‘Open Book” Brundidge tells all (as usual)
by Caroline Joseph
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 12/5/2007
She’s won an Emmy, executive produces/anchors her own television program, and writes two nationally syndicated columns titled “As the Down Low Brother Turns” and “A Funny Thing Happened.” Her renowned accomplishments and critically acclaimed work have produced legions of dedicated fans and morphed this witty stay-at-home mother and wife into a virtual overnight success.
Did I mention she’s funny? So riddle me this: What do you call a triple-threat comedian with charming dimples and a sweet Southern drawl to match? You call her Mrs. Sheletta Brundidge.
This week marks the 100th episode of “As the Down Low Brotha Turns.” To commemorate the event, the Spokesman-Recorder sat down with its author, the lovely and oh-so-funny Mrs. Brundidge (SB), for an afternoon of laughs and to get the inside scoop on what’s next for the hit series.
MSR: Congratulations on reaching the 100th episode of “Down Low Brotha.” How does that make you feel?
SB: I look back on the first episode and think, “Wow, like Virginia Slims cigarettes: We’ve come a long way, baby.” It was a challenging, bumpy road — but I’m ready for 100 more.
MSR: So take me back to the beginning. How did the “Down Low Brotha” get started?
SB: Well, I was good friends with [former MSR Managing Editor] Shannon Gibney, and she got me to writing a monthly column called “A Funny Thing Happened” where I told stories that had happened in my life — good and bad — and added a comedic touch to them to make the readers laugh. I ain’t never been one to keep a secret, so I’d tell exactly what was going on at the time, and all of the Twin Cities knew my business.
I’m an open book. That’s why I think people like my columns, because they know they’re getting the true essence of who I am. Anyway, so my husband — who was my boyfriend at the time a few years back when these articles first started jumping off — we were going through some “relationship drama.” Women were chasing him, and he wasn’t running too hard, so I was doing the ghetto girlfriend thing — going up to the girls’ jobs, threatening folks, getting restraining orders slapped on me. And I was writing about it. And people loved it.
So one day, Tracey [Williams], the president of the Spokesman, called me in her office and said that she wanted me to start a soap opera. I had never done anything like that, and there wasn’t a prototype to follow. I said no at first, but she didn’t take no for an answer, so “As the Down Low Brotha Turns” was born.
MSR: Are any of these characters based off of anyone in real life?
SB: By their request, I have a few friends that I snuck in here and there, but I use “Down Low” as my creative outlet. I make a lot of this stuff up.
I grew up watching soap operas. Wasn’t no reading books or playing with educational developmental games — my grandmother babysat us in the summer while Momma worked, and she parked our butts in front of the television while she watched her “stories.” So, at the age of four, I could pick Victor Newman out of a photo lineup, but I couldn’t spell my own name.
I remember it clearly: At 11 o’clock, it was Young and Restless; at noon, we watched All My Children; we had lunch, then a nap, and we woke up watching General Hospital. And people wonder why I am such a drama queen today. Ha!
But, watching those soap operas all those year ago helped me develop the characters that are in the “Down Low Brotha.” It also helps me with story lines and plot development. If you think about it, nobody in soap operas are really happy. It’s always something going on — hence the name “drama,” as in “daytime drama.”
MSR: Who is your favorite character?
SB: Duranchon, because she’s actually my voice in the story. She says stuff I would say, and she does stuff that I would do. She’s ghetto fabulous just like me.
MSR: Do you have a favorite episode?
SB: I’d have to say the first episode. It’s like the first child that you have, if you have more than one. That one is going to be more special than any of the others because it’s the first.
MSR: How do you come up with the story line?
SB: My husband and I sit around [and] we talk about everything — who is doing what, who should die, who should be killed off, who is interesting enough to develop their character in the story, when to add new characters. Shawn, he’s my partner in crime, and this soap opera is very much a partnership between the two of us. Us and Jerry [Freeman], the editor of the series.
Jerry keeps me on my toes — he is the conscience of “Down Low Brotha.” He’ll tell me, “Okay, move on with this plot — I’m sick of the story line already!” Or, he’ll ask, “Where is John Bruce? We haven’t heard from him. Bring him back.”
So, Jerry keeps me on task and helps me develop as a writer. And that’s the job of any good editor, to challenge the writer, and he does that week after week. If something ain’t fresh or funny, he’ll throw it back at me and say, “Girlfriend, try again!” At the time he does it, I wanna put his tires on flat. But in the end, I’m grateful for his candor.
MSR: Considering the weather, I must ask how this Southern girl found her way to Minnesota.
SB: I was living in Louisiana, and my boyfriend — who is my husband now, Shawn — was living in Texas. We had been dating for several years when he up and moved here for a new job. I wasn’t about to let that man with that good credit and that good-paying job get away from me.
