“Mr. Entertainer, sir, I have a question! What are the approximate dates of the American Civil War?” Of course, before he was internationally known as Cedric the Entertainer he was just Mr. Kyles, the substitute teacher also known as, Mr. Cedric Kyles your local State Farm agent. But that just wouldn’t work, it was only after these jobs that Mr. Kyles decided comedy would be his future. 

As with many other entertainers, Cedric came from humble beginnings. A friend convinced him to participate in a local comedy competition in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. To say that he did well was an understatement. Cedric won the entire competition; little did he know this was just the beginning. From dive spots to local comedy clubs, Cedric worked whatever gig he could get. “I would be popular and people would want to hire me to do 30- and 40-minute shows and I didn't have that much material as a comedian so I would sing, I would do poetry, I would do whatever I could do to fill up the 30 minutes of time so I could get the money,” he said in an interview with Comedy Couch.