Bobby Brown’s life is no laughing matter despite the years of jokes made at his expense.
In 2005, Brown and his then wife Whitney Houston gave the media, and comedians, an eyeful when they appeared on reality television with the Bravo-produced show “Being Bobby Brown.” The eight-part series catapulted the couple to the top of comedians’ set list and the writers’ room of popular shows.
At the time, Brown and Houston were at the height of what many perceived to be a drug-induced downward spiral. Brown would later openly talk about the couple’s alcohol and drug use.
Scenes from the reality show, that only lasted a season, fueled criticism of the “My Love is Your Love” singer’s erratic behavior and exposed the “King of R&B” as being more vulgar and crude than imaginable. Still, Brown says venturing back into reality television did not bring up concerns from his past experience. “I don’t regret anything that I’ve done in my life,” said Brown while speaking with “The Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM” hosts.
Brown and his current wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, are set to premiere their own reality 12-part series, “Bobby Brown: Every Little Step,” on the A&E network, beginning May 31.
“I think everything that I’ve done in my life led me up to this point,” he added. But when it comes to being the punchline of jokes, Brown shares he doesn’t look back on the many spoofs of his previous marriage fondly.
“It was hateful,” he said of an “Saturday Night Live” skit. “People do some hateful things, but you just have to bare and buckle down and be able to accept the good with the bad.”
In particular, Brown says the sketch comedy show “Mad TV” took things too far. “They really offended me. I took a lot of their s—t personal,” he said. Comedians Aries Spears and Debra Wilson routinely spoofed the couple as being sweaty, under the influence of drugs and all over the place — much like the couple’s behavior witnessed on “Being Bobby Brown.” One skit included a joke that the couple “smoked up” their daughter Bobbi Kristina when they were unable to locate her.
The “Every Little Step” singer says the offense was great enough for him and Houston to confront the offenders. “Me and Whitney were like that.” He added that neither he nor Houston allowed their emotions to lead them to such actions.
“No, no, no I won’t go there,” said Brown with a chuckle. “It wasn’t like I didn’t want to take Aries Spears in the corner somewhere. Sketches are sketches, comedy is comedy and I think I realized that a long time ago that I can’t take s—t so personal that I want to cause someone bodily harm.”
Fans, however, indulged in laughter.
“No lie, Debra Wilson did the best Whitney Houston impression of all time. S—t had me rolling every time,” wrote one person online.
“Mad TV was brutally below the belt funny.”
“That Mad TV skit crossed the line but it’s still funny to this day,” commented another.
Though some people agreed the jokes and sketches were distasteful, they place the blame on the former couple. “He should have ran down on himself! They were so destructive to themselves to have such great talents.”
Another chimed in with, “Yep, they did it to themselves. Comedians were just doing their job.”
