketball, but overtime I realized that my grades and attitude weren’t gonna get me to the league or shit even college so I just started working. My first real job was at 24 Hour Fitness which was because I had a free gym membership and I could play basketball pretty much whenever I wanted.

Once I got to my early 20’s I gained a desire to be an actor. So I started looking into acting classes that were way to expensive for my budge at the time and that fell through real quick. Then about a year later I had a couple of friends who started taking a stand-up comedy class and that got me to thinking about my own skillset of being funny. After that moment the universe put everything into line and I did my first open mic and killed! From that moment on I knew that this is what I’m supposed to be doing and it didn’t require grades and that much attitude.

I’ve been doing stand-up comedy since May of 2014 and at the time I was living in Phoenix, AZ. Doing stand-up there was a great experience for me because for one: I had a whole lot of potential early on, I always excelled and there was plenty of stage time for me to take advantage of! It was great for a new guy who knew how to make noise on the scene early on, but didn’t have much experience. Arizona had a lot of show and good quality open mics. I’m grateful for all of the open mics because they sure did feel like actual shows. There was always a bunch of civilians (non comics) in the audience so I got a lot of real practice in the early stages of my comedy career.

I knew I would have to move back home to Los Angeles in order to make some real moves and real noise, but two years in I didn’t really know how or want to pick up everything and relocate. But once again the universe worked its mysterious magic. I ended up losing my job and had to get rid of everything I owned and was forced to move back home to Pacoima, Ca (where Rodney King got beat up). It was rough at first getting my name out there and getting into the LA comedy scene, but it all worked out like it was supposed to. If you had told me in May of 2014 that in five years that I would have my own hour special and two seasons of my own talks show I wouldn’t believe the success I would have. I’ve come a long way, but I also have a long way to go. It’s cool to see how far I’ve come.

The road is never smooth! From losing everything in Arizona to living with my family and sleeping on the couch, losing jobs, having no money, parking tickets and unpaid shows. Ugh! It could be worse, but I’m grateful because I know this is all apart of the process and the future is bright.

Foreword by Channel 310 co-creator Eric Abbenante:
Blunts and Brunch with Arthur Hamilton originally was supposed to be a segment on Channel 310’s flagship show Secret Black People Meeting hosted by Channel 310 co-creator Niles Abston. While filming the first ever segment of “Blunts and Brunch” at our apartment I passed out and interrupted the filming. After that day Niles Arthur and I decided to make “Blunts and Brunch with Arthur Hamilton” into it’s own show, the 2nd show at Channel 310. From Blunts and Brunch we have launched over 10 shows since then. “Shutcho Ass Up” was originally a segment on Blunts and Brunch, but now has expanded to become the theme of Arthur’s 1st special. Blunts and Brunch and Shutcho Ass Up are proof that whatever Arthur creates, it will grow into something larger than anyone could imagine. With the success of Blunts and Brunch with Arthur Hamilton, and the inevitable success of “Shutcho Ass Up” I can safely say passing out at my apartment was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am apart of a comedy team called “Channel 310” that was created in 2017 by my two very good friends Eric Abbenante and Niles Abston. We have a youtube channel titled  ”Channel 310″ where we create a variety of comedic content. From talk shows like my show “Blunts and Brunch with Arthur Hamilton” and “Small Talk Live with Lila Hart” to hilarious sketch comedy show inspired by In Living Color titled “Goonsquad” to actual stand-up comedy. Finally a cartoon about a young black man being abducted by aliens for the purpose of boosting their economy by selling weed across the galaxy, written by Eric and Niles titled “Planet Blak” (also voice acted by yours truly). We have so much content!

There are about 12 of us on the team. We all are hilarious stand-up comedians, writers, some of us cinematographers, editors, hosts, producers, directors, etc. We do it all and if we don’t know something we will figure it out and make it happen! I’m so proud of how diverse we are and how well we all work together.

Our latest project is my hour comedy special titled “Shutcho Ass Up”. I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for 5 years and I felt like the time was right and why wait for someone to offer me a special when I could just do my own with the help of my team. So we did and it turned out amazing! I advertised it as a 30 minute special, but once I was brought on stage the flow was undeniable and I banged out an 1:30:00 fire stand-up comedy set. Time flew by! I couldn’t tell if it was twenty minutes or two hours! Seven camera angles and ten hours of footage between them; editing this myself was task that usually takes an editing team. Tens of hours of blood sweat and tears were put into this special and I hope spare an hour of your day to watch my labor of love.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wish I was doing what I am now back when I first started because I wish my younger self could feel what it’s like to be in control of your own destiny.