At Tulane University in New Orleans, Black majored in Theatre and was classically trained in voice, movement and Shakespeare. Cast mainly in comedic roles in several major productions, Jeff was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Prince Arragon in "'Merchant of Venice." Known all over campus as "the comedian who imitates Johnny Carson better than Rich Little," Jeff had his own weekly radio show in WTUL and was half the comedy team of "Sonny & Sweeney" (with classmate/movie actor D.B. Sweeney). After earning his B.A., Jeff returned to Washington D.C. and became the original Permanent House M.C. at The Comedy Cafe. Here he opened for Jimmie Walker, Jackie Martling and met Howard Stern during a live radio broadcast. Howard liked Jeff's impressions and booked him on his show as a special guest more than a dozen times. After appearing on several local TV shows (including a "Gong Show" parody w/creator Chuck Berris) and winning Showtime's "Funniest Person In America," Jeff figured it was time to move to the Big Apple. In New York, Jeff quickly became a regular at The Original Improv and The Comic Strip and worked alongside such heavy weights as Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and Ray Romano. Trading in his nickname "Sonny" for his real name, he polished his act doing one-nighters in Jersey, Philly and even the Catskills. During the day he booked voice-over spots and auditioned for TV commercials. In 1995 Jeff transplanted to L.A. and never looked back. He has studied acting and voice-overs with the best in the business and has trained with the famous comedy improv sketch school, The Groundlings. An award-winning Master Comic Impressionist with a repertoire of more than 150 voices, Jeff has toured the country and received glowing reviews from the press. You may recognize him from his multiple stand-up and comedic appearances on Comedy Central, The Game Show Network and the Fox Family Channel. He has made multiple appearances on "Make Me Laugh" and "The Howard Stern Show," and he is the only comedian to ever win on "Extreme Gong" Live! Forever exploring bizarre themes and colorful new voices with outrageous
set-ups, Jeff does clean, original material and has even written for fellow comedians.
Black is also a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and Hollywood's Magic
Castle. In his 45 minutes act one of the characters he portrays is "The Great
Trickdini" – a hilariously cheesy Las Vegas Don
Juan type magician. Jeff closes his headliner show with hysterical Top 40 parodies leaving
the crowd wanting more.
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Richard De La Font Agency,
Inc.
Having
mastered both celebrity impressions and stage magic at age seventeen, Jeff
Black combined them both and was hired as the full time "Gypsy Wagon
Magician" at Williamsburg Virginia's Busch Gardens Theme Park. What Jeff enjoyed most
though was getting laughs, so at the end of the engagement he packed away his bag of
tricks and focused on stand-up comedy using the stage name "Sonny Black."
