“Apollo” Missionary

Palisadian Chris Lancey Looks Back at His Years Producing “Showtime at the Apollo”

Mariah Carey. Beyonce. Stevie Wonder. Mary J. Blige. Usher. Queen Latifah. Diddy ‘ This roster of music’s biggest names sounds like the guest list of this Sunday’s Grammy Awards. In fact, they have all performed on the venerable syndicated variety show ‘Showtime at the Apollo.’ And taking it all in at ground zero was television producer and Palisadian Chris Lancey. If you’ve ever stumbled home from a party in the wee hours with a hardcore case of the munchies, well, then, you’re probably very familiar with ‘Showtime.’ Launched in 1987, the long-running African-American talent showcase, which in most markets has aired on NBC following ‘Saturday Night Live,’ has become a key launching pad for musicians and comedians. The centerpiece of ‘Showtime,’ of course, is the legendary Apollo Theater. Founded in 1914, the Apollo, located on West 125th Street in Harlem, originally did not allow African Americans inside. But in 1934, Ralph Cooper, Sr., staged a live version of his popular radio show, ‘Amateur Nite Hour at the Apollo.’ By then, the theater was owned by the Schiffman family, who loosened up on the segregation rules. Scat pioneer Ella Fitzgerald was one of the first ‘Amateur Night’ winners. That same year, Cooper and Benny Carter dazzled with the theater’s first ‘Colored Revue.’ In 1935, Bessie Smith made her Apollo debut, followed by an unknown singer named Billie Holiday, who mesmerized the Apollo audience. Over the years, the Apollo Theater became legendary for breaking the careers of music icons such as Wonder, Michael Jackson, James Brown and Lauryn Hill. For 17 years, Lancey was one of the executive talents behind the long-running TV version, which debuted as ‘It’s Showtime at the Apollo.’ Lancey oversaw the weekly show with producers Percy Sulton, Bob Banner and Al Jerome. ‘What we could see instantly,’ Lancey tells the Palisadian-Post, ‘was that young people liked the show a lot. It had great numbers and performed best at a late-night slot. It came at a time when rap was just becoming a big deal.’ What Lancey and company did not realize at the time was that, as with rap music, ‘Showtime’ would continue to endure to this day. Taped at the Apollo on Wednesdays for a Saturday night air date, ‘Showtime at the Apollo’ is hosted by a comedian and features live performances from professional and up-and-coming artists. Over the years, ‘Showtime’ has amassed an abundance of highlight-reel riches. Add to the aforementioned list of hot music acts such groundbreakers as Aretha Franklin, Eartha Kitt, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and TLC; just a smattering of the notables (many of them Grammy winners). Comedians have included Martin Lawrence, Mo’Nique, Cedric the Entertainer and Paul Rodriguez. In most markets, ‘Showtime’ has aired right after ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Having the venerable sketch-comedy show as a lead-in was, depending on the moment of time, a blessing or an albatross, but generally a blessing, says Lancey: ‘If SNL dipped in the ratings, we dipped, but the percentages were not as much.’ At one point, Lancey traveled nationwide to break ‘Showtime’ into 140 top markets (NBC affiliates), where it averaged a consistent 2 rating (about 2 million households). Lancey says there was a lot of fine-tuning early on. ‘The producers tried shuffling guest hosts, but quickly determined that continuity of a good host was powerful.’ Before the comedian Sinbad became ‘Showtime”s first recurring emcee, Brown, Bill Cosby, Al Jarreau and Mary Wilson were among the rotating hosts. The show’s most popular segment, hands-down, was the loud and unpredictable ‘Amateur Night’: what Lancey calls ‘a show within a show. It worked and it worked big.’ Apollo’s harsh audience did not suffer fools. Lancey reveals that he had to overbook comedians for the segment because ‘so many were always booed off.’ Of the professionals, ‘Chris Rock was huge,’ according to Lancey. And even certain Caucasian comedians won the tough crowd’s respect. ‘Adam Sandler had a good showing,’ he says. ‘Adam and Dennis Miller did not get booed off.’ As for the musical acts: one of the first to perform was the first rap group to achieve mainstream commercial success: the legendary Run-DMC. Other performers who went over well, says Lancey: ‘Michael Bolton killed. Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Destiny’s Child.’ Tyrese had women fainting, and stuck around after the taping to sign autographs. In the 1990s, Lancey talked up the former Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, while he waited in the wings for ‘one of our biggest appearances. He was at his peak. Great guy, very friendly, and a top-notch performer.’ He also remembers witnessing how one famous comedian’s career skyrocketed after he got his big break hosting the show. ‘Steve Harvey used to warm up the very hostile Apollo crowd,’ Lancey recalls. ‘[Previous host] Mark Curry would be in his dressing room waiting for his call. There was Steve, doing all the work, warming up the audience every evening.’ At one point, when Curry’s star was rising, he was commuting between Harlem and Los Angeles to shoot a sitcom. One day, he missed a ‘Showtime’ taping. ‘So we turned to Steve and said, ‘You’re it,” Lancey says. ‘That launched Steve Harvey, who became the new host.’ Lancey places Harvey in Richard Pryor’s rarified company: ‘One of the most talented comics I’ve ever seen.’ Soon, Harvey fell prey to Curry’s taxing routine when he landed his own sitcom. ‘He was pretty exhausted. The travel does get to you,’ Lancey says, empathetically. During ‘Showtime”s peak, Lancey spent years commuting from his Huntington Beach home to New York, before moving to Pacific Palisades. Some key moments stand out from Lancey’s years on set, such as when rap star Li’l Kim got on stage. ‘She lost her top. Let’s just say that it was an interesting moment,’ he says. Needless to say, her performance was re-shot. Lancey’s personal musical highlight came ‘when Cab Calloway did the hand-jive.’ It turned out to be the singer’s last televised performance. ‘Two of our biggest acts turned out to be two of our oldest,’ Lancey says, referring to Calloway, and to Patti LaBelle, who dazzled with her ‘Over the Rainbow’ rendition. ‘To be a fly on the wall at the Apollo was exciting,’ says Lancey’s wife, Kathryn, who got to see LaBelle, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera in person. ‘It’s the Carnegie Hall of Harlem.’ Married 20 years, the Lanceys moved to Pacific Palisades a decade ago from Orange County, after starting their family: Alycia, 18, Cameron, 16, and Victoria, 13. Lancey grew up in Placentia and attended Anaheim’s El Dorado High School. ‘We used to get up every weekend, grab our surfboards, and catch the bus to Newport,’ he says. Conversely, Kathryn says that, growing up, she and her friends used to ride their bikes from Long Beach to Anaheim, spend the day roaming around Disneyland, and make it home for dinner. Lancey attended and played football at San Diego State. ‘That’s where I got into the biz,’ he says. ‘I managed a radio station and I was a DJ.’ He moved to Los Angeles and worked as a videotape editor on the KTLA Evening News. Living near Melrose and Western Avenues, he recalls being at the number-one local news broadcast, anchored by the late Hal Fishman, as an eye-opener. ‘You got a sense of what everyone did and of how hard everyone worked,’ says Lancey, who hopped over to the company that produced the infamous cult classic, ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,’ after a year. In early 1988, he went to Group W”a now-defunct company that sold air time for Filmation cartoons”as a sales assistant. One of the account executives there was Kathryn Hutchinson. Chris and Kathryn began dating and married in 1989. Lancey did not stay at Group W for long. He moved to Blair Television, an advertising rep firm that sold programs such as ‘Divorce Court,’ which was quickly shuttered and sold to Dennis Holt, owner of Western International Syndication. Holt hired Lancey to run his syndication operation. ‘I was part of a revitalization of the company,’ Lancey recalls. ‘In 1988, when I joined Western, ‘Showtime’ was the very first show that I did. NBC had produced a few episodes with the Apollo Theater group, and they brought those shows to me and they said, ‘What do you think?’ I analyzed the show and made a recommendation to ownership to invest in this show. Based on my recommendation, Western went forward with it. I led the distribution and oversaw the production for my company.’ In 1996, as president of Western International Syndication, Lancey aired such syndicated programs as ‘Fight Back! With David Horowitz.’ By then, fantasy fare, such as ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ and ‘Xena: Warrior Princess,’ dominated syndicated strips, and Lancey got ‘Conan the Adventurer’ and ‘The Immortal’ on the air. ‘It was exciting to be able to work one day with pop and rap, and work the next day on the set of a sword-and-sorcery show,’ he says. Lancey served as president of Western from 1995 through 2000, when he purchased the company. In 2001, Lancey launched ‘Cheaters,’ but left the show over creative differences with its producers. He developed the game show ‘On The Cover’ in 2004. All along, Lancey had continued running ‘Showtime.’ But when Warner Bros. took over the Apollo Theater in 2005, Lancey and his partners moved on. Unfortunately, Lancey spent much of 2006 and 2007 battling lymphoma. While he triumphed over the disease, it took a professional toll on him when he lost oversight and control of Western. But upon his full recovery, Lancey bounced right back by forming a new production company, Creative Arts Entertainment Group, with longtime business partner Mark Terry. Kathryn Lancey has also joined Creative Arts as its director of new development, and she sums up the secret of her husband’s success this way: ‘The entertainment industry isn’t known for scruples, but Chris is an amazing guy who has an impeccable reputation. Kind of like Dick Clark. Chris is really committed to the excellence of what he does.’ Lancey is currently working on ‘Adventure Guides,’ hosted by creator John Dietch, who supervised the fly fishing sequences in ‘River Runs Through It.’ ‘Adventure Guides’ premiers this summer on the Outdoor Channel. But of all the programs Lancey has created, he says he’s most proud of ‘The Desperate Passage Series,’ a docu-series that ran from 1988 and 1994 and won 13 Emmy Awards. One episode even inspired the 2006 football film ‘Gridiron Gang,’ starring The Rock. ‘It had integrity,’ Lancey says. ‘And it became larger than what it was.’ So after a quarter-century career in television, what is it about the entertainment business that keeps Lancey engaged? Like the Gridiron Gang itself, it boils down to one word: teamwork. ‘I love being able to create opportunities for creative people to work,’ he says, reminding the Post that with any given TV program, ‘none of this happens without a group of people.’