BY GRACE HENDRICKS

Rent Check is a threepart story created by writer and comedian Mike Evans Jr. The series follows the protagonist, Mike the Comedian, as he navigates through a quarterlife crisis to find his purpose. The series wonderfully captures the Bay Area and features many up-andcoming Bay Area artists. Honest and heartfelt, yet hella hilarious, Rent Check is a must-see.

Evans’ start in comedy was unexpected. As a child, he describes “I always thought it was fun to make people laugh...A lot of my friends were class clowns growing up, but I wanted to be the class clown that could also make the teacher laugh.

When I first started telling jokes at nineteen, the majority of comedians and audience [members] were ten to fifteen years older than me. I was always curious [about] how to make someone with more life experience relate to me.”

But he never anticipated that his love of making people laugh would transform into his career. “Public speaking was something that I always enjoyed, so I thought about becoming a politician to help people with my voice.

During my first year at San Francisco State University, one of my communications professors told me that ‘people trust the comedian, more than they trust the politician.’ After hearing that, it clicked for me that comedy was the path I wanted to take.”

Shortly after, Evans began to establish himself as a comedian. His work eventually led him to reconnect with some friends from high school: actor, Jimmie Fails, and director, Joe Talbot, who have both since become renowned filmmakers.

Evans explains, “For five years I worked with Jimmie Fails and Joe Talbot as a creative consultant for the films American Paradise and The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Watching Joe and Jimmie do what it takes to bring their film to life, inspired me to write stories of my own.”

Cut to Rent Check. Evans explains that his inspiration to write Rent Check came from “the identity struggles I faced growing up...I grew up around so many different types of Black people, but [I] was only seeing stereotypes represented in the media.

I wrote this show because whether it be in politics, commercials, or in movies, the assumption is that all Black people think and act the same. This assumption has hurt me and many others like me, so I wrote something that I wish [I] could’ve seen growing up.”

Read more at https://issuu.com/rareluxuryliving/docs/troora_san_francisco_2021_pages/258