He tried to break up with me, but I wasn’t hearing it! I came up here for a visit, interviewed at every television station in the city, and KSTP was the only one foolish enough to actually hire me. A few weeks later, we were living together. Now, like Al Bundy, he’s married with children. And like Al Bundy, he couldn’t be happier.
MSR: Not only do you work for KSTP, but you produce and anchor your own show.
SB: Yes, I have a show called “CrossRoads.” It’s a weekly community affairs program that airs Sundays at 7:30 am on KSTP Channel 45. It focuses on issues important to people of color — not just African Americans, but Africans, Asians, American Indians, Latinos, and women (of all color).
We talk about everything from crime and education to cooking and comedy. It’s serious, it’s funny, it’s fun — I love it. I’ve had an opportunity to sit down and talk to Maya Angelou and Mari Wilson and Ruben “The Hurricane” Carter. That would have never happened had it not been for this show, another one of God’s many blessings in my life.
I’ve gotten to meet so many good people here in the Twin Cities as well with this program: The Steele Family, Ellen Hebert (North High School principal), Don Hudson (first African American head football coach at a White university) — the list is endless. Some of these people don’t get a chance to be on “regular” news or in the papers, so my television show gives them a voice and an opportunity to tell their stories.
MSR: And, it’s the hilarious personal stories on your blog that landed you an Emmy for “Best Independent Blog.”
SB: The Emmy was all a part of God’s divine plan. Back in February, one of my best friends, Justin Piehowski, approached Shawn and I about doing a blog. I had no idea what a freaking blog was. But it’s a website — a web diary, actually — where you log on the computer every day and talk about what it is that is going on in your life — observations, whatever you want to discuss.
And you know me, I’m always joking about something, so that’s what mine is all about. I call myself “The Funniest Woman in the Twin Cities,” so the blog has gotta be funny. The first day it started off, February 18, 2007, we had 37 viewers. Now we get 50,000 viewers a month.
Ain’t God good? Next thing I know, we get nominated for an Emmy — and we win!
MSR: What’s this “we”?
SB: I say “we” because it’s a partnership. Everything I do. It’s me and my husband! I can’t do anything with out him. I’m a stay-at-home mom — he allows me to take the time to do the blog and the “Down Low” and stay at home to raise my baby, our baby, while he works and pays all the bills. Then he comes home and cooks!
You see why I was fighting those women off? Girl, I’ll slice a smile in somebody’s neck about that man... He’s good to me and good for me. He makes me a better woman.
MSR: You worked a while as a stand-up comedian before settling in on the blog and columns.
SB: You know, I was doing stand-up comedy all over, going to Denver, Houston, doing clubs here in the Twin Cities — all before I had Andrew. Then, after my son was born, I didn’t so much like being in smoke-filled clubs at night or on the road, missing playtime and mealtime. So, I cut back on the comedy completely and concentrated on raising my baby.
But as a mother, I decided to reinvent myself because I didn’t want to give up comedy completely, so I took my stage act online and http://sheletta.com was born. All the stuff you read on there daily — stories of love, life and laughter — that’s what would be in my stage act if I was still performing. But instead of going to nightclubs and performing for 400 people, I’m writing about it — and more than 50,000 people a month are reading it.
MSR: God has been good to you. Have you found a home church?
SB: We attend Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in North Minneapolis. We are deeply spiritual folks and believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I am a firm believer that God has a great plan for each of us, and it’s up to us to find it. We pray every day as a family for God’s favor and his blessings, and we have both.
People don’t understand; it’s all about Him no matter what you are doing. You can’t succeed unless the favor of God is on your life. And we’re glad that He is blessing us — not just me, but my husband and my son.We are so blessed as a family.
MSR: What’s next for the “Down Low Brotha”?
SB: The soap opera is going interactive. We’re taking it to the web. Readers and loyal “Down Low” fans can log on to http://sheletta.com and decide the fate of characters.
Folks can vote and decide if Christopher is going to live or die, ’cause I can’t make up my mind. People can have a say in what happens next. That’ll be fun, because that presents me with another challenge — then I have to write what they’ve decided. So, that’ll be fun.
We’re also merchandising. We’ve got “Down Low” hats and coffee mugs and t-shirts celebrating the 100th episode, so people can log on to the website and order them. They make great stocking stuffers!
Aside from the many faces she wears as a successful comedian, Sheletta Brundidge is also a regular guest on Almanac (Twin Cities Public Television) and a dedicated mentor of Twin Cities youth through her partnerships with Big Brother/Big Sister and Project for Pride in Living. A Houston native, Brundidge currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband Shawn and baby son Andrew.
Caroline Joseph is a Hamline student interning with the Spokesman-Recorder; she welcomes reader responses to caroline.joseph@hotmail.com.
