Ralphie May - Jacksonville, FL

The comic who burst onto the national scene on the reality show "Last Comic Standing" will be at The Comedy Zone in Jacksonville, Florida March 19-22.

Ralphie May was first featured on the TV show in 2003 competing against numerous other comics and made it all the way to face off against Dat Phan who wound up winning the competition much the chagrin of his many fans. But May graced the stage of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno in 1992.

"One word of warning: If the last time you saw May perform was on the first season of the NBC reality show 'Last Comic Standing,' note that his act is no longer the cleaned-up version from the TV show," states Joe Ardent of The Press Enterprise.

May usually performs in Los Angeles, CA where he lives with his wife and daughter, according to mog.com, and opened for Sam Kinison while in high school. At the age of 17, May beat out nine other comics to open for Kinison in front of 3,500 people.

May is one of the most popular comedians in the country. In 2004, Melee Entertainment released his first DVD titled "Just Correct" and it has since reached platinum sales status, research shows. May has appeared in movies, had guest-starring TV roles, and appeared in commercials. He's also known for his Comedy Central stand-up specials where he talks about marriage, dieting, chores, drugs, and various other topics.

"His religious portion turned into an ode toward his favorite food, fried chicken from Chick-Fil-A," said writer Adam Biano, regarding May's appearance at a college. "To close out the evening, May asked the audience for improvisation inspiration, but interrupted his finale to tell a crowd favorite about going to see a 'black movie' in a 'black movie theater.'

May first got into comedy after he entered and won a talent show while still in high school.

Matthew Odam, writer for The Austin Statesman, describes May as a "Southern-fried stand-up comic and equal opportunity offender" with "scathing social critique." May was in Austin, TX taping in May at the Paramount Theatre for a two-hour special for Comedy Central called "Austin-tacious."

Some of May's memorable quotes, include lines such as: "I live in the most dangerous part of Los Angeles called L.A."

The DVD "Just Correct" has May performing in front of an audience at the Laugh Factory, free to drop all the curse words that were either edited out or dropped from the 2003 "Last Comic Standing" NBC series, as stated by currentfilm.com.

Tickets for the Jacksonville show are $20-$22 and may be purchased at ticketmaster.com.

The venue's phone number is 904-268-8080 and website is comedyzone.com. The Comedy Zone is located inside The Ramada Inn off I-295 and San Jose Boulevard at 3130 Hartley Road.