Hot Mic host is a hard act to follow

Detroit comic Chris Powell is an effortless MC, but there's more on his radar too.

- BY NATE JACKSON

BRYAN PROCTOR CP emcees Hollywood Improv's Hot Mic series, which also airs on Sirius XM.

The hosting slot on a comedy show is a serious job for any stand-up.

They arrive early to warm up the crowd and stay until the bitter end even if nobody is left to watch them. A host is also responsible for introducing every comic onstage, mentioning their credits and not butchering their name — all while hoping they actually make it on time for their spot.

Given the task, few comics can successfully keep a show running and still manage to steal it at the same time. But for Chris Powell, a.k.a. Comedian CP, it’s the spot on the lineup where he shines as one of the funniest hosts to hold a mic in L.A.

On a recent night at the Hollywood Improv for the monthly show Hot Mic, presented by Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio, the late-night audience piles into the dimly lighted main room at 9:30, where CP wakes them up with his punchy, Detroit-bred delivery that cuts through murmurs and side chatter with a voice like a gas-powered chain saw. He stirs up the room with an animated flurry of short bits, crowd work and googly-eyed characters he makes up on the spot. With braids dangling under the sides of a Detroit Tigers ballcap, the comedian opens with a joke about bestowing extra nickel bags of crack to a drug-addicted uncle back home in Motor City — his way of showing his family that he’s movin’ on up in the world. It’s the first hit to get the crowd hooked for the rest of the show.

As the crowd is laughing, they're probably not even thinking about the countless others in the satellite radio audience who will be cracking up later when the live recording of Hot Mic gets its monthly broadcast on Sirius XM’s Channel 96.