Comedian from Bishopville serves up laughs

By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

Ronnie Bracey makes people laugh and gets paid to do it.

The Bishopville native and 1987 graduate of Bishopville High School is known professionally as Ra Ra Bracey.

He stepped down from a job in manufacturing six years ago to do comedy full-time.

He said it is beginning to pay off.

"Last year, I had about 40 bookings," Bracey said. "This year, I should finish the year with about 90. I hope to have as many as 140 in 2010."

Bracey, who has appeared five times on the BET network, had his big break in 2006 when he appeared on a HBO comedy special, "Puff Daddy – The Bad Boys of Comedy."

He has performed up and down the East Coast and has had several performances on Atlantic cruise ships.

The 40-year-old Bracey is performing at clubs in Hopewell, Va., and Roanoke Rapids, N.C., this weekend.

"I perform more out-of-state than I do in South Carolina," he said. "But I'm beginning to get more bookings in South Carolina."

He is booked at the NCO Club at Fort Jackson on Thursday, the American Legion Hut on Palmetto Street in Sumter on Dec. 4, and Morris College on Jan. 29.

Bracey said the key to successful comedy is hard work.

"You can't get too cocky," Bracey said. "You have to work for everything you get. I don't go out and say I'm going to knock them dead. I feel like I have to work for the audience's support. I get nervous every time I go out."

While most of Bracey's bookings feature his brand of adult comedy, he also performs at churches.

"I have a routine that's clean that I do just for churches and families," Bracey said.

Bracey said he grew up in Bishopville always wanting to be a professional comedian.

"I have always had a passion for comedy throughout my school years," Bracey said. "I was voted the wittiest, most talkative and the class clown. I was inspired to do comedy by such comedians as Eddie Murphy, Redd Fox and Steve Harvey."



ON THE NET

Go to www.myspace.com/rarabracey. At www.facebook.com, search for "Ra Ra Bracey."