Before Adrian Smith learned how to read and write, he knew how to make people laugh.
Smith, who grew up on Moncrief Road on Jacksonville’s Northside, began performing comedy as early as 6 years old.
His family would “stand me up on the center of the coffee table in the living room and tell me ‘make us laugh,’” he recalled during a recent interview. “And I would just do my little jokes.”
When he performed, his older brother would reward him by giving him a quarter. He would then walk from the Washington Heights apartments to a nearby store where he would use his quarter to play Ms. Pac Man with his earnings “from telling my little jokes.”
These days, Smith makes people laugh for a living. A professional standup comedian, Smith, who goes by A-Train when performing, spends a lot of time either on the road or on cruise ships. But it didn’t start out that way.
After graduating from Raines High School, Smith attended Florida State Community College’s Downtown Campus, eventually transferring to the Fire Academy of the South at FSCJ. But first responding wouldn’t be a possibility because of his asthma.
“Yeah, it made it tough, and to this day, I’ll chase a fire truck,” he said. “… I love that action, you know. I just have this passion for first responders. And if it wasn’t for asthma [and comedy], I would be on the back of a truck right now.”
How he went from being a wanna-be firefighter to a comedian is a whole other story. Enter his wife, Traci Henderson Smith.
“So when Traci and I met 28 years ago, she told me within the first few weeks of knowing each other, ‘You need to be doing stand-up comedy,’” Smith said.
At the time, Henderson Smith was involved in the entertainment business, acting as a publicist for athletes, entertainers and songwriters, so she knew what she was talking about.
“She signed me up for a comedy competition that was here in town without me knowing it,” Smith said. “I was, like, I’m not doing that, you know? I was a little church boy,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can’t do that and be a person of faith, you know what I mean?’”
She was, as he put it, “relentless” and two weeks later he was standing on a stage in front of a sold-out crowd.
“And as I stood there, I realized I liked it,” Smith admitted.
Turns out, the crowds liked him right back. He eventually quit his job as a corporate trainer to pursue comedy full-time — and never looked back.
Comedian A-Train from Jacksonville is still making people laugh
Adrian Smith, known in the comedy world as A-Train, grew up in Jacksonville making people laugh and is still doing it. Credit MustCFilms
MustCFilms
He started at local comedy clubs, honing his craft. As his talent grew, so, too did his audience, with Smith serving as the house emcee at the former Comedy Club of Jacksonville and holding a residency at the historic Ritz Theatre and Museum. He’s opened for big names like D.L. Hughley at much larger venues and has toured the world performing on cruise ships.
He eventually started his own variety show “A-Train Live! The Experience,” which is the city’s largest and longest-running independent comedy and variety series.
Held at WJCT Studios quarterly, “A-Train Live! The Experience” highlights local talent, including singers, dancers and, of course, comedians, and also highlights local poets and youth performers.
“I do it to give back because this is where I started,” Smith said. “Like from day one, I’ve had tremendous support from the city. And because of that, I am always going to show love and do something for the city and for the people of Jacksonville.”
“A-Train Live! The Experience” returns Friday, May 29, to the WJCT soundstage, 100 Festival Park Ave., across Bay Street from EverBank Stadium. For tickets go to comedianatrain.com/.
Charlie Patton is a retired Times-Union reporter. Kerry Speckman is a Jacksonville-based freelance writer.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.jacksonville.com ’
