Michael Geczi

Meet the Other Black Godfather Published on September 17, 2019 Andrea Hoffman Culture Shift Labs CEO If you've laughed out loud at Tiffany Haddish on Kids Say The Darndest Things; looked forward to the next episode of faux-reality Real Husbands of Hollywood or found yourself enjoying some of your favorite celebrities from Steve Harvey to Leslie Jones to Anthony Anderson hosting your favorite awards show, then you are watching some of Chris Spencer's brilliance. Even if you don’t know his name. But you will by the time you finish reading this article … and even more so as his incredibly creative, productive and unselfish professional and personal accomplishments add up. Spoiler alert: Chris is a deal maker, problem solver, and big personality but unknown to the public at large. Someone with many talents. And he does them all well. A producer, writer, comedian, and actor. • • • • • • He’s been the head writer for A-Listers from Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Gabrielle Union and all of the Wayans. He’s toured the world performing with Dave Chappelle, Mary J Blige, Chris Rock Alicia Keys, and Babyface to name a few. He had his own Showtime special Chris Spencer ... the Other Chris and his TV credits include Blackish, Being Mary Jane, Black Love, Jimmy Kimmel, Def Comedy Jam and his own late-night talk show, VIBE. His notable writer/producer projects include The Emmy’s, The ESPY Awards, The BET Awards, Saturday Night Live and the MTV Video Music Awards. He has published the best-selling book 150 Ways to Tell If You’re Ghetto. And he along with his production company, Out Too Much Productions, are directing on commercials and music videos. A renaissance man – who also happens to put others first. In fact, the list of his good deeds for others probably is even lengthier than his professional accomplishments. And that’s not a combination you see very often in entertainment. Or any other industry, for that matter. I had the good fortune to meet Chris three years ago when he hosted a Silicon Valley awards show my firm produced during our Culture Shifting Weekend. Prior to that introduction, I'd never heard of Chris but certainly was familiar with the work for which he was responsible. As our professional relationship developed into a friendship, I learned something else about Chris; namely, his incredible humility and his incredible respect, and connections, in Hollywood. Fact: Powerful actors and comedians regularly call on him to solve problems. Remember when Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and Lionel Richie put together a powerful group of 43 singers to record We Are the World and posted this note "leave your ego at the door"? Well, that could sum up Chris Spencer. His connections, his convening power, his low to no ego. And Chris is OK with that … being a behind-the-scenes guy. He’s not the kind of person who’s going to go out there and beat his own chest. I’m not just repeating stories I’ve been told. I have my own personal example: At my firm’s event one year, I sat down with Chris and told him my Tech & Society idea, which essentially was to expose black celebrities to the new industrial revolution that is technology. He immediately got it and became excited about the opportunity – not because it would benefit him but because it was an opportunity to help his own community. And when Chris Spencer gets excited, it means that Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Cedric the Entertainer, Nia Long, Adam Rodriguez and a never-ending roster of African-American and Hispanic celebrities also are excited. That excitement translated into success and, now, we are doing a series of Tech & Society events, and it’s literally due to Chris being a visionary and deal maker. In fact, he recently arranged for about 50 black celebrities to come to Jamie Foxx’s house in September to learn about technology investing. He and Cedric the Entertainer literally are mobilizing Black Hollywood. And, so, when I recently watched The Black Godfather, the documentary about legendary music executive Clarence Avant, I immediately saw a parallel to Chris: a passion to help others build their careers, creative problem solving, and the ability to make things happen. Despite working on 15-20 projects at a time, he still makes time for his friends and family and like Avant, can spot talent like an eagle. Two young, modern go-to guys. As Gail M Mitchell writes in Billboard: “… the through-line in everything that Avant achieved has remained consistent: to foster the next generation of black executives, artists, songwriter/producers, politicians, and business entrepreneurs.” The same thing could be written or said about Chris Spencer. The fact is, I’ve never met somebody so generous and so willing to collaborate. Maybe it shouldn’t be all that surprising: this writer/executive producer/comedian/master of ceremonies, in fact, has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UCLA, and the way he addresses every element of his life is consistent with that area of interest. Chris sums it up pretty well. “We’re all joke slingers,” he said in an interview not long ago. “All these guys are family and we all knew each other when people didn’t have any money. No matter who’s on top, there’s a certain respect level. Everyone knows this business is up and down so right now you might be on top, and tomorrow it could be someone else.” So, you’re going to get to know Chris Spencer a lot better. I guarantee it. But, in the meantime, go to his LinkedIn profile, and see how he describes himself. It gave me an outloud laugh the first time I saw it and I continue to laugh each time I read it. “I make funny,” he states. “I make it my goal to make unfunny people and take unfunny things and make them funny!!” ###