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Sheryl Underwood is naughty and nice at the Improv

A A A Comments By Shannon Sutlief Thursday, Mar 21 2002

There's only one cheerleader for the Republican Party who travels the country with her own troupe of male exotic dancers to warm up her crowds. And it's not Elizabeth Dole or Christine Todd Whitman.

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8:30 p.m. Thursday; 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 to $20. Call 972-404-8501.

Addison Improv, 4980 Belt Line Road

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Her name is Sheryl Underwood, and she's a study in contradictions. Whereas other comedians attempt to bust stereotypes by using them as fodder for jokes, she does it just by being. She's African-American and Republican, and she jokes that there are only seven other black Republicans. They car pool together and go on cruises, she says. Underwood also claims to be both "God-fearing" and "sexually progressive," which means she goes to church and goes to bed with men who haven't put a ring on her finger.

All these elements work their way into her act, which is in turns bawdy, political, X-rated and conservative. She counters profanity-filled tirades (much like the one she gave in Warren Beatty's Bulworth) with praise for President Bush and his staff, which includes "cold-blooded sister" Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor, and the "pretty, little, sexy boy" Colin Powell, who she hopes will be the first black president of the United States. One moment she'll riff on negotiating the rocky terrain of modern dating; the next she'll talk about her plan to send gang members to Afghanistan to fight terrorism.

In addition to her almost constant comedy tours, the comedian, who has both a master's degree and military experience, is also lending her unique voice to BET's Oh! Drama, a sort of anti-The View with African-American women offering no-holds-barred opinions on dating, politics and more. The new exposure may make Underwood's popular Improvisation shows even more crowded. Just don't expect her to prep the crowd before the next Republican National Convention.

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