Command Talent

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Wali Collins reigns as one of New York’s top comedians. In addition, Wali is an accomplished drummer and still performs as a member of the Central Park Djembe drummers. Most notably, Wali has the distinct honor of having been the youngest percussionist to ever join the New England Jazz Society. An Architect by profession, Wali always had a keen sense of humor. With his parents urging, he tried stand-up comedy and there was no turning back. Following his first ever stand-up comedy performance, Wali was convinced that he had bombed, but the manager paid him and asked him to come back every week as a featured act. A move to New York City soon followed when he was hired to host Comedy Central’s “Stand-up Stand-up” which featured the largest funniest, most varied collection of stand-up comedians in the world.It wasn’t long before he took the college market by storm. He was nominated three years in a row as “College Campus Entertainer of the Year”. Corporate events followed and Wali has become one of the most requested host/emcee’s for Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, L’Oreal, Johnson and Johnson and FEDEX. Wali is a regular at all of the main stream Comedy clubs in New York City and Los Angeles and headlines clubs and theatres around the world.

Collins’ television stand-up credits include HBO, ABC’s “The View”, Comedy Central’s “Tough Crowd” and Comedy Central. David Letterman caught Wali’s act and recruited him to do warm-up for his show. Later that season Wali was a featured performer on the “Late Show with David Letterman”.

Wali was featured as one of the lead actors in the Independent film, “Claire Makes It Big” and the award winning “Maybe Means No”. He also had a role in the Jerry Bruckheimer film “Coyote Ugly”. Television credits include roles in the hit sitcom “Spin City” and Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show”. He was the host of the recent PBS series special, “Wild TV”. And if Wali’s face looks familiar to you it’s because you’ve seen him in numerous national television commercials.

In the words of Robert Klein, “Wali Collins is versatile, smart and very, very funny. Wali is headed only one way, Stardom.” If you haven’t seen Wali do his thing in either stand up or acting, you’re missing out on one very gifted man.

Check out this recent interview with Wali.
www.theapiary.org/archives/2009/03/_did_you_need_t.html

Technorati Tags: Wali, Collins, King, New York, NY, Djembe

Welcome to our website and hopefully our first of many posts about news and events in the entertainment industry. Let me start off with something that’s timely and topical. The economy.

There’s no doubt that the current economic downturn might impact budgets for meetings. In the end, that might mean less production value. Simpler executions. Less investments in peripheral assets like keynotes and the like.

Sounds bad, but don’t fret.

Employing the science of Scottonomics (hiring Scott Bloom) can move a gloomy economic outlook into a bright spot – all day long!

Here’s how:

1. Big bang for your buck
   Scott’s rate is for the day and that literally means a day, not an hour, but a day.
2. More value for the money
   His day rate means you can use him how you see fit and as often as you like within your program.
3. Free of production riders
   Just give him a mic and he’s set to go
4. Complimentary bondability
   No one can connect with an audience like Scott. Count on no-cost instant and unmistakable audience repartee and then count the dollars you’ve saved.
5. And a slip right in factor with a bonus
   After 20 years in the biz, Scott can slip into any program without much effort whatsoever. He will no doubt make your life easy in a difficult time. And he’ll make you feel like you’ve spent a million bucks, when it’s only been a few sheckles — comparatively speaking. BONUS!

Whether opening the general session, introducing executives, entertaining between official presentations or crafting segues that underscore your conference objectives, Scott is the ever present and nearly priceless asset to any important gathering.