Bull City Laughs takes comedy by the horns in bus trip around Durham

When you see a blue-painted school bus cruising around town on Saturday night, you may not realize that it’s an improv on wheels, a mobile comedy show where anything goes.

The material ranges from the folks in the seats to those on the streets. The scenery is the target, and the history is the lesson. It’s a reminder that the city’s gritty past is still there amid shiny, new apartment buildings and fancy coffee shops.

Started by a group of friends out of a Durham barbershop, Bull City Laughs combines the rich past of Durham with offbeat quips and unique insight into its rich cultural heritage.

It’s important to laugh at yourself, and although the guys are very much fans of the city, there are still foibles around for them to use as comedic material. The crowd is lively, and the energy is similar to a stand-up show.

A recent roving show started amid pouring rain and minutes after the bus driver found out that his father had suffered a heart attack. The bus was low on gas, so the first stop on the tour was at a Shell station. With all of this in the background, the show began in an unscripted, unfiltered manner, even if the production value wasn’t always masterful.

“We don’t hold nothing back,” said Terrell Wilder, one of the group’s organizers. “You get a full experience. You may not like it, you may not be comfortable with it, but you know that the experience you got was real.”

Brandon Wright is at the controls as an emcee, comedian and general commentator, sharing whatever's on his mind. His set is a stream of consciousness of what's popular, controversial and relevant around the city. Growing up, Wright said he would notice the mannerisms of people around him growing up, which led to impersonations. He's done the stand-up circuit before and worked some local shows, but likes riding the bus, gimmick or not.

"I've been married for six years and two months ... to three different women," Wright tells the audience. "I'm doing it like a GPA. It's cumulative."

That gets a big laugh. As do Wright's comments on the anatomy of the bull statue downtown, which are a bit too adult for the WRAL family audience. There are lot of digs at gentrification and the town's changing demographics, racial and socioeconomic. There's also his take into what restaurants and bars are worth frequenting.

The bus rides around for about 90 minutes and goes around downtown, Brightleaf Square, North Carolina Central University, Duke's east campus and Ninth Street.

Wright said the bus full of passengers marks the tour’s best turnout since the start of the pandemic. There are nearly 30 people on board who paid $30 for the trip. On Sundays, there’s a brunch-themed tour with finger foods and mimosas that's popular as well. The jokes themselves are more PG-13 to R rated, so some of the material will be rough around the edges.

Wright explains Durham historical tidbits like “the secret game” between the NCCU and Duke basketball teams, the legacy of Durham tobacco manufacturer W.T. Blackwell and the origin of Brightleaf Tobacco.

Similar tours in Charlotte and Asheville served as inspiration. Wright would commute from the Triangle to Charlotte each weekend to work on their tour, when his barber suggested he start the same thing in Durham.

"One day I was out walking and like 'damn, Durham's growing,'" Wright said. "I was like 'I think Durham might be the right city to do a comedy bus in.'"

The group started out with six partners and has since shrunk to three; all of them are veterans and African American.

"We were like, 'yo, if we do this, we're going to get thrown out the city,'" Wilder said jokingly.

Wright is from Texas. He was in the Air Force and stationed in Goldsboro. He went to NCCU and has been in the Durham area around 12 years. Wilder is a contractor and has lived in Durham around 15 years. Omar Chavis, an electrician and a big part of the group, helped put the bus together.

The bus provides for an intimate environment that encourages audience participation, almost like ad libs. Several on board shout out one-liners for Wright to riff on and he loves it, even when it’s at his expense. He's got the microphone but doesn't mind sharing the spotlight.

"We want it to be interactive," Wright said. "Here on the bus in a small, intimate environment, if I say something that makes you think of something, I want you to blurt that out because whatever you just said, we're going to absorb that into part of the experience."

“We want you to come on the bus and have a sense of community,” Wright said. “Outside this bus, there’s enough to be divided about, there’s enough to be upset about. But when you get on here, it's about unity and having a good time. We're going to point out flaws we see in the city and ourselves and hopefully, we're going to be able to laugh at our flaws.”