Metta World Peace won’t hold anything back at comedy show

As he sat on the toilet, the ideas kept popping into Metta World Peace’s head.

The eccentric Lakers forward says he has spent the past week preparing for his comedy act. And, well, what better way to maximize that time than when he’s in the bathroom?

“That’s where I get most of my ideas,” World Peace said in a phone interview with The Times. “That’s my alone time and that’s when I figure out what I’m going to do.”

So what, exactly, is World Peace going to do?

He’s hosting “Comedy Slam Dunk” on Thursday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., a charity driven stand-up at the Laugh Factory where World Peace will introduce comedians, including Tom Arnold, Alex Scott, Malik S and Chris D’Elia. In between those acts, World Peace says he plans on delivering self-written material where he will tell gay and racist jokes, roast teammates and poke fun at himself.

“I’m stereotyping everybody,” World Peace said. “It’ll be fun. I’m throwing out random stereotypes. I just want to make people laugh and have fun. I’m definitely going to stereotype myself. I’m going to stereotype my bipolar tendencies. I want to stereotype that. I want the people to judge for themselves on whether I’m bipolar.”

In other words, World Peace better hope NBA Commissioner David Stern isn’t watching or that his material doesn’t go instantly viral. The event won’t be open to the media and the show is strictly forbidding camera use. But in the information age, you never know.

World Peace maintains he’s not concerned about that or whether he’s pushing the envelope too far. After all, the $30 tickets that can be purchased at ronartest.com will go toward a good cause. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Metta Center for Nonviolence (based in Berkeley) and World Peace’s nonprofit Xcel University, which helps mental health charities.

“As reckless as I am, this stuff is really important,” World Peace said. “Having it for a cause makes it more fun.”

World Peace has already dabbled in stand-up comedy. He hosted a four-city comedy tour last year in Los Angeles, Orange County and New York City where he introduced acts and answered audience questions.

In the show I attended in Brea, World Peace’s material involved telling X-rated jokes and poking fun at himself either through self-written material or answering fan questions. Although he’s not taking fan questions in this show, World Peace still plans to take the same approach.

“If you can be funny without cursing, that’s amazing,” World Peace said. “But that’s tough. Doing comedy is not an easy thing to do.”

Yet, World Peace is willing to try, and he sounded more than eager in giving a sneak preview of one of his bits.

“I’m going to talk about some of the dreams that I have that I want to see happen at Staples Center,” World Peace said. “One dream involves me being on the court in Staples Center. I’m not really participating in the game, but I’m on the court and throwing stuff and disrupting the game. I’m looking forward to telling that joke.”

So what’s the joke?

“You’ll have to see,” World Peace said with a slight laugh. “I can’t tell you. It’ll be fun. You have to enjoy it. I’m not as good as real comedians. But it’s still cool to be able to tell jokes and have fun.”

It also gives him something to pass the time when he’s in the bathroom.

ALSO:

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Metta World Peace’s mental health advocacy helps his own growth

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