Willie P. Richardson Family Comedy Show
Texarkana- Nationally-known comedian Willie P. Richardson brings his family comedy show to The Oaklawn Opry Theatre in Texarkana at 7pm Thursday, October 18th. Known as “The Phone Prankster” to radio listeners throughout America, Mr. Richardson’s recordings have sold more than 1.25 million copies since his first release in 1995.
His standup comedy show consists of his unique brand of Southern Humor, including hilarious stories about his upbringing, his family, and his show business career. Richardson takes pride in the fact that his show is “clean” and is acceptable to any audience and age group.
He is a native of Nacogdoches, in the “Piney Woods” of East Texas. He began pulling “telephone pranks” on friends and relatives starting at about the age of 12. He says that his first prank was “almost his last”…Young Willie called a “mean, stingy, hateful” neighbor, told her he was with the phone company, and asked how much telephone cord she had coming out of her wall (this was in the days of permanently-attached phone cords)..She replied “It looks like about 6 feet”.. Willie said “Well, you do have a problem..everybody’s supposed to have 9 feet of cord…I just called your neighbor and she says she has 12 feet, so she must’ve pulled 3 feet of your cord over into her house.” “She was furious that her neighbor had stolen her cord, “Willie said…..She asked what the phone company would do about it and Willie replied, “To save a service call, you can help me and we can do it right now”…He then proceeded to tell her to drag a chair up to and facing the wall, wrap the cord around her wrist, put her feet against the wall, count to three, and pull as hard as she could….”The line went dead…It scared me to death”! The lady had pulled the cord completely out of the wall. “One of my cousins told on me and I spent the rest of the summer mowing yards to pay for the real phone company to come out and fix it.” Mr. Richardson says that was the only “mean” prank he’s ever pulled on anyone.
His recording career began by a twist of fate one day when he stopped by to see a friend who owns a local record company. Willie had “phone pranked” his record producer friend several times in the past . His friend told him that he wanted him to make a prank call to a nurse at the local hospital. Willie made the call from the record company studio with the tape machine rolling. The premise of the call was that the hospital had sent the wrong baby home with his daughter and that he would like to return and exchange it for the correct one. The call was so funny that Willie and his friend took it to the hospital for the “victim” and all of her friends to hear. They were literally crying tears of laughter.
Within one week Willie had recorded his first album. A number of local radio stations began airing the recordings. After testing the recordings locally, copies were mailed to stations nationally. The response from stations and from the public was tremendous. He is heard on hundreds of stations nationally, including Sirius/XM, The syndicated “John Boy & Billy Show,” KPPG in Texarkana and KZHE in Magnolia, AR, in this area. In 2001, he was named “Comedian of the Year” at the annual Cammy Awards Show at The Albabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, SC.
He plans to continue making comedy albums and performing concerts “For as long as people want to see and hear me…I love meeting friends and fans in person.” Mr. Richardson always take the time to sign autographs and visit with fans at intermission and at the conclusion of his concerts.
Advance tickets are $15 and will be $20 at the door. Tickets may be purchased at Cavender’s Boot City in Texarkana, by phone at 888.218.6464 or online at WilliePRichardson.com. The Oaklawn Opry Theatre is located at 124 Oaklawn Village in Texarkana.