Deon Cole is no stranger to the comedy circuit. His rise to fame has been a long and well-earned journey. His family moved from the Roseland community to Dolton in the South Suburbs. His growing popularity on the comedy circuit throughout the last two decades have caught the attention of late night show host, Conan O’Brien. There, Cole was hired as one of the comedy writers on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and later Conan on TBS. Cole returns back to his hometown for the 89th annual Bud Billiken Parade as the Grand Marshal where he will lead the parade along with notable Honorary Grand Marshals, community leaders, dignitaries, nonprofit organizations, schools and talented youth showcasing their talent.

His co-starring role on Angie Tribeca brought his canny style of humor to a broader audience—leading to a reoccurring role on ABC’s sitcom, “Black-ish” as Charlie Telphy when the actor who was hired to play Charlie never
showed up. The sitcom’s creator, Kenya Barris asked Cole to take over the role. He has frequently appeared in comedic bits for both broadcasts and has, along with the rest of the staff, received two Primetime Emmy nominations. He first got into comedy when a friend bet him $50 that he would not get up on stage one night in Chicago and he never looked back.

Always on the road performing stand-up in between filming episodes on both “Black-ish” and the sitcom’s spin-off, “Grown-ish” he brings the ‘funny’ straight with no chaser. Cole has also performed stand up on other programs such as John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show, Mash Up and Lopez Tonight. With his production company, Cole Blooded, he’s produced several one-man shows for both TBS and BET. His Comedy Central special, “Cole-Blooded Seminar” was considered one of his best-televised performances.

In 2016 interview with Jet Magazine when asked what lessons he learned throughout his career, Cole says, “I hope they know that I care and because I care I want to see other people succeed. I want people to go through life saying the reason I’m doing this is that I talked to Deon one day. You don’t even have to tell me that you are inspired
by me, or I triggered something in you, I’ll feel it. I ain’t no deep dude talking about the universe is going to show me the way (laughs); but I’m saying that I’ll know because other people will come to me and say, “Respect.”