Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), known professionally as J. B. Smoove, is an American comedian, actor, and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on Def Comedy Jam, he was a writer and performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live (2003–2006). He is best known for his starring roles on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007–2024) and the CBS sitcom The Millers (2013–2015). He also portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the BET improv-comedy reality television parody Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013–2016). He also portrayed Julius Dell in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies; Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) as a main role, and later reprised his role as a minor role in the sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

Early life

Jerry Angelo Brooks was born on December 16, 1965, in Plymouth, North Carolina. His parents are Elizabeth and Floyd Brooks. From the time he was three years old, he grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, a suburb of New York City. He spent a significant amount of time with his mother and extended maternal family in the Plymouth area, which he has said inspired much of his pursuit of comedy and comedy style. He resided in the Levister Towers housing projects in Mount Vernon with his two younger brothers. His father died from diabetes when Smoove was 15 years old.

In 1983, Smoove graduated from Mount Vernon High School. He attended Norfolk State University in Virginia, studying engineering and graphic design.

Career

Smoove worked as a perfume formulator and sold fire extinguishers door-to-door.

He began his show business career in stand-up comedy, which is when he shortened his name, Jerry Brooks, to "J. B." and added "Smoove" as his last name. He has landed recurring roles on Everybody Hates Chris and Saturday Night Live. On SNL, he worked as a writer (and had bit roles in sketches, including playing Jimmy "JJ" Walker in a parody of the 1970s sitcom Good Times) and was a recipient of the 2007 Writers Guild of America award for Best Comedy/Variety Series (Including Talk). He worked on Saturday Night Live for three years.

Smoove was a regular cast member on the HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm beginning in its sixth season in 2007, playing Leon Black. Smoove landed the role after his stint on SNL. Although at that time he lived on the East Coast, he visited Los Angeles for the funeral of his friend, music producer Oji Pierce, enabling him to audition for Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Smoove wrote a book as his Curb Your Enthusiasm character, Leon, which was released on October 10, 2017.

He had a major role for seasons two and three on the FOX network sitcom 'Til Death with Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher. In June 2008, he appeared in several episodes of The Gong Show with Dave Attell as one of the celebrity judges. Smoove was also a cast member on the short-lived sketch comedy program Cedric the Entertainer Presents. He hosted the standup comedy series Russell Simmons Presents: Stand-Up at The El Rey on Comedy Central in July 2010, and also appeared in The Simpsons episode "Angry Dad: The Movie" in February 2011. That same year, he starred in the American Dad! episode "The Worst Stan", and appeared in the episode "Dude, Where's My Wade" in Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.

In 2012, his first televised comedy special, JB Smoove: That's How I Dooz It, premiered on Comedy Central. The DVD of the special was released April 3, 2012. In 2013, Smoove voiced Hackus in The Smurfs 2. He appeared in Movie 43 in the segment "The Proposition" alongside Anna Faris and Chris Pratt. He was the substitute co-host of the New York City morning talk show Good Day New York with Rosanna Scotto on April 9, 2012. He made a cameo appearance as a gravedigger in "Barney/Never", an episode of Louie. He also played a supporting role in Season 4, Episode 7, "The Vapora Sport" in the American sitcom The League on FX. He plays Wheelchair Guy, with whom the main characters have recurring comedic run-ins. He was in the show Real Husbands of Hollywood, playing a fictionalized version of himself.

Smoove hosts Four Courses with J.B. Smoove, a talk show on the MSG Network. He provides the voice of Dr. Ray De Angelo Harris, host of the Chakra Attack radio show in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Smoove appeared in the 2013 film Dealin' with Idiots as Coach Ted. In 2013, he became a regular cast member of the CBS comedy The Millers as Ray.

In the summer of 2014, Smoove hosted the eighth season of the NBC reality series Last Comic Standing. Smoove appeared on comedian Jerry Seinfeld's web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in July 2016. Also in 2016, Smoove appeared in the web series Epic Rap Battles of History, portraying abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Smoove played Santa Claus in Sia's 2017 music video, "Santa's Coming for Us". He played Julius Dell in the Marvel Studios feature film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and its sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). In 2020, Smoove starred in Mapleworth Murders opposite Paula Pell (another former writer for Saturday Night Live) and John Lutz for Quibi, which was produced by, among others, Lorne Michaels and Seth Meyers of SNL. Beginning in the fall of 2021, Smoove played a recurring role as the titular Caesar in multiple commercials for the Caesars Sportsbook mobile app, appearing alongside Patton Oswalt, Halle Berry, Vince Vaughn, and the Manning family.

In 2019, Smoove played for the "Home" roster during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at the Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The roster was made up of celebrities with Carolina roots.

Smoove and Miles Grose co-host and created May I Elaborate? Daily Wisdom from JB Smoove, a podcast that debuted in April 2021 on the Team Coco podcast network.

In 2019, Smoove attended the final dinner service of reality TV series Hell's Kitchens eighteenth season Hell's Kitchen: Rookies vs. Veterans as a chef's table guest in the blue kitchen that was run by runner-up Mia Castro. He appeared as a guest judge on the first season of the FOX reality singing competition The Masked Singer. He voiced Frank in Harley Quinn beginning in 2019.

Charity work

Smoove serves on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, New York. On November 7, 2017, he emceed the Boys and Girls Clubs Future Leaders Gala at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.

Honors and awards

Smoove won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his role in Mapleworth Murders.

Personal life

In 2007, Smoove married singer Shahidah Omar. They reside in Los Angeles. He has an adult daughter named Jerrica from a previous relationship.

He is a fan of the New York Knicks, New York Yankees and the New York Jets.

He has been vegan since 2018.

Performance media

Comedy specials

Podcasts

Films

Television

Video games

References

External links

• – podcast