NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — "When we're up on the stage, where are our eyes?" stand-up comedian Derrick Tennant asked a crew seated in Zanies Nashville.
I've heard something from a lot of stand-up comics. When you're on stage and the audience is locked in, laughing, under your spell, there's nothing like that feeling.
"It's going to be one of the hardest things you'll ever do, but you will never regret it," Derrick nodded.
Derrick's paying it forward. He's teaching comedy to a pretty great class; all residents of Our Place Nashville.
"They provide housing for adults with any kind of disability," Derrick said. "A lot of their obstacles is autism, cerebral palsy, blindness."
Derrick has this mantra; YOYO.
"Everybody, it stands for what? Your obstacle is your opportunity," Derrick said to the crowd.
Derrick believes in ability. His sister has something to do with that.
"That's Julie," Derrick said, looking down at his phone ringing.
"How Julie. How's it going?" he asked.
"Not bad," Julie answered.
Derrick turned his phone to the crew in Zanies so Julie could tell them a joke.
"Knock knock," Julie said.
"Who's there?" the crowd answered.
"Owls."
"Owls who?"
"Yes, they do."
"My sister has Down syndrome," Derrick said. "She's just a star, man. She's my best friend."
Derrick's learned a lot from Julie. He's also learned a lot from his own journey.
"They don't know what happened," Derrick said, referring to his paralyzed arm and leg. "It's just something that happened inside my brain, and now I can't use half of my body."
Derrick was 14 when it happened.
"One day I just had a headache, man," Derrick said. "I laid down. I went into a coma. They told my parents I would die that night. I ended up having brain surgery. I have the neurology report. This is what it says; 'random bleeding from point X for an unknown reason.'"
Through all of it, there was Julie. She was right by Derrick's hospital bed. She was helping push his wheelchair.
Ability. That's big for Derrick and Julie.
That's why Derrick's been teaching this Jokability class at Zanies Nashville.
"Gimme one of your challenges," Derrick said, talking to one of the residents.
"My challenge is my communication skills."
Derrick's time and effort is something deeply appreciated.
"Derrick, you're so nice to us for letting us do this," a resident said, joining Derrick on the stage.
This isn't just about honing jokes. It was all preparation for a big show on the Zanies Nashville stage; a fundraiser for Our Place Nashville.
"Who have you brought with you?" I asked one of the residents.
"Bindi the bearded dragon!" he answered.
"Has she done comedy before?"
"Yeah, she has!"
It was show time.
"What is Michael Jackson's favorite fast food?" a resident asked the crowd. "KFC-hee!"
Another resident ran up on stage.
"Knock knock," he said.
"Who's there?" the audience answered.
"Deja."
"Deja who?"
"Knock knock."
"I was on the phone with Ronald McDonald, I tell you. Great guy. Great guy. Quite frankly," said a resident, doing an impression of President Donald Trump. "I worked the fries a solid 15 minutes and nobody knows fries better than Donnie!"
Oh, Bindi the bearded dragon was not about to be upstaged by all this.
The audience howled with laughter as Derrick and a resident scrambled to clean up after Bindi. When you gotta go, you gotta go.
"This was not in my contract!" Derrick called.
"I want people to see some people onstage despite their challenges and very significant challenges and making laughter and love fill a room," Derrick said.
"I have down syndrome, and I love my life," Julie said, taking the stage. "Down syndrome means I have an extra chromosome. Derrick says it makes me his hero. I love that."
Hey. What can I say? YOYO.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Kelsey Gibbs brings us a powerful story of humanity, compassion, and love in action while showing us the hard and lifesaving work our officers do daily. Nashville is lucky to have people like Lt. Hotz wearing the badge.
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