*Earlier this year, when cruising was still a thing, I sailed on the Carnival Panorama, the newest ship in the Carnival Cruise Line. I had been on several cruises before, so I knew what to expect: lots of people, lots of food and lots of entertainment.
Carnival has a Punchliner Comedy Club on all of their ships, with multiple shows each night; some family-friendly and some adults-only.
I love comedy, so suffice it to say that I have seen my fair share of comics; some of them not so funny, many of them very funny and a few that made me laugh so hard that my head began to hurt. I will catch a comedy show as often as I can get away with it.
On my Panorama excursion, I heard two comics that instantly grabbed my attention. They were funny as all get out and the spontaneity in one of them was uncanny, but more surprising, they were two Black comics performing on a cruise ship; something I personally had never seen before.
One reminded me of Richard Pryor and Rudy Ray Moore; that raunchy, no holds barred kind of comedy and the other was more polished and intellectual, but equally as funny.
I knew Vince Morris and Billy D. Washington were two names I would not soon forget and two comedians I wanted to see again. I could already feel another Carnival cruise coming on.
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Billy and Vince had a combined five adult-only performances and I attended all of them. Guess what? So did a lot of other people. Their shows were back to back. One night, Billy D. would perform the first show and Vince performed the second show. The next night the order was reversed. It didn’t matter the order, the crowd loved them and let them both know it by lining up to see one artist, after having just seen the other one. There was a buzz in the line as people waited to get into the theatre. With such a positive response, why are Billy D. and Vince now persona non grata on the Carnival Panorama?
Since Billy D. and I both had some downtime, thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, we decided to be productive and have a chat. Our conversation was very interesting. What I found most intriguing was although they received standing ovations at their shows and their performances were standing room only, which obviously meant people liked them, the pair, who have been seen on BET and Def Comedy Jam, ruffled enough feathers…i.e., garnered enough complaints, that they were booted from future Carnival Panorama lineups. Apparently, some of the crowd were a tad on the conservative side and took offense with some of the comedians’ material, which although it pushed the envelope, was funny as hell. When I mentioned Billy D. not being heckled in the performances I attended, he relayed the tale of the notorious comics.
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Billy D. shared, “Vince and I have been friends now for 10 or 12 years and we hardly get to work together, so we worked together on the cruise and it’s one of the cruises that we got the most compliments for; especially for cruisers that have cruised before.”
Billy also explained comedians are ranked in tiers and he and Vince are two top tier comedians, who “are also black, so that rarely happens. That was the first time I had ever worked with a top tier Black comedian on a cruise ship.” All of the accolades and praise on their performances notwithstanding, they received enough complaints to prevent them from future Carnival Panorama performances. Billy D. and I talked about what went wrong. He admits he and Vince got a little out of hand; however, he mentioned they basically let the crowd dictate how things will go, saying, “We start off more safe, with safe stuff with the first show and if they keep coming back, that is always our indicator.”
By the time the two were ready for their final show, where they performed together, the show was moved to another theatre; one that held about 3,000 people and the theatre was still standing room only. So, my question is who complained and why? According to Billy, “It’s ironic that one of the best shows, one of the best weeks of comedy on Carnival I’ve been a part of, was one on the ship that caused me not to be able to go back anymore.”
He thought it further ironic that I wanted to interview him based on seeing him on the cruise that ended in mayhem. He admits at first, he was upset when he heard the news about being banned from the Panorama, but now says it “lends itself to a notorious reputation.”
Billy’s comedic reputation started at age 11, when the preacher’s kid and class clown turned police officer first stood up in front of a group of people. By the time he was in high school, he was writing digs for people and boasted, “Nobody could talk about people like Billy D. Washington.”
Billy continued his comedy as an adult and shared, “People started asking me to be on shows because I had a good angle, since I was a police officer who was a comedian.” While a police officer, he went on tour with the Temptations for a three-city tour and came back and turned in his two-week notice and the rest is a 30-year history.
Billy is not a “Carnival Comedian.” He is a freelance comedian, who performs on Carnival cruises, in addition to comedy clubs and other venues. He has been working with Carnival off and on since 2002 and consistently since 2013.
During the pandemic, Billy D. has been enjoying the time off, while at the same time keeping himself busy, saying “I would drive myself crazy if I wasn’t productive during this time.” I had to chuckle when his response to “what have you been doing while off,” was “thanking God for the ability to save money.” Billy D. admits to needing the time to wind down and enjoy time with his wife, but also will be ready to go when the time comes.
Billy loves his association with Carnival and looks forward to performing on other ships in the Carnival fleet in the future. I guess I’ll have to find him on another ship in the fleet. If you happen to hear Billy D. Washington is performing, be it on a Carnival ship or anywhere else, including in his Houston neighborhood, check him out. He is worth it.
Marilyn Smith is a Los Angeles based writer/reviewer. Contact her via [email protected].
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