The stand-up series Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks debuted on truTV Jan. 3, leading out of Impractical Jokers. Laff Tracks offers a unique spin on stand-up, in that it offers scripted videos of the stuff the comedian is talking about. They’re funny.
Cipha Sounds, a DJ and comedian, hosts the show. He likens the reenactments on Laff Tracks to how music videos reshaped the music business.
“It’s like the next level of stand-up comedy,” he told B&C.
He said truTV approached him because he was well versed in both the hip-hop and comedy worlds. He spent 17 years on the air at Hot 97, hosted on Eminem’s Sirius satellite station Shade 45, and was the official DJ on Chappelle’s Show. He also DJs at the Saturday Night Live wrap parties.
“Someone said I checked all the boxes,” he said. “It’s kind of a narrow list when you get to all those things.”
Sounds didn’t do much for the Wednesday premiere of Laff Tracks. He did stand-up at the Comedy Cellar in New York, got offstage at 10:50, headed home and watched the premiere from his DVR. “I’ll do some big hoopla for the finale,” he promised. “It looked really good—I didn’t cringe too much.”
He said he’s a fan of several truTV series, including Impractical Jokers, Hack My Life (“I’ve used some of those hacks!”), Talk Show the Game Show and the Andrea Savage series I’m Sorry.
He said Michelle Wolf, Daily Show contributor and comedian, turned him on to British crime dramas such as Broadchurch and Happy Valley.
“I watch too much TV,” Sounds admitted.
Yet his favorite thing on TV is Live PD, an unscripted show on A&E showcasing police departments around the country, doing their thing, live. “I don’t know what I could do for them, but whatever they offered me,” Sounds said. “I’d do it in a second.”
Asked why viewers should make room on their DVRs for Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks, or watch it live, Sounds strips it down to basics. “If you want to laugh,” he said, “you should watch this show.”
